Participants:
| Scene Title | Very Late |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | On her way to work, Kaylee Sumter runs into traffic that will make her late for work. |
| Date | October 19, 2018 |
Kaylee Sumter will be late for work today.
Traffic leading to Jackson Heights from her home is at a standstill. This sort of gridlock is uncommon in the Safe Zone, due to personal cars largely being seen as a luxury. But the exhaust fumes and tail lights cutting down the onramp to the 278 bridge out of Williamsburg is an exception. Tall cranes rise up to either side of the recently renovated bridge, and at first it feels like perhaps this is a construction delay.
Until the Military Police come buzzing up the breakdown lane. Four olive drab HumVees blast last Kaylee’s car going near fifty miles an hour, lights atop them flashing red and blue indicating their status as Military Police. An ambulance is behind them, followed by another HumVee rumbling up close on its tail. People in the car ahead of Kaylee hold their hands up on frustration, and some people have gotten out of their cars to see what the holdup is.
Kaylee, at the rear of this line of cars, can't see what the source of the traffic jam is, and unless she wants to mount the curb beside the onramp or back into the car behind her, she won't be getting out of the traffic jam any time soon.
The clock in the dashboard reads 8:53am. She might need to call in.
Of all days for there to be a traffic jam…
Traffic jams are doubly hated by the telepath, first being the obvious… Kaylee sighs and pulls her phone out of her jacket pocket. She always wears her red powersuit, with the black sleeveless blouse under it for interview day. She had once been told, it gave off an aura of control and power. Bonus, it was company colors.
The other reason she hates them, people tend to get heated and short tempered. When they get that way, their mental volume gets louder. Eyes squint a bit at the people ahead of her as she taps out a message to Lou, manicured nails click over the surface of her phone screen. Lou was the one person she is suppose to check in to as security protocol requires. Luther has been rather efficient. Made her feel safe, really.
Going to be late. Traffic. Probably an accident. Lots of MPs.
Let Luther know, training will be delayed. I’ll make it up by buying lunch today.
After a moment of thought, she adds with a bit of a grimace:
Let Richard know he’s on his own for interviews till I get there.
One of the times she had to make that call, Bella ended up as one of their scientists. Who knows what disaster will await her when she finally gets to work.
Message sent, it will be awhile before they finally reach their destination. The system being painfully sluggish as it is, who knows if it will show up minutes or hours after it is sent out. As the phone is tucked back into her pocket, she can only hope it will get there faster then her. Rolling down the window of her vehicle, Kaylee leans out a little to see if there is anything to see. Wisps of blonde hair brush along her cheek, prompting her to catch and tuck them behind her ear.
Nothing, just more confused motorists watching the flashing lights go further up the bridge and past its arch. There's a din of voices both physical and mental, too many to pick through without a concerted effort, though all feel and sound frustrated. A few people are looking back down the road, considering turning around. Others are getting back in their cars and doing just that, turning around.
Then, the passenger side door to Kaylee’s car raffles as someone hastily tries to open the locked door. The sound jostles her, sets her heart racing, and the bearded man on the other side of the passenger window looks like some opportunistic and desperate homeless person trying to get her purse, until she recognizes the face associated with it.
Magnes makes eye contact with Kaylee, but there's no recognition. He just looks frightened, blood up in the ridge side of his face, starting to limp away from the door with the intention of trying another car. She can hear his jumbled thoughts repeating, shit, shit, shit, gotta hide.
A hand is pressed to her chest in an attempt to calm her pounding heart, when the door handle rattles. A snapped look over, it takes a moment for it to click who she was looking at it’s been absolutely years. “Magnes?” comes the confused question. There is a blink, as recognition fully sets in. That was him… wasn’t it? Wasn’t he dead? Him and Elisabeth, hopping ‘superstrings’ as her brother calls them?
How was he here?
Before she can vocalize that question, he’s moving on to the next car. “Wait!” She calls out after him, but the he won’t be able to hear her. So she unlocks the car doors and steps out enough to look over the top of the car in his direction. “Magnes!” She calls out to get his attention, motioning to the car for him to get in; with a glance around to make sure he isn’t being followed.
He was half a car down when Kaylee popped out to shout for him, and there's an abject look of confusion on his face that is echoed in his mind, a turbulent mess of addled thoughts and uncertainties. Scrambling back to Kaylee’s car, ducked down and clearly bleeding from both a head wound and his knee through his ratty pants, Magnes comes back to her car and doesn't wait in pulling the passenger side door open.
“I don't know who you are,” Magnes says with a wild look in his eyes, a rivulet of blood running down his jaw, “and you're too cute to be a kidnapper,” he says as though he weren't the fully grown adult man in this scenario, glancing out the passenger side window and slouching low in his seat, “so can we please get out of here?”
He's bleeding all over her interior.
When he ducks into the car, Kaylee slides back in and pretty much stares at a dead man. There is an amused sound when he says she is too cute to be a kidnapper. Definitely sounds like him or at least what she remembers of him. “Kaylee.” she offers so that she is at least not a total stranger. “You really don’t remember me?” Maybe he hit his head. “When did you get back? How? Was Liz with you?”
Even though she asks these questions, Kaylee is looking to see if she can even get out of there. Though she seems a little reluctant if she was with him. Still, she check her rearview mirror to see if there is a way back. “Who are you hiding from?” That is the most important question from her, since he is now in her vehicle.
Looking at the torn up man next to her, Kaylee is suddenly glad Joseph took the kids to school today.
There's a vacant, wild animal-like stare from Magnes as he stays pressed against the passenger’s side door, subtly wincing as he knocks his injured knee into it. His dark eyes flick around the interior of the car, catch a view in the side mirror, then flick back to Kaylee. Shit. Shit. Shit. I got in a car with a crazy person. His thoughts betray him.
“I don't know you,” Magnes mutters, looking out the front of the car, then into the side mirror again. “Just um, just drop me off uhh… okay, maybe a little further away.” He looks back to Kaylee. “I stole some food, uh, might've run into the street and got hit bar a car. Might've flipped the car on accident.” There's another wince, this time more emotional than physical. Please don’t turn me in please don't turn me be please be cool please be cool.
“Up there’ll do,” Magnes motions with a bloodstained hand to a tarp-covered building still in the process of renovation. It's like he has no idea what Kaylee is talking about.
There is a touch of amusement behind the concern for his condition. “Not sure why you don’t remember me,” Kaylee starts following the other cars out of the traffic jam and onto better surface street. “Maybe hit your head?” When he motions to the building in the works of being refurbished a brow arches. “You’re kidding right? You’re injured. You need medical attention.” Her head tips towards his bloodied appearance. “If you were hit by a car who knows how bad it could be, you might even have a concussion.”
The telepath turns thoughtful as she, inches her way out of the main flow. “I know a place you could lay low until the heat tapers off.” A glances is hazarded his way before she continues. “There’s a probably a spare bed, you could get a shower… not to mention they have a great cook from what I hear.” Food. Which was what he was caught doing.
A warm smile is offered, something genuine from Kaylee. Her tone is measured and calm as she talks to him, “Look. I know that you don’t remember me and I might even sound crazy. To be honest, I get it. You don’t have a reason to trust me, but… I really just want to help.”
Quiet all the while Kaylee is speaking, Magnes watches her with a steely stare and tense shoulders. His fingers dig into the fabric of the seat, and after another moment his expression scrunches up into something that looks like he's about to cry, except he doesn't. He just mumbles, “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but I'm not Magnes I'm a clone baby.”
Then he tears up, mouth working to restrain an emotional break, and then clutches his hands to his face and starts sobbing loudly. His legs curl up to his chest, fingers curl in his hair, and he hiccups up sobbing, wet breaths as he breaks down within arm’s reach.
Wait. What?!
The mumbling catches her attention, grabs it fully. For a moment, she forgets she is driving and has to stomp on the brakes, before she rearends the car in front of her. “What?” she sounds disbelieving, but then he is crying. A car horn behind her, gets her moving forward again, though she is pretty distracted.
“Hey. Hey, it’s okay.” Kaylee offers gently, reaching out to try and comfort, but stopping herself. The man seems so delicate; yet, he did say he had just flipped a car. “Even if you are not him, the offer still stands.” Leaning over, she pops open the glove compartment and pulls out a few napkins and offers them too him. “You look like you could use some friendly faces and a decent meal.”
Replacing her hand on the wheel, both hands tightening their grip slightly, she asks gently. “So, you know my name, what’s yours?”
Swallowing back tears, eyes puffy and red, the clone looks up at Kaylee and offers a weary smile. “Alpha,” he says with a furrow of his brows, “but usually people just— just call me Varlane.” Though he's stopped sobbing, Varlane’s expression keeps threatening a start again. “Except for Doctor Allen, s-she called me Magnes.”
Slowly looking out the window at the passing scenery of the Safe Zone, Varlane looks up and around, then reaches up and touches his head softly where he's bleeding, and then looks to Kaylee again. “Where’re you taking me?”
“That is a lot of different names, but which one would you prefer?” Kaylee asks gently, brows tipping up slightly with curiosity. Has he ever been asked that?
Turning a corner, Kaylee keeps her eyes on the road, though her head turns his way a little as she speaks. “I have a good friend, named Lynette. She has a place called Benchmark.” In her opinion, the atmosphere there would be better than the more stark and sterile look of Raytech. Plus with the business she runs, her friend must know someone who can patch him up. “It has a sort of dual purpose. Addiction help, but also a place where people like yourself can lay low and recharge. So to speak.”
Red lips tip upward in a bit of a brighter smile, “Then we can go from there. Maybe by tomorrow, the heat of what you did will die down. That sound like a plan?”
“Yeah,” Varlane says with a shuddering exhalation of breath, arms wrapped around himself. “Y-Yeah, s-sure. Just— just no h-hospitals.” Benchmark doesn't really count, not in Kaylee’s eyes at least.
“And…” He looks from the passenger side window to Kaylee, wiping tears from his eyes. “Just— just call me Varlane.”
Lynette had best be prepared for a long day.