Starring:
Date: December 9th, 2009
Summary:
Tracy and "Beatrix" happen to be in the same place at the wrong time for a less-than-warm reunion.
"Ye of Little Faith"
Deveaux Building
Upper West Side, Manhattan
Whistling..
Is what Beatrix Hanner is doing as she sits on the ledge of the roof. Her legs swinging and her dyed blonde hair swaying free in the wind. Her eyes are half closed and her hands are folded in her lap. The seer's head is tilted back as if she is looking up towards the sky, though her eyes are half closed.
Dressed in a pair of fitted dark jeans and black boots, her upper body is covered by a cream colored pea coat that falls to her waist, tied tight to her body to keep the heat in. Head dropping to look down below over the city, she tilts her head and closes her eyes.
There has been so much going on lately, so much that Beatrix feels like she's completely powerless in a land of people with abilities.
The roof of a building isn't a place Tracy expects anywhere to be, which is precisely why she's found her way there. She has no idea that the rooftop, with its greenhouse garden and elaborate architecture, has significance for many. It's just a getaway. A cold getaway. She's fitted in dark, well-tailored jeans as well and a peacoat of her own, black instead of tan, and a red scarf wrapped a few times around her neck. Her straight blonde hair falls over her wintery layers and is faintly jostled by the lofty breeze on the top of the Deveaux Building as she steps onto the rooftop.
As soon as Tracy spies someone on the ledge and hears the sound of said someone whistling — not just the wind — she pauses. Her surprise is brief; her delay is even more short-lived. She backtracks. The only hint of her presence is a faint scuff of heeled boots.
"People come together up here.. for many different reasons." Beatrix begins and she kicks her feet out more in the air. Her breath frosty and white fog emits from her mouth.
She turns her face to look over her shoulder at Tracy and though she didn't expect to see her there. Much less in New York, she doesn't act surprised. "Tracy." She says with a light smile, her face is slightly red and rosy.
The young woman does indeed look different but her doe brown eyes twinkle in the sunlight. "Been a while." She comments softly.
The scuff of boot on stone becomes more harsh as Tracy comes to a halt again. This time with a different purpose. She knows that woman, just not as a blonde — as such, her eyes narrow. "What're you doing here?" she says instead of a hello. She could be asked the same question. Unlike Beatrix, Tracy's features are without a smile and minus the rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes. Her skin is pale and her eyes are hard, cold as the air.
"Rude.. is that the way you get your answers?" Beatrix tilts her head and then shakes it while she returns to looking at the cityscape. "I use to live here, my boyfriend owns the building. Do you need more information, I can give you the apartment number.."
Maybe Beatrix is in a funky mood today? "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in D.C. or something?" The former brunette's eyes then travel back to Tracy, "Unexpected vacation?"
Tracy takes in the information without any apparent interest; boyfriend, apartment, yeah, great. Figures. Her expression remains unchanged. "Something like that," she answers with a certain (so very warranted) amount of bitterness over her unexpected vacation. "Don't think I'll be going back there for awhile."
"I don't care for your bitchiness." Beatrix says softly and places her hands on her knees. "Obviously you are up here for a reason." She says coldly and then she's getting up from her sitting position and standing opposite of Tracy. "I assume that life has took a great shit on you." She says and places one hand in her pocket. She sighs and frowns at Tracy, "What'd I ever do to you?" Besides like.. make you confront the fact that you are an Evolved human being, ya know, no biggie.
Tracy's brows lift as she gives Kitty a look. It's apathetic, all told, as if she doesn't care enough to be rightfully indignant. Whatever. "'N' I don't care for your craziness. I guess we're even." Blue eyes roll away from the dyed blonde as she gives the rooftop and the city beyond a glance. Her eyes narrow on a point past Kitty — a vague shape on the rooftop of the building next to theirs. It's enough to prompt her to step toward the other woman instead of walk away like it seems she's more wont to do. Tracy's warning is hesitant. "Kitty…"
A small, red dot focuses on the wall behind Tracy, just beside her, before it disappears — because it's aimed at the back of Beatrix's head.
"What?"
Turning around, slowly.. she notices a red dot flickering around her eyes and it must have settled on her forehead. "Shit.." she says and she looks at Tracy before she runs at the woman and tackles her to the floor of the roof. "Fuck fuck fuck.. they haven't found me yet.. how.." she trails off but shakes her head firmly, she grabs something inside of her coat and out comes a nice looking, and powerful pistol. "You got control over your ability to use it if needed?" she asks as she checks the magazine in the firearm and then peeks over the ledge before ducking down again. "Do you??"
A shot fires as Beatrix gets out of dodge, burrowing into the building behind with a puff of dust.
Tracy hits the ground, landing on her knees to duck out of sight beneath the roof's ledge as well, her eyes wild as she looks up at Kitty and debates how to get out of this. Not to mention an outright stare of surprise at the other woman's sudden proficiency with a gun. "From here?! Are you kidding me? No!" She considers her options.
It doesn't take long for Tracy to decide what to do. Get the hell off the roof. Kitty doesn't really factor into the ice queen's equation as she spins about and takes off, running low and fast, long-strided, back the way she came. "Have fun with that, I'm getting a ride outta this place," she says as she throws open the door to the stairs and hopes to avoid getting shot all the while.
"Oh no you don't." she says softly and she follows closely after the woman, "We need each other to get out of here! I can help you see what is coming. Now shh!" Beatrix gets in front of Tracy to lead but then thinks better of it, she gets behind Tracy. "Listen carefully." She warns the natural blonde and she grips the gun tight as she peeks about. "They might be in this building as well."
Just inside the building, Tracy whirls around to eye Kitty. For what it's worth, she does consider the words, hesitating. "…If they're not already they will be soon." Still, she sets her jaw, reluctant to have the tagalong, but at least the tagalong as a gun. Tracy might feel better if she didn't think the woman with the gun was crazy. She pulls a cellphone from her coat pocket. "Alright." Without further delay, she jogs down the stairs and turns a corner to race toward the stairwell that will take her down a level.
A cellphone?? Following close behind, Beatrix doesn't speak as she holds the gun steady and pointed down but ready at any moment to unload on some assholes if needed. She looks at Tracy and then looks out of the window from the stairs and then continues to move, bringing forth all of her training that she has from her step father.. to the Company to various other teachers. Beatrix looks deadly with the gun in her hand.
Tracy's shoes pound on the stairs as she races down them; there's no time for being quiet. She doesn't need some random resident of the building to see Kitty with a gun, but then, she needs even less to be re-captured by government hunters. All the more reasons to hurry. The apartment she's aiming for — rather than say, the exit — is close-by. She rushes into it, calling out. "Peter! Are you here?" No answer, so either he's invisible and hiding (unlikely when someone's in trouble, right?), or he's not here at all. She manages to dial a number, instantly lifting it to her ear and spinning to face the entrance. "Lock the door," she orders half-breathlessly to Beatrix.
"You're staying with Peter?? He's here?!?!" Beatrix blinks and tears well up in her eyes, she does in fact shut the door and lock it though. "How.. what.. who are you calling?" Beatrix's head is spinning, her friend is ok. He's not a captive of the government, this is great news! Time to celebrate later though. The young gun wielder moves through the room, making sure the shades and curtains closed, making them harder targets to see and/or shoot.
"Peter— Peter Petrelli?" Tracy attempts to pry a confirmation out of Kitty, skeptical, but not entirely surprised. "I'm calling him," she says, the phone still to her ear as she jogs through the apartment. It's spacious, but sparsely furnished and undecorated, as if someone only half lives here. If that. She swipes a large, full manila envelope off the table and heads for the bedroom while Kitty does the guard thing.
"He's one of my best friends." Kitty admits and she doesn't let Tracy out of her sight. She leans against the door, still on guard as Tracy does whatever. "How did you two meet? Did you bust him out? Is Max.. Agent Swan dead?" So many questions and no time to answer them all, not right now.
"He didn't bust out, he walked out. He doesn't remember the last few years, he was working for the government until recently," Tracy answers distractedly, whisking around the room grabbing things. Most of it is already together, ready to move. "As far as I know, Max is still alive." Her voice is even colder on that note with an unspoken so far on the end of her answer. She tosses a travel bag upon the forlorn bed with its black linens. "Come on, Peter…" she murmurs into the phone.
As Kitty leans against the door, flashes of people who have lived here in the past are triggered: familiar faces in turn, that of D.L., the smiling faces of Micah and Cam and Niki so identical to the woman in the room now, followed by a darker, dimmer image of one of the identical pair leading a scar-faced Peter into the room; lastly, a flash of the Peter she knows better.
"Oh my.. so many people.. so many emotions.." Kitty says as she leans more heavily against the door. "Niki lived here.. with D.L. and Cam and Micah." She says softly.. now tears actually do fall down her face. "I miss them so much." She says, her eyes still white as she stares into the room but not at Tracy. "Peter worked with them and he doesn't.. remember.. himself?" The blonde nods her head and then looks at Tracy closely.
Switching her phone from one hand to the other, Tracy pauses her efforts to hurriedly tuck the envelope into her bag when Kitty has some kind of emotional episode with the strange white eyes over there. A recognition, of sorts, glistens in her own eyes. Confirmation. Niki did live here. It was Niki. She starts to frown, sympathy she doesn't know what to do with rising for Kitty and the sister she didn't know, but she doesn't reply. Instead, she holds up a hand, telling Kitty to wait, as she listens to her phone intently.
Bea waits in silence for Tracy while she's on the phone. The young blonde looks around and tries to keep her questions in her head. Tracy and Peter were working together? What about Ivory? Why doesn't Peter remember who he is? All these things go through Beatrix's head though she tries her best to steel herself for if in fact she does face Peter today, she isn't sure that she's ready.
The phone rings, but only in Tracy's ear. There's a moment before someone picks it up. "Hello?" It is Peter, at least, from the sound of his voice. What he's doing not in his apartment is a question, but it is obvious he's not there right now after all.
Tracy may have had a moment of caring, but it's past now that her priority is on the phone. She's unaware of whatever it is that Kitty happens to be going through, turning away slightly in the bedroom she's rushed into. The bag is hauled over her shoulder. "Peter," she says with an obvious sense of urgency. "There're agents outside the building." Which wouldn't have been as much of a problem if they hadn't been up on the roof in sight of said agents. "I have to get out've here, I dunno if they've got the place surrounded or if they're on there way inside as we speak— I'm with this woman who knows you, her name is— Kitty?"
The woman in question, 'Kitty' blinks and her attention snaps forward to pay close attention to Tracy. She peeks out of the window as she listens to Tracy, "I don't see anyone, then again. That's their job." She sighs and shakes her head. "Tell Pete to hurry, there isn't too much time, I assume."
"This is why I wanted you to stay inside the room until…" Peter mutters under his breath a bit, before obviously putting himself in motion. "I'll be there as soon as I can, but I don't— I'm not very close." Now his other home is compromised, the one he never went to or left without being invisible or teleporting. Until he rescued Tracy. He's a little frustrated, but… that's the way of these things. He'll just need a new one, under his new name. "I don't know any Kitty, but… I'll be there as soon as I can." With that he hangs up the phone.
With Peter off in a hurry, Tracy disconnects her own phone and hides it in the pocket of her coat once more. "He's on his way." There's nothing to do now but wait, which does not suit her very well. Then again, neither does running and hiding. Despite her tension, the surging adrenaline, she sits herself down on the edge of the bed. It's not exactly a comfortable pose. "I hate this." Pause. "Peter's a good way out, but his abilities are unreliable at best. If he's not here in a few minutes, I'm making a run for it. You can stay and wait for him." Tracy of little faith.
"Would you just come off it." Kitty throws her gunless hand up into the air. "Honestly, I've done nothing to you. Stop being so bitter towards me. We're on the same side." At least she thinks so. The young pyschometer sets her jaw and grits her teeth. "This is how you treat everyone that offers help to you?" she tilts her head but shrugs, it doesn't bother her much. Tracy was never warm towards her, with some good reasons not to be. "If he isn't here soon, then we'll both leave. I'm not letting you go out there by yourself."
"How did this happen? Did the government find out you were working against them?" Oh Kitty, how wrong you are.
For someone that a certain blonde woman has little faith in, Peter suddenly appears in the room within a very short amount of time. He stumbles a bit, perhaps surprised at himself, but when he looks up and sees them he smiles a bit, perhaps his way of expressing triumph. "Um… You must be Kitty?" he says when his eyes settle on the other woman in the room. "I'm sorry, I don't remember you, but we don't really have time to discuss that."
There's some big differences in his appearance, both to Kitty and Tracy. For one he's in a suit. The second, for Kitty, is the presence of scars on his face. Some deeper than others, none as deep as the one his future persona had, but still deep and visible. If he'd had them before, he'd been covering them up.
Beatrix's knees shake and she has to steady herself, she's been worried sick. Placing her gun back inside of her coat she steps a step closer to Peter and then looks at Tracy and then back to Peter. "My god.. what did Max do to you?" she says softly and then she's nodding her head. "We can talk later. I have a place if you wanted to go there. It's where I'm hiding out." She offers, but she isn't sure how much of a good idea that is.
"Yes and no. It's a little more complicated than that. The end result's the same, me in a room never seeing the light've day — " .. again. Tracy jumps to her feet, her cold expression replaced by a flood of relief, happy (in a desperate sort of way…) to see Peter despite her lack of faith in his skills a moment ago. "You're wearing a suit." After stating the obvious with momentary bewilderedness, Tracy's serious demeanour hits full force again. "Are you sure it's safe?" she asks of Beatrix. "It seemed like they were already outside. What if they followed you?"
"I— I was interviewing for a job," Peter admits after a moment, looking down towards his feet. "Just part time, flexible hours, but I figured… It doesn't matter. I may not even get it." He reaches out to touch Tracy first, grabbing her arm, before he holds his hand out to Kitty. "I honestly don't know what Max did to me, but I can get us out of here. I've been practicing teleporting a lot more lately— I doubt I can take us to your place exactly, but I can easily drop us in Central Park and we can take a cab from there." There's a glance at Tracy. "You may want to dye your hair. You'd probably look pretty good as a redhead." She'd stand out less too.
"I'm more than sure it's safe, particularly because most of the place I'm talking about it underground." Beatrix says as she looks at Tracy and shakes her head. "We can choose another place.. if you have another." Beatrix can't take her eyes off of Peter's face. "Have you seen Angela.. Nathan.. Cass?"
Nodding her head, she takes Peter's hand. Unlike Tracy, Kitty has always had faith in Peter's abilities. With a faint smile, "It's why I dyed my do blonde. I don't look like myself. Plus the tattoo, but that's a story for another time." She says and holds onto to Peter's hand firmly.
"Fine. Anywhere but here." Tracy reaches out and takes Peter's hand, holding on tight. She's not exactly sure what to expect, having never teleported before. She's prepared as she can be, steeling herself— although she smiles through the gravity of the situation at the mention of turning redhead, giving Peter a considering look. Maybe she will.
Eyes slide shut and Peter lowers his head down. There's a small wait, longer than Kitty would have been used to… but then they suddenly move from one place to another. Like a quick cut in a movie. One moment they're standing in a building, nice and warm. The next they're standing outside, near one of the Northern exits of Central Park. Not too far from the others. Some people do blink and double take, but keep going about their business. There's not that many people around, anyway. "That went better than my other attempts with Tracy," he admits outloud, before letting go of the two women.
(FADE)