Day 37: Sun Room
Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.
Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or ( Read more... )
Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or ( Read more... )
That sonuvabitch, was his first groggy thought, the hunter wincing a little as he gingerly reached up with one hand and ran a hand through his hair. Yup, there it was: a nice, painful lump when Company Man KOed him, and he didn't even need a mirror to know he'd have some nice bruises after slugging it out with him. Sitting up, Dean wasn't too surprised to find he was no longer upstairs but instead was back in his cell's bed. Probably had dragged his ass downstairs once he was out cold. He had no idea what happened to Tokito. Hopefully the kid was okay, but considering he was against Company Man, Dean didn't exactly have high hopes for him.
And that wasn't even the worst of his problems.
Sammy was still missing. And he was still no closer to finding out where he was.
Dean took a deep breath. Swung his legs over the side of the bed. Marched over to the door and tried the knob. It jiggled but didn't give much. Locked again. Maybe last night had been a fluke and he was gonna have to pick the door with something. He'd told himself he'd treat this like any other job but there was always that little voice in the back of his head that said he'd screwed up again somehow and he should've done something that could've prevented this. He couldn't see how he could've stopped some demonic bastard (if this was even Yellow Eye's work in the first place) from kidnapping him if he didn't see him coming, but Dean couldn't shake the feeling this was somehow his fault. Still, nabbing a guy out of a moving car with witnesses, a pretty damn reliable one not even two feet away? That was something.
His head was still killing him as he went about rifling through his stuff, then his absent roomie's stuff for those pens. The intercom provided a few more clues, but not as much as Dean would've liked: just something about breakfast (which he'd apparently missed, to top things off), "new" friends (probably more people taken, like him), and now he knew there were children here. That him stiffen for a second. So whoever this joker was, it wasn't enough he was taking adults - he had to nab kids for his kicks too.
Dean was in the middle of helping himself to his roomie's pens when he heard that click of the lock again. Automatically he closed the drawer - slid it closed quietly, not slammed it - and turned around as the door swung open. A woman who was unquestionably a nurse stepped inside, heels clicking as she glanced up from the clipboard in her hands to him, a professionally friendly smile on her face. She wasn't super-hot, but a lifetime ago he would've cheerfully screwed her. But things changed and he just glanced at her rack for only a second before wondering if he could take her down and try to book it outta here and find Sam. That was before the big orderly came up behind her, shadow filling the doorway and easily outweighing him: unlike Hello Nurse, Lurch wasn't smiling, just staring at him as if just daring him to do anything.
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"We thought it best to let you sleep in, Eric," Hello Nurse said. "We'll get you something to eat in a bit, but why don't I show you around the Institute? You can get acquainted with the others and maybe make some friends."
Eric huh? He could do aliases. Dean stuck with it.
"Yeah, sure," Dean said, putting on a smile to match the nurse's when the last thing he wanted to do was be friendly. "I'm cool with that. I was just wonderin', though," and he put a little bit extra effort into his smile, the kind which usually got women talking, "what this place's called?"
Hello Nurse didn't quite get flustered - too professional for that - but her cheeks reddened a little before she answered. "You're in Landels Institute. We're all here to help you recover."
Recover from what, she didn't say. Dean found himself neatly boxed in and herded (definitely herded, there was no other way to describe it) down a series of clean, hospital-white halls with Hello Nurse out in front and Lurch in the back, no doubt to make sure he didn't pull anything. Eventually the halls widened out and his two guards stopped in front of a set of large double doors - the Sun Room, Hello Nurse said with a smile, glancing at her charge to see his reaction. Dean just nodded, doing his best to look interested. He found himself in a large room filled with sofas and a sun roof, light streaming in from higher up - looking up, he recognized those railings. Dean stood right where he'd fought that guy last night.
His stomach grumbled, wondering when the hell they were gonna eat. Dean told it to shut up for now and crossed the room, heading to what looked like some kind of bulletin board. The hunter stood in front of it, going through the notes tacked on and realizing it was what other prisoners were writing to each other. If Sam was here, he'd probably see this sooner or later. Pulling out a pen he'd palmed before leaving the room, Dean hurriedly scrawled down a note for his little brother...
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It was no surprise to see that there were some patients crowded around the board. Even if it wasn't exactly secure, it was a good way to gather information and stay in contact with people. Peter would have liked to leave a message for Claire, but he wasn't sure he could take that risk. Sylar could probably crack whatever code he came up with, unfortunately.
Peter headed over to the board with hair still damp, finding an empty spot near another patient, and immediately started searching for the message he'd responded to earlier. He found his message but saw no reply written anywhere near it, which elicited a sigh. He'd found some promising information and now he couldn't get all the answers? It was frustrating.
He could try and get his hands on some maps, but maybe it would be easier to just directly ask the question about where the discharged patient files were. There wouldn't be too much harm in that, would there? He figured it would be best to wait a little longer for a response, though. Maybe whoever had written the first message was just busy.
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Looked like this place was a hot spot. Dean didn't turn his head but kept track of the guy who joined him with his peripheral vision; he wandered up to the spot, hair wet like he'd just stepped out of a shower, and began eyeballing the board like he'd done this before and scanned it intently, looking for something specific, it seemed. Dean debated for about a second about approaching the kid. He knew there was at least one demon here but it seemed - so far - that whatever this Landels place was, they were all big on keeping up appearances until nightfall. Then it was fair game. This customer was either in on it like Company Man and Punk Ass or he was just an unlucky bastard who got pulled in.
"Hey," Dean said, turning a little to face the kid next to him. And he really was a kid, even geekier looking than Sam, which was somethin' to shoot for. Hell, even his hair was nerdy. "Noticed you were checkin' this out."
He gestured at the bulletin board, at the various notes in different handwriting. He'd searched thoroughly at what was posted already and he saw no sign of Sammy's scrawl. It wasn't the best opener, but then again, Dean was never much good at the small-talk: shakedowns he could do but he wasn't as good at talking people up like his little brother.
"Brian," Dean gave an easy, lop-sided grin. He even held out his hand. "Brian Johnson, I mean. Is this stuff all real?" another gesture at the notes, still looking at ease. He didn't feel it but you tended to get answers outta people playing it cool instead of wiggin' out - much as he was freaking out over Sam, he had to reign it in and do the job and any research he could get his hands on.
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"Oh, hey. Yeah," he nodded, glancing back to the mess of notes. There was a lot to sort through, and he worried sometimes that he missed something important because it got buried, but he was doing his best.
At the introduction, Peter silently took Brian's hand and gave it a quick shake. "Peter... Petrelli," he said in return. He'd come to realize that most people here weren't even from the same place as him, so the chances of his last name being recognized were slim. It would be more suspicious to omit it.
When Brian asked if this was all "real" or not, Peter could only raise an eyebrow. With a question like that, the man must have been new. Peter had been in his shoes, so he gave a sympathetic smile before nodding. "Pretty much, yeah. It might be kind of hard to believe, but..." He sighed and looked back to the board. "Most of it's true. I mean, I'm sure there are some people around who are being misleading on purpose, but..." He shrugged. The best they could do was be careful, but it was something he had to keep in mind, knowing that Sylar was around.
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"Sounds like a bunch of dicks," Dean said under his breath. He spoke up again, reaching out and flipping up one of the notes, flicking a sidelong glance at Peter. "This 'special counseling' sounds like six kinds of fun there. Have you actually seen these monsters?"
Dean so far hadn't seen anything supernatural aside from that one demon (and getting kidnapped himself), but he wanted to be ready for anything; it'd be too much to ask to run into a fellow hunter, but if there were witnesses, than maybe he could know what to expect by talking up a few patients. As for that special counseling business...he wasn't sure what to think: it sounded like something straight outta Cuckoo's Nest or a bad horror movie. Dean wasn't too sure what the point of brainwashing someone was if you could just possess 'em, but maybe that was what was happening and they didn't even know it. It'd also explain some of these mentions of having "powers" and blackouts. Dean turned back to Peter, careful to keep his injured arm from moving in its sling: he hadn't seen Company Man yet, but if he did, he'd have to thank him for messing up his elbow and damn near giving him a friggen concussion.
Still, that'd have to take a backseat to 1). Find Sam 2). Survive and 3). Figure Out What The Hell is Going On.
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Maybe he should give the man some details about his own experience, if he was curious. The information might help, if only to prepare him for whenever his turn came up, if it did. Peter hoped it didn't.
But the question about the monsters was pretty easy to answer, and Peter nodded. "Yeah, I've seen a few different kinds. Most of them are mutated versions of animals like cats or bats, but I've heard there are some nastier things around too." Judging by the way Brian had asked the question, though, chances were that he was skeptical about the whole monster thing. That wouldn't last long.
"Did you just wake up last night, then?" Peter asked, glancing at the sling. Brian must have gotten that injury here, and yet he apparently hadn't run into any monsters, so what had happened?
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"Yeah," Dean said, knowing there was no point to lying. "Last thing I remember is bein' in my car and suddenly I'm in this joint. Got this," he nodded at the sling, the livid bruises on his face standing out sharp in the daylight. "from some nutjob upstairs who just attacked me and this other guy. Y'think he was under that special counseling?"
Dean had been pretty sure he was human but he couldn't be one hundred percent sure. Company Man definitely knew how to fight though and it wasn't just because some demon might be juicing up his body either - there was some real training there, like he'd made it his job to fight humans before. Soldier? Sam said that other guy, Jake, had been a soldier too, so he guessed he shouldn't be all that surprised - at least as far as he could tell, Company Man didn't have the freak strength Sam said Jake had, otherwise Dean would've probably been wishing he'd have only come out with a bum arm. If Company Man had been a demon, then he'd gone pretty easy on him for some reason...
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"Could be," he responded, leaning himself against the wall as he thought it over. "Did he say anything about you getting back to your room?" Peter remembered how that had been his largest concern at the time, how getting everyone back inside had been of utmost importance.
He was still debating whether or not he should spill the beans. He could give enough information without actually seeming suspicious, but he didn't have much to hide either. "I've been through it, actually," he said, trying not to think about how the words were coming out awkwardly.
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He looked up from the bulletin board sharply as Peter admitted he'd been through the same thing. Nothing better than a first-hand account. Dean tried to look worried and concerned for Peter, reaching out and steering him with a hand on his shoulder to one of the couches so they could sit down and talk. The hunter plopped down on the cushions.
"What was it like?" Dean asked. "That must've been horrible," he added, almost as an afterthought.
If he really had been possessed at one point, like he suspected, than there would have to be some signs like blank spots in Peter's memories, a feeling like someone else was driving his body, among other things. Was he still possessed? Dean didn't think so, but he wasn't as sure as he had been with Tokito, after testing him.
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Before he could get much further than that, Brian had decided that they should go and take a seat. He didn't have much choice but to go along with the older man's leading hand. Though it wasn't like Peter was struggling with what had happened to him. It had been disconcerting to be out of control like that, but it could have been a lot worse. Other than that girl who he'd man-handled, the only person he'd hurt had been someone who totally deserved it.
"It was... weird," he started as he sat down, once again struggling with the fact that he wasn't nearly as good with words as his brother. "It was like there was this order imprinted in my head. I had to guard this one area and keep all the other patients from getting by. I had to get them to go back inside, where it was safe, and... I was willing to do pretty much whatever it took to make sure that happened." Well, except for kill them, and that was something he was grateful for. If he'd done something like that...
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Dean leaned forward, started to instinctively rest his hands on his knees and remembered he still had that bum arm stuck in the sling; the hunter instead settled for adjusting his weight on the couch.
"Were there any moments you blacked out? Couldn't account for time?" Dean went over what Peter told him, thinking it over. It was almost distracting enough to make him forget about Sam - but his kid brother was always there in the back of his mind, this sick, worried feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him swallow and the curious expression he had on his face falter a little before he could catch himself. "You were in control of yourself but you were just following orders?"
That sounded more like that time with Andy and his whacked out twin brother than a demon...
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"I remember nurses and orderlies coming to get me from my room that night. I'm pretty sure they sedated me, and then the next clear thing I remember is being out on the field." There were vague feelings and images that he could bring up in regards to the lost time in between, but none of it could really be quantified. "And yeah, I guess I was in control... I mean, I kind of felt like I was being pushed to do those things, but something else ended up distracting me."
Apparently that was rare, or at least Roland had never heard of it happening before. Peter figured Sylar just had that effect on people. His duty to stop his rival trumped any imposed orders, and part of him was proud to know that.
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See, that was the part that didn't add up. If Peter got probed up with some nasty black smoke, he didn't seem to find it special enough to mention it or just plain didn't remember anything out of the ordinary. Dean could safely say he hadn't ever been possessed before (and he intended to keep it that way), but judging from Sam's experience, the poor bastard on the receiving end usually had a little more to go on then Peter's description of the experience. He sounded more like he got zapped with something like that guy Andy's psychic thing; at least that he knew what it felt like. Hadn't been fun. Dean hadn't blacked out there though. Why would they need to sedate Peter if they could just mind-trick him out to play guard?
As he said, it didn't really add up all the way. Maybe it was neither possession or getting mind-rubbed. Could just be what it looked like: humans dragging off other humans for some Operation without anything supernatural going on.
Didn't explain away all this talk about monsters. Or the whole kidnapped thing either. Didn't matter how good you were - nothing human could do that, not with his circumstances. Dean found himself wishing, not for the first time, that Sam was here with him; he'd gotten used to being able to interrogate people with him backing him up and felt his absence even now, like maybe he was laying on the questions a bit too thick and he didn't have his geek brother to just shoot him that seriously-cut-it-out look. He just hoped wherever Sammy was, he was taking care of himself and the car, and maybe heading over to Bobby's: Dean didn't know what was going on with this place, but he already knew this was probably bigger than a one-man job.
They'd need all the help they could get.
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"That was it," he eventually agreed, letting out a sigh. He realized that it probably wasn't all that helpful, but he was doing his best. Hopefully he had given the other man some food for thought.
Before either of them could say anything further, the intercom sounded and the nurses started wandering around to round up patients for lunch. Peter sent Brian a quick smile. "Well, I hope that I was some help. I'll see you around, and good luck tonight." The man was already somewhat aware of the dangers that nightshift presented, so hopefully he would be okay.
With that, Peter stood up and went to meet one of the nurses.
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