Nightshift 60: Main Hallway, 2-Center
[from here]
The main balcony was an extremely hard place to defend -- big glass windows, looking out onto stars that twinkled through the atmosphere, the often-occupied room below, and the doors that were locked to patients -- or locked to most patients, as the case might be -- but not to the staff that lurked behind them ( Read more... )
The main balcony was an extremely hard place to defend -- big glass windows, looking out onto stars that twinkled through the atmosphere, the often-occupied room below, and the doors that were locked to patients -- or locked to most patients, as the case might be -- but not to the staff that lurked behind them ( Read more... )
In the still of darkness, the monkey boy stopped to listen. His sense of hearing wasn't as good as his smell these days, but it couldn't hurt employ a few more senses for this crucial job! Nothing stirred him, but he knew it was best to keep on guard.
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The second floor hallway was quiet when Yomi emerged from the stairwell, the light from her flashlight revealing nothing untoward. She turned right, where she knew the balcony would be, and headed down the corridor in that direction. If no one had gotten there ahead of her, this would be the best spot to keep watch for History Club members.
But it was only a few moments before her senses pinged, alerting her to the fact that something or someone was in the area. Soon enough she saw the pudgy little figure standing in the way--not a spectre, clearly.
“Hello,” Yomi called in a sing-song fashion. “Who goes there?”
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"That's my line! Who are you?" Goku asked, a wary scowl scrunching his chubby face. "I'm supposed ta keep an eye out around this place." He came close, circling the person like a cranky vulture.
"So? What is it? Are you a person or a monster?!"
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Who would’ve thought they’d still have to deal with children in this kind of place? But the Institute surprised that way.
“With just an eye, or are you going to give me a poke with that staff of yours, too?” Yomi wondered, following him with her gaze. As far as threats went, he was a small one, hardly the worst gatekeeper she’d come across in the hospital. “Can’t I be both? I’m shaped like a person, but being a monster would be more exciting, I think.”
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"Well, if that's the case... You wanna fight?" The strange question was met with an eager grin. His round face lit up with excitement at the prospect of a quickie while he waited for Taura to come back to him.
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"Yomi, this is Goku. Goku, Yomi. I'd appreciate it if you saved your enthusiasm for the real challenge." She shot a glance at the locked door, and waited until she'd rejoined them to continue, her voice dropping to a low rumble. "Assuming the key ever shows up, we're going through there. There were a lot of the things the medics turn into at night behind it last time. Plus a stash of weapons and some supplies that didn't look exactly standard-issue for a medical facility."
Unless said medical facility was also a research lab with a complete lack of ethics, in which case it was absolutely to be expected. Though she'd never found out exactly what they'd grabbed; perhaps it was just the same things that had been laid out the other night for "volunteers". Either way, she'd take the weapons, but leave the experiments.
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Spoke too soon. As a second figure made themselves known, Yomi’s gaze flicked to them. Before the moonlight gave the person away, she could guess who it was by the height and the build without needing to lift her flashlight. Or her sword.
Taura. And the boy she‘d wanted to bring along, apparently. Things were starting to fall into place, given the conversations that had gone on on the bulletin earlier that day. Yomi looked back at the dark-haired child, appraising him in a new light. This little rug rat was supposed to round off the team? To want to include him, he either had to be someone incredibly special, or someone Taura desperately wanted to kill off ( ... )
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"Homura never did mention how he got the key, but I'm glad it didn't leave with him." She shrugged. This whole place was set out as interlocking challenges; the only prize they'd won in the basement was a singularly useless decoration, but perhaps it wasn't the only one available ( ... )
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One snorted in the dark, trying to smell out the intruders that had wandered into their territory; the other growled, baring his yellow teeth, his eyes locking onto their prey. Three figures- one small enough that he was only worth a single bite. His eyes focused on the taller patients, his simple mind deeming them to be the threat by virtue of their being bigger.
Splitting apart, the two lurchers lumbered through the darkness, one along each side of the balcony that overlooked the Sun Room, their heavy steps audible as they approached. The smaller of the brothers got impatient, leaving the other behind as he charged the group with a guttural howl, his monstrous fists swinging for the tallest of the three.
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Speaking of smells... The young boy's nose began to itch as a new scent carried along the cold air from the vents above them. It wasn't a smell in the aromatic sense. It was more like a feeling best explained as a smell that left Goku restless for a right against evil.
He heard the steps seconds later as one hulking creature ran toward them. Giving out a cry of warning to his comrades, the monkey boy jumped away from the fray so he could unsheath his nyoibo and ready an attack.
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Speaking of monsters… Like clockwork, nighttime terrors began emerging from the Institute’s woodwork like ants from an anthill, effectively putting an end to their idle conversation. Her questions died on her tongue as her spiritual sense tingled in warning, alerting her to something that her eyes could not yet see. Both she and the sesshouseki were back under the hospital’s repression, but not all of her abilities had been all lost.
It wasn’t long at all before the creature in the lead came hurtling into sight, locked onto Taura.
Was there ever an end to these interruptions?
Yomi fanned out in a different direction than Goku, but she was also ready with the Shishiou replica in her hand. How many were there? Just the two? She couldn’t immediately tell with all the places a spectre could crawl out of.
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Still, it meant that, when two dark shapes lurched out of the darkness, she wasn't so much disappointed as resigned to a fight. One of them broke formation and went for her -- that wasn't quite the usual reaction, and her golden eyes narrowed as she slid her throwing star free and hurled it straight at the chest of the lead attacker.
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The other lurcher let forth a guttural battle cry of his own as he approached the fray, heading for the smaller woman with a more cautious gait. His breath was heavy in the air, muscles tense as he readied himself for an attack.
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