Participants:
| Scene Title | Constructive Murdering |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Peter Petrelli winds up unexpectedly saving Magnes' life while giving Ashley Williams something more pressing to focus on… Richard Cardinal. |
| Date | July 15, 2010 |
There's a crimson and orange globe hanging low on the western horizon, a deep and hazy sunset that seems all the more resplendant due to the toxic pollution in the air over New Jersey. From the Rookery on Staten Island, that crimson haze looks like a bloody tide washing over sunlit sands a deep orange shade, with the sky tintint to surreal purple and deep midnight blue the further eastward eyes track. It's at this time of twilight when streetlights are coming on in the Rookery and the bar crowds are getting to be their most rowdy.
Deep in the heart of the Rookery, Peter Petrelli looks like he blends in to the rugged crowds of the summer evening. His worn and patched up leather jacket fends off the cool encroaching night air, and his worn in black denim pants have their cuffs rolled around a pair of motorcycle boots. By himself, his approach thorugh the crowded streets seems innocuous enough.
Sitting on the corner of what was once Fishburne street, straight across the road from Shooters Bar and Bistro, the abandoned storefront of Tucker's Pawn Shop looks just as uninhabited and vacant as it has since Tucker himself abandoned Staten Island for greener pastures over a year ago.
Tenement buildings are still rented out by a slum lord on the floors above the pawn shop, but it's not these cockroach infested apartments with their rats living between the walls that has Peter making his way up to the storefront, but what isn't seen behind plywood boarded windows and cage-shielded doors.
Stepping into a narrow alley between the pawn shop and the brick-facade of another adjacent tenement building, Peter steps out of the noise and commotion of Shooter's proximity and instead finds himself headed towards the side entrance to Tucker's around back, knowing better than to just invite himself in, Peter gives a quick knuckly pounding knock on the door and takes a step back.
"Ash," he calls out, "It's Peter, you home?"
Ash is inside, gearing up right now, intendign to go hunting. He's got on his armored body glove, the black one this time, no longer the grey and white one he used in the winter. He's pulling on the belt with the pouches when the door is knocked on and he hears Peter's voice. He grunts hard in his chest and finishes fastning the belt around his waist.
He picks up the webbing harness that he wears around his body, and makes his way towards the door. He stops at it, then pulls it open, before he turns right back aroudn and goes over to the table that all his gear is spread out on. Khukri's, .45's, combat knife, other random odds and ends, spare clips for the .45's. Silencers for the pistols as well. "What do you want Peter?" He asks in a level voice. Gone is his normality. His voice is ice cold, his face is utterly blank and unemotional as he pulls the webbing harness onto his body and begins to tuck weapons into the places they go.
Both dark brows go up, and Peter looks a bit puzzled by the sharp greeting, not to mention Ash being armed to the teeth. "Woah," comes out of Peter's mouth as he steps towards the door, nudging it open a bit further with his fingertips as he tentatively comes into the repurposed pawn shop. Brown eyes go wide and there's a sharp whistle as Peter's eyes scan the armaments stockpiled inside, before slowly nudging the door shut with his boot. "Wow, this is a hell of a setup here, Ash. Guess I know who to go to next time we're running low on ammunition," he jokes, managing a seemingly oblivious smirk.
"Yeah, sorry for calling and coming over, I just…" Peter only now realizes Ash is wearing his gear like he's planning to go out on an assignment. Though, Peter's quite aware nothing's been assigned lately. "Lacombe and Riggs didn't jump the gun and tell you about the school before I could, did they? I swear to God those two…"
Ash lifts a clip and a gun, sliding the clip smoothly home, not slamming it home like some might, that wears out the parts faster, so it's slid in carefully, until there's a solid metallic click. The action is repeated with the other gun before they're both tucked away. Ash has… a decent setup. Alot of stolen weapons, mostly from people he's killed, weapons he's aquired on missions, for Adam, and other stuff on his own. His head twists, a few pops sounding from his spine as he does so. "I'm ready for whatever may come yes." There's even a damn sword or two laying around in sheaths. Almost all of it undoubtedly illegally aquired, though he probably paid for most of it. After all, he still does do the underground fights.
"Not sure who Lacombe and Riggs are. I know most by thier first names." He glances over to Peter curiously, but that curiosity is tempered by the ice in his eyes. "I'm going out on a little private business." Ash is not a good liar though, nor is he really trying to lie. It's very clear that he's doing something he shouldn't be, or at least, that Peter might not approve of. He finishes sliding weaposn itno the webbing, settling everything on his body, ending up looking like a modern day ninja, only big, and brawny. He turns, and picks up the face mask he wears,a nd the goggles. They're not bulkey spy goggles, though they're obviously not swimming goggles either.
Brows furrowed, Peter looks down at the armaments, then to the mask. Stepping around the table that Ash had most of his gear laid out on, Peter looks up at the ceiling, ducking his head under one of the hanging lights keeping the storage space lit, then looks back over his shoulder to Ash after walking past him. "You might not've met them yet, Riggs was on the Pharmatech assignment and Lacombe helped with the raid on Building 26. Insect telepath and a cryokinetic… it uh, he messes with ice."
Hotter in here than outside, Peter slides off his leather jacket and drapes it over the back of a chair beside the table, wiping sweaty hands off on the hips of his jeans. "Knox, Riggs and I did some digging on a couple of Humanis First punks that beat up Melissa a few weeks back, we squeezed some information out of them and found out that there's a cell operating out of the Rookery in a school up on the coast. We don't have numbers or know how armed they are yet, but plan is to go in hard and fast and take them out after Riggs is done using his bugs to spy on the place for a few days."
Glancing back down to the weapons, Peter's brows furrow, and when he looks back up to Ash he has to squint from the glare of the lamp in his eyes. "What's the personal business, Ash?"
Ash watches Peter's movements from the corners of his eyes, most of his attention is on making sure everything is in place and ready. He's not expecting violence tonight, but you never know. And he's going to be ready for it. Ash might not have one of teh ridiculous powers that some Evolved have, but his power makes him one hell of an assassin. He finishes checking ove rhis gear, then turns hsi head, eyes settling on the leader of Messiah. "Sounds like an interesting pair. But no, nothing from them, and nothing about a school…" He pauses as the info is given, a crease furrowing his forehead.
"You already told me you were having Knox look into that. And said that I'd know the moment he knew anything." Last time, he was angry that something had happened so close to his place of residence. His friend being beaten to a pulp right across the street. This time though? It doesn't brake that cold demeanor. His face set in a rigid mask, or rather, nto a mask. This is Ash as he's become from what he's been through.
Peter was right, his normal stuff is an act, and this moment would tell him that. But it's a necessary mask. People wouldn't be comfortable around someone that's cold and determined all the time. "When the move is made I'm in on it. You said I couuld be." He pauses then, glancing up from the table as he pulls the mask on over hsi head, hiding everything on his face but his eyes. "Plugging a security leak." Is his simple answer.
Oh boy.
Putting all talk of the Humanis First raid aside, Peter lifts up both of his hands in a woah there gesture and ducks his head in sheepish motion with a raise of his brows. "Please, please tell me this isn't about Magnes…" There's a squint of one of Peter's eyes at that and a grimace. It doesn't look so much like he's worried for Magnes, more so than something else.
"If this is about Magnes," Peter takes a step away from the chair and motions down to it, "then sit, because I know you won't take trust me for an answer on this one. I'll give you what information I can, but Rupert will strangle me with his collection of skinny ties if I let the entire cat out of the bag."
Ash lifts his goggles up and settles them around his head, though leaves them on his forhead at the moment. Every inch of the man is covered, despite the heat outside, covered and protected from being recognized. He begins to roll his shoulders in exxagerated circles to loosen them, then begins to twist his body at the waist to do the same for his lower body. He glances to Peter, but doesn't seem ready to slow down what he's doing. When the name Magnes is mentioned… there's no reaction from Ash, no confirmation that it is or is not about the gravity wielding kid.
When he's told to sit down he arches an eyebrow, the motion visible beneath the material of his mask. He doesn't move to sit, but does cross his arms over his chest, letting the other man know that he's listening, but it had better be good, that all conveyed in the man's stance. He glances around the room, then back to Peter and keeps his eyes there now, focusing on him.
"Okay, if I'd have known you were going to go Commando on your own call about this I would've at least given you a heads up. Magnes was a plant from the beginning," is perhaps not the best way Peter could have framed the beginning of his sentence. "Rupert and I agreed that we needed to be able to feed a certain amount of information about Messiah out to the public and control what people know about our activities and what we do, to also lull organizations that might be looking into getting at us into a false sense of security. Magnes is a gigantic security leak, he always has been."
Resting his hands on his hips, Peter furrows his brows and huffs out a sigh as he stares down to the floor. "We let Magnes in as part of a plan of subterfuge, to see who he goes to and talks to about us. Rebel has had him electronically bugged since the day he signed up and Rupert has been feeling him out for resistance since his first signs of disobediance. We've got everything planned out, now that Magnes is officially out of the organization, I've let him get off scott free. No hard feelings, he amicably parts ways and— after our last conversation— he actually wants back in and thinks good about us."
Peter lifts a hand up, "But I'm not letting him back. Now we see where the mouse goes, just like I'm doing with those Humanis First kids I let go. I'm seeing where they run and who they talk to. Rebel is keeping electronic surveillance on Magnes day in and day out. Since the kid flies everywhere and always has a wireless electronic gadget on him, he's easy to track by satellite. We know where he is, who he's talking to and what he's having for breakfast."
Tucking his hands into his pockets, Peter furrows his brows. "The whole story about West wanting him to join? Totally a cover. Magnes has been a control subject since day one… and now he's going to be our inadvertant eyes and ears for anyone working to subert Messiah. He may be an absolute idiot but he also knows a lot of people who aren't. So, I want to hear what he says, see hwo he talks to, and make sure nobody is the wiser…"
Ash stands there for a long little while, not speaking, not moving other than the slow repeat of his breathing, chest swelling and relaxing, mask shifting with the breaths in and out. He remains still and silent for a solid minute after the talking has ceased.
A light shifting of his stance, from foot to foot heralds his speaking, though it's only a few words spoken for the moment. "So. You open up, every single person that was there to being targeted and recaptured. The facility to being invaded and taken. Magnes is, as you said, an idiot." Ash? Is not happy with the explenation that he's offered, not that he doesn't find it enough, he's not happy with the reasoning behind it all himself. "A controlled leak doesn't get to know where your HQ is, who your leader is, who everyone int he damned orginization is Peter." His voice is still icy, it's not angry, it's not emotional, it's dead cold.
"Don't worry, Ash. When I said we have it under control, we do. Magnes knows everything we want him to know, and yes that includes membership. We're already targets, hell, most of us are already known as members of Messiah. The government has people who can pull impressions of the past off of areas just like Risa, they have people who can take a strand of your hair and find out everything about you. This is a world without secrets from the government, but it isn't our biggest enemy I'm worried about. When the government comes for us we'll be ready for them, but I can't tell you more than that."
Wringing his hands together, Peter furrows his brows and squints up at the lamp before looking back to Ash. "I'm gonna' have to ask you to trust me and Rupert on this, Ash. I know aside from the work we've done there isn't much grounds for that, but you and me are in this together. It's not the government I'm interested in seeing who Magnes talks to, but the other, smaller groups. The Ferrymen, Richard Cardinal's crew, the Remnants…" most of them groups or names Ash hasn't heard of before. "I wasn to keep our friends close, and our potential enemies even closer. But as far as the US government goes?"
Peter shakes his head, "You might as well live your life assuming they know everything about you. That's why we have to fight the way we do, with the procedure we do. If it weren't for Rebel's technopathy and Rupert's inside connections in the government, we wouldn't be able to fight this war. But you have to trust me, Ash… I know what I'm doing."
Ash has, funny enough, heard all of those names, though Remnants was something only tossed his way in passing. "I have a friend in Cardinal's crew, or at least, she used to be. He offered me a spot with him and his, but that that time I was… hesitant about joining a group. Was tryign to do my own thing." He still hash't shifted from his demeanor, and he arches a slow eyebrow at the mention of Rebel.
"Speaking of which, I talked to him the other day. Something isn't sitting right with me about that mission. We encountered only two guards, adn two agents. I killed them both, and required no assistance from the others. I also completed the mission that Risa started with the electronics. All in all, I could have taken that mission on my own except for Iron man's breaking of the wall. That should not have been that easy. It should have been harder to get in there. They wanted us to get in, or didn't care that we got in. I think it was a trap for Rebel. Which make ssense. He's one of our greatest, if not our greatest, asset. If they can disable him… we're all but blind."
Ash does not however, comment further on Magnes. He made his opinion on that rather clear, and anyone knowing Ash and his history would know he's not given up on that. He'll scout for Magnes, if not kill him, he'll be ready to though.
"Rebel forwarded me a message about that actually…" and Peter seems more relaxed now that Ash has taken to discussing different topics. "When Risa told me how everything went I was pretty surprised, I went over things with Allen and… I don't know, that was very unlike the Company. Rebel said that he's double checked everything he accessed in that server and didn't detect anything like a… virus, if he can even get them. I dunno, he seemed to be sure everything was fine, and I don't know a thing about technopaths… so, I took his word on it."
Furrowing his brows, Peter folds his arms across his chest and looks down to the floor, then glances aside to focus on some distant point in space. "I agree, though, something did feel weird. The problem is, I don't know what's going on with the Company right now, if there's something happening in their ranks or not. I know there was a Company agent at Building 26 that Magnes was talking to, and thanks to eavesdropping on him I was able to pick up some bits and pieces but…"
Shaking his head slowly, Peter creases his brows and scowls. "The thing is, I'm afraid to actually venture too deeply against the Company. Rupert has no connections there to get us info, they're like a blind spot. There's an agent, friend of my mother's, who wanted to talk to me about something unrelated Abigail Beauchamp warned me about… I think I might try and squeeze some info from him."
Lifting up a hand to rub at his chin, Peter's eyes lift up to settle on Ash. "What's your gut feeling about it?"
Ash frowns at that statement from Peter, his head giving a slow shakign motion. "And if Rebel is already compromised? If a virus took hold before I mentioned my concernes? He'd telly ou that and you'd trust it. I'm just concerned. Rebel is a huge part of our operation."
Ash goes quiet, and listens. He can listen, and pay attention, and he does that now. When he's asked what his gut feeling is he stands there, his expression rather unreadable with his mask still on. "One of two things. It was a trap for Rebel, or they were feeding us some info dressed up so it woudln't look like fed info. It wouldn't be anything obvious. Maybe a little tidbit that was nice, … I don't know. It wouldn't be anything groundbreaking or earth shaking. It would be a nugget of info that seemed very useful…"
"She's my partner," Peter admits with a roll of his shoulders, "uh, EMT partner, in the rig." Stepping around the pawn shop floor, Peter comes to lean against one of the tables Ash had been picking up equipment from, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he does. "She's a sweet girl, tries to stay out of things though. Used to be a healer until somebody stripped her of her ability… now she works as an EMT, probably one of the most trustworthy people you'd ever meet. Does not tolerate violence or swearing though, but she'll never rat somebody out. She's… I guess she likes to fashion herself as a little blonde southern Switzerland."
There's a crack of a smile and Peter snorts out a laugh, head shaking slowly before his expression turns more serious. "I can only hope Rebel hasn't been compromised, because if he has we're fucked. There's one thing in this world I'm afraid of, and it's technopaths." He doesn't need to tell ash it's more Hana Gitelman he's afraid of but— no one needs to know that.
"Right now we just have to hope nothing's wrong, and maybe see if we can find out any information about the Company…" Squinting at Ash, Peter tilts his chin up. "You said you talked to Cardinal, back in the day? You think you still know how to get in touch with him? It might be good to see how much information we can get out of him, see if he already knows you're with us or not. Might help get a better idea of the playing field."
Ash snorts softly when told the woman doesn't tolerate violence or swearing. "Guess I'll never be meeting her then." He murmurs. A hand goes up, and he pulls his mask off of his face, carefully laying it out on the table along with the goggles that came off with it.
Ash doesn't know Hana Gitelmen, he only knows Rebel, and he trusts Rebel. Rebel has saved his ass. He crosses his arms over his chest slowly. "That is why I'm worried about what might hav ehappened. But… mention what I said to Rebel, and look at all the info he gathered, and keep in mind what I said about a little nugget, nothing major, to be the planted info."
He puffs his cheeks, then lets out a long breath before giving his head a slight shake. "I don't. I could contact Jet, and see if she'd be able to. if she's still around that is. I know they hang out in the library. Or they did. They may have moved since then. The old library." He corrects himself, then pulls a chair out and takes a seat at the table. He does not unpack his equipment though.
"Yeah, I went out there once… Cardinal and I don't get a long, at all." Rubbing one hand across the back of his neck. "If you can get in touch with him, through whoever you need to, see if you can. I'm curious what he's been up to. Actually, if you can figure out where he's working out of, I can have Riggs send a bug spy out there to keep an eye on them."
Brushing his hands off, Peter leans away from the table, takes a few steps across the room, then looks up and over to Ash. "Next week sometime, not sure when, depends on when Riggs has done enough surveillance, I want you, me, Claire and Sylar to hit up that Humanis First building. Between the group of us we should be able to kill everything within a mile radius."
Glancing at Ash up and down, Peter furrows his brows and corrects, "Make that two miles."
Ash cocks up an eyebrow when the mention is made of one mile. "Peter. Messiah could take out most of the city if we decided it was necessary. And with people like you and Sylar on the team?" He chuckles a bit. "I really think that's why we've not been moved against. We're not really a small group. THere is a massive amount of destructive power in our team of people. I can kill, but people like Sylar? They bring it to a whole new level. Now… if we had a power enhancer? Well then, I think I'd rethink my idea of my own value. A power enhancer would push me beyond the realm of humanly attainable." He grins, a cold and not very comforting smile. "I will see what I can dig up on Cardinal. Might be a good idea to send some bugs into the old library to scout it out, if they find nothing then we move on and keep looking."
The man leans back in his seat, his arms crossing over his chest. "You probably have a voicemail from Melissa letting you know what I'm planning on doing. And don't worry, I'm not going to kill him. But I am going to find him, and plan it none the less."
Furrowing his brows, Peter tilts his head to the side and looks askance to Ash, then nods his head slowly. "Just be careful, Ash…" Sighihg as he looks out the window and notices that night has officially set, Peter shakes his head and starts walking for that back door again, looking around the old, repurposed pawn shop on his way out the door. "I'll be in touch, Ash… and next time you want to go after a security leak, just— " Peter cracks a smile, "Give me a heads up… and I'll try to do the same."
Sometimes, people just happen to meet at the right moments. Other times, there's a certain amount of planning that is involved in any one meeting. Tonight, here in the Rookery, is pure serendipity.
Magnes may never be aware that Peter might have well saved his life…
…and that's probably for the best.