Day 46: Lunch

[tostepforward]

The mere fact that she'd been susceptible to whatever hold the Institute had had on her yesterday was sufficient to leave Ayumu both upset and angry - no, not angry, downright furious, both at herself and whoever was responsible for that. But there was also the fact that because of it, she'd lost out on an entire day of work, and in several ways

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[unheroed]

And so it had finally come around to lunch. This would be the moment of truth, and while he hadn't been able to get as many pointers from Jason as he would have liked, Harvey was sure that he'd be just fine in the end. This was the sort of thing he was good at.

The first thing he did was go to pick up his food shake, but he spent each moment he had to waste in line scanning the crowds of patients for a boy fitting the physical description Jason had given him last night. There were a few who fit, but in the end it was the grim look on one boy's face that gave him away. Harvey made sure to avert his gaze once he'd found him, focusing on grabbing his meal before he wandered the room for a bit to give the impression that he just happened upon the boy as a matter of course.

He was going to have to make sure that the kid realized who he was, though it probably wouldn't be too hard: the bandages were a dead giveaway. A lot of people were injured here, though, and so he decided to keep up his normal attitude while acting oblivious of the other patient's true identity.

"Not many other places to sit," he grumbled. "Do you mind?" He didn't look like he was willing to wait very long for an answer.

[unheroed]

It was hard to tell if the kid had noticed who he was, seeing how he'd only spared a glance at Harvey in the first place. Well, if he hadn't, then they'd just have to wait for the fun to start when they got around to introductions. He was assuming that Robin knew his real name.

Taking a seat, Harvey managed to look properly belligerent as he took a sip of his food shake and then set it down on the table. He appraised the kid he was now sitting across from, but only in the way someone would during a first meeting. He had to make sure he wasn't obvious. It was easy to see that Tim was well-built, and could probably handle himself in a fight despite the fact that he was pretty small when it came down to it.

"You can't be older than fifteen," he pointed out, his one visible eye narrowing. "What the hell did you do to end up in a place like this?" There was no point in playing Mister Nice Guy, after all. Eventually the kid was going to realize who he was, so he might as well act like himself. With any luck, the Two-Face in Tim's Gotham was similar enough in personality to himself.

[unheroed]

"Maybe I'm just crazy."

It was when he heard that suggestion that Harvey realized he'd become less and less likely to actually suspect someone of being crazy when he met them in this place. There were a lot of people who had proved themselves to be at least marginally sane, though at the same time there were definitely a few patients around who belonged here without a doubt. Kind of like that guy who thought he worked on a spaceship, or that Scourge idiot.

Still, Harvey knew for a fact that Tim here was sane enough. He might be on the crazy side for deciding to work with someone like Batman, but that was a whole different story. Besides, it wasn't like Harvey could judge too much for someone being a little off in the head.

There seemed to be a hint of accusation in the kid's tone when he tossed the question back at him. Maybe he was starting to put it together, then. Harvey held back on answering, taking another sip of the drink as he watched the teen.

"I don't recall saying I did anything," he said calmly. "It just seems weird that you'd be picked out for something like this, is all." Though truthfully, there were a lot of younger people here. Harvey still hadn't pieced together why that was, but he wasn't quite as set on playing detective as he'd once been.

[unheroed]

From the way the kid was talking, it sounded like he had met a few of the nuttier patients during his time here. That probably meant he'd been around for at least a few days. It might take a while to run into someone that out of touch, but there still seemed to be a fair amount of them around (if the bulletin was anything to go by).

Harvey could tell what Jason meant, though. The kid gave no indication that he would have a good reason for being here. Even though he was someone who dressed up in a mask (and probably a cape too) and ran around fighting crime, he was doing his best to act like he was a normal teenager who had been dragged to this place for no reason.

It was a good thing that Harvey had the advantage over him at the moment. He wondered how the boy would have reacted if he'd realized he had his number.

Still, that wasn't the point of this. Now he really got to test Tim and see how well he could act. "Yeah, me neither. Guess they just have a thing against guys with burn wounds," he said bitterly. "By the way, it's Dent," he introduced himself, extending a hand. "Harvey Dent." He looked the kid in the eye as anyone would do when giving their name, but he was watching closely for any reaction.

[unheroed]

All in all, Tim did a good job. Maybe there was some tension in his shoulders, but it wasn't anything most people would have noticed. Harvey was just used to analyzing people's body language as they stood before him on the witness stand for questioning, and so he picked up on it. Not that it mattered when he already knew, but it was interesting nonetheless.

He didn't let the handshake linger, but he did make note of the fake name and nodded in response to it. Gary Summers. He'd have to let Jason know about it and see if the younger man had any idea of whether or not there was some significance to the pseudonym.

The fact that Tim went ahead and asked that question when he obviously knew (had it been tossed acid in the courtroom where the kid came from?) gave Harvey an idea of how much of a punk he was. There was no need to hide the annoyed glare he sent him. "No, it didn't happen here," he said bluntly. "Not that it's any of your business."

He took another sip of his shake as he watched Tim eat his pizza. Harvey wasn't even the biggest fan of the stuff, but what he'd give to be able to eat something like that right now. Still, he could just imagine how much the acidic tomato sauce would hurt on his wounds.

[unheroed]

The emphasis implied all sorts of things. Maybe the kid thought he was a monster, and while Harvey didn't even know if there was a history between some other version of him and "Robin," he wasn't about to get caught up in that kind of bullshit. He was who he was, and he was going to play this however he wanted. The kid was just a means to an end, as he'd told himself before, so he wasn't going to get too worked up about it.

"Guess you're lucky, then," Harvey responded. "Were you not around during the attack back in town?" He kept coming back to that, but what had happened had just been so ridiculously bizarre. As much as he wanted to get it out of his mind, the images of those moving dead bodies wouldn't leave him.

And here he thought he'd been desensitized.

He got the feeling that Tim probably had run into something and was just lying, but he was going to have to get a better idea of that before he jumped to conclusions. If the kid wasn't used to the creatures here, that might make him easier to take advantage of, after all.

[unheroed]

"Hell if I know if that's how it works," Harvey said, managing to make a shrug look annoyed as he glanced across the room at nothing in particular. The truth of the matter was that he'd just heard different from the man he'd spoken to last shift -- apparently the creatures had been here in the institute as well -- but he wasn't going to share that with Drake. It might be a pointless bit of information, but seeing how that's all they really had here, Harvey would rather keep it to himself.

"Still, in my experience zombies count as monsters, so you have seen some," he pointed out as he glanced back at the kid. Either he'd been bluffing or he was trying to draw Harvey out and get him to say more about what he'd been through.

Both of them were being careful while seeming casual, and Harvey wondered just how much he would be able to get out of the kid before the shift was over. He'd drained over half of his protein drink already, so it might not be too much longer.

[unheroed]

"Hardly," Harvey quickly shot back as his brow furrowed. It pained him on the burnt side to do that, but it was hard to kick the habit when he'd been moving his face in certain ways for all of his life. One would have thought he'd learn to be careful when every wrong move made him hurt, but maybe it was his own brand of masochism.

"Do you?" It was hard to imagine a Gotham that was overrun with the living dead, but he got the feeling that Drake was just being a smart ass. Jason hadn't mentioned that Robin was such a little prick, but it was a good thing Harvey didn't have to play nice during this conversation. His anger management wasn't what it used to be.

As for the kid's skepticism, Harvey couldn't really judge. He'd felt the exact same way until he'd run into a few of the things himself. Chances were Robin was due for a monster attack by now, and if not that, then he and Jason would have to play their part instead.

"I'd say don't believe it until you've seen it," he said with a shrug. "I'm sure your time will come soon enough." It was best to be ambiguous about his own experience with the things.