damned_institute | Day 46: Sun Room

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Day 46: Sun Room

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

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Ugh. At least the day was still overcast, but not enough. Recluse's only response to his nurse's irritating cheerfulness was a baleful glare, finding a chair in the most shadowed corner of the room to sit. He'd had a small chance to vent his frustrations (unfortunately, without killing anyone) with talking to Falis, but all the problems he had to deal with were still clamoring for his attention, none of which really seemed interesting or feasible enough to deal with at the moment.

One of those problems was Marcus. As odd as it might seem, if that man disappeared, Recluse would be incredibly annoyed. All his hard work would have been for nothing.

[Free as a bird! ...A grumpy bird overlord.]

(It can be stabby time naw?)

Haku's talk with 'Arlene' at breakfast had been... well, he was no longer one flinch away from tearing the limbs off of other people at least. He even managed to work up a polite response to some vapid question the nurse asked him. Once they made it into the Sun Room however, he was quite glad to get away from her.

Oh, hell. Spotting a familiar face, Haku bit down on a sigh and walked over to Lord Recluse. He stopped short three paces and kneeled down. He was careful to do so in such a way that wouldn't attract too much attention, but he was clearly facing the older man, and he bowed slightly.

"My apologies for my behavior yesterday," he said softly. He didn't offer an explaination, since if the man was worth anything, he would have figured it out by now.

Recluse barely acknowledged Haku's approach, unmoving. Well. Even from the first few moments it was clear that 'Christopher' was no longer with them. Good.

It had been quite a while since anyone had acted in such a way around him, besides Scourge's scraping.

He nodded slightly. This wasn't anything worth being dramatic about. "The Institute is at fault. Frankly, I did not even expect for you to have retained as much of yourself as you did." The cut had healed, but the fact that it had occurred in the first place had been of note.

This display had been mostly habit and now Haku shifted, crossing his legs, and leaned against the couch, looking for all the world like a young man at ease with himself. "It was rather disconcerting as a whole," he said softly. "Though interesting. I don't recall doing anything or having anything done to me that would warrent such a change." It had also been horrible to be so terrified all the time.

"A pity, but not unexpected." No matter how much Landel liked to rant (irritating, whiny and sub-par were the first three terms that came to mind to describe it), he still had a notable level of restraint when it came to revealing just what was going on.

Not that he was very good at his job, anyway. Recluse would only give him a C- at most. His performance had been distinctly uninspiring.

Haku closed his eyes, collecting his thoughts. "There is a small group that believes they are close to the good doctor and, while I do doubt that, I've been invited to join in with them for a short period of time. Do you know anything about the basement beyond what is common knowledge?"

"There was mention on the bulletin some time ago that the final area of the basement should not be entered. Unfortunately, no details were given, and almost no one took note of it at the time." Really, if you weren't going to specify what kind of terrible fate awaited someone through a locked door, then there would be no shortage of those blessed with momentary or permanent stupidity, ready to try and prove everyone wrong.

"I remember that notice," Haku said, nodding. "I told the group to give me time to think on it." They thought he only needed to heal, but he wasn't about to go wandering off without all the information he could gain. The bandages had come in handy then.

"I'm fairly certain they're setting themselves up for a suicide mission, but considering how pointless death is here..."

"Would this be the group including two robots and at least one other individual?" He'd seen the messages on the board. Watching the rest of the prisoners was one of the few ways to keep himself distracted here. He wouldn't exactly be sorry to see Lugnut go, no matter how simple it appeared to manipulate him.

"At least one of those in the first group managed to not get themselves killed," Recluse noted. "Although I'd think it likely that at least one of any group that makes it down there might die." There was the general lack of fatalities in this place to consider. Some of the hostiles here seemed to be nothing but exploitable weaknesses. Unfortunately, that included some or all of the spiders.

Haku chuckled softly and shook his head, shifting again to start to braid his hair. The nurse that had been watching him turned away, apparently pleased that he wasn't about to start crying. "No, this group has only one robot. A ... droid, he was called, and two humans that do not like people like myself." Not that he cared.

"They may have recruited another. The large one over there, being depressed that his Lord is gone," Recluse gestured towards the incredible obviousness that was Lugnut.

"Although it might take a while, I would think him the most likely to die. He does not know the weaknesses that come with human bodies." Well, not quite. "Apart from how easy it is to get a sprained wrist." That had been amusing.

"Ah. Interesting. There are apparently more of these 'robots' than I had thought." He finished the braid and started to undo it once more. "Are they common?"

"Fairly, until a few days ago. Then some of them disappeared." As the bulletin-reading public was very loudly (well, with very big letters) by Lugnut. "A shame, their leader might have been interesting to deal with."

"Well, considering the track record of this place bringing back the dead and recently 'gone',you might still get that chance." As logn as Haku didn't have to see his Master trapped here again, he didn't care who this place brought back.

"Yes. As a bonus, an individual we were to bargain over is now mine by default." For what it was worth. Scourge certainly didn't seem eager to cross him ever again.

"Another robot?" The idea of robots was interesting, in a vauge sort of way. Haku still couldn't understand why anyone would want one.

"Yes. A coward, but a tracker. Easy to keep in line." What few disagreements they'd had ended with Scourge hurriedly taking back everything he had said and looking afraid for his life. A very well-trained minion.

"Good to know." He folded his hands in his lap and frowned. "I think I may be going a bit stir-crazy here. I nearly punched a staff member this morning and that certainly isn't like me." He tapped a finger thoughtfully against the back of his other hand.

"And cleaning up after everyone I know now is doing nothing for me." Not that he would abandon Artemis for anything, but he was going nowhere fast at the moment. He wondered if Recluse was doing anything productive at night.

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Day 46: Sun Room

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