Day 55: Courtyard [2nd Shift]

[sheepwood]

After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving

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[scalyfishman]

It had probably been a good thing that Depth Charge's injuries had been considered bad enough for him to sit out the cleaning session, because if thsoe soldiers had tried to get him scrubbing on his knees like a recruit they'd have ended up with a face full of crutch and attitude. Was that woman serious? Was this Aguilar guy serious? It might have been easy enough for them to overthrow Landel, but if they thought that somehow meant they'd earned any sort of respect from him they had another thing coming.

That didn't stop them from trying, of course. His soldier escort even stopped to help him into his new coat, a leather number with his false name on the collar, after watching the Maximal attempt to wrestle it over his bandages whilst still keeping his balance for ten solid kliks. All without losing his temper. Well, if that wasn't the nicest thing

[unmocked_lawr]

The walk to the Courtyard was a bizarre one; Javert's escort spent the better part of it trying to engage him in conversation, but in a manner that suggested he was thought of as a comrade in arms rather than a patient who needed to be coaxed out of his shell. It was deeply confusing.

He was glad of the interruption when he was handed his coat and they stepped out into a surprisingly cold late morning. The soldier jerked his head at a distant figure. "Hey, Hunt. Keep an eye on Price for me? Looks like he's in bad shape. I don't want him falling over and hurting himself more or something."

Price--that was a familiar name. Ah, yes, Depth Charge, looking considerably the worse for wear. It had been a while since they'd last spoken; he supposed he might as well comply. Javert caught up with him quickly, falling into step beside the injured robot.

"What happened to you?" His tone of voice was dry as usual, but there was a barely detectable undercurrent of concern.

[scalyfishman]

Movement was painfully slow, even for a human. Each time Depth Charge tried to take a step he had to step his crutches forward, then pull himself through with a swing that chafed under his arms. It was times like these he found himself getting nostalgic for a rocket booster. Even a steam engine was faster than this

[unmocked_lawr]

"A cat," Javert said with some disbelief--he was, he supposed, getting better at filtering the information out of Depth Charge's peculiar mode of speech--before he remembered just how large the cats here could be.

But at least it appeared the staff were still in the business of fixing their toy soldiers after they'd been played with. The corner of his mouth quirked upward in a half-smile. "Not quite. He wants you to mind your hobbling technique. I don't think Aguilar could afford the hospital bill if you were to injure yourself further. Spare him the ignominy of an empty wallet."

[scalyfishman]

The scowl was immediately turned onto Javert, albeit on a smaller scale and tinted with just a little embarrassment. "Hey, don't say it like that. That thing was huge." Well. Not Cheetor-huge, but the point still stood he'd never seen a domestic kitty-cat with claws like that before.

Not that he could keep his bad mood up for too long, considering who he was speaking to. "Oh, I see," he answered, raising his eyebrows and the tone of his voice to painful levels of brightness (painful for him, at least, but slag it felt good to rip into this place every now and then). "Primus forbid I inconvenience the guy, huh?" He shook his head, giving a scornful laugh. "Like Aguilar's done us any favours, you know? He's just as bad as Landel so far."

[unmocked_lawr]

"I imagine it was." The grin widened slightly before Javert shook his head. "I've run into one of them before. Something of a nuisance."

Depth Charge was kind enough to turn the subject toward Aguilar, which spared Javert the trouble of doing it himself. Enlightening as his conversation with Matt had been, he was more interested in discussing the changes that had occurred seemingly overnight. "At the very least, my escort failed to inquire whether I had been making friends lately. Or, for that matter, hover over me like a concerned hen." He shoved his hands into his pockets and snorted. "As far as I'm concerned, that more than makes up for a morning spent cleaning."

[scalyfishman]

"'Something'?" Depth Charge raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything else. So Javert knew all about the kind of cats they kept here- good. Saved him from having to dredge up Forte; he'd come back in the end, but... slag, that night was the stuff nightmares were made from. Minor ones, but nightmares nonetheless.

Now Aguilar, that was safer territory.

"What, you're serious?" He made a face, playing along for now. "And here I was with you down as some kind of nurse Casanova programme." Now there was a joke; the guy might've been a crack hand at taking out zombies, but something about Javert just screamed uptight. He couldn't see the guy winking at a woman, never mind that. Depth Charge shifted on his crutches, changing his tone. "Gotta admit, it's nice not to be treated like some sort of malfunctioning prototype, even if I haven't cleaned a floor like that since I was a recruit getting kicked around for setting the drill sergeant's oil bath on fire. Still, this whole army gig's kind of putting me on edge, you know?"

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert let out a short laugh. "But of course. It's a wonder I haven't charmed my way out of here by now."

Depth Charge's next comment prompted a raised eyebrow. "I didn't know you'd served in the military." Truth be told, he knew little about Depth Charge's past, his search for Protoform X aside. The revelation was hardly surprising, now that he thought about it, but he had always thought of Depth Charge as a fellow police officer of some sort. Never mind the idea of sentient clockwork creatures having a police force still being too much to grasp.

"One wonders what the point of all this is. I can't see much point in my being here, for one, and it seems counterproductive to bring you here and place you in a human body if it's the perfect soldier they're after."

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge gave a little laugh of his own, even if it ended up with a faintly rueful edge to it. Now there was something he hadn't talked about in a long, long time- truthfully, he'd been doing his best to try and forget about it. Or maybe he was just worried he'd end up getting too nostalgic about it for his own good.

"Long time ago, but yeah. Way back when I was barely outta being a sparkl- uh, kid. I was a peace marshal- kinda like a cross between a soldier and a security guard, only intergalactic." His expression softened slightly, but he caught it and straightened it out before it could slip much further into sentimentality. Sharply, he shook his head. "S'all in the past now, anyway."

The Institute. Right. "Beats me, too. I mean, you and me? We can fight. But they've got kids here- people who couldn't fight if their life depended on it. There's gotta be an easier way of programming a super-soldier."

[unmocked_lawr]

So there were some memories there, buried deep. Something had happened--Javert was sure of it. While he had no particular desire to pry at this point in time, he couldn't help but feel a certain curiosity. Had that X fellow been involved somehow? Put an end to the entire affair, perhaps?

He nodded. "There's too much here that doesn't make sense. Admittedly, it's preferable to their insisting that we're madmen playing dress-up, but it isn't much of an improvement all the same."

[scalyfishman]

Thank Primus, Javert decided to let it drop; Depth Charge had figured he would, seeing how the man wasn't exactly the type to pry unnecessarily, but even so he couldn't stop his shoulders from slackening just a little. He'd barely realised they'd tensed in the first place.

"Right. Not much of a choice, huh? Committed or press-ganged." He glanced back to the Institute building, eyes flicking up to the fabled third floor; it still felt strange to know that the cause of their troubles was at once so close to them and so far from them. "This Aguilar guy hasn't even had the decency to turn up during the day, though, so that's one point down."

[unmocked_lawr]

"Patience," returned Javert, keeping his voice light. "As I recall it was a while before even Landel made his appearance. That said, Aguilar strikes me as the sort to keep himself hidden, at least for the time being. I shouldn't wonder if it makes him seem more formidable to most of the patients here. It's always somewhat disappointing when one can attach a face to some nameless threat."

He paused, then added sardonically, "Besides, could you imagine the ensuing riot if he ever did show his face? Solitary would be full for weeks."