Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

[darwinism]

Sylar's gears were still turning as the nurse and a burly orderly escorted him down long halls and through a strange, sunlit room. He'd been forced to drop his pen when the orderly had seen it, and since then, he'd realized that this place had better security than he'd originally anticipated, as well as a large population of patients. It looked like he'd have to bide his time for now, pretending to be this 'Zachary Blaine' and trying to figure out how the hell he'd gotten here.

His mind went over and over the events in Mohinder's lab, tracing every second that led up to his unconsciousness. According to the computer logs and the decked-out loft, Mohinder was working for the Company now, so had that woman with the electricity been an operative? Was this all a Company front? Even so, it didn't make sense for them to drop him off somewhere without any close supervision. They knew how dangerous he was. How special he was.

But right now, his abilities had been nullified and he was left only with the option of playing along. It was a very good thing that it was something he excelled at, even with his sudden loss of the cure clouding his thoughts and telling him to do something drastic.

Still, it was fun to take ahold of strings and let someone think they were pulling him when in fact he was the puppetmaster. Who knew? Maybe he could find a new toy now that his last one had worn out.

Sylar took his syrup-covered waffle to a table and tried to keep track of both the security and the people flooding in. Soon, he'd find an opening, a weak link he could exploit. It was only a matter of time.

Comments

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Raising an eyebrow, Sai wasn't at all surprised to have conversation forced upon him. He was, however, sure he'd seen this person before. He just couldn't picture where. So he squinted for a couple moments, noting the boy's height and hair color, then... "Ah. You must be the one always fighting with my roommate. She might nag you, but she wouldn't have any need to nag me about non-violent interactions. I don't fight during the day." He said this with a small smile, a calm tone, and no actual intent to upset.

"My name is Sai. Should I begin by asking how your night went?"

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

"Kurikara is your roommate?" That was fortunate. Hiei had never seen who shared the room with the dragon, and now he knew. At least it would give them something to talk about, and that would keep the pesky humans away for the moment. So far, a better start to the day than Hiei could've hoped.

Of course, unlike Sai, the nurse had very good reason to nag Hiei, or so she might think. This time yesterday, in fact, he'd been punching the hell out of said dragon. But there was a good justification. "Hiei. And the only reason I fight during the day is when that speck god is being an idiot. Someone has to correct him when he acts stupid." And that someone, more often than not, was Hiei. The system worked well enough, especially since the fights did tend to happen in the mornings, meaning the sedation was gone by nightfall.

And since Sai had brought it up, Hiei thought it was a good time to gage how useful this person could be. "Do you have any ability to heal? Kurikara got attacked last night." The injury wasn't bad, but Hiei hadn't missed how the dragon favored a shoulder. Considering that of the two, Hiei wasn't the one armed, it was better if Kurikara be able to use his sword.

Regardless of the bandages still covering Hiei's healing burns.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

When he was being stupid? So they disagreed on many things. That was generally why most people fought. And yet he also seemed concerned for Kurikara, which was odd. Perhaps their relationship was like Naruto and Sakura's, simply more violent? He might need to watch them for a better understanding. Some friendships still greatly confused him.

"I only know general first aid. I had a friend who's a medic-nin, but I haven't seen her for several days." This caused him to frown. It was difficult, trying not to think about what had happened to those that went missing. Naruto had a strong spirit. Surely he was still alive somewhere.

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

"Medic-nin? What's that?" Hiei could take a guess, but he'd rather not. More importantly was what Sai had said afterwards, about how he hadn't seen her. It was pretty easy to tell that he was worried, from the way Sai frowned. But then, it wasn't any of Hiei's concern, so why should he say anything?

And yet.

"People vanish sometimes." Hiei tried to keep his voice neutral, despite the fact that he knew someone who had disappeared as well. "We don't have a clue where they went, but Kurikara wants to find out. He knows some people who are gone." After a pause, Hiei looked off to the side, adding words as if they were an afterthought. "I do too."

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"Medical-ninja. I'm a ninja as well, but that's not my field of training." Though, with the way he couldn't access his chakra, he didn't know if Sakura could either. If that was the case, then her techniques would also be useless here.

Then Hiei went on to talk about people disappearing and Sai couldn't help but frown again. "I know people vanish," he responded sharply, more sharply than he meant - if he'd even ever spoken that way in the past. He was quick to catch himself. "Everyone knows someone who's disappeared. I'm aware of about five from my world alone, and I'd also like to know where they've gone."

It was an odd feeling, this sense of loss. He hadn't been so close to anyone since his brother.

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

Hiei scowled across the table as Sai, ready to snap at the ninja for his tone. The demon had been about as close as he ever came to sympathy with his words, and that was how it was received? But the ninja seemed to catch himself, and that saved him from a harsher rebuke than the one he got. Hiei's good mood had him being nicer than normal, though those who didn't know him might be less likely to see it.

"I would guess that everyone does." The demon shoved a bite of waffle into his mouth, taking out his anger with rapid chews. "The question is if anyone actually knows, or if we're just wasting our time trying to look for them." Though Hiei's words weren't meant to be discouraging; the demon was fed up with the situation, and thinking about it, about he not only knew nothing but had so little power didn't help his mood stay uplifted.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Sai leaned forward in his chair, resting his head on one hand and keeping his expression neutral. "I would guess that if anyone knew they would have shared the information in the hopes of having more help rescuing their comrades. With so many missing, you'd think news would spread fast." Even if they considered it too risky to put on the board, word of mouth worked well enough.

"The best case scenario would be that those giving clues on the radio had helped them escape but told no one so the Head Doctor wouldn't be aware of their means. But I doubt it." Worst case scenario was that they'd been killed during the night. Perhaps this was true of some, but Sai didn't want to think of it as an option for his own friends.

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

“Not necessarily. Some people are stubborn and selfish.” Hiei would use both those words to describe himself, in fact. Admitting that he might need help was something the demon was loathe to do. No, he’d much rather rely on his own strength, his own power to get what he wanted, be it revenge or rescue.

But here, even Hiei had to face his limitations. And his statement was little more than mere hope that there was a way they could be easily found, rather than the boasts of a proud demon who could conquer nearly any foe.

“Radio clues? What do you mean?” The demon looked to Sai curiously at that, not having been one to keep up with the Institute’s in and outs. Thankfully, at least, the concept of a radio wasn’t entirely foreign to him, and the demon thought he had seen one in his room somewhere.

Of course, the worst case scenario didn’t need saying. But like Sai, Hiei preferred not to think about it, or think that someone like Kurama was foolish enough to get himself killed so easily, weakened or no.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Sai was also not one to carry his radio around. He was used to stealth operations, and something that could turn on without him meaning it to at any time wasn't conducive to that. He would listen to others or not bother with them at all. "There is a man - well, it used to be a man. It seems he was killed recently by the Head Doctor, so now it's a woman. In any case, they sometimes come over the radio at night and give clues to where hidden treasures, of a sort, are located in the building. There seems to be an underground organization - some former patients that are hiding away. Something like that."

It had been in helping Usopp and Luffy follow such a clue that he'd become friends with them to begin with, though he hadn't been completely aware of what they'd been doing at the time. "I'm not sure what to think of their motives. The amount of help they're able to give seems limited."

[deathbymidget.livejournal.com]

So that explained the Head Doctor's latest comments. The radio Hiei could obviously ignore, but the Doctor's gloating made the demon all the more eager to have his revenge, starting with ripping out the man's vocal chords. It would even make up for not hearing his anguished screams if Hiei no longer had to listen to his haughty and mocking announcements.

But pleasant thoughts aside, Sai's information had promise, especially if any of those treasure happened to be the materials Kurikara needed to forge Hiei's blade. "I don't care about their reasons so long as I can make use of what they offer." If these radio people turned out to be like Landel's ilk in the end, Hiei would simply kill them as well.

"What sort of things have people found?"

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"I haven't paid all that much attention, to be honest." If any of the other patients were like Usopp, or had an item like he did, they most likely wouldn't want to spread the news of what they found either. It jut encouraged thieves. "I'm not sure everyone is willing to tell. Judging from the one I've seen, it's possible that they're somehow meant to be useful to those most likely to find them - but that could have just as easily been a fluke."

Who else in the Institute could have made such good use of a soldering iron, though? Others gathered metal so those with the ability to transform it could turn it into a weapon. They didn't need a soldering iron for that. Usopp, on the other hand, already had supplies available to use with it. An odd coincidence, if it was one.