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Sinjin is officially bored. He's had letters, he's had phone calls he couldn't answer, he's had offers for book deals and movie rights, he's had calls from politicians and starlets. Bored. What he really wants is some solid food. And not to have an IV in his arm. And maybe to go for a walk. He's terrible at staying still. The broken ribs and the burns and the bruises and the stitches feel like less and less of a hinderance by the hour — of course, that might change if he stood up.
The police officers at the door are still unhappy about being there but, as time passes, they're less certain they're going to be murdered by death ninjas. So, Sinjin gets to listen to them flirt — badly, it's a bit painful — with the nurses. It's a private soap opera.
At least he's allowed his lighter. And cigarettes. All he needs now is for someone to smuggle in some scotch.
*
The best decisions are usually made with the help of drinking, and the events that lead up to Akihiro scaling the hospital are no exception. So, in a way, Sinjin's prayers are answered the moment the window creeks open and the teen that stuck him here swings up into his room.
"Hey, got a light?" he asks, cigarette between his lips and a bottle of Balvenie in his hand. "Figured you could use a drink."
*
Sinjin sits upright, which is a bad idea, but there's something about Akihiro's entire demeanor that says this is not an assassination attempt — and, if it is, Sinjin is going to have to talk himself out of it because he's not in any shape to be fighting. He's not in any shape to be talking, either, but he can work around that.
«Yes,» he scrawls on the pad of paper beside him. «Not here to kill me? Or drink, then killing?» He tosses the pad down to where Akihiro can see it.
An interview with the guy who tried to kill him is almost as interesting as that scotch.
*
Akihiro turns his gaze to the pad, shaking his head slightly. "I won't kill you." he sighs quietly, reaching up to rub at the back of his head. "If I didn't have this fucking bomb in my head I wouldn't have even done what I did. They promised me Russian spies, not reporters." He walks over to take a seat near Sinjin's bed, offering the bottle over.
*
Interesting. Sinjin takes the bottle gratefully, pours some of it into the empty cup by the side of the bed. He's supposed to keep drinking — water, not scotch — because something-something-recovery. He hadn't been listening at the time. Yes, he'll drink scotch through a straw. Sacrilege but necessary.
«Stryker?» he writes. «He did that? When?» He doesn't remember anything about bombs in the head in the files that he had but it makes sense on some level.
He pulls up a ball of flame from his own cigarette, floats it over to Akihiro so he can light one. Yeah, that's a little too familiar, but he can deal with it.
*
Akihiro dips his head thankfully, lighting up his own cigarette. "Part of the deal. The give you adamantium, they stick a bomb in your head in case you go rogue," he paues, looking up at Sinjin, "so if you could keep this quiet until I can bring myself to talk to Kitty, I'd appreciate it."
He leans back, getting as comfortable as he can before taking a drag from his cigarette. "If they kept their end of the bargain I wouldn't mind so much. I hate being used more than just about anything else."
*
«You'd be okay with killing me if they came across?» Sinjin finishes that off with a little x_x face. He's learning to be expressive even without having any tone nuance to the writing.
He'd consider kicking Akihiro out for that but, God, it is good to have scotch in his system again. He really should stop drinking but…voluntarily. This dry spell doesn't count. He'll start drinking again, then stop, just to be honest about it.
*
"Unless you have an extensive knowledge of Russian assassins, then no. I haven't stopped crimes across the city to start killing innocent people. I'm not a monster, even if I have to remind myself of that sometimes." Akihiro doesn't seem very happy about it.
"I only sided with them to find out who ordered the hit on my mother. Now I'm stuck working for them, and I'm not any closer than when I started."
*
«Sorry, my info is limited to drug trade in Asia and now Weapon X.» Sinjin relaxes back into the pillows, since he's not in mortal danger, and gingerly prods at his belly. Doesn't seem to be bleeding so he probably didn't hurt himself sitting up like that.
«Kitty kind of hates you at the moment,» Sinjin notes, in case Akihiro hadn't caught on to that. «But. She's not a bad person. She might help you out anyway, if only so Weapon X doesn't win this one.»
*
"I hate me too, so I can't blame her." Akihiro offers a smile that doesn't reach his black eyes. "Maybe if I'm lucky she'll scramble my brains instead of taking the bomb out." He fills his lungs with smoke and shifts his gaze towards the ceiling.
"You can bet your ass once this bomb is out, I'll kill all of them. They'll be the last people I kill until I find that assassin, then maybe I can finally rest."
*
«Kid, you are too young to be talking like you're gonna retire.» Sinjin can't laugh because it would hurt, and it would be mean, but he is a little amused. On the other hand, he understands feeling old before one's time. «Retire or worse. You're not the only person who's done some shit to people who didn't deserve it. You want me to talk to Kitty?»
*
"Well, I've got a few hundred years to worry about retiring, if I live as long as my dad anyway." Akihiro rubs at the side of his neck, fighting back the urge to vomit. "Unfortunately, I don't think you're talking to anybody for a little bit. Ah, sorry about that by the way. I try to pull my punches, but sometimes it doesn't work all that well."
*
«Figure of speech.» Sinjin puts the pen down for a moment, turns his head a little so he can see Akihiro clearly. The swelling that lingers on the left side of his face makes it a challenge sometimes. Then, he picks up the pen again.
«I don't think we were properly introduced.» He knows Akihiro's name from Kitty, though. «Akihiro, right?» No matter how young Akihiro is, he can't keep calling him 'kid'.
*
"Yeah, Akihiro Howlett. If you know Kitty maybe you've met my father, Logan, or have at least heard of him while snooping around in Asia as the Wolverine. But that was back before Weapon X got to him." Akihiro introduces himself, "Guess Kitty figured out who I was pretty quickly, huh?"
*
«It's a distinctive look,» Sinjin says with what passes for a smile these days. He thinks, then writes for a minute before passing the paper back to where Akihiro can see it.
«The most important thing, for anyone, is getting that thing out of your head. Doesn't matter how anyone feels about anything. If it's a Weapon X device, it could be big. It could hurt people around you. They could use you to knock me off right now — except that they don't have their shit together at the moment. That will change. You're too much of a risk to leave walking around. You need to let someone take it out.»
*
"I know. I just don't know if I could face my friends again. I've hurt a lot of people, sure most of them deserved it, but not all of them." Akihiro pushes to his feet, begining to quietly pace while he finishes his cigarette. "Not really sure I can still say I'm one of the good guys."
*
«Does it matter?» Sinjin writes in clear block letters. «I wouldn't call myself a good guy,» he continues. «Sometimes, I get lucky and do good things. Don't let your pride fuck you up. Of course, you could end up like me, but. It was worth it.»
*
"I never wanted to kill anyone." Akihiro admits. "But sometimes we lose ourselves." he places an actual hundred-dollar bill in front of Sinjin and heads back to the window, looking over his shoulder. "Don't lose yourself Mister Allerdyce, the woods are full of monsters like me." And with that he leaps out into the cityscape once more, vanishing and revealing the danger of an unguarded window.
*
Well. Sinjin puts that aside and pours himself another drink before the nurses catch him and take it away. That was unexpected. Now, he just has to brave Kitty. He's suffered worse.
*