Jumping on a Sinking Ship

Participants:

m_alex_icon.gif veronica3_icon.gif

Scene Title Jumping on a Sinking Ship
Synopsis Mortimer Jack's third personality, Alex, requests to join the Company and reveals news of his returned ability — and the fact he may know where the Institute is.
Date June 26, 2010

Abandoned Garage, Manhattan


The sun is finally going down, and Alex has been busy today. He's abandoned the green coat and casual clothing in favor of a black suit, the jacket unbuttoned with his black tie hanging in front of his untucked white buttoned up shirt. He's called Veronica to an abandoned garage he's come across in Manhattan, not too far from his base, but he's yet to return.

This garage is fairly small, there's just one abandoned car, a 1969 Cobra Jet Mach 1 he's done quite a bit of work on today, clearly before he changed his clothes, since he's absent of oil.

After giving the thing a new coat of paint and giving it some time to dry, he's just laying across the top with his hands behind his head. When Veronica arrives, she'll notice lots of tiny clockwork machines crawling around, little spiders and bugs on the walls and ceilings, a few mice crawling around. They all clearly have some sort of pattern, suggesting a lack of complex A.I. He looks calm, just chilling out, his demeanor casual in a way that might make him mistaken as Mortimer, but there's a different air about him.

He also didn't specifically refer to himself by name on the phone.

Pulling up in her green Jaguar, Veronica leans forward to eye the locale before getting out of the car. One hand lingers at her belt, ready to grab a gun if it's some sort of trap. The little clockwork animals get a frown — they remind her a bit of the robots back in Argentina, and she watches them warily as she makes her way toward the car and the man sprawling on top.

She's dressed in typical Company fashion — black pinstriped pants, low-heeled black boots she can run in, and a sleeveless silk blouse in jade green, her blazer left behind in the car due to the heat.

"And who am I addressing today?" she says by way of greeting, pushing her sunglasses up onto the top of her head, now that her back is to the setting sun.

"Alex." he casually introduces, sliding around to rest his feet on the front bumper, hunching over slightly. He doesn't smile widely, but he doesn't seem morbidly serious like Mortimer either, he just watches her with mild interest. "The other two are gone, but I have a business offer. See, I have both of their memories, so I'm very aware of this Company stuff. I still want to join, but with an additional offer to sweeten the deal." He reaches into his pocket and pulls a complicated looking remote from his pocket, holding it up. He presses a button and those little machines start crawling closer, surrounding the two of them, a few even crawling over her feet. "I'll build for your organization, capture whoever you like, but I have a few conditions…"

Alex. She hasn't met Alex. She frowns, pulling her boot away when the little spiderlike robot things climb over her foot. "Stop that," she mutters, taking a step away, not liking the fact he's surrounding her with metallic creatures, things that she isn't sure what they're capable of.

t "I think you're a little confused about my role in my organization, Alex," Veronica says irritably, trying to keep an eye on him and those objects all at the same time. "I'm not the recruiting or the hiring committee, and I'm not sure I'd really recommend jumping on board right now. I can bring your request to my bosses. What are these conditions?"

"No monitoring my activities outside of the organization, no going after my group or Lola, and I'd also like you all to stay away from Isabella Sheridan. In exchange…" Alex pushes another button, and the machines start wandering around the room again, away from her. "I build your organization weapons of mass destruction, capture, or whatever else you'd like. I have very little in the way of ethics, this is my first day in, well, reality, at least outside of the lab. So, your organization scratches my back, I scratch its back."

"Clearly you're confused about what the organization does as well," Veronica says drolly. Clearly he's not gotten the memo that the Company is on the way out, the Institute on its way in. "Outside the lab?" She tilts her head at him, eyes narrowing curiously, giving one of those clockwork critters another dirty look, like it might attack her, stab her with a needle or something. "Alex," she says, slowly, "How did you get your ability back?"

"The Doctor, Isabella Sheridan. Mortimer and Jack went in, and when the ability came back, I managed to finally get out from the dreams. It's because of Hokuto that I exist. Those two are still in my head, but I don't have to let them out if I don't want to, and I have absolutely no intention to." Alex holds a hand out as a little robotic mouse crawls into his palm, mercurial color seeping into them as he watches the creature.

"I'm on medication, so no hallucinations as a result of my ability."

She moves to the bumper beside him, peering down at the mouse a little curiously, now that it's not on the ground and liable to inject her with some sort of poison from tiny clockwork fangs. "That's kinda cute, actually," she says, then glances up at him, brows knit as she considers his words. "Do you know how you got your power back? How did Sheridan restore it? This wasn't with the Company. Was this with the Institute by any chance?"

"She claimed not to know, I'm inclined to believe her." Alex says without giving any real reason for his trust, the mouse looking around as mechanical whiskers twitch, the tiny gears turning in between joints very apparent. "She suppressed my immune system with a modified H5N10 virus, or something of the sort. It rebooted my genes, in a way."

"She claimed not to know — what part? How she managed to get your power or who she was working for?" Veronica asks. "And … why do you want to work for the Company anyway? They don't deal in weapons of mass destruction, you know. Hell, Alex, we're not even allowed to have tranq guns any more. The Company isn't exactly earning praise and accolades for its work these days. You're kinda trying to get on a sinking ship, you know? I mean…" she nods toward the little mouse. "Even the rats should be jumping ship by now." Even she should be.

"Claimed not to know who she worked for. But alright, let's assume that this organization is a sinking ship…" Alex reaches up with his free hand, tapping the side of his forehead a few times. "In the memories I have, you're currently the most trustworthy of the living people I know. In Mortimer's memories at least. And unlike those two, I have ambition, I can't be satisfied by sitting around underground with a gang of brainwashed business men and college students all day. I won't waste such an amazing ability, this insight. The insight of two people in my head…"

The fact that she is the most trustworthy person Alex, Mortimer or Jack know makes Veronica's brows rise, and she gives a snort of a laugh before rising from the bumper. "I lied to you the first time I met you. Or whichever it was, Mortimer, I think. I pretended to be interested in what Jack was interested in. If I'm the most trustworthy person you know, you know worse people than I do," she says bitterly. "So you have ambition, and you don't want to waste your talent. What are you going to do with them for the Company? I'll tell them you want to join, but they're trying to get rid of all of us."

She folds her arms and surveys him for a moment. "This lab you were in — where was it? Did they just let you leave it? Do you know the way back?"

"Have you considered getting rid of them first? If we had Liette, combined with my ability, the Company would be an unstoppable force. No one has to know I got rid of them, but it's just an idea." Alex lays back on the car, hands behind his head, but he keeps his feet on the bumper. "It's of no concern to me either way, I just want to find a place to stick my roots into, so I can build my Magnum Opus, a machine so complex, I don't even have a name for it, or what it does."

Though, to the question of the lab, he answers, "I know where it is, they let me leave, I can go back whenever I want, and I do know my way back. But no, I'm not telling you, my life may depend on that place."

"All of our lives may depend on that place, Alex," Veronica murmurs, husky voice quieter than its been, as she watches him for a moment. That he knows where the Institute is may be useful, because she's willing to bet that is where and how he got his ability back. The Company certainly hasn't had him in its labs, and Sheridan hasn't been around as much as usual. "I'll talk to my superiors, and let them know. I wouldn't hold your breath, but then they've surprised me before."

"Good for me, I think I'll enjoy myself. This body's been driven by an insane man and a gloomy child for far too long. I'll explore the city, enjoy this car I've fixed up, and who knows, maybe I'll have a drink." Alex opens his door, and extends a hand out to her. "If I remember right, I am attracted to you, so how about a night out on the town in a refurbished muscle car that doesn't run on gas?" he offers with a casual grin, in some ways possibly more stable than his other halves, but… who knows what really goes on in his head.

He may be charming and more stable than his other two thirds, but the body he resides in killed coworkers of hers — some of them who didn't deserve to die. Veronica manages to smile, and just take the hand in a little shake. "Thank you, Alex, but, I'm going out of town for a couple of days on a trip. I'll talk to someone in my organization about your request to join us when I return," she says, giving a little bow of her head as she steps away. "I'll contact you as soon as I know anything. Congratulations on getting your ability back."

With that, she heads back to her car, a dubious glance at the clockwork creatures to be sure none are following her, before she steps in.

"Easy come, easy go." Alex shrugs his shoulders as she walks off, then slides into his car, a few of those robots joining him. He revs the engine, which sounds strange, like a series of gears turning at an incredibly fast rate, then a more traditional engine sound. "Let's explore this new playground of ours! If you play your cards right, I might let one of you out."


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