Night 47: Main Hallway, 2-West

[scientist_skye]

[from here]Once Ema and Agatha made their way upstairs, they were officially in unfamiliar territory. At least, it was unfamiliar to Ema; the girl had no idea where Agatha had and had not been. She figured it was time to check in with the other party. Even if there was an unspoken agreement that Agatha was the leader of the pair, Ema still

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[fourstonewalls]

Blood in the dark. The smell, and the smooth weight of the flashlight in her hand, were the first things that made sense. It was the bleak, over-precise sense that was her sole insulation against the worst humanity had to offer, but it was finally something familiar.

Lana crouched down next to the puddle, her flashlight holding it dead center. Her other hand went automatically to her pocket for a rubber glove. Which wasn't there; nor was the pocket she had reached for. She sighed, and settled for a quick visual study of the trail. Because a trail it was -- there was a whole constellation of drops and secondary spatter, even if the middle two had smeared under Harvey's foot. "Hm. Fresh, and from someone moving like so." One hand swung over her head, tracing out a line that ended at the door they'd come out of. Her eyes never left the floor. "Fell -- say between two and three feet. A little low for a gut wound, but without a ruler and better light, I can't rule it out. Nor determine a species, or verify the composition." The color and consistency were easily faked; the smell and the pattern of someone moving with an injury, much less so.

There wasn't, however, any evidence as to what had caused it besides tracing the trail in the either direction. She began connecting the dots, moving back up the hallway in a slow shuffle, not bothering to stand back up, when a rush of static intervened. She might not have brought her radio, but several people in the vicinity had, and the message was clear enough. When the music had faded, she looked up at Harvey, eyebrows reiterating the question. Well? Care to explain that?

[unheroed]

While Harvey could understand why Lana might want to hold onto something that she was familiar with (analyzing a crime scene), there really wasn't much point in it. This very same scene was probably mirrored around the institute in more than a few places, and the reason for it was pretty clear. Not that she could know that yet, but at least this showed him that she was clearly a professional.

As he was moving a little further down the hall, past the blood, Harvey saw a lump of something furry on the ground and then stopped short. What was that? It was obviously dead, but that didn't mean he wanted to start poking at it. He'd wanted to do that with the dogs on his second night, but he'd gotten a good enough idea of the monsters around here that he wasn't quite as eager to start dirtying his hands. Not when they could be rife with all sorts of infection, anyway. (That was the last thing he needed with an open wound.)

Right as he was going to bring the thing to the woman's attention, the radios of a few other patients went off. The sound wasn't coming through clearly enough for them to eavesdrop, but Harvey caught the way Lana was looking at him. "Did you find a radio in your room? Sometimes they go off with announcements in the night. Apparently they give clues, but I'm not sure how trustworthy it all is." Harvey had never bothered with all of that, but Lana clearly liked to work by the book.

[fourstonewalls]

Harvey had gone ahead and turned up one potential culprit. It was mangled, but fundamentally rodent-shaped, though too large for anything other than an exotic. Kidnapped law enforcement and zoo animals. She was in well over her head and the floodgates were still swinging further and further open. She flicked a glance at Harvey. His expression was as mild as hers, but potentially genuine.

"Yes, but as it didn't seem to work, I left it behind. I was...operating under a number of incorrect assumptions." Her gaze flicked away, and then back. There was nothing more she was going to learn by getting caught up in the minutia, as compelling as it was. Time to keep moving; time to resume her walk-on role in this little shadow play. She rose smoothly to her feet and stepped up next to Harvey.

"That was a mistake -- one I won't make again. Trustworthy or no, I prefer not to be underinformed. I'm surprised you don't feel the same." She waited a breath, letting the statement sink in, before launching her next sally. "How long have you been trapped here?"

[unheroed]

Even though Harvey hadn't seen this sort of monster in this place before, it was obvious enough just by looking to tell what it was and what it was capable of. One of the things looked like its skull had been crushed, which was probably the easiest way to kill them. He'd keep it in mind, but there were other kinds of monsters that were way more of a concern than these oversized rodents.

What Harvey didn't appreciate was Lana's implication that he was stupid to not bring his radio with him. Considering everything else that he had to deal with on a given night, the radio was one of the last things on his mind. "Sometimes it's not worth the extra weight when it's largely unhelpful." He doubted that the woman was grasping the danger this place presented just yet, even after seeing the rats -- though he realized that was because he hadn't explained it yet.

"It's been over a week," he said bluntly, not caring that the news might be shocking. "Anyway, we should get going. It's getting crowded." A lot of people had decided to come upstairs tonight, and most of them seemed to want to play with the rat corpses.

[fourstonewalls]

A point in her favor. Former District Attorney Harvey Dent knew how the game was played, and his half-hearted rationale undermined itself. With no supporting evidence, it would collapse under a single word, and lead directly to the question he was daring her to ask.

Satisfaction had the ring of bootheels clicking into place across marble floors, and she had her footing now. Lana sidestepped the invitation and said nothing; she wouldn't like the answer, and the odds of it being comprehensive beyond what she could conjecture, non-existent. So this place had more than a couple of overgrown rats. Dangers that made a free hand an asset, and not a moot point. Interesting.

And if he expected to surprise her with the timeframe, he was going to be living with disappointment. It fit; both with his demeanor and that of the crowds all around them, moving assuredly through the pitch-black halls. The carcass was drawing gawkers, but no fear, no alarm.

"Very well. Name your direction, Mr. Dent."

[unheroed]

In truth, it was for the best that Lana didn't react much to any of his explanations. The last thing Harvey wanted following him around when he was trying to keep aware enough to anticipate any possible attacks was someone who was overly emotional and distracting. If she was going to take the blows as well as she had been, then he was fine with that.

Then again, he hadn't gotten to the worst parts yet.

As for a direction, he was curious to keep searching around the area he'd started physically mapping out with Jason two nights back. He didn't want to go to the exact same rooms, but there had been a few things of interest in that direction, which might mean that there was more to be found there. In any case, he obviously knew far more than Lana did, so it wasn't like she was going to question his choice.

"This way," he said with a nod, moving past the blood and the rodent bodies so that they could take a right further ahead.

[To here.]