damned_institute | Hallway Outside Sun Room

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.

Brock was tempted to retaliate that everyone knew who Parker was - or would, if they didn't have the "misfortune" of dying. After all, there was Osbourne, Octavius and Osbourne Junior (okay, so Brock was unsure about Kid Goblin, but considering Parker's track record, it wasn't too big a stretch). While Brock had no idea how Logan could've found out about Parker's secret - their genetic memory didn't come up with any clues - there was always the chance it'd been one-sided this time around. After all, they were limited in what they knew, seeing as they only saw what their Spider saw.

"I don't need to know him to know he's a wackjob," Brock retorted, as if it was painfully obvious and why was Parker not catching on? "You know how many people were trying to find out your precious little secret, Parker? Half of New York, I bet!"

He pretend to think.

"Oh yeah, that's right, people like Jameson would pay big for that. And people'll do anything for a big payday." Brock would know from experience. While it'd been risky, too risky, plagarizing that photo, Brock wasn't at all guilty about it, but he could understand the mindset of people out for the next big hit. "I'm surprised you took him at your word."

Eddie had a point, but on the other hand, if Logan had just been looking out for his identity for his own gain, what would be the point of letting him know he'd figured it out? Especially in a place like this. Peter just wasn't sure how much sense the other's explanation made, and he wasn't particularly inclined to listen to Brock, anyway. They had been rivals, after all, and he knew just how underhanded the blond could be.

"Look, just forget it. I think I can handle him on my own." If it did turn out that Logan was just out for himself, Peter could deal with that, too. But at this point, there weren't many people here he could trust, and he'd like to have at least one. The fact that Logan was his roommate made him even more inclined to want to keep in good graces with the man.

It didn't make sense for them to just be standing around like this, especially when Eddie reeked of blood. Peter was inclined to keep looking around, though he would have to do that on his own and he had just determined how bad of an idea that was. "So, what are you going to do now?" He might as well see what Eddie would be up to and then go from there.

Brock shrugged. He really wasn't too sure what to do now. They'd had big plans tonight, but seeing as they were the ones all messed up, he couldn't exactly say they'd been a success. There was always the possibility of going after Kasady again, but now the other symbiote knew their intentions, and wouldn't be so easy to sneak up on a second time around. And the fact that their Spider was so close to Kasady also changed things. Much as Brock would've savored the mental image of beating the other symbiote's skull in, they did have priorities and keeping an eye on the Spider was a lot higher on that list than indulging themselves.

Again, not anything Parker would understand. He didn't think like they did. He could have, but he'd rejected that and until he figured out that their way of life was superior, there wouldn't really be any negotiating with him.

"I've no idea," Brock said, and for once that was the whole truth. What was Parker doing? They didn't know, but they had to ensure he wouldn't wander upstairs. "I'm pretty sure they've a pharmacy here, since someone mentioned it. Could go for a cocktail right now."

Not that they knew where it was, but they could get good and lost and hopefully point Parker in the opposite direction of Kasady.

A pharmacy? That would definitely be worth looking for, considering someone he knew had gotten pretty badly hurt his first full night here. They had been lucky enough to have people come along and offer up painkillers, but having bandages and maybe some shots of morphine (Advil was better than nothing, but with huge gashes, it wasn't going to help much) would make their lives easier.

With the way Eddie had mentioned that pharmacy, though, it didn't seem like he knew where it was. But Peter had just been looking around in random places, anyway, so he could just keep it in mind for something else to look out for.

He was a little unsure about what Eddie was getting at, though. Did he want both of them to go look for it, or was he planning to go on his own in search of it, or what?

"That sounds useful," he agreed. "Are you going to try and find it, then?" This was a little weird when neither of them would just come out and ask.

Brock pretended to give a long-suffering sigh at Parker's cluelessness. For a guy who, aside from his superhuman powers, was also a genius, you'd think he'd be a bit quicker to catch on. "Yeah, what does it look like?"

While they thought they had a pretty good insider's look in the spider's mind, there was also the fact that he most definitely didn't trust them (honestly, he should), and that they probably appeared to be even worse than Kasady. Being compared to the other symbiote killed Brock, but obviously the Spider couldn't be counted on knowing Kasady as well as they did. Or well enough, at any rate. While they didn't care if Parker tagged along, they did care that he didn't head anywhere near the other symbiote.

There was no reason for him to get snappy like that, though the amount of pain Eddie was in was probably putting him in an even crabbier mood than usual. That, and the fact that someone had come to his rescue - even if he hadn't asked for it.

Peter just couldn't ignore things like that. It might have been lending a hand to an enemy, but he would feel a lot worse in the morning compared to if he had just let Brock bleed all over the place.

So what did he do now? The hero crossed his arms over his chest as he considered. If he decided to come along, he might be overstaying his welcome, but he could always pass it off as wanting to keep an eye on the blond - or for his own gain, since knowing the location of the pharmacy would be quite the help.

That, and Eddie hadn't mentioned that he couldn't come along. It was best to not even make a question out of it. He let his arms fall to his sides and glanced at the other man. "All right, let's go. Which way?"

So Parker really was capable of catching on. While it'd no doubt be that much harder to concentrate with their Spider so tantalizingly close, at least they weren't sending him any closer toward Kasady. While he couldn't tell if the other symbiote wanted Parker the exact same way they did, the fact he was at all interested in him was enough to make up their mind for them. The problem was failure - failing once didn't sit well with the symbiote, and the fact he'd gotten his ass kicked by some redneck from Hicksville certainly didn't make Brock feel any better. They'd have to figure out another way to take on the younger symbiote another time, another day, when they were better rested.

"I guess that way," Brock said, pointing down the hall. He remembered that was toward where the doctor offices were - a nice, safe direction, away from Kasady, even though they had a floor between them.

[Don't have time to post up a link change though, I'll have to try to get it in tomorrow]

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blacksustenance.livejournal.com - 2007-09-07 01:23 (UTC) - Expand