Participants:
| Scene Title | Tracking Young Ladies |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Ryans tracks down Abby at the community college that she's attending to talk to her. Though it is Abby who learns something about the former Company Agent and gives him a warning. |
| Date | January 07, 2010 |
LaGuardia Community College
When one is - shall we say formerly of a business that seeks information and keeps track of people - it's not that hard to keep track of a certain brown haired bartender/barowner. She doesn't try to be inconspicuous when her plaster cast is a multitude of colors and she's just trying to get loose ends tied up before her trip to Mexico. This evenings exploits meant that she's coming out of the admissions office of LaGuardia Community College and getting ready to brave the weather out to the student parking.
Papers clutched in hand means that she's hobbling towards a bench so that she can sit and get things organized and keep track of her papers with regards to their sole last month of education before she can try and become a real EMT, hired by someone.
Since the day at the library, it's been bothering the former Company agent. How did a young woman no older this his own girls, know who he was? Being a 'former' he tends be kept in the blind about much of what's happening in the Company. But there is obviously been something going on that put the secret of his cover out there.
He wanted to know.
So using what he remembered from that day at the Library, Ryans found the University the young woman was going, just from the books she took out. While he couldn't just walk up to the office staff and ask who went to the school he was able to sit outside the doors of the main office and watch. Not like he has much to do.Brown duster pulled tight only allowing tan slacks to show, dark charcoal colored scarf curls around his neck. Leather clad hands rub together, cupping them together now and then to blow warm breath into them. He hated the fact he felt the cold more then he use too, the curse of age.
"You, Miss Abigail, are a curious person." Comes a rumbling voice of Benjamin Ryans, quiet as it might be it carries to the young woman. A polite smile is given, making a few lines stand out more on one cheek. He stands from the cold brick walls he's been sitting on, his movement a bit stiff, but still graceful enough for his age. "I hope you don't mind, I thought we could have a chat."
There's a glance over her shoulder when someone calls her by her name and curious to boot. It takes the brunette a moment or two to place where the man jogs her memory from and the words that associate with him. "If you need to, we can. Never know anyone who worked for Primatech to just want to sit and talk" She alters her course from the bench she was heading to, toward Ryans's bench to gracefully angle down and flop onto the bench. Messenger bag is dragged around and folded papers are put into it safe and sound.
"And how are you today Mr.. Benjamins was it? Taken to finding the schedules of young christian women or did you just happen to follow me?" No accusation in her voice, she is friends - if you can call it that - with Veronica and Brian. She offers her hand out after a moments hesitation to the former agent. "Cold, but beautiful day isn't it"
"Ryans… Benjamin Ryans. And it is a cold day.. feel it right to these old bones." Chuckling, Ryans settles back on the bench shifting a bit so he can gives Abigail a look over, a calculating look. He takes the hand and gives it a brief and polite squeeze. "Well, as you said, Former, sitting and talking is about all I do anymore. Beside, action is sometimes not the best course of action." Hands fold and rest on his lap as she considers what to say. "Obviously, you are aware of what I use to be. It's the first time I've told someone my cover job and to be… figured out, so to speak."
"So, obviously, I was just curious how a young lady such as yourself came across that kind of information." Blue eyes narrow somewhat, though the smile remains.
"I get around. Do you really want to talk about paper companies on a bench outside of the admissions office of a college Mr. Ryans? I don't know about you but I think that breaks the first rule of being in Primatech. You don't talk about Primatech in public. Come on, my SUV is in the parkinglot and it's more comfortable to sit on heated seats than it is to sit on a cold bench and much more privacy" Abigail rises from the bench, adjusting her aluminum supports. "Heavens knows, I certainly won't be trying to kidnap you in my car."
"I had actually hoped to get out of the cold before talking, yes." Ryans admits , hand moving to hold on the back of the bench as he pushes to his feet again. "I didn't know where you would feel most comfortable talking, since I imagine if I offered my own car… Well, it might come off wrong, considering my past."
He waits for her to get to her feet and then with a wave of his hand and a nod of his head, lets her take the lead. He then offers in an attempt at polite conversation. "So you was looking to become a paramedic… or was it a nurse?" Brows crease as he tries to remember what she said to him that day in the library.
"If I haven't been bagged and tagged yet, then I never will be. Paramedic. I had to leave abruptly to take care of some things, but i'll be picking my classes back up and by the time this cast is off, i'll be able to get a job somewhere. Maybe driving an ambulance and put in my time till I can take the paramedic's course"
She plows along, heading for the snap pea green SUV hybrid parked in the handicapped parking with it's temporary little handicapped tag hanging from the rearview mirror. When there's suffecient lack of people around, she spares a few glances his way. "I used to heal for Phoenix and Pariah and any number of people in the city. In turn they felt the need to tell me about who to be careful about, who to avoid. The Company was one. Not that I avoided them. But that's how I know that Primatech was a front for the Company until it .. collapsed. I've done some work for them as well"
Head bobbing in a short nod, Ryans listens. "Interesting, I've heard of those organizations. Came out more once the bomb blew if I am right?" He eyes focus on the cold hard cement in front of him for a long moment, hands tucked warm in his duster pockets.
"I don't know how many retired agents or even former agents you have met, but once we leave the service of the Company, we are shut in the dark." His gaze lifts to track around the immediate area, wary for ears. "I retired after the Midtown Man exploded. Took my wife with him.. leaving me two girls to care for. It was them or the Company. As you can imagine I chose them."
Again those eyes study her. "So it's alarming that my cover was blown, when last I had known it was still in place." His tone is somewhat bland as she explains the next, "My former co-workers have not exactly told me that it was compromised, which is Company procedure."
"Fair enough. Believe it or not, it's not common knowledge that the company is Primatech. I only knew because I had healed these people annd they saw fit to help me in return. I was like Belgium? Neutral territory" She digs a keychain out of her jacket pocket and presses a few buttons. Engine roars to live while they're halfway there and doors unlock. "Don't panic, truly, it was a fluke I think. Please, get in. The doors are unlocked" She heads for the drivers side and goes through the process of getting in behind teh wheel
Hesitating for only a moment, Ryans glances around, before opening the card door. Old habits and all that. Pulling his duster tight under him he slides into the car with a sigh and shuts the door, though it doesn't completely latch. "That's a relief, I must say." He reaches to fiddles with the vents to get the warm air once the car gets to the proper temperature. "I have to admit it's frustrating not knowing what is going on. For all I know someone I took in is out there searching for me. Though, I would hope they'd contact me for that." He angles a lop-sided smile her way, "But then again with them you never know. Depends on how valuable your life is."
"So get in contact with them?" Keys sunk into the steering column and crutches along with bag are tossed into the back seat and out of the way. She's not so cold as he is. "Far be it from me to be the source of information, but. Surely there must be people who you used to work with still working for The Company"
Abigail pauses in her reaching for a vent and angles a glance at him. "And no, I'm not someone who can pass along that message. I don't actively circulate in Company circles anymore but a few come through my bar now and then to unwind" Put his mind at ease in that regard. "I scared you that much, knowing what you were? Mr. Ryan's, People with amilitary background, don't sell paper. Maybe if you'd said you worked security, I MIGHT Have bought it"
"Back when the Vietnam war happened, were were not exactly highly thought of.. Some of the men coming back were not so lucky in the jobs they were able to get." Ryans voice drones on softly, in story telling mode. "I have one buddy that was stuck in a factory job building cars. Another ended up working as a bagger and had a second job in a factory as well. Me… before I sold 'paper' I fixed cars. It was the best I could get at the time."
As the car warms up, Benjamin adjusted the flow of air again. "It's all in who you know as to what job you got back then. One guy was picked up as a consultant gear for the Teams." Her gives a bit of a sniff and presses fingers to he nose to check how cold it is. "I will admit that my background at a Navy SEAL is what brought the Company to my door though."
"Vietnam war. You are old" Unintentionally rude, but she's fairly young. The only war she knows of is the war on terrorism. She's not even old enough to have acknowledged the gulf war. "It's still that way here and now. Who you know and how good you are at doing your job. I worked in a diner and a corner store to make my rent when I first moved here a few years ago right after the bomb" Has it really been that long since she's lived in the city?
"Most people I find, that i've met who are company and admittedly it's very few of them, have military backgrounds." She furrows her brows though, looking over at Ryans, shifting in her seat. "How long ago did you work for them?"
The old man takes no insult from her comment on his age. "I am fifty seven years old, young lady. Though I try to stay in shape, these old bones still ache." He sounds more amused at her assessment then anything. "I was shipped over a year before end of the war really, but I was there. So yes, I am old."
Watching the people pass by the car, Ryans gives her next question thought, "Almost thirty years," he finally offers. "Survived two partners, countless injuries." A hand moves to brush the sleeve of his coat and shirt enough to show a hint of pale white scarring. ".. and midtown. It was a good run really."
He tugs the sleeves back in place as she continues, "While I do still stay in contact with some of the younger agents I trained before retiring, they are of course.. rather tight lipped." he gives her a small quirk of a smile and states in a knowing fashion. "Company policy, of course."
"Company policy" It's policy with just about everyone. In the underworld, or government, secrets are currency. Abigail glances towards the white scarring, a purse of lips at the sight he reveals but she doesn't make a move to touch them like she would have in the past. A twitch maybe, a flexing of her hand that closes around something else.
"How'd did you… countenance what you do with your concience? How did you justify doing what you did to people with abilities? Of taking them, studying them, marking them?" No accusation there either. It's a question some day she'll ask Veronica but she's got a company agent in her car, a former one, whow as there for a lot more of the things that went on back then. Like possibly the Shanti virus.
"In the beginning I was young, special forces in the real world. Trained to be the best." There is pride in his words over his military training, not too unusual. "Each one I captured was a challenge and then it was about who was most dangerous. Later, when I doubted some of what I did, I only had to look at my daughters to know I was trying to make sure we knew the threat there could be." There is no apology in those words, just simple fact, Ryans was one of the old guys.
"Of course, methods changed over time. I can not tell you what, but I question thing. When it comes down to it however, I was soldier first. Too many questions gets you a court martial and tossed out, so to speak." The air vent is tilted away now that he is sufficiently warm. "I will say however, the Company I joined was not the same one that I left. Who knows what all they can do even now. Technology and corruption changes the face of any business constantly."
It's interesting to hear the man talk. He reasons for going in, his reasons for staying. Family. Did Noah stay in for the same reason? He didn't leave for the same reasons, she's sure. Or maybe he did. She'd have to ask Sandra next time she saw her. Abigail blue eyes regard the man across from her in her car. He looks like a company agent, but then, he doesn't. yet that, she surmises, is how they'd like it. That you never know who is one, who isn't till it's too late.
"Why'd you track me down. I know you said you were curious. How I knew, but still. why'd you track me down. The odds of us ever crossing paths again would be slim to none and if you did your homework, you'd have seen that I'm not one to.. go spouting it off at the top of my lungs who you worked for"
Thin lips press into a thin line as if thinking about it seriously. Why had Ryans decided to hunt her down. "Curiosity. Worry. I've taken down many dangerous people during my time. If one young woman knew what Primatech was, who else out there could know." He gives her a smile, there is a kindness too it, though his eyes seem as sad as they always do. "So I wanted to meet you, talk… get a feel for the young woman who wishes to be a paramedic, yet knows so much more then one so young should need to be aware of."
"Only a fool would not know that there is something going on this city." Ryans continues to explain his reasoning, head turning to watch someone pass the car, "These groups that say they are protecting the rights of the evolved have gotten braver, which embolden the ones that would truly harm people." He shifts in his seat to look at her again, his movement a bit stiff. "The world is on the edge of something, you can almost feel the tension waiting to truly snap. So you could say, I'm watching my ass." The vulgar word sounds completely out of place on the man. "And making sure that I and my family are still safe."
Making sure he and his family are still safe. The corner of her mouth turns down in some semblance of a frown. The world is on the edge of something and he can feel it. Abigail twists around in her seat, cast bumping against the door as she roots around and not for a weapon. A map though, one of a couple and once she has her hand on it, she starts to unfold it.
"I haven't been telling people save for those that.. are dear to me. If you're smart, you'll not ask me how I know, the same as I don't ask you what exactly it is that you did for the company. Take your daughters, go rent a cabin or find a hotel near this area" She gestures to an area out further inland that Teo had mapped out for her. Safe places - in his estimation - where flooding wouldn't reach.
"Bring a generator. Rent it if you have to, trust me, if things happen, you'll be glad ot have it. Non-perishbles, things you can't live without, probalby a gun or two to protect your girls"
Brows thinned by age lift high on his head, making the creases of his forehead stand out sharply. Ryan's leather bound hand reaches over to gently take the map. Its brought closer, eyes squinting some to study what she is showing him. He doesn't question her, fair is fair after all, but he does simply ask the vague question, "That bad?" Eyes lift from the map to look at her.
He holds it up and gives her a questioning look, "May I take this with me?" Chances are, Ryans won't move a foot from the city, but he'll send his girls. Tell them to take some friends and go skiing or something, give them money to spend, they won't argue.
"Take it with you and make a copy? There's a bar called Old Lucy's, you can drop it off there, tell them it's for Abby. But yes, that bad. I told you, I got people who look out for me. Worst is, nothing happens and no one's the wiser. Even more worse?" Abigail closes her eyes, drawing up something from her memory.
"The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days."
She lifts her lids, looking over at him. "I'm bound by things that you are bound, by the same people even and higher. It could be tomorrow, could be… a week from now, but if it's going ot happen, it will happen soon. I'm telling you this because…" Why is she telling him?
"Because you have a family, and people need to survive and the younger the better"
The map it folded carefully along the creases and tucked into the inside of his jacket. "I will return it to you a quickly as I can." Benjamin promises softly. "By tomorrow if the weather holds." Leaning forward in the car he casts a glance to the sky. When he settles back finally, he studying her again, as if committing her features to memory. "I appreciate the warning and I hope that what you say is wrong, cause it means we'll all live to see another day."
Hands tugs at his gloves and her sighs softly. "I do thank you, young lady, for humoring an old man." Her gives her a small smile, " But do not let me keep you any longer." He reaches over to pop the door of the car open, grimacing as he's hit with a cold blast of air. Sliding out of the car, he ducks his head in long enough to add a, "Do enjoy the rest of your day."
"This isn't my first apocalypse Mr. Ryans. I highly doubt it'll be my last. You wouldn't be the first one either who got curious. Lord be with you Mr. Ryans. Pray that we don't wake up to a flood" It's realy all she can say as he's getting out and she offers a nod to him. "I hope you can manage to have a good day as well"