Participants:
Scene Title | Playground Conspiracies |
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Synopsis | Having both met with their contacts, Minea and Veronica meet with Len to consolidate information and make sure they are on the right track. |
Date | June 6, 2009 |
A Playground
There are kids and parents and swings 'n' stuff.
There are weeks that go by when absolutely nothing ever happens. Then there are weeks like this one, there if it can happen — it does. Helena Dean coming out of the Phoenix closet — which took Senior Field Agent Len Denton by surprise. Not because he wasn't expecting it — but because he was expecting perhaps a courtesy call — but hey — who is he kidding, courtesy does seem to be out of fashion in this day and age. So perhaps he should not have been expecting that. He has to decide once and for all what to do about the Phoenix portion of this all. Does he cut off all ties, or does he try and find out what their motive is. Honestly, in his mind there is a common enemy here — and it shouldn't be each other.
He's no fool — he realizes that the Company is far from innocent of the charges that have been levied against them. And even though 'The Company' wasn't addressed by name in the interview, there is going to be a small ripple effect from her words. With Sawyer and Lu meeting with April (hopefully Bradley from the future), Grim and Castillo tracking down Ray and Wight and Wickham and Wickham about to move into Humanis First, things are at least on track.
However, the current interest of the Senior Field Agent is Agent Dahl's conversation with Catherine Chesterfield and Agent Sawyer's conversation with April Bradley of the future. He knows his picture was taken by Cat — it's one of the reason he doesn't dress like the others. If he's the one to get made, so be it. In fact, anyone wanting information on the cowboy and had someone who could provide it would not have an issue tracking down his history with the Texas Rangers or Homeland.
So, here he sits — a children's playground with a park full of children and parents as they play, Len has himself a bench, hat tipped down over his eyes as if he were sleeping — however, he's quite awake and quite alert as he waits for two of his agents.
Minea's not long in arriving, no company car, but her Malibu. Magnes dropped off for training, she wended her way to this park, and towards the obvious cowboy who's 'asleep' on the bench. She'd had the weekend to process what Cat had said and to try and look in, confirm a few things. Or try at least. Some things she knew was just not feasible for her security level. The virus? She knew about that because she'd participated in the activities that cold January day not long ago.
Her leather jacket on, clad in her jeans and usual turtleneck, the brunette company agent eased down onto the bench beside Len. "What I wouldn't give to have Elisabeth's ability right about now" comes falling from her lips.
Veronica comes from the other side of the playground, striding across the grass in long strides that make short work of the distance despite her somewhat petite height. Still, she manages to not look like she's there as an agent, but just out for a stroll on a Saturday. She slides onto the bench on the other side of Len. The encounter might mean to look casual and ordinary but these are not the normal park patrons. Still, parents and toddlers and kids are oblivious, happy to go about their king of the mountain games with no attention paid to the three Company agents on the bench. "Hey."
"Evening." He addresses them both, sitting up on the bench. He pushes his cowboy hat up out of his eyes and glances from side to side. They seriously look like the most inadvertent collection of individuals possible. This could not have been a planned meeting.
"So, each of you have met with your respective targets. Let's see what we can piece together." Denton glances over at Veronica. "Agent Sawyer, you met with April. Did she appear to be truthful to you? Or is she leading us astray?" Probably the best question to ask first before we get to the meat of the conversation.
The younger of the three agents looks a little worried as she nods to Len's question. "She seemed honest. I mean… she got in contact with us — she could have just stayed underground. Seems like she's been through living hell, and I think if she could undo it all, she'd welcome that. And if she could have James back… I think that's her motivation, you know? If she can keep all this from happening, and be with him in the end, she's willing to risk talking to us to see if that could all happen. She didn't say as much, but my guess is that's part of why she's here. Basically she says the Company's getting taken down from the inside. Would have been in August, but now it could be sooner."
There's a nod for Veronica as she enters into the now Trio on the bench. An appearance of relaxation, like three people enjoying the park, Minea looks over to Veronica then to Len, listening, waiting.
"One thing we need to be aware of that even though these folks are coming from the future and saying such-and-such has happened, the moment we take a step in a different direction everything has changed. Which means we have no clue what's going to happen now." Len turns his attention to Minea.
"Did Catherine Chesterfield give you any indication whatsoever that Phoenix was going to go public?" He realizes that interview aired after Minea's chat with Catherine, but there is no doubt in Denton's mind that this has been in the works for a while, so he's been duped — and he doesn't care for that one bit. Unfortunately, the time for petty squabbles is not now — he may still have to deal with Phoenix, if he can find some reason to trust them.
"Not at all. She didn't even know it was me until the end. She gave no hint that Phoenix was going to do what it did. But then, they tend to do things last minute. Probably to avoid interruption, leaking or capture. Harrison didn't even mention it when I ran into her at the Precinct when I was looking for someone. I'm wondering if the rest of phoenix even knows that it was happening." Minea shakes her head, looking between the two. "Denton. They don't care about the company. They want to see it down, want to see it burn. Catherine was adamant about that before I revealed who I was. She, and phoenix in turn believe that Pinehearst assassinated Goodman, and that the Company is an agency with unchecked power that needs to be brought down, without fail. I think they'll help, but only enough to use us against Pinehearst and quite possibly, in my opinion, use people in Pinehearst enough to maneuver them to bring us down. Phoenix may be a bunch of kids, but they've got some smart people in their ranks."
Everybody's picking on The Company. How unfair. Len nods as Minea speaks. "Okay, so basically, we've been played as fodder for their purpose. I guess that tells me what I need to know about that group, though I find out rather unusual that they didn't mention anything about coming out." He'll have to figure out what role Minea will have to take here in a second.
He turns to look at Veronica. "Do we have a final count on who all came back from the future? And have you verified this Tylar Case theory?"
Veronica frowns. She didn't get a specific number. Was she supposed to? That wasn't in her notes. "April mentioned Edward, Niles, Doyle, and yeah, Case. Apparently he has no clue who he is, Edward calls him John Doe and he switches powers, according to April, so that's gotta be Case. I asked who is the time traveller in the group, she said it had something to do with Case, so I'm guessing someone got a time traveller's powers swapped over to them, but she didn't seem to want to elaborate on that. I don't know if they still have those powers or not… Because of Abby's encounter with Case, it looks like maybe his powers are longer lasting now. He must be in better control of them." She thinks for a moment. "She said he was in Moab with them all, so… somehow he got sent to Moab and then hooked up with this group. I'm guessing he lost his memory when the Company wiped him."
She adds, "And Reed… she said she can't call us because of him. Everything needs to go through the grapevine." Veronica looks over the swingsets as if trying to remember all the details. "She said she isn't sure who the sleepers are, and she doesn't know who all aside from her gets caught or hit by in the coup, but Angela Petrelli and Bob Bishop have big, public trials, so there's two. And she confirmed… um, the name Goodman gave me." This last is said tentatively, unsure how much Minea knows, not wanting to put Minea in danger with that particular knowledge: Arthur Petrelli.
"So.. six time travelers." And name confirmation is good. He doesn't release that name just yet. Maybe that name was brought up in Minea's conversation as well. "If Bradley can be believed, then Case is the focal point of all of this — at least as it appears now. If this group of six gets any additional powers, they could be unstoppable."
As for Pinehearst — Len is clueless what to do there. Agent Prince would be a shoe-in to go in undercover, but he's so damn green still. A kid falls from the hanging monkey bars. It's not a high fall, but he cries and a mother rushes over and tends to his skinned knee. Len turns to Veronica. "Did Bradley say what the groups end-game is?"
Veronica shakes her head. "I asked if they are going back. She said no… And she doesn't really consider those guys with her. I think maybe just to stop the future from happening… she said something about meddling enough with the future that it will cease to exist." She looks worried still. "So we have to figure out who the sleepers are… with a telepath or something?" she suggests. "But how do we know the telepath isn't with them? It's all so muddled." She frowns a moment. "What … who else did Goodman go to? He said something about talking to Winters. If he comes back from wherever he's been…" she shakes her head. "How do we know who to trust?" Well, there's the rub.
"If Winters comes back, he needs to be taken into custody until we can figure out exactly how involved he is — and if he's a sleeper. If he was working with Goodman, then chances are he's not on our team." He glances at Veronica. "If you see him, I want him taken down and brought in by whatever it takes, but — I don't want him dead. I need information."
"I'm certain, however, there has to be someone higher than Winters involved here. We need to find out who and why." He watches the mother place a bandage on the boy's knee before turning back to Veronica. "Was there anything else she said that we can use here? Is she going to remain available to us if we have further questions or has she gone underground now?"
"She said we could reach her the same way we did before, so she seems willing to meet again. She just didn't want to be brought into you — doesn't trust that she'd be free to leave. If I did time in Moab, I think I'd feel the same." She shakes her head. "I think she's afraid she'll be in there when Pinehearst moves to take it down… and then what, she'd have two versions of herself in Pinehearst's hands? She basically said that if we can stop Pinehearst… everything else will be fine."
"Okay." That's half the story. Acknowledged.
Turning to Minea, Len considers her situation for a moment. A breeze blows through — it's not a chilly one, but just a very nice quiet breeze that shifts hair and grass and the leaves on trees around.
"Is there anything you have from Chesterfield that contradicts anything that Sawyer heard from Bradley?" He wants to know why Liz Harrison told him not to trust Bradley. He doesn't ask that just yet.
"Nothing that I can think of so far. She touched on mostly Company things. That there were original founders of the Company, but one broke away, the primary figure at Pinehearst. She wouldn't state who exactly, but she gave me the names of the founders. I'm sure we can whittle them down from there easily. One is dead, recently. One Kaito Nakamura. There was talk of a Evolved Formula, an injection given that grant abilities to those who don't have them. That Pinehearst is in possession of half of the formula and looking for the other, all tied to frontline of all things. She talked about a great many things, again, mostly company because she is hoping that I can find the proof of the various things and.. expose them. Because of my prior relationship with them, and that her father sent me, she just might trust me, and think that I'll follow through with bringing both down, like I led her to believe." Minea shakes her head having been listening, and watching the child get patched up by it's mother.
"There was no talk about people from the future though, she kept mum on that. She did say that they would have gone through with making everything public, but that they have no proof to back up their claims and won't until they have it. I told her that I would see what I could gather on my end, and if she could get me what she could about Pinehearst, that I would be their informant and bring it all to the light of day. Put my ass on the line to bring both down"
Len is quiet again, his eyes on the children. It's starting to get dark and some of the parents are gathering up their spawn to drag them off for home for baths or bed or whatever it is they do at night that most — if not all — of his agents do not have to worry about, including himself. One of those things you tend to give up when you work this type of job.
"Regardless of what Phoenix wants, our focus is going to continue to remain on the time travelers and Pinehearst. It seems the real danger lies there. And between the three of us — here and now — Arthur Petrelli." Might as well get that out in the open. "Seems that he is alive and well and if Pinehearst is making an 'Evolved Formula', I'm almost tempted to throw you two together to try and get in. You both have motive for wanting to see the Company fall and since neither of you are evolved, you could pose as wanting to be. But it's risky as hell."
"I get the feeling that they haven't had the actual formula, and have been doing trials, based purely upon what's remembered of the formula. There were reports of.. melting people? Before, in the city. Those were results of those experiments. Failed results. If they have half the formula they may very well get the second part soon enough. BUT if no one outside of Pinehearst knows about it, it may be putting Veronica and I at risk and god only know whats going on within that building." Minea points out.
Veronica nods to Len. "April said he was alive, too," she points out, regarding Petrelli. "It is risky." She glances at Minea and then back at Len. "I'd consider it. But only if you can help me get the information I asked about. Otherwise… I don't know if I could risk that much."
Len stands as he notices the wind is picking up and stormclouds are starting to roll in. He turns to face the agents. "I realize that this is going to be difficult. For right now I'm still a little concerned about information leakage at this point. I realize that Cook has some information, and Lu has some information. Let's keep this here within the three of us until we figure out a game plan."
To Veronica: "I'm still working on your request. As soon as I hear something, I will get back to you. The fact that I'm finding that digging this information out for you is like ramming myself headfirst into a charging bull — almost makes me believe it's truth.
To Minea: "I'm going to have you feed some information to Phoenix, as well as set you up to look like perhaps you are one of the moles. It's going to be risky and you may take some shit, but it's going to be important. And I have faith that you aren't going to stab me in the back."
He addresses them both. "I appreciate that even though you both have been screwed here, you've put faith in me to do right by you, so I am not going to let you down. I just ask that you remain this way. Give me the chance to help you make this all right. Fair enough?"
At the fact that Len believes the information is true, Veronica frowns and nods, looking away. It's hard to try so hard to save this company when she's based her entire career on a lie. She stands. "Fair," she murmurs, pushing her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ears. "Have a good night."
Somethings up with Veronica, but Minea won't pry. IF the other agent wants her to know, she'll approach Minea. "Understood. I'll play the part of the mole. I should get back to my place. Magnes is apparently making dinner tonight" There's a look given to the other two. "Veronica, if you want to stop by some time this week, I think Magnes might enjoy it. If you decide to visit. He seems to like you" She can discuss it later with the other woman. "Denton, your welcome to take advantage of having Magnes the cook, living next door" For now though, she stands up too, running a hand through her hair, prepared to leave.
Watching the other two agents leave in their own separate directions, Len turns to look back at the empty playground. He has this sudden desire to sit in a swing.
Where life is simple.
Uncomplicated.
Push with your feet to go forward, pull back to go back. The more you push, the higher you go. Yet, if you want to stop it's so easy to do. Just drag your feet.
Then of course, the more daring can leap from the swing like a superhero and land on the ground in spectacular fashion.
But he doesn't.
Swing.
Or leap in spectacular fashion.
He turns and walks away from the Land of Children and their Dreams.
He has dreams of his own, you see. Perhaps one day — they'll come true.