Day 56: Bus 1

[tightsofmight]

Previously, on Peter Parker's Sucky Life:

Pain, pain, fourth wall bulldozing, fire and pain, and teeny useless swords.

Yeah, so Peter wasn't feeling so hot today. It was a marked improvement on waking up after getting shanked by Grell, but this was in no way a good morning. They had all made it through the basement trials and got their dinky rewards, but man did they pay a hefty price for it. All of them. (Scott and the others had to fight robot raptors? What the hell...) Peter rose from his bed oh so delicately and with much wincing, thanking whoever it was that carried them back to bed every night for putting him belly down on his mattress.

His back, oh god. Peter seethed and hissed and grunted in pain. It felt like it was scabbing over, and the bandages yanked at the tender skin with every minute muscle spasm, every move he made. Cripes. Better his back than his arms or legs, but still. It was going to make things so difficult if they got stuck in Doyleton all over again.

Brainy was so thoroughly wrapped in his blankets on the other side of the room that Peter couldn't make heads or tails of his current state. But he'd stayed in the whole night, right? He should be fine.

Sometimes he just needed extra convincing of that. Considering the guy's track record and all.

From the sounds of it, this Aguilar guy wasn't changing too much of the routine. Being field trip day, Peter had wondered how the new man in charge would handle it (or how General Lieutenant Burger would, apparently). If he planned on letting them out at all. The announcement squashed that theory, and so did the orderly tromping in with a second-hand change of clothes. The burly man passed him the goods without so much as a word, stomping right back outside to wait behind the door. Guess they weren't going in military gear.

...Orderly? Peter pushed the door open again after performing the hastiest change of clothes he could manage in his state, peering at the man. That guy was in an army uniform yesterday. He remembered him. His buzz cut was uneven and he had a pointy old mole on the back of his neck.

"Uh. Are you going incognito?"

He was suddenly on the end of such a pointed look Peter could swear he was talking to Nick Fury. If Nick Fury was white and still had both eyes. "...Right. Okay. Lead the way, hombre."

So undercover it was. The people of Doyleton didn't know this was a military operation. Briefly, he wondered what the advantages of revealing that to the townsfolk could be, but then he remembered how they'd all up and morphed into the living dead at sundown. Put to rest any usefulness they might have had. They were just puppets, the same as the rest of the creepy crawlies in this hellhole.

Though that did beg the question as to why you would have to hide your secrets from puppets in the first place.

He was bequeathed with the usual paper bag lunch and packet of coupons, though he was still surprised to find himself a $15 gift card in the mix. Intercom Dude wasn't kidding about that?

He had money?

...What would he even do with money in Doyleton? What was fifteen dollars and worth buying that wasn't a gourmet burger? Peter boggled at the card as he clambered onto the bus. He'd never gone through the town with any inclination to window shop, so he couldn't even say what was available. He might actually have to look around. Even something simple might be a big help.

The orderly-formerly-known-as-Private-Dwight followed him on tucked a pillow into his seat for him. "Sit down. And don't do anything stupid. You'll heal a lot faster if you don't agitate it."

Peter fidgeted, but quietly settled into the pillow. This was kind of awkward. "Um. Thank you. I deeply appreciate your concern." The man nodded, and was gone.

Peter was the only one on the bus so far. The emptiness was kind of creeping him out.

[Reserved for Harvey Dent. WHY AM I TOP POSTING EVERYTHING YOU JERKS.]

Comments

[thatdemonbitch.livejournal.com]

Fresh meat. She shouldn't have been surprised by the jargon that came pouring out of his mouth -- not really. But, by the sound of it, he was some lost military brat from … what, exactly? She couldn't pinpoint a place in time where Imperials were a threat, since he sure as hell didn't look like he came out of any part of Asia.

"Peachy," she retorted quickly -- it was a little sharp, but Ruby wasn't the type of person who let people ask her if she was alright. She was a demon, she'd coped with worse than this and she wasn't going to let it cripple her now. Admitting otherwise was something that was never going to happen -- even if it meant warning this kid about what he'd stumbled into.

"Prison's a good word for it. Most days, they at least pretend to cover it up, call us patients of some cracked out hospital, but you're not checking out anytime soon, that's for sure. So abandon that hope right now." Not entirely true, considering she was pretty sure she was going to do a lot more good getting through to Sam and convincing him to work a little harder at busting 'em out now that she'd gone through the experimentation ringer. If he started working out those unused psychic muscles, they might just have a shot. Didn't mean jack for this kid, though.

"The guy in charge is Aguilar. If he's an Imperial anything, nobody here could tell you. It's some kinda military unit -- all we know. Stormed the place two nights back." A part of her was a little frustrated at having to provide the dummies guide for Landel's, but frankly, she wasn't gonna pass up the shot at someone useful by dismissing him. Plenty of people would've done the same to Sam, and look where he was these days. Couldn't hurt her image to play nice, and couldn't hurt her chances of busting out if she ran into another superfreak of some kind.

[taggingwomprats.livejournal.com]

So, this was a prison of a sort. Just not like the one's Luke had ever seen or heard of before. He sucked on his lower lip for a moment and his fingers drummed out a tattoo on the seat. Very, very strange. Well - he supposed he'd have to take her word for it, since none of the "orderlies" seemed very keen on talking. He'd also have to take her word on being fine, but the way she said it reminded him a bit of Han when he was in a foul mood - all sarcasm and biting comments.

"Aguilar... Doesn't sound like any Imperial officer I've ever heard of. What kind of uniforms do they wear? And what planet is this? What system?" He cocked his head, voice low. He didn't want to be overheard by any of the guards after all. Still, he needed all the information he could get, even if this woman didn't seem particularly friendly. He'd run into his share of prickly people before.

"Oh, yeah - my name's Luke," he nodded again.

[thatdemonbitch.livejournal.com]

For a minute, Ruby appraised him with a critical look, one eyebrow slowly rising up towards her hairline. What planet was he from? It seemed like an absurd question, but from what she'd seen around here … still. He looked awfully human for an alien. It definitely wasn't hurting her theory that he could potentially be useful, at least. Who knew, she could be looking at the last son of Krypton and not even know it. Scrappy kid, mild-mannered reporter … same thing, right?

After a beat, she responded coolly, "It's called Earth, dumbass. Ever heard of it?" There was vitriol in her tone, and she didn't bother to whisper. "Talking like it might be anywhere else is a surefire way to give them ammunition for calling you crazy." Still, she dismissed it after a moment, sighing and rolling her eyes in something between exasperation and flat-out judgment.

"Look, just wait till we get back -- tomorrow at worst. You'll see the uniforms for yourself. If they look like these Imperials of yours, you let me know. I'm Ruby. There's a bulletin board back inside -- patients use it to get in touch with one another, but if I were you, I wouldn't be too forthcoming if you know what I mean. They keep an eye on what goes up, and you've got a better chance of landing yourself in a load of shit than it actually reaching who you want it to if you're not careful."

It was wishful thinking, but hey, it wouldn't be so bad if they were Luke's Imperials. After all, it'd mean having information on them and information was like gold around here -- or cigarettes.

[taggingwomprats.livejournal.com]

"Earth...?" Luke squinted, a frown crossing his features. Who just called their planet "Earth"? Well, at least he knew these people didn't have hyperdrive. That really cut down on the chances of finding a ship off this rock, unless they had his X-Wing hidden somewhere. Or a hidden spaceport. Still, rather ingenious. Cut down on the number of people who could actually make it off world.

He tried to let the insult and vitriol roll off. They were all stressed, probably and he was a total stranger to her. He'd live. That didn't stop the welling irritation from showing in his voice, though. "Look, I'm just trying to get some answers, alright? I'm stranded, apparently on some backwater and I have no idea how I'm going to get out of here!"

He paused, ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Center. Find his center. Calm. He tried to remember some of the exercises Master Yoda had taught him and forced his voice onto a more even keel.

"Alright, thanks. That's good to know."

[thatdemonbitch.livejournal.com]

Backwater? Well, a wooded place like this, she couldn't really argue that. By the looks and the weather, and the distinct lack of any nearby city, it was a safe bet backwoods was a good descriptor. Virginia, maybe. Or hill country. But Earth in general didn't exactly fall into the backwater category altogether. Well, maybe by alien standards. The concept had her lips pursed in a kind of doubtful apprehension, despite her interest.

"And I'm giving you them. Doesn't mean I have to slap them down for you in pretty, sugarcoated --" there was a grimaced pause, the enthusiasm of her words causing another sharp internalized pain -- "packaging." Honestly, though, she wasn't keen on giving anything more away. Ruby knew a lot of things. She knew about the experiments, the specific monster brands, the nasty revival procedures that they seemed to get at and the way they could wipe memories … but she was also the type of person (demon) who didn't give that kind of thing away easily.

If it turned out Luke had info on the soldiers, maybe it'd be a different story, but for now, she was a lockbox with the rest of it until she saw a reason to hand it out. Which meant it was time to turn this little Q & A session around on him and get some interrogating of her own done.

"So, where are you from? Don't tell me, you're a Martian." Was that a Mars-specific thing? Hard to say, considering as far as she'd heard in the past six hundred years, they didn't exist.

[taggingwomprats.livejournal.com]

"It still doesn't mean you have to be rude about it!"

Alright, he took it back. She was worse than Han ever got. At least Han acted like a friend. Which was probably because he was, but that didn't stop Luke from thinking it. More than ever he wished that he knew his friend were safe; as it was, every minute, hour and day he spent on this planet was one that brought his friends closer to imminent peril. He worked his jaw in frustration and then shook his head.

"Look, forget about it, alright? I'll find-"

He had been about to say he'd figure it out himself, if she didn't want to be helpful. But the question was a bit odd. Not entirely out of place, but the way she said it certainly made it sound as if she wasn't going to believe a word he said. Where was he from? And what was a Martian?

"I've never heard of the Martian system. I'm from Tatooine, alright? Not that it matters."