Nightshift 43: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[dahliahasthorns]

[From here]These two were just little Chatty Cathies, weren't they? Whatever. As long as they didn't start talking about how much their love could never be and got to kissing in front of her, they didn't have a problem here. Dahlia followed them as quietly as she could, doing a nice job of attempting to be stealthy and just looking ridiculously

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[herr_inspektor]

[From here]

There. It was difficult to miss the entry room doors, set opposite the Sun Room in deceptive welcome. Just as Javert had said, and just as he had predicted. What Lunge had not predicted, however, was someone else getting there first- and, if the door swinging slightly ajar and the flicker of movement beyond were anything to go on, that was most certainly the case.

If he was lucky they would have already broken through most of the locks. If not... well. He had never been opposed to hard graft.

[haplesstracker]

[ From here.]

No Honey here either, and the noises from the Sun Room were quieting down. Maybe they'd all been eaten. Scourge didn't feel like sticking his noise in to check.

Scourge felt a bit put out at the thought that they'd left without him. He'd given them enough time but not too much time, and even with Honey's uncomfortably bad leadership skills you'd think getting three people to meet at a certain place at a vaguely specific time wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world. And this was coming from someone used to following Galvatron around.

There was someone else waiting here, although he didn't look like the cakey type. Could be one of the guards, could be just a random guy, looked like the sort you'd want to stick with in case of a fight.

"Hey," Scourge called, creeping closer to him, still hugging the wall and the shadows. He'd left his flashlight in his room as usual--he never needed it and it meant he had a hand free for anything he needed to carry without having to stick his blade down his pants.

[herr_inspektor]

[gdjahj so sorry about not getting back to this! my internet shorted out before I had a chance DX]

Ever cautious, Lunge stepped forward and peered through the open door. What he was expecting to see was a couple of patients exploring. What he wasn't expecting to see was a samurai in full costume on the attack.

Ah.

He drew back, a little bewildered but not yet undone. All this meant was that he needed to rethink the situation and formulate another... hmm? Overhead, life breathed into the intercom with a crackle like the wind through drives leaves. His hand twitched automatically, scribing every word from the message with efficient, flawless accuracy. Someone was in. And what's more, 'IRIS' clearly was not happy about it. The stream of binary and song lyrics seemed little more than nonsense to the inspector but when the encore came with a steady hum of screams, suffice it to say his attention was grabbed

[haplesstracker]

Lunge was ignored for a moment as the intercom came on and Scourge flicked his head up to look at it almost out of reflex. Sounded like someone had finally cracked the system, whatever good it might do them to have yet another crazy announcer around

[poolcuemurder]

[From here]

So, it looked like he was the first one here. How unprofessional of the others. He dodged to the side, watching the figures in the hall as he stayed silent and in the shadows. He would wait for those other assassins, but if they took too long he could not say he would stay. It was their responsibility to show up on time just as much as it was his own. "Arlene" had said she and one other associate would have prior engagements before this, but that would also imply their group would consist of more than three people. He had even taken his time arriving (which may or may not have been related to various attempts at regaining his bearings after that horrible dinner), leaving no excuses for their tardiness. They were losing points for this.

Hm? That was strange. The intercom was starting up again and...

"and ALL... I cAn TaSte Is thIS MoMeNT
and aLL i CAn bREAthe... iS yOUr liFe
'CaUSe... sOonER Or lAtER IT'S OVER
I JuST DON'T WANt TO MiSS YOU TONiGhT"

...What was that? Venom's grip tightened around the bat, trying to

[quickdrawbkiddo]

[from here]

Beatrix made her way down the hall, katana in its scabbard across her back and a few large knives resting in an oven mitt she had tied to her hip to act as a sheathe. She wasn't surprised at all to find HK-47 was nowhere to be seen - how unfortunate for him - but a little annoyed that SubZero wasn't there yet. She needed to take a look at Ophelia's sword. What she did find was Venom already there.

Her eyes flickered to the Sun Room doors, hearing the commotion within, as well as the Entry Room. She gave the other assassin a nod of greeting and then opened the door to the Sun Room just enough to get a look inside.

A boy in spandex shooting webs. Every red-blooded American knew of Spiderman. Great. Yet, she didn't remember the comics drawing him so young.

Closing the door, she leaned against the wall next to it. SubZero, at least, better arrive soon so they could take advantage of the three in the room currently distracting the spider.

[icy_demise]

[From here]

Two assassins were already waiting when SubZero arrived, and he was a little irritated that Venom was already there. According to the description he'd gotten earlier, it couldn't be anyone else, even though it was hard to see in such low lighting. They were also missing the member of their group that had the best night vision. He twirled the claymore once in his hand as he got closer. It was too heavy to be casually showing off with too much.

SubZero spared a glance and a nod for Venom as he showed up before walking over to stand in front of Arlene. "What's the situation in the sun room like?" He asked quietly as he held out the sword for her to inspect. Introductions could be better done during the daytime, and SubZero was still irritated enough over the situation with HK to be a little resentful of disrupting what had been a good team dynamic with a new member none of them really knew.

[poolcuemurder]

Oh, there they were. He would claim they were right on time, but why lie? From the obvious cold shoulder this new-comer was giving him, it was easy to see they were not expected to get along. Fine. So long as they managed to work together despite their differences like actual professionals, there may have been hope for them yet

[chocomancer]

[from here]

It didn't take long for Wonka to reach the Sun Room doors, even though he had slowed down a bit from his usual pace. A quick look around confirmed to him that he hadn't needed to rush anyway; Honey and his bodyguards still hadn't arrived, which meant he had some time to loiter and think about all the bizarre things that had happened already. IRIS's announcement, the zombie bite going malignant, that utterly bizarre reaction he had to Arlene as he was leaving... even his peckishness. It wasn't like him to go after midnight snacks; if he hadn't taught himself to eat light years ago, he'd never have survived in the candy-making business. But tonight...

[host_club_honey]

[[from here]]

It wasn't long before the reached the doors to the Sun Room. Wonka was already there and Honey pointed him out the moment they arrived.

"Wonka-samaaa!" he called out, smiling brightly as he bounced in his seat atop Takashi's shoulders, careful not to do so with too much enthusiasm, else he bump one of his friend's injuries.

"Sorry, did you have to wait long? Ah-! Have you seen Scourge-san? I don't know what he looks like..." Honey trailed off. Scourge-san sounded way too formal. If they were close in age, maybe he could call him Suko-chan. Or Su-chan, but that might be too confusing with Sou-chan.

[haplesstracker]

[ From here.]

What was this, the first human combiner team? Must still be in the experimental stages.

"He looks like me, mostly," Scourge said, sauntering up to the group with a smug expression and the length of his crude blade resting against his right shoulder. So this was the nefarious chessmaster behind the proceedings--couldn't even get to his own meeting on time. Decepticon instinct made Scourge reflexively consider a coup, then decided that there wasn't much to take over and he didn't know how to bake anyway.

The tracker had a weird cognitive dissonance moment as he tried to find a translation function in his head that didn't exist anymore and concluded that "Scourge-san" was probably not something he should take offense at.

[mukuchi]

And there was Willy Wonka. Mori hated that he'd made the older gentleman wait, but it seemed the other hadn't yet arrived, so perhaps it wasn't so bad? Mitsukuni certainly seemed excited now, bouncing on his shoulder and asking after Scourge. It really was a scary sounding name, but--

Someone was coming up from behind and Mori turned his head slightly to the side, noting the blade at his shoulder. And his attitude. Much different from Kasanoda. Mori kneeled to let Mitsukuni off his shoulder and then stood again, turning to face Scourge with a bow. As he was straightening, his ears caught something though and he froze, inclining his head toward the Sun Room.

Again? Standing tall again, he looked to Mitsukuni and then to the Sun Room door. "Trouble ahead."

[chainsaw_royal]

[From here]

More people standing around, but there were enough separate groups that the likelihood of any one group trying to attack them were slim, given the presence of others. Not that Hime would have minded; she'd like to see what little Kagura could do to a human before they had to face anything more monstrous. Still, she wasn't about to pick a fight either; with herself unarmed, she was woefully dependent on her not-exactly-companion.

"Those double doors lead to that central room, right? And it's from there to the cafeteria and I assume the kitchens," she checked with the little girl. Not that she thought Kagura had any sense of direction, but it was worth confirming.

[16hitmagnum]

"Yup." She at least remembered how to go to the cafeteria right. There was food in there! "But the last time I went there it was guarded by this really mean old lady with a sword."

She couldn't help but smile, wondering if she were still there.

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime raised an eyebrow. Mean old lady with a sword? The image that came to mind involved someone's grandmother, only heavily armed and armored, not a silver-eyed warrior.

"Is that so? Let's hope we don't run into her then," said Hime dubiously, not entirely sure she believed the girl. "Kicking someone with a sword probably wouldn't end well for you." And, indirectly, for Hime either.

The pushing open the doors to the Sun Room, she glanced in and saw... chaos. There was someone in a red and blue suit cheerfully flinging about pieces of furniture with some kind of webbing. He seemed to be engaging several patients at once. He could be some kind of spider-man, but the webbing was coming from the wrong places if he was. Plus they were more prone to using their already fearsome looks rather than dressing up in... thatStill, Hime could just imagine the indignity of getting hit with a couch or, worse, being flung around herself. She was not equipped to deal with such a foe at the moment; in fact, that lack of equipment was the very purpose

[16hitmagnum]

[back. sorry, exams and stuff.]

"Hey! I survived that one just fine!" Kagura said as she followed Hime to the Sun Room. What she was was chaos. What she saw seemed like fun. She glanced at Hime. It probably wouldn't do her any good to fight with her along, though. Princesses couldn't fight worth shit.

"I don't know of any other way. The sun room leads to the cafeteria which leads to the kitchen." She looked at Hime, then at the fight, then at Hime again. "I guess we could sneak in. Don't make any noises or sing your own spy theme songs, okay?"

Because it was Kagura's job to sing the spy theme songs. It was just more fun that way.

[numberii]

((From here.))

The more that the intercom went on and on, the more that Xigbar had to wonder if it wasn't I.R.I.S. getting the version of cybernetic pillow talk or something. When there was that much binary going on, and he had no idea what it was saying... yeah, his mind instantly went to the gutter. It was more fun than thinking about the Institute around himself, anyway.

"Okay, right through here," he said with a grin, turning to face Luxord as he said it. He totally wanted to go in there ranger-style, kick in the door and go guns blazing, but... he did need to save his ammo. As much as he hated to admit it.

[clockmongler]

X followed closely behind his friend, examining those passing through the hall as well with a hint of disdain, especially to the three (obnoxiously tall blonde woman, deadpan Cold Shoulder, and their black friend with Cousin It syndrome) congregating around the Sun Room door as if they were too smooth to move. His attention turned back to II as the elder Nobody spoke. "Well? Are you expecting me to open the doors for you, my darling?"

...Did he just refer to Xigbar as "his darling?" Obviously, Grell was having a bad influence.

With a shake of his head (insolent thoughts, leave this skull), the Gambler pushed open the doors and stepped into the Sun Room. If this was where II wished them to go, who was he to argue?

[To here

[numberii]

((From here.))

Okay. This time, for certain, they were going up to the second floor, and they were going to have some fun. That was absolutely certain. Not a doubt in his mind. Nope nope. The question was if Luxord was following along...

[clockmongler]

Of course Luxord was following! While he never found any enjoyment in II's hunting expeditions (again, effort. Xigbar may have been onto something with that "hives" hypothesis), this was something different. God only knew how much the Gambler enjoyed the suffering of others and, with the odds of actually hitting that strange man against them? He was mildly excited about the prospects of this entertaining scuffle.

As the moment, he just hummed to himself, ignoring the Gunner's strangely out-of-place annoyance (was he finally seeing those glitches too? He knew he was not hallucinating again!) as he walked beside him. "You've always such a one-track-mind, my dear. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother."