Day 58: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

[human_sponge]

Peter's lunch meeting with Tear had gone far better than he could have even expected. It was a good thing that he wasn't the sort of person who judged by age, seeing how the girl had proved herself to be very capable despite the fact that she was only a teenager. Not that Peter would ever admit it out loud, but Tear was a lot more mature than his

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[unheroed]

Oh, right. This was the part about Ruby that really got under his skin. At least Grell was more or less polite about his injury, whereas Ruby just went on about it like it wasn't a touchy subject. She was either that tactless or she was trying to push his buttons; maybe a mix of both.

"Ever consider that it may just have been a freak accident?" he shot back with a frown that showed that he wasn't nearly as amused by this subject matter as she was. Although he realized that that argument was a weak one. He stood out for the sheer fact that Landel or Aguilar or whoever it was who decided who was brought here had picked him. Add the injury to that and yeah, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

To think that there would have been a time when he would have wanted nothing more than to get noticed. He'd gone the extra mile to make sure that everyone in Gotham knew his name, his face -- and that was why the result was so ironic. That was why the Joker had singled him out, had dropped by his hospital bed just to gloat.

He didn't see why she would have expected his mood to be better than a few days ago. No, if anything things got worse and worse as time went by in this place. It all piled up until you had a day like the one he was going through now, where just facing the world seemed like a struggle.

"It's more or less the opposite," he grumbled, dragging a hand down his face as he looked up to the ceiling. He didn't really want to deal with whatever smug look might be on Ruby's face now.

[thatdemonbitch]

"Thought about it," Ruby responded nonchalantly. But, he'd been clear. It was a man who'd done it, not a monster. If it were an accident, he would have dismissed it as that. But knowing it was a person? That made it a story. One she was determined to pry out of him sooner or later.

So, instead of dwelling and arguing it with him, she moved on. Moved on like the fact of the matter was that it didn't matter. Like the way he got uncomfortable every time she mentioned it was all him and no one else cared that he thought it was some big deal. He'd have to come around and get cozy to it sooner or later, Ruby was just paving the way.

"If I'd known you were gonna have this much trouble with sarcasm, I would have saved it." A beat. "Or, is this the part where I pull out the ice cream and we talk about our boy trouble?" The tone was mocking, naturally, but there was genuine interest there. From the sound of it, he'd had a rough few days himself. Probably not near as bad as hers -- he didn't exactly look like experimentation central -- but rough in their own way. And that meant there was more to learn about this place.

[unheroed]

"No, we're definitely not doing that." Harvey hadn't told anyone the whole story about what had happened, and no one had seemed to piece it together even after Peter's note on the board. Then again, he hadn't made it common knowledge that he was heading down into the basement, so someone would have only been able to figure it out if they'd really been putting a lot of effort into stalking him. It was good to see that that wasn't the case.

"Unless you want to start answering some questions for once." There was a pattern forming here where she was always the one asking him questions and he wanted to nip that in the bud as soon as possible. He didn't like prying in general, so if she started to think that it was the norm? That wouldn't be good.

What to ask, then? He couldn't even say he was that curious, but if it got the topic of the conversation off of him for a few minutes, then that was fine by him. "So, how have you been handling this torture prison?" She'd acted like she'd had everything under control a few days ago, but had anything changed since then?

[thatdemonbitch]

Considering how his initial response had felt like unavoidable bait into her asking about what had happened, his staunch refusal to talk only made Ruby more invested. Whatever he'd been up to, it was something she could officially count herself interested in. Anything that could make a guy that defensive was bound to be worth her time. So, there was a hint of a smile as she answered his question.

"Didn't realize you had so many." She played it coy, shrugging. "Long enough to know the ins and outs." Dean already knew that she wasn't the same Ruby who he'd met the first time -- and a helluva lot more than that, which she didn't really want to consider right now because it wasn't gonna help to just marinate in her frustration. Point was, there was no reason to keep acting like she'd been there for ages.

"Not quite at the week mark yet." The way she added it to her answer appeared begrudging -- it was best if she seemed like she was admitting something to him that she didn't like being honest with, or that she had a hard time admitting. With any luck, it'd warrant some kind of unconscious emotional response. Feeling special, like they bonded, whatever. Bringing them closer.

"Since we're playing twenty questions, guess it's only fair for you to return the favor. What's your timecard look like?"

[unheroed]

So, just shy of a week. Harvey had figured that Ruby had been around for about that long, which made him wonder why she thought she had the right to be so confident about everything. Had she really been exposed to any of the horrors of this place, or was she seeing it as easy street because she didn't get it yet? He doubted that she had been forced to watch two people she was teamed up with fight to the death, for instance.

It had been some time since Harvey had thought that hard on how long he had been here, though. The number of days didn't really matter in the end. He could have kept track, but he didn't need a row of scratch marks to inspire him to get out of here.

Although that wasn't even the plan anymore, was it? No, he needed to tear Aguilar apart first.

"I think I'm creeping up on three, myself." It was something that he'd refrained from telling her the first time they'd talked, mainly because she'd come on way too strong that time and had pissed him off more than a little. But... three weeks, shit. It made him wonder why his rank wasn't a little higher, at least. Though it wasn't like he cared that much. The solid food wouldn't be something he could make much use of and he didn't care much about how the soldiers treated him either way.

"So are you still desperate for information or have you figured all that out yourself?" She had pinpointed him as a good resource before, which wasn't necessarily untrue, but neither of them had sought the other out after that first chat. That probably meant Ruby had found her own way, one way or another.

[thatdemonbitch]

"Well, gee, that much time under your belt; in polite circles, you might be nearing retirement right about now." It wasn't especially mocking, though there was an edge of it to her tone. She couldn't help it. He had this air about him like he knew everything there was to know about the place. The grittiness to his attitude contributed. And, as far as Ruby was concerned, three weeks wasn't enough to warrant it. Not when she'd been doing just fine after the week she'd had. … More or less.

But, it wasn't the kind of thing that bore dwelling. After all, three weeks was still three times as much time as she'd put in, and that meant he had something to contribute. Even if it wasn't everything he thought it was.

"I was never desperate. Something you'll learn about me -- I don't do desperate. I make do all on my own -- when I have to. But, I'm also smart enough not to say no to anything you've got handy, if you're offering." She raised an eyebrow.

Not specific information, but anecdotes. The kind of thing like oh, by the way, I ran into a giant ape in the kitchen that nearly killed me. Or the fact that she, as a demon, had been possessed and lost her memories of it. Those were the quirks that you only saw through experience. And those were the things she wanted to hear.

[unheroed]

The idea of him ever going into retirement was laughable, even though he knew that Ruby meant it more as a joke or a jab. Harvey wasn't trying to show off, not really, but the fact of the matter was that he'd been here for quite a bit longer than her and that counted for something in this place. Did she even know about the basement? Well, he certainly wasn't going to tell her. Ruby wasn't his favorite person by any means, but he still wouldn't wish any of that on her.

If there was anyone she even cared enough about in this place for something like that to affect her. Probably not, after just a week.

The fact that she had to make it clear that she was never desperate only made her seem even more so to Harvey, especially since she was already trying to subtly ask for more information. It wasn't a stupid move on her part, of course, seeing how information was the only thing in this place that held any sort of value.

"I've still got to have some clue of what you want to know first," he pointed out with a shrug. He wasn't all that eager to help her, especially since he didn't even know if she could give something in return. He wasn't going to go out of his way to tell her things, but if she had something specific on her mind, then... well, maybe.

[thatdemonbitch]

He wanted specific questions, well, she couldn't say she had any. Not as far as her little end game of getting Sam out and back on track to Grand Apocalypse Station went, anyway. Maybe the way powers were limited, but Harvey wasn't exactly bursting at the seams with any kind of indicator that he had power at all. She'd have to leave that until after she found out if he was remotely worthwhile in the area.

But, there was one thing. Now that Sam was off the table and she could actually think of her own goals before her goals for him and where she wanted him to be, she realized something she wasn't especially happy about. That pit in her gut, the one that welled with guilt and burned in her veins just a little. The one that had been there ever since her little trip to the vet.

"Upstairs. Word on the street is they do experiments." God bless the uniform that hid the scar down the center of her chest that'd give an indicator that she knew from more than just word on the street. "What do you know about them? What are they trying to do?"

It was the closest to honesty that Ruby had ever been, and Harvey would never know.

[unheroed]

It was no surprise that she chose to ask about that. Even more than the brainwashing that went on, those experiments were a real threat. Not that Harvey would want to be victim to either, but if he was given a choice, he'd go for the brainwashing first. He could handle attacking people, especially since it didn't seem like they were even allowed to kill in that state. But having something done to him, either added or stripped away...

"I know as much as you really can about it without having been through it myself," he said after a pause. "My roommate went through it, but you better believe that he was being tight-lipped about the whole thing. Whatever goes on up there, it isn't pretty and no one who goes through it is interested in sharing the details."

Which meant that if Ruby wanted concrete details she was going to have to track down someone who'd gone through it and actually be civil enough to get them to open up to her. Harvey didn't see that as being particularly likely.

"It's hard to say what they're trying to do. The general guess is that they're exactly what we're calling them -- experiments. They're changing people around, either to make them better or break them down." It was no secret that they were treated like living specimens rather than humans in this place, after all. Forget what Aguilar said; he wasn't treating them like they were people.

[thatdemonbitch]

Changing them around. Taking what they were and bastardizing it beyond -- beyond the abomination that Ruby already was. Her expression flickered with a tenseness but she maintained her pokerface. She could still feel the slice of the saw, hear the lilt of the doctor's voice. The clinical tone. Her stomach turned.

Were they trying to break her down or build her up to something else? It had felt like her soul was seared, damaged beyond what it already had been. What had once been an emaciated skeleton of a being, torn and abused, was now charred beyond recognition. But only the doctors would really be able to tell her what their plan for her was, it'd seem.

"Your roommate got a name? I mean, I'm just saying, if I'm supposed to go around getting the first hand account, might help if I knew where to start with who'd seen the sharp end of those knives." She shrugged, raising one eyebrow in invitation. It wasn't a particularly demanding request -- she wasn't entitled enough to think that he had to tell her. But there was genuine interest that invited him to want to.

[unheroed]

Did she think she was being subtle, asking like that? At one point Harvey might have offered the name without a second thought, but over the past week or so that had changed. He and Lunge had started trusting each other, if just barely. In fact, it was the very tentativeness of it that made him reluctant to start giving out names. Ruby might try to hide her source, but Lunge wasn't stupid -- he'd probably only told so many people in the first place. Hell, the only reason Harvey knew was because he just happened to be his roommate and had watched as he'd been taken away.

"Yeah, he has one. Not giving it out, though," he replied with a shrug. Ruby could think whatever she wanted about him, but that wasn't something he was willing to do. She could find information the hard way. If it'd been the other way around, he sure as hell wouldn't have wanted Lunge giving his name out to random people, so this was only fair. It was the right thing to do, and in this case that was something he could be completely certain of.

"Ask around on the bulletin," he followed up, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe a few people out there might actually be willing to tell you more than the basics." He seriously doubted it, but if she was really that curious then that was what she was going to have to do.

And Harvey was saved from having to wriggle out of more questions by the intercom going off. Finally the day had come to an end, although he knew the night wasn't likely to bring anything better. Still, he wouldn't have to deal with as many people. It was awkward to know how to leave a conversation like this, and so at first he only stood quietly. "Guess I'll be seeing you," was what he eventually came up with before he moved away from the woman to go meet one of the soldiers.