Night 52: Main Hall, 2-West

[hes_deadjim]

[from here with Spock]The doctor jerked with surprise. Spock seemed to appear right at his elbow, and he'd be damned if his heart hadn't set to racing. He'd just been just starting to think that maybe that encounter with that statue was a fluke, and there'd be no surprises down here, and then that damned Vulcan had to go ahead and see if he could

Comments

[for_a_song]

[From here]

Thankfully, when he stepped through the doorway, it was mercifully quiet. A few other patients around, but no actual fighting going on. Hopefully, they'd be able to get a little further than he had last night, thought he found himself wishing he'd stopped to copy Edgar's maps. They hadn't gotten very far last night, and now he didn't know which direction was the best to proceed in.

[angeritself]

Fighting. His expression veered again toward discontent, lips pressing into a frown. Wherever he went, it was as if violence followed. His mind had yet to connect the pieces into a whole, but an unspoken understanding dawned in that ever-growing knot of frustrated anger: taking his strength during the day, returning it at night, that CRACK -- the institution wanted him to fight. Wanted him to get violent. So it could call him a hypocrite and -- he shook his head.

Following Gren through the door, Shizuo stopped at his side. Looking left then right, he saw that the others moving were not fighting. Tension in his shoulders eased. Without prior experience with nights in the institution, Shizu still associated the flickering light with the swell and bursts following the bastard's announcement. He didn't need a flashlight; like hell he'd be grateful

[for_a_song]

Gren blinked a little, half-missing the question. For some reason, he was having trouble concentrating, his thoughts pulling him back to Titan and the war, leaving him with a tense feeling that actually had nothing to do with their current surroundings. Why was he thinking of that now? He'd done his best to forget, after all, put as much of it behind him was was possible, considering the circumstances, but tonight, for some reason...

"I don't know," he admitted, "Sorry. I've only been up here once before, and like I said, we didn't get very far. I guess we'll just have to start searching." Not the most efficient way of accomplishing things, really, but he didn't think there was really any other option right now.

[angeritself]

The apology struck him as strange. He'd expected otherwise, but he wasn't such a demanding guy that he'd accept anything less. It also caught him off-guard, unaccustomed to hearing those words unattached to pathetic whinging, when he wasn't in any place to hear or humor them, too furious to give their too-late regret any regard.

Blinking, Shizuo pulled his attention from down the hall, redirecting it to Gren. "I don't know either," he reminded, a hand reaching to nudge sunglasses that weren't there, an uncomfortable, wasted gesture. Not to state the obvious, but to knock aside that ill-fitting apology.

"Figures," he then muttered, at the proposal to search. He had figured as much. With one last glance right, Shizuo intended to dismiss that direction when the air once again cracked, now with the sharp, explosive sound of shots fired. Gunfire. No one looked to have been hit, and the bullets had clearly not been aimed at him. From this distance, he could neither make out the weapon, nor which of them had fired it. That, at least, kept

[for_a_song]

Any further comment Gren might have made was completely derailed by the sound of gunfire. Between the unexpectedness of the noise and the difficulty he was having shaking off his own memories this evening, he actually froze up for a moment before instinct kicked in, reminding him that freezing was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead, he backed up against the wall, trying to get a better view of what was going on down the hall.

They could turn around, go the other way, and pretend they hadn't seen a thing. But that just wasn't the sort of person Gren was, when push came to shove, though he couldn't be sure of Shizou.

He glanced back down the hall, making up his mind. "Let's go." If it turned out the situation was already under control, they could always continue on their way.

[angeritself]

A second burst of gunfire followed Gren's words, and the unmistakable sound of a cry of pain. One of those men wore the gray uniform; his rage-fueled mind did the rest. Receiving affirmation, an ally in his surging fury, made the grin that spread ever-broader, if it could be called a grin at all. More an animal exposure of his teeth.

No need to waste words on a reply. Shizuo started down the hall.

[to here, with a brief walk back!]