Night 48: East Wing, Hall A

[vbyv]

[from here]Skidding around the corner, there were actual doors here, and yeah, okay, this was a lot nicer now that the non-existent holes in the floor had stopped crumbling all over. Kind of. She thought so, anyway, but a part of her half-expected to lose her footing at any second, too. What the hell had happened back there

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[theroadsofar]

[Following her from here]

Dean was sure "Sam" had taken off this way. Sure, it was the kid's body and he was in there - he had to be - but that thing was riding him and riding him hard.

Although not as hard as it could've. Dean didn't run full tilt, not when it'd be hard to stop if the floor opened up again or the Demon turned to ambush him. Even concentrating on catching up, the thought that this wasn't the usual M.O. here was in the back of his mind. Dean slowed as he came to the end of the main hall, reaching up with one hand to wipe sweat that had beaded on his forehead and listening. There was a loud crash down one of the side halls. Dean headed for it. For all he know, this was a trap but there'd been a whole lotta chances for that thing to kill him.

He wasn't gonna let up now.

[Cornering Faith HERE]

[ofazureflame]

One. Nothing. Two. Nothing.

It had been silent. Completely devoid of movement or fluctuations in the data of his area. And by his clock, his time to be out and surveying his designated field was nearly at a close. Until there was a sudden spike and banging. A panicked patient non-aggressor had accessed his domain, running from something. She was so far from where she was supposed to be. Out of the defined bounds--far outside them

[not_rly_fai]

[[from here]]

The shouting grew fainter as they turned the corner, but before they could get more than a few steps, there was an eerily familiar wheezing and a dull bluish light. His hackles rose and he moved to stand protectively in front of Chise, preventing further travel. For now, it seemed to be distracted by another set of patients, but he wasn't sure how long that would last.

"Looks like a friend has come out to play," he tried to sound cheerful, setting a gloved hand on her shoulder. While he knew exactly how dangerous the creature was, he didn't want to frighten Chise. He could try to distract it while she made a run for it. With any luck it would ignore her completely.

"I'll go say hello, but why don't you hurry along to that closet. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you," he assured her, taking a few more steps, but carefully keeping himself between her and the creature.

[cryingweapon]

"A-Are you sure Fai?" Chise absolutely didn't want to leave him behind to fight against some enemy or creature alone. It was part of a captain's duty to keep their team alive no matter what. But since Fai seemed to be familiar with it, he probably had enough experience to escape.

"Alright, I'll go, b-but I expect you to be there! Or else!"

[Running over here.]

[ofazureflame]

He was going to get so much maintenance over tonight. His operator would be furious when they found out he'd let four targets out of his area without so much as a threatening growl at them. His protocols would be written and rewritten until he was ready to roll over and delete himself.

And then, another two entered his domain. His program was beeping, alerting him, setting his vision red... and he marked another X on a square.

And then, his program defined the targets--one of which, was easily identified.

He slid out of the ceiling, standing and staring at Yuuhi with wide green eyes. He ignored the younger patient, favoring the familiar target. He walked closer, watching Yuuhi intently, weapons holstered... for the time being.

[not_rly_fai]

Chise managed to make it to the closet, much to his relief. Now, would it be easier to try to follow? Or just keep the boy distracted until she was finished and then they could both make a run for it.

So far he was only staring, his weapons still put away as he walked forward. There was no recognition in the boy's eyes, but maybe he'd get lucky and the old tactics would still work.

"Hi again! You remember me, right?" he asked cheerfully, removing his coat and turning it around, then shaking it a few times to hopefully jog the thing's memory. Even if he didn't remember, maybe the coat would be just as distracting. The boy seemed fairly childish or simple, all things considered. So long as it meant getting through the night in one piece, that was all that mattered, wasn't it?

"Why fight when we can play, hmm? You like to play, don't you?" he shook the coat a few more times.

[perfectrecord]

[From here, and passing through just before Fai and Chise arrive, with permission from Serey]Before long, the edge of the wall to von Karma's right suddenly gave way to a sharp angle leading to an open space to his right. The intersection to the hallway. He rounded the corner and took a few steps forward, but instead of continuing down the hall just yet, he turned about and walked slowly, his hand outstretched to feel for the solid surface of the other side of this corridor. ...There it was. Now he could proceed

[itneverwas]

Those who teetered upon the edge of nothing did not have to fear the darkness or that which lurked into its depths. Nobodies were of no interest, as they did not have the essence to contain darkness, the heart that could be consumed by it. Instead, they made use of it, allowing the darkness to extinguish the radiance of others. They traveled through it, used it to conceal them, manipulated it even though they were never part of it. After all, they were shunned by both the darkness and the light, part of neither but lurking upon the in-between. Therefore, they did not exist.

Though the darkness of Landel's Institute was of a different nature, holding other interests than one's essence, traveling through it was not a difficult task for those accustomed to keeping to the shadows. He, too, reached the fourth door without incident. And unlike his companion, his calm had not even began to falter. He noticed von Karma to be making attempts to break open the door, indicating that it had been locked. Interesting. What could it be that was

[perfectrecord]

von Karma had just removed the screws from the doorknob assembly, taking care to catch them in his hand before they could clatter to the floor, and was about to pull the knob away from the door when he heard faint footsteps not far behind him. Was it Mr. Xemnas? ...Or was it a hostile entity? In case it was the latter, he needed to complete this task immediately. In a single motion, he gave the handle a forceful tug, and it separated away from the door, exposing a thick metal rod inside that kept the portal locked... and allowing the knob on the other side to fall, creating a ruckus audible from inside the room.

He could no longer afford to be delicate in this task. If that sound alerted anything, he would need to finish this as quickly as possible. Within two minutes, he had removed the locking mechanism (gloating to himself that he had done this with the additional challenge of literally doing it blind), and the door swung ajar. Right away, he cracked it open wide enough to admit him and entered the large room.

[To here]