Nightshift 38: Entry Room
[from here]The Entry Room was a lot like he remembered it, or at least, a lot like what he remembered from when he'd run into Clark here on his first night. Admittedly most of what he remembered was dark, blurred from speed, and full of argument but this was a lot like that. Just without the blurring and the arguments
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ZEX blinked at Teisel's question, then laughed quietly. "Interpersonal combat wasn't my strongpoint... I tended to work on a much larger scale back during the War." Countless fleets of ships in Hyperspace, and it was hard to think of something more removed from his current situation. Macro to micro. "That and this human body doesn't exactly help. It's very clumsy." ZEX brushed some hair from his face with an awkward smile. "I'll be alright."
As for Asch's question... "Hee! Hee! Hee! No, of course I'm not! It's hard to remember sometimes that most humans can't tell now. I still think of myself as a VUX." Again, ZEX reminded himself that the odds were against this new human knowing anything about his species or history as he knew it. He was never going to get used to that. "We're a species native to Beta Luyten..."
ZEX trailed off when they entered the room. It looked like they might have trouble after all... it was hard to make out details in the dark, but there was no mistaking that there had been conflict here, and it possibly hadn't been resolved. Some creature or something in the darkness, no doubt, and it'd show itself soon enough. He could hear a kind of strange rustling sound... he wished he'd had a chance to get more familiar with Earth's fauna before they'd been slaveshielded away from him.
"Hmm... perhaps we should continue this conversation later," ZEX said, his voice lowering.
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Huh. That Asch guy seemed pretty well-spoken. Teisel wondered if he'd been someone important or high-class where he was from. No one looked important in these uniforms, so it was hard to tell.
He'd started to relax and listen to Zex chat; when they got to the entry room, he froze. Right away it was clear that something wasn't right in here. The room was a mess, which meant either someone had been rummaging around with utter abandon or there'd been a fight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zex tense. Something was moving on the far side of the room; gently, he nudged Zex out of the way to put himself between the admiral and whatever the noise was. He wasn't thrilled about it, but that was part of their agreement and he had to keep to it. For now, anyway.
Subconsciously, he was waiting for the electronic chirp of a reaverbot, but of course nothing like that was going to be in here. If anything, it'd be an organic animal. With a worried hum he raised his flashlight, hoping to blind whatever was over there.
What was that smell? ...Flowers?
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Giving orders, taunting people, torturing kids, hiding behind a weapon...and she'd never wanted a smoke more in her life or afterlife. She really was doing a killer Domino impression tonight. She could practically hear his voice in her ears, feel him looming over her shoulder. He'd be laughing, of course. "That's it, Meche! With an attitude like that, I might even give you a promotion someday!" He'd leave his empty coffee cup on her desk like she should know what to do with it and take a parting shot on his way out: "I can see you've been learning from the best."
But it was different, she wanted to insist to him. Domino was evil--just found this fun. Meche wasn't having fun at all.
She didn't want to think about it. Just keep loading.
When she looked up again, she saw another group in the room--all men, four of them this time. She had the sudden urge to put a sproutella dart in each of their chests, but she decided she'd better hold off. Why waste ammo if she could get them to leave?
"Get out," she demanded sharply. "Please just get back to your rooms. I've had it up to here with you people tonight." She used the gun barrel to indicate 'here' at about eye level. Then she pointed it, left-handed, in their direction.
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Mello didn't glance to the other three, instead addressing the woman directly. "We're not going back to our rooms," he said, his voice firm. If the bulletin reports held true, as long as they didn't try to pass her, she wouldn't attack them. Another group would arrive soon, and hopefully, they'd be less intelligent about the whole thing. Once someone else provoked her, his group would be able to slip by.
Zex had been here long enough to know about these kinds of attacks, and presumably, he'd given the run-down to his companion. Mello didn't expect them to understand what he was doing but he expected them to follow his lead, at least until the situation changed. Asch didn't seem like the type to appreciate following orders--he'd been curt so far, though not outright rude--but if he had two brain cells to rub together, he wouldn't do anything stupid.
The best part of working with a new patient was that if that patient got himself killed, there'd be no one around to cry about it. In fact, if the other two weren't here, no one would even know. It was almost enough to make him regret the four-person group, but as it was, the plan of waiting for a second party would have to suffice.
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This must have been one of those poor humans that got brainwashed against their will at night. She had some kind of firearm, which made direct combat a dismal prospect... he had no range with his short blade, and in her current position, she could easily shoot him before he got close enough to do any damage. There was a one in four chance that she might not fire at him if they all broke in different directions (and who was to say they'd even do that?), but he didn't care for those odds, and the rest of his party seemed content to stand quietly and do nothing.
This meant he had to think of alternatives. The female human looked and sounded like she'd already been through a lot tonight... and she'd already told them that she was in no mood for more. And it wasn't as though this was motivated by some personal grudge... she'd said please, after all. There was a peaceful solution to this, ZEX was sure. He just had to think quickly, and he liked to think he was good at that in a crisis.
ZEX smiled up at Teisel for a moment before nudging past him to move in front of their small group, automatically shifting into a leadership position without thinking about it. ZEX tried his best at a disarming smile, and he kept his voice as friendly and warm as possible. Doing his utmost to prevent hostility, to assure her he meant no harm, and he'd practiced for this sort of thing for years at Cerenkov, just in case somehow a human escaped and came to see him...
"Ah, what he means is..." ZEX gestured vaguely over at Mello. "We have every intention of going back to our rooms. There are just some things we want to get from here before we do." ZEX paused, his hand moving in slight circles in an attempt to mimic the constant motion of his natural arms. "There is no need for us to be in conflict with each other... I have absolutely no desire to fight with you, and I'm more than willing to do what you ask and go back to my room once I have my file from the file rooms here." ZEX waved in the general direction of the rooms in question. "I'm very tired of needless bloodshed... I'm sure you are as well. There's been enough killing between our species." A slip... like most humans here, she probably didn't know about the history between VUX and humans, but ZEX continued onwards in hopes it wouldn't be noticed. "If there is a way that we can both get what we want without any pointless violence, surely that'd be the best course of action?"
She had no reason to trust him. No sensible person would in this situation. He had to offer her something as a show of good will. He didn't trust the other members of his group with something like this just yet... that left it to him. ZEX kept his voice smooth and calm, still smiling in what he hoped was a disarming way. "Of course, you may be wondering why you should trust me at all. All you have at the moment is my word. I'd feel much the same in your position. Therefore, I have a proposal..." ZEX glanced back at the others in his group. "As a show of good faith, I'm willing to stay here with you while my companions fetch the files we're after. You can hold me responsible for their behavior until they return with the files, at which point we will go back to our rooms, as you requested. I think this is really the best solution to both our problems, don't you? We all get what we want, and no one has to get hurt."
He was relying on his companion's sense of self-preservation to keep them from betraying him... to do so would only prompt the female human to attack them (and, if Teisel was loyal to him, could inspire some action in him as well), which he was sure no one wanted. They all shared the same goal, after all. Deliberately sabotaging their own plans to cause trouble for him spoke of spite, and ZEX was relatively sure he hadn't offended anyone in his group enough for that. And no one seemed pointlessly malicious, from his brief time spent with them...
This was a gamble, and not one he'd normally take, but if the pay-off was a peaceful solution...
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And then his frantic thoughts all focused into pure and utter rage at Mello. Oh, sure, it was easy for him to try and call her bluff like that. He wasn't the one she was going to shoot first. And Teisel had stepped right out in front for a guy he'd know for all of an hour. What was he thinking? He was so caught up in this self-worth crap that he'd nearly gotten himself killed.
Shaken by his brush with stylishly-dressed death, Teisel didn't stop Zex from moving out from behind him. Maybe having a meat shield for a few minutes would help him calm down. The admiral was doing that smooth politician thing, and while Teisel thought he was insane for offering to stay with an unpredictable secretary with a gun, he had to admit that that might be their best bet for keeping this civil. If she'd let them take paperwork out of here...
Maybe she was one of those brainwashed guards, like the girl from the other night. In that case, she might let them be if they promised to go back to their rooms and everything would end nice and peaceful. It didn't hurt that Superboy wasn't here this time, either. Someone would definitely have gotten shot, probably the Hormonal Wonder himself.
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She didn't like this. Most of these guys didn't look too tough (at least, nothing a couple of sproutella darts couldn't take care of), but even if she felt confident about her ability to take them down before they made it out, she'd rather not have to. She wasn't sure how much ammo they'd given her.
She wasn't prepared to trust them as far as she could throw them, but maybe that was all the more reason to agree to this guy's plan--their being anywhere near that door made her nervous, and anything that put them farther away from it was at least a step in the right direction.
Blondie was doing his best to radiate sincerity. He was also moving a little awkwardly. This one, at least, she could probably handle. The only question was whether his companions would be on the same page--Loudmouth looked like he had a little fight in him.
"All right," she said, "but you'd better be sure you can trust your pals. Any of you want to try anything, knock yourselves out. But I hope you have some potting soil and a watering can for your buddy if you're planning on playing games here." Meche jerked the gun toward the file room doors, a tacit order for them to get out before she changed her mind.
Now she was taking hostages--this stuff was all so easy once you got used to it. Suddenly she wondered if this was how Olivia had felt, and her stomach turned.
But her gun arm didn't waver.
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But, apparently, the patient population had been mistaken.
That's fine. He'd work with it. If, as was apparently the case, brainwashed patients could take hostages (or, by extension, possibly be bribed or blackmailed) it would be a useful piece of information that would make night time travel much, much easier. He just wondered how it had escaped notice for so long.
"That's fine," he told Meche. The gun didn't seem to bother him; he'd been held at gunpoint more than enough times in his life. "Zex. What files do you need?"
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If ZEX was nervous or unsure about the situation, it didn't show at all in his movements or voice. He acted as if there was no danger present at all, despite the risk he was taking. Like any wild creature that felt threatened, she would probably take any sign of fear or weakness as a signal to attack in self-defense. Humans were simple creatures, after all, and it'd be unwise to toy with instinct. He'd spent enough time with wild beasts to know.
"Max Vyer, please." ZEX glanced back at Mello. "I'm afraid I don't know how it's spelled in Human." A pause for a moment, his smile faltering for a second in favor of deep thought. "And... Caleb." What was it the nurses had called him, his whole name, what was it... "Caleb Stern as well, if you could."
Time to see how closely their false lives were intertwined after all...
He turned back to the female human with a friendly smile. "My real name is Admiral ZEX. What's yours?" After all, if he was going to be spending some time with her, he might as well try to get to know her better... and she had that alluring quality that all humans had around them. When spiked with a hint of danger, it was hard to resist. Surely there was no harm in chatting...
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Taking note of the names Zex wanted files for, Teisel glanced back at Mello, waiting for a signal to move. He couldn't place a specific reason for it, but he just couldn't muster up much initiative tonight.
Of course, Miss Saturday Night Special might have had something to do with it, but he wasn't normally this unsure of himself, even in sucky circumstances like these.
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She regretted it instantly. Why the hell had she picked that last name, out of all the ones she could've chosen? Her knuckles were white as bone against the heavy black gun.
More to the point, why the hell weren't they moving? Were the other three planning on double-crossing Blondie and making a break for the door? Was the hostage thing some kind of code between them that she wasn't aware of? Were they waiting for an engraved invitation, for God's sake? "All right, boys, you have your marching orders. Now move!," she cried, audibly starting to get keyed up again. "Make me ask you one more time and I'll let my gun do the talking!"
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The gun wasn't aimed at him, which he appreciated, and aside from the damage it would do to his reputation, he didn't care if Zex lived or died. If he were to attack her from this distance he'd be at a disadvantage, but he wasn't going to walk away, not after the way she'd spoken to him. He was dedicated to his false identity, to this wise and generous personality he'd built up to gain the trust of the patients, but Mello's sense of reason had never been strong enough to overrule the his basic and violent hatred of being being treated like a toy.
The scalpel was warm in his palm and he knew it could almost as easily be warm in her neck, if he were a few steps closer. Her tone grated on him, regardless of whether it stemmed from panic--he didn't take orders, and he didn't appreciate the use of the word 'boy.' "How do we know you won't kill him?" he asked, voice firm. He indicated the file room with a sweep of his empty hand, drawing attention away while he let the scalpel in his other hands slide to a length near that of his fingers, handle held against his palm by his thumb. "There's only one door to that room. You'll let us into it, but when we come out, you can just pick us off in a row." He took a step forward as he spoke, hoping that his hand gestures and the firmness of his voice would distract from what should have seemed like a smooth movement.
"You couldn't take us in the open, though. Not four against one, not when we're all armed." He knew the disadvantages of a ranged weapon as well as anyone. "What are your orders?"
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What was Mello doing?
ZEX gave Mello a puzzled look at first, which shifted quickly enough into irritation. He would have thought the delicacy of the situation wouldn't be lost on the other humans, and what was Mello saying- MRZ, this made things complicated. María already seemed on edge, and he really didn't want to do anything to provoke an armed human.
"It would be three against one, if that, because I have no intention of breaking my word," ZEX said, trying to keep his voice calm. He glanced back behind him at Asch's comment, and watched him leave. It seemed that Mello might have been alone in protesting... "Hmm, and now it seems to be down to two." ZEX paused for a moment, a bit meaningfully. "Teisel, if you could, please go get the files? Quickly, if at all possible. I think we're trying our host's patience." It was more a request than an order, but there was an undertone of urgency in ZEX's voice.
Back to his current problem. ZEX held out his hands, scalpel held loosely and awkwardly with his thumb. "Really, I don't think any of us want to fight one another if at all possible. We're trying to avoid that very thing, aren't we? It's true that there are risks involved for both sides, but in this kind of situation, that's to be expected. I'm concerned as well, as anyone would be." Well, right now he was more concerned about Mello provoking María to just shoot them both more than the danger María presented by herself, but that was beside the point. "But we've worked out a way for both of us to get what we want, so there's no need for violence, is there?" I sincerely hope not. This does not need to get worse. "There's no cause for more suffering tonight on anyone's part. It'd be a poor decision by either side, don't you think?" Trying very hard to appeal to reason, and to keep his voice as calm as possible. "Really, it'll only take a moment to get the files, hardly something worth fighting over. We'll leave you in peace soon enough, María."
Provided Mello didn't do anything stupid. Hopefully Teisel and Asch would come back quickly so they could get out of here. This entire situation was getting entirely too volatile for his tastes.
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