damned_institute | Night 41: M-A Block Hallway

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Night 41: M-A Block Hallway

[from here]

Recluse surveyed the hallway as he stepped out into it, looking for Marcus. Nothing. He'd just have to wait and see if he'd turn up, then. He headed for the door to the cell block exit, keeping alert for any monsters that might be lying in wait. They usually seemed to take a few minutes at least to start attacking attacking, but that was no reason to act like a fool.

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Tomorrow, Peter would make more concrete plans with one of the people who could apparently get that lock open. Well, that's what he would do, but it suddenly occurred to him that the trip to Doyleton was tomorrow, making any sort of contact over the bulletin impossible.

He let out a sigh, pausing in the hallway to take a moment to rub his eyes and brush a hand through his hair. He glanced around at the other patients, but all of them looked like they were going places.

It was unsettling, not having as much direction as he would have liked. Sure, he had goals: save Nathan, get home. But there was no easy way to do that, and he was finding it harder and harder to decide what the next logical step would be.

Last night, he and Brooklyn had been intending to explore the second floor, but morning had come right as Peter had made it to the top of the stairs. It was about time that he gave that area a better look, so that's where he would go. It was decided.

He continued down the hall...

[ From here. ]

Yes, Mohinder's office, Sylar thought to himself. The man was certainly under some of the Institute's brainwashing, but while Sylar wasn't expecting to find anything about the dark truths of this place, he did have some hopes for the information in his files in general. After all, this was Mohinder he was talking about: so long as he wasn't from a point far in the past, he probably had information that Sylar could use when he returned home, of other people with abilities and perhaps even of the Shanti virus. Sylar knew from experience that the man wasn't the best at keeping his digital or his hard copy files secure, and he intended to benefit from that as soon as possible, before he disappeared like any other schmuck being held here.

Besides, maybe there was some information about powers specific to their universe, some kind of help towards Sylar maximizing the potential of Elle's abili–

Sylar might have frozen at the sight of Peter Petrelli heading down the hall, but he'd already encountered him enough times in this area to know that they were probably roomed fairly near each other. He also might have rushed forward and taken the opportunity to brain Peter then and there, but Sylar knew that would be a very, very bad idea at this point in time. No, he couldn't harvest Peter's gifts when even his own powers incapacitated, but he also couldn't let him continue spreading rumors and dangerous physical desciptions on the bulletin board. Those posts had already put his alliance with Wally in jeopardy, and it was maddening to know that while killing Peter would rid him of that danger, it would also rid him of the eventual opportunity to gain the most powerful ability in the world.

Dammit. The choices here were either to slip past unnoticed or to try to talk to Peter somehow. The man would hard to manipulate due to his ridiculously staunch ideals – not to mention the fact of Elle's death, which the man had been blathering about on the bulletin board for days now – but Sylar understood the benefits of keeping one's enemies close more than most, and there was no harm in trying so long as he didn't get himself killed.

Sylar rolled his eyes as he gave out a sigh and shined his flashlight in Peter's direction.

"Well, look at you, all alone," he said, loud enough for the other man to hear. "I'd thought you'd have more buddies, the way you open your big mouth to everybody."

The wandering flashlight didn't stand out much to Peter, just because there were usually a number of patients who were looking around and taking stock of who else was in the area. It was only when he heard that voice that he paused and slowly turned toward the other man.

Peter narrowed his eyes. It had been a few days since he'd seen Sylar, let alone talked to him -- not that they ever had very deep conversations before they started to attack each other. His hand gripped tighter around the handle of his shovel. His talk with Depth Charge earlier in the day was still clear in his mind. The man had said as bluntly as possible that if Peter let someone like Sylar run around, it was as good as murdering himself.

He could see the logic, but actually applying it was completely different. He'd never killed anyone before, and the very idea would have seemed completely nuts just half a year ago. But he had watched Sylar kill someone, and he didn't think he was willing to do that again. No, he knew he wasn't.

Peter dragged himself back into the present moment. He needed to be very careful with how he dealt with this. Even if he did have killing intent (and he still wasn't certain of that), whether or not he could actually out-fight Sylar remained to be seen. His last few attempts hadn't gone so well, and he knew for a fact that Sylar could use electricity now.

"Pretty sure I have more friends than you," Peter returned with a quirk of his lips. Even though the urge to just run at the other man was pretty strong, he didn't think having another attempted brawl in the hallway would turn out so well. Besides, he didn't want people witnessing something like that in the first place. They'd either make incorrect assumptions about him or they would get dragged in and probably get injured (or worse) as a result.

"What have you been doing these days, anyway?" Peter continued, keeping on the strong front he always put up around Sylar. "You seem pretty good at hiding."

So far, so good. Peter had his damn shovel with him, and though his body was tense and ready, he didn't seem like he was going to use his makeshift weapon... yet. He was probably being cautious: he had no idea to what extent Sylar could use Elle's electricity, so as long as he kept that up his sleeve...

"Depends on what you mean by 'friends,'" Sylar replied to Peter's comment, following him closely with his eyes. "You know, sometimes 'hiding' is better than making yourself and your friends easy targets."

In his peripheral vision, he noticed that the night's early crowds were still mulling around – a good sign, considering even Peter wasn't stupid enough to go berserk on someone in plain view, and if he was? Well, Sylar could twist even that to his advantage, paint Peter as a... mindless killer. He already had Wally's mind going down that track: who was to say he couldn't convince the rest of the Institute as well with enough evidence?

In the meantime, though, Sylar would keep him occupied. Whether or not he provoked him or controlled him... well, that'd all be Peter's choice, wouldn't it?

It was tough for Peter to imagine Sylar being friends with anyone, regardless of the circumstances, and so he didn't press the man on the issue. He realized that he probably didn't want to know. Most of the time, Peter didn't ever see Sylar just chatting with people during the day, and so he had assumed that the killer had arranged to stay in his room most of the time. It didn't seem like that would be very productive, though, so maybe he was just good at hiding among the crowd.

Peter wasn't sure how, though. Sylar wasn't exactly the kind of person who could blend in easily.

The mention about being a target worried Peter, if only because his friends were included in that. Peter knew that he hadn't exactly been subtle about what he was up to, but he usually took care to make sure that no one else he spoke to would end up in trouble because of him. If Sylar had been able to track what his friends were up to, then--

But maybe Peter was getting ahead of himself. Sylar had only made a throwaway comment and he was assuming a lot from it. Peter watched the other man carefully. "What do you mean by that?"

The man's track record and the obvious waver in his voice made it obvious that Peter was fishing for answers, but he wouldn't get any further than he was now unless Sylar let him. Right now, he just had to make clear that he had the upper hand in the situation and that he wasn't afraid to take on Peter as he was right now.

So he began to approach Peter, slowly, his expression smug and his eyes narrowed. He wasn't about to let his guard down, but he wasn't going to let Peter see that his guard was up in the first place either.

"I mean," he said, studying Peter's tense, worried expression, "that you should be a little more careful when you're using the bulletin board."

Then, after a short, calculated pause, he let his own body relax and smirked. Under other circumstances, he might try to hold the lives of Peter's buddies for ransom, but... he had a feeling that a self-righteous man like him wouldn't take too kindly to threats.

"Guess you're lucky," Sylar said, tilting his head, "that I won't go after any of them under... the right circumstances."

If Peter wasn't tense before, he definitely was once Sylar started walking toward him. He had no idea what the man would try, or what he was even capable of, but he at least knew that he might be on the receiving end of a very painful shot of lightning if he didn't tread carefully. Peter had to admit that his past attempts to just rush Sylar and attack hadn't worked out very well, so he needed to weigh his options more carefully this time.

The comment about the bulletin board was expected, but that didn't mean that Peter liked it. Sylar was being vague, which could either be because he was lying or because he wanted to keep Peter on his toes. Maybe both.

Peter knew exactly what Sylar meant by "the right circumstances," which was why he'd specifically warned people who had abilities about the killer, but had the man just said that he wouldn't go after them?

"What," Peter blurted out without really thinking, "got tired of cracking people's skulls open?" This place probably seemed like prime hunting grounds for the psycho, so why was it that he kept going after Peter? Wouldn't it have made more sense for Sylar to try to avoid him while he killed as many people as possible? Peter was glad that wasn't the case (or so he hoped), but it was strange.

As it was, Peter had already wasted enough of his time here at Landel's dealing with Sylar. Warning people about him, worrying about what to do with him, and times like these. If he got too caught up in this he wouldn't get anywhere tonight, but at the same time he couldn't just leave when there was a chance that Sylar would then go looking for someone to kill.

Peter sent Sylar a wary look, still not sure what the man was hoping to get out of talking to him. "Look," he continued, "if you want to talk to me, then we may as well do it while walking."

Sylar arched an eyebrow at his response. Maybe he was getting through that thick skull of Peter's quicker than he'd expected, this time with words rather than telekinesis. The latter would have been much more satisfying, but Sylar was ready to settle with anything that didn't make his existence obvious to everyone else in the Institute.

And besides, he, too, wanted to get things done tonight. It was part of the reason why he wasn't punching Peter in the face right now. Sylar hated compromises, but it looked like he didn't have many other options at this point. Instead of looking miffed, he smirked.

"Sure thing." He motioned with his hand towards the door to the main hall and began walking towards it. "I'll even go first."

[ To here. ]

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Night 41: M-A Block Hallway

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