In under a minute, the two had left the room. Troy used the time inside getting used to moving around his body again. There was still some sluggishness in his limbs when they went outside, yet he could feel it disappearing by the second. Whatever had been injected, it was filling him up with what his body had been needing for so long. He felt rested, full of energy, and ready to risk his life for the sake of another… maybe. There was still some inner discussion on that topic.

Not that he spent too long thinking about it. Down the hallways they went, pacing in perfect tandem. They did not run, and neither did they make themselves look like they were in a hurry. To each person they passed by, they would seem like a perfectly ordinary pair of people, having a little stroll on their way to work.

Troy was a little proud of how well he was keeping himself together. The initial confusion of not knowing where they were going was prominent in the start, but it disappeared in the end, replaced with the trust that Dr Hale knew exactly what she was doing., Him questioning anything at this point would only be harmful.

Though, it was a little confusing, not knowing where they went. By the walls, it was clear that they hadn't been going over to where they had been before. The designs were changing from playfulness to straight lines, devoid of any emotion. It was akin to a step up in the world, where one took a sacrifice for the sake of professionalism. Troy didn't like it.

While there had been a slowness to their movements, it was further slowed down as they went closer to whatever was the centre of the current area. People were standing in the hallway in groups, blocking the way for everybody moving through it. Granted, Troy was decently sure that he and Dr Hale were the only ones doing so, but it was still improper of them.

Or, it might have been them not holding up the standards, as people were giving them dirty looks. The next was crueller than the one before as if Troy was just continually kicking a few puppies, and having the time of his life doing it. He did not understand why, until the very moment that they reached the end of the grouping together.

Dr Hale pushed a few people to the side, as a counter revealed itself from the crowd. In the wall was what looked to be a small desk, where one old man was looking as annoyed as the standard cashier in the retail stores of old. That annoyed, tired look into their eyes was of one who had been desensitized with nearly anything including demotions, bodily harm, and a surprising amount of mental castrations.

“Mara,” the old man stated, not looking more or less bothered when seeing the two standing before him. “Get back in line. I have it in a good ear that you haven't gotten permission to skip it.”

“Jeff,” Dr Hale greeted back, showing off a similar lack of being bothered by the dead-end stares being shown off. “We have a Code Epsilon. I have it on good authority that lines are to be ignored in times like these.”

If there had been an expectation of the old man, who Troy now knew was named Jeff, taking the situation more seriously after hearing the buzz words, that dream had already been destroyed. Really, the most obvious thing the man did was to lean back a little more in his chair, and make a sigh so loud and long that there had been worries about him having a stroke. He was clearly not one to take his task at another’s pace.

“What is that, the second one in two weeks?” Jeff asked, getting out of his chair, the man’s back popping back in place as it was stretched by the slightest amount. “That code is for emergencies of the highest order. If you have two of those in so little time, we either need to remake the code-levels, or you need to reevaluate your work-values. What changed? You weren't having this a month ago. Is it because of that new guy behind you?”

The focus was put back on Troy for the most minute of moments. The people who had been skipped in the line were looking over at him, redirecting the blame from the woman in front of him. Easy sacrifices were the easiest to harvest, after all. The only thing he could do was to stand straight and hope to not be slaughtered too quickly.

“The reasons are above your clearance,” Dr Hale stated with no tone for patience. The weight of her words drew the attention back on her, away from the shoulders of one who could not hold himself up for long. A silent thanks was given out. “Do your job with the expected speed, and I will not be sending out a complaint to the office.”

“Empty threats? You must be getting really desperate nowadays. There ain't nothing that can get me out of here,” Jeff said with a smile filled with half as many teeth as there were supposed to be. It unnerved most there to a point where the hairs raised on their necks. This man had clearly been there for some time now. Thinking over it, it might just have been the oldest man Troy had seen. He had to be over eighty, bordering on ninety-something. That he was still working was a miracle in and of itself. “What do you need, sweetcheeks? Another batch of implant enhancers? If so, we are all out.”

“I need a Ka-Bar, a dose of non-toxic sedative-based gas, and two first-aid kits,” Dr Hale listed off easily, Troy only guessing what some of them were. The last one was easy enough to understand, but the two first only brought questions to his mind.

“What exactly do you need a knife for?” Jeff asked, sounding closer to curious than anything else. The man was clearly not worrying about what it would be used for. Troy, however, was indeed worried, not understanding what good a knife would do them.

“Emergency situations warrant a lack of questions asked, to stop any unwanted leaks of information. If you want to be directly blamed for potential war, I will gladly tell you,” Dr Hale fired back, not taking any of the man's curiosity.

“Oh, take a joke once in a while, please. Honestly, you people need to have a smoke break every now and then. You just can't do anything but be some snappy-” Jeff continued, out of what anybody could hear. When the man took a few steps back, likely to grab what was asked for, the man became impossible to listen after.

The voice just stopped being sent through. Rapidly, as more steps were taken, the man became imperceptible, seemingly swallowed by an unstoppable blackness. How it was done, as the room was well-lit only a few meters before, was something he could not understand at all. Not that he had time to wonder about it for too long, of course, as Jeff came back only a few seconds after the fact, seemingly able to find everything within mere seconds. Was it all next to each other or something?

“Do tap yourself with the pointy end, pull the clasp when you want to, and I think you know how to use these,” Jeff said to each other the objects, as he put it all on the counter. The knife was dropped into one of Dr Hale’s inner pockets, with a speed that nearly made it impossible for Troy to see it, to begin with. The dose of gas was put inside the woman’s sleeve, hidden in a place they would not be found. Lastly, the first-aid kits were handed to Troy for safekeeping. Nothing was said to him about it, but he went along with it anyway. “Do you have time to sign anything, or do you have to hurry over to your so-called emergency now?”

“We will be leaving. Goodbye, Jeff,” Dr Hale said, that last part seeming a little different than the first. How was it different though? The weight was the same, the tone as well, and the speed… no, the speed was a little faster, as if the woman did not want to say to start with. Troy did not question it, as they moved forward again, going further down the hallway.

“Not even going to walk the same way back,” was heard in mumbles behind them, but it was not heard for long, as their steps were as quick as before. Troy just focused on having the first-aid kits in his hand, not questioning anything.

With the kits in hand, it might have seemed suspicious. Yet, people seemed to be lacking perception of the area around them, as there were next to no looks their way. It had changed from before. Was the difference of having something in one’s hand so important? Or… maybe it was because of just where they were. The people walking by them were not of the best minds, as they were diluted up top by a poison made for the most social of events.

Some could not stand by themselves, helped by others to move forward. Some had fallen already, left behind by their so-called comrades. And some looked to have a great time in the hallway, looking to be either dancing or fighting. No hands hit other’s face, but it looked so terrible that it could not possibly have been made out to be a dance.

One did not need to think for a lot of time, as their location became more obvious with every step. While Troy might have been walking towards it from another way, even he could recognize some of the signs on the walls.

They were at the shopping district, outside the entrance to it. Those drunk avoided the entrance like the plague. Maybe they had been kicked out, having drunk too much while inside it. Troy would have doubted it.

“Open it up,” Dr Hale instructed him, the woman looking a little impatient in the millisecond that it took the young man to think the request through. He had wondered why she could not do it herself, before realising that she had not been allowed to walk inside it herself for some time. She had been kicked out permanently after an incident that included her, though he could still not remember what it had been.

Not that he had any intention of finding out now, as he went over to the wall to put in the code. He had memorized it after being put through it so many times. Charlie had apparently taken it as a personal offence when he had said that he did not know the code by heart. Half an hour of moving fingers through the air had rectified that problem, Troy never able to remember it, even if he wanted to.

With swift movements, he put in the code. The door opened up without question, allowing the two into the shopping district. Thinking back, Troy was sure that there had been some other name for it, yet he was wholly unable to remember it anymore. Nobody really used it, for anything other than formal naming-events, and he had not been able to witness even one of those.

It was of no matter, as Dr Hale was already walking swiftly ahead. Even with her smaller stature, her force was not one to be trifled with. The mass of people standing around was pushed to the side, and Troy just did his best to follow through. She was like a bulldozer inside a mass of parked cars. Anything in her way was pushed, crushed, or stepped aside before they came under a death-stare.

They walked like that for a few seconds, before the woman took a sharp step left. Looking up briefly, he saw just what they were walking towards. During his tour, Charlie had mentioned it as one of the oldest buildings still standing. It was supposed to have been one of the grand pieces but was supposedly not as popular as it had been before. A shame, as it still looked wonderful. What had been its name again? Something about it being nowhere. Troy only really remembered that a crafty man had been the owner of it.

Dr Hale pulled the young man ahead, as he had been slow on the uptake. It was nice to know that the woman was making sure that he was coming along, even if it was embarrassing to be pulled along. No matter, though, as much worse could have happened.

The door inside was not easily opened, but a shove with the shoulder opened it up easily enough. It was well-lit inside, but nothing of worth could be seen. There were no tables, no chairs, and nothing except the floor, walls, and roof. Even the windows were darkened, stopping him from looking inside. Charlie had theorized china-plates to be inside. That there was nothing at all was… anticlimactic.

Not that this meant that Dr Hale was slowing down at all, the woman going up the stairs in the back. They cracked slightly. Troy did his best not to wonder how brittle they were. There was clearly a lack of repairs done. People were truly never inside here.

Having gotten up the stairs, a sharp left led them into another hallway that led into… nowhere? There was nothing. The hallway ended with a wall, no way to get into the sides. The stairs led up to no rooms, nothing other than a short place to stand. What was going on?

“We will be going over to the hidden side of the facility now. Follow my step, don't walk more than you need, and only talk when I ask you something. The place is trapped, and I do not need us to be the victims of an unwanted decapitation,” Dr Hale said, drawing the knife from her pocket. Troy could only wonder how serious she was, as she pricked the side of one of her fingers, making the blood come out in droves.