damned_institute | Night 41: M01-10 Hallway

"I had reasons," Tim said. Had Kon honestly not recognized him? That was weird. That meant that this Kon hadn't ever seen him without the mask. That seemed like a thousand years ago, to Tim. Kon had given him such crap for it, then not believed him when he said his name was Alvin Draper...

Wait, did Kon not know his name, either?

Wonderful.

"Look, are we going to stand here in the hallway all night, or what?"

He'd been right! It was Robin! Right there and maskless - even if it was only because this place had taken his mask away, it was still cool to get to see what he really looked like.

Cool, and a little weird. In just the stupid patient uniform they were made to wear Robin looked- well, weird. There was still something Robin-y about him but without the cape and mask and whatever else he also looked.... normal. Like if he stopped being such a huge freak he might actually be a normal guy under there.

Kon jumped when Robin spoke again. He'd been kind of zoning, trying to figure out what was different about Rob now but he quickly replied, "Why should I let you in? You've been avoiding me and Imp and siccing you-know-who on us!" In spite of his words, Kon stepped aside to allow Robin to enter the room. Turning to Kurt he said, "Kurt, this is Robin. He's one of my team-mates from Young Justice."

'Siccing you-know-who on us'? That... didn't sound promising. Nevertheless, if this person was one of Kon's friends (and it seemed that way... they tended to banter back and forth a lot like Kitty and Lance, but she'd kill him for saying so), then he figured that he didn't have much to be afraid of.

"Nice to meet you," Kurt said, his thick German accent laced with a nervous undertone. "I'm Kon's, euh, roommate."

Tim looked visibly confused. Siccing...wait, was he talking about Bruce? Well, wasn't that something. It kind of made sense that the Batman here wouldn't trust Kon. He wouldn't know Kon, and Kon was a Super. He wondered if Bruce had any idea just who Kon was cloned from. Really, the answer to that was obvious. Kon didn't know about that, yet. Although this time, Tim didn't plan on enlightening him. That had been pretty nasty last time. At least Luthor himself wasn't around to break that ice.

He stepped into the room, making a point not to brush against Kon. He didn't want to touch him. Well, no, that was a lie. But after that ridiculous emotional response with Bruce in the Sun Room, he didn't want to touch him when someone else was around. He was already having a hard enough time playing this game. He didn't know how long he could keep it up. Maybe it would be better if he just left.

But for now...

"Nice to meet you too," he said, nodding to Kurt. The other boy sounded pretty nervous, but Tim wasn't that concerned with him for the moment.

"Kon, I just woke up here today at lunch. Unless there's more than one of me, I didn't talk to you until earlier today on the bulletin board."

Shutting the door, Kon grinned pointedly at Kurt. Robin hadn't even blinked when he saw Kurt. If that wasn't proof that he was right and the people Kurt had met before were total losers he didn't know what was.

Turning back to Robin - who he kind of wanted to poke again to make sure he was really Robin or something like that - he said, "You did? So that wasn't you the other day?" After getting jumped by Batman he'd thought it had to have been him but when Robin showed up he'd thought maybe he'd been right to begin with and Rob was just avoiding them 'cause he didn't have his mask. But if Robin had just woken up here today then that meant it had been Batman after all. Great.

"No wonder he was pissed," he muttered, scowling at the wall. It wasn't fair for Batman to pretend to be Robin to catch him and Imp out. Not that Batman did fair. Stupid Bats. Shaking it off, Kon gave into the urge and poked Robin again. "You were being really weird - more than usual - then. What was with those notes?"

Wait, wait! Other realities, remember? He'd mentioned having met two Superboys, this Robin must be from another world. "Uh- I mean- It was weird for my Rob, yeah? I dunno what's normal for you. You look just like him - I think - just older. But you can't be that different, you're both giant freaks."

Okay, so maybe it was true that Robin hadn't even taken a second look at him--but he was a special case, wasn't he? Like Kon had been. Even though Kon's first reaction had been 'touch without asking', but whatever. He smiled back at Kon, trying to look relieved.

As for what they were talking about, Kurt didn't have the faintest clue what was going on. It sounded like there was some sort of misunderstanding. Like Kon thought Robin was someone else? Or someone else was Robin? He didn't even know.

Kurt normally didn't like listening in on personal, serious conversations, but he couldn't really help it, bedridden as he was. Kon's way of connecting 'his' Rob with this person nearly had him facepalming, though.

Tim shook his head and glared at Kon. He would do something retarded like touch him when he least wanted it. How like him.

He didn't really think they were from different worlds like he and Bruce; he just thought they were different times. Only a few years, but so much had happened in those past years.

Tim didn't know yet if this would be worth it. If they would be friends this way. If they would...

No, it didn't matter. This Kon was younger, brasher, slightly more annoying. He was still definitely Kon, but Tim was pretty sure things between them couldn't be like he wanted. There was too much that he knew that Kon didn't - and Superboy's death wasn't really the part that mattered the most.
"I don't know if it's another world. I think it's just...another time. Not like Batman. He's from a different world entirely."

He stared off at the wall. He wanted to cross his arms, but the closet rod he was holding made that awkward, so he didn't.

Instead, he changed the subject.

He tilted his head at Kurt. He'd noticed that the kid was off, but...wait, was he blue? So he was a meta. If he was bad news, Kon wouldn't be all nice about him like that. But Tim was curious as to just what kind of meta he was.

"You know, I don't think I saw you around during the day," he said. "I'm sure I'd have noticed."

God, Robin was still a prissy little bitch when it came to people touching him. The way he acted, you'd think Kon was groping him or had just been picking his nose or something. Rolling his eyes he asked, "How do you know that? Batman didn't seem that different to me."

Robin probably had a good reason for thinking they were from different times - he usually did with stuff like this but it'd be nice if he decided to share for once. Rob did look older than Kon remembered so he was probably from the future. Which was really cool, it meant no matter what happened here, Kon's mission would work out and he'd save the world. And it meant they were going to escape 'cause Robin would've mentioned it if Kon had just vanished one day and never been seen again. But then, Bart was from a few months ago and he hadn't mentioned anything about this place before so maybe not? .....Time travel could really give you a headache!

Shaking his head, Kon resolved to stop thinking about stuff like that, instead watching Kurt and Robin. He kept quiet for the moment, figuring Kurt could explain the whole looking different thing on his own.

Kurt looked a little surprised when Robin addressed him. He expected this back-and-forth questioning to go on at least until Frey arrived to break it up. So he stared for a moment, processing Robin's question.

"Euh... right! I uh, have this thing."

...yeah, awesome introduction to his image inducer right there.

"I think," he amended, holding up his bandaged hand. The bracelet was still tightly clasped around his wrist, even though the bandages made it a tight fit. "Back home, I had a holograph projector in the form of a watch that made me look, well... normal. So I could go to school without people harassing me or something. I think this bracelet does the same thing. I look normal during the day, and at night... it stops working."

He felt a little strange, like he was defending why he looked so weird right now. "Normally, I have black hair with some blue tints and black eyes. And four fingers..." He thought it was necessary to specify.

Tim glanced at Kon. "I talked to him earlier today. He's not from my world. Not even close. Not from yours, either, even if you and I are from different ones." He didn't bother elaborating on that. It wasn't Kon's business, and getting choked up now sure wasn't going to help anything.

It had been a long day.

Turning back to Kurt, he said, "Let me guess. The so called doctors don't know a thing about what you normally look like, do they?" It was a gamble; maybe they did know. But he was a smart kid. Following the trend of how weird everything was (aside from them knowing his real name, somehow), they probably acted as if the blue guy wasn't supposed to be blue.

"What happened to you, anyway? Looks pretty bad from here."

Making a face at Robin's completely unhelpful answer, Kon poked him again. He was still kind of caught up in being able to see Robin's face so he wasn't going to complain that much but geez! Would it kill him to explain?

Winking at Kurt he said, "That's the amazing deduction of the world's second greatest detective there! 'The doctors in this crazy prison where they tell us we're someone we're not don't know what you really look like!' Isn't he brilliant?" If Rob was going to be like that - admittedly 'like that' was normal for him but whatever - Kon was going to have to make his own fun.

"...actually, both of the holograms look the same," Kurt said, raising an eyebrow slightly. He wasn't exactly getting what Kon and Robin were dropping. 'Normally' for him meant 'Not Mutant'. "But the one I have now must be more advanced, because it looks like all of my fingers are independent--and I can't feel my tail or my fur. Or my teeth. But other than that, I guess they do know what I look like normally. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to make a reproduction, right?

"And nothing happened to me," Kurt said, his ears drooping a little. "This is how I was born..."

It didn't really occur to him that maybe Robin was talking about his injuries. Whenever Kurt met someone who didn't immediately respond positively to his appearance, it felt to him as though there was an elephant in the room that no one was looking at. It was probably dumb to think, but honestly, how else could he respond? Everyone in Germany was constantly staring, whispering, throwing things at him, chasing him out of places, putting rocks through his family's windows... to say nothing of his recurring nightmares.

Edited 2009-06-03 10:36 (UTC)

Tim didn't bother telling Kon to knock it off this time. Maybe if he didn't respond at all to it, he'd stop on his own. Not that Tim was that lucky, but...it was worth a shot.

He rolled his eyes at Kon's remark, though. "I'm not the second greatest," he said, but he had to bite down to keep from adding not anymore. Now wasn't the time to get into that. Maybe there wouldn't ever be a time to get into that; that would have been his preference. But things like that, well, who could say? If he caught Kon alone, he had no idea what would come out of his mouth. He'd have to be careful.

He raised an eyebrow at Kurt. "What? The holograms? I mean the doctors don't acknowledge that you normally are blue. The fact that you can't even feel your fur or tail during the day, though...that doesn't sound like any holographic technology I've ever heard of. Are they giving you any medication at all?"

What was going on here?

It took him a second to understand the other part of Kurt's answer. So he was a meta that was born a meta. Okay, great, was that really such news? There were others out there like that. Not all of them, of course. Gar Logan hadn't been born green, after all. But Starfire had been born gold. She wasn't a meta, of course, but still.

"Wait, you think I was asking about your appearance? No, no, I mean your injuries! You look all banged up. Your appearance doesn't bother me."

Did Kurt usually get crap about it in his world? Well, he must, or why use a hologram, duh. Although he couldn't say Kurt would have necessarily fared better in any other world. Prejudice was a nasty thing.

"That's not what you usually tell us, Boy Wonder," Kon muttered. Robin normally couldn't shut up about that or how he'd been trained by the world's greatest detective. Though there was maybe something weird about the way Robin had said that. He wasn't sure and there was still something about this Robin that was bugging him. He seemed really different from the way Kon remembered him and he wouldn't think a few years - or however long it had been - would make that big a difference.

Frowning at Kurt's gloomy answer Kon walked back to flop in the chair by his bed, poking him - gentler than he'd been with Robin because of the burns - as he said "You look normal now doofus. Didn't I tell you your world sucks? No one where I'm from'd think you look weird."

He perked up when Robin asked if Kurt was being drugged here. He hadn't even thought of something like that but it made way more sense then him getting switched between bodies or whatever. Unless there was a super-powerful telepath screwing with everyone's heads or something. But then the other telepath would've picked it up, right? "You really think they could be drugging us? 'Cause I've run into a few guys who are normally aliens or robots but here they're human and that doesn't sound like drugs to me. But," Kon hesitated, he didn't want to admit it but Rob had probably already guessed since Kon was still here and all. "My tactile telekinesis doesn't work properly here. And I guess that could be drugs."

Kurt looked embarrassed now. Great, he'd assumed Robin was being just another anti-mutant jerk, but he'd been asking about his injuries. God the idea of meeting three new people was getting to him.

"I-I'm sorry, Kon's right," Kurt said, twisting his bedsheet in his two-fingered hands. "Everyone... well, pretty much all the non-mutants I met back home were... more than a little afraid of me. My world is not the same as yours. People who don't understand us--mutants, I mean--are afraid of us. And a lot of them don't hesitate to show us just how afraid they are...

"A-anyway," Kurt continued quickly, trying to get off the subject of mutant-haters. "I got these injuries last night. Some guy who could shoot fire out of his hands obviously didn't like me very much. He shot columns of fire at my two teammates, and I tried to save one... but I couldn't teleport." The points of his ears drooped again. "So I kind of... got a little crispy there."

Kurt looked thoughtful on the topic of drugs, eyebrows furrowing. "My nurse hasn't given me anything," he said slowly. "But I definitely can't feel my tail or my hands. I mean, sometimes I'd get a little worried because I couldn't feel my tail. But Professor Xavier told me that was normal--it was just my brain being unable to 'feel' something that my eyes couldn't see. But I'd consciously move it, and I could feel it again. It's not like that here..."

Drugs would make sense, though. Perhaps he was being given a drug that neutralized his X-gene during the day? But then why could he teleport at night, and why the bracelet? And why the limited teleportation as well?

"But at night," he continued. "At night we just... black out. And end up back here. What happens during that period? Does anyone know?"

"Things change, Kon," Tim said, and he couldn't keep all of the sadness out of his voice. Everything was different now. Everyone he loved was dead. Well, no, not everyone - but close. And Bruce...

He didn't want to think about that. He didn't have any mask to hide behind, anywhere to run away to. He'd be better off here with Superboy and Kurt than he would out in the hallway by himself. Where would he go, anyway? He'd have to formulate a real plan. He could ask Kon, or he could stick with Bruce. He wasn't sure which one of those options would be easier. They both had their good points, but they both had their bad points, too.

"How is that possible? Are you saying that people have gotten out before, and then somehow come back in the morning? That doesn't sound right. If you get out, you get out..."

He'd never heard of anything like that before. Although, there might be a time-release drug that was given to the patients that forced them to pass out at a certain hour. Maybe if he kept an eye on the clock...

But surely that wasn't foolproof. A drug like that for a human being wouldn't work on a Kryptonian, for instance. And how could they possibly restrict Kon's beloved tactile telekinesis?

"Kon. Are you able to use the TTK during the day at all? How far is it restricted right now?"

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/629246.html?thread=53652990#t53652990)]

Looking back at Juri and Takaya for a moment, Frey said hesitantly, "Well, this should be it." It seemed silly to state the obvious, since he'd just explained a moment ago that it should be the farthest door in this hallway, but saying nothing to his companions seemed rude. Frey was just no good at conversation.

Stifling a sigh, Frey turned back towards the door and knocked politely.

[Can't get on AIM right now, let me know if there's a problem.]

Oh great, this could get bad. Kurt was getting upset talking about his world and the people there - which totally made sense, Kon knew he'd feel the same if almost everyone he'd ever met had hated him just for being himself. Kon got that and was perfectly happy to do whatever it took to reassure Kurt that there was nothing wrong with him, but it wasn't fair that Robin was also upset about something. He didn't think he'd ever seen Robin get miserable or depressed or anything. He was always too... Robin for that. And Kon couldn't cheer them both up at once, not when he also wanted to ask Robin just what was up with him. He was being all cryptic and now he was upset about something and Kon couldn't even figure out why and it would be really great if Robin would tell him stuff instead of just being a giant freak all the time.

Luckily they both seemed happy enough to talk about how they were all being kept here. It was maybe just a little bit reassuring to have Robin here now and working stuff out. He didn't need Rob to tell him what to do or anything but he was good at working this sort of thing out. He'd figure out what they'd done to Kon's TTK and then they'd be outta here in no time! Kon leaned back in his seat as he thought over what he could do with his powers now. It was a pretty short list and pretty depressing to think about too. But, if anyone could find a way to fix it Robin could.

Before he could answer the question though, there was another knock at the door. Glancing at Kurt he said, "Well that has to be Frey, 'cause it can't be Impulse and I don't think anyone else is coming to see me."

Walking over Kon opened the door, again making sure to block the view into the room. Grinning at the guy - really pretty guy, which wasn't a word he normally associated with guys but it wasn't a bad thing here - on the other side he asked, "Hey, Frey right?" He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice and just assume this was the right guy. Who knew, maybe there were more people who desperately needed to see Superboy tonight.

Edited 2009-06-06 04:13 (UTC)

"Yeah..." Kurt said with a nod. "I've heard of people going over the wall, but when they wake up--"

The mutant jumped a little at the knock, tail poking out from under the covers. He was grateful that Kon was getting up to get the door--seeing as he couldn't do it himself. He waited with baited breath to see if this was Frey or Impulse. Even though Kon said he wouldn't knock, there could be some sort of crazy circumstance where he'd knock and not just like... barge in, right?

He craned his neck to see if he could spot Frey's white hair past Kon's shoulder. So far, no luck.

Tim was mostly just...mulling over the information in his head. There was a lot to think about. Kon had restricted TTK, which seemed absolutely impossible to him, without the use of Kryptonite. But that would hurt, and cause many more issues. He knew that from firsthand experience, though it had been awhile.

Kurt claimed to not be able to even feel his fur or tail during the day. No technology he'd heard of could accomplish such a thing.

It had to be drugs.

"Hey, Kon, do you think..."

But there was a knock at the door, and Tim trailed off. He felt tense already. Another unknown factor wasn't something he wanted to deal with. Really, he just wanted to talk to his onetime best friend without anyone else around to interfere, and to hell with the consequences.

This night was not going as planned, and it grated on him. The whole day had been one thing after another.

"Who is Frey?" he asked, ignoring the thing about going over the wall. That could come later.

Frey hadn't been quite expecting so many people to be there when he came to see Kurt. A roommate, perhaps, if for some reason the other man also didn't intend to head out for the night, but there were two additional people in Kurt's room, at least from the sound of voices. And one of them hadn't been expecting him. With Juri along unexpectedly, as well, the whole situation was rather more awkward than anticipated. Still, that was no reason to be rude, so Frey inclined his head in greeting and replied to the man who answered the door, "Yes. I'm here to see to Kurt."

Glancing to Takaya and Juri, Frey suggested quietly, but firmly, "Why don't you two wait here? I should only be a short while, and it seems to be a bit crowded in there." Honestly, Frey was a bit uncertain about weakening himself in the presence of two strangers, but hopefully Takaya would take the hint and come see what was going on if it something did happen and Frey took longer than he should.

[skipping Juri and Takaya with permission.]

Kon was relieved to hear Frey suggest that the other two with him wait outside. He didn't honestly think any of them would freak over seeing Kurt but Kurt might not be too happy to see even more new people. Even if it would be good for him to see that no one was going to be scared of him when they were locked in a crazy prison with monsters and stuff. Smiling at Frey he said, "Look, before you see Kurt I've got to tell you he doesn't look the same at night as he does during the day. He's still the same guy, he just.... looks different. OK?"

That really covered it and there wasn't much else he could do except be ready to kick the guy out if he was the sort of loser who disliked people who didn't look exactly like everyone else. Watching him for some sort of response, Kon stepped back to let him in.

Kurt slid his tail back under the covers when he heard Frey's voice confirm his identity to Kon. Well, this was it. Second time tonight. Hopefully luck would be on his side, but he still kept his good hand clenched tightly in the sheets--out of anxiety. He was really grateful to Kon for playing along with his insecurity, and hoped that maybe as he met people, he might feel better about walking around.

"H-Hi," Kurt said, once Frey was in his line of sight. He gave the young man a small, toothless smile. Fangs really weren't necessary in this equation. Not on a first meeting at least.

"I really appreciate this," he added, trying to make small talk to soften the blow, he supposed. "I can't really bend my wrist with all these bandages wrapped around it... eh heh..."

Tim was still pretty tense. Even though no one had actually answered his question, it sure didn't take the world's greatest detective to figure out that Frey was here to help with Kurt's injuries. Well, that was fine; the guy looked like he was hurting under those bandages.

Hopefully Frey wouldn't take issue with Kurt's appearance; Kurt certainly seemed to be worried nuts about that sort of thing.

He decided to shut his mouth and just watch. Anything he had to say...well. He wouldn't probably say ninety percent of it in front of anyone but Kon. He hadn't thought ahead for tonight, which was...a very good indicator of how fucked up the whole day had been. He knew better than that. Even under serious duress, he was usually able to plan things. The incident with Bruce earlier had thrown everything entirely out of wack. And Kon was alive, and Bart was alive and the world was completely insane.

He wanted to ask Kon if there was anywhere they could go, just so he could talk to him. But this wasn't the Kon he was used to; he knew that he couldn't deal with Kon the way he would have if it was as simple as "my best friend died and came back to life," or even if it was "I recloned my best friend back to life." This was a different Kon. Or, at least, he was younger. Less mature, and less likely to accept an invitation to talk privately.

Tim sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. Maybe it was time to just leave. Even if he just walked out and said nothing, who cared? Kon could deal with him being moody. Or he could be Kon and refuse to deal with it, whichever.

But he stayed, at least for another few minutes. Probably wouldn't hurt. Much.

Frey was surprised not so much by Kurt's appearance as by the fact that it had changed at all. He smiled, though, and said, "Oh, I hadn't heard of any of the people whose forms had been changed being given their true form back at night. How fortunate for you!" Kurt's actual appearance didn't bother Frey in the least--there'd been quite a few non-humans in Frey's army, after all, and some of them had looked quite a bit odder than Kurt did now.

With one nervous glance at the obviously unhappy man who hadn't introduced himself, Frey sat on the edge of Kurt's bed and lifted his right hand. The Dawn Rune started to glow faintly and he explained, "I'd suggest not looking directly at my hand when I do this, the light gets quite bright for a moment."

Night 41: M01-10 Hallway

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