2008-02-11: Teleporter=Kidnapper

Season 3 Content Warning!

Starring:

Abigail_icon.gif Arthur_icon.gif Benjamin_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Charlotte_icon.gif Meryl_icon.gif Michael_icon.gif Niki_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Summary: Pinehearst comes under attack. Cliffhangers! Teleporters! Stolen Files! And what exactly is happening elsewhere?

Date It Happened: February 11, 2008

Teleporter=Kidnapper


Pinehearst - Above Ground

The lights of the lobby are off, casting the usually sleek space in shadow and dulling the bright pops of colour. It is late, late, late, when all little good boys and girls should be in bed. Here at Pinehearst Research, most of the staff has gone home, but the building is never empty: there are scientists burning the midnight oil, for example; security roams the halls doing last minute checks; and a few miscellaneous employees are scattered about the massive building for various reasons, many of them secretive.

The labs — one of several, but this lab happens to be on an upper floor near the offices — are one such point of activity. Turning away from a screen of light on which X-rays hang, Niki Sanders folds her arms somewhat uncomfortably across her body and looks at the science-y type in the lab. "Everyone says the same thing."

Another one of these employees is Ms. Charlotte Corday - up in one of those offices near Niki's lab. She's staying late, not only because she promised to give Niki a ride home, but also because she needs to finish her report on the Congo incident. Inventing an otherwise undocumented African can take some time. She's bent over a desk, windows making up one wall looking out into the hall. Her desk - with a computer, lots of files made into little stacks spread over it.

Though Cass is not that science-y type that Niki is speaking, too, she is staying late trying to figure out strange events that are happening in her lab without her knowledge. She's supposed to know about these things, right? Still wearing her thick black framed glasses (though right now they don't have lenses in them). Moving from lab to lab, she's on a mission, collecting as much information as possible. It's so late that she doesn't even think that there really should be anyone else here working, so she just kind of arbitrarily knocks on the door and enters Niki's lab room with a clipboard and a pen behind her ear. As soon as she's there, however, she pauses. "Oh, whups! Sorry, don't mind me, just doing some investiga— " she pauses when she sees who it is. "Niki! So sorry, didn't mean to— " she pauses again. "Woah." Noticing the X-rays, she quickly moves over to get a closer look. "There's trauma here. These are your X-rays?" She looks over toward Niki, questioningly.

There's someone else here late, though he most certainly shouldn't be. This isn't the first time Peter's snuck into Pinehearst invisible, slipping through the doors someone held open too long. Quiet steps carry him around, with the cloak of invisibility hiding him from sight. Though there's a select people who might not rely on sight at all, that would know of his lurking. Those he came to look for? One of them happens to be in the above labs. It's Cass who holds his attention, though he sees Niki as she joins her. He says nothing, makes no move to approach, just watching. Like some kind of creepy invisible stalker.

"Cass," Niki looks away from the doctor to the woman who enters, giving her a somewhat tired smile. It's late, she's been through a lot these last few days, and she's tired of talking to the doctor — who gives her a nod and turns away with a stack of files, for the time being. "…Yeah," the blonde confirms, glancing back at the X-rays. "This is what happened to my memory. It's from some kind of … serum that just went in and destroyed all these… connections."

Charlotte yawns, reaching for her coffee cup. She shakes it. Empty. The woman looks back to her work, then shakes her head, rising with the coffee cup. Her loafer-heels carry her out of the windowed office towards the coffee vending-machine. She stands there, in the half-lit hall, digging in her pocket for change. A few coins come out in her palm, and she slides them in one by one. The mug is placed under the spout, and coffee begins to sputter and pour. She leans one hand against the machine, the other on her hip as she looks idly down the hall, waiting.

Unaware of Peter's spying, Cass continues with her assessment of Niki's X-Rays. "Sorry, Greg," she gives the science-looking type a bit of an apologetic smile as she sort of takes over the whole examination. Snagging one of the X-Rays off the board, like those doctors on TV do, she holds it up to the light instead. Just having it in her hand helps. "A serum did this?" Shifting her clipboard to the other side, she frowns and examines Niki's head just by looking as if she can see through to her brain just by looking. "And you still don't know how it got introduced into your system? It would have to be pretty powerful in order to take out just these connections. Or very specific, at least. It's almost like it targeted these places. " Sticking the X-Ray back onto the light box, she frowns and traces the trauma with a finger. "That's…weird."

"A doctor— a scientist. Dr. Suresh. I was trying to get help." Niki uncrosses her arms, hands brushing past her hips and stirring the skirt of the dress she wears — slim and long-sleeved, a warm brown hue. "Something went wrong." She lifts her purse off the counter beside her, settling it on her shoulder. "They tell me there's no way to…" A glance to Greg as she steals his wording. "… bridge the connections short of a miracle." She shrugs one shoulder under her purse strap, smiling mildly at Cass. She's accepted it.

Pinehearst - Lobby

The grounds of Pinehearst Research lay in relative darkness, with the exception of a few lights strewn about that light up the company's logo and the gardens in front. The cover of darkness works well for the Company team stealing across the grounds, ducking low to avoid being seen. Dressed in full-out tactical gear, including masked faces, their dark clothing does wonders to help them blend into the light. Once they near the building, they creep up to one of the many windows on the ground floor, coming to a stop just underneath it.

"Okay," Michael Vessley says, counting to make sure every member of his team is here. "First, make sure to use your tranquilizers. We don't want a bloodbath here. You are not authorized to shoot to kill; only on my order are you able to. Two, there could be Evolved in there. We know they have at least one teleporter, and we need to be on our guard. Our orders are to collect and gather as much information as possible. If we get what we need, or it gets too bad in there, we're authorized to pull out safely." He finally stops repeating basically the entire plan, and looks at each member of the team one at a time. "Got it?"

As they approach the building, Meryl radios to Church: Something about a marriage proposal. It's quiet, and his reply is pretty much to tell her to stay focused. She can do that once in awhile, and just to prove it, she doesn't reply. She's okay for now… Excited, even. This is the awesome part about being in the Company.

The no-kill order is just fine with Meryl. She prefers tranquilising, anyway. Much neater, and no one dies from it. Well, except for that one dude whose power caused him to atomise when he was injected with the certain formula they used. That wasn't pretty, and Meryl felt bad for a couple hours afterward, then promptly forgot it ever happened. BUT. Story time later. "Got it," she answers, making sure the tranquiliser - and Basil, just in case - is strapped onto her belt.

Benjamin has only been out of lockup long enough to clean up and change clothes before he's finding himself thrust into this mission. No complaints are made, seeing as orders are orders. Suited up the same as his co-workers, he shoulders his gear further, leaving his hands free. "Got it," he says, confirming what Michael's instructions are. Before going in, he doublechecks his tranq gun, and issued sidearm. Just to be extra sure everything's ready to go, secured and within easy grasp. Briefly, he glances aside at Meryl as she radios Church. There's a faint baffled expression there, and perhaps a little hurt that he doesn't quite understand where it came from. It's squealched quickly as he readies himself for the next part.

Though she's checked her equipment several times now, Abigail still checks to ensure that her tranq gun is present (which it is) with her free hand. In the opposite is her sidearm, drawn as a precautionary measure as she keeps a careful eye (and ear) on their surroundings. She has no cute quips to make to would-be lovers on the other team, nor does she waste her breath telling Meryl to get her head back in the game. Because Abigail's head is in the game, thank you very much. "Roger," she chirps, glancing back towards Michael to make certain he heard.

Pinehearst - Upper Levels

"…Mohinder." Cass frowns at the mention of the name, the tone of her voice showing that she knows him. In fact, she knows him and what he's done in the past all too well. "Well, from what I've read on the pamphlet of Pinehearst, miracles is kind of what they—-we do." It still feels a little weird to call Pinehearst we. She's not been part of corporate we before. "We'll find something, Niki." That's what she's here for. To help work miracles, to help the world. That's what she joined up for. "If there's a serum that does this, there's going to be a serum that does the opposite. We just have to find it."
The coffee machine sputters. Charlotte gives it a little slap. "Come on, give a girl a little java." She complains, slapping it again. She's still standing amidst the offices, dark mostly except for a few lights shining around her. The coffee begins to spurt again. She's drowsy, leaning her arm across the machine and her forehead on her arm, yawning. Coffee soon.

Arthur Petrelli sits in his office, glancing over an old book he's taken from the bookshelf nearby. The reason he's here is the simple fact that he's awaiting research from one of the labs; unfortunately, this takes a while, so he's settled down with a good book to read. His phone rings, and picking it up without looking away from the page, he says a single word. "Results?" It's not who he expects on the other line, however, and he frowns, closing the book and standing from his desk. "Alert the rest of security," he says, looking towards his office door. "No one gets in, no one gets out."

"I don't think it's that easy," Niki says to Cass with an almost apologetic smile. "They said it's basically like… scars." Another shrug. "It's late. I should go find Charlotte." The blonde starts to head for the hall, plucking a white coat from a coatrack by the door, which she opens up.

In the hall, a member of security is approaching, about to move past as he communicates to personnel somewhere else in the building. "Orders just came down from above, we're on lockdown. Moving to cover the front."

Pinehearst - Ground Level

"Everyone careful," Michael says, strapping his tranquilizer gun to his hip, but only for a moment. He pulls one of his gloves off, stepping forward to the glass and placing his hand on it. It takes a moment, but before long the glass begins to heat up, slowly losing its shape as Michael's ability goes to work. Once it's hot enough, he simply pushes forward, causing the glass to fall forward into the building. Luckily, the floor is carpeted, and it doesn't shatter. So far, so good. Stepping back, he pulls his glove back onto his hand, motioning for the others to go in. "Meryl, Benjamin, Abigail. I'll bring up the rear."

Unfortunately, the recent security alert from the break-in downstairs has sent Pinehearst into protocol mode at the word of Arthur Petrelli. Security guards are roaming the halls, checking every door, office, and room for signs of other intruders. It just so happens that a security guard will poke his head into this room in about five seconds, noticing the window missing from the pane, which causes him to draw his gun.

Meryl… has pretty much completely ignored Benjamin on this entire excursion so far, except to ask professional questions. Professional is a rarity from Meryl, even more so when she says two professional things in a row to the same person. It's his fault this happened to him. She doesn't want to deal with it anymore, especially since most of the people she considered close have gone and gotten themselves brainfried in one way or another. Long term friendships just aren't worth it.

"There's no Roger here," she states with absolute seriousness to Abigail, before heading through the recently de-glassed window.

Once inside, she notes the security guard at the door, and while she would love to wait for Ben to see him and put him out, she's about to be shot. Getting behind cover, she draws the tranquiliser gun and fires. If nothing else, it'll be a distraction while Ben gets his backside in here.

Benjamin speaks quietly into his radio, reporting in to the other team and giving them a brief status update. This is done as Michael creates the way into the building. They're gonna have to move faster by the sound of things. Not that there wasn't enough pressure to begin with. Now isn't the time to take Meryl's cold shoulder to heart. Get in, get the job done, get out. Ask questions later. Once Meryl's entered the building, he's right behind her. Eyes peeled for his surroundings, he wastes no time in aiming his ability at the guard. He rushes to duck for cover alongside Meryl, taking a brief moment to see if either he or his partner succeeded.

Charlotte is almost asleep on the coffee machine. It stopped spurting half a minute ago, but she remains against the plastic display of a large coffee cup, slowly starting to slide down, a bit of drool on her lower lip. So tired. "Order up," she murmers, opening her eyes and realizing her coffee is done. She steps to the side, setting the cup on a table with sugar and milk and creme that Pinehearst has provided. She shakes a pack of sugar, tearing it into the drink. That's when the heavy footfalls of a security guard running past her get her attention. The guard that's run past her has technically drawn his gun, but he's around the corner and down the hall quite a bit, and Charlotte can't see him yet. Curious, coffee in hand, she walks down the hall towards where the booted-man ran, head tilted slightly to the side in a silent symbol of curiousness. What's going on?

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Meryl's remark, Abigail bites her tongue as she steps past Michael with only a nod to indicate that she heard his orders. Her sidearm is exchanged for her tranquilizer gun, held in both hands, at the ready. Inside, she breaks off from her fellow agents, taking no shot at the guard as she presses against the wall. Should a second appear, she'll fire then, perhaps - unless her fellow agents beat her to the punch once more. She edges along the wall towards the door.

Pinehearst - Upper Levels

Unaware of anything that's going on at all outside of this room, Cass gives Niki an optimistic smile. "I never said it was going to be easy," she adjusts her statement. "But that doesn't mean it's not possible." Still an optimist, to the last. "Scars heal and fade, too." Following Niki, however, she keep sher clipboard pressed against her chest. "Yeah, I need to figure out what's been going on with my storage lately. Have you heard anything about any regenerator blood being taken in copious amounts? I want to say it's an error in the computer if I hadn't seen it myself. I can't even figure out whose it is or why it's here." She has some ideas and that makes her very wary, but she stops mid-step as someone says something about a lockdown. "A…wait, a what? What's going on?" This is the sort of thing that didn't happen all that much at Bat Country. There were no announcements.

Slamming the phone down into the receiver, Arthur straightens his suit before moving to his office door, wrenching it open. He steps out into the hallway, looking both ways. He doesn't even seem scared. "You two!" he calls out, spotting both Niki and Cass. He's more than aware of what Niki is able to do, and having a bodyguard with him isn't the worst idea in the world. As for Cass… well, she has important work to do for them once this is all cleared out, and he would prefer that she stays alive, as well. "In here, with me."

Lockdown. That's something Peter's not really liking the sound of. Anymore than copious amounts of regenerator blood. At least it sounds like Cass didn't know. All the info of what happened to Niki is making wheels turn, though. If it's actual scarring, there might be something to be done. A miracle of sorts. But there's no way he can do anything now, invisible. And not with guards claiming a lockdown. What's happening? He didn't break in, but— it's always possible someone managed to spot him. And then he hears a voice. His eyes swipe over and… …Dad.

He'd heard he was alive. Seeing him is something else all together. It's all he can do to hold onto invisibility in the shock. No one has to see his hands shake. For the moment he doesn't even realize who he's talking to, or what he said. Cass? Niki?

Pinehearst - Ground Level

Meryl's shot is enough to do the trick, the guard going down almost instantly. Whatever the Company is using in their tranq darts, they're using the good stuff. The door remains open, no one coming in behind the security guard, and it seems that he is alone.

Bringing up the rear of the infiltration team, Michael unstraps his tranquilizer gun, checking to make sure it's armed and ready before he pushes himself up and over the window, landing inside on the carpet. Once inside, he glances at the downed guard, before moving forward quickly to the door. Bringing a hand up so Meryl and Benjamin will hold their current positions, he glances at Abigail, giving her a silent signal to check his side of the hall, while he'll check hers. A silent count of 1, 2, 3, and he pushes the door open, sticking his gun into the hall and looking down it to survey the immediate area.

Taking a deep breath, Meryl remains behind her cover, after verifying that the guard she shot is down for the count. She'll take the opportunity to pull another dart out of the pack on her belt and re-load the tranq gun. It still had a couple shots left, but the problem arises when you need to take out three guards, and you only have two darts ready. Better to be safe than, you know. Dead.

Given the fact that these people have guns and are willing to kill with them, there's no improv from Meryl on this mission. Giving Michael a thumbs-up to indicate that she understands the order, she backs up into her cover again, and remains there, one eye peeking out so that she can further see any direction.

Benjamin holds his position when signaled to do so. He unholsters his tranq gun as a ready backup as he waits behind his partner for the signal to move on. When Meryl thumbs up, he gives a quick nod of his head, indicating that he saw the instruction as well.

Pinehearst - Upper Levels

"Regen— ?" Niki turns away from the door, suddenly incredibly interested in what Cass has to say — her words seem to confuse her as much (so that would be a no, she hasn't heard) as they seem to concern her, but she's quickly distracted by the security guard rushing by. "I'm not sure, something's wrong. We're on lockdown." Immediately, she starts to reach into her purse, but then she's being called to. "Come on," she says to Cass, high heels carrying her swiftly down the hall to Arthur, obediently slipping into his office. "What's going on?"

Trying to figure out anything that she can with what's been going on unbeknownst to her, Cass isn't going to pull punches here. Even if Niki doesn't remember much about her, she still trusts the woman and wants to know what she knows. She'll get to the bottom of this mystery, that's for sure. When Arthur appears - someone she's never seen before - and tries to order her around, she's hesitant. Even if Niki is quick to follow. "What, is he head of security or something?" she mutters to Niki. However, being out in the hallway when there's some sort of security lockdown doesn't seem like the brightest idea to Cass in the world, so she follows behind Niki toward Arthur's office, still very unsure of what is going on here. "What's happening?" she asks Arthur, studying him curiously.

"I'm the man who's paying you," Arthur is quick to respond to Cass, stepping aside so both of the women can enter into his office. Just before he steps in himself, he hesitates— he glances around the hallway, frowning, but whatever it is that seems to be bugging him he quickly shrugs off. Once inside with the door shut behind him, he turns to Cass. "We're under attack, it looks like. It's safest for you in here with me and Niki. I can't have one of my top minds getting hurt." Turning to Niki, he raises his eyebrows slightly, motioning to the hall, and the building in general, behind him. "I need a bodyguard. Are you up to it?"

They move into his father's office. Peter does the only thing he really can, he quickly follows after, sliding in just before the door closes and ending up letting out a slightly louder breath than normal. Barely made it. He doubts he could manage to walk through walls while remaining invisible, he can barely manage to walk through walls as it is. Under attack… There's a moment where he's heavily tempted to reach for his cellphone. No, if he tries to call they'll hear him. He's much too close. He'll just have to wait. Course now he's stuck in the room, listening to his father give orders to someone who used to be his friend. Cass, why are you working for these people?

Pinehearst - Ground Level

Back to the wall, tranq gun gripped in one hand, Abigail turns her head and slides along the wall towards the door for a better vantage point. She stops just short of the doorframe, aware of the felled guard at her feet and trusting that the tranq acted quickly enough that he won't reach out and grab her ankle. Creepy. From her position, the hallway looks free of any other guards; turning her attention to Michael, she quickly signals that his side is clear.

Charlotte comes around the corner where the first guard ran. She's still curious, her feet making barely any sound on the carpeted halls as she walks. She barely makes it around the corner when she stops, face paling slightly as she sees a foot hanging out in the hallway from the doorway. She takes another small step, but she can tell the man is laying down. And not moving. Her hand remains on her coffee cup. She doesn't teleport out yet, as teleportation in the main halls is usually frowned upon, but she starts to back up. Quickly, to duck back around the corner she hopes. This is not good. Not good at all.

Unfortunately, Michael doesn't catch Charlotte coming around the corner. As far as he's concerned, the hallway is clear. With the signal from Abigail, he nods, standing up from his spot and pulling the guard's leg all the way into the room, closing the door part of the way. "Alright," he says, taking a look around the office they're in, and then speaking to his team. "See if we can find anything in here, then we'll move onto the next room. Make sure you keep your eyes open." He moves back to the door, leaning up against the wall and peering out of it. He can only see down one side of the hallway, but hopefully he'll have the advantage and be able to surprise anyone coming through the door from the other side.

The security guard's radio crackles to life, a tinny voice coming through from the other end. "Thomas? Report in."

At the sound of it, Michael's looks down at the radio, and then looking back up at his team. "We'll have to make it quick. They'll send someone when he doesn't respond."

Charlotte is sure they can hear her heart beating as she clings her little tush to the wall. It's deafening to her - at least somewhat. Bending slowly, she sets down the coffee cup with a pat-pat. Adrenaline is better than Java anyway. She thinks to herself, taking a deep breath. She pushes out everything, trying to listen to the man's orders. Search each room. The brunette withdraws her cell phone from her pocket, checking it. No missed calls. These aren't Peter's people, which means they must be bad people. But whose? How many players are there out there? And the most important question of all, where is Niki Sanders? Charlotte knows she can't teleport to the girl, for all she knows she's captured and surrounded and gosh knows what else. So she breathes. Considering her options.

With one hand, Meryl pushes herself to her feet, eying the glassless window, glancing at the door, then making sure there's no one hiding on the ceiling. You never really know. Approaching the downed guard, she takes his weapon and stuffs it in her belt next to Basil - wouldn't want him waking up suddenly and having something to shoot them with. He'll probably be out for some time, but if he's Evolved… When you're in this business, you really can't take chances.

Briefly, she considers taking his shirt, too. That would be awkward to wake up to. But hey, it could work. Like in the movies. All of them can put on one piece of the guard's uniform, and they'll TOTALLY blend in. Deciding against this, Meryl goes on recon detail - quick and efficient, and slightly messy. This isn't her office, after all, and speed is more important here than cleanliness.

When Meryl rises, so does Benjamin. Even if he hadn't of seen the signal from Michael, he'd still be tailing his partner. There's no objections made as the weapon is taken and they move quickly. Once inside the office, he holsters his tranq gun so that he can start sifting through files in as efficient a manner as he can muster. 'If I were keeping files on kidnapping and killing people, where would I be stored?' that sort of game is rolling through his mind. Are these the sort of people here at Pinehearst who take pride in documentation? Most likely, the answer is yes. He hits the file cabinets to see if any are unlocked, aiming straight for any 'B's' if anything is so blatantly labeled as thus.

"Anything specific we're looking for?" Not that Abigail needs an answer to her question before she begins looking. She knows the mission; she's simply clarifying that there wasn't some small piece of information left out the first hundred times they went over the plan. At his order, she's pushing away from the wall and swiftly investigating the bookcases, her eyes passing over each volume looking for any which might be out of place. Beside the bookcase, another filing cabinet draws her attention, and she rifles through the drawers, taking anything which might look promising and slipping it into her bag.

The radio on the floor crackles once again with life, the tinny voice coming through, albeit louder this time. "THOMAS! REPORT!" What's said next is clearly said to someone in the background, coming through in bits and pieces, and it does not bode well for the team. "— Thomas, ground floor — send a team — don't know — not reporting in."

"That's it. Wrap it up." Michael stuffs the files he was looking at into his bag, zipping it up, and slinging it around his shoulder. "No telling how many they're going to send, and I would rather be safe than sorry."

Pinehearst - Upper Levels

Niki stands inside the office, watching Arthur expectantly — quite like she's waiting for orders. She gets them. "I'll do what I can," she obliges, reaching into her purse to pull out the gun she's been issued for security. It's the one she pointed at Peter in recent times, but she remains entirely unaware of his spying presence this time around. She leaves the purse behind on one of Arthur's fancy tables and turns the safety off the weapon. "Do we know who's attacking us?"

Why is Cass working for these people? Because she thought she could make a difference. And because she trusted Nathan. There's a widening of her eyes at Arthur's answer and then as she deftly (well, as deftly as Cass can move) sidestep into the room behind Niki and before the door can close. Attack? That's never good. With a tight voice, she replies, "Sorry for the confusion, then. I was never told who exactly it was that signed my checks. Whenever I asked, I was met with extreme diversionary tactics. So, I'm sure you can understand my mix-up." And, nervous, and not quite sure what to do in an attack scenario like this, she mostly just stays behind Niki and Arthur. She's not exactly a fighter. "And, um, why exactly are we being attacked?"

"Good," Arthur says to Niki, moving behind his desk. He glances out of the window, crossing his arms over his chest, and he frowns again. The same thing from before in the hall. He can only come to one conclusion, and he turns back to the two women in his office. "That's fine, dear," Arthur says to Cass, but he becomes much more serious. No mention of who may be attacking them, or why. He glances to Niki. "You can start right now, then, as it appears my other, younger son is in the room with us."

Son of a— The thought doesn't get finished. There's a strong possibility he wants to curse quite a lot, though. Peter doesn't move toward Niki, and instead takes quick steps toward his father. There'd been no intention to hurt him, but— he can't let him turn Niki into a weapon. And if this is what he thinks it is… His father killed Bob Bishop. Who knows what he'd do to the team that came in. Who knows what he'd do to Cass. Or Niki. Or him. Fading into sight, he waves his hand toward Niki in an attempt to disarm her, before his other hand moves to to grab his dad's arm. They won't have much time to react, before his eyes slide shut. A few fractions of a second. He's teleporting the two of them away.

"Hello, son," Arthur says, giving his son a warm smile. He hasn't seen him in a while, and it's always nice to see your youngest son, right? Only Peter doesn't seem to be reacting too well, what with knocking Niki's gun away, and then grabbing him. "Now, Peter, I know you have ques—" He doesn't have time to even say the rest, because the next thing Arthur Petrelli knows? He's teleported away.

When Arthur's keen senses pinpoint Peter, Niki starts to look cautiously, hurriedly, about the room. She raises her gun the second he appears, but the weapon flies aside — but her hand follows the movement, her grip tight. Same effect. They're gone, anyway, and Niki is left staring at Cass and the empty room. "…Charlotte," she says under her breath, immediately going to her purse to get her phone.

Pinehearst - Ground Level

The phone goes off. RING RING RING. RING RING RING. It's a scramble for Charlotte to dig it out of her pocket again. "Shit." She whispers, using language she normally dislikes. This is, after all, an extreme circumstance. She doesn't need to close her eyes, she just begins to fade away….

And where she fades in is right behind Michael. Her teleportation is silent, and she's smaller than the larger man. Between him and the filing cabinets, she reaches out, touching his shoulder. As he reacts, the two are already shimmering, dissappearing in a few seconds. To where?

The only reason Meryl is being so discerning is because they didn't give her a big enough bag to shove stuff into. Quickly looking over documents, she finds a manilla folder that might hold some interesting information. It's binder-clipped at the top to hold everything inside. This goes into the bag. A Bart Simpson plastic figurine goes into the bag. You know, just in case it'll talk, which it might.

There's a couple more files she locates that look promising, as well as some loose papers that look like court documents, but probably aren't. When the bag is full and she can't put anything else into it, she zippers it shut, and then pulls a desk drawer out and drops it, just for that special 'I've been here, NYAH NYAH' touch, which is ever so important when you're doing spywork.

Just in time, too. She freezes in place, glancing at the radio - as if that will do any good - and listens. Her swearword of choice today is 'frak,' which she hisses under her breath, slinging the pack over her shoulder. "What are our chances of getting back out the window?"

Benjamin grabs what he can that looks related to Bob Bishop and shoves them into his bag at Michael's signal. Hopefully between the four of them, they got something useful. Nothing like risking your necks only to come up with, well, nothing. Zipping the bag up, he slings it back around and over his shoulder. "Probably better than the way we came in," he responds to Meryl. "Might hurt a hell of a lot less too.." Before he can get out more, unexpected Charlotte and disappearing team leader. "Son of a.. c'mon!" Noah's going to have their butts on a spit later. "Quickest exit, now!"

Pinehearst - Upper Levels

There are a lot of things that happen that Cass can't explain in the quick moment of time that it happens in. First of all, her 'boss' who she doesn't even know the name of says that his son is in the room. Then, Peter appears, then Peter attacks Niki and disappears with Arthur, leaving only Niki behind. What. Just. Happened. Here. "What…" Staring at Niki with the same kind of bewilderment, she can start to put a few things together, such as her new boss is Peter's father, but the relevance behind this all doesn't even manage to hit her yet. It probably will when the craziness isn't happening. "I…I really don't understand what is going on right now."

Niki presses the phone to her ear, glancing warily at the door every so often. Come on, come on, Charlotte. "He wants to take us down," she informs Cass. "…come on, Charlotte," she murmurs in-between. "He thinks Pinehearst— " Conveniently, she gets an answer on the line and focuses on her roommate instead. "Charlotte, thank God. I need you to take me to Peter Petrelli."

For a moment, it may seem like the call went through. There's nothing but quiet on the other end, then some shuffling and a few voices off in the distance. But then, it's as though someone took a large, very heavy pillow and set it on the phone. Loud, rubbing static is all that Niki will get in response. Where is Charlotte?

Pinehearst - Ground Level

Michael's order is met with immediate compliance from Abigail, who closes her own bag quickly and slides the strap over her shoulder. It's as she's rising to her feet that she first sees Charlotte, but her raised hand isn't warning enough, and how could it be? "VESSL— damn it," she hisses, signalling to Benjamin and Meryl to pause as she turns to speak into her radio. "Team One, this is Team Two. Teleporter just disappeared with one of ours. Retreat or search and rescue?" She waits just long enough for a response, then moves towards her colleagues, speaking into the radio once more. "Wilco, Team One." To Benjamin and Meryl, she says, "Exit and cover the window. I'll wait five minutes in case he comes back. If I'm not outside in five, leave."

In her file-stealing madness, Meryl somehow completely missed the appearance of Charlotte and the disappearance of Michael. So when she looks back to where Michael was and sees nothing, she has to rely on what Abigail says into the radio to have any clue as to what's going on. It's not her fault she was thinking about mudskippers.

Tossing her bag out of the window, Meryl jumps out after it, crouching down into the building's shadow and pulling out the gun she took from the guard. Aiming outward while keeping an ear to the window, she'll wait for Benjamin to escape. So the Agent inside the building can concentrate on lookout, Meryl times five minutes with her watch, then says into the radio - "That's five, Abby."

Benjamin looks hesitant, but Agibail holds rank, therefore her orders stand. "Five minutes," he echoes, almost as if warning her that's the time she has before he gets it into his head to come back after her. Following suit behind Meryl, he takes the window exit, not as neatly of course in his landing. Crouching and keeping to the shadows, he makes for Meryl, where he'll stay, his back to hers. He does cast one brief look over his shoulder at the woman before snapping his gaze to full attention for any incoming.

For those five minutes, Abigail concentrates on little else but waiting for the return of her colleague or the teleporter. Some part of her is regretting not having paid enough attention, when Charlotte first appeared, to fire off the tranquilizer before the girl could disappear with anyone. But she couldn't; she didn't even see Charlotte until it was too late. And she can't continue thinking in that way, either, else she'll miss her the next time it happens, too.

And then five minutes have passed. Michael hasn't returned, nor has Charlotte. "Son of a bitch," Abigail mutters beneath her breath, turning her back to the room and clambering through the open window. The other agents garner only a cursory glance as she slips past. "Let's get out of here."

TO BE CONTINUED…

What happened to Peter and Arthur? What happened to Michael? What will Niki and Cass do? What did the Company get in those files? All these questions and more will be answered…

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