NIGHT 54: M21-30 HALLWAY

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

It took her a moment when she turned down the men's hallway to skim the area with her flashlight. This was the part where she got confused, the muscle memory not really carrying her the whole way. He'd given her directions once, but that felt like a lifetime ago now that she actually needed to put them into practice without Bella attached to her hip. Being alone made it harder, for some reason. She hoped Bella was having more luck than she was at getting to … wherever.

On her left, the single door of the bathroom that she suspected was the same as the women's facilities, and on her right four hallways. Peter's was … she scrutinized. Second in from the door? It sounded about right. If her room was F34 and it was the closest to the door, 24 should be one row further in. So, she hung a right and headed down the hallway.

Her flashlight beam checked the numbers on the doors as she headed down. 30 … 29 … the numbers were counting downwards, which was a good sign that this was the right hallway to get her to M24.

[ bumping into sylar peter ]

Comments

[darwinism]

You'd be surprised, Sylar muttered to himself about Peter's supposed competence, finding relief in the fact that his voice was still the same inside of his own head.

And it was a relief that he sorely needed. As soon as Claire started talking to him like an old friend, implying references to events and conversations that he'd never been a part of or even overheard, he realized just how out of his depth he was. He'd have to be even more careful than usual – one misstep and the game would be over, not only for tonight, but for the rest of his time at the Institute. If he allowed Claire to survive to the morning, then yeah, she'd inevitably find out that Peter hadn't been the one she'd actually hung out with during this Nightshift. And, while that realization would be disconcerting, it could still be explained away in a number of ways given the Institute's weird track record, but if she found out that the shapeshifter had been Sylar...

Then it'd make life significantly harder for him, and this damn power significantly less valuable.

His mind raced through the inferences in Claire's words about as quickly as she spoke them. She was trying to apologize to Peter? Sylar... hadn't expected that, but given what he'd seen of her in the Sun Room, he wouldn't be surprised if her impulsive anger stretched to areas of her life outside of scary boogeymen. And... announcement? Sun Room? The changing guard at the Institute was probably the hot topic across the patient body, but did this mean that Peter and Claire had seen something important? Something that Sylar hadn't?

But apparently, Sylar's momentary silence was exactly what Claire needed to change the subject to something more immediate and far more dangerous. He tensed. Dammit, her seeing him come out of M27 was bad – really bad. Peter knew that this was Sylar's room, and...

Peter knew that this was Sylar's room.

Relaxing and sighing, 'Peter' took a step away from the door, putting some distance between him and it, and some closeness between him and Claire. He looked back to Claire, fixing her with a serious gaze.

"No, I... did say that. And I I'm glad you're okay too. The thing is..." Putting on the dark frown that Sylar knew so well, he raised a finger and pointed it at the door he'd just come from. "That room? Is Sylar's."

It was stupid for Sylar to point this out to Claire, and that was the whole point. Peter already knew that Sylar was in this hallway, so Claire would probably find out eventually anyway, and if they ever accused Sylar of having had a part in all this... Well, if it had been him, why would he ever try to incriminate himself so obviously?

And all this brought up an even bigger point, one that went right along with Claire's ignorance toward the specifics and the generals of Peter and Sylar's rooming situations. Why hadn't Peter told her about M27 in the first place? And why was Claire acting as if this was the first time she'd searched for Peter's room? Shouldn't Peter have been forewarning her of where Sylar tended to be at night? Unless...

Unless he was trying to protect her from something – maybe her own stupidity. It fit the situation and the personalities involved; plus, telling from the real Peter's absence and Claire's own apologetic tone, Peter definitely hadn't planned on meeting with her tonight. It fit Peter's nature that he'd not just help her, but outright prevent her from putting herself in danger.

And it fit Sylar's nature to imitate it.

"...Which is exactly why," he continued quickly, his brow creasing in concern, "I didn't want you hanging around here."

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

From the moment the name Sylar came out of her uncle's mouth, a stubborn and impetuous look dawned on Claire's face, covering up the way her shoulders tensed with uncomfortable fear. If that was Sylar's room, why were they still hanging around? A part of her wanted to just politely request going back to Peter's, but if they were hall-buddies, she had a feeling they should get as far away from the block as possible. There was no way she wanted to be around when he came out, nor anywhere that he might know to look for them.

"Peter," she hissed stubbornly, casting a paranoid glance over his shoulder and fixing her gaze on the door of the room. It seemed so much more ominous now. Her mind flashed to an image of her front door, slamming shut, refusing to open. No escape. She swallowed thickly and looked back up at Peter to anchor herself and push away the fear. Not now, Bennet. "Maybe next time you tell me where to find you, you could include that as part of the memo? There are a few rooms I'd like to avoid on my candystriping rounds, and Sylar's? Happens to be one of them! The top of the list, even!" Her gaze began to drift back to the door and suddenly her eyebrows knitted together in stubborn confusion.

"What were you doing at his room, anyway?" Sketchy didn't even begin to cover it. Secretly, though, she was hoping he'd smothered him in his sleep or something. That'd teach him to try and backseat parent. Her violent thoughts got interrupted by her rationality. Shaking the entirety of it off, she grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's just … get out of here, okay? I don't want to be around when he leaves."

Turning on her heels, she began to drag Peter after her back towards the main block hallway. The faster they got out of there, the better. Prying questions could wait until later. When they reached the mouth of the hall, she glanced left, then glanced right; her flashlight following the path of her vision to insure that the boogeyman wasn't lurking in the shadows waiting to jump them or something. Satisfied that there was no one out there who would pose a significant threat, she pulled Peter out into it after her.

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