damned_institute | DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

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DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

There was something fishy going on in the Institute today. All over the bulletin board, people were talking about having "woken up", having been "cured"... and it seemed as though ZEX was one of them. Tanaka wouldn't have recognized the note at all if it hadn't been signed - his wording, his handwriting, even his name had changed - and a part of him still wondered if it had been an imposter, trying to pull the wool over the Captain's allies.

But it'd be easy enough to find out the truth. Whoever it was had agreed to meet him, and Tanaka was waiting for him just outside the cafeteria doors, ready to catch him as he came from breakfast. If "Max" was an imposter, then he'd discover the identity of a hidden enemy. And if he was really ZEX...

...well, he'd have a whole new set of things to worry about.

[for a ~~spoiled rich brat~~ brainwashed Admiral]

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Lance raised an eyebrow at Derek. What'd the kid do, punch out a cop? Sure, the kid said he wasn't scared, but Lance could see a hint of something in his eyes. Something that said he was scared of going back to being crazy again.

He also couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock when Derek yawned and showed his filed teeth. Damn, the kid really went all out. "Nice teeth," He leaned back against the couch. "Your a mechanic too, huh?"

"Thanks. Don' actually remember when I got 'em all that well, but yeah." He did actually like them, he just hadn't quite stopped nearly putting holes through his tongue every so often. "Yeah. Only job 've ever had." Best job he could think of, really.

Also, what was with mechanics and weird tattoos? ...And crazy, but he shouldn't be thinking about that.

Lance considered Derek lucky if being a mechanic was his first job. Lance had to go through a few lousy jobs in his 20s and 30s, just so he could make ends meets. He didn't get the body shop until he was 40. "Nice."

He could see the kid being a mechanic more than a street punk, really. The fact that they both also had tattoos and shared the same profession wasn't lost on Lance. Maybe we're long lost brothers, Lance joked to himself.

"Who started the argument a few days ago, you or me?" He figured he might as well get some insight as to what kind of person Lockdown was.

"Yeah. Was a helluva lot better than being on the street." Sure, being a cute lil' homeless kid got him a bit of sympathy (even if that meant tightwads still wouldn't give him any money), but man if there wasn't a whole bunch of creeps out there.

"Uh... Well I thought ya were somethin' like what I thought I was, an' you got pissed off by that an' things didn' get any better from there. Ended up with you sayin' you'd take one 'a my eyes out and me sayin' I'd bite yer nose off if ya tried." Yeah. He was real good at making friends, obviously. ...'cept for that one guy he was pretty sure had gray hair, if he hadn't been hallucinating that too. That bit was nice, but holy hell, some of the stuff that he'd thought'd happened with that guy were really fucked up. Why in the hell had he thought he saw someone melt?

Lance raised both eyebrows for a second. "In other words, we were both complete bastards." Lance could be a bastard too sometimes, and he had threatened people before, but he never really went through with it. Derek made it sound like Lockdown would really go through with that threat. Dear God, what else had Lockdown said and done?

"Uh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that." Well, back to not knowing what to say, which was weird for him. Usually he just either yelled at people to fuck off, or talked their ears off, and nothing in between. Well, whatever. He was feeling like shit, thinking about what he'd done. If he couldn't think of anything to say right now, that wasn't his fault. ...Or it was, but--oh, whatever.

Lance shrugged, "Whatever."

He leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling and think some more. He then said idly, "I tell ya', the sooner I get outta here, the better." Just how long had it been? For all he knew, he'd been Lockdown for years. Either way, hopefully Stan had found someone to take care of the shop.

"I don' think they should let me out yet. Not until the shrinks fix whatever's broken, 'cause I don' wanna end up like I was again. I, uh... I lost it really bad. An' I had guns. Didn' end well." He'd been so goddamn stupid. Even when he was seeing things, he'd figured that out. He'd felt really fucking guilty for what he'd done, but whatever'd happened, it probably hadn't helped.

Lance gave Derek an impassive look. If the kid wanted a pity party, he wasn't gonna find it with him. Instead, he just gave the kid a deadpan, "You're that fucked up, huh?"

Lance didn't tend to get sympathetic. It just wasn't in him. Part of being a loner, he guessed. Sure, he had soft spots for a few people, like Stan and whatever lover he had at the time. And James, he guessed. James was a good kid, if a little uptight. If he wasn't already a cop, Lance would have offered him a job with him.

"Yeah. ...Whatever. It happened. Don' really have the right ta bitch about it." Jeez, he was feeling like such a sap today. He didn't want to be like that, cause when that happened to other people, he bitched them out for being idiots. Maybe he could admit he was one too, but it wasn't like he wanted to stay one.

Lance smirked. "Well, what do you know? You and I have somethin' we can agree on." He really didn't feel like listening to the kid bitch all day either. Call him insensitive all you want, he didn't care. He was perfectly willing to admit he wasn't the sensitive type. He had nothing to hide.

"Heh. Fuckin' heartless bastard." He didn't mean it all that much, he just didn't have the best track record of politeness with anyone, especially people he didn't know.

Lance smirked and then laughed. "You're too kind, kid." He was used to insults. Insults just bounced right off of him. Let the kid think he was a 'fuckin' heartless bastard'.

"Yeah. I should work on that. Bet you got tips." That wasn't an insult, that was just talking! Insults were a lot louder and more creative.

Lance's smirk remained. "Heh, didn't take long for you to get over yourself," He mused. So, the kid had gone from mopey little bitch to smart ass. Maybe the kid was slightly bipolar too. Lance grinned at his own internal joke.

Then again, talking to the kid had temporarily made him forget that he was in here for a reason too. Almost made him forget about Lockdown.

"Yeah, 'm just so fuckin' polite, couldn't bear ta be all selfish like that. So, what, we gonna talk about you now?" He got more comfy in his chair, turning sideways to it, letting his legs dangle over one of the arms. "'m all ears." Eyes, really, what with the tattoo.

Lance sardonically said, "Well, ain't you just a little peach?"

He decided to just play along with Derek and indulge him. Kid was actually kind of entertaining and he wanted to see where this went. Might be interesting. "Was raised by a Japanese guy, have had at least four lovers, and own a body shop." Speaking of Dai, whatever happened to the old man? Guy had probably kicked the bucket for all he knew. Lance had chosen to forget about him after moving out.

"Yeah, 'm just such a sweetie." Okay, enough sarcasm for now, time to listen.

He made a sort of weird face sometime during that sentence without quite realizing. Why the hell was he being told how many people Lance'd been with? Anyway, there was an easier topic to pick up on. "Wish I had my own shop. Was still workin' with the guy who took me in."

Lance grinned at Derek. He hadn't missed that face the kid made. There was now no doubt in his mind that Derek was a virgin. A virgin who probably thought fucking was gross. Under those tattoos and tough guy front, Derek was probably some prude who didn't know what he was missing. Lance wasn't a sex addict, by any means. He just knew the joy of a good fuck.

Okay, he'd indulge the kid in non-sex talk, for now. "Kid, when I was your age I was workin' in construction. Get up at 4 am, blast some rivits, and make cat calls during lunch."

Oh, great. That was a real friendly smile. He did his best to just ignore it and keep going full speed ahead. "Yeah, okay, so I got it better than that. Did, anyway. Whatever... Hope my bike's still back at the shop." He loved that thing.

Lance let the sex thing drop. That had probably gone as far as it was gonna go. Let the kid be a pruish little virgin.

"You like bikes, huh?" Lance had worked on the occassional bike at his shop. James rode one that was black and gold, a fine piece of machinery. Complete with police lights. One of the more interesting bikes he'd worked on was designed to look like it had a ram's head. Owner was a real weirdo.

"Yeah. Changed out so many parts on mine by now it don't matter what model it was when I got it." It sure as hell looked nothing like any other bike that came through the shop. Just thinking about the thing made him happy.

Now that Lance could relate to. "Yeah, got myself a custom muscle car. Finest ride you've ever seen." First he'd just fixed it up, had to use parts from a completely different model even. Then he'd set out to make it look cool. Added some spikes, tinted the windows red, painted it black and green. He even customized the inside, giving it a chain steering wheel and skull on the stick shift. Hopefully he'd be able to get it back when he got out of this shithole.

"Nice. Wish I could call ta see if my bike's still there... Nurses ain't bein' any help at all." He glared a little halfheartedly at the nearest one. Sure, he didn't know if his one true love (in motorcycle form) was still okay, but he did feel bad about how he'd gone and tried to hit one of them.

"Tell me about it," Lance grumbled. "Damn Stepford smilers." The only even remotely useful thing he'd gotten out of a nurse was letting him know he was crazy. He had that Stefan guy to thank for the specifics.

Lance idly glanced around, seeing that a lot more people were here than before. The ones who stuck out most were some kid who looked like a zombie, some purple-haired kid, and some guy who looked like he'd gone a little heavy with steriods sitting by himself shaking.

DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

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