Participants:
Scene Title | I Know What I Saw |
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Synopsis | Helena arrives back at the Hangar and tells Cameron and Eve about what she saw in the alley on her way to the market. |
Date | October 4, 2008 |
A wrought-iron fence borders several small garden beds and the stone stairs leading up to the house's front door. The house itself is a structure of old stone - not even concrete blocks, but quarried stone — with natural-color wood doors and window frames. The windows on the ground floor are barred.
Inside, the level is divided into only three rooms. The first is the foyer, with polished hardwood flooring, a freestanding coatrack on either side, iron-dark against soft-amber interior walls. The main staircase spirals up from one corner of the foyer, girded by a wrought-iron railing.
To the right from the entrance is the kitchen. The walls just off from white, the floor tiled in dark gray. In the center of the kitchen is a black-topped island, matching the counters that line the room. One wall is dominated by an eminently modern stove framed by an anachronistic brick hearth. Cabinets above the counters have glass doors; the windows above the sink are framed in light-colored curtains, the illumination they let in adding to the expansive atmosphere.
The dining room takes up the back of this floor. The far wall is brick and stone, with a facade of a fireplace mantle in the center. Interior walls have been painted a tone intermediate between amber and ivory, which is also the accent color in the dark rug beneath the long dining table.
Helena did not run all the way from the Lower East Side. No, she went to the place she currently calls a home, calmed down a bit, and then made her way to the safe house. But her adrenaline is still somewhat spiked, and she looks rather like if she doesn't see a familiar face she really is going to find a corner and have a good shake and cry. Marked for her maturity at the age of nineteen, what she saw has reduced her to a momentary need for comfort relative to the age of nine.
The face that greets Helena when she enters the safe house is certainly a familiar one, and while he doesn't rise from the armchair he's sitting in, Cameron does lift his head when he hears the door click shut behind her. With dark circles under his eyes and a sallow appearance to his skin, he appears much worse than the last time the two saw each other — almost as though he hasn't slept since. And knowing Cameron, that might not be too far from the truth. Groggily, he shifts in his seat and calls out to her across the room, his voice a low croak, "Helena? That you?"
"Cam?" The relief in Helena's voice is so naked it borders on painful. She all but runs to his chair and throws herself on him. No, not that way! Her face presses into his shoulder and she shudders just once before finally pulling away to get a good look at him. "You look like hell." she says. "You're not sick, are you?"
Cameron grunts, the air knocked from his lungs with such force that he nearly chokes. He places both his hands on Helena's shoulders, holding her at arm's length as soon as she's pulled back far enough for him to get a look at her as well. "You're not so hot yourself," he grumbles. "Not sick, tired. I've been in Jersey for the past couple of days trying to get in touch with a contact. I meant to say something earlier, but everything's been happening so fast—"
"You got the message about Peter, right?" Helena says bleakly. She moves to sit on the floor by his feet, looking up at him. "You're not going to believe what I saw this morning. It's — I think I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life."
"I only slipped in a few minutes ago," Cameron says. "Nobody's told me anything." Helena's message about Peter can wait. The next words out of her mouth cause him to pause for several long moments, the expression on his face grave but carefully guarded. She's a strong kid, and she's seen a lot of not-nice things since she arrived here in New York. Anything that'll give her nightmares for the rest of her life has got to be pretty serious. "What did you see?"
Having prophetic dreams can leave you feeling without sleep, but the most recent of Eve's dream hasn't even allowed her to take a nap. Eve walks slowly into the room with her head down hair falling in her face. Her light-colored eyes are filled with fear. Her mouth trembles lightly, when she enters. She doesn't at first see Cameron, she looks to Hel and tears begin to well in her eyes, "Hel? I had a dream, the man. His presence withered all things that were alive—" she doesn't finish her sentence when she sees Cameron and just stares. "Hi," is all she says to Cameron.
"There was this…" Helena trails off, and turns her head to peer at Eve. She hadn't mentioned anything about her encounter yet. Not the slightest detail. She looks back up at Cameron. "A man. He was in an alley, his face was made up of shadows. And he was touching this body, it was dried up like all the life was sucked out of it. And you could tell from the way its arms were that it had been thrashing. There's an Evolved out there who's murdering people in a horrible way." She feels faintly sick just thinking about it.
Cameron's eyes shift from Helena to Eve, lingering on her shape longer than they ought, and then back to Helena again. "Are you sure?" he asks. "I've seen some pretty strange shit, but I haven't exactly been sleeping either. Maybe you imagined it." And maybe it's just a coincidence that Eve saw the same thing in her dreams. Yeah, right.
"Are you alright Hel?" this is Eve's first question and she inches forward a little to study Helena closely and after realizing that she isn't hurt she backs away again and shakes her head, "Cam don't tell me you actually believe that. You know me better than that" she says looking at Cameron as if she were trying to have a mental conversation with him but she then closes her eyes, "There were people in the windows of buildings and they all looked like corpses, he had a cane. Oooh, it was creepy. He kept talking of life and speaking in riddles, much like myself I guess," Eve offers and shakes her head again.
Now see that just gets Helena back on her usual spine straightening no-nonsense attitude. "I don't hallucinate, Cam. I was wide awake, I know what I saw." She runs a hand through her hair. "To be honest, I'm really tempted to anonymously call Homeland Security and let them deal with it."
"You're assuming Homeland Security won't try to trace the call." Cameron tucks a wayward strand of blonde hair behind Helena's ear and turns to Eve. "Besides," he says, "if what you're telling me is true, then a body's sure to turn up. It's not like the NYPD doesn't have experience with this sort of thing. Let's leave the government out of it, all right?"
The older woman notices how Helena still doesn't talk to her but she shrugs. "If you say so Cameron, I just get a bad feeling about this." Eve leans against the wall and then slides down until she is sitting with her back against it. She doesn't even get jealous of Cam's interaction with Helena because they are like brother and sister. Her head leans against the wall and without looking towards Helena or Cam, "How have you been Cam? And Helena, what are we going to do now about the whole getting to Peter and working with Sylar?" she asks and runs her finger over the floor as she stares at the ceiling. She rearranges her dress so that it is covering her legs fully.
Helena shrugs. "That's what phone booths and toss away cellphones paid with cash are for. I just feel like I should do something. We can leave it be, but if more bodies start popping up…" Helena trails off, looks over at Eve a moment and says, "Alexander spotted Peter just the other night. He was with a Company agent, and he was dressed in a suit. Like they were partners, or the guy was his handler. Peter didn't recognize Alex at all. Our assumption is that he's been mindwiped and is now working for the Company. We need to get him back." Her fists ball up in her lap.
"If more bodies start turning up, we'll deal with it when it happens." Right now, Cameron is more concerned that Helena might have been spotted fleeing the scene. Not wanting to alarm her (or Eve, for that matter), he keeps quiet on the subject. "We'll get Peter back once we've finished regrouping. If the Company intends on using him like an attack dog, they probably aren't gonna hurt him in the meantime. We can afford to wait until things have settled down before we try making another move. What's this about Sylar?"
Helena shakes her head. "The longer we wait, the harder it will be for us to get him away." she argues and then shrugs. "Sylar wanted to strike a deal with us. He wanted to get his hands on one of the escapees, but since we know there wouldn't be any kind of viable trade, it doesn't matter any more."
Eve just looks at Helena and Cameron, "I agree with you both. While we do need to regroup. Getting Peter back is important as well, we can't just let them have him" she says and looks down to the floor.
The expression on Cameron's face softens. Now, more than ever, it's painfully clear to him how Helena feels about Peter — and while he'd like to feel happy for her, it's hard for him when the object of her affections is… well. Batting for the enemy. "If you can come up with a plan to bring him back to our side, you have my support. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. Just let me know in advance."
Helena is silent for a long time. Trademark Helena thoughtfulness. Then, "We need to get a better communications net. Toss away cellphones, paid with cash. Everyone needs one. If any of us spot him, we need to call it in. That's a start. We can't invade the Company. We've just got to watch for places he'd likely go. I know a few I'm keeping an eye on. We're also still desperate for a new HQ." She shakes her head. "What were you reaching out to your guy in Jersey for?"
Eve smiles faintly at Helena, "And you know I will do whatever it takes to help Hel" she listens to what the other woman has to say and she nods, "I already have some of the ones that you can throw away after use. Where are we thinking for a new HQ?" she drums her finger and she seems more relaxed now, maybe it's because Cameron is around. Eve then nods to Cameron to show that she is interested too.
"Property," Cameron answers Helena. "He used to own a real estate company before things went south, so I was hoping he might know of a place for us. No such luck, though."
"What about that stretch of abandoned subway tunnel we originally found Peter in?" Helena asks. "We can have Daniel double check how structurally sound it is, and we know there's at least some amenities down there. Or one of the abandoned museums by the edge of the blast zone could work."
Eve simply listens and nods, "I like the idea of subways, we just need to be careful in case someone has the ability to manipulate the earth."
Cameron squeezes his eyes shut. Eve brings up a good point, but it's one he'd really rather not think about right now. "There are going to be risks no matter where we end up staking a claim," he says. "The subways aren't as high-profile as the museums, and the chance of running into squatters isn't as high. Still, it wouldn't hurt to scope both areas out and make a judgment call based on our findings."
Helena gives Cam's leg a nudge with her arm. "You need to be around more." she says. "We all look to you, and it's hard when we don't have a leader. And I want you to meet Cat. She's amazing - her ability is basically having an elephant's memory. She knows how to organize information too, and that's something we need. Especially for when we do decide we're ready to turn our direction outward again."
Eve then chooses this time to rise from the wall and walk towards the stairs, "I need sleep, I expect I'll be seeing you around Cam? If so, I wanted to talk to you later" Eve's eyes must hint at what she is getting at. With a glance towards Helena, "See ya later Hel, and if I haven't told you. Great job keeping us together," she says as she begins to exit the room.
Sleep sounds so good right now. Cameron leans back in his seat and does not open his eyes again, instead letting out a slow sigh through his nostrils. "I'm not going anywhere," he promises Helena. "If you want to arrange a meeting with Cat, that's fine by me."
Helena looks back at Eve, giving her a nod, before leaning against Cam's leg again. "Okay." she says. "She's wanted to meet you. "But you - get some sleep, I guess."
"Wake me up if anything happens." Because Cameron's not sure he trusts his instincts to rouse him. "And try not to worry too much about Peter, about what you saw. It'll turn out." Always does.
October 4th: A Corpse of Interest |
October 4th: Dangerous Waters |