That Wasn't A B-Movie

Participants:

barbara_icon.gif gillian_icon.gif squeaks_icon.gif

Scene Title That Wasn't a B-Movie
Synopsis This camcorder is proving to be all sorts of trouble.
Date June 3, 2018

Doyle Memorial Library


The last of the kids got led out the front door with a smile and a note to come back later to continue learning and reading. Gillian is proud of how the library has turned out, proud that kids are attending the classes and the puppet shows. She knows that Doyle would have been proud too if he could see it.

She stays behind, after dismissing the librarians, with Squeaks hanging on in tow with whatever she brought with her. No doubt the camera isn’t as scary as it once had been, because it hasn’t caused any crazy visions since then. Thankfully.

When the woman they were waiting for arrived, Gillian greeted her with a small smile and handshake. They had never been the closest, in fact, she’s not sure they properly met back when they were both in the Ferry, but they knew of each other. And they knew of each other even more during the tribunals. “Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to meet with us. Please, follow me.”

She’d set aside the Learning Room for this, with tables and chairs. It also has a water cooler, because books aren’t allowed in the Learning Room outside of classes. On the blackboard there are chalk outlines of hand symbols for the ASL class. On the walls, there are posters in Spanish and English. There are Japanese flashcards as well, to help with communication between the Safe Zone and Yamagato children. The room is mostly focused on language, but there is some basic mathematics as well.

“Barbara, this is Squeaks. Squeaks— this is Barbara Zimmerman.” Who happens to look quite a bit like one of the Council members that she’d seen when she addressed the SCZ Council.

The library is practically heaven on earth. There are enough books to keep a kid busy for days, and it’s been one of Squeaks’ more frequent hang-outs. She hasn’t ventured into any of the classes so far, and she’s as like to dodge the grown-ups’ worried looks and inquiries as she is to be found engaged in a novel or researching some new fascination.

This evening, the subject is ghosts. And the closing hours were spent engaged in reading anything she could find on it.

But now that the library is officially closed, and all the workers have gone home or wherever they go after work, the books are put back on their shelves and Squeaks becomes Gillian’s shadow. Sort of. She waits quietly, sometimes casting a side-eye toward the woman, mostly fidgeting with the backpack she brought — it has the camcorder, wrapped in tin foil and stuffed into a smaller sack, within it. But she doesn’t really offer much else while they wait.

Then, when Barbara arrives, she’s is given the same sort of eyeballing, wondering if this is another safe grown-up. But it relents soon after, because she’s trusting Gillian a little and it’s time to move into the Learning room. It’s a whole new place, and Squeaks isn’t shy about looking around. The chalkboard is of particular interest, and she even goes up to touch it. The markings aren’t messed with, but she does drag a finger a few inches across the board. The girl turns to look at both Gillian and Barbara when introductions happen, finger still resting on the blackboard.

“Hi,” is how Squeaks responds.

Part of the reason it's been so hard to get ahold of Barbara is that, when she hasn't been busy with catch up work, she was on administrative leave due to the aftermath of the Yamagato explosion - and while the worst of her wounds had been miraculously healed, her hand is still in a cast, held rigid so that it can heal.

And today she's slightly late because she's taken a moment to meander around the library before it closed and it became time to tend to her meeting - this was the first opportunity she had had to visit. When she finally does join them, it's in a black suit with a dull grey shirt, a tired look in her eyes. But when she spots Gillian, she smiles - reputation is more than enough to brighten up this meeting.

"This place is lovely, Ms. Childs," she had greeted her with, a hand offered for a handshake. "I had wanted to come to the opening, but business got in the way last minute." She pauses, looking around. "I think they'd all be pleased, though."

With that offered, she turns to Squeaks - the girl is much younger than Barbara expected, resulting in a quick look of puzzlement over to Gillian. Still, she offers a hand to her as well, nodding. "A pleasure to meet you. What is it I can do to help the both of you today?"

“It’s fine. The opening was more for the children and their families than us.” Gillian responds, meaning the Ferry as ‘us’. They had lived through the war, and while those this whole place had been named after had either been Ferry or people who had helped out in various ways and died within the rescue of those within the Arcology, it really had been for those who would make the use of it. “I’m glad you like it.” She hopes that those who it had been named for would have felt the same.

With a gesture towards Squeaks, she motions to the table, “I’m asking you here as a member of the former Ferry, not as your current job. Something was found.” That’s vague, she knows, but she doesn’t want to reveal too much too quickly, either. “And it has a more personal meaning to some of us, those who had worked with the Ferry. It may lead us to find people who we’d thought were lost back in 2011. But there’s also the potential for… danger with it as well, it could also be some trick. It could be the work of a powerful telepath, or someone using an ability to manipulate us.” The vision those children had seen, after all, left uneasiness with her, the fact that it hadn’t been recorded on the tape, that it had transmitted into their home.

I was hoping that you could… I remember hearing what your ability was when we were on the island together. I thought maybe you could get some information from this object we found that others can not.” Even as she says that she hesitates, because, well… “But only if you want to, and only if you agree to keep this between us for the time being, until we can figure out who needs to know what’s actually involved.”

The hand that’s extended is regarded, at first, like it might jump up and bite. Squeaks’ hand falls away from the chalkboard, and her eyes go from the hand to Gillian to the hand’s owner. “Hi,” she says again. Deliberately slow steps take her toward the two, within range that she can shake Barbara’s hand. Which is done with a lot of side-eying and not really shaking. It’s really more of a quick touch of hands and then the girl is two steps away again.

While Gillian begins explaining the situation, Squeaks walks around behind her to a free table. Her backpack comes off and is set on it. She pulls open the zipper and fishes out the smaller sack inside. That is put onto the first bag but left closed for now. And it’s given a warning look, a good one with a promise. She still doesn’t trust the camcorder or the tape that had been found within it.

A finger is pointed at the smaller parcel to underline the unspoken warning. Behave or get knocked into a wall again. Then Squeaks looks at the two grown-ups.

"The Ferry is still family," is Barbara's firm response to Gillian, offering her a bit of a smile. "Even after all these years." Even connected to her actual family as she was, the Ferry had been there for years before - she would always owe it and it's members a debt that would never be repaid. "So, there wasn't much hesitation in my decision to come here."

Still, though, something sits oddly about this, and Barbara looks a little skeptical at the nondescript something and what it could mean. "There seems to be some of that going around," Barbara replies obliquely - after all, Eileen Ruskin had returned from the dead, though Barbara still had her concerns about that. But if she could, what else waited to be found?

Squeak's reluctance to engage is noted, Barbara offering a warm smile to the young girl. "I promise," is offered in response to Gillian but is said with her eyes square on Squeaks. "Discretion is important…" A glance back at Gillian. "I do work for the government now, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to keep a secret. I made a career of it before."

But with that said, she studies Squeaks carefully. "So, what do you have for me that's so dangerous?" Possibilities race through her mind - anything could've been recovered from the ruins, or from former Institute holdings, or- anything, really. The nature of the danger is what makes her the most curious, even.

With the promise given, Gillian’s shoulders relax and she nods toward the young woman. “She found a camcorder that had a tape in it, in a place that looked like it hadn’t been touched for… possibly a decade. But that’s not really the— it’s what was on the tape.” She could just show her, she’d even brought in a laptop for that very purpose, with a copy that the young man who spent a lot of time with the Lighthouse Kids had made. And she would show her, most likely, but for the moment she wanted her to have as clear a mind as possible, that she got whatever it was her power would show her, not be influenced by the outside.

“On the tape, there were two people who had gone with the Ferry on one of our … raids. Before the war broke out. On November eight. Not the Arcology, but the one to Alaska.” She had only really learned a lot about that raid after the fact, but she figured that, as one of the top members of the Ferry, Barbara would have known a lot more than she did. “The tape has dates after the raid and shows Elisabeth Harrison and Magnes Varlane, both who supposedly had died in Alaska.”

The look from Barbara is met, but not with Squeaks facing her. It’s done with side-eyes and a faint frown. She lets out a huff, nostrils flaring a touch, then looks at the sack instead. It takes a few seconds to work the knot holding it closed — she was determined to keep it contained, whatever it was — but she pulls the opening wider with another glance to the grown-ups. Sleeves are pushed up to elbows before she reaches inside to draw out the tin-foil wrapped camcorder, which probably looks more like a fancy burrito in all its silvery encasement.

That stuff, too, is removed. Then the camcorder rests out in the open for all eyes to see. It’s broken, but mostly intact.

“It was in the Underneath,” Squeaks supplements. “In… above a circular room that had a tank. And dead people. Down a hallway with offices and rooms. The room where this was had only dust and empty shelves. And this — “ She points to the camcorder. “It wasn’t dirty like everything else.” Which doesn’t explain why the precautions and dirty looks the ancient piece of technology keeps getting from the girl. But it sums up where it came from.

Barbara's frown deepens more and more as she looks between Gillian and Squeaks. "Of course." Of course it would be tied to that day. She looks down at the tinfoil wrapped device, watching as it is gingerly placed out for her to see. "I only had passing familiarity with both," Barbara admits, leaning down to visually examine the camcorder. "I seem to remember Varlane being a… problem." An honest assessment, from her position. It doesn't stop her from letting out a long sigh. "You're sure this isn't just… someone having set the wrong date? On the camcorder?" She look over to Squeaks, and then to Gillian. "They're about as impenetrable as VCRs used to be."

It seems like a joke, but her tone doesn't reflect that - no, this is an honest question.

The Underneath and a mention of a tank and dead people is filed away. Something worth asking about and looking into later. She reaches a hand towards the device, stopping short before she curls them back in and rises up straight again. "I suppose I can help solve that mystery," she asserts quietly. "But, if somehow it is them… what are you going to do with that?" Another honest question. She may be former Ferry, that doesn't mean she's eager to get embroiled in something that could people on the wrong side of-

Well. Her mother, mostly, and all the power she wields.

"And do you have anywhere… emptier?" She looks around the room, before offering an apologetic smile to both of them. "Sometimes I wander while this is happening."

“It’s possible, but some of the things that they were saying on the recording— it could be an elaborate prank, and when the kids played it back they… saw something that didn’t get repeated the second time they watched or anytime after.” Gillian’s not sure how to explain that. She’d seen it, in the kid’s memories thanks to Kaylee, but she still could not be too clear on how it had happened, what had caused it. An ability of some kind, certainly. Could the entire thing be the product of an ability?

That had been one of the reasons she had wanted to get a second opinion, someone who might see past the images on the screen, someone who could look into what might have caused them, where it had come from. Somewhere empty…

“There’s a basement. It has a few boxes, but they’re against the wall and out of the way. Less likely to be bumped into. We can lock the door so you can’t wander out, too.” With that, she gestured them to follow her, motioning to Squeaks to bring the camcorder, until she leads to a locked door. The lock door opens into a stairwell, which she leads down to another locked door.

That one she opens and turns on some lights— and indeed, it’s large basement. One that has designated shelter signs on it, in case of emergency. All the staff has a key, and this is where they would lead the children if an emergency happened. There’s only the slightest sign of dust, as they’ve actually cleaned down here recently, and boxes are stacked on shelves against the walls. Otherwise it seems a wide open area.

“Will this do?” And should she answer yes, she locks the door behind them.

All the things relating to the camcorder are gathered up. They aren't wrapped like they had been when brought out of the backpack, that would take too long. Squeaks, instead, folds everything up together with the backpack on the outside good and tight. Then, parcel tucked under her arm, she follows the two grown-ups to the basement room.

Going into that room is no problem. She finds a spot near the center of the room for the camcorder, and that's all laid out again. It's the lock sliding home that brings a pang of fear and her head up. Squeaks’ eyes dart from Gillian to Barbara in silent protest.

“Something happened when we watched the video,” she says instead, after taking a breath to settle her nerves. “The lights went crazy and the house got shaken.” Squeaks takes a half step backward from the camcorder. She's still within kicking range, if it acts up again. “There was a voice wanting out, during the second part, but it wasn't part of the video. It was… like it was in the house. The camcorder shot the tape out when the voice stopped speaking. So all that’s left was the two gold rings.”

"This'll do wonderfully," Barbara confirms with a nod, looking over the open room. It's not a guarantee she needs it, but it never hurts - her ability has grown over the last few years, to the point where sometimes it feel feels like she's there at whatever she's witnessing - but sometimes, that means she's more mobile than she thinks… or remembers. An unnerving truth, but not one to dwell on in the here and now.

It's when Squeaks starts to speak up that her expression turns cautious again. "If that is a prank, it's a complex one from the sound of it. Multiple abilities at work and-" She stops suddenly as Squeaks talks, still for a moment before she slowly turns to face the much younger woman. Pointing a finger at her slow, she takes a deep breath. "Gold rings?" It strikes a cord with her, but she's not quite sure why, furrowing her brow as she takes all of this in.

Her apprehension is cut with a weak smile to Squeaks. "Relax. I'm sure this will be fine." With that, she brings her attention to the camcorder. "If neither of you have any objections, then… perhaps it's time to see how genuine an article this actually is.

Gillian’s good at recognizing apprehension in children. She lived with the Lighthouse Kids for many years, and some of them had fears, so when she spots Squeaks looking worried, she waits until she hands over the objects before she holds out the key to the young girl, so she felt like she had control over that. “You can hold onto this. If you need to step out, do. It’ll be fine.”

She’s offering her a reassuring smile, to let her know that she can leave whenever she wants, and now has the keys to do so if she chooses. When she looks back at Barbara, she adds on, “I’ll give you extra energy if it looks like you need it, but since we don’t know how my ability will affect yours, we’ll hold off on that unless…” Unless she can’t get anything. Unless that little ball of energy that she can sense from her looks weakened or depleted. But she won’t use it unless something like that happens. Either way unless.

It did sound like a complicated prank, though, so she doubted it would be that. And golden rings… well… she’s heard some things about that too.

“Gold rings.” Plainly stated confirmation, because Squeaks couldn’t have made something up like that, complete with a possessed camcorder wrapped up like it was, and kept a straight face the whole time. And if it was some elaborate prank, she’s definitely not the master of it but as much an unsuspecting victim as the half dozen others she’s involved. “Two of them.”

She doesn’t actually look at the finger that’s pointed at her, she’s looking squarely at Barbara while she speaks, but whatever its intended for it has Squeaks taking another step away from the camcorder. The offer of the key is almost missed, because she’s again eyeballing Barbara. Her fingers curl tightly around the key when it is noticed, and she goes to try it in the lock.

Twice. Just to be sure.

Satisfied, Squeaks keeps a tight hold on the key. That door may need to be opened fast. They might need a fire extinguisher to stop the camcorder again. Or something, if everything goes crazy like before. She takes a couple of steps away from the door and waits, blue eyes watching the camcorder, and Barbara, and sometimes looking to Gillian.

Barbara regards Squeaks once more with curiosity. She's finally noticed how the young girl continues to watch her, uncertainty clear, the way she takes the key that's offered to her and tests it immediately. She offers her a warm smile. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable?" she offers, before looking back at the camcorder. It's an honest question, but she doesn't give too much opportunity to answer, instead turning her attention to the camcorder.

"Gold eyes," she repeats quietly, marked with a hint of hesitation. She runs her tongue over her teeth and sighs, before finally closing her eyes and reaching out to the device that is ostensible star of the hour.

And in that exact moment, Barbara feels a rush of static electric energy roll up her body from her fingertips to her skull. It's a sinus-expanding tingle that shocks her system in the way rapid air-pressure change feels, and—


Somewhen Else


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“Don't stop! Don't you dare stop!”

A voice rings out over the howling sound of raging winds. All around Barbara Zimmerman is a scene unfamiliar to her, flooded with faces both familiar and unfamiliar. She is on the rooftop of a building in the middle of Manhattan, the sky dark with clouds and a torrential rain hammering down from above. The winds are howling in ways Barbara has never experienced before, and she can see at the horizon the clouds are swirling violently. She, and New York City, are in the midst of a hurricane.

But the skyline isn't one she immediately recognizes. The dark rectangles of the World Trade Center rise up high, there's no midtown crater. This could be before the bomb, or perhaps its…

Hold!

The voice, a man’s voice. She knows him.

Snapping her attention back to the people on the roof, Barbara takes them all in with horrifying recognition. The man shouting is a tall and dark man in a rain-soaked business suit, one hand at his head and blood streaming down his face. He is unmistakably Charles Deveaux. Then the location suddenly feels familiar, from a memory of Barbara’s past life. The cherubs, the greenhouse.

This is the Deveaux Building.

God damnit hold!

But Simon Broome is here.

Nearby to Charles, Simon Broome stands in an equally dark and equally rain-soaked suit, eyes shut and a line of blood trickling out of his nose and ears. He's fighting something, something unseen. Beside him, the chairman of the Yamagato Fellowship, Kam Nisatta rests on her knees in a tattered red dress. Broome's hands are on her head, gripping tightly, and she's spamming and fighting his grip.

Charles!” Another voice calls out, “Charles how much longer!?” The voice of Arthur Petrelli is not a familiar one to Barbara as much as Charles, but she knew him as a child. He is much as she remembered him, strong and confident. He squints against the rain, a tiny blonde child no older than a year cradled in his arms and swaddled in a blanket.

Kusogaki!” The scream comes from the top of the roof, where the silhouette of a blood-covered man in a three-piece suit is holding a fucking katana. Leaping down at Arthur, Adam Monroe buries his sword through Arthur’s shoulder. The blade extends out the front of his shoulder joint and narrowly missed the blonde child in his arms.

Screaming in pain, Arthur drops to one knee, cradling the baby in his remaining good arm. He turns, looking back at Adam, whose eyes burn a vibrant gold with teeth clenched. “Koshinuke!” He twists the sword, and Arthur let's out a howl of pain a moment before Adam is lifted off of his feet and flung back bodily against the greenhouse wall, glass shattering in his back.

Another figure on the roof, dressed in a breezy jacket and floral patterned scarf holds out one hand as a harmonic telekinetic thrum keeps Adam pinned against the wall. She is graceful, confident, and young. But she is not someone Barbara recognizes.

Yaeko— ” Adam hisses at her, and she clenches her fist shut and forces his mouth closed. Swiftly, she moves to Arthur’s side at the same time another woman does, one Barbara knows. Ishi Nakamura.

“Easy, Arthur.” Ishi insists as she lays a hand on his wound and a flood of white light spills out beneath his skin, knitting the injury shut. “Keep helping Simon.” Attention turned back to Adam, Ishi’s eyes narrow and her lips downturn to a visible frown.

Broome, struggling with whatever task he is charged with, let's out a frustrated howl of agony and collapses to his knees at the same time Kam’s body writhes around in his grasp. Charles clutches his head, screaming loudly through the pain and the hurricane-force winds. “I almost have it! I almost have it!

“I've got you, Mr. Deveaux!” An unfamiliar red-haired teenager shouts as he places a hand on Charles’ shoulder. He's no older than thirteen or fourteen, but when he touches Charles’ shoulder there's a surge of rainbow-hued light that refracts around Charles brow, and the telepath seems to have renewed vigor and strength.

“Dawson!” Charles shouts to a woman his age standing nearby, her graying hair soaked by the fierce rain. “Now!

Ms. Dawson raises her hands, the ground rumbling beneath her feet. Kam struggles, screaming, and then goes limp in Broome’s grasp. As Ms. Dawson tries to utilize whatever power it is she has, Simon’s eyes flash open to reveal golden irises. He twitches, struggling, like someone who is paralyzed where they stand.

“Oh— oh my god I can feel its power!” Ms. Dawson shouts, already beginning to buckle to one knee. “What— what is— Charles! Charles I don't know if I can h-hold— ”

I can see,” Simon utters in a deep voice, “Eye to E — eeeeyeeaaaaaaagh!” Clutching his head, Broome’s eyes gutter out from their golden glow. Charles makes a concerted noise of effort and Simon collapses down onto his knees, then down onto his side and begins convulsing on the ground.

“Just a little more!” Charles shouts, and Arthur turns to look up at Adam, then down and over to where Simon convulses on the ground. “Almost! Almost!

We— ”


Now


Barbara wakes up on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, head throbbing and blood covering her mouth and nose, dribbled down her chin.

For a while, it almost seemed like nothing had happened, but Gillian could tell something was. She watches quietly without doing anything for a minute, and then the poor woman started to convulse. It almost looked like a seizure. She moves closer, but doesn’t touch her, even as blood starts to come down her nose. A look is given to Squeaks and she gestures toward one of the boxes against the wall, “There should be blankets in there.”

Not that those would do much good, though she stood prepared for the taller woman to start falling. And that didn’t take long to happen at all. Another minute passed and she started to collapse and the librarian didn’t catch her so much as make sure she didn’t hit her head as she fell.

“I don’t think this is just burnout or overuse,” she states quietly, frowning down at the woman as she kneels to the floor beside her in her nice slacks.

She would have denied any discomfort before, if she’d had the chance. But Barbara went to work on …whatever it is Barbara does, and Squeaks was left with Gillian to watch what happens next. Which is exactly what she does, just a couple of steps from the door. Suspicion of the woman turns to confusion and worry. What is going on? Why is she shaking and twitching like that?

The directions for the blankets goes without any response at first. Squeaks is staring at Barbara, at Gillian, at the blood that’s leaking out of the former’s face. She doesn’t move until Barbara collapses, and by some miracle it’s for the box with those blankets and not out the door.

The box is dragged from the wall and opened. Squeaks paws down a couple of layers and approaches Gillian with an armful. She’s has no idea for how to do first aid, or take care of sick people, which leads to some hesitation about what to do with all the blankets. It’s only a minute, or probably less, and the girl folds up enough of a blanket to make a pillow to stuff under Barbara’s head.

“What is it?” Because this didn’t happen to anyone when Squeaks first presented the video to her friends.

Barbara sputters and coughs as she wakes on her back, vision swirling as she rolls over on her side. It's only when notices red dripping to the floor that she reaches up and runs her hand across her face. She coughs again, pulling herself up to her knees, and she looks up at the others.

Her eyes are wide, pupils slightly bigger than usual. she trembles slightly, looking from Squeaks to Gillian. She doesn't have a towel handy, and she's not about to ruin her sleeves. She holds up a hand to Squeaks and her blanket, not wanting it for a towel, but to clean herself up. Shaking she looks over to Gillian.

"I-I don't know what you think you all saw on that video," she breathes out, looking over to where the camcorder sits. "Destroy that thing. It's Company property." While they may be long gone, Barbara will never forget the Company that broke her family apart, intent of murder and capture. She starts to pull herself up to her feet, but stops quickly, reaching out for Gillian's shoulder to brace herself as the room spins a bit.

While she’s sure from the way that the young girl happens to look at the camcorder and she might agree to such a statement, Gillian’s not really wanting to destroy it, either. With a nod, she looked toward the girl and was half tempted to send her upstairs to get the laptop and the copy that she had and thus open up her to talk to Barbara in private, but she had promised her kids that she would not keep them out of the loop and the girl was their representative in this.

Even when she wanted to.

“Seeing something involving the Company certainly gives reason to concern. They hurt a lot of people and destroyed a lot of families.” Her own included. The original one. They were also responsible for her having her ability, apparently. A formula, potentially flawed, that had been expected to kill her in her early twenties. It didn’t work out that way, though. “And they certainly had the power to pull off some elaborate… things.” Displays of power. After all the Company and what they were was no longer a secret from people. It had been a big topic of the tribunals.

Especially how some members of it had orchestrated the occurrence of the first Bomb.

“If you’re willing to tell us what you saw, I’ll show you what was recorded on that video, and Squeaks can tell you about what her and the others saw, if she feels comfortable with that.” The exchange of information sounded like the best way to present it, and maybe if they knew more they could piece together what was actually going on. The Company. Of all the things to be involved.

Squeaks is wide-eyed and full of uncertainty when Barbara looks her way. She doesn’t look like she might bolt, but whatever just happened is definitely filed away under the ever-growing list of weird things. There’s been a lot of that lately, especially after finding that cursed-possessed-evil camcorder. The blanket, which had been nearly stuffed under Barbara’s head, is instead given to her.

Destroying it is exactly what the girl would agree to doing, and she follows Barbara’s gaze to where the camcorder rests. But she hesitates and looks at Gillian. Not to ask permission; Squeaks would destroy the camcorder whether told she could or not. The hesitation and look come from the apparent importance of whatever was seen — not just the tape, but with whatever Barbara was able to do and see. Still, she’s willing and ready to smash it into billions of pieces, just when there’s nothing else to learn from it.

“Bad guys.” It’s a summation of The Company. Squeaks, coming from the outermost fringes of society, only caught bits and pieces of the after-war happenings. So she sums up the grown-ups explanations with a much more simple term. Then she nods to supplement Gillian’s offer of trading information.

The blanket is taken, Barbara haphazardly trying to at least somewhat clean up the blood covering her face with it, before her lets out a heavy sigh. Her voice is slightly muffled by the blanket as she holds it over the lower part of her face in an attempt to catch any other blood that may decide to leak out in the wake of using her ability. Did it usually bleed this much?

She lets out a muffled cough, looking up at Gillian before finally pulling herself back up to her feet again. She moves to the wall, leaning against it. "The Company she breathes out. I recognised… Charles Deveaux. Arthur Petrelli. I-Ishi Nakamura." All ghosts to her, members of the company long since dead. "Simon Broome." That one is said looking into Gillian’s eyes, with the weight that name portends carried plainly in two simple words.

"Others I didn't know. They were fighting a man with a sword, with golden eyes. Trying to do- something to-" Kam Nisetta. And suddenly, she realises that there's someone she can talk to about this herself. Someone who can hopefully help her understand what she just saw. She pauses, chewing at her lower lip for a moment. She had never been fond of the secrets people would keep from her during the Ferry days. But she knew that sometimes, secrets were necessary.

"…To a woman. Arthur had a child, and there were… some others." She shakes her head. In the past, she used to have to draw out these events. She used to have trouble processing them. Now, the image sticks in her mind, clear as day. And despite that, she still wants to draw it. To put any question of who she saw out. "I don't… know what it was. But wasn't any of our people." So no Magnes Varlane or Elisabeth Harrison to be seen.

Sometimes secrets were necessary. And Gillian understands the hesitation and recognizes it for what it could be. The lack of people alive from the Company would make the situation difficult, getting information harder. But a man with a sword with golden eyes. “Thank you, Barbara. If you learn anything about that, let us know.” But until she did seem to learn something, she wouldn’t push on it.

“Do you want to see the tape before we go? It’s upstairs.” But she also understood if the woman wanted to investigate her own lead, since her vision didn’t give her any information on the two missing people. She couldn’t see how the tape would actually help in that.

Golden eyes had not been on the tape. But the recorder might have been Company property… There was someone Gillian thought she could take that to, to confirm. Someone who knew more about the Company than just about anyone still alive that she knew off.

Though she wasn’t sure Hana would be too keen on helping without full disclosure.

“More gold eyes.” Squeaks’ face scrunches a little, one eye squinting more than the other as she wonders on that. There’s been lots of talk about gold eyes, or gold rings that could be eyes. “No voice from nowhere wanting out of nothing. And no… whoever you say got lost a long time ago.” It’s puzzling, clearly she doesn’t have enough pieces to see much of whatever kind of picture is being made.

So her ponderings are set aside with a shrug and a sigh. No answers is just a thing that you get used to. Squeaks wraps her arms around herself and pokes at the camera with a toe. Unless it speaks again, she’ll probably just leave it alone. For now. “Can I keep following these rabbit holes? I’ll be good, I swear.” Because it seems important enough to keep going, even if she’s not sure about all the grown-ups just yet. Most of them seem okay so far…

The girl pauses and looks at Barbara and Gillian, then adds, “and I’ll tell everything I remember about with the video when I watched it and found it. Everything.”

At the mention of rabbit holes, Barbara gives Squeaks a sidelong look, her frown deepening. "You shouldn't," she tells the young girl matter of factly, before shaking her head. "I can't stop you, though." She takes a deep breath, leaning back against the wall behind her. A long, labored sigh issues out.

"Gillian, I'm serious. Whatever you've got from that camcorder, get rid of it. I don't think any good will come from digging in the past." Considering her own intentions, the comment is both deceitful and ironic, and neither of these facts is lost on Barbara. A hand rises up, running down her face. "The Petrellis, the Deveauxs… Dawson?" She coughs, closing her eyes.

She would certainly have to ask her mother about this. See if this was anything she knew about, tied to Charles' name and society as she was - and still - is. But that's not who she'll see first.

She has an appointment with Kam Nisetta to make tomorrow.

As she reiterates again that destroying the camcorder, Gillian hesitates for a moment then nods. “It’s likely we’ve gotten everything we’re going to get out of it. We can dispose of it.” They already had the tapes, it was pretty much broken, as it used tapes it didn’t have any digital information saved upon it they could get anything from. Unless someone knew another psychic who could read it, which she didn’t, there was no reason to keep it at this point.

“I can take care of that, if you’re okay with it, Squeaks,” she offers, but doesn’t plan to just do something with it. The Petrelli’s, the Dawsons? Who were the Dawsons? The only Dawson she’d heard of hadn’t been involved in the Company as far as she knew. That had been one of the smaller pickles, though.

She did think she might take Squeaks to Eve, now, though. Cause she would definitely listen about the potential golden eyes, she’s sure. Last she checked Eve hadn’t been answering her phone at the Cat’s Cradle, though.

“I won’t leave you out, I promised my kids,” she assures the girl who had found the camcorder. “But we still need to be careful about this.” Perhaps even more so, now.

If the Company had some involvement.

There’s a little bit of a shift in Squeaks’ expression. From curiosity that had just begun to eclipse the normal touch of suspicion to now almost uneasy. She looks away when Barbara frowns at her, going first toward the boxes where she found the blankets and then to the camcorder, and her arms wrap around her middle in a sort of self hug. She is listening, though, in spite of withdrawing.

Gillian’s question is answered with a small nod, and Squeaks looks up at her. The hand clutching the key is extended and the key itself is offered back. “Very careful,” the girl agrees. And promises. She doesn’t know what all of these things mean, but it sounds scary and there’s answers to it all somewhere.

The Company that hurts people and gold eyes and voices without bodies — that’s a recipe to definitely be careful.


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