Nightshift 30: Decontamination Room 2

[small_fortune]

[From here]He was in no hurry to step into the room, shining his light across it first. It looked like--like what the map from the radio man had promised. A decontamination room. Places to wash and to change, presumably before whatever scientific horrors this place could devise were created or refined

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[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke nodded, not remembering the fact that it got dark enough in the Institute at times that others could see very little more than he could, and followed Mark's voice into the room.

Keeping the sword angled so that he'd probably not run into any tables or chairs, he struck out for the direction that wasn't Jack's voice -- let the man think what he wanted, Sasuke just didn't want to have to work too closely with him, previous words notwithstanding -- and found it with his right hand.

He hit a door frame soon enough. Too soon to be the back of the room, actually, judging by the way their voices sounded, and Sasuke frowned as he tried it. This one swung open easily enough, which probably meant it wasn't what they were looking for.

"Another room here," he said. His voice echoed back in the odd way sound did against tile and he assumed that these were the showers Mark had talked about. The floor felt like the usual shower tile against his bare feet, anyway, and was a bit of cool relief against the dull headache throbbing in the back of Sasuke's head.

Past the showers, Mark had said? Switching to the wall on his left, Sasuke kept moving into the room.

[i_slay_giants]

Jack trailed slightly behind the others, sizing them up mentally. If they did decide to backstab him, he was fairly certain he was the tallest and most athletic of the group and could probably dish out a suitable beating. Yeah, he'd be keeping an eye on them, alright...

"What is it we're looking for?" He addressed Mark, though he noted Sasuke's sword. He wouldn't have minded having one of those for himself. Maybe he could ask where Sasuke got it. Or take it when the kid wasn't watching. Like he was ever watching. "Is there something special?"

[small_fortune]

There they were. Finally. The odds of the doors actually opening were astronomical, he supposed, but they'd gotten this far at least. If they could just get through one set...

"Back here," he called, and slammed his flashlight down on one lock, the one for the room marked 'elevators'. A primitive sort of lift tube, if he remembered right. Another try, and it wouldn't budge. "This one seems to need a key. We can see if John's key works on more than one door," such a thing wasn't totally unlikely with these primitive doors, right? "I'm going to try breaking into the door beside it."

Going deeper into the web. Downstairs, downstairs, downstairs was what everyone was constantly talking about. It made upstairs particularly enticing. Of course, with no map, it would make further progress difficult, and this staircase might lead to the roof... but why would the roof be hidden so far out of the way? Something had to be up here.

[Sorry for slow, wanted clarification on desc. plus was at con, back now!]

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke passed the first door as Mark ascertained that it wasn't one of the breakable locks, finding the next one with his hand and trailing it over to the handles. A quick shove revealed a bit of give, and he readjusted his grip on his weapons before back up two steps.

"This one feels like it'll give," he told Mark, and swung into a kick angled to strike just below the catch of the lock. If the same pattern held for this door as for the other breakable locks around the Institute, it shouldn't take more than two or three kicks -- and indeed, on the third hit, there was a distinctive cracking noise and the door swung open on silent hinges.

Sasuke didn't proceed directly into the new area, though, instead hefting his weapons to the ready and waiting. If he had two pairs of seeing eyes around, he might as well use them to check for danger instead of feeling it out himself.

[small_fortune]

That was certainly efficient. And if John still had questions about why Sasuke was there, it should be a suitable answer.

"I'll go up first." The staircases between the first and second floors were traveled enough that Mark didn't feel too squeamish about wandering back and forth on them, but this was something else. The odds were decent that he'd find nothing but a staircase leading to a door he couldn't pass through. Placing everything on those odds didn't make Mark comfortable, however. We're the best suited for this part, unless one of them's been holding out on us.

"If I find anything worthwhile, I'll call back down."

[to here]

[small_fortune]

[And back]

That was as much as he'd hoped for. Better, even. For one thing, nothing had killed him on the staircase, or even tried, which was more than he'd hoped for. Most importantly, he'd confirmed a third-floor or roof door. What kind of roof has an elevator to it? He also had confirmed one key to enter this area.

They could look around some more and see if there was anything worth taking home, but he'd gotten his prize for the night. "It seems we've gone as far as we can with that key."

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke had to admit that he was a little disappointed -- for a moment he'd gotten his hopes up that they might have managed to reach the roof and whatever might be there -- but logic said that they probably couldn't have anyway. This place wasn't exactly forthcoming with its secrets, though it was also oddly free.

This meant that keys were on the list of priorities, though, especially if there was a new area to be discovered.

"What about the other door?" He glanced over to where he'd last heard John's footsteps, waiting to see if the key worked on that door as well.