damned_institute | Day 52: Game Room

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Day 52: Game Room

Lunch had taken his mind from his worries, if only for a few minutes. But after the intercom sounded and the nurses began leading patients onto the next activity, one look at the bulletin board brought everything back in full force. No replies from Ashton, Dias or Dad. By now Claude felt like he was practically counting down until the end of the day, when he was going to have to finally grapple with the real possibility that most of his friends from before Landel's, as well as his own father, had fallen victim to the institute.

And now he was going to have to deal with his mother being here on top of that. It didn't seem like a coincidence that she'd show up right when his father's whereabouts were so up in the air. But what did it mean? Why couldn't Landel leave his family out of this?

Normally, the announcement about new video games would have made him perk up, but his eyebrows only knit together with concern as his nurse led him into the game room. That didn't seem to stop her from trying to get him to unwind, though.

"Oh, come now, Thomas, you've worn that expression for most of the day!" she told him with a frown. "Why don't you have a bit of fun now that your eyes are all better? I'm sure you could use it."

The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of his "sleep studies", he darkly thought to himself. But before he could protest, his nurse had sat him down in front of one of the television screens. There was an old gaming console, one Claude had never seen before, and he glanced at her with a confused expression. "Go on," she encouraged as she placed one of the controllers in his hands. "I know how much you enjoy these kinds of things. Someone will come play with you soon, too, I'm sure. Doesn't that sound nice?"

He didn't have time to answer her, because she'd soon bustled off to tend to some of the other patients. Claude watched her leave with a sigh. He realized the daytime staff meant well, which made knowing what they turned into at night even worse to think about. But now he was just being negative for the sake of it, wasn't he?

Taking in a small breath, he reached over to the console and turned it on. As long as he was waiting for some kind of answer from the bulletin, there probably wasn't much he could do except pass the time. Claude watched the title screen appear on the television, his expression growing more curious in spite of himself. Super Mario Bros....

[For Prussia!]

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The Doctor glanced at Peter in surprise after, too, had addressed Brainiac 5 and asked if he and the Coluan knew each other. A part of him wanted to ask the same question of Peter, but... No, Peter had called Brainiac 5 by name (nickname, even), so it was obvious they must have known each other.

But before he'd managed to answer the question himself, however, Brainiac 5 had answered it. The Doctor gave a brief nod of confirmation before turning his attention back to Brainiac 5, as he began to answer the Doctor's own question.

The mention of the nighttime "procedures" here made the Doctor begin to worry, especially given the similarity of Brainiac 5's state to Donna's. But just because he had mentioned the procedures didn't mean that he had underwent them... Or so the Doctor hoped.

"Yes, considering that," the Doctor agreed, trying not to jump to any conclusions. "But... Sorry, you said the, ah, 'nocturnal medical procedures'; you don't mean that you..."

He couldn't quite bring himself to finish the thought. He hoped that he wouldn't need to, and that he was wrong.

Peter blinked. "...Oh. Really? You never mentioned him, so I thought...okay nevermind." He waved his hand to dismiss the matter. "I'm spacing out. Pay no attention to me."

Okay, thinking back on it now, maybe he'd been kind of assuming that Brainy wasn't making friends at all. After what happened to Clark, it would be understandable. He rarely talked about having his own plans at night or during the day, or mentioned other people who didn't sound more like business contacts or nuisances. While Peter had spotted him talking to various people over the course of the last week and a half, he'd never gotten a sense of camaraderie from any of that. (Though there had been that message on the board in Interlac from a stranger, which he had never discovered the source behind.) It was sort of dickish when you thought about it. When you got down to the point it meant that Peter had been thinking of Brainy as this anti-social loner the whole time. He quietly squashed that notion and trashed it forever, because seriously, he was a jerk. And vaguely egotistical, going on this whole time thinking that he was the only friend Brainy had. Like he was that frigging important, god.

If it seemed to the other two that Peter was shrinking ever so slightly into his seat right now, they would be right. Shame made him hope they wouldn't guess why.

The next subject wasn't helping matters, either. Peter spared the Doctor a bleak, secretive look before turning to Brainy. It was his deal. His call. He knew the other guy wasn't big on sympathy hugs and so talking about things like this was hard for him, so he was going to butt out of this one. Just go along with whatever story Brainy chose. It was the least he could do.

Peter's reaction was a little odd. It was almost as though he were shrinking back into his seat, and the way he'd reacted to finding out that the Doctor and Brainiac 5 knew each other and were friends... if he hadn't already spoken with the Time Lord extensively, Brainiac 5 might have started to wonder if Peter knew something about the Doctor that he didn't. Now, however, he was mostly confused.

He elected to blame the medication for that part, since he could hardly follow up on why Peter was behaving this way right now. Not when the Doctor's question and the intent, almost worried expression on his face demanded his attention instead.

Brainiac 5 sighed and closed his eyes, both to momentarily block the Doctor's gaze and because they were still sensitive enough that it was a relief.

"Yes," he admitted. "I found myself undergoing some... upgrades last night."

The Doctor, for his part, hadn't exactly noticed the way Peter had shrunk back, though he did notice the look Peter had shot in his direction. What the look had meant, though... that was anybody's guess, and the Doctor was too concerned about what might or might not have happened to spend time trying to decode it.

...Particularly when Brainiac 5 confirmed that yes, it had happened.

The confirmation sent the Doctor to his feet, his expression grim. He took a few determined steps towards the door before deciding that no, he couldn't just go charging towards the nearest nurse and demanding to speak to Martin Landel. Not when Brainaic 5 was in the state he was, and not when the Doctor hadn't even known...

It was bad enough that Donna had been taken. For Brainiac 5 to have been taken too, and on the same night...?

He halted abruptly, pausing before tearing himself away to turn back towards Brainiac 5 and Peter in what must have looked like an awkward form of pacing. Brainiac 5 seemed like he was taking the whole procedure better than Donna had, but they'd obviously underwent different experiments... Brainiac 5, too, may have had some sense of detachment from his human form, but what that meant in the long term, or the psychological impact...

The Doctor sat down again, burying his face in his hands for a moment before slowly looking up, trying to decide what to say. "I'm sorry," he ended up saying haltingly. "I— I didn't know. I was in the hall where those who were experimented on are left last night, but I didn't... I didn't know you were there, too. I'm so sorry..."

"Hey, whoa-" Peter joined the Doctor as he sprung to his feet and reached out for the man's shoulder. Fortunately, interference was unnecessary. Though the guy had looked like he was going to barrel down the nearest nurse, he'd stopped himself short and switched to pacing instead. Peter watched him for a moment, unsure of what else to do but to slowly sink back into his own chair.

Man, this was probably the cherry on the suck pie that was the Doctor's day. He was getting nearly as worked up as Peter had - maybe equally so. The two must have been closer than Peter thought, in spite of their disparity in years.

He exchanged a meaningful look with Brainy. If it were Mary Jane he'd put an arm around her and pull her close. If it was Harry, he'd try to pat him on the shoulder. Neither action seemed appropriate with Brainy. They were close, but it was...a strange closeness. As much as he liked the other boy, they still hadn't even known one another for a full two weeks. Not your standard buddy-system, there. Plus the other boy had made it pretty clear in the past that he wasn't big on human contact; particularly not when injured (which was totally understandable and kind of a given). As much as he wanted to respect that it left him at somewhat of a loss for what he should do. He guessed he would have to settle for sending positive happy vibes towards him with the magnificent powers of his brain.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world worked that way?

After some more pacing, the Doctor dropped back into his seat and began to speak again. Peter felt a prickle go down his spine. He was there.

Had he seen? Had he seen him and Grell - no, he would have noticed. He would have seen him even in that state, and when they'd broken through to the next room over there was no one in the hall. And the Doctor had scarcely reacted when Peter had sat down beside him. How had the two missed each other, then?

And why was he up there in the first place?

"Hey, it's not really...It's not something you can blame yourself for. All right? You couldn't have known unless you're in the room when it's happening, and even then it's not something we can control." Yes Brainy, I know this makes me a hypocrite, shut up. Peter meant what he said though. The reality of it might not have sunk in just yet, but he recognized it was the truth. And in all honesty, the Doctor was the last person who should be blaming himself. "The most we can do now is pick ourselves up and keep going forward. Know better for next time..."

Oh god, he was terrible at this morale boosting thing. He might as well have been reading off a cue card. Peter drifted into silence, short of words and heavy-hearted. He could have asked the Doctor what he was doing upstairs last night, but something told him he wasn't going on a cookie run. This conversation was already putting everyone in a miserable enough mood as it was.

He tensed automatically as the Doctor rose and stalked away, for a wild moment wondering if he'd said something wrong, shouldn't have brought the subject up at all. But just as quickly he pushed the idea aside. The Doctor was his friend and he genuinely wanted to know what happened. If anything, his anger would be directed at the institute itself, which they all knew was ultimately futile.

Brainiac 5 shifted in his seat, almost attempting to stand up himself before accidentally putting weight on his hands had him flinching and settling back down again. Fortunately Peter followed the Doctor as well, which was good as he'd likely be much better at stopping his friend before he did something reckless.

Luckily whatever motivated the outburst was short-lived, and the Time Lord dropped back into his seat. He looked tired and worn out now, and Brainiac 5 felt slightly uncomfortable for having been the cause of that. He shot Peter a grateful look for his roommate's words, too thankful for the support to point out the hypocrisy.

"Peter's right," he added, absently cradling his forearms in his lap and ignoring the throbbing. "It's no one's fault and you couldn't have know what would happen. It wasn't your decision to make."

Peter may have been right, but that didn't make it alright. That didn't fix things; it didn't reverse what had happened. Angel Bob's words rang in his ears again, and the Doctor scrunched his eyes closed. He might not be able to save everyone, but that didn't mean he should stop trying. That didn't mean that he shouldn't care that he'd failed.

Something about Brainiac 5's words struck him as odd, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was, not when there were so many regrets swimming around in his head. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"Yes," he finally agreed, glancing at Peter. "You're right. I couldn't have known, but I should have checked... There were more rooms on that hall; I should have looked through all of them. Even if I couldn't save them, there had to be something I could have done." Comfort at the very least.

He looked back at Brainiac 5, sympathy welling up again. "I sorry this hadn't happened to you. To anyone. I wish it hadn't."

Oh god. So he had been up there because one of his friends had been taken too? He said he had been checking the rooms. There were few reasons to do that in the sleep studies corridor other than the obvious. Judging from his earlier mood and the way he was reacting now, that was almost certainly the cause.

"Dude. Honestly, the fact that you made it up there at all says loads about you. Nobody thinks of everything. Especially not when you're that terrified." He gave a withered chuckle, the shame from this morning welling up inside him all over again. "I...didn't even know where the sleep studies were. I got lost trying to find them last night and wound up getting the crap kicked out of me. You did way better than I did."

And now there could be no more excuses. He should have been there for Brainy. There was plenty of warning on the board. Plenty of inquiries about sleep studies, long discussions, directions on where to go. He needed to stop being a moron and actually pay attention even when he didn't think stuff directly involved him. Anything could. And even if it didn't, wasn't it his job to check into things anyway? He was Spider-Man. Yeah, his life was crazy here, but did that make a difference? His life had been crazy back home too, and there he had at least tried to make a difference.

Powers or not, he had a responsibility. Once he was in better shape, he'd have to start living up to that.

Brainiac 5 shifted uncomfortably, looking between both of his closest friends here as they blamed themselves for not being there with him last night.

"No," he said suddenly, shaking his head vehemently and ignoring the spike of pain it sent through him. "It's not your fault, either of you. It was... better that way. That you didn't find me."

Because if they had been there, if they'd found which room he was in before the procedure was complete, then the doctor might have decided to ask them if they wanted to take his place. And he didn't doubt that either of them would have done exactly that.

He couldn't have lived with himself if that had happened, so he was determined to make sure they didn't blame themselves over what happened to him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if that might have been too much to say and they'd start suspecting something, so Brainiac 5 quickly made an attempt to alter the topic. He made himself straighten up and focus on the Doctor again.

"Maybe we should instead try and find out what the upgrades are intended for?" he offered, purposely avoiding direct eye contact with Peter. He could understand his roommate's paranoia, but considering what the doctor working on him had said last night, Brainiac 5 didn't think whatever he had been given would be entirely dangerous or useless. Not to mention that not using it wasn't going to remove what had been implanted, so he may as well utilise it.

The Doctor gave Peter a sympathetic smile. "I didn't even know about the experiments until last night," he said sadly. "Well, that they were experiments. And I only had an idea of where they were because of a friend who'd heard." And that wasn't even mentioning the danger he'd put Dean and McCoy in by letting them come with him. He was grateful that they'd been there, but all the same... What if Angel Bob had succeeded?

He felt a similar sense of gratitude towards Peter now. "You may have gotten lost on the way, Peter, but you tried," the Doctor said. "Thank you for that."

The Doctor looked towards Brainiac 5, frowning again. "Though I can't agree it's better we didn't find you. Even if we had been too late to stop it from happening, there must have been something we could have done. I'm not sure I believe the experiment was really an 'upgrade', either, but... You're the one who went through the procedure; I'll trust your judgment in deciding whether you want to test it."

Unless it proved to be dangerous for Brainiac 5, or unless something went wrong. The Doctor would put his foot down then.

Peter's head bowed ever so slightly at the praise. He had...mixed feelings about his venture last night. In particular the surprise ending. Regardless of that, he still murmured a, "Same to you," and gave the Doctor half a smile. (See? This guy wasn't so bad...)

Naturally, whatever trace of a smile he'd managed to work up was immediately lost when Brainy opened his mouth. He shot the other boy a stunned look. "What? Why would you..." He trailed off suddenly, shrinking in his seat again.

No, actually, he could totally get why Brainy would say that. The guy hated to admit to any kind of weakness. Peter was the same way, shying away from both his Aunt and Mary Jane when he came home battered and bruised to lick his wounds in private. But this was different. Peter could have helped him. Busted him out. Or, barring that, helped him get cleaned up and stick with him for the rest of the night. It wouldn't have changed anything, but it would have been far better than what had actually happened.

What had Brainy thought when he stumbled out of surgery and saw that no one was waiting for him?

His frown deepened at the new direction the conversation was taking. "What makes you so sure we should be trying it at all? We should leave it alone. Or better yet, be looking for a way to reverse it." Not totally out of the ball park, okay? There were all sorts of magical fancy types here. There had to be at least one amongst them who could work some sort of healing hocus pocus. "I know they kept saying it was an upgrade, but these are the same people who sicked a truckload of zombies on us. Not to mention they brainwash people for poops and giggles. Can you seriously trust anything they say?"

"We're not going to find a way to reverse it, Peter," Brainiac 5 said flatly, finally turning to look at this roommate again. "The procedure was too in-depth and the materials would have spread throughout my system by now. While you might be able to try removing the implants themselves - which, by the way, I'd rather no one tried without having some pretty good ideas about medicine and sufficient tools, among other things - they were implanted pretty deep. Attempting to remove them might not end very well for me, to put things mildly.

"And the liquid machinery injected would be pretty hard to get out as well. I'm not sure I'd trust twenty-first century Earth medicine to do much there. So, all things considered, if it's not going to be possible for me to remove what they did, I should at least know what it is so that I can make a decision about how to use it or if it should be used at all."

The explanation was one of the longest things he'd said all day, and Brainiac 5 leaned back in his chair once he was done speaking, feeling a little drained. He wasn't sure how much attention Peter would pay to what he'd said, but he knew it made sense. If Peter was going to be stubborn, then he'd simply have to do things on his own.

Besides, he didn't tell either of them that he had a reasonable idea of at least some of the side effects to expect. Though whether they would only appear in relation to whatever had been done to him or regardless was still a mystery to him.

"The only question is," he said again, after a moment. "How do we begin testing?"

The Doctor agreed with Peter: leaving the so-called 'upgrade' alone or undoing what had been done sounded like far, far better options than 'trying it out' did. But Brainiac 5 had made a valid point, too: without the proper means of reversal, there wasn't much that could be done.

"Anything helpful around here is bound to turn out to be a double-edge sword," he warned, voicing an agreement with Peter in that aspect at least. "I can't imagine they're looking to do any of us a favour, through the procedures or otherwise. Just... be careful."

If Brainiac 5 already had his mind set on testing—and it certainly seemed he did—the Doctor wasn't going to talk him out of it beyond the warnings for caution. The Doctor ran a hand over his face, pausing briefly to pinch the bridge of his nose, and then leaned forward in the chair. "As for testing... Well, do you know what the 'upgrade' is supposed to be? How to go about it would certainly depend on what it is."

Edited 2010-10-20 01:50 (UTC)

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Day 52: Game Room

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