The Foresight Saga

Participants:

berlin_icon.gif richard3_icon.gif

Scene Title The Foresight Saga
Synopsis Richard has a plan to catch the boogeyman.
Date January 02, 2019

Raytech Branch Office: CEO's Office

A large double-window along one wall of Richard Ray's office allows natural light to spill in throughout the office and provides an excellent view of the green roof on the lower floor of the building, the flowered garden spreading out between rows of solar panels.

The walls of the office are in slate grey, the carpeting on the floor matching, and the furniture is all in black glass, metal, and leather - but the modern starkness is offset by the tall potted plants that grow along the side of the room opposite the window. The CEO's desk is a broad affair in black glass with a video feed and touch-screen built into the surface of the desk itself, the non-interactive portions of the desk decorated sparsely with a plastic 'in' and 'out' box, a framed picture of Elisabeth Harrison, and an old onyx chess king set beside it like reminders of times long past.


It's the second day of the new year, the streets swept with gusts of snow blown off rooftops and fire escapes as chill breezes dance in the buildings that remain of what was once New York. There's a stark sort of post-apocalyptic beauty that can be seen through the windows of Richard Ray's office, the yellow and orange of construction vehicles hidden by blankets of white.

As the executive waits for his cousin's arrival he's slumped back in his chair, neither of his animals present today, a tall and bilious green can of some energy drink in one hand and the shadows beneath his eyes speaking of a man who hasn't slept properly in a week. Not since that spiral of light descended from the skies and down to Manhattan's most infamous rooftop.

Not long after her arrival was announced, Berlin knocks on the door to the office before she opens the door to lean in. "Hey," she greets, stepping in and shutting the door behind her. She doesn't muster a smile, but there's warmth in the greeting all the same. "You look terrible," she says with concern, not noticing how the words come out.

"I wish I could say that looks can be deceiving," Richard admits, a brief and wan smile curving his lips before it fails. A breath's drawn in, and he pulls himself to sit upwards, resting the aluminum can on the black glass of the desk and waving vaguely forward, "Have a seat. How's your holidays been?"

Berlin chuckles, a sound from low in her chest that doesn't quite reach her face. She comes over to sit, letting out a sigh as she does. "I don't… really do holidays," she says, "especially lately." Her fingers run through her hair, ruffling it for a moment before it falls right back where it was before. "I'm assuming yours were rough."

Richard brings a hand up to rub over his face. "You ever come within just… inches of everything you want, and then lose it? We tried to bring them back, on Christmas," he says, hand dropping down to the desk and eyes following it, trailing over the places where odd dark markings stain his skin, "We built the machine, we did everything… right. Or we thought we did. And we almost succeeded, we… I saw her. Elisabeth." He reaches out for the photo where it sits on his desk, lifting the frame, "I saw her. And then the link broke."

"Yes," is a simple answer to a complex question, but Berlin understands having a dream very nearly become a reality. But her answer is short, so she can listen to just how badly his holiday went. "That's awful," she says, her tone gentler there. "I'm so sorry." She glances toward the frame, gaze lingering a moment… then it flicks back to Richard. "You're going to try again," she says. It's only sort of a question.

"I have to," Richard says simply, "My daughter's over there. My mother, my… my Elisabeth. It's my family. I can't abandon them." He draws in a slow breath, "There was an incursion at the end, one of— Mayes' robots. It took the Looking Glass down with it. We only have until the fourteenth to succeed, or the window will be closed to— safely bridge the worlds as long as we need to." He picks up the can, taking a swig of it before setting it back down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"One chance. And there's a man who can help me, and who's offered to, for the right price. But it's a deal with the devil."

"I understand," Berlin says, her brow furrowing, "I'm not advocating that you abandon it." She leans forward, arms folding on the desk as she looks over at him. "An incursion. But, we weren't overrun with evo-hunting robots. I mean, the sky has looked better, but. It's not the end of the road. Step back, regroup, move forward again."

As he goes on, an eyebrow arches upward. "Well, I've learned lately that sometimes people have to do things that are less than… desirable to get the job done right. So, what does the devil want?"

"The devil," Richard replies, setting down the picture frame again and looking across the desk to her with a rueful expression, "Wants a cure for his cancer, because if I'm any judge the man doesn't have too much longer."

"Oh." Berlin takes that news in with a static expression, although her lack of reaction can be telling in its own right. "Who is the devil?" Her fingers drum on the desk, heedless of which parts are touchscreen and which aren't. "I can do it. I did it for Ben Ryans. I think I could do it faster now. I've been practicing. Not— on cancer, obviously. Just, with the— yeah."

A brow twitches a little. "You healed Ben? Good. He's a good man, and his family are good people…" Richard's lips twist in a grimace, "This particular devil's hands are stained with the blood of too many of my friends than I'd like to recite. You'll know his name. Samson Gray."

"Yeah, his— his daughter, Lucille, she's like a sister to me. I had to do it when I heard." But whatever name Berlin was expecting, the one he gives surprises her. "I don't think I can heal him," she says plainly, coldly. Although, she doesn't seem to mind this idea of picking and choosing who gets to benefit from her gift and who doesn't.

At that response, Richard smiles faintly for a moment. "You misunderstand," he says, leaning forward, "I don't want you to heal him, Berlin. I can't have that on my conscience. Not even for my family. But he'll know you can. He'll let down his guard. And once we have what we need from him, we can finally and once and for all give the murdering sonuvabitch what he deserves."

"Oh," Berlin says, sitting up a little straighter. "You want me to do the other thing." She leans back in her chair, head tilted like she needs to think it over. In reality, she needs to ask herself what would Lucille do, what would Hana do, what would Avi do? She looks back to Richard, unfolding to stand to her feet. "I'll need intel," she says, crossing the room to look out over the garden outside. "What am I dealing with?"

"You won't be alone," Richard admits, "You'll have the rest of my team there as well, to hopefully keep him from realizing what's going on until it's too late. He…" A grimace as he leans back in the chair, leather and metal creaking, "There's no way of knowing all the powers that he has at his disposal. We know of a number. Telekinesis, combustion, power identification, clairvoyance, smoke mimicry, shadow mimicry. I suspect he has some sort of sixth sense, or otherwise some way that he can anticipate bullet fire when he can't see the source."

A pause, "He does not to our knowledge have telepathy or any regenerative abilities, and if he's a healer he can't use it on himself."

The list of powers— incomplete list— is a sobering one. If she weren't already taking this very seriously, she definitely would be there. "Okay, so he'll know that I'm both. But he's desperate, so we're thinking he'll take the chance. I'll try to look as young and innocent as possible." Maybe she'll leave her gun with someone else. "Can I ask Avi to come?"

"You can tell him about this, but I don't think bringing him along would be a great idea," admits Richard, "He's too well known as part of Wolfhound, and there's no reasonable excuse to have him along. It'd tip our hand that there was something shadier than— well, than what we're there for going on."

Berlin nods to that, because it makes sense. "And Avi being Avi… even without the tip off," she says, a crooked smile coming to her lips. "So what is Gray offering? We need to make sure you actually get what he says he can give."

"Avi," Richard actually chuckles a little, "Being Avi." A slow breath's drawn in, exhaled, "The original Looking Glass device was moved to a facility in New Mexico - the same facility that Arthur Petrelli's personal kill squad was part of. Gray's primary ability is the intuitive understanding of anything he can examine, and he's examined the Glass before. Even if it's in poor shape, he can get it working again, and restore full function to my mother's machine."

"Are you sure he isn't lying? He isn't going to lead you into a trap of some kind?" Berlin glances to the garden, then back again, slowly like she isn't sure where she would rather be looking at. "Do you think the ambient danger of the device and what might happen could mask his sixth sense? If everything's loud, what's a whistle, you know?"

"It's possible. My sister may also be able to… keep him from realizing," Richard admits with a slight shake of his head, "She's a stronger telepath than she likes to believe. I'm sure he's not lying, though." A brief grimace, "He needs this too much, and he has no reason not to give me what I need in return. If he thought he could get it by leading me into a trap he would've just ambushed me and forced the information he wants out of me."

"Alright. Set it up and let me know? I'll let you know if I end up telling Avi." Berlin exhales heavy there, like she's on the fence if he can't come along. "I— haven't ever killed someone with it on purpose," she says, which may or may not be reassuring, "but it goes fast. And once I start, I'm not sure it'll stop. I had an incident— kinda messy. I haven't really used that side since. So I guess… if you have second thoughts, let me know ahead of time."

"It goes fast," Richard says quietly, briefly looking away as a memory surfaces, "And… in his condition, probably even faster. He doesn't have a lot of life energy left, I'd bet. I…" He grimaces, a hand coming up to rake back through his hair, "I'm a piece of shit for even asking you to do this, Berlin, and I know it. I wish I wasn't, I… I can't abandon them. And I can't help him and let him kill more people…"

Coming back over to the desk, Berlin finds her way to her chair again. "My whole life I've tried to find a way to use the black conduit for something good. Not easy and I'm not sure I ever succeeded. This probably isn't good in the strictest sense. Definitely illegal," she says with a huff that carries a certain amount of amusement with it. "But, I can't say that killing someone like him is exactly wrong either." The morality of her abilities has always been a struggle, using one, not using the other. "Besides. Your family is my family, remember?"

"Thank you." A faint smile, but a genuine one, and Richard rakes a hand back through his hair. "I… appreciate that. More than I can say. And— if anyone knows how you could use it for something good, it'd be Doctor Madeline Rouen, if she ever stirs out of all those… memories that float around in it. I didn't have long enough with her to learn much, but I know she knew a great deal about them both."

"Before they burned her at the stake, of course."


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License