2007-03-12: Too Pretty To Trust

Starring:

Cass_icon.gif Mohinder_icon.gif

Summary: Cass has a few questions for the doctor, and it's not about his hair.

Date It Happened: March 12, 2007

Too Pretty To Trust


Reed Street Laboratories

After being AWOL for about a day, Mohinder's back at work and in his lab on Reed Street. (The timing of his absence with the ambush does not look well in his favor, nor should it.) He's fallen behind on what he was working on, erhm, all of what he was working on that is to say. Securely locked inside, he's certain that Molly is safe where she's at. This however does little to ease his mind about the girl's safety.

Unaware of anything having to do with the panic that has made Mohinder miss work, Cass decides to stop by his lab unannounced. While she did mean it when she said she'd allow Lach to come along and keep an eye on her via dog, she made a snap decision to just talk to him now. The possibility of Lach getting caught and hurt if he got messed up with the Company is much higher if something went wrong. Without abilities, she feels safe that they're not going to try and hurt her. It's flawed logic, but it's some sort of logic. Still wrapped up quite warmly, she knocks loudly on Mohinder's lab, hoping he's there.

Mohinder doesn't glance at the door as the knock comes, he simply finishes the current task before getting up from his workstation. Under the jacket he wears, he's got a gun concealed. With Sylar loose again, he's not taking chances. He goes up to the door and peers through the frosted glass before unlocking it. "Miss Aldric, good afternoon. Is there something I can do for you?" He seems faintly surprised that the woman is back so soon. Not to mention relief that it's not Sylar.

"Yeah." Cass doesn't look for or realize that Mohinder has a gun. She's still under the impression that a scientist can't really be that dangerous. "Can I come in? I needed to talk to you about something important." Now that she's here, she's nervous and feels very exposed. Maybe she should have come here under Lachlan's protection. Trying to keep her hands from shaking, she stuffs them into her pockets.

Mohinder inclines his head in a nod. "Of course, please." He steps aside to let Cass in, then locks up after her. "What is it?" There's absolutely no clue on his end about what Cass could be wanting. He leads the way down the stairs and into the lab, where he sits down, gesturing for Cass to have a seat as well.

Cass walks past Mohinder as soon as he allows her into the lab. Okay, so step one is a success. This would have been a very short visit if he hadn't have let her in. Now comes the hard part. She looks down at the explosion painting on the floor and that seems to snap her out of her mini-doubtfest. There's a reason she's here. Having not yet turned around, she doesn't notice his gesture for her to sit. She uses this time of not looking at Mohinder to pull off her hat and unwind her scarf - sort of as a cover for why she's not acting like she was the last time they met. "I was just wondering something," she starts, then stops. Finally, she takes a deep breath and spins around, fixing Mohinder with something like a glare. "I was just wondering what they gave you when you turned in Hiro Nakamura. A shiny new microscope? A promise to cut him up and examine him?" She's trying to make it sound like it's not /really/ a question. God what she wouldn't give for him to not have any idea what she's talking about.

Instead of turning back to his work, Mohinder patiently waits for Cass to speak. When she does? He's left with a dilemma, confess that was not the intention or deny, deny, deny. Although, denying is not much of a stretch. He has no idea what went on at Kirby Plaza. It's not exactly for him to know. "What? Turn him into who?" C'mon Suresh, play on the surprise. It's not hard to play off surprise as he is genuinely taken aback that Cass is pointing the finger at him. The only person he's even spoken to on the matter was Madson. "I don't know what you're talking about. What happened?"

"You know who," Cass replies in a very mature manner. Way to go back to third grade, Aldric. She can tell he's genuinely surprised, though, and that makes her doubt herself again. "A Company guys shows up to a certain meeting held by Mr. Nakamura and next thing anyone knows, half of those people are missing and everyone's betrayed. What am I /supposed/ to think, Mohinder?"

Mohinder closes his eyes and throws his head back. "How did this happen?" He asks as he lowers his head to look in Cass's direction. "All I know is that Hiro wanted to know if he was doing the right thing. Anything else, I'm not familiar with. I've been quite preoccupied with keeping my ward safe the past few days." Which is /not/ a lie, not by any stretch. He exhales audibly, dragging a hand through those black curls of his. ".. I don't know what to tell you Miss Aldric. You come in here, accusing me," with good reason, "when did this take place?"

"I don't know," Cass replies honestly. "But he went missing two days ago." She wasn't at the meeting and she wasn't at the rescue. She's going with her own assumptions mixed in with other's observations. Who to trust, who to trust. "But you were there when they discussed the operation to go help Peter Petrelli. And now we don't know where he, or some of our other friends, are. I just want to know where he is, Mohinder. We're worried." The last part is met with narrowed eyes and Cass crosses her arms in front of her. "Well, excuse me for accusing the doctor of an organization that kidnaps people and locks them up when my friends go missing."

"Yes, I was there at the meeting. So were a number of people," Mohinder says truthfully. "And some people /did/ walk out as well. I genuinely like Peter and Hiro. I don't want to see anything happen to either of them. I also asked Hiro to reconsider his plans." In a text message, after alerting Madson about the plans. He blanches at Cass's attitude, and he doesn't blame her one bit. "I don't agree with the kidnapping, and there's a good reason some people are locked away." He gets from his stool and starts putting some things away, to keep his hands busy. "This is all news to me Miss Aldric. I was not included on the finer details."

Cass hugs herself a little tighter. This isn't really going as she planned it. He was supposed to confess and then tell her where her friends were so she could go home. "Yeah, but they don't have a Company to squeal to." She frowns, getting confused now. Maybe Nima was right. Maybe he wasn't the snitch. "Yeah, well, a good job in showing that disapproval. I'm sure they'll really reconsider when you're so disapproving you help them test those people." She frowns, watching him tidy up as if nothing happened. "Look, fine, it's all news to you. You don't know anything." Taking another deep breath, she looks straight at him. "Then take me to someone who does."

"Miss Aldric, I don't test on people without their consent. I refuse to treat a fellow human as if they were a guinea pig." Mohinder turns to look straight at Cass after setting some samples in the refridgeration unit. "I can't do that. I'm sorry. I hadn't even /heard/ anyone was taken in. I'm restricted by clearance levels."

"Wow. You know what? I actually believed you." Cass is downright angry now. Past the doubt and the nervousness, she's just angry. Dropping her arms from their crossed position, she clenches them into fists of plain old frustration. "I thought you really wanted to help. All that crap you told me about changing the way of the Company. I can't believe I was taken in by all that. Clearance levels. Fine. I'm finding my own way in and I /will/ find my friends. Feel free to tell whoever you report to about it." With that, she turns on her heel, ready to storm out.

"Miss Aldric, Cass, stop. Please." Mohinder says as he goes after the woman, even reaching to try and put a restraining hand on her arm. "It's going to take /time/," he stresses. "They don't trust me, and everything has it's own security layer. Sometimes I can't even sneeze without someone checking behind me. What I told you about wanting to change their ways, it was the truth. It's not going to happen overnight, not when I'm just a nobody scientist they've got."

Almost to the door by the time Mohinder manages to restrain her with an arm, Cass glares over her shoulder at him. He's interrupting her huffy exit. "I don't have the time to wait to find my friends. I don't know where they are or what's being done to them. I need to find them /now/. Yesterday." With a quick shake, she tries to get Mohinder's arm off of her. "And if you can't help me do that, I need to find someone who can."

Mohinder takes a look at the woman, and something in him wants to cave and help. "I'm truly sorry Miss Aldric," he says in a subdued tone as he lets go of Cass's arm. "I'll let you out." He brushes past her and unlocks the doors with a few presses of the keypad. "Good luck to you."

"I bet you are," Cass replies coldly. As soon as the door opens, she marches through it, angry and disappointed. She doesn't wish him luck, nor does she say goodbye.

Mohinder stands in his doorway, watching Cass storm off. A frown and a look of resigned determination on his face.

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