Where: Primatech Paper
When: October 7, 2012
What: A little more than expected is revealed during an otherwise typical questions session.
It's been a few hours since Bailey was given the Five-Star treatment complete with car service. Of course, she wasn't aware for any of it. So much for flying first class, she was not privy to the conversations that followed between Ian and Tilly. Nor has the passage of time touched her consciousness while the newest of Agents played out the waiting game as a changing of the guards happened and the last vestiges of tranquilizer left the woman's system.
So it will be, in fact, Ian's face that greets Bailey as she awakens from slumber. He sits across from her, directly across from her, eating an orange wedge by wedge. He's dressed far more casually than he'd normally be within the office, usual polo and slacks traded in for a t-shirt and jeans. And also waiting with him is another Agent, likely a little familiar to the girl.
"Y'know, Nobara," the younger of the two men says around a mouthful of orange, "we should seriously get pizza once this is over. Just. Forget the paperwork. Get some pizza and beer."
Nobara's got his Bitch Face on.
So far as he can wear it, anyway. His eyes are on her, wafting between venomous and steely. Though when his dark eyes turn to Ian, the switch appears to flick from one state to the other. He's holding a large Slusho! cup in one hand, and he's sitting in a chair off to the right, one leg over the other, arms crossed moodily. His face goes completely agreeable for the other agent, smile flashing.
"A man after my own heart. Can we get married? At an Elvis chapel?"
Groaning as she wakes up, Bailey murmurs something incomprehensible, looking rather groggy, as she pushes herself up from the table. "What in the hell happened?" She murmurs. "Did I make it to the break room?" Her eyes, looking almost glazed over for the moment, looks about. "Wait a minute." She says as realization hits her. "We don't have an Elvis chapel in the Corinthian." She shakes her head a little. "I mean…where the hell am I?" Her hands jump up, only for her to find them cuffed to the table. She eyes the two familiar men in the room. "Is this some sort of sick joke?"
"Dude," Ian sounds mildly insulted at Nobara's proposal, but he looks vaguely amused. "Relationships. Bad. Remember?" He pops another wedge of orange into his mouth just as Bailey starts making noises and coming to. That amusement grows a little, entertained at least by the rationalizing. He even glances toward his partner and tips his head toward the girl to make sure the other agent is watching.
"No jokes here," the younger of the two men answers. "What this is, is sharing time. You tell us about yourself, answer questions, and we decide what to do depending on how the conversation goes. Think of it as… show and tell. Orange?" A section of his orange is offered to the woman.
"I would attach myself to a beer and pizza man." Nobara jokes along, allowing a smile until Ian gestures to Bailey, and he hears her waking moments. It comes easily for him to turn in the seat and face her. "If this was a joke you'd be in a car trunk, babe." He sips at the straw he tilts to his mouth, watching her while he seems to idle. There is certainly something nefarious about his tone alone, regardless of the topic.
"Show and tell with a twist, more like. You should try it. The other ones in the bag were delicious."
"I'm not one for sharing." Bailey still sounds a bit groggy. "I'd have roommates if I were." She looks at the two men, though her eyes now focus more on Nobara. "Were you really following me on that day? Huh? In the grocery store? The lady thought you were following her, but…" She shakes her head, sighing. "No, I don't want no damn orange. I want outta these cuffs and back to where you took me from. That's what I want!"
Ian's bottom lip pushes out a little when his offer is turned down. But he recovers a half second later with a shrug and another bite of orange. "These are delicious," he asides to Nobara, nodding. "Juicy, just the right amount of tart and sweet." He finishes off another wedge while giving Bailey time to wake up a little more. And to give the older man a chance to answer or not.
"Twofer." Nobara is frank enough, now that things are sort of being aired out. "You're not privy to that. Last I checked." He chews a moment on the end of his straw, watching her like a hawk. Afterwards, he sits up straight and takes his leg down, setting his drink on the table. Nobara stands up, picking up his feet and pacing in a loose half-circle around the table. Less pacing- more lingering. He perches now on the edge of the metal table, looking down to Bailey from there.
"You're not getting what you want, until we get what we want. Capiche?"
"I've got nothing to tell either of you. So this is going to be a very short conversation." Bailey throws them both a sassy, sarcastic look as if to suggest that she believes that she knows better than they do. "I'm just a woman trying to make her way by working at a casino. I'll say this for the Linderman Corporation, they make nice ass casinos!"
"You're in for a very long night," Ian drawls. "You see, Miss Lincoln. We can leave, grab some lunch, coffee. Sleep. While you will remain sitting in that chair." He smiles pleasantly, as if greeting a guest to a B&B.
"Or," he continues after a second or so, just long enough to let his words sink in. "We can do this the easy way. And I'm certain, Miss Lincoln, after your last experience with the hard way, that you'll prefer the easy way." Ian's brows arch upward slightly, accentuating the smirk that curls the corners of his lips upward as well. "Let's begin with your ability. Tell us about it."
Nobara tilts up off of the table edge, taking a few paces again, like a fox in a cage. All he needs is the swish of tail to finish it off. Still, he watches Ian and Bailey, movements loose and dark eyes hard. If this is bad-cop-good-cop, Nobara is shaping up to be menacing-cop, despite his lesser stature. Why? There is no obvious reason; just that Bailey's presence and Ian's first question appear to feed it. The older agent straightens his jacket out, fingers idly fussing with the opposite cuffs.
There's a heavy sigh as Bailey rolls her eyes. "Look, you wanna know about what happened in the Casino? Honestly?" She takes a moment, chewing on her bottom lip before speaking again. "I honestly have no fucking clue. That, what I did, has never happened before. I've never encountered that before." And she does seem sincere in her words. Though there's something underlying in what she says. Not a lie, perhaps, but something.
Ian's gaze on Bailey, contrary to Nobara's hawk-like stare, is rather passive. It lacks seriousness and might verge on bored apathy if he didn't have that micro-grin. Truth be told, he does find the whole scenario amusing for some reason or another. "Yeah, my other friend mentioned the same thing when we tried to catch up with you before. But my partner here, for his benefit, why don't you explain what happened at the casino. Then tell us what you normally do."
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure what it was that happened. I was going to…do something else. And then these little things came out of my hand." Bailey explains. "And exploded, like firecrackers or something. I dunno. You were there!" She nods her chin toward Ian. "Why didn't you just brief your partner? Must be a pretty disorganized policing force if you don't even tell each other what happened!" She rolls her eyes again. "If you want me to answer the rest of your questions, I just want to know one simple thing. Who are you guys?"
"There's no reason to dodge around questions," Ian says. He glances toward Nobara as if considering some deeper thought. "The point, Miss Lincoln," he resumes as his attention returns to Bailey, "to having you explain what happened is because I, for example, could get occurrences wrong. Which would put more than just my ass on the line." He clasps his hands together and rests them on the table in front of him. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll tell you who I am in exchange for you telling us just a little bit more about what you did and used to do."
Once the question is posed, the younger of the two men leans back in his chair, watching Bailey. Plenty of time is given for her to mull over the offer and make a choice.
"I've encountered that before." Nobara finally speaks up, his facial expression angry, but at the same time, uncertain. His arms cross and uncross, and he hovers closer to the table. "I needed to hear it from the horse's mouth." In response to having not been debriefed- which, he was- but the questioning there served a purpose. "Going to do something else, was it?" Nobara glances at Ian for a moment, only vaguely apologetic. He may be running point on this one, but there are variables. Like partners.
"Not firecrackers." Nobara turns his face back to her, approaching the table and putting his palms on it, leaning there, peering at his fingers. "They're a lot more dangerous than that. You wound me."
"What crawled up your partner's ass and died?" Bailey asks of Ian, raising an eyebrow. "I've been in and out of the slammer enough time, sweet cheeks, that I could care less about the bad cop act. So you know." This said to Nobara. Though there's a slight 'so-so' side to side nodding of her head as she says, "Well, unless you shoot me. That'd be a new one and would probably intimidate me a bit more." It's evident, however, that despite her bravado, there's fear behind her words.
"I just told you two. I don't know exactly what I did." This time Bailey looks to Nobara. "This guy new or something?" She shakes her head dismissively. "Look, fine. If it will get me out of here sooner. But I wanna know what the hell is going on here." She frowns a little. "What I used to do is light up. Like a light bulb. A glowy light would shine from my skin and…yeah. I could control the strength of the light. I was trying to momentarily blind the guy at the casino. Not make little things that exploded like firecrackers drop at his feet."
"He's cranky," Ian agrees as he watches Bailey. "Someone is being difficult and cutting into his pizza and beer time." His hands come apart once Bailey has finished explaining things and he taps his fingers against the edge of the table. Only a beat passes in total silence before he directs a meaningful look toward his partner. Then he pushes away from the table and stands, more symbolically than literally taking the back seat for the moment.
"I've been at this longer than blondie here." Nobara's mouth curls, and he walks around behind Bailey, listening to her, though he does not move or fuss at her attempts for goading a rise from him. Not yet. It is only after she finishes that he slides up behind her; his right hand slips down onto her shoulder. While his hand is approximately as smooth as hers, there is a firmness in his wrist and fingers, and strength in the pinion of his limb, that belongs to someone familiar with physical strain.
"This isn't bad cop, this is me being a bitch. Fuck the cops." Nobara's voice is low, and he shifts to look down at her face from the side, hand remaining where it is. "…I find that we are more intimate than we realize." His fingers move off of her shoulder now, only to collect under her hair on that side, stroking it back behind her shoulder.
The other hand lifts up, swimming into sight, thumb up and forefinger out, in that telltale 'gun'. Except when his thumb 'pulls' the hammer, there is no bang — just a fizzle in the air, and a beacon of shimmering light flickering in the end of his finger.
While she tries to shake the man off, Bailey's attempts no doubt do not work. And since her hands are restrained, she can only move in a limited fashion. "Intimate? What are you talking about, 'intimate'?" She spits out, eyeing him strangely. "Anything you can do to get Touchy McFeely hear to, you know, not fuckin' touch me?" She says annoyed, through clenched teeth, to Ian. When Nobara does his little gun trigger finger trick, she raises an airbrow. "Oh, so you can kinda do what I used to be able to do, huh?"
Though he's moved away from the table, given space to Nobara and Bailey, it's obvious that Ian's still watching the two. Silent, and apparently unconcerned, but observant. He offers no aid to the elder agent's handling of their charge, only a shrug in response to the request.
"No. I used to be able to do what you can do. Those bombs are mine." Nobara is quick to get blunt, and even quicker to get extremely possessive. "I'm going to jump the gun here -" He cants his head like a saucy bird, before he straightens up. The light melts up over his palm, bright enough that Bailey can feel that heat she knows all too well. "- and say that this is exactly what you know. I used it once or twice to accentuate sequins. I can only imagine how you handled it. Gets hot, too, doesn't it?" There is, in fact, a sheen on his forearm already, and the heat near her is getting quite uncomfortable. Nobara looks similarly uncomfortable.
If she could cross her arms, she would. As is, Bailey just looks at Nobara with a 'now what?' sort of expression. "What do you expect me to do? I want my power back as much as you probably want yours. I liked mine. I don't want to have this whole…whatever the hell it is!" She raises an eyebrow. "Ya'll sure as hell can't think I had anything to do with the switch though. I don't know how it might have happened!" She eyes Nobara, eyes squinting a bit. "You know, if you didn't focus so much of your own energy into it, it might not heat up so fast. Just a suggestion. And you might not want it to be so bright. The brighter it is, the faster it heats up! In case you ain't noticed."
"It seems like a simple induction light to me. Brighter, hotter, too much energy into it and I expect I'd burst- pass out, in the human case. I know how light bulbs work." It cuts off sharply, leaving spots in the eyes. "I don't think you did it. Not if you have mine. Fact is, you having it is still more dangerous than my having yours. I've killed men with those- ah- firecrackers." Also brought down buildings, crashed cars, et cetera. Nobara steps away now, lifting his gaze to Ian, then back to Bailey.
"When did you notice anything off? Just during that incident at work? Any strange symptoms lately?"
"I'm not dangerous if I don't use the ability. Now, I had control of the light, so I'm confident I can control not using…whatever I've got now." Bailey sounds fairly serious. "It's not like I'm just discovering that I've got some magical power. I've known for near on a decade that I could do something. Just now…it's something else, is all." She says, raising an eyebrow. "Now that I know more can be done with whatever it is I do now, I can be more careful."
"I'm hesitant to let you go gallavanting about with it, regardless." Nobara, however, seems stuck on steps to get this right. "I'm talking recently, not when you manifested. We last saw each other at the grocery store, didn't we? Nothing happened there, though. Was there anything wrong with you between then and now?" He puts his hands on his hips, only to take one and bury the top half of his face into the palm. Fingers rub at his temples.
"Have you met any others like us recently? There's only one way this could have happened, but I have no idea how." He turns away for a moment, giving Ian an in on anything he feels the need to start asking.
Whatever questions that might come to Ian's mind don't seem quite as important as the ones Nobara is asking. After all, they've already caught Bailey, have her in custody, and procedure will work itself out eventually. Still. "No reason to hold her hostage," he points out to the older agent. "It's not like I can't find her again if we let her out."
He casts a cheeky grin at Bailey as he returns to his seat. He folds his arms behind his head as he leans back in his chair, his gaze remaining, this time, on the woman. "Also, consider the fact that she does have experience controlling one ability. She had to've known what she was doing in the Casino, save for the surprising results to everyone who saw."
"Well, there's the fact that I felt tingly when we first met. Kind of around the same time there was the issue with the one woman that I guess you and your 'girlfriend' really were following." Bailey rolls her eyes. "I mean, it was the strangest feeling. Other than that? Hell to the no there's nothing strange or wrong that has happened since then…" She pauses for a moment to think and then shakes her head, "Nope. Definitely nothing else." There's a look to Ian. "I honestly had no clue of what was about to happen. I thought I still had my light ability. All I wanted to do was teach that jerk a lesson." She huffs. "Now how about loosing these fuckin' things? It's not like I'm gonna get outta here without your permission anyway." She lifts her hands up as far as she can, the chains from the cuffs rattling.
Nobara isn't letting her hands loose. He just broods for the passing minute, facing mostly away from her and Ian.
"It had to have been the grocery store. That woman. She obviously thought enough of us to be paranoid- maybe rightly so. I'll have to bring it up when we're finished here." The older agent turns back, chewing on the inside of his lower lip, looking to Ian. "You're right though. She seems to know how to trigger it. I just don't want to be hearing about some guy losing a limb when he got too handsy…"
Ian lifts his hands up from behind his head, a semi-helpless gesture for Nobara's concerns. "Can't blame her for disarming a guy with wandering hands," he points out. "Not far off from how an acquaintance of mine would handle similar situations." His arms fold behind his head again, and he lifts his gaze to meet Nobara's for a moment.
"I'll unlock your wrists, Miss Lincoln." The younger agent looks back at Bailey. "So long as you continue to cooperate. Any more sass and I'll put another dart in you."
"Look, girl at the grocery store is ya'lls responsibility. And I'm counting ya'll to blame for this, just so you know. If you guys hadn't been doing what you were doing, none of this fuckin' bullshit would've had to happen in the first place!" Bailey does seem angry now. She eyes Ian, looking him up and down. "I can't promise I won't punch your partner if he touches me in that creeper way again. But I'll…" He eyes momentarily gaze over to Nobara before they go back to Ian. "I'll try to contain myself."
"Oh, you seem to know us so well already, Ian." Nobara smiles, wan, arms crossed again. As for Creeper, he does not seem phased by that, even taking the time to give Bailey a smirk. "Don't blame us for loose cannons." He takes out his phone, and types something in with his thumb. "We have a thankless job to do. I suppose we're like cops. Without the funding and support."
Superpeople cops. Sounds about right.
A grin is cast in Nobara's direction as Ian lifts himself out of the chair. He reaches into his pocket to pull free a set of keys while walking around to Bailey's side of the table. "Maybe if you ask nicely, he won't touch you in that creeper way again," he confides in Bailey. Kneeling down beside her, he works the key into one lock and then the other.
"But you have to ask nice," the younger man says. A look is cast toward Nobara so briefly it may not have really happened, then Ian settles his attention on Bailey again as his hands tug the metal bracelets free. "Now, tell us about your ability. Not what you do now, but what actually belongs to you."
"I could blame you guys for a lot of stuff, I imagine." Bailey eyes the two of them with slight suspicion. Though she's a tad bit more grateful to Ian, and it shows. "I've still not been told about who you guys are. I wanted to know, if ya'll recall." She says as she rubs her wrists gently. "Besides, something tells me that your…'friend' could already tell you about my ability." She nods toward Nobara.
"Horse's mouth." Like before. Nobara sidles up against the wall, leaning there and watching Ian as he moves. There is a faint look of defiance there, if he knows where to look. "Can't tell you that much, sorry. Not unless you- ah- want a new job, hon. I have the feeling you like yours where it is though." A few more taps on his phone, before he puts it away.
"How did you find out about it? When you manifested? You said it was a decade ago? 'Bout the same as me."
A smirk pulls at the edges of Ian's mouth while he glances between Bailey and Nobara again. "Yeah, I remember," he says, contrary to what the older agent may answer. He might just have reason to act a trifle nicer to the girl than his partner does. Something beyond the good cop-bad cop routine. He straightens and tucks the cuffs into his back pocket, keys are returned to the hip pocket they came from, all before he sits on the edge of the table. His gaze flicks to the older man following the question, then returns to the woman expectantly.
"Nine years ago. That's about when I discovered it, okay?" Bailey says, exasperated. "I was a bit stressed, fending for my own. It was dark. I started to glow. Thus started a wonderful relationship with my skin that didn't involve lotions and shit. I don't often use it any more. I'm a lot more careful." She crosses her arms and leans back. "Why don't you tell me more about this little power of yours that I'm in possession of…just so, you know, I don't go misusing it."
Nobara squints over at Ian, as if trying to parse something new, before he settles in to watch Bailey.
"So that's all? The light?" He sounds even more disappointed than before. "They're a form of plasma, that explode with concussive force. They aren't incendiary unless I blow up something that is liable to catch on fire otherwise." A lesson time, is it? Sure. Nobara can do that. "They can be as weak as bangsnaps and firecrackers, or powerful enough to blow through walls or trees. Stress bone. Damage metal objects." Rip people apart, technically speaking — but he pointedly leaves that out. "You can be damaged by them, and once you make one, you can't unmake it. The energy has been generated and has to be spent somewhere. Can time the weaker ones to go off, or move them around. Don't overuse 'em either. They will drain faster than you are probably used to."
"Kinda lame," Ian says following Bailey's explanation. He sounds derisive. Though it's hard to say just how serious he is about it. He shakes his head and twists around and upright, removing himself from the table while Nobara goes into his own lesson.
A moment goes by in silence. The younger agent spends it watching Bailey, then breaks it by turning to Nobara. "Well, guess that's pie. Unless you've got more questions, we should find a pizza joint and see about some beers now." And, of course, see to the rest of their charge's stay. But that part goes without saying.
"Well, I was able to get it as bright as some of those super bright spotlights. You know. Sort of like what the Luxor uses." Bailey explains some more. "Kinda brighter than the sun those seem sometimes. But be careful. My skin compensated a lot for the head. Even over time it got use to it and gained a little more resistance with practice, but even still, don't overheat yourself. The brighter I got, the less time I was able to withstand the heat." In an attempt to keep back some of her interest in what she could do with her new found ability, she says, "Look. Don't worry. I know the shindig. I won't use it. And if I do, I'll be careful." She takes a quick, sharp breath as she hears 'that's pie' spoken by Ian. "You know…my dad used to say that a lot, 'that's pie'. Just sayin'. It's weird to hear someone as young as you say it."
"Don't talk about pie, I'm watching my sugar." Nobara waves one hand, the other finding his pocket. "I'm hungry though. And I imagine she is too. Not that I want to bring her along." Just that she should probably be cleared for going elsewhere, besides this room. Whether that is home or not is up in the air. "We'll need to brief the others on this too, but you can go on ahead if you need. She's gettin' a flag, and I need an alert for that other woman."
"Really," Ian says to Bailey, though he's not all that surprised by the apparent coincidence. "Imagine that." He gives her a cheshire cat grin before turning entirely to Nobara. Not a scrap of seriousness there, either, but he does nod to the older agent's words. "Let's leave her here for collection, we can line the rest of it up on our way to get pizza."
