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]

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.

[human_sponge]

Peter had to admit that Claire had a point. Reacting to what they were being put through was exactly what the administration wanted out of them. They were being experimented on, observed, and possibly even trained, so everything that was done to them was just part of the process. What they needed to do was somehow break out of that, but he had to admit that being stuck in this place so long had worn on his morale. This conversation was making it obvious. When he had first arrived here, he would have been thinking like Claire was now -- trying to find a way and believing that something would work. And it wasn't that he'd given up now, but he was definitely much more skeptical about the whole thing.

"You're right that there has to be a pair of keys, but I'm guessing there's just one, and it's on Aguilar's person." Which meant that there was no way of them getting in the "proper" way. No, it would require getting in through the window or picking the lock somehow, but even that seemed unlikely considering they didn't even have a clue as to where this office was. Aguilar might not have even taken over Landel's office in the first place.

He wasn't going to say that they were doomed and that escape was a fallacy, but he also thought that it wasn't going to be very easy to find a way to work around what was being done to them. It was going to be a long and difficult process, whereas Claire still seemed to think that they could bust out of here if they just tried hard enough. Everyone here was trying hard. It just wasn't good enough, not yet.

But now that his back was starting to feel about ten times better, Peter decided that he was sick and tired of being stuck in the uncomfortable wheelchair. Slowly, he started to ease himself up and out of it. "Anyway, I'm going to try and move over to the bed." He could lay on his side and at least feel a bit more rested. Examining the wound wouldn't be possible, and he wasn't going to ask Claire to do it. Burn wounds weren't pretty, and she didn't need to see it.

[autophoenix]

Just one set of keys. It seemed kind of arbitrary to assume that there was only one, but he was the one who'd worked in hospitals -- not Claire, so while she didn't mask her frustrated look, she accepted that he probably knew better than she did.

But when he started easing himself out of the wheelchair, she immediately moved to stand out of sheer concern. Should he be doing that? Again, he was the nurse, but she couldn't help that apprehensive look. When she saw that he didn't seem to be in any crippling pain from it, she sat slowly back down, but it didn't stop her from looking concerned. Nothing was gonna push that back.

"Careful," she suggested helplessly, worrying at her lower lip as he moved over. But they had more important things to talk about, so she tried to shaky the worry and focus on the getting out portions of life. "All right, so if Aguilar's got the only set -- which we don't know, by the way. It's worth looking around for someone who might have another. Like a lieutenant instead of one of the footsoldiers or something." The wording made it clear she wasn't exactly a military expert, but the basic idea was there.

"We can still do something else. I'll try and look around tonight. I've got my bat, I'll be fine. There has to be a way to another level of this place. If the experiments are on the top floor, maybe there's a third that Aguilar and Landel have been hiding out on." Or maybe Landel would make a reappearance and try to save face. She was still holding out that hope, then maybe they could take advantage of him putting himself in the open. That was an idea she kept to herself, though.

[human_sponge]

It was probably a bad idea for him to be moving around, but he wasn't doing anything drastic and laying on the bed would be about ten times more comfortable. So after using first the side of his wheelchair and then the desk as hand-holds, he eventually made it to the mattress. He sat down on the side of it first and then tried to ease himself into a laying position, but that bit of movement did strain enough that he ended up hissing in pain.

He did finally get into a position that was comfortable, on his side with his back to the wall. The temptation to prod at his bandages and try to judge the state of the wound was pretty strong, but he knew better than that. If anything, he'd risk it when Claire wasn't there.

Which apparently would be fairly soon, since it sounded like Claire wanted to head out tonight. "There is a third floor," he said eventually, "but no one's been able to figure out how to access it." The building was clearly three stories, but he'd never seen any stairs or elevators on the second floor that would lead further up.

He was conflicted as to whether or not he should let her go off on her own, though. On the one hand, he'd feel pretty selfish asking her to stay here with him when he'd already cut into her time due to needing to be healed. But if he let his guilt over that allow him to let her go, was that any better? He knew that she could take most hits without a problem, but still...

"Are you sure you want to go on your own, though? Where would you go?" Did she even know where to start?

[autophoenix]

Once he was laying down, Claire got to her feet and moved the wheelchair away from the side of his bed. She moved to grab the desk chair, lifting it up and carrying it over so she could sit beside the bed while she spoke to him so the conversation would be generally easier. Resting her elbows on her knees, she leaned forward some, getting comfortable.

"I'll be fine, I have a bat and a --" Oh. She didn't have her map. Well, that wasn't an issue if exploring was the point, right? "And my flashlight. But I'll start on the second floor and just scope everything out. I'm not saying I'll find anything right away, but it's worth trying, and it's a good place to start. Maybe there will be some … I don't know. Worst case scenario, I'll eliminate possibilities, right?"

And that was as helpful as finding something that was useful, right? Eliminating the things that weren't. She was, like, ninety percent sure that had come up in her math or biology classes before. Lots of failures was just a part of progress, but if they didn't get started on the discouraging failures now, they could be in there for years before they made any headway.

"Maybe there's a secret switch in a ceiling tile, I don't know. All I know is that I'll look and hopefully I'll know when I see it."

[human_sponge]

Even though it was only a small action, the fact that Claire decided to come sit near him was appreciated. It did make him feel a little more useless, but he knew it wasn't going to last too much longer, so he'd accept it. The girl actually had decent bedside manner; she might make a good nurse if she could focus enough on her classes with everything else going on in her life.

Which wasn't likely, especially since they were still stuck with the problem of getting out of here. Claire was giving a layout of her plans for the night, and while she had some good points, it wasn't as if it was going to bring them that much closer to escape.

But seeing how he had been dealing with pain all day, his pessimism probably had something to do with that. He wasn't going to keep dumping it onto Claire when she was trying her best. He still didn't like the idea of her running around on her own, but there wasn't much he could do and so he'd just have to try and give her some advice.

"I've seen some of the second floor. The pharmacy's up there, for instance, and some supply rooms. There's no harm in getting a better look, though. Just... do me a favor and try to find someone to stick with along the way, okay?" It wasn't all that hard to pair up with someone on the go here, and he couldn't imagine most decent people would let a teenage girl run around on her own if they saw her.

[autophoenix]

When he listed off what he knew of the second floor, Claire couldn't help but let her expression darken as she mentally added the experimentation rooms to the list. The hallway with the hallucinations that she and both Peters had suffered. It made her briefly distant bordering on morose, but she shook it and nudged herself into a response to keep up the illusion that she was really convinced she could do this.

"I'll try. If I see anyone up there that I know, I'll try and get them to help me out, okay? I promise." It seemed silly that now she was trying to console Peter that she'd do what he wanted, considering how eager she'd been to take out her frustrations with herself on him earlier. But then again, that wasn't exactly abnormal for Claire.

Besides, she was trying to put the whole last night out of her mind entirely and forget that she had anything to feel guilty over. Making it up to him by not getting her butt kicked by some crazy nurses or whatever else might be crawling up there seemed like a good start. Reaching out, she covered his hand with both of hers and offered him a look of reassurance.

"I'll be careful. You don't have to worry about me, remember?" A strained smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I'm invincible." There was a certain relief to being able to just say so, even if she wasn't sure that indestructible nature she'd gotten used to was still as reliable here.

If she healed slower, maybe there were things she couldn't heal from. A few scalpel and glass cuts weren't that serious -- even Edward's more serious burns and Peter's condition, it didn't match the scale she'd tested her powers out to before she got into the institute. What if she fell over the balcony into the sun room or something? Would her bones mend if she popped them back into place? The uncertainty bred a little bit of fear into her, but she was working on ignoring that as much as her guilt and frustration over Peter's doppelganger.

[human_sponge]

While it was fully possible that Claire was only saying that in order to make him feel better about the whole thing, Peter decided to accept it. He'd already done what he could to convince her that she needed to be cautious at every turn, so at this point it was up to her to take his advice or not. He was still going to be kicking himself if she ended up in trouble and he wasn't able to do anything about it, but if he spent all of his time worrying then neither of them would get anywhere.

However, when she placed her hands on his he suddenly felt as if everything she was saying was genuine. She wouldn't have been acting this way if she was secretly planning to just stay to herself out of spite or something along those lines. Or at least that's what he told himself.

"Invincible, right," he said with a small smile. "Well, you've definitely done me some good. Thanks again. I hope the food was a good trade-off." He got the feeling it was, seeing how she didn't actually have to do anything to heal him except share the same space with him.

In reality, there were many non-physical ways in which she could be hurt, but Peter was pretty certain that Claire already knew that. "Anyway, I think I'm about as healed as I'm gonna get, so don't stay here for my sake." She'd already wasted enough of her time. If she hung around here for too much longer, she wouldn't be able to get very far in her search. In a way, that would be comforting since it meant she couldn't get attacked, but Peter knew that that kind of thinking was counter-intuitive.

[autophoenix]

He was probably right. If she was doing the more productive thing, she'd haul her butt out of the room right now and get headed upstairs to see what she could find. But, she wasn't doing the more productive thing, because there was a lot more for her to be emotionally invested in here than there was upstairs in the dark. An escape was great and all, but she'd rather see Peter heal.

Which, okay, he was looking way better than he had at lunch, but if she left the process was gonna just quit and she wasn't up for bailing until he was at 100% and going all narcoleptic like Edward had. It seemed like a good meter stick for knowing when the healing had kicked in, anyway, assuming it was the same for her and Peter as it was for somebody who just got her blood.

So, she shook her head a little stubbornly.

"I'm not worried about time limits. If I make it, I make it. If not, I'll … I don't know, go out and do the same thing tomorrow night until I find a ladder or a staircase or an dumb waiter to get to the third floor. Right now, I'd rather be here." For the time being, anyway. She wouldn't deny the reckless and adventurous sides of her were already hedging on cabin fever, wanting to get moving, but she owed Peter this.

"So, you're welcome, but unless you're kicking me out, I'm planning to stick around just a little while longer." There was a wry kind of teasing in her tone, which seemed out of place given their circumstances.

[human_sponge]

Seeing how Peter had expected for her to race out the second he gave her the go ahead, he was shocked when Claire said the exact opposite. It seemed like she wasn't quite convinced that he was done healing yet -- or maybe she just wanted to spend some more time with him before heading into the dark on her own. If she was scared, then he didn't blame her. Any fear of this place was completely justified, and sometimes the hallways got too quiet and too dark.

He still managed to laugh when she mentioned a dumb waiter of all things. That was a ridiculous thought and the mental image of Claire trying to haul herself up a floor in one was pretty hilarious. The scary thing was that she might actually fit in one of those things.

However, as much as Claire was trying to keep the mood light, Peter appreciated the sentiment. "Well," he replied with a weaker smile -- he was feeling pretty worn out, healed or not, "I'm glad to see I rank above exploration. I'm not kicking you out, though. Just figured you'd be in a hurry. Stay as long as you like."

Or as long as he could stay awake, anyway. This bed felt far more comfortable than it had any right to.

[autophoenix]

The laugh was its own tiny reward, because in this place, she could count on probably one hand the number of times in the past week that she'd done it. Still, hearing one out of Peter made her chuckle softly. It seemed like a small, stupid thing, but it made a big difference when it counted. Because that was supposed to be the benefit of having someone you loved with you, right? Things being better. This was better -- well, marginally, anyway.

"I'll try not to overstay my welcome," she assured, getting comfortable and keeping her hands planted firmly over his. Now, though, she was working on a good, subtle way to assess when he was asleep. Maybe if she kept him talking and he just stopped responding … It wasn't like she could just ask flat out. But, after some brief, silent pondering, she straightened.

"But for now, I'm taking advantage of the bonding time." Lord knew they didn't get enough of it. "So, how about you tell me about Izzie? It's important that I know all of my Petrelli family members, and he counts."

[human_sponge]

As far as Peter was concerned, there was no such thing as Claire overstaying her welcome with him. The fact that they had only realized they were related when she was already well into her teens was a real shame, and so he figured that any time he spent with her was just making up for all of those years that they hadn't known about each other.

He turned his hand around so that he could clasp one of hers comfortingly -- to let her know that even if he was bedridden at the moment, he'd be back on his feet soon. Back to his normal self, where he could help her explore and protect her.

However, it seemed that she wanted to know more about his childhood dog, and Peter sent her a smile almost immediately. "Izzie was a she, actually. She was a family dog, but I was always closest to her. Dad hated her and Nathan tolerated her. Mom liked her so long as she wasn't tearing up her garden..."

It was odd, thinking back on his family when so many of the memories were bad ones. Still, he cared for all of them -- even his dad, when he really got down to it -- and he had to wonder if they'd ever really be able to be a family again. It sounded melodramatic even in his head, but so much had changed recently. As far as he knew, Nathan and Angela were both brainwashed and under the impression that he was insane. It was hard to imagine them all actually being together again.

At least he had Claire, though. This whole experience was allowing her to appreciate her even more than he had.

[autophoenix]

It was always weird to think that this was her family and that it could have been her life. She never really figured out how to reconcile how she was supposed to feel about the Petrellis and what they were supposed to be to her. Peter was easy -- with how much he'd done for her and everything they'd been through, he meant more to her than anyone. Considering him a relative didn't make a difference in that, because she would have considered one even if they didn't share blood.

But when it came to Nathan and Angela and Meredith, she fell short. She already had a family. A mother, a father -- little brother, even, and now, she realized, she had half-brothers as well. It was a mess. How did you slot two people into that role? And how could Nathan and Meredith come in this late and be put into it? And somehow, that didn't stop her from wanting to know more about them, like that would somehow teach her about herself that she didn't already know.

And it didn't stop her from wanting their approval, either, but that was a whole different, messy animal altogether. So was the way that Angela couldn't seem to make up her mind over whether or not she considered Claire to be her daughter or not. She tried to focus on Peter and Nathan and his dad as Peter explained, but somehow all she could muster up was the mental image of Angela kicking the poor puppy out of her garden.

Sadly, she could kind of relate.

"Not surprising," she remarked wryly with a slight roll of her eyes. It was just like Angela -- or at least, what Claire knew of her. Admittedly, it wasn't all that much, but she knew well enough to get a feel for what to expect out of the woman. And what she could expect was just a whole lot of frigid distance. "Why'd you get her if nobody liked her? Other than you, I mean. You'd think Angela and your dad would, like, draw the line or something."