Participants:
| Scene Title | Moving Out Of Zugzwang |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal gets his people together to get a little bit of organization going. |
| Date | September 7, 2009 |
Once upon a time, the New York Public Library was one of the most important libraries in America. The system, of which this branch was the center, was among the foremost lending libraries /and/ research libraries in the world.
The bomb changed that, as it changed so much else.
By virtue of distance, the library building was not demolished entirely, like so many others north of it; however, the walls on its northern side have been badly damaged, and their stability is suspect. The interior is a shambles, tattered books strewn about the chambers and halls, many shelves pulled over. Some have even been pulled apart; piles of char in some corners suggest some of their pieces, as well as some of the books, have been used to fuel fires for people who sought shelter here in the past.
In the two years since the bomb, the library — despite being one of the icons of New York City — has been left to decay. The wind whistles through shattered windows, broken by either the blast-front or subsequent vandals, carrying dust and debris in with it. Rats, cats, and stray dogs often seek shelter within its walls, especially on cold nights. Between the fear of radiation and the lack of funds, recovery of the library is on indefinite hiatus; this place, too, has been forgotten.
Once upon a time, this great hall was filled with light; beautiful chandelier-style lamps hung on wires from the ceiling above, and the sun's bright light spread down through the arched windows above the shelves along one wall. The tiled floor reflected the light off patterns of brown and white, and the paintings set into the ornate ceiling above were breathtaking to behold. The long rows of tables had their own lamps for after-hours and bodies clustered at them reading this book or studying that subject, and occasionally those tomes of knowledge would be carried to the counter at the far end for check-out or return.
Those days are long past, a bright dream washed away in nuclear fire, leaving only memories to echo off the walls when one walks here.
Many of the lamps have fallen, crashing to sunder the tables they hung above to leave only broken remnants that still sit in their places, gathering dust. The ones that haven't grew dark and cold when power was cut to this part of town in order to prevent electrical hazards. Some of the windows still stand, muddy with dust and stain, and others have been replaced or supplemented with sheets of plastic that breathe in slow echo of the wind's caress behind them. The darkness has been warded off, however, by a few powerful lamps set up around the perimeter of the room with cables dragging behind them and out the door to where the gasoline generators stand, their light defying the death of the Library. Some boxes of files are piled up on one of the tables, and it's there that Cardinal's standing this evening, rifling through the piles as he waits for everyone to arrive.
There is also a sandwich. One of those six-foot subway deals! And a cooler of juice alongside several packages of paper cups and paper plates. Totally high class. Seriously, he needs a better operating budget.
With a backpack on her back and a box in her arms, Elisabeth slips into the main room from one of the back hallways — she apparently came through one of the alternate entrances. "You do realize that the lights are visible through what's left of the windows, right?" she asks mildly as she joins him at the table to set the box down near the huge sandwich. The past day and a half — well, really the last couple of weeks! But the most recent couple of days are certainly ranking up there — has been hell on earth for the blonde cop, but she's managed to carve time out of her schedule to get here. "Still no word on her," she tells Cardinal before he can ask about the missing O'Shea.
Xiulan's arrival is heralded by the scent of the cartons of pork lo mein she's liberated from one of the vendors in Chinatown. As she makes her way into the pool light within the otherwise darkened structure, she shifts the cartons in her arms and flashes a wry smile toward Cardinal. "Chou was out of seahorses on a stick, you got lucky tonight." Because she -knows- how very much Richard loves seahorse on a stick.
Course, she does flash a wink to Elisabeth as she moves to put the food down on the table, her lips twitching in a wry smile. "Heya, Liz." The smile, however, fades slightly as she finally catches up mentally on what was said. "Word on who?" Blinking once, she slants a glance at Cardinal. "Did something happen to Abby again?"
Jessica has been here for a while. She likes to remain aloof for the most part, so as others are entering the library, she remains where she is. The lack of action has been irratating her to no end, and she's itching to be doing something, but instead, she's relegated to doing nothing. She wonders if joining up with his group of ragtags is even in her or Niki's best interest. Of course, her attempts at justice have all been utter failures, so it's plainly obvious this is something she cannot do on her own. Her concern is that perhaps the focus of the mission of this group is being shifted from Linderman's group to Humanis First. That's not what she signed up for, as selfish as that may be. She hasn't yet voiced that concern. As long as Linderman is on the radar in some manner, she'll be sticking around. The talk of someone else in trouble is weighed for a moment, wondering if it has anything to do with what they're here to talk about. For the moment, she stays in her little corner of the library and listens, but otherwise says nothing.
Slipping out of the little room she has taken over as her own, Claire offers a small smile to the arriving people. "Hey.." Her hand giving a little wave before it moves to tuck blonde locks behind her ear. Of course, this time of night of night she'd usually be sprawled out on her matresses reading some fashion magazine, thinking about what outfit she could wear to make a certain boy drool. Not tonight, nope, tonight she's hanging with the grown-ups.
To be honest, Gillian has been in the library for some time. It isn't that she's avoiding the get together so much as she detoured upon entry to poke through what's left of the library with a flashlight in the areas that are not lit by a lamp. After some time wandering, her footsteps can be heard approaching from a different direction than most, a flashlight clicking off as soon as she's out of the darker areas of the library. "I'm surprised you haven't stocked the bookcages with weapons yet," she comments to Cardinal, before looking at the rest of the gang. Gang of women, it would seem.
"Surprisingly, no…" The file in Cardinal's hand is scrutinized for a moment, and he tosses it onto the table's surface with a light slap of papery impact that stirs up a hint of dust that was left over from a half-hearted attempt at cleaning it up. "…not Abby, but a detective contact've ours, one of Liz's friends. We really need to see about getting little Parkman to find someone on occasion, if we can get around her well-meaning idiot of a father. Either that or I'm going to have to see about LoJacking people, I mean, Jesus Christ, the kidnapping rate in this city is driving me fuckin' crazy."
A look up, then, and he crooks a wry smile in Gillian's direction, "Don't have enough weapons yet. I need to find a source of funding, my budget sucks ass right now."
Opening the box to show that she brought the chocolate — it's a massive box of brownies from a certain absolutely amazing little bakery (not like SHE had time to bake before this) — Elisabeth returns Xiulan's smile with a faint one of her own acknowledging the woman's wink. As people start to melt out of the woodwork, Liz herself melts backward a bit, keeping Cardinal and the table between her and everyone for now. Though she is recovering, she is not 'better'… not yet. And the library, with its myriad entry and egress points plus all its shadows has her stress levels elevated. She skirts the edges of the group, nodding to people as she catches their eyes and sort of paces a bit. The joke about LoJacking people doesn't bring up a smile, considering a certain Homeland/Company agent actually offered to do it for Liz.
"Are you fucking serious?" Quirking a brow at Cardinal, Xiulan casts him a pointedly disbelieving look as she settles her hips on the edge of the table. "You have a walking, talking Mint at your disposal and you bitch about funding?" In the wake of her chiding, she glances about the room noting new faces and the fact that every last one of them are female. "Mmmhmm." Interesting. Course, Elisabeth's behavior doesn't fail to earn Xiulan's notice. So much so that quirked brow is cast in the other woman's direction. "Alright, I know I got alot going in Chinatown but am I that out of the loop?"
She hasn't said so much as a word just yet, but she's about to. Jessica, currently sitting in a chair with her feet on a table she 'acquired' somewhere in the library. Her feet get moved off the table and she stands and stretches up on the tips of her toes before she finally addresses everyone. "Might be nice if everyone is brought up to speed on stuff. I know I don't know half of what's going on." It's not a comment meant to be mean spirited, but if they're going to work together, then perhaps they all should know what's been going on. "And seriously, if we do have a 'mint' at our disposal, why are we still shacked up in this library. Security-wise, it's not the most ideal of locations to be set up." With that, she leans back against a wall, crossing her arms across her chest, glancing from one person to the next.
Claire listens silently, though she does manage to snag one of those lo mein boxes and a fork. Hey she's hungry and it's not pizza! Dropping herself in a chair, she sits cross-legged in it, giving a little wiggle to get comfy. She takes a moment to pull her hair back into a tight ponytail, before picking up the box and opening it to peer in it, stabbing a bit of pork. "Parkman… is an ass." She grumbles before taking the bite, her experience with the man has not been the best. She glances around the ruins and arches a brow at Jessica. "I dunno. Library is cozy enough really. It's a roof. Not too many people can say that." There have been times she couldn't say that either.
"Can't help much with heavy weapons, but I could help get a few guns in your hands," Gillian offers quietly, frowning at much of the talk of kidnapping and LoJacking. In some cases it isn't a bad idea, in others… it sucks. But she doesn't comment too much on that. "Yeah, there's a lot of info that keeps getting left out in conversations, but there's so much going on… I'm not even sure who some of you are," she admits, glancing at Jessica, who may be vaguely familiar, and then toward Xiulan. From the messed up tattoo visible on her neck that looks like someone decided to remove chunks of it, she's not made it to Chinatown, even after multiple recommendations. "And don't diss the Library. I always regretted Phoenix leaving it. Course I used to be a librarian, so… I'm Gillian, for the ones of you I don't know." Elisabeth at least she knows well enough. Hard to forget someone who'd killed one of you.
"Huh." Cardinal's brow furrows just a bit over the edge of his shades at Xiulan's words, one hand lifting up to rub against the nape of his neck self-consciously, "I didn't really think of that… well, hell, we'll have to get started on that." A faint smile twitches to his lips, and he admits, "I've been a little scattered lately, good idea, babe."
The shadowman steps over to the box of chocolate, reaching in to retrieve a brownie. "The library's more secure than you might think, Jessica, and I'm bringing in an expert to secure it further. As for bringing everyone up to speed, well, that's what we're here for. Everybody grab a chair if you want, get some dinner, I'm gonna be long winded for a minute."
"I occassionally have them," Xiulan murmurs in response to the light dawning on marble (Cardinal) head. It is as she slants a glance at Gillian that she provides. "Xiulan, nice to meet you." All, is implied as she glances about the room. At the threat of Cardinal being long winded, she wrinkles her nose and hops up to perch on the edge of the table.
"Jessica." at least for the moment. That's all she says in response to the introductions that are going around. There's been some internal chat between the personalities, and it's a no brainer that Jessica is best suited for what this group is about to partake in. She, otherwise, remains quiet, doesn't go for the food, or anything else. Just a little aloof, she is. A little.
"Claire." The blonde ex-cheerleader says around a bite of lo mein, she offers a smile. "Hi." She unfolds from her chair and moves to drag her chair closer and grab something to drink. Hell, she might as well get prepared. Settled back in, she glances to each woman in turn, finding it amusing there are so many woman. Girl Power! Comes to mind.
"Nice to meet everyone," Gillian says, nodding a bit at Claire as if she knew her. Heard more about her than otherwise, but— they had met once at least. With the likelyhood of a speech coming up, she moves a chair over, grabs one of the pieces of a six foot subway deal. There's already a mouthful getting chewed on before she's fully settled in the chair.
A slightly breathless Peyton finds her way into the hallway; she had offhandedly told Niki "I can find it," when Niki asked her if she knew the way. But it's not like she was a big fan of the library before the bomb, and it's not like her lifestyle has ever given her much reason to come this way since. It's a place to be avoided by sane people. But here she is.
The paparazzi princess looks nothing like one today — she's just wearing jeans, Converse, a black t-shirt and a Yankees cap to look like anyone but the person she is. "Sorry I'm late," she breathes, cheeks flushing when she sees the group gathered, and only a couple of whom she knows - Niki, Cardinal, Claire.
A brownie's scarfed down as introductions go out, Cardinal's fingers licked clean of a few stains of chocolate before he steps along over to where the check-in windows once were. It's no stage or podium, but hey, one works with what they've got. At least the acoustics in the hall are pretty good. "So, I know some've you aren't quite up to speed, like Jessica said— hey, Peyton, c'mon in, grab some sandwich— so…"
He takes a deep breath, then begins, "I'd like to talk to you about the future, first of all. There's a couple precognitives in the city, and a time manipulator or two, so it's not as big a secret as you might think. Not so long ago, the future seemed all kinds've happy and bright, the Evolved would've taken a position in society, the President's father - Arthur Petrelli - behind it all with a little company called Pinehearst that had perfected a formula that could turn anyone into one of us." A pause, then he adds more cynically, "Unfortunately, Arthur would've been controlling all of this from the shadows and disappearing anyone who disagreed with him. Not liking the idea of living in a fascist dictatorship, and with the guidance of a certain genius named Edward Ray, a bunch of us decided to get together and stop him. The fact that he cut my fucking hand off and stole my power helped me make that decision, admittedly."
He shakes his head, "Doctor Ray had another plan in mind, another future, but that one got derailed too— situation there was complicated. Unfortunately, that leaves us without a goddamn future. Sure, nobody likes a fascist dictatorship, but said fascists managed to deal with some of the problems we've got - like the Linderman Group, like those Humanis assholes, like this earthmover named Norman White that could very well sink Staten Island entirely if he's not stopped, like the Vanguard's backup plan involving detonating nuclear weapons to wipe out life as we know it. So, somebody's got to fucking deal with this shit."
A faint smile twitches to Cardinal's lips, and he notes, "I may not be a hero, but I know Phoenix isn't going to take care of all these problems. They're a political organization. Fuck politics. They're doing important work, but they can't deal with these problems and make themselves look like the good guys at the same time. And personally I like the city, it's where I keep my shit, and I'd like to show some of these motherfuckers that we're not here to be pushed around and turned into slaves."
Somehow she manages to give her name during the round of introductions, though she knows pretty much everyone by this point except perhaps Peyton. Other than that, Elisabeth is quiet for now. She slants Xiulan a glance and mouths 'tell ya later.' She's not big into the giving the whole story to everyone and always. Her eyes go to Cardinal as he fills in the group on what's happened and where we stand, pacing back and forth a bit along the edges of the group. She even gives his volume a bit of a nudge — good acoustics plus a shift in volume = everyone hears him without any shouting at all. She rubs her forehead slightly as she listens.
All right, maybe Xiulan is up to speed. She knows all this shit already, at any rate. Rather then comment for the moment, she reaches behind her and snags one of the cartons of le mein and goes about the all important business of chowing down. Course, chowing down involved sitting tailor style on the table and resting her elbows atop her knees. Really? If they need money, she'll make it. Beyond that…. Well, one can count on spiff tatts and a one of a kind wall decor, but hey.
Jessica is listening. Really. And as Peyton makes her entrance, she lifts her chin, giving a nod to the woman then turns her attention back to Cardinal, though Liz' pacing is a bit distracting for the woman who hates to sit still, and yet she's just leaning against the wall looking very scowly. As Cardinal finishes, she shakes her head. "Look, I don't care about this or that. What I care about is the fact that we're sitting around doing alot of fucking talking when we should be out there doing something. When someone comes up with a plan, let me know and I'll be there." She pushes herself off the walk and stalks out of the library, slamming whatever door she can find, perhaps just a little harder than necessary.
The plastic fork is dropped into the container of food she's eating so that she can wiggle her fingers in greeting to the young woman. "Naw… Just in time really." She motions to a near by chair with a smile. Turning to listen to Cardinal, she grimaces a bit at the mention of her grandfather and his devious plans which would for the most part never come to be. She looks almost embarressed by her families behavior. Her head nods a bit as he talks about Pheonix and what it's doing. "I agree." She murmurs softly at the last bit.
"And according to at least one crazy conspiracy theoriest, we might have to worry about China and it's army of Evolved as well," Gillian says with a snickery sound after swallowing her sandwich bite. There's a glance toward Peyton, the newest member of Cardinal's many female army, and inclines her head from her seat. "But I think worrying about our own city might be a little less… crazy. And more likely we'll make a difference. I honestly don't think Phoenix will keep their hands completely clean when it comes to some of that. But I think they're going to try."
Most of this is new to Peyton; she didn't think or care much about the Evolved's plight until she became one, after all. Someone needs to give her the Cliff notes version of all of this. She glances at Liz, recognizing her, happy to see her alive, before her eyes follow Niki/Jessica/Gina — she's not sure which personality is in charge at the moment — leave in a huff. Feet pointing toward Cardinal, head pointing toward Jessica's exit, Peyton seems torn as to which way to go. She finally moves toward one of the seats indicated to by Claire, dropping into it. She chews her lower lip a bit nervously. She nods back to Gillian, then returns her dark, wary eyes to Cardinal's face.
At the sound of the door's slam, Cardinal winces ever so slightly. "Don't mind her," he allows, his tone a bit rueful, "She's got… impulse control issues, and really wants a chance to move on Linderman. That's going to have to be a more delicate operation than she'd like, unfortunately." His hands rest back against the edge of one of the check-out windows as he leans there, head tilting up to look at the faded paintings overhead for a moment as he gathers his thoughts. "Anyway."
"I think China's a little big for us," he admits, his tone wry as he looks back to Gillian, "Let's start with New York City and we'll see if we can at least save it. So. Let's get to work. I've got my own plans, but I'd like to hear any ideas you all have to start with."
Elisabeth does finally speak up here, though. "Phoenix's original mission statement did not include the kinds of things we're talking about in this room. They are… they can't be as proactive as we're looking to get. They will, however, continue to play their role as both the face of peaceful protest and as backup and support to any of the large-scale situations in play. They know the stakes here as well as we do." Ironic… Phoenix originally split off of PARIAH on exactly these lines, and it's these lines that Helena wants to blur. "Humanis First is targeting anyone and everyone they can get their hands on in terms of high-profile Evolveds. Peyton Whitney," she nods to Peyton, "cops, feds, actors. They're out there trying to make a big statement …. and they're drawing a lot of attention. But to my mind, the Vanguard is actually the more potent threat." She looks at Cardinal. "Not that I won't put a bullet between Danko's eyes if I get that chance. In a fucking heartbeat." Her tone is cold as ice at that.
Gillian's comment brings Xiulan's head, the Chinese woman's dark eyes narrowing in an obvious expression of anger. "You think that is funny? Or maybe you think it's a fucking joke that people are being taken from thier families and turned into military weapons?" Yeah, okay, so someone hit a sore spot with Xiulan. Go figure, she -is- a Chinese National and she was almost taken for those very purposes. Course, she manages to get her temper under control a moment later, a faint shake of her head dismissing her outburst. Mind you, it's only to snort derisively at the mention of Phoenix. Apparently she doesn't have much use for them. Instead she turns her gaze back to Cardinal asking pointedly, "Does doing something involving whacking Linderman? Cause frankly speaking that is pretty high on my To-Do list at the moment."
Claire at this point just listens, since she doesn't exactly have a beef with anyone. She's just here to help, maybe it's her need to help… or maybe it's the need to be active in this fight again. Too much down time. She glances at Peyton and then at Cardinal. "You are a bit spread thin.. Peyton helped with the Station take over." She nods her head at the woman in question.
"No, I don't think it's funny. I thought the idea that I could do anything about it from here was funny," Gillian says with a grunt before she sits back, focusing on her sandwich for a few moments, before she shrugs her shoulders and just listens for the time being, glancing over at Peyton as her name is mentioned, making some connections between her and the news report not too long ago. There's so many bad things going on.
Peyton's eyes drop to the ground as her name is mentioned, but she gives a nod to Elisabeth, a woman who she knows too well knows Peyton's stakes in this fight. She closes her eyes at the mention of Danko's name. her face paling a touch. Her eyes rise again and she glances from Xiulan to Gillian and back to Cardinal. Her mouth remains shut. She doesn't know what she thinks yet. She should have grabbed some food, something to keep her hands busy so she doesn't look so utterly lost.
"I have something of a… long-term strategy to deal with Humanis, and we should still be coordinating with Denton on that related business," Cardinal says with a slight nod towards Elisabeth, his lips drawing into a thin line, "If we've any luck, we'll hit paydirt there. As for Linder— " Then there's the brief exchange between the two women, and he shakes his head, "She's not joking about it, Xiu, there's just not much we can do about that shit right now. We've got enough problems dealing with the government here as it is… I know you're from there, but, honestly, we're not an army." Yet, maybe.
A clearing of his throat, and he continues, "As for Linderman— you should hook up with Brian and Jessica, see if the three of you can work some sort've plan out possibly. Claire, Peyton, you're still working with Shard on his 'peace and goodwill and happiness and oh yeah stop Norman White' thing, so we at least keep Staten Island intact, right?"
With a faint nod, Elisabeth merely leaves it at that. She already knows what most of the stakes are here, and the assumption she's got is that this is more a 'make sure we're all on the same page' meeting.
"Right. Sorry, I'm a little bitchy about that still." Uncrossing her legs, Xiulan slips off the table and stretches, sighing as her spine pops audibly. "I'll get numbers for them from you then," is her comment regarding Linderman and who to talk to. "Unfortunately, I really have to go. Things are tense with the Dragons and Liu isn't exactly as sane as he once was." Which pretty much means he's gone completely starkers. "Sorry, Card," she notes sincerely. "Just let me know what you need me to do and I'll knock it out for you." Drawing a step away from the table, she dips her chin toward the others, noting specifically to Gillian. "Apologies for snapping off like that, it's really just stress." And with that she makes a beeline for the door.
Shoveling in more lo mein, Claire gives a firm nod. "Of course, seems to have the right idea. He's gonna need the help really." She gives a smirk, reaching for her drink for a sip. "I like him. So I'll keep helping.. there and anywhere else you need me." She gives a bit of a sheepish smile. "Also working to help keep Magnes from getting himself killed. He asked for my help on something he's working on. Don't worry. I still remember our deal." Keep Magnes away from the Library and stuff. "
There's a shrug and a nod from Gillian at the Chinese woman's apologies. Accepted, but not something she's going to fuss over too much. "I know Shard has my help— at least in the form of a stray clone of myself that didn't die after all," she suddenly pipes up, looking down at her half eaten sandwich piece before she glances up at Cardinal. "But I'm not sure exactly what you want me to be doing right now. I do got some info on… on what Feng might be looking for. Munin. Eve and I ran into him, that's why Eve's laying in a Ferry medical bed still. But he responded to some of her crazy talk. Said that Munin, whatever it is… called it an it, too, so maybe it's not a person, I'm not sure, but he said it was… hidden. Whatever it is. So that precogs and… Claira-somthings couldn't find it."
At Cardinal's questions about Shard, Peyton nods, then Gillian's words have her confused again. She's in a new world from the one she lived in just a month ago, and it's not a world she's chosen for herself. Clone? Munin? She's utterly lost, but tries not to look it. "I'm working with Shard, and practicing my power. That HF group, they have weapons, a lot of them, somewhere. I saw them." Peyton taps her temple, to mean she saw them with her power, rather than her own eyes. She told as much to Cat, but doesn't know if the two groups communicate or not. "Like, serious weapons. Military grade machine guns I think, not that I know much about them." She frowns. "What's the difference between HF and Vanguard?" she asks, uncertainly, brows furrowing.
"Wonderful— not unexpected after Song, though. I'll call you later, Xiu. And… do I even want to know what Varlane's up to these days, Claire, or is it just going to give me a headache?" Cardinal pauses at the mention of the clone, then nods slightly. Well, that's one explaination he doesn't need to make, at least! He pushes off the wall, stepping over to reach for a slice of the sandwich. It's deposited on a plate, his head shaking slowly, "Does she need a healer? I could shove Deckard to whatever safehouse she's at… mnm. Wonderful." Then the words from the clairvoyant get a look over, and he pauses, lips pursing in a tight frown, "Wonderful. And.. Humanis First is a general racist movement of anti-Evolved assholes. Vanguard— " A pause, "Liz, you were involved in that. Think you can give a better definition?"
Peyton's comment about the weapons brings Elisabeth's gaze around on her to pin her. At Cardinal's prompting, the blonde cop seems to shake herself a little. "Uhm…. sure. Vanguard is a worldwide organization of Evolved terrorists with their own agenda to take over. Essentially, the man in charge of it is some kind of …. well, I don't want to say 'undead' but he's… a long-lived Evolved person — or maybe just a spirit of one who has continued to survive, we think, by possessing other people's bodies. Anyway, that part of the insanity aside, the organization itself has attempted in the past year two relatively major strikes against most of the world. The Narrows collapse last year was caused by a group of us fighting to stop them from unleashing a virus that would have eliminated approximately 90 percent of the world's population, leaving them in control of the planetary resources. And now we believe they're in possession of a nuclear weapon." She pauses. "And Peyton? Thank you." She knows what the girl tried to do for her…. and the information she's already given about Ivanov. "If you can handle it, I'd like you to keep attempting to locate both Agent Ivanov and the weapons cache you just mentioned. Liberating that from them could be very helpful."
"Probably better off not knowing." Claire says with a touch of amusement. And of course she's gonna tell him anyway…. "But he's looking into Refrain." She shrugs. "Don't worry.. I'm watching after him as best I can." The empty box is set on the table and she gives a little sigh. "But he did fairly well at the TV station take over..I admit I was worried he was going to say something. I feel for him though, he's got a real ball buster of a partner it sounds like." And then she's silent again listening to the rest of them, a brownie snagged from the box of them. Mmm, chocolate.
"Well, the news media outright said Vanguard had a nuke, at least one. Stolen from Russia," Gillian adds in a small correction, but she'd been frowning through much of what Elisabeth had to say. There's a lot of bad topics throwing around.
Peyton's cheeks flush just a touch. She knew she should have known the difference between the two, but one terrorist group seems to bleed into the next when you're drunk and drugged. "Sorry, I should have known that," she murmurs. She nods at Elisabeth's words of thanks, her brows furrowing once more. "I wish I could have helped you more," she says quietly. "And Felix more. And I can only see what anyone's looking at - I can't pinpoint that cache unless someone I know is looking at it. That David guy." She swallows. "But I'll keep trying." There's a little raise of her chin, trying to be brave, like the rest of these people.
"Munin," Cardinal muses, his fingers scratching under his chin, "Fuckin' wonderful. The Remnant doesn't like to talk about shit too much to outsiders, so we'll need to move— carefully there. Keep an ear out, learn what you can, really. I might be able to call up someone who might know more about Feng. I was hoping Ivanov would be able to take care of him, but…" He grimaces, "…fuckin' Danko decided to grab him. And, pft, don't be ridiculous. You haven't been through the looking glass for that long yet, Peyton, can't expect to know everything yet." A humorless, wry smile, "That's my job."
Elisabeth glances at Cardinal and comments quietly, "Munin is the name of a government project that launched that satellite that went up, if I remember right, too. I believe we've got someone looking into that." She clenches her jaw and says softly, "If Ivanov's still alive, they want something very specific from him and he hasn't given it to them yet." She sounds… distressed. Though she covers it well, there is guilt in her expression for not holding out longer.
"I don't think anyone knows everything. Not even Cat," Gillian says with a snort, looking back over at the young woman and frowning at a lot of the talk. What she's saying is one of the many things she doesn't know, but she keeps her questions to herself for now. "I'm not sure Munin the sattelitte and Munin whatever it is are the same thing. Feng seemed to act like no one knew where to find Munin, and everyone knows they launched that— wouldn't you just need a telescope and shit to find it?" Or so she would think. It sounds silly that it would be something the news spoke about, when Feng acted like no one was supposed to know a thing about it. "If you can wrangle up a healer for her, that'd be great. She's stable, but she's not going anywhere for a while. Getting shot doesn't make for fast healing."
Peyton smiles at Cardinal's reassurance. She listens to the Liz's explanation that gets a nod; that makes sense. But then Gillian just has her confused again. "Just… let me know what to look for when you need me to look for something… and please tell me there's not a test on all this. I can't keep everything straight yet." She smiles a bit wryly.
"There's too many fuckin' things named 'Munin' flying around, someone needs to go back in time and slap the Norse around," Cardinal observes dryly, dropping himself down into a chair finally and leaning back with the sandwich upon the plate, "Mnm. Well, if Feng thought that it was hidden… he'd probably know, better than mose. I need a telepath. Shit." A look over to Liz is more sympathetic, "Or they want to use him to leave a message or something. Hopefully we'll find him soon. I can't believe he's dead— I've seen it before, didn't take." He takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully, the swallows, eyes rolling to look up towards the ceiling.
"I'll drop the old man a message. We can't afford to lose a precog at this stage in the game." He chuckles faintly, then, looking over to Peyton, "Not this time."
Elisabeth glances at Gillian and replies quietly, "The satellites have other names. The project was called Munin, and given that it's a black ops project, it may very well be a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand's up to. Whoever Feng Daiyu works for may not be in the particular loop that ties the satellites into this." She frowns. "She's at a Ferry safehouse and no one's pulled a healer in for her?" That doesn't sound even remotely like the Ferrymen. What the hell? She rubs her forehead once more and says quietly to Cardinal, "I need to get back. Obviously between Ivanov and O'Shea, things are … not simple at work." She herself doesn't look in too great a shape, frankly, the stress levels not doing much for the nightmares. For all the help Hokuto was, it's mostly been negated in the past two days. "Let me know if you need me for anything else."
Really not much for Claire to contribute really, so she is definitely silent a this point. She's happily munching at the brownies Liz brought along. She lifts a hand to wave at Elisabeth when she seems about ready to leave.
"I have no idea," Gillian says with a shrug of her shoulders. "Maybe they didn't want to use healing when they didn't have to." Who knows the reasoning behind it, but it could also be simplier than that, too. "I don't know what else to say about the Munin thing." There's a pause, as if she's considering something, but she keeps it to herself. "You'll let me know if you need me for anything too, right?" She doesn't get up and leave, though. There's still sandwich to eat.
Peyton frowns some more. There's so many questions. How do the satellites track them? Who's O'Shea? Is the fact Elisabeth's a cop going to compromise with the vague explanation she gave of her "visions" to the Registration people? She waves to Liz too. "If I see anything, I'll tell Cat or Cardinal and they can get it to you," she murmurs, with a glance at Cardinal to see if that's all right. She doesn't want to talk to the cops directly if she doesn't have to.
"I can imagine…" Cardinal turns a bit to look towards Elisabeth with an unreadable expression for a moment, chin lifting a bit as he offers quietly, "Let me know if you need anything, Liz. Be safe, and be careful out there. I'm just a phone call away." A faint smile meant to be reassuring is flashed, and then he leans back with a grunt of breath, "I will, Gill. There's precious little we know about the Vanguard shit right now, frustratingly, and most've those who're in a position to find out more don't believe me. Right now we're just sort of— gathering intel until we have something to act on."
Wryly, he admits, "It's got me as frustrated as Jessica, to be honest, I just hide it better. And that'd be fine, Pey."
Elisabeth looks at Peyton and says quietly, "If you have any way that you can see through Detective O'Shea's eyes and tell me where she is, that would not hurt my feelings a bit, Peyton." She forces a small smile. "Cat or Cardinal will be fine — they both know how to reach me. If you go by Cat's, I'll send a picture that way if it'll help. I don't know if you'd have had to meet…. wait, you did!" She suddenly has a moment of hope. "That night in the club, you met her." She bites her lip. "I'd be ever so much obliged, Peyton." She glances at Gillian, nods slightly, and forces a grin at Cardinal. "Oh, it's all fun and games til someone takes a sniper shot this time." And she heads out of the library, unable to help herself from glancing around in a mildly paranoid fashion — and distinctly unhappy about being outside in Midtown in the middle of the night.
Hopping to her feet Claire sighs. "I think I'm gonna go crash. I imagine Magnes will want to see me after his shift… Really wish he didn't have the night shift." She grouses a bit. She reaches over to snag another brownie. "Night guys." She offers with a finger wiggle of farewell.
"Okay, hold on," Gillian says, looking down at what's left of her piece of the sandwich, then she looks at Peyton. "What is it that you do exactly? How is it going to help find all that— whatever is going on here?" This time she's not the one asking the questions, at least. Even if everyone else seems to be checking out, this seems like a good time to ask.
Peyton nods to Liz; yes, she'll try, though she has no idea who the woman is they're talking about. She's willing to try to help anyone, can't promise a thing. "Bye Claire," she says to the petite blonde, then she looks at Gillian. "I'm not sure. Someone they need me to see if I can find. My power — I can focus on someone, if I know them, or if it's someone I can see, and I can see through their eyes. If I can recognize where she is, it might help, but … Liz I couldn't see, and Felix, I don't know where he is." She stands. "I'll go by Cat's now, I guess. I'm not sure who she's talking about, to be honest, but maybe it's one of the cops I met in the station, I guess."
"G'night, Claire," Cardinal's hand lifts towards the departing teenager, "Try'n make sure your boyfriend doesn't get his ass shot by the Flying Dragons…" He leans forward, then, setting the half-eaten slice of six-foot sub off to one side as he rests an arm on the table. After listening to the pair talk, he says quietly, "Detective Cassidy O'Shea. She's been abducted by this asshole serial killer that calls himself 'Azrael'. She's a friend of Liz's, so, she's obviously a little worried." He nods a bit, "Alright. You can probably head out with Liz, it'll be safer for you both."
"Huh," Gillian says, pausing for a moment before she stands up and goes over to wrap up pieces of sandwiches. "If you're looking for someone, I might be able to help. My— what I do is a little less— well… I can make what you do better. It might help you find her. If someone's been abducted and it'll increase your chances of seeing where they are… it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I'd just have to touch you while you do it." She's taking sandwiches, but it seems like she's taking Cardinal's advice and heading out. With change.
As the last of them depart, Cardinal pushes himself up to his feet from the chair, stretching briefly with a muffled grunt as his back pops in a couple places. The hall's silent except for his footsteps as he walks over to where the cables plug into the lamps, crouching down to pull them free with a pop-crack of electricity and a slow dimming of the bulbs into darkness.
Back to his chair, then, the shadowmorph sprawls down into it and reaches back over for the paper plate his piece of sandwich still rests upon, comfortable in the pitch blackness of the library. "It's a start," he murmurs aloud to himself between bites of dinner, "It's not much, but it's a start. And everything begins somewhere."