Day 46: Sun Room

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

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!]

Comments

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

Tim wondered if he had to be fast like a normal person, or fast like the Flash. It seemed to him that time just...got away from him, at night. It was really strange, since he was such a night person.

"Game?" Tim asked. He hadn't missed the inflection. Mr H had said "Game," not "game." It meant something, although Tim couldn't even really guess what it was. Their worlds were obviously different, and it seemed like Mr. Hanekoma had some Japanese origin. Whether he was from Japan itself or not, Tim couldn't say. Joshua wasn't the other boy's actual name; he'd said "call me Joshua," indicating that it was an alias or a nickname. Since they were from the same place, it was possible that they both had Japanese origin.

Sho Minamimoto. Minamimoto Sho, possibly? It was the same way. He wondered what Joshua's real name was, but it wasn't like he was giving out his actual name. Who was he to ask?

Curiosity killed the cat, after all. Maybe it was better he stay a bird.

"You mean they're going to have some kind of duel to the death?" he continued. He sure hoped not. He couldn't condone anyone killing anyone else, whether they were friends or not. "Do you think Joshua's actually in danger, then? I don't know anything about this Sho guy, but Joshua seemed pretty hellbent on going after him. Going into any situation unprepared is never a good idea."

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

"Yup, that's it in a nutshell." No point in mincing his words; the full magnitude of the situation would be much more impressive.

And if Alvin had noticed the capital "G", Sanae wasn't offering any explanations. Some words just demanded that kind of emphasis, right?

His eyes narrowed as he glanced in Sho's direction. The Heaper looked like he was caught up in terrorizing Neku and some other kid with equally brown, spiky hair. "Oh, Minamimoto's dangerous, alright. The guy's like a time bomb--a really intelligent time bomb. He's got something deadly up his sleeve." He sighed. "Josh knows it too, but the conflict's unavoidable. We'll give it our best shot."

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

Tim crossed his arms. "Well, there's got to be some way to at least have a contingency plan. If this guy is going to attack, then there has to be ready defense. Considering the situation, and the apparent lack of resources, I'd say a preemptive strike isn't your best bet, so we've got to rack up the defense."

All Robin, all the time. It got easier with a topic like this.

"Do you have an MO on this guy? I mean, even unpredictable people have patterns."

Unless they were the Joker. But he decided it was better not to go there. One person like that was more than enough for a lifetime. Thinking of anyone else that crazy was just too damn much.

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

Sanae ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, we figured that out pretty quickly. Gather allies, get supplies, that kinda stuff. We've just been hittin' road blocks these past couple nights, though."

The option of a preemptive strike had actually been thrown out almost instantly; both he and Josh had higher goals, ones which required as much support from the patient population as possible. That wouldn't be much at all if they had a seemingly senseless murder on their record.

"And you've hit the issue on the dot," Sanae said. "The way he operates normally doesn't apply here since the Institute's slammed its limits on him." It would have been so easy, otherwise. Minamimoto's Noise form had nothing on his. "So all I know is that whatever he's doing, it's gonna involve all the crap he's accumulating."

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

Tim's mouth twitched. "Then we have to find out what, exactly, he's accumulating. Maybe I could talk to him. He doesn't know who I am. I could probably find something out."

He knew he had no real business volunteering, but really, what else was he doing? Kon was gone. Bruce was apparently gone. Dick could take care of himself, and Bart was...well, he wasn't sure what was up with Bart.

Anyway, he needed help gathering his own supplies, didn't he? He and Kvothe were supposed to try to scale the walls, but that wasn't even remotely possible with no equipment. Any starting place was better than none at all.

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

[mind a short backthread?]

"If you could, we'd be in your debt, Josh especially." Sanae smiled appreciatively. Could be putting himself in real danger, this kid - and yet he was willing to go ahead and tackle Minamimoto. Quality.

"Need any help yourself? Can't say I'm the greatest assistant nowadays, but one good turn deserves another, dontcha think?" Sanae knew he was treading dangerous grounds with this one--he still needed to get Neku his pins--but he felt obligated to make the offer.

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

[backthread is my middle name!]

Tim shrugged. "It's kind of my thing," he said. "Helping people out, I mean." It wasn't a lie, either, so he didn't even need to feel bad saying it. Maybe it was close to crossing the line, but, sometimes the lines blurred together. In a place like this, it was hard to tell what to say and what not to say. He just had to make the judgment call.

He glanced over at the man. Was there anything he could really ask for? "Well, I need a way to the third floor. A friend and I were talking about scaling the walls, but I need a way to do it first. Rope, something to use as a grappling hook, that kind of thing."

It was worth a shot.

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

Sanae beamed. "Nice ta know, kid. I mean, normally I'd try to feel him out, but I think any negotiatin' chance I had with him went down the tubes a while ago. So it's a big help." And it looked like Josh, as usual, had picked well.

He rubbed his chin. "Hm...okay. I'll keep an eye out--or maybe we can do a joint thing. I think I might make a supply run tonight anyway." The Arts and Crafts room wasn't bound to have rope, but Sanae was sure he could leave Neku to that task, leaving him to muck around wherever else he could think of.

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

"I'm an unknown quantity, right? How could this guy possibly suspect me? Just tell me how to get his attention without being suspicious and I'll see what I can find out about him. I don't know if I can catch him today, but as long as we avoid him tonight, we should be all right."

It was nice to feel like he was doing something, even something small.

"Hey, let me know what you're doing tonight. I'll be there if you need me. Like I said, I need to find some rope anyway."

It seemed like he'd made a good alliance. He still wasn't totally sure what was up with Joshua, but Mr. H was willing be helpful, and that was certainly a good thing. The man at least seemed to know what he was doing. Tim didn't spend a lot of his time working closely with adults, outside of Batman, Nightwing, and maybe Oracle, so finding one he could trust was the way to go. At least, for now.

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

"Food is the way to go," Sanae advised. He'd seen Minamimoto at annual Reaper parties; the guy ate like he would die of starvation at any minute. "Just give him food--like, you know, 'The nurse gave me too much' or something--and you'll hook him in no time. I know that limits the times when you can nab him, but otherwise you're just gonna bug him." And an angry Minamimoto was a silent one.

The intercom buzzed on, and Sanae watched as the nurses began filing in to collect them for lunch. He sighed. "I'll post something when I got it all down. See ya later, kid."

[thirdboywonder.livejournal.com]

Food? Well, that was a starting place, then. He'd have to see if he could get something special...maybe Alfred would have something, or could get something. Alfred was resourceful like that.

"Thanks. Catch you later," he said. He stood up, took one last look at the board, and was nabbed by his nurse to be hauled off for lunch.