Night 59: Meeting Room 1

[damned_soldiers]

The door opened at the start of the night, and the air in the meeting room seemed to stagnate, as if resonating with the presence of the newcomer. Formalities were offered first and foremost: all military personnel stood at attention and welcomed their commanding officer with a salute. In turn, Aguilar reciprocated the gesture, before moving on to

Comments

[triplecrossing]

So Soma and the male patient (she realized he didn't know his name) were the kind who questioned. That was really for the best, since these three would be expected to carry on a torch, and yet Lydia found herself frustrated. She was finally able to speak freely and yet she didn't have the time to go into this with any detail. If they stayed here too long, all of this would have been for nothing.

It was clear that Claude was already eager to leave, and honestly, so was she. She just needed to give them some parting words. (She noted the force field as well, even vaguely recalled when Landel had been testing it. They were going to have to find a way through.)

"Marc's distracting Landel for us at this point. You need him just as much. Don't underestimate him." He was young compared to the two of them, still new to this and full of ideals and hope. But that was what the patients needed. And Lydia thought he might be strong enough to come out of this whole mess with Landel and still be ready to fight. So long as he was still in control of himself...

But she couldn't worry about that.

"I don't have the time to say more than this," she continued, looking Soma right in the face. "This world was attacked by something it wasn't ready for, something immense and devastating. The people of this planet have lived in constant fear that that will happen again, and if it does our resources will be even more drained than before. Many people thought that this--" she paused to gesture at the space around them "--was the only option."

She could have given her thoughts on it, but that would take far too long. "I'm sorry," she said instead, shaking her head, "but we have to go."

Then there was a flurry of action as she grabbed for something at her belt and threw it to the floor. It caused a cloud of smoke to appear, something that was bound to put the patients into coughing fits and distract them for long enough that the two of them could slip away. Lydia squinted her eyes closed and then darted forward, grabbing for Claude's wrist and then pulling them through the door.

[To here.]

[madeinthehrl]

Attacked by something devastating. That was all the information Lydia could give her, and Soma found herself very nearly disappointed by the lack of detail. But it was enough. It would have to be enough. Any more, and she supposed she might have been in danger of beginning to sympathize with her captors. In a way, she knew what that felt like.

She opened her mouth to protest as Prescott announced his attention to leave, but Lydia's smokebomb forestalled her. That was probably a good idea, she thought muzzily as she fought to clear the air. The less the patients knew of their whereabouts, the better. Or maybe she was reading into the act a little too much.

Waving her arms alerted her once again to the feeling of the tracking device on her arm. Recalling how the man beside her had torn his off as if it were paper, she tried the same. It gave eventually, but with considerably more effort than it seemed to have taken him. Throwing it to the ground, she glanced at her fellow patients and gestured to the still-smoking medal on the ground.

"I imagine someone will be up here soon. They must have known there was going to be a briefing tonight. Should we take that with us? Maybe one of the other patients will know what it is."

[poorexample]

When the other patient extended her arm toward him, Castiel paused for a moment, realizing that it had been some time since someone had asked him to use his powers to aid them. In a way it had been missed, that ability to be useful, and so he didn't hesitate for long. He gingerly reached for her device and then snapped it off with as much ease as he had with his own.

By that point the two rebels had answered their questions, and yet again the female was more informative. The world had been attacked by something devastating, she said. Was it possible that Heaven had been to blame for that? Had the Apocalypse come about already with him somehow remaining completely unaware of it?

But no, he should have known. If his brothers were out there waging war somewhere beyond these walls, he would have been able to feel that. Gabriel would have, as well. There was no way he could be ignorant of such a thing.

And yet there was still that lingering doubt.

The cloud of smoke was an effective distraction from all of that, however, and Castiel started to cough until he realized that this sort of thing no longer affected him. He tried to race toward the door despite the poor visibility, but by then it had already been shut.

With a sigh, he turned toward the others, waiting for them to recover and then taking in the one girl's words. She managed to get her wristband off without his aid, which indicated that she was stronger than the average human. That was worth nothing. "You're right," he replied to her. "We shouldn't linger here." That medal that Aguilar had cast off, though -- while he didn't know what it was, they definitely should take it with them for later evaluation. For that reason, he stooped down and gathered it into his hand before returning his attention to the others. "Are you ready?"

[selfnighted]

There it was again, the vagueness that couldn't have been anything but deliberate. Instead of telling the patients not to follow them, they'd opted for this obfuscation instead. Tear gas... This was far cry from that incident, but, doubled over coughing, it came to the forefront of Maya's mind anyway. All the more reason not depend on them overmuch.

Maya's priority was her life, she mused as the smoke cleared away. For that reason, she was hesitant to leave, in case whoever was coming could be persuaded that Maya had been forced into this room and she had no dealings with the rebel cause.

Yet there would come a time when Maya must be decisive. Something seemed to have been set into motion tonight; why not join the fray tonight of all nights? She had not been given time to think, and there was not reason to suspect she would be.

Leaving it was, then, Maya thought as she took off her hat and tossed it on the table. "Thank you for the assistance," she said to the man as she opened the door.

[to here]