2007-07-09: Get Carter: The Gas Chamber

Starring:

Peter_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Desiree_icon.gif Elena_icon.gif

Summary: Alpha Team discovers a crued gas chamber at the end of the hall.

Date It Happened: July 9, 2007

Get Carter: The Gas Chamber


Abandoned Metalworks Building, South Syracuse, New York

The loud explosion makes Cass' heart jump in an excited and terrified manner. Oh God. Hopefully it's a /good/ explosion and not a bad one. Once again, she stops, trying to make herself /not/ double back and check on the explosion. Trust in the others. Trust that everything's okay. It's a good thing that she looks forward again, because the flashlight gives away Peter and Desiree's position. Lunging forward, she tries announcing her presence as to not startle them or think she's there to harm them. She /is/ supposed to be in the van, after all. ~I'm right behind you~ She thinks loudly. ~You weren't answering. I think there's something moving around in here that isn't one of us.~ The second bang causes her to jump slightly. ~Oh God, I hope they're okay.~

Indeed, Peter is startled at the voice in his head, spinning around all of a sudden and shining the flashlight on Cass. "What?" It's loud enough that he can hear himself saying it, but not quite loud enough that they will. But a moment later, they'll both here a ~As long as you're okay… Just stay close…~ Again, his voice isn't the nicest, but at least she can hear him now, and he hears them. The bang makes him also glance, and he seems to agree. But there's more important things. Like what's right in front of them. Shining the flashlight back to the hinges, he frowns a moment and then starts to move towards it, now running. Don't mind the light jumping up and down while he runs. It's just like shaky cam… with lights. The end of the hallway… why did the banging stop? The hinges are visible, though, and there's smoke. He could wait til he's closer, but he doesn't, pushing a hand forward and grasping at the air. Only he's not grasping at the air. All sound in his head dies off immediately as he focuses his attention elsewhere, trying to pry the door right off of it's hinges.

"Whoa!" Desiree reels to the side (into Peter!) when the explosion rocks the area somewhere nearby; thankfully, both her shout and her stumbling are light. She whirls around, looking in every direction— Cass! She waves the woman over hurriedly, gesturing to the door Peter works at, eyeing it meaningfully. "What're you doin' here?" she mouths more than whispers, trying to make her words obvious. Fidgeting from foot to foot, folding her arms across her chest. She… can't help open the door, but she'll certainly… stand… here. That's helpful.

They could all hear it now. Explosions. Two in rapid succession. And then yelling - this is very faint, considering how far they are from the firefight.

As Peter strains against his TK, the metal door groans slowly, and starts bending to his will….literally. Screws keeping the metal thing in place pop off one by one, pinging around them carelessly as the young Petrelli brother holds onto his power, and yanks, and yanks, to try and dislodge the thing from the doorframe. It's tough going. It's taking a while. And it's -heavy-. But before it gets too painful….it manages to break from the frame and swing outwards a few inches. And that's not all that happens….

The rest of the way is shoved by someone from behind, wisps of faint, near-transparent smoke wafting out as a slender figure staggers out of it, half her face covered by a facemask fashioned crudely from strips of fabric that seemed to come from the hoodie she was wearing on her. While it kept her mostly decent, the sleeves are gone, and her midriff is showing, and the hood itself is torn away.

Elena loses her balance, sprawling painfully on her side on the floor and her hair spilling out around it. She gags, and coughs, yanking the cloth-bandanna she made from her face and scrambling backwards. Her eyes are wide, and wild, her arm thrown forward and stretched out and her head whipping from side to side. She looks panicked, and out of sorts, and she actually tries to -get up- and -run away- from the people who are trying to help her.

"Peter couldn't hear me," Cass mouths back to Desiree, should the other woman be listening. Or, facing in her direction. Otherwise, it's possible that she doesn't get an answer at all. Just like Desiree, she can't really do anything other than just stand and watch Peter pull and tug at the door. ~Peter, did you bring extra ear plugs?~ Since she wasn't supposed to be here, she didn't even think to bring any. Mostly, she was just preoccupied with getting /to/ them rather than what to bring. But, ear plugs for Elena would be prudent just in case. Her sprawling and scrambling to puts Cass on defensive. Quickly, she puts her hands up in a non-threatening way. "Elena…just…calm down. We're here to help you. Let Desiree look you over." Slowly, she approaches, cautious o how freaked out Elena must be. And wary that she may not actually be in control of her own actions.

There's a lot of explosions, felt as much as heard, and they're worrying him. But Peter has to focus all of his attention on the door. Lachlan and Jack are responsible and strong. Ramon is strong. His job was simple. Get Elena. And when he finally rips the door open, he sags for a moment, before yelling out, "Elena!" and running the rest of the way, trying to get to her despite her sprawling and scrambling. The earplugs? The voice that Cass is trying to send to him may not be heard, because switching between two powers isn't that easy— but he might get the idea of his own, because he pulls the earplugs out of his own ears. Putting the flashlight down so he can reach towards her, "Elena, it's okay, you're okay now, we're here." Please— please be okay. He's not even sure his healing can handle this sort of thing, but he also knows he can handle it if she starts beating on him in her freakedoutness. A mix of relief, worry, and tragic horror. Please be okay.

At first, Dezi is aghast a the state Elena is in - and it shows on her face, struck with shock. "'Lena!" She knows Elena might not be in control; anything could happen. That doesn't stop Desiree at all. She, too, is at Elena's side in no time. During Cass and Peter's soothing words, she looks over Elena as carefully as she can before taking a tentative, calm step forward. If Elena will let her, she lays a hand on the young woman's shoulder, warm and firm. "We gotta get you outta here, sugar. Nice 'n' easy. Okay? We'll lead you out."

"No! NO! Get away!" Elena's eyes are wide, and unfocused. She can see them, but at the same time, she can't. The figures are dark, featureless, fuzzy around the edges. She can't see very well. The gas wasn't meant to kill her, there was too little of it - but the effects. She's clearly disoriented, pushing against Peter when he tries to go get her, her feet kicking into the floor as she tries to propel herself away from the people trying to grab her, shaking her head vehemently. He said transport. He mentioned transport. Africa. A facility. She didn't know but she didn't want to GO THERE. She'll never see her family again. She'll never see ANY OF THEM ever again. And her father….his unfinished business. "Let me go! LET ME GO! LET ME GO HOME!" She's crying, and screaming, and she's -angry-. She had to get to her father, she had to save him, completely unconscious of the fact that the man himself was HERE and was trying his best to end it. Her eyes flicker from dark to gold, the attempt to summon a boosted strength is there to pry the foreign person off her and flee. But it doesn't take, whatever she breathed in was keeping her from focusing on her powers. Which was probably a blessing in disguise. But whoever lays a hand on her, she's struggling with frantically. "He's going to kill him! I have to stop him! Let me go!"

While Peter may have Elena under control, Cass can't just stand there while everyone else is helping. But where does she go? Desiree is trying to get her looked after, Peter is trying to keep her from running away. So, she keeps a look out. It aches a little, because she wants to fling herself forward to help, but she's not sure what else she can do. "I think it's the gas. It's…muddling her." That or dehydration. Whatever the cause, it's not good. "Elena. /Elena/. It's us. It's Peter and Desiree and Cass. We're here to help you. We'll take you to your family! But you've got to let us help you!" She looks to the door where Elena was kept and then back over her shoulder where they came from. "Peter…we've got to get her out of here. Let's get her away from the gas and this…place." Unspoken suggestion? Pick her up and get a move on.

Best way to keep her from running away? Peter moves in closer and wraps his arms around her, holding her against his chest. The sunglasses still there, she might get crushed against them a little as he tries to keep her in place. Not just restraining, the hold also has an affectionate angle because he's pressing his face into her hair, risking a bleeding nose if she thrashes around too much. "Shhh… it's okay… shhh," he repeats, trying his best to sound soothing, but also sounding rather tense, and worried. There's a softer whisper, one that the other two won't be able to hear. With it said, he opens his eyes and starts to drag her further away from the gas, lifting her up if her struggling will allow. Good thing he's generally stronger than her. "You're dad will be fine— he's a strong man. Jack and Lachlan are with him. It'll be okay."

The first voice that breaks through Elena's addled state is Cass's. She doesn't stop struggling, the 'family' part driving home the point. Followed by Desiree's hand on her shoulder, and then Peter's arms fastening around her securely, she stops fighting gradually. Unfocused eyes stare beyond the young Petrelli brother's shoulder, and then… "…C….Cass?" She turns her head. "….Dezi? P…Peter?" She shakes her head, lifting a hand to rub her eyes vehemently. "I….I can't see very well, there's something…" She would've continued, but the other man is dragging her away from the gas. Her legs feel like rubber, and her head feels like cement. But panic seems to rise again at the mention of leaving. Especially with what Peter says next. "No. No! I'm not leaving without Papa!" She turns her head, gripping Peter's upper arms. "I have to warn…there's…he's got something planned for him and he said he wasn't leaving until he finished some unsettled business. Something about…" She squints, trying to remember. She shakes her head hard again trying to clear it. "I need to get to my father!"

Desiree isn't about to dismiss Elena's panicked ramblings as just that. It's Elena. She's a smart girl. Responsible. If there's something Ramon needs to be warned of, she thinks, Elena would have remembered it - so it's with dire seriousness that she steps up beside Peter, this time one of her hands going to squeeze one of the young woman's knees. She tries to catch Elena's eyes in the half-dark as she follows Peter - away from the gas. "You needa get outta this hellhole. Y'ain't well. We'll take care of your daddy? O-kay? Try to think, nice and calm on the way. What's he got planned?"

Once Elena finally starts to recognize them, Cass moves right into caring mode. Unzipping and stripping off her hoodie, she quickly drapes it over Elena's shoulders so that she's better covered. "We'll get him. But we have to get you out of here, first. That gas you were stuck in is messing with you. We can send something telepathically, but he's not about to leave this building if he knows you're still in here." She's still glancing around, just waiting for another explosion to happen or the bad guy to come out and try to attack them. "We just…we should get you out of here."

"You— you're in no shape to do anything except…" Peter trails off, looking helplessly towards the two women with him, before he moves to transfer Elena to their hold. "Get her somewhere to rest. I'll go find Mr. Gomez." There's a pause where he touches her face with his hands and he rubs her cheeks with his thumbs, "I'll make sure that he's okay. Just— stay with Cass and Desiree." That's the most he can ask of her. As his hands move away, he gestures towards the flashlight and it flies into his hand. Along with Elena, he passes the flashlight to one of them, and then his earplugs, "Make sure she wears these, just in case," before he takes off running in the direction of the sounds. Without earplugs he's taking a risk, but there's also a good chance that, like Mr. Gomez, he can resist such things without earplugs anyway.

More gunshots herald the start of the chase....

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