Participants:
| Scene Title | Impermanence of Shadow |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Alia, Angelina, Peyton and Cardinal discuss various matters, including Adam Monroe, the Shanti virus, the new Evo flu, and finding a remedy for their boss' condition. |
| Date | March 4, 2010 |
"Peyton…" Peyton… A shadow slithers into the room that's being used to store the files, cables slithering over the floor from the various lights and the space heater, other wires hanging down more ominously to the backs of the file cabinets themselves despite their lack of need for power. The ripped fabric of Richard Cardinal informs, "…I just saw Alia on the monitors. You may want to come lead her in…" Lead her in…
Alia walks inside… she's only slightly worried about Claire and a Shotgun not recongizing her under the winter clothes as she makes her way inside and out of the wind.
Somewhere Angelina has ditched the guitar and the kitten. Hopefully in a non-damaging way. And now she's heading towards the file room, with a thoughtful frown on her face. But before she can get there, there's an unknown face! And it's not a blonde with a shotgun, so…"Who're you?" She makes quite the welcoming committee, doesn't she?
Alia replies the only way she knows how… she pulls down the scarf enough to talk without a mouthfull of fabric. "Alia." She replies. She looks tired. Maybe it's been a long week. or just a fustrating one. Or both. The cold, certainly, doesn't help. But here she is anyway, backpack over one shoulder. "long walk" she mutters to herself as she looks about for a place to sit…
"I'm here," Peyton calls, looking to find the tattered shadow of Cardinal's form on the floor, and up onto a wall. "Okay… she doesn't know you're like this?" she asks, frowning slightly. Alia is one of those she knows comes and goes, but has only seen briefly in passing more or less. The clairvoyant puts down the files she is working on. Glancing at a monitor to find Alia and Angelina in the hallway, she nods. "Looks like Angelina's intercepted her," she says, nodding to the hallway and heading that way. "Alia, Angelina, Angelina, Alia," she says, making introductions.
"I don't believe she knows I'm alive, no…" Am I alive…? The tatter of darkness slithers along into the shadows once more, letting Peyton make contact with the newcomer.
Angelina doesn't seem to relax at a name, but she does, little by little, when Peyton shows up and makes introductions. She nods slightly to Alia. "Hi." She glances back to Peyton, looks as though she's going to say something, then instead just glances towards the room o' files.
Alia blinks as she doesn't recongize Peyton, however… and looks a touch wary, though she smiles anyway. "No flu, I hope?" she says finally to break the silence…
As always, when those echoes don't match the words, and the echoes show Cardinal's self doubt, Peyton looks like she might cry, but then there are the two women to talk to. Peyton smiles. She's a little pale, a cut on her upper lip, but more or less healthy. "None here that I've seen, no. I haven't heard anyone else I know is sick, but it's just starting, I think… we should all be careful." She looks for the shadow she knows is there, that she knows is Cardinal, unsure if he wants her to introduce him or not. "Angelina's a friend of Cardinal's. She's new to the group."
Angelina smiles faintly and nods. "Yeah…what she said. And sick? What's going on?" she asks, slowly moving towards the room that holds her interest, hopefully slow enough to get the others moving with her.
Peyton glances down at the bundle of paper, flipping through it and nods. "How do numbers make sense to people?" she asks, with a chuckle. She moves to the filing cabinet and finds a folder, peeling off some stickers to put on the tab to clearly label it for the proper categories. A place for everything, and everything in its place! "There's a new flu virus. Affects SLC positive people." She's talking like Cat now. "Evolved people. Apparently like a flu, but gets pretty bad — and it will take your power away while you have it. And it's potentially fatal. If you don't have to go into the city and be near people, I wouldn't." Apparently Peyton has read the newspaper or watched the news lately. "Um. Alia. We had some other news…" she glances around. "Cardinal is … he's here. But he's in shadow form, sort of permanently." She frowns at the words, so incapable of expressing so much.
"Oh. Well, I don't really like people in general, so no reason why I need to go out," Angelina says, shrugging, before she invites herself to start going through files, apparently looking for something particular since she barely glances at most files. "And it's not permanent, dammit," she mutters.
Alia shrugs a little… She never met him while alive…it takes a few moments for that to filter through… then there's an 'oh'… as she tilts her head… and doesn't even consider HOW that works…"Flu… seems… too convinenete?" She pauses. "Particularly… with chill?" She looks about the file room. her first time there. "There… someone I need to know about." She says it with a very deliberate pause. She's not certain how anyone will react to her request… and odds are it won't be with roses or pretty things. "Adam Monroe?"
"No, not permanently," Peyton adds, a little fiercely, then turns to look at the other woman pawing through the files she's spent the last few weeks sorting and then the last few days color coding and organizing. "What are you looking for? There's a system… you don't have to look through every single file," she says, protectively before turning back with wide eyes at Alia. "Yeah, I think it has to do with those free vaccines and stuff a bit back. I bet it's deliberate; if not by the government to get rid of us, by someone else who hates us. Humanis First or the Vanguard or someone." Her wide eyes don't have to do with the virus, frightening as it is, but the mention of Adam's name. "What about Monroe?"
"Who's Adam Monroe?" Angelina asks without looking up. "And I do. I'm looking for…something. Not sure what just yet. I'll know it when I see it. But one way or another, Card is not going to be stuck like this forever."
Alia sighs softly. "Former Employer. Thinks he's current." her words are forced, and take effort on her part. She looks at the file cabinets, the wires… a self destruct she's guessing. It doesn't escape her that the only 'device' around that's turned on… is the monitors and the cameras outside.
"You know, I am rather trying to keep the fact that I'm alive a secret, ladies…" Ladies… A hollow, whispering echo from the shadows, the tattered darkness of Richard Cardinal breaking away from the dim lighting at the sides of the room and peeling across the wall, "Particularly from people like Monroe… although, admittedly, I doubt anyone bothered to tell him I was dead in the first place." First place…
"I can rely on you to keep this quiet, I hope, Alia?" Alia…?
"You worked for Adam?" Peyton says with a frown. Well, formerly is better than presently. "And he's giving you trouble about not working for him now?" But then Cardinal is speaking — whispering — and she quiets until he is through. "I'm sorry… I figured anyone who comes to the library and is welcome here is going to get told, and I didn't want you to just sneak up on her and give her a heart attack or something." Out of the corner of her eyes she watches the girl at the filing cabinet, as if to make sure she doesn't mess up the system.
Angelina glances around for the shadows. "I didn't spill it, you know. I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it," she points out. Then she glances at Peyton, and there's a hint of amusement on her face. "Don't worry, I'm not going to get all the files out and throw them up in the air."
Alia nods… it's.. a little unnerving actually> Though, after Rebel's little stunt to get her attention… well, she's not exactly sure where to look when awnsering, but she looks at the shadow instead of where the 'source' should be. "Yes." She says to the shadow. Then to Peyton. "Not -yet-." She twitches an eyebrow. "He… doesn't know. yet."
"I doubt that he'll take it well. Our immortal friend is swiftly running out of minions willing to blindly follow his orders…" His orders… There's something oddly smug in Cardinal's tone, the shadow lingering upon the wall, his voice seeming to echo - and reveberate, moving in and out as if reception were poor. "…I know he certainly took Kaylee's departure poorly. What did you want to know about him, Alia?"
Peyton tilts her head and gives a 'ha ha, very funny' sort of look to the woman at the filing cabinet. "He's insane. He shot tranquilizer darts at me for no reason at all and he called me 'Pey Pey' like he knew me or something when I ran into him at Summer Meadows. Seriously deranged," she says, as if the latter event was on par with the first as far as nefarious deeds. She watches Alia curiously, wondering what it was the other woman did for Adam. "Kaylee worked for him too?" she asks, nose wrinkling. Who hasn't, it seems.
Angelina continues moving through files at a relatively steady pace. "So this Adam guy is a bad guy, huh? So…why haven't you just dealt with him so he'll leave everyone alone?"
Alia sighs, and has to struggle for words. They aren't her strong point. So she starts with the first. "Immortal?" She shakes her head. "his… 'game'. Why he is… 'playing'"… She pauses again. "He was… at Summer Meadows?" There's an 'oh crap' sound in her voice. -THAT-, she knows, is likely her fault.
"Adam Monroe is several hundred years old," offers Cardinal from the shadows, his voice an echoing hiss, "He's a perfect regenerator, which means he won't ever age. Unless someone manages to permanently kill him - which is possible - he'll go on forever." Forever… A rippling twist of shadow, silent a moment as he pulls himself together, "He's a sociopath that's tried at least once to release a plague that would decimate the world population." Shanti…
The word Shanti earns a tremor through Peyton's body — she saw that file, and the fact people are already whispering about the flu that's been discovered as an "Evo plague" only increases the resonation. "It was a while ago, Alia. Before Christmas maybe," she says. "He's actually less scary to me than other people now. Seems Danko is good for something — puts everyone else into perspective right? I mean, getting shot with tranq darts is nothing compared to what I've seen him do others and what he's threatened to do to me." She sighs and picks up the file folder on the table, flipping through it again. "What's his 'game' though? Monroe, I mean?"
Angelina glances over to Cardinal. "A well placed explosion, preferably with a few blocks of C4 for backup, will kill just about anyone. You can't regenerate if you're in several hundred small pieces," she points out with a little shrug. "Up to you guys though. I don't have any issues with him personally since I only heard his name a few minutes ago." A pause as she looks back to files. "What's Shanti? Or who?"
Alia digs into her backpack again, actually… then pauses, and shakes her head. "Short… version. Cleaned NYPD record. Claire has copy I think. had 'cure' for something. Wanted to manipulate something with it. Had me track down medical info." She rubs her forehead, like someone with a migrane." She grins. "LIked Kain's 'donation' though…"
"Shanti is a virus… it targets our kind primarily. A few strains have been… weaponized, but none released yet," whispers Cardinal, "And… Kain? Did Adam take his money?" His money…?
"That's…frightening. Who developed it? This Adam guy? If so, give me one reason why I shouldn't try to blow him into little bitty pieces," Angelina says.
Alia shakes her head. "No. I Did." She doesn't sound applogetic in the slighest about that. "He said …he wanted to… help." She grins a bit wider, despite the headache talking in words always gives her. "I… made sure he did."
"No… not Adam. And he can be… useful… sometimes." Useful… The stretched, tattered lace of the shadow is silent a moment, drawing back in upon itself from how spread out it'd gotten, Cardinal's tenebrous substance quivering just a touch in amusement then, "Did you, now…? Well, I suppose that explains the state he was in…" Was in…
Peyton can't understand the telegraphic messages that Alia is trying to get through, and she frowns a little in confusion, though the name Kain piques her interest. "Is this new flu Shanti, do you think? Or something derived from it?" she says, aiming the question to Cardinal. Not for the first time does she wish she paid more attention in school — who knew biology and the like would actually be relevant?
Angelina shrugs a little and closes the drawer, moving onto another one. "You're the boss. Now don't we have any sort of files on like…other evolved? Their powers or anything?" she asks, a hint of frustration worming its way into her tone.
Alia sighs. "I… have more info given to clare. On disc." She shakes her head. "Sorry. Words… are hard for me." She smiles just a little, and finds a spot to lean as she rubs at her forehead and otherwise shuts up to listen.
"I know the feeling…" The feeling… The shadows of Richard Cardinal admits, "I have no idea. I'm no biologist. Rebel's message suggests something sinister, however…" Sinister…
"There were those lab rats … people… in that one lab that I helped break into. We freed a bunch of people. I wonder if any of them are still in contact with Ferry… maybe they know something," Peyton says, frowning. She glances over at Angelina. "Yes, there are people in there… with abilities. What are you looking for? There's not going to be some guy with an ability that says Restore Cardinal on it, you know?" Yes, the other girl is trying to help, but what does she expect to find? Patience runs thin all around.
Angelina rolls her eyes. "I know that. Like I said, I won't know until I see it. Just wanna know where the people files are." Clearly someone flunked secretary class in high school.
Alia frowns. "Camps. Bombs. New flu…" She closes her eyes. "Interconnected?" She asks herself more than anything as she tries to picture that big web again in her mind, seeing how it could all be interlinked… "Missing peices to puzzles." She finally says and sighs.
The subject of people who can help Cardinal is mostly ignored by the living shadow, who instead whispers back to Alia, "…likely, likely. There's a group of doctors, scientists who are missing… they may be connected to this." To this…
Alia Frowns, and gives up on putting her thoughts into words as she sits down on the floor and leans back against the wall.
"If you're just looking for a giant list of people with abilities, look up the Registration files on the internet," Peyton suggests, then hops off the table. "Welcome back, Alia. Good to see you." She smiles with sympathy for the girl who is getting a headache trying to speak. She's had enough head pain the last couple of days that she can empathize utterly. "I'm gonna head back home. Anything you want me to do while I'm in town, Cardinal?" Without thinking, she touches the silver charm she wears — a little cardinal charm on a silver chain she bought for herself and others close. She had been in the habit of toying with it whenever he was mentioned, when they thought he was dead.
Angelina considers. "That's…Not a bad idea," she says a little sheepishly.
There's silence from the darkness for a long moment, and then Cardinal's whispered reply notes, "…Hunter has a list." A list… Whatever that means.
"You… you want me to get it from her?" Peyton asks, frowning a little. "I can probably get it. Or at least look at it…" she says thoughtfully, glancing at the absence of light that is Cardinal. "I'll work on it," she says, more certainly, letting go of the cardinal charm at her neck. "Have a good day," she says, though it seems somehow ironic given the doomsday news they'd just discussed amongst them.
Angelina looks towards the shadows, her head tilting. "Okay. Who's Hunter and when can I find him?" she asks. She glances to Peyton, then back to t he shadows. "Or were you meaning something for her to get and not the list I'm looking for?"
"She owes me. If she knows of anyone who could help…" Who could help… Of course, she isn't exactly someone that Cardinal would trust knowing he's alive, but sometimes, beggers can't be choosers. "…she might know someone. That's what she does."
Alia whispers. "Wendy? Knows lots. Identifier." She falls silent again, this time to stay that way as she just leans against the wall and waits for her headache to subside.
"I'm close with Wendy. I'll handle it," Peyton tells Angelina. "I'll call her tonight." She waves, grabbing her bag, and heads for the hallway, to make her way back to the civilization of the Upper West Side.