Silent Blessing [Alisa/Pyxis]

[Vice Ysal]

Standing here, before the hospital, Vice could feel the blood in his veins begin to boil again. The guilt and disappointment however was enough to tame that particular emotion again into a more manageable simmer. He wasn't going to fly off the handle like that again, and though he had been somewhat lax from the events of before, there was no longer any reason to be. Having brought with him a bag of emergency equipment, some food and some water for what he was planning for today, it only seemed right to be as prepared as he could be. His actual equipment were in their usual places and everything else needed was where they needed to be. Even Arondight seemed to be raring to go for this expedition and the young man knew why well enough.

It was also the point of working as a team to wait for the others and thus, Vice had to reign in his eagerness to go in without them. Honestly it would have been funny if all of this came along without any kind of prerogative but this was just as good. The biker just wished that the price for finally working together wasn't a life that was greatly cherished. Humans shouldn't need a sacrifice, some kind of human catalyst, to start working together. Again, there was no point in grieving more than he had to. Every negative thing would just be baggage that would slow him down anyway.

"Almost time huh? Shouldn't take those two much longer, right Arondight?"

---

Ayakura Alisa
Pyxis

[Ayakura Alisa]

A trip to the hospital again, huh? Alright, I'll bite. I was taking my sweet time in making it to the hospital, so I was probably a bit late... I approached and saw Vice standing there, apparently waiting. "Hey," I called out to him. "Sorry if I'm a little late. Didn't see any real need to rush, so I just walked slowly." Knife and bow were on me as usual and I could feel Hell Biker's influence bearing down on me. Out on another expedition? Right, let's bust some heads... Yeah, yeah, I got that. Take it easy. My eyes started flashing red a little for a few moments. "So what's the reason we're out here again? Are we out for blood this time 'round, pal?" I joked as I tapped my feet on the ground. I think there was someone else coming, but I don't actually remember who it was. Ah, well, I'm sure I'll find out who it was soon enough.

[Pyxis]

The hospital...it didn't take much for Pyxis to guess why she had been called out here. It was fortunate then that she was feeling better now than she had been over the last several days. Despite leaving her last meeting with Alisa on a reasonably positive note, given the circumstances, her last two trips into the office building had left her right back in a bad state that had convinced her that she needed to just stop going there for awhile. Even the hospital, with the bad memories it had left, would be better. After that, she'd branch out into the more outlying areas again.

She arrived at the hospital a little later than planned, dressed again in her tattered maid uniform but ready for whatever manner of combat awaited her. Vice was already there, as well as...Alisa? Well...given the location and the circumstances, Pyxis supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. "So that's how we're doing this," Pyxis said, approaching the two of them. "Well, I'm ready when the rest of you are."

[Vice Ysal]

"You could call it a grudge." Vice retorted, a grim smile on his face as the two then waited for the last member of tonight's expedition to appear. Fortunately, even if she was a bit late than what Vice would have expected from a 'robotic maid', the girl appeared not too long after both former normal's exchange.

"Well, we're all versed and experienced with this business so I don't think I've got to go through the Babysitting routine I've set up for the other users. That said, only plan I've got for tonight's run is go in, mess some shit up, get out, profit with our teamwork. If we meet any of those Shadows, we screw them over if possible and make them regret for messing with us Users."

A roll of his shoulders and a click of his gun, Vice moseyed in over towards the front doors of the hospital…and just entered the place.

"And here I thought we'd have a welcoming party. Tsk tsk."

[Ayakura Alisa]

I shrugged as Vice started to go in already after a brief 'introduction' so to speak. "The man's got a battle plan, huh..." I murmured audibly to myself as I gripped my knife tightly in my hand. I had already taken out my frustrations here in this Hospital. It's where I felt my inner self awaken to the presence of the vengeful Hell Biker. As we began to make our way into the complex properly, there seemed to be a lull in the area. On that note, Vice had mentioned something about a 'Babysitting routine.' "Heh, babysitting routine, now? What are you, some kinda drill sergeant now?" I chuckled as I idly jammed my knife into the hospital wall just for good measure, making a dull sound. You're eager to fight, aren't you? I can't help it. You're rubbing off quite a bit on me, son. I'm glad I could help. It turned out that Pyxis was accompanying us too. Hmm.

I turned my attentions to the robot maid this time around. "So, Pyxis! I take it you and Vice have already gone on a sortie in the past? That's interesting. And that makes our trip to the hospital that much more intriguing. I'm sure we all know what went down here, after all."

[Pyxis]

Babysitting routine, huh? So Vice had been doing this routine with other Users as well, but for different reasons. No, he could mention teamwork if he wanted to, and Pyxis was willing to provide it, but she knew exactly why they were here. And the timing couldn't have been better. Although she was trying her best to move forward, Pyxis still had a few frustrations left to air out, and doing so before the coming full moon would be better. That, at least, she wanted to enter with a clear head and no lingering concerns.

"That's the best plan I've heard since coming to this city," Pyxis said as they entered. Even, just slightly, better than 'make a run for the safe zone and shoot everything between us and it'. As Vice remarked, there wasn't much of a welcoming party in visual range. Her sensors were picking up some shadow activity in the area, but none so close by. It was almost as though something had come blazing through before and chased them away from the entrance. She turned toward Alisa as she asked about her history working with Vice. "You could say that," she answered, thinking back to the mission to retrieve one of her sisters and, well, the fight in this very hospital.

[Vice Ysal]

It could have been the fact that there was a group of experienced users, or that they all knew what the hell they were doing, or maybe just the fact that there was a lot of negative emotions just bubbling beneath what seemed to be a relaxed atmosphere. Whatever the hell it was though, it was damn well keeping the weaker shadows away from them. Whenever the group moved, or went somewhere, the faint sounds of skittering and retreat would echo from some of the places and really, everything was just becoming more quiet rather than the thumps that would indicate them getting nearer.

"So there's no sense in repeating it I guess. That said, there aren't any worthwhile opponents over here in this area. Might be better to try our luck on higher floors." The biker suggested as a few more intersections later, there was still nothing on the floor they were currently on. There was a slight edge to his voice as well, if anyone bothered to think about it anyway. It wasn't particularly tense or anything like that, he was just a bit more eager than usual is all. Not like this place meant anything to him, you know?

[Ayakura Alisa]

I yawned as we continued to wander through this area. Nothing much was happening. Were the Shadows in this part of the Hospital afraid of us? "No other way but to go up, right?" I sighed and continued onward. "It's pretty safe to assume that the weaker Shadows probably know our power and are staying away from us. I noticed that their behavior can be linked to self-preservation instincts. They see us, they know we're a threat, so if they can take us on, they'll attack, if not, they'll keep their distance and prey on the weaker foes." I said, almost going on a sort of mini-lecture. Really, there was nothing here on the lower floors. The suggestion to go higher up was a prudent one, especially if we came here with the express purpose of picking a fight as opposed to investigating and looking for information.

[Pyxis]

Indeed, there still wasn't much of a welcoming party, as Vice put it. If the occasional sounds of skittering away weren't enough of an indicating, Pyxis could clearly detect the signatures of shadows retreating from their location as they passed. They were, unmistakably, running away from the three of them. Pyxis's first inclination was to chalk it up to game logic again, as so many things involving shadows seemed to follow, but she had never actually known random encounters in games to retreat from stronger foes. There were some enemy types that were naturally runners, but in her experience they had never fled based on level. No, as Alisa explained, this was a more natural survival instinct.

Pyxis turned her attention upward, scanning as far into the upper floors as her sensors would allow. A more frequent visitor to the hospital might have been able to tell where the "stratum" divide was based on memory, but since Pyxis had only been there the one time, she could only rely on her sensors. "Six floors," she said after a few seconds. "We should go at least that high and try again." Above that, even she couldn't really tell. But the shadow signatures she could detect were definitely stronger from the seventh floor onward.

[Vice Ysal]

"Six floors huh? That's gonna take a while." Vice commented as he scanned the map he had made inside his head for where the nearest path upwards would be. Unfortunately, given that they weren't really the only users who had used this place as some sort of training grounds, the place was littered with unmovable debris that blocked quite a few of the short cuts that the biker had used to help shave off some time during his expeditions. After having to take a different route due to seeing quite a sizeable chunk of concrete, wood, and wiring just jammed through a hall way from the upper floor, the biker could be a little bit frustrated.

"That'll be helpful information, Alisa. You know, since we're already here I might as well expound a bit on that baby sitting thing I mentioned earlier." Killing time and getting help in one go sure seemed a lot better than just mindlessly walking towards their destination. "As you two know, on the scale of experience and exposure to the shadow lands, the three of us rank fairly high above most of the other users. Knowing that, there are quite a few of them who're still grasping around for information and on what to do. Like we were when we first started." At that, Vice gave a knowing glance to Alisa which referred to way back when the two of them had been considered 'Normals.'

"So I've been rounding up the new guys, giving them the run down of things and basically trying to give them field experience. Knowing you've got someone looking out for you helps you concentrate, specially in horror movie places like this." A brief chuckle then a short pause from the black haired male as some lone shadow decided to flitter about in their path. The encounter didn't even take five seconds and the shadow was already turning into black goo after being peppered with Vice's revolver's bullets.

"That said, it'd be real nice if you guys have any suggestions on how to actually go about these things. I'd rather have a worth while fighting force, and enough back up, for when things get awry."

[Ayakura Alisa]

"I'm pretty sure this hospital is like, at least ten floors high," I said. "The elevators are unstable but I think they're functional. When I was here once I saw some Shadows come out of an elevator. Had to take them out and stuff. Terrain here's pretty bad higher up, so be on your guard too." I continued. Soon, Vice went on to discuss the reasoning and his 'babysitting' deal. Basically he went off to try and give the newer Persona users some experience out in the field to try and make them at least more in the know about things and to be more prepared about the potentially strange and bizarre things they could possibly face. To be fair, Vice and I had started out far weaker than these Persona users, so we technically had more experience with how to deal with such dangerous adversity.

"Hard to say really, the best way to get through these kind of things sometimes is to just throw them at it and let them fend for themselves," I said. "This isn't really something you can provide lectures and 'proper' training for, anyway."

[Pyxis]

"Going by the windows from the outside, it's eighteen floors high," Pyxis provided. "And I wouldn't recommend the elevators if they're unstable. We may be able to make our own shortcuts if it comes to that though." She had meant forcibly moving some of the debris, a task which would be difficult but not impossible for her, but...seriously, how hard would it be to bust down a few walls? They weren't made to stop robots from breaking them, so a few well-placed shots, a good shoulder charge, or a punch from her Persona's box of misfortunes would probably get through them. ...Actually, that was a much better idea than clearing debris.

As they continued, Vice explained what the heck he had meant by 'babysitting' and...yeah, the term fit. It wasn't a bad idea. Far from it, actually. But something about the idea just seemed kind of...extended tutorial, to Pyxis. Then again, that was video games. No matter how much game logic seemed to apply to the current incident, it was still reality. Sometimes, a bit of extra guidance could be the difference between life and death.

Alisa suggested the 'sink or swim' approach, but Pyxis shook her head. "That approach does have it's uses. It's how the researchers forced my sisters and I to awaken. But once people are past that, guidance helps." She turned back to Vice. "That said, the best way to go about it would probably be to let them do their thing, be there to clean up their mistakes, then correct them on what they did wrong. And to focus on weeding out anything likely to get them killed."

[Vice Ysal]

The trip to the higher floors was pretty tame, with the only excitement being the occasional shadow that popped up but never really being agitated enough to try and take on the trio of experienced Users. It was, however, somewhat fortunate since Vice himself had managed to gain at least a few more suggestions from his companions on how to approach the things that he's been trying to instigate within the entirety of the User Population that he knows exists and actively fights with them.

"I'll remember the suggestions…so thanks for the help." Vice offered, gratitude in his tone as they finally reached a formidable floor. Said floor was the same where they had to fight for their lives against one of the smarter, and not to mention far more dangerous, shadow that had probably caused a rather nasty chain of events. "Guess this is the floor. The next stratum should be opened up already but…I've got a feeling that we'll be finding a few more here than last time." A massive echo then blasted through the halls not long after Vice mentioned it. It had been so loud, and the following crash of something in the distance was enough of a hint that shit was going down somewhere on the floor. Not to mention some of the debris of the ceiling of this floor losing some debris along the way.

"Guess we'll be getting the main course before anything else."

[Ayakura Alisa]

As we continued up the floors of the hospital it became apparent that our initial assessment was true. The stronger ones were most certainly more plentiful up there. Eventually, as Vice mentioned that the 'next stratum should be opened up already' and I wanted to say that I had already been here, but before I could speak there was a massive echo in the short distance. Crashing. If there were other humans around, they would probably be in a huge panic. Gesturing to Vice and Pyxis I pressed my fingers to my lips. "I'll check it out." I soon stalked ahead for a few steps, before I felt a shiver run down my spine. A gargantuan thing with several syringes stuck to its back was lumbering down the halls, knocking into the ceiling and stomping on the ground, causing everything to shake.

It was quite the modern Frankenstein if I did say so myself. Muscular and beefy in structure, it looked to pack quite a punch and it seemed definitely more alert and stronger than your run of the mill giant or Gigas. However, what surprised me more wasn't the giant Frankenstein monster dressed as a patient, but rather what was accompanying it - literally humanoid creatures that were made up of blackened DNA strands! Arms and legs and body - all DNA strands! What the fuck; was I high? "Holy crap, guys, look at that! Frankenstein and his DNA strand groupies! That's what's making the ruckus!"

[Pyxis]

Finally, they encountered something of interest. Soon after reaching the floor where that fight had gone down, they started hearing crashing noises from down the hall. Alisa went to look, and only got a few feet before Pyxis noted the location of the source: just past a bend in the hall. Soon enough, seconds later Alisa was calling back that they'd found 'Frankenstein and his DNA strand groupies.'

Franken...stein?

Pyxis went to join her, and soon found herself facing exactly what it sounded like. A Gigas type that looked like it was made of spare parts from other shadows, with several needles still sticking out of it, flanked by two tall but skinny shadows appearing to be made from DNA strands. "Gene types. There's one I haven't seen yet," Pyxis remarked. She summoned Pandora, quickly unleashing a hail of her own needles at the targets. Several of them stuck in the Gigas, while the thin, strand-like bodies of the Genes caused most of the ones aimed at them to miss.