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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Uh.

Well to be honest, he probably should've expected Raine to start questioning him the moment he decided to reveal he was dead. But then Kratos had to go and make it worse.

...He really wasn't cut out for this explaining stuff. So he directed a look at Kratos that clearly said, You tell her.

Damn Wilder for shifting the spotlight.

Several centuries' worth of experience were required as Kratos tried to maintain a casual air, although some particularly choice words in Angelic were running through his head as he launched into the straightest explanation he could muster: "Throughout the years Cruxis has tried to maintain somewhat close ties to the Chosen; I merely made use of them in order to get Aionis, being unable to move as I wished at the time."

No, they had not made the most honest of deals, but it had all been for the worlds' sake in the end.

All in all, this was hitting a very sore spot with her. "And once the two of you had managed to get it, what was your intent?" Raine asked, voice dangerously quiet. While they were here, she trusted Kratos; he'd proved that he didn't mean her any harm. But if they ever made it home, or Colette appeared here, that might not last--she still wasn't certain what his goals were in regards to her, and seriously doubted she would be able to fully trust anything he said on the subject.

Her opinion of Zelos had never been very high, and the betrayal had left her almost completely unwilling to trust him at all. The first time she'd spoken to him here, he had said that he'd done all that he had so that he could get Aionis for the group; she supposed she understood why simply launching an open attack to get it was impractical at best, but ironically enough she didn't like it when supposed teammates kept secrets from the group. Personal matters (like race) were one thing, but something as important as this...

Adding to her ire was the fact that the last thing she remembered before coming here was the disastrous aftermath of that damned secret plan of theirs. She could hardly claim it was their fault that they were here, and she didn't honestly think either of them had wanted the group to be put through multiple death traps, but that didn't do much to keep her temper in check.

"Well, he," Zelos jabbed a finger in Kratos' direction, "wanted to get it for Lloyd. I was gonna help, buuuuut, I changed my mind...and I already told you where I ended up, so that's that."

It was all said with a smile, but there was something hard and brittle about it.

In a way, he thought they had deserved it. Okay, so he hadn't been completely truthful about everything, but they even trusted Mithos more readily than him. Zelos had already been with them through most of their journey and they still didn't seem to trust him all that much.

It just got tiring sometimes.

Kratos sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Things were escalating more rapidly than he had expected, and already Raine had reached that tone that meant that both he and Zelos were treading in dangerous waters. "More specifically, I required Aionis for the Ring of the Pact; at that time I had all the other necessary materials. Wearing the ring allows a human to use the Eternal Sword, although of course you would still need a pact with Origin.

"Obviously I intended Lloyd to have it." He had intended to die, as well, but the plan had exceeded expectations (specifically, Yuan had exceeded expectations...). Apparently the opposite held true for Zelos- looking back now, though, Kratos saw how very easy it would have been for everything to go awry from the beginning.

"I suppose I can guess why neither of you told us anything," Raine replied; her voice had gone a little flat. The angelic being who had betrayed their trust and the Chosen who had never earned it--she wasn't the only one who would have been less than willing to go along with anything planned by the both of them.

There was little doubt that they were telling her the truth on this much at least, and yet--she didn't believe them, or at least didn't want to. Just habit, at this point...

It wasn't their fault any of them were here, but she was upset and homesick and missing her friend; she wanted someone to lash out at. Even as a teenager she'd recognized that finding a scapegoat didn't do her or anyone else any good, and she wasn't about to start doing it now... she should have been able to calm down on her own, but under the circumstances it was debatable. She would have gotten up and left, especially since if either of them said anything to set her off she would almost undoubtedly do something to warrant sedation (and she was tempted enough already), but there was nowhere to go.

"Well, it's not like you guys would've trusted us even if either one of us told you anyways."

...Well no, that wasn't completely true. Lloyd and Colette might have, in their naivete, trusted Zelos at the least. However, the rest of the group would have definitely have been opposed to the plan from the start, and revealing that he was a spy from Cruxis would have pushed them away even further.

Anyways, there wasn't any point in dwelling on it in this point in time, so he let the topic drop.

Zelos focussed his attention back on the Cafeteria walls and the people inside. In the heat of the conversation, he hadn't noticed how quickly the room had filled up. The caf must've been huge to house so many, which brought him to his next question.

"Okay, can you guys explain where the hell I am now?"

Kratos was more than happy to veer away from the current subject, even if it meant answering questions that only further emphasized their dismal situation. "You are currently inside Landel's Institute," he stated flatly. "On most fronts it appears to be a mental hospital, although its 'patients' know otherwise. Basically we are trapped here for experimental purposes."

He paused briefly to take a bite out of his waffle (breakfast had been momentarily forgotten in their heated conversation). "Escaping is out of the question, although the administration has proven that leaving the building with heavy supervision may be allowed on the rare occasion."

Although with the current upheaval in the Institute's staff, the likelihood of another field trip ever happening again was very slim.

"It's not proven no one's ever escaped," Raine pointed out. "It's not likely that everyone who's vanished is dead." Right now especially, she couldn't bear to think otherwise.

"I'm reminded--strongly--of the Imperial Research Academy. It's only speculated that this is a research facility, but it's unlikely to be anything else."

She paused, wondering how to put this. "And as I said, you were here previously. I don't know how long--you vanished shortly after I arrived, and before Kratos did. I never learned more than that, but I've heard of someone confirmed dead--several people witnessed it when he was killed--who later returned. Predictably, he remembered nothing of his previous stay here; so far, no one has.

"You may have noticed that you have much less magic than usual; it happens to everyone here. So far no one has found a way around it, at least on their own terms--but one type of experiment we're taken for restores all powers for a night. Unfortunately, the target is also brainwashed to fight for the Institute, despite not recognizing where they are. Kratos knew me, but not an acquaintance from here." Looking at him, she added, "I assume you thought you had orders from Yggdrasil?" If he'd said as much, she didn't remember anymore.

No, she hadn't had to add any of that last part, but in her current mood especially she had no reason to spare his feelings. She didn't blame him (at least, she told herself not to), and she was just stating facts.

Uh-huh.

Okay, Zelos sort of suspected that he was in some kind of hospital (the blandness of the decor and the nurses sort of hinted at that), so that part wasn't shocking. The part about him being here previously was still a bit...surprising (so much that he thought that maybe Raine and Kratos were tricking him until he realized that they both had a sense of humour that matched a wet towel), but coming back from life was just plain weird.

...But then again, that's probably what happened to him, so he wasn't in much of a position to talk.

Zelos was tempted to try out his magic, but if he accidentally hit someone, that wouldn't have been good, so he held off.

Hearing the brainwashing part was a bit disturbing although hearing that Kratos had succumbed made Zelos feel just a bit more smug.

"Well, at least we aren't fighting for our lives against dozens of monsters, right?"

If only he knew.

"I remember making that very clear-- painfully clear," Kratos said wryly. At the moment he wanted nothing more than to stop talking about what had gone on, or else he would have fired back about Raine's tactics that very same night. She would probably never let him forget about SC (as she had every right), but Kratos would never forgive her completely for using Lloyd against him- even if it had been for good intentions.

It was somewhat of a relief that Zelos hadn't chosen to inquire further into the entire brainwashing business, although he knew that it would all come back to haunt him later: the more Zelos knew, the more he would needle him; this was inevitable. Fortunately, by now Kratos was used to deflecting his questions or comments and maintaining a wordless front. He had to laugh, though, at the other man's comment- most of all at its irony. "Wait until night falls, Wilder."

Raine would probably choose to give a more in-depth explanation, and if he were feeling less irked he might have as well. Even so, if Zelos had any sort of sense, he would understand what was being implied.

"Hardly," Raine replied. "There's more than a few types of monsters here, all with different defenses and few weaknesses. Even when you're armed, they're harder to kill than they should be--if you can help it, don't go out alone at night. Once the lights go out and the doors unlock, Landels is a very different place than during the day.

"There are ways to get normal weapons here, but it's a long wait no matter who you approach. In the meantime, you're best off getting something to improvise with--I'm told the Activities Shed has baseball bats. There are groups you can join, but I don't know much about them aside from the medical clinic." Which was the last place she wanted Zelos; if he was in M35... things might get ugly. She vaguely wondered how he would get along with Tamaki, but she could live with not finding out.

"The Sun Room has a bulletin board; ask there if anyone has the same goal. Newcomers always arrive in groups, so it's highly unlikely you'll be the only one looking for something to arm yourself with."

Aw dammit.

He knew he shouldn't have jinxed it with that comment, but nooo, he had to open his big mouth.

And they were hard to kill. This was great.

The weapons part caught his interest. "Normal weapons?" His expression to Raine clearly stated "elaborate how you would get swords in a mental institute". Well, if he had to wait for one, the baseball bat actually wasn't a bad option for improvising with. At least it could do a lot of damage if it was smashed into a monster's face.

He'd keep the clubs thing in mind, and made a note to check out the clinic sometime; he might be able to help, but first he had to check out how much his magic was weakened.

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Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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