damned_institute | Hallway Outside Sun Room

Luffy could tell Brock wasn't exactly happy to have all the extra company. The pirate was often dense about a lot of things, but he knew when a man felt like his pride was being threatened.

"Ah, okay," he replied, nodding shortly. "You can tell me about it later, then." He turned towards Usopp when he realized his friend didn't know who they were talking to. "This guy is Brock. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have my hat back!" Deciding that was a good enough explanation, he then turned his attented to the man who was next to Brock.

"Who's this guy?" Luffy asked, jerking a thumb in the stranger's direction. He hadn't seen him around or anything. Then again, he wasn't the greatest with faces. Still, he was pretty sure he didn't know him, at least, so he figured he'd might as well ask.

"Oh!" Usopp's face lit up at Luffy's explanation. He still didn't really know this Brock guy, but he must be a decent person if he helped Luffy get his hat back. Although... Luffy said he had to do something bad to get his hat back, didn't he? Well, maybe Brock helped him through it--it was obvious Luffy thought the guy was okay, at least. Usopp glanced back at Sai's comment, realizing he was the only person who hadn't met the man sometime before.

Since Luffy had turned away from Brock to address his companion, Usopp found himself looking at the man awkwardly. "So... uh, you want a Tylenol?"

Had this been any other situation, Sai might have attempted to take over the bandaging from "Mark's" unknown friend (and do it properly), but he was still a new arrival to the scene and he hadn't been asked.

Tylenol... Sai glanced over at Usopp. Was that the name of the painkiller the pirate had mentioned earlier? It would have to be something rather powerful to ease the pains of the wounds the injured man was currently suffering from. He was also still iffy on trusting anything offered as medication by the staff here.

Without a word, he stepped back a couple steps from the scene to allow the others more room. He knew a crowd when he saw one, at least. A hand laid on Usopp's shoulder would inform the pirate to follow suit.

Peter had figured that he would be asked about, so he didn't hesitate to speak up, even if Eddie was the one who had been asked. He was allowed to introduce himself, wasn't he?

"I'm Peter. Me and Eddie know each other." It was probably better if he didn't go into any further details when it came to that. Eddie would add more if he wanted to.

What had him interested, though, was the mention of Tylenol. Did the guy with the weird nose (he hated thinking it, since he knew what it was like to be teased, but there was no denying the truth) really have some? He was curious about how he had gotten his hands on something like that (maybe the nurses gave them out?), but that didn't really matter now.

"That would be a huge help," he assured the boy, glancing over at Eddie and hoping he wouldn't let his pride keep him from accepting.

Tylenol? Was Pinnochio kidding? They couldn't even get drunk, not when his symbiote rejected that kind of poison, so why would a foreign substance like Tylenol be any different? As tempted as Brock was to snap at his "visitors", he played good boy and managed (barely) to keep his mouth shut before he started swearing and alienating the people trying to make themselves useful. What the hell, he might as well say yes. It was the thought that counted and he supposed he could at least pretend it'd have any effect on him.

It'd make him feel a tiny bit better.

That didn't really make sense to the symbiote - seeing as they'd still be where they started - but Brock was of the firm, foolishly human belief that if he only believed hard enough and clicked his imaginary ruby slippers three times, his body would do the rest.

The symbiote gave a puff of annoyance inside him, but didn't bother arguing, leaving Brock to start working hard on fooling his body into full health.

"Yeah, I think Tylenol would be good. Fill 'er up," Brock grunted just as Parker chimed up with something along the same lines. The blond flicked a glance at their Spider. He was suspicious as to why Parker was being so helpful and...and pretending to be actually concerned! That baffled them. Parker knew how they felt (sorta), and he really had no obligations to them even if it was technically his fault that Brock ended up "infected" in the first place.

Actually, it was all his fault, but Brock would rather be lying here on the floor, ass-kicked and humilated, than back to being a perfectly normal human, living a disgustingly perfectly normal life.

They remained silent on the Parker issue for now, hard as it was. They could always pester Parker on his moral high ground once they were on their feet and not feeling like they ran into a freight train and then jumped off the Empire State for seconds. The blond changed the subject, his eyes switching to Pinnochio and the fairy from group therapy.

"So who're you two?" he asked hoarsely. "And how'd you meet Luffy here?"

So Brock and this Peter guy knew each other? Luffy guessed that made sense, even though he hadn't seen the latter around Landel's or anything. It didn't really occur to him to ask whether they'd been acquainted before winding up here. Besides, Luffy didn't like prying into people's backgrounds for a lot of reasons, though it was mostly because, in his mind, it didn't do much good to focus on stuff that happened a long time ago.

Besides, he didn't like sitting through long stories like that. Luffy had a tendency to doze off, so it wasn't like he got to really hear them anyway.

The pirate hadn't heard of Tai-lah-nahl before. Maybe it was some sort of cool medicine. But if there was anything special beyond that, Luffy had no idea. (That was mostly Chopper's thing.) Still, something to help Brock feel better had to be good, and he smiled brightly when Brock and Peter agreed to let Usopp give him some.

"This is Usopp, and that's Sai," Luffy replied to Brock's question, pointing to each boy in turn and ignoring the fact the man had addressed his companions directly. "Usopp's from my ship, and we met Sai last night when he helped us get some treasure!" He turned to the ninja with a pleased expression, as if he were taking pride in the fact that they'd managed to find something cool together. A guy had to have pretty great friends to wade through a bunch of leeches like they had!

"Ah, I'm the great Captain Usopp!" Usopp managed to get out, although he was too occupied with digging in his coat for the Tylenol to really put the proper passion behind the phrase. "Nice to meet you. Here--"

He handed the whole bottle over to Peter. A friend of Luffy's friend was probably okay, though Usopp knew he really shouldn't wave around the small amount of medicine he had. The bottle itself had dose instructions written on the label, but somehow Usopp didn't think injuries like Brock had would feel much better from two of the weak pills. So, he left it up to Brock's friend to decide how much to dose out.

Then he stepped back to stand with Sai, although his eyes were on the pill bottle. At this rate, those pills wouldn't last long. Their group would just have to try hard not to be injured tonight.

Sai apparently seemed to be the only one from their group who was worried about the fact that the medication had come from a not entirely trustworthy source. Maybe they all knew something he didn't? Who could be sure. Usopp hadn't taken his warning as he'd hoped, but perhaps he'd been too subtle.

The injured mad was obviously in a lot of pain. The questionable source of the painkillers might not mean a thing to him. He kept his mouth shut. If there were any negative effects he could offer an explanation later.

Continuing with the introductions, though his name had already been given, Sai gave a slight bow. "We met at therapy," he offered, though he was sure it was unnecessary.

Ship? Captain? Peter had no clue what these kids were talking about, but it seemed that somehow Eddie had gotten close to the chipper one. That was a little hard to believe, but Peter also knew that Eddie had some good qualities under all that hostility. He just didn't ever get to be the recipient of them, which was understandable, considering what he had put the blond through.

He wasn't quite sure why the pills were handed to him, but he didn't hesitate to give them to Brock. He wasn't going to do anything for the other man - besides, he had no idea how much pain he was in and how many he would need to pop to take the edge off.

"You came at a good time," he informed the group of three with a small smile. But he had been clutching at the bandages he'd made for a while now, and Eddie wasn't going to stop bleeding at this rate. Once Brock took the Tylenol and returned it, Peter would have to start wrapping him up.

While it was tempting to do something supremely dickish, and swallow the whole bottle, he only popped a pills and handed the bottle back, albeit with a few bloody fingerprints as souvenirs. There wasn't really anything to help swallow the pills down aside from swallowing them dry, but it wasn't like they'd even work in the first place, so it didn't make much of a difference in the first place. At least he had names - real names - for Pinnochio and the fairy.

Usopp seemed to cut from the same mold as Luffy, sorta. At least with all this talk of Captains and whatever, which was either some mutant talk of something else or just play-acting. Considering he was with Luffy's crew, it was a bit hard to tell the difference. As for Sai, he seemed surprisingly unfazed by all of this; he was a cool cat, Parker's voice supplied for him out of nowhere. That was so ridiculously cheesy and yet so true to life that Brock had to glance over at their Spider to make sure he really hadn't said anything.

Brock settled back a little, trying to tell his body that dammit, you feel better 'cause I say so, and tried to pretend outwardly that hey, the Tylenol was already working.

Luffy watched intently as Brock swallowed the medicine. Was it just him, or did he seem to feel better as soon as he took it? Wow, those must be some pretty amazing pills! Tai-lah-nahl, or whatever it was. Maybe he could steal some to bring back to Chopper once they figured out how to get home.

"I'm glad we came!" he said brightly, smiling at Peter. "It looks like Brock is gonna be okay, and that's what matters. But I'm not surprised! Brock's a pretty strong guy, you know?" The pirate said the last bit with confidence, as if he'd know from experience. Then, he turned to his traveling companions, his expression a little more mischievous now. "So, I guess it looks like we should be going to the kitchen now, am I right?"

They needed food, after all. And Luffy had been looking forward to this midnight treat all day, and it was wrong to keep putting it off like this. It'd all be raided by the time they got there if they weren't careful!

Oh yeah, and the supplies were kind of important too, right? Well, that was even more incentive to get going!

Usopp raised his eyebrows as Brock appeared to be trying to put on a pleasant, or at least eased, face. He'd taken the Tylenol himself; it wasn't that powerful. But the man probably didn't want to seem weak in front of other people, especially strangers. So Usopp didn't say anything. It wasn't his job to call other people out on their lies.

He did, however, shift around Luffy a little to reach for the bottle again. Even if he lied like the world-champion fibber he was, he didn't know how long his 'therapist' would be willing to supply mild painkillers for mysterious injuries that kept reappearing. Maybe Tylenol was addictive and the therapist would think he was hurting himself on purpose to get it, or something. It wasn't a supply source he could count on, or lean on too often. Not to mention, he didn't know how long it'd be until he'd see that guy again.

"I hope that helps!" He did turn back to grin at Luffy, though, feeling a bit more enthused. "Sure, we'll need to head up that way," he pointed down the hall to the north, "and jump some walls, but we should be able to get to the kitchen and clean it right out without even stepping in the Scary--I mean Sun Room!"

Sai looked off in the direction Usopp had pointed. Back the way they'd come? Not that it mattered. An entry from the other side would be far preferable to this one. They knew there was danger beyond this door. If the ninja had been with those he considered more capable fighters, he might have risked it. As it stood, he saw himself having to cover their way through... if he could.

"That's good," he said, smiling at the pirate. "We should get going, if that's the case." One could never tell when the shift would just abruptly come to an end, after all.

When Brock's friend (it was kind of weird that he had friends in the first place, and such young ones at that) mentioned the kitchen, he almost jumped in to tell them that there was no way they could head into the Sun Room. But it looked like they already knew that, and were going to find another way in. He couldn't exactly argue with that - even if they were young, they knew what they were doing.

"All right, good luck." He almost thanked them again, but that was more something that Eddie should be doing. He was the one who had been helped, after all.

Once they left, he would get the blond all bandaged up, and after that - well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Eddie probably wasn't too happy with him, but he couldn't just ignore when someone was injured, even if it was a potential enemy.

Brock was almost sorry to see Luffy off, but, on the other hand, he'd be with a smaller audience and that suited him just fine. Under other, better circumstances, he'd probably be more interested in finding out about Pinno - Ussop and this Sai, but he instead nodded, and gave a good-luck-you're-going-to-need-it wave.

"Thanks," he remembered to say, just at the last minute. It almost didn't occur to him to thank any of these patients for anything, but he remembered his manners. He wasn't really looking forward to getting left with Parker of all people, but at least he could point him in the opposite direction of Kasady. The fact that the other symbiote got to their Spider, their property, first still rankled and being bannged up and ass-kicked didn't exactly take that away.

Luffy grinned at Peter, giving a thumbs up at the man's well-wishes. "Thanks!" he said brightly, though he liked to think their group was just a tad too awesome for something like luck. Then again, a bit of luck never hurt anybody, and it had probably gotten him out of more than a few bad scrapes.

"And no problem!" he added, shifting his attention to Brock for a moment. "You'd better feel better, okay?"

And without another word, he turned and started walking off in a different direction.

(( To here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/189165.html?thread=13180653) ))

Peter watched as they headed off and over in Clark's direction. He had almost forgotten about the other man, but it looked like he would have company. He could always find him later or the next day and apologize for leaving him so suddenly - hopefully he would understand, considering the circumstances.

For now, Eddie was his main concern. He took hold of his makeshift bandages again and moved over to the blond, remaining in a crouch as he faced the injured man.

"Lean forward," he said as he stretched the bandages out, preparing to wrap them around the gashes covering Eddie's chest.

One of the things Brock never really liked was being told what to do, even before the shit storm that went down when he met Peter Parker. After...well, the feelings were maybe a bit more complicated, but it still boiled down to feeling like he could be bossed and pushed around, and frankly, Brock still didn't like it. But he also didn't like bleeding all over the place and being this close to Parker would allow them to make sure he didn't accidentally wander upstairs, where Kasady was probably waiting.

Swearing under his breath, and making it known perfectly well what he thought of all this, the blond leaned reluctantly forward. Big mistake, because it was even harder to breathe than before bent like this, but Brock was determined to struggle through it than show weakness by lying back down.

As far as Peter was concerned, Eddie could make as big of a stink about this as he wanted, so long as he went along with it in the end. He knew that the blond wasn't stupid, and even if this somehow hurt his pride, at least he knew better than to refuse entirely.

It was hard to tell where the cuts actually started with all the blood that was getting in the way, but Peter was accustomed enough to dealing with injuries (mainly his own) that he was able to pinpoint where the most severe wounds were after some examination.

So, after a pause, he leaned forward as well, moving his hands (which were holding the bandages) over Brock's head and around to the blond's back. He started wrapping there and then pulled the cloth around Eddie's sides and forward to his chest, making sure he pulled it tight so that there was enough pressure being applied.

Brock remained still. While it hurt to have the bandages applied, he was determined not to make a sound. Not in front of Parker. He was man enough to still want to protect his manhood and he certainly wasn't going to pussy out in front of their Spider. The kid seemed to know what he was doing, but, giving it further thought, it shouldn't be surprising. The guy who looked like he was the next guy you ran into on the street wasn't all that normal, and would probably have had plenty of experience doing his own maintenance then letting a hospital do the work.

Brock kept his arms lifted to give Parker room to do whatever he had to do. It hurt to even do that, but they had memories of far worse injuries - from Parker's end, at least - and they would just have to suck it up and take it.

With Brock's arms lifted, it didn't take long to finish off the job. It wasn't like he had a very long length of bandages, so he wasn't able to wrap around as many times as he would have liked. It was better than nothing, though, and this would probably make sure that Brock didn't end up too light-headed from all the blood loss.

With that taken care of, Peter pulled away and got to his feet. It still felt weird to be standing around without a shirt on, and he once again wished he had his costume on-hand. He wanted to ask Eddie for more details on how he had gotten so hurt, but he knew he most likely wouldn't get an answer. It had all been due to whoever was brainwashed in the other room, which made Peter even more worried for anyone going in there. It looked like there were some who were making an effort to keep people out, so...

So what now? Peter realized he didn't know what to say next. This was a strange situation, after all.

Lowering his arms, Brock tested his new bandages. A bit crude, but they'd keep him together. All things considered, he was probably lucky that Kasady hadn't tried to disembowel him, because Brock was seriously doubting he'd be able to survive trying to hold his guts together, symbiote or no symbiote. Stifling a pained grunt, the blond pushed himself to his feet, and was unpleasantly surprised to find that he got more than a little dizzy just doing that. Possibly blood loss, but he was sure his symbiote was working overtime to fix that (hopefully, 'cause in truth he really didn't know how it went about tinkering with their shared body).

It also wasn't helping matters that Parker was good and shirtless and too close, so close that he probably would've reacted in some way if it wasn't for the fact he was still injured.

Brock limped a few feet away to put some distance between them, and turned. Standing up on his own two feet helped bolster his pride more than it should, and there was something to be said about the difference between lying on the floor like an invalid and standing on his own feet.

"Well?" he asked, and rather than explain how he got into that position, jumped onto the most pressing topic after Kasady. "What's with your Logan pal?"

They had a feeling he could be trouble, and he seemed to be all over Parker's shit. That was already a strike against him. But if they were to be enemies, they'd have to pump Parker for information and what better to get it than when they could clearly see that the Spider was confused and feeling awkward?

It was good to see that Eddie was at least able to stand on his own, though he seemed a little shaky, still. That was understandable, though - it would be odder if he wasn't out of sorts after losing so much blood. This was a pretty big wake-up call for Peter, though. With the symbiote, Eddie was really strong. He could still pretty clearly recall the beating he'd taken from the blond. So if Brock had gotten this hurt here, that meant that Peter was going to have to be even more careful than he thought.

Running around on his own probably wasn't an option, though he'd been doing his best to avoid that, anyway.

It seemed odd that Eddie jumped to the topic of Logan. It was as if he was trying to ignore what had just happened, which could easily be exactly what he was doing. Pride and all that. Peter was a guy, too - he understood.

"We're roommates, actually. I got to talk to him some more and he explained that he knew some... other version of me." Who knew if Eddie would even believe that. Then again, he was sharing a body with an alien - how skeptical could he be? Peter could have said more - how Logan seemed like a good guy, or how he seemed to have something against Eddie, but there was no reason to say too much.

Roommates? Christ, what was wrong with today? It was like the luck of running into Parker had been contaminated with Parker's own special brand of luck. Brock took a moment to take a good deep breath before he ripped someone's fucking head off, and tried to be civilized about all of this. There was nothing he could do short of tracking down Logan and killing him, and he was pretty sure that Parker would notice bodies just lying around. Second, this Logan knew "another" version of Parker, so...maybe that was different?

Okay, so that was a lie, because he still felt angry, but anyway. Their Spider didn't even sound too sure about this Logan character to begin with, so that could probably play into his advantage.

"For all you know, he's pulling your chain, Parker," Brock said. Not that the kid had any more reason to trust them, but at least they weren't a hairy midgit with an angry streak. "You've got some bad taste with friends, but even I think you could do better than a guy like that."

"He knew who I was," Peter shot back. This couldn't just be some act. While it was possible that Logan was actually an enemy rather than a friend and was just trying to manipulate him, he didn't think that was the case. Maybe he wasn't the best judge of character, but Logan seemed like a good guy, and he was going to go with his instinct on this one.

What he was more interested in was the fact that Eddie seemed so set on changing his opinion of the other man. Did the blond know that Logan had something against him and was therefore trying to get him to take his side?

Either way, he wasn't going to just listen to what Brock was saying without questioning the reasoning behind it. He sighed. "You don't even know him, do you?" Who was Eddie to say if Logan was good friend material or not? Maybe he was judging by appearance, but considering what he could change into, he was hardly in the position to be making comments like that.

Hallway Outside Sun Room

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