damned_institute | Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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.

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'Now here's someone who's even more hurt than you are, Sean!'

If Albel had the energy, he would have punched the irritating wench for that comment only. He was in a bad mood and had trouble to keep breathing. The stupid wheelchair was bad enough as it was, and the last thing he needed (or wanted, for that matter) was to make some other pathetic maggot feel better with it.

And said brat decided to ask stupid, irrelevant questions, too. But then again, the brat's eyes looked a bit odd. Perhaps the kid was blind or something.

"And what if I can, worm?" came the rude answer, though it didn't sound like Albel had wanted. His breathing trouble didn't make the comment as (supposedly) intimidating as he would have liked.

It showed his weakness...

The other patient responded in a way that reminded Sasuke of Sound, and the memory was an odd, nearly-comforting thing in the midst of Landel's confusion of unavoidable alliances and Konoha-nin. For some reason it was easier to shift into the blankness that he needed (probably the insult, really, as breathless as it had been), and when Sasuke spoke again his voice managed to be slightly calmer.

"Do you see a man in this cafeteria," Sasuke paused, trying to estimate how tall Itachi was, and had a moment of startled realisation when he remembered that he'd overreached last night partially because he and Itachi were nearly the same height by now. "Slightly taller than I am. He looks similar to me, dark hair in a ponytail, lined face -- is he in here?"

If there was a wrong person in the cafeteria to ask this question, it would be Albel Nox. The warrior had never known to be helpful, especially not to brats. Said brat might have been blind, but he simply didn't care for such handicaps.

"Hmph, why should I tell you?" Albel scoffed rudely between the short gasps for air. "If you want to find that maggot, go look for him yourself. I don't care if you're blind or not, worm."

... like Sound, indeed, except Sasuke lacked power to enforce his orders here. Fine, then.

"What do you want in exchange for an answer?" All Sasuke wanted was confirmation as to whether Itachi was even in the room. If he was, nothing would stop Sasuke from getting to him and ending him.

"I asked for a reason, not a reward." Albel scolded. "Use your fucking ears, you fool." The exchange-tactic wasn't one that usually worked on the captain, partly because he was so incredibly stubborn.

Sasuke was surprised for a moment at the other patient's insistence, then narrowed his eyes. There was no point in lying, so: "He's my brother," he said, voice turning colder. "I'm going to kill him."

"And how do you wanna kill the pathetic maggot when you can't even find him on your own, fool?" Albel pointed out between the gasps, his tone sounding condescending and even mildly amused (that had been a while). "You have to rely on others to point you into the right direction, how pathetic. I'm not gonna tell you where to aim, you know." He had better things to do than wasting his time with such irrelevant things. Getting stronger and kill that maggot from tonight, for example.

Only weak people relied on others, because they couldn't handle it themselves. It was foolish, because in the end, you were on your own.

"Suit yourself though, I don't care." he added. He gave a quick glance around the cafeteria. "Not that the maggot's here yet, from what I can see."

"If you hadn't told me, I would have searched on my own," Sasuke said coolly, because (as impractical as it was), it was true. "It matters little whether I can see him or not. If I find him, I'll kill him. With a fork or my bare hands, it doesn't matter as long as he's dead at the end of it."

Because to be this close -- in the same damn building -- and not be able to finish it ... Sasuke had failed Uchiha more than once in the Institute already. He didn't need the ultimate failure hanging over his head.

"If you could have found the maggot on your own, why did you bother me with it?" Albel shot back. "Because it's the easy way out? Tch..."

At least the worm wasn't moping about being blind, nor using it as an excuse. Albel had to give him that, at the very least.

"It's more efficient," Sasuke said, deciding after a moment of analysis that he was going to take the man's word for it, partially because it didn't seem like he was lying (though if Sasuke learned somehow that he had ...) and partially because the unfortunate fact remained that Sasuke had to eat. He'd missed dinner last night and needed to keep up his strength.

Albel Nox was a lot, but unlike most men from his homeland he wasn't a liar. He was, in fact, known for his honesty. The warrior never saw any reason to lie, and most things weren't worth lying about anyway.

Of course, his honesty wasn't something that made him loved among the masses. Not that the captain cared for something as useless as that.

"Hmph." he merely scoffed towards the brat's statement, leaning back in the - still offensive - wheelchair. The Elicoorian still wasn't hungry. He knew he needed to eat to regain his strength, but his stomach outright disagreed. Even considering to eat made him more nauseous than he already was.

Sasuke wasn't fond of the -- waffle, was it called? It was far too sweet, especially with the syrup his nurse had decided to drizzle liberally over the dough thing. At least the side dishes were decent, if more greasy than actually healthy.

It didn't matter much. Sasuke worked most of the way through his breakfast before pausing. It wasn't as if he cared, really, not with Itachi here, but ...

"How did you get injured?" He asked, blunt and less curious than interrogatory.

"That's none of your business, worm." Albel answered coldly. Like he'd go and tell him. It didn't matter to the stupid brat anyway. But then again, people usually insisted on sticking their noses where it didn't belong.

His crimson eyes fell on some idiot that fitted the brat's description. Partly because he was honest, and partly because it made the kid stop asking questions he didn't want to answer (and definitely not because he wanted to be helpful), he announced:

"Unless more of the scum around here fit the description you just gave, fool, I think that maggot you were looking for has entered."

Albel didn't really care if the brat was going to run straight to the man and attempt to kill him with a plastic fork until the ever-so-meddling staff interfered. It wasn't his problem if the idiot was being foolish, so he wasn't going to stop him.

The answer was good enough, if annoying (and maybe Sasuke had grown a little too accustomed to the majority of people here being rather willing to share information). Sasuke wanted to know mostly in case it had been some kind of monster he hadn't heard about yet, but with Itachi in the Institute it was clear where the biggest monster was.

He'd gotten about halfway through his breakfast when the other patient spoke again -- and made Sasuke freeze, head whipping up to look uselessly around the cafeteria. True to his word, the man hadn't given a direction, but Sasuke would find Itachi if it took all morning.

Except when he stood, ignoring the rest of his meal, there was abruptly a too-familiar hand on his arm.

"Now, Sean," his nurse said. "Please sit down. I'll get you whatever you want." With forced cheeriness, she turned to the other patient and asked, "So, how are you getting along with Sean, Jonathon?"

Albel had to wonder how useful it was to look around the room when you were blind. It wasn't like any direction looked different than the previous one whatsoever. Tch, foolish maggot.

The brat was about to probably run around the cafeteria like an idiot and find his brother, but a nurse appeared out of nowhere and stopped him. The Elicoorian wondered if those wenches could read minds or something.

"Hmph." he scoffed, shooting the woman a look that said 'I'm not going to waste my fucking breath on you'.

The woman kept talking: apparently even though the Institute knew how close Sean had been to his brother, it had decided that it was best they be kept apart. Apparently it was in his best interests, and apparently Sean's big brother had done an excellent job of following the rules so far. Apparently if Sean attempted to contact his brother, she would be forced to have him sedated.

Nothing really registered beyond the sedation -- there was no way Sasuke could face Itachi sedated again. He'd had more than enough of drugs last night.

Sasuke sat without grace or graciousness, ignoring his nurse until she went away and feeling the frustration build in his body until he clenched a fist and slammed it into the table, voice rough and furious: "Why do they pull this bullshit in the day?!"

Albel rolled his eyes. "Like I know, worm. Why don't you ask those wenches yourself?" came the uncaring reply. "Either shut up and wait until nighttime, or run to the maggot and try to beat him up. The choice's simple, no need to nag me about it, fool." He had his own things to worry about.

The question had been mostly rhetorical -- Sasuke had half-forgotten that he'd even been around another patient -- and the answer mostly surprised him at first. Asking the nurses was absolutely useless. Whoever it was, this patient had to know that.

But the rest of it made solid sense, which was the most frustrating thing of all: Sasuke had to wait, with Itachi this close, sit around and wait. The Institute had taken his sight and now it was dictating his revenge.

"Don't speak as if it's easy," he said abruptly, low and angry -- and (even he had to acknowledge it) immature, but the rage kept building with no outlet and Sasuke could be patient if necessary but this was too much. "You have no idea what it's like!"

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Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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