[for Sylar, I believe]

At the sound of the intercom, Wally jerked awake and blinked around at the room. He’d fallen asleep. He should have been up and keeping an eye open for ZEX, but he’d fallen asleep waiting on his bed.

“Idiot,” he groaned, ruffling his hair and sighing in annoyance. “Way to help a guy out, hotshot.” Hopefully ZEX hadn’t dropped by and thought he’d left or something, or wouldn’t be too mad at him for just forgetting about it like that. If he was lucky, he’d be able to catch up with the other patient at some point and explain what had happened.

Rolling himself a little awkwardly out of the bed, Wally took the opportunity to stretch his injured leg and test how well it was holding up. It was feeling a bit better, not so much that he could abandon his crutch or that it didn’t pull painfully if he wasn’t careful, but better. Tony had apparently made it through the night in one piece as well, which was a relief. He really didn’t feel comfortable about the thought of his roommate wandering about on his own with an injured arm. Not when Wally himself could relax and fall asleep in the apparent safety of their room.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to let himself forget that one in a hurry.

It was at that moment that the door swung open to admit one of the nurses. She seemed surprised to find him awake and ready to go already, but smiled warmly. “Hungry, are we Mr. West? Well in that case, let’s get you to the cafeteria. The staff have provided some delicious French Toast as well as a range of other foods I’m sure you’ll like. Now will you be needing a hand with your leg, dear?”

“No thanks, I can handle it,” Wally replied, smiling back. After all, it probably wasn’t the nurses’ fault that this place was so messed up, so it wasn’t like picking fights with them would do anything. With a cheery wave goodbye, Wally slowly made his way to the cafeteria, keeping a tight grip on his crutch all the while. Obtaining a plate of food was only slightly less difficult than it had been yesterday – he didn’t have the painkillers to work around this time – but he managed well enough, coming away from the buffet with a tray containing a plate piled high with slices of French Toast and slathered in maple syrup, butter, and sugar, as well as a glass of juice. Not quite as good as some coffee would be right now, but the sugar would hopefully make up for it. And, with how few people were here at the moment, he could afford to take more food than might have been considered ‘normal’ – he’d have most of it gone by the time anyone came to keep him company, then he could just worry about how many extra serves would be allowed before he aroused suspicion.

Feeling pretty happy with how things were looking so far, Wally hummed faintly to himself as he dug in to his breakfast.

Oh yeah. This was bad. Grabbing a chair and ignoring the woman who had brought him in, Takaya crossed his arms and glared at the wall. He wasn't going to participate in this bullshit. Being told he had 'company' and that he should he happy about it had ruined what was otherwise an okay day.

The nurse had called it one of his "good days" and had gone on to inform him that, maybe if he had more "good days", he would be allowed more privileges.

He'd informed her on his opinions regarding such an idea. She'd told him to watch his language.

Besides, who the fuck would visit him? Who would they get to fuck with him now? Shit... if his sister walked through those doors, he didn't think he could face her at all. Not like this.

[From here.]

The silence in the stairwell was slightly eerie, and Roy tried to catch snippets of conversations from either above or below them as he went step by step.

"Now I have to try and remember where I left off," he said to both himself and Hughes with a small smile, doing his best to lighten the mood. He had made some steady progress with searching the second floor's locked doors, but it had been a while since he had gone on this particular "mission."

Still, he trusted in his memory. He would know where he needed to go once he was seeing it with his own eyes again.

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]

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

[from here]

John held his breath when he entered the mail, expecting an attack the moment they walked in the room. He looked around and saw that it was surprisingly not how he had left it last night. "This isn't right," he said, confused. "I pushed the filing cabinet on top of the damn thing and it looks as though no one has been in here. And there should be webbing all over the place."

[from here]

The first sweep of his flashlight's beam revealed six beds covered by crisp white linens.  Although he knew that the room's purpose must have been dark, there was nothing sinister about the space itself.  A desk in the corner held a computer identical to the ones he'd seen in the library, but Mello didn't waste any time trying to boot this one.  He had a lock to pick, and rooms seemed more likely to contain threats than hallways.

Without pause, he walked across the room and kneeled in front of the door that would lead to the chemical storage room.  It took a bit of jostling to work the dented scissors blade into the knob, but he reminded himself that this was the last door between himself and his second destination.

So far, so good

[to here]

[from here]

When the tumblers fell, Mello turned the knob and shoved the door open into the next hallway.  It wasn't hard to understand how someone could get lost in a place like this, and he was glad he'd seen a map.  Each hallway looked the same as the one before it: clinical and clean and creepy as hell.

He crouched by the door to his left and jammed the blade into the knob.  Now that he had a feel for picking the institute's locks, he expected this one to open with ease.

[to here]

[from here]

Leon bolted down the hall, Clark close by. The adrenaline that had been pushing him this far was starting to wear off, and he was suddenly very aware of the bleeding wounds in his stomach. And arm. And leg.

"This is it," Leon said, breathing hard, and nodded at the door to the janitor's closet. He leaned against the wall, attempting to keep weight off his injured leg. He dropped the bat to the floor, wincing as it clattered nosily, and started pulling off the sling holding his injured arm. It'd be more useful as bandages now. He managed to get the strap over his head, and glanced up at Clark. "You all right?" he asked.

[from here]

Mello turned right and started down the hallway closest to the stairwell he'd used to reach the second floor.  Before him, everything was silent, though the bulletin had told him that past the wall to his left, people were being tortured and used as experiements.

He mentally shrugged as he moved down the corridor, focusing on the white circle of his flashlight's beam and giving those poor souls only the most cursory of thoughts.  As long as it wasn't him. 

At the end of the hallway, he stopped to dig out the blade of the surgical scissors he'd used to modify his radio.  It was dented and slightly bent, but it should be good enough.  He dropped to one knee and slid the thin strip of metal into the doorknob's hole, then turned it as he listened for the weak thump that would indicate the tumblers falling into their assigned positions.

It shouldn't take longer than a minute or two.  The last few years had definitely given him an advantage over his peers.

[to here]

[From with Leon in tow]

Clark was moving as fast as he could. Granted, it wasn't very fast, even by humans standards, but he didn't want to leave Leon behind either just to save his own skin. Clark hobbled forward, frequently checking over his shoulder to make sure the other patient was still with him and trying to listen for that tell-tale ticking of that thing, seeing if it was following. The beam of his flashlight bobbed in the hall, his breaths coming in what to him sounded like loud pants, thundering in his ears.

[from here]

Leon tucked his flashlight into his heavy sweater, relying on Clark to provide light for them. He couldn't carry the bat and light in one hand and use either effectively. He moved relatively slowly, opting for stealth over speed. It was still quiet up here, though he thought he could hear the sounds of combat coming from the Sun Room below. Much as he wanted to go investigate, and maybe help, he knew that he'd be more of a hindrance than anything right now.

"So, what got you sent here?" Leon asked, a bit curious. "It seems like everyone here has some kind of weird background or talent... how'd a kid from Kansas end up in a place like this?" His own past was strange enough to merit his inclusion in the ranks, Leon supposed. For the first time in a long, long while, he wished he'd led a more normal life. Could've stayed in Seattle, worked as a cop there. He never would have gotten mixed up in all of this. Of course, then no one would have been there to save Claire in Raccoon City, or to help Ada... things would have gone very differently. Leon sighed quietly, and shook his head to clear it. He needed to focus.

[from here]

The stairs were empty, for the time being. Leon didn't feel like lingering, though, and he hurried up the stairs, glancing over his shoulder every few steps to make sure Clark was following.

"How long have you been here?" Leon asked Clark. He couldn't remember if they'd gone over that last time they'd met; it had been a few days since then, and they'd only met briefly. "And have you been up to the second floor before?"

[from here]

The Bride paused at the top of the stairs and listened. Quiet. It was quiet. If it hadn't been for the knowledge that there were people up here being tortured, she'd have thought she was the first to make it to the second floor. The Bride headed down the hallway, not even bothering to give the hallway where the torture was done more than a brief glance. Those people and their suffering were none of her concern at the moment.

She turned down the second hallway on the left; another step in this night's line dance.

[from here]

[from here]

He knew he was out early now; the main hallways like this one usually had at least one or two other people scurrying about even when he was rushing through. Not yet though, but that was just as well. He took the usual right and kept along the wall just in case his senses just weren't picking up on some kind of threat. Being quick did not mean not being cautious, and he'd be damned if he took another injury for being that stupid.

[gone here]

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]

[from here]

An uncomfortable ache in his chest announced to Sai that moving so quickly right now wasn't helping the healing process any. His pace slowed, but he kept his ears open for signs of any potential danger. He'd be too easy of a target, so showing weakness was out of the question. Luckily, he'd never run into much trouble in this stretch of hallway. The fact that it was possible kept him moving. It was doubtful he'd be doing anything overly strenuous tonight, so he could afford it now.

On to the next hall.

[to here]

[from here]

It didn't look like many patients were out and about yet, which suited Sai's purposes just fine. The less bodies there were to maneuver around, the more quickly he could reach his target destination. He supposed making any haste at all was unnecessary, as it was doubtful Usopp would be going anywhere, but it was never a good idea to stick about in one hall for very long anyway if it could be helped.

[to here]

Renamon blinked, and suddenly she was laying flat in the bed she had originally woke up in. The timing was impeccable, accenting Orihime's explanation perfectly. She just hoped that she hadn't freaked the girl out with her little disappearing act. She quickly shifted out of bed, and grabbed the journal she had wrote notes in last night, and jotted down another page. No sooner did she finish did her ever-so-friendly nurse come to collect her. Renamon didn't respond to the nurse's excited talk of making friends and breakfast, and simply followed her, journal in hand.

She paused at the Sunroom to leave a message on the Bulletin Board to Toboe. Hopefully the wolf had simply gotten lost, and wasn't truly gone. On the other hand, maybe she should be hoping that the boy had found a way out, and a way home. No use overly worrying about it now.

She continued to the Cafeteria, only pausing to take a plain muffin and water. It seemed she was early. She sat at a table near the wall, scanning over her notes and waiting for her breakfast date.

[Waiting for Kairi and Sora]

[from here]

John turned into the next hallway, his flashlight bouncing off of the walls. It was funny how used to this he was getting. The darkness, though no less black, didn't feel quite so suffocating. Then again, they weren't quite out of the woods and it would be foolish to let himself become lax.

"There's a door at the end of the hall," he told Wolfram. "If we walk a bit faster we might make it without any problem."