Day 29: Courtyard

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

Hiei easily grew sick of the same walls--not to mention the same idiots always within those walls--and while not perfect, the chance to go outside was better than lingering in the boundaries of that damned prison. So when the chance came, the demon was quick to leap on it, heading outside almost quick enough to make a nurse wonder if he was attempting escape.

Almost.

But there were things Hiei had to take care of before he left this place, and first came sorting through his thoughts. Kurama was gone; the demon was sure of it, even without the use of his Jagan. The fox was one of the people Hiei was closest to, one of the few Hiei would admit being close to, and his presence weighed heavily on the demon, nearly as heavy as his absence.

It made him angry, that Kurama had vanished. Be it by escape or some other circumstance (which Hiei barely considered possible, only by his own refusal), the fox should be there with him, fighting with him. That was how they worked, supposedly. As a team.

Now Hiei would have to do without. And he would be fine with that, eventually. For now it was annoying, but that would pass. Perhaps quicker with a nap, and the demon moved under one of the trees. He didn't care that it was colder in the shade; his contrasting origins mixed with his stubbornness kept the weather from bothering him too much. Closing his eyes, he relaxed against the bark, as much as he could given the circumstances, and hoped for a lack of bothering.

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[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

Brock sat down next to Peter - what were the odds of two of them here, seriously? - and gazed out over the pond. It looked a lot better during the day than the night, where it'd been filled with pond scum and who knew what else.

Despite his wishy-washy appearance, Peter actually asked some pretty good questions. Instead of flipping out or anything, he asked stuff that was worth knowing; Brock's opinion of the kid went up a notch at that. Normal or mutant, he had a decent head on his shoulders.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know how I got here," Brock said. "The last thing I remember before Landels is getting something to eat at this crappy fast food joint. Then I woke up here."

No point sweating the details. Peter didn't need to know that when Brock said "something to eat", he hadn't been eating a Big Mac. You didn't really want to go around advertising you were pretty much a cannibal (with refined tastes) to anyone and everyone. But the rest was true, even if he'd skimped on the specific details.

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

So the Company was willing to go grabbing people out of restaurants? That was pretty underhanded, but considering what Nathan had told him about how he'd been taken out of a hotel room, he wasn't that surprised.

His situation had been a little different. He distinctly remembered getting hit with something before he passed out, but there was always the chance that the Company hadn't been willing to take any chances with him, so they had allowed some sloppiness so long as it insured his capture.

"So you've been here for a while." Peter stared forward as he tried to recall what Claude had told him. Didn't the Company usually only hold people for a short period of time, just long enough to do tests on them, before letting them return to their regular lives? Maybe this facility was for the particularly hard-to-handle people, if his being here was any indication.

"What's it like? What sort of things do they do? Is it like... experimentation, or what?" Peter was frowning at Eddie, wondering what the other man had done to end up here, if anything.

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

Brock shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they're doing experiments, but I haven't ended up a guinea pig personally, as far as I can tell."

Of course, there was always the chance that he'd been made to forget. Considering how they didn't even remember Kasady or even spawning his little bastard symbiote, that didn't seem too far of a stretch. It wasn't a particularly comforting thought because it left open all sorts of nasty questions: how much did Landels really know about them? There was no telling if he'd already taken a few potshots at them and it'd been erased from Brock's memory.

He didn't speak up again for a bit, his expression darkening as he frowned to himself. When he did speak up again, he was glancing at Peter:

"No one told you about how this place seems to work?"

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

Even though Eddie had been here for a while, they hadn't done any experiments on him yet? That didn't make very much sense, though Peter had to consider the grim possibility that the man's memories had been erased. He glanced Eddie over for a moment, as if hoping he could figure out whether or not his memory had been tampered with just by looking at him.

There was also a chance that Eddie was being kept here just to make sure he wasn't out in the real world because he was a threat somehow (in other words, in the same boat Peter was in), but he didn't know how easy it would be to ask about that.

Either way, he definitely wasn't liking what he'd gathered about this place so far. A lot of people had been yanked out of their lives, kept from their friends and family, and for what? Just to be poked and prodded at? He could understand why they would want to keep him imprisoned, but there was no way all of these people had presented as much of a threat as he had.

At Eddie's question, Peter's darker expression turned into one of hesitant curiosity and slight sheepishness. "Uhh, no, not really. You're... kind of the first person I've spoken to." There was no real point in keeping that a secret, right? He needed all the information he could get, and if his being clueless helped with that, so be it.

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

That new, huh? Brock wasn't the kind to be all touchy-feely or much care about others, but even he had this feeling like he wanted to cut this nerdy, soft-spoken kid some slack. If he was the first person he'd spoken to, than he hadn't even run into the "interesting" changes the night brought. All bets were off when those doors unlocked. And speaking of bets - Brock only just barely resisted the urge to make a mental bet of whether Peter would last the night.

Leaning against the bench's back, Brock stretched his legs out. For once it didn't hurt too much to move. "I guess I better fill you in if that's the case."

What would come next probably would sound crazy, but you either had to believe it or you didn't. And if you didn't, you soon would. Or be dead. And hell, the way Brock saw it, if a guy could wake up having seemingly teleported from one place to another, to Landels, than the rest of it about monsters going bump in the night and little mutant girls with a thing for spontaneous combustion weren't that much more of a stretch.

"During the day you'll be treated like we're all just a bunch of mental patients," Brock said. "Y'know, typical nutballs who just need some R&R. Sucks already, but it's the night shift that you got to worry about."

He paused, glancing at Peter to see if he was still with him. Seemed to be, so he went on:

"Night's when all the 'fun' begins. For some reason the doors always unlock at night and you can wander around the halls, try to find a way out," he said. He snorted. "Or that'd be the plan, normally. I'm not sure what's the deal, but I think they release these, uh, creatures out on us."

Monsters was probably a better way to describe them, but he was trying to take this somewhat slow for Peter. Not that creatures was any different than just going out and saying they were up against some kind of freak animal that wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before.

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

As Eddie adjusted and prepared to give a more detailed explanation, Peter turned slightly so that he was facing the other man and then paid proper attention. He was grateful enough that he had come across someone who was willing to give him all of this information. He knew it probably had to be a drag to tell someone about something you already knew.

Unfortunately, he was forced into a frown the moment the description started. Mental patients? Was that what they were trying to pass this off as? Maybe some of these people didn't know that they had a power, or hadn't manifested yet, so the company was using that as a cover? Peter was tempted to ask about it, but there was always a chance that Eddie didn't realize what was really going on, in which case he would have to be a little more delicate with what he said.

When Eddie described what happened at night, Peter once again wasn't sure what to make of it. They let everyone out willingly, despite the fact that some of them had potentially destructive powers at their disposal? Though maybe that was the whole point - to test those powers, and observe them in action. Their every move was monitored, most likely.

And then there were the creatures that Eddie mentioned. What exactly did he mean by that? Peter didn't like the sound of it, but considering where the sun was right now, it was going to be night soon. It would be best if he knew.

"So the mental patient thing is just a front, and the real point of all this is what happens at night? But why let us try to escape? Are they just testing us? And, uh, what do you mean by creatures?"

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

"Beats me," Brock said. "But yeah, it's a front. As far I know, no one's made it out alive and a guy's actually lucky just to make it from day to day. I guess they could be testing us, but I got no idea what happens if you're one of the first place rats."

And then Peter had to go and ask about the monsters. Glancing up, Brock saw he didn't have that much time left; one of the nurses was heading his way as the intercom sounded, announcing the head of his shift. He spoke quickly, keeping his voice down:

"They're like no animal I've ever seen. And they're dangerous. That's all I can say," he said hurriedly. It was all he could get in before the nurse arrived, smiling down at him and his new "friend".

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mark," she said, her cheeks dimpling with a smile. "And your friend. But it's dinner time and we really must get you to your room."

Yeah. Dinner. He always had room for food, but he would've also liked to get more time to get the newbie here on his feet. Brock gave a little nod to Peter as he was escorted away. It looked like he was on his own for now.