Where: Lake Mead
When: September 10, 2012
What: It's the end of the tourist season and what better place to catch some R&R than at Lake Mead. But someone else has other plans in mind that may or may not disrupt the life of an individual out there.
Lake Mead. The tourists have all gone, disappeared back from whence they come in the the U S of A. which leaves just the locals who take advantage of the last good months of the warm season in Nevada. Here, there's plenty of room to roam or even just to stay put. Helicopters occasionally putter across the sky providing aerial tours of the surrounding land of the red rocked landscape in contrast to the soft blue of the lake. Bikers are hauling rides off racks and there's some kayakers pulling in off the the main waterfront. Idyllic. Great potential for some footage. If you're a budding filmmaker.
Or surveillance work if you're a company agent.
There actually is one budding filmmaker about. Zan, having begged his way out of a class to make the trip for a chance to get some test footage, has been seen wandering around the lakefront. As always in jeans and a t-shirt and a backpack hanging from his shoulders, he's also sporting a camera. Not the fancy one he's most often seen with, but a smaller, less refined digital video recorder.
At present, the younger Caldecott son is kneeling, the camera angled to pick up passing feet as they cut between him and the water. Notes are scratched onto a notepad in typical chicken-scratch fashion, a language only Zan himself seems to be able to decipher.
Raleigh sits on a foldable beach chair on the beach, taking the day off from the shop for some much needed R&R. She is wearing her new bikini as she basks in the sun, though the area around her is slightly cooler than the rest of the lake. Next to her chair is a blue cooler with a beach towel resting on top. A pair of earbuds rests in her ears, connected to the mp3 player clipped to her hip. Her head bobs slightly and her foot taps slightly along with the music. She lifts a CapriSun that she holds to her lips and takes a drink as she watches the people also on the beach which is easier now that the tourists are gone.
Paul is wearing something other than a suit for once! More on this story as it develops. Specifically, he's wearing a red collared shirt and off-white knee-length shorts and sunglasses, and is taking a kayak lazily around. It's uncrowded enough now, if he veers a little off course, he's not at great risk of running into anyone else.
Biking, at times, is better than a jog- at least for Nobara. It helps if the one you're tagging after is an avid lake cycler. The breeze is warm, but cooling all the same. With his helmet and sunglasses, anyone that knows him will be hard pressed to do a whole lot of recognizing; that is, unless they actually stopped in front of him, or heard him speak. Tailing this fellow has been a mixed bag- on one hand, Nobara's been getting the laps in. On the other, he's been getting the laps in. He rationalizes it is for better thighs. Sure.
He can only go for so long before he has to stop, and stop he does; coasting to a stop, feet planting before he lifts his glasses to take a look out over the flat span of water. It looks tantalizingly cool.
Soon, very soon, Paul will need to cart in that Kayak from where it's rented, which will inevitably bring him past Raleigh who's basking in the sun and getting a color to go with all her color.
Which Zan catches in the camera. One of his pals enjoying the day off as well only she didn't need to beg off class to go here. Just choose to shut her doors.
But then he see's it. Or more specifically, him. A lanky tall guy that he's familiar with enough to put two and two together. Shorts and shirt, a bike as well, the tall guy with the dark hair a little too long for it to be on purpose coasting to a stop behind Nobara, feet coming down and seeming to look off in the distance the same as the company agent.
Oh yeah, it's that company agent. "Hows the weather?" The guy inquires of Nobara, seeming to fidget with his biking gloves on what seems to be a pretty well maintained bike. With no speeds.
Neither familiar face, that belonging to Paul or Raleigh, are lingered over. Zan's not here to get any insight on people per se, those who happen to be caught on film are more like faces in the crowd while he focuses more on the lay of the land and the variations in lighting. The camera keeps panning, past and around while he takes notes, and nearly goes past that guy.
The mayor's son catches just a glimpse while his attention is on those notes and immediately sets his focus back on the guy in question. The guy. Talking to Nobara. "Interesting." He tucks the notepad pencil into his back pocket and stands slowly. The angle is tightened, drawing his view in close to the guy and the agent. And, though it's not easy to be subtle when one is so obviously filming others, he makes the effort, turning often enough to survey his surroundings
while he starts a casual walk in the general direction of the pair.
Raleigh doesn't seem to notice Zan and his camera pointed at her, too busy relaxing and enjoying her time off. She notices Paul, watching him move past her as she takes another drink from her juice pouch, until Zan enters her view. A small smile forms at the corner of her lips as she sees him and the camera, which is no longer pointed at her. She offers him a wave. She doesn't even notice Nobara yet.
Of the nearby faces, Paul spots Raleigh first, offering a casual wave as he finishes up with the paperwork. Hard to overlook a work of art like that! And then there's a couple other people who he hasn't seen for a while. A really long while, depending how you measure it. Hmm, so is Nobara getting up to something over there, or is that just his workout partner? Too early to tell.
Nobara twists at the waist to look over his shoulder, dropping the glasses back down over his dark eyes. He offers the stranger a semi-sweet smile, though it takes him a moment longer to answer. Mainly because he is inspecting the man, his bike, and his manner.
"See for yourself." One way to put it. "I'd complain that it was hot, but, you know- moot point." It's nicer by the dam, that's for sure. Nobara does a scan of the man's face again, catching the glimmer of a camera lens out of the corner of his eye. No frakking way, right? Wrong. Thankfully he does very little to give Zan's presence in the background away.
"Could use a better breeze, anyhow."
"It'll come, soon enough. Strong enough" The dark haired guy offers up verbally then his hand. "Jim" Palm outstretched. "Nice bike you have, looks like a ten speed yeah?" A laid back smile on his face. He doesn't notice Zan or if he does has written it off even as Paul's being passed his receipt for his afternoon Kayak ride. Raleigh can see it then. The familiarity of the guy. Having seen his face as he ducked through halls and past people at the Corinthian.
The glimpse caught as he dumped the envelope in her lap.
His face moved away from the viewfinder though the lens remains angled at Nobara and Jim, Zan looks toward the lake again. A questioning gaze seeks out Raleigh, wondering what she makes of the guy. He was on that bus, too. It's a short look, passing, his attention returning to the Agent and his acquaintance. And all the while, he continues to draw closer, no longer trying to remain not so surreptitious but maintaining casualness.
Raleigh's eyes move to Paul and the wave is returned with a smile before she glances back towards Zan then in the direction he's looking. An eyebrow raises slightly as she sees Nobara and the other guy. It takes a few moments until she connects the guy with the casino and the bus. She pulls the earbuds from her ears and removes the mp3 player from her hip as she stands from her chair, moving towards Zan though her gaze is glued to the two men.
Worn out from the boat trip, Paul dabs at his forehead with a white washcloth, taking out a plastic water bottle for a quick swig. Maybe he should've gone for the Gatorade instead. In no hurry to head off anywhere, he looks around for a place to sit down and finish catching his breath.
"Enough for how often I get out on it, yeah." Nobara laughs, turning the front end so that he can see the guy rather than twist around to see him. "Nobara." He takes the man's hand to shake it. He glimpses Zan's shift in demeanor past the other man's shoulder, and this time senses that it should be safe to draw him out. One hand lifts in an obvious wave to the younger man and his camcorder, the gesture quite telling of who it is under the helmet- it is flighty and short.
"I notice yours is a utility bike? How's that work on these paths?" Back to the new face he goes.
"Works better than yours will" Zan, Raleigh, Paul, all three can see it, the small pack on 'Jims' side having something brought out from it. What, they can't see because it's in the palm of his hand. But who knows what it could be. Could be innocent. But He doesn't let go of Nobara's hand, holding tight, and bringing the asian man closer.
"You'll cause so much suffering" There's a certain sadness in his eyes as he shakes his head, still holding on. "The sheer amount of suffering that will come at your hands… I wish I could have done this sooner. Could have prevented what's already happened." And then he's bringing his other hand close, an epi pen jabbing against Nobara's side, needle piercing the skin.
Suspicion creeps into Zan's expression when Nobara waves his way. "The hell is he doing," he breathes, possibly enough for Raleigh to catch, definitely loud enough to be caught on film, but probably not enough to carry to the two men. It is questioning the agent's actions, though he takes it as an invite to pick up the pace.
Penchant for trouble.
To begin with, Zan doesn't quite reach a jog to close the distance between himself and the two men. But when Jim does… something — something that doesn't, from any angle, look like a good thing — the jogging starts. He's not there in time to stop the deed from being done, so whatever too little too late it might be, he still makes an effort to reach out and grasp that poking and prodding hand once he is near enough.
Raleigh looks over to Zan as he speaks and starts to reply to him, but he then takes off at a job towards the two as Jim stabs Nobara with something. "Oh, that is so not cool." She says, mostly to herself before she starts off at a jog after Zan, forgetting her stuff at the moment. No one is going to steal her shit… right?
Wait. What? Given what little Paul knows about Nobara, he isn't really sure what to make of him— but he certainly hasn't earned himself a spot on the 'Your Honor, he needed shivving' list. And so he's up and on his feet again as well, glancing briefly toward the others and coming in from a different angle. Hey, for all he knows, this guy might be unstable, and haul off and start shooting random passersby! But if he's rushed before he can get that far—
At close range, he can see through the sunglasses- Nobara's expression is one of confusion, at first, eyes filled with a sudden and determined distrust. It shifts quickly to vague recognizance, briefly. He opens his mouth to speak just as the stranger brings the pen out; Nobara has only time enough for one word between events, which can be heard aloud, above the conversation. It isn't shock- he hasn't seen the pen yet. "Who-"
He does see the pen. When it has gotten too close to dodge. Like running through the grass, and spotting a bee in your path half a second too late. To his credit, Nobara wriggles and twists to try and get back in time. It isn't enough- he feels the prick of the needle when he shifts backwards. Unfortunately for 'Jim', he's still holding Nobara's hand when all of this goes down. The agent has his other one free- and all those years spent on learning how to fight.
Agent Minawa yanks the other man hard, trying to pull him inward. His free arm bends, swings back, and rockets forward, the hard lines of his elbow aimed for the man's temple and face.
Later, seeing it on the camera that captures this all, it will seem like some well choreographed action scene. As if, to a degree, it was scripted and he knew what to do and where to go. The subtle way that 'Jim' moves just so to smoothly avoid that elbow by not resisting the pull forward but uses it to gain the momentum he needs to shift away from Nobara and wrench himself from the agent with both his hands to gain his freedoom.
Nobara's elbow clips Zan's temple and shocking the college student instead, Zan having been so close. Fingers brush against the fabric of the guys shirt as he's sprinting but find no purchase, Jim's palms settling on the handle of his bike and pushing off.
Like it was scripted.
A spent epi-pen clatters to the ground, a drop of liquid welling at the tip of the needle between their feet.
Clip or not, the impact pushes Zan's head aside roughly, momentum that accompanies the blinding and dizzying pain from the strike. Fingers catch naught but air, brushing fabric that's too fleeting and confusing to grasp hold of even to steady himself while the ground tips away from beneath his feet. He takes a solid, certain step backward then reaches for some support that doesn't exist while unceremoniously sitting, read dropping, on the ground. Amazingly, his camera is still recording, though at the moment the lens is pointed mostly at the ground.
It's a couple seconds before the mayor's son raises a hand to gingerly touch the side of his head. And a few seconds longer before he's trying to reorient himself with the situation, gaze seeking out Nobara first.
Raleigh pauses in her approach as Zan goes down from a hit to the elbow. She looks to where Zan is at before she turns her attention to Nobara then to where Jim is trying to escape. She then gives chase, barefooted and in her bikini, trying to catch up to Jim before he can disappear on them again. "Not a third time…" She says to herself as she tries to push herself to her limits.
Paul, meanwhile, is saved by having been a step or two closer to get involved. Cold comfort that is. "Who /is/ that guy?" he asks, turning his attention mainly to Zan to see if he knows. Raleigh he still doesn't know from Eve, and besides, she's still trying to run him down. "And how bad did you get hit there?" And /what/ did Nobara just get hit with?
Nobara does not seem to realize he's grazed Zan with the jab, even when the boy goes stumbling away. Zan's no fighter- Nob would feel bad if he knew, offhand. He has other things to worry about- like the fact that it feels like his heart is going to explode. Momentum from several points puts the agent off-balance, and he and the bike both take a tumble sideways into the dirt. Through the dizzy effects of getting grazed, the junior Caldecott gets an eyeful of Nobara falling, dust puffing, and the agent's hand practically scratching the muscle from his own chest.
It isn't long now, before he is letting out an agonized yell, the noise half-gurgling in the back of his throat. As for an answer, Paul's clearly not going to get one, as the seconds tick on.
For all that Raleigh tries, the poor woman can't keep up to the man on the bike, who's pedaling fast as his bike can carry him which is generally faster than two feet. Inch by inch and then foot by foot, the artists is loosing ground even as someone else zips by her on a bike with a "I'll get him!" in passing, taking over for her.
Back at the site of where something went down, this aren't looking so good for Nobara, but at least Zan will live.
Raleigh keeps running despite her lungs and legs burning, finally coming to a stop as the person on the bike takes over. She stops, breathing heavy as she bends over slightly in an attempt to catch her breath. She looks up to see where the two people on the bikes went, finally she stands up straight and starts to head back towards where Zan and Nobara are at. "You guys okay?" She asks the two before she looks to Paul, offering a nod of her head.
There's no shake to clear his head, the sight of Nobara in apparent throes of something is enough to lift some of the fog. "Someone call 9-1-1," Zan manages, yelling at whoever might listen. He fumbles to his hands and knees, camera still clutched tightly and recording the sounds if not entirely the events of what's happening. He begins searching for something, that thing he saw jam into the Agent's side. He shoots a look to Paul and then Raleigh when his fingers finally close around the epi pen. "Now!"
"Way ahead of you," Paul says, eyeing Nobara darkly. It's not a shooting but it looks just as potentially deadly, at least for the one intended target. Good thing he's kept track of his phone this time, now if they can just get solid reception out here—
Raleigh looks to Paul as he makes the phone call them moves to help Zan up to his feet. "They're being called, right now. It's okay." She says to him, trying to calm him down. "I couldn't catch him, but someone on a bike went after him." She offers as well, glancing towards the direction that they went.
There is a consolation in wearing a bike helmet when you're writhing around- you don't need to worry about your skull, anyhow. The sunglasses have fallen off, though, and when Nobara rolls onto his side, it is clear to the rest of them that he isn't having a good time. His face is flushed, expression pained, breath shallow.
A low-pitched popping noise can be heard, muffled against the ground. One hand still holding his chest fruitlessly, when Nobara braces his other on the ground in front of him, there is a flicker of color between his palm and the dirt. Zan can see it, close as he is. Quite like the tired sputter of an engine.
It might be rather obvious how little Zan trusts either Paul or Raleigh at the moment. Not that he trusts Nobara any more, he doesn't exactly loathe the agents and their meddling ways, but neither is he happy with them. In all, it's not a requirement for death. Attention is taken off the pair of bystanders when the snap-crackle-and-pop of Minawa's ability starts to show itself. He freezes, poised somewhere between putting space between himself and the Agent and remaining.
What did Paul do wrong? Okay, he was meddling with the timeline but so were these guys and /anyway/. (At least Raleigh is still sweet and innocent.) Phone hung up and safely stowed again, he looks again and frowns. "Anything we can do till they get here?" An expert on first aid he is not, and even if he was, this might still be out of his league.
Raleigh frowns slightly as she looks at Zan, taking a few steps back for a moment before she looks to Paul, shaking her head slightly. "No. I don't think so. Best we can do is just wait for the ambulance to get here." She offers him, glancing back towards where she left her stuff to make sure everything's still there.
In the distance, the ambulance can be heard. Given the proximity to Henderson and that it is a tourist spot, they tend to keep at least one rig in proximity. Something that will be a boon for Nobara in the end when they arrive. The police will come too soon enough, with plenty of witnesses as to what went down.
It's the same as the chapel in the Corinthian, as the meter maid on the strip. Only, this time, there's an ambulance that will eventually cart off Nobara and leaving Paul, Zan and Raleigh standing in the wake, wondering what the hell went on.
