Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he

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[ninelivesonce]

There had been no reply to her note.  Strange -- was von Karma ill, or was he merely ignoring her?  Surely things hadn't gone that badly?  Had they?  At the very least, wouldn't he want his metal?  He'd have to reply for that.  She could make her case then.  Apologize -- or better yet, look him in the eye and explain.  Yes, that would be better.  Sitting down, so that he wouldn't have so far to look up.  Plan squared away, and awaiting only the proper opportunity, she began looking through the rest of the messages.

There was nothing yet from the History Club, yet -- had something more gone awry there?  The group's luck had been poor, as far as she'd seen, in both missions and leadership, but they were exactly the sort of group suited to her talents.  One more chance, she'd promise.  After that, her nighttimes would be her own again.  Not that they weren't now, albeit indirectly; she hadn't been coerced into joining the group.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  How many mission reports had she seen that on?  She'd only been

[shorttank]

Leela wondered if Miss von Karma had issues beyond the readily apparent ones that made her so prickly, and she aksed Betty about her, but Betty, of course, gave her the old I can't discuss other patients line. Maybe Franziska just needed a friend, Leela decided, a fellow driven... sort of driven, more driven than her co-workers... career woman.

She liked the Sun Room, as much as she could like any part of a definitely-insane, certainly-fake, probably-lying-about-its-time-period mental hospital. It wasn't the kitties' fault they lived in an evil place.

She spotted the tall woman pacing as soon as she came in, and recognized her as Taura, for whom Leela's liking wasn't conditional at all. She fell into step with her (she had to jog a bit to keep up with her long legs, too), smiling. "Hey. Waiting for an important message?"

[ninelivesonce]

"Yeah," Taura said, and the voice plus a flash of purple at her shoulder added up to a name -- Leela  -- plus the courage to try a joke. "How ever did you guess?"  She stopped, smiling.  "Wearing a hole in the decking's not going to make it come any sooner, though."

Manfred hadn't shown up in the Sun Room either, which meant she was better off just finding him as soon as he awoke rather than second-guessing his opinion on last night's debacle.  If she'd still heard or seen nothing by lunch she'd go up the chain of command.  Or down, or sideways, or really, whatever got her an answer.  For now, she could use the chance to relax with someone she knew wouldn't call her a freak.  "How 'bout you?"

[shorttank]

"Oh, you know. Powers from the future." It was nice to say that as a joke instead of hoping it would keep a weird shadow-thing from attacking. In the light of day, it was almost easy to believe that had been a dream, like Betty would no doubt have claimed it was. Except that Guybrush had replied and reinforced its reality right on this very bulletin board.

"I've already checked in on the friend I was with last night, so nope, I was just going to say hi to the cats." The few she could see were being aloof, as usual, one washing its paw in a spot of sunlight, another sleeping with its tail over its eyes. Aww. "It wasn't too bad for you, was it? Last night?"

[ninelivesonce]

Taura gingerly headed towards the cats -- they were so tiny, and looked so fragile. One of them yawned, flashing little pointed teeth at the world with lazy confidence.

"I haven't heard anything from the friend I was with." She looked down at her fingers, manicure slightly chipped from the sink dis-assembly of the first part of the night. "That thing -- it looked like my real body." Scar's hadn't, which added to the shock. But from their limited conversation, he seemed to find Landel's bodyswap more annoyance than sea change. "I'm not sure what he thinks of me now. I wish he'd answer..." The last came out a bit whiny; Taura clamped her mouth shut to avoid digging herself deeper.

It might be nothing. The shadow had meant to be intimidating, and he'd know that. He'd already known about her; she'd told him. But knowing wasn't seeing, not by a long shot, and she wanted -- no, needed -- to see his eyes when he saw her again.

[shorttank]

"I'm sure he's fine," Leela said, following Taura. Oh, little pink kitty tongue poking out. So cute. "And I was with someone whose shadow was totally gross, and mean, but I don't think any less of him. It's not anyone's fault what their evil alternate selves are like. They're evil, after all."

Universe-B Leela hadn't been evil, strictly speaking, but she'd still been unsettling, what with that orange hair and... marrying of Fry. Though, having done that herself, however unwillingly or unwittingly, Real Leela wasn't in a position to judge. She gave the sleepy cat a skritch between its ears, and it rumbled gratifyingly.

"And these weren't even really alternate selves, were they? The mad scientist, or whatever he is, made them appear so he could mess with us. I do wonder why I didn't have one. Maybe it would have looked like the real me, and they don't want people believing me about being a cyclops."

[ninelivesonce]

"I don't know about that. Why would mine be me if they didn't want me to be believed. And it was...believable." She hadn't wanted to face it then or now, but throwing away information? Not something she could in good faith do. "It wasn't so much evil as mean. They all were. Pointing out where we'd failed." In the light of day, that wasn't quite accurate. "Insecurities more than than failures, really."

Secrets, too, but none of them her own. Everyone had secrets. She didn't even know who she was working for, when it came down to it. She just hoped someone knew.

"There was a man with us who wasn't human at all, not genetically modified, but completely not human. His shadow looked normal, but it called him a freak, too. I just...don't know what it adds up to. But you didn't see one at all?" She reached out a hand to one of the kitties; it sniffed her, and then butted its head into her open palm.

[shorttank]

Leela nodded. Guybrush's shadow had definitely seemed as if it had been out to shake his confidence, as opposed to actually hurting him. It hadn't made contact with either of them that she remembered, but it had done a lot of trash-talking and sword-brandishing.

"No, I didn't. But I don't believe what Landel said. I think he just wants people to feel bad, so they'll feel less like trying to get away. You'd think it would be easier to just make it nice here, but maybe the patients are too paranoid to buy that. Not you," she explained. "Just in general."

Why they would pick people like that was a mystery, but it could have been that they liked a challenge. "And the guy I was with had one. Maybe it was meant to freak both of us out. Or," she added, with a sudden thought, "they were supposed to make people too suspicious of each other to work together." That was pretty simplistic, for someone as seemingly practiced at evil as Landel, but it made sense to Leela.

[ninelivesonce]

"That...could be." It had tried to shake her confidence, but the Dendarii did good work. Even -- perhaps especially -- on something as intangible as troop morale. Then it had gone after how they perceived her -- mind as well as body. The same held true for the other two. Given a little time, it could have upset her without that change-up, but she hadn't given it any.

There was one other thing that both other shadows had said, though her own had skipped. Mmm. That could be important.

"This may sound like a weird question, but, er, have you ever killed anyone?" That cried out for a little explanation. "I was just wondering if that was all it was. I mean, I'm a mercenary. It comes with the territory. Nothing personal, but we don't always have the luxury of using stunners."

[shorttank]

"No, never." She also couldn't imagine Guybrush actually killing anyone, even though he was a pirate, unless it was in some sort of pirate-y battle, or thanks to a lucky accident in a duel.

It was really also just a matter of luck that Leela hadn't killed, or fatally maimed, anyone. Things always had a weird way of working out so that everyone was all right. "I don't know if the guy I was with had, either. He wouldn't have meant it, if he did." But maybe this was the sort of thing where you couldn't coast on a technicality like that. Taura wouldn't have meant it, either.

"That's not fair, trying to make people feel bad over things they didn't have a choice about."

[ninelivesonce]

"Since when did Martin Landel care about fair?" A cynical observation, but it made her feel better. Being a good soldier wasn't a bloodless profession, but their track record in avoiding innocent bystanders was outstanding. Not perfect, and innocent walls, tables, shuttlecraft? Not so high on the priority list. But casualties they kept low.

She could see where every one of the ones they hadn't been able to save weighed on Miles' shoulders; as of yet, there were none on her own, but no record lasted forever.

"I wonder what he was trying to do? Just make us distrust each other?"

[shorttank]

Leela sat down on the edge of the couch, not having to fake being distracted at petting the cat as she thought over what Taura had said. "Good point." Really, a jaded attitude was the only sensible one to take toward the man.

"It seems almost too easy. I mean, I think if he was going to all the trouble to make evil doubles of people, he'd want a little more than that out of it. But who knows? I don't spend a lot of time trying to think like a mad scientist." Would keeping people from working together be worth all that? It didn't seem to have worked, anyway. Maybe Landel was one of those evil geniuses who underestimated the power of friendship. It would serve him right if he was.

[ninelivesonce]

"Neither do I. But I've known a lot of people like him. Experimental psychologists." Her golden eyes narrowed. "I've never understood them."

"And when you ask why they don't even notice. Lab experiments can't have feelings, even while you're measuring 'em." She looked down at the cat, who was purring under Leela's touch.

"The problem with this is it's so messy." Real life was always messy; it was one of the first lessons in planning anything. Combat drop, surprise birthday lunch for the commander, nothing ever went to plan. But the experiments had. Not a plan Taura would have chosen, and sometimes the results weren't expected and her entire cohort had tried to look invisible while the staff stormed around trying to force their wayward charges into a mold they themselves had failed to create in the first place. Taura had learned a word for it, her first day out. Clusterfuck. Rolled off the tongue better than disaster, while still implying that a genius might be able to find a way out of the blast radius

[shorttank]

That was exactly the kind of subtlety Leela had been trying to think of. "Ooh, and what if Landel hopes Marc will blame himself, not just for what happened to Jill, but for all the patients who had such a hard time last night? Guilt trips all around, that sounds like his style. And maybe it's because the rebels actually managed to do him some damage we haven't been able to hear about

[ninelivesonce]

"He's a fool if he does," Taura muttered.  Marc, that was.  "We can take care of ourselves."  Just knowing why -- or having a theory good enough to be going on with -- made it easier to think about.  She still wanted to march up to Landel and pick him up by the lapels and shake until the answers fell out, but she could be patient.

The technology disparity was an interesting point.  "It's not like they've taken things away so that we won't get hurt.  That would make too much sense.  But maybe...it's anything we could use to hurt them?  Swords don't do a he'll of a lot when the enemy has plasma arcs."  Well, the swords might be all right.  Took a good long blast to slag decent steel.  The hand holding the sword, however, was somewhat more flammable.

Realization dawned.  "They...don't think we're a threat.  Defanged."  Taura's bare-teeth smile didn't need two-inch canines to be ferocious.  "That's when we'll strike.  Let Marc and Jill play out their game, and when Landel turns his full attention to them, pow!That was missing some

[shorttank]

Wow, Taura was awesome. And a little scary, in a way Leela aspired to. Whatever she was planning, Leela wanted in on it. She grinned. "Yeah!"

She couldn't agree that Marc was a fool, not without having met him and heard the whole story. She sort of thought he might have been a patient here once, who had escaped and taken to the woods to hide out, and help those left behind. But she could also see where Taura was coming from. If they waited for help to arrive from outside before doing anything, they'd be waiting forever. Even with time travel in the mix.

"I had a blaster. And my wrist thingie. And neither of those exist yet, in the time this is supposed to be. More to the point, they could do a lot more damage than boots or a closet bar." That went double for the people who'd started out as robots. Their whole bodies could be weapons, and messing with them was personal, way more so than swiping possessions. Now she was fired up with good old righteous indignation. It felt better than just taking things as they came. "Plus, my wrist