Starring:Daphne
And Rebel
Date: October 23, 2009
Summary:
Daphne receives a disturbing text about Peter from a Rebel. Rebel divulges some additional information following some prompting.
"Speedster Meets Texter"
An Old Tree House
The stars are fading. They vanish by the light of the moon, or the fog of a still churning city, or even with the promise of the coming light. It doesn't matter; it's been a very, very long night, and that's saying something for one whose clock runs a bit faster - who spent most of it on the move. Things have slowed down outside in this place, and there's not even a hint of a train or a track. She's not on the run at this given moment, but one person's heart is still beating too fast.
Daphne. She looks as if she ran right into a tree, with clothes disheveled, wild hair like she's been electrocuted. More than normal. The speedster is curled into the corner of an old tree-house. Stuck between the branches, it provides little actual cover as there appears to be a fair sized hole in the middle of the roof like something dropped right in. Abandoned on the floor nearby is a gas-mask and two long rifles, though one is notably more lethal than the other. Daphne ignores these items; in fact, she seems very unresponsive at the moment. Since it's quiet all around the expansive yard this rig happens to be set in, she's also quiet, with hands wrapped around drawn-up knees and head resting against the cracked wooden walls. Life, even for this speedster, is standing still. And she waits.
Then the phone buzzes. It's enough to make her jump, right to her feet and almost to the door before she realizes the disturbance is coming from her own pocket. "Finally!" She mumbles to herself, trying to grasp at the relief she's injecting into her voice, "Make a girl wait like it's the first…" But her too-fast fingers catch up to her quips. In seconds, she's read the text, but it takes longer to really sink in. Peter. Caught. … HELICOPTER. She heard that helicopter come down, ran to the beat of its failing blades. She even went to the site later when she was trying to find him and couldn't. And now she knows. And it's worse.
Daphne's typing is fast. Inhumanly fast. « Who are you and how do you know this? »
Rebel's typing is also inhumanly fast, although, that's because he's not actually typing today. The text appears in the same caps that the last one did: I AM REBEL. He knows that's not the answer Daphne's looking for so in another line he adds: I AIDED IN THE RESCUE AND SAW EVERYTHING. Or everything that could be seen via satellite and the cameras' security system.
Several seconds of regret pass before the rebel adds: I SAW IT HAPPEN. THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO. :(
So at least there's none of that awkward waiting. Since Daphne counts in impossibly fast seconds, she appreciates Rebel's timeliness, even if not his answers. She just stares at the words for a beat, marveling in how inappropriate it seems to just type out something as important as this. Mashing in the keypad is hardly therapeutic.
« Couldn't tell us sooner? » It still manages to be 'us'. If only because she knows there were people there who could do incredible things. Then again… Peter could do incredible things… Her emotions are spiraling down with all her usual speed. Somehow, a colon and a parentheses hardly sum it up. « Fine. You see. Where is he? »
There is some hesitation before the phone buzzes in Daphne's hand again: THERE WAS A LOT TO COORDINATE. HADN'T USED MY ABILITY AT THAT LEVEL BEFORE. And the he adds: I WAS PULLED AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER AND MY PHONE FOR AWHILE. COULDN'T GET IN TOUCH. There is a long pause before Rebel considers where Peter is before admitting: I DON'T KNOW. THEY'VE BEEN TAKING PRISONERS TO AN UNDISCLOSED FACILITY. I WON'T KNOW MORE UNTIL HE'S FULLY PROCESSED. That is, if the Alpha Protocol actually continues to put their files on the computer.
There's more to read this time, and Daphne does so while slowly backing up in the tree-house till she hits the wall again. One hand holds the phone, the other reaching out to the side for support. She's so tired, but her mind manages to jump all sorts of crazy places in that in-between time when her question still hasn't been answered, is being considered. Great. Of course. He doesn't know. Everything tells her to flee, to go somewhere, but she has nothing, and she can't.
He likes caps? Fine. « THE INSTANT YOU KNOW SOMETHING YOU WILL TELL ME. »
It still feels like a lot of nothing, and she slides down the wall to the ground near to where she had started. See, this is where stopping and trying to do good things gets you. There's always this stupid danger that you throw yourself right into, and for what… she's 0 for 2 on those close to her now. Friends? But Peter isn't just a friend.
Several moments pass before a response comes, as if Rebel is thinking about something. And then the text appears on the screen: I WILL. Along with others. And he likely won't tell her until he's come up with a strategy of how to get Peter out of there. BE SAFE. —REBEL
Be safe. How could she stay safe except to move so fast no one could catch her… Daphne tried that one. She could try harder. But something's itching at her first - the idea that doing good things dooms you but, come on, that just isn't karma-right. Peter can do all sorts of incredible things, it hardly seems like it could just happen to him. Maybe to her… yeah, to her. She tried to stay by his side, but her past was there; she tried, but she still stole for personal gain, couldn't stop herself from just being bad. That's why she couldn't be happy, and now he's gone.
The thief is suddenly at the edge of the tree-house door. She looks out where the night is turning into some kind of day soon, making the world bright, but not the things in it. Her eyes fall to the little screen of the phone clutched in her hand.
« Who was that agent? »
The texter seems a bit caught off guard as it takes several moments for a response to come through: HE'S NOT ON THE STAFF. There is a pause. WHEN I LOOKED HIM UP HE'S IN THE ALPHA PROTOCOL'S THREATS' FILE. :( And then he adds: HE SEEMS TO HAVE AN ABILITY AND IS WORKING WITH THEM. THIS DOESN'T BODE WELL FOR ANY OF US.
NAME IS MAXWELL SWAN. HIS FILE IS CLOSED TO ME. DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE YET.
'Ability' and 'working with them', and here Daphne pauses because a sort of natural opportunity has blossomed from this new knowledge. Even the government isn't full of sticklers, turns out. Just like everybody else, they'll take the labor. Probably turn on it, too. The world is full of bad people doing bad things, and this thief is one of them. The jury's currently out on this Rebel character, but when you have the mind for the methods, you'll take anything you can get and, as far as she can tell, he didn't shish-ka-bob or blow the heads off people to get there. So, for now…
« You know what to do when you do. Peace out, Text-face. »
And she's across the lawn and far away with a name - and one of those rifles from the floor of the tree-house is gone. But which?