Participants:
| Scene Title | He's Back |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Coming to see Hokuto about a nightmare she had, Helena instead discovers a secret about the fortune teller's past… |
| Date | December 9, 2009 |
It was supposed to snow today.
The snow never really came, instead New York City is mostly bathed in a sheet of freezing rain and sleet that slicks the roads and clings to the buildings. Everything is a drab gray as far as they eye can see, set upon by the haze of falling precipitation and low-hanging clouds. The weather is miserable, bitter and cold. After the night Helena Dean had just suffered, a bitterly cold day like today seems simply par for course.
The usual rounds have changed for her, after what happened last night. The trip out to Roosevelt island normally ends at Summer Meadows to see how the Ferrymen are doing with their urban revitalization. However, with the thoughts of the previous night's terrors lingering at the fore of her mind and the memory of being pressed so close to the precipice of that roof's edge, Helena has chosen on a different destination rather than the subway station.
It is down on Main Street, just two blocks from Summer Meadows where Helena Dean's walk takes her, to the little bookstore wedged between two highrise tenement buildings. Flanked on either side by those brick buildings, the Ichihara Bookstore looks like a child being shouldered by reproachful parents, and under the drizzling pall of wet winter weather, it seems all the more gloomy.
Thin strands of ice hang from the stained-glass lantern that sets above the front stoop, unlit. The soft yellow glow of candles illuminates the interior of the store, even if electricity had been restored here months ago. There's a certain charm the bookstore keeper prefers to maintain. As usual, the bookstore is open at hours not listed on the sign upon the door. It should be closed for lunch, but its proprieter never did keep normal human hours.
Pushing the door open and stepping inside, Helena is greeted by the distant sound of a radio playing staticy somewhere beyond the front counter, hidden amid the tall and dusty shelves. The song causes her heart to skipa beat, its twangy guitar plucking not merely at musical cords, but also at a thread of sanity the young woman maintains.
Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise…
Something feels immediately wrong upon entering the bookstore. Books are scattered across the floor, some strewn like they were thrown from the shelves. Glass is broken right at the entrance, a shattered glass that once may have been a teacup. Now far away, a leather sandal lies tipped on its side, a book laid open next to it with pages torn out of it crumpled on the floor nearby.
Run in the shadows, damn your love, damn your life…
Between the tall bookcases of the central aisle, there is another sandal, and not a few feet from it a woman laying on her side on the floor, dark hair spilled out behind her head like ink bleeding into parchment. Black and white clothing contrasts against pale skin and dark wooden planks of the floor. Another book is laid near her, looking to have fallen off the shelf above her.
And if you don't love me now, you can never love me again
Red is the one color in this scenario, red from a cut on her forehead that bleeds down her cheek and pools on the flood at the side of her face. Hokuto is motionless, looking to have been attacked in her own store, eyes shut and arms limps at her side. Somewhere in the store, the radio keeps playing.
I can still hear you saying… you would never break the chain.
"Oh god…" the lunches that Helena had brought fall out of her hands as she darts forward, moving to the figure's side. "Hokuto? Hokuto, can you hear me?" She kneels by the woman, her breath coming fast, but she's not a paramedic. She fumblingly reaches for her phone, presses as far as 9-1 before she remembers that on this island, help of such sort so rarely comes. There's the Suresh Center though, and so she cancels the call and begins another. "You'll be okay," she says, "You'll be okay. I'm getting help, I swear, I'm getting help."
Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night…
Dark brows twitch, the sound of a voice, and in the back of Hokuto's throat erupts the faintest hint of a groan. One dark eye opens a crack, peering up at the blonde woman in front of her. A hissed breath escapes, and Hokuto manages to roll from her side onto her back, one shoulder resting uncomfortably on the book beneath her. "Thank God…" She breathes out the words, one hand coming up to dab fingers at the painful split on her forehead.
Run in the shadows…
Swallowing dryly, Hokuto looks up at Helena, a hand shakily reaching out to touch at her arm, to make sure she's there, and then pale fingers wind into the blonde's sleeve, tugging gently. "I didn't think— " her voice cracks, eyes fall shut and her head rests against the wooden floor gently. "I didn't think he'd let you go." She sounds exasperated, barely able to catch her breath,a s if she hadn't just been laying there but was running a marathon. Dark circles hang beneath her eyes, bloodshot edges rimming brown irises. She looks like she hasn't slept in days.
Dam your love, damn your life…
"Call— Call Corbin." It's a shaky request, and she motions ot one of the books scattered on the floor near her, a black leather address book. "Under C— please."
"He - who do you mean?" Helena doesn't wait for the answer; instead she starts scrambling toward the address book and flipping through it frantically. B, C, D, E, no, C! She scans through the listings until she comes to the right number, and then with shaking fingers, she starts to dial. Holding it up to her ear. "Hokuto, keep talking to me. Who is Corbin? Tell me who I'm going to talk to."
The phone rings a few times, before Corbin finally pulls his phone out to look at the id. The ID isn't recognized at all, so he must assume it's for a job of some kind. "Corbin Ayers of the New York Times," he answers professionally. Guess that answers the question of who he might be. At least half of it.
"P— Partner…" Hokuto's delerious words come without much thought, one pale hand at her forehead, fingers touching at where the blood spills out from the split in her skin, tacky and partly clotted. "Tell him to come— please." Brows furrowed and eyes wrenched shut, Hokuto makes no motions to get up from the floor where she lay, even if the book beneath her is digging into her shoulder. "He's s'friend…" she murmurs, followed by a sharp hiss of pain as she tries to sit up and simply slouches back down against the floor again.
"Tell'm to come alone— or he'll panic." Because she knows Corbin, and she knows how he might react to this, and the last thing Hokuto wants is a swarm of people here. She just need to warn one of them, the one that matters.
"Corbin." Helena's tone is frantic and terse, but she stays calm enough to be understood. "Hokuto's been hurt. We're at the bookstore, and she needs you. She's really hurt bad, but she wants you to come. Please, just come to the bookstore. She says you're her partner, and that you need to come alone. Please hurry."
"What?" Corbin says at first, immediately sounding just as frantic and worried, and perhaps even already gathering up things. There's sounds of people talking around him, perhaps a work place, or somewhere with a lot of people. "I'll be there as fast as I can. How hurt is she? Is she…" She said partner to a stranger, probably one of those people she hired on to the store— he's only met one of them so far, so it could easily be. "Try to keep her comfortable. And lock the door. I have a key to the store, so I can get in when I make it there." He doesn't trust her small island anymore, even if it has fewer people than most of the city. Too many bad things have happened there in the past. Or he'll panic? He's panicing already. But he's on his way.
Only now finally catching her breath, Hokuto stares up blearily at the ceiling, swallowing repeatedly to try and put her heart back from up in her throat where it feels like it is. Pale fingers wind tight into the fabric of Helena's sleeve, dark eyes finally finding her as she watches the blonde on the phone. Clarity begins to dawn over her thoughts, and awkwardly there is a look of resentment or bitterness that comes for a fleeting moment, followed by a relaxation of that tight grip on the younger woman's arm. "I thought you were dead…"
Somehow, with those words having slipped out of Hokuto's mouth, the staticy play of the same song on the radio that Helena had heard in her dream the other night seems miles away. "I thought— " Hokuto's eyes close, words becoming distant and drowsy sounding, "Th…" Whatever else she was going to say, is swallowed by unconsciousness.
It was a miracle Hokuto had been able to attain that much consciousness when Helena first arrived, for the bookseller is as silent as a corpse following the closing of her eyes. Passing out with a head injury in a precarious thing, if the split in her brow led to a concussion, Hokuto may never rightfully awaken from this moment where her eyes fell shut. Surely, she does not rouse when Helena makes the attempt to stir her from sleep or unconsciousness, the definition of which exactly eludes her at the moment.
At least, in the time it takes between the phone call and his arrival, Helena is able to make the older woman comfortable. The book beneath her back is removed, a rather heavy and old looking psychology tome entitled, "Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious," with the author's name beneath being printed, "Jung, Carl."
Nearly twenty minutes it takes for Corbin to cross the city in mid-day traffic and make his way out to Roosevelt Island and the tiny bookstore wedged in this growing urban sprawl. What he finds is not only the sleet and freezing rain of a bitterly wet winter awaiting him, but also the locked door of the Ichihara Bookstore's front, and through the glass of the front door, he can see the broken teacup smashed on the floor, books torn from the shelves, and Hokuto laid out on the hardwood between two shelves, a young blonde girl kneeling at her side.
The car he jumped out of is parked poorly. Corbin accidentally jumped the curb when he parked, and didn't bother to reverse to correct it. One tire hangs up higher than the others as he hops out, just barely remembering to click the lock on his keychain so that the doors lock again. Dark hair ruffled and damp, it gets battered down somemore by the cold rain as he moves his keys around and unlocks the front door to the store. He's dressed nicely enough, mostly cause his heavy coat happens to be nice. He carries nothing but his keys, his phone stashed away in his pocker.
When the door opens, he moves quickly across the bookstore and looks at the blonde woman for only a moment, either not long enough to recognize her, or— he may not care right now, with Hokuto in this condition. "What happened?" he asks, focusing his eyes on the tiny Asian woman, even if he's speaking to the one that's conscious.
"I don't know." Helena stays at Hokuto's side, kneeling there and gingerly holding the woman's hand. "She's still alive, but I don't know how close she is to - " she doesn't finish. "She stopped me from calling nine one one. Told me to call you instead. Can you help her?"
It's a hard thing to ask, that, and given the way Hokuto looks it's hardly something Corbin is qualified to answer. He can tell the head injury isn't too severe, despite all the blood — facial wounds tend to bleed a lot. It's shallow, probably from a fall or— something not too dangerous. But the look of those dark circles under her eyes, that expression of discontent on her unconscious face, he's seen that before and it's all the more worrisome.
It was three years ago now, the last time Corbin saw Hokuto look this bad, this strung-out and tired. It was the weeks following the bomb, two weeks straight where she hardly slept at all, kept awake by fitful nightmares from a city gone insane with grief and horror at what had happened. He'd seen her through the worst of it, thorugh themedicated sleep the Company tried to ease her with, sleep that never truly resulted in rest. It wasn't until they called in the Haitian that she was ever able to truly find any measure of peace.
She retired not long after that.
"I'm not a doctor, but— damnit— Hokie, wake up and tell us what happened, please," Corbin says, obviously understanding why 911 may not have been on the list of people to call. If he has to, he knows who he can call to get her into a place where they can treat her medically. Some place that won't need to ask the questions about what might be going on while she's unconscious. He keeps looking down at the young woman, reaching to touch her head and push a hand through her hair. "The head injury isn't too severe, but— I haven't seen her this bad in… a long time." Since the time right before they stopped being partners.
"Did she mention anything other than calling me while she was still conscious? Some indication of what…" this is when he looks up at her for longer than a second. The pause in his words perhaps give away 'Hey, I know you'. He stares for a moment. Then blinks. "…what happened to her? Are you one of her employees?" If she is, Hokuto's keeping some big secrets. Not that he blames her.
"I'm a friend. Let me see if I can get some ice? She probably has a concussion, I don't know if we should move her." Helena moves to stand up, admitting, "She told me that she was scared I was dead. Something about not thinking 'he'd let me go', only I'm not sure what she was talking about. What can I do? How can we help her?"
Hokuto's back arches abruptly, fingers clawing at the air and eyes wrenching shut, bare feet slide against the wooden floor and she seesmt o be trying to pull or push at something. A ragged, hissing breath escapes from her, followed by brown eyes snapping open as she rolls onto her side and curls up into a ball as if recoiling from something. Ragged and heavy breathing comes next, followed by suddenly animate and erratic movements as she bolts up into a seated position, eyes wide and looking confused, as if she doesn't even recognize her surroundings.
Dark brown eyes settle squarely on Helena, then to Corbin, and only in those two familiar faces does she seem to find any measure of solace. She hunches forward, about to relax, but then stiffens up again and looks to Helena with wide eyes. "Th— Thank you." That stare darts over to Corbin, a pale hand reaching out to grasp at his shoulder, "Get— get the bottle of pills from under the front desk— p— please." She looks like she's having a hard time even keeping her eyes open. The vice-like grip her fingers have worked into his shoulder indicate the desperation in her voice. "Don't— don't let me fall asleep again."
"Ice could work, thank you," Corbin says, being polite even in his worriedness, and even in recognizing her. Any other situation and he might at least ask for an interview. But his other bosses might have a problem with that in the end. It would be a good interview to get, considering… Just not the best timing right now. Especially with Hokuto suddenly waking up. His arm goes to her shoulder as well, holding onto her. "All right. Are you not sleeping at all right now?" he asks, concerned as he tries to move back, but finds the vice-like grip a little much.
"Can you get the pills for her… please?" He asks Helena, and the pause perhaps shows temptation to say her name, something he just avoids doing. "And something to wash her face off with too, if you can," he adds on, reaching up to touch her cheek. "I hope you'll tell me what's going on."
"Of course." Helena says instantly, moving immediately to get the pills. "Were you asleep?" she asks of the dream-prohpetess, though she seems fairly startled that Corbin's presence prompted wakefulness so readily. Moving back to the pair, she kneels once more to offer the open bottle to Hokuto. Then, suddenly it makes sense: "Were you dreaming?"
Dark eyes close for a moment, and Hokuto is forced to shake her head rapidly, one hand pushing uncomfortably at the split on her brow — pain helps spur the waking mind. "I was— trying to get to you…" Hokuto murmurs, looking askance to Helena as the blonde winds behind the front desk, finding a brown bottle of pills marked no-doze under the counter. "I— felt him, for the first time. The— " dark eyes flit to Corbin, brows furrowed, and then turn back to Helena.
"I'm sorry." It's a pleading tone, not so much asking but begging for forgiveness, as if she had done some sort of wrong to the blonde. It's not really elaborated on, not until Hokuto looks towards Corbin, wobbling where she sits from fatigue. "I— I've been trying not to. There's… he's back." That should make sense, there should be some recognition, but instead there's nothing. "Helena, I— don't worry about the ice…" She murmurs, drearily, "Not yet. I— I need to explain something to— to someone in case I pass out again…"
A glance toward Helena asks a question he can guess the answer to, considering who she is, and what she's saying. Does she know about the dreams? Corbin regrets, suddenly, not visiting as often as he should. He'd been coming to the island often, for the Summer Meadows project. He was going to surprise her with his involvement in it. Sometime later. Now he's wishing later would have been earlier.
"Just try to get comfortable and tell us what's going on. Him who? Who's back?" There's been so many people in the past who could come back, even if they hadn't been active field agents. Archives seemed harmless, but they both learned a lot of things there… Him doesn't narrow it down too much. Yet.
"I was coming to you to tell you about a nightmare I had." Helena tells Hokuto, her eyes flicking briefly to Corbin before looking down at Hokuto again. "It was…terrible, and twisted. If you're trying not to fall asleep, I'm guessing you don't want to dream. Can we move you? Get you up to your couch?"
There's a ragged and tired smile from Hokuto, dark eyes angles towards Helena as the brunette shifts her weight just enough to rest her back against the bookcase behind her. "I… actually don't have a couch," she adds in that more natural, teasing tone, "I would like one some day, though…" It's not meant to be too sharp of a comment, more something to try and ease her mind, a bit of sarcasm to keep her mind busy. "I know about your dream… I— " Hokuto swallows awkwardly, shifting her weight to the side as she considers the two, holding out one hand towards Helena in request for the bottle of pills.
"I need to… be honest with you about something, Helena. You friend… mmnh…" Dark brows furrow, and Hokuto seems to struggle with her thoughts, keeping them in order, "Catherine." There's a nod at the name. "I lied… or, I obscured the truth when the two of you came to visit me. I…" Her dark eyes drift to Corbin, then level back on Helena. "I used to work for the Company when I was younger. This— this is important that you know."
It wouldn't matter if she did have a couch… "Hokie can sleep anywhere. That's why it's better she not ever drive. This actually does include the floor," Corbin says fondly, for an instant, before he focuses his attention on the two women, a little more of Hokuto. Going to her about horrific dreams, he can understand. She knows more about dreams that most people would ever realize, but… Then Hokuto keeps talking and turns things into the truth.
Oh boy. And talk about the truth. He can't help but squeeze the poor dreamers hand, and nodding a bit. In this case, he can understand the truth. Even if it doesn't look like he likes it. "It has something to do with… with that?" He knew. Partner and all. Not hard to connect the dots there.
The Company. Always the damn Company.
Helena looks between the two of them, looking for a moment like she's going to bolt for the door, but subtly, she - well, she doesn't relax, exactly, but she becomes somehow less tense. "So you are Evolved, just like we both figured you were." Helena says, a little flat in tone. She's not leaving though, and there's still an air of concern, if a little singed at the edges; she'd considered Hokuto a friend, and this is a little like betrayal.
"I— I am…" Dark eyes move to the bottle of pills in Helena's hand, then up to the noticable tension in the younger woman's shoulders. "I don't… like to advertise it." An apologetic look is offered to Corbin, followed by a nod to him before she looks back to the blonde. "You were… attacked, in your dreams." Her words seemd rowsy, a little hard to be found as she speaks, Hokuto is struggling to retain lucidity. "When I sleep, I wander, my— my dreams wander. I watch over people… friends, family, loved ones…" One of her hands massages at the back of her stiff neck, a shoulder rolling with an audible pop. "I can feel people's dreams, everywhere…"
A look is offerd to Corbin, even more apologetic now before she turns to Helena. "When I worked for the Company, I was only an archivist. I handled their files, their paperwork. I— was never a proper agent." Lips press together ina thin, tense line. "In— Three years ago, I was asked to take care of a young woman who became a ward of the Company after her family was killed. She— her name was Molly Walker." Molly? "The Company had asked her to… to do something, use her ability somehow. I'm… not even sure what it is. But she got the attention of someone like us…" The us is reserved for Helena and Hokuto, not Corbin, unfortunately.
"He haunted her dreams, made her… made her unable to sleep. Angela Petrelli and I, we— we helped Molly, helped keep the man in her nightmares away. I remember what he felt like, though, I— he was strong, willful." There's a swallow, a tired and dry one. "We never discovered who he was, or— or where he'd come from. Only that I could do nothing against him. I couldn't find him in dreams, I— I couldn't ever seem to catch him. Angela was the only one who was able to do anything to stop him, and even that seemed like— it was like she had someone helping her. She never told me who."
Averting her eyes, Hokuto looks down at her lap, eyes fluttering shut for a moment before snapping back open. "I— went to see you last night, in— in dreams. You— he was there, with you." Hokuto's expression becomes haunted. "In your mind. I— I thought he might be back, all the suicides in the news, it— it's what he does."
He was the other part of the one of us, one of them. So Corbin can't help but listen quietly, eyes narrowing the more he listens. There'd been a lot that happened around the time of the bomb that changed things. They made things different. His partner seemed to have different things to do than he did, and— Molly Walker isn't a name that rings a bell. Nor is the man in nightmares, or what she did with Angela Petrelli. The tension around his jaw is visible, but… secrets were part of what they did. And they always will be for him.
"I wrote one of the suicide stories. No note, no reason found for it. I'll have to check the archives— of the newspaper— to see how many suicides there were last time, but… So there's a man who haunts people's dreams and forces them to kill themselves? What happened to you? Did he try to come after you?" He looks over toward Helena, spotting the remnants of betrayal, and then says, "I won't say anything about this. You called me to help her. If you want it'll be as if you were never here." There's a pause…
"Though I'd love an interview with you sometime." He'll just have to use one of his pennames. Like he used for the Ghost of the Montauk Monster article…
"I know Molly." Helena nods, and adds, "I've never met Mrs. Petrelli, but we…might have had cause to meet. Before. I'm not sure now." She looks momentarily torn between Corbin and Hokuto, and opts to give him a nod which may indicate her willingness to be interviewed, and then looks at Hokuto a bit warily. "You were in my dream? How much did you see?" That was pretty naked and soul-bearing of the worst parts of herself and the idea that Hokuto saw it all makes her nervous.
"Hardly anything…" Hokuto murmurs, shaking her head slowly. "You and— a rooftop? It was like I was only half-awake in your dream, it— was strange. He had a strangle-hold on your subconscious, it was all I could do to wiggle a little bit of room for you to save yourself." There's a faint smile offered at that. "Let you find something that gives you strength, and pull yourself back from the brink. I just— I couldn't do any more, he's— I can't stop him."
Rubbing her hand across her throat, Hokuto offers a hesitant smile out to Corbin, it's an apologetic look, as if to say sorry for withholding so much about herself, about the job she performed at the Company, and even more of the reasons behind why she quit in the first place. "I… I've been having trouble sleeping the last month. I'll sleep but— I won't feel rested at all. It's like when I use my ability to go far distances, but— it was just like when he was plaguing Molly's dreams."
Hokuto looks away, rubbing her hand over her forehead slowly, feeling at the bloody cut. "He knows me, I think— I think he's been trying to stop me from warning people about him or— " swallowing noisily, Hokuto shakes her head. "I'm sorry, Helena. I'm sorry I didn't own up to what I could do when you asked, but… it's not something I like to share with others."
Conversation is keeping Hokuto awake, keeping her mind active, keeping her from succumbing to exhaustion. "I'm worried the next time I fall asleep… I might not be able to wake up again."
"I should stay here with you," Corbin says, for a moment ignoring the prospect of missing work, or even a woman in charge of the group known as Phoenix knowing secrets of the Company that he doubts very much they would want her to know. How was she going to be able to meet Angela Petrelli? "I can try to get an audience with Angela Petrelli, but she always liked you much more than she liked… well anyone, I think— Then again if I tell her it's about you, she might be more willing to take my phone call. If Miss Dean can't get ahold of her, at least." Yes, he knows her name.
"I can drag you to my apartment too. Make you stay up all night watching movies if I have to prod you every few minutes. I don't like the sound of the not waking up thing at all." He's wanting to avoid that.
"Cameron." Helena murmurs, and looks to Hokuto. "That was you? It's happened to me before. When someone was in my consciousness and hurting me…suddenly, Cameron was there. But it was just me. Training, I thought, from someone…ex-Company, actually." And for a moment, she misses the old pigeon loving bastard. She nods. "I want to know everything about this person. Especially if he's attacking more people in their dreams. And I do want to speak to Angela Petrelli, to find out how she stopped him. I think I know how I can find her, but if either of you can smooth the way, that would be helpful."
"It was you." Hokuto affirms, "All I did was pull his fingers away from your mind enough to let you… take control. I couldn't do anything to stop him, it was your mind, and as powerful as he is, with a little help he can be stopped." Furrowing her brows, Hokuto leans to one side and looks to have a hard time keeping her eyes open. "I… I don't know anything about him. We never found out who he was, where he came from, why he was targeting Molly… nothing." Closing her eyes for just a moment, Hokuto's head bobs up and down before she jerks herself back awake, struggling to stay conscious.
"I— " Looking up to Corbin, the dreamseer offers a weak smile. "It'll be okay…" A hand moves out to his shoulder, resting there gently before offering a very weak squeeze. "I don't know how much Angela knows… but— she has an ability like mine. She taught me everything I know, and— I'm worried that the Nightmare Man might try getting revenge on her for stopping him three years ago." Biting down on her lower lip, hard, Hokuto struggles to keep conscious.
"I'm— I'm sorry I don't know anything more. I just— I didn't know who to turn to for help. But if he's gone after you, Helena, there has to be a reason. He's going to try again, and— whatever he wants, he's not going to stop until he gets it." Swallowing awkwardly, Hokuto looks over to Corbin with a drowsy expression. "I need you to help her, Corbin… or more people're going to get hurt. I— he's out there, I know it."
"It better be okay, cause I'm not feeding that beast of a cat of yours," Corbin says, not even looking to see where that beast of a cat got off to. He just knows it's around, and he's not looking forward to taking care of it. It's the best joke he can manage in this situation. The drowsy look and her talk of not waking up has him worried too much to joke extensively.
"I might be able to help, but— Hokie's the only person I'd ever do this for. If you get me fired, kid, you're giving me the best damn exclusive interview ever to make up for it." Company Agent as he might be, he's too loyal to his ex-partner to not try to help out in this situation. Whether for better or worse. "I'll see what I can find in the archives, too. My access is still pretty good, though Angela Petrelli's would be a lot better. I'm sure she can tell us a lot more."
Helena looks between the two. "Than Angela Petrelli's who I need to talk to." she confirms, and lifts a brow at Corbin. "So you two are partners…former partners…does that mean you're both former Company?" Yeah, that might be a teeny tiny issue.
A look is offered from Hokuto to Corbin at Helena's question, then back to the young woman. "It— Something like that." There's an awkward smile there, "I haven't worked for the Company since the bomb, but you can trust him— Corbin." There's a weak, somewhat pleading tone from Hokuto at that. "I know not… not everyone in the Company is exactly trustworthy, I don't know what your experience with them is, but— but Corbin's one of the good ones."
Looking to the side, Hokuto's brows furrow, and she can't help but let her eyes fall shut again, even if for a moment. "There's— there's got to be others he's targeting. The people in the news, the— the suicide attempts, the deaths… I just don't know how'sall connected…" Dark eyes drift back up to Helena, weakly. "You're the only people I know who I trust… to— to help. Catherine, Elisabeth… A… Abigail," her head bobs slowly, "Richard… they're all out of the country. I— I can't reach them."
Brown eyes falling shut again, Hokuto murmurs. "I need you two… to— I— if th'two of you can't do this, no one's gon'to be able to stop him…"
"Fine time to leave the country, sounds like." Even if that leaves just a few people trusted to do what needs to be done. "I'll help, I promise. Hey, stay awake, Hokie. No dozing yet," he says, even though words may not be enough at this point.
Helena looks highly indecisive for a moment, and then nods slowly. To Corbin she remarks, "The minute I so much as think you're gonna try to bag me, tag me, and send me to Level Five…" she lets it hang, and then leans forward, saying sharply, "Hokuto, stay awake!" Hash, but effective. To Corbin, "I don't want to leave her without help, but we need to go see Angela Petrelli. We have to find out what she did to stop this…Nightmare Man."
"We don't do that…" Hokuto says weakly, offering a halfway lidded stare to Helena. "Corbin couldn't bag his own lunch when I first met him…" There's a fond smile there, even as Hokuto's head dips back down into a slow nod. She exhales a tired breath, trying to lift her head back up but struggling to. "If— if I fall asleep— " as if she's going to have any say in the matter, she looks like she hasn't slept for days. "I'll… I'll try t'find you… help how'vr I can…" Dryly swallowing, Hokuto looks up tiredly to Corbin.
"Please don't f'get t'feed Gabriel…" She offers with a lopsided smile, before slouching forward and resting her head on his shoulder, dark hair spilling over and down the front of his shirt along with a somewhat tacky smudge of blood from the cut on her brow. She's limp in his arms, falling against his chest with as much grace as a puppet with its strings cut.
No amount of shouting was going to rouse her, there's limits to what the human body can withstand, and she was at the edges of it.
"Hey, I'm not that bad," Corbin protests, but from the way he looks around, well, she is probably right. He doesn't exactly look like the hardcore fighter types that she's probably known in the past. "But I wouldn't be able to get a very good interview if I got you locked up, Miss Dean," he adds on, a little less defensive. His ex-partner falls unconscious, leaving him in charge of the fat monster, before he runs a hand through her hair. "I'll take her with me— and her monster. Make sure she's comfortable somewhere, at least. I'll leave a note for her employees to handle the store until she's… better. She's probably going to kick my ass for taking her out of the store, but I don't want to leave her alone either, and this place… Not really equipted to handle her if she stays asleep too long…"
But the blonde leader of a rebel movement wants to see Angela Petrelli. And quickly, by the sound of it. "I'll make some calls. Angela Petrelli isn't always the easiest person to get a meeting with, but if you don't toss that cellphone, I can call you on it once I get something arranged. I'm sure she'll love the explaination of why you're going to be there." Not a meeting he's looking forward to. He holds Hokuto closer against him, rubbing her arm in worry. "I was hoping she'd never get involved in this stuff, once she was out of the Company. Tarot readings and books for sale. That was supposed to be the most she ever saw."
"I actually already know where she lives." Helena admits. Heck, she even staked the Petrelli's mansion out way back when, in order to get to Claire. "But I suppose if I just show up, I'll probably not get very far." She looks to Hokuto's slumbering form. "Can we at least make her comfortable?"
"You probably won't get too far if you just show up— not if you're that worried about me bagging and tagging you. And I'm not really into the whole fighting part of the job, and you look like you'd put up a lot more of a fight than I can handle." Corbin didn't even bring a weapon. His fellow Agents would tsk at him, more than a little, most likely. "And I doubt the people Angela would surround herself with would be as… unable to bag their own lunch." He looks down at Hokuto, and then shifts his arms to pick her up, lifting her as he stands. "She's got a bed upstairs." He nods toward the sign marked Private, as he makes his way there. He's not a tall or strong guy, but she's a very tiny lady.
Helena seems content to wait for Corbin to come back, all the while musing on how much Angela Petrelli knows about her. Which could make things…entertaining? Disastrous? She's not quite sure yet. It may not even matter.
In the time it takes for Corbin to bring Hokuto up to her room, it becomes readily obvious she hasn't used that tiny loft for sleeping in a while. Books on psychology are strewn across her bed, some of them bookmarked and dog-eared, copies all wrangled up from around the bookstore. It's not unusual for her to have a few books on her bed, but this looks like something out of the ordinary. Clearing the bed off, the books are stacked on the small writing desk nearby, and Hokuto's sleight frame is laid down. She seems peaceful, even if fatigued and injured, and tired enough to pass out despite best attempts to keep her awake.
This isn't how Corbin wanted to spend his day. Looking up from the bed, he can see all the old news articles he brought to her over the years, tacked up to a cork-board on the wall, most of them old and slightly dusty. It's been a while since there's been good news to share with her.
But Helena's still downstairs, and there's still plenty of things to complicate Corbin's life.
Upstairs and in her tiny bed, Corbin tucks her in for the moment, pushing her hair out of her dirty and cut up face. For a moment he would rather take a moment to clean her up, but he moves back downstairs quickly enough. There are some more things that need to be discussed. "How much do you want me to tell her, if I manage to get through? Or do you want to show up and surprise her, but with a Company Agent at your side to go 'don't shoot, we come in peace.'"