Day 48: Cafeteria (Breakfast)

[should_be_dead]

Luckily for Mele, the night had ended before Tenzen had changed his mind and deemed Mele appropriate for target practice. Even if the situation of who was mocking who had seemed to change into the Iga ninja's favor. Despite her behavior, perhaps the insolent woman could serve some sort of use nonetheless. He had been trapped in this place for a

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[unheroed]

While Harvey would have liked to get further in his searching, he felt accomplished enough about the night before that he wasn't too annoyed when he woke up. The scalpel he'd managed to find he was gripped tightly in his palm, and he sent a glance down at the polished blade before pulling himself out of bed, heading over to his desk, and stashing it in the drawer with the syringe he'd found a few nights back

[its_the_mileage]

Indy's first reaction to waking up--which he imagined also had to be Ryuuzaki and Lunge's reactions, which was the only possible reaction any sane human being could have--was to swear. Not only had they not gotten any answers, that damn thing had probably demolished half the floor of the building. Trying to put a date on those coins now would involve digging through smashed debris--just more painstaking labor they didn't have time to waste on

[unheroed]

Coupled with his decent morning came a decent person. Harvey was loathe to say that he liked talking to Jones, but he was one of the better picks of possible companions in this place. And he'd slowly been getting used to him, after the number of daytime conversations they'd had -- not to mention two fairly noteworthy nights. Harvey hadn't thought back on those ruins too much since he'd been there, but he had to admit he was curious about whether or not the archaeologist had any more insights on it.

His idea to ask about that was cut short when he realized that Jones didn't seem to be in his usual mood. From what Harvey had gathered so far, the man wasn't exactly cheerful, but he was forward-thinking and far from negative. Cynical, maybe, but who wouldn't be? Things seemed different this morning, and he had to wonder why.

Not one to avoid commenting on something, Harvey took another sip of his so-called meal and then spoke up. "Bad night?" It almost felt nice to be the one who hadn't fared too terribly the night before, he had to

[its_the_mileage]

"I've had worse," Indy allowed. If he looked at things objectively, being captured and brainwashed by a homicidal cult with a penchant for human sacrifice and child slavery--just for example--had probably made for a worse night than last one. Still, even a scientist couldn't manage objectivity all the time, so he continued ruefully, "But last night probably made the list. You know those ruins? I ran into one of Landel's lab rats out there. Not only did we not find any 'radio prize,' but the inside of the church is a wreck." Granted, destroying valuable archaeological sites wasn't exactly new for him either, but Indy still felt twinges of professional disappointment whenever he was compelled to do it

[unheroed]

When Jones mentioned the radio clue (or lack thereof, really), Harvey couldn't help but feel vindicated. He'd noticed the way Lana had questioned him last night about not carrying one around, but now he knew that he'd made the right choice in refraining. Not taking it meant he could carry more important things (such as weapons) and also stopped him from being tempted to walk right into danger. Good thing that someone else had been able to test the theory for him

[its_the_mileage]

"Yeah, except the Greeks never thought to give it armor plating." That was still a sore point with Indy: how were they supposed to beat the thing? The obvious answer was that they weren't. But they knew its weakness; if they could just get at those eyes-- The dog leash might not work, but Indy still thought ranged weapons were the way to go. If you had something more accurate--like a gun, say....

Hmm, Indy thought, gaze flickering thoughtfully at Dent before it went back to the stack of pancakes. But what would it take to convince him? Their interactions had been cordial enough, but Indy's impression was that Dent was fundamentally self-interested, not the kind of guy much given to putting himself in harm's way just to waste his limited ammunition on someone else's problem. Idly, Indy wondered where he kept the gun.

"That's obviously what they were going for, though," he continued after a few bites. "It was probably eight, nine feet tall; bipedal; bull's head and horns; hands, the works. Like someone had their copy of Ovid open

[unheroed]

Armored plating. Even though Jones was clearly ticked about the whole thing, all Harvey could think was no surprise there. If he'd had to deal with this minotaur himself his reaction would have been the same (or worse) than Jones', but hearing it second-hand just made him roll his eyes. He regretted it soon afterward, though; it always felt strange when his bad eye moved around under the tight bandages

[its_the_mileage]

"The night ended," Indy admitted flatly. He still thought they would have handled it eventually, gun or no gun, and he would've preferred a good story to the inconclusive tale of failure he was telling now.

Still, at least he'd gotten the griping out of his system; Indy didn't think of himself as the sort of fellow who made a habit of sitting around whining when there was work to be done. Too bad the whole schedule here was set up to afford more time for complaining than action.

He shifted the topic. "What about you? Ever catch up with your friend?" Hell, maybe the friend could fight the minotaur, if he was as big on getting into scraps as he sounded. Even if he just got gored right off the bat, it might buy the rest of them a little time to think of something else to try.

[unheroed]

As far as Harvey was concerned, Jones was lucky. Heading off against something like that was going to get you killed, no questions asked. It wasn't like they had superpowers or anything. This idea of the Head Doctor's about making them fight things that were way beyond the norm was just ludicrous.

It looked like that was the end of Jones' recounting, though, since he moved on to the subject of Jason. Harvey hadn't seen the kid enter the room yet, though he hadn't been focusing that closely on the doors.

"I saw him yesterday," he said with a shrug. "We decided to part ways last night. He had something to take care of, so I just went ahead and looked around the second floor some more. Ran into a new arrival and took her along. Another lawyer, if you'll believe it." Harvey hoped that Jones didn't take that as a sign of his benevolence. It hadn't been about that, not really. If Lana had grated on him in any way, he would at least have relied on the coin when it came to whether or not he should take her with him.

[its_the_mileage]

Indy snorted. "Another one? What does Landel have against you people?" Maybe it'd been one law school rejection too many that had led him down the path of quack science

[unheroed]

"That's a good question," Harvey said with a shake of his head. "As she pointed out, it doesn't seem like the best move to start imprisoning people who are well-equipped to bring him to justice eventually." Still, he got the impression that Landel didn't need to worry about that. With everything else he'd pulled thus far, it was probably the least of his concerns.

It did make him wonder if Landel was making some sort of point, though. Maybe it was so that he could go on an ego trip, to show himself (or someone else) that he could make a risky move like that and still come out on top. As far as Harvey was concerned, that luck could only last for so long. Hadn't he had everything going for him at one point? And it'd all been burned away

[its_the_mileage]

"You'd have to get out first," Indy replied dryly. "And it doesn't sound like he's losing a lot of sleep over that possibility." The mild crack actually hid surprise; that was a lot more idealistic a view than he would've given Dent credit for, and he couldn't help adding with some interest, "So that's your plan when you get out of here? Bringing the law down on Landel's head?" Somehow Indy couldn't see this whole thing ending in the trial and conviction of the century, even if they escaped. Maybe he'd just met a lot of zealots over the years, but in his experience crazy enterprises like this usually ended up taking their authors with them when they finally blew up. He just hoped this one wouldn't take the rest of them with it too

[unheroed]

When Jones went ahead and assumed that Harvey had taken on this whole retribution for Landel plan as his own idea, he could only scoff and shake his head. "I never said that. It was just something that she brought up, and it does make good sense. It also shows just how confident that bastard is," he grumbled. Harvey was honestly torn between thinking that the man would get his just desserts eventually and somehow knowing that it wouldn't necessarily turn out that way

[its_the_mileage]

"He's got reason to be," Indy pointed out. "Even if you could get him to trial, you'd be laughed out of the courtroom as soon as you started talking about Zombis and brainwashing and time travel. You'd need very concrete evidence, and even then...." Hmm. "Maybe what we need is fewer people running around with kitchen knives and more with cameras." Indy was still slightly bitter about those damn kitchen knives

[unheroed]

Jones had a good point. Harvey hadn't put much thought into trying to prosecute Landel because that had never been his plan, but it wasn't something that would be done easily. It didn't mean it was impossible, since there were other clear signs of misconduct here, but having a camera would certainly help things. And then he remembered. "I met someone here who has a camera," he said suddenly. "A Polaroid. If someone cared enough, they could probably ask him to borrow it." Or work with him, since he wasn't sure Leonard was going to let that thing out of his hands so easily. Not when he needed it to remember even the smallest things, anyway