2007-04-13: How To Tick Off A Flaming Woman

Starring:

Gabrielle_icon.gif Nathan_icon.gif Elena_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif Jack_icon.gif Eric_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Victor_icon.gif

Summary: The Longcoat Mafia attempts to kill Nathan Petrelli, fail horribly, and wind up hurting a lot of innocent people… Plus the one they really should have been killing in the first place.

Date It Happened: April 13th, 2007

Log Title How To Tick Off A Flaming Woman


B & W Trading

It's evening in the Big Apple, and while many people are still going to be working into the late hours of the night, making money, and trying not to lose any, the day-workers are leaving. Included among them is one Gabrielle Simmons, an executive at Biggs and Wedge Trading Associates. Money knows no sleep, but Gabrielle has decided to get some rest herself. She is satisfied with life for once. While it has cost her a fortune, her hired goons are achieving results.

Crime rate in New York City is DOWN for once. Go Vigilante Squad! There's a car waiting for her out front, and she pays little attention to who the driver is. She has some people to meet in the back of the plush limo. People who owe her for saving them huge financial losses on the stock exchange. One of them is a man who works for Senator Petrelli, and has been quite sneaky about the fact that he almost lost tens of thousands of dollars that belonged to his boss. However, he may have lost a paper trail that leads his boss to him… Or maybe he shows up for completely unrelated reasons.

Whatever the reason, the red-headed woman opens the door of the car and slides into the seat. She smiles faintly at the three men who owe her so much, and eyes their nervous countenances, and says, "Good evening, gentlemen."

Outside, various other workers are leaving the building, and people are walking along the sidewalk. One man that seems to be missing his legs wheels up in an improvised wheelchair, and stops next to Gabrielle's car to fiddle with a package of some kind…

Evening in the Big Apple means a lot of things to many different people. To Cass, it means that the store is closed up and it's time to head out. It's not back to Brooklyn at the moment, though. Oh no, she's got plans for the evening and they involve a Scotsman and some pints at the Oldcastle Pub. The night, having turned a little chilly for April, has made Cass wear a warmer coat as well as her well-loved page boy hat that she has worn through most of the winter. As for people in cars and wheelchairs, well, that's not unusual and she takes no notice of them other than the cursory glance, if that.

Coincidence? MAYBE. Whether or not Nathan is one of the many day workers heading home or here with a purpose, he certainly blends in. A briefcase in hand and suited up in pinstripe and tie, he moves along the sidewalk at a reasonably brisk pace, talking quietly to someone next to him as he goes. The man is handing him sheets of paper, which Nathan studies as he walks before handing them back. There's a pause wherein they stop to exchange a handshake, anyone near enough who cares enough hearing, "I'll take care of it," from the former politician, before he resumes walking, nearing the front of B and W Trading, companion heading off in the opposite direction.

Victor is actually going to the Oldcastle Pub as well, and is walking just behind Cass, his coat - a black peacoat - done up tightly against the colder-than-he-would-want weather.

A few pints at a pub and his girl is all Lachlan really needs to finish up the evening. It's been a hell of a day for him on the job-front: he had /interviews/ today from various places at which he applied during the course of the last couple of weeks, and most of those interviews did not seem very promising. His efforts in the drug trade lately have tapered off due to his time being mostly consumed by the desperate hunt for a new job on top of holding down his current dog-training business. If not for the fact that he's been doing so well with Cass lately, he might have plunged into one of his infamous states of melancholy already. As it is, he ambles along with the bookseller, Bonnie on-leash next to him, and he's currently speaking to her about the injustice that they witnessed earlier at the zoo: "Di'ye no' read m'letter?" He left it on the coffee table this morning.

Why is Eric here? Well because servers go down all over the world and just because its cold, or his boss is on vacation, or the fact that he dosn't /really/ have to work anymore…well that dosn't stop him! He's like a postman…just…not likly to go off and go psycho and gun people down because he dosn't like them. He'll leave all that up to Lach and Jack, the gunning people down bit, not the psycho bit. At least…he hopes…they don't go MORE psycho. MOVING RIGHT ALONG! The young man, done up for the winter weather in a long dark blue coat trudges down the street with his head slightly down hrmmming slightly to himself as he glances with some amusement at the paper in his hands. Of course he simply happens to glance up and notice a familiar and well loved page boy hat and a HUGE FREEKIN SCOTTSMAN. Sorry Lach. Your hard to miss. Tucking the paper under one arm though he raises the other towards the pair. "Cass! Lachlan!" Might as well say hi if he notes them walking around. He's got things to do, so he won't intrude for long.

And there she was, Elena Gomez, having a heart attack at the nearby newsstand. She has a copy of the Wall Street Journal in her hands, and her face is ashen. Oh no. Oh HELL NO. This is unacceptable. "What do you MEAN they're trying to kick him out?" she exclaims passionately, grabbing onto the newsstand owner and shaking him. "No way. No WAY! Not when I just QUIT MY JOB to work for this nutso!"

The Newsstand Guy GACKS as he's grabbed and shaken. And then he laughs. "Relax, bonita," he says with a smile, pushing back. "See? Says right here. Just rumors."

"Rumors my ass," Elena grumbles, depositing her seventy-five cents for the paper in his hand. She tucks it underneath her arm. "There's so many things riding on this, Juan, it's not even funny." She pauses, and sighs. "Thanks a lot for saving me one of these," she says with a smile. "I'll tell Papa you said hi."

"And tell that cavron he still owes me ten bucks about Miss Puerto Rico!" he calls back, going back to his newsstand. Miss Puerto Rico? She so doesn't want to know. She turns around then, and hurries down the walk, pulling out her cherry red cellphone and dialing Jaden's number. When she doesn't get him? She dials the next best thing - Eric's number.

B&W isn't a business that Jack is familiar with. Sure, he walks by it every day on his way in and out of the Den, but it's never struck his interest. Today isn't any different, save for the fact that Jack's wandering has a purpose. He's looking for someone, and he's got a sneaking suspicion that someone only comes out at night. Since leaving the laundry earlier, he's been all over this side of town.

As she discusses with the three men what exactly she has done for them, and how much they have saved because of her, and makes it PERFECTLY ING CLEAR that their asses belong to HER, Gabrielle has no idea that the mob has identified the person behind the Vigilante Squad. See, some of those people in the drug bust last month? Yeah. They were part of the Longcoat Mafia, and while they are not the strongest mob organization in the world, they ARE powerful enough to order hits put out on people. And they have watched and tracked Mr. Hendrickson and his team, and finally captured one of the squad members, and tortured him until he revealed the name of the person who gives them their money! That's right… It's… NATHAN PETRELLI!

Now you may be thinking, 'wait what'. You have every right to do so. This is very much a WTFOMGBarBeQue moment. But there is an explanation. The people who are members of this Vigilante Squad were handpicked by Gabrielle, and have experience in resisting torture. Though they may be the mafia, their means are crude compared to military training and experiencing the real thing in enemy territory and so forth. So the man just blurted out a random name, made up a story to go along with it, and they bought it. Then they killed him.

So now the Longcoat Mafia thinks that Nathan Petrelli is going to be here tonight, to meet with someone, in front of the B&W building. They followed one of Nathan's cronies — the guy who almost lost a bunch of money for his boss — assuming that he would lead them to Senator Palpatine—I mean Petrelli. They have no idea that Nathan is NOT in the car when Gabrielle climbs in, and they have no idea that they are actually bombing the RIGHT PERSON REGARDLESS, because it was Gabrielle Simmons who is shelling out Big Cash for people to run around murdering and maiming criminals. Funny how that works out.

The driver of the car suddenly opens his door, hits the locks, and the entire car locks down. It can't be unlocked from the back of the car for some reason. The doors just don't open. While the other people in the car are looking around confused, and the Petrelli-owned weasel is stammering out, "W-what is this? What's going on?" Gabrielle, having survived more than one attempt on her life, reacts by hauling off and punching her tinted window as hard as she can, repeatedly. It SHOULD shatter her arm, and cut her up like no one's business… But it doesn't. Instead, the window breaks readily to her blows, and she tries to climb out the window while everyone else is panicking and protesting, despite the jagged glass that should be slicing her to ribbons but only cuts into her clothes instead.

The man in the wheelchair has finished taping a package to the underside of the car, and starts wheeling rapidly away. Across the street, two men in longcoats watch the one who planted the package give a thumbsup signal, as he gets out of the area. One of them grins and says, "That's the signal. Go for it." The man next to him has a remote control detonator and reaches for the button that will set off the fireworks. And then the man next to him notices Nathan Petrelli walking down the sidewalk. He looks down at a photograph in his hand. Then he looks up hurriedly. THE SENATOR IS NOT IN THE CAR. "SHIT! DON'T PRESS—" Too late.

There is a deafening KA-BOOOOOM! and Gabrielle's car JUMPS as flames pour up into the car from below, in a pillar that fills the vehicle, and then starts to spill out through the broken windows. Gabrielle is half-way out of the car, and covered in flames, but manages to fall out the rest of the way and land on the sidewalk, still burning.

The shockwave would have been enough to knock people down, probably, not to mention flying glass and shrapnel, and the fire and all. But whether those nearby were actually injured or not is unclear as of yet…

Suddenly, Victor's attempts to get a drink are halted as the car that he's walking next to explodes - he didn't even notice Gabrielle climbing out the window. Miraculously, he was unharmed! Except, you know, life doesn't work like that - but he wasn't killed, and even that's pretty damned close to a miracle.

Victor attempts to get up, bleeding from a cut to his head where part of a window sliced his forehead open, and a really, really bad cut to his right arm - which is also broken, having been cushed by some unidentifiable part of the engine that his weak ass can't lift to get off. Shit.
"Can someone help me!?" he yells, as loudly as he can in the noise following the explosion.

Already picking up on the Scot's precarious mood, Cass does her best to keep it light. There's a pause when Lachlan asks his question about the letter. She did, indeed see it on the coffee table that morning and read through it at the store. At this very moment she has it in her bag. "I did," she says neutrally. Numerous typos, misspellings, run on sentences and all. "It was rather….forceful." To put it mildly. "Pus-filled has two ls. And 'asses' has two Ss in the middle and one at the end." A pause. "Would you mind if I edited it before you sent it off?" In other words, rewrite almost entirely. That's about the time that Eric greets them, and she gives a wave to the newly named Lancaster. "Hey Eric!" Completely oblivious to the political and gangster like assassination that is about to take place nearby, Cass gently tugs Lachlan in Eric's direction. However, that's just about when there's exploding cars and flying glass and shrapnel. The blast is enough to knock Cass off of her feet. With a yelp, as she tumbles to the ground she keeps a firm grip onto Lachlan to pull him down in a attempt to keep both of them away from the dangerous flying pieces of death.

Jack's too far away to make out the details of the altercation around the car. However, he's more than close enough to get whacked solidly in the midsection by a flying hunk of car bumper when the explosion occurs. Luckily the blow drops him to the pavement an instant before a large piece of fender takes his head off entirely. Now he's pissed, bruised, and no closer to tracking down his as-yet unidentified target. With a groan, he hauls himself up off of the ground and limps toward the source of all the excitement. Battered he might be, but nobody hits Jack with a car bumper and gets away without a fight. Unless they already got away, then all he'll be able to do is whine impotently and help survivors.

Completely unaware of the fact that mobsters just tried to kill him and failed epicly, Nathan is knocked off his feet, regardless, by the explosion, or perhaps some instinct in him kicks in and he throws himself to the pavement as burny pieces of metal and glass go flying. His briefcase is knocked to the side, springing open, and important but very dull sheaths of paper fly everywhere. This basically goes unnoticed. "The hell—" He scrambles to his feet, feeling a sharp pain in his arm. With a grunt, he covers that area with a hand, but that only somehow makes it more painful, jostling the now embedded shard of glass. That's when he notices the burning husk of car way too close to where he stands. He backs up a few steps, because in the movies, cars always explode at least twice.

Eric was just walking happily towards the pair of them. Them being Lach and Cass. He grins towards the pair of them ruefully. "…guess what? Were all in the paper." He calls as he closes towards them. He's just picking up the paper he tucked away to hand towards them…when…all hell breaks loose. There explodies everywhere! Fire! Glass! More explodies! Cars! Body Parts…lets not dwell on the last one there…yeah. Don't want to get a boot to the head, espicially if someone's foot is still in said boot.

After the first explosion though he is rocketed off his feet with a suprised expression on his face, flying in the same general direction of Lach and Cass. However he seems to hit the ground alot better and tucks in his shoulder to roll with the impact. Oh he'll still be bruised and battered when he gets up, and one arm is bleeding from flying glass…but he's not down for the count at least.

She's walking and walking. Elena is frowning that Eric doesn't seem to be answering her cellphone. And then? THINGS EXPLODE. THINGS GO FLYING. A car door just rockets towards her, and she stares, wide-eyed, as it spirals towards her head……and zips past her in a WOOOSH, slamming hard and point-first into the building behind her. A very thin line of blood appears on her cheek, but she's still staring, stunned at the close call.

She'll freak out later. For now she's gaping at the inferno in front of her, the wild blaze turning the twisted metal into a hunk of something indescribable.

Finally, she cries out. Belatedly. Like, -after- the explosion happens.

Fumbling for the phone, she flips it open and dials 9-1-1….which is already on speed dial. She's lost count as to how many times she's dialed it over the course of two months.

"Nah, tha's a'righ'," Lachlan submits to Cass' wish to edit (read: rewrite) his burning missive. She is Way, Way, Way Smarter Than Him, so she could probably do a better job. When Eric shows up, he smiles a bit in greeting and is willfully tugged over — only to have the car not too far away explode in a pillar of flames and shrapnel. He's yanked down and on top of Cass when she's toppled, and a sharp yelp of pain from Bonnie is drowned out by the deafening explosion — at least to the ears of passersby. To Lachlan, it's like a gun went off in his brain. The dog will live, once she sees a vet: her side is riddled with glass and one foreleg is grotesquely bent at the elbow, but it's nothing life-threatening. Lachlan, however, sustains a major gash across his back from a flying piece of mangled metal, and that same piece of metal scrapes open his scalp at the back of his head. The shock of it all causes him to not move for several seconds, curled up instinctively and protectively over Cass. It's only after the suddennes of the explosion has died away that he starts to unroll. "'Re ye a'righ'?" he inquires of the woman beneath him, even as blood starts to trickle from his wounds. "Fuck. Bonnie?" He glances around and spots the mongrel not too far away. Somehow, he managed to remain clinging to her leash.

The two goons across the street grimace as they watch the Senator stand there and totally not die. How dare he? Bastard! The Longcoat Mafia will not stand for this blatant not dying that Nathan is doing! The one with the detonator reaches into his jacket for a gun, but his partner shoves him and says, "No. Not here, and not now. We'll go back and get our orders before we do anything stupid." The guy with his hand on his gun doesn't draw it, but bares his teeth and says, "But the boss said he wanted him DEAD." The first one shakes his head. "The boss can take it out on the one who said Petrelli was in the car. If we start shooting, then this is on us, for causing noise where there don't need to be. And if we miss… WE'LL be dead." The guy with the detonator mutters, "Wouldn't miss that smirky bastard… Seen his damn posters plastered everywhere… Shoot his face just fine…" But he takes his hand off the gun, and starts heading hurriedly down the sidewalk with his smarter colleague. But then they stop at what they see across the street.

Gabrielle, looking like a humanoid made of flame, some kind of elemental creature, climbs up off the sidewalk, clenches her hands at her sides and screams, "GOD. FUCKING. DAMMIT!" Somehow it can be heard over the roaring flames, unless people were really really REALLY deafened by the explosion. She starts looking around wildly, for the culprits, assuming they are still nearby. When she spots the two men in longcoats across the street, and sees the remote detonator in the hand of one, she turns around and seemingly tries to throw herself over the burning car's roof. The two thugs flinch back. Gabrielle points at them, and yells, "YOU! YOU FUCKERS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO KILL ME AND MY FAMILY FOR DECADES! WELL GUESS WHAT!? I'M HERE TO STAY, AND I'LL MAKE SURE THAT EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU TWO-CENT GOOMBAS IS CASTRATED AND FORCED TO EAT YOUR OWN DICKS! YOU'LL >BEG< FOR DEATH WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" The goons have already started moving off, having caught sight of Gabrielle's eyes through the flames, as the fire runs out of fuel on her face, unable to burn her skin, or even her hair, for some reason, and those eyes, combined with her taking the time out to threaten them while on fire totally freaked them out. They take off at a dead-run, even as Gabrielle yells, "YOU HEAR ME!? YOU'RE DEEEEEAAAAD!" Then she comes down from her rage high, and huffs angrily, before sliding off the burning wreckage with a high-pitched growl of frustration.

The fire in her hair is mostly running on hairspray, so she doesn't worry about that, and starts beating out the flames on her ruined clothes, as she stands there on the sidewalk, oblivious to everyone staring. She was half in the car when it exploded. Even if she survived that she was ON FIRE. Yet there's only a lot of black smudging on her skin, from the smoke, and severely charred clothes to show she was near the car at all. Coughing a bit from smoke inhalation, she throws her hands up in a 'surrender' fashion, and then gets down at a slow pace on the sidewalk and starts rolling around, until the fire is out.

Good thing she learned to wear asbestos-lined underwear, and wears otherwise heat-resistant clothing. Otherwise she would be quite indecent. Not that anyone cares at this point.

Guards are rushing out of the B&W building, to help up the executive, and help bat out the flames with their coats, even as she tries to shake them off. "Someone give me their cell phone." One of the guards says, "We've already called 9-1-1, ma'am! The ambulance will be here soon!" "I didn't say I wanted an ambulance, I said give me your goddamn cellphone!" She is hurriedly handed one, and begins calling a number.

As Lachlan starts unroll off of Cass, she winces. There's a long, vertical gash on her leg from some of the exploding metal that has started to bleed through the cut it made in her jeans. But other than that it's just bruises from hitting the ground. "Ow ow ow. No, I'm fine. I'm fine," she assures him, though she doesn't stand up as she doesn't really want to test her leg at the moment. "Eric?" she calls out, searching around for him. "/Eric/? You okay?" However, then her eyes widen when she notices the blood dripping down Lachlan's neck. This is going to take precedence and she quickly tightens the grip she has on him. "Lach, turn around. You're bleeding. I need to see where you're hurt." As for Bonnie, she quickly looks over to see how the dog is and winces at what she sees. All thought of first aid and helping is momentarily put on hold by the nearly naked woman screaming across the street and pointing at the two men on the sidewalk not too far away from the pair. Is that…a detonator? "Hey! HEY!" She starts pointing at the men in coats, too and yelling at the guards. "Them! Those guys!" These people need to be in custody and she's not about to let them walk away. However, she's kind of lacking the proper words to identify them due to pain and worry about Lachlan.

The screaming, flaming woman doesn't go unnoticed by Nathan. Likely doesn't go unnoticed by many. Can you blame him for gaping before just… looking away, looking around for a clue as to what to do. Abandoning his briefcase, the contents strewn all over everywhere, he winces as he takes a step. Yep. Hard landing. And the sound of sirens are gonna start filling the streets. Nathan gets out his cellphone, and certainly he's not dialing 911. "Yeah, I don't care, just get here five minutes ago," he says, before rattling off the street address and hanging up. Like hell he wants to linger here.

In fact, he's moving quickly towards a building to perhaps hide out in case anyone else decides to explode a car near him, and let's out a /bluestreak/ of cusswords that a man so clean-cut should not know when he shoulders into someone, injured arm making its presence known. But it slows him down enough to turn and look when someone yells out, glancing to Cass, then looking to where she's pointing, in the vague non-hope of recognising them. And that's when he sees Victor, which is unfortunate, because he was trying not to look at anyone because that makes it easier to just get the hell out. But seeing a man with an arm crushed beneath a piece of car… sigh. Knowing full well that this is such a 'What would Peter Petrelli do?' moment, Nathan curses and heads back those few paces. "Ambulances will be here soon," he says when he nears Victor. "And this is gonna hurt."

But Lachlan doesn't actually /feel/ hurt, so it's just silly that Cass would think he /is/. He looks a little confused when she informs him that he's bleeding, but then he feels the trickling down the back of his neck and reaches up to touch it. Huh. Sure enough, he's bleeding. Go figure, right?

See, this is where a part-time hero calls it a night. Jack's days of running headfirst into explosion-territory to help people he's never met are over. He's still too far away to make out the faces of anyone closer to the wreck of the car. Then the burning lady starts screaming, and any hesitation that he was holding onto is neatly put aside. Burning ladies are well outside his area of expertise. With guards on site to assist the various bystanders and contain the flames, there's little more that the Irishman can do here, anyway. Grimacing and clutching his bruised ribs, he fades back into the mouth of an alley before some do-gooder can spot him and describe him to New York's finest. As of late, he's had more than enough near-misses with the fuzz, thankyouverymuch.

Victor pushes at the car-part that he was unlucky enough to have his arm trapped under - and he's starting to lose feeling in it. Fuck - and this is definitely a memory he's going to want to keep, considering the whole… everyone who is going to be involved. Y'know, the offical-types. He cries out in pain as it shifts a bit at a time, sending spasms of pain shooting down his arm. Craaaap.

Eric winces as he forces himself to his feet. He shakes his head once to clear it before he coughs slightly. Glancing at his bleeding arm he grits his teath to ignore the pain. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" He says as he stands up slowly looking towards Cass and Lachlan. They look wounded and bleeding but alive, and Eric's attention turns towards the rest of the street. Of course this is just in time to see a FLAMING BLOODY CAR MISS ELENA BY INCHES! He just stands there for a moment and stares in shock…and then starts running towards her, though the hail of debris. "ELENA!" Yeah. So he's got a one track mind. He'll figure out theres a flaming flaming-hot chick in a moment.

Lifting the heavy thing is hard to do when you only got one arm to do it with. Nathan keeps his bleeding one, suit sleeve dark with blood, folded against his torso, and he mostly succeeds in shifting the thing a few fractions. After some perseverance, maybe his help would be effective, but he doesn't particularly wanna drag this out that long for the poor guy. "Sorry," he mutters, without real apology, looking around for someone slightly bigger and stronger (read: manlier) to help out. And he finds Lachlan. "Hey! Wanna lend a hand?"

She can't feel her legs. Elena feels the slight sting on her cheek, so shocked that she can't even focus on using her own powers to abate the pain. She could hear someone yelling her name. She takes a step forward, turning around to see Eric bleeding a bit, as well as Cass and Lachlan. To the other side? It's Peter's brother, and someone injured that he needs help with. The feeling on her legs return, and she takes a step once, twice, before long she's trotting towards Eric. "Are you okay?" she asks, shaking fingers reaching up to grasp his forearms so she could see how badly she's bleeding. Her face is ashen, her eyes wide at the close call. "Are y…you okay? What about Cass and Lachlan…? You're b…bleeding….and they're….gonna…I tried calling…they're…Jaden…" She can't articulate her thoughts as she tries to focus on trying to stem Eric's bleeding with a bandanna she finds in her pocket.

But Lachlan doesn't actually /feel/ hurt, so it's just silly that Cass would think he /is/. He looks a little confused when she informs him that he's bleeding, but then he feels the trickling down the back of his neck and reaches up to touch it. Huh. Sure enough, he's bleeding. Go figure, right? He stares at his crimson-covered hand in confusion before he manages to catch onto the fact that Bonnie's over there and injured. "'M fine," he grunts at Cass, but as he rises to his knees and turns toward his dog to call her over, it's very obvious that he's … well, /not/. His jacket and shirt are ripped cleanly open, and the gash on his back is ugly and deep, running in an upward diagonal across his spine. He's fortunate that he's in pretty good shape: the musculature is thick enough to have protected any bones beneath. The scrape on his scalp is not nearly so ugly, but being a head wound, it's bleeding profusely. "C'mere, Bonnie, c'mere." The dog limps over and is given some reassuring murmurs as he examines her injuries — and then Cass is shouting and he turns his head to look at where she's pointing. He stares bewildered a moment, and then he's being called by Nathan. "Uh. Sure." He rises to his feet and moves over to lend a hand, /completely/ unaware of his injured back. "Count o' three," he grunts as he grabs hold of the car part. "One, two, /three/!" And with that and a mighty heft, he starts to lift. He is, indeed, much manlier than Nathan, because he actually /succeeds/.

With our powers combined. Nathan helps where he can, but really, Lachlan is doing just fine on his own. Good work. And he, of course, totally does not recognise— waitaminute. His head snaps up again to study the man for a few seconds. Hopefully Lachlan, unlike him, was drunk enough to only remember blurs, because out of all the coincidences that have happened in the past month (yes, even the Niki-related coincidences), this one is just untimely. "Thanks," he tells the man shortly, with a strained smile. "That's. Yeah. Well done." With the lifting. He looks at Victor to see if he's passed out yet.

Having fulfilled her duty to point out culprits to the guards, Cass goes back to attending what's more important to her - Lachlan and Bonnie. "You…you are /not/ fine!" she splutters. "You're /bleeding/! A lot!" However, he's running off to help someone and she uses the opportunity to push herself into a sitting position. Still not wanting to put weight on that leg, she does nothing else yet. The cut isn't extraordinarily deep, but it's enough that she knows moving too much will only exacerbate it. Unlike Lachlan, she /does/ feel the pain. "You!" She points to Nathan. "Don't let him do that! It's going to hurt him even more!" But, the lifting is already done and she can't do anything about it. "Lachlan. /Please/. You need to get checked out."

Victor blinks, wincing a bit at the pain, but otherwise doing a remarkably good job of ignoring it as they remove the car and feeling returns ot his arm. "Thanks, you two - do either of you know what the hell happened? Like, beyond the whole explosion!?" He sits up, then blinks a few times and lies back down. Nope, vertical ain't happening quite yet.

Gabrielle finishes calling Mr. Hendrickson, doesn't get an answer, so leaves a message on his machine. "I have a job for you. Longcoat Mafia. Find them and kill them. All of them. All teams will be put on this task, and under your direct command. Money not an issue." She winces at those last words, given that the three men who owed her so much are now most likely dead. Meanwhile, Cass is yelling and pointing, and given that Gabrielle already yelled at them once, the guards are quick to put two and two together and start running. The goons have a very good lead, but these guards are not going to let the crooks get away after nearly killing the woman who made sure these security guards were hired in the first place. They owe her their jobs, and possibly the lives of their families, since they were in hard spots before they got hired.

Gabrielle hangs up the phone and puts a hand to her forehead, as a guard captain puts his coat around her shoulders. She looks up with a frown on her face, but not at the captain and just says, "Thanks." Then she hands off the phone to whoever it belongs to, and heads over to the stairs to sit down.

Along the way, she spots Nathan Petrelli working to lift a piece of metal off a man's arm, alongside some doofus. The doofus is having more success than Nathan, but the point is that she RECOGNIZES the senator. How could she not? She was just talking to one of his weasels. She has to find a way to get what is owed her. Maybe talking to the one whose money was saved himself might help. She puts on a mask of concern and heads over to Nathan, leaning waaaay far forward as she stands next to him — there is an eyefull available in the form of very-ruined blouse if Nathan (or anyone else) isn't too distracted to look — and gently puts her fingers on his wounded arm, not enough pressure to hurt him, hopefully, but enough to try to pull his shirt threads away from the injury. "You're hurt!" she announced unnecessarily. Well… There's also a guy with a crushed arm, and the big back-gashed scotsman who are injured, but they aren't as handsome as Nathan! …And are probably poor schlubs who wouldn't be useful to the red-head. She beckons towards some of the B&W building's own medical staff who have come down the stairs and started treating people, even though the ambulances are now in sight and arriving. The staff come over immediately at Gabrielle's gesture, and start to examine Nathan, pulling him carefully away from the rescued Victor, to be examined and bandaged up. Band-aids fix everything, don'tcha' know?

Gabrielle makes sure to stay close to Nathan and talking in a low husky voice she only uses when trying to manipulate men, while at the same time looking wide-eyed at him, so as not to be obvious. With a very faint French accent, she says, "You're so brave to try to help some random person who got hurt like that! Even when you're hurt! I'm Gabrielle Simmons. Please, tell me what your name is, sir. The papers will want to know of your selfless courage!"

Cass earns a confused look from Nathan. What? What? Lachlan looks fine to him! From the front. But before he can really do much of anything else, Nathan is approached and ushered away by medical staff. Better them then getting stuck at Sinai again, so he goes without protest, wincing as his arm is examined, the stuck piece of glass doing no favours. But his attention is caught by Gabrielle, who gets a squint, then an uncertain smile. He doesn't quite recognise her as the flaming woman, immediately, despite the burned garments - surely she'd be a little crispier. "Nathan Petrelli," he says, absently, swearing again as the glass starts getting fished out of his arm. Wait, what? Papers? He looks back at her, sharply. "And I— no, it was nothing," he adds, balking at the idea if /selflessness/. "Thanks anyway."

Reaching up Eric gently takes one of Elena's arms. "What are you doing here? You alright?" He asks franticly before he blinks as she starts trying to stop the bleeding on his arm. Wait. Bleeding? He blinks a moment to look down at the wounded arm, only not noticing the deap slice in the limb and the fact that both his coat and his shirt are cut clean through. At least its not a jagged wound, clean enough, done by shrapnel. He just blinks at it a moment before he nods. "I'm fine I'm fine, Lachlan is hurt but Cass is with him…and your babbling." He adds after a moment with a smile towards her. Starting to get lightheaded he is, but no he'll be fine. Then he blinks. "Oh geeze…the idiot…" He murmurs as he notes Lachlan and the car and..is that Nathan? HI NATHAN! WERE NEIGHBORS! No. He dosn't say that but he does nod towards Lachlan, trying to get Elena's attention. "…I'll be fine." He says again. "Go take care of the big lug before he bleeds to death."

Victor gets up - apparently, vertical WAS happening today - and walks off, avoiding ambulance crews and waving off the ones that do approach him angrily, walking home, nursing his crushed arm. He needed to get home and figure out how to approach this. Dammit, nothing like this had happened before…

But once again, Lachlan is feeling no pain. He looks a bit taken aback when Gabrielle jumps forward to whisk Nathan away like some sort of hero, but he's too stupefied to really pick up on the fact that, well, /he's/ sort of heroic too, and he deserves some credit. Quite frankly, he's getting too much input from every angle to really pick up on much of /anything/, except that Cass keeps babbling something about him being hurt, and he really is /not/. "'M /fine/," he insists, his tone edged with a noticeable hint of irritability. "'S just a scrape, s'all." Yeah, he really isn't aware of the gouge in his back, which has started to bleed even /worse/ thanks to his exertion with the car part. He glances about and spots Bonnie again and calls her over once more. "Bonnie needs a vet."

"I was…getting…..ingredients. We're going to make cupcakes." We? Who's we? That EVIL PLAN won't be revealed until later, but Elena is still looking at Eric, wide-eyed and shock still in her system at the close call. Her fingers are still shaking as they fumble a bit to help him stop his bleeding, and she manages to tie it securely on his arm. "And who's bleeding? Lachlan?" But Cass is with him and when it comes to medicine, Cass knows more than Elena does. Oh jesus, she starts to walk over there, but she remembers to take her copy of Wall Street Journal and snap it open so Eric can take a look at the FRONT PAGE NEWS, and then she'll move over. "Are you guys okay??" she calls out to Lach, Cass, and Nathan, shaking her head from her shock. Forward. Forward. Must go forward.

Gabrielle nods understandingly at Nathan. "Yes, I suppose publicity may be a bit much… Though if you are THAT Nathan Petrelli… Wouldn't it make your public image even more impressive than it already is?" She offers a coy smile and a wink at Nathan, as the medical crews finish cleaning out his arm, apply antiseptic, and begin bandaging it. "Regardless, you are a credit to your family name. I am sure that they will be quite proud of this story, when you speak of it to them." She smiles broadly and turns to one of her assistants who thought to gather up all of the papers from Nathan's briefcase and put them back in, and then bring the briefcase back to its owner. "Good work Leila," she offers to the young woman, who just nods her head and sets the carrying case down next to Nathan.

Gabrielle says, "If you are not in too much of a hurry to get home, you are welcome to join me a for a drink. It may help to steady your nerves after such a brush with death. I myself will need something quite strong… I'm not sure how I survived… Since I was in the car at the time, with a man named Andy Pettigrew—One moment." She pauses and looks thoughtful. "Did… Didn't Mister Pettigrew work for YOU, Mister Petrelli? Oh my. Then we might have something to discuss. An issue concerning certain stock that was purchased…" She trails off significantly, nodding her head slowly at Nathan as she makes eye contact with him.

Is everyone here mad? Lachlan is /bleeding/ from a severe wound in his back and some guy is taking credit for what /he/ helped do. Which only exacerbated his wound. If Lachlan dies because of this, Cass will /hunt down/ and /skin/ whoever that man is who is going off to get medical attention for a minor wound while her boyfriend is possibly bleeding to death without realizing it. While she is thinking all this, she is slowly working up to a standing position, making sure to keep all her weight on her uninjured leg. "Elena!" Her train of thought is totally derailed when she sees the younger woman. "Convince Lachlan that he is /not okay/. And needs to be looked at right away." She starts waving her arms at the various medical and ambulance staff and walk/hops toward them. "HEY! INJURED PERSON. THERE. GO!" She's pointing at Lachlan as she does this. Since he won't listen to her, maybe he'll listen to someone licensed to handle this sort of thing.

Nathan mutters a thanks when his briefcase things are gathered up and returned to him, looking tired and distracted and even though a strong drink sounds /superb/, he's already fending off her offers, shaking his head and looking for a spot to put in his 'no thanks'. And /then/ she mentions the name of Andy Pettigrew, and he raises an eyebrow, giving her his not-so-divided attention. The rest of what is happening sort of fades into the background because things are semi-starting to make sense now. "Yeah, that name rings a bell," he says, cautiously. He pulls on his jacket once they're done with his arm, covering up the bandages and torn, bloodied shirt, although it still looks conspicuous. "In that case, I think we could both do with something strong and unmixed, Miss… Simmons, was it?"

"What? Lachlan you're….what the hell are you doing?" Elena tries to help Cass with Lachlan. "You're….you got red on you!" Yes, she's pulling a Shaun of the Dead on here. But she does try to help him, reaching out to touch him and will some of her influence to calm him down a little bit by touch should he let her touch him. "Come on, Cass is right. Look at her, she's worried about you." You don't want to upset Cass, do you? DO YOU LACHLAN?

B-but wait. Wait. /Wait/. Bonnie's injured, and /Cass is also injured/. Lachlan frowns deeply. "Cass, yer— " And in the process of moving after his girlfriend, the Scotsman comes up against Elena's hand. He stares down at it, confused — and then he starts to feel really, really … good. Like, /really good/. Like as in: what's he been smoking? Feeling a bit woozy and definitely light-headed, he smiles a little. "Uh. Yeah. Uh." He looks to Cass again, and the frown starts to return. "Cass-sss hur'." Slurrrrrr.

Gabrielle smiles and nods, "Don't worry. I will try not to take up any more of your time than is necessary. I am sure you are a very busy man after all. What is a little bit of money compared to getting home after such a traumatic experience, and just feeling… Safe? Hmm?" She tilts her head to the side, then turns to Leila the assistant. "Go unlock my office, and prepare the bar," she orders. Leila nods and hurries off up the stairs.

Also that 'little bit of money' that Gabrielle mentioned? Might be more along the lines of $70K. Does Nathan even HAVE that much to waste on bad stock? If not, then he'd really have been in deep doo-doo if Mister Pettigrew had gone through with his plans. And Nathan probably knows that, though he may not know the exact amount if someone hasn't told him.

Eric just shakes his head slightly as he watches both Elena and Cass go nuts over Lachlan's wellbeing. He smirks slightly towards them all before he sighs, staggering only slightly as the woozyness starts to take hold of him. He remains standing though, turning away from the group to go walk slowly towards the car, looking to see if there is anyone else he might be able to help. Yes. Eric is a nice enough guy to help total strangers! Isn't that sweet. To Nathan? Well he gets a blink and a smile and a nod. He knows of him if he dosn't know him at least. Mom and dad contribute to the campign you know. He blinks once towards Gabrielle though before blushing ever so slightly and only /just/ restraining the urge to throw his trenchcoat over her shoulders.

As soon as Lachlan starts to slow down and not fight, Cass gives Elena a grateful look. Yes, she is hurt, but not nearly as bad as the Scot. "Thanks, Elena," she says softly. Continuing her hop/walking over to Lachlan, she flags down some EMTs with her yelling from before to look after Lachlan. "I'll be fine. It's a slight laceration on my leg. I'm more pissed off about my jeans. I really liked this pair. Now, you, you are going to need sutures at the very least." Medical talk to hopefully keep him confused enough so that she can deposit him right in the EMTs arms without more fight. She's still incredibly worried about him, but she's trying to pass it off in a more casual manner.

Money. Mmhm. They are speaking the same language. Nathan simply nods. "I do have places to be, but I'm sure I can make time," he says. His surroundings get another look, just as the car he had ordered pulls up. He puts up a 'wait there' hand to the driver, who nods in return. The motley crew of people who had happened to be here also get a quick glance around, before he extends a hand to the building, putting on a smile for Gabrielle. "Shall we?" The less standing in the street, as more authorities come tearing round, the better.

If Cass' goal was to be confusing, it works. Lachlan has /no idea/ what a laceration is, and with the euphoria making his brain hazy, he's a bit out of it anyway. "Wha— ?" The EMTs are on him in a flash, chattering and only adding to the confusion and they're /pulling him away/. He grips Cass' arm, brow furrowing in bafflement. "Nah, wai', wai'. Cass, yer hur'." Someone's yanking off his jacket and cutting away his shirt to get at the wound on his back whilst he's being pressured toward a stretcher. "MmnnBonnie needs a vet."

When Lachlan gets that goofy smile, Elena smiles, and nods, trying to turn Lachlan around to lead him to Cass. "Go with Cass, Lachlan," she tells him simply, meanwhile gesturing for the ambulance guys to see to ALL OF THEM. And yes, EVEN THE DOG. When she gets closer to Cass, she hands off Lachlan, and flags down the EMTs. "You got him? And take care of Cass too!" she calls to the EMT. "And Bonnie!" She gestures to the dog. And once that's done? She turns around so she could walk over to Eric, reaching out with both arms. "Alright, hero," she murmurs with a small smile. "Your turn. Don't -make- me do what I just did to Lachlan," she tells him softly. "Come on, I'll go with you to the ER."

Phew. Lachlan is in the hands of EMTs and will /finally/ get the attention he needs for his wound. "I'm right here, Lach." Waving off the people who are trying to help her as well, she hobbles after Lachlan's stretcher. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just give me some painkiller and wrap me up at the hospital. If you try to cut open my jeans any more than they are right now I will go for a vital artery." Elena is given a grateful smile for all her help as she walks past the girl. The more she moves, the more she winces. And finally caves when an EMT starts gesturing toward her own stretcher. "Just…yeah, I'd just like to sit down. That's all I need. And the location of the nearest vet."

Hey now, Eric isn't gonna fall /on/ her. Eric hopefully isn't going to fall on anyone. However he does smile slowly as Elena comes up to put her arms around him. "…alright alright…I'll come get patched up. I just wanted to help a few more people is all." He murmurs back towards her. He sounds exausted, and his arm is still bleeding slowly, but at least he dosn't look like he is about to pass out. He nods once though. "…alright, on the nurses orders I'll go get looked at." Pause. "But I'm fine really." Stuborn of course, but not near as bad as Lach he is, and off he goes with Elena to get his arm fixed up.

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