damned_institute | DAY 37: MEN'S SHOWERS (4th Shift)

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DAY 37: MEN'S SHOWERS (4th Shift)

There had been an awkward air left between him and Tyki after their conversation. Yuuri knew he wasn't the best at explaining much of anything, and for the tenth time he wondered why Murata wasn't here to answer the difficult questions for him. Everyone had been herded out of the cafeteria after that, and Yuuri had simply followed along in confusion as he headed towards the showers.

Yuuri still hadn't seen Wolfram yet and the young Maou was wondering if the blonde Mazoku was alright. Stretching his head up higher, Yuuri attempted to look over the heads of the other patients around him in an attempt to catch sight of Wolfram. Unfortunately, though, he was unsuccessful.

"Where are you, Wolfram?" He muttered to himself while stepping under the shower's spray. Maybe a shower would help clear his mind.

[Waiting for Wolfram]

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Clark was still working through the fact other aliens had visited Earth when Brainy dropped the bombshell about this "Legion". Not only did that answer his question if there were others out their with powers but they were also doing what he did and helping people with them...only on a way, way larger scale. It was a lot to deal with. He'd run into a lot of people with powers but the majority of them hadn't used them for anything but their own gain and it never ended well. The news that Smallville wasn't the norm for this made him somehow feeling lighter. Happier. Not a lot - look where they were - but he felt a little more upbeat.

But he still wondered why Professor Swann hadn't mentioned someone like Brainy visiting Earth. Either he hadn't known (this from the man who had spent years searching the skies) or he had and hadn't told him for some reason.

Clark knew it was risky to admit anything but he had to know. It was like when he'd answered Professor Swan's message with the Kryptonian symbols: he didn't know what he was walking into, only that he had to try and find out the truth. For all he knew, this was exactly like that time. Taking in a deep breath, Clark didn't say anything at first. If he was going to make this leap and ask, he'd at least want to do it clothed and not butt-naked in the group showers.

"Over here," he said, heading toward where a fresh batch of the uniforms were. His heart was leaping but he wasn't sure if he was terrified or excited. Maybe both. He tried himself with a towel without even thinking about it and pulled on some clothes, giving Brainy a chance to do the same before he turned to him.

His voice lowered. "I...I wanted to know if you're heard of a place called Krypton."

Brainiac 5 barely had time to finish washing the conditioner from his hair before Clark was suddenly leading the way out of the showers and over to another part of the room where there were towels and clean clothing. That there was something bothering the other boy was obvious, even if Brainiac 5 hadn't known Clark for long enough to be able to read him that part would have been clear, and it seemed to be something he wasn't comfortable talking about where others could overhear them.

"Clark is something..." Brainiac 5 froze, suddenly unable to stop himself noticing what he'd been trying to avoid the entire time. Namely that they were both naked, dripping wet, and now mostly alone. In an instant his face had flushed hot enough that he worried that there might be something wrong with him and he spun sharply away to seize a towel and wrap it around himself. The cloth offered some comfort and protection from the reality of the situation, but it was largely undermined by the constant glances Brainiac 5 couldn't quite prevent himself from sneaking as Clark dried off and dressed.

It was almost enough to make him wonder if there weren't some benefits to communal showering.

Clark finished dressing surprisingly (and perhaps, a small, guilty thought whispered, disappointingly) fast, leaving Brainiac 5 to finish as quickly as he could on his own, all the while hoping Clark hadn't noticed his distraction.

Then, clothing thankfully back in place and feeling less exposed, he answered the other boy's question. "Yes, I know about Krypton," he said carefully. "It's people and fate are well documented where I'm from."

Clark had caught Brainy's suddenly red face. This was probably his first time in a group shower and he knew exactly what it felt like; he just hoped he hadn't flashed Brainy on accident, he'd been trying to be as fast about it as possible. It didn't occur to him that Brainy might be blushing for a different reason.

By now Brainy had dressed himself when he turned around again, Clark noted, and he was a little bit relieved to see the guy had put his arms and legs through the right sleeves and hadn't done something like tried to wear his pants as a shirt. Clark found his eyes on their own straying to those strange circles on his head but they snapped back down to Brainy's face when he said he knew about Krypton. Clark froze in place, staring at Brainy. It was...documented? It made it sound like it was old history.

"What do you know about it?" Clark asked. His throat felt strangely tight but he knew he needed answers. He already knew the planet was gone. Simply not there on the map when Professor Swann had pointed out where it should have been: but he hadn't been able to say what happened or anything about who had lived there, only that there had been a message. There, too, had been a message with the ship that brought him but that one was one he wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

It still raised the question of what kind of biological parents he had, who would send him to Earth and tell him to rule. Maybe if he found out more about Krypton from Brainy - if this was all true - then maybe he'd find some real reason, maybe a mistake in the ship's message.

Brainiac 5 noticed Clark's gaze drifting to his forehead again, but didn't comment on it. Truthfully the same thing had happened when Superman had first joined the Legion, though it had been tempered by the fact that everything around Superman had been new and unusual, so he wasn't offended in the least. Only grateful that the other boy was also being polite enough not to comment on how red his face must have been.

The next question was distraction enough, however. Brainiac 5 was well aware that telling Clark of his ancestor's role in the destruction of Krypton would only turn the Kryptonian against him, a situation he just couldn't bear to think about, so he chose his next words carefully.

"Krypton... it was destroyed some years ago. There was an instability in the planet's core. By the time they found out, it was too late." The words were carefully neutral, masking his own opinions and knowledge on what actually happened and why. "I'm... sorry Clark."

Clark's face went pale under the shower room's lights. He swallowed and looked down.

He knew it was gone. The first time he'd even heard the name, he'd also found out it was missing, seemingly wiped off the map. But standing in the room with Swann, with the monitors with the message in Kryptonian streaming back and forth, the map of where Krypton should have been in the back, he had hoped it was just guesswork. Swann didn't know for sure, only what he was able to detect and there was no way he could know everything for sure: Chloe said he was called "the Man of Tomorrow", but Clark thought even he couldn't see everything. It had been real and yet the encounter with Swann had felt like a dream somehow. But now Clark stood bare-foot in the showers, hair still wet and it wasn't at all dream-like: it was like a slap in the face and he shifted back a little, unsettled. Krypton really was history to Brainy. It wasn't just a void on a map to him. It was fact, like something you learned about in school, and Clark wondered if he really was the last Kryptonian. There was the unpleasant thought that maybe he was about on the same level as all those extinct animals they'd talked about in class.

"Were there any survivors?" he asked, looking up again, searching Brainy's face hopefully. "I mean, there must've been, right? Wouldn't there have been any signs? Someone would've seen them and some people would've left, right?"

Even if it was sudden like an earthquake or a tornado, there were always survivors. It might've been something as simple as being in the right place at the right time or maybe someone packed up and left with their family. How could everyone on a planet die, all at one time?

Brainiac 5 closed his eyes briefly. He knew this had to be difficult and painful for Clark, in the same way it must have been difficult for him to learn about Krypton the first time, as despite his reaction, he didn't seem as surprised by the news. It was more like he had finally gotten confirmation of something he'd been afraid of.

"There was mention of at least one possibly survivor," he said, continuing to chose each word carefully. He couldn't afford to let anything slip about what he knew about Clark yet, at least not until the other boy trusted him more, and mentioning where and more importantly when he was from would only drive Clark away. "Rumour has it that there was one possible survivor, as one of the head scientists, Jor-El, learned of the planet's imminent destruction and sent his only son away in a small spacecraft. But... what happened, or if it even happened at all, is purely speculation at this time."

He didn't comment on the fact that Clark was correct; there had been signs of Krypton's destruction for some time before the event occurred, but his ancestor had kept the information to himself and had let everyone on Krypton believe there was nothing to fear.

"You have to understand Clark, Krypton's destruction was surprisingly sudden and affected much of the surrounding solar system. If there were any other survivors, then no one knows of them."

Brainiac 5 felt somewhat guilty about lying, but it was important that Clark not learn the entire truth about his past or his people until he was supposed to. He couldn't afford to change history simply because he felt bad for a friend.

One survivor. Him.

It was the same answer Swann give him. At least he knew now a little bit more what happened: it sounded like his parents, his biological ones - the Kents would always be his real parents to him - had known about the fact that Krypton was doomed and they sent him far away. But why hadn't they warned anyone else? Even if it was sudden, they had time to save him. Why hadn't they warned the others when they had the means? Clark's questions were obvious on his face as he bit his lip, trying to come to terms with all of this. Without realizing it, Clark found himself sitting on the wet floor, his back against the wall. Felt like the right thing to do. He really needed to sit down and think about all of this.

"There were no SOS's or anything?" Clark asked. "If," and he didn't name who the son who'd been sent away was, "if this Jor-El could save his son and he did, than why didn't he warn anyone else to evacuate? What kind of people are these Kryptonians?"

That question was more to himself. Clark had a bad taste in his mouth just thinking about it. First the message in the ship, where he'd been told he would be a god amongst men and would rule Earth with strength, like he'd been sent here as some kind of time bomb, out to conquer the world when he was "ready". Now this. Now he found out his biological father might've - had to have, Clark was alive - sent him away to Earth knowing full well Krypton was doomed. Did he even try to help the others? Or was it just every man for himself? Clark knew his ship was too small to fit anyone but a kid; was that the only reason Jor-El and his biological mom hadn't survived like he had? Brainy has just said it was "purely speculation"...but it wasn't just speculation to Clark because he knew he was living proof at least some of this was right. Maybe that made it even worse, knowing some of what happened but not everything.

Clark tried to keep a neutral face, especially around an alien - a guy, not just an alien - he'd only just met. But even he knew he looked probably about as miserable and confused as he felt.

Brainiac 5 slowly followed suit, sinking down to sit against the wall beside Clark. He could tell he was taking the information badly, but Brainy couldn't afford to tell him anything that would reassure him. It would raise too many other questions and end up doing more harm than good.

"If there were any calls for help, no one heard them," he said, but knew that he was lying despite how steady his voice remained. There hadn't been any calls for help; the first Brainiac would have made sure to prevent any such transmissions, to keep the death of an entire planet as sudden and unexpected as he could. "What we do know is that Jor-El did try to warn the people of Krypton, but as their..." the pause was only minor and easily overlooked before he continued. "...highly advanced computer systems didn't detect any such problems, they disregarded his warnings until it was too late."

He didn't answer the clearly rhetorical question about the Kryptonians, it was something that Brainiac 5 couldn't have been expected to know and something Clark would have to find out on his own.

Instead he sighed and turned to study Clark, a careful look of interest in place as he remembered to act as though he didn't know the other boy at all. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so interested in Krypton and its past anyway, Clark?"

So Jor-El had tried to warn them. Thinking that name sent a shiver up his spine as he remembered that night when he stepped into the storm cellar and saw a bright, unreal glow and heard a voice speaking to him. He'd heard it too right before he woke up in Landels, heard it say that same name. Now he knew what the name meant. But he wasn't sure how he felt about it. On one hand, at least Jor-El tried to warn the others but his warnings apparently fell on deaf ears...but on the other hand, Clark just couldn't shake off that message in the ship. He couldn't tell Brainy about it either because that would give away who he was and while Clark had been on the verge of admitting to Claire his abilities, he wasn't ready to go that extra step and spill everything.

Even to someone who might have more in common with him than anyone he'd ever met before.

Clark wondered how long ago this was for Brainy. Years according to what he said, but how many? Glancing at Brainy, who sat down next to him on the wet tiles to join him, Clark was surprised to finally notice he sounded kind of...well, kind of regretful. Not like been-there-regretful, but like he might've known someone who died on Krypton. That or he was really a big history buff and this was even longer ago for him than he thought and he still cared what happened to a long gone planet. When asked about his interest in Krypton, Clark gave a vague shrug, wrapping his arms around his knees and lacing his fingers together.

"I heard about it," Clark said grudgingly, not wanting to reveal more but knowing he had to say something. "This man said he was watching the stars for signs of life and he said Krypton was gone. I just wanted to know if it was true."

He hedged around the real question, pretending like he misunderstood it. Even if they were both aliens here, he still didn't feel comfortable admitting what he really was. Not only was he an alien on Earth, but he was probably the last one of his species anywhere and he still didn't know what would happen when he grew older. It scared him even more than he admitted to his Mom and Dad because he had no idea what else was ticking inside him like all his other powers. Dad said he had a choice, but the truth was he didn't know anything about Kryptonians or his "destiny" more than his son did. Clark had always lived with a part of him knowing he was different, alone even with this friends and family, but it felt even heavier now as he sat on the wet floor with Brainy next to him.

Brainiac 5 didn't respond immediately to Clark's grudging answer, despite how clearly wrong he knew it to be. Saying anything to that effect without thinking on it carefully first would just make Clark more suspicious of him; he would have to wait and allow Clark to come to trust him of his own free will.

But the news that Clark had spoken to someone on Earth who had known about Krypton and noted its destruction, that was interesting. "He was watching the stars for signs of life?" he asked, an oddly playful tone to his voice. "If you don't mind me saying so, he appears to have missed a few things." Even if Clark had known that Brainiac 5 wasn't from his time, the statement was still true. From what he recalled of Earth's history that had survived the Great Crisis, Superman had hardly been the only alien on the planet. And unless this stranger had some uniquely advanced technology at his disposal, there was no possible way he could have been keeping an eye on every single planetary system. It just wasn't feasible.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Clark," he said carefully. "He was clearly mistaken about some things, not to mention that Krypton's destruction, while tragic, doesn't have much of an impact on our situation here. I understand you might find it... interesting in a way, but I don't understand why you would be so upset by the it."

The statement came across harsher than he would have liked, but he needed to remember that from Clark's perspective he didn't know that the other was the last son of Krypton, so would have naturally been curious about his questions.

"I'm not upset," Clark said. Even he didn't believe himself when it came out like that, but it was automatic to deny anything was wrong or in any way different about himself. He'd had to lie so long that it was a reflex to protect his secret, even a half-hearted attempt like right now. "It's just that he seemed pretty sure. Maybe Colu's too far for him to have detected anything, but he knew about Krypton."

His butt was getting wet from the tiles. It was actually a pretty uncomfortable place to just sit down like this: whatever daydreams he might've had about finding the truth about where he was from, spending the reality of it sitting on a damp floor of a fake mental institute with a robot alien next to him wasn't exactly how he pictured it. Something niggled at the back of his mind, telling him something Brainy told him wasn't adding up and if only he could place his finger on it, it'd answer all his questions about what happened to Krypton. But try as he might, Clark just couldn't pinpoint it. He gave up, not really feeling up to trying to go over Brainy's words with a fine tooth comb. Maybe he was imagining it.

Sighing, Clark shifted his position on the floor, glancing at Brainy. It surprised him a stranger was willing to sit here and answer his questions about what had to be old news to him. He was right, though. To be brutally honest, what happened to Krypton was over a decade ago (at least to him, maybe it was actually longer for all he knew) and it didn't matter in Landels just how the planet died. Surviving every day was what did. If Brainy was as new to Landels as he thought and new to being human, than he really should be worrying more about protecting Brainy than what he couldn't change.

Didn't make it any easier.

Changing the subject, Clark got to his feet, brushing unconsciously at the seat of his pants as if it'd pat away the water. "Look, it's nothing. You're new here, right?" he asked. He held out a hand to help Brainy up. "It's not safe at night here. I don't know if anyone told you, but it's safer to travel in groups."

"Well regardless as to if your mysterious friend knew for certain or was just guessing, he did come to the right conclusion. Krypton is no more." Brainiac 5 wasn't sure he trusted this person Clark spoke of; he seemed to know too much about things that he just... shouldn't, couldn't, have known. Like how he knew the planet's name was Krypton and how he'd learned of its existence in the first place. While Brainiac 5 far from enjoyed or approved of what his ancestor had done all those centuries ago, he did know that Brainiac 1.0 was thorough and would have tried to prevent as much information on Krypton's destruction getting out a possible. That a human scientist on Earth had managed to find out the planet's name and that it had been destroyed was decidedly suspicious.

But asking too many questions about that now would only result in attention being drawn to himself and why he was so interested. Better to leave it until later and try to find out more once he'd gained Clark's trust. Hopefully it was merely a strange coincidence, perhaps a small message had managed to escape after all and had been picked up by this human by chance, but it was more likely there was more to it than that.

His thoughts were interrupted as Clark rose to his feet and offered his hand to assist Brainy in standing. For a moment, the Coluan boy only looked at it, seeming surprised by the offer, but then he took it with a faint smile. Clark's hand was surprisingly warm, he realised, warmer than he would have expected even with the absence of his dermal plating. But the contact was appreciated, both because of who had offered it and what it meant. On Colu, social contact was kept to an absolute minimum and it had taken Brainiac 5 some time to get used to what was considered normal contact among the Legion. So even though he was mostly used to such thing, sometimes he was still taken aback by something as simple as an offer to help him up.

"Thank you," he said warmly, both for the reassuring touch of Clark's hand and his offer of advice. "I had heard something similar from others here, but the data I tried gathering earlier on the board made it difficult for me to learn much about what was going on. A lot of people seemed to be intent on cluttering my data with false information about the existence of magic and gods." He sighed heavily.

"But I did manage to arrange to meet up with someone else in the hopes of taking a look at the laboratories here. I want to learn more about what was done to myself and others to make us human."

That and the bulletin board was monitored by the staff. You really had to watch what you said there, so it wasn't like you could get the best information off there. It explained why that primer kept getting posted - the staff must be removing it when they noticed it was up.

Clark's lips pursed as Brainy told him about his plans for the night. Good. He wasn't going alone but he had to wonder just how successful he'd be. Landels was a whole bigger beast than just finding people who could control bees or whatever back in Smallville and he wasn't so sure if they'd find out just how, exactly, you could turn someone from a cyborg alien to a human. Nothing on Earth that he knew of, but he decided against pointing that little fact out.

"Be careful," said Clark. "Especially if you go upstairs."

Clark's own most vivid memory of being up there hadn't been good. He'd been practically chewed up and spit out by some kind of freakish monster and while he'd thankfully blacked out for some of it, he'd been still awake for more than he remembered. It wasn't something he could forget any time soon. Neither was that nurse he'd burned days ago. Sometimes he wished he could talk about stuff like this but there was no one here he trusted enough to tell all the details to.

"I'll be fine, Clark. I'll have company and while I may be without my natural abilities, I should be able to look after myself well enough." Of course, his company was Grell, so if anything Brainiac 5 would be looking after him and neither of them were armed, but telling Clark those minor details would only make him worry and that would serve no purpose.

Before he could think of something, anything, else to talk about - because talking with Clark was always enjoyable and he wanted to put off stopping for as long as possible - the intercom chimed again and the nurses began moving around, collecting up the patients to take them back to their rooms for dinner.

A look of annoyance crossed Brainiac 5's face, he didn't want to have to bow to the whims of this facility, to allow them to decide what he did and when. But with the number of nurses and orderlies around, trying to argue would only cause trouble and be an ultimately childish gesture. He'd have to try and be patient, to bid his time, learn more about where he was and how he'd been brought here, then use that knowledge to leave. And until then at least he knew he'd have Clark's company to rely on and look forward to.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully. "Perhaps over lunch or something?" He'd already agreed to meet someone else earlier, but having Clark's company to look forward to later in the day would make things decidedly easier to cope with.

Clark nodded, a small smile on his face. "Sure, that'd be great. I've so many questions," he added, a little bit in a rush. "If you don't mind."

Despite the shaky start, Clark thought maybe they could be friends. He felt a little bit less alone now that he knew someone who seemed to know about where he was from, if not who he was. Clark was dying to know what Colu was like and what Krypton had been like before it died. It felt like a door was opening. Clark waved good-bye to Brainy as he was ushered out by one of the nurses.

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DAY 37: MEN'S SHOWERS (4th Shift)

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