2008-03-09: Into The Dark Alley

Starring:

Gene_icon.gif Madison_icon.gif Mikhail_icon.gif

Summary:Continuation of "What Happens in Chinatown" : Gene and Mikhail have the 'Gift' talk with Madison.

Date It Happened: March 9, 2008

Into the Dark Alley


DARK ALLEY

LAST TIME, ON HEROES:

Menial conversations, men hitting on a young woman while being insulted, an 'oh hey, I know that guy' moment, a little lost child, and an exploding rangoon. This somehow leads to a bout of crying and the all-mighty-yet-secret 'gift' discussion.

But considering that both Gene and Mikhail are two men who led a small pre-teen girl into a dark alley to hold such a discussion still looks suspicious and questionable.

Can the awkwardness of the situation get any more awkward? Mikhail is reaching a slightly uncomfortable level with the crying thing, but he tries his best to deal with it. "…I, for one, can't help but look at people like that. It's something that I'm used to doing, you know?" He laughs oddly, glancing back at Gene since he's going to do most of the explaining. "But…you just surprised us. That's all." A pause. "A little girl with that kind of gift? It's interesting."

Sniff-sniff! Madison is still quivery and crying-y — but slightly less as she regains a little composure, and looks up at Mikhail for a long moment before speaking. ".. But-" She mumbles off for a moment, sniffling loudly. ".. The man said there were other people that could do this, and he could do it, so.." She mumbles off again, a frown crossing her lips. "B-But, if you don't want me to do it, I'll stop! Really!" She promises, nodding her head enthusiastically and wiping her eyes with her sleeve a little. Only to end up with rangoon smeared across her face. "Uwa.."

The young inventor doesn't mind being considered questionable at this point. He's doomed to die in a few months anyway unless one of the people trying to get him a cure actually does it. Surprisingly how fear of death can turn brave men into cowards and cowards into brave men. As he moves into the alleyway, Gene shakes his head before speaking.

"Gifts like this aren't really meant to be used in public. If the wrong people saw you doing that? It could be bad. There are a lot of good people with powers like yours, but there are a lot of people that… well… Aren't."

The artist nods, taking a random but clean handkerchief out of a pocket. "Yeah. And with those who…aren't," he adds, "they pretty much would be sort of jealous about it. I'm sure they would try going even further to make more of a big deal out of it." Like X-Men or something, Mikhail wanted to tack on. Hanging out with the nerdy group has led him to recall some knowledge of that. A gloved hand is held out toward Madison, the handkerchief being offered. "Here. Use this. You got some rangoon and tears on you," he says softly. Eyes flick back over to Gene, silent as they always are when taking in a subject's appearance. "We're not trying to force you to quit it, either," the half-Asian says back to the girl. "Just..be careful."

Quietly accepting the offered handkerchief, Madison starts cleaning her face off — shyly peeking up at the two a few times as she does. "I'll stop.. doing it in front of people, then." She says, wiping her cheek slowly. "But, what do I use it for, then?" She asks, tilting her head to the side, "I tried cooking food with it, but it just blows up, and I can boil water sometimes.. but then sometimes it goes all bubbly and foamy and spills all over the place and I burn myself." She says, frowning again. "I don't really know what it's good for.."

Mr. Kensington rubs his head in mild frustration. Why couldn't HE get powers like this? He'd know exactly how to use them. But no, he had the one that doesn't help him a lick in a straight out fight. "Good… As long as you don't do it in front of people, it shouldn't be a big deal. Though this man that told you about your ability… He mention something about an organization or anything like that?"

And while Gene mulls over the fact other peoples' powers are neater than his and asks the important questions, Mikhail nods. He couldn't help but smirk at the situation. "Maybe…if you had a little more control on your gift. It takes some time to get use to it, after all." Of course, commenting on the minor things is what he does best. "I'm sure you'd be able to cook without exploding everything." Pause. No, he shouldn't give Madison any bad ideas. Exploding food is one thing; exploding other things…totally different story.

Madison chews her lower lip for a moment, looking down at the ground — she moves her hand forward, offering the messy handkerchief back to Mikhail without looking. "Umn.." She murmurs off, looking thoughtful for a moment — she starts shaking her head after, looking back up. "No, he didn't, he just showed me that he could make, like.." She mumbles off, as if trying to figure out how to explain it! ".. Like.. make the.." How do you explain, 'Make stuff realy hot and explode'?! Madison clearly knows not — for she stares up at the two with a slightly dumb expression. ".. He could do like what I do, but a lot better."

Gene leans against the wall, frowning as he does. "The man has the power as well. Seems to be a heat based power. Perhaps thermal, perhaps microwave in nature." Mulling over the nature of Madison's power, he sighs. "Well, if you wanted, I suppose we could test your powers. A friend of mine used to help with the testing of powers like these, but I admit I haven't been able to keep in touch with her these days."

An eyebrow quirks, but a hand goes out to pat hers. An awkward pat, but hey- it's a pat. "…Nah, you keep it for now. Just in case," the art student says. Another glance is given toward Gene as he shifts, placing a hand on his hip. "Thermal? That's what it is?" Well, it makes sense. Mikhail tilts his head to the side, blinking once. "And if we do that, what exactly are we using to test with?"

Madison pulls her hand back, then! She just stands there, looking very self-conscious — "Um.. well, I could do it on one of you! But.. I guess it might hurt.. maybe." She says, with a shrug. "I don't know." She looks down again — nibbling her lower lip self-consciously. Okay, maybe letting someone try to explode part of you isn't the safest of tests.

The genius mere smirks at Mikhail. This sort of stuff is what his power is actually useful for. "I could easily make a device that could withstand and measure high temperature… We could see the limits of the power, but do so in a safe environment away from people. But that would be up to Madison." A pause is given before Gene glances over toward Madison as he rubs the back of his head. "And we would likely need to clear it with your parents, considering how young you are."

Sometimes — just sometimes — Mikhail wishes he had those sorts of smarts. Although he stares blankly at Gene as he gives details to the plan, he nods. As long as he gets the gist of it, he's fine. The artist also looks at Madison simultaneously, giving another nod. "That would be good," he says. "As of now, they might be worrying about you a lot. Or something." Maybe?

Madison looks.. less than thrilled at the idea of that! "They live in Connecticut. I'm here staying with my uncle." She replies toward Gene, half-lidding her eyes. "And he's probably too busy to say one way or the other, or he would stop leaving me on my own for so long." She adds, puffing her cheek up a little, childishly. Harumph!

There is a pause as Gene gets the information. He just gives an awkward cough in response before saying simply, "I see."

"…"

A similar sort of response comes from the artist, however less verbal. A hand goes up to run over his hair in thought, letting out the air he gathers in his own version of a puff-face.

More silence. Mikhail looks between both Madison and Gene before shrugging. "…Well then."

Madison turns her head aside and then shrugs her shoulders a little. "I'll ask him, if you'd like, next time I see him.." She murmurs off, bringing a hand up to touch on her lower lip thoughtfully. ".. But what I should I tell him?" She questions, turning her head back enough to look up toward Gene and Mikhail out of the corner of one eye. "And how should I contact you if he says I can?"

"Let me know you wish to join a group for after school activities. Mikhail'll help you on with the homework on the side if you really need me to," Gene announces with a tired sigh. Did he just volunteer his friend for this? Why yes, he just did. "I'd offer to help more, but sadly, I've got my hands in a lot of pots so to speak right now."

At this, Mikhail gives Gene a sidelong glance. Oh, he did not. He did n— he did. The gaping of his mouth is cut short as he nods with a lopsided grin. "Not a problem. You have a job and all, Gene," the artist replies with a low chuckle. Back to the girl. "I can probably give you my cell number since I do have a phone on me. I don't use it much, but yeah." He digs around for a pad of paper and a pen, his pockets considerably large to hold that much stuff in them. After jotting it down, he tears the page off. "Here you go, Maddy."

"Okay," Madison replies, accepting the paper from Mikhail — she stares at it for a few moments. ".. I'll try to get an answer from him and then I'll let you know, okay?" She says, tilting her chin up to look at the two. "Um.. should I tell the other man that you're going to help me learn to do this better too, or..?" 'this' apparently being how she describes her ability, for lack of a better way to say it.

There is a pause as something registers to the young genius. "Wait, he offered to teach you how to use your ability as well? Hrm. Who is this other guy? Might want to look into him, make sure that he's not one of the bad guys here." Gene sighs. "If he offering to teach you your gift and not trying to cut or force you a deal, it's unlikely that he's bad, but always better to be safe than sorry." Gene's mantra comes through yet again.

Whoa, so the other dude offered to help her too? "But his offer is less science-y," Mikhail frowns comically, folding his arms over his chest. He then shrugs afterward, seeing that Gene has once again handled everything necessary. Nod.

Less science-y indeed! Madison looks up at Gene, and then looks thoughtful for a long moment, apparently trying to remember details. "Well, he was.. uhm.. he had dark hair." She says, first. Well, that only narrows it down by exactly none. "His name was.. ahm.." She scritches at her head a few times. ".. Lawrence, I think?" She then looks a little.. confused at all this talk of 'deals'!

"I wonder if I was this trusting when I was this young…" Gene frowns as he gets a flashback of when he was left by himself for the first time for a few hours. The knocking of the mailman at the door asking to drop off a package and the crying and shrieking that ensued from the young boy.

Coughing for no apparent reason, Gene sighs. "Well, tell him NOTHING of us. Until we figure out his angle, we can't let him know about other people helping you. Our angle is simple… We don't want you accidentally hurting someone with your power."

Eyebrows raise. "Lawrence?" Really? That's the guy's name? Well, he can't really say anything about it. Instead, he offers a small yet odd smile. He does find this sort of amusing, but all of it is serious business. "He's right. Keeping it quiet should make things a little easier. Without all of the questions and whatever, anyway." Mikhail is not a very good role model. At all.

"O-Oh." Madison replies, looking down again; she wrings her hands together a bit. "Okay. I won't tell him. I mean. If he asks. I don't think he would, or anything." She mumbles, faintly shrugging her shoulders; she scuffs the heel of her sneaker against the ground a few times. "He seemed nice, though!" She adds, looking up again. She is a rather naive girl.

"A lot of people seem nice that aren't. Of course, there are some that actually are. It's hard to tell, but as a sign of trust, here's my card as well." Gene gives out his own card, which is the new Pinehearst one that he has. "Use the cell phone number if you need me, it's my personal line." His name is listed as well as his profession at his new job: Engineering and Technologies Assistant. "I need to get going, but it was good talking with you. I should have the device ready in a couple of days. Just in case I can't be there, I'ill leave the device with Mikhail and let him know how to use it."

Yeah, leave him with the expensive equipment. "I'll make sure nothing happens to it whenever you do get it done," he says. "My roommates. They're unpredictable sometimes." Football inside the apartment at three in the morning? Yes. Mikhail then looks back over at Madison with a small smile. "Time sure does fly when we're discussing important topics, doesn't it?"

Madison lifts a hand to scritch slowly at her cheek, her other hand holding the received card — business cards seem so blase to young people! "O-Okay! I'll try to find out soon.. and I'll be careful." She says, suckling her lower lip softly for a moment. "It was.. um.. nice to meet you, ah.." She murmurs off, turning her gaze from one to the other a few times — ".. I'm Madison."

"Good to meet you, Madison… Well, I guess we've done all the important talking, now to leave before someone thinks we are doing something horrible to you." With that, Gene just turns and walks away, whistles a tune as does. Because evil people don't whistle. Well, according to Gene, they don't.

Mikhail falters. "Can you make it any blunter?" he asks with slight amusement, shaking his head at Gene. Then again, he was thinking the same thing. He offers a wave as his friend goes, pausing for a moment before glancing over his shoulder at the girl. "All right. I gotta go, too. Artwork needs to be finished. You take care of yourself. Okay, Maddy?" He chuckles, waving and turning with a flourish as the hem of his coat trails behind him.

Madison nods her head enthusiastically, and then raises a hand to wave — "Goodbye!" She calls, just.. standing there for a moment. Of course, her goodbye loses any and all dramatic tension there may or may not have been.. when she realizes that she has to follow you out anyway. So she does, trotting along until she can part ways with the two outside of the alley.

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