Starring:
Date: November 9, 2009
Summary:
Micah and Cam are rescued from their bizarrely comfortable captivity.
"The Kids Are Alright?"
Washington, DC
The DC suite that Ivory put Micah and Cam up in is incredible, especially for two orphans who had tubes in their noses and IVs in their wrists only days before. The two beds are both queen-sized, the television is huge, and there's an X-Box to boot! There are multiple rooms in the suite, but Micah likes spending his time in the living-type-room with the giant couch sitting in front of the television with the X-Box. There isn't a guard in sight, but they do exist, they just happen to be on the other side of the door. In the hallway for Micah and Cam to forget them.
Giggling madly with the controller in his hands, he just beams, "Take that you Zombie scum!" And then he notes with a smirk, "It's so much harder to play without being able to talk to the system! I can kind of understand now…" It's at this moment his player-man dies. With a shrug, Micah reaches for a piece of pizza from the coffee table. It's very cheesy. Very awesome.
The kids' would-be rescuers are aware of none of this. That building could contain anything! And so they're making Preparations. There's a quick stop back in upstate New York to pick up the vanishing teenager who offered to help - plus, just in case, Matt has dyed his hair red and bought a pair of sunglasses that wouldn't look out of place in Elton John's collection. It's a cheap disguise but at least it's something.
"Okay, we ready to go in?" he asks, mostly keeping an eye on Charlotte who's been a wreck up to this point. The rescue should do her a world of good. If it works.
Indeed, Charlotte has seen better days. She's taken to sleeping pills in order to get some rest before the rescue. She's paler, quieter, wearing no makeup and letting her hair hang down. She is unafraid of showing her own face - they already know plenty about her as it is. She's wearing a black, clingy outfit - the one given to her for the move against Emily Caufield, way back when. But she looks so terribly sad. "Just a few seconds," she says to Matt, looking at him and nodding. Her eyes turn to Portia. "It would be best if we were invisible now, before we teleport. Then we can just take the boys and leave." That's all she wants. A hand reaches out to each of her fellow-rescuers.
This is definitely Cam's first time in such high class surroundings. So, he's explored every inch of the suite they find themselves in, taking advantage of every comfort the suite provides. At this moment, as he sits beside Micah, he's got some soda from the currently alcohol-free minibar sitting beside him within easy reach, as well as a napkin with his own slice of pizza on it, though right at this moment he has his controller in his hand as he plays with Micah. He grins and says, "Yeah, you understand how I play now. You're still awesome at it, though," he adds, even as he moves his character on the screen to revive Micah's character.
"Ah!" Micah spouts as his character comes back to life, dropping his pizza slice back on a napkin of his own. "You still could beat me today!" Micah observes as he button mashes. Fortunately he still understand how to play so it's not random button mashing, but it's still button mashing. "You have to admit, Ivory made good on his promise. Although.. this isn't exactly what I had in mind." He grins.
The teenager wasn't entirely sure all of what she was getting into, but she was helping, and at the moment that was what mattered to her most. Looking towards both Charlotte and Matt, whom she had to hide a laugh from at his interesting disguise, she gives a nod, placing a hand on both of them. In a moment, the three disappear from the sight of others.
Matt nods to the others, bracing for upcoming action. If it's really dangerous, then Charlotte can teleport them back out again and they can regroup. If it's somewhat less dangerous, then he can try to mess with the heads of whatever guards they run into. What they actually see as they materialize… catches him ever so slightly off guard. "The hell?" he blurts out, letting go of Portia's hand (and fading back into view) in his surprise.
The teleportation lasts only a few seconds, and makes no sound, nor sight to Micah and Cam. But as soon as the boys appear to blot in their visions, Charlotte releases both hands. Guards or not, guns and drugs and trains, she doesn't care. She yells, running for both of them. Watch out, boys, because Charlotte Corday is looking to tackle you in a hug.
Cam laughs again and says, "Well, yeah! I have two years practice against the normal you. I *have* to be good." He shoots a few more zombies, and nods quickly, "Yeah, he did. Bet this is the best he could do, without getting in too much trouble too." When he hears Matt's voice he jumps to his feet quickly, turning around, game forgotten. And then Charlotte is charging them, "What…"
Portia feels like the awkward duck out. She fades back into view, folding her arms over her chest, and glances between the boys and their hotel room. She blinks, a little surprised at the comfort, but glances back around for a moment to take things in. Can't be too careful.
The words from Matt's mouth divert Micah's attention away from the game (causing him to also stand to his feet) only seconds before Charlotte bulldozes him over in a tackle hug making a raucous of her own. "What…" he echoes Cam's confusion before he groans slightly, "Oof." He settles into the hug a bit. Clearing his throat, he manages to mutter, "Not too loud, there are guards outside that might hear…'
"I'm on it," replies Matt, extending his senses outward— ah, there they are. Everything's fine. Keep watching the entrances. Out loud, he looks around and scratches his head. "What's going on here? I mean, I'm glad you guys are all right, but— one week it's Last Train to Gitmo, now this?" Also, he's still dealing with the mental dissonance of Rebel the busybusy coordinator being this video-game-playing teenager he sorta knows.
Really, Charlotte's not concerned about that. The boys. They're alive. They aren't hurt. She hasn't even realized where they are right now. She doesn't care. EAch boy gets his face cupped, his hair pushed back from his features and sloppy, strong kisses to the foreheads. Then each boy has an arm thrown about him, and both will find themselves being pulled against the crying Charlotte. "That's fine, come on, Matt come here please, we're taking you back right now. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Never again, I promise, okay? Never agian."
Cam looks a bit embarassed at the affection from Charlotte, but he hugged her back pretty tightly anyway. "Sorry for what?" Then he answers Matt, "We have an ally on the inside. He set this up. He's the one who got Molly out too. We can explain later," he adds, as Charlotte seems ready to get them out of here.
Matt's question is answered as Micah is showered with Charlotte's love (he cringes a bit at the constant stream of kisses), "We're still kind of prisoners, but at least we got to play X-Box. Better than the," he smirks as he states "human resources room." Yes, he knows what they call it. He offers Charlotte a returned embrace and he sighs, "I'm sorry. I got us in this mess. Cam and I were going to free Peter but Peter doesn't think he needs freeing…" Oh yes, Micah knows all kinds of information now. With a sigh he shuts up, "Let's go home."
Matt nods, taking another look around before moving closer to Charlotte again, absently reaching a hand out. "I think I need to sneak inside the command structure and work up— but let's compare notes first. At least they're not taking anyone to the showers." Yet, he thinks, and immediately wishes he hadn't. Given that some of their targets are actually legitimately dangerous, it might not take much of a push at just the wrong moment…
Charlotte, in all her glory of hugs and sobs, shakes her head at the boys. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. You're not in trouble, okay?" What a crazy woman! Matt's hand seems to bring Charlotte back to the world, and she reaches out, touching his hand, and letting Portia touch her. Both boys are kept in her arms, and they begin to shimmer away, to re-appear at the mansion in Germany….
Orphanage, Germany
Cam, after they reach Germany, says to Matt, "That's probably because of Senator Wynne. He just wants them to go after the dangerous people, like the acid-hand lady that burnt my shoulder, but they're not listening to him." He looks back up to Charlotte and says, "Thanks."
"Yeah, Ivory is really great! He's the one that got those tubes out of our noses and took us to the hotel." Once they reappear, Micah's eyes light up as the familiar comes into focus. Relief! But his relief bubble is popped as he remembers the text he sent to all of his contacts. He turns to Charlotte, "I know we just got back, but I need a phone to contact everyone so they don't keep worrying about us. Can I go to town to get one? Or borrow someone else's?" He purses his lips together before adding, "I can text now. It'll take forever, but I can do it."
Releasing hands once again and ditching the diamond-studded shades, Matt heads over and picks up the temporary one they'd been using lately, handing it to Micah. "Why's it take forever?" he asks. He thought all the kids these days knew how to text at like two hundred words per minute, at least if 'lol' counts as a word.
All of this is going on while Charlotte is white and trembling and crying still, and she hasn't quite allowed herself to let go of the boys. She almost lost Niki's boys. The thought of that is almost too much to bare. "No!" she answers quickly to Micah's question. "No one's allowed in town now, not after they picked you up there. Ever since you went missing, we've had everyone packing and getting ready. I think…we're going to have to split up the group a bit, there's no place else big enough for everyone, but it's a miracle they haven't traced you back here yet." Yes, Charlotte still doesn't know that they ran away, of their own free will. "Who is Ivory? Never mind, it's not important right now. We'll get you a phone later…we….we do need to talk about that, Micah." He lied to her. Outright lied to her about so many things.
Cam blinks, looking back up to Charlotte, and takes his head emphatically, "No, they didn't pick us up there! They picked us up in the parking lot of the airport in DC. We got turned in, that's all. The town here's safe, still.. unless we told them about it when they had us drugged." That gives him pause. Finally noticing the bandage on Charlotte's hand, he winces a little, "Sorry. At least I didn't freeze the hole hand off, though," he adds.
"Well…" Micah raises an eyebrow. "They shot us up with this stuff to suppress our abilities. I rarely text the conventional way… and I go through different communications stuff to make the text untraceable and the number unidentifiable." He frowns a bit, "I'm not sure I'll be able to do that part…" Eyebrows are raised at Charlotte as Micah peers back at Cam. She really has no idea what happened, but then, why would she? "Um… we weren't picked up in town…" he nods at Cam's rendition of the story. He frowns a bit and then sighs, "We planned this to free Peter." There's another pause, "You know how you asked me if I could do something… different? Well… I lied. I talk to machines. They work for me. It let me help other people from afar, but it's so hard to do things so far away sometimes. I got sick… and this just seemed like a way to help easier that might not get me sick." His story probably makes little sense to the adults, but it's how he understands it.
Oh, now that would explain it - some of those texts showed up awfully quickly, even for a kid. Matt sits down and scratches his head, more because the hair dye is still itchy than for any other reason. "Which Peter is it, Petrelli? I remember him, he can do what I can do. Hurt, too. So— did it work, or is he still with them?" Hell, how many people have they gotten to already, even discounting the ones pulled out of the train?
It takes a moment for Charlotte to hear all of this. She just kinda stares at the boys, her hand rubbing Cam's back to make sure he's aware that she's not mad about her hand, not at all. "You lied to me and you ran away? I don't…." God, she's so tired. Finally releasing the boys, Charlotte stands and runs a hand through her hair, crossing her arms in a closed-body position and glancing away. "We still need to decide if it's safe to stay here. And please, don't touch any technology. No texts, no nothing. If you flew, they might be able to trace you back to the airport. I just…I need time to think. Please Micah. Please just listen to me just this once, I'm begging you. Just…give me time to think this through, okay?" She rubs her forehead. Painz.
Cam nods to what Micah says about them being drugged to supress their powers, "Really gave me a shock when I took a shower after they let us go to that room. I usually shower with cold water. Just about froze myself." He looks up to the stressing Charlotte a few moments, but doesn't say anything more for the moment.
"Yes, Peter Petrelli," Micah nods at Matt, "He got hit by a helicopter and then made friends with Ivory… kind of like us… Tracy told me. AND Tracy! Tracy needs rescuing. She's a turncoat, but helped us in the end…" He turns to Charlotte. "They couldn't track us unless Tracy told them we were coming from Germany. And even then we left from Frankfurt airport. It's a big centre; we could've come from anywhere," Micah objects. "But what if people try to break into Building 26 to save us when we've been saved?! I don't want more people getting caught for no reason!" Keeping him away from technology for the moment will be relatively easy. Once the drugs wear off…
For a few seconds, Matt's lips move as if to say something, but no words come out. Hit by a helicopter? And survived? Man, he really needs to catch up with the guy. "I guess he has a point there… Would it work better if Cam was the one doing the sending, instead? You can just tell him the numbers."
"Micah," Charlotte sighs, covering her face. "You have to stop. Just for a little while. I don't even know…there's so much going on and you have kept so much from me. I have a lot I need to think on. Please, I'm begging you." She looks worn. Exhausted. Sickly. "You have to understand that more people are going to be caught anyway. Just jumping in and removing people from these trains and buildings won't change anything - it will continue to happen. I was taken, I got away, and you were still taken." She sighs, looking over both boys pleadingly. "I'm in touch with a friend who is in the process of taking this problem to the humanitarian…parts of the United Nations. The world won't let this happen. But please Micah, at least for a few hours. I need you to behave. Just a few hours. I don't think I'm asking very much." Her eyes turn to Matt, as well, a bit harder than on the boys. "Please don't encourage them." There's some level of startled amazement on ehr face as she regards Matt and the words he's just said.
Were Cam just a bit younger, he'd probably just be agreeable. But now he frowns and says, "So if Kitty tries to rescue us and gets caught, when there was no need for her to try in the first place, it's ok, because you had time to think and you're talking to the UN? What about Kory? Sophie? Ben and Meryl? Mr. Church? All it'd take to keep anybody from trying to rescue us is a text message, but you don't want to try because the U.N. will solve everything anyway?"
Twitching slightly, Micah turns on his heel towards the stairs. "Fiiiine. I'll behave. I thought helping was behaving. Mom and Dad would've helped. People need hope. Without that nothing is worth anything." He begins climbing the stairs. And then he calls back for good measure, while standing on the steps, "You're not my mom! Stop trying to be!" That said, he trudges up the stairs. Yes, he's mad. At what exactly? Likely a combination from the last few months: dead parents that he never said goodbye to, getting chased by government officials, living in a group home, playing Spartacus, watching people get shot, watching Peter get hit by a helicopter, (temporarily) losing his power, and getting caught and stuck in a government facility. Regardless, he's angry, and he's going to cool off in his room.
Matt winces as the increasingly raised voices go back and forth, waiting till Micah is out of sight before turning back to Charlotte. "Sorry, I guess he really was more worn out than he looked. I should've taken your word, you're the one who was here with him before…" Rising to his feet, he takes another look around the place before turning back again. "I should probably go back myself, see if I can find that Ivory guy. If we can take care of whoever's forcing his hand…" The sentence trails off, but he taps a finger against the side of his head, a not-so-subtle hint as to what he's planning.
Charlotte simply covers her face once more. "Cam, please go upstairs," That's all the says to the boy, turning away. She looks to Matt, shaking ehr head. "You do what you need to do. I'm tired of everyone jumping up and saying 'we have to do this now, meet this perosn now, say these words now. That's what two children have been doing without my knowledge for the past month right under my nose. I don't care about this Ivory character, or anyone else. I have two young boys here who have just….been kidnapped, held hostage, tubes up their nose. This is after a month of being involved - no, leading groups of people agianst the government. Micah and Cam are my concerns."
Cam blinks, staring at Micah as he storms out. Sure, Cam was mad too, but that was more teenage angst against authority, a momentary emotion really, rather than the deep-seeded anger that Micah just showed. And, given that it was *Micah*, of all people, seems to snap him out of his own. He nods a little to Charlotte, and says simply, "OK." He turns to head upstairs as well.
Again, Matt waits for Cam to clear out - a shorter wait, this time, but the same formula applies: less people equals less people arguing. And now it's down to two. "I'm going to," he replies, resting his hands on Charlotte's shoulders and looking her in the eyes this time. "But you do what you need to do, too— what you're doing here is just as important. I remember when I was that age— I was pissed at my dad for leaving, I just kind of stomped through my life for a little while, even when I should've known I'd get hurt. Micah… he means well, but I can see him pushing too hard."
As meek as Charlotte is, she's still a little angry. "Don't encourage them, then." She tells him, and some sort of guardian-defenses perk up. "I was terrified enough of keeping them safe when they were just living quietly here. Now that I know that they've been leading groups of adults in open rebellion agianst the government, and that the government knows this? I have no idea how to protect them." But they are getting her protection, if they want it or not.
Matt looks away again, letting his hands fall back to his sides. The States are somewhere off in that direction, right? "They might still be off the radar, at least for now. If not… Keep getting people ready to split up, we might still need to. I'll let you know when I'm ready to head out again."