Participants:
| Scene Title | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Waiting for transport to come and take her to Pollepel Island, Kaylee Thatcher finds herself confronted by an old friend, and an old jerk. |
| Date | January 11, 2011 |
She sits at the dining room table that once graced her apartment, before giving it to the Ferry for use down there. A time that was so very long ago for her. Back straight, ankles crossed properly and tucked under her chair. Victorian habits that are done without thought. While her hair is pulled up on the back of her head, nothing else about her gives away the fact Kaylee Thatcher was living in that era.
Hands are wrapped around a mug, a bag with some of her things leaning against one of the tables legs. Kaylee is preparing to leave. She's already said her goodbyes to Joseph only a short time ago, promises from both to be careful, now she just is waiting for her ride.
Early in the morning like that, there are few people moving, yet. The area mostly dark still except for a small lamp lit so that Kaylee isn't completely enveloped in the darkness. She doesn't like the dark too much anymore.
Long fingers unwrap from the mug of coffee to brush loose strands of hair behind her ear, occasionally she looks up towards the door where someone would be arriving. The telepath is nervous, worried and anxious, it shows in the way her feet wiggle a back and forth in quick movement.
She isn't the only person that's nervous, and she isn't the only person in the room any longer.
Colette Nichols can't hide from someone like Kaylee, and she knows better than to try to. Her errant thoughts, or more precicely the static of their presence, hums on the fringes of Kaylee's psychic perception before the scuff of Colette's old boots can be heard on the concrete floor. Coming only to the doorway, Colette is backlit by fluorescent lights out in the hallway, ones that suck color and life from the gray walls, ones that from behind hide her face beneath the shadow of her hooded sweatshirt.
"Hey," is a soft and familiar voice to Kaylee, the scent of cigarettes clinging to that young girl less so. Slouching one shoulder against the doorjam, Colette crosses her arms over her chest with a creak of the fire-cracked leather jacket she ears over her sweatshirt. When she turns her head just so, the sunken quality of her cheeks becomes more apparent, the dangerous thinness of her build, and the dark circles beneath her eyes.
It's been a long time for these two wayward friends — too long — and Colette looks none the better for the passage of time.
Longer for one then the other.
Kaylee is already looking in Colette's direction when the girl shows up. There is a subtle tightening of fingers around the mug, a faint look of surprise on Kaylee's face. "Hey," is offered in return, uncertain and a touch guarded. Maybe the telepath isn't sure how to act around the other girl anymore. Then again, five years is a long time to be out of touch.
Eyes shift to a spot beyond the door. "You're up early," blue eyes focus on Colette again. It's a comment meant to be conversational more then anything else, but a hint of worry winds it's way into her voice. "And you look like you should still be in bed," is softly chided, before hot coffee is sipped. "You look like you're going to fall over any moment."
"Got a few hours yesterday," is Colette's oblique way of saying that it isn't bedtime yet. "I— I'm fine," comes with a dismissive wave of her hand as she steps into the room, mismatched eyes down on Kaylee's mug. There's an awkward silence to be had between the two, undoubtedly. As Colette walks up to the table, steps around one corner and props herself up against the side with her hip, she keeps her eyes focused down on the mug. "Been… busy. You know… it— " Dark brows furrow, and Colette's mismatched eyes shift to one side, then the other.
"I need a favor," is the reason why most people come to see Kaylee, and that Colette isn't going to beat around the bush either is because of how exhausted she is, or that she simply no longer has the patience for small-talk. "Has anyone told you about what happened t'my dad?" As the question is asked, Colette's eyes alight back to Kaylee, brows furrowed and expression sour.
"Or Tamara?"
Brows tilt up a little, maybe there is a flicker of disappointment, but mainly Kaylee's chin tilts up a little as she listens, considering. "I haven't. No. You're not the only one that's been busy." It's not unkindly said, just a simply stated fact. A smile takes the edge off the words. It's also said with an air that seems so much older.
The fact that her and Joseph are an item isn't a secret, or that she's been on the island and dealing with family issues. Except for being sequestered for a time, she's been busy.
Her head tips down towards one of the chairs, an offer to join her. "So fill me in and tell me what you need?" A smile touches her lips, gentle and affectionate. "You know I'm always willing to do what I can for you. Though keep in mind, I have to keep Joseph in mind, depending what it is."
That has Colette hesitating, mention of Joseph. God has a lot of things to say about wrath, revenge and murder. Eye for an eye is where Colette is right now, all irony unintended, but Joseph Sumter tends to err on the side of forgiveness rather than then Old Testament variety of Biblical options.
"He… was doing informant work for the Ferry," is how Colette begins explaining, pulling back one of the chairs from the table with a scuff of the legs across the floor. "On the 8th, he— he got abducted." Folding herself down into the seat, Colette hunches forward, elbows on her knees and one hand scrubbing over her mouth. "We— I think this guy, Colonel Leon Heller, is the one who took him. He's some sort of murderous fuck, he— he had a bunch of Ferrymen executed on the 8th. That Chinese girl who stayed at the lighthouse with her baby," wrong nationality, "and— and he fucking killed Jonas." Colette's jaw trembles, eyes misting up as she leans her head forward, hiding her face from Kaylee with one hand rubbing at her brow.
"He has my dad. He— " Exhaling a frustrated noise, Colette sits up and sweeps her hood back from atop her head, raking fingers through her messy, greasy hair. "I know where he is," is when Colette finally makes eye-contact again, her lips twisting to try and keep from making a more emotional expression, lashes struggling to retain tears.
"I'm— gonna kill him." Colette states matter-of-factly, as if it didn't matter. "But I need to know where my dad is." Tamara is another story entirely.
Worry.
It creases Kaylee's brows at Colette's words, eyes pulling away form the girl to look at her cooling cup of coffee. "You need me to look into someone's head?" It's a blunt question, head nodding a little. Her head turns just a little to angle a look out of the corner of her eye to the younger woman.
Fingers twitch on the mug, then slowly one hand unwinds from the mug and touches Colette's arm. Fingers curl around the thin arm, concerned shared and comfort offered. She doesn't chide her for wanting to kill the man, Kaylee understands.
She may be in a relationship with the pastor, but Kaylee still knows those feelings that Colette is feeling and sympathizes.
"It's what you do," Colette stresses, her brows knit together and words too sharply honed. She leans back from the touch, not reflexively, but purposefully. Both of her hands smooth against her dark jeans, head shaking slowly and bangs falling to cover her blind eye. "I'm not— I won't ask you do hurt anyone. I'm going to ask other people for help with that. But— but I need you to get information out of his head. Where my dad is and— and anyone else he happens to know about." Colette's fingers curl against her palms, lips pressed together in a thin line and eyes falling shut. She struggles to regain control of her emotions, failing when her eyes open partway and tears track down her cheeks.
"I'm— sorry…" Jaw trembling, Colette makes the apology with a croaking voice. "What— fucking— kind of friend am I?" One hand goes to cover her face, embarrassedly, fingers trembling as she looks away and starts to make the movements of standing.
Strangely, she seems almost relieved that she won't have to hurt anyone. So much about the woman has changed, five years tempering Kaylee some. It's more that she isn't sure she had what it takes anymore. Not like she once did.
The telepath has been domesticated some and deeply involved with a good man. It'll change a person.
When Colette seems like she's going to get up and leave, something that's been holding Kaylee back snaps. The mug is abandoned and the telepath is on her feet, arms sliding around her friends shoulders to hold on to her. "Shhh," is hissed against dark hair. "I'll hear none of that." A hand brushes over hair, trying to sooth the young girls stress.
"Of course, I'll look into his head for you." There is something familiar about this, something that's been missing since Colette was captured, it brings tears to Kaylee's own eyes. Kaylee sighs softly, "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"
Struggling in the embrace, Colette rests one hand on Kaylee's shoulder, using that small amount of leverage to help try to peel herself away from the blonde, but she only gets half an arm's length away before she relents and folds forward, letting her forehead come to rest against Kaylee's shoulder. A hiccupped sob escapes Colette, followed by another murmured word that isn't quite heard when it's said, but Kaylee can hear it clear enough in her mind: I'm sorry.
Lifting one hand from Kaylee's shoulder, Colette wipes the back of her gloved hand across her nose, sniffling noisily before she looks up to the taller woman, eyes watery with tears, reddened around the edges and dark circles sinking in her eye sockets. "I'm— Kaylee they— they took Tamara. N-nobody's— nobody knows— " her lips quiver, jaw tenses and she tries so hard not to cry. I don't know what to do is something she's too proud to say, but her mind is humming with it.
She's terrified, vulnerable, weak, scared, and worst of all too angry to open up to people around her.
The telepath's cheeks are wet and she sniffles a little, as she loosens the grip on Colette. It allows her to look in the girls eyes, head tilting a little. The flat of one hand brushes dark hair out of the girl's face, her expression understanding. The first thing she says, "No need to be sorry. You were forgiven a long time ago."
A small smile twitches at her lips, before it fades, thumb brushing at tears that seem to still trickle from the corners of her eyes. Then she says, "I know where you are right now mentally and emotionally." Her hand tucks in her sleeve, so that she can brush it against Colette's damp cheeks. It's more of a motherly gesture, then an intimate one. Another change in the older woman. "But one thing I know about you…"
Her head dips down to catch her friends attention, to look her in the eyes as she says, "You don't give up easily and I know you will come up with something." Kaylee's mouth pulls to one side in a rueful smile. "You are a smarter, braver girl then I am."
A glance goes over Colette's shoulder towards the door. "I have to go to the island. They need me to do my thing out there, but I'll be back." Blue eyes are gentle when they focus on Colette again. "Then I'll be here to help you with what I can and to talk too. You can't keep everything bottled up forever.
"It'll destroy you."
"This is… really touching and all, but like, I've got a schedule to keep." The interruption comes from a man that Kaylee Thatcher didn't hear coming, physically or mentally. He's just there, leaning against the door jam much as Colette was. It's been a long time since Kaylee has seen Agent Avi Epsteon, and while the title of agent no longer applies, the man's distinctive mirrored sunglasses remain a constant presence.
Colette recoils from Kaylee at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, sweeping a wool-gloved hand over her eyes and sniffling noisily, trying in vain to hide that she was crying. Avi's head dips down as he clears his throat, turning to rest his back flat against the door, affording Kaylee a profile view of his face.
Biting down on her bottom lip and edging away from Kaylee, Colette turns mismatched eyes up to Avi, brows furrowed, and when she looks back to Kaylee it's as if the rude interruption had pushed Colette right back to that bristling and defensive manner she'd taken up when she first got here. "Before— " her voice cracks, embarrassingly. "Before you go…" smoother that time. "When was the last time you saw, um, Gillian?"
Arching one dark brow, Colette purses her lips to one side and looks hopeful. There's people on her list that she can't find these days, elusive ones.
Straightening, shoulders stiff at the sound of Avi's voice, breath catching for just a moment. Her expression states clearly, this is no a man Kaylee is happy to see. "Mr. Epstien." Her voice clam and prim, if a bit curt. "A moment please and I'll be ready."
Kaylee turns back to Colette, given her an apologetic smile. "Last time I saw Gillian was on the island few months back." The telepath's life has had her in and out. All around. "Might talk to Brian. He is her brother after all." leaning down, fingers snag on the strap of her bag and hoist it on her shoulder.
A hand finds it's way to Colette's arm and whether she likes it or not, Kaylee presses a innocent kiss to the girl's temple. I'll be back soon. Watch Joseph when you can. Make sure he don't disappear on me. He is good at that after all. "I'll see you again soon, okay?"
There is no goodbye, just a gentle smile. Though when she turns back to Avi, it's all but gone. "Now, Mr Epstien. I am ready and I do hope you will fill me in on what's happened?"
Watching Kaylee turn away, Colette's expression darkens and her brows lower, lips turn down into a frown and her shoulders roll forward. By the time that Kaylee is walking past Avi out of the doorway, Colette has disappeared from the room, leaving the makeshift dining area vacant in spirit, even if she chooses to express herself unseen to others.
Avi looks back into the room with a lingering starem before languidly pulling himself away from where he leans against the wall. "Shit's gone fucking sideways," he explains in a quiet tone of voice. "What I'm gonna tell you doesn't leave between me and you, 'cause the last fucking thing we need is full-blown goddamned hysteria, you dig?"
Walking alongside Kaylee, Avi inspects the high ceilings of Grand Central Terminal much in the way someone does on their first visit. It isn't entirely surprising that he hasn't been down here before, that he's even with the Ferrymen seems to have been an unexpected intrusion into their lives, which went from temporary to permanent about as fast as Sarisa could tell him that he was officially replaced in Washington, in the most literal sense.
"Three people who went out on patrol got themselves killed," is the last thing Kaylee might ever want to hear. "They were off-site, scouting on the other side of the water. Someone found 'em, and we think captured 'em, then— strung them up from a fuckin' tree by their necks." Swallowing audibly, Avi looks down to the concrete underfoot as he walks.
"Thurgood, Tahan, Burwell…" The names are listed off regretfully, and Avi's expression sours considerably. "The new girl, Kirby, she survived the hanging but she's un-fucking-conscious. The day after we pulled everyone out of the trees, I was cleaning the bodies and getting their— clothes for recirculation. I recognized that Thurgood wasn't in the snowsuit I lent him. Whoever it was that killed them, they went through the trouble to re-dress them…"
Sliding his tongue over his teeth, Avi shakes his head and passes by the mural of fish, then down to the stairs leading to the subway tracks. "Little Lancaster thinks that the clothes might be infected with something, like giving the Inidians smallpox-ridden blankets back in the old days. Biological fucking warfare." Avi stops at the bottom of the steps, looking left and right and trying to remember which fucking way he came in from.
"I stayed in quarantine for a few days, didn't present and got a lcean bill of health from Nurse Young, and came here to find you as soon as I could." Looking back to Kaylee, Avi furrows his brows. "I want you to get inside of Kirby's head. Either to find out what happened, or wake her ass up. Whichever comes first. But uh… first thing's first."
Avi reaches up to scratch at the back of his head. "How the fuck do we get out of here, again?"
His words settles a huge brick of ice into Kaylee's stomach. Things get worse every time she turns around. "Fantastic." That single word holds so much disgust and sarcasm that there is no need to ask what her thought on the news is.
"That explains why Rue was so torn up," Kaylee huffs out, slipping past the older man and down the proper set of tracks. She doesn't wait for him, he can catch up.
"Has anyone shown signs of infection, yet?" she asks, knowing full well she's walking into all that and willingly. It scares Kaylee to think that she might have to go through another round of the Evo flu. The last time was no fun, she was one of the lucky ones.
If Avi plans to meander along, he'll get left behind, Kaylee is on a mission to get to the island. That means they walk with purpose. Plus, she clearly doesnt like him… he can suffer.
"Fuck if I know, you'd have to ask Nurse Young when we get back to crap-hole island," Avi so delicately puts. "I havent' seen anyone sick, but fuck maybe that's what's wrong with Kirby. We just don't know. There was supposed to be some deal cut with this contact of Fulk's, in exchange for some work we did hauling a guy out of Institute hands, but we haven't — unsurprisingly — heard shit about it."
Stepping into the dark of the tunnel, beyond where danger orange lights shine mutedly, Avi tucks his hands into the pockets of his jacket, long legged strides catching him up to Kaylee. "I dunno how bad off Kirby is, or if she'll even pull through. Her friends are pretty tore up about it, far as I can tell. The little skinny one, BJ?" Benji. "He looked like he'd gotten told his momma' died when he heard the news. Poor kid didn't take it very well. Can't say I blame 'em, but…"
There's a sigh that slips past Avi's lips as he offers a shrug, then shakes his head and follows the gleam of the tracks and Kaylee's lead. "I'd taken to nurse Young and Jensen when you get back, they'l know whatever the fuck to do."
Of the strangers that ended up on the island, Kaylee liked what she had seen of Hannah. The fact she encouraged Joseph in his faith had been heartening. So the news is saddening, it shows in the slump of shoulders. "Well, as close as they all seemed…"
She's quiet for a moment, content to listen to the crunch of boots in gravel as she totes her bag with. Then Kaylee can't help herself anymore. "Why is it your with the Ferry?" The question is cool, eyes equally so are turned his way. "Last time I saw you, was in Peter Petrelli's apartment " — which is probably news to him — " going through his records and making threats."
In other words, "You didn't seem like the type to be one of us. More government suit, then underground operative."
Avi comes to a stop, watching Kaylee's back for a moment. "That was my twin brother, easy mistake." It sounds like sarcasm, but there's no real amusement in Avi's voice. As he picks up the pace again, following behind Kaylee, Avi exhales a snorted sigh and shakes his head. "I'm nt one of you, I'm just Jensen's… friend. I don't have any-fucking-where else to go, so we're stuck with each other."
Gruffly turning his attention down to his feet, Avi rolls his shoulders into a shrug and looks at a loss for how to explain his situation any better. "You're right," is what seems to be the easiest answer after all. "I'm not one of you, won't ever be, but right now I just don't have much more of a choice."
"Besides," Avi remarks with a smile starting to cross his lips. "I'm the only boat captain you have crazy enough to walk thorugh Midtown these days."
Walking several feet, only then does she pause to wait for him to catch up. The glance she sends his way, clearly shows she doesn't believe him when it comes to him having a twin, but Kaylee let's it go. "Well, at least for the most part you're honest." The words clipped and still chilly. "I trust Raith to a point, so… I'll trust you to get me to that island. So that I can do my job."
Arms fold across her chest as the cold, but she doesn't stop moving. "And I suggest we move quickly. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we may have answers." Kaylee is worried about the secrecy of the island and the safety of the people on it. Especially, since so many are children.
Avi's brows come up at that comment, and he gives a quirk of his head to the side with a click of his tongue, moving to keep pace with Kaylee after she picks up stride again. "Hopefully, by the time we get back, everybody ain't dead." He tries to laugh, but it comes out a bit flat and uneven. Grimacing, Avi scratches at the back of his neck, and feels the need to amend:
"That was a joke."