Night 55: M21-30 Hallway

[osoreirimasu]

Dinner was just as unappealing as lunch had been. A plain, tasteless gruel that had the same consistency as okayu without any of the flavor. If it were up to him, he would have flavored the broth, maybe topped it with pickled plum or green onions. He would have preferred salted salmon on top, but that was a luxury now. Worse than the taste was

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[human_sponge]

In the end, dinner had gone by faster than Peter had expected, probably because it had taken him a lot of energy just to do small tasks -- and he tended to lose track of time when he was speaking with Sam. He was glad that they were relatively comfortable with each other by now, even though he realized there were a lot of unshared secrets between them still. It didn't seem to hamper their friendship or their compatibility as roommates in any way, and that was the important thing.

What it did mean, though, was that he hadn't even gotten the chance to wheel himself around and see if Neku was right about all of his items being gone. His shovel was normally stored in his closet, but would it be there? He realized it wouldn't be a huge hassle to get another one, but it would become problematic if each one he got was then taken when morning came. Why were they making things harder?

But maybe Neku was the only one who'd been affected, something to do with the Special Counseling he'd been forced into. At this point it seemed easier to just wait for Claire to show up and look on his behalf, since the way he'd have to move his arms and back to wheel himself was going to be extremely unpleasant.

The message that came with the change over to night was only mildly interesting. Landel had put some emotion into his words, at the least, while this Aguilar guy just demanded things of them. Well, Peter wasn't going to be proving much of anything this evening, so he wasn't even going to worry about it. There was a chance he'd feel up to going out after the healing process was over with, but he wasn't going to count on that. With how limited his ability was here, chances were the whole thing would just tire him out even further.

Sam took off soon after the announcement was over, leaving Peter to sit there, at his desk, in the wheelchair. Getting onto the bed would be a waste of time and energy, but he still hated how useless he felt. He hoped Claire made it over quickly, though he realized he already owed her for wasting some of her night to come help him. Not that he thought she had even questioned it.

[For Claire.]

[autophoenix]

[ from here ]

Okay. The more rational part of her brain chimed in as she turned down the hallway that Peter shared with Sylar, following the numbers back as they counted down. So maybe she couldn't say that she'd never run into an issue there anymore, after last night, but it wasn't like she'd died or something. Just … lost all faith in her ability to tell the difference between Peter and a monster or whatever that thing was.

She wasn't going to dwell on it, okay? It was better that way. So, she stopped in front of M24 and, while she considered knocking on the door, she instead just pushed it open and peeked inside, not hesitating to step in quietly.

"Peter?"

[human_sponge]

Having to wait in silence while still having to regulate his pain wasn't the best way to pass the time, but Claire luckily made the trip quickly despite the fact that she was coming from the other side of the set of room blocks.

Peter was glad that she didn't bother knocking, too. Sam was already gone anyway (though it would have been interesting for the two to meet), and having to wheel himself over to open the door for her would just be counterproductive.

So he watched her walk in, noticing the uncertainty in her eyes. He needed to put her worries to rest before anything else. "Izzie," he said immediately, with a weak smile. "My dad hated that dog." Nathan hadn't been the fondest of it either, but that was only to be expected. His brother had spent a large part of his life trying to be like Arthur, after all.

[autophoenix]

The remark about his dad made Claire give a sympathetic nod, but knowing that he was quick to confirm it was him was both reassuring and frustrating. Like she couldn't tell that he was the one in the wheelchair, in his room. Granted, maybe his doppelganger could manage that too, but … still. Okay, she was definitely going to suck at this code word thing.

"My dad wasn't Mr. Muggles biggest fan, either. He came around, though." Shutting the door behind her, she invited herself to sit at Peter's desk -- or, well, what she assumed to be his desk -- and got comfortable. All she had to do was be around for him to start sponging up the healing, right? So, until he got to total healing status, they could just chat. It's not like she had any other epic plans for the night, after all.

Maybe she could go back to the file room finally and loot around in it. She highly doubted Peter would be up for coming with her, or approve of her going alone, so she just kept that potential stop off to herself. It was better for his blood pressure that way.

"How are you feeling?" It was kind of a two-faced question if she was being entirely honest. On the one hand, she really did wanna know what kind of pain he was in. But on the other … if he'd picked up her ability and he was still having the same pain issues that she was, he'd know, right? Her power -- if that's indeed what the cause of her sensitivity issues was -- would be better than morphine.

[human_sponge]

Peter had to admit, trying to imagine Mr. Bennet playing with a tiny, fluffy dog was a pretty amusing mental image. It was enough to bring an unintended smile out of him as he pictured it. Nathan had at least tolerated Izzie enough to take her on walks sometimes and play fetch with the two of them when Peter asked, but he hadn't been as thrilled when the dog had tracked in dirt or torn up one of his ties.

Which maybe wasn't that unreasonable, but that was just part of having a dog. All of those bumps in the road had been worth all of the love that she'd given to them. And love was something that had been sorely lacking in the Petrelli household. It was like they were all allergic to it.

As Claire sat down, however, Peter waited for the healing to kick in. It was no surprise that it was a bit sluggish here, but he hoped that it didn't take too long. Was it just him, or was the pain already starting to get a bit more manageable? Placebo effect or not, he was glad for it. He'd been suffering with this all day.

"I'm all right," he said with a nod as he shifted in the wheelchair slightly. Okay, that still hurt, but... for all he knew, it would have been much worse before Claire showed up. "I think the pain's starting to ease up a little. Oh, by the way, if you wanted any of my leftover fish..." Peter gestured to the plate of food at his desk. He hadn't gotten through all of it, and he knew that Claire had probably been served the pink gunk for dinner.

[autophoenix]

Right. The pain was starting to ease up a little. The phrases of uncertainty ('I think' and 'a little' weren't exactly confidence-inspiring) earned a reproving look from Claire, one that flagrantly doubted his claim but made it clear she wasn't going to call him out on it. Hey, if he wanted to try and make her feel better more power to him. That was an uncle's job, right? Or … something like that. Besides, maybe he was trying to convince himself too. If she were in that kind of condition …

Well, she'd been in that kind of condition a couple times, but it'd never lasted, and it'd never been while trapped in the weird house of horrors rip-off they were stuck in. Which, by the way? Seriously sucked. She couldn't seem to impress that enough today.

And it sucked worse because even when Peter smiled she couldn't help digging the knife into her emotional state that wow, there really were some ways to tell when it was him or not and that? Kind of one of them. Nobody else smiled like Peter, because when Peter smiled it had this 'everything's going to be okay' feeling to it and maybe that was just Claire and her hero-worship, but she was kind of convinced it was an ability he'd picked up along the way from somebody.

But, anyway. Her attention shifted to the food tray beside her and she immediately reverted from doubtful to scandalized. Okay, this was totally not fair.

"Cheap!" She scowled, glancing quickly back over at him in her surprise. "How come you get real food and Bella and me wound up with the weird Spam soup?" Calling it Spam soup was a serious overstatement. It was grosser than that. Which was probably why she'd so eagerly left it alone to talk to Bella and get out of there, despite not eating for most of the day.

But, hey, real food now? She wasn't going to turn down the shot at taking advantage of this family deal. Sharing is caring, right? So, she compliantly stole the fork off Peter's plate and took a bite, turning in the chair while she chewed to scrutinize him. It wasn't something she'd had the chance to quiz him on earlier, but now … She swallowed.

"I didn't realize the powers weren't turned on during the day." Putting it that way sounded pretty ridiculous -- like she'd gotten used to the on/off switch with the dimmer that Landel or Aguilar or whoever seemed to have in regards to their abilities, but still. It was an apt description. And, well, it wasn't all that surprising that it hadn't occurred to her. She didn't exactly have offensive powers to test out.

"I mean, it makes sense. People would be, like, climbing the walls to get out of here if they had that stuff to fight these stupid soldiers off with. But I guess I just … never really noticed." A shake of her head followed. Pete for sure wouldn't just be hanging around on the couches if he had his powers. The guy was, like, Superman, right? The speed and the strength. He would have been out already. Even with the limitations. Not to mention what Sylar could probably do. Not exactly a cheery thought, but if it meant busting a hole open in the wall for them to crawl through … No, she'd still probably spike him in the back of the head. Repeatedly. But at least they'd be able to get out if he used those stolen abilities to get somewhere in the daylight. Or what Peter could absorb from a room full of superhumans at lunch …

[human_sponge]

Peter didn't know what that look was for. Did she think he was lying? Well, maybe he was. He honestly couldn't tell if the pain was getting better or not, but the words had just come out. Mainly because he wanted them to be true. It was depressing each and every time he was reminded of just how much his powers had been weakened, even though he'd seen it as a blessing at first. It wasn't anymore, not when it meant he stayed injured and captured in this place.

Claire's reaction to seeing his much nicer food was actually enough to earn a genuine laugh out of him despite the fact that his back still felt like it was on fire. Even though he'd spent lunch with her, it apparently hadn't completely sunk in until now that he was getting the better end of the deal.

The term "spam soup" was almost enough to turn his stomach, though.

"Not really sure what it is, but I guess if you've been around longer, you get the better food." That was what he'd seen theorized over the bulletin, anyway. It seemed the most likely at this point, although he had to wonder why Sam hadn't gotten any. It was true that Peter had seniority over him, but it really wasn't by much.

Either way, it seemed that Claire had no qualms about picking off of his leftovers, unlike Sam. Peter was glad for that, though; it always helped his mood when someone was able to benefit off of him, and he didn't understand the point in people being martyrs when he was more than happy to be of help. For once, Claire wasn't behaving that way.

Another thing that was helping his mood was that the pain really did seem to be fading, if slowly. It was really amazing what Claire was capable of, he had to admit. If she hadn't been here he would have been out of commission for a few days, but this way he'd be back on his feet and ready to go by tomorrow.

Peter was shocked to hear that his niece hadn't realized until recently that powers were inaccessible during the day. It was something that should have been obvious and Claire even acknowledged that, but he figured it was understandable seeing how her power was passive. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that extends to you, too, so try not to get into any fights during the day, okay?" He was clearly joking, but there was a thread of seriousness in there as well. Claire had changed a lot since they'd first met. For all he knew, if she got annoyed enough by something, she might take a swing at a soldier or get into it with another patient just because she thought she was invincible.

[autophoenix]

The whole length of stay thing made sense -- she may have been biased towards considering it super dumb, but being around as long as Peter had kind of warranted the whole consolation prize thing. The fact that they were getting their food ripped off in the first place was bad enough, though. Couldn't they find some other way to console the more senior so-called patients? Still. Internal complaining or not, she seemed to accept the answer.

She did, however, laugh at his response to her expressed surprise over the ability limitation issue. Honestly, when she put too much thought into it, it was scary. It meant they could take them away entirely but they were choosing not to and it was just more of that … blatant messing with them thing that she hated. But that was why she wasn't putting too much thought into it right now. As long as she just focused on hanging out with her uncle, she could worry about the messy stuff later. Like when he inevitably conked out like Edward had.

Which reminded her, she still needed to figure out where she was gonna go when that happened …

"Right, because I'm, like, ten kinds of belligerent." She sassed back at him nonchalantly, rolling her eyes. Okay, maybe today it was a little more true than other days, but she had reason. It's not like she was huffing around for the sake of huffing. That and she hoped Peter just wouldn't bring it up. A little more solemnly, she offered him a reassuring smile. "Have you seen those guys? They're like … twice my size, most of them. Believe me, I'll behave myself. But, you have to, too."

Resting the fork back on the plate of food, she hesitated for a minute, mulling the day over and trying to battle with herself briefly over whether she wanted to just push it down and bury it and ignore it or talk to Peter about what was going on and how bad it was getting to her. How honestly freaked she was by all of this.

Kidnapping, she was used to. She could do kidnapping. But it wasn't just like some weird communal kidnapping thing anymore, it was like some freaky new age concentration camp for the superpowered (which most of them were, she was certain) and that was just seven kinds of not okay.

"You know, I never thought I'd say it, but I think I miss Landel." It was that age old issue of the enemy you know versus the enemy you don't, and she was learning fast that she preferred the one she at least felt like she knew. There was an unpolished, vulnerable edge to her tone but she swallowed it done and offered him a wry look that was supposed to be comical, like she was cracking a joke but hadn't managed to pull it off quite right.

[human_sponge]

It really wasn't something to laugh about, but Peter knew that Claire was probably just doing her best to make light of something that was actually a pretty big deal. Then again, that was one of the only ways to cope with a lot of what went on here; laughing to avoid thinking about it harder than necessary. He couldn't hold that against her.

While the girl was trying to play it off like she wouldn't hurt a fly, Peter had seen her get angry -- not at him, but at Sylar. It was something that showed in her face when the killer came up, and while she had every reason to hate him (hell, Peter hated him just as much, if not more), it made it clear that she had the potential to at least start a fight with another patient. She could see Sylar pushing her over the edge pretty easily, which was why he was glad that he hadn't seen much of the psycho recently.

"All right, I'll take your word for it," he said with a casual smile. "And hey, I'm the last person you need to worry about. I've never been sedated once during my time here." Though he had to admit he hadn't seen many needles coming out this past day. Apparently the military preferred different punishments, like jumping jacks and withholding food.

As for what Claire said about preferring Landel to Aguilar, well... It was a comment he'd already heard a few times. He could definitely understand it. They'd known what to expect with Landel (more or less), whereas this was a whole new ball game. And if he was really going to face the facts, not many of them were really prepared to be treated like soldiers. It wasn't an easy life, and not one of them had signed up for it. This was about ten times worse than getting drafted, and he hated that his niece had to be exposed to it.

"I know," he said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "We're just going to have to be even more careful from now on." He shifted in his seat when he started to cramp up and was surprised to see that it was almost painless. "Hey, it's really kicking in now," he remarked, clearly relieved.

There was one thing that he'd been wondering about, though, and that he hadn't gotten the chance to ask Claire at lunch due to the whole issue of him being cloned that had come up. They had never really gone over what had happened with the younger Peter, and he wondered if Claire had just been avoiding him or if she'd resolved it by now. "Oh, and what ever happened with... Pete?" he asked, finding it strange to use that nickname when it was the one that only Nathan ever called him.

[autophoenix]

"I'm glad," was her immediate, smile-accompanied response to the assurance that he was healing up. It was weird to see him all wheelchair-bound and injured like that. After all, the cripple look didn't even come close to meshing with the image she'd always had of Peter. He might as well just slap an S on his chest and call himself Superman. Well, mostly. But the point was that getting him out of the wheelchair was a notion that brought her considerable comfort. "On healing counts and your sedation record. If I'd been in here as long as you, I'd probably be tearing my hair out or something already."

Unfortunately, that was as far as she could get away with taking that, because Pete had come up and -- well. That was certainly an issue that needed dealing with. Or … talking over. You know, minus the issue part. The only issue was batting down her pride and actually admitting that maybe -- just maybe -- Peter had been right and she shouldn't have preemptively judged Pete based on her experiences and fears and blah blah blah. It was all great after school special material. And it was all a huge cost to her ego.

Begrudgingly, though, she began to force the explanation out of her mouth.

"I talked to him," she began slowly, doing a good job of hiding how hard it was for her to admit that she was wrong and Peter was right. "And … he understood. He understood everything. We talked forever about the whole powers thing and I think he really gets what it's like." She opened her mouth to continue, but relating the whole thing to West was kind of going to go missed on Peter, anyway. Even if he knew West in her time -- which he didn't -- West hadn't even come into her life at the time Peter's memories capped out and that was a whole mess of complicated. Better to just keep the connection there to herself.

"You were right," she confessed, though her belabored admission was turning into something more like an extensive rambling. Her lips were curved up into a fond smile and she shook her head, shrugging one shoulder. "Trying to hide it was a stupid idea." It had hurt him. That much she hadn't forgotten, and while it wasn't exactly what she'd call a lesson learned, it was at least one she wouldn't repeat with Pete. If he could handle her crazy Wolverine powers and making it through high school having powers of his own, he could handle anything.

[human_sponge]

This was definitely good for both of them. Peter got to get out of this chair that much faster while Claire got to feel like she was being of help. She'd already done that with Edward (also for burns, in that case), but he got the feeling that that whole night had been soured for Claire due to other reasons. He was curious about how things had been going with her and Bella, but that would probably have to wait.

As the pain became more and more tolerable, Peter was more and more tempted to just jump out of the wheelchair and take a walk around the room. He didn't want to go anywhere, even, but just getting to stretch his legs would be great. But the nurse in him refused that idea; he couldn't really analyze how far he was in the healing process when his wound was on his back, but he probably wasn't in any shape to be risking that yet.

Either way, it was clear that Claire didn't exactly want to talk about the whole Pete thing, but she got around to explaining herself eventually. And it sounded like after having some time to think it over, she'd done the right thing. She'd been honest with her friend and she'd been rewarded for it, and that caused Peter to smile all on its own.

A different person might have rubbed it in her face, but Peter wasn't like that at all. No, he was proud of Claire. Maybe that wasn't his job since he wasn't Bennet and he certainly wasn't Nathan either, but... he was still allowed to be the proud uncle, wasn't he?

"I'm really glad to hear that. It's good that you gave him a chance, and I'm really relieved that it worked out for you." He would have been eating his words ten times over if she'd taken the risk and it had blown up in her face, but Peter wouldn't have encouraged her if he'd believed for even a second that that would happen. Pete just didn't seem like the type to turn on someone because of that.

"I don't blame you for being apprehensive at first, but... thanks for hearing me out." She had ultimately made the decision on her own, but he wanted to think that he'd at least helped her get there.

[autophoenix]

"I'm just glad that you were right," she admitted. "I mean, I know I should have believed that you were going to be right from the start -- you usually are -- I just …" Was scared? Did she really want to confess to that? A part of her argued that Peter was the one person she could tell anything to -- that if she was going to admit that to anyone, he should be the one. But she wasn't sure she wanted even him to know it, so she just shook her head and looked down at her lap, fidgeting her hands.

"Anyway." She cleared her throat to continue. Yeah, definitely better that she didn't touch on that. She was supposed to be keeping up the tough, brave thing and while she'd done a pretty crappy job of it today and found herself tripping over a handful of erratic emotions, she was going to do better at it, because that latent urge for approval was always going to be there.

Even with Nathan and Noah nowhere to be seen, she could feel the pressure she always put on herself to act grown up and make them proud -- and she even was starting to feel it with Peter. She missed the days when -- well, the days he was from. Sure, she'd thought he was dead then, but … at least she wouldn't be so subconsciously determined to act more grown up than she felt.

"The point is things worked out. Just like you said." Which was good, because she still wasn't sure where she stood with Bella. They hadn't really gotten a chance to really talk since they'd fought pigheadedly through their frustrations, and that wasn't really closure.

"So, enough about me and Pete. We should be talking about what we're gonna do with these soldiers. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm like six kinds of not okay with this. If I have to mop another floor, I'm gonna punch somebody --" A pause, she quickly held up her hands in an indication of mock surrender. "Not really. I mean, not actually punch. The whole … not getting into fights in the daytime thing. I remember. But we have to do something."

[human_sponge]

While Claire didn't finish that sentence, Peter could more or less fill in the blank. Worried, apprehensive, frightened -- whatever it was, she'd had her reasons for hesitating. After being told by her father that she might end up as some sort of science experiment because of her power, only for that to actually happen... Well, he could see why Claire had felt the need to be cautious. He still didn't think that she should start shouting from the rooftops about what she could do, but when it was with a friend, it was probably all right.

He nodded when she confirmed that everything had worked out the way it was supposed to, and it only made his opinion of the other Peter grow. He'd gotten a good feeling about the kid when he'd met him, which was probably a large part of why he'd felt comfortable encouraging Claire to offer him the truth. He'd have to track Pete down at some point and thank him for supporting his niece.

However, Claire was closing up that subject and moving onto something else, which was the issue of the soldiers. He could understand her frustration and her need to do something about it, but when he was currently half-charred and stuck in a wheelchair, he couldn't say he felt all that heroic at that very moment. It wasn't like him, but pain took a lot out of a person, and he didn't know if he had the energy to be as rebellious as she needed him to be.

"Yeah, no punching," he said first and foremost with a crooked smile. "And you're right, things are probably just going to go from bad to worse." He wasn't soldier material and neither was Claire, so what were they even doing here? Was it all because of their powers? And if so, then why were they so limited? "Still, our hands are kind of tied when they're carrying guns around and you can't even heal during the day. We already know what sort of result a riot's going to have, too..." He didn't want to be a downer, but he also had to be realistic if he was going to keep Claire's safety in mind.

[autophoenix]

"So, then, we don't cause a riot." Her response was prompt and she pulled one leg up against her chest, wrapping her arms around it so she could rest her chin on her knee, looking more intent on the discussion now that it had entered a productive spectrum instead of the necessary updates. "There are a million quieter ways to get around them and not get shot up with drugs for it."

Okay, maybe not a million. But she could think of at least a few -- nonviolent protest wasn't some brave new world of resistance, and Claire wasn't exactly the champion of being versed in it, but she'd been a teenager long enough to have some idea.

"What if we just got a hold of a set of keys?" The bat had worked to get some doors open, but some of the locks were too new and just simply wouldn't budge. It only made sense that wherever the broadcasts were coming from -- wherever Aguilar or Landel or whoever was in charge now was probably hiding -- would have those locks and they'd need a key to get in.

"We don't need to start … throwing food to sneak out. We could go look around, find Aguilar or something or Landel's office. Maybe there would be some information on how he's got us all stuck here and how to get us unstuck." Living with Noah had taught her well enough how to be discreet. Or at least how to attempt it and what to look for. There had to be a computer of some kind with files or even some master filing cabinet somewhere with something useful inside.

If Peter was going to throw around the idea of code words, she could throw around the idea of reenacting a bad spy movie. Besides, at least she'd done that before. So what if it was just her dad instead of some huge freaky mental hospital? The principle had to be the same. ... Ish.

[human_sponge]

It wasn't even sedation that Peter was worried about. It was getting beaten down and being put in solitary like what had happened to some of the patients the day before. It was true that that could be recovered from, but it hindered progress even more, didn't it? Maybe it was the risk that had to be taken to actually get somewhere, but he didn't entirely buy that. There had to be a better way to go about it other than purposefully baiting the soldiers.

And while Claire threw out ideas like it was all so simple, Peter didn't really see it that way. If he had Claude's invisibility, that would be one thing, but he was almost entirely useless here, at least during the day -- and not much better at night. Even if he could turn invisible when night came (which he couldn't), he doubted he'd be able to sneak past the monsters that way. They likely had great senses of smell that would give him away immediately.

Find a key and then find the office -- wasn't that the plan that everyone came up when first arriving here? But then it became very obvious that that wasn't going to happen. "No one's ever been able to find his office," he said with a shake of his head. "And where would we get a key? You mean steal it off of one of the soldiers?"

Maybe Claire had changed more than he'd realized, but he seriously doubted that she could pickpocket well enough to do that. She'd just end up getting hit in the jaw with the butt of a rifle and then denied food for a shift or two. That wouldn't help anyone.

But he couldn't be entirely discouraging. Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair -- and was pleasantly surprised to realize that that didn't hurt to do. "It's not that I'm against trying something new, but if we do then we need to make sure to plan it out very carefully, and we'll probably need help. We can't just... throw something together and assume it'll work. The fact that so many people have been stuck here for so long makes that pretty obvious."

[autophoenix]

Claire had to bite back a frustrated sigh at his pessimism and doubt. Sure, it wasn't exactly like they had good prospects, but trying things that might fail was better than not trying anything at all just for the sake of saying they'd keep searching for something better. And it sure beat the hell out of their current deal with things as they're happening plan.

"We have to take the offensive. We can't just keep … reacting to what they're doing as they do it, it's not going to get us anywhere. That kind of thinking is exactly why people are still stuck here!" So, maybe she was getting a little overzealous and defensive about this now, but she couldn't help it. But, he at least seemed a little open to the possibility, so she dropped the convincing and got right to moving on with her idea, even if it was admittedly still in the formative stages.

"But that's exactly what I mean. All it takes is sneaking up on one of them while they're distracted and grabbing the keys. They all have to carry a set, right? Say what you want about the office, but we're not gonna get anywhere unless we have those keys. Anything important is going to be behind the newer, tougher locks." There was a stubbornness and determination in her expression, and sometime during her rant, her heel had slid off the chair and she was sitting forward again.

Her mind was running in a million different directions, trying to hammer out possible scenarios for how to distract a guard without getting punished and how to sneak up on them. Not just that, but who else might be able to help. Bella probably would, but would she be any help? She had been against the mirror monster, but that was different. Peter, though -- the other one -- he had all kinds of crazy reflexes, right? There's no way he wouldn't help if she asked.