Call Me Warren Ray

Participants:

cardinal_icon.gif warren_icon.gif

Scene Title Call Me Warren Ray
Synopsis Warren gives Cardinal a call for information, and has no apparent desire to betray the Institute.
Date July 28 2010

Phone


It's afternoon, and deciding to take the momentum of his particularly good day and run with it, Warren gives Cardinal a call. Alex's damage needs to be repaired, not to mention there's a few questions that require someone he assumes has answers. "Hello? This is the artist formerly known as Jack. It's a long story, but I let Alex think he was in the pilot seat so I could get something I wanted. By the way, you can call me Warren Ray, no more of this Jack stuff, I know my real name now." That's a lot to answer the phone to, but he finally quiets down so Cardinal can actually speak.

The phone's picked up, and there's silence for a moment on the other end. "Really." There's a dubiousness to his tone, which perhaps can be understandible, given that the person Richard Cardinal is speaking to is completely insane. "So what exactly do you want, 'Warren'? I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"I need an impartial observer, and to repair the damage that Alex did to our relationship. He's a greedy little bastard, but I needed him to get my freedom. I was told the truth about myself, and from what I can tell, you're someone important. I want someone important to know the truth." Warren says seriously, though his tone still suggests that he's clearly Jack, despite choosing the new name.

"I was told that everything I thought about my life was a lie. My mother's insane, my father's in a coma, and I've been controlled by Linderman. They said I'm crazy because I've had over fourteen memory alterations by someone called the Haitian, and I had a complete memory wipe so I could come up with my own past, because Linderman thought it would stick, and it did." He pauses, sitting on his car a few blocks away from his base, then continues. "Even the first two men in my group were hired by Linderman, all a part of some thing to control me. There's a small tumor in my brain, but they say it can be fixed. And my real name is Warren Ray. They won't tell me my father's name, just that he's in a coma. I have a sister, don't know her name either. I know I'm crazy, I know we're technically enemies, but I wanted to know if you knew anything? I'd owe you, something."

Cardinal is silent for several long moments. "The Haitian could do that," he admits finally, "He's a memory manipulator that works for the Company. Linderman's created sleeper agents like that before, too, given them complete false identities." A beat, "who told you all this?"

"Harper. I'm not allowed to talk about the Institute, but I think I can tell you that. This isn't a betrayal, I'm not crazy enough to ruin what I'm getting, but I don't think I'm in a position where they'll give me the whole truth, and I want to know who my father is and why he's in a coma." Warren pauses a moment, and adds, "When I know who my father is, I'll learn what kind of person he is, and maybe have a purpose in life. When you're on medication, killing Cthulhu seems like less and less of a feasible life goal… almost."

"I'm afraid that rather limits our conversational possibilities here, Warren, or Jack, or whoever you are," Cardinal replies in rather dry tones, "Since I'm not a huge fan of the Commonwealth Institute. You see, completely aside from the friends they've kidnapped, I work for your father, and they're keeping him ensconced in a medically-induced coma while they dig through his head for secrets with their wonderful god-damn machines and their pet telepaths. Because they know if they woke him up, they'd be fucked."

"I see." Cardinal can practically hear the smile on Warren's face when he gets that bit of information. "So that's what they're doing to my father." He's silent for a moment, thinking of his next course of action. "I think we need to meet, somewhere mutual. I have options to weigh and choices to make. I need to make an informed decision that doesn't involve Elle's hot blonde ass. You in?"

"I can set something up," states Cardinal cautiously, "I'll figure out a good place and give you a call once I have some back-up. I didn't trust you before, and I trust you even less now that I know you've been palling around with Desmond fucking Harper."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, I just met the guy and he's scared shitless of me. Besides, I've only ever been as trustworthy as it's in my interests to be. You know about my father, so it looks like I won't be testing my laser cage any time soon." Warren stands and can be heard stepping from a car. "I better get back before Elle gets bored, but maybe she's actually decided to kill someone, that'd be exciting. I think I'm in love again. Give me a call when you figure things out."

"How nice for you," Cardinal replies dryly, "I'll be in touch."


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License