Night 58: Ruins

[yin_yang_fox]

[from here]She moved from the cover of the trees into the open space provided. In this, at least, they had been right. And these in front of her fit the idea of 'ruins' precisely--imperfectly so, as the result did not match the time. She eyed the buildings warily. And where would the new radio persona be, if he was indeed here? There were few

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[roseoverture]

The thing that jumped out at Utena the most as Marc spoke was the bit about a "weird mental block". As far as Utena knew, Marc hadn't mentioned anything like that before. If he had said something about it over the radio, it hadn't been while she was around. Looking back on their conversations, it made sense, though. There had been at least a few points in past conversations where Marc had been frustratingly vague about things. So that was Landel's doing too, huh? Yet another reason to justify her burning urge to stomp on Landel's face the second she ever got the chance.

Never mind that the ability tied directly one of the things that angered Utena the most in the Institute thus far - the brainwashing of patients. Whether it was used for Special Counseling, visitors, or that very "special" day Utena had spent as Yomi, it all came back to stripping away a person's identity and sense of self, and that was just one of the most unforgivable things in the world as far as Utena saw it. She was surprised Landel hadn't just wiped Marc's entire mind and left him a babbling mute for the rest of his life. It was within his power, from what she was hearing. Small things to be thankful for, she thought with teeth grit.

She almost missed the next things that Renamon and Tear had to say, lost in thought as she was. Something about the military being hard to get rid of and being the same in all worlds. That was true, she thought, definitely. Thinking back to her meeting with Berg earlier in the day, she had very much gotten the sense that he was part of something a lot bigger than just what was going on at the Institute.

Speaking of Berg. Utena's eyes widened slightly, unable to believe that she had almost forgot to bring up the subject. "Oh! That reminds me: Marc, the military are starting to ask the patients what they know about you," she said, leaning in a step in order to get back into the conversation. "I got invited up to see some guy called Berg today. A Lieutenant General, he said. He said he's been meeting with patients to 'get to know them better', but one of the questions he asked was definitely something like 'what do you know about the man named Marc?' I didn't say anything, but I don't know if anyone else has..."

[damned_rebel]

As it turned out, Renamon knew way more about Jack and Jill and even about Lydia than Marc could have expected. He just stared at her for a moment, wondering if she had been one of the people who had followed his clue. Either that or the information had started to spread, which would be a real relief. That was the whole point of this. He wanted people to find the things he led them to and then spread that information as far as they could. Maybe it would help and maybe it wouldn't, but there was only one way to find out.

The blond went on to surprise him further when she took the time to make it clear that she appreciated what he was doing. She didn't even ask what his reasons were for helping, which was a popular question; she just let him know that she was thankful. It was nice to hear and pretty rare at that. In the end, all he could do was offer her a smile. Hopefully that would get his feelings across well enough.

Either way, he was quickly distracted from what Renamon was saying about the military (which was more or less an agreement with him) by what Utena had to say. She'd met with Berg? Marc couldn't help but look visibly shocked by that, since he wouldn't have thought that someone so high in the ranks would talk to the patients personally. It soon became clear why, though, since they were trying to get information about him.

He sighed, though it turned into more of a scoff in the end. "Well, that's worth knowing. I guess we'll have to hope that everyone else was as tight-lipped as you were, but this is still a good sign. If they're asking you guys, it means they don't know as much about me as they'd like." And if he had anything to say about it, it would stay that way.

[yin_yang_fox]

The man smiled at her, and she wondered idly if he was draining himself, fighting for the sake of other people. There was a story in there, that was obvious, but those who fought had their own reasons for doing so, personal to the end for those highly involved, and it didn't matter his reasons when compared to what he was doing. She nodded in return to it, falling quiet.

Her attention diverted entirely with Utena's words, and Marc's reaction to it. They had been pulling people to speak with? She hadn't even caught on to that. An error entirely. Was it just to get information on Marc? Or were there other aspects they wanted to pull from the patient body? The more they showed what the wanted, the more the patients had an advantage. Any time something was held as wanted, it could be denied, as much as possible.

That aside, that the military was questioning for Marc, and from more than one individual, meant that he produced a valid threat to the military. The Digimon turned to look at him again, eyeing him once more. Not much, but appearances were nothing but deceiving. It could be a ruse of the military to center attention on one rather than something else, but she would take it as it appeared for now. Which meant there was a different concern. She glanced to Utena. "Were you with others when you met him previously? Do you know if those were the others called in to speak with them?" If they were, then somehow the military knew who had spoken with Marc... Which meant there were internal conflicts of the patients' own.

[melodists]

Berg? Tear recalled that had been the name of the Eagle's second-in-command. It was highly surprising that Utena had met with him--disconcerting as well, given their interest in Marc. But as he pointed out, it was likely the military did not have as firm a grasp on the young man as they probably wanted. A good sign for anyone hoping to oppose the military, at least in Tear's honest opinion.

Yet, a part remained curious. Why would the military have such an interest in Marc? Unless they wanted to eliminate all unknown variables, it sounded sloppy for them to go to the patients. "Do you know why they might be asking for you?" she raised after Utena while looking squarely at Marc. "Aside from the obvious, of course."

Renamon also had her set of questions, which proved equally intriguing. Rather than adding to them, however, the Melodist waited. He had enough on his plate already, after all.

[roseoverture]

Utena nodded back to Marc. "Yeah, here's hoping. He didn't press for the info much, but if they're asking, it means there's something they don't know, right?"

Renamon piped in next, and Utena turned to her, shaking her head. "No, I was the only one there. He didn't mention anyone else who was there when we met him, just that he wanted to meet with patients and get to know them better. That was pretty much it. He was actually kind of... civil about it." She kept quiet for the moment about exactly what she and Berg had talked about (more like yelled about, at least on her end of the exchange). She was betting Renamon would be interested in the stuff about visitors and whatnot, but that wasn't really what everyone was talking about at the moment. Besides, a lot of that stuff had been personal, she thought with a brief flash to Himemiya in her head.

Speaking of whom. "Anyway, I know at least one of the people who was with us that night isn't around anymore," she added.

Her head slipped down a bit, and her ring hand balled up. She let Tear speak next, and waited for Marc's answer. Though, now that Himemiya was on her mind, Utena had to admit that she wasn't really as focused on the conversation as she had been a moment ago.

[damned_rebel]

Civil about it? Marc wished that he could call BS on that, but he realized that some of the soldiers probably were pretty well-behaved. If they were trying to get information from patients, it made sense for them to actually treat them well. Marc could only hope that the majority of the patients wouldn't fall for that kind of nice guy act. It didn't seem like Utena had, at the least, and she was just a teenager. A pretty competent one, from the looks of it, but a teenager nonetheless.

It was kind of upsetting to hear that one of the people from his rescue team had disappeared by now, but Marc couldn't say that he was shocked by the news. A lot of time had passed since that night, and it wasn't as if Landel's was known for having a long staying period for any of the prisoners. He almost wanted to ask Utena who it was, but he wasn't going to be that inconsiderate.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers that no one turns into a rat," he said after a pause before glancing to Tear. She had definitely been the quietest during this whole exchange, but now she had a question of her own.

"There is the obvious, yeah. I'm making trouble for them and they want me out of the way, but... I'm guessing they don't know exactly where I'm holed up." Landel obviously had known, but Aguilar didn't seem to. Which was just fine by him, really. "And I'm betting they're kind of curious about my background. Who I am, where I come from, why I'm going to all this effort to make their lives more difficult." The basics, in other words.

Marc had to admit, it was kind of cool knowing that he was being viewed as this enigmatic figure, even if it was going to get him in some serious trouble sooner or later.