Participants:
| Scene Title | By Some Definitions |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | …people are okay. Kind of. But - two Sylars?!? |
| Date | March 17 2011 |
Hospital
Finding Ygraine, whether by following directions or simply by personally searching, is rather easy - even amidst the bustle of a hospital stirred into action by yet another Evolved-related incident. The blue-on-black braid would be distinctive enough, but the backless evening gown exposing Xiulan's wondrous dragons help to make her memorable to just about anyone who lays eyes upon her.
At present, she's lurking in one of the quieter corners, perched on a chair while nursing a disposal cup of coffee, her expression one of pensive fatigue and concern.
The blonde director of FRONTLINE Manhattan is not easy to miss. She comes into the hospital with a badge out on her belt, and her blue eyes are sharp and questioning. Elisabeth assures the staff of the hospital that she's simply checking up on the patrons. It is Homeland Security's job to investigate, but she has friends who were at the party and is making a personal trip to check on them. Jaiden, Remi, Graeme…. she knows of them in particular because Jaiden texted her when it was over. But as she makes her way through the halls, she also spots Ygraine. Altering course to the woman's corner, Elisabeth approaches. "Hey…. good Lord, you look like hell. What happened?" she asks, squatting down in front of Ygraine with her elbows on her knees.
Lifting her head, Ygraine chuckles softly, quirking a wry smile. "And I love your outfit, too", she says dryly, before setting aside her coffee and holding out her one useable hand. "Are we in private?", follows quietly.
Immediately the sounds of the hospital fade away. "We are now," Elisabeth says seriously. "Homeland Security's going to be heading the investigation on this I'm pretty damn sure. Early reports indicate Sylar?"
Ygraine swallows, then nods. "In the plural. Possibly. It is… seriously fucked up. I've only seen the 'wanted' images, and a guy at night in a snow storm - but it certainly looked like him to me. And I got a very close-up look at one. Since I fucked up his invisibility…."
Sighing, the Briton closes her eyes. "Sorry. Back to… well, the possible start is that you might recall me mentioning that Alice Shaw didn't just very firmly encourage me to go back to Remi to ask for more help with Liberty, and indicated that I should expect a trade-off for it? She also specifically mentioned the party for Remi's ballet… and said that I should support the event. I'd already got tickets from Remi, as it happens, but Shaw genuinely didn't seem to realise that I knew her - from years back, in Paris…."
"I'd… talked to Remi. Gone to her again. Cut a deal. I'd give her information, she'd hire me as a PA. I filled her in on what I had surmised, from my chat with Alice, of her father's standing. The supposition of his Company connections. The implication that - given that she was highly unlikely to be on the Catabase - the information that Alice had on her was much more recent Company data. The fact that that meant that a batch of organisations out there could now be expected to also view her as a 'promising young telepath'. That they, too, would see her family as one on whom bad impressions should not be made - something Shaw had been concerned to avoid…."
"I've agreed to tell her more about what's going on, but not to give away anyone else's secrets. So she's got a run-down on the generalities of the underground struggles, and the groups I know of that have been or are involved in it all. The difference between the Ferrymen of administration propaganda and the underground railroad. The Vanguard's attempt to kill the world. Phoenix and the Day of Miracles. That sort of thing. Stuff she could find out if she tried hard, or just read the minds of half a dozen of the people she already knows. But things that might help to keep her alive. I hoped."
"Still, I was… very suspicious of the event. The signficance placed upon it. So I recruited Jaiden to help me in guarding her. I'm still a one-armed half-cripple on drugs, right now. He was going anyway, as her formal date for the night, so it was easy to talk him into it. And… I'm glad I did."
Elisabeth listens intently. She lets Ygraine babble for a long time, though the background of how and why Ygraine was at the party are pretty much irrelevant to her right now. She'll get back to what Ygraine has told Remi Davignon later. Right now, she remains as soothing as she can be. "Go on," she encourages softly.
"Part of my commission from her was to keep an eye on her. And Graeme, her room-mate, as it happens. He's the one who got stabbed along with her. On his birthday, poor bastard. But…." Closing her eyes, Ygraine inhales slowly.
"Gotta love coming down off an adrenaline high, and replacing it with constant caffeine. Riiight. Umm. A young woman I didn't recognise approached Remi. Enthused about seeing her dance in… Moscow. Was talking French. Non-native speaker, but couldn't quite place the accent. Then told her that she had something very urgent and important to tell her. In private. I suggested moving to the very edge of the dance floor - Jaiden and I would be close at hand and able to keep an eye on her, but the people closest by would be constantly moving past, and caught up in dancing. I didn't want them disappearing off entirely…."
"I don't know what was said, but it looked… urgent indeed. Then… someone invisible, and I'd guess in something of a hurry, barged into my shoulder. Whacked me off-balance, shoving my bad arm into Graeme. And it was clear that the direction of motion was straight for Remi and the stranger. So… I reached out, felt for whatever was there, and attached it to the glass in my hand as I tossed that up and out into the air. Invisible guy left the grip of the Earth, fell to the glass - intercepting it as it started its own fall to Earth - and carried it over backwards to smash on the floor beneath his weight."
"That's when things got screwy. He appeared, and it was Sylar. Looking kind of surprised, and pissed off, and starting to… glow orange. From his eyes, and with rolls of energy coming off his skin. And some time around then - maybe the same time? The stranger talking to Remi… she turned into, or turned out to be, Eileen. Some feds who were there… well. A Fed - she went for Sylar. Shot him, as Eileen jumped on her. I was trying to get Remi and Jaiden and Graeme out of there, by then. Everyone was scattering, but I was trying to take them away from all the obvious exits - further into the hotel. The idea was to get up a storey, go out a window, and take our pick of routes around the walls while everyone else was still falling over each other on the ground floor…"
Elisabeth frowns a little. "Wait…" Rubbing her forehead, the blonde looks…. for all the world like this is perhaps too much information and too complicated a situation. "Okay, no… never mind. Go on," she says softly. She'll ask her questions later.
Ygraine nods ruefully, offering Liz a sympathetic look. "All dead simple, huh? Anyway…. A… woman. Shortish, plumpish, Oriental. Dressed in black and white. She was apparently a problem, at least according to Eileen. She was heading straight for Remi, while Eileen was going the other way to protect… the first Sylar. From the Fed. And I was trying to head away from all of them, with Graeme and Jaiden - going to grab Remi and get her out of there. She'd frozen, a bit. Jaiden… wrapped the Oriental woman's head in water, drowning her… at which point things got more screwy. And scary. I was only seeing snatches of all this, trying to lead the way. But there were… at least two blast waves of some sort. Water went everywhere, then Jaiden got thrown aside. Then there was… the second Sylar there, right there by Graeme - who was now carrying Remi over his shoulder - and he popped a blade of bone out of his hand, and rammed it clean through Remi and into Graeme. Jaiden attacked him again. And Quinn. And Remi had been screaming telepathically. And I think she might have done something when he stabbed her - she's meant to be best through contact, after all. And some… girl tried grappling him. And… Graeme had pulled himself and Remi off the blade, and when he came under all those attacks Sylar fell through the floor - straight through it, brushing the girl off as he passed through and she didn't. And then Jaiden applied a tourniquet to Remi - her femoral artery'd been nicked, but thankfully not severed - and I got them out of there."
Elisabeth is seriously doing her level best to follow this explanation. As if it's going to be any simpler for Homeland when they show up. Her brows are pulled together in a deep frown. "Jesus fucking Christ," the blonde murmurs. "This is one of the biggest clusterfucks I've ever heard. Two Sylars?" That's something she'll be sending a text about when she gets the hell out of here. But … "Okay. You, Jaiden, Graeme, and Remi are all okay, yes? I'm going to have to make some rounds, check up on the situation, and then get back to work. My squads are out there, obviously, attempting to track down Sylar and …. God only knows what could happen. But I needed to be sure you're okay."
"I'd like to request FRONTLINE security on the hospital, while Remi's here. Since it seems that she was the specific target for at least one Sylar", Ygraine says quietly. "Myself and Jaiden'll be sticking around, as will Graeme I'm sure - but we're not exactly a match for him. Not unless Conrad's notion works, and he comes at night and lets me get close enough….. And… I honestly don't know what the heck was going on. The one I stopped - I didn't see him directly attack anyone. Maybe that's just because I screwed up his plan and things spiralled out of control from there. But the other? He… he was in a leather jacket…."
Closing her eyes, she inhales slowly. "Think. Right. Differences. The… I saw… saw the stranger disappear, near enough. Eileen there, with a bird in her hair, where the strange woman who had seen Remi dance in Moscow had been standing talking to Remi about that 'urgent matter' just a moment before. I'd glanced away, then back - and Remi was looking stunned and there was Eileen in place of the stranger. And it was right then that I got hit from behind by the invisible presence, and I attached it to a glass, and he landed… and he was the first Sylar. Dark clothes. He's the one that a blonde woman tried to arrest, and shot. And who Eileen tried to protect."
"The second Sylar… he had a leather jacket. Also dark, but there was white under it, I think. Jeans maybe, too? He's the one who stabbed Remi and Graeme. He's the one who was hiding under the illusion of the dumpy Oriental woman in black and white. And he's the one Jaiden and Robyn and the girl I didn't recognise attacked. Is… is that clearer?"
She peeps up, looking hopeful and apologetic at the same time. "And… 'okay' by some definitions. Remi got impaled clean through the thigh, and had an artery nicked. Graeme 'merely' got stabbed in the shoulder, though they seem to think it missed anything vital. 'Just' tissue damage, and nothing severed, so he should recover fully in time. Remi… she's a dancer who just got a major leg wound. If you see Jaiden before he gets fully cleaned up - all the blood on him is Remi's. He's unhurt. But he was carrying a woman with an arterial wound."
Elisabeth nods immediately to that. "I've already got someone on Remi's room," she murmurs. "I don't know how long I'll be able to keep a team on the hospital, but right now we've got a valid reason to do so. Sylar is public enemy number one, and word went out that he was there." She purses her lips. "Well…. I don't really know what to make of two Sylars." Although…. it might explain why Richard hasn't gotten an answer about the Gabriel situation.
"If you have a telepath to hand, I'm willing to have them check for any distinguishing features more useful than 'at the site, one was in a leather jacket and the other wasn't'", Ygraine offers rather sheepishly. "Jaiden spent more time looking that way… but I'm not sure quite how much his ability distracts him - and he was drawing water from a lot of places, from what I saw. And Graeme certainly got a close-up look at the one who stabbed him. Remi might be able to tell you more, especially if she picked up their thoughts, but… she's not going to wake up for a while yet."
Tilting her head, Elisabeth says, "I don't have a telepath. But I do have a psychometer. I'm going to send him through to try to see if he gets anything off things each of them touched. I'll send JJ to talk to you and I want you to walk him through where you saw people, okay?" She pats Ygraine's knee and moves to stand.
"JJ. Of course, yes." Ygraine nods, then reaches out to take and squeeze Liz's hand for a moment, venturing a somewhat wobbly smile. "Thank you. I… we have got to find time to watch more Potter some time soon. So I can remind you that I'm not always a babbling flake."
Elisabeth smiles a little. "I think you're quite coherent for a woman who clocked the Midtown Man, babe," she retorts. "Personally, I think I'd be a gibbering wreck." She squeezes the hand gently. "Let me poke my head in and check on the others. You… when you're ready, I'll have a uniform ready to escort you safely home." She doesn't have the authority to order a cop around, but the head of FRONTLINE making a request like that is unlikely to be denied either.
Smiling bashfully, Ygraine ducks her head. "I'm thinking that I'll stay here till curfew lifts. See how things go with Remi. Then do a run around the houses to get clothing and supplies for the guys. We can figure out a rota for who is where from there. Figure out how we keep at least one person here at all times, until she's out again. For now… not… quite sure where Graeme is. Think he was off getting his shoulder looked over. Finally let a doctor near it. But you should be able to find him or Jaiden easily enough. And… thank you. For coming. I appreciate it."
The blonde nods a little and says softly, "It's the least I could do. Text or call if you need me, okay?" Elisabeth releases Ygraine's hand and slips out to check on the others before getting back out on the street.
In part because it can't be seen, Ygraine leans forward, straining to keep Liz in view as long as possible, hanging onto the reassuring sight of her proximity until the the very last moment. Then, with a heavy sigh, she slumps back - returning to caffeine and worry as her primary companions for the night.