Starring:
Date: January 13, 2010
Summary:
Alexandra is introduced to a couple more people working on the Alpha Protocol problem. Some new information comes to light.
"Meet the Team"
Special Projects office, New York
Robin's seemed kind of… distracted since the Christmas holidays whenever he's come in to work. The kind of distracted teenagers get whenever something big's going on that they're not sure they can talk about. Now, a bit late tonight for his time to work, he comes into the office looking more determined, though, and he makes his way inside, looking around, looking perhaps for George.
Night or day, when there's work to be done, Clarence Mayberry will be there! And as such he's at Congressman Dawson's Special Projects office, pouring over paperwork and trying to find if there's a little reference that he's missed or a sentence that could be construed as giving more information than is obvious. Reading between the lines is no easy task. At present he's leaning back in his chair, a cup of Earl Grey tea in hand, staring at his computer screen, somewhat hoping the clues will just appear for him.
Speaking of work, George's schedule has been drifting back toward the long hours that were typical before the holiday break. He's handed off a couple of things that are low-priority or long-term enough, but some things he has to keep a hand in…
"Ah yes, it's back here, I think," he says to Alexandra as they head down a hallway, "we'll have you on your way soon enough." This is a lie, for the benefit of the receptionist in case Alpha Protocol does send anyone here. Placing a finger to his lips, he rounds a corner and motions Alex to follow him into the soundproof room.
A call at work from Dawson, George has brought Alex down here tonight via cab, with pretty specific instructions not to talk to anyone about anything until she's safely in the offices of the Special Projects group. So, here she is, still in her overcoat, hat, gloves, scarf and heels, a huge shoulderbag over her arm packed with stuff from work. She hadn't been down here since the time these offices were being built up for their special purpose, and so she has no idea who any of these folks are, save for George, and she's still not totally familiar with the man.
Robin is just stepping over towards his computer setup when George and Alexandra come in. Robin turns back, almost saying something to George, but then hesitating on seeing the new woman. "Hello," he says instead.
Clarence looks up at the sound of the voice, curious as it gets closer. He's familiar with the voice. It's the Boss's voice. The British man stands from his desk and heads in the direction of it. He stands near the soundproofed room. "Late night, Congressman?" He says, giving a little smile to Alexandra and Robin. "I've got a pot of Earl Grey tea on should anyone wish for some."
"I could try a cup," George replies, making sure the door is fully closed, "I've been overdoing coffee lately. Would you like any?" he asks Alexandra.
"Robin, I was hoping I'd catch you tonight— Dr. Lambert here was one of the rescuers from that train incident you reported last month. I figured it'd be good to introduce you two to one another, see if you can fill in each other's stories. Never know which little detail might turn out to be our Special Order 191."
"Special Order 191? That sounds…sufficiently anonymous and governmental, truth be told!" Alex says with a little smile to George. After stepping inside, she pulls off her gloves first, then her hat and scarff, stuffing them into the outer pockets of her coat before unbuttoning it to avoid getting too hot. When George introduces her to Robin, she blushes a little, realizing just how strange it must be to think of her as a rescuer! "I'm afraid I didn't see much, but I was there, and I guess that's a start!" she comments to Robin.
Robin blinks, looking to Alex and asks, "Really? Cool. Um.. yeah, I don't know too much. I know where it happened, and that it happened. I know that girl that was on TV was one of the ones rescued, and I know Rebel had something to do with it, but that's about it. I didn't even know anything was going on until after." Then he looks to George, relaxing now he knows Alex is one of the 'good guys', "Oh, I also know where some Alpha Protocol agents can be found right now. Outside my apartment building, and in the next building over."
Clarence nods to George, returning a few minutes later with a cup of tea for him. Once the tea is handed over, he takes a seat. "Now now, to what do we owe the honour of having this young woman here in our most hush-hush of all rooms?" He says casually enough, sipping on his own tea.
George frowns at Robin, settling into a chair. "Well, that's… good to know, but unfortunate that they're so close to home. Do you think they're on to you, or do they just happen to be in the same area?" As for Clarence's question, the immediate answer has already been covered… but another interpretation occurs to him, a more subtle one. They need sources of intel, so what are hers? "She's been in touch with 'Rebel', I guess that's what the people behind that video clip are calling themselves. And a couple others, I think, but it sounded like they'd been out of touch lately?"
"Right…right. I haven't heard anything from Rebel in…oh, a few months or so. And the last time was in text message, all caps. A lead to talk with a bookstore owner, about rescuing someone…that I randomly met in a park, of all places!" Alexandra is smirking at how random it all seems, in retrospect, but is already pulling out her Blackberry to find the texts. "I kept these not knowing exactly why, but I guess that's a good thing," she comments to all in the room, before handing the phone over to Robin to have a look at them. "Maybe you've seen something like this before?"
Robin shakes his head to George and says, "Not me, but a few others. They've got full surveillance going on, listening to every little thing. They've been there since at least Christmas eve, not sure what they're waiting for. Maybe they want a certain critical mass of targets in the building at the same time before they move." He takes the phone from Alexandra then to look at the texts, and nods, "Yep, I have. Don't know why he texts in all caps, just his signature I guess."
Clarence smiles and nods. "Ah yes. The famous, or infamous, 'Rebel'. I've often wondered about getting in contact with this 'Rebel'. Would Rebel be able to provide us with any of the information we needed." He shakes his head. "I do not know. Finding information isn't easy." He thinks for a moments. "Well, do you require me for anything in here this evening, Congressman, or shall I continue reading between the lines and seeing if I can't find some unusual patterns?"
"No, I think we're good for the moment. Go get yourself a bite to eat, Clarence, you're looking a little pale lately." Or it might just be the lighting; that one in the corner needs to be replaced, it keeps flickering off and on. George leans over to glance idly at the text messages, but leaves it to Robin to go through them in more detail.
"Yeah, all the messages I've gotten from Rebel have been in all caps. He or she, whoever Rebel is, sent me to meet with folks I had never heard of or met before, then sent us to upstate New York, to help rescue prisoners from this guarded train. All of them had…well, I think you can imagine, if you're in this group…I hope." Alex blushes a little, not knowing whether or not the folks here are like her or not. So she looks at George to make sure they're cool to mention that sort of stuff around.
Robin's own cellphone buzzes to indicate an incoming text, but he ignores it for now, as he passes the phone back to Alexandra. He grins then and says, "Yeah, we know. Everybody does, even if some people don't want to believe. You saw the video that was on TV, right?"
Clarence salutes George. "You're the boss, Congressman. I'll be at my desk if you do need me." He says with a serious nod.
George nods to Clarence as he makes his way out, then turns back to Alexandra. "We've got a few people specifically aware of the issue, yes, and a couple in Washington as well. Still waiting for the aftershock from de Souza's passing to hit… I have a feeling we'll all need to act quickly when it does. Hopefully it'll improve the situation." His expression is grim; de Souza had been confirmed as aware of Alpha Protocol, but wanting her taken down isn't the same as wanting her six feet under.
"Phew, well, that's a relief," Alex sighs out, taking her phone back and tucking it away in a pocket again. "It shouldn't sound like a huge surprise then to know that I sort of…stopped one of those cars, as part of the rescue." She's a little secret about just what she can do, for now, particularly since it included having shaken a good part of the city a few weeks ago, and breaking up a whole street.
Robin looks to George, and asks, "You think things will be better, now? Or worse?" He looks to Alex again then and says, with a grin, "Cool." Then, after a few moments hesitation, he adds, "I know my sister had something to do with the rescue too… sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Congressman," he adds quickly. "She hasn't told me much of what happened, though, just where it did. Trying to keep me safe, I think."
"Like I said," George murmurs, "I hope things will be better. I don't think, yet, one way or the other— Senator Petrelli has been trying to join the project so he can subvert it from the inside, but we need to keep working on it from the outside in case that doesn't work out. Or even if it does, we need to make sure they're not feeding him false information. Either way, direct communication needs to be cleared through me first."
At the mention of Robin's sister, he leans forward. "Who's she? Do you think she'd be willing to stop by and talk with us some time?"
Having little to contribute to this particular part of the conversation, Alex slides her overcoat off and puts it on a coat hanger there in the office. Figuring to be there at least a while, she finds a seat in one of the chairs near the desks and just listens in for the moment. How many chicks were there at the rescue, she tries to recall. One big one was Charlotte, of course, seeing as how she saved Alex's bacon there after the guards got their act together and started trying to fight the rescuers off.
Robin answers George, as he moves to sit down in a nearby chair, "Kitty Hanner. And… I don't know. She's been in hiding, helping people escape from the Protocol and so on since the train rescue happened. I can try to ask her to come by, though."
This catches George visibly off guard. "You're Kitty's brother? I know her." A little more closely than he intended, but that was a one-time thing. "We've mostly been out of touch lately, but— yeah, bring her by any time. She was on the run last time we talked, so I understand if it takes some doing."
"Kitty…was the one with the guns? A really…loopy sort?" Alex thinks back to the sight of Kitty sort of…screaming in driving a stolen Hummer, blasting everything in her path, then almost getting her butt shot while trying to climb on the train by two other Hummers-full of guards. Hence why those vehicles got smushed under a huge mound of earth.
Robin brightens a little again, "She's my half-sister. So you know Kitty? She might be cool with coming by then, yeah. I'll definitely ask her." He looks to Alex, blinking at her words, "Really? She is kind of loopy, but have trouble seeing her with guns. I guess for something like that, though, she'd kind of have to."
George scratches his head. "I wouldn't have thought of her as a Thelma and Louise type, either, but… it's been a while, and she was going up against armed guards." And her ability doesn't seem all that useful in a combat situation; at best, it might warn her of an ambush in the right circumstances.
"I could always be thinking of someone else, for sure. I really didn't get a chance to catch anyone's name. In all honesty, it seemed a little hastily put together, at least on my part. I met this guy Peter in the part one night, and he seemed to be…able to do what I do, you know? Which is strange! But he was the one that got me involved in all this initially. Then Rebel sent stuff about trying to rescue him, but work kept me away. Greedy, I know, but, that was what I worked my whole life for." Alex just rambles on a bit as she adds to the discussion at hand.
Robin shrugs a bit to Alex and says, "Well, Kitty was working on getting him back too, and I think he might be out now, but not sure." He looks to George again and then says, "I want you to know now too, I… have an ability too. I wasn't going to say anything, but I can trust you, right? And you really might need to know what I can do when things start going really fast."
"I really shouldn't be surprised," says George, even though he obviously is. "Coincidences like this have a way of following me around." A very important and relevant way, if his serious expression is to be believed.
"Is…everyone here in your merry band gifted then?" Alex says, turning to look at George with a raised eyebrow. That looks says that she knows exactly why coincindences have a way of following George about. Just like that earthquake a few weeks ago happened to have an epicenter at her exact location.
Robin shakes his head to Alex and grins, "I don't think so. That would be weird, though." Then he looks back to George and explains, "I can listen to, manipulate, and broadcast radio waves and other electromagnetic signals. I can understand any signal, even military grade encryption. As long as I'm near a cellphone tower or wifi hotspot, I have full internet access all the time, no need for a computer. I can even manipulate the signals inside electronics to control them, but that's still really hard." Then he adds, "Just in case you need me to do anything. I want to stop the AP."
"I don't think Clarence is, not unless he's got a good enough poker face to do my job. Ophelia… I could see going either way." Then, as Robin explains his own schtick, George leans back and smiles. "Well, it's nice to have my hiring instincts confirmed. Try not to get yourself killed or anything, but— well, if you think a calculated risk calculates in your favor, then by all means go for it. Lord knows they'll be looking for any advantage on the other side of this."
As for Alex? Well, she's not going to volunteer much, unless asked. Hallis knows, which means George may likely know. "I couldn't imagine having all kinds of signals in my head. I'd probably worry about getting cancer or something!"
Robin grins again and nods quickly to George, "Understood." Then he looks to Alex then and says, "You have all the same signals going through your head, you just can't hear them. So I'm not worried about cancer, but trying to get a good night's sleep is hard sometimes." Then he says, "I better get home. I'll let you know if I hear anything more, Congressman. They don't know I can listen in, but they still don't say much."