2009-10-25: On the Road

Starring:

Merrick_V4icon.pngMatt_V4icon.pngJamie_V4icon.pngRudyard_V4icon.pngEmily_V4icon.png

Date: October 25, 2009

Summary:

Following Usutu's instructions, Merrick finds Matt and some other fugitives, and they try to figure out how he's supposed to help.


"On the Road"

Upstate New York

It has been a week from hell…literally for Merrick Jones. He has been told by a mysterious man from Africa to find a man he has never seen or heard of before, had his trust fund frozen, branded a terrorist, and had a conversation with a "rebel" like computer. He has decided to follow the path before him and follow the instructions hand written on the napkin.

Unable to rent a car, Merrick had to use his talents to steal a motorcycle and make his way to upstate New York. He goes the to exact place, at the exact time pulls up the empty house that has been told to him. What the seer saw next Merrick does not know but he shuts off the motorcycle and stands outside the empty house.

Matt's week hasn't exactly been wine and roses either. Parting ways with his family (hopefully not for too long), deliberately dropping off the grid, jumping onto a moving train… Okay, the part where he and the others rescued some people? That was pretty cool. But what were they supposed to do then?

Right now, they're holed up in here, pulling together food and clothes as best they can while pondering their next move. As the rumbling of Merrick's engine approaches and then shuts off, he peeks out through a window, staying low. "Huh," he muses out loud. "Doesn't look like black ops."

The family that used to live in the old farmhouse didn't have a daughter Jamie's age. They did, though, apparently have a son that was about the same size. So, dressed in a Yankees shirt and jeans, but currently barefoot, moves over by the window as well, though staying out of view from outside for the moment. "Think it's someone who lives here?"

As he stands by the bike for a moment, Merrick sighs, "I have to be bloody bonkers to be doing this." He begins to walk towards the front door keeping his hands at his side. He walks to the steps and says in a loud british accent, 'allo? I'm looking for Matt Parkman….I was told he would be here. Anyone 'ome?" Merrick runs a hand through his long locks in attempt to wipe the sweat from his brow.

Matt watches some more, then shakes his head, glancing back toward Jamie. "Don't think so. He's not acting like he owns the place." Literally. Still, appearances can be deceiving, so he cocks an ear and listens for the man's thoughts… ah yes, he met Number One Beyonce Fan, too. He gives a thumbs-up sign, then goes the door and opens it a crack. "C'mon in."

Jamie, once Matt's signalled that it's ok, peeks out the window to see who it is. She steps back a little then, hanging back from the door so not to be in the way but close enough that she'll be able to see the man more clearly as he comes in. Far too curious not to be right there.

When the door opens, Merrick takes a steps back and looks at Matt. He cocks his head to the side and his eyes narrow, "All due respect…if your Matt Parkman. You should have a certain piece of id that will show me what you do for a living." The young man is jumpy but his thoughts go to his Rebel conversation earlier today that caused him to leave New York City right away. This is where he learned that Parkman was a cop. Merrick waits nervously.

Awakening from a brief nap, Rudyard enters the room. His hair's a mess, he hasn't bothered to shave off the month's growth of beard, but thankfully, he's clean and quite thankful for it. The baggy clothes that have been commandeered hang loose on him, but he won't complain. It's not the infernal pajamas or that ruddy orange jumpsuit. He's quite glad to be free and on his own two feet. Oh, and talking to insects again. If the pair of yellow jackets settled on his shoulder are any indication. Upon entering the room, he nods to Jamie and gives the newcomer speaking to Matt a rather wary glance.

"Who's the visitor?" Emily calls out, having descended the steps not long before Rudyard. She too is finally clean, but not her usual sparkling self; she's been forced to wear whatever remnants of clothing she can find in the upstairs bedrooms. It's a pretty motly look, since like Jamie, she's been forced into the clothes of an older boy who lives here. She's basically dressed like Jamie, sports t-shirt and jeans (though for the older boy, it was the Bills apparently…blargh!). On her form, however, they're filled out quite a bit more, as the straight tee and jeans cling to curves where men wouldn't have any. There were even some socks and shoes not ratty enough to warrant throwing out in a closet that fit well enough. Her hair is pulled up in a loose 'horsetail,' a messy ponytail that sticks out from the top of the back of her head and hangs down her back between the shoulders.

Oh, great, the newcomer would ask for Parkman's badge. "I am," he replies to Merrick, "but I left it back home— didn't think I'd need it." Along with his cell phone, in case the government thought to trace it, which is why he missed Rebel's heads-up. He glances back again, nodding to Rudyard and Emily as well this time: "It's okay, Rebel sent him." Well, mostly Usutu did, but he isn't sure if they know Usutu or not.

Jamie blinks, and asks, "Who's Rebel?" She moves to sit on the steps after the two adults come down, since that gives her a bit better height to follow the conversation. At least, for the moment. Ever since her own turn in the bath she's been looking a lot healthier, and she's been lot more energetic than before she went in.

As he extends his own senses out, he can feel the shifts in their magnetic pull as he looks over at Matt. He blinks and says, "Rebel said he would text you." He assumes that is how he knew Rebel spoke with him. Merrick seems to relax as he looks Matt over all the while his thoughts read, ((He does not look like some savior. How am I suppose to help him and vice versa. I hope Usutu got his vision thing right.)) He begins to walk into the house. He looks around over at the others presence while taking in his environment. He nods slowly at the others, before looking back at Matt, "My name is Merrick Jones and I am…well I have been marked by the government as a terrorist. I am far from that…I am just a physics and biology major at NYU." His thoughts will reveal that he is not a terrorist but he does have a power…that power is Magnetokinesis.

Hmm.. Rebel sent him. That's good enough for Rudyard. "Alright then," he says in a rather dry British accent as he nods to Merrick. While not the sort to blindly trust a stranger, he and the rest of this lot wouldn't be walking free without Rebel's assistance. He's only heard mention of the fellow, but not much beyond that. "Ah, join the club then, mate. Cheers," he says with a half-arsed salute in Merrick's direction. Another glance at Jamie and he resists the urge to pat the child on the shoulder. He's still not too sure about being around all these strangers. A nod is canted at Emily before he proceeds on back out of the room, "I'll take up watch now."

Rudyard looked like he wanted to pat Jamie on the shoulder…and Emily looks like she wants to do very much the same thing, but for a totally different reason. The cop can read minds and get in people's heads, that's clear. The other guy can talk to bugs. What this girl can do is a mystery still, and that's where the interest stems from. How'd she come out of the bath looking like a million bucks, even after so long imprisoned and drugged? She casts the same sort of look toward the newcomer, but doesn't really speak up beyond that, content to lean against a door frame between the home's entrance foyer and the living room.

As he closes the door behind Merrick, Matt puts a fist to the side of his head. Note to self: buy a pay-as-you-go phone and use it to get back in touch with Rebel. "Yeah, we're all basically in the same boat here, at least until someone convinces them to let up. This is Rudyard, and Emily— the little one behind you is Jamie."

Jamie, as she's introduced, waves to Merrick with a smile, "Hi." Then she adds, "You sure don't wanna get caught by them. They tie you to a table and stick an awful tube up your nose and you can't move at all." She stands back up now, stepping a couple of stairs down but not moving far as of yet.

As he nods slowly, "A pleasure…I think." He also has a British accent light yet apparent. "Well I…I don't know what I did to deserve this but I have had black vans outside my school, my dorm, where I work out. I can not access my funds. I do not know why…I crossed paths with an FBI agent a while back but he was harming people. I just did my best to help an innocent person." He sighs looking rather tired.

"Took me from a hotel room" is all Emily can really add. She's not about to tell why they took her from said hotel room though. "And if they locked access to all of your own funds, I'm quite sure they've done the same to ours" she says flatly.

Matt looks around for a place to sit down, mouthing a silent 'thanks' to Rudyard as he takes watch, then returns his attention to Merrick. "They're taking children, too— at least one baby." So he's been told, and he clenches his hands in frustration… he really does need to get that phone, see if Rebel can make good on the second part of his promise. "It's not about what you've done, it's about what they're afraid you could do."

Jamie, on mention of a problem with the FBI, brightens, stepping down to the floor again, "I remember you now! You were there that time at the apartment building. Don't worry, that other FBI lady was fighting that guy too. Think he mighta been a fake, or something. Nope, think they're after us 'cause we all got powers."

"No normal FBI agent would just openly harm someone like that…" The young man seems a little naive or hopeful as he looks at Jamie and cocks his head to the side, "I though I knew your face. You were there that day." He smiles softly his thoughts happy to see someone who is not a bad guy. He runs a hand through his hair and says, "Usutu said I could help you and you could help me so…here I am. Now what?" His eyes shift to Emily curiously before looking back at Matt.

"Well, unless you've brought an enormous sum of money, in unsequential 20s or smaller, I think our first step needs to be finding some. Then new, less conspicuous (meaning, nicer) clothes. Then transportation. I don't like the idea of just sitting here. We're not that far away from where the whole train thing went down, afterall." Hmmm, sounds like she's been on the lam before, maybe.

Matt purses his lips, considering. "I've got a car, but it's back the way we came. And they may be looking for it by now." Which is why he left it in the parking lot of a busy Greyhound station. With luck, they'll be wasting time looking for him in Boston, Bangor, Birmingham, somewhere that begins with B. "If we can get enough cash, we can get a rental car. And a new phone— Rebel might have more news on the big picture." Like where that helicopter landed after Rudyard fouled its engines…

Turning back to Merrick, he gestures with his hands: "Sorry, but he didn't tell me anything about you, maybe he hadn't seen it yet. And if Rebel tried to, then it didn't get through in time. So I don't have anything more specific in mind yet." He's a detective, not a field marshal.

Jamie looks up to Emily, and says, "Yeah. They're gonna be looking for us here soon. But how do we get money?" She looks from Emily to the other adults present curiously, after asking this, waiting to see if they have any ideas.

"Well…" He looks down at his shoes, "I am not really one for doing this…I was raised better. Maybe I could return the money to the bank after but I could remove some money from an atm by…" The apples in Merrick's cheeks begin to turn a few shades of red, "I am not comfortable doing but I can do it. Might not be pretty but I would HAVE to return the money somehow. It is just wrong."

Hopefully nobody's looking at her, but Emily can't help but roll her eyes at Merrick's words. How delightfully naive he is! "Return it? They're apparently out here to imprison us for the rest of our lives, keeping us drugged so we can't do…whatever it is we can do…" she says, eying Jamie and Matt. "And you're worried about giving the money back?" She raises a hand, helplessly, and then slaps it against her thigh. "I say, let's just knock over the damn ATM and get the hell out of dodge, right or wrong." Then Emily turns on Merrick, looking curious. "Just what IS it you can do, anyway?"

"Normally I'd be with you," offers Matt, "but she's right— we've got bigger problems right now. Once we get some room to breathe, then we can see about cleaning up after ourselves." As for Merrick's power, he did get some impression of it, but keeps his mouth shut so the guy can explain it on his own. Or not, if he feels more paranoid than he's already let on.

Jamie nods quickly in agreement with Emily and Matt, "Yeah. Gotta protect ourselves right now. We won't be stealing just to get rich, but survive. That's different. I can get doors open from the inside, but dunno how to get in an ATM." Missing Emily's look, she doesn't think to explain her power more. She just looks to Merrick curiously. "You can shoot like lasers or something from your hands, right?"

As he looks at Emily and then at Matt, "I will get the money from it but I wont do it unless we promise to return it when we can." He takes out a handful of change from his pocket. He looks at Emily and says, "I am a physics major because since my power developed I have studied matter and energy and how they interact with each other. I am a biology major because I want to know how that relates to my…power…talent or whatever." The coins begin to float in the air before Merrick as they begin to move in a circle. "I have a very good understand of magnetism.

As Jamie speaks he looks over at her, "Not lasers but I can create forces generated by any moving charged particle or charged particles. A magnetic field is the result of the motion of a charged particle or charged particles, and this field is generated in no other way. Any time a charged particle moves, it creates a magnetic field around its path of travel. There are no exceptions that we know of. Magnetism is a term that speaks to the phenomenon associated with a magnetic field and with its action on other things. So I am basically…" He chuckles slightly with an attempt at a joke, "I am Magneto…expect I am not a bad guy."

Matt just… stares for a while. Oh boy, Merrick really is a physics major, the way he rattles off the technobabble like it was nobody's business. (He's a bit young yet to be a beard-scratching professor.) "Well, I'm sure that'll be useful before long— especially if we get spotted and they shoot at us. All mind-reading can do is maybe help you duck fast enough."

Merrick's little demonstration seems to take some of the edge of of Emily's impatience. "Heh…pretty neat" she says, filing that away for later. Magnetism and what have you…just like what's his name in the X-Men. And then you have lock-picking girl or something. It's his comment on biology that gives her something to carry on the conversation. "Biology major huh? I have a degree in that, from Standford." Of course, having one and earning one are two different matters entirely.

Jamie, too, looks a little lost at Merrick's explanation. But she grins and says, "Well, you were really cool that time. All I could do was squirt water in the guy's mouth." Then she nods quickly to what Matt says about the power being useful during shooting, "'Specially keep the zappers away from me." She probably means tazers. "Only thing that can hurt me when I'm water."

As he closes his eyes he says, "I have developed my skill to feel things around me so that I can sense magnetic pull on things, locations, and subjects." He flicks his hand and the coins move with unnatural speed towards the window and stop an inch away from it. As he opens his eyes he says with a purse of his lips, "So all I have to do is rip the metal from the ATM and we can remove the money. But I won't do it unless you promise that we return it when this pans out."

Rudyard returns from the back of the house where he had set up 'sentinels' to keep watch. He also persuaded a hive of bees to let him relocate them closer to the home. Never underestimate the power of mother nature. It may take some coaxing to get them to attack, but it could be worth it if they're going to stay put for much longer. People tend to avoid most insects in general, so things like bees, wasps, spiders, etc. They make the best lookouts. Rudyard slips into the room and leans against the wall, arms folded across his chest. "Sounds like a plan. I'm not too fond of stealing, but at this point, we must do what we must to survive." Merrick's display garners a raising of the eyebrows. It's still weird, this freedom of displaying powers. Like there was nothing more natural than doing the extraordinary.

Emily puts on a lovely smile. Maybe…too lovely. Like one of those snake oil saleswomen. "Well…you keep the IOUs, and when we're safe, I'll help to pay back what we take. I have a fairly sizable account of my own that would easily cover anything we take to get out of this hellhole." To go with her smile, she runs her fingers through her hair, taking the tie out and shaking it out, running her fingers through her hair, no doubt attempting to use her feminine wiles to soothe Merrick's reservations. So far, it seems she's the lone person not to display any powers at all in this whole ordeal.

Matt glances from one near-stranger to the next, listening carefully. He doesn't snoop through their thoughts, though - checking for the absence of 'I'm a mole working for the government' is good enough for him - so Emily's story is taken at face value. At the moment, he's more curious about Jamie… those last two and a half words of hers were a real mouthful. Yeah, that would let her sneak inside doors, all right.

"Okay, then. So we need his ability, and I figure they're a little less likely to be looking for me." Like the others, he's borrowed an outfit from the owners of the house, who are presumably off on vacation - the T-shirt isn't exactly flattering on him, but it was the best he could find. "Who else wants to go, who wants to stay and watch the house?" He takes a moment to glance back toward the hallway, just long enough to check that the others are still there and just enjoying a much-needed bout of undrugged slumber.

Rudyard should be a little weirded out by Emily's smile, but he's not. A month being treated like something less than human has left him jaded and out of sorts really. "This place isn't so bad, considering where we were or where we were bound for," he points out quietly at Emily. Beggers can't be choosers, and he's not about to complain about his current plight. "I'll stay put and keep watch. I've got some spiders to talk into helping us. Found some ones that are quite the web makers." Oh he'd like to go and have the excuse for some payback, but there are also children here, and he's still not over the fact that those bastards took children and a baby.

As he runs a hand through his hair, Merrick says, "I just need one person to go with me. We can use the motorcycle I barrowed. I do not know where I am going. It was hard enough finding this place much less finding an ATM." Merrick looks over at Emily as she uses her feminine wilds and all he can do is smile like an typical Frat Guy. He blinks when Matt speaks and looks over at him. Merrick cant help but look over at Rudyard when he says he found spiders who can make good webs.

Jamie considers, and then says, "I wanna go, but… I'll be right back." Whatever she's thought of, she goes running back up the stairs. If she's not back fast enough, she'll just have to stay behind.

"Well…looks like he'll be going with you, more than likely" Emily says, jerking a thumb in Matt's direction. It's probably a good idea that she doesn't go, even if she wants to, since it's not only the government that's after her, but likely every police force in the state of NY.

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