Nightshift 49: The Labyrinth

[loyal_soldier]

[From here]

"Oh bloody hell, not another one." Another room that looked not only useless, but confusing. He didn't even have a clue where this was. "We should--" he was cut off by the sound of the suddenly much larger door closing with a rather final sounding 'click' behind them. "...Keep going, apparently. There has to be another way out of this

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[vodka_jump]

The new room was at least free of any furniture that might have fallen victim to Ivan's wrath. The new room was, in fact, so empty that he could see nothing at all save for gray walls that extended into a dark haze. He frowned, usually cheery smile gone and replaced with a cold, calculating stare. At first it was just fun and games, but it hadn't stopped, hadn't relented, and now it was turning into something else entirely

[loyal_soldier]

"No, I don't, sir," 622 said, peering down the hallway. "Which either means this is on the third floor or the basement level, likely the latter. The basement, from what I've seen, is far more openly and randomly a test for the prisoners." Like that... what had it been. A sfinks? He still couldn't believe he'd actually gotten that riddle. "But that means there's likely a way out of here, we just have to find it." Probably while dealing with some other bloody terrible problem along the way, 622 thought, because he was not exactly the most optimistic of persons.

[vodka_jump]

So just going through a few doors that should've led them back into the hallway had now led them into completely unfamiliar territory. If the sergeant was right, it was even some kind of testing ground. That in itself was completely ridiculous as well as insulting! Test? In what way did he need to be tested? He was a soldier, had been through several wars. He knew how to fight, even in the coldest and most difficult terrain on earth. The fact that so many countries had already fallen to him and many more would follow, wasn't that already proof enough of his strength?

"Then let us find it," Ivan replied with more than a little false cheer. He stalked ahead through the darkness and haze of the hallway, almost daring anything to get in his way. He'd actually prefer it right about now, just to have something he could take out his frustrations on. Books and chairs were fine, but nothing was better than bruising flesh and breaking bones.

[Gah, sorry for the wait! This weekend was really crazy.]

[loyal_soldier]

622 followed behind Russia, examining the blank hallways. Visibility was unaccountably poor, and that made him nervous.

They didn't come to anything of note until a curved wall suddenly came out of the haze, with several back turns radiating from the central wall. "that might be a hub. Should we try one of the back paths? I can keep track of our heading and the turns we've taken." Somehow, he really doubted staying on their initial path would lead them anywhere.

[I have to apologize right back! Sorry for not tagging sooner! D8]

[doneinthree]

[to here]

Whatever Kirk had been expecting for their next unpredictable room jump, it was not... well. "What is this?" He pointed his flashlight around their new location, but the light barely penetrated a few feet into the strange haze that surrounded them. Not that there was much to see, apparently: grey, featureless stone walls in any direction, except for the large door right behind them. Closed, as if it had a mind of its own, like all the other doors they'd encountered tonight.

"Okay, this isn't the Institute or Doyleton." Impulsively, Kirk reached out to try to exit the same way, but... there didn't seem to be any way to get it open. No handle. No doorknob. He glared silently at the damn thing, trying to decide if a bruised shoulder was worth trying to ram open a door of this size.

First the man-frog-shark, now this? Somewhere out there, someone had to be laughing at him.

[rischiarare]

Roxas felt almost like they were getting punished for hopping from room to room so quickly. When this door snapped shut, it was with a rather final thud. From the looks of it, there wasn't any way to get it back open - pushing on it didn't even shutter the thing in its frame.

So they were being forced to stay in this room. Great.

If one could... accurately call it a room. The walls reached so high that their connection to the ceiling was barely visible from the glow of the flashlights, and they were all solid gray stone. The stone walls themselves weren't all that kept visibility to a minimum; the room seemed hazy, like it was filled with fog.

So options were limited. Well.

"Might as well start walking," the Nobody suggested, already taking off on his own. He kept one gloved hand solidly on the wall to his right, dragging his fingertips along the uneven, beaten stones.

Where was Luxord when you needed him? He was probably good at mazes.

[sewenteen_sir]

Chekov turned around after following Captain Kirk through the storage doorway. Kirk's decision had gone against Chekov's recommendation, but it wasn't as though the recently promoted captain hadn't gone against dozens of recommendations and regulations before. And he'd come out of it a captain, so honestly the decision was probably sound

[doneinthree]

Kirk tore himself away from his staring contest with the door to follow the two teens, letting Roxas take point. It wasn't until Chekov made his comment that Kirk realized why Roxas was walking with his hand on the wall: the surefire way to navigate your way out of a maze was to keep sticking to one wall until the exit. It was a technique he'd picked up not in Russia or Starfleet, but as a young man growing up in a state which loved its corn mazes. He'd never thought this knowledge would have any practical use outside of Iowa, but... then again, Kirk could see how Landel's Institute could get boring enough to warrant the time and effort to carve a maze out of stone.

Assuming this was the Institute. For a certainty, they were still under Landel's sadistic jurisdiction, but if the head doctor was keeping a labyrinth somewhere in his hospital, it wasn't on any of Chekov's maps. And then there was the silence. For hours, no matter where he was, the falling rain had lurked in the background, but here... nothing. Less than nothing. If

[tsunagari]

[from here]

Upon entering the room, Sai froze - firstly, because it wasn't supposed to be a room. The ninja had walked out the door leading to the Rec Field numerous times over the course of his stay and never once had it led to... wherever this was. Turning back to the door they'd just entered through, he realized it didn't even look like the one he'd just entered.

It was unexpected, to say the least.

But could they turn back around and go back? They'd been ordered to run, and there was no reason for them to head right back into the combat zone. There only real option was to go forward. And who knew? This could be a new opportunity.

"...Do either of you recognize this location?" He asked, even as he listened carefully to see if they'd been followed.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis felt himself being dragged towards the Recreational Field and away from the fight, the chaos not quite drowning out his sense of direction. They would be running for quite some time, he wagered--what with the rain and whatever was lurking in the rain.

But as they passed through the door, Artemis felt the distinctly unpleasant feeling of being thrown out of a window while spinning. Only instead of landing on pavement below, he was still standing when the feeling subsided. Another shocking thing: he wasn't being pelted by water. He was inside.

Blinking, he took stock of where they were and quickly realized that something had gone very, very wrong. As in, "Go Through One Door, End Up In A Place That Door Definitely Does Not Lead To" brand wrong.

"No..." Artemis said slowly, casting his flashlight around the foggy corridor. "I have no idea where we are." Which, he had to admit, was a little unnerving considering Artemis Fowl almost always knew where he was. At least which timezone.

[faithful_frost]

Haku was already tense enough, he really didn't need to add this to the mix. "No," he said softly, looking around and straining his ears for sound.

"I've never seen this place before." Which made it a dangerous place and one he would very much like to leave. "It would seem we're at the whims of Landel again."

[tsunagari]

It looked like the door behind them had locked shut. Somehow this didn't surprise him. "I suppose our only option is to move forward." Even if visibility was bad. "Stick close to me or we might lose each other."

The path in front of them appeared straight and linear, but it was difficult to see very far ahead of their current position, and anything could be waiting in the thick fog. Things could get ugly if they were attacked, since it would be easy to separate them so he couldn't see his charge anymore. Haku could handle himself, but Artemis... "Stay against the walls as well."

This hall had to lead somewhere, even if it was just into further danger. Sai kept his machete ready.