The X-Project

Marius used the camouflage of his fingers to glance at the observation window as he massaged his head. Their watcher was leaving again. His sense of time was fuzzy, but the observation cycles seemed to come at irregular intervals and last several minutes -- just long enough to remind them of their absolute lack of privacy. In case, Marius supposed, this could not have been inferred from the bare metal cell, complete lack of bedding, and enforced nudity. He was astonished they had been given access to a toilet.

"Just once," said the X-Man, letting his hands drop, "I would like the party which beat and abducted me to offer an analgesic. It seems a small concession, all things considered."

Korvus stayed on his feet in the cold cell. He wasn't used to reacting strongly to temperatures and found the sudden change felt quite intense. "This happens often? I already do not care for it." His very light joke was the best he could manage at the moment.

"It is not unknown. Though in most cases one is allowed to keep one's pants." Marius leaned against the wall, then winced as the lump on the back of his head touched the surface. He pulled away again. "I must say you're taking your abduction in admirable stride," he remarked, flicking his yellow eyes briefly back to the younger man before returning them to the observation window.

"I was in Madripoor less than a year ago. I am still adapted to enslavement." Korvus offered. "I have made a show of being physically capable. They will either respect that and avoid targeting me or they will come to beat me for being so bold. I anticipate the former. It is the way of the cowardly."

"A wise course. Personally, I intend to keep my head down and my mouth shut." He paused, then amended, "Well, my head down, at any rate." Ah, yes, he'd known that. It was depressing to remember how many at the school were already familiar with the sort of hellish scenarios Marius hadn't begun to enjoy until he'd left home. Though he supposed that, if his past hadn't prepared him for the mental stresses of imprisonment, it had at least left him well-prepared in the art of repressing unpleasant realities -- and familiar though the circumstances might be to Korvus, he doubted the boy had expected to repeat them.

Marius gave the observation window one final glance. The guard had not yet returned, and the cell looked reasonably private otherwise -- if for no other reason than the fact the metal walls and flooring provided no obvious place for a listening device. Still, there was no way to tell whether or not they were being monitored, and if so how closely. But there was also no telling how long they'd have this chance.

Slowly, Marius unfolded from the bench and walked near the far end of Korvus' pacing route. He rapped on the wall with a knuckle. "Quite the steps they've taken, though," he remarked. "Perhaps justifiable for one such as yourself, but me? I'm quite baseline even when fully powered, physically speaking. Save for detecting them in others, I've no real powers of my own." He turned his head slowly towards Korvus and looked him directly in the eye. "And a certain amount of resistance to their effects, of course."

Korvus nodded, "A person with my capabilities certainly would we able to inflict some damage in this environment at the proper time." He assented.

Inwardly, Marius cursed that jokes about formerly subsisting on a diet of other mutants were so much easier to come by than any other aspect of his powers.

Such as the one that had shielded him from depowering.

"Didn't take much mind of it at the time, dealing with a mild concussion as I was, but I believe the depowering was the result of a mutant rather than technology," continued the Australian, grasping for another tactic. "Normal looking bloke. Saw him" he met Korvus' gaze again with his yellow eyes, placing extra emphasis on the first word, "as we were taken away."

Korvus tilted his head a bit. His inability to pick up discrete idioms was certainly working against him.
Korvus seemed to be picking up that he was trying to communicate something, though the what was eluding him. Marius couldn't really blame the boy. With the degree of intense eye-contact he was utilizing, Marius suspected that if this went on much longer Korvus would begin to misinterpret his intentions as romantic.

A thought crossed his mind. It was not an appealing one. Still, desperate times . . .

Marius paced towards the cell's solitary toilet. "Lucky I incurred no open wounds, at least," he said, dropping down next to the unit. "My mutation has left me somewhat spoiled when it comes to infections and that. Hadn't had to worry about it for years. Without it, I've got to be mindful of hygiene again."

With one final flick of the eyes towards the observation window, Marius turned to Korvus. He raised an arm and, with purposeful slowness, sunk two nails into the underside of his arm. He winced, but didn't stop until he was sure he'd drawn blood, and that Korvus could see it.

Then, without taking his eyes off his cellmate, he thrust the bleeding wrist into the toilet and pressed it firmly against the inside of the bowl.

Korvus watched for a moment before nodding. He understood but he didn't feel as comfortable with double-speak. "I am picking up what you are laying down."

Marius grinned, his relief almost enough to distract him from the intense desire to dip his entire arm in bleach. He stood, shaking the water off his knuckles as he did so, and stole one last furtive glance at the observation window. Still no one.

Drawing a deep breath, Marius mimed the scratch to his own arm, then pointed to Korvus. The question in his eyes was clear.

Korvus nodded, running his right thumb nail hard along the inside of his left wrist to split the skin open. He had to repeat the act several more times before he got a fair amount of blood moving.

With a swift nod, Marius clasped Korvus' wrist firmly to smear the blood across his palm, then pressed it against his own wound. However, his scratch had been shallower than Korvus', and after the plunge into the toilet the bloodflow had already stopped. He thought the transfer would still work, but he wasn't willing to leave this to chance.

He hated doing it this way.

Quickly, not even bothering to disguise his expression of distaste, Marius raised his hand and licked the rest of Korvus' blood from his palm.

Korvus moved to lean back against the door, and in front of the window, for a moment as Marius engaged his mutation. It would be better to get yelled at than for guards to see the blood and start asking questions.

Though he had no basis for the assumption Marius had expected to feel a slow sharpening of senses, like what he experienced when taking Kyle's powers. He did not. For a moment he wondered if it was working at all -- and then realized the faint chill of the cell had faded.

The pain in his skull, too, had dulled to a more managable level. He'd known Korvus lacked a true healing factor, but it seemed to carry a degree of heightened pain resistance. Not aspirin, but better than nothing.

Balling his hand into a fist, Marius gave Korvus a grim smile.

Korvus nodded, offering Marius a big, awkward double thumbs up before stepping out of the way of a window just as a guard prepared to tap on in. "My apologies, this is not usual for me." The young man offered in explanation, being quite helpful and compliant.

"You must excuse him," Marius remarked, smoothly moving his injured arm behind his back, "It is his first abduction. He does not yet know the etiquette."

The guard gave them both a cold look, but said nothing. Marius allowed his mouth to run as the guard lingered: inane, slightly manic chatter, the type one would expect from a nervous captive trying to make light of the situation. He couldn't match Korvus' feigned obedience, but he was almost unmatched in displays of fatuity.

As the younger man moved away from the window to resume his pacing, the two traded the briefest of looks. Empowered or not, now was not the time -- they were simply too heavily guarded. The glance they exchanged communicated a mutual understanding of the fact.

For now, they could be patient.