Day 43: Intercom, Morning

[damned_intercom]

Hello! This is I.R.I.S. again, hoping that all of our guests are finding our facilities adequate during your tour. Now, we will be moving everyone who was in the CHAPEL, SUN ROOM to the CAFETERIA, and giving everyone in the free choice between the CHAPEL, SUN ROOM. Of course, if one of our guests would like to remain where they are for further

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M??

[gothamsfuture]

The last thing Terry remembered was going over a check-list for the next day: the homework he hadn't done, the tests he hadn't studied for, the classes he couldn't fall asleep for the hundredth time in. He'd have to put up a good front for Dana; part of Terry wanted to tell her the truth, and for a minute, he thought that maybe he could. Kairi had been old, and it wasn't like half the school didn't know how much of his time Terry spent with geezers anymore. But would letting out even a part really be worth it? Saying that Kairi had been one of the old man's friends wouldn't come close to explaining why Terry was upset over her passing. And he couldn't come out and say that the woman had become his teacher so he could be a better Batman.

No, it'd be easier to just suck it up. Terry knew Dana would be able to tell something was wrong, but between him and Max, they could keep the details hidden. Besides, he didn't really want her to worry so much anyway.

Sometime after that, thanks to trying to recall the last lecture he'd listened to in Family Studies, Terry finally fell asleep. He'd wanted to think that all the tossing and turning was thanks to getting to bed before 3 a.m. in the first time since Bruce-Wayne-only-knew-how-long (since no one else in their right mind would keep track), but Terry's thoughts had wandered back to that final scene with Kairi one too many times to believe it. They didn't give him a break after he dozed off either. He didn't know how long the dreams lasted, or how many times they played over in his brain, but he knew what they were. Watching a dino-spliced Xander lumbering through the flames, hearing Kairi call back to him to keep his guard up, and feeling the pod fall, with him helpless in it. Each time Terry tried to find something different he could have done, what he should have done to be able to save everybody. But awake or asleep, there wasn't any solution he could see. Besides, it wasn't going to do any good anyway. Kairi was already dead.

What had the old man said?

"Don't blame yourself."

"But it's my fault."

"I know, but blaming's not productive."

Another tidbit of wisdom courtesy of old age. Terry grumbled his half-hearted thanks to Wayne as he shoved a pillow over his face, wondering if he could will it to still be dark outside so he could sleep longer. Hearing Bruce's words echoing in his mind was not how Terry wanted to start any morning.

But somewhere outside of the pillow, a woman's voice was calling his name. It took another minute of accepting that he really was awake for Terry to realize that whoever it was, that voice didn't belong to his mom. Suddenly Terry found the motivation to sit up, but he didn't exactly get any answers for his trouble.

Terry was pretty sure he was in a hospital, but the lack of actual equipment made that a guess at best. There weren't any monitors hooked up to him after all, or even a single computer in sight. Outside of a museum, the lack of technology was strange to say the least. Almost as weird as the face Terry found smiling at him when he looked down at his chest.

All in all, Terry much preferred his usual bat symbol.

"Finally! I thought we were never going to get you up!" The woman, who sort of looked like a nurse, had come closer to his bed.

"Yeah? Guess I've never been an early riser." The dryness in Terry's voice made the nurse sigh; guess she'd figured out he wasn't exactly pleased to be there. "Mind telling me just where I am?"

"Why, you're in Landel's Institute dear. Don't you remember being brought here last night?"

Re: M??

[gothamsfuture]

"Can't say that I do. So why don't you tell me what's going on?" Not that Terry expected the all too happy lady to actually tell the truth. Her smile almost matched the one on Terry's shirt, something he found more than a little creepy. Already his mind was going over the list of just who might be responsible for this. Spellbinder seemed the most likely; messing with heads was his forte, and he'd been pretty quiet lately. Probably was about time for another 'get back at the guy who foiled my evil plot' attempt.

But Wayne would give him a glare if Terry just assumed that had to be it, even if no other obvious names came to mind. With his luck, it'd probably be someone completely new. Maybe the son of one of Bruce's old villains come back to haunt him. There'd been that one he talked about, from the story. Something about a hat-

"-and now we're going to the cafeteria so you can get some brunch, and meet your fellow patients. Okay?" Terry wondered for a minute what the woman would do if he said it wasn't, but he got his answer out in the hall. Two big guys in scrubs had been hanging outside his door, and Terry could see more just a short distance away. If he tried, Terry thought he might be able to make an escape, but then what? He had no idea where he was, or even how to get out of the building. Not to mention no idea where his costume was. So as tempting as the thought of kicking every smiling person he saw in the teeth might be, Terry put the idea on hold for the time being. Better to try and do a little detective work first. Maybe he'd see a computer along the way that could give him some more information on this place.

Because as helpful as the nurse was trying to be? Terry was already wishing he could be in Family Studies instead.