Night 59: M-A Block Hallway
Renji walked with purpose down the hall, though he wasn't in enough of a hurry to flashstep yet. He had to have somewhere he wanted to go first. Of course the idea that sprang instantly to mind was easily summed up as an equation: INSTITUTE + HIHIOU ZABIMARU = BOOM = :-DHowever, that would need to wait until, for example, there weren't people he
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If the air smelled weird before, just you wait. A turtle-make that ex-turtle- who spent most of his life in the sewers don't exactly smell like a garden of roses.
Still shaken and cagey from his little surprise, Raph's nerves were humming with adrenaline, aching for something to punch that wasn't the world's most unbreakable door. Yeah, the thing had been unlocked, but that's not the point. Some wackjob turned him freakin' human, and they were gonna pay.
Even worse, Raph was yet to see a single sign of his brothers. Did they get turned human too, or was he just that friggin' lucky? And how the heck was he supposed to find them if they all had different bodies? Unless he really was the lucky one. The thought of dissection tables and bone saws flashed through his head, and Raph silently relented that switching species was better than the alternatives. He just hoped he could find them and bust out of here before their captors got too curious. Hopefully after they turned him back to normal.
He set his jaw and ground those alien five-fingered hands into fists, ignoring the sick feeling that had settled in his gut soon as the hottest fires of his rage had petered out. Over the last few years he's been tortured, captured, imprisoned, and nearly dissected. He's been a slave forced to fight for public entertainment. But never, ever has he felt this freakin' violated. They damn well better be able to turn him back.
Quickly, he smothered those thoughts with indignant rage and swore to kill whoever was responsible. But first, he had to find his brothers. First, he needed answers.
Once he realized the door was unlocked, Raph had waited in silence with a chair jammed under the door handle until the footsteps and voices in the hallway outside had gone quiet. No use attracting any more unnecessary attention. He'd gotten lucky this time, and he sure as shell wasn't gonna risk it again.
No, he had to be smart. Keep his head clear. Cautiously, he slipped through the door and into the stretch of hall, keeping to the darkest corners and crouching in the shadows as people passed. Still, his body wouldn't cooperate. Everything about it was wrong. The weight, the balance, those tiny hands and feet, even the constant feeling of warmth radiating from his core. His palms were sweaty, and all of it was seriously distracting him from his mission.
In spite of it all, he managed to reach the mouth of the hall without blowing his cover, crouching down into the blackness again. This guy wasn't like the other handful of people he'd watched from the shadows. He was just standing there like he had no place to be.
Guard. Had to be. If Raph was gonna get some answers, this'd be the place to start. But there was no way he was gonna beat this guy in a fair fight. Not with this monkey body slowing him down. No, it was time to do this old school. Muscles loose and ready, he grappled with his center of balance, preparing for an ambush.
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The guy could take S.T. with one hand tied behind his back and fighting clean. So he stayed back. "Hey, man, what did I ever do to you?"
He didn't recognize the face, and he hadn't been an asshole to anyone over the bulletin today, which might be a new record. Not under his own name, at least, and baiting "Lars" didn't count. That added up to either he was a hired gun from back home who'd gone to way too much trouble, or a new guy. "You want a fight, or do you want to know what the fuck is going on?"
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Slowly, he straightened from his crouch. A menacing fire burned behind his eyes as he lunged forward on unsteady legs, intent on gathering a fistful of the guy's shirt and slamming him backward into the wall behind them. If he couldn't have surprise, he'd have intimidation. If that didn't work? Well. Things could get messy. "Where am I!?"
Respect for personal space never was Raph's strong suit. He would gladly scream in this guy's face until he got some answers.
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"Hell. What passes for it, at least. Welcome to the Institute." Specifying whose institute it was would be like calling a revolving door closed or open, so he didn't. "I take it you went to bed somewhere other than this shithole last night."
S.T. didn't have to remember that feeling. It didn't wear off after three weeks of waking up to the same walls. Even if they looked simply radiant tonight.
He tried to look meek. He wasn't very good at meek. Nonthreatening was easy. Useful on T.V., when there'd been too many exposés about Boone snuggling up to features on GEE's friendlier actions. Not that the crap about Boone had been true, either, but S.T. hadn't known that then. But meek just looked like acid indigestion.
"We're all stuck here." And if you kill me, there's a dozen more saps you can shake for information. Good going, S.T. You didn't throw someone into a wall to kill them, though, you did it to scare them, so he was probably O.K., assuming his knee didn't go from sagging to dropping him on his ass again.
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If there's one thing Raph hated more than anything else, it's a cage. He's been in prison before, and he had a feeling this so-called "Institute" was probably worse. At least the Triceretons had better taste in decor.
"Yeah?" He snorted, planting a fist into the palm of his other hand with a meaty sound. "So who do I gotta beat to talk to the supervisor around here? He and I gotta have a little chat."
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"Before that it was a guy called Landel. He's hiding out playing would-be hero with some of the rebellion, but fuck if I know where to find him, either." They'd been playing it too safe. Indy dying, even if he came back, and it was all part of the big joke. But what else was an ordinary everyday superhero supposed to do? Where Sangamon came from, radiation didn't give you the ability to fly and bend steel with your mind, just cancer.
"Trust me, if we knew where to find them, there'd be a line around the block to do the honors." S.T. included. Then turn what was left over to what was left of the Institute's lawyer population, and watch the second round get going.
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Speaking of which, he should probably get on that. Faster he found them the better. He just needed to figure out where to start looking. The rooms, probably, considering that's where he woke up. He'd have to move on from there.
"Listen. If you see any guys lookin' for Raphael, point 'em in that direction," he said, jutting a thumb over his shoulder toward the hallway he just came from. He had to make a conscious effort not to freak out over the hands again. If they're gonna get out of there, he had to play it cool. Still, he couldn't hide a slight grimace as he turned away. "Thanks for the info."
It hadn't been much to go by, but honestly Raph didn't really care about the details. From what S.T. was telling him, it sounded more like politics than anything, and he didn't have time for that. He had bigger fish to fry.
Still, he wondered if all these people running around were captives, where were all the guards? He got that the people running the joint would stay out of reach, but if this was some kind of "Institute", why were people running around like lunatics? Something to do with that emergency alarm? Maybe his brothers had a hand in it. That had Don written all over it. Either way, he could use it to his advantage.
He stopped to turn back, but hesitated, throwing a glance at S.T. over his shoulder as he debated asking more questions. He's still not even sure he can trust this guy. If there's anything else he had to say, he better speak up now. Raph wasn't gonna waste any more time talking than he had to.
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"Wait up, man. There's a world of hurt out there with your name on it, and you're just going to waltz in?" S.T. let the scorn ripen, fall off the tree, and start stinking. He jogged in front of Raphael and stood his ground. It was more a philosophical challenge more than a physical one, given that he'd had to use the piece of pipe he carried as a cane to move that fast.
"Your buddies might not be here. Or they might be, but they won't be expecting you." He hefted the pipe. "You're not even armed, and you're going out there? If you have a death wish, go on. I won't detain you any longer. If you want to survive, listen."
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Raph paused at the edge of the hallway and waited for the man to catch up. He was the picture of cocky incredulity; one eyebrow raised, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "Let me guess," he smirked, eying the pipe, "you're gonna protect me."
He knew now was not the time to be a smartass, but sometimes people made it way too easy. Still, if this guy was gonna try to help, he'd just end up slowing him down. "For one, I don't need a weapon. For two, I know that," he said, jutting a thumb over his shoulder again at the dark hallway, "ain't the way to the bake sale. I can handle it. And trust me, my brothers're lookin' for me. I just gotta find 'em."
By the end of his speech, his body language was making it more than apparent he was itching to do just that. Every part of him was set on edge, and his hands wandered over to his waist in search of sai that were no longer there. Instead, he grit his teeth and opted to ball them into fists.
The only thing keeping him staying was what the guy had said about his "friends". Why wouldn't his brothers be there? And even more confusing, why wouldn't they be expecting him? This guy obviously knew something important.
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He followed Raphael's thumb out the door, still using the pipe as a cane, though he was putting less weight on it and more on the leg with every step.
"If I told you everything, you'd think I was crazy. So I'll start small."
[to here]
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