damned_institute | Night 40: M91-M100 Hallway

When night finally fell and the doors opened again all Harry did was move over to the bed and collect his flashlight, though he wasn't sure he'd be able to carry it he wanted to have it available in case Peter hadn't brought his again. Returning to the chair he sat watching the door, waiting for Peter to arrive.

[Flailing in from here]

The third row of doors was the one he wanted. He stopped abruptly, panting, shining his flashlight down the seemingly deserted hall. On a second thought, he trailed it along the roof as well, and into all the corners. No one was here.

Stepping lightly, Peter approached M98, one ear cocked for any sign of a struggle inside. Unless Eddie's room was right next door, there was no way he would have had time to jump Harry and leave before Peter arrived. Right. Yeah. Everything was a-okay, because it was physically impossible to move that fast through all the hallways (unless your name was Quicksilver), and the door wasn't even broken down or scratched or anything.

That didn't stop him from imagining it. And alone, in the dark, with the memories of this morning still fresh in his mind, that was more than enough to scare the crap out of him.

He knocked on the door. "Harry? Are you in there?"

Harry jumped at the knock on the door, cursing as he knocked his crutch to the floor with what seemed to be an impossibly loud clatter. Peter had gotten here faster than he'd expected, not that he was about to complain. Sitting around waiting for him would've gotten old fast.

Reaching down he dragged his crutch back to him, trying awkwardly to ease himself upright as he called out, "Yeah, come on in Pete!"

Peter started at the sudden racket. In a panic he yanked the door open, and was impossibly relieved when he saw that it was only Harry, scrambling to get his crutch under him.

"Oh thank god," he breathed. He quickly tossed his belongings on the opposite bed and helped Harry steady himself. "So you're okay? No one else came here?"

Peter burst into the room before Harry could collect himself, acting like he expected to find him dead on the floor or something. That was the only thing that stopped him from slapping his hands away as Peter helped steady him on his feet, the embarrassment of actually needing that kind of help mostly forgotten in the face of his concern.

"Geez Peter! What's wrong?" he asked, tone somewhere between amused and worried. "Why would anyone else come by here?" It wasn't like he had any other friends here really. Harry hadn't spoken to his roommate for several nights now and hadn't formed any connections with anyone else really. Logan might be almost a friend but he had barely spoken to the man since that night with Brock and he didn't think anyone else had seen much of him either.

"What did you think had happened to me?"

Okay - okay. Nothing happened. He actually looked a little tickled at the attention, so Peter reluctantly took a step back and forced himself to calm down. Harry was on his feet now anyway, probably didn't need his help to begin with...

"Sorry." He licked his lips and glanced at the open door, then quickly stretched out an arm to pat it shut. "I thought Eddie might have...Okay, um, we can't put our room numbers on the board anymore. Or our last names, either." He cast his eyes to the floor, bashfully scratching the back of his head. "I'm sorry for making you do it yesterday. It was a stupid move."

"What?" Harry wasn't entirely sure what Peter was going on about now. They couldn't put their names on the bulletin board? He thought Eddie might have-

Oh. Harry hadn't even thought of that possibility. Brock could track Peter or him to their rooms and who knew what would happen then? He had to be incredibly lucky that it hadn't happened before now. "Right. Damn. I didn't even think-"

Of course he hadn't thought, he never did! But now he was thinking about it so the least he could do was make sure he could check on Peter if ever needed to. "I should've thought of it too. I have been here longer. Let me write down your room number now, just in case." His Peter hadn't seemed so worried about Brock, even though he thought he had murdered Harry. It was reassuring the hear Peter finally taking the bastard seriously.

[Ack! Sorry for the double post. Needs moar icon emo...]

"I didn't either until tonight," Peter admitted. Too jittery to sit down, he took a place by Harry's desk and waited until the other man had fetched his journal. "I'm in M71. Uh - my roommate is Brainiac 5, in case you can't find me..."

Oh man, he really, really hoped that Clark had shown up by now. He didn't want to think of what might happen if Grell and Luxord did show up again, and Brainy had no means of defending himself. Maybe once they were done at the clinic, they should stop by and check to see if everything was okay.

With a sudden jolt he realized that he was drifting off again. He buried his face in his hands, his voice muffled beneath his palms. "I'm sorry, I'm just really freaked right now."

[Always needs moar Spider-emo!]

Writing down Peter's room number so that he could actually read it later took far too long for Harry's liking but he was grateful that Peter had known better than to offer to do it for him. He paused at the name of Peter's roommate, giving him an incredulous look, though he wrote it down all the same. Who would honestly name them self something like 'Brainiac 5'? And he'd thought Spider-Man was bad.

Putting the journal away, Harry turned back to his friend, frowning in concern at the way he stood, face buried in his hands like that. Limping closer he squeezed his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him and get his attention.

"Peter, what happened? You're freaking me out here." Harry paused, remembering what Peter had said just a moment ago. "Did you run into Brock? Are you OK?" Peter was so worked up, something bad had to have happened. It didn't make sense for him to be this upset just from realising Brock might try and track them down.

[And sexy, unscarred Harry... *licks ur icons*]

Perhaps another time he would have tried to justify his roommate's strange moniker, but he was too wound up to bother.

The sudden weight on his shoulder made him lower his hands, but he kept his eyes on the floor. "No, I'm fine. I haven't seen Eddie at all." It struck him a little odd that Harry would call him by his last name, but he supposed that was because he didn't know Eddie. For Peter, it was still hard to stop thinking of him as the big kid who used to play tag with him in the park.

He sighed before moving on. "But Brainy...he got into an argument or something with these two guys. And after I left last night, they broke into our room and..." he shook his head incredulously, "...I thought he was dead this morning. He was bleeding everywhere, even with the bandages. He was in a wheelchair all day. And then I talked to a guy at breakfast who'd gotten stabbed last night, and a woman who got mauled by a monster, and that's not even counting what Eddie did to you and Logan.

"I just - we have to stop it. You'd think people would stick together and try to escape, but everyone keeps fighting each other. People keep getting hurt..."

The first thing that went through Harry's mind when he heard what had happened to Peter's roommate was 'Thank god Peter wasn't there too'. Peter might have abilities beyond a normal human's but even he needed help sometimes. Like that night with Brock in the construction site. If he lost Peter again...

He hadn't though. Peter was here and he was fine, just upset because people he barely knew kept getting hurt. Typical Peter. Always worrying about everyone he met even when he should be thinking about himself.

"What do you expect, with guys like your pal 'Eddie' around?" Harry replied, more bitterly than he'd intended. Hopefully Peter would assume that his grudge against the man was solely due to what had happened here. Not that Harry really wanted to keep secrets from his friend - that was Peter's area after all - but there were some things it was just too difficult to talk about. "I don't think he cares about anything but getting his sick kicks."

Sighing, Harry squeezed Peter shoulder before giving him an affectionate shove. "You can't protect everyone Pete. And you'll kill yourself if you try." Like always, he was the one who had to keep Peter's feet on the ground. It seemed even more important with this younger Peter, considering how worked up he'd gotten over this. It was strangely reassuring to know he was still needed, no matter what else changed.

The bite in Harry's words was a shock. Peter found himself blinking up at him, dumbfounded. "He's not my 'pal'," he insisted, "not anymore..." And he wouldn't be. Not until he got rid of that suit and snapped out of whatever craze had taken over him.

But Harry meant well, if the shoulder squeeze was anything to go by. His mouth twitched, almost forming a smile. For a brief moment, he was reminded of exactly how grateful he was to have Harry back. He missed this. Even if the other boy was older - a lot older, and taller to boot - he was still the same guy, always ready to get him back on his feet no matter how many times he got knocked down. He thought of his own Harry, a monster cowering in the middle of a ruined street, begging to be killed, and desperately wished that he could have returned the favour.

"I know that. But I can't just pass people by and pretend they don't matter," he said quietly. "There was that guy on the board today, talking about patrolling the hallways. I think it's a good idea. It's a start at least. It'd be like home, just helping out whenever you find someone in trouble."

His eyes wandered over to the crutch again, and he was abruptly reminded of why he was here in the first place. He winced, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Oh, geez! Sorry. We should get going, shouldn't we?" They had to get a move on before the night ended, and who knew when that would be?

[Sorry for being slow! Waking up at 5 am = very dead!]

Harry really didn't think a hallway patrol would achieve anything. The building was just too large to cover all of it and even if you were just sticking to certain areas, how did they expect to help anyone when they were just as impaired by being stuck here as everyone else? Never mind that the whole thing just seemed a waste of time. The rooms were safe so if anyone felt they couldn't take care of themselves they should just stay there. If they didn't then they should be ready to deal with whatever might happen. Not that Peter ever saw things that way.

Before he could say anything, Peter reminded him why he'd come here in the first place. Harry could hardly believe he'd managed to forget in the first place, but Peter had been pretty worked up when he arrived. He had a feeling that might become normal though.

Chuckling he replied, "Yeah, we should. If we get caught right outside again I don't know what I'll do." Wrestling with the crutch to at least try and get it sitting more comfortably, Harry headed over to the door, nudging it open and moving slowly out and along the hall.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/607052.html?thread=50938956#t50938956)]

Forte had eaten silently, trying to calm down from his conversation with Sheena. Well, that wasn't quite right, he was strangely calm, unlike his usual self. But he was trying to compose himself before he went to meet Depth Charge, and didn't want to... to break out into tears or something completely embarrassing. He wasn't even sure what had just happened.

Either way, he pretty much ignored Harry (again), and as soon as his door unlocked, he grabbed his flashlight and slipped out into the dark hall. He took another few moments, and deep breaths. Not wanting to keep Depth Charge waiting too long, though, he finally started down the hall, hoping he was presentable enough.

Night 40: M91-M100 Hallway

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