damned_institute | Day 37: Breakfast

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Day 37: Breakfast

[for Sylar, I believe]

At the sound of the intercom, Wally jerked awake and blinked around at the room. He’d fallen asleep. He should have been up and keeping an eye open for ZEX, but he’d fallen asleep waiting on his bed.

“Idiot,” he groaned, ruffling his hair and sighing in annoyance. “Way to help a guy out, hotshot.” Hopefully ZEX hadn’t dropped by and thought he’d left or something, or wouldn’t be too mad at him for just forgetting about it like that. If he was lucky, he’d be able to catch up with the other patient at some point and explain what had happened.

Rolling himself a little awkwardly out of the bed, Wally took the opportunity to stretch his injured leg and test how well it was holding up. It was feeling a bit better, not so much that he could abandon his crutch or that it didn’t pull painfully if he wasn’t careful, but better. Tony had apparently made it through the night in one piece as well, which was a relief. He really didn’t feel comfortable about the thought of his roommate wandering about on his own with an injured arm. Not when Wally himself could relax and fall asleep in the apparent safety of their room.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to let himself forget that one in a hurry.

It was at that moment that the door swung open to admit one of the nurses. She seemed surprised to find him awake and ready to go already, but smiled warmly. “Hungry, are we Mr. West? Well in that case, let’s get you to the cafeteria. The staff have provided some delicious French Toast as well as a range of other foods I’m sure you’ll like. Now will you be needing a hand with your leg, dear?”

“No thanks, I can handle it,” Wally replied, smiling back. After all, it probably wasn’t the nurses’ fault that this place was so messed up, so it wasn’t like picking fights with them would do anything. With a cheery wave goodbye, Wally slowly made his way to the cafeteria, keeping a tight grip on his crutch all the while. Obtaining a plate of food was only slightly less difficult than it had been yesterday – he didn’t have the painkillers to work around this time – but he managed well enough, coming away from the buffet with a tray containing a plate piled high with slices of French Toast and slathered in maple syrup, butter, and sugar, as well as a glass of juice. Not quite as good as some coffee would be right now, but the sugar would hopefully make up for it. And, with how few people were here at the moment, he could afford to take more food than might have been considered ‘normal’ – he’d have most of it gone by the time anyone came to keep him company, then he could just worry about how many extra serves would be allowed before he aroused suspicion.

Feeling pretty happy with how things were looking so far, Wally hummed faintly to himself as he dug in to his breakfast.

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Wait, what was that? "Uh, Head Doc? Who's that?" Kon asked, trying to mimic Robin's 'what the hell are you talking about, Superboy' face. He had a feeling it wasn't half as impressive as the real thing - for starters his face was way too handsome to cover even part of it, so he looked nowhere near as spooky as Robin could - but the effect should be the same, right?

"There's nothing wrong with Superboy - it's my name," he argued. Sure he could tell this guy his other name but, well he'd only shared it with the rest of Young Justice so far. He hadn't even told it to Serling or any of the other folks at CADMUS so he wasn't sure he wanted to share with some guy who already thought he was an idiot. "Most people call me Kid or SB if you really want," he offered instead.

Another newbie. Did Tokito have some kind of 'full of good information' sign on his forehead now? "Dr. Landel. Guy on the intercom. Perky during the day, freaky at night. You get used to him, I guess." Tokito hardly even noticed the intercom anymore, but it was weird for a newbie not to have gotten some kind of explanation--even if it was a fake, sucky explanation--from the nurses. Well, whatever. Maybe he was in shock or something.

"And I think 'Superboy' is more like a description than a name, isn't it? And not a very good one, around here. No one's much of a super anything, here." Or so the message board primer thinigie had said--Tokito's hand still seemed to be the same, but he'd always been otherwise normal, so maybe Landel didn't figure his 'powers' were worth bothering with.

Dr. Landel - now he remembered, Teisel had mentioned someone by that name last night. "So he kidnaps people and brings them here? For experimentation or something?" Teisel had also said something about unwanted surgery so maybe that was part of it. But it didn't explain how he was here when the last thing he remembered was bouncing around Hypertime, skipping between realities faster than he'd been able to process.

"No, it's my name. And it's a great description of me too, I'm always super." Even without his tactile telekinesis he was totally super. And man, didn't the list of people he had to track down when his powers were back just keep getting longer?

Tokito tensed a little at the word 'experimentation', and he had to really force himself not to belatedly hide his gloved hand. "... Yeah, I guess. The whole thing seems like a big game to him, though. There's other stuff, too. Monsters at night, and then we get patched up again by morning, and heal extra-fast or something. Like he wants us ready to fight again faster. And yesterday some people got visitors. Like, people they knew, but wrong... telling them the same stuff as the nurses and doctors do. That's what I heard, anyway. I didn't have any visitors. There's a thing on the message board in the Sun Room, kind of a guide to this place, I think. It was there when I got here, anyway."

And wow, suddenly Tokito was like a fountain of information. Most of it didn't make sense but Kon got the feeling it was supposed to. He took a moment to try and process all of that while he scooped up some of the syrup from his plate and sucked it off his fingers.

"So, some guy kidnaps people, brings them here for some sort of weird survival horror game thing? With giant-" No way he was admitting he'd barely been able to fight off a killer squirrel, "Animals that try and kill you?"

Honestly that wasn't the weirdest story he'd ever heard, though it was still pretty weird. It did explain why his arm was all bandaged up now and the whole giant killer squirrel thing. He totally needed to check out this message board, see whether anyone here had heard of him. It might also explain why the nurse had thought he was someone else but it didn't explain how he'd been snatched out of Hypertime.

"Hey, you know how they bring people here?" Maybe Tokito knew that too, he sure seemed eager to share all of a sudden.

So 'Superboy' thought this seemed like a video game, too! That was kind of a relief, to Tokito--he'd been wondering if he was the only one who felt that way. Of course, Tokito had only ever seen super-powers and the like in video games, before, which didn't seem to be the case with this guy. Unless he just called himself Superboy for kicks. Who the hell even knew?

"No clue how we get here. I'm sure people have theories, but that kind of thing isn't really my area." Much more Kubota's thing, or even better, Kasai or Takizawa. For all Takizawa was kind of a dick, he was a reporter--he knew how to research stuff. "Oh, and it's not always animals that try to kill you. Sometimes it's brainwashed patients and other stuff. I think someone had a big list of monsters, too."

"Brainwashed people? For real?" It wasn't like he'd never heard of people being brainwashed, but what could most of these people do if they were being mind controlled? Unless they all had powers too. Duh! Of course, like that crazy chick last night! That would explain why she'd decided to attack him for no good reason, but not why her powers worked and his didn't

"Hey uh, you know anything about, I dunno, powers not working here? 'Cause I thought I heard someone talking about it and well, if I'm going to take this place down I need to know exactly what to expect, yeah?" Maybe that wasn't the most subtle way of asking but now that he thought about it, telling people his TTK wasn't working was a really bad idea. Especially if some of the people here were being mind controlled. Who knew what they might do if they knew he was powerless?

"Yeah. Ran into one last night, I think. Apparently it happens on alternating nights with the... the experiments." Which would mean, if that was true, that tonight was an experiment tonight. Tokito couldn't quite repress the shiver that came over him at the thought. The odds were incredibly low that they'd take him, but... no. Don't think about it.

Tokito forced his attention back to the conversation at hand. "Yeah. Not working, or not working right. Some people can still do stuff, I saw some guy make a ball of light a couple nights ago. But everything is weaker, they say."

Reaching across the table Kon gave Tokito a friendly smack on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Stick with me and I'll make sure you're OK," he offered. He wasn't sure how but that wasn't going to stop him. He'd helped take out Engine City, he'd fought Metallo and Poison Ivy, he could handle some crazy doctor no sweat.

Kon perked up immediately when Tokito mentioned other people with working powers. "I ran into some crazy chick last night whose powers worked just fine too. But mine aren't working at all, I don't get it!" It couldn't hurt to tell Tokito about his powers, he seemed pretty cool and maybe he could help figure out why they weren't working.

Tokito smiled a little and shook his head. He wasn't thrilled at Superboy's little 'friendly' smack, but it was nice to run into someone so... nice. Bridget had been nice, too, and so was Jamie, but there was something different in Superboy's attitude, a confidence that shy Jamie and child-like Bridget didn't really have. Of course, he was totally full of shit, saying stuff like that if his powers weren't working, but Tokito appreciated the thought. "Heh. Thanks, I guess. But apparently they take people from their rooms during dinner, so there's not much anyone can do." Ick. Bad topic.

Powers sounded a lot more interesting, especially since Superboy seemed to want to talk about his own, rather than poking around for info about Tokito. Maybe he was just self-centered, but that was fine too, if it meant no awkward questions! "Uhm. What are your powers? I dunno why they wouldn't work at all..."

Taking people for experimentation during dinner was so not cool. Sure, experimenting on people full stop was bad but interrupting a meal to do it? That was just low. But at least that gave him until then to get his powers back and take this place apart.

Kon grinned cockily, leaning eagerly towards Tokito when he asked what had to be Kon's favourite question. "I have Tactile Telekinesis," he declared proudly. "Means that anything, and I do mean anything, I can touch I can control. It lets me fly, makes me invulnerable and gives me superstrength. But that's not all. I can use it to take things apart, anything at all - weapons, bombs you name it! I can rip the ground to pieces or hold entire buildings together, it doesn't matter how big they are. I can even extend it to protect other people from bullets or whatever. I once stopped a missile with my bare hands you know. And it's not just good for breaking stuff, I can build things too." Kon gestured excitedly as he explained the many wonders of TTK to Tokito, his tone suggesting he could keep going on the subject for hours to come.

Yeah, definitely full of himself, this Superboy. But he also seemed interested in helping other people, or at least he'd said as much, so Tokito was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Even Kubo-chan, who was almost completely detached from any interest in other humans, could be a stand-up guy sometimes, so Tokito was pretty flexible when it came to his views of other people. He wouldn't trust Superboy, or anyone, easily, but he could at least hear him out. "Well, sure a lot of that stuff I can see why they wouldn't let you keep it here. No fun for the Head Doc if his pets can't chew on you, right? Uhm. Have you tried doing little stuff, though?"

Kon grimaced as Tokito interrupted his description of his powers, rubbing idly at the bandage on his arm. "Yeah, well those 'pets' have already had one taste and they're not getting another."

"Small stuff? Well I tried flying which really isn't a big deal, I mean I've been doing it pretty much since I was 'born'." Beyond that he hadn't tried much - he knew from the encounter with the squirrel that his invulnerability and superstrength weren't working. He hadn't tried using the TTK to do much else though, like pull stuff apart. It totally wasn't going to work - if he couldn't fly why would he be able to dismantle stuff? He'd been flying way before he even knew what his powers were.

Shrugging, Kon reached out to touch Tokito's wrist, "Let me try something." He focused on extending a tendril of TTK up Tokito's arm and tugging lightly at his ear.

Tokito gave Superboy a very dubious look at the claim that flying was no big deal--whether it was a big deal for him in his normal life or not, it should be easy to understand why it was a big deal in a place like this, right?

But then Superboy reached out to touch Tokito--again--and this time he touched Tokito's right hand. Barely even aware of the tug on his ear, Tokito slapped Superboy's hand away violently, not even thinking clearly enough to watch his strength. "Don't touch me!" His eyes were wide, a slight hint of panic in them, and he clutched the edge of the table with his left hand.

The joy at finding out that his powers still worked even a little had barely even surfaced before Tokito slapped his hand away hard. Yelping at the unexpected pain, Kon jerked it to his chest. The slap had also jolted the bite on his arm, making that start complaining again. Glaring at Tokito he snapped "What the hell is your problem? I wasn't doing anything!" Did everyone here have some weird thing against people touching them?

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Day 37: Breakfast

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