fandomhighdorms | Boiler room, Thursday morning

[Continued from here.]

	As soon as the door slams shut, Aeryn's trying to open it again. She doesn't let anything resembling panic set in until she sees that it's not going to open. She's already sweating, and physical exertion doesn't exactly help matters, but it isn't as if she can stop trying. Pulling on the heavy door doesn't work, pushing on it doesn't work, and neither does slamming her weight into it to knock it loose. That just makes her sore, not that she's caring about things like that right now. After a while of trying and not succeeding, Aeryn steps back a little. She looks around for anything else she can use, but when she finds something to use as a lever, she's already not putting as much into it as she normally would. She gives up after a minute, thinking of the next step. It occurs to her that she could break a pipe, which could alert someone to there being a problem, but she doesn't know how the system works. For all she knows, no one would notice, and she'd only end up with a broken pipe, a lot of hot steam, and full-blown heat delirium even faster than she would normally. Instead she keeps trying at the door, occasionally yelling in case she can be heard through the vents. The longer she's in there, the harder it is to hold onto coherent thought, and she's sticking to things that are easier, like the fact that it's really important to get her boots and socks off, because it's hot and they're not helping. She actually has to sit down to manage it without falling over by now, and once she's down, she's leaning against the wall because it's just easier that way. Well. She hadn't expected things to turn out like this.
	Upstairs, John's already wondering what the hell is going on with the temperature. It's hot even with his A/C at maximum and he's starting to sweat. Leaving his room, he discovers that the whole floor is unusually hot and most people do have their A/C's on and they just don't seem to be helping. When he goes down a floor, the first floor is cool. Thinking it might just be the upper floors, he makes a quick trip up to the third floor and finds that that floor isn't affected either. Odd. "Stupid A/C," John says and trudges downstairs towards the basement just to see if he could see a problem. It's way too hot in his room for Aeryn so he at least wants to know there's a problem before ushering her out and calling the repair guy.
	Aeryn is already starting to feel the occasional muscle twitch, which she's trying very hard to ignore. Motor skills are the first to go, and for once she's happy with denial, a sort of If I don't see it, it's not happening thing. She hasn't moved from her place against the wall, either, due to not having the coordination, or because it really hasn't occurred to her that it's an option. She does realize that maybe just starting to push things or flip switches might be an option, and places her hand against the wall to try and push herself up.
	It's hot in the basement too and John pulls at the collar of his shirt. "Gah," he complains and, after locating the door, tries to pull on it. It doesn't happen. "Tell me I don't need a key," he grumbles, eyeing the lock. And then he kicks the door. "Open, you piece of junk! It's hot!"
	She doesn't make it to standing yet, half thinking she's hallucinating and this is progressing faster than it should. If she is hallucinating, though, it couldn't hurt to try. Loudly enough to be heard through the door, she calls, "Hello?"
	He hears something but it's faint and it could just be the fricking broken thing. He presses his ear closer to the door. "Anyone in there?"
	"Yes!" she yells back, pulling herself closer to the door in order to bang her hand against it, just in case they couldn't hear her. When she doubts that's effective, she grabs her boot and uses that instead.
	"I can't get the door open!" John shouts, still tugging on it. "Who's in there?"
	Now she's trying to stand up again, using the wall for support. Her legs are shaky and she really doesn't llike that. "It's Aeryn!" she calls back. "I think the door's broken!"
	Aeryn. Oh god. Oh god. "Aeryn!" Now he's kicking at the door, fingers tugging almost painfully at the handle. "Are you all right? Talk to me!"
	She hasn't figured out who it is on the other side yet, as she's not thinking at her clearest, and she almost lies and says she's fine. But that isn't going to get anyone out here any faster. "Open the door," she says instead, watching it and expecting it to come open.
	"I'm trying, baby, I'm trying." He puts one leg up on the door and tugs, arms straining but the door doesn't budge. "Is there a window you can climb out of of? Aeryn, don't stop talking to me!"
	Now it clicks into place. And she's never been so relieved to know he's there. "John? Um. No. No windows." She stands with her back against the wall, bracing herself with her legs.
	"Shit, shit, shit," he mutters under his breath, falling to his knees to inspect the lock. "Yes, it's John. I'm here. Are you all right? Is it bad yet?" The tool from Kludge still in his pocket, he starts trying random instruments to pop the lock.
	She slides down the wall a little more quickly than she intended, but her legs don't want to hold her up anymore. She's better off sitting. "Um. It's not good," she admits.
	"Fuck!" He screams in frustration and just starts ramming his shoulder into the wall, scrabbling at anything that might look loose. "Keep talking! Tell me what's happening! Aeryn, please!"
	"The door won't budge," she says, a little more quietly. Stating the obvious and it's not what he'll want to hear, but it's easier than trying to explain how she's doing at the moment. That would just be cruel.
	"Dammit!" He kicks the door hard and ignores the pain in his foot. "There has to be something something something," he repeats, tapping his head furiously.
	It's at that point that Aeryn just starts to space a little, just running her hand over the door and completely forgetting what she was going to say.
	"Aeryn, say something! Say something now! Do it, dammit!" He's pacing now, debating weapons to blow the door open. Except, he might hurt her in the process. Something... "Oh, oh god. I know what might help." He pounds on the door again. "Say something to me now!"
	She snaps out of it, shaking her head. "Sorry. What were we talking about?" You'd think that would be obvious.
	"Getting you out of there!" John runs through the option in his head, if it was possible. "Listen, I'm going to get help, okay. Do not fall asleep! Do not!"
	At that, she lets her eyes fly open again, blinking a few times. "Okay," she says. "I'll be here."
	"Okay," he says and he hates that he has to leave. But he has to. So he gallops upstairs and finds the first place he can that has a phone. That's when he calls the only person he can think of that can help.
	Anakin comes bolting down the hallway, lightsaber attached to his belt. He figures that as long as he's planning to use it as a tool rather than a weapon he's keeping in the spirit of the weapons ban. And if it's not, well, right now he doesn't really give a damn about the consequences. "Tell me you haven't broken your arm yet," he says to John.
	He's still yanking on the door when Anakin arrives. "No, not yet. I tried pulling my shoulders out of socket first. She's not talking anymore."
	Anakin gives John a confused look as he moves towards the door. "Why would she take a nap in the boiler room?" Sometimes Anakin is amazingly dense.
	"I don't know why she's in there," John admits, finally letting go of the door's handle. "I came down to see if there was something wrong with the heat or something. It's hot as hell on the second floor and she's sensitive to heat."
	"We'll ask her later," Anakin decides. "First, let's get her out." He reaches for the lightsaber and ignites it. "Let's hope the door to the boiler room wasn't made Jedi-proof," he comments, aiming the blue blade towards the door's hinges.
	Even during this situation, John can't help but gape at Anakin's lightsaber. It was just...so damn cool. And dangerous. So, with that in mind, he takes a step backward, carefully out of the way of the awesome, badass weapon and its owner.
	Anakin, face tight with concentration, slices the hinges cleanly from the door. The door groans and begins tilting towards them. "Let's get this out of the way," Anakin says, shutting the weapon off.
	Okay," he says even though he's already trying to peek inside the sliced door and into the room. Taking hold one of part of the door, he waits for Anakin to take hold of another part before yanking the door away.
	Anakin takes most of the weight of the door and shifts it against the wall. "Go," he says, nodding towards the opening.
	"Thank you," he says and darts into the room. Aeryn's not moving when he finally gets there and his first thought was 'she's dead.' Except she's breathing. Thankfully. "She's unconscious," he calls. "Too hot. I don't know how long she's been down here."
	"It was cooler upstairs," Anakin says, coming up beside John and looking extremely worried. "Or should we head straight for the clinic?"
	"Aeryn?" John taps her cheek a few times, hoping to bring her around but nothing happens. "Wake up, please. I'll cook for you tonight." It doesn't work, of course. Looking back up at Anakin, he says, "Clinic, probably. I don't know far this has progressed. It shuts down her body if she's exposed too long."
	Anakin bites his lower lip, filing that information away. "Let's not waste any time, then," he says. "We'll figure out how she ended up down here later."
	"Right," he says and bends down, scooping her up in his arms. "Right. God, Aeryn, don't do this, please."
	It might be the movement that jostles her out of it, but Aeryn blinks her eyes open. Surprised that she actually can lift her head up, she cranes her neck and looks down, not protesting the fact that she's off the ground, but more looking confused by it.
	He hasn't quite started running but he looks down and slows when he notices her awake. "Rise and shine," he says, voice belying his fear.
	She frowns, still disoriented enough to have no idea what's going on. There's also the fact that she's already got some holes in her memory of the last... however long she's been down here. She hasn't thought to fight him or ask him to put her down. "What are we doing?"
	"Taking a small trip to the clinic," he tells her, walking carefully. "Look, I'm even bringing Anakin," he says, nodding towards Anakin. "Like a personal guard."
	Anakin gives Aeryn a small smile. "Sounded like fun," he says lightly, trying to keep the worry out of his eyes. But this is Anakin, so it's probably still there.
	"Heat delirium's not fun," she mutters, dropping her head back against John's arm, folding her arms like that will stop the right one from twitching.
	"No, it's not," John agrees, smiling down at her. "But you're gonna get better. I promise. I'll make you better."
	Anakin nods. "I'll make sure he does," he adds. "Or I'll kick his ass." He pauses, then thinks it won't hurt to ask. "What were you doing in the boiler room?"
	Aeryn's arm visibly twitches this time, and she pauses, trying to remember that far back. "Hot. Went to fix it. Walk faster."
	"Yes ma'am," he says and speeds up his pace. "Besides hot, how're you feeling?"
	She stares at him. From where she's standing- so to speak- it's pretty obvious.
	"Right, stupid question," he mumbles and speeds up some more. "How much time do we have?"
	"Until I'm comatose," she says matter-of-factly, and this time her eyes do close for a minute.
	"Aeryn," Anakin says sharply. "Stay with us." He doesn't deal well with people being hurt. At all.
	She forces her eyes open and nods an okay. She's not feeling up to an argument.
	"Listen to the man with the cool weapon," John says lightly and hopes the fricking clinic is close. "You're gonna be fine. We're moving to Alaska when this is done. We're gonna live on the fricking tundra."
	Aeryn makes a face at that, even though it's even hot outside and the tundra would be preferrable. And despite that, she has to say it, because they have to know this. "If it gets too bad... If I can't wake up..."
	"Shut up," he says, pushing that thought out of his head. "No."
	She moves her arm, clutching at his shirt like that will help somehow. "I need it taken care of. I can't live like that."
	"No," he says, voice breaking a little. "No."
	"If you care about me..." She can't bring herself to finish the sentence. "It would be the merciful thing to do."
	Anakin catches Aeryn's eye and nods. Then he turns back to John. "Move faster," he says tightly.
	At least that gives John the opportunity he needs to not have to answer that question but he saw the nod. He saw the nod. "Be quiet, Aeryn. We're almost there."
	Aeryn doesn't say anything else, just nods and swallows and tries to stay awake the rest of the way.