The nurses' station - here it was. Javert halted in front of it, glancing around. There was no sign of Edgeworth or Kunzite at the moment, but he was early, as far as he could tell. Settling his back against the wall, he waited.
"Ah, evening, M. Javert," Miles said, bowing to the older gentleman. "No sign of our other companion yet?" The last part of his question came out pained, broken by yet another jolt from the voice.
All right. Something is wrong. But...what? What are you trying to tell me? Edgeworth closed his eyes and took a deep breath, leaning against the wall himself.
"Evening, M. Edgeworth," Javert responded, bowing back. "No, I haven't seen him..."
His voice trailed off. The other man didn't look particularly well, for some reason; was it an aftereffect of the experiments he had mentioned, or was he simply jumping to conclusions?
The flickering of his light was starting to become more frequent and, worse still, more irritating; nevertheless, in the occasional glow of his torch Kunzite noticed one of the men who had accompanied him last night...ah, and that youth to whom he had attempted to give the fencing lessons. Javert and Edgeworth, respectively, as he vaguely recalled. The Shitennou leader walked up to the two calmly and bowed his usual short bow.
"Mr. Javert, Mr. Edgeworth, good evening," he smirked. "My apologies if I have kept you waiting long." The glow of his flashlight dimmed considerably for a few seconds, then flared out again. Kunzite again shook the device as if this would magically recharge the nearly depleted cells within.
Edgeworth acknowledged Kunzite's arrival by returning the bow. "No, I just arrived a moment ago myself," he said. There went that low rumble again. Something clearly wasn't right, but the question was what, exactly?
"Thank you for your concern, M. Javert, but I'm fine. Let's just -- " Again, his sentence was interrupted by a jolt of pain. He winced and let out another long deep breath, waiting until the worst of it had passed before he continued.
If the schedule's correct, patients are being taken for experiments tonight. The realization made Edgeworth's stomach drop - there had only been two people the voice had reacted that strongly for. The first had been a warning against von Karma, but the second... "Would going upstairs be amenable to the both of you?"
Upstairs. So it was related to the experiments after all. Javert wasn't entirely certain why Edgeworth was reacting in this manner - was it like this for him every night there were experimental sessions? - and he was loath to drop the mission to which they had been assigned so quickly. Still, if Edgeworth was going to be like this all night, they probably wouldn't get anything done.
He nodded with only a trace of reluctance. "It would be."
Kunzite was, unfortunately, unaware of the personal reasons for Edgeworth's wanting to head upstairs; further, not having studied the maps to their fullest, he was oblivious to the existence of the disciplinary rooms above. So it was not entirely with callousness that the swordsman sighed, dejection evident in his breath; a bit annoyed at any distraction, the excursion might nevertheless prove fruitful. Besides, Kunzite was not one to back down from disobeying authority, a pleasure he practically relished in when under Beryl's command.
"As long as we find what we were tasked to, I see no harm in it," he half-lied, shrugging his shoulders amusedly.
"Thank you," Miles said, bowing to the both of them. "I apologize for my reaction being so strong, but..." He paused, riding out another jolt of pain and another loud rumble.
"I have very good reason to believe a dear friend of mine is upstairs being experimented on. If we move fast and are lucky, we may be able to kill two birds with one stone - a rescue mission, yes, but also, taking supplies from the experimental rooms. At the very least..." He paused, looking at each man in turn.
"If nothing else...once I know he's safe, I'll take him back downstairs, and let you two handle the rest of the mission. There's a pharmacy on the second floor. And I'll take the fallout from leaving you two."
The nurses' station - here it was. Javert halted in front of it, glancing around. There was no sign of Edgeworth or Kunzite at the moment, but he was early, as far as he could tell. Settling his back against the wall, he waited.
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"Ah, evening, M. Javert," Miles said, bowing to the older gentleman. "No sign of our other companion yet?" The last part of his question came out pained, broken by yet another jolt from the voice.
All right. Something is wrong. But...what? What are you trying to tell me? Edgeworth closed his eyes and took a deep breath, leaning against the wall himself.
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His voice trailed off. The other man didn't look particularly well, for some reason; was it an aftereffect of the experiments he had mentioned, or was he simply jumping to conclusions?
"Are you well, M'sieur?"
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The flickering of his light was starting to become more frequent and, worse still, more irritating; nevertheless, in the occasional glow of his torch Kunzite noticed one of the men who had accompanied him last night...ah, and that youth to whom he had attempted to give the fencing lessons. Javert and Edgeworth, respectively, as he vaguely recalled. The Shitennou leader walked up to the two calmly and bowed his usual short bow.
"Mr. Javert, Mr. Edgeworth, good evening," he smirked. "My apologies if I have kept you waiting long." The glow of his flashlight dimmed considerably for a few seconds, then flared out again. Kunzite again shook the device as if this would magically recharge the nearly depleted cells within.
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"Thank you for your concern, M. Javert, but I'm fine. Let's just -- " Again, his sentence was interrupted by a jolt of pain. He winced and let out another long deep breath, waiting until the worst of it had passed before he continued.
If the schedule's correct, patients are being taken for experiments tonight. The realization made Edgeworth's stomach drop - there had only been two people the voice had reacted that strongly for. The first had been a warning against von Karma, but the second... "Would going upstairs be amenable to the both of you?"
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He nodded with only a trace of reluctance. "It would be."
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"As long as we find what we were tasked to, I see no harm in it," he half-lied, shrugging his shoulders amusedly.
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"I have very good reason to believe a dear friend of mine is upstairs being experimented on. If we move fast and are lucky, we may be able to kill two birds with one stone - a rescue mission, yes, but also, taking supplies from the experimental rooms. At the very least..." He paused, looking at each man in turn.
"If nothing else...once I know he's safe, I'll take him back downstairs, and let you two handle the rest of the mission. There's a pharmacy on the second floor. And I'll take the fallout from leaving you two."
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"I've been to the pharmacy before; it's not too far away from the experimental rooms. Let's not waste any more time, then."
Without further ado, he started down the hall. There were things to accomplish tonight; for the first time in a while, he felt some motivation.
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