Night 52: West Wing, North Hall 1-A

[zack_fair]

[From here.]Even though the hallway seemed especially quiet tonight, Zack wasn't bothered. He was used to moving around in quiet areas on his own, from caverns to wide open fields to shorelines. He didn't get spooked very easily, and if anything, he felt like he was in his element. He had a weapon in hand was was moving at his own pace, not

Comments

[scarletspeedstr]

[from here]

Right so. Hallway with a handful of people in it, which wasn't too unusual. Creepy, ominous messages from the intercom? Also not that odd these days, though an idea of what they meant would have been nice. Somehow he didn't think that Landel was going to be throwing some sort of party for them all. 'Hey guess what, guys? I've decided to give up the crazy torture insane asylum gig and take up underwater basket weaving instead. Meeting in the cafeteria for cake and free rides home.'

...actually, even if that had happened, Wally would bet practically no one would get home because they'd all be expecting a trap.

Which in turn made him wonder if that had ever actually happened and they were all here because they hadn't realised that they could have left before now. Which meant Landel really was evil, so much so that he probably wouldn't have sent them home anyway...

And now his head was hurting. Wally shook it to banish the weird tangle of not-logic and tried to focus on the task at hand instead. Now, which way to go next

[7_to_midnight]

[From here.]

Oh. Speak of the devil.

Or the reverse, in this case. As soon as Sylar spotted Wally's shockingly red hair, he kept to the shadows of the doorway between the two halls. Having a "friend" around was always a liability; acquaintances made good meat shields, sure, but when you threw your hard-earned allies into the mix, things got messy. A wrong word there, a wrong move here, and your good intentions suddenly started looking a lot more fishy.

Then again, this was Wally. He wouldn't know "fishy" if he got slapped in the face with a lobster.

Sylar took a tentative step forward, then steeled his resolve, plastered a grin on his face, and strode on over. "Hey, buddy!" He called, giving a wave. "Fancy seeing you around here."

It'd been a little harder to do ever since that scene in the chapel. Whatever. It just meant his plans were going well.

[scarletspeedstr]

From here there was the thrilling option of outside with exciting things like airborne monsters to chew on him as well as the normal land-bound ones, or the thrilling option going further into the institute, where there would... also be the possibility airborne monsters as well as other ones, as well as lots of exciting activities including walking through near-identical hallways and trying to find something useful or interesting to do with himself.

Decisions, decisions.

Fortunately Wally was saved from having to make the choice between the two amazing options Landel's institute had on offer by someone calling out to him. The voice was instantly familiar and Wally spun around with a huge grin to face Gabriel and clap him on the shoulder warmly.

"Hey, Gabe!" he said cheerfully, almost like they'd met up by the company water cooler instead of in a dark hallway in the middle of a monster-infested institute.

...Actually, when Wally thought about how nocturnal meetings normally went here, this probably was the equivalent of meeting

[7_to_midnight]

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Sylar said, coming off as a little more dismissive than he would've liked. He glanced up and down the hall, trying to seem like he was doing a routine check for monsters when, in actuality, he was looking for any faces he recognized. He wasn't sure whether or not the 'Gabe' nickname tickled his unique sense of humor or just made him feel really damn annoyed, but either way, it might end up being a liability. He'd been making a concerted effort in the last week or so to distance himself from the identity of 'Zachary Taylor,' and it'd worked insofar that most people knew him as Gabriel, but... that also meant that most people knew him as Gabriel. He'd be naive to think that his aliases weren't going to get around to his enemies some way or another, and he'd already seen Wally and Peter sit down for a Jackass Anonymous meeting in the Arts and Crafts room. Where it'd been to Sylar's advantage to clarify the whole "Gabriel" thing with Kirk, he wasn't so sure with Wally. He could never be sure; the idiot always

[scarletspeedstr]

Wally followed Gabe's eyes automatically, checking the hallway again as well. Even though he'd already looked around himself, experience with the League had taught him that double-checking things hardly ever hurt and that he could always have missed something. Especially if the person doing the second check was someone like Supes or Bats. X-ray and whatever else vision or the scary ability to notice all kinds of things without having any powers. Sometimes he wasn't sure which was better.

Shaking his head at Gabe's words, Wally grinned easily at his friend. "Hey, no problem," he said, resting an arm on the other man's shoulder and leaning on him companionably. "I know all about the secret identity thing, believe me."

While his tone was pretty relaxed, Wally was still careful to keep his voice low and quiet, reminding himself that while he could trust Gabe with his secrets, the same couldn't be said for everyone around, even if the hallway seemed pretty empty still.

"I mean, Wally's my name, but when I'm doing, uh, other work? I go

[7_to_midnight]

The Flash... Although the name sounded vaguely familiar, it didn't ring any bells; on the other hand, the title of "The Fastest Man Alive" was much more to-the-point and much more interesting. Sure, Wally West might've not been as great of a catch as, oh, say, Clark Kent, but after all this time, his value to Sylar came from a variety of different factors rather than just his power. Sure, when you picked up a firecracker, you could light it up and blow it to pieces, but it was much more satisfying to open it first - to study its composition and how each chemical reaction would amount to one big bang - and then carefully place it in the spot where you knew it would cause the most damage

[scarletspeedstr]

The crackle of the intercom took him a little by surprise for all that he was used to Landel and his all-night talkshow of crazy. Which, he noted with a frown and a hard look that completely wiped away any sign of the normal, relaxed Wally from a moment ago, had a special guest star tonight

[7_to_midnight]

If I had even the faintest idea where he was keeping her, you'd be dead and I'd be out of here, Sylar echoed mentally, trying his very best not to roll his eyes at his "friend's" proclamation. Hadn't Wally heard about chivalry and how dead it was? Well... Maya hadn't, Sylar guessed, but even Wally didn't belong in that league of stupid.

Still, this was an interesting opportunity to see some of Wally's futile compassion in the flesh. Sylar watched his tense body and his pained face: here was a man who felt the world rested on his shoulders to such an extent that he probably forgot about himself; forgot about how much it was wearing on him or how vulnerable it left him. Sylar moved to put a reassuring hand on Wally's shoulder, give an undermining word of encouragement-

When suddenly, crashes and CRACKS exploded through the hallway. Sylar let out a grunt and flinched as Wally slammed him against the wall, but he was smart enough to know that when someone literally threw themselves into being your body shield, you shouldn't really