Day 28: Bus 1

[accursed-rock.livejournal.com]

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings.

And now this.

When the nurse had come into his room with new clothes he had a small glimmer of hope-- some thief had taken his normal Landel's wear in the night, so perhaps this was a change in luck. However, it was not the godsend he had hoped for. Minus the threat of sedation, there was nothing in the universe that could make Zelgadis wear a bright lemon-yellow shirt. There was a jacket of a slightly more tasteful variety, so Zelgadis made good us of it-- he put all his coupons in a pocket and pulled up the hood. It was almost as good as his cloak. Well, no it wasn't, but it would have to do.

With mild protesting, Zelgadis was lead to a large yellow vehicle. He climbed the stairs, took a seat towards the back, and readied himself for another frustrating day of being attacked and threatened with spoons.

Comments

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse sighed. "Why would it matter? only minor details would be changed." He opened his eyes slightly, gaze flicking over to Marcus before starring at the ceiling. "In any case, I could list off the coordinates for Primal Earth, and the future opened up for Operation: DESTINY."

He didn't mention again that he could be gone for that long without anyone's notice. No reason to say anything more.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

"If I'm right, your Statesman is still out there, and my Recluse is as well," While that would be a good thing for the other Statesman, he was concerned about his own dimension if they were from different dimensions.

Or that they were both being held somewhere else. After a moment Statesman decided that it did not matter that much to their immediate situation. Their dimensions were probably similar enough not to make a difference.

It would be of more concern when they found a way out of here, though.

Statesman took a bite out of his muffin, leaving only half of it.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"Then in your dimension I would be seizing this opportunity, and you wouldn't have a clue that anything had happened in mine. It's still not of any immediate importance." Why did Marcus have to be so dense when it came to anything practical? "What might be happening doesn't matter." Recluse looked down at his own breakfast, which was pathetically tiny in relation to his size. It really didn't look all that appetizing, and he certainly didn't want to be seen drinking out of a juice box like a five-year-old.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

Hopefully Recluse would be busy trying to repel the Rikti invasion, even though Vanguard had claimed that it was there responsibility. Recluse couldn't enjoy having the aliens invading his islands.

Of course, Recluse continued to insist that no one would notice if he had gone missing, and Statesman wondered what Recluse had planned.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"I can almost hear the cogs grinding in your paranoid little mind, Marcus." Recluse looked over at him, quite distictly irritated. "I would ask that you kindly stop creating these little delusions to fit your hopes. They're all quite wrong."

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

"You are mistaken, Recluse," Thankfully, Statesman himself could be very convincing as well.

He took out the remaining half of his muffin and glanced down at the juice box, deciding against it.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse chuckled slightly, making it quite plain that he didn't believe Marcus at all. He closed his eyes again. If he was going to be forced to be outside all day, then he'd rather give his eyes a rest now.

"And how exactly was that Rikti invasion going when you left?" He wouldn't get a real answer, most likely, but he could make a good enough inference out of whatever response he got.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

Statesman was not bothered by the fact that Recluse had not believed him. It was to be expected, really. Recluse would believe whatever he wanted to believe and nothing would change that.

"It had just started, and a few old friends of mine had shown up. Vanguard was well prepared for it."

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"Old friends?" Did that mean more people had returned from the dead? He hated when that happened.

Vanguard was... irritating. And he highly doubted Marcus would be all that enthusiastic to let them take center stage.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

Statesman just nodded. "That's what I said." Of course, he wasn't going to tell Recluse what friends.

The less time Recluse had to plan for something, the better. Of course, he had already ruined some of the surprise, but Marcus was sure Recluse would be particularly unhappy to find out which member of the original Phalanx had returned.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderful. Being evasive. Marcus mentioned Vanguard. That wasn't the best piece of information, but it probably was linked to something... But with the Rikti breaking through the inter-dimensional barrier... "Omega Team?" It was the best stab at it that he could make.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

It was hard not to frown at Recluse for bringing that up. All that had come back from Omega Team was the monstrous abomination that had once been Hero One.

"You know that was a suicide mission." Marcus said evenly.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"And if the Rikti have invaded again, that means that they've opened up a portal to their homeworld. One thing I've come to dread about dealing with heroes is that they always claw their way back up from whatever pit you've pushed them into." Recluse looked over at Marcus again, watching for any reaction garnered by his words. "So, who came back? Hero One? It doesn't exactly sound like it was a happy little reunion."

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

"I would hardly call any reunion that involves an alien invasion of earth happy, Recluse," It was difficult to play this game with Recluse, he did not care about anyone. But Marcus did not let any of his feelings other than slight irritation at Recluse show.

Statesman cared about others, and he knew Recluse would use that against him. Still, these guesses were very close. Recluse was smart, but these could just be lucky guesses, or a sign he knew more than he was letting on.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"You completely ignored the point of the question in an attempt to fend off more on a subject you're thinking about." Really, with how sentimental Heroes could be, it didn't matter if there was anything more important going on when they were getting emotional over something.

"So, what went wrong with it? Something must have, or you'd be annoyingly smug right now."

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

"What went wrong? Omega team gave their lives to seal off the Rikti for good and now they're back again!" It was easy for Marcus to be genuinely angry about that.

The fact that just about everything else had gone wrong was beside the point.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"That could never be proved. An assumption, not fact. And if the Rikti homeworld wasn't sealed off for good as you've mentioned, then some of the more resilient ones might get back through." Really, he was not going to back down out of any sort of politeness or fear in response to Marcus' anger. Whatever was said, it still meant that Marcus was hiding something about this.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

Statesman decided to stop responding. All this accomplished was to make him angry, and that would not be good for anyone involved. He might lash out at someone who did not deserve his anger.

Of course, Recluse did deserve it, but they were supposed to be working together.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

I win. He had more information, and Marcus was angry. He didn't need to push him any further yet.

And it was so amusing how badly Marcus had failed at his initial attempt to act enigmatic. Recluse closed his eyes again, his headache a little less painful.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

He would really need to control his temper better. Hopefully he wouldn't have to be on the bus with Recluse too much longer. Statesman wanted to check up on the kid Logan had brought last night, and Logan himself.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

The bus started with a lurch, jolting him slightly in his seat. Recluse opened his eyes to look past Marcus out the window at the scenery moving by. It looked fairly like New England in autumn, but he'd rather not follow that guess for farther than he had to. If they were being allowed out into this town, then it was going to be as much of a totally controlled environment as the institute itself.

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

It was good that they were finally moving, Marcus hated waiting. He also stared at the passing scenery.

"What are you going to do in town?" Marcus might need to keep an eye on Recluse there, despite what he wanted to do himself.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"See if there's anything useful to steal." This wasn't the best outfit for it, with the fairly tight sleeves on the jacket, but he was very good at this. The only complication might be searches at the end of the day. Well, details like that never stopped an evil overlord from trying...

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

Statesman had been thinking along those lines, but it was better if Recluse suggested it.

"They'll probably search us at the end of the day... but if someone gets sent back to the bus for bad behavior they might not be searched," Marcus was just barely whispering now, just loud enough for Recluse to hear him over the sounds of the bus and other people talking.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse made a slightly irritated noise. "And are you suggesting I volunteer myself for this role? I might already have a bad mark for breaking up a fight, of all things." He sighed, looking back out the window. "They might be less likely to search me if I do that ever-humiliating Benton act." He hated forcing himself to think like an idiot.