McCoy could feel a throbbing somewhere over his left eye. The crackle of the intercom felt overly loud and he'd be damned if it had helped that headache along any. The thing had been brewing all day, starting a few shifts ago. He almost didn't even notice it at first. By the time dinner rolled around, it had certainly made itself known: not nearly as excruciating as a migraine but insistent and relentless, like a slow, increasing burn that was getting worse with each minute. The weird thing was where the pain was radiating from. It wasn't even in one spot, instead, it was at its most intense at five spots on his skull, and seemed to fan out from there.
He was so focused on his head and the intercom message that he didn't notice the time. Or who was waiting for him up ahead.
Those two minutes were almost up when McCoy finally showed. The man's head was down, face drawn, and because of this, the doctor nearly walked right past Kirk. The only thing that stopped him as the command gold he caught out of the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly, and turned, surprised.
What was Jim doing here? They had their standing orders didn't they? Jim hadn't mentioned anything before last night had cut out about new orders. Spock would probably meet him on the way up to finish the second floor, if he wasn't there already.
Unless the captain had been on his way to see him about an injury. Maybe that fall into the river been worse than it looked. McCoy somehow doubted that. Jim was standing around as if he'd been waiting. He didn't look like he'd just happened to run into him on the way there.
Kirk started out by not pacing, honest. He twirled his bat a few times, experimenting with the weight of it in his hand, and tapped its head against the tile floor at a steady beat, in a manner which did not at all suggest impatience or agitation or anxiety. He was calm. He was cool. He was definitely neither agitated nor impatient when it hit the minute mark and he started wondering if it was possible Bones had gotten ahead of him, and if so, it might be better to just head down to the main hallway, except once he started, he realized it would be better to check the doctor's room first to make sure there were no signs of a struggle, assuming he'd struggle. ZEX had gone along peacefully enough when they'd come for him, but that was because the both of them had known they were outmatched by the orderlies and a nurse armed with syringes. No doubt Bones would've calculated the same odds with the soldiers (since it would be soldiers now, right?) and done the same, all this being on a purely hypothetical level because it was not possible for Bones and Spock to be taken in the same night.
Stop it. Kirk jammed his bat against the floor again and forced his feet to stop. He breathed. There was a chance nothing would happen at all. Sure, they were still subject to the random incomprehensible whims of the Institute, but it had been thirteen days and countless indignities, and he hadn't lost anyone yet. Not even Chekov - they might not have heard word from the young navigator in days, but Kirk didn't believe he was dead. He knew Chekov wasn't dead. It made no sense. Whatever answers Landel (or Aguilar) sought, they were all too valuable to this "experiment" to be discarded like outliers in a data set. There was a method to all of this. There was a greater reason for their presence here.
He'd managed to regain most of his composure by the time McCoy arrived, seemingly preoccupied enough with something to not notice Kirk straight away. "Bones," he said, utterly unable to hide the relief in his voice. Composure. Right. Kirk turned his flashlight back on, and frowned a little as he got a better look at the doctor. "What do you think? I was waiting for you."
That had been a strange response, the kind of thing Bones - the other Bones - might have said when he found Jim loitering outside the Academy medical labs. Not what one might expect when the captain had ordered them to continue their missions tonight, only to have the first officer abruptly announce that he was being taken for "observation" by the hospital staff. Did he not know...?
"Spock's not going to join us. He told me the staff is taking him to the medical wing tonight for 'observation'," Kirk quickly explained, and paused, eyebrows knitting together. It wasn't just missing the bulletin, he realized - Bones looked... off. "Are you alright?"
McCoy looked at Jim blankly. "You were waiting for me?" Why? And why was Jim looking at him like he was supposed to know this. There was that uncomfortable sensation again, the one he'd felt earlier when he'd apparently lost time when he'd drifted off right in the middle of the briefing back at Doyleton. Right in front of Jim and Spock. Except this time he was sure he could remember the entire day.
Spock wasn't going to join them for once. When had this happened?
What the hell did observation even mean? There was the sense he would have used it in, the sense the general scientific community would've used it, and then there was Aguilar's sense, which McCoy had to admit he had not idea about. It was worrying in any sense. Something could be wrong with Spock and they'd taken him in. Or he was being put on experimentation.
And Jim was wasting time asking about him. McCoy felt a twinge of annoyance at the Captain start to worm up.
"Yes, I'm fine," McCoy answered impatiently. Worrying about his head wasn't going to help either of his COs right now. It was better kept to himself, and if Jim would just let him nurse it in silence, he'd manage. "Now what's this about Spock?"
Kirk eyed him skeptically for a second, but only a second. If Bones could still sound that irritated with him, then he was fine enough - not that Bones didn't usually sound that irritated with him, but you know. Spock's whereabouts were more important than the overpowering effect of Kirk's charisma on people, or even whatever might be plaguing Bones lately. The sprain he'd suffered yesterday seemed better, and when it came to the other matter...
Never mind. Spock. What the hell were they doing with Spock? "That's all I know," Kirk answered, frustration edging back into his voice. "They told him, he told me, and I'm guessing the soldiers were as chatty with the details as they've been all day." Which was to say, not at all. To think there would be a day he'd miss the conversational skills of the nurses... "I've never even heard of this happening before. Their M.O. so far has been to grab people out of their rooms during dinner, without warning, so why bother telling Spock ahead of time?"
More questions without answers, more minutes ticking by when they could be... doing what? Kirk had no idea, but to admit that would be like admitting defeat. He sighed, then glanced back at Bones and cocked his head in the direction of the building's main hallway. They could continue this while walking.
Where the two men were missing one of their usual playmates, another passing soul decided to take his place just then. A faint gust of air sifted past them, carrying with it the sound of a child's laughter. Nothing was visible for now, but with the change in the air around them, there was unmistakably a new presence here.
The one in the golden shirt had something in his hand. A bat? Did he want to play a game with it? The sylph hoped so. The air itself seemed to smile as she tugged on the bat eagerly, a cloudy light fading into existence around it for a moment before fading out again just as quickly.
McCoy could feel the impatience with Kirk growing, even though part of him knew it wasn't warranted. He knew it wasn't fair. Jim was trying his hardest to manage them all here. It wasn't like he was as experienced as his Jim and besides, it didn't matter if it was fair or not or if McCoy even approved. Jim was still his CO.
That was strange. When did the facility give advance warning of when someone was going to be taken? He was sure they hadn't. Jim had been her longer than him too. They hadn't warned them when they'd taken Chekov or when Hayes had vanished. He hadn't observed this kind of behavior either, but it was a new 'staff'. A lot was changing. "Maybe it's intimidation. They've been big on that late-"
Something suddenly brushed past them just then. It was barely noticeable, a gentle breeze that ruffled the air. McCoy went still, goosebumps dotting his bare arms. It would've been pleasant except that there couldn't be a draft inside a hallway. He could have sworn there was the faint sound of a child laughing. It felt like something was right there with him.
They had two possible leads. Assuming "observation" was different from either the CM-US Trials or Special Counselling, the two regular trauma sessions he was aware of, and that "the medical wing" didn't describe a location Kirk already knew about, then that left only a few places for them to search for Spock. The likeliest candidates were the third floor, and the large blank spot on the map he had of the first floor. Unfortunately, he already knew the way up to the third floor was solidly locked - he'd checked that with Uhura. Same with the area on the first floor - he'd checked that with Chekov.
But if they'd changed routine with Spock, then it was possible something had changed there too. Also assuming this wasn't just a new way to screw with their heads like Bones suggested, but even if it was, trying these options was better than arguing about it. Kirk had barely taken two steps when he felt the air change. From the way Bones' words suddenly cut off, he wasn't the only one. Laughter breathed in his ears (a child's?) and Kirk automatically turned to look for its source, lifting the aluminium bat pre-emptively.
If Bones saw something, Kirk missed it - but he certainly felt it when his bat tried to escape his right hand. "Hey!" He spun back around, tightening his grip, but there was nothing there but air. What. Were he anywhere else, he might have wondered if he'd imagined it... but not here, in Landel's Funhouse of Horrors. "Bones, get back."
The man wanted to play Keep Away, it seemed. How wonderful! The sylph liked that game a lot. It swirled air back and forth and around the man with the bat a few times - teasing, making him wonder when she was going to make another grab.
She laughed again, more clearly this time, taking one spin around the man in blue before grabbing for the bat again, hoping to tug it to the right and take its owner around in a circle with her if she caught it.
McCoy obeyed, but not before it, whatever it was, breezed past him. He felt the hairs on the nape of his neck go up in its wake.
It was definitely something there. The laugh confirmed it, as well as the way it moved. McCoy wished they could see it, because not only did it make it next to impossible to tell where it was sitting or how how big it was, there was no way to tell what it was getting ready to do next. They couldn't even tell what it was feeling. The laugh was the only indication they had. It might be the only sound it could make. It seemed harmless for now, but he'd yet to see anything that was actually harmless in these halls.
McCoy was thinking he might want to be concerned. It had a preoccupation with Jim and that bat. The bat especially.
"Maybe you should let it have it," he said from against the wall.
When the gust of air blew around him, Kirk planted his feet slightly apart and brought his flashlight to the handle of his baseball bat, holding both in a two-handed grip. He readied himself for another attempt by whatever this was, only to hear laughter dive past him to ruffle Bones' hair. Apparently keeping their distance wasn't going to be enough to protect them. Kirk stayed where he was in the middle of the hallway, trying to guess what they were dealing with from its sounds and movements. A single entity, he thought. The closest he'd ever come to encountering something like this was that second night when Spock had been killed, but unlike then, this force seemed more playful than malicious, and Bones could hear it too.
Although he'd expected it to come at him again, its strength still caught him by surprise. The beam of Kirk's flashlight danced around them as it swung him around by his bat, but only white walls and floor tiles were lit up in front of him. Still, he could feel the thing which had his bat as clearly as he could hear Bones' suggestion behind him. Kirk scowled.
"It's our only weapon," he shot back. Yeah, it was just a dented aluminium bat, but he wasn't going to surrender anything of his so easily - plus, worst case scenario, giving it up might just mean giving this invisible menace something to hit them with. That is, assuming the worst case scenario wasn't that it was waiting to descend on him and suck out all his red blood cells or something.
Kirk tugged back on his bat, using just enough strength to put up a fight, and called out: "What are you? What do you want?"
The man in blue seemed reluctant to play, but the man in gold was more than willing, which delighted the sylph. It tugged the bat around in swooping, swirling patterns, as if trying to add an element of dance to their game.
Indeed, as the bat continued to be moved, the cloudy light appeared again, and this time, silhouetted brilliantly within those clouds was the form of a very slight, long-haired little girl with a beaming smile on her face. She would have been the very picture of innocence and fun had her tugs not been so carelessly rough, and only getting rougher the more she danced with her new playmate.
"It's not going to do much good if you piss it off," McCoy found himself saying, exasperated. The bat looked like it'd fold the moment it touched something once, and not only did they have Spock to worry about, it didn't look like it was worth the trouble. Of course Jim was going to cling to it. He'd found something that didn't leave him completely open and tactically, it made more sense. McCoy just didn't see that bat being worth it. Too small, too flimsy, and they might as well not be armed if that was what they were depending on for their safety.
It looked like the creature had the ability to take some form. Or maybe it had been there the entire time and was just now revealing itself. A little girl, whispy and barely there, appeared in the darkness, lit by some vague, eerie light. McCoy wasn't completely surprised. The laugh had been enough of a clue, but he didn't expect her to look so harmless. She looked like Joanna had at the same age, completely adorable, and about as much trouble too.
She also didn't seem to notice that she was managing to tug around a full grown man easily. In fact, she was getting rougher each time. It was making him nervous.
McCoy didn't move. He remained very still against the wall, although he was glaring daggers at his captain. "Jim, would you just leave it?!"
From the continued laughter, the thing didn't seem the least bit pissed off with him, but that was probably the only good thing he could say about it. Kirk was growing aware of how ridiculous he looked getting pulled around like this, and even more so when his attacker materialized into the form of a glowing young girl. Materialized wasn't quite the right word for it - she looked as ephemeral as a cloud, but there was nothing unsubstantial about the grip on the other end of the bat.
Seeing her appear, Kirk tried to pull as hard as he could in case he could take advantage of her distraction, but no luck. If anything, her strength only seemed to grow in response, although with her enthusiasm - if this kept up, he'd have a hard time staying on both feet. What was this about? Was she playing a game, or...?
Bones was yelling now. Kirk glanced back at him, and shifted his grip more firmly around his flashlight before pulling both hands away right when the girl tugged on the bat again. No choice. Kirk kept his eyes on her as he backed up, motioning for Bones to head south. "Go!"
The sylph went sailing back with the bat in her hands at that, temporarily elated that she had won the game. The feeling didn't last long, however. Without the man in gold supporting most of the bat's weight, the sylph was forced to drop the heavy thing, and it hit the ground with a disappointing clang. Also, it seemed that her playmates were trying to run away now. How rude. Why would they leave so soon?
The light around the sylph glowing brighter as she floated toward the man in gold, and she swirled around him again, the air in her dance seemingly begging him to play longer, or at least take her with them. The air churned faster, and if the man let it go on for too much longer, the miniature maelstrom would threaten to start drawing breath from his very lips.
Where the hell was Spock when you needed him? Jim would have listened to Spock from the get go, because at least he could have laid it out in a way Jim couldn't refuse. Jim finally decided to give up the damn bat and get going. He was ordering a retreat. The creature had fallen back and seemed to, for the moment, content with the bat.
McCoy had a moment to feel elation at the fact that it looked like they could get going, with only the loss of the bat as their main worry. The doctor moved further down the hall. He'd only gotten a few feet when there was a ringing clang that echoed back towards them. With a sinking feeling of dread, he looked back over his shoulder. The bat had been dropped, forgotten.
Then the little girl began to glow, brighter than before. She began to float towards Jim. Before he could do anything about it, the creature seemed to envelope him, swirling around him.
McCoy didn't think. He reached out, trying to grab at Jim's wrist to yank him out of it.
Neither of them delayed when it came to moving. Kirk saw the girl sail away from them, a blur of light clinging to its prize, and turned before he heard the sound of his bat clanging against the floor. He didn't expect this to win them much more than a couple seconds' headstart, but at least that put Bones ahead of him if things got ugly.
He glanced back over his shoulder in time to see "ugly" take the form of the girl-cloud beelining straight for him. He needn't have bothered to look back - there was no missing the mini-tornado of wind and light which spun around him now, almost playful if not for its intensity. Kirk's arm swung out as if he could hit the thing with his flashlight, but he might as well have tried fighting air. He opened his mouth to order Bones to keep going, but nothing came out but a soundless cough. It was like the words had been stolen from his lips, along with few healthy breaths.
It was the slap of someone's hand clamping around his wrist which shook Kirk enough to remember himself. Bones, he thought, and then immediately: Run. With his help, Kirk managed to break out of the maelstrom, and didn't waste a second - or any words - in running. He doubted Bones needed to be told to do something twice.
McCoy could feel a throbbing somewhere over his left eye. The crackle of the intercom felt overly loud and he'd be damned if it had helped that headache along any. The thing had been brewing all day, starting a few shifts ago. He almost didn't even notice it at first. By the time dinner rolled around, it had certainly made itself known: not nearly as excruciating as a migraine but insistent and relentless, like a slow, increasing burn that was getting worse with each minute. The weird thing was where the pain was radiating from. It wasn't even in one spot, instead, it was at its most intense at five spots on his skull, and seemed to fan out from there.
He was so focused on his head and the intercom message that he didn't notice the time. Or who was waiting for him up ahead.
Those two minutes were almost up when McCoy finally showed. The man's head was down, face drawn, and because of this, the doctor nearly walked right past Kirk. The only thing that stopped him as the command gold he caught out of the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly, and turned, surprised.
What was Jim doing here? They had their standing orders didn't they? Jim hadn't mentioned anything before last night had cut out about new orders. Spock would probably meet him on the way up to finish the second floor, if he wasn't there already.
Unless the captain had been on his way to see him about an injury. Maybe that fall into the river been worse than it looked. McCoy somehow doubted that. Jim was standing around as if he'd been waiting. He didn't look like he'd just happened to run into him on the way there.
"Jim? What can I do for you?"
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Stop it. Kirk jammed his bat against the floor again and forced his feet to stop. He breathed. There was a chance nothing would happen at all. Sure, they were still subject to the random incomprehensible whims of the Institute, but it had been thirteen days and countless indignities, and he hadn't lost anyone yet. Not even Chekov - they might not have heard word from the young navigator in days, but Kirk didn't believe he was dead. He knew Chekov wasn't dead. It made no sense. Whatever answers Landel (or Aguilar) sought, they were all too valuable to this "experiment" to be discarded like outliers in a data set. There was a method to all of this. There was a greater reason for their presence here.
He'd managed to regain most of his composure by the time McCoy arrived, seemingly preoccupied enough with something to not notice Kirk straight away. "Bones," he said, utterly unable to hide the relief in his voice. Composure. Right. Kirk turned his flashlight back on, and frowned a little as he got a better look at the doctor. "What do you think? I was waiting for you."
That had been a strange response, the kind of thing Bones - the other Bones - might have said when he found Jim loitering outside the Academy medical labs. Not what one might expect when the captain had ordered them to continue their missions tonight, only to have the first officer abruptly announce that he was being taken for "observation" by the hospital staff. Did he not know...?
"Spock's not going to join us. He told me the staff is taking him to the medical wing tonight for 'observation'," Kirk quickly explained, and paused, eyebrows knitting together. It wasn't just missing the bulletin, he realized - Bones looked... off. "Are you alright?"
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Spock wasn't going to join them for once. When had this happened?
What the hell did observation even mean? There was the sense he would have used it in, the sense the general scientific community would've used it, and then there was Aguilar's sense, which McCoy had to admit he had not idea about. It was worrying in any sense. Something could be wrong with Spock and they'd taken him in. Or he was being put on experimentation.
And Jim was wasting time asking about him. McCoy felt a twinge of annoyance at the Captain start to worm up.
"Yes, I'm fine," McCoy answered impatiently. Worrying about his head wasn't going to help either of his COs right now. It was better kept to himself, and if Jim would just let him nurse it in silence, he'd manage. "Now what's this about Spock?"
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Never mind. Spock. What the hell were they doing with Spock? "That's all I know," Kirk answered, frustration edging back into his voice. "They told him, he told me, and I'm guessing the soldiers were as chatty with the details as they've been all day." Which was to say, not at all. To think there would be a day he'd miss the conversational skills of the nurses... "I've never even heard of this happening before. Their M.O. so far has been to grab people out of their rooms during dinner, without warning, so why bother telling Spock ahead of time?"
More questions without answers, more minutes ticking by when they could be... doing what? Kirk had no idea, but to admit that would be like admitting defeat. He sighed, then glanced back at Bones and cocked his head in the direction of the building's main hallway. They could continue this while walking.
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The one in the golden shirt had something in his hand. A bat? Did he want to play a game with it? The sylph hoped so. The air itself seemed to smile as she tugged on the bat eagerly, a cloudy light fading into existence around it for a moment before fading out again just as quickly.
[Eryn]
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That was strange. When did the facility give advance warning of when someone was going to be taken? He was sure they hadn't. Jim had been her longer than him too. They hadn't warned them when they'd taken Chekov or when Hayes had vanished. He hadn't observed this kind of behavior either, but it was a new 'staff'. A lot was changing. "Maybe it's intimidation. They've been big on that late-"
Something suddenly brushed past them just then. It was barely noticeable, a gentle breeze that ruffled the air. McCoy went still, goosebumps dotting his bare arms. It would've been pleasant except that there couldn't be a draft inside a hallway. He could have sworn there was the faint sound of a child laughing. It felt like something was right there with him.
"Uh, Jim."
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But if they'd changed routine with Spock, then it was possible something had changed there too. Also assuming this wasn't just a new way to screw with their heads like Bones suggested, but even if it was, trying these options was better than arguing about it. Kirk had barely taken two steps when he felt the air change. From the way Bones' words suddenly cut off, he wasn't the only one. Laughter breathed in his ears (a child's?) and Kirk automatically turned to look for its source, lifting the aluminium bat pre-emptively.
If Bones saw something, Kirk missed it - but he certainly felt it when his bat tried to escape his right hand. "Hey!" He spun back around, tightening his grip, but there was nothing there but air. What. Were he anywhere else, he might have wondered if he'd imagined it... but not here, in Landel's Funhouse of Horrors. "Bones, get back."
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She laughed again, more clearly this time, taking one spin around the man in blue before grabbing for the bat again, hoping to tug it to the right and take its owner around in a circle with her if she caught it.
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It was definitely something there. The laugh confirmed it, as well as the way it moved. McCoy wished they could see it, because not only did it make it next to impossible to tell where it was sitting or how how big it was, there was no way to tell what it was getting ready to do next. They couldn't even tell what it was feeling. The laugh was the only indication they had. It might be the only sound it could make. It seemed harmless for now, but he'd yet to see anything that was actually harmless in these halls.
McCoy was thinking he might want to be concerned. It had a preoccupation with Jim and that bat. The bat especially.
"Maybe you should let it have it," he said from against the wall.
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Although he'd expected it to come at him again, its strength still caught him by surprise. The beam of Kirk's flashlight danced around them as it swung him around by his bat, but only white walls and floor tiles were lit up in front of him. Still, he could feel the thing which had his bat as clearly as he could hear Bones' suggestion behind him. Kirk scowled.
"It's our only weapon," he shot back. Yeah, it was just a dented aluminium bat, but he wasn't going to surrender anything of his so easily - plus, worst case scenario, giving it up might just mean giving this invisible menace something to hit them with. That is, assuming the worst case scenario wasn't that it was waiting to descend on him and suck out all his red blood cells or something.
Kirk tugged back on his bat, using just enough strength to put up a fight, and called out: "What are you? What do you want?"
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Indeed, as the bat continued to be moved, the cloudy light appeared again, and this time, silhouetted brilliantly within those clouds was the form of a very slight, long-haired little girl with a beaming smile on her face. She would have been the very picture of innocence and fun had her tugs not been so carelessly rough, and only getting rougher the more she danced with her new playmate.
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It looked like the creature had the ability to take some form. Or maybe it had been there the entire time and was just now revealing itself. A little girl, whispy and barely there, appeared in the darkness, lit by some vague, eerie light. McCoy wasn't completely surprised. The laugh had been enough of a clue, but he didn't expect her to look so harmless. She looked like Joanna had at the same age, completely adorable, and about as much trouble too.
She also didn't seem to notice that she was managing to tug around a full grown man easily. In fact, she was getting rougher each time. It was making him nervous.
McCoy didn't move. He remained very still against the wall, although he was glaring daggers at his captain. "Jim, would you just leave it?!"
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Seeing her appear, Kirk tried to pull as hard as he could in case he could take advantage of her distraction, but no luck. If anything, her strength only seemed to grow in response, although with her enthusiasm - if this kept up, he'd have a hard time staying on both feet. What was this about? Was she playing a game, or...?
Bones was yelling now. Kirk glanced back at him, and shifted his grip more firmly around his flashlight before pulling both hands away right when the girl tugged on the bat again. No choice. Kirk kept his eyes on her as he backed up, motioning for Bones to head south. "Go!"
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The light around the sylph glowing brighter as she floated toward the man in gold, and she swirled around him again, the air in her dance seemingly begging him to play longer, or at least take her with them. The air churned faster, and if the man let it go on for too much longer, the miniature maelstrom would threaten to start drawing breath from his very lips.
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McCoy had a moment to feel elation at the fact that it looked like they could get going, with only the loss of the bat as their main worry. The doctor moved further down the hall. He'd only gotten a few feet when there was a ringing clang that echoed back towards them. With a sinking feeling of dread, he looked back over his shoulder. The bat had been dropped, forgotten.
Then the little girl began to glow, brighter than before. She began to float towards Jim. Before he could do anything about it, the creature seemed to envelope him, swirling around him.
McCoy didn't think. He reached out, trying to grab at Jim's wrist to yank him out of it.
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He glanced back over his shoulder in time to see "ugly" take the form of the girl-cloud beelining straight for him. He needn't have bothered to look back - there was no missing the mini-tornado of wind and light which spun around him now, almost playful if not for its intensity. Kirk's arm swung out as if he could hit the thing with his flashlight, but he might as well have tried fighting air. He opened his mouth to order Bones to keep going, but nothing came out but a soundless cough. It was like the words had been stolen from his lips, along with few healthy breaths.
It was the slap of someone's hand clamping around his wrist which shook Kirk enough to remember himself. Bones, he thought, and then immediately: Run. With his help, Kirk managed to break out of the maelstrom, and didn't waste a second - or any words - in running. He doubted Bones needed to be told to do something twice.
[to here]
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