2008-05-30: Behind This Door

Starring:

Hiro_icon.gif Shannon_icon.gif Usutu_icon.gif

Guest Starring:

MrRabbit_icon.gif

Summary: With their guide telling them where to go, Hiro finally manages to find and either destroy or steal Pinehearst's supply of Claire's blood.

Date It Happened: May 30, 2008

Behind This Door


Botswana

Africa. Botswana.

The time in the hut is long and warm, but by the time Usutu stops painting on the walls of his room, Shannon produced some food out from under a box, a trail mix of some kind, to share with the short Asian guy. They spent some time making small talk, but it really didn't amount to much more than a few mentions of what she'd been doing here— and questions about why that rabbit seems so friendly.

When the dried fruits are broken out, the rabbit even hops over, standing for treats if offered, before hopping back and flopping onto his side in the shade. Already happy and spoiled, he is.

The brush pulls away, after a village is seen, a building within the village… a school of some kind, and a celler door. Underneath, there's a generator, and a special door. Looks like someone built a base under a charity hospital. Inside are many doors— and one in particular gets focused on over the other. Along with that special code. In red.

"Behind this door, you will find what you are looking for."

Hiro stares at the painting as it forms, offering some food to Mr Rabbit when he comes over and attempting to explain things to Shannon but failing for the most part. Hands folded in his lap, he stands up once the painting is completed and steps forward to look at it carefully.

"The healing blood?"

"The blood of an innocent, given to people who are innocent— for the greed of others," Usutu states wisely, glancing over at Shannon, who grimaces visibly.

There's silence to follow, before she mentions, "We were using the blood on some of the test subjects, to see if they… if they would live longer." It doesn't sound like she's proud of this anymore, even lowering her eyes. "They all donated themselves to the cause. They weren't entirely innocent. We promised their families money if they didn't survive the experiments— and most of them were homeless or dying already." But that doesn't really help.

"More goes on behind these doors than even you are aware of, Doctor Goode," he explains, before he reaches with his paint-stained hands to pull out a map. "The village is here— Pinehearst built a hospital for the villagers, promised free medicine and help. This is where you need to go."

Hiro looks appalled at the notion, although with Shannon right there in front of him he cannot be mad at her - she obviously thought she was doing good, after all. He looks pointedly at the painting on the rock, taking in every detail …

There's fine details, hints of directions where to go to get to the underground, to get to the designated door. Usutu doesn't offer anymore advice, just grabbing up his walking stick again and resting it against his shoulder. The hare raises his head, ears perking up, and then lowers it down again. He's not in a hurry to go anywhere right now. Tummy full. Bunny nap time. Ears droop and he lays on his side, eyes closing.

Shannon watches Hiro quietly for a long time, before asking, "Do you need my help? Or— would it be easier if you go on your own. All that — teleporting must have taken it out of you."

"You can help," Hiro replies, understanding well the need for people who have inadvertently been involved in evil to redeem themselves, "You will know things about Pinehearst that I do not. They must be stopped."

He crouches down to scratch Mr Rabbit between the ears as he sleeps, looking thoughtful for a moment, "You have been a very helpful rabbit, Mr. Rabbit."

There's a twitch of one of the hare's legs, before reddish brown eyes open and look up at him. Most wild rabbits would probably get up and run away, this one just look, almost as if he understands, then closes his eyes. Legs twitch as if he is dreaming of running, or playing.

"Looks like you have a friend," the doctor says, glancing down at the very docile Mr. Rabbit. Shannon stands near the time traveler, waiting for the ride to leave. It seems, at least, like she wants to help. Make some kind of amends for what she's done for Pinehearst.

"You return when you have destroyed the supplies. More that I need to tell you," the tall African guide adds on, shifting his stick to point out the open flap of the door. "And you will return before the rains." He had been painting an awful lot of rocks…

Hiro nods his head, glad for the most part that they will be able to come back and find out more. Stepping out of the hut, he turns around to hold an arm out for Shannon - a look of concentration crossing his face. Last time he tried to teleport things went badly and he's not going to let that happen this time.

Last time he'd also been attempting to teleport four people… one other person, with a visualization of his destination… that seems to help it along. The temperature is the most notible shift. Mostly open air, humid, to something far more climate controlled. And darker. They'd practically been outside, under the African sun with only a hut to offer shade, and suddenly they stand inside, confined by dark walls. A hallway. With many doors. One recognized from one of the paintings. Not the one that he was indicated to go to, not the one he has the code for, but one of them.

Two doors… turn right… two more doors… turn left. And then they should be there.

"That one was a lot smoother," Shannon comments in a whisper, as she cautiously looks around. "This whole building… it looks different— but that— that symbol on the keypad— it's definitely Pinehearst." A double helix.

Once they arrive, Hiro produces his notepad upon which he's written the number from the paintings and he moves towards the keypad. He makes sure to put himself between Shannon and where he assumes danger might come from, looking very serious.

"Okay … we must be in the right place."

He then attempts the code.

"Pinehearst hires a lot of people… like you," Shannon warms quietly, keeping close to him as they make their way to the right door, the right keypad. What if someone behind that door defies the laws of physics? What if they're worse?

5262935

Each number is punched in. Each number reads out in red.

Enter.

Autherize code verified.

A clicking sound can be heard as the door unlocks, able to be pushed open. The room is small, cold, a refigerated area, and there's someone sitting inside, a young African woman with her hair done up in braids. Despite the chill of the room, she doesn't seem to be bothered by it. She's wearing very little, in fact. No lab coat, no security gear…

Dark eyes turn toward the opening door, a frown pressing lips together. She opens her mouth to speak, the air growing colder still.

Behind her, glass doors hide vials and bags of red substances, a biohazard symbol visible on the glass.

Hiro quickly steps forward, the sudden change in temperature causing him to shake a little but he holds it off for the most part. He tilts his head to look at the woman, a little wary but not immediately assuming she is going to eviscerate them. Maybe she's a prisoner?

"Hello."

"Not welcome. How you get numbers?" the young woman says with a very thick accent, eyes narrowing at the young Japanese man. The air around her actually starts to crystalize, fractures beginning to form in the view, like fractured glass created out of nothing— ice. The ice begins to form into a wall, rising up from the floor toward the ceiling.

"Wait," Shannon suddenly says, moving forward. "Code Alpha-Foxtrot-Zulu. I'm a doctor and I need a specimen of the blood."

The woman's eyes shift to the doctor, head tilting to the side.

Hiro looks alarmed by the sudden appearance of ice although when Shannon appears to know the way of talking he shuts up and stands there in silence. He knows better than to start swinging the sword around when they might be able to fix this without violence.

"Code no longer valid," the woman suddenly says, shifting to raise one of her hands. The crystalization of air starts up again, instead of rising from the floor to the ceiling, it's pointing toward them. Maybe violence will be necessarily. Or at least… not allowing her to continue this attack. The spike that grows in the air looks particularly sharp.

Hiro regrets violence but that doesn't mean he isn't good at it when he has to be. He's already drawing the sword when the woman tells them the code isn't valid, attempting to swing it quickly through the air to try and shatter the icy spike. Ice isn't particularly strong, is it?

This ice isn't, at least. The metal sword slashes through it, breaking off the tip and shattering a chunk on the ground. The ice woman pulls her hand back, as if burned, and spouts off a few words in a language neither of them recognize. The whole room starts to grow even colder. That crystalization begins to show in multiple areas of the room.

Hiro must act!

The sword lowered for the moment as the wall begins to form, he throws himself forward in an effort to both break it and grab hold of the woman. He doesn't want to hurt her but if things are going to be like this then he's going to focus … focus on teleporting her a distance away before returning … or at least, that is how he has planned it in his head.

The thin ice shatters under Hiro's arms, allowing him to break through and grab on to the dark skinned woman. A series of unclear words are yelped out, before the two of them vanish from the room… It only lasts a split second. One moment he's somewhere else, then lets go of the ice woman, and he's suddenly back in the room.

Shannon's blinking wildly. The temperature in the room already seems to be normalizing. "…Where did you take her?" she has to ask.

"Not far," Hiro answers once he has returned, "But far enough away that she won't be able to stop us."

He moves towards the glass doors, looking at the blood beyond curiously, "Okay - we have to destroy it now."

"Well, there's a bathroom," Shannon says, moving past him, stepping over melting ice cubes, as she opens the door. She knows it's a bathroom cause… it's the only thing that makes sense. One door. One woman. She'd have to relieve herself sometime. Inside, there is indeed a sink, a toilet. "We could flush it, or pour it down the drain… But are you sure you want to? This blood has miraculous healing properties…"

"It is too dangerous," Hiro says, almost apologetic as he can understand why Shannon may be hesitant, "We can only save one pack … to save someone who helped me find the blood."

No more is offered on that particular subject as he moves over, attempting to pass through the glass doors to fetch the blood packs and ferry them to the toilet.

There's a nod. It doesn't seem the woman is going to be asking questions about the one who needs to be saved, at least. "We should be quick, then— and do you have a place with a freezer? We'll need to keep the one we keep cool, and taking it back to Usutu is a bad idea," Shannon says, as she helps drain the vials and packets of blood that he ferries to her. Pouring blood into drains isn't the best way to get rid of it, but it's better than the alternative.

"I have a freezer in my apartment," Hiro answers - it isn't usually used for storing blood but it should work, should it? He drains the blood away, making sure they got all of it save for the one remaining pack, "We can stop there and then go back to Usutu."

"A regular fridge should work for a few days," Shannon says, continuing to help destroy company property. There's a sudden sound, as if someone is punching a code into the door they opened originally, but almost all the blood is down the drain…

Hiro opens his mouth to say something when he hears the sound at the door, moving to grab up the remainder of the blood, "Quick! Get all of it and we'll flush it at my house!"

"Okay, okay," Shannon says, pockets a couple of the vials so she can have hands free to grab onto the last few blood packets. The door starts to open as she gets the last one in hand.

Hiro grabs up what he can as well, reaching out with his free hand just as the door opens - attempting to teleport both himself and Shannon to his home in New York.

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