Miku hurried away from her new friends (and kitten) to the cafeteria. For some reason she was just terribly ravenous. Her nurse smiled, relieved that her patient had finally chose to eat something and wouldn't continue that backslide into poor health. She loaded the girl's plate with French toast and fruit, dusted the bread in powdered sugar and a bit of cherries in red-red syrup and sent the girl to sit.

"There we are, Alice, a nice healthy meal," she cooed, and patted Miku's head. Miku sighed, but carefully cut into her meal and started eating, keeping her eye out for Sousuke.

[from here]

When she came to, Callisto found herself sitting in what appeared to be a small set of stands. That didn't last for long, as she was soon on her feet and staring around at her new surroundings.

Unlike the rest of the basement had been, this area was fully lit - almost as though it was daylight and they'd been transported outside. It hadn't become morning already, had it? Even if it had, they definitely weren't back where they usually were when the night ended. Was this what lay beyond the black doors? But the words carved in it had said that only those who had...

She glanced to the side, quickly. One, two, and she made three. Only three of the five of them were there. The two that had pricked their fingers weren't among them.

Callisto lunged for Goku instantly, meaning to grab him by the front of his shirt. "Why did you stop me?" she all but screamed at him.

((From here.))

The darkness here was thick and oppressive. Even with the beam from his glowrod, it was difficult to get a clear idea of what, exactly, was ahead. For a moment, he reached out with his senses, but he was met with murky clouds of aggression, cold air, and something else he couldn't identify. There was a draft, but that wasn't why his stomach turned uncomfortably as goosebumps ran up his arms and spine. The low, whistling noise from the wind blowing through seemed to be warning them of the dangers here, and not of the sort they'd faced before.

There was something evil down this hallway. He was certain of it.

And yet there was only one direction for them to go now.

"Stay close," he quietly murmured as they ventured into the darkness. He kept his light carefully trained on their path, and his senses on alert.

[From here]

Moving down the stairs, keeping his senses alert, Qui-Gon led the way deeper beneath Landels. The darkness in the Force here was even stronger. Qui-Gon faced it even as he felt its effects; his stomach turned, he could feel the hair on the back of his hands standing up, and there was always the sense of someone looking over his shoulder and yet when he turned around, there was no one there. His boots seemed to thud unnaturally loud on the spotless black marble of the Ballroom's floor as he descended the last of the stairs. He adjusted his footsteps unconsciously.

Qui-Gon paused in the center, a hand on his hip and thumb hooked in his belt as he turned, surveying his surroundings and trying to sense any danger heading their way. It looked much like it had the night before, almost too silent. Off to the east and the west were the two doors they entered last night, doors Qui-Gon didn't feel inclined on trying again. They passed the tests this time...but there was no telling if the next time would be different, if the tests would be altered.

The Shield Artifact seemed to press in on him, feeling heavy and cold in his hand as he held it, glancing down at it.

"This is it," Qui-Gon said quietly. "Is everyone prepared?"

He glanced at everyone's faces, sizing them up, his gaze roaming from Callisto to Sanzo to Goku and finally coming to a rest for a slightly longer moment on Obi-Wan. He hoped everyone knew what was at stake here and the risk. Obi-Wan did, he knew. He wasn't sure about Goku, and he knew Sanzo was still recovering from last night's injuries, injuries that should have floored him. As for Callisto...well, she was a bit of a wild card. He believed she was determined, but what she expected out of this, he couldn't determine.

[from here]

With an aggravated noise somewhere between a growl and a scream, Callisto decided to fully ignore their tag-a-longs for now and continue forward. They'd been lucky so far not to have been held up by anything and she didn't want that to change.

She marched straight through the kitchen without a word and without turning to see if anyone was following. It might have been childish, but getting the short end of the stick was something she was far too used to and she wasn't going to enjoy dealing with it here anymore than she had anywhere else.

[From here with RAID GROUP]

A blast of cold air greeted him.

Moving quickly, the Jedi retraced his steps, moving past the racks of frozen meat and feeling, if not quite seeing, the feel of evil go stronger. Qui-Gon's breaths came in white clouds, but he wasn't as cold as he'd been before: the extra layers of his clothing helped keep the cold at bay, for now, at least. He didn't intend to stay here any longer than he had to. Heading deeper inside, Qui-Gon searched out the discolored tile on the floor, kneeling next to it and running his fingers on the edges until he could get a grip on it. Straining, he eventually had it lifted enough that he could shift it over to the side, uncovering the black depths of the staircase that would lead him to the basement.

The Jedi Master lowered himself first down the shaft, bringing his flashlight to bear on the dark staircase, stepping moving back and angling his flashlight to help the others. He stood by in case they needed his help climbing down.

[From here]

There wasn't any hiding the small smirk at Goku's comment. Occasionally he did something right now and again, by pointing out the obvious like that. Callisto could bitch all she wanted.

"No one gives a shit if you agreed to it or not," he couldn't resist throwing back at her. "And the monkey's right, for once."

So was Qui-Gon. Sanzo had no interest in seeing if there'd be a repeat of that man earlier. It didn't matter if they had numbers; if Callisto was right, that son of a bitch couldn't be killed.

It was time to move on.

The cafeteria was still, dark and silent like last night. Sanzo's eyes flicked down to the spot where he'd sprawled against the table leg the night before. There wasn't any sign of the bleeding from earlier, or bloody foot prints. Just a spotless floor, as if he hadn't nearly bled to death here.

[From here]

Qui-Gon stopped before the Sun Room doors to access the situation. Last time there had been guards in the Sun Room, no doubt to prevent patients from making it to the basement. He would have to be careful. Qui-Gon was competent with his knife but it was no lightsaber. There was a good chance he would have to make a break for it instead of a direct confrontation. With that in mind, he pushed open the Sun Room doors and stepped inside.

[To here]

[from here]

The patient corridor widened out as it hit the Main Hall. Patients were already moving about, his senses told him, but he was unable to identify who they were. Qui-Gon moved on in the darkness.

[to here]

[From here]

He moved as quickly as his leg would allow him to, taking the pain for what it was and letting it flow through him and out of him. Qui-Gon knew how to get to the Main Hall from here and didn't anticipate any trouble.

[to here]

Wishing Vlad good luck, Qui-Gon gathered his things. Wearing his old clothes wouldn't be much of an advantage, but it would be enough: his robes and his tunic were a great deal thicker and more resilient than the flimsy patient shirts, and with boots, he could keep his legs protected. Considering the state of his injured knee, he knew he wouldn't be kicking down any doors in the near future. But it was still protection all the same. Strapping on his utility belt, Qui-Gon ran a hand over the nicks and scratches on its surface, all from years of his service as a Jedi, each with their own story, their own mission to tell. His hand passed over where he would normally clip his lightsaber, feeling like he was missing a companion.

Sighing, he finished dressing. If they were heading to the basement, he wouldn't bring the outer robes; he'd need maximum mobility in case they were attacked and they would get in the way. The extra protection they offered wasn't a good enough trade off at this moment. Tightening the belt and checking to make sure it was secure, Qui-Gon moved about the room, retrieving the Shield Artifact and his knife, sliding the blade into his belt. Next were the makeshift commlinks, which were small enough to fit in there as well.

He was as ready as he was going to get.

Qui-Gon tried to stretch out his senses. Blurry, muddled. The Force was stronger to him than it felt to him during the day in Doyleton, but he was still recovering from exerting himself so much the night before with those droids. He would have to focus. It wasn't the first time he pushed himself. Opening the now-unlocked door, the Jedi Master stepped out.

[headed this way]

(From here!)

Artemis walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the decor. He wasn't impressed, but he wasn't disdainful either. He simply smiled. It was nice... for a town with a population of barely three hundred.

The boy smiled up at the person up front. "Two, if you please."

Shiki was a little disappointed. When she heard the words 'field trip', she had expected the town to be a whole lot bigger. How could you even go shopping properly in a town like this? There needed to be a whole lot more stores, she decided. Two department stores, boutiques, and a record store, at least.

She walked down the main street. Maybe she'd stumble into something.

Rukia filed out of the bus with the other prisoners, shivering a little in the cool autumn air. She was a little irked that the nurses hadn't given her mittens on this trip. Forced to stuff her hands in to the pockets of her jeans, Rukia hunched her shoulders and wandered to the edge of the park before turning around to look for anyone she knew.

Nurses and orderlies were already milling about, supervising and watching the prisoners. Rukia's plan was to get a hold of something - anything - that she could use as a weapon when they returned to the Institute that night. It would be difficult with so many staff members around, but she was determined; the last thing she wanted was to be trapped on the buses again with no weapon.

[from here]

Sheena slipped the coupon book into the back pocket of her pants and wandered down the road. It was good to see the familar sight of an inn, but she didn't have any need to go inside; she was full of energy but she'd keep it in mind if she exhausted herself playing tag later on.

The sounds of a dog barking drew the ninja's attention and she turned down the next street, following the sound.

[to here]

[One speedster, free to a good home! Plays well with others and has had his shots. Adopt today!]

Wally followed the steady stream of patients from the cafeteria towards the showers, but was prevented from entering by one of the ever-present nurses.

"Not you, dear," she said with a fixed, though pleasant, smile, "you were already cleaned up on arrival. I know, why don't you wait here in the Sun Room and see if you can make some new friends?" She gave him a gentle push back towards the centre of the room. Wally forced a smile in response and made a show of wandering around the room, taking in the paintings before pausing to check the bulletin board.

He wondered what the nurse had meant exactly. Had he been showered and cleaned before he'd gotten here, or had one of the nurses taken care of it while he'd been out? That was an unnerving thought. He added it to the long list of unnerving thoughts he'd gotten that day. Most of the rest had been about monsters, but there was also the whole powers thing which no one seemed to know much about, judging by the bulletin board, and Kal-who-thinks-he's-Clark. It had given him a lot to chew over, which was more than he could say about lunch. He hadn't been game to even grab a snack on the way out with Marcus watching him.

"Well this bites," he muttered to himself. He made his way over to an empty couch and flopped down with a sigh in the warm sunlight. Surely it couldn't be that much longer until he was able to bid this place 'goodbye' as he speed back to a more familiar setting. At this point he'd even be willing to let J'onn beat him at Brawlin' Bots, or go on a completely serious, Flash-please-stop-talking-and-concentrate patrol with Bats, if it would get him home.

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

The Head Doctor's announcement was intriguing, to say the least. Putting that information together with what Kagura had told him about trying to climb the walls last night made Leon quite curious to investigate the Rec Field.

But doing that in his current condition and with his current lack of weapons would be suicide. Leon pulled on the heavy, grey sweater and collected his flashlight and baseball bat. He tore the pages with the maps out of his journal, and tucked them into his pocket. The second floor supposedly had some interesting things. Things like knives.

With a goal in mind, Leon walked down the hall, relying on the light from other patients' flashlights to guide him, at least for now. [to here]