Starring:
Summary: Niki receives an offer from a voice of Pinehearst. (Continuation from On the Precipice.)
Date It Happened: January 5th, 2008
Water Under the Bridge
Pinehearst Research
Fort Lee, NJ
Viewed from another angle…
"It's been a long time." Linderman's pale eyes, so full of wisdom and so sharp with intellect, look across the distance, fixing on his target inside the clinical room. For one guest of Pinehearst, his English-accented voice fills their personal realm of quiet. "We do seem to be on the precipice, don't we… a new era."
Niki is sitting simply on the end of the bed with her hands on her thighs, looking straight across at Linderman; they seem like a panorama, watching each other across the distance.
"Don't worry," Linderman says; his words are almost soothing, in their own right a self-assured indication that everything is in the right hands. Perhaps he, of all people, doesn't have the right to tell anyone everything is fine. His very being here means that everything is not fine. Or perhaps he does have that right; once, his hands could heal. "I suspect you're exactly where you should be."
Those fine shoes take a step inside, changing the play of shadow and light. One, two.
Linderman stops. His footsteps end, his words cease, and he simply tips his head back in silent, knowing appraisal.
Niki doesn't quite look the same as when she arrived, nor the same as when she first found herself at the biotech firm: she's wearing new clothes that give her carriage a softer elegance, a rose-coloured shirt, feminine with ruffles; brown pants. Her hair is pulled back, knotted. People have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, in this new … era she's found herself in, and her gaze at the man she thinks she shares the room with, Linderman, is a calm one.
She breaks her silence with a prying sort of skepticism. "I am?"
"Miss Sanders," Linderman begins in his crisp accent, holding his arms out in greeting. "A pleasure to see you again. It's been quite some time." He steps further into her room, a smile on his face as he regards her. "Let me start by welcoming you to our facilities. We're making very real breakthroughs here, and we extend an invitation for you to join us."
Niki's hands push onto her thighs and she's standing a moment later to be on par with her visitor. Her room lacks the beeping monitors and distinct sense of a hospital that Nathan's has, now; her bed is a normal cot, and there's no equipment. "Join you," she repeats — while her tone isn't exactly wary, it is a touch confused. "I don't know who you are," she says slowly. "I'm … not sure where I fit in." She's referring to Pinehearst, but statement, for Niki, is pretty all-encompassing.
"I believe you are fully aware of who I am," Linderman says, his lips still turned up at the corner's in a smile. It's a genuine smile, and he truly wants Niki here. He isn't trying to belittle her. "Our vision here is to take those out there in the world - Evolved, they have been called, those with very special abilities - and embrace them. To welcome them into our home, so that they have a place they feel they belong to."
"No, I 'm not," the woman insists, just being honest. "I might've known before, but I don't now. Who are you?" The fact that Niki apparently knows this man, however, works in his favour, and maybe that's the point. Blue eyes regard Linderman from a distance of several paces, cautious, but with a tiny inkling of hope. Her mouth opens, closes, opens. "I just… I just want to know where I'm supposed to be." Maybe it's here, like he says.
"My name is Daniel Linderman," he says, "and we once knew each other a long time ago." He doesn't delve into details (after all, it's likely to make her trust him less), and he continues. "That, however, is all water under the bridge. I'm here now to show you were you belong, and that's with us." He makes a motioning gesture towards the door, inviting her to follow him out into the hallway.
Niki may as well be a statue for the first few seconds after Linderman enters the hall. She stands perfectly still, save for the faint movement of her eyes following him, her expression caught in a place of indecision and anticipation. A few days ago, she never would have willingly let herself be led by anyone who resembled the blackmailing mobster who interfered with her life, or guided it, in more ways than she can count. But it's a new day. This Niki doesn't recognize the face of the man who her once-husband killed. And he has a way of sounding convincing.
So she follows him.