Starring:
Date: April 3, 2010
Summary:
Peter finds Micah.
"Favours Asked"
Central Park — NYC
It's a sunny enough day that not everyone wants to stay inside. This is the case for Micah Sanders. In fact, he finds himself sitting on a bench in the middle of Central Park with his hand resting on his cellphone which is on the bench next to him. He's managed to avoid every camera to get here, and now he's eating a hot dog. He takes a large bite, causing mustard and ketchup to drip out the back and down onto Micah's sweater and a single dallop on his jeans. Removing his hand from the phone he reaches into his pocket for a napkin to wipe up the small mess.
Avoiding all the cameras is easy when there's a way to find every single one of them in the city, at least all the ones hooked up to a network. Those are the ones that would need to be avoided, anyway. They always are. The private ones for stores don't tend to be accessable to anyone easily, due to closed networks, but that's not how someone ends up finding him. The man who suddenly appeared behind him waits a few seconds for him to not be chewing, so that he doesn't choke, before speaking up, "What are you doing out by yourself?" And in such a large public park, of all places!
It's not Alpha Protocol standing behind him, ready to take him in kicking and screaming— but Peter Petrelli.
Micah jumps off the bench at the sounds of the words, but relaxes when he sees it's Peter and not an Alpha Protocol agent. He sits back on the bench and sighs deeply. "I'm eating a hot dog…" he says quietly, already gearing-up for a lecture of some kind, mostly because that's what most of the adults in his life do when he exercises some measure of independence. Finally he answers for real, "It's a nice day… I needed to get out…?" More a question than an answer.
"Well I can see that, but you're one of the most important people if we have any chance of putting up a resistance," Peter scolds slightly, before moving around the bench to sit down next to him. The two of them together would be a big catch for Alpha Protocol, but— the two of them together have a good chance of escape. "I need two things done." The way he says it, he seems to anticipate agreement, if it's possible. "I need you to find out if there's anyone named Novak Garibaldi among those captured or working with Alpha Protocol, and I also need you to see if there's a way to unlock the collars, perferably remotely."
"I can look," Micah agrees in reference to Novak Garbaldi. "If he's captured or working for them, I should be able to figure it out." He nods at this as he picks up his phone, not that he'll look now, but certainly later. "I think I could disable a collar if I touched it judging from the schematics, but… remotely?" He hmmms quietly. "I think it's possible, but I'd need help building it and we'd have to test it — I need a collar. I might know someone that could help, but I've only ever talked to him online — seems like a techy like me and has a team working with him of some kind. I think he's trustworthy though, together maybe we could build something…"
"Well, you mentioned the collar they were making for me had a remote kill switch, so I was wondering if the others had a remote-recieve built in," Peter says, looking off into the distance, casting his attention outward just in case anything suspicious shows up. Central Park would be one of the busiest places, and it's a weekend. A kid in the park and not at school at this hour wouldn't stand out as much. "But if we're going to set them free, we need a way to open the collars, especially since they're designed to kill. If you can get your hands on that, it'll be good." There's a pause, before he looks back over. He doesn't know the boy very well, but— he was probably the most important thing to someone he'd been close to. Before she died. Closer in a future that will never be. Two of them. "How have you been doing?"
While Peter talks about the collars, Micah finishes his hot dog, chewing slowly and taking care not to drip mustard and ketchup again. "That's possible that they all do," Micah says as he stares at the blue coloured sky for an instant, attempting to remember. "I'll have to check the schematics again. And I think I can get access to a collar; I helped someone steal one a few weeks ago." Stealing isn't exactly something he ever thought he'd do. Of course, this whole situation has kind of greyed right and wrong for him. "Yeah, they'll explode if we open them without deactivating them first."
Micah is puzzled by the question about him though. No one has actually asked him that for quite some time. He frowns, wholly unsure. "Uh… I'm… I'm okay, I guess." His voice is quiet. "I don't know…" He closes his eyes, "How am I supposed to be after everything? I don't even know. My parents were killed by a government agency that would love to capture me and exploit what I can do. I ended up in custody because one of my few blood relatives trapped me… and all I want is my family back…" He blinks hard, blinking back tears that burn at his eyes.
"I wish you had your family back too," Peter says quietly, eyes sliding away to stare into the distance. It's a promise that his future self wanted real, but it wouldn't be. It's not something that would ever happen. "Tracy's on our side again, though. Maybe you should try to talk to her, see her. I know she's not…" Not his mother. Not the person he really wants to see. And she doesn't replace the dad he lost either… "I hope that soon this will be over and we can… rebuild."
Cause things can never return to how they were. "Do you need anything before I go? A quick trip back home?"
"Tracy is nothing like mom," Micah says wide-eyed to the horizon rather than Peter while placing his palms flat against the bench. "But she's okay, I guess. Just, not mom." It's a concession he's willing to make. "Can you… do you…" Micah frowns, it seems like an odd request he's going to make. "… I don't really need anything from home, Charlotte once offered to get me my X-Box 360, but I think it's easier leaving everything behind… but I don't know… I mean, I know they're de… but I don't know… I don't know where they ended up…" He cringes.
"I was meaning wherever it is you're calling home now," Peter says, though he's grimacing. No Tracy isn't like Niki, but in some ways, she is. It's like him and Nathan being similar, when they're very different in many other ways. "They likely confinscated most of you're things," he says quietly, looking off into the distance, as if forming a plan. Then he gets back to his feet. "I know you can handle yourself out and about, and as long as you're careful I'll let you get back on your own. But I am quicker than walking." He smiles at that, even offering a hand.
"Oh. Uh. Okay," Micah nods a little. "That might be good." He finally nods. "I need to get back anyways," he takes the hand. "Do you know where we're going?" He's curious, really as he stands from the bench he shoots Peter a small grin.
"I knew how to find you, didn't I?" Peter simply says, before his hand tightens around the young boy's and they both disappear from the park, the land around them shifting and changing, to become an exact block away from where the boy's been staying.
Yup. It seems Peter Petrelli is on top of things right now, and at least shortened the distance needed to travel.