Participants:
| Scene Title | Antivirus |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Trask goes back for his books, and decides to check out something else. |
| Date | October 9, 2008 |
The library has changed a little since the hostage crisis. For one, more security guards. There's been some cleanup and it's mostly back to normal, but the shelving unit (which wasn't damaged in the attack at all) has been completely replaced, and Gillian's bent down behind the counter reorganizing the reference books kept back there.
Trask has his hand in a cast. He comes in off duty and in casual clothes, and spends a few moments looking through the stacks for the books he head spent so much time trying to collect last time. This time as he approaches the counter, he is struggling a little, attempting to balance the stack with one hand.
There's a disgruntled sound, as Gillian stays knelt down in front of the counter. Her dark shirt rides up just enough to see yet another tattoo, this one also tribal, but in the shape of wings just visible on her lower back. The sound of someone at the counter makes her glance over her shoulder, put down the stack of folders she's replacing on the brand new set of shelves, and standing to look at him. "Remember you. Finally checking out those books?"
Trask grins a little, "Yeah Deja vu…" he turns to look at the door, just to make sure no one is going to come in guns blazing.
"It doesn't look like it's going to storm today, so we should be safe," Gillian responds; though she's giving him a rather odd look for the moment. "Library card?" she asks, holding her hand out for it, and actually looking curiously at her hand as she awaits the handing over of the card.
Simon has been avoiding the library and Brooklyn in general ever since he was involved in that crazy mess of bullets and blood. Still, he needs to get some literary resources for his report and he can't very well do that at home. So that's why he's returning to the scene of the crime, though he's assured himself by now that nothing like before would happen to him in here. Hostage crises are supposed to be lightning strikes, right? As he walks in he gives the room a quick glance and then moves to a nearby table to drop off his bag.
Trask puts the books down, and then attempts to juggle/dance around the cast to get his library card out of his wallet…should have thought this out better shouldn't he? The wallet comes out on the counter, showing the badge, and he slides the card out of it.
"A police officer?" Gillian asks, eyebrow raising to disappear under the veil of black bangs. She glances as the doors open again, looking as if she's checking for a group of Anti-Evolved rednecks — only to see it's just a teenager, one she vaguely recognizes from the hostage situation of before. "Looks like you're all coming back. One of my bosses was worried that people'd stop coming to check out books." Once she has the library card, she'll scan it in, and get to work on the books.
Trask grins and slides the card back in, "You think random people will just start shooting people? Much less carry a piece into the library." He smiles again, "These kinda things rarely happen again in the same place.
Simon lets his backpack fall into a chair with a thunk that startles a nearby researcher. "Sorry," he mumbles before heading towards the front desk. The woman behind the desk and the guy on the other side are both remembered from the other day, and Simon let's out a sigh. It's just a coincidence, of course.
"Yeah — that's what they say," Gillian glances behind her toward the replaced shelving unit, as if that's a hint. Each book is opened and scanned. "Well welcome back, Officer Trask," she adds in a quiet voice, glancing at the name on the computer as she does. "You're not just an officer though, are you?" she asks, but then catches the approaching teen and goes back to working on the books.
Trask raises an eyebrow, "What do you…?" he pauses as someone else walks up and smiles to the kid.
Simon steps up behind Trask and realizes he may have been interrupting someone. Why else would someone stop halfway through a sentence to smile at him? "Um, hey there. I was wondering if you guys had a current events section or something like that." This is directed to Gillian. Trask just gets a sidelong glance with a hint of recognition.
"I'm assuming you want newspapers and periodicals," Gillian says, finishing a scan before she leans over the counter and points. "It's right over there. Pretty close. You can't check those out, though, so if you need any help finding things, let me know." She pauses, then adds, "You were here the other day too." She glances toward Trask for a moment. Him being the other too.
Trask nods as he looks at Simon, one hand in the cast still from the bullet wound. "I hope your ok, son…. Nothing wrong…you didn't get hurt did you?"
Simon looks over to where Gillian pointed and looks like he really wants to head over there, but he doesn't. Instead he turns back to the other two and gives them a slow nod. "Yeah, I was there. And no, I didn't get hurt." His gaze falls on Trask's cast and a slight frown pulls at the sides of his mouth. "Did you ever hear about who those guys were? I mean what did they want?"
"According to whom they were lining up… they wanted those who were Registered," Gillian says, going back to her book scanning. She seems a little bothered for a moment, then glances toward the man checking out books. "They were checking everyone for those cards. And they were keeping me for escape, since I work here. Said they wouldn't kill me if they didn't have to, because I wasn't like 'them.'" She sounds rather sullen and bored, really, voice deep.
"They…apparently planned on killing the evolved…or so the news says. I'm not investigating the actual issue so can't give any official statement, but it appears it was some kind of political statement on what they felt you should do with…different people.".
Simon lets his gaze drop to the floor now as a simple, "Oh," escapes his lips. Then he looks back up, though, because he doesn't want to seem like it hits too close to home. "Well I hope it was just them, you know? Like, I really hope they didn't work for someone." He reaches up to scratch the back of his head as he looks between Gillian and Trask for a reaction.
"Like they expected anything, less when they made them register and put them on the Internet," Gillian says with a shake of her head. "I'm surprised it took so long to happen." So long meaning a couple of months? "I got two siblings on that list. We may not be close, but this sort of thing…" She shakes her head, then scans the last book and starts the fun job of stamping the due date.
Trask nods, "I wouldn't be surprised if there were other groups like that out there…and if there weren't more such incidents in the near future.”
"Well that's — really optimistic of you guys. I think I'll just be happy with the fact that the guys who were here won't be causing anymore trouble." Simon smiles, aware that he's being nave, but not looking to change the fact.
"People suck," Gillian says in the same sullen tone, stamping a few more of the books before they all end up in a neat pile. "What're you worried about? You got relatives that are registered?"
Trask glances over at Simon, letting him field that question.
"Who me?" Simon jabs his chest with a finger and smirks along with giving a shake of his head. "Not that I know of. Still, I was right over there when the shooting happened." That same finger gets thrust in the direction of one of the bookshelves off to his left. "I'm worried about getting stuck in another gunfight somewhere else."
"Then you're living in the wrong city — possibly country, for that matter. People walking around that can blow up the city?" Gillian says, shaking her head a little, then glancing back towards the shelving units. They weren't damaged in the attack on the library. Not at all. But they're brand new. She self-consciously starts rubbing her hip as well. "People just generally suck." She looks back and pushes the books over. "These are due back in a month."
Trask smiles and slides his books out of Simon's way. "It is New York City, it's a bit of a combat zone all the time."
"Hey, I'm young all right? That was my first shootout." Simon looks between the two with a bit of disbelief in his eyes. "I mean look at me. I'm not Wild West material here. Besides, I grew up here and never remembered things being so dangerous. I guess everything's changed, though." His voice fades off at the end there.
"You must've lived in one of the better areas until now, then," Gillian says, looking down toward her bag for an instant, as if she might actually carry a weapon there. Not a real one, though. Can of compressed air in the eyes or ear can really hurt, though. "My first hostage situation, too. Hopefully first and last, I think the cop here knows this better than anyone, though. He was smart enough to even hid his wallet when they went around to collect." There's something pointed there, as she looks at Trask.
"Police officers tend to get shot first if they are captured, which while I would prefer I got shot then one of you." He lifts his hand, "I also wanted to keep the element of surprise, I would rather they didn't know what I was or my training till to late.”
"I would rather nobody got shot, to be honest. You seem to be better off than the guys in the masks, though." Simon points to Trask's cast and grins though it seems to be a little forced. "And yeah, I guess I did live in a decent neighborhood." He says this to Gillian, not sure whether or not to be thankful.
Trask sighs softly, "New York really never changes, whether it's fireballs or Beretta 9mm they will always have a way to get a hold of the hard ware.”
"It was a smart move," Gillian says, looking back toward the young man, "So what do you need in the Current Events area?"
Simon eyes the cop with a raised brow and decides he would rather talk about his school project than about bullets and firestorms. So, he turns to Gillian and says, "I'm researching the water crisis for school."
"Well in that case, use the computer for a quick search of the newspapers. That should give you something to start with," Gillian gestures toward the computers close by. "After that, anything too recent — you'll have to find on your own. They haven't indexed all of this month, yet and you'll have to use microfilm."
"I hope you guys weren’t put too far behind by us closing you down the other day."
"Thanks," Simon says with a smile to Gillian. "I better get on that. It was good catching up with you guys. Sorry about your arm," he says to Trask with a wince. Then he turns to head towards the computers to get some research going.
When the teenager starts to move away, Gillian looks up at the cop, deciding to back track to a question she'd started when the teenager first approached. "It wasn't just because you're a cop, though, was it?"
Trask raises an eyebrow…"umm…what do you mean?"
Gillian is nice enough to keep her voice down; whispering in a library is pretty common, though. "You're different. Like the people they lined up."
Trask frowns a little, "What makes you say that?"
There's a pause, as Gillian glances behind her toward the shelves. "It's just a feeling is all. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you were just hiding it cause you're a cop." She seems to be reluctant to keep talking. And who can blame her really.
"What is up with the new shelving?"
"The reporters and the cops weren't the only ones asking about what happened here," Gillian explains, looking back at him.
Trask frowns, "Tell me about it?
"Just a guy," Gillian says, shaking his head. "Teenager — not much older than that one over there," she nods in the direction that the other kid left. "Asked about the people they pulled aside — wanted to know what they could do. Then he tossed me into the shelves and knocked down a security guard and left."
"He manhandled you?" He actually looks a little concerned on that. "And the guards just let him go?"
"They chased after him, after they got back on their feet," Gillian says, shaking her head. "They said he disappeared into the crowd, though — and if he came back I'm supposed to alert them immediately. But I don't know if he'll come back. There's a lot of crazy people around — not just the ones with guns."
"Back on their feet? He knocked them over in his escape?" He frowns a little, "I hope you're alright. What did he want?"
"Just to know what happened. Who was involved." Gillian looks at him quietly for a long moment, frowning. "I have a feeling if you were here, he couldn't have tossed me or the guards down. At least not if you were close."
Trask ohhhs softly, "You weren't in that group because of your …status, but because of your position…"
"Yeah, because I was in charge of the counter," Gillian says, pulling a stool over and sitting down. She has more work to do, but she leans against the counter instead. "That's why they picked me."
Trask nods, "Sometimes not everything you can learn from a book is written on its cover though…. Is it?
"You're one to talk," Gillian says, looking at him pointedly, before she adds, "The boy who was making the floor not solid. You didn't grab him when it all ended. And I don't think he had a card."
"Boy…what boy? Sorry I spent most of my time behind the counter, didn't get a good look at the hostages, was concentrating on the gun men." He smiles and gives you a little wink.
It's the wink that makes Gillian relax visibly, though she doesn't quite smile or return it. "Guess you were a little busy saving them. Good show, glad to see it wasn't it wasn't more than a flesh wound." She nods toward the hand.
Trask says, "It should be good in a few days, the arm is still stiff too." He smiles a little, "So you have two brothers who are…" he nods toward where they were held hostage
"Sister and brother," Gillian responds, nodding towards the computer. "Lot of their info is available online. Which is kind of pathetic." She doesn't seem to be much of a fan of it, especially not since the hostage and near execution had been geared at people listed. "They don't live here, but that doesn't mean people like the ones who came in here won't be storming their campuses in Boston and San Francisco."
Trask nods again and smiles a little. "I wish I could say I am sure everything will be ok…." He offers his good hand, "Norton by the way."
There's a glance at the hand, but Gillian takes it. And for the first time in a couple days nothing obviously bad happens. She didn't really expect it to, if she's right. "Gillian Childs. Nice to meet you, Norton. Like the anti-virus software."
Trask nods, "Anti-virus…yeah…I guess you could say so, Miss Childs." He smiles a bit and cocks his head thinking about it, musing on a joke only he gets for a moment. "Look…I need to get this stuff back home for my research but…we should talk more sometime…."
Computers are one of her things, so of course she'd draw the connection. "It's nice to meet you," Gillian says, looking towards his books. "Good luck getting home with that."
Trask moves to juggle/stack the books in his one good hand. "You here all the time?"
"Not all the time, but a lot of it, yeah," Gillian says, glancing towards her place in the counter. "Most weekdays, mornings and afternoons. Sometimes evenings."
Trask nods, "maybe I'll drop by sometime at the end of your shift and we can talk more?"
"Sure." Gillian says, watching him for a moment. She's wary, but if it was a conversation on an official capacity, he'd probably not be stopping in to visit heron her own time. She'd be going off somewhere with him. Some people are better to know than others, and this one isn't worrying her quite as much. "I'll be here. Shift usually ends around four, unless I'm working til close."
Trask nods, "Good…. I’ll be looking forward to it…" He then heads toward the door, balancing the books.
 October 9th: Matthew 21:22 |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 October 10th: Accelerant |