As the sun peeked over the white horizon, snow continued to fall over the quiet countryside surrounding the institute. Though it wasn't as heavy as last night, patients planning to go to Doyleton were going to need heavy coats and gloves.

The silence was broken by the intercom once more, though patients waking up would once again feel as though little time had passed since the General spoke. Instead of Aguilar, or even the woman who'd dictated yesterday's activities, however, a somewhat familiar voice addressed the patients. Those who had listened to the intercom the night before last would recognize the speaker as the man who'd first talked to them after Landel had been fired.

“Attention all personnel and subjects,” he said, tone clear and strong. “Good morning. This is Lieutenant General Berg speaking. As many of you are aware, today is the scheduled trip to Doyleton. We will be following standard procedure and giving each patient a set of civilian clothing, after which everyone will be escorted to the buses waiting out front. Coupons and cards will be distributed prior to departure. The D-Class subjects will be allotted an allowance of five dollars, C-Class subjects ten dollars, B-Class fifteen, and so on. ”

A brief pause. “To all subjects, regardless of rank, I will offer you a word of caution: do not interpret today's trip as a sign that our priorities have shifted, or that our standards for perfection have relaxed. While we've granted you extra privileges, these can easily be revoked, and you may find tomorrow much more...unpleasant if you misbehave in town.

You'll also notice more orderlies and nurses today. These are General Aguilar's best men and women. They will tolerate less disrespect than Dr. Landel's former staff, I assure you. However, so long as you stay in line, today should be a nice reprieve from our usual activities.”

There was a quiet sound of shuffling papers. “That is all.”

The intercom clicked off.

[ NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS are free to reply to this with their introduction post. Please have your character wake up in a random room if we have not yet assigned them. Thank you! ]

Heh, tonight was promising to be kind of interesting. First time in awhile, it seemed like, for which Xigbar was far too happy to give things a shot. That in mind, he stripped off that aggravating gray shirt and started grabbing his weapons, making sure that they were all okay. Three knives lashed to his ankles, three arrows tied around his waist, and the clips of ammunition for the gun were carefully put away for safe-keeping. The gun, naturally, remained in his hands, and he reminded himself that he needed to get some duct tape so he could lash the flashlight on the thing.

For now, though, after preparations were complete, he opened the door and eased out into the hallway, keeping his eye open for trouble. Not that he'd mind, but he'd prefer seeing some trouble after meeting with his people. No point in showing off if there wasn't an appreciative audience, after all!

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

[from here]

Here. Finally.

Except there was no sign of Simon. There was also no sign of crazed hungry monsters, wearing ninja outfits or not, but he checked the hall as well as he could with the handheld light, including the ceiling, before giving a hesitant knock on the M60 door. It was nice that the room was on the end of a smaller hallway. If something went wrong, he wouldn't get cornered too easily.

"Simon? Are you there?" Usopp kept his voice low, although trying to keep it from shaking. That didn't make a very good impression on people. The rubber band in his coat pocket snapped between his fingers nervously. "It's me. Usopp. Your friend that doesn't remember you who's a great pirate and sharpshooter? Um, you didn't turn into a monster or a werewolf or anything for the night, did you?"

The intercom's jingle signaled yet another announcement.

"And our excellent behavior continues! Well, I am extremely impressed indeed!

"In any case, it's time to stop our socializing, unfortunately, and for the patients to return to their quarters for dinner. Be aware that new roommates have been assigned due to our influx of new patients and discharged old ones, so please be hospitable should you find yourself with someone new!

"As for dinner itself: tonight, we'll be serving shrimp and vegetable tempura along with delicious chicken teriyaki. Yum, yum, yum! As sides, we will also be serving boiled, salted soybeans, rice, and of course the appropriate soy and tempura sauces. Our regular assorted drinks and vegetarian substitutes are also available.

"I hope you enjoy your meal!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Find new room assignments here. ]

Despite the bit of bravado he'd displayed for Yuffie's sake, seeing her that way really had done a number on him. It was a good thing he'd found the bulletin board afterward. Having it confirmed that this state wasn't normal (was, in fact, new as of that morning) made it much easier to think positive. They'd get back the Yuffie they knew one way or another.

The girl had gone into the other activity room, so when Cloud was offered a choice he picked the room she wasn't in. He wouldn't be able to keep a watch on her this way, but neither would she be able to throw another fit over being stalked. This also gave him a chance to keep an eye on the board for anything else important that might show up.

Sighing, the blond made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching both the nurses and the cats roaming the floor. What were the people in charge of this place trying to accomplish?

[free]

Today was really trying to rain on her parade, wasn't it?

Well, it wasn't gonna work! Hanna was determined to stay strong and cheerful, in spite of Kenshin throwing a mega bitchfit and that the chick from the library being… Yeah. Her flightiness had been bad enough, but the half glossed-over memories had bordered on terrifying. Had she really been that far gone? It had to have been the meds. Just the meds. Yuffie was a douchey, semi-sociopathic klepto ninja thing, but even in that imagined world of hers, she hadn't gone around slashing people to ribbons for fun. Had she? Ugh, Hanna didn't even know anymore. Crazy people were capable of crazy stuff

Hanna's gut clenched just thinking about it, and she turned determinedly back to her lunch. The food wasn't exactly great, but it was better than some of the stuff she'd eaten. Like Stan's Deep fried Twinkie and mashed banana hot pot. Or, y'know, the normal stuff that teenage semi-runaways ate. Craptastic sandwiches and super economy potato chips, when she could get them, and whatever was in Tiffany's fridge when she couldn't. Dignity was dignity, and dignity was important, but being able to scratch a living from a rock was a handy life skill to have.

Stuffing another few chips in her mouth, Hanna did her best to ignore the door—and, by proxy, anybody who happened to come through it. Nostalgia trip aside, hadn't the Head Nurse said something about a whole new batch of crazycakes? Now she'd feel even more like a sardine than ever. Great.

[ For Cloud? :D ]

Even before he got sick, Sean had enjoyed reading. His teachers had always said that he read 'ahead of his age group', but he figured that was just because he read more than most kids his age did. He liked everything: fantasy, science fiction, biographies, journal articles... There was just something satisfying about holding a book--something someone poured a lot of effort into producing--to Sean.

Today, though, he didn't want to get into anything particularly heavy or involved. No psychology textbooks for him today--he was going to read something fictional. Pulling what looked like an interesting science fiction novel off the shelves, he cracked it open and began to read happily. Oliver would find him soon enough and no doubt interrupt him, so he'd just read as much as he could for now.

[For Badou]

Mori woke with a start. He lay on the bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and sighed quietly. Another day, another round of shifts and people and-- Wait a minute. Breathing in carefully, Mori's brow knit together as he realized that his ribs were no longer broken. After testing his collarbone, he found that it, too, was healing faster than it should have. Not that he was complaining, but there was something odd about broken bones setting so quickly. Pushing himself up out of bed, the teen shook his head, knowing that he'd have another day or two of the sling and then he'd be free from it.

But more important than that was finding out how Mitsukuni was doing. The last thing he remembered was the bathroom and gathering metal. Since they were together at the end of the night, Mori was certain that Mitsukuni would be fine, but...well, he still liked to confirm such things with his own eyes. With the twins gone and Tamaki still missing, Mori didn't want to take any chances anymore. Especially not with the strange announcements this morning.

As usual, his nurse came to collect him and helped him into his sling. Then he followed her quietly into the cafeteria, taking notice of the unusually empty bulletin board. They really were cracking down on it already. Weird. Even weirder? For once, he was the first into the room. Picking up a tray, he pointed out what he wanted, making sure to take double of the pancakes (asking to keep them away from the sausages for now), double of the strawberry jam and biscuits, and an extra helping of fruit. To top it off? Milk. It'd help his bones mend. Hopefully.

Going to a nearby seat, Mori took a look around the empty room and shivered. Kind of eerie in here without anyone else but the nurses. Someone was certain to come sooner or later though, right? He hoped so at least.

[for Chihaya]

[from here]

That...had been surprisingly easy, for all that he wasn't usually one to try and pick or break locks. It had taken some time, a bit of turning the rapier's tip into the lock, and finally a few strong strikes, but eventually it had broken.

The problem now was far more straightforward: how to find at least one of their boxes - ideally both, but if they had to be quick about things, he would rather they find Wright's box and leave his own. There was the chance that things would regenerate, and as he wasn't generally in the habit of taking particularly important paperwork home - case notes, yes, copies of things, yes, but the originals were always locked in his office overnight - there was a fairly good chance that anything he would have left here would be the same way.

"Where do we start?", he asked, scanning the room with his flashlight.

Sai changed quickly. Whether he was less emotionally stable that usual or not, he was far better off than he'd been the night before. He would perform the mission required of him tonight. It was nothing that should put anyone's lives at stake, and holing himself up would only decrease his ability to perform his duties later.

The vial of sedative was secured safely in the sweatshirt he used as a makeshift belt. It was important that he got the item to Sakura tonight. They might not get an opportunity to get hold of a replacement if this one was lost.

M90 was in the men's block in the opposite hall. He should make haste so that his teammate wasn't delayed.

[to here]

Okita had woken with a start, his breath coming back to him in a rush. Toward the end of the night, he had sworn he'd seen someone in the shadows - someone no taller than a boy of nine, a mask covering his face, blood running down his front. He'd seen him. There was no way of mistaking that outfit or that mask; and Okita didn't need to see the face behind it to know who it was. The man didn't have a name and he likely never would, but Okita could never forget him. No one ever forgot their first kill.

When his breathing returned to normal, he realized that Guy was gone and worse, that the shift was nearly over. The nurses came in, fussing over him, saying he'd had a fever or some other nonsense that morning and thus they had left him to rest. Now they were asking how he was feeling, touching his forehead and trying to get him to put some metal tube in his mouth. That? Was a big no. Okita politely and firmly refused their repeated requests and they finally gave in, allowing him to get up and get dressed before informing him that today was--

"Now, the adults may be escorted to the showers while children can partake in Arts & Crafts activities."

The intercom cut in and Okita smiled. Finally. A shower. He put up little resistance when the nurses led him to the shower room, quickly undressing before touching his shoulder and ribs. Fully healed now, not a trace of his former injuries. Without further hesitation, Okita went to the closest stall and turned on the water, closing his eyes as the heat washed over him, clearing his head of the previous night's illusions. There was no way that demon man was still alive, and no way that he could have returned to taunt him yet again. It was merely a trick of the mind; something easily dismissed. That was exactly it. With that decided, Okita began to shampoo his hair, marveling again at the conveniences of the modern day.

[free~!]

[from here]

He really had beat the rush. Suzaku found a chair as close to the corner and as far from the bulletin as he could, and turned it to face the wall before curling up in it. His nurse frowned at him again, but she was still being cooperative, and frankly he didn't care what she had to say in the slightest. He didn't care even if he got sedated. All he cared about was finally having a few moments to himself, to sort out what Euphie's love meant and what the hell Lelouch's problem was.

It felt like he had all the pieces of a puzzle and was just too stupid to figure out how they fit together. What Lelouch had said about Shirley at breakfast and the tone he'd taken with Euphie on the board, Lelouch asking how Suzaku was, Lelouch dying. . . "All we can do is move forward and look out for the ones we care about." Euphie struggling to get out her last words, pain overtaking Suzaku's consciousness while he fought pathetically to carry out Lelouch's order. . . The last couple days, when he'd felt like he was finally figuring this out, seemed so far away now.

There were a couple things that were certain, at least: he hated what Lelouch had done, he always would. But he -- he didn't hate Lelouch, and he hadn't for a while now, and that wasn't going to change. And he didn't have much time, because everyone but Suzaku was terrifyingly mortal. And Lelouch was an idiot, but he still wasn't sure about the how and why of that one yet.

[for the Saucinator]

The intercom's words grew more and more telling as the day neared its end. Faize now understood that to those running the institute, he and the other captives were the subjects of some sort of reeducation program, one which was responsible for the brainwashing of patients, visitors, and doctors alike. Next Wave, the announcements mentioned often. Whatever it referred to, it seemed important.

Shortly after Faize finished his dinner, the automated voice seemed to malfunction, repeating a single word as though trapped in a loop until the doors finally unlocked. Without hesitation, Faize took his newly copied maps, stuffing them into the waistband of his pants at the back, where they would be out of the way. With his flashlight in hand, he took to the halls.

The moment he stepped out into the hallway, he thought he saw a door on the opposite side of the hall, but after a blink, it was gone. It wasn't unusual for one's eyes to play tricks on them in the dark; when trying to identify obscured objects, the mind often attributed a familiar shape to them, such as a human figure or a face. Perhaps that was what happened just then. It showed that Faize needed to be more focused.

The Eldarian's pause lasted only a second, and soon he was walking again, making his way over to the next hallway.

[to here]

[from here]

Even distracted as he was, Suzaku remembered to stay on his guard as he passed into the main hallway. He would only be here for a moment, but there could still be a monster lurking in the darkness. And it was so quiet and deserted just now that he would make easy prey.

[to here]

[from here]

Raz trudged on forward over to the Sun Room. Still no monsters...

[to here]

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

Edgeworth had originally planned to go to the library this shift, but decided against it in the end. There would be more time for books later - what he wanted to do now was think, and in a place where he could largely shut out the rest of the world. It was easy enough in his own office; people knew not to bother him when classical music could be heard behind his office door.

There wasn't a convenient office to hide away in, but there were sofas and portable CD players, and - ah. Mozart's Piano Concerto #20, in D Minor. That was good thinking music if he knew any. He turned on the music, then sat back on one of the sofas, reading over his own notes.

Graduates, IRIS, the conspicuous absence of the Head Doctor. What does this mean?

[free, as far as I'm aware.]

And just like that, the disorienting feeling of blacking out just to wake up in an unfamiliar bed came again. Alkaid had wondered if it would - everything about last night had been different, all the way from the zombies to the eerie emptiness of the Institute to the strange broadcast at the end of the night. Had the Head Doctor been shot? Damn, someone had gotten to it before her. And who was the voice at the end there? It was like she'd been allowed access to some kind of strange mystery that she could not understand, one that had been going on for a long time before she had arrived and would be going on for quite a while in the future, after she was gone. Had these strange sets of circumstances been bugs in this place's programming? Who could say?

The morning's intercom greeting was strange, as well. Federal training whatsit? It didn't seem like this happened very often, from the sound of it, but so much had happened since the last day she remembered that the former Demon Palace Emperor was ready to take pretty much anything at face value.

The room she woke up in was still empty. Wondering where to stick the half-cracked bat that she'd picked up last night, she shoved it under the mattress hastily when she heard footsteps in the hall.

The stupid nurse was the same as ever, though. Some things never changed. "Ahh, good morning, Eileen. It's so nice to see you awake."

Alkaid rolled her eyes at the nurse's chuckle, and shook her head. She didn't care that the NPC thought it was nice, she just wanted to see the rest of the institute already.. see what had changed! "Yeah, it's fantastic. Whatever! Just take me where I'm going and be done with it!"

It was just then that she realized that she was not wanting to devour the flesh of the nurse in front of her. And that the pain on her arm had kind of abated - she couldn't see through the thick bandages they had covered her arm with, but she wondered if her skin was still rotting off like a zombie. Had they somehow cured her infection overnight? Or was the nurse not human, like Alkaid had always thought?

There was only one thing for it: she had to go somewhere else.

"Chapel, sun room, or cafeteria, then?"

"Does it look like I care?"

The nurse sighed, then started walking Alkaid down the hall, up the stairs, and down another hall to the chapel. No one here yet, huh? That was weird. She couldn't imagine that no one else'd show up, but who could say? This place had been turned on its ass.

The chapel was empty so far, and kind of nondescript. She shooed the nurse away, and stood in the middle of the space between the pews, standing akimbo. What would happen today? What would she learn about herself... her situation? How long had she been sleeping? Was she really still going freaking undead, or had that been somehow taken care of?

All this would come to light really soon. She hoped. Geez, too many mysteries!!

[unwittingly awaiting Haseo]

Snake jerked his head away from Fox's hand and shot to his feet, disorientated slightly by the sudden shift. The grout in the tiles was black with what looked like old blood, and the stench of rot heaved in his throat. Something was badly wrong. He sensed threats - left, faint shapes in the dark outside the large windows - Fox - something creaking in the ceiling - a long groaning voice off to the right, past the walls - and something moving in the back of the room -

It staggered towards him, and before he fully knew what he was doing he ripped the match from the book and struck it with his left hand alone, popped the cap off the hairspray, and blasted a tongue of flame at the aggressor, aiming for its face. He saw, in the flickering light, long hair and long nails and the skin on its rotten face peeling and cracking and bubbling in the heat. It gave a long, screaming cry, and toppled to the floor. Its arms and legs writhed and kicked furiously, an automatic, animal gesture, before it finally lay still.

"Here?" he snapped at Fox, wrapping his fingers around the can of hairspray. "This place gets better and better. It's like a theme park." His voice quaked with anger. The place now stunk of something far worse than rotten meat, and for a fraction of a second he thought he could hear Big Boss's voice saying something he couldn't make out before he realised that it had come from inside his own head.

"At least I don't have to be the only thing here back from the dead," he growled. The woman zombie was leaking something he didn't want to think about. He guessed that the decomposition must have trapped methane and other flammable gasses inside the body, hence why it went up like a candle.

That said, he didn't really think he could burn anything else again. For a while.