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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Zelgadis noted the look on Amelia's face, and the rather more obvious pause as she dug into her food. Xelloss talking about someone being here... Someone being here "against the higher forces"...

And Amelia obviously knew who he was referring to.

This was bad, he could tell. It couldn't be an ally, otherwise he'd know about them already. But who could he have missed? True, he hadn't attempted to meet everyone in the institution...

Maybe he was not a patient. A Doctor? One of the demons that haunted the corridors at night?

Regardless, he'd ask later. He didn't want Xelloss assuming (anymore than the Trickster Priest already did) that Zelgadis was naive to his circumstances.

Zelgadis was more surprised by Amelia's second reaction, however. Zelgadis was clearly, visibly human now. Why would it not be the same for Xelloss? That didn't change the mazoku's nature however.

"We seem to disagree on a point. Your exterior may be human, Xelloss, but your nature is not."

He leaned back, arms firmly crossed.

"As far as I'm concerned, you are still a mazoku."

"Well, that all sums up the problems very nicely, doesn't it? Even if I can prove I'm physically human, which would be hard to do without actually dying, I can't convince you of my intentions or my will." Xelloss's fork was waved in a small circle in the air, before he went back to stabbing a bite of waffle.

"For my own part, I'm uncomfortably vulnerable and seem to have been caught in some sort of scheme wherein I have no control." All true enough, really. "If nothing else, you can trust me to have the intention of protecting myself, and that's one of my main reasons for wanting to speak with both of you. Even if you're unwilling to compromise on working together, it would at least be easier for everyone to be aware of each other, wouldn't it? And of each others' intentions." More truth, maybe too much truth, but it would serve him better than any lie he could think of.

"Whether you believe I am a human or not, things are happening here which are wrong. On a fundamental level, things which simply should not be, my own transformation being only a small example. I would like for that to be stopped." He began chewing on his waffle, watching both of them expectantly.

Zelgadis seemed convinced that Xelloss was indeed a human - at least, physically. It was still pretty tough to swallow; the process of changing a chimera back into a human and the process of sealing a Mazoku in a human body had to be totally different! Not to mention, the sort of knowledge and power needed to do so would have to be on an unheard-of level.

Amelia was struggling to wrap her head around the things Xelloss was telling them. Was he saying that he wasn't working for Hellmaster after all? If Hellmaster was behind everything, and Xelloss had really been turned into a human, then it wasn't unthinkable that the two were in opposition...

But as it stood, there was just too much they didn't know. The princess gave Zelgadis an uncertain look. "What should we do?" she asked in a whisper. "Maybe it would be best to cooperate..." Amelia honestly didn't like the idea, but it was almost certain that their enemies would be keeping tabs on them no matter what they decided here. At least if they agreed, they would be able to gain a little information here and there as well.

Zegladis was uncomfortable being asked to make the final decision. He was always of the opinion that Xelloss was up to something, as Amelia knew. He had only agreed to work with Xelloss at Lina's urging, and even then he was highly reluctant.

Best to be honest, then.

"I don't know." He glanced at Xelloss, "I don't trust him."

But Xelloss had a question to answer, after all,

"Xelloss. What do we gain from working with you?"

As far as Zelgadis was concerned-- a big headache.

"Why, Zelgadis, the reassurance that I'm not working against you!" Xelloss answered cheerfully. Then, a little quieter, "In essence, the same reassurance I'm seeking from you. I also believe that our problem here is magical in nature, and of a severity that I would not have been capable of even before this strange transformation. You two both have experience in a variety of magic, although it's doubtlessly been weakened if not removed since your arrival. Others here have similar experience, if not the same kinds of magic."

And what had happened to Seishirou? He'd rather have done this through Seishirou, who in turn would have gone through his own chosen figurehead, but Seishirou's apparent disappearance had left Xelloss on his own with a somewhat shaky basis for a plan. "I think that gathering together individuals who have experience with magic would be useful. If nothing else, it would be nice if we could get some bearing on where in creation we are and what force is causing all of this. Of course, I'm totally untrustworthy!"

Xelloss didn't quite laugh, even though he didn't hide his amusement at the fact either. "So if I tried to organize something like that, I would only attract other untrustworthy people. And probably you would both think I was creating a massive, terrible scheme of some sort! It's much easier if I just suggest it to you two and let you consider the idea as well."

Xelloss had a point. It sounded like he had a plan too, and one which was probably a little more solid than what Amelia and Zelgadis had. He was right about their suspicions, too; had Amelia found out he was gathering magic specialists without knowing his intentions, it certainly would have looked like some kind of evil scheme. Even now that it was out in the open, the princess wasn't entirely confident that it wasn't.

But... as for what force was causing this, didn't Xelloss already know that much? This priest was still as suspicious as ever! Amelia wished Lina was with them more than ever now; she always seemed to make decisions like these in a snap, without any regrets.

Lowering her voice again, more to be polite than to actually hide anything from Xelloss's undoubtedly sharp ears, Amelia whispered to Zelgadis, "I don't really want to, but... if we don't agree, we'll never know what he's up to!" And the more Mazoku they had running around out of their sight, the more dangerous their situation would be. She knew Zelgadis would understand that too, but she also knew how much he disliked cooperating with Xelloss.

Zelgadis looked piercingly at Xelloss. He never wanted to work with him, ever, but it seemed necessary to keep an eye on him.

For the first time in his life, Zelgadis asked-- what would Lina do? And knew the answer, which he'd had all along despite regrets.

He looked at Amelia for confirmation and knew she held his point of view as well.

Putting on his most menacing tone, he spoke to Xelloss,

"We agree. But we are not working with you-- we're just not working against you."

He leaned in closer,

"And I swear, Xelloss, if you screw us over--"

"Wonderful! That's as much as I'd hoped for." Xelloss looked as pleased as he sounded, pausing for a bite of waffle again. The menacing tone seemed to pass him by, as though Zelgadis weren't leaning in to whisper anything at all.

"So, now that we're not all out to kill each other, any opinions on my idea? As I said, if I organized such a thing, I'd only attract individuals of a like mind, I think. And it really would be more effective with greater diversity. It's hard to tell what will and won't work, in this place." Xelloss added, after a moment's thought, "Do either of you retain any ability to cast spells? I could imagine Zelgadis might have been restricted to only his physical abilities, after the transformation."

It almost sounded like Xelloss already knew the full answer to his question, and was only asking for confirmation. Amelia chewed the end of her fork for a few moments, wondering if it really was okay to share their strengths and weaknesses with someone who, temporary ally or no, was still most definitely an evil person.

But anyone on the same side as the villains running the place would already know the full extent of the magic seal's effect, wouldn't they? There was nothing to lose.

"I haven't tried everything yet, but so far I haven't managed anything more than a Lighting spell..." She paused, giving the Mazoku a curious look. "What about you, Mr. Xelloss?" It was possible that the transformation to a human could also leave him with no magic, but it was hard to imagine someone with as much capacity and skill as him to be reduced to that. And most importantly, it was only fair if he shared some information with them as well!

Zelgadis was not willing to share any more information with Xelloss than necessary, and certainly none of that information would include the apparent seal on his magic. It seemed he had guessed correctly, regardless.

He was beginning to wonder whether Xelloss was spying on them or truly looking to make a bargain.

He'd let Xelloss answer Amelia's question, first.

If true, that was interesting. Not entirely useful, but it was a start at least. Zelgadis kept mum, which Xelloss interpreted as 'nothing, but I won't say it,' which would suit Zelgadis's pride very well. If Zelgadis did turn out to retain some ability to cast spells, it would be a pleasant surprise.

"Me?" Xelloss gestured to himself as though he hadn't expected the question in return, and then paused as though considering it and what he should and shouldn't say. It was tempting not to answer, but he'd rather they overestimate him than underestimate... oh, well, they wouldn't believe anything he said either way, would they? So anything would do! "We could say, something simple like the Lighting spell, although not exactly like that. It did seem to generate some heat. A weak Fireball, let's call it! It surprised me very much, considering how my nature has changed, to have retained even that. After all, my magic wasn't quite like a human sorcerer's, you know."

Amelia had to stop herself from sighing with relief when the priest gave an actual answer. She was sure that Zelgadis's patience was wearing thin enough as it was.

A human retaining Mazoku abilities? That definitely was weird. It was unfair, too. If Amelia had even one offensive spell at her disposal, then the forces of evil would be the ones fearing the night! While the princess didn't voice her thoughts, the slight frown on her face betrayed a little hint of jealousy.

"Do you know any other people here with working offensive magic, then?" she asked curiously. Skilled sorcerers didn't exactly grow on trees, but it had seemed from her chats with other patients that there were at least some people with unique abilities around. If these were the kinds of people Xelloss intended to gather, she couldn't help but wonder how many he was already acquainted with.

Zelgadis grew gloomier as the conversation continued-- how was it that Xelloss, having been changed into human form as well (though Zelgadis preferred to consider his case a reversion), had magic ability? For Xelloss to have increased magical ability was not surprising, but for Zelgadis to have none at all...

It was very troubling.

Once again, Zelgadis decided not to interrupt and let the mazoku answer Amelia's question.

[backthread y/n?]

[We're pretty much done here anyway, right?]

Ah. That was a good question. "I've seen magic performed here," he answered slowly. That 'little girl,' Rhode, had declared casually that maybe half the people here were human. Himself not included, which meant those others were transformed, and while some claimed to be ordinary creatures simply altered to appear human, others had to be... "But mostly not attack magic, at least by patients. I have seen some healing done."

And heard but not seen what was happening in the bathroom on that exciting evening, while he babysat two very secretive young men. When he thought someone was being evasive, they were definitely evasive! And probably doing it wrong. "Someone I meet here who'd retained some ability has disappeared." That was genuinely troubling, so looking troubled was no difficulty. Then, upbeat again, "So! It'll be a difficult search. There's always asking on the bulletin board!"

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Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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