NIGHTSHIFT 26: M81-M90 HALLWAY

[ol_canucklehead]

From here

Logan stepped into the hallway. He was sure that Parker would be fine by himself. There was no time to wait around, he had a rendezvous to keep. Moving swiftly, silently, he all but tore down the hallway.

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[son_ofkrypton]

Whatever he thought of Landels so far, the recent intercom announcement sealed the deal - the man on it, who sounded like he was in charge, didn't sound half so friendly once night fell, and sounded positively evil to Clark. And what was this about the three patients? Three patients who would attack the others? Why? Did they want to or were they made to? Seemed like a sick game to Clark, but he had to hope that those people weren't Kasady or Mr. Barret - they'd seemed like good guys from what he knew and the backgrounds of the attackers described didn't sound very positive.

"I'm going to check it out," was all Clark would throw over his shoulder to his new roommate. He was fairly sure it wasn't safe to be wandering outside. Not with what Barret and both Kasady said. But that was all the more reason Clark should head out; he had these abilities and he intended to use them like his parents taught, to help where he could and when.

Taking up the spare flashlight, Clark stepped outside and paused. It was like walking into an invisible wall, the air feeling noticeably heavier than inside his own room, and somehow...depressing. Ominous. The farmboy pressed on down the hall, determined to keep positive (well, carefully positive) and not get down before he even took any chances...

[a_spider_can]

As Peter left his room, the feeling washed over him. It caused him to hold tightly to the doorknob as he caught his breath. It had taken him by surprise, mainly because this hadn't been a factor during the short time he had been out the night before.

What he felt was almost like his spider sense, but he knew that wasn't it. He had no idea of what was causing the heaviness, and his spider sense would have alerted him to that. It was that same idea of something not being right, though, and he wished he could figure out what was going on.

As he tried to puzzle through it, he noticed that someone was walking by on his own. With this feeling of dread, he felt even more inclined to find someone else he could work with. The other patient looked a little younger than he did, but he was walking with confidence. And he had a flashlight - where had he found something like that?

Peter pulled away from the door to intercept the stranger as he walked past. "Hey," he greeted, doing his best to ignore that nagging feeling, "you know it's dangerous to go out on your own, right?" Forget the fact that he had been ready to do just that if he hadn't been able to find anyone.

[son_ofkrypton]

Clark pulled to a stop, for a moment startled as another patient intercepted him. This one was also another guy, but he looked to be college age and...well, somehow average, if you could describe someone even like that.

"That's what I was told," Clark said, and left it at that. He wasn't going to explain why he didn't feel too threatened by things that went bump in the night. He instead changed the subject. "Did you hear the intercom?"

Of course he did. Who hadn't? But it was better to carefully steer the conversation away from the previous topic and onto something else. He still had that feeling on the back of his neck like something heavy was pressing down on him, but he supposed that was to be expected considering he was in what Chloe would've labled as Creepsville.

[a_spider_can]

This guy really didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that a 'monster' (Peter was having a hard time imagining what the things looked like) might be waiting around the corner for them. There had to be some reason for that, and he could only assume that he was someone who had powers, which meant he might be a good candidate to team up with.

How could he really know if this guy was trustworthy, though? He hated having to second guess everyone, but there were all sorts of people in this place, if his first day here was any indication. Maybe if they talked for a little longer, he could get a feel for whether or not he really wanted to spend his night with the stranger.

"Yeah, I heard it, but I didn't really know what it was talking about." Maybe this guy did? That would at least prove that he was helpful, though he wouldn't blame him if he couldn't make any sense of it, either. It felt kind of odd that they were basically just making small talk when there were more important things going on, but he didn't want to be too blunt.

[son_ofkrypton]

Clark unfortunately had no idea. It looked like this guy was as new as he was.

"I guess that makes two of us," Clark said, sighing. He wasn't too sure if it was a good idea to just stand around like this, but he wasn't really sure that they should be presenting themselves as a target. Clark was all for suggesting that this other patient wait inside his room - where it would hopefully be safer - but that might bring up questions like why was Clark any safer than he was.

"Anyway, I'm Clark Kent," he said, and glanced down the hall, keeping his flashlight aimed at the floor. "I figure I could see if there's a way out or something, you know?"

[a_spider_can]

So it looked like they were in the same boat. That was as good a reason as any to stick together, but first he needed to get introductions out of the way. "Peter Parker," he responded, but since Clark hadn't put his hand out to shake, Peter kept his arms as his sides.

He couldn't help but eye the flashlight again, but his attention returned when Clark continued speaking. "Huh? Yeah, same here. Or at least make sure people aren't getting into too much trouble..." He knew he was new to this, which meant it might be a little precocious to think he could run around playing hero, but it was habit by now. Mentioning that would also give him a good idea of what Clark was like, depending on his response.

But he couldn't help asking. "Where did you get that?" he inquired, indication the flashlight.

[son_ofkrypton]

What, this? Clark glanced at the flashlight. "Apparently they like leaving around spare flashlights under people's pillows," Clark replied.

It seemed a bit too convenient, like they expected the patients to be wandering around in the dark. But what about it? He already knew this place, as several people seemed to agree, wasn't what it looked like, and in fact seemed to have some kind of secret agenda behind the friendly mental home outside. The issue was finding out what it was.

Clark wondered if Peter Parker - huh, even the name just sounded...normal, like your everyday guy picked off the street - would be exploring as well. If so, he didn't think he could just sit back. Yeah, he was worried about Kasady and Mr. Barret, but he also had to take into consideration that here was also someone who might need his help.

[a_spider_can]

Under people's--

How had he not noticed that? Why had he not thought to search his room? Then again, it wasn't like he had been in this sort of situation before. Getting kidnapped and held somewhere, that is. He wasn't used to any kind of 'protocol' or whatever. Still, he felt pretty stupid for not having thought to take a closer look.

He was a little tempted to run back into his room and grab his own flashlight, but if he ended up going with Clark, it wasn't like they would need two. He figured he would just brush off the flashlight thing and get to the point.

"So, you want to try heading out together? I figure it's better to travel in pairs." It wasn't like he needed protection or anything like that, but he wasn't sure what this place was capable of, nor what his limits were, so he was going to play it safe at least this time around.

[son_ofkrypton]

"I've got no problems with that," Clark said. It'd be a bit tricky trying to use his abilities without Peter seeing, but he'd have no choice if it meant between his abilities and letting his new traveling buddy get hurt. "I'll go first, if it's okay with you."

Not waiting for Peter to give an answer, Clark set off. He wasn't really sure what to make of Peter, other than that he seemed nice, and sane, enough. Clark was tempted to ask a few questions - where was he from, for starters, and did he have any idea how he ended up here - but didn't think right now was the right time for a conversation. If they got attacked, Clark didn't want to be distracted. He'd probably be fine, but still. The point remained. He couldn't just assume his powers would solve everything - Dad had always made of point of emphasizing the brain and heart behind them, saying Clark. Remember that it's not your powers that make you who you are.

[a_spider_can]

That was easy. Peter stood there for a moment, watching the other's retreating back before he quickly caught up. Teaming up hadn't been something he'd had that chance to do all that often so far. The only time in recent memory was with Harry, and even that had been - well, he'd been turned down at first (and with good reason), but his friend had come through in the end.

The result of that wasn't very good, but this was different. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Clark, especially since he was being good enough as to go looking around with him. He still wasn't quite sure how he was going to keep his powers a secret, or if that was even necessary at this point, but he at least had some time to think it over as they walked.

Though there was one thing he needed to ask, just to make sure they didn't walk around aimlessly. "Did you have an idea of where you wanted to go, or...?"

[son_ofkrypton]

The farmboy shook his head. He really had no idea how big this place was or anything beyond the rooms he'd been in - and even then, he wasn't too sure he could trace his way back, only having been at everything but the cafeteria except one time. Talk about blind leading the blind.

"No clue, but that's why I wanted to take a look around," Clark said, with a nervous smile. They came to the end of the hall, the flashlight illuminating only small patches here and there. "Any particular direction you want to go?"

He didn't mention it, but there seemed to be a lot of doors lining the hall they were already in. How many patients were there?

[a_spider_can]

The fact that neither of them had a destination in mind actually made things a lot easier. They could go wherever they wanted and it would be something new, so Peter didn't really mind that they were both pretty clueless. He just wanted to find his feet in this place, and there was really no other way to go about it.

As they got to the end of the hallway, it was pretty obvious there was only one way they could go: right. That would take them to the exit of this area and they would be out in the hallways, if he remembered correctly. He had been pretty out of it when he had woken up that morning.

"Well, first we have to get out into the hallways, and... Well, I don't really care where we go after that." He sent a small smile at Clark and shrugged. Considering Clark was the one with the flashlight, he was going to let him go a little ahead of him. That didn't mean he wouldn't be ready to jump in if something attacked, of course.

[son_ofkrypton]

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