Day 46: Sun Room

[human_sponge]

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that

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[gothamsfuture]

Talk about Kurt being naked in every sense of the word instantly lost it's interest when Peter said two words: Bat Signal. Terry had reasoned early on that Kurt and Kitty couldn't be from his world, just based on what Kurt had said about mutants. He'd kind of lumped Peter in with that, particularly since nothing about his abilities or his costume rang any bells. Terry had spent enough time reading Bruce's files to know that no one would or could be more thorough in terms of keeping track of people. That made the casual remark all the more striking; someone Bruce didn't know about who was a hero, knowing about that? Anyone else, it could've just been an oversight. But it wasn't, and Terry knew it.

"Yeah, they would be." It was easy to tell from Terry's voice that the rest of the conversation was over. He'd wanted to keep his connection to Wayne and Batman secret for as long as possible, but he couldn't risk Peter throwing out the tidbit to the wrong person. So he looked around, then without warning or ceremony Terry caught Peter by the upper arm and headed towards what looked like the most empty spot in the room. It wasn't the first time he'd wished for privacy, but Terry would've given just about anything to make sure he wasn't going to be overheard just then.

"Okay. No games, and no pretending you don't have a clue what I'm talking about." Terry kept his voice purposely low, and his wariness had to be apparent to anyone who looked. Some might have called it careless, but given the hell they were in, Terry couldn't help but think it wouldn't stand out too much. "I need to know everything you know about bats right now, so spill."

[fuzzy_diablo]

"Come on now, Kurt. You can't spend all day in the Cafeteria!"

"But I'm not done!" the mutant protested, his nurse dragging him by his (perfectly round) ear out of the Cafeteria. He'd still managed to hold on to a paper plate with two waffles still on it, though. Apparently some nurse thought he was 'terribly thin' and wanted him to eat more. Not like Kurt was complaining.

"At least here you can talk to someone. I worry about you, Kurt, you're so shy!"

Yeah, he thought. Because I feel like I'm lying by just standing in a room and looking normal.

With a warning not to spill the rest of his breakfast onto the carpet, the nurse left him. Kurt idly tore off a bit of one of the waffles and walked over to the bulletin board, hoping that Peter and Kitty had responded. When he saw Peter talking to Terry, though, he had to blink in surprise. Well, this was even better than a note!

"Hey guys!" Kurt said, inserting himself into the conversation without even pausing to see if they were talking about something serious. He was far too excited to see Peter was alive, after all. "...wait, what's this about making out?"

...maybe he should have stopped to listen first.

[gothamsfuture]

Okay, so maybe Terry had been a little impatient. Chalk it up to his frustration over being here, over Wayne being here and then being gone, whatever. What it meant was, that when Peter gave his reply, Terry let out a sigh and put a hand to his head.

Really, couldn't anything ever be simple?

"You brought it up, remember?" No, he probably didn't. Peter had thrown out the term Bat Signal as if it was so common, anyone should know about it. "You joked about Kurt having his own Bat Signal. That hits close to home for me. Too close for me to just let it go, understand?"

He'd better. Even Peter couldn't be that thick, or so Terry hoped. What he hadn't been hoping for was their sudden visitor, and it was really hard not to let his frustration show when Kurt walked up. Trying to reassure himself that Kurt had very likely seen his emblem the night before wasn't really helping, but Terry had to resign himself either way. The bat was out of the bag, so to speak.

"Okay, no one is making out unless you two have a thing I don't know about." Terry, for one, had a girlfriend he cared for a great deal back home, thank you. And he certainly wasn't in the habit of kissing strange superheroes. "More importantly, I need to know what Peter knows about my world. And you too, Kurt." Because if Peter did somehow have knowledge about a completely different dimension (or whatever it was), then it was possible that Kurt or Kitty did as well. All in all, it was a slagging heap that Terry really wasn't too pleased to be dealing with. "What do you guys know about Batman?"

[fuzzy_diablo]

Kurt blinked.

What did he know about Terry's world? Well... that people made themselves look like him, for one (which seemed like a stupid thing to do, really, though Kurt thought he might like to visit if that sort of thing was normal). They used words Kurt had never heard before, like 'slagging', and mutants weren't around. That... was pretty much it.

Kurt was going to ask if 'Batman' was some mutant he should have heard of, but then Peter filled in some blanks. It would have been a dumb question anyway, given that Terry didn't know what a mutant was.

"I've never met him either. And where's Gotham?" Kurt asked Peter with a raised eyebrow. "Should I know him too?"

[gothamsfuture]

Well, at least someone seemed to be taking this seriously. Kurt didn't exactly give off the impression that he'd be a convincing liar anyway, and Terry wasn't picking up anything that screamed 'hiding something' from him. Peter, on the other hand? Terry had seen terrified street punks put up a better front than that.

"No. Neither of you should." But Peter still seemed to, somehow, and that was the problem. "Gotham's my home city, and yes, Batman protects it. But knowing about the signal and not about the cape?" Terry's raised eyebrow should have been more than enough to tell Peter that no, he wasn't buying his story or the Eiffel Tower, thank you very much.

But when it really came down to it? What was more important was making sure no one else got a hint of what Peter might know. Landel's might have lacked crazy snake-men trying to turn everyone into reptiles--and even that wasn't a given--but it had it's share of bad guys already. If the wrong person got wind of what Peter could know, then superpowers or not, the kid would be in trouble.

"All right. Here's the deal." And though he was also speaking to Kurt, who had learned far more than Terry ever wanted him to thanks to circumstance, his focus was almost entirely on Peter. "I know you know more than you're telling me, and I can't help that. But don't breathe a word about anything related to Gotham or Batman to anyone else. There are people from my world here, good and bad, and maybe some I don't even know about yet. If you let the wrong thing slip, someone could get seriously hurt, including either of you. Just because we're locked up in an insane asylum doesn't mean they won't have their way with you. In fact, some of them couldn't ask for a better setting."

[fuzzy_diablo]

"H-hey, come on, guys," Kurt said, moving himself surreptitiously between the two just a bit. If there was one thing he could smell, it was a fight--from miles away. Probably came from hanging around Rogue so much. "We're all a little tense because of this, secret-identity thing. I mean, it's tough enough being here, but with all the other stuff we have to deal with, it's even tougher.

"Alex--" Fortunately Peter had said Terry's fake name just then, so he caught himself before he totally blew it. "--Peter's dealing with the same sort of thing, so I'm sure he's not going to go posting it all over the bulletin board. He hasn't even mentioned that I'm a mutant on the board because he knows how nervous I am about it.

"And Peter, Alex is just worried that someone from his world is going to like, jump him or something. You know the feeling too, right? If you thought someone was going to blow your identity, you'd be worried too, I think..."

Kurt looked between them awkwardly. He didn't want to see them fight, but he didn't mean to get all preachy and ramble on like that. The mutant looked down at his plate.

"Erm... either of you want a waffle?" He didn't really feel like eating them anymore. Plus, he couldn't think of anything to say.

[gothamsfuture]

Maybe if he wasn't so worked up himself, Terry would've handled the whole mess differently. Probably better. But as it was? Kurt was right to think that a fight just might have been in the near future. Terry at least had enough self-control to keep from throwing a punch at every little provocation, but that didn't mean he wouldn't jump into an argument if he saw the need.

Like now, pretty much.

"It's not a secret in my world, sure. But you aren't from my world, which means you shouldn't know about it. So what else do you know that you shouldn't?" Luckily for them both Kurt stepped in before Terry could get anything else out, and said what they were both trying to without the sacrasm or accusations. And then, as if that wasn't enough to make Terry feel like a bit of an ass? He offered them waffles.

"...Kurt, I am never going to be able to look at you without thinking of a puppy." Terry meant it in the nicest way, really. But keeping up the fight beyond that would've made him feel like he was kicking said puppy. Definitely time to let it go.

Terry sighed, then shook his head. "Look, I didn't mean to jump on your case. I don't think you're an idiot. I just made a stupid mistake once--took off my mask to save a kid. Then the kid nearly gets killed because the wrong people found out. It kind of drove the lesson home a bit hard." Especially since it had only been the kid's imagination that had saved Terry from being outed as Batman. He'd be hard pressed to name a time he'd been more relieved than when that action figure's face showed up on the screen instead of his.

"And it doesn't really help that no one has heard from the original Batman in days." Terry was almost reluctant to add that in, but at the point, he probably owed the other two the honesty. Plus, if he was really truthful, Terry kind of wanted to tell someone. He hadn't realized how much he needed a confidant until Max found out his identity. Maybe he'd missed it more than he'd realized. "He's here too." Or he was. It was a thought Terry wasn't about to say, but couldn't help adding in his head. "And he's not exactly the most talkative guy, sure. But this isn't like him."

There weren't many things that the silence could mean. None that Terry could think of, anyway, and certainly none that were good. For a long moment, Terry didn't say anything else, or even look at Peter or Kurt. It was easier to look out into the room then, at least until Terry was sure that Wayne still hadn't showed. He sighed again, then turned back to the others to get the rest out. "I know none of that doesn't give me the right to be a jerk, but maybe it'll make it a bit easier to make peace when I say I'm sorry."

[fuzzy_diablo]

If Kurt had still had his tail at this point, he would have been flicking it happily. He thought there would be an argument (mostly because Terry didn't seem like the type to let things go and Peter was definitely on-edge today), but it seemed as though he'd helped avoid it. They were actually talking and considering each other's points of view.

His happy mood, though, crashed and burned when Peter told him the news about Matt and Logan. No wonder he hadn't seen Matt for a few days. He'd thought he might be sick or something--but Logan gone too? It was like he'd been punched in the stomach. The last thing he remembered was Logan telling him to stay awake after he'd been burned.

Kurt looked down at the waffles both Terry and Peter had refused, as though looking for Logan and Matt in the little indentations. He didn't say anything, though. Not when Terry might have lost someone too. Maybe that was what the red insignia on the front of that suit had been--a bat. He hadn't gotten a very good look at it before the night had ended. And Peter's girlfriend had been thrown off a bridge... the worst Amanda ever got was disapproving stares.

"I think the milkshakes are a good idea," Kurt muttered. He could use a cheeseburger right about now.

[gothamsfuture]

There was a small plus side in that it seemed like Terry and Peter were understanding each other a bit better now. They weren't ripping each other's heads off, anyway. But having to bring up some of the most depressing topics ever to get there managed to take a lot of satisfaction out of the relief, and Terry gave both Kurt and Peter a look of sympathy.

"Whatever it means, we know it's not good." Because even Terry knew by now that anything Landel counted as progress, day or night, was meant to push a finger deeper into their wounds. "But there was a lot of talk about patients looking to be 'released' yesterday when they were brainwashed, right? Maybe it's got something to do with that." And since there wasn't much sadistic glee to be gained from someone who really believed the lies, maybe it meant that those guys--Logan and Matt--were safe now.

Maybe Bruce was too. Terry certainly hoped so, since that'd be the only good to come out of the absolute worse case scenario, and that was seeming more and more likely.

"But even if they're gone, that doesn't mean we stop trying to put an end to this place, right?" Something Terry would look forward to all the more if they really had taken Wayne. "So we've still got to find out Kitty's room number, and figure out how to get to the guys in charge. And since you've both been here longer than I have, I'm hoping you might have a few more ideas as to how we can do that."

[fuzzy_diablo]

Kurt looked up from his waffles and let Peter pull him towards the couches. He and Terry were right: if Logan and Matt had disappeared from here, they might be better off. Safer. Safer was good. Better than waking up here day after day at least.

But at the same time, Kurt couldn't help but feel as though he'd lost his footing. The two people he respected most in the world were Professor Logan and Professor Xavier. He looked to them both for guidance--in the real world and when they had to fight.

And worse, both Logan and Matt had known a different him: one that was stronger, faster, probably wiser. Knowing that he could be all those things one day (and why not make that sooner rather than later?) helped him keep going. Somewhere under his fur, he was a hero where they came from. He wondered vaguely if the Nightcrawler Peter knew was a hero too. So far all he knew was that that Nightcrawler was older. Big surprise there: he was going to age of all things.

He had to keep on moving, though. If Logan did show up again, and realized that Kurt had just been sitting around waiting for someone to give him direction, he wouldn't only be mad, he'd be disappointed. Matt might not be mad, but he'd be disappointed probably. Plus, he couldn't let Kitty down--or Terry or Peter. They may not have been X-Men, but they were on his proverbial team. He had to hang strong.

"I remember something about the basement being dangerous," Kurt said, resuming eating his waffles piece by piece. "The roof might be easier to get to, though. I could just teleport us up there. But isn't there something outside that... eats virgins?"

Man, if Peter and Terry looked at him and asked why that would be a problem, he was going to give up right then.

[gothamsfuture]

Terry followed Peter over to the couch, not making any jokes about getting Kurt a leash. It might snap the guy out of his mood, or it could make things worse, and Terry wasn't going to risk the latter when they'd just come to a truce.

Thankfully they both seemed to go with the topic change, and Terry listened to both Peter and Kurt carefully. They weren't the greatest ideas, or the safest, no. But better than nothing.

"Yeah. Birds, wasn't it?" It didn't take much to reason that Peter and Kurt were probably both a little too young to be safe in that regard. "But if worse came to worse, both of you could just be bait while I snuck up on them from behind." Terry's grin made it clear that he was joking, but if pushed, he'd argue that it was important to know who had virgin-eating bird immunity.

"At least looking for a way up gives us a more limited area to work with." As opposed to working outside. Who knew how much territory they would have to cover, especially just with the few hours that comprised night. After what happened last night, Terry wanted to start small. "There might be a secret passage somewhere that just hasn't been found. But looking inside would be easier for now. And if you give us a list of what you need, Peter, maybe we can find it along the way." Because not taking advantage of something like that would be way beyond "rookie" on the mistake scale.

"Oh, and one more thing. It's Terry McGinnis, not Alex." Terry kept going before Peter could give him the same look Kurt had in the shower. "The nurses call me by my real name, but I didn't want to stand out. So on the boards and stuff, I'm using Alex Matthews."