damned_institute | DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

Where was Blitzwing?

Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally.

Snarling at the nurse, but restraining himself from shows of violence-- Blitzwing would mock him if he showed up drugged already, and he would be useless to Megatron like that--he made his way impatiently to the cafeteria, stopping for just long enough to post an urgent notice on the board.

Where was he?

Looming in the middle of the cafeteria, he took the tray the nurse handed him (filled with disgusting human fuel, didn't she know he didn't have time to eat, not when his wingmate was missing?) and ignored it, watching for Blitzwing, where was he?

He refused to think about what might have happened to a wheelchair-bound, drugged, incapacitated warrior, with the swarms of monsters flooding around him, clawing and biting...

[for Scourge]

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"Yes," he said, setting down his fork. Artemis felt this was probably a matter of some importance, so he thought focusing all his attention on this was best.

"Though I don't understand why you sent him to relay the message, if it concerned your doctor."

"She was wondering around town at the time and she mentioned you. I didn't want to encourage her." Or to let her know how much she'd freaked him out just by stopping by to say hello. In retrospect, that was the biggest reason, but it wasn't winning him any manly points to say so.

He idly ripped apart another piece of lettuce. "She likes getting under my skin. I can probably encourage her to be interested in something else next therapy shift, but until then just be careful."

...So Badou's doctor made... three--three doctors that had it out for him. One of which had apparently retired, but still. He attracted the contempt of so many people, it was hard to keep track of them all.

"If she likes getting under your skin, it's no small wonder she's using me against you," he said, resting his chin on a hand and poking a grape around his plate. "You don't have anything to worry about, though. I can hold my own against psychologists. And I'm not stupid enough to taunt her into getting rough with me."

"I'm not even sure how she picked up on you. Dave she could have gotten from my file or - from back then. But there were a bunch of us hanging around town and I've never mentioned you. It can't be that obvious."

More lettuce was sacrificed. Badou clearly disagreed: he had plenty to worry about. "I don't even know what she wants. Do you think she might be secretly attracted to me? Or maybe its just your natural ability to attract psychopaths. You should really get that checked out. Maybe try a patch."

Artemis snorted. "I've tried that. It's an advertising gimmick," he said with a wave of his hand.

"What she wants, most likely, is to break you," he continued, on a more serious note. "If she's dredging up events from your past and threatening to hurt your current friends here, then her only goal could be tormenting you until you can't feel anymore. If that makes any sense."

Artemis frowned at his plate and rolled the grape around thoughtfully. "A spider without legs is helpless to a predator. She's trying to cut off your legs."

"I thought so." Badou replied, finally releasing the much-abused vegetables with a sigh. A plaintive note crept into his voice, but with Badou whining was always a good sign. "Why does it have to be me? I don't even get this much attention back home and every chick I've met here has their own special place on the sliding scale of sadism. I'd take the muscle bound tranny over this."

A rogue carrot stick made it to his lips and Badou nibbled the end thoughtfully, still staring off into space. "I know she's just fucking with me," He said finally. "I just can't help wondering if she's one of those soldiers. She's strong, she heals fast, she has some kind of creepy interest in me... and her face could be improved by a mask and some c-4."

Artemis thought for a moment, sucking on the tines of his fork in thought. "I... won't go so far as to rule out the possibility, but I will say that it is highly unlikely. These doctors... somehow they know every pressure point, every weak spot. It isn't just her. Though I would be worried about the fast healing."

He frowned, trying to execute every possibility in his mind. He didn't have many. "And it's probably you because you're so close to a handsome, brilliant young man such as myself," he offered with a grin.

It was one thing when Badou thought someone was maybe fucking with him, and another when Artemis was fairly certain of it as well. He should have known, honestly. Maybe this place was getting to him after all.

"I knew it." He replied, pointing with his carrot stick. "Your psycho magnetism is contagious. You should really tell people that up front."

"Yes, but then you wouldn't be my friend. Same as if you'd known I had lice the first time you patted me on the head," Artemis said lightly, taking another bite of fruit.

"Anyway," he continued, returning to the land of Taking Things Seriously. "I have Schuldig and Haku will be fine in a day or so. He told me himself that things like this don't keep him down for long. Half of the Institute's assassins would come running if she tried to do anything to me in front of them. And I haven't met a situation I couldn't talk my way through yet. You should take this as a hollow threat--something to make you nervous."

His fork rested for a moment and he stared into the depths of his plate. "Though I have to say, it's going to take me a while to get completely used to the idea that I actually mean enough to someone for a threat against me to constitute genuine concern."

Badou shook his head. He was about to argue that Haine had enough psychos chasing him to wipe out a third world country, but when Artemis continued talking he remained silent. He wanted to ask 'What happens if we just don't see you again?' but at the same time, he really didn't. There was no possible answer that Artemis could give to that.

And he was trying to make him feel better about it anyway - or at least not let it affect him next therapy shift. It was just like any other death really. It might happen, it might not, and there wasn't much he could do about it either way. Somehow, when applied to Artemis, this method of thought just pissed him off.

But he could deal with being pissed off. It burned right through fear like hot lead through butter. (What? Haine was the one who'd shot up his fucking butter. The only good it had done was inventing a bad metaphor and getting it onto the toast without waiting.)

"If I took it as more than that, she'd be smart not to wonder around town ever again. It seems peaceful, but you never know when some wild dogs might rip her apart." Badou barred his teeth. It might have been a grin, or he might just be very hungry.

As the expression faded, he reached over and mussed Artemis' hair again. "What are you talking about?"

Artemis made another displeased noise when Badou began scrubbing at his head again, his expression falling into his usual flat annoyance. But he supposed it was an affectionate annoyance... he'd rather have it than nothing. If there was nothing, that wasn't a good sign.

"I'm..." He sighed. It was probably best to say this in the simplest of terms. 'Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief' and so forth.

"I'm... happy that someone threatening me upsets you." Oh that didn't sound strange at all. "Because I'm not used to having bonds like this and... someone who is worried about me is... new. A little." Butler would always worry, but Butler had been with Artemis since his birth. Holly might do the same, but back home Artemis could more than handle himself--and she knew that well enough. Here, it was a luxury.

Badou couldn't say he was terribly surprised. He thought he should be, since normally cute little rich kids were supposed to get a lot of attention - and Artemis was clearly spoiled even before he came along - but Artemis wasn't exactly a normal kid to begin with.

"Only you would find a way to be flattered by something like that. Un-fucking-believable." Though Badou just sounded exasperated, he tugged on a lock of Artemis' hair affectionately. "You shouldn't get so attached in a place like this anyway."

"I think that was my goal from the beginning," Artemis said, jerking his head towards the tug and looking annoyed again. "It just... didn't work out as I'd planned. I didn't believe I would meet so many people who defied my expectations."

It was true--when you'd written countless books and articles on human psychology, since the age of ten, it was difficult for people to surprise you. Perhaps it was that psychology and his own cynicism originally made him believe that no one here was worth his time or effort. People who could protect him would have been, but they didn't have to start doing silly things like liking him or comforting him. He sighed lightly. Renji had ruined his perfect plan to get out and leave everything behind without a second thought. Haku as well, perhaps.

"When it's time for us to part, I'll remember this and say, 'you were right Badou, but I think I'll remember our time together anyway--even if it's painful'. So there," he finished, awkwardly trying not to make this conversation seem as strange and serious as it had suddenly become.

"Not a lot of people expect to be thrown into a lake." Badou had never really defied anyone's expectations, except maybe to be more of a failure than they might have imagined or to turn around and kill them after running three blocks through a smoke-free zone. This was new.

His arm retreated to its place beneath his chin. He didn't want to think about how close he'd gotten to Artemis. He rarely did. He just let things happen, and every now and again he'd realize that something had happened, and now they were partners or family or whatever and someone threatening to kill them actually really pissed him off. That was just the way things worked. He wished Artemis wouldn't insist on bringing it up. Now he had to say something and it was that stupid walls-too-close claustrophobic feeling pressing against him on all sides.

He swallowed, gaze lingering unfocused on a slightly discolored spot on the floor. He should say something about putting it in his eulogy or the scrapbook, or about Artemis being a girl - or about the way he never forgot family, anyway. But the words were stuck in his throat somewhere.

It would mean something to me. This was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. Soap opera girl comic bullshit. He pressed the heel of his palm against his eye until it hurt. For once he couldn't think of anything to say at all.

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

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