Participants:
| Scene Title | Wonders Never Cease |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal calls on Harmony for some telepathic help with his new appointed bodyguard, coming to find out that she has a close history with his latest problem. |
| Date | January 29 |
There's a sharp, professional feel to the main lobby of the building. The carpet is a deep maroon underfoot, the walls an off-white cream that doesn't glare too brightly beneath the recessed lighting in the ceiling. Half a dozen chairs upholstered in a sandy light brown sit against one wall beneath a painting, a print of a Thomas Brill that shows the ruins of Midtown covered in vines and greenery as seen from the rooftop of the Deveaux building. The receptionist's station takes up almost an entire wall on the right side of the lobby, guarding the hallway that leads back into the building's offices. Behind and above the desk, the logo for Redbird Security Solutions hangs on the wall in glossy black.
The central hall continues the same carpet and wall colors to a number of doors. There are four offices, a restroom done in shades of blue and pale sand tones, and a comfortable employee lounge with attached kitchenette. An open doorway in the main lobby reveals a flight of upward stairs, and there's a locked door at the end of the central hall that guards the basement steps.
Richard Cardinal's spent more time in the office than anywhere else lately; he's had a lot of work to get done, especially with Peyton on leave, and more problems and opportunities both have been cropping up the longer he stays behind a desk.
He knows how Matt must feel, now.
A call was made earlier to ask a certain formerly-radioactive blonde to join him at the office to talk about some business, and he's waiting for her to stop by now. There's a personnel folder splayed out on his desk with a photograph on top, and he's frowning down at it as he sips his coffee.
She is not having coffee at this time of day. Anything that could essentially keep her up at this point could throw her off her schedule. Harmony was doing the sibling thing when she got the call. A bit of her time these days spent vegging on the couch with the newly arrived brother, watching some horribly rated move of some sort. Though she was happy to put that on hold and come into the office, stepping through the front doors, and tossing the receptionist a wave as she heads on through. Just coming in from the outside, she is being sure to keep her ability from listening to the thoughts around her at the the time. It is a good thing she picked up on how to hold it off.
She doesn't have to be a psychic to pick up the look on Richard's face when she comes in, "Now there is a face of extreme frustration. Let me guess, someone switch your brand of coffee? Pee in it? Something?"
"Something like that." Cardinal's gaze lifts up to the door as she walks in, a faint smile crooking up at the corner of his lips and his chin raising in a nod her way, "Someone's thrown something into my pot that I'm not fond of." Apparently, he's speaking metaphorically, because he takes another sip of coffee before setting the cup off to one side.
Leaning back, he asks, "How're you doing with controlling Aric's ability? I need a telepath for something."
There is a lift of her hands with the shrug of her shoulders in a response to his inquiry, "Meh, it's coming along, I suppose. I still can't really shut it off, but I've adapted. I can tap into specific heads if I focus on it, so I might be able to help you out." The recent mission was something of a field test for her in that aspect. Pretty successful, if she had to judge.
"What's up? Need me to peek into someone's dark little secrets." the girl grins and she holds up her hands to wiggle her fingers. "That Howard guy, by the way. Couldn't really tap into his head. Plus.. he mentioned something about killing Brian if he knew too much. Don't trust him. Not one bit." she shakes her head, "But anyway.."
At the news about Howard, Cardinal's lips purse in a tight frown. "It's hard to kill Brian in any sort've permanent fashion," he murmurs, bringing a hand up to scratch at the side of his jaw, "I'll make sure to talk to him, though, and make sure he knows. There's something going on there…"
A shake of his head, "Anyway." He pushes the personnel file over the desk, "Someone in the government slipped this guy into my employ through a subcontracting firm. Happens all the time, but it's who he is that worries me. And who he was."
She nods as she reaches over to slide the file from the desk, opening it to take a peek. The name initially brings her pause, and she has to flip through a few pages just to be sure what she is seeing is real. There is a look of recognition on her face, followed by a smirk from the girl, "No. Way. Curtis Autumn? Are you serious?" she shakes her head, sending her blond curls to bounce, "Oh my god.. it's been." Harmony takes a second, narrowing her eyes to think back, counting in her head as she chews her bottom lip softly, "Six years. Wow."
She closes the file and slides it back onto the table, not really needing to read into it much, "An ex. Of mine." she announces, "Back when I was 18, just a bit after the crash and my manifestation, Curtis and I were a bit of an item. I mean, he would his orders and get sent off, so it wasn't a big steady thing until he came back. Eventually he got shipped off and we lost contact so.. it has been years since we've seen each other."
The expression on Cardinal's face clearly shows that the last thing he expected was for Harmony to actually know the guy that he's asking her to read the mind of. "Huh." His gaze drops to the folder, lips pursing, and then back up to her, "…well, I guess that's confirmation that it's not a false identity…"
He gestures to the folder, "When I knew him, his name was Ashley Williams. And he was the most bloodthirsty, uncontrollable member of Messiah. He was a fucking psychopath."
Harmony seems surprised to hear this news. "What?" She peers at him with a questioning expression. Her eyes dictate that she is having a little bit of a difficult time believing that to be true. "Ashley Williams?" she shakes her head, "Nn.. I dunno. I mean, Curtis can be a little aggressive, yeah, but bloodthirsty and uncontrollable? Mm, I'm not sure if I can picture it. Of course.. stranger things have happened, so he could have snapped." Harmony taps her index finger against her chin, "But I do know that his ability makes him pretty much physically perfect and superior to any man on the face of the Earth." They had this discussion back then.
"So.. he's been placed under your employment? That's totally ironic for me. I was just talking about him with Nate the other day. What is it you need me to do?"
"That… was Ash's ability," Cardinal says grimly as the other woman kills the last hope that maybe the appearance is just a manner of coincidence. He brushes his hand over the folder's edge, saying quietly, "I need to find out what the fuck is going on. Why he was going around as Ash raising hell… why he's here now. I can't trust him to tell me the truth, so I'm going to need someone to be listening in."
There is a stretch of concern across her face while she takes into consideration the possibility that Curtis has become a killer. "He was always pretty standoffish and secretive when we were with each other. But.. I believe I might be able to get him to talk, or at least get him to relax his mind enough to get the information from him. I'll listen in, but it might take a little more than just peeking into his brain." she pushes her lips to purse together, "I kinda want to know what is going on too. This Ashley doesn't sound like the Curtis I know." And from the sound in her voice, there is some unfinished business between the two of them. She crosses her arms and thinks for a few moments, "I bet you, as soon as he finds out I'm on board, it'll make him more inclined to be more open."
There's a silent moment as Richard regards her expression, a look that might be unreadable if she wasn't a telepath. Does she love him? If she does, and he turns out to be the enemy… "Alright," he allows, nodding once, "I'm sure we both want answers here… the guy you're describing doesn't sound anything like the one I know. Except the same ability, and the same face."
"At one point in time." Harmony says honestly to his thought. "There wasn't any closure between us as we sorta just lost contact. But.." There is another moment of conflicted consideration, though her face steels with confidence. "If he has become this psychopath as you say, then I'll do what I have to do. Or let whatever needs to be done, get done." She says this without any hesitation or pain in her voice. "But whatever the result, I'm going to find out what happened or what went on." It sounds like she plans to use more than just her telepathy to get to the bottom of things. "I have a feeling, our emotional attachment might play a pretty significant part. Let alone be put to the test. I hope he still remembers me, at least. Then again, if he doesn't, it could be an advantage too."
"Then it seems like we've all got questions we need answered," Cardinal says, spreading his hands to either side before letting them fall down to the arms of the chair, and he nods once, "Let's get those answers, then. I'll hold off on contacting Messiah myself until we find out what's going on…"