Participants:
| Scene Title | Stand In The Rain |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Company Peter (aka Ego-Peter) and Helena deal with a harsh reality of their relationship. |
| Date | November 8, 2008 |
Deveaux Building: Rooftop
The clouds hang heavy over the ruins of midtown. Everything seems a little grayer here, a little darker, partly from the diffuse and colorless light filtering down through tht heavy cloudcover, partly because of the thin sheen of rain that covers everything here. It, like the last few days, is a cold and bitter reminder that autumn is slowly leading way into winter. Soon all of this will be covered by snow, a pretty white dusting to cover the scars.
But right now, all of the scars are plain to see. Some more physical than others.
"Petrelli" His voice comes as ringing ceases abruptly. "Yeah…" There's resignation in his voice, "Yeah, no I'm on my way there right now." He pauses, pacing back and forth across the rooftop of the Deveaux building, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other held up to his ear. "Driving," he emphasizes with a snorted sigh, "How else would I get somewhere?" But the tone doesn't remain serious for long, turning into a teasing tone of voice. "I'll be there when I get there, Gracie." His head tilts to the side, eyes wandering up to the clouds. "You too, I'll see you in twenty." Dark eyes wander the clouds, avoiding the broken skyline. "Yeah, you too. Bye."
The phone flips shut with a click, and Agent Petrelli exhales a slow sigh, leaning against the stone railing on the edge of the rooftop, staring down at the flashing digital display on the front of the phone displaying the brief length of the conversation. There's silence in his eyes, but his sigh says everything it needs to as the phone is tucked back into his suit jacket.
She doesn't come just to meet him anymore. Even though Helena and Peter use the Deveaux rooftop as a drop point and a meeting place, she's come to find it something of a comfort, for its familiarity, and even for its view. What she sees now is no more the hallmarks of despair and destruction, but potential for what could be rebruilt in its place. There's quiet up here, a peace and silence that is only interrupting by the gentle noises of the birds kept in their cages - and even their vocalizations are a comforting, gentle sound. And so Helena sits, courting danger by being up on the ledge, one leg dangling over the safe side to prevent any mishaps, and looks over the city. Her face is turned up, eyes closed, as the rain pours down on her. Rain is never a bother to her, not even at its worst. She's connected.
"Sorry about that." Peter remarks, casting his eyes to the side where Helena sits, just outside of the overhang Peter carefully positioned himself beneath. "That should buy us a few minutes." He turns, about to head out into the cold rain, but stops short of actually doing it. "I don't have any real information for you today, um, we're still looking into that berserk evolved thing." One brow raises as Peter looks Helena up and down where she sits, but lowers soon after, hands tucking into the pockets of his slacks as he stands just beyond the curtain of falling rain, watching droplets strike his shoes. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about…"
The slow and gradual opening of her eyes, the turn of her head to study him brings her expression into focus - a cautious, careful gaze. Peter never would have hesitated to be near her regardless of whether. "It's been a while since you took me flying." she says, seeming completely off topic. "Could you?" Is she serious? Is she paying attention?"
Peter smiles, somewhat ruefully as he looks down to the flagstone floor of the rooftop, hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks and shoulders slouched. "I… actually can't fly anymore." It's an odd thing, to admit something like that, "I can't do a lot of the things I used to do, Helena… I've lost half of my powers." When his dark eyes finally lift back up to the girl seated in the rain, it's clear that for as much as he came here to see Helena, he didn't come here for small-talk either. He seems, rather fully, about business. "Which, is what I wanted to talk to you about."
Helena shifts her seated position so that she's facing him, her back to the big wide world as she plants her hands down on either side of her and lets her toes dip toward the floor. With the rain falling down on her and the destruction in the background, she's like some kind of mythical avatar for a moment, the oracle of Delphi come to answer a supplicant, or the Lady of the Lake bestowing Excalibur to Arthur returned. But it's only Peter. "I'm listening."
"First, Elle's back." His lips purse to the side, "She's back with the Company. She… saved herself." Turning his face away for a moment, Peter's eyes fall half-lidded, shoulders rising in a helpless shrug before falling. "Until I figure out what's going on with this Rage-Dementia thing, though, it'd be pointless for me to leave the Company. I… If we don't figure out what it is, a lot of people are going to get hurt." With those words murmured, Peter shifts his eyes back to Helena, and any semblance of a smile drains from his face.
"I… I've got a problem, Helena. A big one." Pne hand moves out from his pocket, brushing over his face. "A while back, after… after you and Cat helped me get my memories together I… I had a dream. One of those really, really vivid ones. It — In it, I was attacked at the Primatech facility down in Level-5, by… nnh, by myself."
"He looked just like me, but, back when I first joined PARIAH." Peter hesitates for a moment, then looks out to the ruins of the city beyond Helena thorugh the haze of the rain. "I thought it was a metaphor, for struggling with myself. I… I thought the worst of it would be what you told me. What — what you saw that day in my apartment." Peter's brow tenses, and he turns to lean on the stone railing again, under the shelter of the greenhouse's overhang. "He split off from me, Helena. I… I don't know how. I must've been exposed to a power or… or something." Peter leans forward, resting his head against his arms, he and Helena divided by that curtain of rain. "I met some girl on an assignment, she… she was doing something to my powers, unintentionally I think, augmenting them. She — I think he was going to kill her. The other me… He has half of my powers, and I… I don't know what to do."
Helena is silent for a moment, gaze distant. "I remember when you were…changing." she says. "You'd be you one moment, and then someone else, the next. Different. Darker. You put your hand around my throat." Her hand creeps up to her neck in memory of the event. "Your double and I have a dead drop point, but I haven't put anything there in a while." She looks at him, expression careful. "I know you're telling me this so I know, but I get the feeling you want me to do something - or not do something about it. But I don't know if it matters. There will always be a crisis, Peter. You know that, right? It's already started. You'll never leave the Company. They've got you now. It'll be one excuse after another."
Peter was there with her, for that whole conversation, up until the point of her last few words. Then, with his head turned away, he closes his eyes. "Helena, I — " Peter doesn't look up from where his head has come to rest, face turned away from the young woman. He breathes out a heavy sigh, then slowly turns to look back down at his arms, pushing himself up slowly into a more straight standing position. "Would you prefer if I just up and left right now?" His eyes narrow for a moment, "Just forget the work I'm doing investigating what's killing people in the streets for no cause?" For a moment, Peter just lets his hand linger there, gesturing to the city before it slowly lowers. "I don't want to be there, Helena. But as long as there's something I can do to help people, to save lives, I'm going to do it."
"The Company has plenty of agents." Daintily she steps off her makeshift throne, striding up to him as the rain pours down, but not coming under the shade with him. There's just inches of space between them, him dry and safe, her in the rain. The air gets colder. "But we need you. We're struggling. When the others left, there are so few of us, and there are people trying to frame us, and everyone's looking to me and - I need you. I told you before I can't do this alone." Her expression becomes strained. "I'm sorry if that's selfish. I've given up everything for this movement Peter, and I've watched anything and anyone I've cared about get taken away from me. And now, you." She turns away, hands balling into fists.
"The other agents can't all be trusted. Trusted to actually care and help people. I think…" Peter hesitates, seeing the way Helena is reacting. He frowns, visibly, but only visible to himself as she turns her back to him. "There's some people inside of the Company, ones who I think want to change things. Ones who don't agree with the old way of doing business, the bagging and tagging. People who believe in helping others…" His voice fades for a moment, "I have to be there, to appeal to those sensibilities. I know I can do good there, Helena. PARIAH, or… whatever it is you've become," He clearly hasn't been keeping an eye on the graffiti lately. "It doesn't need me, it never did. It needed people like Cameron, people like you." He turns his back to Helena, one hand resting against his brow, fingers splayed and bracing his head as if it would fall off.
"You've kept everyone together so far without me. You've stood up for your beliefs, and you've not been swayed. You're a better leader — a less selfish leader than I ever was." Peter feigns a smile. "I miss you… But i know my place isn't with your people right now. We have to make our stands, you and I, where we can. Right now…" He turns around, looking over his shoulder thorugh the curtain of rain towards Helena. "Right now it's apart."
Helena looks off to the side a moment, one of her trademark silences to be endured until finally she looks at him. "You're never coming home." It's said as a confirmation, an acceptance. "And I don't - I'm not enough." She turns walks back toward the edge. Another quiet moment. "I'll let you know if I have anything to pass on, okay?" It's not so bad. Two heartbreaks in as many weeks. Petrelli blood leads to a certain kindness and cruelty.
"Helena…" Peter reaches out, not through the rain, but towards it. His arm tenses, a reflexive muscle motion that should have imparted the sensation of a hand on Helena's shoulder, but instead there is nothing. No telekinetic hand, no force, nothing but the sound of the rain. His fingers curl towards his palm, hand lowering as his head turns to the side. "Helena… I…" Words fail him, and Peter stares at the blonde through the rain, watching her with a hesitant look in his eyes. "I can't be that person right now. I — I'm not even sure if I'm me right now."
Her face is wet. It's the rain. Truely. She looks over her shoulder, plasters a stiff smile on her face. "Like I said, I'll let you know if something comes up worth passing on." And only then does she allow a tremor to come to her voice. "Please go away now. I'm sure your employers are expecting you." She turns back to the horizon. This audience is over, Arthur. The Lady of the Lake does not find you worthy today.
Peter stares at Helena's back for a moment, and that dismissal goes without a rebuttal. There's a long, heavy silence that is joined only by the sound of falling rain. But that silence is never joined by anything, not the sound of Peter departing, not the sound of him trying to make a case for himself. There's only silence. He's just gone, vanished like some phantom from the rooftop, leaving no sign that he was ever there on the roof at all.
Except for the impression left by his words.
She never slows down.
She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like its all coming down
She won't turn around
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain
 November 8th: If You're Happy and You Know It |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 November 8th: Two Roads Diverged In A Yellow Wood |