Looking at the numbers, this should be the right hallway, but there was no sign of Daniel yet. That was no surprise. Turning off his flashlight and waiting against the corridor's wall, Vlad wasn't going to try to start a meeting that had been arranged with Daniel in the first place before the boy showed up. Who knew how that would be taken? His little fit on the boards, while perfectly justifiable, had been potentially troublesome enough in retrospect.
And of course Vlad had gotten there before him. Sometimes, Danny thought the man did it just so that he could bother him about being late and about the importance of being prompt or whatever. Danny wasn't in the mood to launch into a childish argument with him, though, so as soon as Danny was within range, he began to speak first.
"We should go in now," he said, approaching Vlad as he got closer and closer to M23.
Vlad found himself a bit put off by Daniel's abrupt attitude, but gestured widely towards the door and agreed in a sarcastic tone, "By all means. It is your meeting, after all, I'm just here to be helpful. You may want to knock first."
Whatever had gone into Daniel's head to inspire this recent suicidal urge, Vlad hoped it would be out of his system soon. It was annoying enough trying to keep track of the boy as things were, although at least Daniel did seem to have not lost the use of any limbs or anything since Vlad had last seen him.
Danny forced himself to ignore Vlad's tone and open the door. He just had to remind himself that Vlad wasn't worth the effort, especially not here, where he had no way to get near his lab or Danny's parents.
He took a few steps into the room. "Hello?" No answer, and the room was entirely empty, to Danny's surprise. He looked around before walking to the middle of the room. It was completely empty...either Hitsugaya left, or he was hiding in a closet. And Danny was pretty sure that it was the former.
"He's gone..." he muttered to himself, shocked. Danny didn't know him all that well, but he was pretty sure Hitsugaya wasn't the type to cancel meetings like that.
Suggesting that they check the room for valuables clues would probably not be the best idea, particularly since Hitsugaya had such an organization supporting him and if there was anything of interest in the room, it'd probably be missed. Vlad followed Daniel in anyway, glancing around the room as though Danny might have just been so incompetent he could have overlooked a person in the room.
"... Perhaps he had some more pressing concern than your abrupt desire to rush off single-handedly and wasn't able to stay to explain whatever he'd planned on telling you." Vlad paused, frowning. "What are you thinking? Surely you don't believe, as easily inhibited as we are here, that you can just waltz up to the 'doctor' and he'll be quietly waiting to be beaten."
"I never said that!" he exclaimed defensively, shifting his focus from the room on to Vlad. Danny was kind of shocked himself that Vlad hadn't yet reached the same conclusion he had, since it made a lot more sense to him than whatever it was he'd been doing here for the past two weeks or so.
"And besides, doesn't it make sense to go after the guy who's doing this to all of us instead of just bothering with all his monsters? We don't have our powers, but that doesn't mean we can't get a big group to do it, right?" But now that Hitsugaya was gone, and he was the only one who knew the doctor's location...Danny sighed and sat down on the nearest bed.
"What are we supposed to do now, then?" Wander around the building like usual and end up doing nothing again?
Well--at least 'a big group' was an improvement over the original message's implication that young Daniel had just decided to finish things himself. But it was still...
"Regarding the pointlessness of fighting individual monsters, you're stating the obvious, although I suppose for you it is a step up. As for the doctor himself, assuming for the moment that he is the central power behind all of this when all we have as evidence for the moment is his word and the word of an unseen woman over the radio, if he were intimidated by numbers I doubt he'd be continuously bringing new prisoners here
( ... )
"Well, going after the doctor is better than just fighting the monsters. And it's not like we have anyone better to go after, unless you'd rather go and look for the woman over the radio instead." He glared sarcastically. He really hadn't heard much of the radio people, in all truth, and wondered whether or not he should pay more attention to them. He was thinking at first that Vlad would rather attack them, but once the words left Danny's mouth, he realized that maybe if he met up with the person behind the radio, that could be really helpful too.
He chose to ignore Vlad's comment on being unable to pummel the head doctor and on what would happen to them after he was beaten, instead paying more attention to his suggestions on what to do now.
"Come to think of it, I haven't left the building at night either." Except for when he was coming back from Doyleton and the nurses turned to monsters on the bus, but that didn't really count. "Maybe we should take a look outside."
"Going after anything in particular is a waste for the moment, particularly something we likely couldn't defeat." But they were both belaboring their points, and honestly, Vlad knew he could spend an entire evening sitting in a room arguing with Daniel until he was blue in the face as Masters too. Letting out a small 'hmph,' he crossed his arms, careful considering that he was holding something in each hand and one of his burdens was sharp.
"At least by exploring, we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with. If I were out to create some sort of bizarre death trap Institute testing grounds, or whatever this is meant to be, I certainly wouldn't sit around in it most of the time, waiting for some irate prisoner to find me." Vlad uncrossed his arms and headed towards the door. "Well, if you don't want to wait and see if your appointment shows up again, shall we head out? I am a bit curious to see the world outside the Institute, after all
( ... )
"Of course you would make a bizarre death trap Institute," said Danny sourly. "You already have a house out in the Rockies just so you can steal my mom!" He took in a deep breath and exhaled. Now wasn't the time to bring that up again. It was definitely something Danny would never forgive Vlad for (not just because he was angry about it, but also because it was just plain gross), but it wasn't like the Colorado house (or his mom) was out here.
Danny headed for the door, opening it and stepping out, walking a few paces before looking back to check if Vlad was following. He wouldn't put it past the man to decide to let him go and run into a monster on his own, and if Vlad wasn't out in a few seconds, Danny was going to go back in and make him get out.
"Don't be silly, I didn't build the chalet just to woo your mother. That would be impractical." Vlad raised his eyebrows at the suggestion. "It was simply convenient for that purpose as well..."
Granted, that hadn't gone so well, but romance was a tricky thing, particularly romances with so many complications, such as Maddie's tragic marriage to that buffoon. When Daniel was older, he'd understand, assuming Vlad didn't kill him before then.
But Daniel was walking out of the room already, so Vlad shrugged off the accusation and followed, rather calmly in his own opinion. "And anyhow, if I made a 'bizarre death trap Institute,' I would design better uniforms for it." Maybe something with a stylized V.
Looking at the numbers, this should be the right hallway, but there was no sign of Daniel yet. That was no surprise. Turning off his flashlight and waiting against the corridor's wall, Vlad wasn't going to try to start a meeting that had been arranged with Daniel in the first place before the boy showed up. Who knew how that would be taken? His little fit on the boards, while perfectly justifiable, had been potentially troublesome enough in retrospect.
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And of course Vlad had gotten there before him. Sometimes, Danny thought the man did it just so that he could bother him about being late and about the importance of being prompt or whatever. Danny wasn't in the mood to launch into a childish argument with him, though, so as soon as Danny was within range, he began to speak first.
"We should go in now," he said, approaching Vlad as he got closer and closer to M23.
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Whatever had gone into Daniel's head to inspire this recent suicidal urge, Vlad hoped it would be out of his system soon. It was annoying enough trying to keep track of the boy as things were, although at least Daniel did seem to have not lost the use of any limbs or anything since Vlad had last seen him.
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He took a few steps into the room. "Hello?" No answer, and the room was entirely empty, to Danny's surprise. He looked around before walking to the middle of the room. It was completely empty...either Hitsugaya left, or he was hiding in a closet. And Danny was pretty sure that it was the former.
"He's gone..." he muttered to himself, shocked. Danny didn't know him all that well, but he was pretty sure Hitsugaya wasn't the type to cancel meetings like that.
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"... Perhaps he had some more pressing concern than your abrupt desire to rush off single-handedly and wasn't able to stay to explain whatever he'd planned on telling you." Vlad paused, frowning. "What are you thinking? Surely you don't believe, as easily inhibited as we are here, that you can just waltz up to the 'doctor' and he'll be quietly waiting to be beaten."
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"And besides, doesn't it make sense to go after the guy who's doing this to all of us instead of just bothering with all his monsters? We don't have our powers, but that doesn't mean we can't get a big group to do it, right?" But now that Hitsugaya was gone, and he was the only one who knew the doctor's location...Danny sighed and sat down on the nearest bed.
"What are we supposed to do now, then?" Wander around the building like usual and end up doing nothing again?
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"Regarding the pointlessness of fighting individual monsters, you're stating the obvious, although I suppose for you it is a step up. As for the doctor himself, assuming for the moment that he is the central power behind all of this when all we have as evidence for the moment is his word and the word of an unseen woman over the radio, if he were intimidated by numbers I doubt he'd be continuously bringing new prisoners here ( ... )
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He chose to ignore Vlad's comment on being unable to pummel the head doctor and on what would happen to them after he was beaten, instead paying more attention to his suggestions on what to do now.
"Come to think of it, I haven't left the building at night either." Except for when he was coming back from Doyleton and the nurses turned to monsters on the bus, but that didn't really count. "Maybe we should take a look outside."
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"At least by exploring, we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with. If I were out to create some sort of bizarre death trap Institute testing grounds, or whatever this is meant to be, I certainly wouldn't sit around in it most of the time, waiting for some irate prisoner to find me." Vlad uncrossed his arms and headed towards the door. "Well, if you don't want to wait and see if your appointment shows up again, shall we head out? I am a bit curious to see the world outside the Institute, after all ( ... )
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Danny headed for the door, opening it and stepping out, walking a few paces before looking back to check if Vlad was following. He wouldn't put it past the man to decide to let him go and run into a monster on his own, and if Vlad wasn't out in a few seconds, Danny was going to go back in and make him get out.
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Granted, that hadn't gone so well, but romance was a tricky thing, particularly romances with so many complications, such as Maddie's tragic marriage to that buffoon. When Daniel was older, he'd understand, assuming Vlad didn't kill him before then.
But Daniel was walking out of the room already, so Vlad shrugged off the accusation and followed, rather calmly in his own opinion. "And anyhow, if I made a 'bizarre death trap Institute,' I would design better uniforms for it." Maybe something with a stylized V.
[to here]
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