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

[damned-nurses.livejournal.com]

"It is," the nurse nodded decisively, although her disapproving frown still lingered. She shook her finger at the girl. "Behave yourself now, Miss Cardinal. I've got my eye on you."

This warning given, the nurse turned and walked away once more.

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

"First day here and you're already making friends," Brock said, distracted by the hand caressing his knee. It occurred to him that he was probably being wrapped around Elle's finger, but he couldn't deny that running into a girl who was so touchy-feely that you'd have to be a oblivious or gay not to be interested here.

If you're so interested, the symbiote was annoyed at what it thought was a lot of dragged out time being wasted here, then you should just fornicate already and move on. It's a wonder you humans manage to procreate at all with how much time you waste on your primitive mating rituals.

Brock almost lost it there. He was used to his symbiote's bluntness, but apparently he could still be surprised by sometimes. Hopefully his poker face was still in place because while it was true he found Elle attractive and wouldn't mind a romp in the sack with her, it was kind of wrong place, wrong time, wasn't it? Anyway, if he was going to absolutely bang anyone, he had to admit that Elle wasn't at the top of the list - a certain Spider was.

[ellectriclights.livejournal.com]

"What can I say, I'm a people person," Elle said, shrugging a little and flashing an innocent smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

There was that distracted feeling again, like his mind wasn't where it should be: on her.

"So are they all such prudes here?" She leaned closer to him, staying off his lap but well within his personal space. The hand that had been stroking his knee moved upwards to rest on his thigh. "And why do they call us those names? My name's not Cardinal, and you said yours was Brock, not Lancaster."

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

The way she was going, Brock was ready for her to skip his leg and get near the real interesting territory. He might be better than human with his Other, but some human instincts didn't go away; if she started manhandling his junk, he was probably going to get pretty damn vocal despite himself. She couldn't be that gutsy, could she? He was all for some flirting, but he really didn't think it was a good idea to go beyond that when they were surrounded by people...

"It's supposed to be a mental institute - I think being a prude is a prerequisite," Brock said, flicking a glance down at her hand. Seriously, straying near some sensitive territory, and it wasn't like he was even wearing jeans.

He half-wished the Spider was here. If she was thinking people were prudes, she clearly hadn't met Peter Parker, the king of prudes (which was weird when you thought about it, considering what he wore when he "worked" - it didn't exactly leave a lot to the imagination).

"That's their names for us, doll," Brock said, glancing back at Elle. She was wearing the loose gray Landels uniform, but he could still see her curves. "They claim that's our real names and we've just made everything else up. Why, does it bother you?"

It didn't really bother him anymore. They knew who they were, what they were supposed to be, and being called a different name wouldn't change that. Brock might've doubted his sanity before, back when he was normal...but he had that little alien voice inside him, inside his head, and he knew he wasn't crazy. Not unless they both were.

[ellectriclights.livejournal.com]

"Nope, no biggie," she said casually, still smiling at him. People here didn't seem to know who Bob Bishop was, and as long as that name meant nothing, her own name meant nothing. But Daddy would come and rescue her and kill them all. That'd teach them.

"I'm just curious about this 'mental institution,'" Elle continued. "I've been in an institution before; my Daddy runs one. But things here seem to be run a bit... differently."

With a burst of gleeful energy, Elle wrapped her arms around Eddie's neck and hugged him tightly. "But you'll look out for me, won't you Eddie?" she said, her voice full of trust.

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

If he was expecting anything, it wasn't being jumped and hugged. Brock almost tipped over in his seat from the extra weight around his neck and, just barely, managed to keep from falling over and cracking his head on the floor.

"Uh, sure," Brock said. He supposed if she had powers, it wasn't like she'd need his help - especially if she thought he was a lowly human. But maybe she just liked having someone nearby. "I'd love to."

Especially if he could verify what she was saying was true and if she could start giving them some damn answers. There were worse people to be stuck with than Elle, who seemed to be both incredibly naive to him and yet attractive at the same time that definitely wasn't girlish to him. It was disorienting in a way, actually, because he couldn't place a finger on her. If this was an act, it was working - he thought he'd been good at reading people, but apparently he wasn't as good as he thought.

"This isn't a normal institution, obviously," Brock said. He reluctantly disentangled Elle's arms from around his neck, more for her sake than his - he didn't want the nurse coming back again with something more than a slap on a wrist. "I think it's like some kind of rat maze, for mutants or people they don't like or whatever. During the night, you can try to leave, but good luck with that. I'd give you a gold star if you even made it out the front door."

Kind of harsh, but there wasn't any sense sugar coating it. Might as well get it out there and they could worry about tact later. Brock was finding himself liking Elle in that she was everything that Gwen and MJ weren't, but he didn't trust her yet. She offered a lot of promises and teases that he wanted to know had any weight to them.

[ellectriclights.livejournal.com]

Elle pouted when Eddie untangled her arms from around his neck. But she understood, she guessed. If that mean nurse came back she'd just make them separate again. Or make Elle eat her breakfast by herself, like she was some kind of little kid!

"A gold star?" she repeated, resting her hands on his thighs again. This time she put more weight on her hands and leaned in towards him. "Since they probably don't have actual gold stars around here, I'm betting you'd have to give me some other kind of reward. And that sounds like fun." There was more innocence than coyness in both her voice and her smile; she sounded more like a little kid talking about playing with a puppy than anything else.

She would just love to get her hands on Eddie when her abilities were working. He'd be so much fun to play with!

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

"Depends on your definition of 'fun'," Brock replied. He was aware of her hands on his thighs, but he was still trying to decide if she really was being naive about this or if she was leading him on, considering how often she kept touching him. "But yeah, I think I could manage something between the two of us."

He just hoped that she wouldn't get hung up on him, assuming they even made it past second base (seeing as Elle jumped right past first). While he was always up for some one-night-stands - hell, he wasn't even sure he had to worry about protection anymore, what with his symbiote and all - he was concerned that she'd turn batshit crazy afterward and get possessive or something. He could deal with her hitting on him; he thought she was hitting on him, but he didn't want her getting the wrong idea here.