Participants:
Scene Title | Like A Chuck Palahniuk Novel |
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Synopsis | Cat has an odd request of the Haitian in preparation for the final confrontation with the Vanguard. |
Date | January 11, 2010 |
With the sun in western skies, some time before it sets, Cat is on a mission of sorts. In her hand are a few handwritten pages folded in half. Claire Bennet is sought out and approached on being found, the taller and older woman having a focused expression about her.
"Claire," she offers by way of greeting, "I need to do something. Can you take me to your tall and dark friend?"
Looking up from her spot lounging against the railing of the fantail, Claire blinks at Cat seemingly distracted. "What? Oh.. you.. what to see Rene? Um…" The blonde regenerator looks over her shoulder at the door back in the carrier and nods. "Yeah sure.. I think I have an idea where t find him. He tends not to be to far with Gabriel still around and free on this thing."
As she moves towards to head back in, Claire's military issue cam shirt flutters in the sea breeze. Motioning Cat to follow her, Claire starts back inside, holding the door for her friends before going inside herself. "What are you looking for him for? Any particular reason?
"An insurance policy," Cat replies simply as she catches the door and follows after Claire. She doesn't elaborate beyond that. Those sheets of paper in her hand likely have to do with this endeavor. Once inside the door, after closing it, garments worn settle a bit with no longer being touched by ocean breezes.
"Ahhh…." Claire says softly, eyes dropping to the papers in Cat's hands but she doesn't ask about them. Sometimes it's best not too. Fingers brush back stray stray strands of blonde hair and tucks it behind her ears. "Not sure what he'll be able to do for you, but at least maybe he'll listen."
Silence is kept as she follows, eyes alert for the presence of this man they're seeking. Cat's purpose in her mind is clear, though she remains wary of the man and what his history entails. Were she to have things entirely her way she'd never seek him, never want this man to ever so much as know her face, but this situation calls for such concerns to be set aside.
It's just outside that same meeting room Claire had dragged Rene into earlier that the Haitian is found. Straightening the collar of his shirt and letting dark fingers loop beneath the black rawhide strap of his necklace, he tucks the gleaming symbol depiction beneath his shirt silently. On seeing Claire and Cat approaching, his posture straightens some, head tilting back and one brow slowly raising.
There's a look of familiarity as he regards Cat, arms crossing over his chest. He's silent as the pair approach, but his expression becomes a questioning one when their determined approach brings the pair of women directly to him. Then, of course, his mute stare is afforded to Claire, one brow still raised as if to ask, What's all this then?
Spotting the dark skinned man, her stomach sinks with guilt and Claire almost seems uncertain that she wants to approach at all. Her pace shortens a bit and slows as she watches him for any sign that might make her want to turn around.
At The Haitian's look, Claire's brows lift as her head gives a little shake in a returned, No idea. She simply motions to Cat as if it explains it all, it's up to the other woman to explain what she wants of the man.
"This mission calls for me to prepare an insurance policy, sir," Cat begins, speaking quietly to the emigre from Hispaniola's French-speaking nation. While doing so, her fingers unfold the sheets of paper. "I'm told you have the talent of suppressing SLC abilities. I would like you to do so with me now, please."
With that, she turns to Claire and hands over the sheets. "I may freak out when he does this, if he does. You'll see it quickly in my eyes, in the way I suddenly seem to not know where I am. Hold this top sheet up, get my attention so I read it." On that paper, written in large letters, are these words:
Cat! Get a grip and read this now!
Puzzled at this exchange, the Haitian wordlessly looks at Cat, then to Claire, but at least he's only being asked to negate and not mind-wipe. Without so much as a motion, a touch, or even a look of concentration all of Catherine's memory begins to fail piece by piece in rapid succession. Short term, long term, everything begins crashing back to the bits of natural memory she keeps. From her experiences dealing with Pinehearst back in the summer, and it's that iteration of Cat that is thrust into the world as the fog cloud clears.
In a hallway.
On an aircraft carrier.
Brows lift even higher as Cat turns to her, Claire slowly reaches out to take the sheets as asked. Glancing at the top sheet like it's some alien thing, but she quickly looks up at the the woman again and gives a short firm nod of her head. Then she glances at Rene and gives him a tight lipped smile, before turning the the task at hand and preparing to hold up the sheet as soon as she sees that look.
She's bewildered and seems lost as the negation settles in, quickly looking around to try figuring this out. In some ways, there's a familiarity to it. Last occasion was on Russian soil, at a monastery, where Cat was in combat with Felix and Elisabeth versus Vanguard elements. Hands move to check for her rifle, then the eyes dart around to take in the environs. "Where is this place?" And it's then she spots the sheet with her own handwriting and calms a bit. Fingers reach out to take the paper from Claire. The next page tells her this:
You're on a mission. This is the USS George Washington. The woman holding these is Claire Bennet. The man is a negator. Soon you will be on the icepack of Antarctica. Your job there is to help destroy backup power facilities and maybe rescue hostages. You will be with Teo Laudani, a tall woman called Huruma, and a man called Jensen Raith. The target on the icepack is occupied by Mikhail Wagner. He's a negator. If memory fails, keep yourself together. This should be your freshest memory, of right here and now. You will be armed. You may have explosives. This mission cannot fail, Cat. And it will not. Your teammates will know what's happened to you and help you to be functional. They'll give orders. Now, ask Claire to tell you more of the story while you're still negated.
The Haitian squints for a moment, shifting his weight to one foot, staring at the back of the papers held in Cat's hand. Silent as a mute around the woman, he does little save for fold his large hands behind his back and continue the negation, seeming to have a rough idea of what's transpiring here, the Company has all sorts of training exercises, and this one very much seems like something he's seen before.
In his silence, a few Marines passing by in the hall give a nod to Cat, one waves, the other calls her by name; it's a strange and confusing juxtapositioning of the world, terrifying in a way, as of this Cat were living her life in blacked out bursts of wakedness, like some sort of Chuck Palahniuk novel come to life.
Head tilting a bit t see what she's reading, Claire looks confused for a moment before glancing at Cat herself. It's kind of an odd situation really. Blue eyes narrow for a moment, glancing over at Rene before she sighs. "Ooookay… Um.."
Lips press together as she tries to think how to word it simply and try not to overwhelm her. "The mission we are on… and there is a lot of us on this thing… we are working to save the world… again." Another glance to Rene before continuing. "In the Antarctic there a bomb.. a really huge freakin' nuclear bomb. If it explodes, it will melt the ice and raise the worlds water levels."
"That will put a lot of things underwater." Claire studies the other woman, wondering how she's taking it. "The mission is to stop that.. and your part is this." She taps a finger against the paper. "If we succeed we'll have a home to go back too.. if we don't well… " She trails off and gives her a shrug of her shoulder and a matter of fact look.
She reads, then lifts eyes to Claire and listens. Once the diminutive one is silent, Cat gives her a slow nod. "I get it," she answers, looking a little pale. This version of Cat, mentally nineteen in most regards and not so experienced, doesn't show the same stature and confidence or reserve as the unfettered woman normally seen.
"Holy shit," she breathes out, "our lives certainly aren't boring, are they? I… No. Got to keep it together." There's a change to her then, a forcing of self to be strong. Is this a hint that the confidence, the unflappability Cat normally has is just an act, one she's gotten better at presenting over the years? Turning, she faces the Hispaniolan. "Thank you, sir. I think this is enough to keep me going if Wagner's field gets me. At least enough to see me trust the others and not lose it."
Furrowing his brows, there a subtle nod of the Haitian's head as he draws back in that blanketing field of negation into himself. It feels like it folds up like a canvas, the hole that he had formed around Claire unwinding as the ability is reeled up and carefully tucked away. He seems content to have been of service, as much as his silent stoicism affords, though the look of dark eyes to Claire questions again, whether he's still needed.
Then again, this was Cat's idea.
"Not at all."Claire agrees blandly, as she know just how it is. "Never boring, almost always important." She offers the papers back to Cat, before she turns back to The Haitian. "Thank you, Rene. I'll try not to bother you for the rest of the trip." She meant it as joke, but her smile is sad as she is still feeling terrible about what she had asked.
Her eyes close as the field leaves her and access to the completeness of memory returns. Cat's demeanor immediately shifts along with it, becoming her customary self. "Thank you again Claire, and sir," she offers. "Now if I get negated on the ice continent, that will be the most recent thing I remember and help a lot. There's no room for me to be clueless in the field, not this time."
The sheets of paper are taken, and she starts to move away. But she stops after a few steps to make an invitation. "Hungry, Claire?" In her head is a bit of a trifling thought, an image of Rene's head on a white duck which says 'Aflac!'. It fits, in a whimsical way.
She's used him for insurance.