Participants:
| Scene Title | Don't Drink The Punch |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cause Minnie spiked it with Roofies. Seriously. Goodman's gonna kill her. When Hiro stops timewarping her. |
| Date | March 5, 2009 |
Staten Island - Hiro's Hovel
It's bare, and bad, and there's spilled OJ everywhere.
This place in Staten Island is where he's been hanging his hat. It has to be. For three days in a row he's come and gone to the same basement apartment with no windows, only one known door. Hiro Nakamura left there about three hours ago, apparently to get groceries or something because he's come back with both arms full of brown paper sack.
Even time traveling pseudo samurai need to eat.
Propping one of the bags on a knee, he fumbles some keys out of a pocket and opens the door before stepping into the dark hallway and flippnig on a light. The door closes behind him with a foot. If he's not actually staying there, he's definitely there now.
And he hasn't done his homework about being surveilled either, because there are multiple vantage points across the street that let anyone with the know how and the will to keep an eye on comings and goings.
Sheer luck, one of her traversings to and from her own place here. She'd pulled up short when she'd seen her mark come out of the building. It seriously couldn't have been this easy to find out where he lived. Quiet careful questions in and around the Chinese restaurant had wielded nothing. But walking around had. So she's spent a few days scouting, hunkering down, watching and waiting. Success. Repeatedly. She noted his residence, typed it up on the old typewriter she had and then fired it off to Jesse Carter.
So, it was, that Minea was now turning a corner after having hurried to double around a building and have it look like she was coming around the corner instead of having hung out in some dark corner with the cockroaches and the like in some business heels. «Look what the sun brings home» Comes from the tall brunette, obviously in the throes of learning Japanese and upon seeing Hiro, tries to use her very limited vocabulary. She's dressed for a long walk, and half frozen from the march air in her jeans, well cut and low cut blouse with the jacket and collar.
Wait a minute. The door was on its way closed by the time Minea spoke, and there's a noise of some movement just inside the door as Hiro sets down the two paper sacks and then opens the door again, peering out. What the? "You?" he asks in English, and then suddenly, "Did you just speak Japanese?" Like that's even more weird to him than the fact that she's turned up at his doorstep.
Well not really on his doorstep. More like on her way past it. "'Trying. Told you I was trying. Probably very terrible. I didn't expect you would live on this island though. Nice to see you again though Mr Sword Wielding Guy" With that Minea looks like she's about to keep on walking
"Huh." remarks Hiro, eyes narrowing at the woman. He keeps his eyes on her. Something weird about all that. Although nah, maybe not. He's just being paranoid. SHE almost surely lives on this island so how remarkable is it she'd happen by here? Rather than speak more, he watches Minea quietly, perhaps to see if she'll walk away on her own.
Minea stops, snaps her fingers and turns. "I got a hold of my … friend. About.. that thing with paintings" She's a good couple feet past his door now when she turns on her heels to look back at him.
Really? Hiro'd forgotten he even said anything to the woman about that. He hesitates a second and then jerks his head in a gesture for Minea to come inside. "Got a minute to tell me about it?" he asks.
Minea lifts an arm, a glance to her watch and a look of thought, like she's mentally arranging things in her mind. A glance up into the sky to judge the light and then she nods. "I can spare some time. Night off, was planning on cooking but I can spare some time for you" Minea remains in spot though, heels planted on the ground and waiting for a'come in' from him. Can't look too eager.
Hiro's not the type to give much of an invitation. What he gives is, "Close the door behind you." as he turns and heads in, leaving the door ajar and retrieving his groceries.
The basement apartment is spartan. Furniture consists of a table with a laptop computer folded up on it and two simple wooden chairs that do not match either each other or the table. There's a kitchenette and a refrigerator where Hiro starts putting his stuff away.
Close the door behind you is invitation enough and the secret agent makes her way up the steps, into the apartment building and down into the basement with him. "If your a psycho murdering serial killer, I'm warning you, I will call 911" As she enters in past his door, closing it behind her. 'Lock the door?"
"Yes, lock it." replies Hiro without looking. He doesn't take long to put things away. Some of it's produce, but he has bottled water and some juice. The tap water here isn't trusted. "You're the one following me home. Learning my language. Doing me favors. I appreciate it, but between the two of us you are the one I ought to be worried about." From his manner though he seems anything but worried.
"Not following you home when I live three blocks past you" Minea points out, turning to lock the door and kick her shoes off. "I was already learning your language before I met you and as for doing favors… You asked, not like I couldn't ask, and telling me to forget who you are and that you asked the question, twice, tends to make one think that the question, was very important. Who knows, maybe you can do something for me in return, like .." Minea shrugs her shoulders, looking about the place. "Well. it's Staten island. You can't say much for accommodations if your just getting into staying here after that bridge went down"
Hiro's not making much in the way of explanations for how long he's staying here, but from the looks of it he isn't very invested in the place long term. "Orange juice?" he asks, getting a carton of it out and pouring himself a cup full. He has some disposable plastic cups for that. "So what did you find out?"
"Better than the water on this island. You need a Brita. I'll take a glass, or I could share yours" Opting to powder her nose while she can, Minea grabs her compact from her purse, displacing the little puff as it's dabbed against the make up, then dabbed against the bridge of her nose. That done, she closes it, shuffling it away. All the while slipping a capsule tucked underneath the powder, ready to pop it quickly into the OJ when he's not looking and drug the guy. Hey, she has to be prepared.
To himself Hiro rolls his eyes. He's not sharing anything but information with this woman if he can help it. Two plastic cups of OJ poured, he walks toward Minea to give her one of them and then has a seat at the table with his laptop. He doesn't open it yet, at least, but offers a silent gesture to the other chair for Minea to take. "The paintings?" he prompts simply.
Minea takes her glass of Orange juice, no opportunity yet, and when he's seated, goes to take her own, only, ooops, she trips, The orange juice in her hand thank god isn't all spilled, just some of it and not near the computer. 'Oh fuck, god, I'm just fucking clumsy, I'm sorry" Sincere shock and horror on her face that she did what she just did.
There's a sigh from Hiro as he cranes his neck a little at the spill. He doesn't seem to care too much. Just gets up to head kitchen wards. He'll get some paper towels or something.
A silent break of the capsule and the powder sinks into Hiro's cup when his back is turned and she's standing, all in one smooth motion, heading for the kitchen with him. "I'm so sorry. I just.. I get nervous, and then I spill stuff and it wasn't on your computer" Trot trot trot
Wordlessly Hiro takes the roll of paper towels and turns to hand it to Minea. Since she's following she might as well be the one to clean up the mess. No he didn't see what she just did. "Are you ready to tell me what you found out yet?"
"yes! Oh! Huntington street. Out in the Greenwich. There's a Broker there, specializes in in accepting pieces of art, as collateral for loans. Thomas says that he's known to turn a blind eye on some less than shady certifications of ownership when they come in and the paintings poof,and the person never repays the money. He suggested that whomever was asking me where to get paintings MIGHT find something that" The paper towels are eagerly taken as Minea kneels down to start cleaning up her mess.
Hiro sits back at his chair and opens his laptop, opening a web browser and starting to do a search. "What's this guy's business name? Address? Do you know?" He pauses to take his orange juice and have a drink. Thirsty. He's had a day.
"Patrick Monahagn, I want to say the store name is… Monahagn and Sons." Orange juice sopped up, Minea searches for a trash can to put the paper towels in before down she sits again. A search would produce said company and said person on the address that Minea rattles off.
Ah good, yes. He's got a street address. Phone number for the business. This might bear fruit. "Thank you." Hiro says, glancing at Minea briefly. "So you live near here?" He asks that while having another drink.
"I do. Least it's not closer to the rookery so I don't get broken into that often. Bastard jacked my rent up though once the bridge broke, but, that's how it is here. Getting groceries home, well You don't seem to have that problem" Minea's been drinking her own OJ as well, untainted by whatever drug it is that Minea slipped into his drink. Maybe a roofie, maybe something else. "Not that I worry about making rent. You don't seem to have lived here… hey, where's your sword? That's twice I've seen you without it"
Suspicious as usual, Hiro raises an eyebrow at Minea and asks, "Why, are you interested in…swords?" The pause came out of nowhere. And right then his eyes lid half closed and he jerks back as if trying not to fall asleep.
The fact that she emptied the capsule in the cup and didn't stir it means it was mostly on the surface. And the fact that he's drunk from the cup twice means he's ingested pretty much all of the drug. It's hitting him already.
"What's…" Hiro begins, unable to finish that sentence. He gets to his feet and drops his cup of juice, then looks right at Minea. "Did you?"
"Did I?" No time to have stirred, thank god for a pulpy surface, Minea looks utterly puzzled before she looks at her Oj, swallowing hard, purposefully before she grips her OJ tighter. "Oh fuck… what did you… " She looks up at Hiro, letting panic wash over her as she throws her own cup, heading for the sink as if to throw up.
Is it an act? Hiro can think still. He turned his back on his drink, didn't he? And she was there. But the way she's acting it's hard to tell. Then again, she HAS been suspicious to his mind. Just the circumstances are enough to do that for him. Staggering like a bad drunk, he goes after her. She's effectively cornered herself. "You. Put something in my drink." he says, unsure of it even as he says the words and going to a knee. Well at least he's not a real danger to the woman just now.
"no.. no… you put somethi…" Minea lurches to the sink, bending herself over the rim and making gagging sounds before she shoves her two fingers down her throat to force her stomach to disgorge the OJ she drank. "God, your gonna" Minea gags, trying it again, making sure her movements are frantic. If he tries anything she can defend herself easily. 'Your gonna try and kill me. Fucckk, your gonna slice me up with your sword" It's a panicked wail before she tries a third time and success, no more OJ in stomach.
Hiro wants so badly right now to be mad, but mostly he's just desperate. Don't let this be some kind of setup. He reaches for the woman's leg and grabs a handful of pant leg.
And then there is a subtle Difference in things. It's almost impossible to explain. But the liquid still on its way down the drain is no longer flowing. The faucet, if turned on, would not flow. The thousand tiny ambient sounds only detectable by the subconscious no longer issue.
This is no longer a world where time flows.
And Hiro lets out a sigh and begins relaxing into a deep sleep on his own floor.
It's a set up, somewhat. The opportunity presented itself. Can she pull it off though? Minea lets herself wiped at her mouth, looking at the frozen water, timefrozen water. He stopped time.. Minea glances down at her pant leg, and him grabbed onto it. Goodman was right. This is indeed Hiro Nakamura. Awe keeps her stock still for a few minutes before she swings into action. A couple hours, she'll only have a couple hours. How far is time frozen? The room? Beyond? She doesn't know. She just starts. She starts combing the sparse apartment, looking here and there, drawers opened and then closed, nothing moved, just cataloging the place mentally. The computer is going to be her last thing to look for. She'd come prepared for all this. The purse is grabbed, a digital camera, that suspiciously look like a pen is grabbed, and she starts taking pictures of the place. It's not going to be Nikon quality, but it'll be better than nothing. Images of Hiro Nakamura too, in his down state. Clothes are quickly cataloged, small GPS trackers placed here and there, slipped into hems, and on various articles of clothing. The sword is carefully looked for as well, so she can plant something on it.
Sword? What sword? If it's anywhere in this place Minea isn't finding it. It's not under the mat he apparently sleeps on, nor is it in any cabinet or appliance. Perhaps most frustrating of all? His computer doesn't work. Not without time to allow the electricity to flow through it. It even looks a little weird, with the screen in a frozen state of emission that causes it to be readable but weird looking. The modulation of that in normal time is invisible to the human eye but this perspective makes it stand out. His clothes are fairly limited. He has a suit, and what he's wearing, and a long coat.
In Minea's search she comes across one particular object that is a USB flash drive labeled in Japanese Kanji characters, in one of his pockets. Naturally there's no easy way to read it, but it's there.
Strangely he has no kind of identification at all on him, and no wallet. Just a money clip with denominations of money in US Dollars and Japanese Yen.
Some of the dollars are very old, printed in the 1930's. There are also some very strange coins with holes in them.
The longer this goes on, the more Minea might come to a simple realization though. She appears to be stuck. At least until he wakes up and undoes this.
Stuck is fine, stuck works. The flash drive is examined, careful to use her gloves the entire time, lets leave no fingerprints Minea. The boarded up winow is eyed, since she's not about to head out the door yet, or try to head out the door. The flashdrive is visually captured with the little camera, frowned at once more before she puts it back. Another time. The Computer is pointless to deal with. Another day
To the door next. The one lock is the kind that when you turn the lock and close the door, it'll close behind you. So she does that, before turning right around and using her skills, you know, the non whoring ones that Goodman hired her for. The door bursts inwards and pieces stay up in the air. Someones broken in? Can be written off as someone started to break in as they both went down and Hiro used his trick. Onto her purse next after her gloves are put back where she had them with her jacket. The pills are popped out, purse and contents back how they were and the capsule dropped down the drain once her fingers have shoved them down far enough save for one, which is popped open, emptied onto her tongue a little, a little put on her finger to mix with the orange juice that remains in her cup, forcibly done so. The shell of the capsules joins it's brethren back down the sink, stabbed down further with a knife to get out of finger reach since EVERYTHING in this place seems to be time frozen the moment she stops touching it.
Time to knock herself out. Pray this all works. if not, well… Goodman had said she was expendable. Soon enough, Minea feels the drug taking effect. Rohypnol. Have to love it. Messes with the memory a bit. For the scenario to work though, she needs to be under it's influence too. Her limbs growing heavier, and the room spinning a bit, Minea eventually succumbs to the drugs herself, slithering to the ground haphazardly within Hiro's grasp of her pants, off to let the drug course through her system like Hiro's own system. Timing is right, she should wake up around the time Hiro does, if maybe a little after.
 March 5th: One Sided Conversation |
 March 5th: It's A Deal |