Day 37: Sun Room (4th Shift)

[secret_orchard]

There were still too many things on Armand's mind for him to truly relax. The morning with Alec had been a help. And seeing that TK was going to be well helped him know that it was time to work out something else, but what? He'd already, without success again, tried to reach one of the club leaders about his sole idea of something new and different

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[paper_murdock]

The more this situation was explained, the more angry Matt got. Did they really expect him to believe this crap? He didn't let this show on his face though, careful to nod at appropriate times and make considering sounds. He'd have to get more information before he acted, or maybe even try to contact some of his friends or allies.

The hospital wasn't one he was familiar with, and he hand't heard any voices he knew. Trying to listen for a heartbeat, to determine if the 'nurse' was lying didn't accomplish anything. The faint sound he could hear was steady, but it was too faint to be certain, her voice drowning most of it out.

"Here we are," she chirped. "Let's get you settled." The change in temperature meant he was probably in the sun now (or under a vent). "You can ask any of us for help," she went on, "Or talk to any of the others here. Be good now. There is a sofa right behind you."

Matt smiled politely, if a bit forced, and sat down on the seat offered, grateful to be left alone for a moment. Eyes closed, he leaned back, listening for anything useful or intersting.

(A Cap perhaps? *hopeful*)

[wing_head]

Today had certainly been eventful, Steve was actually curious to see the arts and crafts room. Perhaps he'd draw something, though he really wasn't in the artistic mood.

On his way through the sun room, though, he spotted a familiar face. Steve paused, and decided this was worth investigating. It might not be Matt, but it might be, and Steve couldn't take the chance that it wasn't.

"Hello," Steve said, hoping for recognition.

[paper_murdock]

Matt was debating on going over to bother one of the other people when a familiar voice broke through his thoughts. Taking a moment to listen for a heartbeat, he sat up a bit straighter and offered a slight smile. Roger and he might not always agree on everything, but at least it was something familiar and as such, welcome.

"Hi. You're here too huh?"

[wing_head]

Steve couldn't help but be relieved at the fact that Matt recognized him. He took a seat and looked over at the Daredevil.

He couldn't exactly say he was happy to see Matt, because the more people that got brought here the fewer there were out there to come get them out of this or find out what happened.

"Unfortunately, yes..." Steve said, "Did you just arrive here?"

[paper_murdock]

"Yeah. Just woke up in a strange room actually." Matt sighed. "The ... overly cheerful woman was telling me all about the 'wonderful 'I've found myself in. I don't suppose you could elaborate any?"

If Captain America was here... What the hell was this? The mental hospital of the super-powered? Or was he actually utterly insane and speaking to himself, but thinking Steve was sitting with him?

Anything was possible he supposed.

[wing_head]

"Well... I woke up here too, unfortunately at night. As far as I can determine, this place is in another dimension. People from various dimensions are being abducted and brought here. I just ran into a Tony Stark earlier today that didn't even recognize me," And if this Matt was from his dimension, or a closely related one, he'd know how odd that was.

"I don't think it's a psychic induced hallucination," But he'd been tricked before by very elaborate illusions.

[paper_murdock]

Matt had to frown at that. "Stark didn't .... recognize you?" That was ... oddly disturbing actually. "I don't know which sounds more plausible," he said. "That this is all some elaborate joke, or that we're really crazy."

Shaking his head, he tried again to focus his hearing, wanting to try for at least some sense of space around him. Everything was too fuzzy though. "What's unfortunate about waking up at night?"

[wing_head]

"No, he walked right up to me and said hello without recognizing me," Steve said.

Now it was back to explaining what happened at night around here, but he didn't want Matt to have to find out the hard way.

"Well... there are apparently monsters in the hallways, and they occasionally take and brainwash the prisoners here and make them fight the rest of us. I ran into another prisoner that had his full powers back," Steve wasn't going to say that it was Logan, but he should explain a few other things about this place.

"They've also somehow weakened me, I'm not at my peak," Which shouldn't have happened. Power dampeners didn't work on Steve, because he didn't actually have any powers.

[paper_murdock]

"Monsters." Matt took that in for a moment, then nodded. "Right. Monsters. Okay.... And they, what, only come out at night?" The brainwashing thing, that he could get behind. HE'd seen it done, on more than one occasion. The suppressing of powers, that too... though, on Steve? It was a little bit of a stretch.

And it explained why his own abilites were on the blink.

But monsters?

"Have you come across any monsters? Who else is here?" So far, Captain America, Iron Man, and Daredevil... who else would show up?

[wing_head]

"Yes, only at night," Steve confirmed. It made sense, if they wanted to pretend to be a mental hospital, they couldn't very well have monsters running around in broad daylight.

"There's a Spiderman that also didn't know me, and Wolverine from my dimension, though he seems to be from the past as well... I also ran into Nightcrawler of the X-men, but he's just a teenager, and he looks completely human now," This was probably a lot for Matt to take in, but he'd rather give him the information and let him process it all now during the day.

The more Steve talked about it, though, the more insane it seemed.

[paper_murdock]

Matt couldn't think of anything to say to that for a moment. It was all... crazy.

"Alright, only the fact that I know you're Steve Rogers is keeping me from laughing at you and calling you crazy. But... You have to understand, this is a bit .... weird sounding. If we are all from different realities and, indeed, times, what possible purpose could this serve? I mean, you know who I am, and I know who you are, but then..." He sighed again, the sound harsh and leaned forward, putting his head in his head and chuckling softly. The sound held little humor.

"I'm a bit lost now. So, basically, we've got monsters and brainwashing at night and did I hear Arts and Crafts during the day? What on earth does any of this accomplish?"

[wing_head]

"I wouldn't blame you if you laughed at me and called me crazy. It does sound that way," Steve admitted quietly. He considered the purpose behind this, and just shook his head.

This was all insane, but at least Matt knew him. Somehow, that felt like a small victory in an insane place like this. Steve reached out and put a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Yes, that sums it up nicely. I don't know what they're trying to accomplish. The man in charge here may be just as insane as this place itself..." Steve much preferred dealing with murderers than madmen, though.

[paper_murdock]

Matt frowned and snorted. "Of course he is. They can't ever be rational and sane when it comes to this sort of thing. So, is it just super-heroes running around here gluing glitter to plates and fighting monsters? Or are there actual paitents here as well?"

He knew there were other people in the room, but he couldn't pinpoint any information about them.

[wing_head]

"I'd say either the super-heroes in here are in the minority, or a lot of them are so scared of revealing their identity that they won't mention it. But I think that everyone here was kidnapped from their own dimension," That seemed to be the common story, people going about their lives and then suddenly waking up here.

There were some very weird beings here, though if the claims some were making that they were gods were true. Steve had fought alongside Thor for long enough to accept the possibility, but it was still odd.

There was something Steve wanted to ask, though. "How good is your hearing in here, Matt?"

[paper_murdock]

"I'm not surprised that others probably are keeping their heads down." Matt might be doing the same if he wasn't speaking with Steve. One never knew...

And of course, the question he really didn't want to deal with. Taking a breath, he sighed and shook his head.

"Not as good as it was." He tilted his head and concentrated. "If I try, I can almost hear your heart..." Matt shook his head and pulled his hearing back. "But there's just too much going on to really pinpoint it."

[wing_head]

The news that Matt's hearing wasn't as good wasn't surprising, but it was perhaps worse than Steve losing some of his ability. Matt needed his hearing to be at it's best to make up for his lack of sight.

"It's much quieter at night," Steve commented. "Speaking of night, I think it's better to work in groups here, would you like to meet up with me and Nightcrawler tonight?"

Steve didn't know what he was going to do tonight, aside from meet up with Nightcrawler, and hopefully Matt, and make sure that no one got mauled by a monster.