The Infinite RabbitHole

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kaylee2_icon.gif luther2_icon.gif

Scene Title The Infinite RabbitHole
Synopsis Kaylee just Sparta'd Luther down a rabbit hole with no end in sight.
Date June 23, 2018

Raytech Industries


It was a quiet day at Raytech.

Brows furrow as Kaylee stands by the window of her office. Staring out at the world, eyes slightly unfocused as she feels that ever present watcher and idly worries about the young girl that she had tried to protect. Where was Sibyl? While she is lost in her thoughts, fingers play idly with the thin cross that she wears, often tucked out of sight. Another relic, like her wedding band, from her years trapped in 1890s New York.

On her desk, the notebook Joseph handed her sits open, a pen beside it. How many times had she read over that vision. Still it stumped her. Though one piece of that puzzle had clicked in place, there were so many in that one vision he had given her.

But what sat open wasn’t that, it was Eve’s vision of the Raytech attack. Another puzzle in the grand scheme. Unfortunately, the two didn’t seem to fit together, but… a part of her felt there had to be some sort of link.

Another notebook sits near it, it’s bent and worn. It’s been through hell… but it holds memories that will never happen. Dreams of a world that will never happen for them, but did happen for a handful of people that now lived in this one. That thought brings a bit of an ache… of a little boy with blonde hair and a grown Hannah. She especially missed Hannah.

Dreams…

Dreams could often hold important messages. There were three that she thought of…

One of the park… One of those people in it she was almost certain was of Eileen.

The other… the other hit so close to home. That feeling of people seeming to accept her, but still afraid of her. That feeling of being kept at a distance for what she is. And her self-inflicted exile that the door, to her represented. She could have all the knowledge in the world, if she was willing to step through that door and start using her ability how Adam Monroe wanted her too.

The oldest dream, it was only shreds. Something that happened when she was in a coma.

Turning back to her desk, Kaylee sits down and picks up the pen again, flipping a few pages. She starts to write down what she remembered of the oldest dream, while she waits for her appointment.

Today would be an interesting and informative day for one Luther Bellamy.

Thank the powers that be to grant a quiet day. Not that any day is truly a quiet one for the chief of security at a company that’s recently been through the ringer of unfortunate events. Luther himself hasn’t exactly had the best time of it, but recent rediscoveries of bad coping mechanisms aside, he has kept a modium of professional decorum in that he’s shown up to work.

One of those bits is to appear dressed for the position. After the short knock at the door (which he does not kick down), Luther enters the COO’s office and steps up to the desk. Grey eyes cast a cursory look over the open, handwritten notebooks.

Kaylee doesn’t look up right away, she works on finishing the thought she is putting down. Even so, she does speak up. “Please make sure the door is secure and have a seat, Luther.” What she had to say to him, she didn’t need anyone walking in on. A couple of t’s crossed and a few i’s dotted before the pen is set down along the open spine of the notebook.

Leaning back in her chair, Kaylee offers him a small smile. “What I’m going to tell you today, I’d rather not go beyond this room. I— I’ve been sitting on this for awhile,” A hand reaches out to pat the open pages of the notebook, “but… I need to you understand a few things. Things that are going on and you’ve already been dealing with. Some of this I haven’t even disclosed to my brother or any of my siblings really.”

An unseen nod later, Luther walks back to the office door to twist the lock before returning to find a seat in front of the desk. An attentive focus keeps his grey-eyed gaze on her instead of the notebooks, a brow angled ticking up when she speaks next. Questions rise, linger, and tread in the mental waters without being asked. The presentation hasn’t even started yet.

“What you should know,” he says slowly, testing something like a toe in a water pool, “is that I’ve been in communication with the Secretary of Homeland Security. Regarding Miss Desjardins’ disappearance, and the company’s— the security team’s cooperation if there’s an investigation to be had.” Full disclosure, since they’re doing this sort of thing. He glances away towards the large windows of the office, then back across the desk.

“I mean that the last time I was told to keep something quiet…” His words and thoughts trail. When they pick up, so does his chin as he regards her. “I’ll stop you if I think the conversation’s going to get into something dangerous.” Legally, that is.

There is some concern that flickers through her features at that admission. Looking at the book in front of her, Kaylee slides the pen off it slowly and closes it. “I can’t blame you there. Though I find a touch of irony in the fact that not too long ago you advocated for breaking and entering. Now…” she trails off a small, if sad, smile on her lips.

“I do understand though, I mean… I don’t know why she joined with the otherside. I do hope one day to ask her.” Her hand smoothes over the cover of the notebook, then flips it around his direction and slowly pushes it across the table. “We’ll come back to Des shortly… Let’s start with these,” fingers trail over the pair of notebooks. One newer, the other looks like it has seen better days. “Richard likes to play with string, but I like writing my thoughts down.” Her fingers flip through the older book. “If you are ever curious what the future could have looked like, these are the dream given to many people of a future that will never happen for us, but did for group the Ferry’s children that came back in time. This collection is by myself and Delia Ryans.. A lot of work really. She would bring them to me and I wrote them down.” That is pushed aside for the newer one, “This one is relevant to now.”

Leaning across the desk as she is, she gentle opens to the first page, “My husband, Joseph is a precog. Not in the way Eve is, she sees the vision; when Joseph employs his ability, the other person is affected.” There is affection when she talks about the man. “This is the vision he gave me.” She leans back and motions to him that he may read. “There is also Eve’s Raytech vision and a few dreams. I’ve found that sometimes, dreams can mean something. Especially, if they stick in your mind. I was hoping that writing them down I could find connections.”

She waits to see if he is going to take a moment to read.

“I still would,” Luther counters on the subject of advocating for breaking and entering, his brow knitted. “I meant, if you’re about to go join a pirate crew or something.” That comes out wryly, almost teasingly which hopefully is received well enough. But as the conversation returns to the notebooks on the desk, he leans forward to have a look. She can see the puzzled expression he has when she explains about a future that could have been. “Wasn’t that what going to Alaska was about?” he wonders aloud, but given that the notebook is set aside, he reserves the curiosity towards it also to the side.

On to Joseph’s vision, and the one Eve vision that Luther hasn’t forgotten either. If anything, the driving factor of the security upgrades in the building around them is that vision. But the reveal of a new vision makes him sit up and closer. When he’s invited to read, the man reaches over to pick up the notebook. The pages turn slowly, and occasionally he flips back to look at the previous writings.

And then he gets to a page where things mentally stumble because it’s written down that he’s shot - or assumably shot - and… and Luther blinks a few times. Did he read that right? He has to reread the portion where Kaylee’s kissing him. A couple of times, at least. His gaze shifts from the page to Kaylee, a finger tapping on the relevant line. Then with a quick breath, he shifts his focus down to the notebook again and he continues reading. When he gets to the end of it, he returns the notebook to the desk, leaving it open.

“Where to even begin?”

The question comes out with an exhausted tone already, but there is a dogged stubbornness to it that shows his mental teeth worrying at the bones. “Maybe this guy. Adam Monroe. His name’s been coming up a lot. And never in a ‘hey I know that guy he’s good’ way.”

There may be some barely contained amusement when he reached that page, Kaylee knows the page, she wrote that page. So she knows what he saw. It had been temping not to show it to him at all, but she felt he deserved to know what the vision showed, though— she knows from experience that they are not always accurate.

However, that is not where he begins that conversation.

“That is because he is technically not,” Technically, she says, as if there is any other way for him to be. “I don’t know how much you know about him, but— let me start out by saying that I was one of his associates at one time. Very close to him.” There is a tight-lipped smile as she admits, “You could say that— I was in a sense like his daughter at one point.” Which isn’t wrong.

There is a visible grimace when she says, “Adam Monroe took me under his wing when I was a young woman getting into all sorts of trouble. Saw my potential as a telepath.” Leaning back in her chair, Kaylee sighs softly, even as she feels nauseous. “He was definitely, not a good guy, but— he treated me like family. Like a daughter. He kept me out of most trouble, while making me work for him.” Her gaze slides away as she says softly, “Working for him is where I learned about the— deadlier side of my ability.” She killed for him. “Still, I never had a father before… and so when he made me his heir— I had been so happy.”

She still doesn’t look at Luther, expression distant and even a touch sad. “Fortunately, one of the jobs we did I got— “ Kaylee sighs heavily here, her head shaking a bit. “He had us go after an old founder of the Company. She put a persuasive tigger in my head that if I trusted Adam or was around him— It would kill me slowly. Only she could remove it and he killed her.” Her face looks a little pale. Now that it is out there, an arm moves to curl around her stomach. “Despite my failing health, Adam wouldn’t let me go…”

Kaylee has to stop here, eyes closing against something and her other hand lifts to beg a minute before covering her mouth. This was the most she had really talked about him in sometime. She hated this curse, even if it saved her.

Her amusement regarding that page might be in the awkward attempt to maintain professionalism on Luther's part. The telepath, without her own mental defenses, might not even be spared the briefest of thoughts that wander to the forefront of his mind, only to be yanked back full force and stuffed into a compartmental box. And then kicked into the depths of the subconsciousness ocean. Yep, that's where that goes.

And on to Adam Monroe, because there's a steady ground with which to stake his defensive feelings. As Kaylee goes on, he listens intently. The portion where she describes feeling like a daughter, being made an 'heir', gets narrowed eyes. "An heir to what?" he rumbles deeply, but not loudly enough that it's anything more than speculating on his part. He's trying not to interrupt her.

The continuation, as it cumulates into mention of a trigger in the head that could - would - kill her slowly when merely around Adam Monroe gets Luther to sit up. When she has to stop, he fights the urge to stand. He loses the fight, pushing up to his feet and leaning with hands planted on the desk. "You mean, someone planted a killswitch in your head? And, if you get close to this Adam guy, you'll die?"

He blinks several times, trying to wrap his head around the terrible notion. It's almost impossible sounding. But they live in a world where experimental Evolved clones, alternate futures, and superpowers exist. He himself, a survivor of nuclear bomb-level events. "And your, Joseph's, vision you wrote down… he's coming back. And Richard's going to face off with him." A showdown which, from the writing, doesn't seem like it's headed towards a good outcome for any of them.

Luther curls his fingers, managing to keep from losing himself to all the possibilities of worst case scenario. The hardened look softens a touch at seeing Kaylee in that moment of distress. Slowly, he pulls back, straightening, shaking fingers loose at his sides. "We have to get that out of you."

“Even if we have to kill an immortal to do it.”

There is a lifting of brows as Luther stands and leans on the head. The reaction was not the one she expected, but it wasn’t a bad one, just surprising. Her stomach is settled enough to to allow her to pull her hand away, “The worst part is I don’t know what side I am going to fall on.” There is a grimace as she reaches across the desk to pull the book closer and flips the page. Her finger seeks out a part of it. “The black snake. When I saw it, I knew it. It’s always in my dreams. It— it’s me or a part of me. But the golden eyes are different, since that is the mark of an unknown entity. And… it was like it had control of Adam.”

There is a hiss of pain, through clenched teeth, eyes squeezing shut against it. She lets out a slow breath, “But yes, if I’m around him I’ll die… if I feel anything for him, I’ll die.” What did that mean about this moment? “And there is no cure, just me dead. I tried to find a cure. I was told by Angela Petrelli, that this was something that only Susan herself could remove and — well — Adam killed her.” There is a sad smile there, “He probably would have thought twice about it if he knew.”

Her shoulders shrug a little, “Short of going back in time and asking her to remove it…” there isn’t anything they can really do, goes unsaid. “And there isn’t exactly an overabundance of time travellers.”

Motioning him to sit again, “As I said, I’d come back around to Odessa.” She hates bringing her back up, but… he needed to know. “Adam sent me to a doctor to try and stabilize me. That doctor was Odessa.” Kaylee’s head dips down defensively, eyes cast to the desktop as she pushes on, “She saved my life, Luther,” she admits softly. “I was bad… everything was starting to shut down. I couldn’t eat and I was in pain all the time. She told me I had to run away and she helped me do that. She got me in touch with the Ferrymen. Eileen Ruskin in fact. They took me in, hid me, and sheltered me.”

Hazarding a glance to the man across from her, “He about killed her when he found out, especially when she refused to tell him where I was.”

Fingers curl into fists as she forces herself to say what she’s been wanting to say to him for awhile. “I promise you that when, I asked Richard to give her a job, I— I didn’t know about Humanis First. If— If I was a proper telepath,” invaded people’s mind without permission, “Maybe I would have known.” She isn’t sure that would have deterred her, but… it might have made her think twice.

"What do you mean, which side you're going to fall on?" The security chief frowns deeply. When she elaborates on the imagery of the snake with the golden eyes, his gaze narrows further. "Eve's drawings. There were golden eyes in some of them. That's gotta be something." But what, he doesn't know.

Shaking his head, Luther expresses disbelief at it all as he pushes off the desk and moves away, the act of pacing something that has helped reshuffle chaotic thoughts together. It's a lot. He turns as he hears the pained his from the telepath, concern cutting through his own thoughts. "No. There's got to be some way," he insists, stubbornly. Time travellers earns a rueful glance, a deeper frown. Obviously, his search for a solution would be more practical.

But then Luther's motioned to sit, and reluctantly he returns to his original seat. The name Odessa shifts his focus back to her with a pointed look. It's a sore point still, evidenced by the working of his tightened jaw. He'll hear her out. Even though he does, there's conflict evident in the man's soured features. Grey eyes dip away. His mouth thins tightly.

"Everything she did," growls the security chief after a moment in formulating his thoughts, "Was her choice." The three words come out breath rasping low and tight, sandpapery. "But why, other than to save her own skin? She turned whichever way she needed to turn, Kaylee. And she eventually… turned on her own." The last part means a lot of things. One thing that sticks through is Luther's sentiment - the feeling of betrayal.

He shakes his head at the telepath for her own regrets of not being a proper telepath, a 'don't go there' motion. He'd have to go after her. And it wouldn't be pretty.

Luther takes a deeper, steadying breath after a beat, finally looking back when he's a touch more composed. "Let's go back to that notebook," he suggests with a short nod to the one on the desk. "Going backwards to go forward? Maybe it's not a matter of time, but, a place. A game board, you know, like if you landed two steps back you'd be on a tile that says move forward four."

It had been a risk to tell him about Odessa and what she meant to her, what she did for her; but, she felt it was worth it. Kaylee wasn’t looking for forgiveness, but simply understanding for choices made.

There is a heavy sigh, but no more is said of the matter. Letting her mind be turned away some to vision again. Kaylee’s still pale as she speaks up again, voice tired and a touch strained. “I have a video I should show you on the matter of the golden eyes, but yes… Let’s continue.”

Carefully, shifting in her chair and resting elbows on the desk. She rests a hand over it, “Joseph believes that his visions are a mixture of things that could happen and symbols. Anything in this could simply be a symbol for something else. I have been wracking my brain over that phrase, but I don’t— I don’t know what it is asking. Pretty sure Shooters is a charred ruins. Which is where I met Adam. Or Biddy’s where I spent most of my time working for him.” Her head shakes and her hands are spread apart a little. “It might not even be related to him… I just don’t know.”

Visibly swallowing, she says, “I don’t know if any of this is connected really or if it is a series of unrelated events. One common thread they do all have is Staten Island.” She gives him a lop-sides, though strained, smile, “And before you say it, No… I will not stay off Staten.” She would not be contained to the Safe Zone over a vision. “I need to find Sibyl.”

Brow arching at the mention of a video about golden eyes, because that hardly makes sense in its own right, Luther files it away for later as well. And she's right to head him off with the comment about Staten Island. Luther's already assigned Bob to be her primary guard, and thus receives reports when he's out there. But that doesn't stop the security chief from his collection of disapproving glances, sighs, and overall tolerance of the executive officers' antics out there.

"At the very least, Bob's going to be with you on those trips," he counters her lopsided smile with a Look. "And I'm insisting that if you're going to go join that pirate crew, that they at the very least get a warning from me personally. So they know who it is who's going to be knocking a door or two down should something happen to you." Hands curling over the ends of the chair arms, he leans back in an easier, if still pensive looking, lounge.

"Alright. I'll bite. Why Sibyl Black? Because she warned you about Natalie Gray?"

“Because she is more than what she seems… and I offered her protection.” There is a hesitation to continue for the first time. Kaylee rises unsteadily to her feet, still affected by the triggered effect from earlier Adam talks. “Back in 2011 one of the Ferry’s council was attacked and killed… in her last moments she saved and condemned us all at once. Honestly, while a lot of people died, if she had done nothing we all would have died.” Taking a deep breath, grimacing at the pain she moves towards the window looking out.

“Her name was Eileen Ruskin. Anything you’ve heard about her about that day is wrong. We know the truth,” Kaylee says with a challenging look cast in his direction.

“Somehow, she survived outside of her body and now resides in the mind of this child, Sibyl.” Glancing at Luther, Kaylee gives him a soft smile. “She’s fading and the longer she is in Sibyl’s head the more of her will be lost. That’s why I’ll be taking trips to the island with Etienne. See if we can find her.”

The color seems to be coming back slowly to her cheeks, even though Kaylee rubs a hand over her stomach as if trying to sooth it. Eyes back on the world outside of her office. “The weirdest part is there is another version of Eileen out there, probably from another timeline… with an entity residing in her that is the thing of nightmares. That is who Natalie Gray is. Eileen from another world.” She gives a huffed chuckle at the thought.

“Things just keep getting weirder, Luther.” There is a sad resigned smile as she adds, “Wonder if my father ever predicted this.”

She's definitely not wrong about things getting weirder. Luther's expression gets more puzzled, more confused as she explains. Everything he knew or thought he knew, everything he'd heard out of the tribunals… Finally, Luther leans forward in his seat, hands dangling off the knees as he sits there staring at Kaylee. It's less that he's challenging her, more that he's evaluating.

"Why do you need to do this?" he asks after a pause. "Why, aside from that 'Natalie Gray' has it out for you… which we could just as easily turn this all over to the authorities to handle?" The security chief sits back up at that, brows knitted with concern. "All of that," he gestures to the notebooks written down, "Is conjecture. Possibilities. None of it's actually carved in stone."

He shakes his head slowly, as Alice finds the realm of Wonderland utterly nonsensical. And, with a more pressing concern for the way Kaylee looks ill merely talking about the subjects at hand. He doesn't like it, the feeling of helplessness to do something about it all.

"And besides all that. What can I do? What do you need me to do?"

It is the first time that anyone has really asked her something like that, he can see the surprise in her eyes and then the turn to thoughtfulness. Her head turns back to the window, brows pulled down in thought. “It’s a fair question,” Kaylee finally says, still unsure how to answer him.

“It’s more than that, to be honest,” she sighs out softly. More then Natalie out to get her. “The government would be tied up behind red tape while what is left of this world’s Eileen withered away, devoured by a little girls ability. When I might be able to help her.” Her head tilts a little, turning his way, but not really looking at him. “What would you do?”

Turning, to face him, she seems to be picking up on her thoughts. Fingers seek out the pull of the blinds, plunging them into a darkened room, only illuminated by the recessed lighting. “These might be conjecture and if they never happen. Great. However, I’ve seen a lot of things that did. To include the fall of Pollepel and my near death a year before that. Being prepared is the best defense.” Pointing at Luther, she moved to her desk again, “You may have very well been the preventative that stopped the attack on Raytech. Why? Because we took it seriously. Or it could still happen. We don’t know yet.” She picks up the book of old dreams. “These definitely won’t ever happen, because the Ferry’s children came back and urged us to act against the Institute back in 2011.” The notebook is dropped on the table.

“I am determined to make sure this new world continues on a better path to be a safe place for my kids. To make sure my daughter, Hannah, never—” here her words catch and verbally stumbles to a stop. Hands press on the desktop and eyes close against a surge of emotions. Now was not the time.

Moments stretch on before she takes a shaky breath and continues, “I have spent seven years, sitting back and putting my trust in others.” Kaylee slowly lowers herself into her chair, it creaks even with her slight weight. “I just… I can’t do it anymore. I can’t sit back and hope others can do it.”

She motions to him with both hands, “I need your help to learn how to be more than my ability. I need a teacher and I need you to give me access to the AEGIS armor in the armory.” Kaylee watches him as she makes this request. “More importantly, I need someone I trust to have my back. You said you wanted to go down the rabbit hole, I’ve drug you pretty deep and put a lot of trust into you.”

Leaning forward and resting her forearms on the desk she asks, “Please, help me?”

The question of what would he do in her stead has Luther turning his own mental gears. A fluttering of his Adam's apple as he swallows down the sense of guilt that pierces a needle thin hole into his thoughts. He looks away, willing the memory of blonde hair drifting from his hand to dissipate. "I'd… find out what it was Eileen wanted," he responds, eyes dropping their gaze towards the floor. "While it's still possible."

Kaylee's continuation turns Luther back, looking up as she points to him, dubs him having potentially prevented a tragedy. His head shakes slowly, about to protest, but then she mentions Hannah and he stops. Brows knit for the interrupted thought, but he doesn't ask. Not aloud.

He waits as she takes the moment, using it as well to steady his own composure. The more time he has to think about all the information that has come to light, the deeper the spiral seems to go. Eyes narrowing as she lowers herself into the chair, he sits up and forward, blinking at her request. More than the armor, but the remark that she needs someone to trust. To help.

Luther tips his head up, chin working slightly as he regards her. She can tell he's formulating his response, though nothing hesitant as he answers firmly, "Of course, Kaylee." His declaration is followed with a light wave of his hand towards her. "I'd abandon whatever ego and thoughts you might have of the armor being anything flattering, though." There, his mouth tugs at the corner.

“I’ve never been one to really care about looks,” Of course, she realizes how she sounds sitting there dressed as a young professional, with her manicured nails and makeup. “Beyond, looking the part of a the COO that I don’t really feel like I am.” There is a small huff of amusement. “From rags to riches. Though give me jeans and a t-shirt anyday.” As Ferry she was pretty much been homeless, but the community they had helped keep it from really feeling that way.

“I just feel like we need to be more prepared, things are going to keep getting more interesting,” The way she says that word it could be a good and bad thing. She’s quiet for a moment, lost in thought. “I know you worked with my brother before; but, did you know Elisabeth Harrison?” Almost as soon as she asks, she waves away the question as not an important one. “You know she died along with Magnes Varlane in 2011 or… we thought she was dead.” Thought?

She doesn’t wait for him to ask what she means. “One of those kids that are always showing up here,” Kaylee starts, looking at her computer, typing something. There is an edge of excitement to her words. “Found a camcorder in the sewers.” She gives him a slightly brighter smile, her color is definitely back, the change in subject was definitely good for her health. “It is from a different branch. A different version of our world, where the Vanguard destroyed most of the population with a virus. Or we are pretty sure.”

Fingers catch the edge of her computer screen and turns it where he can see the paused still from the video. He’ll immediately recognize Lynette and Mateo. “Liz is trying to come home. My father and other precogs have predicted the day she’ll be back. I’ve got to hold my brother together till then. Make sure he makes it to that day.”

“Like I said, you wanted down this rabbit hole, Luther… well, in our family it’s bottomless.” Reaching out, she hits the spacebar and the video rolls forward.

The wry smirk and crinkle of Luther's eye edges when Kaylee says she doesn't really care about looks and would rather don t-shirt and jeans is one amused by the statement as well. "Don't worry, that secret's safe with me," he replies, shoulders shrugging in the nice dark suit jacket he wears. "You could do what they used to do out west, you know? T-shirt, jeans, suit jacket. That was a thing with those tech genius companies, wasn't it?" And, they are a tech company.

But nevermind that.

He nods in agreement about being prepared, although he continues to watch her with puzzled, furrow-browed look. The kind that goes, There's more? Of course there's more…

And there is. "I never met them personally, but Elisabeth - she seemed like a— sorry?" Thought? "This isn't another stuck in a child's headspace thing is it?" he manages to utter, though he's headed off at the proverbial pass when Kaylee continues on.

The reveal an alternate world where biological warfare was successful, is disturbing enough. That there's hard recorded evidence from it, and she's in possession of it, makes the man shift uncomfortably. She looks better for the change of topic, conversely to his expression of definitely not liking what he hears. But then again, they've been talking about immortals, curses, time manipulators, alternate timelines… all possibly predicted by a dead man.

Luther leans forward and angles his head to watch the video as it plays. Eyes widen upon seeing Lynette and Mateo. Or a pair of someones who look very similar. And Liz and Magnes. And, what the hell is happening in this video? Kaylee's explanation doesn't exactly settle his stomach, and once the video's finished playback, he leans back into the seat. But the security chief sags, wipes a hand down the side of his face.

A doubletake goes from screen to Kaylee back to screen. "What day is that?" he asks after a long silence. “How do you know?”

“Christmas day.” Is the day. “This years on the roof of the Deveaux building. My father left a letter for Richard.” There is a sad smile, “for all of us really, but his told him to be on that roof on that day.” Leaning forward, Kaylee pushes the monitor back.

“As for how…” Kaylee looks a touch amused, her eyes on the stilled image on the screen. “My brother is ever the collector of prophecies. There are a few that point to them coming back. A song. A painting.” Eyes shift from the screen to the man, even if they rest of her doesn’t move. “Conjecture, but they are rarely wrong, but… that is for my brother to figure out, though I will help where I can. It’s an exciting thought. To think that there are still worlds out there where the other choice we didn’t make happened anyway.”

Leaning forward, Kaylee pulls the notebook with the vision closer. “Eileen is my focus and this, but I don’t know what to think of any of it.” Pages flip idly, thoughtfully; before, she sighs softly and closes it slowly. “It’s a lot of information, but I needed you to know. You were hired to protect us and his choice to keep you in the dark on some of it. I— I don’t agree with it. So this.” She pats the notebook, gently. “This is me trying to right that wrong and I promise to do my best to keep you informed..”

Leaving the notebook between them on the desk, Kaylee leans back again watching and studying him. “Though, I also won’t blame you, should you decide to leave Raytech. I— I think we’d be poorer if you leave,” She would certainly, though she doesn’t say that outloud. She wouldn’t dare. “To be fair, when we promoted you, we didn’t know that this much shit was going to hit the fan.”

The day and location are logged away somewhere in Luther’s mind. It will be hard to forget. Where Kaylee sounds excited, though, the best the security chief can manage is neutral apprehension. His mouth pulls into a straight, flat line bordering on a frown upon her mention of Richard keeping him in the dark about some things, and there’s even an accusatory flash of it in the back edge of his gaze as he looks towards her. But she can feel the lack of judgment about it, the acceptance that this is how it was.

That they all just doing their jobs.

But it’s her mentioning the possibility of his leaving Raytech that gets him sitting up straight, and a few blinks later, staring hard at her. The man huffs a short, humorless laugh. “After all of that, you think I’d…” He shakes his head, slowly taking in a breath, slowly exhaling a steadying sigh of air. Luther swallows dryly. Eyes turn towards the windows as the man gathers his thoughts and turns back.

“The money’s great, don’t get wrong, but,” he says quietly, “I’m not here ‘cause of the money. I’m here ‘cause I believe Richard, even through all the bullshit, wants something good for this world. I’m here because you believe I can still do this job.” A short smile turns up finally, and he glances down to his hands. “And I’m here because…You people are all I got. And I will protect my own." The fingers of his right hand flex and pull into a loose fist, then his gaze lifts back up to Kaylee and he smiles more wryly. "Even if sometimes I got to protect you all from yourselves."

His smile is reflected in her own, that same wryly expression. “Sometimes, we need it.” Kaylee isn’t too afraid to admit it, she knows herself enough to know that even she gets too focused. “It’s the sign of a good friend.” She should know really. Her smile turns a little sad at a thought, her expression a little distant; the sign of someone lost in memories. “I had a friend who did that for me on a few occasions. Even if he knew I would be furious, he did it anyway.” She gives a soft huff of amusement. “Even when he got me almost kicked out of the Ferrymen, I never could stay mad at Eric.”

She shakes her head a bit, dashing away the clinging cobwebs of that memory. “It’s a relief to hear that all this won’t scare you away… I woul— ” Kaylee catches herself from saying something she wouldn't be able to take back easily. “I would like to keep this conversation between us. Some of this…” She motions to the computer as an example, “This kind of knowledge is dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. Mateo needs to be protected from people who would use what he can do for nefarious purposes.” Tapping the screen, the frozen image disappears again. “I don’t want Lynette to go through what I had to with Joseph when the Company snagged him and used him for his ability.”

Some of the wryness fades from Luther’s expression as she calls him ‘a good friend’. Her thoughts turn to some memories, as do his. They both have lost good friends in the past, and Luther dips his head in acknowledgment to the grief that lingers but never truly fades away.

He looks up again when she continues, but narrows his gaze as she mentions Mateo and specifically, that he needs to be protected from people who would use him. Luther sucks in a breath, flatly remarking, “Kaylee, if I found out he was also formerly working with Humanis First…” He doesn’t finish the statement, expecting that she knows and understands the obligations he carries. And the deep, unrelenting grudge he harbors. They’ve already talked about Odessa, after all. And how he was supposed to protect her, too.

And he’ll not get into what would happen if Lynette found out such a secret, either.

“You know though,” Luther notes as he pushes his feet, “the good thing about all this is that we’re in different times now. And people know what happened. There’s people that’ll stop it from happening again. Maybe this time, we’ll learn from the history books.” He adjusts his suit jacket, an idle, stalling motion to let him also consider everything that’s been said and revealed. When he glances back up to her, there’s a softer, steadying smile in his expression. Something more like himself than what’s been going around the past few weeks.

“And thank you. For telling me. For trusting me. I’ll do whatever I can to help.” Half-turning, he pauses in step and glances down to the notebooks on her desk. There is that one bit that still hasn’t been addressed. She knows which one he’s thinking about. But the man doesn’t verbalize the thoughts, instead arching a brow up. “There anything else you needed?”

“What?” Kaylee sounds amused at the idea of Mateo as a member of Humanis. “Have you seen him and Lynette together? Oh no… he’s not Humanis, she’d know.” She gives him a knowing look. “Women always know things.” Yes, that was a joke. “Still, no… that I feel fairly certain about.”

Watching as he stands, she leans forward to drag the notebooks close to her. Kaylee didn’t have the big vault full of things, she only had her notebooks and a desk drawer. “Thank you, for hearing me out,” she counters softly.

It looks like that this is where the conversation ends and she probably had planned, too. But! “Oh, and Luther,” There is a sudden turn in her smile, something rather devious. “I hope you don’t have plans to go drink yourself under a table.” Eyes narrow slightly in consideration of the man before her. “Because there is not better time to start training then tomorrow… Five A.M…. The treadmills.” Sounds almost like an order, sort of. “If you fail to show, I shall be on your doorstep waking the dead.”

That wasn’t just a threat… it was a promise. One delivered with a deceptively sweet smile.

It is difficult to imagine the man Luther now knows as Lynette’s husband as a member of a terrible group. But, jokes aside, he is deep down serious. And the painful feeling of betrayal still lingers, pushed down and away, capped like one of the many bottles of liquor the man has consumed in the past few weeks following the revelations.

He turns to leave until she calls his name, and the look on her face… he blinks a few times. A brow lifts. And her “promise” strikes him like a jab in the face. The security chief wrinkles his brow, eyes studying the telepath. Oh, she’s serious, he has no doubt. His gaze dips deferentially. “Sure,” he answers, sounding committed even if the misgivings already start to poke at a feeling in his gut.

Luther nods, puts up a small smile in the light of her sweet one and finally leaves, a hand reaching into his pocket to turn the cellphone in it off its silenced state.


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