Distance Might Not Help

Participants:

kaylee2_icon.gif luther2_icon.gif

Scene Title Distance Might Not Help
Synopsis After receiving a disturbing warning, Kaylee turns to one source of protection.
Date May 14, 2018

Raytech NYC Safe Zone Office, Security Room


After walking Robyn to the lobby, Kaylee asked Sera to hold all of her calls and to reschedule her meetings that were set for that afternoon. There was no way she could concentrate on anything.

Natalie Gray. Kaylee sighs pressing trembling fingers against her temple, wincing against the forming stress headache.

Her mind was in chaos, the darkest part of her was not taking to well to the threats that was now looming over her family. It hissed on about going after the threat. A part of her want to walk out that door and throw her arms out and scream for that bitch to come and get her. However, even she knows that might not save her family. She could end up triggering something else.

But while a part of her wanted a fight, Kaylee was terrified. She had not felt this scared in a long time. Not since that day she had to protect Joseph and the kids from a platoon of Michell’s men. If running away and returning to Detroit would solve the issue, she might consider it. However, things have a way of following her.

Especially, if they wanted her dead enough, distance might not help her.

As she walks hurriedly down the corridor, her fingers worry at the ring on her finger. It was hard for her to trust someone else to check on her family. Even a former associate like Robyn. However, rushing off to do so herself, would look bad as well.

While she waits for confirmation from her friend, Kaylee doesn’t return to her office right away. There is another person that needed to know about the change in situation. After having Sera call ahead, the telepath makes her way to the rooms that Luther holes himself in as their Chief of Physical Security.

There is no knock, Kaylee only steps into the room, looking a lot like how she feels. There is a strained note to her voice as she says, “There’s a situation.” Almost like she is on the edge of breaking. She might be a strong person, but even she has a breaking point.

Seated at his desk with a laptop open, Luther is poking away at something - probably email - with a yellow legal pad and pen beside it. He glances up, an arched brow lifted as that phrase reaches his ears. And the sight of Kaylee in distress reaches his eyes. The man immediately pushes up to his feet, coming around the desk to meet her. “What’s happened?” There’s a quick check over visually of her. At least this time, she’s not covered in blood splatter. But, maybe worryingly, she’s not covered in blood splatter.

He pauses a moment, looking down at the blonde telepath more closely when he’s nearer, and turns a step aside so she can retreat further into the secure room if need be. Distance from the door might help a little.

Finally away from any windows, Kaylee moves to find a chair and sinks into it slowly, with a shaky breath. Leaning forward, she rests elbows on her knees and buries her face in her hands. She doesn’t answer right away, taking a moment to just allow herself to feel and react to things. Being watched before she had to act like things are normal.

After a few moment, Kaylee finally straightens, more composed, but just barely. “I just had a visit from someone. A young girl, name is Sibyl Black. She was on the boat that day.” A little bit of context before she continues, “I— not sure if she is related to Alister Black, but she came here with a warning.”

Kaylee straightens and looks up at her security chief. “She said that Natalie Gray is watching the building, my office…” Her voice catches a little with worry, “my home. Luther, she’s watching my family.” She doesn’t even hide that slight trill of panic in her words.

Sibyl Black. Sibyl. It’s a name that rings a bell in Luther’s memory, pushing the image of the younger looking woman - girl - to mind. “I’ve seen her,” he replies with a short nod as he stands there looming like a wall between Kaylee and whatever may come through the door. “From what I recall, she seemed to be less family and more… protege.” The last word comes with an air of discomfort. Luther’s opinion of Alister Black is not positive, certainly.

But the mention of Natalie Gray, and the surveillance, immediately pulls Luther’s attention back to the present. He straightens, shoulders stiffly bristled. “What?” The word rolls out off the mouth more like a swear than a question. Then he’s moving to pick up the phone on his desk, to turn to the bank of monitoring cameras at various angles and coverage throughout the building. As he’s just about to hit the dial button, he pauses and looks back to Kaylee. Eyes narrow. “You were with Agent Quinn,” he starts, “and this Sibyl. What’d she say to you?”

There is a slow nod “Robyn is going by the house for a ‘visit’ and check on them,” Probably the only reason Kaylee is in his office instead of racing home. “Sibyl seemed pretty certain they were reading lips and letting them know we knew could be dangerous to everyone.” She does have all those large windows in her office, of course, most offices have large windows in Raytech. Luckily, they are reinforced with bullet proof glass. Her brother’s paranoia was going to pay off there.

Taking a deep breath, Kaylee tries the calm her nerves, fingers laced together tight. “She told me that Natalie Gray is watching everything. This place, my home, my husband, and my kids.” Swallowing back her nerves, she continues. “She told me that I could feel it if I listened. It was confusing, but made sense, too.” She breathes out to steady her nerves.

Closing her eyes, brows furrowed Kaylee thinks back to just before she found her way into the office. “Something she said, worried me, but makes me feel I should believe her… She said She’s hurt and angry…. Um… When people are hurt and angry, it’s all they can focus on, all they see. Like looking down a long, black tunnel.” Blue-eyes open, looking up at her security chief. “Sibyl said she’s in the dark with this woman, but she hasn’t seen her, yet. But that she will.”

Shaking her head slowly, Kaylee looks confused. “I don’t understand what I could have done to this woman, to make her act this way… I had started to think nothing of the threat, when Sibyl showed up. There is some game here and I am missing pieces.”

“Okay. But maybe I’ll have Bob or one of the guys stick around your family just to be sure,” Luther says with a finger pressing the cancel button on the dial. Instead, he’s quickly typing out a text. Once that’s sent off, he’s back to listening to Kaylee, nodding slowly and only once. Mouth thinned into a tight line, he has but the one thing on his priority list, and that is to protect.

“Whatever it is, maybe it’s personal, but maybe it’s not. The key here I think is that the girl came to you. And we got to think about that. Did she say anything about why she wanted to warn you? What did she want out of it? Maybe Black’s setting it up.” Luther wouldn’t put it past a criminal minded group.

Then as if recalling something she’d said, he frowns with a furrowing of his brow. “You said you could feel her? If you listened?”

“Yeah,” Kaylee bobs her head a little, though her eyes are unfocused, not really looking at anything as she loses herself in her own thoughts. “Pretty sure what she meant is if I used my telepathy I would feel her. My range isn’t that good though. Maybe a hundred feet at most.”

Fingers reach up to tuck a loose length of golden hair behind her ear, “As for her motives. I’m not sure. I have thought about it maybe being some sort of play on Alister Black’s part.” Brows furrow a little, “I’m not so sure though. She knows what I am.” Meaning, she knows how hard it is to lie to a telepath.

Her gaze drifts up to his, focusing on him and offering a small tick of a smile, “Thanks for doing that. Dunno what Joseph is going to think, but right now, I don’t care.” She loved her family too much. “I was going to ask if you had people to spare, anyhow. Not for me, though. I offered Lynette Ruiz protection for her husband, too. After some information came out about his ability that could get people's attention. Not to mention he was about killed on Raytech grounds.”

“I don’t like it,” Luther says almost immediately to the thought of Kaylee using her telepathy to feel out the opponent. “Like flushing out game, waiting for them to run to ground, go for the safe spot and setting up an ambush.” His gaze slips back to the monitor bank, despite the numerous angles and all feeling rather inadequate.

After a pause, he looks down to his phone at the chime of a received reply. Then it’s back to Kaylee, a brow ticking up and a sense of guilt pinging on his demeanor. He’d received the report. And promptly added more first aid kits to the more readily accessible areas of the building. “No need to ask. I’ll do it myself if I have to,” he agrees readily to the request.

In a way, he feels personally responsible. The same way he’d taken pride in shining floors and wiping desk tops, he’s put into shoring up the company’s physical security. The only trouble was time. And a set of variables that he hadn’t anticipated. When he looks back at Kaylee, Luther levels a serious gaze at her, one that draws from a deep seated protective nature. “We’ll get whatever needs to be done, done. I got an idea, but it might need you. To reach out.”

“Lynette, Val, and I could do some scouting around. You keep the tether going. Until we find out how this Natalie Gray’s keeping tabs on you, I’m guessing it’s via manpower.” He slowly clenches and unclenches his hand, formulating the idea. “Said your range is about a hundred feet? That’s plenty to follow in a car.” Then his brow ticks back up. “What do you think? Better ‘n waiting for something - someone - to storm the fort again.”

“I do agree, it would be better not to wait for someone to ‘storm the fort’, as you said,” Kaylee agrees softly, only to shake her head, “I can’t risk everyone like that, especially, not my sister. That sort of range for me is hard to maintain over so much time, my specialty has always been in mental manipulation.”

Pushing to her feet, Kaylee approaches the bank of monitors curiously, arms folding as she watches people going about their business unaware. “You know,” her voice grows soft, to almost a whisper, “when Sibyl told me about her watching my family, my first instinct was to rush home… or just step outside.” A humorless smile is angled Luther’s way. “Stupid I know. But being bait to draw her out, might be our best bet. If something happens to me, well, at least everyone is safe.”

This is always how it has worked for Kaylee, why she almost lost her life. She put herself out there on the island to flush out a killer. She had been willing to sacrifice her life to trap a dream manipulator and end the terror. She sighs softly, eyes wandering the videos before her, “I’d rather not risk y’all if I can help it.”

Watching as she steps over to the monitor bank, Luther glances down at his phone again. “Then, I’ll at least take a team with me and we’ll establish a perimeter with more range,” he counters. His head shakes at her suggestion to be the bait, palms set down on the desk top. “No, I’m not condoning that, Kaylee. Even if you are a target, I’m pretty damn sure we’re not going to just lay you out there as an open one.”

He rounds the desk, coming over to her side, looking down at the telepath with a serious gaze. “And listen, this group’s tried their hand at surprise and they failed that. We know, now. And we can fight back.” He glances briefly to the monitors, eyeing the screens as he thinks. “You’ll at least need to text Joseph, tell him what’s happened. Maybe he can take the kids to the Benchmark if so… Lynette and Mateo have got a handle on things there.”

“In the meantime, what if we go find out some more from Sibyl what’s going on?” When he looks back at Kaylee, he furrows his brow, still thinking of possible plans to action. “One way or another, I don’t think you should be heading out alone for a few days.”

Standing by her side, it is apparent that blue eyes are watery with unshed tears. Eyes don’t leave the monitors, though it is obvious that she isn’t really looking at them. She swallows a few times and takes a shaky breath. “After all the crap that we went through in the Ferry… After the island…” Kaylee starts softly, “The night Carl was born… Joseph said he couldn’t do this anymore.” Lips tremble slightly in a sad little smile, when she looks his way. “He couldn’t keep going from one crisis to another.” With a sniff she adds, “I told him. Okay. No more. To be honest, I was tired, too.” The words seem so ironic now.

“I tried to keep it away,” she whispers, voice hitching a little. “I really did.”

Eyes unfocus as she turns her attention back to the monitor, as a tear slides down her cheek, soon followed by another. “Years it’s been so quiet and then… things started happening again. And now he and the kids are targets… it feels like the old days.” Sniffing, Kaylee carefully brushes at damp cheeks. “And… I feel horrible, because, I feel so much more like myself then I have in a long time.” There is a tone of guilt for how she feels, she never expected it. She has been so happy in her life. Loved her family fiercely. A soft humorless laugh escapes her, but comes out more like a sob, burying her face in her hands.

Yet, why did she feel this way?

Listening quietly, Luther finds his gaze turning back to the monitors so that she’s afforded privacy in working through the moment. After a long beat, at the hitch of the sob, he turns back to her, the sound of it spurring a reactionary hitch of breath of his own. He starts to lift a hand, to reach for her shoulder, but pauses. A flash of memory, his own past, of promises made and broken to a different, but vulnerable, blonde woman. Guilt in a different tone wells up, knotting in his throat, and he doesn’t speak right away. But his hand pulls back and lowers to his side.

His forced stop on himself comes through a still posture. While he searches for words to fill the silence around the quiet sob of the woman, he finds himself caught between past and present. The inner struggle results in his next words coming out hoarsely, “Go home to him.” Luther swallows roughly and with a look back to the monitors, repeats, “Go home. I’ll… make sure Bob or one of the team sees you there safely.”

It’s when he looks back at her that there’s almost a plea in his gaze.

Somehow, his words manage to cut through the guilt and tears, allowing Kaylee to gather her wits about her and push back the onslaught of emotions that she has been holding back for days. Hitched sobs are reduced to sniffles and she starts to brush away the wetness at her cheeks. Her head bobs a bit in agreement, loose strands of hair clinging to damp cheeks.

She needs to go home. She wanted to go home to her family.

Kaylee had wanted to go home as soon as Sibyl told her the woman, that wanted her dead, was watching her family; but, she found herself there in the security room. Fingers hook at the strands pulling them behind her ear, turning reddened eyes to him, meeting his own pleading gaze. Sometimes, no matter how much she tries, things get through. She hears him and she finds herself searching his gaze.

The moment stretches out longer then she intends, finally, she blinks and her gaze drops away. “Thank you,” she whispers softly, offering him a sad smile. The temptation to hug him is there, to cling to his warm, but she doesn’t follow it, only offers that simple thank you.

Turning towards the door, Kaylee hesitates. “I know you are my Security Chief, but… “ She looks up at him, eyes clearer now, “you’re a good friend, too, Luther.” There is a shallow dip of her head farewell, before she continues for the door, taking a deep breath.

The longer the moment stretches, Luther finds his breath shallow, slow despite the feeling of pounding in his ears. The plea remains. And when she finally drops her gaze away, a vague relief, though barely an alleviation of the guilt in his thoughts. He echoes the already sad smile with a slant of his brow and dip of his eyes, glancing up when she pauses at the door.

Her words draw a warmer tone to the smile he wears and he nods a farewell. “Good night, Kaylee.”


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