Participants:
| Scene Title | Life Never Features Perfect Agreement |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | But it's not required to work together, really. Or to be friends. |
| Date | August 5, 2009 |
Village Renaissance Building, Cat's Penthouse
A few hours have passed since she spoke with Mr. Redbird by phone, time Cat has spent assembling information. She's in the area used for office space, with the reception area empty of people, but there are items spread out around it. Most of them are segments of printed maps which feature geological data such as faultlines under New York City and state, a small amount of material on a program called the Munin Satellite, and some news articles. One announcing the satellite program being restarted, another saying elements of a group called the Vanguard may have stolen Soviet nukes, and others about seismic events in the area along with mentions of a nuclear plant above a fault line. The iPhone alerts her of a text message coming in, she picks it up to read and texts back. Come up. Elevator closest to the office area. The access panel will be open for her when the texter arrives, as will the double doors into the sixth floor residence.
By then, Cat is back at the executive office desk. Printed articles about earthquakes dated June 19th, July 17th, July 18th, and July 19th have been added to the material in the reception area.
It's the first time since Cat gave her access that Liz has texted ahead specifically for permission to come up. It doesn't take too long — she didn't text from downstairs or anything, but she's not too far away from the building. About ten minutes later, the elevator dings and Elisabeth steps out, clearly not entirely sure of her reception in this instance. "Hey," she calls in greeting, letting her voice carry ahead of her as she heads toward the office. She pauses in the doorway, leaning against the jamb.
"Hey," Cat replies, looking up briefly from the documents being assembled. One of them, in hand, is recently off the printer. It's got a photo of Norman White from the Tier 3 registry and cites his ability as Terrakinesis. "Come in. It seems Mr. Redbird and I both have recently become interested in seismic phenomena." There's an empty chair across from her, this is gestured at to sit in.
A brow lifts in response, and Elisabeth says quietly, "If I'd known you were looking at the same information, I'd have sent it in this morning." She moves forward to settle into the chair and asks, "Were you able to find more than I had?"
"You've heard Else's song, and Eve's dream was described," Cat remarks quietly, "Then there were earthquakes in New Jersey last month, and it made me wonder if that's how beaches could form on 34th Street. So I've assembled some data on various angles, and am looking at more. Even reading up on geology to get a handle on what sort of force is needed to reshape a coastline."
"But after I spoke with Mr. Redbird, I called the news articles up in my head of three that seem to fit a pattern. I looked them up and printed copies, which I'm sending to him, along with maps of fault lines."
One hand gestures to the documents in the reception area.
There's a shrug. "Actually, I haven't heard Else's song. Not like I have a lot of time with the radio on, Cat," Liz replies mildly. "You told me about it, but I haven't heard it yet. Besides, I didn't really put together the idea that a terrakinetic was moving across the country until I got the shrink reports in my hands this morning. I'll send you the full text when I get home tonight." She slants a glance toward the stack and then her blue eyes flit back to Cat. "I'm sure he'll pick them up as soon as you tell him they're ready. Or I can take them with me, if you like." It doesn't seem that either way is a problem for her. But her gaze on Cat is thoughtful. "You want to talk about this?" She can't remember a time they've danced around one another so carefully… though maybe Cat can. She's not sure it's ever been quite this awkward.
"I'll supply your own copies," Cat replies, as she offers the sheet of paper in hand over. "Norman White, he was cited in one of the news articles about earthquakes. This is his photo, and he's a Tier 3 terrakinetic," she informs. "Those three quakes are patterned. Virginia first, then two in Jersey, a northeastern path. Only the one on Trenton was along a known fault line. One, then two more on successive days just short of a month later."
To the question her answer is calm and simple. "There's something you wanted to discuss?" She doesn't seem inclined to, but she is listening.
Looking somewhat surprised, Elisabeth takes the paper. "Shit…. someone spotted him??" She reaches up to take the paper in Cat's hand. "What's a Tier 3? I've never heard that designation before." She tilts her head and says, "When I got the paperwork this morning, that was actually the first thing I speculated — that tremors from Utah to the East Coast might mirror his path, if we could locate him and backtrack." She studies the information Cat's been able to glean.
And then she looks up. "I owe you an apology for the way I came at you the other morning. It's not like you haven't had a ton of things on your mind, with your mother here and your father…. I made some assumptions about what we are actually capable of within this group that were clearly incorrect. And I should have spoken to you before taking matters into my own hands. The situation itself, of course, makes obvious a pretty large schism in our perspectives, however. So one of the reasons I asked to talk to you was to apologize. And the other was to offer the keys back."
"We're all good," she replies, "life doesn't ever feature perfect agreement, and that lack of agreement is learned from more often than not." Cat is not much inclined to discuss the nature of this particular lack of agreeance. "There's no need for returned keys. Brian has decided to undertake a mission of proving a theory. In the meantime," she reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out a single syringe, "there isn't much of this. Find Alec, ask him to hold this," she offers the item, "and beat him with a bat, please."
Elisabeth raises both of her eyebrows. "All right," she says slowly. "Brian's undertaking a theory…. related to this situation? Or is that yet something else that's going to be kept under shrouds of secrecy?" she asks mildly. And then she looks at the syringe and stares at Cat. "…. You're giving me an excuse to take a baseball bat to Alec?" There's a hint of pure amusement in her eyes as she reaches for it. "What i…. oh God. Really?" Her brain catches up with what she's being handed.
"Yes," Cat answers.
To get a one-line answer from Cat is just this side of surreal. Elisabeth takes the syringe and sighs. "Okay, fine," she says. "I'll take it back with me." She looks at the brunette and points out quietly, "You know, for a bunch of people all up in arms about everyone else keeping secrets, you keep a large number of your own even from your own people. I'll be speaking to Helena about stepping down from this position that she's asked me to take up, and I'll be looking into finding someone else to handle security for you here, if you'd like."
"Brian's taken a trip out of town with a young lady," Cat elaborates, "to prove a theory." She speaks with calm confidence, believing she's correct, and opting not to be very detailed to avoid fighting. And to not say there was anything incorrect about her course while still saying measures are underway. "There's no need of resigning anything. No one said that should happen."
A pause follows. "I still haven't listed the other founders. Adam Monroe got one of them."
Elisabeth smiles faintly. "No, no one did. But as you pointed out, Cat…. sometimes you learn more from a lack of agreement than from agreement," she says gently. "And your and my lack of agreement — not necessarily about the particular actions I took but about the necessity and/or wisdom of making sure that unless or until she has this ability under her own control, she needed to be suppressed for the safety of everyone else around her — seems pretty telling in my mind. If Helena believes as you do, that no one's abilities should be suppressed … then I think there's an issue here big enough to have a conversation about."
She pauses and narrows her eyes. "We're sure that it was Adam? I saw the report. If you're sure it was Adam…. listing the rest of the Founders is no longer going to make a difference. So far as I know, he knew who they all were anyway. Go ahead." She shakes her head. "I didn't learn anything of particular use from the one that I visited, really." She pauses. "What is a Tier 3?" she asks again. "It's not in any of the information on designations that I've ever seen."
"I won't say no one's ability should ever be suppressed," Cat ventures, "and I didn't. If I saw someone actively out of control and being dangerous, I'd act to resolve the situation by the swiftest and most effective means. I've done it before, and will do it again." The image of that situation she speaks of surfaces in memory and starts to play out, it runs for some seconds before she clamps down and shakes free of it to focus again.
"I simply believe in this case control has been established and held. It's been months since she escaped John Logan, without incident. When Brian returns, he'll confirm that." Not a trace of doubt present as she speaks. She has the suppressant, however, which may speak for itself. Her bases are covered without having to admit the possibility of being incorrect.
"There's no proof it was Adam, we can't rule out completely other people having issues with those founders which inspire killings, but he's the most likely one. He killed Kaito Nakamura, and had alleged designs on Arthur too. Adam knows all the founders, information says he's one of them."
"And Tier Three… My belief is, if you don't know about it, is it'd be as secret as Moab was. Cardinal knew it exists, however, he asked to see if Wireless could find anything from it about Norman White. And she did." Her hand gestures to the photo of the man.
She won't argue with Cat about Maya anymore. The fact that Brian's apparently doing something out there to see if the girl can control it and that Cat's covering the bases with the negation drugs is enough… for now. Though the claim of 'months' is met with high speculation, given Alejandro's extreme distress when we all escaped Staten without her. More likely she escaped a month ago when the place was bombed. But Elisabeth holds her peace on that as well. "I'll ask him about it," she says quietly. "He probably learned about Tier 3 from Adam — but I'd be interested to know what exactly it is. My guess would be … people like Adam. Sociopathic with high-level, extremely dangerous abilities and no compunction about using them against whoever they wish." She sighs. "And actually, he wasn't one of the Founders. The information I found in the apartment didn't name him. Two Petrellis, Linderman, Maury Parkman, Deveaux, Nakamura, Bishop, Pratt, Gramble, Mendez, Fletcher, and Amman." She reels off the list absently now, having studied the information she had at hand multiple times. "But he was clearly involved from early on."
Turning to the computer screen as Elisabeth speaks, Cat pulls up the file on Adam Monroe which was among the data Minea brought, and scrolls down. On finding it, she indicates the segment which notes him as one of the original Primatech directors. "Here," she states, while speculating on the inclusions. "I'll ask Wireless about that list, see what she's able to tell us."
Elisabeth nods slightly, studying the screen Cat shows her, and says, "Interesting. Parkman's apartment had no information about Adam. But shit, Cat… if he's running about killing all of them, maybe we ought to freakin' well turn a blind eye," she comments wryly. Standing upright, she says quietly, "I need to get back. Is there anything else you'd like while I'm on my way out?"
"I don't see where we need to concern ourselves over Adam's issues with his fellow founders," Cat states. "The thing I would have concerns about is whether or not they have any more nasty viruses tucked away which could be stolen. And certainly the other founders know Adam is out there and know he's on a path of vengeance after being locked up for thirty years."
Elisabeth's question is considered in silence before she answers it with a smile forming. "There's a movie I saw a long time ago, before my memory became what it is. The Breakfast Club. I want a copy of that to watch. John Hughes is legendary."
Blinking at Cat, Elisabeth looks at her. And then laughs quietly. "That was one of my favorite movies of all time. Tell you what…. barring any movement on the serial killer case, I'll bring it by this weekend."