Nightshift 39: West Wing, South Hall 2-B

[lady_general]

[From here]Celes came to a stop at the firmly locked door at the end of the hall. The general examined the door and put her hand on it, testing the knob. Hm, perhaps not so firmly locked as she thought. It would attract attention if she kicked it, but she did have her hairpins, after all. Pulling one from her hair, and hoping that Locke's little

Comments

[ruthless_hunter]

[from here]

Lockdown closed the door behind him with his foot, since his hands were still full. One held the map Starscream had given him, the other held the flashlight.

According to the map, the nurses station was just a few steps ahead. Lockdown approached the door, read the card on the door ("Nursess' Station" just what he was looking for), and gripped the door knob. It was locked. Remembering Starscream's mishap, he decided against using brute force to open it.

The bounty hunter looked at the map again, deciding to make his way to General Storage instead.

[ruthless_hunter]

[to here]

[ruthless_hunter]

[from here]

Just one more hallway to go, then he could treat Starscream and move on with the mission.

He reached the end of the corridor and opened the door, stepping into the next hallway.

[ruthless_hunter]

[to here]

[high_prosecutor]

[from here]

"Thank you," Miles nodded. He was glad to see that Kunzite had picked up his rapier; it was in good hands. I just hope we can get to my room with no hindrances once we're downstairs.

He swept his flashlight along the hall. "We're clear to go on ahead, I think. I don't see anything troublesome here." He looked at Phoenix, the look clearly stating "Besides...the sooner you're downstairs safely, the better," but didn't say anything else.

[pleading_ngri]

Walking only got easier. Even beyond the relief that came from escaping the brightness of the room, he could tell that the sharper pains of the headache were diminishing bit by bit, the halls coming into clearer focus. The doctor hadn't been lying about that, at least. The real trick was not letting his brain get sucked back into the gravitational well of what had happened in that room, or what could have happened, or what it meant for the future. He at least knew well enough to keep himself from lingering too long on any of them - you didn't take a fall that should have killed you and keep your head through a trial only days later without learning how to avoid the 'I could have's and 'I should be's that sidled into unguarded, idle moments and stung without warning. But there had been a crisis, then. He'd had a job to do, and he'd been able to dedicate himself to it without flinching. But what was there to dedicate himself to here? Some vague idea of escape, forever retreating from pursuit, like a mirage in the desert

[trapdetected]

[from here.]

"But it would be desirable if both could be found."

More emptiness. This was starting to become somewhat unnerving, but she would take it over something like trouble coming for them. Naoto had her flashlight, so they were okay.

"I admit, though," she said, glancing curiously at the first two doors to be passed by; one of them already seemed to have been used... no, more like broken into with force. With a frown, Naoto realized there might be more locked doors ahead of them. They wouldn't be too much of an obstacle, with the right equipment, but right now she wasn't sure if she had that. Oh well, where there's a will, there's a way. "I would like the latter more. It sounds as though there might be a lot of information about the institute already, but as it stands now, there hasn't been a place found where we can put it to good use. If such a thing exists, then it's imperative that we find it."

[sheisthecause]

Meche nodded again, although Naoto was still sounding a little vague to her mind. "So you're looking for a way to get at Landel?" she clarified. Bad guys here were so evil that you weren't even on a first-name basis with them.

She caught Naoto's frown and followed her gaze to the broken lock. How had they gotten through here before? They hadn't made it until the end of the night; by then, the doors in their way had been standing open. Anything that had started out locked must already have been gotten through. Did they fix the locks every day, or what?

Well, the map did say there were two ways into the labs. Hopefully at least one of them would have been taken care of by now.

[trapdetected]

"Naturally," Naoto responded, her voice falling monotonous for the simple reply. Well, wasn't that much obvious? Refraining from giving Meche a flat look, instead she gestured vaguely with her free hand as she spoke, giving far more attention as to what was ahead of her. "Unless, say, you could tell me there's another reason why such investigations are pursued in the first place. But with the majority of the populace wishing to escape, it would be ludicrous to assume there is."

Approaching the door at the end of the hall, Naoto noticed that this one, too, had been opened. Not in the same fashion as the one at the other end; if the sound of voices ahead had been any indication, then they had been already beaten to whatever had to be done to pry the door open, if it had to be at all. "Ah," she said pleasantly. "It looks like we got lucky."

[sheisthecause]

Meche considered. Of course taking Landel down would be Manny's goal--probably for personal revenge as much as for the fact that it looked like the only way to get everyone out of here. You had to hit the corruption at its roots, after all. But it didn't necessarily follow that everyone else would be after the man at the top too. Individuals might be able to slip through the cracks without any effort at getting rid of the system itself

[mizuhomaiden]

[from here]

Sheena stopped in front of the door to the experimentation hall. It was already broken and she could definitely hear voices. So, others did get there before. Most likely these were people who had a friend taken tonight; she doubted Rude and Reno had made it up yet.

"I can probably fix your parasol, but not tonight," she said in a quiet voice to the youkai.

[mind_the_sukima]

Oh, did she strike a chord? Normally, Yukari might be pleased, but she certainly hadn't intended to here. Well, the girl was probably just worried; after all, if the world depended on you and you were stuck in a completely unrelated super prison, well, that would be worrying, wouldn't it?

She decided to let the topic drop, for the moment anyway.

"Don't worry about it," she said with a smile, pretending she didn't notice the tone before. "I communicated with a so-called 'alchemist' on the board earlier; hopefully she'll be able to not just fix it but make it sturdier too."

And maybe get a hidden sword. She'd seen those assassins do it with staves and canes, so why not a parasol?

[mizuhomaiden]

A sword parasol would be stupid. Funny, but stupid.

Sheena was oddly grateful that Yukari hadn't pursued the destiny ninja crap. Honestly, this was not the time for Sheena to be wallowing in the giant mess she'd made just before ending up here. She had people to save.

"Okay," she said, her eyes moving about the hall, a card suddenly in her hand as she expected trouble to appear any moment. Well, other trouble; the youkai was already with her. "The best I can offer you for weaponry are a few pens. They aren't much, but if you've got good aim, you can at least stab something's eyes out with them."

[mind_the_sukima]

"I'll trust my flashlight over pens," she said, hitting the hefty weight of the item against her palm to emphasize before brandishing her parasol. "Besides, even if it's in bad shape, this is just as sharp."

"So, lead on, my good ninja?" she suggested, a smirk on her face as she threw up her parasol in mock-salute.