2007-09-30: The Hows And Whys

Starring:

Cass_icon.gif Elena_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Summary: After her run in with Jeremiah and Mandy, Cass calls on Peter for assistance— both in healing and in getting away from the scene of the crime. Peter learns of the villains that escaped, and they start to ponder what to do. Elena's also there, keeping him reined in at least a little, but he's not very good at laying low.

Date It Happened: September 30, 2007

The Hows and Whys


Liquor Store — On The Phone — Peter Petrelli's Apartment

After Jeremiah and Mandy left through the hole they made in through the store room, Cass makes for the store phone. Jeremiah took her cellphone, but luckily she's good at remembering numbers and knows a few key ones by heart. The front door isn't locked, however that inner door made of thick plastic meant to protect the store's employees is still locked, trapping the victims of this recent attack still inside. Leg cut up with the helix symbol, she winces as the large puddle of wine seeps through her jeans and starts to get into the wound, her wrist is still bleeding from the acid on Mandy's palm chewed through. The most startling and easy to recognize are the angry red diagonal lines down her cheek and on her chin. Making it to he front desk, the phone sort of tumbles to the ground on top of her when she pulls the chord to bring it to her level. Luckily, it's a cordless so after she punches in the buttons, she's on a slow and deliberate move again to go and check on the other patrons of the store. This is why shortly past, or maybe just before, 10:30 Peter Petrelli's phone will start ringing.

This would be one of the nights that Peter didn't work. Not for personal reasons, or anything, just not one of the days he was assigned to work. So it meant he got extra time cleaning his apartment, playing with his dog — who has been neglected lately — and hanging out with his girlfriend watching a movie. The movie's about to wrap up when his cellphone rings. It's just a ring, no special ringtone— which implies it's not someone on his normal list, but he stands up, taking the phone with him, giving an apologetic smile to girlfriend, and answers. 10:30pm is not a good time to get a phone call. It usually means something bad. He just hopes it's not a reporter who found his personal cellphone, "Peter Petrelli."

When the phone rings and he takes it, Elena can't help but grin at him from the couch. "You answer the phone like an FBI agent," she teases him, but she leaves him to his conversation after that, settling into the couch and picking up Snowy once his owner abandons her for the phone. She scratches the dog's head, and reaches up with the remote to turn off the DVD. Leaving the cushions, she moves to gather up the plates spent after dinner, and moves over to the kitchen to put them away.
The phone keeps ringing and ringing and Cass measures her progress in between that digital sound. By the time Peter picks up, she's finally made it the short distance to Laura and Howard, one still out cold from having her eyes burned out and the other all but insane with pain, the skin on his arm melted to the bone in some places. Checking the pulses, her heart jumps when Peter picks up. Thank God he's not screening his calls. "Peter. I-it's Cass." She's trying to keep herself calm here, to not freak out. It was easier when there wasn't anyone on the phone to talk to. "I need your help. A-are you busy?"

There's a grin at his girlfriend's words, but that grin doesn't last long at all. Peter recognizes the voice, the name, and even if she's trying to keep her tone calm, there's something odd about it— and the way she's stumbling over her words makes him frown visibly, "What— Cass— what do…" She needs his help. That's pretty much a promise he'll drop everything he's doing and hurry on over. Even with girlfriend standing right there. "No, I'm not busy— where…?" He suddenly turns to look at his phone and glances over the number that's calling and— Not a clue. Why isn't she using her cellphone? Then again, he's had random cellphone accidents… "How fast do you need me… us there? Elena's with me." And he's not going to ask her to stay behind. This is Cass. If she needs help, she might need them both.

She manages to return from the kitchen the moment Peter starts talking about being there, and the worried tone in his voice. Elena pauses, dishcloth in hand. Her mouth moves - she doesn't really speak, but her expression and the mouthed words are evident: 'What's wrong?' He'll probably answer it in a moment, but she moves to perch on the couch's armrest, her expression going from cheerful to serious. Snowy nudges at her arm, and she pets her absently - but she keeps quiet. This could be important.

What is the name of this place? Where exactly is it? It was just a store she wandered into because it was open. "I…I don't know the name of the place. It's a liquor store on 3rd Avenue. Between 4th and 5th, I think." While still alive, the couple are going to be scarred for life, most likely. And in serious pain for as long as their conscious. "Just…soon?" The immediate danger has passed, but these people need help and she wants to be all but out of here before she calls 911. "D-Don't bring Elena. W-we can go back to your place or whatever…but…don't bring her here." She doesn't need to see the destruction that was caused here.

There's an alarmed look growing on Peter's face, one that's digging into his eyes and definitely worrying him, but he glances towards Elena and then… he was told not to bring her. "I don't the place…" Cause liqour stores aren't his most favorite thing ever, "But I can be there… pretty fast." Faster if he flies. Which might be a reason not to bring Elena— if she needs to get brought back to his place just as quickly. For some reason. "Just hold on." He's already moving towards the door. "Elena, I'll be back really soon." The less he explains, the less they can fight about it until he gets back. Go, grab, come back.

Well, she's not going to fight it. It sounds urgent and if Peter's going off to punch someone in the face, or worse, she doesn't want to be in the way. And if he's rushing off to help someone, someone who sounds like he or she is in danger, she's not going to be a liability. Elena knows better than to put herself in a situation where Peter has to take care of -two- people instead of one, even if she can take care of herself, she knows he's going to try. "Be careful," she says, worry creeping into her voice. But that's it. No argument, they had a pretty bad fight two days ago, she's not about to start one now when someone needs help.

"Okay." Cass looks down more at the other two poor souls right be her, leaning her back up against that plastic door. "I'll see you soon." When Peter says he'll be somewhere soon, she knows that he will. Pushing the talk button again, the phone disconnects and she starts to put both Laura and Howard into the rescue position to make it easier for them to breathe in their state. Once that's done, there's not much else she can do but wait.

Considering the fact he's on the top floor, roof access is closer than street, which is where he goes once he hangs up the phone and hurries out the door, leaving Elena to lock it behind him. Peter's not even going to attempt to find a cab. Flight for now. It's faster, and she said soon. Soon it will be. Taking off, he flies in the direction of 3rd Avenue— not too far from where he lives, not if she's between 4th and 5th. The smaller distance, though, causes for complications. Such as stopping. He's got a bad history of landings in alleys. There might even be homeless people who think someone just jumped off the roof with the way he slams into the wall, knocks down a few metal containers. But he's fine, shakes himself off, and moves out into the street. Liqour store— There's 4th, there's 5th— and there's a liqour store. He hurries over and gets to the door…

Liquor bottles are slashed and broken on the floor, pools of multi-colored liquids everywhere. A shelf in the back is toppled over and the cashier is melted to the counter up at the front. The front door is easy enough to open, but the large plastic one inside that leads to the store proper is steadfastly locked. Cass' back is leaning up against it, watching the couple on the floor closely to make sure they're breathing steadily. The phone's in her hand and she's just dialed 911, meaning the police cars and ambulances should show up within minutes. Cass is all but drenched in a dark red wine. Some glass shards piled up next to her that she's carefully started to pluck out after she fell on them. Scratched, bleeding and burned she looks pretty worse for wear. The villains had to get out somehow - but they're way was through a hole in the alley Peter landed in to the back room. When the door opens, she turns to reveal the burns on her face. "Peter." The relief is clear in her voice.

That means there probably weren't any homeless people to witness anything stranger than they had already… But Peter didn't notice the hole in the building at all. But what he sees through the door causes him to inhale loudly, stunned— and what he sees when he opens the door… He's seen her face burnt and maimed— by a bomb, not like this, but it vaguely draws him back to that moment and he can't help but he immediately reaches up and touches her, not caring about much of anything really besides wanting to take away some of this— heal the damage he couldn't heal in the future. It won't work all the way, of course, but… "What happened here? Are…?" He glances around, catches sign of the two people in rescue positions and he takes a step towards them as well.

Most of her facial wounds are painful, but superficial. The burn around her wrist where Mandy grabbed here, though, that's almost certainly going to leave a scar no matter what Peter tries to heal. The pain starts to ebb away at Peter's healing touch and the bookstore owner let's out a gasp she's been holding back. The pain's been so much that only once it starts to ebb away does she really see how bad it has been. "Th-there were two of them. The woman, she could melt things with her hands. And the man….he could just slash people." The wound on her leg that's still slowly seeping blood will show that one, too. Now inside, Peter might be able to see the dead liquor store clerk, throat slashed and blood pooling around him through the open door to the back room. "They…they just…" They were just interested in wreaking havoc.

The dead store owner he can't do anything for, but he looks at him with saddened eyes as he reaches down to touch the other two people. They're close enough together he can try to do them both quickly. Peter knows he won't fix everything for either of them, but… "Cutting things…" That sounds like Sylar, but she knows what Sylar looks like, and she knows the ability. Melting things… That doesn't make any— "Have you called the police already?" One of the two get their wounds healed more than the other, but he can tell they'll be stable until the ambulance arrives— but… "I can try to heal you again, but…" How do they explain this to the ambulances? Nathan will kill him if he gets involved in a police report less than twentyfour hours after his press conference.

"I called 911 and left the address." Cass looks around at the mess of the store. "They should be here soon." And she would prefer to not be when they are. Especially when it comes time to describe their assailants. Seeing that the two are out of immediate danger, she can allow the emergency doctors take it from there. New York has some of the best hospitals. Already knowing what Peter must be thinking about the police and explaining what happened, she shakes her head. "Can you help me up?" She's starting to get herself up, but it's a little hard with her leg. "Let's just not be here when they get here. At least visibly." The sirens are already audible from a few blocks away. The police and EMS should be at the liquor store shortly. "Make sure they get these two and…then we'll figure out what to do." As long as she's thinking for a plan, she doesn't have to think about what just happened. It's strange how calm she feels about the whole thing right now.

Not visibly… Peter glances towards the two laying on the floor, and then nods, moving back over to her and hooking his arm around her. He tries for an instant to fix some of the damage again, but after a frustrated sound, they fade out of visibility and he begins to help her to the door. "We can wait outside, so we're not in the way— I can you back to my place pretty fast if we fly…" She's always been 'no, no, no practicing flight', but he hasn't noticed why yet— he hasn't tried to take her. He can support her weight, get her outside to safety. "I don't think I can heal you while we're invisible, though— two abilities at once isn't really something I've practiced a lot…" And if the paramedics see her, they would insist on taking her in too. And Nathan would kill him.

Wincing as she's helped up and half carried out of the store, Cass looks back over her shoulder at the destruction. She can still see everything, but when she turns back to the plastic, there's no reflection. Being invisible is weird. Once outside, she just shakes her head. She can see Peter, so that means he can see her, right? They've never actually had to practice this ability since he seemed to manage it so well without the need to. "No. We can wait till we're back at your apartment before you try anything else." It's still painful, but a lot of the damage on her face, at least has already been healed. The sirens get louder and louder and finally they pull up in front of the liquor store. Police and paramedics start to swarm the place, and quickly fall in on the couple Peter already tried to heal. As for the flying, she holds on a little tighter to Peter, but looks down at the where she's already starting to drip wine and some blood. They'll leave a trail if he drags her all the way back to his apartment. Extenuating circumstances. "We've got footprints!" One of the policemen yells to another. That would be their cue. Now or never. "O-okay. Let's get out of here." She closes her eyes tightly. Just because she's agreed to fly doesn't mean she's going to like it.

The cops are really going to hate him for this. As they get their cue, Peter tightens his hold on the wounded Cass, getting alcohol and blood on himself as he does, and shoots up into the sky. The invisibility might have actually held for a few seconds, but it won't hold the whole trip, fading out sometime while they're midflight.

For the sake of someone afraid of heights, they're not in the sky long, and instead of landing on the roof— he ends up landing right on his balcony, not even knocking over the chair sat out there. Please tell him Elena stayed… The roof would have been an option, less stairs to bring her up if they land on the roof, but he'd have to clean up the blood in the hallway, and the roof access— easier to clean up blood in his own place. There's a knock on the balcony door. Please be here, Elena.

They can't hate them if they don't find them. Hurrah for super powers. The cops are left puzzling over a trail that simply disappears. When Cass is scooped up and taken into the sky, she takes a few ragged breaths and her grip on Peter turns into something that's all but ironclad. If only he could make it so it didn't seem like they were in the air at all. Eyes squeezed shut, they only open again once her feet touch the balcony floor again. Even then, her balance is wobbly and her breathing doesn't slow right away. She just flew somewhere. Without a plane. "L-let's not d-do more with that…"

With the way he left did he honestly think she was going to leave? Elena has been trying to distract herself by studying some - which of course wasn't working. With someone knocking on the balcony door, she leaps up to her feet, hurrying over there and throwing the little drapes open to see who it was beyond the newly-attached double doors. Staring at Peter carrying a wounded Cass, she throws both doors open. "Oh my god," is all she says, stepping aside quickly to let them both in. And then? She closes the doors. She refrains from asking any more questions because of the state of Cass's face. Storytime can come later, healing comes now.

"Don't worry— only if we have to," Peter says, not dismissing the possibility that he might HAVE to fly with her again someday— but he won't do it with how shaken she is. "First aid kit, just in case I can't…" he starts, before he helps the woman inside, bringing her over to a chair. He's bled all over people's houses before, so he's not at all worried about her bleeding on his stuff, or making his place smell like wine, as long as she's all right. Once again, he focuses most of his attention on her face, trying to repair the damage there, fix it as much as he can. But he knows the other injuries will probably need bandages— good thing all three of them have some medical training.

There would be more for Cass to freak out about if she weren't already in somewhat bad shape. What with the attacking and the police and the villains. "It's worse than it looks," the woman tries to reassure Elena. After a pause, she realizes that she messed that up. "I…I mean, strike that. Reverse it." Dropping gratefully into the chair, she allows Peter to try and heal her face again, the angry red marks slowly fading away till it's like they were barely even there. As for her wrist, it's still bleeding, but that has slowed. And her ripped up jeans and the the mark - a familiar helix - that was cut into her right leg is still showing. Drops of blood and wine start to spill onto the floor. "I'm sorry…I'm dripping…"

"WHAT?!" is blurted out by the young Gomez when Cass says that it's worse than it looks. But when the bookstore says she messed that up, Elena….well. She doesn't look relieved at all. "I'll get the kit," she tells Peter, practically hurdling over the couch, and tripping over a chair to get to the bathroom where the kit and the spare are. She grabs the kit, and moves over to deposit it on the table so Peter can do his work. She'll stay out of the way for now, those burns look like they hurt - not to mention what other injuries she may have. So while Peter isn't seeing to her yet, she lifts her fingertips in an effort to give Cass some relief - bleeding out the pain until she could be relieved. "I'll get you something to drink," she says a little weakly. Not like she could hug onto Cass either when she's in the state she's in. And she hurries to the kitchen.

Wince. Worse than it looks? It looks pretty bad. But she corrects herself, and it's hardly a relief. The only real relief would be… he's seen her worse than this. Much worse than this. Last time he carried her in flight, she was much, much worse than this. That might explain the extra tension around his eyes, the redness on his eyelids, the hint of moisture in his eyes… Peter's not really crying, or freaking out, but he's visibly upset. At least he can do something. He's shifting her clothes around to get a look at the wounds. "It's fine," he reassures as much as he can, which isn't much. Once he sees what he didn't heal, and the first aid kit is brought to him, he gets to work on applying bandages to leg and wrist. The symbol— that… "What happened, Cass?" he asks again, this time for the sake of the young woman in the apartment, who didn't even hear the part about what caused this. He did, but he'as asking again. Now that she's in less pain. "Did you get a good look at them?"

It was just a slip of the tongue, Cass doesn't mean to upset everyone further. That last time that Peter's remembering is from a future that she certainly doesn't remember and hopes never to find out about. The wounds on her leg and her arm slowly stop bleeding and close up for some part. But they're still tenderly pink and painful. "I'll be fine," she tries to reassure Peter to, even if she is going to worry about the dripping on the floor and the chair. Blood and wine aren't easy to get out. "I…I'm not even sure. Those two - the man and the woman - they just appeared out of the back." Giving a quick description of the two of them and what went down, it's easier to talk now that the pain is slowly easing away thanks to Elena and Peter's ministrations.

"So a couple of… people with abilities just randomly attacking a liquor store… and making quite a display of it too…" Peter doesn't like the sound of this at all. It sounds like something that could trigger the future that he wants to keep from happening, when everyone knows about them and the war breaks out. This sort of thing has never quite happened before— outside of a few incidents that he knows of. Kellie, Elle, Sylar… but most the time people tried to stay underwraps… Or the Company covered it up immediately afterwards. He's sure they'll do their part in this again, but… Once he's finished the bandages, he tries one last time— the less wounds she has when they call her rather anger prone fiancee, the better. This time… he actually feels winded when he finishes, knowing that he's done about as good as he's able.

"Yeah. And the woman who's eyes…" Cass doesn't finish what happened to her. "She disappeared before she went unconscious. Like how you could do it." There's a shake of her head and the pain in her arm and her leg gets much less severe. All the cuts she received from falling on broken glass are like they never were there at all. Now everything is just a dull throb. Manageable. Trying to explain this all to Lachlan is not going to be easy, not when she knows how protective he can be of her already. "I don't think they were all right in their head." It's funny, she was just having this discussion with her father. About the dangers some Evolved can have on society and to those who don't have powers. "They were criminals. They're the people my father warned me about."

Elena finally emerges from the kitchen with a cold glass of water and a couple of painkilling aspirin. She slips around to the other side, pulling the coffee table closer now that Peter's done healing her the best she can. "Here, Cass," she says softly, handing both items over. She can kill the pain within range, but it'll return the moment Cass steps out of it and back to her apartment where Lachlan's probably waiting for her. She doesn't ask whether the woman is alright, clearly she isn't though she holds together like the un-squishy woman her father once described her as. Though when she mentions her father. "I heard about the Primatech fire in the news…is he okay?" she asks, looking alarmed though when she says her father warned her about the two criminals that attacked her. What? She looks over at Peter.

"I think… that's the best I can do with healing," Peter says, sitting back, and looking a little pale. He did just heal three people— even if the first two didn't get nearly as much attention as she did— not to mention flight and invisibility, and regeneration from his botched landing. The bandages he put on should do most of the rest, and at least she's pretty again, her future husband won't have to see her face all messed up. Primatech. Fire. Escaped criminals… He stands up, running his hands through his hair and letting Elena tend to the other woman for a few moments. "We know that Kellie— the fire woman— and Sylar attacked the Company… and some criminals escaped?" He's reaching a little, because he hadn't had a chance to talk to his boss about business. He hadn't told her about knowing of the attack either, so they both have unshared information between them. "And you know these are them?" This could just be a random coincidence. Those happen so often…

"Thank you," Cass takes the glass of water and downs the aspirin almost immediately. The pain has died away, but she knows it's only temporary. Trying to tell herself not to get used to that, it'll be back, she sighs and leans back in Peter's chair a bit. "I…what I meant was that he tried to warn me about people like them. The ones that use their power for crime and wreak havoc." And that's a lot of havoc that they just wreaked in a contained space. What just happened is going to give her nightmares for days, weeks even, but this is not the time to break down. Not when there's things to talk about, things to do. "But…I heard about the fire and the escapees, too. Is that her name? Kellie?" Finally, a name to a description. "I don't know anything about them except what they can do and that the woman called the man Jer. They could be those people. They could be just two other insane people who like to hurt others with what they can do. I don't know."

"We weren't told about any escapees…" Elena says, pausing, and then fields this one. "Peter painted two paintings…they're in the other room. One depicted a fire, and the other one has Elle's head being sliced open." She glances over at Peter, and then she continues. "Just a couple of days ago we went to this agent that Peter knew who works for the Company and he told us the paintings already happened. But he didn't tell us people escaped, I guess that information was need to know." She nods. "He did mention that Sylar attacked the Company with a female accomplice. Peter thinks it could be Kellie….but yeah, that's her name, Kellie." She pauses and rubs the back of her neck. "Back in February….I was going to meet Papa at the park. This woman suddenly grabbed me and shot these fireballs at this…guy in a suit walking with two girls. She called him Daddy. He called her Kellie. I'm a little fuzzy, I was pretty scared, but she mentioned something about what 'they'…" She makes quote-endquotes gestures. "Did to her. But then she started popping up here and there. Hiro…Mr. Nakamura mentioned her once too. He was looking for her, but I don't know why. But I don't know anything else, save her power, the fact that she's a very angry person, and that Hiro knows her."

"I was making an assumption…". Noah had asked them to tell him if they saw anyone working with Sylar, and they don't know WHY Sylar attacked the Company— and that had been one of the only clues he picked up on. That and the last time there were attacks on the Company people held in their cells escaped, he knows he did during the attack on Kirby Plaza— and he's pretty sure that's what happened to the neighbor he shared a wall with in the first facility. "No— he confirmed that it was Kellie when I mentioned her," Peter adds on, thinking a bit as he walks around. There's that tension again. The paintings, especially the one with Elle, always causes it. "There were other paintings with her." But he doesn't know just how important she is— he has never met her. He's pretty sure, from descriptions, that she'd been working with Sylar before, too. "Sylar also had fire in the future," he adds, shaking his head. That's a random mention, but it goes to show some alliances may not stick. Fire is probably not unique anyway. "Bad people who use their abilities to hurt people… They're the type of people that Elle always said the Company went after." It's those he doesn't mind them going after quite as much as making everyone else live in constant fear.

It's not totally surprising that they didn't hear about the escapees but did hear about the fire. However, still, it's Peter and she just sort of assumed he knew when he mentioned what happened. She didn't even catch the questioning tone of his voice. She's not totally focused at the moment. Her thoughts are scattered. "I'd heard of her. Or a woman that could throw around fire. I just…didn't know her name. I went to see my father after I heard what happened to make sure he was alright - he is, thank you for asking - and he mentioned the attack. Said it was Sylar and someone else." More paintings. "If she's pairing up with Sylar and appearing in your paintings, then I'm going to say she's important, or at least factor her in as such." Better to over prepare than under prepare. "But he did warn me that there are those people out there. Said he shouldn't have even told me." She has a few issues about that thought, but she hope the meaning carries over to the others. "That's what he always said, too. That they were doing it for everyone's good."

It's not totally surprising that they didn't hear about the escapees but did hear about the fire. However, still, it's Peter and she just sort of assumed he knew when he mentioned what happened. She didn't even catch the questioning tone of his voice. She's not totally focused at the moment. Her thoughts are scattered. "I'd heard of her. Or a woman that could throw around fire. I just…didn't know her name. I went to see my father after I heard what happened to make sure he was alright - he is, thank you for asking - and he mentioned the attack. Said it was Sylar and someone else." More paintings. "If she's pairing up with Sylar and appearing in your paintings, then I'm going to say she's important, or at least factor her in as such." Better to over prepare than under prepare. "But he did warn me that there are those people out there. Said he shouldn't have even told me." She has a few issues about that thought, but she hope the meaning carries over to the others. "That's what he always said, too. That they were doing it for everyone's good."

"But….I don't understand…if they…" Elena pauses. "If they -escaped-, shouldn't they be warning the public somehow? I mean they don't… they don't have to -mention- they're Evolved, just get their faces out there and tell people to contact the authorities and not to approach them because they're highly dangerous." She rubs the back of her neck. "That and …what the hell was Sylar doing attacking the Company anyway? He got his powers back, he has no need for them anymore. What did he have to gain from all of that?" Unless he was after more powers anyway, but there had to have been something more if he was working with an accomplice. And that's another thing. "And why does he have an accomplice now? He always worked alone, right? So why now? What does she have on him?"

"Kellie was working with him before, I think," Peter says, glancing down towards his hands for a moment. He's stressed out, very worried, and still unsure if his ex-girlfriend is even alive. And now there's two dangerous Evolved running around hurting people. "I don't know for sure— but I remember when Sylar was trying to get his abilities back that we thought he had help. And I was pretty sure it was her, from what I was told." About Molly's kidnapping, what he heard of it… And the paintings. "I don't know for sure why the Company wouldn't warn people— maybe they don't think they need to know. Preventing people from getting hurt should be a top priority— too much of their focus seems to be on clean up and damage control— when it'd be better if there was no damage to control at all." He shakes his head. "Damnit. If I hadn't been told to lay low I'd try to get Nathan to announce it… but…"

"Why, is my question," Elena says. "I don't think….why would Sylar work with anybody when he could just steal her power? There's gotta be something preventing him from doing that. A…carrot." Something to dangle him with. She sinks down on the coffee table that she had dragged closer to them, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't agree with that. I didn't see….I don't even know where this happened but if this was in a public place, a lot of people could've gotten hurt." There is a pause. "…did a lot of people get hurt?" She was spared the sight, thankfully. Cass and Peter made sure of that. Some level of innocence is still intact. When Peter says what he does, she sighs softly. "I know, but….he would know about what's going on in the Company too," she says to Peter, talking about Noah. "If he says that the agents are crazed over getting their trigger-fingers sated…. I mean, with tensions as high as they are, I don't want to run the risk of all of us getting visited."

"Maybe he's realized he's not invincible— fighting alone against an entire organization with multiple Evolved agents and highly trained human agents… I don't know," Peter shakes his head, moving over towards his desk where the poor white dog has hidden away. He won't pick her up, he has blood and wine on him still, but he does kneel down to look at her for a long moment, trying to comfort her with just that look. "We stayed until the paramedics arrived on the scene, but the store owner was dead," he adds for Elena, so she knows that much. But the two— they'll be permenantly damaged, he wasn't able to heal them completely. Or much at all, really. "I know— we can't do much about this right now, not in our current situation." Not with the Company being trigger happy. "Actually… I do know something," he says finally, standing up and turning toward them. "Besides pretending he was me— working with people in the future— I know that Sylar had at least one accomplice during the war. It's not much, but it does show that he can work with people— I don't know why— but I can't pretend to understand him. I don't have the slightest idea why he would have pretended to be me for almost two years— or why he'd work with people. I don't think we'll know why."

"I…he was?" Elena says softly. She doesn't say anything for a while, shaking her head slowly afterwards. She's looking at Cass now and then, concernedly, especially at the scars and mostly-healed wounds that remain. Alright, so Sylar apparently can work with people without killing them, so long as they're as crazy as he is. But it still doesn't tell her why - they might never find out at this point. And Elle's fate is mostly unknown aside from the fact that she 'may still be alive' according to Noah Bennet. Sensing his stress, however, given how elevated his blood pressure is, her hand comes up, threading absently over his fingers and giving it a solid squeeze. She would do more - like cheat and calm him down, but he needs mental clarity at the moment.

"It was explained to me to be more like a buffet than people to work with," Cass tells them finally. Readjusting the bandage around her wrist, she doesn't know what to interject here. "I think he just wants to watch things burn. Pull things down. Right now it's the Company. Who knows what's next." Frowning, she shakes her head. "I'm sorry about Elle," she finally tells Peter. The store owner didn't really know the electroblonde, but she knows how close Peter was with her at one point. "I don't know why they're not telling people. I don't know what they'd tell them even if they did. Just telling people that those escapees are armed and dangerous doesn't quite cover the scope of what they can do." Just look at what they did on a whim to a late night liquor store. "I'm not saying I agree with it. I think they're going to be wrapped up in catching these people, not coming after us. At least for now."

"I was told she might not be dead," Peter says, rubbing his free hand over his face, even as he returns the squeeze on the hand he'd been given. Might not be. "I'm not even sure they'd tell me if she was dead, honestly— they like their secrets." Even when it's something rather important, like that. It's one of the few emotional ties he has to the Company. He's surprised they hadn't tried to exploit it more. But they have so many ties… so many things going on. He still doesn't know if Lachlan's sister's ever seen the light of day again— and it's not like he can really ask anyone either. "I wouldn't say we're safe— but this could be a distraction…" He just wishes he hadn't been told to lay low. This is exactly the time when he wants to do something.

"I'm glad your dad's okay," Elena tells Cass sincerely - the worry's still on her face though. She eases her hand away from Peter's so she could stand up. "Were there……were there a lot of them? That escaped?" she asks Cass. Two people attacked her, hurt her pretty badly, but there could've been more of them, and that's pretty worrisome. She rubs the back of her neck and exhales a breath. Cass was right, of course - warning the public about a bunch of faces without telling them why they're dangerous is pretty flimsy. The urge to act was there too, but acting without direction can be just as dangerous.

Lying low. This is certainly something she doesn't know if Peter can do if she knew that he agreed to it. Peter helps people. That's what he does. "I hope not." For Peter's sake if nothing else. "No, I don't think that." Sighing, Cass just shrugs. She's still drenched in wine and it's starting to get sticky. Finishing off the last of her water, she sets the empty glass down. "I'm glad he's okay, too. I don't know that much, guys. What I know I just told you." Who knows how many of them are actually out, what's going on. "Just two of them on the loose out there is too many." And now she sounds like her father and that wrinkles her nose. "I don't know what to do about stopping them. Or even if any of us can." As much as she hates to say it, this may be one of the things that Company would do better.

From the way Peter's shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and beginning to look dangerously antsy, he's probably not going to be staying put as much as the Company man wants him to. He'll try, probably, but… he's definitely getting jittery, from the looks of things. "We don't know much either— except that the Company's in a heightened state right now— trigger happy from the sounds of things…" Which is why he's supposed to lay low. And he's not liking this at all. They have few options. There's only so much they can do to control those people even if they managed to stop them. They'd have to go right back to the Company, wouldn't they? He paces a few steps away, releasing Elena's hand, and looks as if he may start pacing around the room. Weakened by overusing abilities, and now agitated by stress. Yeah, this will be a fun night. "Do you— need to call Lachlan?" he finally thinks to ask, reaching into a pocket to pull out his phone.

"We can call Lachlan, or we can take you home," Elena supplies, her concern returning to Cass. She also watches Peter as he paces around antsily. She watches him a little worriedly, but she does stand up from the coffee table so she can put away the bandages and whatever was used to see to Cass earlier. She also offers Cass the small bottle of aspirin to take home with her in case the pain starts up again en route home. If there's nothing they can do for now, and no direction until someone gets a burst of inspiration, she'll concentrate on what she can do and that's to try and make sure the bookstore owner is comfortable."

Shaking off both the aspirin and the calling of Lachlan, Cass just starts to gather herself back up again. Thanks to Peter and Elena's help, she can stand on her own and for now it doesn't even hurt. "I can't imagine they're going to take two people burning down their facility and killing and hurting people sitting down." She's as much at a loss as to how to stop these people. "No, don't worry about it. If I call him he's going to freak out either way. I'll just catch a cab home. Explain everything there. He already worries too much as it is." Not that she can really blame him when she keeps getting into trouble. When Peter looks like he's about to start pacing again, she puts a hand on his shoulder - the undamaged one. "We'll figure it out, Peter. Thank you."

The hand on his shoulder makes Peter stop— touching in general often does. Unless he's in a worse mood and pulls away— this is not one of those times. He glances down at the hand, and then reaches up to touch her gently, before glancing at her clothes. "I wouldn't take a cab wearing that— I might have something you can change into— we're about the same height." She's actually taller than him— but that's because she's a tall woman. He starts to pull away, moving through the double doors into his bedroom, to look for some clothes for her to wear. Sweat pants, a shirt… normal stuff. But something she can wear in a cab and not have the driver call the cops.

Yeah, Elena's shorter than Cass, her clothes aren't going to work. "I'll get you a jacket…it's getting cold out," she tells the slightly older woman, standing up from where she is and moving to where she could look through Peter's things near the door to try and find a jacket for her to wear. Like the other two people in the room, she has no idea what to do - save perhaps to talk to Noah again. They're doing what he asked in good faith, lying low, not causing any trouble. Maybe if they offered help or if they asked for direction, he'll give it now that they've proven they could at least be discrete. Still, she finds a jacket, and she sets it aside. Cass after all has to change out of her clothes first.

It's not that Cass forgot that she's drenched in wine and some blood and her jeans are all torn up. It's that she forgot that other people might question what happened to her. Right. Cass may be kind of tall for a woman, but Peter's also sort of short for a guy. So there. "Oh. Right." That would actually be pretty nice. As she's starting to smell like a wino. "Thanks." That would be quite helpful. Rather than following Peter into the bedroom, she just kind of hovers by the door. "Both of you." For everything.

When Peter returns, he's found some pain gray sweatpants and a light shirt— probably some kind of work out clothes. They'll have to do, because she's not going to make it very far in her own clothes anyway. And hopefully Lachlan won't have his dogs hunt him down over this, or anything— it's completely innocent! They're clean clothes, at the very least. "You can change in the bathroom— also clean up some if you want— you can even take a shower if you need to." Covered in wine and blood and all.

"Anything you need, Cass," Elena says. The worry isn't leaving her face, but it's much less horrified now than it was earlier when she said that it was worse than it looks. She does give her a smile though, falling a step back and sitting on the armrest of the loveseat. Whenever Cass heads out to go to the bathroom, she looks over at Peter, and stands up to head for the kitchen to get him a glass of orange juice. "How many abilities did you use today?" she asks, looking over at him. His levels are off, but not too badly, and it's nothing she can't fix.

"Anything you need, Cass," Elena says. The worry isn't leaving her face, but it's much less horrified now than it was earlier when she said that it was worse than it looks. She does give her a smile though, falling a step back and sitting on the armrest of the loveseat. Whenever Cass heads out to go to the bathroom, she looks over at Peter, and stands up to head for the kitchen to get him a glass of orange juice. "How many abilities did you use today?" she asks, looking over at him. His levels are off, but not too badly, and it's nothing she can't fix.

Taking the clothes from Peter gratefully, Cass slowly makes for the bathroom. "Thanks," she repeats. It's not showing up in other people's clothes that's really the problem for Lachlan. That's happened before, actually. And she doubts Lachlan sees Peter as a threat for Cass' affections. "I won't be long." Because she's not going to actually take a long shower or anything. Just a quick rinse to get the wine and the last of the blood off of her. She's only there for a few minutes, enough to get the worst of it off. Toweling herself off, she quickly changes into Peter's clothes. They actually fit pretty well, strangely enough. She knows who to come to if her clothes are ruined in a fight next time. Folding up her stained and ripped clothes, she smoothes down her now wet hair and steps out of the bathroom again, feeling even more human than she was before.

Yes— she looks much better. Peter knows how he'd feel if Elena came home cut and bleeding in clothes that look even worse off than she is… And he imagines Lachlan would feel just as bad about it. He moves closer to Elena now, offering her a touch on the shoulder, closeness which continues until the older woman returns. "There— you look like you can actually take a cab now. You have money, right? Did they take your wallet?"

"I'll call one," Elena says, because the very least they could do is actually see her get in a cab safely and go home. And hope taxi cab drivers aren't crazy enough and kidnap Cass too like CSI: New York episodes. So she gets up from the armrest of the chair, and makes the call. As it's ringing, she blinks when Cass emerges from the bedroom, fitting in Peter's clothes rather well. She can't help but grin. "I think you actually look better in his clothes than he does." She winks at Peter, to denote that she's only teasing him.

It won't take too long to get a cab in the city. Really, Cass could probably just hail one on the street. But she's not going to argue with them about calling one. She highly doubts anyone is waiting around for a call from them to kidnap her - CSI episodes or not - so she doesn't worry about that. Giving the two a weak smile, she just shrugs. Jeremiah took her purse, but she can run inside the apartment for money. "I'll be alright." Moving forward, she moves to wrap the two in a close hug. "Thank you. Honestly." She has no idea what she'd have done with their help.

"Call us if you need anything, we'll walk you down," Elena offers, giving Cass an open smile. Killing the pain to help with the aspirin she just downed earlier, Elena moves so she could hug Cass - still gently though, careful not to touch the scars on her wrists. But she lets her go after that, and opens the door for her and hands the older woman the jacket she laid out. And whenever all three of them get in the elevator and down, they'll wait with her until the cab comes and picks her up. Goodnights are perfunctory, and once she's on her way safely home, the two go back up to Peter's apartment.

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