Disclaimer: Carmilla the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Hellboy was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

Author's Note: I don't know if everyone reading this has been following the ongoing political situation in America (I don't even know if anyone still cares about this story after such a long gap between updates), but if you have, then you probably know why I've been a bit too busy and/or depressed/upset/angry to manage to get any chapters (of anything) out. Just gonna have to try and do better, I guess, as I refuse to give up.

"Okay, how, exactly, is this going to work?" Carmilla had to ask. Laura may have been all excited about the Library's offer to help, but this situation was clearly her first brush with the supernatural. Carmilla, having racked up significantly more experience with such things even before she'd joined up with the BPRD, was naturally more wary. You didn't typically get something for nothing, and while she was willing to accept that the Library might want her mother gone enough to voluntarily offer its help, it wouldn't be the first entity to try and double cross her. The whole "sentient building" thing wasn't entirely without precedent, either, and none of those other occasions had been terribly fun.

More to the point, she wanted to know how it was going to do what J.P. had proposed. Even if J.P. was right about which room had been Will's - and while she wasn't doubting him, necessarily, she also hadn't seen any proof - was the Library going to just pluck them out of Laura's dorm room and drop them off there? Would it instead open a portal? And, most worrying of all, how were they supposed to know if Will's room was otherwise unoccupied? Popping in there right in front of someone would kind of kill the whole stealth thing they were going for.

"The simplest way would be to connect the bathroom door of this room to that of the one formerly inhabited by Mister Luce. Once you're through, the bridge will be collapsed, allowing you to ascertain whether anyone is in the room or not. However, since I would imagine Miss Hollis will not want to leave the flashdrive that connects her computer to the Library behind while she's gone, it will not be able to bring you back here once you finish, so you'll have to return to the Library."

"That's fine," Laura assured him. "If I do find what I need, that'll give me somewhere to charge the phone where I won't need to worry about it being seen or taken. How are you gonna know when we're done, though?"

That part, at least, Carmilla had already figured out. "I can just email it again." She knew from sending it that guy's picture - and she hadn't forgotten about needing to figure out who he was and what he'd been doing there - that there was no risk of anyone (human, vampire or other) even noticing the message, let alone intercepting it. She pulled out her phone and quickly composed a couple of messages to leave in the drafts folder: one saying they were ready to go, and one asking for emergency evac, just in case there was a way to substitute stealth with speed.

"I take it you'll need to form the bridge before I unplug your flashdrive?" Laura asked.

"It is already in place," J.P. told her. Laura shot a look at Carmilla, who walked over and opened the door. Sure enough, the bathroom on the other side of it was not Laura's... and absolutely did conform to the 'messy college guy' stereotype that Laura had expected of Tookerman's room.

Carmilla took one look at it and promptly pulled out more nitrile gloves from her pockets... along with dust masks, just in case. Privately, she reflected that it was a shame that she didn't have room to carry full sets of hazmat gear.

As it turned out, Bree's box of holy items didn't quite fit in Laura's backpack - not comfortably, at any rate, and she hadn't wanted to risk damaging the box in any way - so after a moment of indecision, she swiftly crossed to the closet and retrieved a dark blue nylon backpack that evidently belonged to the Spielsdorf girl. (They'd been friends, so presumably she would have been happy to lend it to Laura, had she been able to be asked.) At least this way, she'd have enough room to store anything they ended up taking from Will's room. That done, she walked over to Carmilla and accepted the gloves, putting them on. (The mask earned Carmilla a vaguely amused look, but, tellingly, after a look at Will's bathroom, Laura didn't argue once.) "All set?" she asked quietly. J.P.'s flashdrive was securely in her pocket, so they were fairly well committed to the trip, now.

"Ready when you are."

Laura nodded. "Ladies first."

"I'm not a lady."

"Oh, really, Countess?"

"You said it yourself: it's Agent Karnstein, these days." Which was really why, despite the banter, she wasn't about to send Laura into a potentially dangerous situation without going first to see if it was safe. "But you're right, I do need to go first to make sure it's clear."

"And to give me a better view." Carmilla turned, raising an eyebrow at Laura. The dust mask securely fastened over her mouth and nose made it difficult to tell, but she was pretty sure the girl was smirking at her.

She decided she was fine with that. "You can ogle me all you want once we get back to the Library. In the meantime, once we're through, try not to talk at all, if you can help it. We don't want anyone - especially other vampires - overhearing us."

"Right," Laura replied, all business, now. As much as Carmilla might have hated to kill her playful attitude, she kind of had to. 'A time and a place', as the BPRD had been so fond of reminding her in the beginning.

They'd mostly given up on that, after a while.

The strangest thing about the trip was probably that she didn't feel anything when she walked through the door. One moment she was in Laura's dorm room, the next she was in a bathroom that happened to be in a completely different building, without even the slightest tingle to mark the transition. Had she not been watching where she was going, the only way she would have been able to tell was that the background noise of Laura's building immediately dropped away, replaced with that of the Zeta Omega Mu House. She stood still for a moment, closing her eyes and just listening. The building wasn't deserted, by any means, but there were clearly a large percentage of Zetas that were either in class or engaged in other activities. That was one of the reasons they were doing this now, after all. After about twenty seconds, she decided that yes, Will's room was probably empty. (She did wonder what would have happened if someone had tried to use Will's bathroom while the portal was open. Would they have wound up in Laura's?) She opened her eyes, then turned and beckoned Laura forward. The Cupcake came through, carefully shut the door behind her and waited a few seconds, then opened it again. Sure enough, through the doorway was Will's messy dorm room. Laura looked impressed, and Carmilla had to admit, that was a pretty handy trick.

She also had to admit, after a closer inspection, that calling the room messy would, in fact, be an understatement. 'A disaster area' might be more accurate. Clothes strewn everywhere, trash (snack food wrappers, take out containers, and a plate on his bed with the remains of... something on it) here and there producing the stench that she had not been sorry that Tookerman's room lacked, CD and DVD cases scattered around the floor to the point where they were going to have to be careful picking their way through the room, something not helped by the tangle of power cords and connecting cables between the 40-inch smart TV (with built-in DVD player) and various video game consoles (she didn't really keep up with that sort of thing, so she had no idea what any of them were called; she was also somewhat surprised that Mother hadn't collected any of them, or the television itself, suggesting Will had had more money at his disposal than she'd thought), papers everywhere, textbooks dropped in a corner...

Had he actually needed to do any homework, or had Mother taken care of that with his teachers, so that he could better devote his time to reeling in his target? She found herself wishing - not for the first time - that she could have quizzed Bree on just how the whole operation worked at the college, since they'd clearly long ago moved on from the method Mother'd had her using. Sadly, she was pretty sure that wasn't a conversation they'd be able to have until Bree managed to more completely throw off her mental shackles... if she did so in time, anyway.

"Well, on the plus side, I think we could completely ransack this room and nobody would be able to tell," Laura murmured under her breath. Carmilla swallowed a laugh, privately agreeing, and they got to work.

As much as she liked hearing Laura's voice, not talking meant Carmilla didn't have to breathe, which was a definite good thing, in this case. Unlike Tookerman, Will had done almost nothing to personalize his room, tech aside - that, or Mother had removed any more personal items when she'd collected anything she'd bought for him. The papers scattered around were all schoolwork-related, the CD and DVD cases (some of which were actually video games, and she just hadn't realized it) each contained what they were supposed to, there was nothing interesting in any of his textbooks... It was only when they started looking through his desk drawers that they found anything that indicated this whole thing wasn't a huge waste of time. (There was no computer present, indicating that was one of the things Mother had bought for him, which wasn't a surprise.) At first it looked like just another tangle of wires and cables, but once she started digging through it, she found it was actually a tangled mess of an adapter with a micro USB cable attached, a cord that lead to a a palm-sized thin metal and plastic plate, a Sony flip cover case, a micro SD card, and a number of other cables that were either just spares, or had been dumped in there due to the same carelessness that the rest of his room displayed.

Laura didn't say anything upon seeing all of that, but her expression clearly read 'jackpot'. She wasted no time in grabbing it all and dumping it in her bag. The rest of the room produced no interesting results, save for some kind of fungal growth that the Alchemy Club might be fascinated by, and Carmilla was only too happy to let the Library know that they were done. The door to the bathroom (which they had searched... as quickly as they could manage, and touching as little as possible) swung open by itself, revealing the hidden room in the Library. Laura practically dove through it, while Carmilla forced herself to take a few extra moments to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, or left any obvious signs of their presence. Once she was satisfied on both counts, she quickly hurried after Laura, shutting the door as quietly as she could.

While she'd been doing that, Laura had been searching to find an available electrical socket. Upon finding one along a far wall that only had an ornate lamp plugged into it, she sat down on the floor, took their haul from Will's room out of her bag, and set about untangling all the cords. She'd taken her gloves and dust mask off and set them down nearby, so Carmilla collected them, dropping them in a nearby small trash bucket, along with her own... and ignored Laura's amused look as she did so. She was trying to stay on the Library's good side, after all. Not leaving their trash laying around was a small price to pay. "So?" she prompted. "How's it look?"

"Like a tangled mess," Laura said bluntly. "I just hope all this was worth it. I mean, all that other expensive stuff was just sitting there..."

"Well, if you wanted to go shopping, you should have brought a bigger bag." Or a third one, as she hadn't even opened the backpack with Bree's stuff inside it.

"Wh- That's not what I meant!" Laura sputtered, ignoring Carmilla's smirk. "I just... If he bought all that on his own, buying a private phone isn't out of the realm of possibility. I mean, Bree might not be the only one committing minor acts of rebellion, and I can see not wanting every tweet and text and phone call to be monitored."

"True enough." And pretty much what she'd just been thinking earlier. They did make a curiously good team, didn't they? (She might have to amend her earlier belief that Laura should never, ever be hired by the BPRD... though she would wait until their current case had been resolved before making a decision on that. However smitten she might or might not have been with the girl, she hadn't abandoned common sense entirely.) "On the other hand, the game consoles, the smart TV, the phone... People who work full time would have some trouble affording all that, never mind a seemingly unemployed college student. Not sure about European pricing, but the TV alone would cost a couple thousand or so back in America. Coincidentally, we know of one other student who's been seen with a lot more money than she should have access to."

Laura paused in the midst of untangling two cords. "Wait... You think Will was getting money from the same guy you saw Perry meeting with? For what?"

"It's one possibility," Carmilla said with a shrug. "I suppose he could have just stolen either the stuff or the money to pay for it, but what little I know of her says Bree wouldn't be directing your attention to that, especially now. As for what he could be selling... I know I'd love to recruit Bree as an inside source into Mother's activities, and she said herself that Will hadn't needed to be reconditioned as much as the rest of them, meaning little if any programming or bindings to fight past. So he would have been able to do - and say - a lot more than she has."

"I suppose so." Laura refocused on what she was doing, and in short order had managed to untangle the Xperia's magnetic charging cable, plug it in, and connect it to the phone. For a worrying moment, nothing happened, then the Sony logo appeared in the middle of the screen, with the word Xperia on the bottom. Another moment later, that was replaced by a large vertical battery icon in the middle of the screen, a small charging symbol above it, and above that it said 0%. "So... This is going to take a while, apparently. Can we use it while it's charging?" She'd barely finished speaking when they were interrupted by a loud growl from Laura's stomach, and she blushed lightly.

"Figuring that out can wait a little while," Carmilla decided, trying to fight down a smirk with mixed success. "We should probably get you some food before you implode, or something." Not to mention that she could tell Laura's headache hadn't gone away, yet, so much as she'd been trying to ignore it. Neither condition would really improve her ability to focus on what they were doing, so it would be best to take care of them now, before either could become a real problem.

Whether Laura was thinking that or not, she didn't put up too much of a fight when Carmilla tugged her back onto her feet. "What, exactly, did you have in mind?" she asked, making no particular effort to pull her hand out of Carmilla's grasp. "We can't keep going to the cafe. I don't want to have to explain why I'm always showing up with someone who isn't my girlfriend."

"I was thinking we could go to Toni's Holzofen," Carmilla replied. She'd done a bit of research, and that seemed like the best available choice.

Laura considered that. "I could go for some pizza," she decided.

"I thought you might."

In a way, the restaurant reminded Carmilla of an American diner - or part of it did, anyway. The section they were in wasn't very large - that meant their chances of remaining unnoticed and anonymous would be reduced, which was why she'd kept looking through the available options for a while - though there was another room connected to it. That looked like a banquet room, with little beyond tables and chairs, the windowless cream-colored walls otherwise featureless. There might have been booth seats along one or both walls that she hadn't been able to see from her quick through the open doorway, but she didn't quite care. They wouldn't have been at all visible from the street there, but it just seemed too formal and sterile for a date. The windows along the wall of the room they were in left them more exposed to the general public, true, but it also let the sunlight in. The booths along that wall were in a u-shape, with three small tables between the ends, each with a chair on the other side. There were a couple of booths along the interior wall, but much of that side was taken up by the bar. They did at least have some nice artwork on that wall.

Fortunately, they'd arrived while business was fairly slow, so they had their choice of seating. Laura seemed completely unsurprised when Carmilla chose the one booth along the outside wall that wasn't in front of a window, right in front of the doorway to the banquet room. In fact, she settled into the seat in front of that wall without even needing to be asked, so that Carmilla could take the inside seat, where she'd be out of sight of the outside, but be able to see anyone coming into or out of any of the doors in the restaurant, while still sitting next to Laura.

Even people she worked with tended to need to have that explained to them at least once.

Once their order had been taken, Carmilla looked at Laura thoughtfully. She hadn't exactly been on that many dates since the coffin - the targets she'd been reeling in had been the closest she'd come to doing so before that - and only comparatively recently had it become at all acceptable for two women to be seen together in a romantic setting. (Though unless they did something obvious, it could be difficult to tell the difference between a date and two friends sharing a meal.) Ironically, the sheltered Laura probably had more experience with such things than she did... though she was proving to be less sheltered than she'd initially appeared. Lockpicking, breaking and entering... What else did she get up to that her father didn't know about?

She could always ask. "So... Who is the real Laura Hollis?"

Laura blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You present yourself - especially in your early videos - as a naive, sheltered girl excited to finally be free of her father's stifling overprotectiveness, when you've clearly been getting up to a lot behind his back. How much of that was an act for the camera? What do you do when you're not in the middle of an investigation? Who do you do it with? I mean, you've already met - or spoken to - most of the people I'm in any way friendly with, and I wasn't kidding about preferring reading alone to socializing most of the time, but I don't know any of your friends besides the Ginger Squad."

Laura took a few moments to process all that. "I haven't really been putting on an act at all," she finally began. "I mean, I don't feel a need to let the world at large in on every single detail about me, but that's not the same thing. And, keep in mind, that series of videos did start its life as an assignment for my journalism course, before Betty vanished. A lot of that would have been edited out, otherwise." That was true, Carmilla had to admit. So much had happened, it could be easy to forget that Laura had originally been going to investigate the oddities of the Library's catalogue... which she'd actually solved, since they'd been being caused by J.P. "I do have some friends from grade school, but they're going to college in Graz, Vienna... Pretty much anywhere but Silas." She smiled wryly. "So, I guess you could make the argument that they're all smarter than me."

"Or less stubborn," Carmilla suggested.

Laura rolled her eyes, but apparently didn't feel like arguing the point. "Like I said, though, I'm not putting on an act. So all the pop culture - the shows, books, movies, games and the like - that you were teasing me about on Twitter while pretending to be Carmen? That's all true. But don't worry, I'm not about to drag you off to play a Dungeons and Dragons campaign or anything like that."

"Good to know," Carmilla drawled. "I've had enough of both of those things over the last few hundred years." Laura's eyes widened in shock, either from the admission that Carmilla had encountered such things even before her time with the BPRD (when it wasn't her job to seek them out and deal with them), the revelation that dragons were real, or finally learning that she was at least hundreds of years old - or, most likely, a combination of all three things. Before the Cupcake could get over her surprise to barrage her with questions, Carmilla continued, "Conversation for another time." Namely, when they weren't out in public, where someone without the proper clearance could potentially be listening in. "So, in the meantime, since we've also established I know next to nothing the various 'fandoms' you participate in, why don't you tell me about the big ones? I doubt I'd have enough time to research them all, and to be honest, it's only the things that are important to you that I'm likely to care about at all."

For some reason, Laura needed a moment to process that, as well. "You're actively inviting me to nerd out at you, just because they're things I like?"

"Yes," Carmilla said simply. Why was she surprised by that? Had no one else ever displayed that kind of interest in her? "I like you, and they're important to you, so even if I won't like them myself, I want to know about them."

"Wow." She paused. "That is... not something anyone's ever said to me, before."

"Seriously?" How was that even possible? She was so adorable when she was gushing about the things that she liked.

"Well, my friends - my close friends - usually enjoyed the same sort of things that I did," Laura defended. "So they didn't really need to say that sort of thing. And it's not like I've really hidden who I am from Danny. Honestly, when I arrived at Silas, I was kind of preoccupied with trying new things, making new friends, and my schoolwork before the whole vampire conspiracy thing. I probably ask too many questions for anyone to be able to get in their own."

"Well," Carmilla said, lifting Laura's hand to her mouth and kissing the back of it, "I'm asking."

Laura tried not noticeably react, but Carmilla could smell the fresh surge of hormones her gesture produced. "Okay, but only if I get to ask you some questions of my own, later."

"Fair enough. But I'm going to have to insist you save the weirdness-related ones for when we're in private."

"I'll do my best." After that, Laura bombarded her with all manner of useless information that she did her best to focus on enough to retain, anyway. She decided to 'start small', in that the series Firefly had only gotten one 15-episode season and a movie, so there wasn't a large amount of character backstory or continuity to worry about. The whole 'it's a Western... in SPACE!' thing did sound kind of like the concept for a cheesy '80s sci-fi movie, but apparently it didn't take itself too seriously, which was always a good sign. After that, she veered into talking about the various Star Trek shows. Carmilla knew what Star Trek was, and vaguely remembered watching an episode or two when it was first being broadcast, mainly out of a 'Okay, what the hell is this supposed to be?' sense of curiosity. She hadn't been impressed (though the ridiculous props and delightfully hammy acting from the lead character had at least kept her entertained enough to keep from changing the channel), though she would admit that she had been talked into seeing the second movie, having been promised that it delved into philosophy and character motivation far more than the first movie (which she had not seen) had. Surprisingly, she'd found the movie bore that claim out.

Laura agreed with that, admitting that even now, The Wrath of Khan was considered by many to be one of the best - if not THE best - of the movies. She seemed to think Carmilla might enjoy the sixth one, too, so there was at least one possible future date idea, right there. As for the shows... Those were something of a mixed bag. Laura obviously enjoyed them, but freely admitted they had their share of bad episodes. In fact, she recommended Carmilla check out a reviewer on the internet, SF Debris, whom she claimed could provide far more insightful - and funnier - analysis than Laura herself could manage, in considerably less time. Which was fine - and Carmilla decided she probably would do that later on - but one of the main points of the whole exercise was to hear Laura talk.

Although, when Laura admitted that she wouldn't be able to explain shows like Doctor Who or Babylon 5 without several hours worth of discussion and a number of flow charts - each - well... Those explanations Carmilla was only too happy to skip, no matter how much Laura enjoyed the fandoms in question. Harry Potter also seemed somewhat complicated, but Laura was also somewhat afraid that it would seem rather silly to someone who knew what magic and the supernatural was really like, so she only lightly touched on that fandom. The only other big one Laura had time to mention was the MCU, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that Carmilla had been keeping up with that one already, if only because Hellboy refused to let her be a total recluse and made sure to drag her along with the group when his team went out to go see the latest movie during their mandated downtime. Their job lent them a unique perspective on the events portrayed onscreen compared to the rest of the public, but they mostly managed to refrain from talking during the movie to comment it.

Mostly.

Nobody ever complained, anyway. They couldn't get away from work that frequently, but the theater staff had gotten used to seeing Hellboy and Abe over the years, and the audiences were naturally more focused on what was on the screen than who was watching it with them.

There was a brief interruption as their food was delivered. As much as she'd come to enjoy the American versions of food like pizza, Carmilla had to admit she'd missed their European counterparts. Toni's was run by locals, but was far closer to being Italian than American, which was why they'd gotten separate pizzas, rather than sharing one: Most Italian pizzerias skillfully stretched out dough to the point where it resembled a cracker with tomato sauce and cheese on it. As so thin and light as it was, many people tended to eat a whole pie by themselves, and Laura's growling stomach said that only having some of the pizza wouldn't have worked out terribly well. Carmilla enjoyed thin crust pizzas back in America, but the sauce... Instead of slow-cooked tomato sauce, Italy-style pizzas like the ones they'd just been served used olive oil, pureed fresh tomatoes, garlic, and oregano. This gave the pizza a fresh, herby taste that infused the crust underneath. Also, considerably less cheese - in Italy, whole pies were often consumed on the go, meaning they needed to be very light and digestible - but more toppings (though they never mixed meats, considering it almost sacrilege), and substantially less grease. As much as Laura might like junk food, Carmilla couldn't help but think American takeout would be a serious shock to her system.

Well. One step at a time, she told herself. Laura was technically still dating someone else - though what she saw in Lawrence, Carmilla honestly couldn't quite understand - so planning out the menu for a transatlantic visit would be getting rather ahead of herself.

Not to mention they needed to make sure Laura actually survived the next couple weeks, first.

Laura practically inhaled her pizza - she had clearly not been joking about how hungry she'd been - though she did pause a moment to admit to some surprise that Carmilla had bothered getting her own, since living with Bree had taught her that vampires didn't need anything beyond the obvious liquid diet. (Even before she'd dropped all pretense of being human, the most Laura could remember seeing Bree eat was that one cookie right before the Town Hall.) Carmilla (quietly) explained that while her body didn't get any energy from eating food, it was still capable of processing it, and she could still taste things just fine. She did not veer into an explanation about how much better blood tasted, or that she'd learned how to identify different types by their unique flavors. Laura might be more-or-less fine with the whole vampire thing, but something like that still wasn't an appropriate mealtime conversation.

"So, what next?" Laura asked after they finished and left, Carmilla making sure to leave a generous tip for the serving staff not interrupting them unnecessarily and ruining their date. "My Poli Sci class isn't until late afternoon, so we have some time, yet."

That was something Carmilla had been considering as well. "I was thinking we'd hit the tunnels and make our way to the Robespierre Building." As she'd noted to herself earlier, there weren't very many security cameras around Silas, but one of the few places one could find them was in the lobbies of the various buildings, aimed directly at the front doors. The basement entrances let her 'children' come and go as they pleased, but the Dean clearly wanted to keep track of who did or didn't go in or out of places, if only to keep on top of any potential problems. They wouldn't want to overuse the tunnels - Laura wasn't supposed to know about them at all, so vampires finding her scent down there would cause all kinds of problems - but it would similarly be a bad idea to take the Library's "shortcuts" for granted and just go everywhere that way. It might get insulted, which... would not end well, to put it mildly. "I want to see if we can pick up on the Mystery Man's trail, if only enough to figure out who he is."

"Works for me."

The trip back to Silas was mercifully uneventful, and they ducked behind a tree before approaching the gate so Carmilla could shift into her panther form. That done, they made their way across campus - Laura exchanging polite greetings with a few people she knew, but refraining from allowing herself to be drawn into any conversations - to the Library. They could have gone into the tunnels from Laura's dorm (though Carmilla hardly minded not having to mist under the door that the access hatch was located in), but Laura wanted to see if Will's phone was charged up enough to be of any use after they were done, so they'd just be heading back to the Library anyway. Besides, this way, if anyone was looking for Laura, they'd accept her having been in the Library the entire time as a valid reason they wouldn't have been able to find her, and certainly wouldn't be looking too hard, as they wouldn't want to tick off the building by poking their noses into places it didn't want them to go. Even Bree wouldn't object - Laura's safety may have been her responsibility (even if she hadn't cared about Laura enough to want her to stay safe), but they both knew Laura was safer in the Library than most anywhere else on campus.

"Don't mention that to Danny, though," Laura had muttered on the walk back to the university. "She'll try to get me to move in, or something, and I don't know that the Library likes me that much."

They made sure nobody was watching as they headed down to the secret room, Laura taking extra care to make sure the door didn't close on Carmilla's tail. (As changing back and forth tended to use up energy, meaning she'd need to feed again if she overdid it, she'd decided to stay in panther form until she absolutely had to change. She wasn't about to go sipping from a random coed, and Laura still wasn't quite ready to offer her a bite, so there wasn't much other choice.) She took a moment to check on the phone - it was charging, but they hadn't been gone that long, so she left it alone for the time being - then went to go talk to J.P. He hadn't come up with anything new while they'd been away, either, but he did know a little more about the inside of the Robespierre Building than either of them. Laura was pretty sure they could ignore the classrooms, seeing as how the man they were looking for wasn't a student, and she could hardly go around asking questions without blowing her story about having been in the Library the whole time. J.P. had to be careful accessing the security cameras, so as not to tip off the security staff, but he could at least confirm that the man had come and gone from the Robespierre several times that day alone, and, as far as he knew, was still there. Roaming the building until they found him didn't seem like the best idea, but it wasn't quite as foolish as trying to sneak into the security room to see if they had another way of tracking people inside the building that J.P. just didn't know about.

That decided, Laura had then (very politely) asked the Library if it could get them to the tunnels right under the Robespierre Building. True, she had the map, and Carmilla's phone/flashlight, but the less they had to wander around down there, the better, as far as she was concerned. Carmilla couldn't say anything, but the swish and flick of her tail seemed to convey approval.

Fortunately, the Library was amenable to that idea, and the door it opened dropped them off pretty much right under the basement entrance. Laura went first this time, as she was the only one with hands to hold the light, and was surprised to find the steel hatch was lighter than she'd expected it to be. Not that it wasn't at all heavy - it was a two-and-a-half foot square door of inch-thick solid steel - but she was able to move it without that much difficulty. She stood to one side while Carmilla scrambled up the ladder. (Maybe it was the cat lover in her, but Laura found that positively adorable.) Once she closed that door, she moved over to the basement's exit. After Carmilla signaled that it was safe, she unlocked and opened it as quietly as she could, and they slipped up the staircase.

The Robespierre Building didn't seem all that different from any other building that held classes at Silas. Laura hadn't necessarily expected it to, but it wasn't one of the buildings she'd gone through during her campus tour, and knowing what she now did about the school and who had set it up, she knew she'd missed a lot during that tour.

That was only confirmed when she peeked into one room Carmilla had confirmed was empty and found what she could only call a torture chamber.

Well, interrogation room might be more accurate, she supposed, as it wasn't a chamber, as such, and their weren't any medieval implements of torture anywhere in sight. There wasn't much of anything beyond dusty wooden furniture, indicating this room hadn't been used for anything - or cleaned - in quite a while. The faint bloodstains on the long wooden table, as well as manacles on the arms and front legs of the chairs, made it pretty clear what it had last been used for.

Laura shut that door and moved on as quickly as she could.

It wasn't the only such interrogation room, she found. Fortunately, they tended to be marked with a black triangle next the door in place of a room number, so she opened those doors just enough for Carmilla to poke her feline head in and confirm there was nothing relevant to their investigation inside, then they moved on. They hadn't encountered anyone else by the time they finished making their way through the first floor, which she supposed was a good thing. Honestly, she was getting to the point where she'd run the risk of finding someone to question about the man if it meant she could just get out of that awful building sooner. Though, considering how many interrogation rooms were on the first floor, maybe it just wasn't used for classes.

On the other hand, she had no idea how many philosophy students there were at Silas. Maybe they used the Robespierre Building for classes because there were so few that they didn't need that much room, so the rest of the building could be used for... other purposes? She had no idea, but that the second door they came to - after ducking under the window as they walked past a blessedly occupied classroom - was another interrogation room... Honestly, how many rooms like that did one school need? Unlike the others, however, this one wasn't empty. The door opened before she could even reach it, and someone walked out, making Laura draw up short, blinking in surprise.

Well, they'd just found their mystery man. Now what?