Mar 09, 2011 12:03
leela,
kirk,
s.t.,
klavier,
japan,
tsubaki,
badd,
anise,
minato,
the doctor,
sam winchester,
firo,
goku (dragonball),
taura,
dexter,
franziska,
claire bennet,
kinomoto sakura,
peter parker,
snow,
lunge,
lana skye,
ruby,
mello,
soren,
brainiac 5,
the flash,
roxas,
albedo,
stefan,
peter petrelli,
mele,
damon,
two-face,
ritsuka,
lion,
rapunzel,
erika,
edgar,
canada,
the scarecrow,
sync,
matt,
maya,
zevran,
battler,
spock,
zack,
kratos,
l,
shinji,
kenshin,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
gumshoe,
ax,
claire littleton,
sora,
gren,
prussia,
claude,
renamon,
guybrush,
dean winchester,
byrne,
guy,
kairi,
venom,
nigredo,
ilia,
kibitoshin,
lightning,
rita,
alaric,
yue,
sasuke,
aidou,
claire stanfield,
edward cullen,
kaworu,
mccoy
He withdrew his own hand after shaking Peter's, picking up the sponge and dunking it into the bucket again.
"I came here straight outta New York," he answered, sidestepping the question of where he'd been transferred from as best he could. Alcatraz usually wasn't somewhere someone got sent right away, so he'd let Peter draw his own conclusions about what prison he might have been in before-since he hadn't been in one.
But for his other line of questioning, he was going to give Peter the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the guy really didn't know what kind of stories folks on the outside told about the island. "But you must've been in here a pretty long time if you have to ask if I've heard of this place. Hasn't everyone heard of Alcatraz?"
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Besides, it was what came out of the kid's mouth next that really threw Peter for a loop. He knew the name Alcatraz, of course (what person who lived in the US didn't?), but Firo was acting as if it was still in operation. As far as Peter knew, the prison had stopped functioning as one back in the sixties. It was a tourist spot now.
Suddenly, a kid who had seemed pretty normal (other than the name) didn't fit that definition so well anymore. But Peter had to take a step back (figuratively, anyway) and think things through. He'd met someone here who was from Japan back in the 1800's, so maybe Firo was from a time when Alcatraz was still a legitimate prison. His accent had seemed a bit old-fashioned.
There was an easy way to test that theory, though, and so after what had turned out to be a long pause, he tilted his head at the kid. "You know that it's just a museum now, right? They don't keep prisoners there anymore."
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When Peter finally spoke again, breaking the uncomfortable silence, Firo frowned. "Of course they still keep prisoners here," he protested. Peter was talking like it was some other place entirely, rather than the prison they were both currently in. "We're here, aren't we? And anyway, they only started transferring people here a few months ago..."
That was why all the rumors about the place had been flying around so much lately, Firo guessed. He'd heard the place had been a military prison before, but as far as federal prisons went, Alcatraz was new and flashy. It was being touted as inescapable, and so far the title stood without question.
But there was one other thing wrong with what Peter had said: "Besides, why would anyone want to turn a prison into a museum?"
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But if Firo had been expecting to go to Alcatraz (during a time when it still functioned as a prison), then what crime had he committed? It was hard to imagine someone who looked like he did was a criminal, but Peter knew that looks could be deceiving. He probably didn't look like he had the ability to blow up a whole city, after all.
"This isn't Alcatraz," he said with a shake of his head, though he gestured for the kid to keep working so that he didn't get either of them into trouble. "It's called Landel's Institute. Didn't the soldier who brought you here tell you anything?"
Some of the officers came off as pretty terse, so maybe Firo had gotten landed with one of them. Still, they wouldn't have outright lied to him, so it was clear that the young man had made some of his own assumptions.
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It was true that he didn't have any memory of his arrival on the island-but that was just because he'd been asleep, wasn't it? Alcatraz was where Huey Laforet was and therefore where Firo had been heading, but... Victor had repeatedly said things like "We'll fill you in on the details of what you'll be doing later," but if this was part of the man's plan, Firo should have at least been told of this part. He'd agreed to go to Alcatraz, but not some other place.
Peter could have still been pulling his leg, but Firo had to admit the realization that it (maybe) wasn't that island prison made a lot of sense... a lot more than if it was. He still had his doubts about mutated animals, of course, but the other things Peter had mentioned fell into place-like that up until recently the 'Institute' had been an asylum.
He wasn't completely convinced-he wanted to ask someone else just to be sure-but he felt a momentary rush of relief nevertheless. If this wasn't Alcatraz, then this wasn't where Huey was. He wouldn't need to act as the government's watchdog quite yet.
Firo let out a shaky breath, finally looking away from Peter. "The only thing the guard told me was to fix my collar and put on my boots. But... if this really isn't Alcatraz, that would actually explain a lot," he said. One hand was still holding the sponge, but he hadn't started scrubbing again yet. He glanced towards the nearest soldier. "I'd been wondering why nothing had matched up with what I'd pictured, but I'd thought I'd just had the wrong idea all along."
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But it sounded like the kid had been having some doubts after all, and this was adding to that. He nodded in response, glad that they could try to skirt around the issue of different times for the moment. Eventually someone was just going to tell Firo flat out that he was in the future, but that was a bombshell that could probably wait a bit longer. There was no point in overloading him.
"No, we're actually out in the country. No one's figured out exactly where yet, but I guess the rumor is that it's somewhere in the northeast part of the country." So not too far from New York, in other words, and yet Peter didn't recognize any of the terrain that he'd seen.
"Maybe we'll get to go outside today, and you can see for yourself," he said with a shrug; one that he almost instantly regretted for the way that it pulled at his wound. Even though it was mainly on his lower back, the slightest movements would force him to grit his teeth again.
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Maybe, as Peter suggested, he would have a chance to look around outside to see for himself, with his own eyes. He'd welcome the chance.
He looked up at Peter again just in time to catch sight of a wince, a tightening of the jaw as though gritting his teeth, as the man shrugged. Firo's next question came out quickly, and wasn't one about Alcatraz or 'Landel's Institute' or the current situation at all: "Are you alright?"
The awkwardness of the question didn't hit him until after the words had left his mouth, but he didn't try to explain himself. Peter was in a wheelchair, so of course he wasn't alright... but there was a difference between not being alright and being in obvious pain.
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"I got some pretty bad burns on my back last night," he explained, figuring that detailing how it had happened and by whom would just cause Firo to think he was crazy all over again. If he ran into the kid a few days from now, maybe he'd explain then.
"They're usually pretty good about patching up our wounds here, but... I don't know, I think the nurses did a better job." Most soldiers probably had some basic first aid ability, but their job was to injure, not heal. It made sense that the bandages felt kind of scratchy and like they hadn't been tied properly this morning. But he was stable and he'd been given a wheelchair, so he couldn't complain too much.
He was the one who'd thrown caution to the wind because he hadn't been able to feel pain the night before, after all. If he'd taken more care in what he was doing, he wouldn't have been in this mess. Being unable to walk was going to make it even harder for him to be of proper help to others come nighttime, which it was frustrating -- even more so because he was the only one to blame.
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...He was starting to jump to conclusions, he realized. Firo wanted to be as smart as he could be about this-check Peter's story against someone else, before he made a move that might risk what Victor meant for him to do, and risk their deal by extension.
"So I take it all the nurses are gone now," he said. He certainly hadn't seen anyone resembling a nurse since he'd first been shoved out of the room he'd woken up in... Just armed guard after armed guard. "When exactly did everything change, anyway?"
Firo still hadn't resumed cleaning, but when he caught sight of the lady warden walking through with a few guards to inspect, he finally grabbed the brush and started scrubbing again.
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"I'm not sure if they're gone or if they just aren't out and about as much as they used to be, but they've definitely been replaced for the most part. And it all happened yesterday." There had been some build-up to the event before that, mainly through Landel's nervous ramblings, but he didn't really need to get into that.
Peter only noticed the woman who was stalking through the room when he realized how Firo had reacted to her, but before he could make any sort of guess about it the officer started bellowing at them, ordering them to the next part of the day.
He sighed and looked back to Firo. "Looks like you're off the hook with the cleaning, at least. Usually they use the intercom system, but this is basically what the day is like. They shuffle us from place to place." Which meant that their time to talk was up, but Peter wasn't going to let the kid go without a few more warnings. "If you do decide to go out at night, find the flashlight in your room and don't wander around on your own. I know it might sound crazy, but take at least that much precaution and then you'll see for yourself." He didn't mean to be cryptic, but he also knew that his words only meant so much at the moment.
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Then again, he thought, throwing another sidelong glance at their guns, they've got ways of making sure they're obeyed. Most people wouldn't want to get shot.
When the warden dismissed them, Firo set the brush aside and stood up, dusting off his pants, which were now sporting wet spots at the knees where he'd gotten too close to the wet floor. He wasn't sure where the courtyard was supposed to be, but-between Peter's words and the soldiers hurrying every which way to escort prisoners-he figured that wasn't going to be a problem for long.
"Thanks for the advice, Peter," he said. In spite of himself, he had started quickly believing that there was at least a chance everything Peter had said was true-no matter how crazy some of it had sounded. "I'll keep that in mind."
A moment later, two guards strode forward (one of them the soldier from earlier), one heading for each of them. Firo gave Peter one last look and a brief wave before following the soldier he recognized.
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