Forgotten Company

Participants:

magnes2_icon.gif veronica2_icon.gif

Scene Title Forgotten Company
Synopsis Magnes asks Veronica where to find a certain Haitian, and, when he tells her the reason why, she admits to being Company.
Date January 9, 2010

USS George Washington

USS George Washington is the sixth ship in the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered supercarriers, and the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after George Washington, first President of the United States. She was built by Newport News Shipbuilding and was commissioned July 4, 1992. George Washington is 1,092 feet long, 257 feet wide and is as high as a twenty-four-story building, at 244 feet. The super carrier can accommodate approximately 80 aircraft and has a flight deck 4.5 acres in size, using four elevators that are 3,880 feet each to move planes between the flight deck and the hangar bay.

Traditionally, US Navy aircraft carrier hangar bays were painted "Navy Gray"; George Washington was commissioned with her hangar bay bulkheads and overhead painted white, to make the hangar bay appear larger and brighter. All US Navy aircraft carriers have their hull number painted on both sides of their island structure for identification. These numbers are lighted white for visibility at night while in port. By order of Congress, George Washington's island number is outlined in red, white and blue lights in honor of her namesake's contributions to America's independence. General Washington had long been a proponent of a strong Navy. On November 15, 1781 he wrote, //Without a decisive Naval force, we can do nothing decisive. And with it, everything honourable and decisive. These words are engraved on a plaque on the ship's quarterdeck.//


Walking down a random hall of the George Washington, Magnes, in his NAVY shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, has his right hand held up, with a liquidy white sphere hovering right above it. He seems to be mildly concentrating, though the shape might throw one off to what it actually is; milk. He has a destination, though outwardly it just seems as if he's wasting time.

Saturday afternoons can be slow.

Veronica has found the ship's exercise room, and is on her way back from a two-mile run on the treadmills. Still recovering from her leg injury and chest wound, she had to take it slow. It's been a long time since she's run her usual five, and the two was difficult, leaving her tired and second-guessing her wisdom in choosing to get the exercise. She walks down the hall toward her bunk, sweaty and a touch pale, despite the exertion, in exercise gear provided by the military — shorts, t-shirt, and even a pair of tennis shoes.

Turning the corner, she almost runs into Magnes, and worse, that ball of milk, but manages to stop just short. "Hey, kid," she says with a smile.

"Oh, hey." Magnes' eye not-so-subtly go to her t-shirt, then avert up to her eyes when his brain seemingly has control again. "Sorry about this." He motions to the milk, then holds it up to his mouth and starts sipping at it until it's all gone. "Um, do you know where I can find this Rene guy I keep hearing about?"

Of course Veronica knows Rene. She's worked with him in the past, though she hasn't had a chance to talk with him here. Little does Magnes know he's already met Rene in the past as well. But, then, that's the point of Rene, isn't it?

"Don't know where he is, not my turn to watch him," she says lightly enough, though she has a feeling she knows the reason he's asking. "You don't want to do what you're thinking about, Varlane. I know you're in pain right now, but it gets better with time. I promise. If you get a hole in your memory, it doesn't heal, it just makes you emptier."

"You've got the wrong idea. I don't plan to forget Claire, I'm gonna support her unless she decides she doesn't want me around. This has nothing to do with her." Magnes corrects, licking his lips after finishing the milk. "What happened to Claire made me think… I don't want holes in my memory. I used to be in a place called the Company, and while I can understand why my memory was erased, I want to remember the people again. I don't care if they leave their sensitive information out, but, I wanna have faces to put with the conversations and feelings I remember. I cared about these people and I want to remember them."

The company agent, the one who recruited him with methods she's not proud of, stands listening, uncapping her water bottle and taking a long drink after he stops, to buy herself a moment to think. Finally she nods. "I don't think Rene can do that for you, unless he is told by his superiors it's all right, Magpie," she says quietly. She's called him that a couple of times now, in Argentina and now here on this ship; perhaps a hint to him that she was one of the people he's talking about, without outright telling him so.

"You know about how the Company works?" Magnes asks, having not quite heard that she's in it directly, then starts walking again, motioning for her to follow. "And, I don't know, it's not as if I intend to infiltrate and close them down, that'd be stupid," Despite the fact that he had that very idea when he first joined, as she would know. "I have friends there, I wouldn't want them hurt… I just want to remember them."

Everyone else on the boat knows she's Company, but for some reason it worries her to let Magnes in on the secret. Still, eventually he'll find out from someone else if she doesn't tell him. "I'm Company, Varlane. Remember the others kept calling me agent? It's also why Ross got all pissy at me for being… distrusting of the mission's objectives," she says quietly. "And I just don't know if Rene will be do it unless he's been authorized, but I guess you can ask. I'm also not sure how much he can do. It's sort of hard to give just faces and 'safe' memories, without some of the rest of it, I think. But maybe not. I don't really know how his power works."

"You are?" Magnes tilts his head slightly, staring quite hard at her. He seems as if he's trying to remember her face, or if he knew her. "Did we… know eachother?" He sounds almost reluctant to ask, as if he could be uncovering some horrible secret. He worries a lot.

"I am," Veronica says, taking another sip of water. "And yeah. You did. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. And don't tell anyone I told you, all right? But you know… this whole operation is about trust and such, and you saved my life, twice, so I feel I owe you. And I'm sorry, for what it's worth. That it didn't work out and that they took your memories of that time, because like I said, I don't believe in that. I don't like it." She's had it done to people too many times to count, but since Minea was wiped, she avoids it.

"I wish I could remember you. Well, I do remember people, like, the personal conversations that didn't have anything to do with the Company, but I don't know who they were with." Magnes elaborates a bit more on his memories, trying to search for anything that seems like her. "Wait, were you that mentor I had? I had two of them, but you seem serious, so you could be the first one. I remember her beating me up in training a lot. I can't remember why, but I get a second mentor for some reason and don't remember anything else about the first."

"Not so much with the beating up," Veronica says, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes for a moment. "I helped you with your power sometimes, though. Tripped you with broomsticks or something," she says with a chuckle. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about them, the other two. So you know, if you want to remember because you're worried for their safety, they're no longer in the city, and they're not here on this mission. I'm the only one stupid enough to be here, as far as I know, as far as the New York facility goes." She smiles at that.

"I still wanna remember, because, well, I wanna think that I gained something nice last year. I've been trying hard just to remember all the good things, but so much happened…" Magnes leans against the wall, closing his eyes while chewing his bottom lip. "I wish I had Hiro's ability. I'd go to Midtown and stop all of this. He says some things can't be changed, but, I don't care."

"You can try," the agent says with a shrug. "I just don't know. He's not the most … persuadable person. Speaking of negators and explosions, however…" She pushes off the wall and glances down the hall to be sure none of their superiors are around. "In case they don't tell us, when they send us in to the next phase of the operation, you should know that apparently we're going in not just to find and disarm the nuke, though God knows that's important, but I guess we're also going in to stop some guy named Wagner that they say makes the rest of Vanguard look like child's play or something. Apparently he can negate and steal powers from a very large range, then use those powers for his advantage." She caps her water bottle again, and shrugs. "I can't imagine they wouldn't tell us at least that much, since getting too close to him would be seriously dangerous given the amount and variety of powers we have in our eclectic little team. So be careful. If you can opt out, hell, I'd consider it, if I were you. Me, being non-evolved, well." She shrugs. She's expendable and less dangerous to get close.

"A sniper rifle." is the first response Magnes gives, crossing his arms and nodding. "My second mentor, she taught me how to use one. I'm not exactly an expert, but if a target stays still enough, I can get a good shot. I don't know if anyone else here can use a sniper rifle, but maybe that'd be the safest thing for me? You could run it by Kazimir, you know more about my training than I do, and he might listen to you."

Veronica nods. "I'm not sniper level but a pretty good shot, myself, but yeah, if it keeps you out of the range, whatever the range is. I don't know who's planning the operation. No one really has told me anything, besides Cardinal," Veronica says. She leaves out the fact that Claire is the one who told her about Wagner. "I know we needed Kazimir for the intel, but I don't know that he's necessarily the person I want in charge of my life and limbs, you know? Because in the end, I don't think he'd care much if I died or not. Nothing personal, of course. I mean, I'm a grunt, more or less. A jarhead, so to speak." There's a wry chuckle at that.

"If we're planning anything we need to know the range of his ability." Magnes lifts his legs up, crossing them in the air as he floats, hunched down in a bit of a thinking position. "Not to mention, how many powers can this guy steal, how many he could already have stored up, if he can store them at all…" He is a bit of a strategist, even if he's never gotten a chance to show such a thing.

"I know. But it doesn't sound like they know," she says with a shake of her head. "Possibly multiple abilities at a time. God. It's like Sylar without having to cut someone's brain open first. Where do these people come from. And why are they all crazy? I don't get why people with abilities hated people with abilities so much, you know?" She sighs and begins to walk again. "Keep your ears open. Hopefully they know more than that much, and will tell us at the briefing. I mean, someone has to know more, right? Just be careful. And if you find Rene… don't get your hopes up. I don't think he will do it unless following orders. You can't blame him… in our line of work, there are pretty grave consequences for not following what we're told."

"I can certainly imagine why…" Magnes shakes his head, leaving her with that, then starts floating down the hall. "Stay safe, Agent Sawyer." He hasn't gotten into the habit of calling her Veronica like he used to, giving her a brief wave.

"Veronica," the agent says, giving a wave, then heading in the other direction to go find the showers before lunch.


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