Participants:
Scene Title | The Tangled Web |
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Synopsis | Alia goes to the Midtown Library, and finds more than she expects. |
Date | January 27, 2010 |
Once upon a time, the New York Public Library was one of the most important libraries in America. The system, of which this branch was the center, was among the foremost lending libraries /and/ research libraries in the world.
The bomb changed that, as it changed so much else.
By virtue of distance, the library building was not demolished entirely, like so many others north of it; however, the walls on its northern side have been badly damaged, and their stability is suspect. The interior is a shambles, tattered books strewn about the chambers and halls, many shelves pulled over. Some have even been pulled apart; piles of char in some corners suggest some of their pieces, as well as some of the books, have been used to fuel fires for people who sought shelter here in the past.
In the two years since the bomb, the library — despite being one of the icons of New York City — has been left to decay. The wind whistles through shattered windows, broken by either the blast-front or subsequent vandals, carrying dust and debris in with it. Rats, cats, and stray dogs often seek shelter within its walls, especially on cold nights. Between the fear of radiation and the lack of funds, recovery of the library is on indefinite hiatus; this place, too, has been forgotten.
Alia shivers in her coat, pulling at the gloves she had put on. SKateboards are great in territory you know, or in daylight when one can see well… navigating midtown at night on one is a daunting task, even for one skilled with the tool as their primary mode of transport. Alia had stuffed it behind her backpack and taken to walking on foot as she neared the library, occasionally using a small keychain flashlight to poke out her path to avoid stumbling in the darker spots. her body posture is tense, one hand occasionally brushing the top right edge of her backpack out of some odd habit. She sighed, and looked up at her destination as she appraoched it… what was left of the Center LIbrary of the system…Alia shivered again, this time at memories before approaching the steps.
She may or may not have sensed the cameras watching her, but as Alia steps up into the Library the silent watchers catch her movement. Whoever is inside knows she's coming….
There is only the soft crunch of a foot on the floor, before she hears the Shnick snak of a pump action shotgun and feel it against her shoulder. "Library is closed for renovations." Growls a voice behind her. Slowly, she feels the end of the barrel move along her shoulder until a small blonde woman shows up out of the corner of her eye. "No trespassers allowed."
Claire Bennet, looking just about how she did in the photo's Rebel showed Alia, stands with a shot gun leveled at the technopath. "What are you doing here?"
Alia is fully aware of the cameras… but is more surprised by their WORKING… thus she misses the sound of the Crunch until the distinctive sound… she raises her hands slowly and tries to say something… which is rather futile with how fast her brain is spinning and her native condition… it takes almost a full minute before she gets one word out. "re… Rebel"
Blue eyes narrow at that one word, but Claire's posture doesn't relax any. Hand shift a bit on the stock and her finger comes out of the tiger to lay along side it. "What about Rebel?" Her tone is cautious and uncertain, but she does gesture for Alia to move further into the the library after a glance to the outside world.
Alia moves inward a few steps. "Sent me. to find… You. Claire." She's rattled, alright, but recovering quickly. Her words are clipped, kept to the bare minimum.
Okay now that surprises Claire. The end of the shotgun drops now and she arches a brow, looking the woman over. "He…. sent you here?" So much for secret hide out. Claire lets the shot gun hang loosely at her side. "Obviously he had a reason?" A brow arches. "Especially since he didn't let us know you were coming, or warn you about… our security. Your lucky it was me and not some of out meaner members."
Alia manages a weak smile and shrugs. "He said… you could…. teach why?" The words are tough for her to say, most of them are. She relaxes, just a bit. "Showed… overhead, from… up there." She points upward. "Didn't… mention anything else." She sighs and lowers her arms as they are starting to hurt. "Members?"
"Why?" Claire asks, her head tilting slightly as she considers this woman. "And.. better yet, Who are you?" A glance goes over her shoulder, as if expecting someone to show up. "Yes.. Rebel kin of sent to into a place that's not suppose to be well know. To learn…. ?" Claire's head comes back around, a blonde brow arches out of curiosity. "Cause frankly…" the shotgun is move to lean on her shoulder, ".. not sure what to teach, unless I have some clue."
"Welcome to our home…" Claire stresses, motioning her to follow. "Keep that in mind. Some of us actually live here." She gives a soft sigh and glances around her, "So discretion is appreciated, though I don't think Rebel would have sent you if he didn't think you could be discreet."
Moving by a door with a Do Not Enter sign on it, She pushes the door open, glancing in briefly. "I think I know what he wants me to show you." Glancing over her shoulder at the woman, Claire gives her another once over. "The people that reside in this library are gather for a common goal. We're working towards a better future." A small smile touches her lips, "Or as our former leader use to call it, The End Game."
Alia blinks. "Former leader?" She follows carefully, still not at ease, but not nearly as tense as when the shotgun was aimed at her. "Still… a better future."
"Honey, I'm home!" Bones calls as he comes jogging in to the hallway and turning the corner he sees sees someone he was not expecting to see. Narrowing his eyes a little, cocking his head to one side. He looks a little puzzled for a moment he takes in Alia but then quickly recovers. "Ah, I'm sorry, miss. But the Library is closed-" he says rather cordially, tone even and casual. A moment more and he finally notices Claire beyond the visitor. "Oh, Claire. Sorry. Everything alright?"
"Yes, Former leader. Richard Cardinal, he…" Claire's turns away as she continues away from the map room. "..sacrificed himself so that we all would have a better future." A pause again so that she can turn an look back at Alia. "You've seen the picture of the black nuclear blast?" A small smile tugs her lips, "That was him. It took a nuclear bomb into the shadows with him."
"And yes, a better future. The way things are, we're moving towards… well.. a rather crappy future.." Her voice trails off at the sound of Bones arrival. A grin is sent to the tall dark man, "Bones.. Hey… Come meet Alia. She is a technopath." She motions to the young woman. "Rebel sent her here to find me and to learn the secrets we have."
Alia finally cracks a wide smile, as she finally digs into her pockets for the first time, and digs out a business card… it reads "Alia Chavez, Network Support, NYC Library System, Brooklyn Branch". This, she hands to Bones. "My line." She continues to smile, but shivers a little at the mention of the blast. She remembers it alright. Creepy image.
Approaching the two ladies, Bones leans in a little more, allowing Alia to hold the card as he looks at it. His brows raise slightly as he makes a quiet musing sound. "Huh." he stands upright once more and reaches out towards the hand and the card but bypasses both and clasps her forearm in one of his huge mitts. "Please to meet you, Miss Chavez. As Claire said, they call me Bones. Curator and Restoration Architect, Operations, NYC Library System, Main Branch. Welcome to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building." he grins widely.
"I'll take that reaction as you have." Claire comments with a small smile, "He was all about the future and setting it right, we are striving to continue his work." A glance goes to Bones. "I'm thinking of showing her the string room." Before her attention goes back to Alia.
"Pinehearst.. have you heard of that place?"
Alia ponders the name a few moments. "Familiar… somehow…" She sighs and shakes her head, not able to put anything more to it for the moment. "Not well though."
Bones takes his hand back, plucking the business card from Alia's hand finally and gives Claire a nod. "Well you don't see me barring your way, Miss Terminator." he says, allowing them to continue on while he mutters, "Going to put a hole in someone one of these days…" and trails off in to some Portuguese.
"It was in the news.. Collapse and all that.. In truth… Pheonix and others were there taking down a bad man. A man who would protect us from future threats but make life… bad." Claire turns and starts towards a door which is open and leads down stairs. "What I am going to show you is a map of a ten year period.. all the threats Arthur Petrelli saved us from."
A grin is sent at Bones, "Don't tempt me, big guy." Claire gives him a jerk of her head. "Come with, Bones." Not that she needs the back up. The ex-cheerleader takes the technopath into the inner sanctum of End Game headquarters.
Alia follows along. The details of the event, or at least, the parts that made the news, filter into her head after a moment. She makes an oh sound. "Some… solutions… too high a cost?" She finally whispers, almost thinking to herself, not a habit she has of doing outloud very often.
Bones does indeed trail along behind them, following them to the doorway but does not enter, simply leaning against the frame when he reaches it. He reaches in to his back pocket and pulls out a box of fast-food popcorn chicken, amazingly still hot. Complete with barbecue and ranch dressings that fit neatly in to little cups on the side of the box.
Reaching on of the dark rooms, Claire ducks in and shortly a lamp is lit and the room is brought out of the shadows. Strings crisscross the room, like a messy black widow web. "This is the string room." She moves to point at one event. "This is Pinhearst and Arthur sinking his claws into everything." She moves to the other side of the room and knocks a knuckle on the wall where one long sting ends. "This is 10 years in the future." Arms spread to take in the rest of the tangled web. "And this… is everything important… such as…"
The blonde regenerator, ducks to a point in history and carefully hooks her finger on it. "This is the nuclear explosion…." she walks back from it along the line. "Vangaurd involvement. Arthur was suppose to stop it. In stead a group of evolved were gathered by the US and sent on missions to find it and stop it." She glances at the mess of timelines. "As you can see.. there is still a lot to do."
Alia pauses a moment as she tries to take in the… mess of strings infront of her. She frowns and tries to make sense of it all. "A lot to do." She echoes tonelessly. She frowns as she looks at the tangle. "So many… variables. One thing causing another." She shakes her head and rubs at her forehead. "How … do you keep track?"
"My guess? Very carefully…" Bones says from the doorway as he dunks a piece of chicken in to one of the sauces and pops it in to his mouth.
"We watch for the signs." Claire states simply. "We watch events and compare them to the intel we have…. This is why we need Rebel's help. We have all of these events…. but now.. it looks like new problems are popping up, like he mentioned camps.. We don't know what kind really. This H1N1 stuff…. it's all of it new." Claire looks bothered by that fact. "We need to stay on top of all this…. cause who knows where it ties into all of this."
Alia nods just a little as she looks at the web. "…Two curiosities" or more like worries. One a place, one a person, both she was involved with. "Summer Meadows?" She asks first, the more postitive, she's sure, of the two.
Glancing over the web, Claire's head is already shaking. "No.. I haven't seen that on the map. So there are no known events revolving around it." She runs a finger along a stand thoughtfully, stopping at a new article about Arthur Petrelli. Eyes falling on a black and white photo of her pgrandfather, her face falling a bit. Giving herself a shake. "The other?"
Alia sighs and braces herself, as she instead takes off her backpack and pulls out a laptop, being careful not to disturb the 'web'. She turns it on, and pulls up a picture… well, more like a painting, labeled at the bottom with just a first name, of 'Adam'. "Him." The picture does a good rendition of one Adam Monroe.
Bones watches for another minute or two, idly eating his food before he pushes off of the threshold to the string room and begins to make his way back down along the hallway to head back up to the cartography room.
Her head shakes slowly, her brows furrow slightly. "Adam? Does he have a last name?" She asks curiously, looking from the image to the Technopath. "He's no where on the timeline… but… this isn't the only source of information… but you have to meet the new head of the group before I can let you into the information room."
Alia nods in understanding. She closes the laptop and puts it away, before rubbing her forehead again, sighing with the headache of words. "Right. Anythin'… help with now?" She asks as she finds her way to a safe spot to lean.
"We know about as much as everyone else." Claire says softly. "We do need someone that can break his code. None of us are good at this tech stuff." Her head motions to the laptop, before she ducks out of the room. "That's about all I can show you till you talk to Liz.. The information room is more classified then that. Beside…. I think she'd like to meet you."
Moving to show Alia back towards the surface again. "We're willing to share what we have with Rebel… but the head of us needs to give the okay." She smiles gently. "We have your card.. I'll make she has your number so she can contact you to meet."
Alia nods, and gives a smile. "Code-breaking." There's a twinkle in her eyes. "That, can be done." She pulls her skateboard out from behind her pack when they near the door. "Be well."
A hand lifts in farewell when she stops at the door, Claire grins after the woman. "Take care and be safe, Alia.. We'll be in touch.. You know where we are if you need help." Then she turns back inside. "Bones! Where did you slump off too?"
Alia smirks, and is on her way, the sound of skateboard wheels rolling through the uneven terrain…