Participants:
| Scene Title | A Long Overdue Apology |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | He left that night never knowing the source of the attack or the consequences that came of it. |
| Date | Apr 4, 2011 |
Skinny Brickfront, Endgame Safehouse
Elisabeth is awake and walking around the safehouse restlessly. She's been formulating plans and organizing her thoughts all afternoon, pacing from boarded up window to boarded up window. The gentle hum of anxiety still accompanies her everywhere as she moves, audible as a faint middle G note. Norton has seen her this way before, but in years past her power was never a part of the equation. Much has changed, clearly. As she moves through the halls of the building, room to room, her brows are pulled together in thought. She occasionally mutters to herself in a tone of disgust. If one didn't know her better, they might think she'd utterly snapped. But Norton's also seen this side of her; it's a little known fact that Elisabeth occasionally talks to herself.
Even as he nears the door of the room in which she's pacing, her blue eyes are turned toward his entry. Elisabeth has clearly been using her ability to sharpen her awareness.
Trask opens the door quietly, sticking his head in, he has changed clothes since last she saw him, apparently running out to wherever he goes when he isn't here. "Hey how you doing?" He asks softly.
Her tension eases slightly, but Elisabeth's tone is tart. "I'd be doing better if I weren't worried about you running off to see a FRONTLINE operative that I didn't know. Who?" Her tone holds… authority. She's grown into a leadership role while he was away. "Is it someone on my squad or the other one?"
Trask shakes his head and smiles, "I don't know what squad she is on. She is an old war buddy from Iraq who recognized me in a diner the other night. She gave me her number to get together and catch up on old times. I havn't called her to set up a meeting or anything yet."
"What's her name?" Elisabeth fires back, gentling her tone. "I'm worried because…. the OS squad out on Staten is not a group you want to be associating with unless you're damn sure of getting something useful out of it. And if it's my squad… well, anyone they meet up with is going to be suspect for a while to come. They'll all be under investigation because of the way Felix and I departed."
Trask says, "Hannah Emerson, we were in the Army together back when Peter leveled Midtown."
Six degrees of separation her lily-white ass. Elisabeth sighs. "Do not approach Emerson under any circumstances for at least the next week." She pauses and looks at him. "She's one of the ones who went out to Miller Airfield the night I evacuated. I told her…. to follow her conscience if shit went down out there. They're going to be watching her very closely, and I hope…. that if she did do anything to help the Ferry she covered her ass really well."
Trask nods, "She's a good kid, or she was when I knew her. Ran into her at 3am at the night owl a couple weeks ago by chance." He smiles and holds up a thermos he walked in with, "Fresh coffee?"
Now she smiles. "You know me too well," Elisabeth replies quietly. "I would love some." She sighs and studies him. "Everything for a reason," she murmurs. "I've been thinking a lot about that lately."
Trask says, "About coffee? Maybe we need to get a coffee machine in here then. I'm sure I can find a battery powered one.""
Elisabeth laughs. "Uhm… no, not really about coffee. About… everything for a reason," she admits. "There've been…. a rash of dreams that are either precognitive or they're… views of Zeke's future. Things that happened in it. That could happen here, I guess, since it's the future. It's the timeline he's trying to keep in place until the last minute. But… I don't believe a bunch of us would be seeing it if it weren't a warning." She considers. "And I dont' think you would have gotten word about what was going on and come home if you weren't supposed to be part of this."
Trask smiles, "Your saying Abby was right from the beginning?" He chuckles softly and shakes his head, he then finds a spot on the wall to lean on. "She always felt God had a plan, but she always worried there was a reason her touch couldn't reach me."
There's a long quiet and Elisabeth smiles a bit. "Church isn't a place I go often, but … admittedly in the past couple of years I've turned more and more to praying. I don't know if He's listening. Or maybe I just don't want to hear what He's telling me." She shrugs a bit and walks to him to take the thermos. Coffee! She doesn't address why Abby's touch couldn't reach him. She does tell him, however, "She's not a healer anymore."
Trask says, "She's not a healer? What is frakking going on? Elle is a space heater, Abby can't heal people, Pregnent girl is afraid her power will come back….there some new game show I'm missing?""
"No…." Elisabeth leans against the wall. "Abby's situation is … different. She never had a healing ability to start with. It was, if I understand correctly, a … let's call it a spirit. The actual term is 'kami' or something. It and the power wielded by the Vanguard's top guy were sort of… opposing forces in the universe. Remember on the bridge when Abby tried to kill it? It didn't work because they couldn't be killed. They are… entities or something. I don't know. Anyway… it has gone and jumped bodies, the same way Abby inherited it." She opens the coffee to pour herself some into the lid of the thermos.
Trask blinks, "Wait the bridge didn't work…you mean all of that was for nothing?" He sinks to the floor still leaning against the wall, sighing heavily.
"Not nothing," Elisabeth says. "But… definitely wasn't what we'd hoped. In any case… the rest of the power swapping is because …." Christ what a long story. "Basically, the future version of Cardinal is living in Tyler Case's body. Case's power was to swap or remove Evo powers. So … because future Cardinal's something of an asshole, he decided that while he needed certain powers to enact the plan he's working on, he didn't want to hurt people he cares about. Like Elle. So he swapped a bunch of their powers around in the hopes of using the power without the correct body." Liz grimaces. "It doesn't work. He'll be coming for Elle again, when the powers revert back — which they invariably do eventually. Case's ability isn't permanent."
Trask ahhs softly, and nods, "I see well then I will be hoping he can't touch me either." He grins, "Personally I prefer not to have to deal with all that super power shit all the time. Though occasionally it can come in handy, with healing and extraction."
"Touching isn't the problem," Elisabeth retorts. "He does it from a distance. But…. yes, let's hope your negation field is as absolute as we hope. Also… there are several Sylars on the loose, so be aware of that too." She sighs, sipping the coffee with an expression of bliss.
Trask nods, "I heard about that the first day I hit the ground here. I hear at least one seems to be from the future, not sure if that is good or bad. Gabriel in 2019 did pull our shit out of the fire."
"At least one of them seems… on the side of the angels, I think." The one who came with Eileen to try to warn Remi. Elisabeth just shakes her head. "No idea about the other ones. DoEA has been calling it a copycat murderer, but those of us in the know, well…" She leans her head back against the wall.Trask nods, "the DOEA rarely calls a spade a spade in public. So what else do I need to know? What else have I missed, apparently quite a bit?"
"I don't even know where to start," Elisabeth says quietly. Her anxiety may still be in place, but at least standing next to him like this the hum has vanished. She looks at him. "It's war," she says simply. "I just don't even know where to start."
Trask nods, and reaches out to catch her hand he is still sitting on the floor and leaned against the wall. "you don't have to explain. Just any major issues I need to keep in mind before I get shot again?"
"Don't get shot," Elisabeth tells him, lowering herself to sit next to him with the thermos. Shoulder to shoulder against that wall, she says softly, "I'm going to text a DoEA agent in about a half an hour. I need to talk to her." She looks at him. "She could be helpful. If I don't come back… I need you to do something for me." There's a long pause, her blue eyes searching his. "I need you to look out for my people. Felix, Jaiden, Ygraine… Richard. Graeme and Aric. Claire. Monica. Niki, if she ever turns back up. Harmony and her babies. They're… important to me, Norton."
Trask looks over at you, "Liz…don't talk like that. Your coming back. You can't assume anything else. Once you assume something different you have already lost."
Elisabeth smiles slightly. "I have to plan for the worst and assume the best," she retorts. "I have every intention of coming back. But I just need the words, Norton."
Trask looks over at you, "You don't need the words Liz…you know good and well I will do everything I can for them. I would wether you asked it or not."
The blonde leans over to lay her head on his shoulder. "There's one more thing I need to confess," Elisabeth admits softly. "It was my fault. Beach Street." She swallows. "They got it because of me." She leans away and looks at him. "Can you forgive me that?" He was, after all, right in the middle of that mess.
Trask looks over at you, "You called them up and told them /Hey major ferrymen safehouse here, get there before 10pm and get a fugitive excop as a bonus prize?/
Elisabeth…. blanches. And looks away from him. "No, I…. held on as long as I could while they … stabbed me and let the rats loose on me and …" Her tone is bitter. "I f-f-f-finally c-c-couldn't. And T-T-T-Teo t-t-told me he'd g-g-g-get everyone out." She swallows. "He t-t-t-told me the address. I wish he hadn't."
Trask blinks, "So let me get this straight…you feel guilty…because under torture, you gave out the location of what you thought was an empty safe house?"
"No… I knew it wasn't empty," Elisabeth says. "Teo was… in my head at the time. He's a telepath now… or soemthing. Thanks to the Formula. But… he was going to try to get it clear. Didn't know if he could. But I knew… that they'd kill me anyway. I should have just kept my mouth shut." She has the stammer back under control. "I just… wanted to tell you I'm sorry. I know you were there. But I didn't find out til weeks later."
Trask shakes his head, "IT's ok…we got out…it was just a morning workout. Nothing I havn't done before, and had to do many times since. Apparently your were wrong…or is there an evolved that makes zombies now?"
There's a hesitation, as if she doesn't want to say the words aloud yet again. But in some ways saying it out loud is therapeutic. Elisabeth glances at him. "Uhm… no, I was right. They blew half my brain out on a warehouse wall. That's where my ten years of memories went." She moves to stand up. "Teo and Wireless found my body in the harbor. And Abby's ability… managed to put me back together again." She watches him, leaving the coffee on the floor. Leaning down, she kisses his cheek. "I just needed to say I was sorry, Norton.
Trask pales, "I never knew…and that was right when I left too."
She nods a bit. "I know," Elisabeth says softly. "I know you didn't know. I just… needed to tell you I was sorry for my part in it. I've needed to say it for a long time." She strokes his cheek. "I need to go meet the agent. I'll… be back in a little while, okay?" And then she slips out to let him assimilate.