Nightshift 21: Hallway Behind Disciplinary Therapy Rooms

[high_prosecutor]

[[coming from here]]Miles Edgeworth had developed a routine over the years for how to handle nightmares. He would wake with a start, quietly walk to the bathroom and splash his face with cool water, then walk quietly back to bed. He'd taken to keeping a book by his bedside for the - common - nights when sleep didn't come again afterwards

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[lost_metal]

[From Here]

For such a short journey, it had been particularly nerve-wracking. Adelheid's directions weren't so simple when it came to actually following them, factoring in other patients and stopping at every sound in case something jumped out at them and delayed them too much.

The landing above the atirway had been the worst. That creepy woman's voice. And Ed had wanted to rush in so badly. He'd recognised a couple of the people there and he hated leaving them alone to fend for themselves, but he had promised to help Adel and the people being hurt couldn't run to save themselves. So he'd gritted his teeth and slipped past, hoping that neither Rein nor Tamaki decided to jump in and get themselves hurt.

Finally, they reached the hallway and Ed spotted Adel, he slipped out into the hallway and headed quickly towards him, noting the other people they seemed to have picked up.

But... there was that sound... like metal and gears and familiar.

He reached Adelheid's side and dropped into a fighter's crouch. "Guess we arrived just in time," he said softly.

[prisonerofdeath]

Fox moved towards the others now that he had confirmation they were in the right place, about to say more when he heard the mechanical noise. It vaguely reminded him of the sound made by a walking Metal Gear.

"No. I won't leave till we rescue my friend. Otacon, stay out of the way, hide if you can. I have a better chance of defending myself if I don't have to worry about you too."

Gray Fox flexed his arms, and stretched slightly. There was blood soaking through the bandages on his chest and shoulders, but he ignored those injuries for now. He would have plenty of time to feel pain in the morning, he was sure. Fox glanced at the man with the spear and the pale-skinned, dark-haired man standing next to him, and now the short blond who joined him.

"You guys obviously know this place better than I do. I'll take on whatever is making those noises. Even if I can't beat it, I can still buy some time for everyone else, so you guys can rescue the other patients."

[the_clown_king]

Tamaki hung back, eyes moving over everything. His mind wasn't exactly in top form. Ed went immediately to Adel, and Tamaki heard those noises... like the ones he'd heard that first night out with Azel and Darman, when he'd first met Ed. It sounded like that robot thing. There was so much chaos at night, so many things....

Tamaki almost felt numb to it. He gripped his sword and swallowed hard, determined to do what he'd set out to do. He couldn't help everyone. It was impossible. And.... he just kept his eyes on Ed, following the shorter teen and trying to block out everything else. He just stuck with Ed.

"Is that noise... is it one of those robots?" he asked, sword held tightly in his hand.

[1imited_edition]

Rein, now intent on his protection, stopped next to Tamaki. Her manner was similarly cautious, watchful, but in appearance far calmer. The calm meant little, though, ignorant of the danger as she was. Having just decided Tamaki wasn't battleworthy, she didn't take his fear as the warning she should have; all she'd faced here, after all, were some insects. They'd been aggressive attackers and large for their species, but not especially deadly.

"Robot?" Rein knew, of course, how deadly a high-class war machine could be, but somehow she didn't see this place employing the kind of weapon she was used to. Earth stories of hapless clanking automatons came to mind. And the boy could just be confused...

Even so, whatever was coming sounded heavy. That thought alone resonated strongly enough to pierce the assumption she maintained unknowingly that even weakened she was still a force here, to put her truly on edge.

[high_prosecutor]

Edgeworth initially hung back from Wright's hug - but in the end, it was damn good to see a face that wasn't a doctor's, and a familiar face from his own world at that. Just for that brief moment, he let the emotional walls he was so good at building up come down long enough to actually return it.

A second later, the realization of what was actually happening broke through clear as day, and he let go. It was hard to see it in the darkness, but if you looked closely at him, you could see a faint blush.

He shook it off and nodded to Adel. He knew perfectly well that in his current state - still weak and shaky from what had happened, without a weapon or anything, whatever was coming after them would more than likely kill him.

"He's correct, Wright. We can't do anything here."

[141point12]

Otacon looked over his shoulder at the latest newcomers, piqued by the blond teenager's question. He noticed the swords for the first time then-did this place supply weapons too? "It can't be..." Otacon began, but went silent again, listening to the approaching sounds. His eyes scanned the corridor's dimensions. It couldn't be any Metal Gear he recognized, which... didn't mean much.

"I'm good at hiding," he told Fox in a wry tone, already moving to the back of the group, away from the unseen machine. "But don't do anything rash. You're injured, Fox, and you don't have any weapons either."

[in_your_defense]

Letting go of Edgeworth, Phoenix then took hold of Edgeworth's wrist. There wasn't any time to think about things -- it was important to follow Adel's orders, and Phoenix knew there was nothing he could do to help them until everything had finished.

Logically, he knew nothing about where he was going in this place, and if he tried to navigate on his own...he was almost certain that he would get lost. And the hall was narrow, even more so with the amount of people there. The best alternative was to hide, and Phoenix thought quickly as to where was best.

"Take care of yourselves, Adel. Eric." Phoenix spoke in their general direction, his expression warm with concern. He then moved backwards down the hall, rounding the corner towards the doorway. He then settled down against the wall to the right of the door, hopefully out of sight of whatever was coming down the hallway.

[high_prosecutor]

Edgeworth sat down next to Phoenix, then put his head in his hands. This wasn't how he'd envisioned the night going at all. He was still light-headed and unsteady thanks to the drugs, and he thought, if he listened closely, that he could hear the faint whisper of his father in his head.

He turned to Wright after a long moment, speaking softly, so as not to attract that...thing's attention. "You know how hard it is for me to say this...but. I owe you, and your friends, a debt of gratitude. You're not hurt or anything, are you?"

There were other questions he had to ask, but that was the most important for now.

[high_prosecutor]

[[moving again! over here]]

[fallen_kaleesh]

Grievous watched as several of the prisoners broke off from the group. He wasn't concerned. He'd have time to go after them later, if not tonight. They only prolonged the inevitable.

The Droid General turned his attention on the ones foolish enough to remain behind and face him. One he recognized from earlier; the Republic grunt with the droid parts, back in that hallway where he'd first seen General Kenobi. The former Kaleesh wasn't very familiar with humans and their biology (it wasn't worth his time), but judging from the stunted height, it was a child. Or some defect.

It wouldn't surprise him in the least if the Republic had to recruit from either group. There was no limit to what they'd stoop to.

But it didn't matter what the male's age was. He was with the Republic and chosen to fight for it, and that was reason enough to cut his life short.

With a snap-hiss, the lightsabers came to life in each of the metal claws. Coughing, Grievous began to close the last few feet between himself and the remaining prisoners, the green and blue glow from the blades shedding light on the sharp edges of the droid body.

[dead_draven]

Eric raised an eyebrow at this...thing. It looked straight out of a science fiction novel, not that it surprised him, considering where they were. His smile was odd, a mixture of bemused and excited.

There was going to be a fight.

He stood very, very still, watching it, looking anything but ready for battle. "How cute. They've sent a wind-up toy out to beat us up. And not even a healthy one! Just listen to that coughing."

[grosse_sklaven]

...yes, Fox was going to get himself killed. No one could take on someone that had energy weapons like that when they were limited. Even if he was at full power, Adelheid didn't know if he could take on a robot like that; he just didn't have enough information about the creature to guess.

What he did know, though, was that the cough was real. Which meant that it was likely more of a cyborg than a 'real' android. Which meant... that somewhere there had to be a weak point. And if anyone could find it, Adelheid was confident that he could. Perhaps Eric was more right than he realized; it was a wind-up toy. Which meant that either it would run down... or it had moving parts to be tinkered with.

In the meantime, he shifted a fraction so he was interposed between Grievous and Edward, a look of concentration on his fair features. "...do you think you could manage more alchemy? And can you affect him without being cut to ribbons?"

[lost_metal]

Ed turned just a little, shooting Tamaki and Reinforce a reassuring smile. He'd protect them as best he could, he just hoped Tamaki wouldn't freeze and would run if told.

He turned back to the enemy, the smile turning savage. Might get chance for a little vengance for the other night. The smile only widened with Eric's words. It was a sould bond. That's all. And he'd fought those before. This one was armed with strange weapons, but so what? Didn't make any difference.

He glanced briefly at Adelheid before turning back to the threat, guaging his energy. "I can do some. I'll only get one chance to do anything though, and it'll drain me." That was something of an understatement. He'd probably end up knocked out or at least unable to move, but he'd risk it to take the thing out. He wanted whatever was blocking his alchemy gone! Then no stupid armour would dare stand against him.

[the_clown_king]

It was the robot. Tamaki swallowed hard and raised his sword, knowing full well that Adel and Ed - and the other two, whom he didn't really know - would be able to do much more than he could. But he wouldn't run and he wouldn't freeze like he had before.

As terrifying as the robot was, it was just a robot. He needed to remind himself of that. Just gears and circuits and... well, whatever else robots were made out of. Ed could probably blow it up with alchemy, or something.

Probably.

Hopefully.

[prisonerofdeath]

The glow of the weapons sparked a memory. Lightsabers, he vaguely remembered seeing them in a movie, but it had to be coincidence.

Coincidence or not, they wouldn't stand a chance against those weapons. Fox moved off to the side, moving in a way that would hopefully pull the machine's attention. "Hey, Tin-man..." If he could just get him to put the weapons away.

"Well, I guess they have to let you do something, don't they? Can't have you sitting around rusting, so they might as well send you after prisoners. And, of course, since you're too afraid to get blood on your hands, they gave you weapons." Finally he was far enough away from the other patients to be comfortable, so he stopped and fell into a fighting stance.

He wasn't quite sure what everyone else was planning on doing, but he could buy them some time, whatever it was. Fox had the feeling no one would be doing much of anything if this thing was using its weapons, anyway, so if he could get it to fight bare-handed...

"Come on, then, you over-sized can-opener. Fight me like a warrior." He smirked for a moment before adding. "That is, if you're not too afraid to take on an unarmed, injured prisoner with your bare hands." Now he was almost glad the bloody bandages were clearly visible on the front of his shoulders.

[1imited_edition]

Reinforce glanced after the retreating men and considered following to protect them against whatever else stalked the halls, but the distinctive noise of the activating lightsabres and the sight of Grievous in the light they shed chased the notion from her mind. Battle was already upon her, and if there were others held prisoner by this thing to rescue she would meet it with joy as her Knights would...

A war machine, all right, roughly humanoid and with a grim visage, but the eyes... was it a cyborg? Well, it didn't matter- it appeared well-engineered but well within the realm of the technology she knew and radiated no magic she could sense. It wouldn't have been any kind of threat to her normally.

The question was how to destroy it now that she... wasn't normal. Was. Whichever. The patient ahead of her was trying to taunt it into abandoning its weapons, which would at least reduce its reach, but that only made attacking a bit easier. Aim for joints, try to find weaknesses, or just apply maximum force and hope to damage components through their casing?

On inspection the energy blades didn't look to be integrated... if they could get one away from the machine they might have the means to destroy it. Suppressing her impulse to stay as near to Tamaki as possible she moved to the side, fanning out from the other patients. Flanking it would be important.