Participants:
| Scene Title | Lightning Strikes Twice |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Abby and Veronica cross paths in Central Park, and find they have something in common — Tyler Case. |
| Date | May 26, 2009 |
Central Park has been, and remains, a key attraction in New York City, both for tourists and local residents. Though slightly smaller, approximately 100 acres at its southern end scarred by and still recovering from the explosion, the vast northern regions of the park remain intact.
An array of paths and tracks wind their way through stands of trees and swathes of grass, frequented by joggers, bikers, dog-walkers, and horsemen alike. Flowerbeds, tended gardens, and sheltered conservatories provide a wide array of colorful plants; the sheer size of the park, along with a designated wildlife sanctuary add a wide variety of fauna to the park's visitor list. Several ponds and lakes, as well as the massive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, break up the expanses of green and growing things. There are roads, for those who prefer to drive through; numerous playgrounds for children dot the landscape.
Many are the people who come to the Park - painters, birdwatchers, musicians, and rock climbers. Others come for the shows; the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theater, the annual outdoor concert of the New York Philharmonic on the Great Lawn, the summer performances of the Metropolitan Opera, and many other smaller performing groups besides. They come to ice-skate on the rink, to ride on the Central Park Carousel, to view the many, many statues scattered about the park.
Some of the southern end of the park remains buried beneath rubble. Some of it still looks worn and torn, struggling to come back from the edge of destruction despite everything the crews of landscapers can do. The Wollman Rink has not been rebuilt; the Central Park Wildlife Center remains very much a work in progress, but is not wholly a loss. Someday, this portion of Central Park just might be restored fully to its prior state.
Tuesdays. Afternoon. Weather has been questionable. The various places around the park populated by folks who don't care about the fifty fifty chance of weather. Joggers running on by with their music devices and pedometers, people on bikes. Parents are running their children through the park, and there's the die hard workers who are still yapping away on their cell phone while they are strolling.
Abigail's parked on a bench on the west side of the park, watching the people go by. Jeans, t-shirt, cardigan and leather jacket. Just people watching.
Veronica comes out of the Swedish Cottage, where a puppet show has just let out. Everything normal… the place is back up and running on schedule, no sign of Doyle or any puppeteers aside from the normal, Non-Evolved kind that control dolls by pulling on strings. She didn't really expect to find Doyle back at that particular haunt, but she had to check. She begins to stride along the park's trail before she sees the familiar red head sitting at the bench. She takes a few steps closer. "Hey, Abby," she says lightly. "Doing okay? Sorry to hear about your church." She couldn't make the cleanup but had sent a gift card for cleanup supplies as soon as she got the invite.
Oh! Someone is actually talking to her. Takes a moment to register but there's a nod. "Walls are clean again. Door painted over. Guiding Light is still open for business" Distractedly spoken. "Hows work?" Polite and proper small talk. Sharp blue eyes take in the agent before her. "Taking a show?"
Veronica's brows raise and then she realizes where she just came from and laughs. "Just… checking on something," she says with a shrug. "Looks normal though. As normal as puppets can be. Those things give me the creeps." Even before meeting Doyle. "Glad the church is clean again. People shouldn't do that to churches. Scumbags." She may not be religious, but she has respect for faith.
"People like that have no respect for a church" Abigail counters. "But it's good. I'm sure Pastor Sumter might want to thank you for your help in it all" The red head offers. She's pre-occupied with something, not enough that she doesn't notice the fuller bottom lip. "can I ask you a question?"
The brunette shakes her head to the need to chat with Pastor Sumter. "No need for him to thank me. I would have gone to help if I could have, but I had something going on I couldn't get out of. Money… you know. That's the easy way out, no reason to thank me for that," she says. She doesn't want to talk to a pastor. Not of a church who probably hates people like her, for sure. "But yeah, you can ask me a question."
"Working for 'homeland'" Yes, she uses those little finger quotes. "have you ever come across a guy who can.. use like red lightening?" Abigail questions, utter seriousness on her face.
Red lightning… Canal Street… Veronica's eyes widen. "Red… lightning?" she says with wide eyes. "Did someone's powers … change… when the guy with the red lightning was around?" But wait, wouldn't she have heard about it if Case was out again?
Shit. Veronica does know. "I think you lost someone Agent Sawyer" Because someone like that wouldn't be on the streets. That's the kind of person that the company locks up. Right? "He was in greenwich, by the bar. In the alley. I think he's running around with X-ray vision right now, maybe. Dunno"
Why do people keep saying she lost people who were secure and locked up the last she saw them? First Doyle, now Case. "X-ray vision?" she says with her eyebrows raising. "And… you? How are you? Are you okay? What… did he do to you?" Vee looks intently into Abby's face, as if to see some horrible power in her eyes. Her own eyes are troubled and full of fear. Tyler Case is running around free? And she and Brian and Kat were the ones who put him behind Company bars so to speak.
"I couldn't fix your lip if I have all the time in the world" That's how she is. "No x-ray vision. Guess maybe, the red lightening guy is running around with it? I don't know. Guy who should have it? He's got mine." No horrible powers, not even the glow of Flint Deckard's ability, it's just Abigail's simple vivid blue eyes.
"I … wow. Did he attack you guys or something?" Veronica asks, finally sitting on the bench besides Abby, as if she simply can't stand any longer. She's already pulling out a cell phone. "I'll let people know. Maybe someone else… no, no one else has that power, dammit. Are you okay?" she asks again, knowing how Abby thought her healing power was a gift from God.
"I'm pretty sure, Agent Sawyer, Veronica, that getting hit with red lightening in the head while i'm running away, might constitute an attack" She points out. "So, you know who red lightening guy is then?" She's eying that phone with wariness. "I'm not gonna get dragged in will I? Because I don't need a mark like on the back of Magnes neck, and I'm registered, except now, you know, I got nothing so it's not a proper card anymore?" Something. "Pastor Sumter seems to think that it's a test from God, i'm.. inclined to think that I did something wrong and until I figure it out.. "
"You didn't do anything wrong. He has a power… to … make people's powers swap. It's not a gift, I don't think, in his case. He certainly didn't get much out of it the last time I saw him. It seemed to hurt him and hurt others and never did a damn bit of good as far as I could tell, and I don't think he has anything to do with God, if you ask me." She sighs, and frowns a little at the mention of Magnes' name. When she heard him mention Logan earlier, she thought it might be Abby. "I'll try not to get you mixed up in it, unless we need to bring you and the X-ray guy in to get your gift back, you know?" She pauses. "Who has your power now, Abby?"
"ohh, I highly doubt that your going to get your hands on the guy who has my ability" She points. "He's not exactly on the legal side of the fence and he's wanted by more than a few agencies for stuff he surely as the sun shines, did not do" So she can't give her the name, not right now at least. She's not about to do that to Flint. Abigail rubs her face with her hands. "It's like a big ol nightmare"
Veronica frowns. She doesn't have many real friends. The closes she has are other agents and people who have to work with her like Nalani. "Listen. My boss. He's a decent sort. If … if we can get this guy… and if we can get you and the other person all together… I might be able to get him to agree not to take in your friend for anything. X-ray vision… you know. It's not the most dangerous thing, it's nothing we would have to try to keep him out of the public for, you know? I'll see what I can do." She frowns and pulls a card from her pocket and hands it to Abby. "You already have my card, but here. This is my boss's. If you see that guy — or hear anything about where he may be, call us." She pauses. "The guy — tall, brown hair, brown eyes?" she asks. Sure, that describes more than half the population, but it's a start.
Abigail nods. "What little I saw, Mike was between me and him. He was coming out of the bar as I was leaving and we were talking and.. he was behind Mike suddenly. Then he threw up his hands and I turned and ran. Because they've always told me to just run. More important, more valuable alive and to preserve myself" Len Denton. Senior Agent. "The x-ray vision is not what's dangerous or make people think he's dangerous" The card is tucked into a pocket. "If he's found, it can be fixed? Reversed?"
"I don't know… I think so…" Veronica says quietly. "I … when it happened to me, I had Brian's power. But you know, suddenly and I didn't know what was happening. And Brian I don't think had any power… I don't know," she shakes her head, the memory of that so disjointed that she still can't make sense of the four perspectives jarring together into a dizzying kaleidoscope of what should have been Canal Street. "But after… it was normal again, so I don't know." She frowns. "He didn't do that on purpose though. He was having some sort of seizure. It sounds like he knows how to control it now. Who's Mike?"
"Mike's the guy with X-Ray Vision. And he wasn't having a seizure. This guy.. with the red lightening had the nerve to say he was sorry afterwards, like…" Like he was doing it and didn't want to? Following orders? Abigail shrugs, watching people meander across the grass.
Veronica nods slowly. She glances at the Swedish Cottage and frowns. Two Doyles. Two Cases? Is it possible? It all depends on if Tyler Case is where he should be, wherever that may be — she's just a peon, not privvy to that. "All right. I'll see what I can find out. Maybe it will just revert eventually anyway… when did this happen?"
"Sunday night. Little after eight" She's not holding out hope that it'll revert. Wrong, she is. She's wishing really really hard that she'll just wake up every morning and say a prayer and it'll be back. "I'll have some very unhappy friends that I've asked you anything. But then, they're usually pretty unhappy with my principles so" She shrugs. "I just want it back. I know that I'm still me, without it, it's just.. I'm naked without it. It's.." She looks over at Veronica. "What happened to your lip?"
"Someone threw a martini glass in my face," Veronica says with a little bit of a smirk, realizing how ridiculous it sounds. Of course, it's anything but funny. "It's nothing. I've seen worse, as you know." If a week went by without a split or bruised lip, she would think she wasn't doing her job right. Of course, she worries she's not doing it right anyway. "Don't worry about your friends. I swear, if I can help you get your power back, I will. I can't promise, but I'll try, all right?" Her husky voice is earnest as her dark eyes meet Abby's blue ones.
'Maybe you shouldn't have hit on them?" Abigail's attempt at humor, bad as it may be. Likely to fair since she doens't know who did it. "Hedging my bets. Didn't even expect you to know about the red lightening guy"
"Funny thing — if I was any other agent… I wouldn't have," she says. With the exception of Brian and Kat of course. "Well. I better get, and I'll cause this in right away." She stands. "Take care of yourself, okay? At least if you get hurt… someone can heal you for once?" she says lightly, thumb poised on her Blackberry to dial Len.
"Lets just pray that I don't get hurt and test that theory" Abigail fires back" A wave of her hand to indicate that she won't mind if Veronica takes off. She's going to sit here for a while. Go phone your people who aren't homeland but secretly something else. "God bless agent"