Participants:
| Scene Title | If It's Us Or Them, Fuck Them |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Too many of 'us' are getting hurt, and dammit, it needs to stop! |
| Date | Jun 15, 2009 |
Elisabeth's Apartment
There is a knock on her door, no phone call ahead of time, nothing just out of the blue a soft knock.
Although it's Monday morning, Elisabeth is not dressed for work today. She's apparently up to something else. Jeans, a scoop-necked T-shirt, and a pair of sneakers are what she's wearing, and she knows exactly who it is when she tries to listen through the door and can't. A faint smile crosses her lips even as she opens the door to him. "You have a key, you know…." Although now that she thinks about it, he rarely uses it. Maybe he's afraid she's got company. "C'mon in, sweets."
Norton smiles and has donuts and roses. "Yeah but, you know, it's been like a decade since I dropped by, and I figured it was just good manners to knock."
Elisabeth laughs at the donuts and reaches out to take the roses. There are vague shadows under her eyes as she closes the door behind him. "There's coffee on," she offers quietly, burying her nose in the flowers. "So you've been cut loose, mostly?"
Norton says, "Helena's Doctor turned out to be a nut job, he told Elle he was going to rewrite her genetic code to take her powers away…temporarily of course, then give them back. She wasn't happy with that idea of course, and Helena hadn't been told about it beforehand either. But since Elle was such a good sport about it, Helena agreed to no 24 hours protection in the apartment any more, I get a couple hours off each day now."
Elisabeth draws in a deep breath and nods slightly. "If I needed you to get away altogether, would you be able to do it on short notice?" she asks, glancing at him as she moves to put the flowers in water while he pours coffee.
Norton puts down the donuts, "Are we talking about a little weekend in a cabin in the woods?"
Pressing her lips together, she turns and braces her hips on the counter, her hands on either side of her up there. Blue eyes meet his. "I wish," she replies softly, shaking her head slightly. "Don't know if it'll come to pass, but… a friend of mine did something nuts and he's on the run from Arthur Petrelli for something he knows. The other person who knows is unknown to Arthur as yet, but if that changes… Abby suggested you might be a good way to hide her, since he's using Molly Walker's ability to track people and you've always been a blind spot to precogs and telepaths and such."
Norton nods, "She would have to stay within 10 feet of me at all times, thats…rather close obviously, but it can be done, at least on a temporary basis. Who is this?"
Elisabeth shrugs a little, "It'll be no worse than Elle, you'll just have to keep your hands off her. She's… taken." She smiles at him, taking any possible sting out of her words. "Her name's Xiulan, she's one of the people who works with our allies out at Chicago Air." The ones who helped break people out of Logan's custody.
Norton says, "Me and Elle weren't staying within 10 feet. Most of the time Elle had full accsess to her powers. If she really wanted to escape, she could have. But by giving her trust and a little space, she didn't feel as trapped and didn't need to try to leave." he pauses, "Ummm…. What do you mean keep my hands off? Are you implying something?"
"I'm not implying anything, I'm saying straight out that your choice of partners gives me pause… but then, that's a little like the pot calling the kettle black, hmm?" Elisabeth asks mildly. "And maybe part of it's that I'm just …. kind of mad at you. You were gone just a few weeks and I know you weren't sure you'd get back — I wasn't sure you'd get back either — but of all the people you opted to go take comfort with, the COMPANY agent is the one you picked. It kind of weirds me out. That's all." Hell, she didn't even want to HAVE this conversation. She's studiously avoided it since their last fight, and she's not even sure why she's picking a fight with him rihgt now, except maybe that she's got so much pent-up emotion it'd be a good outlet to just shout at someone. "And since now I sound eight kinds of irrational, can we forget that I even said anything? Considering that most of my other choices of bed partners have been criminals, you'd have every reason to give me a bunch of shit about what I just said, and I'm not sure I can take it this morning."
Norton walks over to you, he looks at your eyes deeply. "Your right. The things that happened then…were very confusing for me. I never meant for Elle to happen, but it did. So far I don't regret it…except for what it is doing to you. What I do regret, is that you don't feel you can talk to me abut it. Don't feel my emotions, or our relationship can handle you screaming at me and slapping me in the face when you want to. I'm not going to try to defend Elle Bishop to you, she is a messed up young woman, and many of her issues I hav promised not to say anything about it." He sighs softly, "You should know we haven't shared a room since we got back, back to the real world."
Elisabeth pulls in a deep breath and says quietly, "Elle Bishop is extremely unstable, and I don't particularly like that you went from me to her — I can't explain why, it's irrational except when you take into account who she's worked for and what's she's stood for. But sex isn't about any of that, it's about what turns you on, and well…. can't fault you for her looks, that's for damn sure. But in point of fact, the problem today is not really you and her, it's a convenient topic that I could lose my temper and go psycho-bitch about when I can't do it about the topic I'd like to. So… " Elisabeth shrugs a little. "You and I are not exclusive, Norton… we agreed to that from the start, and whether you've shared time with someone other than me or not is not really my business unless you were being risky about it." And she pauses, because… well, *that* brings up a whole other ball of wax that she's not touching here and now. "I'm stressed to hell and back because of this situation with Xiulan and my friend."
Norton shakes his head, "The Elle I met was a scared girl, who had noone to turn to, and was lost and alone in a world where she was a wanted felon. Her house of cards fell apart and she was very vulnerable. I didn't mean for it to happen…but it did. Now…do you want to tell me what it is about this situation that has you so worked up? Or would you just like to let out your frustration by taking a swing at me, if it can help, then that's good for me."
Elisabeth laughs softly at him, but it doesn't really reach her eyes. "No, I'm not going to take a swing at you; it won't help." She sighs. "Whatever they've gotten into…. Norton, it's big. Huge. And ugly. And he doens't trust Phoenix because Teo's been compromised majorly. And I think I fucked up last night because I took Abby with me — Xiulan didn't know me from anyone and she would trust Abby, we hoped, when I was trying to get Xiulan to safety. But Abby texted someone, and she wouldn't tell me who…. and I blasted her pretty hard verbally for BREAKING my trust, which I'm probably going to have to apologize for cuz I'm not dead yet…. but anyway, whatever this is…. Arthur's already tried to turn his brain to goo, and I'm trying to keep Arthur from ever learning Xiulan exists and trying to cover her ass in case he does…. all the while, I have no idea what information they have that they're protecting, only that it totally screws Arthur somehow… and if they both die, the intel's gone." She shoves a hand through her hair and looks up at him. Her words are quiet. "I feel like I'm a rat in a maze, and pretty much every turn is a trap waiting to zap me, and meanwhile the cat's hanging over the top of the damn thing ready to eat me."
Norton nods, "Arthur is after Abby and her? Should we put them both into hiding then? I havn't seen Abby since I got back, in the future we left on some pretty bad terms. I am surprised Helena didn't use her for the healing." he sighs and puts his arms around you. "I understand, look you know I am here for you, no matter what, right?"
Elisabeth slips her arms around his waist and buries her face in his chest for a long moment. And then she turns her head to rest her cheek over his heart and says quietly, "Right now, Arthur doesn't know Xiulan exists, so putting them in a safehouse will only really work so long as it stays that way. Abby's powers were taken — swapped out by Tyler Case. Apparently there's a way to get them back though, cuz that's what I'm waiting on this morning — word from Helena to definitely bring Hiro Nakamura back here. Apparently, somehow, he can get his powers back — *if* whoever Abby texted last night is telling the truth — and he's the way to keep all of us alive." She grimaces.
Norton says, "I'm really behind on this whole thing, aren't I? What do you mean by Power Swapping, and who is Tyler Case?"
Elisabeth pulls back from him and looks up, surprised. "Shit… that's a long story. Case was the investigation I was working on back…. I dunno, a few months ago. The strange one? Killed a Triad head and such. Ultimately, Homeland Security — the Company — took him away and black-holed him. The future version of him came back with Edward Ray and the group that swapped places with your future-traveling group. He's been on the loose wreaking havoc swapping people's powers. And Abby was one of his victims. That's ihs power — swapping or … maybe even deleting or bringing out latent ones too."
Norton says, "Swapping so she got someone elses power?" He looks confused.
"well…. I would assume so…. Deckard got Abby's," Elisabeth says. "What Abby got, we have no clue. Either she hasn't figured out how to activate it, or else Deckard's went to someone ELSE and Abby got nothing."
Norton says, "What was Deckard's power? Do we know if he has one?" He seems to be slipping into problem-solving mode. "So we don't know who this is who is calling the shots?"
There's a sound of impatience, as if she can't contain this anymore. "Norton, really… is it urgent that you know? I don't know if I ever knew Deckard's power!" She pushes away from him. "And there is no one in problem-solving mode except Helena and Cat, so far as I know, and frankly? There's too much going on for me to figure out how to GIVE you short answers right now!"
Norton sighs and closes his eyes, "Sorry….I don't mean to do that." He squeezes you a little, "Forget I asked…look I can set up space for your friend, and I can stay cooped up with her as long as I need to."
Elisabeth shakes her head and paces. "No… .look, I don't even know where to START, Norton. I really don't. I have so many bits of information, and half of them make zero sense because they're only parts of the whole." Maybe it's just frustration at that, but in truth, she's also worried about what the hell Cardinal and Xiulan have their hands on, and whether she might be luring Hiro into a trap if she contacts him.
Norton says, "What can I do….what do you need from me?" He moves to lean on the counter as she paces. "You know I am here for you, whatever you need.""
And now she does shout at him, sending every bit of china in her kitchen to rattling with the underlying loss of complete control of her abilities. "I want all of this fucking OVER! I want Arthur Petrelli dead and Logan dead and every fucking Founder dead and Nathan Petrelli and the future fucking TRAVELERS all to go the fuck HOME and every fucking Company agent who actually WORKS for the Founders to stand trial!" And then she sucks in a breath and tries to calm it back down as a couple of coffee mugs rattle themselves off the shelf and crash to the floor. "And I want my friends safe from all this shit!"
Norton nods, "Thats a lot of corpses to get us to a best possible future. Thats a lot of people to be killing. I am not saying they don't deserve it, just…thats a lot of pain and hate to hold inside."
Elisabeth's fury seems to have mostly expended itself at this point, and she's breathing heavily with the shouting. But she nods slightly. "yeah…. a lot of damn bodies on the ground, but I'm happier when it's their people dead on the ground and not mine," she confesses.
Norton steps over to you, his arms moving around you again, "We all prefer when its their bodies not ours. I don't know how much you know about the future we saw."
Elisabeth wraps her arms around him, the knot in her stomach still not dispersed after that temper tantrum and now a knot in her throat too. Resting her head against his chest, Liz says quietly, "I don't know much of anything, except apparently you're dead and I'm left alone with a human reminder of our friendship whose father figure is my flamingly ga… bi! … sometime-partner at work. Most of that I worked out by reading between the lines. And that we have this wonderful future, but there's a worm at the core of the apple called Pinehearst. That's about it."
Norton blinks and leans down to find your lips with his, kissing you tenderly, if you let him, then he lets out a long breath, "Evolved and Humans lived together in harmony, because of what we did. Pinehearst took down the Company, and apparently were happy with the world being what we always wanted. Their… methods were somewhat in question, Arthur appears to be a very ruthless man and anyone who wasn't with the party line…vanished. I think those..vanished people are the time travellers you mentioned."
Returning the kiss softly, Elisabeth studies him silently for a long moment. "So…. are we doing the right thing trying to stop Pinehearst and the Company too?" Because honestly? She really doesn't know.
Norton says, "No idea….I will say it wasn't what we did in the original timeline…but in the original Timeline, Helena was in prison for another few years…."
With a sigh and a nod, Elisabeth rests her head on his chest and says quietly, "If these fuckers kill yet another one of my lovers, Norton, I think I'm going to really step over that line into 'kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out.' Helena's calling me Chicken Little, but… it's not paranoia if they're really out there trying to kill you! And Arthur Petrelli…. " She shakes her head. "He's starting to see us as a real threat, I'd bet money on it."