Nightshift 32: The Grand Ballroom
[from here]Into the depths of darkness, Archer descended the staircase. Their trip took longer than he thought, in total silence, which wasn't actually that troubling for Archer. His flashlight was of no help at all, except for illuminating the steps. It couldn't even begin to pierce the darkness around them, almost as if they really had stepped
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The comment about where the money was going sparked Mark's idle curiosity, if he had enough money (if it weren't mostly sunk in non-liquid assets to avoid waste, of course) to build something large and grandly tacky like this back home. Probably. Maybe not on Beta Colony, but Barrayar might go for it, even the bloody tapestry scenes in the hallways. Then again, where was the money coming from? Something like this required labor, no matter what sort of odd time traveling or dimension traveling technology (or... other resources) was being used to run this place. Nothing in the world was free, no matter what world it was.
He kept his mouth shut after that, 'enjoying the view' and trying to keep his breath down the overly long staircase. Definitely a work of sadism, that...
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Unfortunately Archer couldn't carry anymore. With his bat and sword occupying his hands, and a flashlight in his coat pocket, he didn't have anywhere left to hold the candle.
"Good idea," he said, complimenting Leon's resourcefulness.
Archer had already come to the same conclusion, seeing as the candle holders were low enough that they could reach it.
He moved on towards the large, double brown doors that Leon had pointed out, decorated with both angelic and demonic art, trying to open it, but that didn't seem to work. At first he tried to push it open with one hand, but when that didn't work he tried both. Now, Archer wasn't a slouch in terms of athletic capability, even in his human form, yet he was struggling with these doors. Fortunately, he wasn't that prideful that he couldn't ask his for help.
"Guys," he said gesturing to his team. " I think I need a little help over here."
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"Leon, you help with the other door?" Something about carrying a candle around was oddly romantic, but also sounded a little painful, if he held the candle the wrong way. Mark supposed offering a suggestion of not dripping wax on himself would be stating the obvious, though, and it did save batteries. Not that they needed them in this room, but who knew what was coming up? Maybe some kind of monster that could be set on fire?
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It looked clear, much to Renji's relief. And whoever had gone down to the basement before them had already moved deeper inside; he didn't hear or see any sign of them.
Renji headed down the stairs, over to the doors where the strange sword apparently went, to look at it again. It wouldn't hurt, since he'd brought the damn thing along just in case. He didn't have the best visual memory in the world, after all.
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Her crowbar was perched comfortably over one shoulder as she kept a wary eye on their surroundings, watching for anything dangerous that might be lurking in the shadows.
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"I don't think we'll be able to get the doors open without that shield," she said to Renji. "I told Max this before you came, but I spoke to the fellow whose group found the shield and he said he'd speak to them about it. He looked a little doubtful, though, if you ask me."
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He nodded at Friday's comment. "Yeah, I wouldn't expect so," he said, then made a rude noise. "Fucking lot of good a useless shield's gonna do for them. They're morons if they just want to sit on the fucking thing and do nothing." Which didn't help anyone in the least, which annoyed him. He had no idea why people would have a problem with getting the things together and trying the door. He'd be ready and eager if they'd approached him about the sword. It wasn't like he wanted to take it away from anyone or leave them out of the fun.
He shook his head. "Dunno why people are so fucking paranoid about each other, or possessive about shit. Don't do anyone a damn bit of good."
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There were already a couple of people down here. Peony frowned, not really wanting to go with them. He'd seen the redhead guy around, although there was a cute little thing with him, or at least she was from the sound of her voice. Not wanting to risk the redhead getting butthurt, he decided to stay alone.
The place was huge - bigger than he'd expected would be underneath the Institute - and utterly creepy. This didn't really belong here, did it? He looked around, shining about his flashlight and smiling to himself.
A great place for an adventure.
Turning back to Haseo, who was sure to follow behind him, he smiled. "This is what I'm talking about. I bet there are things down here you can kick, too."
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It looked different beyond the trap door in comparison to the basic institute up above. Maybe stumbling down here was a good thing--the secret door probably wouldn't be on his map and he did need to go exploring in different places if he ever wanted some answers. Haseo looked around; a couple people scattered around, dark, cold--the place didn't remind him of any field he'd ever been to.
A great place to kick things? Where would Peony even---Oh right. The last time he'd adventured with the guy, he'd attempted to see if some things were like treasure chests in The World, which had to be kicked in order to open. When Haseo did kick the cabinet, the doors had opened and Peony made off with a lot of stuff that he seemed to like. Haseo grumbled, "You just want me to kick things so it'll get you more stuff." Not that he cared about putting fourth the effort, but if that was the only reason that Peony had went through all that trouble it was a little bothersome.
The rogue crossed his arms, and moped a little.
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Ahh! He'd been found out. Haseo had discovered that Peony mostly wanted stuff. Useful stuff, stuff that he could show Jade and Guy. Stuff that would surprise them, even. He had to keep reinventing his image as stylish Emperor!
"And what's wrong with wanting more stuff? I collect weapons, you know..." He outstretched his arms, staring up at the ceiling and turning around. "Pretty wide place, though. Why don't you pick where to go from here? I want to test out your navigation skills," he laughed.
"It's not like you don't get to keep your share of the stuff, anyway," he muttered to himself, as a little self-defensive afterthought. Stuff was useful here, too! Guy's little friend Claude had seemed to think stuff was useful, anyway, and he'd just given him all his flasks and some more loot from the other night.. Had Haseo gotten any at all? Maybe Peony could at least share a scalpel...
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Leon pushed open the heavy doors, bracing himself for yet another room of element-based horror. He blinked in surprise as he found himself back in the ballroom. It was shockingly cool, and quiet, compared to the rest of their journey. It seemed like a few other groups had made it down here as well.
He stayed close to the doors as his teammates came through. "Archer, hide the sword," he muttered. He wasn't quite sure who these other patients were, and if they were trustworthy, and he sure as hell didn't feel up to fighting them off.
Leon kept his attention focused on the rest of the ballroom. "Do we want to try reaching M35, or just wait out the night somewhere?" he asked. "I think we should just wait... none of us are in mortal danger, and we'll stay that way if we don't do a lot of exploring." He didn't much care for the idea of hiding, but with the way he was feeling, Leon rather doubted he'd make it to M35 in one piece.
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"We should probably mention to Hitsugaya that this particular area is better suited to those in a certain sort of physical fitness." As in, not short fat people, no matter how much muscle or skill they were hiding under all of that. "Or better, that this particular area should be avoided at all costs unless there's someone he really wants to be rid of." That was a possibility, and a faintly unnerving one, but something to be put to the side for now. He could ask around later, find out if any Arts and Crafts groups had gone through that gauntlet before ( ... )
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