damned_institute | Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

Despite the rough start and the heavier snowfall, the buses managed to stay on route and on schedule. With minutes to spare, they arrived at the gates of Landel's Institute, back to the waiting arms of the military. All pretenses seemed to drop at this point, and the soldiers again took on their patented gruff exteriors. Patients were filed out of the buses in an orderly manner, eventually being escorted to their rooms for dinner in much the same. There, as promised by the personnel, well-behaved patients found their purchases among their returned possessions. A few even found new faces, though whether they brought as much joy as bought goods remained unseen.

The woman manning the intercom seemed to have missed the notice about the day's trip as her announcement remained no different from the usual. "Attention all subjects and personnel," she said. "Lights Out will commence within the hour."

A pause.

"I repeat, Lights Out will commence within the hour. All personnel: please report to your stations. The General will begin his address once preparations are underway. Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

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Peter snorted at that, a hint of mirth reaching the corners of his mouth. "Okay, yeah. That's one. But you have to admit, we've been the very definition of depressing this past week. Or at least I have."

He spooned up another mouthful of pink goop, feeling very grateful that it didn't taste at all like it looked. But the bland flavour hardly did him any favours when he was looking for distractions. Thankfully, Brainy jumped on that bandwagon with no questions asked.

The topic switch, though perhaps obvious in a Conversation 101 kind of way, caught Peter off guard. Accustomed to theorizing about the Radio Man and discussing nightly plans and what Landel might be up to, Peter had to admit that he had been rather lacking on get-to-know-you material. He knew a lot more about people's opinions on the institute than he did about their own lives. Brainy was an exception there, if only because Peter saw him much more often than anybody else, but there were still quite a lot of blanks to fill in. Though he was more than happy to do the filling first.

"Um. Hah, okay. I can do that." He worked his teeth into his bottom lip. Truth be told, he didn't have much time for lollygagging since picking up the Spider-Man gig and getting a job at the Bugle, but he tried to get out when he could. "I'm not exactly Mr. Popularity, but I do like just hanging out with my friends. Not at parties, but going to the show or to parks. Just talking. I don't have as much time on my hands as I used to, but I really like to read too. Or fiddle around with my dad's old lab equipment. He was a bio-engineer, which is the same field I'm hoping to get into."

A flutter of a grin flashed on his cheeks, but settled into a muted smile. "I'm a huge nerd, basically. If I could have a lab with a mini-fridge and a bathroom in it, I would never leave."

Technically it was hardly Peter's fault when the institute persisted in throwing difficult and often painful situations at them near constantly; Brainiac 5 doubted he was 'the very definition of depressing' in any kind of normal situation. But since he'd successfully steered the conversation onto a topic that was both easier and more interesting to him, he elected to keep that comment to himself.

Instead, he listened with interest as Peter spoke, distracting himself from the taste of the food they were forced to eat and the constant stress of their surroundings by trying to imagine what Peter's life was like back at home. He said he didn't have many friends, which the Coluan could understand. Just as he could identify with the pleasure taken from reading and research.

It sounded like it might have been interesting to visit Peter in his own life, had the option been open to them both. Much like he'd occasionally entertained the idea of taking a time bubble to go and visit Clark in his time period. It seemed like it might be... nice. Relaxing. A chance to talk further without the threat of imminent death.

He returned the smile as Peter finished. "I have the next best thing: my room and my lab were interconnected, to make my work easier and more efficient. It also meant the Legion knew where to find me most of the time, which I suppose they liked."

Peter groaned in envy. "Oh, dude. I would kill for that kind of setup. Really. That would be my house." Except maybe not, because he did like the cozy feel of a living room and a kitchen and a laundry room. But there would be a lab in there, and it would be next to his room. He didn't care what kind of funky chemical smells would seep over into his sheets, it would be worth it.

Though that did open up questions as to why Brainy was afforded such luxuries. "So, your own lab, huh? Do you have a job already then? Or are you just loaded?"

He was aware that Brainy performed as some form of superhero in his world. You didn't hang out with Clark Kent and not put on a cape at some point. The question was, how much of that was extracurricular and how much was work? Plus there was the workings of his very alien planet to factor in, and whether employable ages had changed over the past thousand years or so.

He cracked a smile at the other boy's reaction and shook his head. "Not exactly. The Legion is partially funded by the United Planets, so being a Legionnaire is my job. That, and anything useful I happen to come up with when not involved in missions is generally received well enough by the UP."

Though money was hardly a factor there. So long as he had enough for everything he needed in his laboratory and for any upgrades the Legion might need, Brainiac 5 cared very little about how much money he had available to him. He was far more interested in the possibilities his work uncovered, or, as the case may be, coming up with a way to stop something from destroying the solar system for the third time that cycle.

Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

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