Participants:
| Scene Title | The Pyro's Swan Song |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cole came to register, so does Lilith. That's all they wanted to do. But somewhere along the line, things went very bad. |
| Date | June 19, 2009 |
The New York Police Department Head Quarters is an old stone building, rennovated many times over the years. The plaster walls are not as cracked and in need of repair as the various Precinct buildings around the city. The fluorescent lights give the room a rather sterile glow. Old posters, civic reminders, duty rosters and newspaper clippings are tacked up on the walls, rustling every time one of the doors opens. A high, wooden desk sits on the north wall, manned by two clerks, who records all visitors and arrests.
The way out to the street lies to the south, while doors to the offices of the Head Quarters lie to the northwest.
You can't touch me! That's fitty dollah's if you touch me! You can't touch me! get yor hands off me pig!" An affronted woman is being brought through the doors of the station, dressed in barely anything that could frankly constitute clothing. "You're not my pimp! You're not my pimp!"
"I'm not you're pimp! But I'll still tell you to shaddup! We're working here!" the officer at the front desk bellows to the hooker.
Aude's working at one of the desks behind them, along with other officers this morning. Paperwork must be done, phones must be answered. There were how many shootings last night? The petite riot curled officer with her dark skin just put her head down and plowed ahead. But it was time for a break and she's pushing her chair back so she can suss out some of the police station engine cleaner they call coffee. She could go to the SCOUT division, steal coffee from the there but…
Yeah. No. She'll drink her engine cleaner thank you very much.
The ominously tall and reasonably lithe yet powerfully build man with the aviator sunglasses steps into the precinct, opening the doors with both hands before sending an idle glance behind to make sure they're closed behind him, following common etiquette. He takes a few slow steps deeper into the noisy precinct, standing still for but a couple of seconds before he wanders over to the front desk, his eyes momentarily landing on Aude. A hand lifts to remove those glasses, the tinted obstacle conflicting with his ability. And then, in a mere moment, he takes in all of the details of that police officer. "I'm here to register as an evolved", he would tell to the man behind the desk, his attention granted to him.
Veronica's sitting at one of the spare desks, flipping through the police blotter, looking for patterns that might suggest any of the various people on her case load, or, for bonus points, anyone not on her case load that should come to the Company's attention. "Holy shit," she murmurs to herself, nose wrinkling in distaste at some log in the blotter. The words "Evolved" have her tilting her head toward the front desk, her eyes curiously taking in Cole's appearance.
"Here to register" Well, that gets a closer look from the paunchy officer with the brooklyn drawl behind the front desk proper. Shoot lasers from his eyes? fly? turn water green? He doesn't seeing anything outwardly obvious so he turns in his swivel seat to see who gets the joy of more paperwork. Aude is the one who's moving, therefore attention lands on her first. "Castalides! Registry!"
"fuck" muttered under her breath. She was really wanting coffee. She didn't want to deal with an evo, god dammit. Thank god there's no telepath otherwise the disgust inside would be very evident whereas she looks like a cool pond with nary a ripple otherwise on the surface. "Sure Frank. Go through those doors over there sir, someone will escort you to my desk. Please have your ID's and information ready" Instead of heading for the coffee pot, she's heading to Veronica's desk. "Pardon me" That's the one they usually register folks at, so, that's where all the supplies are. She's not making the homeland agent leave though, she's just opening drawers to get the supplies. Take fingerprints, take pictures, it's really much like process someone to be arrested, only, they're not. They're getting registered. She'd rather they were getting arrested.
Darkness follows quickly after Cole's steps, consuming his memories up to his entrance in the precinct. Having devoured even the most recent ones, Cole is left standing in the police precinct, the location of which he no longer can remember. Which one is it, exactly? His glasses are folded and hooked into the top of his shirt, his face showing hints of confusion. As the officer he had glanced at moments ago addresses him instead of the man at the desk, he sighs softly, eyeing the doors he was asked to go through. Processes. They take so long. He needed to speed them up, unless he wanted to spend hours sitting in a chair next to someone who will no doubt want a heartwarming conversation. "Please try not to take long", he tells Aude, "I can't quite control the temperature about me yet, I really don't want to boil anyone."
"No problem," Veronica tells Aude, scooching her chair back and leaning out of the way so that Aude can get into the drawers easily without too much awkward brushings of body parts. She raises a brow at Cole's comment. "If he's serious… Well. I'm HomeSec," she tells Aude under her breath, flashing her little badge that allows her to sit here on the cop's side of the counter. "If he's being rude to get you to hurry, well. I'm still HomeSec."
"We'll see" Murmured to Veronica. Homeland though. good. Cause if the guy was an ass, she'd have Veronica exercise her rights and drag him in. 'Sir, we have a process, we have to follow that process sot hat nothing gets messed up and you're not being asked to come in a second time. So please have patience and we'll get you through this quick as possi.. Pardon?" She heard him though, the first time. Boil people? That gets the Veronica a look then brown eyes swivel in their sockets back to Cole. "Seriously?" She straightens up, paperwork needed and looks over her shoulder to the front desk. "Frank! What rooms open? We got a flamer possibly, Says he might not be able to control it for long. Something at the back of the precinct!"
There's a punch of a few buttons before he hollers.
"Twelve"
"Gotcha!" Aude looks Cole up and down. "We'll stick you in a conference room, the Agent here will come with us. I urge you sir to please keep control as long as possible and if you feel you can't, let us now in time and we can take you outside." Shoot you in the head….
Everything around him becomes irrelevant as his gaze closes in on Veronica, the woman at the desk to which Aude has walked up. His field of vision narrows, and the short dark-haired woman's visage the only thing in front of him, despite the fact that he's quite far away. From aside, it merely appeared as though he was looking in both Aude's and Veronica's direction, his gaze surprisingly blank and aimless. He detracts his focus, and just then his attention is caught by the badge. His eyes eyed what Veronica flashed for a brief moment, a moment that was more than enough for him to inspect what she showed. Words directed at him and the exchange between Aude and co. falls on deaf ears. "What's a woman from Homeland Security doing in a precinct?", he muses in an overly coy tone, "Suspension?"
The brunette agent stands, bringing the blotter clipboard back to the desk clerk and thanking him in a soft voice before nodding to Aude in agreement. She then flips her hair over her shoulder as her eyes narrow on Cole. "You know, shooting your mouth off to me really isn't a wise choice, buddy," she says coolly. "And no. I'm just checking on some files. I don't work here." She moves to the end of the counter, opening the half-sized door so Cole can come through. "Come along, and don't make any sudden movements, or any sudden spikes in temperature, got it?"
Asshole. God. "Get him to twelve, I need to grab the tests" And with that, thankful that there's an homesec agent to help. So Veronica's left with temperature guy and she's heading off to the control locker to sign for a tests.
"Knee-jerk reaction around women, sorry." Having elaborated his venomous phrase earlier, Cole steps through, past Veronica. "I'll make sure that you'll be comfortably warm on the way", he jests, shooting another glance at Veronica before he would glance over at Aude. "Jumpy", he comments curtly, stopping a few steps away from the HomeSec agent. Instead of following behind her, he knew the procedure, and walked ahead of Veronica. "Where to, exactly?"
Veronica points down a hall. "Number Twelve," she says, watching the numbers on the door until they get to the right one. "And I'd try to control your inner jerk if I were you. I'm sure if you try really hard, you can," she says in a condescending tone. She has no problem with Evolved people these days. She does have a problem with sexist pigs. "Look, you came down here voluntarily, it seems. What's with the attitude?" she directs him into the room, leaving the door open until Aude catches up with them.
Cole walks down the hall obediently and quietly, as surprising as that might have been. Perhaps Veronica's patronising remark has chastised his rough and admittedly unpleasant exterior? His gaze glides along the many doors and the numbers marking each. When his eyes register the number "12", he slows down, walking up to the door, opening it, and stepping inside. Despite his attitude earlier, his hand slides along the door, keeping it open for Veronica. "I haven't talked to people for over a year. At least, I don't remember talking to anyone. As a result, I have forgotten my manners." Once he steps far enough, he turns around to face the agent. With a subtle smile carved on those lips of his, he speaks up again: "I did say I want to be registered as an evolved, not arrested as one, right?"
Vee gestures to one of the four chairs around the little table. "You're not being arrested. As the officer said, this is part of the process. Normally I wouldn't have been there, but you came in at just the right time." She smiles sweetly, as if he's lucky to have been in the precinct at the same moment she happened to be there. "But if you don't want to be arrested, you really shouldn't make not-so-veiled threats about boiling people, lack of manners or no. It's just kind of common sense. The whole 'don't yell fire in a crowded movie theater' sort of concept, right?" She leans on the corner of the desk, arms crossing. "So what's your ability?"
Busy busy busy. The evo test in hand, papers, the ink pad and the camera, Aude's uniformed form comes bustling into the room as Veronica starts to ask. Everything set out on the table, lid popping off the ink pad "And i'm back, i'll get all the physically interactive stuff done while you tell her what your ability is… can I have your hands please?" Her gaze goes between the two, her own palms out so she can take the guys hands. In case he really does alter temperature. better to get it over with.
The man scoffs, and that gesture is followed by a brief chortle. He walks over to the chair Veronica has offered, and plops down on it, dropping his forearms on the desk, crossing his digits together. His legs would be spread far and wide, and ultimately Cole would assume a position that went nicely with his initially sexist attitude. "I have Superhuman Sight", he announces freely, "I can see really far, really fast and I am extremely precise in things I'm skilled at. Namely, tracking people down and often killing them. Preferably five hundred yards away." He says such with no pride of coyness present in his tone, no; he retains a stoic appearance as he describes his ability and his skill.
He looks up as Aude as she asks to give him his hands. "Sure, just give me a moment?" His hand digs into an inside pocket of his leather jacket. Unless stopped, he would draw a cell phone. And, again, unless he is interrupted, a loud electronic 'snap!' would be heard, with the back of the cell phone facing Veronica. On the off chance that he manages to take a picture, he would try to take one of the police officer, as well.
Veronica raises a brow. "And where do you do all this killing?" she asks, but then he's going for her pocket. He's not under arrest, so she doesn't jump to conclusions — she does just jump off the table and get a hand on her taser, ready to zap him if he pulls out the gun. Instead, he pulls out a camera — did she miss a vibration or ring that alerted him to a call? — when he snaps the picture, however, she reaches out and grabs the camera from his grip. "Oh, no, you don't."
He's got super sight. He kills people. Aude's brain is on overdrive. Shit. Then he's reaching for his phone. She's close enough, she see's that it's not a gun but that doesn't mean that she doesn't twitch for her own as well. Guy would be stupid to pull a gun in the precinct. "Sir. Before you say anything further, I will read you your Miranda rights." guy just confessed to killing people. The dark skinned woman rattles them off, a "do you understand' after each sentence.
When the camera is swiped from his hand - and he does little to resist that, leaving with his fingers still clutched around the air where the phone was - Cole looks up at Veronica. "I wasn't going to send that picture to Playboy or anything", he justifies his action with his hand still awkwardly raised. Ultimately, though, he lowers it back onto the desk and reclines against the back of his chair with a heavy sigh. "I did most of my killing in Afghanistan and Iraq, so the dozen of murders of innocent civilians that I am behind are fully justified", he again explains in that level-headed tone of his, his gaze rising to meet Aude's. "So… you can read those rights to Uncle Sam. He's a friendly guy."
Veronica puts the taser back in her pocket and shakes her head. "Boy, you have to start learning how to live in the civilian world, because you just about got yourself tased or shot," she mutters, pushing buttons on the phone until she's managed to delete the image of herself. "This is a horrible photo of me. I'm very self conscious. You understand." She sets the phone down out of his reach, her hand resting on it. "You can have it back when you're through here," she says. "I assume you have a military ID to back up your story?"
Well, military. Why didn't he say that in the first place. Aude just purses her lips and taking his hands back, one by one gets his fingerprints. down goes finger in the ink, down onto the paper. over and over.
Slowly, he digs his free hand into his jacket again, this time drawing his wallet. Since Aude started taking fingerprints, he simply tosses the wallet to Veronica. "Knock yourself out", he tells her, and sits rather calmly and quietly from that point onwards, letting Aude take his fingerprints with no hassle. "What sort of Evolved are there? Are there any who are as dangerous as the man who blew off a portion of New York off the face of the Earth?", he inquires curiously.
The agent opens the wallet, finding the military ID and an expired driver's license, which she hands to Aude for her paperwork. "Come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Many are as dangerous as that man in their own way. Some are pretty harmless. Your ability, though useful for being a sniper and all, isn't too dangerous in and of itself. You still need skill to make use of the information you see. But there are others who are dangerous because they don't know how to control their power, or choose to use it for dangerous activities. We thank you for registering — it suggests that you are not going to be a problem." Veronica smiles at the end of her little spiel as she hands him back his wallet, minus the two ID cards in front of Aude.
"Sounds like you'll be a tier 0 or a tier one Sir" Wet wipes are brought out to clean at least one finger right now, the evolved test kit brought forward now. It's like a sugar test. Jab the finger - barely hurts - and then touch the blood to the strip. Wait. Yup. Evo. Aude nods to Veronica. "You'll be given a time and date to appear at a homeland facility in order for them to run you through your paces with your ability, I need t o take your picture and photocopy your information, if you could fill out this paperwork sir as accurately as you can" More wet wipes handed over so he can wipe the ink off his hands. "I'll be right back again. Agent Sawyer here will stay with you"
"How can you be so sure?", he suddenly asks in a darker tone than he had since he walked into this precinct. Cole still remains seated, and makes no sudden movements, but he is pressing his luck with his words. "Maybe I really can manipulate temperature. Maybe I can bring the temperature in this room up to one-fifty degrees, and both of you would be dead even before you could grab that taser, which, might I add, would be a porridge of plastic by then." He falls silent, albeit for but a moment. "Is this your idea of registering potentially harmful and dangerous individuals? Stick them in a room, grab their fingertips and…" He pauses as the Evo test is preformed. "…and jab one of their fingers with a needle?" With a languid motion of his hand, he picks up the wet wipes and starts casually to clean his fingers. "Sure, officer, thank you for your troubles", he says to Aude with a seemingly genuine smile.
"You came in to register voluntarily," Veronica points out. "I'm sure there's a different process for those who don't." She isn't going to share that process, however. "And you will show up to the appointment once someone calls you. If you don't… well, I'm sure you'll find out that it's not as simple and painless as this, if that's the case. Unless you'd rather I call a transport vehicle to have you brought to the testing facility right now, I'd really suggest you knock it off with the threats."
Cole lowers his gaze to the desk, as if a puppy who was reprimanded for what he shouldn't have done. His hands slowly sink into the side pockets of his jacket, and he nods a few times, still not lifting his gaze. "I still think you're underestimating those who come here to register. Maybe they can't control their ability. Or maybe they want to make a point and bring this precinct down from inside." With a lengthy sigh, he leans forward once again, and reaches out for his phone. "May I? I'm going to need your picture to remember you."
"Believe me. We don't underestimate, or mis-underestimate, whatever that means, but if you keep talking about what people might do to the precinct or what you could do if you had such and such power… you're going to find yourself locked up in a place you don't want to be. It's like saying bomb on an airplane. Didn't you see Meet the Parents?" Veronica asks. Probably not, if he was in the war.
Veronica puts her hand down on the phone, keeping it out of Cole's grasp. Meanwhile, her free hand moves to her tranq gun, pulling it slowly out of the holster. "And no. I don't need you to remember me, so I'm not worried about if you will remember me or not." She taps the gun. "This won't kill you, but if I so much as feel a little warmer or colder than I do right now, you're going to have a nice little nap."
Lilith pushes open the door the the precinct, her stilettos instantly clicking out a bright sound to announce her arrival. A deep breath steels her wavering nerves as she tucks her hands into the pockets of a sanguine-hued, leather jacket and braves forward. Her icy gaze picks over the details of the department as she takes a last second for herself to face the internal battle of this decision.
Aude's out at the copier in the front, Cole's ID's slapped down and copies made. More than one copy. Yes. She'll stash one copy somewhere else later. Mr. B's boss will enjoy it, she's sure. Frank, the profoundly rotund officer at the front desk eyes Lilith when she enters. Waiting tos ee what she wants.
Cole witdhraws his hands; both of them now rested on each of his legs that were still parted quite widely. "Alright. I'm sorry", he tells Veronica. "Am I free to go now, or—" Suddenly, things go exceptionally awry. His hands fell beneath the table for a reason - his palms suddenly spring up against the table and it is tipped over. The top surface of the table would face Vee in a fraction of a second, shielding Cole from potential tasing, and he pushes against the table to push it against the agent and hopefully shove her all the way towards the wall with quite the amount of force.
The prying gaze of the officer is enough to sort Lilith's thoughts back to the present reality when her attention slips across the desk. Rolling back her shoulders, she glides forward, the sound of her heels demanding a presence that her unsure thoughts and body language do not support at the moment. "Ehm. Yes - I was hoping to register myself as Evolved?" She states, her soft tones lilting into a question at the end of her comment. She releases the breath she'd been holding, her stance softening slightly, and lifts a hand to push back the length of her dreadlocks.
Paperwork and cell phone of course fly off the table. Vee stumbles back, having been on the edge of the table, but she quickly moves to the side rather than letting the table push her to the wall. Her hand still holds the tranq gun and she raises it, taking a shot from her crouched position now to the side of Cole.
"Castalides! I got another for you!" Aude looks over to Frank and Lilith with raised brows. Shit,w ere they coming out of the woodwork today? "Sure. Ma'am, through the door there, come with me?" She had everything still set up in the conference room. Or she thought she did. "Taking her to room twelve, other guy should be done, i'll send him out, you can call Homesec and set up his appointment"
Once the cell phone hits the ground, it obviously shatters into pieces, the accumulator and both casings flying off. As if a snow-globe has been stirred, the room is now full of papers flying everywhere. In the midst of this chaos, Cole leaves the table alone, which, from his strength, flies a few feet to the side. Thanks to his ability, he had noticed Vee's strafe to the side in order to get out from behind the table before she fully does so. Since she drops to a crouching position, he instantly lifts up a foot to kick at the taser and at the very least mess up her aim, and at best simply kicking the gun off from Veronica's hand.
Lilith shifts the worn-leather pack on her left shoulder, looking between the officers with a lofted brow. She offers nothing but an assertive little nod before she falls into line behind woman like a patient being lead to that nerve-wrecking little doctor's office by some overdressed nurse. She wrinkles her nose and tucks her hands back into her pockets, catching fistfuls of the coat's liner to still her restless fingertips.
Veronica's tranq gun skitters away, but her other hand is already reaching for his leg, aiming to throw him off balance, even as she stands and to do a kick-sweep of his other leg. At the same time her hand is going for the taser, either bringing it up to his shoulder to attempt to make contact there, or following his body down if he does indeed fall, to tase him on the ground.
Come on back, we'll get you tested, get your ID's copied, fingerprint you, fill out paperwork and frank will get you connect to home sec, to set up your date with homeland for ability demonstrations" Rattles off the petite officer as they head on back. Back towards room twelve,. Room twelve which… has people starting to go for it. Room twelve which now has Aude's eyes wide and she slaps the paperwork down on the ground as she draws her gun and starts advancing on the room with the others. "Home sec agent in there. Super sight. Military. Consider him dangerous" She doesn't know about the memory issues quite yet.
Cole indeed loses his balance, but it is his extraordinary reaction that allows him to safely choose the appropriate next course of action. He deliberately drops to the ground, stopping his fall with his hands; his unrestrained foot lunges forth to kick at the hand reaching for the taser so that he would get rid of that weapon, as well. As he hears Aude from behind, he drops to the ground entirely with his hands above him, shoved behind his head, whether or not he's successful in disarming Vee for the second time. "Well, that's no fun."
"What the hell?" Lilith hangs back enough not to catch too much attention among the ruckus of officers rushing the meeting room. She sticks her slender frame to the wall, inching forward with only the intent of spying inside to determine just what has caused the mess. The mumblings of the rushing passersby are not lost on her, giving clues to the situation - and instantly her paranoia begins to strike up the cords of a wild tale of some poor Evolved being mistreated. "What is going on in there!? What are you doing?" She pries herself from the wall and begins an effort to push closer.
Veronica keeps her grip on her taser as the armed police come into the room. She flashes her badge at them so they know to point their guns at Cole. "He attacked me. Shoved the table over and pushed it up against me," she says coolly, reaching to pick up her tranquilizer gun from its place on the floor and shoving it in the holster, following with the taser. "Claims he's super sight but keeps talking about being a temperature controller, keeps threatening to take out the precinct or something. I think he should head to HomeSec. I'd suggest cuffing him and maybe even tranquing him and I'll get a transport if you like." Her husky voice is even, though her eyes narrow at Cole.
"Ma'am, stay back please" Aude's voice is gruff and authoritative. "He attacked a homeland security officer. Please stay back" There's male officers entering the room, handcuffs going on Cole, ordering him to stay down, don't move, etc etc. "Are you in need of medical assistance for yourself Agent Sawyer? For Mr. Wright?" They had no way to prove whether it was sight or temperature that he had. "Agent Sawyer, I think it's safe to say that Homeland will be dealing with him?"
Cole rolls his head to the side and arches a brow, surprised that Veronica has managed to hold onto the taser after the kick. Regardless, he has gotten his. Perfectly silent now, he continues to lie on the ground as if it was his own comfortable bed back in his apartment, listening to the exchange between the police officer and the HomeSec agent. Somewhere in the midst of this dialogue, he would mutter under his breath: "Amateurs." And then he would stir to look behind him, to see where his cell phone is. He was thankful for the fact that all of his pictures were stored in his iPhone, which was in his inner jacket pocket.
Lilith's stilettos offer a good view over the officers' shoulders as she peers into the conference room, her crystal-blue gaze honing in on the strange man laying upon the floor. "What are you doing to him?!" Instantly the air immediately around her begins to crackle with an unbridled heat. The visible flames begin at her hands, licking at her fingers as she begins to elbow into the room. "Get back! We are not animals! Stop it!" She tries to push towards the man's side.
"I told you not to fucking make threats. Yes, I think HomeSec will be taking this one in. His power, which I haven't seen used yet, might not be dangerous, but I think he might be. Making threats in a police station," Veronica nods to Aude, and then she narrows her eyes as the woman comes into the room with flames crackling on her hands. She grabs her tranq gun and fires the dart at Lilith in a swift gesture.
"Ma'am! Cease and desist this is not yo…" Holy shit there's fire. The woman is on FIRE. Fucking evo is lighting up in the fucking precinct?! Aude lifts her gun when Isis manages to get in front of her. At the time that Veronica fires off her tranq, Aude's gun barks in the close quarters. It was a head shot. SHe's aimed for the back of Lilith's head.
It was the officer who was en flambe that saved the woman from having her brain matter all over the wall and Veronica. He'd screamed as his arm was licked with flames and jostled the petite officer. So the bullet instead hits Lilith in the shoulder, sinking in deep, two of them. Ears will be ringing and there's alarms being thrown up at the discharge of a gun in the precinct itself.
Hearing some hysterical dame's voice, Cole finally discards his docile position so that he could sit up and look behind him to see who it was. Noticing Lilith storming in with her power triggered, he actually pondered whether he should aid the officers in canceling such a threat or whether he should use this window of opportunity. Eventually, he decides the latter, and hooks his feet behind Vee's legs before pulling them towards him in an effort to bring the agent down similarly to how he was. This is all done in just a couple of seconds thanks to his persistently active ability, and as such it would occur before the tranquilizer would be shot.
The flames had already begun to engulf the pale woman's slender arms whent he tranquilizer and hand gun are leveled at her. Fighting is not her strong suit. Fire? That she can do. So, it is only with thanks to Cole that the sleepy dart never finds her flesh - instead she is heat with the searing sting of two bullets tearing through her left arm. The agony floods her nerves, stealing up her spine and filling her thoughts with the blinding, all encompassing torment of its pain. Her eyes go wide as she catches her breath and sinks to her knees as the bridge of control holding back her ability demolishes under the pain. Instantly her whole body is immersed in the flames - the nearby desk and any police officers not foolish enough to have moved before hand catching alight. "Make it stop!" She suddenly screams and falls to her knees, throwing her hands over her head.
When those legs hook around, pulling her, Vee throws her center of gravity backward, letting her legs' momentum carry her over into a backflip so that she lands a couple of feet out of the reach of Cole's legs. She whirls around and aims the tranq gun once more at Lilith, while reaching into her holster to find her "real" gun once more, pulling it out slowly to train it on Cole.
Holy christ, this was a nightmare. A flat out nightmare. The headshot had missed, nailing the woman in the shoulder. And turned her from medium to high. Cole's going after Veronica and for a brief flicker of a moment, the darker skinned woman is wondering if it's not some big plot of theirs. The gun barks again, no officer to bump into her and derail the shot. No chance to miss. She's been trained to this and inwardly,there's some small measure of glee.
Lilith probably doesn't even know it's coming when the bullet leaves the gun and hits the pyro's head. Aude's first kill. That it's Evo, is only that much more righteous and justified in her eyes. Uncontrolled tier 2 - likely, definitely - going up in a questioning room. Poor pyro, never saw it coming and never will.
Cole eyes the weapon drawn by the HomeSec agent. Surprisingly, he didn't seem intimidated, and instead was amused. Up until the moment he heard another shot. He looks behind him, and the scene unfolding before him quickly makes him drop his casual, seemingly carefree demeanor. With a heavy sigh, he lies down on his stomach, putting his hands on his head. "I'd prefer handcuffs to being tranq'd, to be frank", he notes, and falls silent and completely still.
The last images that paint the little pyro's sight are not of this world, or at least not of this time. She sees her apartment those years ago, the fear of her lover's fear-stricken face as the flames crowd around him like a pack of predator's eager to consume him. Her own mind has but a half-second to recognize this death from her fear - her fear that she was indeed a danger to society despite all her effort to control her ability, to help those around her. Her unblinking eyes lose their focus in an instant before the little beauty slump forward, the flames around her dying but for those that can still live on feeding at the floor, the table, or other flammable objects around her.
Veronica raises her brows at Cole's comments as he bellies down on the floor for cuffing. She nods to the uniformed police to do that bit for her. "What you want and what you get might be too different things, after attacking me, my friend." She glances at Aude. "You want to book him for that kamikaze action here?" she asks, pulling out her cell phone. "We need to test him of course, so we might as well take him for now, and if he's only got super sight as a power, you all can have him for a good few months for assaulting an officer."
Aude's not answering, just hand out with the gun, pointed still at Lilith's now prone body. She quickly flickers her eyes back and forth though. "I think that he needs to be booked by another officer Agent Sawyer" Considering she's about to be parked in a corner and IA is about to be crawling all over her ass. By now the hall is crowded, there's calls for Paramedics, and for people to get things secured, and everything else that's needed for an incident of this caliber.
"As trite as what I am about to say will sound… Had I really wanted to attack you, there would be two corpses on the ground, and none of them would be me." Cole looks up at the pyrokinetic's corpse, and then his gaze finds Aude. "Had she been more organized, she would have fried all of you", he remarks, "Especially the officer who thinks making headshots from point blank is heroic." And then he would attempt to look behind him, at Agent Sawyer, as Aude addressed her. "You have guns, and they can kill you with a thought. What is your trump card, exactly?" The prospect of being sent away for a few months hardly bothered Cole. He had nothing to lose, after all. And once he'd be out, he wouldn't even remember.