Under The Rug

Participants:

eve_icon.gif gillian_icon.gif hana_icon.gif kent_icon.gif

Scene Title Under The Rug
Synopsis The three amigos seeks some guidance and firepower in cleaning up their mess.
Date January 15, 2009

Condemned Tenement

Once home to dozens of working-class families, this building has long ago been officially evacuated and condemned after it was partially gutted by a fire. The brick exterior is covered with layer upon layer of graffiti, the windows are boarded, and some sections of the roof are less than sound. The fire took hold on the fourth floor and expanded upward. Below that, many of the apartments are still intact.


It's dark and abandoned inside of the Condemned Tenement that PARIAH once called home. There are no signs of life, apparently nobody has been here, but then again they are only on the first level and squatters could be on the other levels. The door of the place is opened and in walks Eve, dressed in black. Jeans and a shirt. The seer has her hair put up in a ponytail and she tilts her head as she steps in. This place stirs up so many memories for her. She looks behind her, waiting for Kent and Gillian to follow her inside.

"Atmospheric," Kent mutters as they enter the front room, bundled into a heavy, worn looking coat and glasses perched on the end of his nose, which is pushed back into place with a partially gloved hand. It just doesn't stop being cold, especially not at night, in a building that doesn't know the meaning of the term cental heating. There's the sound of muffled foot steps above, the handful of desperate New Yorkers that call this place home making their masked presence known, and Kent's glasses glint in what light source there is as he looks around the wrecked interior, hand in his pocket and absently curling around the small, industrial pocket knife inside it.

"I've been here before," Gillian says with a soft murmur, as she steps in behind Eve, looking back at the taxi cab who ditched them after the— information exchange that ended up being a botched raid on a high security prison. "It's a long story, but I don't know if this place is exactly secure…" She frowns at the walls, the stairs. They're all familiar. She's not about to forget that night. "I hope this person you're having us meet really can help. I just moved again." It's annoying to move so many times in three months.

"Yeah, but it's the only place I could think of to come. I know this place.." she says and runs a hand along the wall. Eve turns to look at Gillian and Kent. "I /hope/ she will hear us out and help.. she's a ally of sorts." She says to the two and scratches her head. "You've been here too G?" she raises an eyebrow at the woman.

There's a slight scrape of metal against cement as Kent moves towards where a rickety stool had been neglected in the corner, mostly just trash. This, he rights, dusts off and takes post on, arms folding about himself and casting a curious glance towards Gillian, as if wondering why she'd know or be familiar with a condemned tenement. Apparently, whatever little talks they had shared weren't as enlightening as Kent thought, but then again, he's equally secretive. "As long as we can trust her," he says, with no real, clear idea as to whom they're meeting. "I didn't come all the way to New York just to get arrested." Which begs the question as to why he agreed to the prior mission, but. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

"You can leave New York easily, though," Gillian says, glancing toward the Taxi, looking over at him. Hell, technically so can she, but… she has things she needs to do here, and… "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be that bad, okay. I had no idea what kind of accomidations they'd have him in. I know, it was dumb. I didn't even have my coffee." Yeah, blame the Earl Gray. It seems easier than accepting responsibility. "Can we trust her?" she looks at Eve, wondering if the woman would even know for sure. "She's on our side, right?" Totally reliable, the whole lot of them.

'Of sorts'. It's probably fortunate for Eve that Hana didn't hear the qualifier; she enters the tenement in the trio's wake, steps just barely audible in the gloomy interior. Rather like how the woman herself is but a piece of shadow with paler skin and hands, the rest masked by dark clothing and hair. Gillian and Kent receive assessing glances; to Eve, the technopath raises a brow. It's even more abbreviated than her usual greetings. "If there's a more idiotic, impetuous thing you could've done, I completely fail at imagining it," she informs the seer. The words are remarkably free of heat, but disapproval is nonetheless most evident.

"It wasn't just your fault Gillian, we were all being stupid. Most of the blame will fall on me, I'm sure." Something Eve is used too. "We can trust her because she is indeed on our side of the fence." When Hana enters Eve nods her head at her, "I know, it was stupid, dumb, idiotic and just about everything else you think to say.. I've said it to myself. I've been beating myself up about it since it happened." Eve gestures to her companions, "Meet Gillian and Kent." She says simply and nods at the two.

Kent doesn't have the opportunity to say much to Gillian's apology, just studies the ground, shifting dirt a little with the toe of his shoe, until his attention is caught by the new arrival. His back straightens but he doesn't stand up, and continues to say nothing as the woman rounds on Eve, words cutting enough for the calm not to matter too much. Kent can feel it from here. At Eve's introduction, he lifts a hand. "Nice to meet you," he says politely. "Circumstances aside."

The woman gets a look, and Gillian keeps her ability tied up in the back of her head. No one's actively trying to do anything, but they're all in proximity— best to keep it all locked up, so Kent doesn't spontaneously teleport to Spain, or so Eve doesn't have a surprise waking dream. "Yeah, nice to meet you. Didn't get your name, though…"

Eve's admission of her own mistake earns the seer an ephemeral, lopsided smirk from the technopath. Kent and Gillian receive nods in turn as introductions are made. "Hana," the woman supplies. It may or may not be nice to meet them; she doesn't say. After a moment of regarding the new acquaintances, she returns her attention to Eve. "So. What do you want to do about it?"

"Well that's just it. I have /no/ clue what we could do about it at all." Eve leans against the wall and rubs her knees. "I thought maybe you could get into their database and either erase the files or somehow alter them so they couldn't see our faces.. or hear the audio to well." The seer looks at Hana. "Is that possible for you to do?"

Cover their tracks, more or less. Sweep it under the rug. Kent looks to Eve as he answers the woman, brows raising a little at her request. Ideal. At least, as far as he and Eve are concelealed, but speaking of the third presence… "I'm sure Gillian would be happy to help," he offers, inadvertantly pimping out the resident augmentor but then again, they'd all help out if possible, wouldn't they? That question is asked in a glance towards her.

"If she's some kind of hacker I don't think I can help. I know computers, databases and shit, but actual hacking? That ain't my thing," Gillian says, looking at her. Surely there's not an ability that could do all that. She's not going to just assume everything is power related— then again… she looks at the other two, then back at the woman. Hana. "If you're on our side of the fence, then maybe I can help you, but only if you're doing something with an ability to— If you can fix it, then it'd be really nice, and I'll help if I can. I don't just want to keep running away and hiding just because we did something dumb."

Hana looks askance at Eve. You really just…? "Maybe. If you're incredibly lucky." Incredibly, unbelievably, impossibly lucky. "If they've written it to disc, if the storage computer has no network capability…" And smart HomeSec and/or Company system designers would've arranged both. Hana's tone is as dubious as her expression; she doesn't think they can be so easily bailed out. Gillian, however, gets a thoughtful, considering regard. "How would you help?" Genuinely curious, with the tone of 'and where shall I fit this in a plan?'

"The reason I had the vision that I did without sleeping is because of Gillian.. she can boost or augment abilities." Eve says and shakes her head. "I know that it is highly doubtful that something can be done but I know that we have to try something." Eve doesn't know what else to say. The recent adventures of the KEG squad has worried Eve, but not for herself but for the other two. She looks at Gillian and Kent before stepping a little away from the wall.

Kent nods once when Eve answers that question. "It's the only way I could get us into this mess," he says, acknowledged irony in his voice, barely flicking a glance towards Hana. His hand lifts to scratch his forehead in a slightly nervous, sheepish gesture. "I can't, um. Teleport blind usually, but what Gillian can do kinda makes you able to do more, so."

"Yeah— more," Gillian says, not actually touching any of them, or unleashing the knot in the back of her head. "I shook her hand and she had a— vision. Eyes went white. A whole bunch of them. Including one about my bum, apparently." She rubs said bum in memory. She doesn't have the tattoo there yet, but according to a vision she will… part of her is tempted to get something other than what she saw, just to give the future a big middle finger. "Why we went to see Peter, and how we got in to see him. How I ended up meeting Peter in the first place, but that doesn't really matter so much, I guess. Anyway, if I hold your hand, you might be able to do more than you usually could. Go further— push yourself harder with less badness. You could also lose control if you're prone to that."

An augmentor. Hana regards Gillian in silence for a long moment. "Not prone," she remarks absently, beginning with the last comment first. The implication of her answer is that she has lost control before. "I don't know that you can help, except by letting me reach the computer from farther away. If they've backed up the footage — and they almost certainly have — my ability won't solve much at all." Which means the other route. And even Hana visibly looks less than enthused about that prospect.

Eve's gaze darkens, "So either this works, or I'm sure we will be on the run." Eve says softly and looks to Kent and Gillian. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this mess." Eve brushes a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and sighs

"You're not the one who did it literally," Kent says to Eve, with a dismissive shrug, then a glance to Hana. He winces a little as his mind turns over possibilities, both negative and not so much. "I'm not entirely computer savvy or anything but if— that— if the storage computer thing with the backed up footage is somewhere you know, maybe I can help. Which might defeat the purpose all over again, but— " But at the end of the day, he doesn't want to shove all the problem solving onto the three women in the room, so he makes his offer, and shrugs.

There's a long pause and Gillian tries to think about it. "If you know where the computers are, surely you'd know what cameras there are. And if you can do all that as long as it's not in closed networks or a bakcup drive— I don't know, but you could probably shut off the cameras all together?" There's a shrug, as if she's not really sure about it. "My knowledge of computers is limited to what we had at the library. But we did have security cameras and stuff."

Hana looks to Eve. "I can let you know if they go looking for you. I can do a decent amount to bury electronic trails as they stand now, but I can't promise anything for what you do after now." Unless you were to assume a different identity or something, but the technopath assumes that, if the trio were interested in such, they would have already mentioned it. She shakes her head slightly at Kent. "I've never been in that building. I don't know where it would be, though I might be able to find out." Finally, the Israeli woman shifts her attention to Gillian. "I can alter what the cameras report in real-time," she agrees. "And I can change what's on the computer they're attached to. But once something's removed from the network, it's beyond the scope of my ability." Finally, Hana's dark gaze flicks over each of the three. "I may be able to physically remove whatever evidence they have on you, but it's a huge risk."

"I don't know about the other two, but I would understand if you're not willing to take that risk for our fuck up. It wouldn't make sense putting you in danger, you're important to the cause." She says simply and sighs. "But if there was a way to do it then that would be great."

That makes Kent glance towards the seer, and can't help but say it out loud: "The cause?" Or does he really want to know? Being a bystander had worked out up until now, after all, and his hands come up in a 'never mind' gesture before adjusting the red woolen scarf around his neck, looking towards Hana. As if awaiting a verdict. "It would," he agrees. "But migrating is easy for me." His tone is pessimistic, despite the suggestion.

"You can do whatever you're willing to do," Gillian says with a shrug, not really wanting to ask more favors than she can repay. In some ways she probably wishes they could clean the mess up themselves. "If you can just give an advance warning on a cellphone or something, that'd be enough for me. I'm already in hiding. 'cause of Vanguard." There's a hint on a spitting sound to the name of the group. "It's those two who might need more— maybe they didn't actually ID them." But her name was used, she's already a missing persons and probably in the police banks.

"I'll see what I can find out," Hana informs the trio. Dark eyes flicker to Gillian, and the technopath nods. "Simple enough, if I know where to reach you." She could look it up, probably, but that's not the point.

"Thank you Hana, we really appreciate it." Eve says to the older woman and she smiles softly. "Don't know what I would do without you Hana, rot in prison most likely."

Kent smiles a little wanly. "Thanks," he agrees, with a glance to Gillian. He doesn't offer contact details to the woman - he only sometimes has a cellphone, after all, and he'll likely hear the news down the grapevine, anyway. Within a blink, he gives into temptation, and disappears without ceremony from the room.

"Fucking ditcher," Gillian says, glaring at the space the teleport left behind. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone, rattling off the number. "It's one of those temp phones," she adds, "But I'll be hanging onto it for a while. Looks like we're walking home Eve." There's that glare again. "How am I ever going to take him out for drinks in apology if he keeps running off?"

Hana nods to Gillian. "If you want to reach me," such as when the phone is swapped out, "send a text to Wireless." There's a flicker of a faint smile, there and gone again. "It'll work." Even if that's not a recipient designation text-messaging software isn't exactly prepared to handle under normal circumstances. "I'll let you know if there winds up being anything I can do." Then she takes her leave of the tenement, by a more conventional route.

"Well we can always go and get drinks ourselves I guess." Eve says to Gillian and nods to Hana as she leaves. "Well, come on Gillian. Exercise it is for us tonight."


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January 15th: Just Another Day In The City
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January 15th: Yours To Remember
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