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

[enigmaticmedium.livejournal.com]

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."

[pacifistcrush.livejournal.com]

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.

[accursed-rock.livejournal.com]

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?]

[enigmaticmedium.livejournal.com]

[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!"