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Post by Tales93 on Feb 4, 2021 17:32:09 GMT
[Suggest a mixed group]
I think a mixed group may be the best for recon. That way you can pick the best people from each group for the mission. Well, a lot happened this part. Chelsea seems to be caught in a love triangle. She has to make a decision on who she wants to be with. I still ship her with Zachary, but we'll see what she ends up deciding. She and Zachary know eachother so well. They even briefly raised Whitlock as their own child. Not to mention, the marriage of their two family names could eventually result in. I wonder if that kiss, if others somehow find out, will have consequences later. Especially since she already told Zachary that she wanted to work things out with him earlier. I could tell Horatio liked Chelsea based on his interactions with her, but I wasn't sure how Chelsea felt till this part. Speaking of Horatio, the secret of who his family is has been revealed now. I wonder what their presence within the group will lead too. I can already guess that Horatio's father might not get along with some people due to his personality. That mission the group went on was very eventful and action packed. It seems Gabbie was not as important to her group as she thought. She believed herself to be better than Leona, but she didn't get betrayed and killed by her own group. The new Resistance leader is ruthless, but I'm not sure how practical he is. I'm sure he thought he could maybe get some of the Voyager's and Crusaders killed in the ambush at the party. However, if he truly believed his people would end up dead, to cull the weaker ones, than I'm not sure how practical he really is as a leader. He just deliberately weakened his group, even if they were the "weak ones." If the rest of his group found out he led his own people to their death, I wouldn't be surprised if they decide they want a change in leadership.
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Post by Kal on Feb 6, 2021 21:06:32 GMT
"Maybe we should mix up the groups, keep the people who are on top of their game." Chelsea crossed her arms. "Like the people we had tonight, it went pretty okay with all things considered."
He nodded, letting out a small sigh. "We should probably get to dinner, it's probably more than a little weird if we're not the only ones in attendance." He looked to Chelsea, opening his mouth to say something before shaking his head and going to the front door.
They left and went to the dining hall, Chelsea going to talk to Zachary and Horatio going to talk to Sarah and David.
"I think the same group that went tonight should go scope out their base tomorrow, they're the best every group has to offer and it would be best to send people who are familiar and comfortable with what they do."
"Okay, on two conditions." Zachary leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "You switch out with Grady and Sarah goes with the group."
"And why are those your conditions?"
"Grady's comfortable with scouting, Sarah seems fit enough to get comfortable with it quickly and is pretty capable in photography, which would help us out a lot, and you're not comfortable with scouting. I would rather only have one rookie scout out than two who need constant supervision. I honestly don't even want one out in this situation but it would be stupid to ignore the advantages Sarah can provide."
"But I was the only one allowed to step outside of the room, I know a little more about the location than Horatio does."
Zachary didn't respond immediately, something going on behind Chelsea catching his eyes before he shook his head, looking back at her. "Then the answer is no, I'm sorry, the conditions are non-negotiable. I'll pick who goes."
Chelsea groaned slightly, looking at her hands. "Fine, I'll stay."
"Thank you, that's all you had to say." Chelsea couldn't help but wonder if he already had an idea of what happened between her and Horatio, as he was being incredibly short with her for no apparent reason.
The table next to them was where Cristiano, Ines, Orsino, and Camillo were sat. Cristiano and Ines were having a hushed conversation that seemed to be causing tension between them until Ines left the table in a hurry, leaving the dining hall.
Chelsea left the table herself, following Ines outside and being followed out by Marie herself. Ines was muttering words to herself as she paced that Chelsea fully understood.
Marie looked over at Chelsea, then back to Ines. "So you do speak English."
Ines looked at the two women and sighed. "How could I not? I have four kids who speak the language and have very strong hearts, they taught me. Cristiano does not know, please do not say anything to him about it."
"Why would we?" Marie crossed her arms. "You've been hiding it for probably years now and you probably have a reason. It's not our business."
"Is everything okay, though? You left in a hurry." Chelsea cupped her hands in front of her.
Ines looked at the two, staying quiet as she crossed her arms. "Cristiano is very passionate in his beliefs, as you guys can tell, and I do not stand by them. I mentioned the idea of simply going to help in the garden and he would hear nothing of it. He told me that my job was to fix Horatio and Filippo, then I could think about doing stuff outside the house."
"What's wrong with them?"
"There is nothing wrong with them. The time they have spent here has seen them getting used to seeing women who are capable of being strong and Cristiano fears that it will make them become weak."
The door to the dining hall opened, Ines' face going completely blank as Zachary stepped out, looking at the three women with genuine confusion. "Is everything okay?" Marie looked lost for a minute before nodding and slowly going back inside, Ines following her in.
"Where are you going?" Chelsea looked over Zachary, a bit of concern going over her as she started to realize he was far paler than he normally was.
"Home, I'm not feeling well."
Chelsea walked alongside him, noticing he was a bit shaky the entire walk. He went straight to lay down, taking a few deep breaths. He seemed scared, which was unusual for him. "So what is it? You must have a diagnosis already, otherwise you would have gotten one of the doctors from the dining hall before coming here."
He took her hand in his, holding tight as he let out a sigh, staring at the ceiling. "The exact same thing Eris had. In our situation, it's not treatable."
"When did you find out?" Chelsea squeezed his hand, laying down next to him.
"It's been well over three months since Alyssa told me. The only symptom that showed up before a week and a half ago was the three weeks my memory went out, other than that there's been no symptoms until recently. It was a weird looking blood test that gave it away to her."
"Who knows about it?"
"Just you, Joseph, and the doctors here." He sounded a bit distracted, briefly looking at her before returning his eyes to the ceiling. "I have a question for you."
"Go for it."
He sighed, letting go of her hand. "I kept telling myself it wasn't my business and I wasn't going to ask." He sat up, finally looking at her. "What exactly is your relationship with Horatio?"
Chelsea didn't respond, looking at the ceiling for a minute before sitting up with him. "I told you that I was always going to be truthful. Nothing happened before tonight and what happened was that I kissed him, it's on me."
He didn't seem surprised or upset, he just nodded. "That may not be a bad thing."
FLASHBACK Zachary knew well before that night that there was mutual attraction between Horatio and Chelsea. He also knew that if he left Chelsea alone long enough and essentially ignored her, she would act on it.
A few hours before sending the group to headquarters, he had met up with Elizabeth in the dark of night. She was the one who tipped him off on Horatio's attraction to Chelsea whenever she had been tied to his thoughts. "You're allowing them both to go to headquarters? I can't say I agree with that decision."
"I picked everyone for a specific reason. I know they're both going to contribute and they work pretty well together." He sighed, a deep sinking feeling hitting his chest. "With any luck, something will happen between them by tonight and I can finally tell her the truth."
Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "It's not too late to back out, you have no reason to get involved with the Wanderers or Ines and Cristiano's personal life."
He shook his head, crossing his arms and pulling them tight against his chest. "It's not just about Ines or the Wanderers. If I can talk them into it, it helps the Wanderers, Ines, Onyx, and the Voyagers. The new resistance isn't going anywhere, Liz, we can't pretend that we're going to wake up one morning and they'll be gone because that's not how it works. This is going to be a long fight and we're going to lose more people than we've already lost. Eventually they're going to target the leaders and if that happens any time soon, we'd be completely fucked."
The two heard someone stirring behind them, the both of them turning to see a smaller girl with braided blonde hair, a brown leather jacket and blue jeans to keep her warm in the night's cold air. She stayed frozen in place, despite the two having already seen her and made eye contact with her. "I thought you guys told my mom that the Voyagers weren't active anymore."
Elizabeth let go of Zachary's shoulder and faced Gwen with a soft smile. "We told you guys that because this white group is made up of Voyagers and if something were to happen and you guys were to be questioned, we wanted you guys to be able to say that you didn't know anything about the Voyagers and mean it so you could all just walk away and start over again."
"Why wouldn't you guys tell the truth? You told us that we were safe here but I heard your conversation, there lies concern that something can happen. That's not safe." Gwen immediately shot back, going on the defensive.
Zachary stared at the ground, uncrossing his arms. "Gwen, we're not concerned about something happening to the group." His voice faltered. He ran his hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. "I'm sick. I'm going to die and whenever that happens, Chelsea has nobody here for her. I can't bring myself to have a kid with her because what's killing me is genetic, I can't do that to my own kid, I can't do that to Chelsea."
Gwen immediately let her face fall, her body language easing as Zachary spoke to her. "I'm sorry…" She put her hands in her pockets. "Why are you concerned about Ines and Onyx and the Wanderers? Shouldn't you be focusing on yourself and Chelsea?"
He considered avoiding the question but knew what he told her was going back to her parents and he'd rather be completely truthful. "Cristiano isn't fit to lead a group anymore and every resistance has rules in place to keep someone from being in power too long. If Horatio were to have a child, Cristiano would be out of power and Horatio would be put in place as the new leader. It's a toss up on whether he takes it or passes it to Orsino, either way it needs to happen. Whenever Cristiano is out of power, Ines can comfortably leave him."
Elizabeth frowned as she looked at Zachary, then back to Gwen. "You should probably go home, it's not safe at night."
Gwen wanted to say something else, but quickly turned and went back towards her home, leaving Zachary and Elizabeth alone. "Elizabeth, did Eris ever hear voices that weren't there?"
"Towards the end, yeah." Elizabeth reached out to him, taking his arm in hers. "You need to tell Chelsea the truth."
The two started to walk back towards the community, Zachary's balance being a little off as he walked, which was why Elizabeth was holding onto him. "How, though? Eris lasted so long with the same sickness and if I tell her that a month would be lucky for me, it would devastate her. If I told her that I've known even longer than that, I don't even.. want to imagine how badly that's going to hurt her."
"You can't hang on to that when you know you don't have that much time left. You know that Pierre has already sworn to you that he'll take over the group as soon as you say the word and he won't give up on the cause until he's achieved it. He's already told you that he would handle it in the same manner that you have as well. You already know Chelsea will be fine because Horatio promised you that he would take care of her. You have plans laid out for years regarding the group, you've done everything you can and right now it's time that you take a step back, let Pierre take control and spend what time you have left with Chelsea."
"What do you mean that may not be a bad thing? How could you say something like that?" Chelsea looked a bit offended at what Zachary had said.
"Chelsea, I don't even have a month left. I'm going to die, it could be tonight, it could be in a week. I don't know when it will be, but I had Alyssa, Amanda, Joseph, and Horatio look over my test results, I had a doctor in Santa Fe look over them and they all told me that it's not going to be long. A month is what they gave me the very first day I was in Santa Fe, two weeks ago."
"Horatio knew and he didn't say anything?" Zachary could tell Chelsea was grasping at straws, trying to find someone to blame.
He gave a weak smile as he ran his hand through her hair, eventually resting his hand on the top of her head. "He didn't tell you because I gave him an ultimatum. He wanted to tell you more than anything but he's got people who are important to him as well, he has people here to look out for besides himself now. I wanted to be the one to tell you when I knew I was ready to put it out there and to be honest with you, I'm still not ready, I probably wouldn't be until I died but I can't keep you in the dark anymore."
"Did you know when I came back with Anthony and Alice?" He nodded, her face falling even more. "Does my dad know?"
"No, but I think you need to sit out the scouting tomorrow and go talk to him." She seemed to agree, which was just one more thing Zachary needed out of the way by the time the scouts left in the morning.
Horatio took a seat next to David, giving a nod to Sarah as he looked over at her. "I have a favor to ask from you and you can have some time to think about it, but I need an answer by the morning."
"What is it?"
"In the morning, I'm taking a group to go scout out where we believe your RV is. I'd like for you to join us with your camera."
Sarah and David shared a look before Sarah looked back at the table. "I'll think about it."
Later that night, there was a knock at the front door. Gwen stood on the other side, looking a little nervous. "I have to ask something, but please don't tell Elizabeth or Zachary that I told you what they were talking about."
He gave a soft nod, a bit of concern going over him as she seemed to panic. "What's going on? Did something happen? Where are your parents?"
"They're at home, but last night I heard Elizabeth and Zachary talking. She said that the people in this group are Voyagers, is that true?"
He gave a reassuring smile, crossing his arms. "I won't lie to you; yes, almost everyone in this group belongs to the Voyagers. There's also some people from France, and my family from Ontario. There's a wide variety of people and the decision to not mention it to you guys wasn't deliberate, it just never came up. There's nobody out for you and your family and we're doing our best to protect you guys."
She looked at her feet. "I think you guys should tell my parents the truth. If I tell them, they're going to want to leave."
"And you don't want to leave?"
Gwen went to respond, holding her tongue before she sighed. "I don't know. I like the people here but I don't want my family to not be safe."
Horatio nodded, his smile staying on his face. "I get it. I have three younger brothers here and I would do anything for them, I'd do anything for my mom, for…" He waved his hand dismissively in the air. "You get what I mean." He stayed quiet for a minute before stepping outside the house, shutting the house. "Come on, I'll take you home and tell your parents about the group, does that work with you?"
FLASHBACK
Zachary had gotten Pierre and Horatio to meet him in the medical center where he had had more tests run, the results showing no improvement from the last one that had run on him.
He let the both of them look over the papers Alyssa had given him, Horatio explained a few things to Pierre about the papers. Pierre seemed confused about the situation all together. "Why are you telling us this?"
Horatio had two papers laid out in front of him, his face going dark as he compared them. "He's telling us because at the rate he's deteriorating, he only has a month at most."
Zachary nodded, taking a seat across from the two men. "That's what Alyssa said as well. I chose you two specifically because I know the group will be relatively okay when I die, but I know they need a strong leader to push them to continue to fight for what they believe in. Pierre, you didn't give up on the Crusaders for years, you stuck with them through it all and I'm begging you to show that same perseverance and patience to the Voyagers. If they keep jumping between leaders, they're just going to stop fighting and I don't want that for them."
Pierre sat in silence for a moment before cupping his hands in front of him. "I will, I swear I will."
Horatio looked at Pierre, Zachary barely catching a glimpse of sadness in his eyes as he looked back to the table. Zachary leaned closer to the table, focusing on Horatio now. "I need you to know that I'm only going to ask this of you because I know you, I trust you. I know that you're more loyal to an individual than you are the group and I need you to look after Chelsea. She doesn't know when to back away from a fight, but you do. She doesn't know what she's fully capable of and you've been able to bring out a strength and passion that I've never seen in her. I need you to keep that fire inside of her alive." Horatio didn't respond, keeping his eyes glued to the papers in front of him. "Can I trust you to do that for me, Horatio?"
"Yes, you can.."
The next morning the group of scouts had gotten together, with the exception of Horatio who hadn't been seen since the night before. Sarah joined the group a few minutes after they were supposed to meet with her camera in hand.
They waited another twenty minutes for Horatio, who still hadn't shown. The group started to wonder if they should send someone for him, but nobody volunteered to go.
Zachary put his hands in his pockets, nodding slightly. "I'll take his place." He looked up at the group, a fake smile plastered on his face that only a few of them could see past. "It's just to check a few things out, what's the worst that could happen?"
"The worst that could happen…" The group froze in place, hearing a voice that most people present immediately recognized as the leader of the new resistance. "Well, for a man who's already on his way out, you seem quite desperate to make it happen already."
The man approached Zachary who was already standing a bit of a distance from the group. He immediately tensed up, prompting Milo and Marshal to try and get Sarah out of the situation, knowing the others could fully handle themselves.
"The numbers are horribly uneven, Mr. Bennington, and that's quite a disappointment to me."
"It's uneven because you lured your own people into a death trap, that was your decision and it had nothing to do with my people or myself." Zachary refused to move, having only an idea of what the man was about to attempt.
The man drew his gun. "That's just false, your people made the decision to kill ten of my people, I only killed the one. That's not how an exchange works."
"What exchange are you talking about?" Zachary finally started to back away from the man, growing more uneasy as he continued to get closer to him.
"Equivalent exchange." The man reached out to Zachary, pulling him close and lowering his voice to a whisper. "Your people are growing restless. One has grown to two and had you responded better to the actions my group had been taking, there would only be one, Horatio would have shown up this morning and nothing would have happened to you."
Orsino was the first of the group to try and distract the man or get him away but it was already too late by the time he had gathered the courage to do anything. He reached out to the man as he pulled the trigger, Zachary falling to the ground in front of him.
The man stared straight at Orsino, holding his gun close to his chest. "You'd better go help your friend, you aren't going to get anything out of chasing me."
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 6, 2021 21:46:31 GMT
Zachary NOOO!!!!!!!! I was going to say that at least Chelsea and Zachary can be together for the time he had left, but after the ending to this part.... There might not be any time left. I didn't realize his illness had progressed so much, but that might not even matter at this point.
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Post by Kal on Feb 12, 2021 11:55:23 GMT
Marshal and Orsino lifted Zachary off the ground and started off to the medical center, Carlos going to grab Amanda while Milo went to grab Alyssa. Marie went to get Pierre, Camillo made sure Sarah got home unbothered, Cyrus went to get Joseph while Filip went to go find Horatio.
Filip found Horatio in Vincent and Samantha's old house, unable to remember how he got there. Filip told him what had happened with Zachary and his face fell rather quickly. He sent Filip home and went off on his own way.
Horatio went to Zachary's house, getting Chelsea awake and to the medical center where the scout group, the leaders, and the doctors within the group had reconvened.
Alyssa was the first to spot Chelsea, a sigh escaping her as a sad look crossed her eyes. She approached Chelsea carefully. "Chelsea, I'm sorry…"
"Who did it?" Chelsea held her arms tight against her chest, trying to ease her own trembling.
Alyssa looked to Marshal, who immediately looked at the ground and shook his head. "It was the leader of the new resistance. He showed up and apparently already knew about the plan to scout out his area."
Chelsea looked past Marshal, seeing Orsino staring straight at her with blood covering both of his hands and his clothes. "He said there were two people that were working for him in your group now. He talked to Zachary about equivalent exchange and then shot him."
Amanda nodded along. "That's what Zachary told me before he died. I couldn't make much sense of what he was saying, but he did say that there were two and that equivalent exchange meant that the new resistance's leader was fair game." She then faced Chelsea, a frown settling on her face.
Pierre seemed to be off on his own before letting out a sigh. "It was bait. There is no such thing as equivalent exchange with these people and we all know it, Zachary knew it too. It was a statement he made in bitterness, he wasn't capable of thinking at that point, I saw it, so did Alyssa."
Chelsea continued holding herself, trying to breathe through the tears that she was forcing back. "Then why are we all here? What's the point? Better yet, how does one man that we all recognized get past nine people, go on a rant, kill someone, and get away? Can someone explain that bit to me because I feel like if even just one person was paying actual attention, Zachary would still be alive." Chelsea turned to Horatio, seeing he was completely detached from the conversation. "And where were you this entire time?"
"He was quite literally tied up in Samantha and Vincent's house; someone made it a point for Horatio to not show up this morning and stall Zachary in whatever way they could without directly interfering with him." Filip quickly defended his brother, as he was the one who had found him that morning. "Zachary was a target and the new resistance got him. Horatio, you know how you got where you were this morning. Whoever took you there is responsible for Zachary's death, so what are you going to do about it?"
The room stayed silent as Horatio continued looking at his own feet, closed his eyes and then opened them. He slowly raised his head to meet Filip's eyes. "Filippo, if I do something about it then the group loses whatever leverage we had." He looked at Chelsea, seeming to quickly change his mind after seeing her pain. "I… Pierre, I can handle one of the two people in the group that are working against us, I just need you to say the word."
"Did they have anything to do with Zachary's death or are we trying to get back at them just to even the numbers?" Pierre crossed his arms with a stern look on his face, likely put on to mask his own sadness.
"It's got a lot to do with his death. The same woman who tried to kill me spent hours in the dead of night last night talking to Zachary to convince him to take my place today on the chance that I didn't show up. He refused for hours because he didn't want his last week or days to be too stressful on himself, he knew that it would only kill him faster. He wanted to stay here and give what he had left with the people he cared about and because of her he didn't get to do it." Horatio paused, his gaze never breaking from Pierre. Chelsea briefly caught a glimpse of a few tears building up in his eyes. "On second thought, I don't need your permission. I'm doing this on my own volition, if that criminalizes me then so be it."
Horatio turned and started heading for the door, Pierre hurrying to cut him off by putting his arm in front of the door. "You need to tell me how you plan on doing this so I can back you up. I don't disagree with your plan to do right by Zachary, but I need to know how you're going to do it so that I can confidently say I knew what was going on."
The rest of the group looked on, a few of them looking just as determined as Horatio looked. He put his hands on his hips, tapping his foot. "Putting Angie through a trial when we already knew she was guilty was a mistake that I'm not going to let the group make twice. I'm going to get answers out of her that we couldn't get from Gabbie or Angie, then she's up to you." He turned back to the group. "Milo, Alyssa, I'm so sorry that someone in our group knew about Kimber's fate hours or even days beforehand and thought that a child deserved what happened to her and pretended to mourn alongside you two. Orsino, Camillo, you two are with me." He looked back at Pierre. "Are you coming with?"
Their conversations went on as the room around Chelsea grew quiet and cold, causing her to shiver even more. The silence only being interrupted by a familiar voice that Chelsea knew she shouldn't be hearing. "You need to go with him to back him up since you're the only other person who knows about her."
Chelsea slowly turned to see the pale, freckled man leaning against the table behind her. His white button up shirt tucked into his black pants without a crease in sight, his sleeves rolled to his elbows. She looked up to meet his blue eyes, which were kind and familiar to her, seeming so different from when she had last seen them.
She shook her head, forcing her eyes closed. She reopened them to see him running a hand through his black hair before he crossed his arms. "Go check Kimber's old room, you should figure out what's going on pretty quickly."
Chelsea did what he said, slowly making her way to the room. The bed was covered in blood, the outline of a body formed under a blanket on the bed. She took a few shaky steps until she was in front of it, holding out her hand and grabbing the blanket, hesitating on moving herself.
As she went to move the blanket, her wrist was grabbed by someone behind her. "Are you sure you want to see? Seeing someone you care about in this condition is going to leave a mark on you and make it more difficult to come back from." Chelsea could tell by the voice that it was Joseph.
She gave a small nod, Joseph taking his hand off of her wrist and allowing her to pull the blanket back to reveal the body of a man who she had seen only moments ago, despite being dead for over an hour now. She took in all the details she could from his disheveled black hair to the gunshot wound that killed him.
The shaking returned to her as she dropped the blanket in her hands, tears quickly overtaking her as she lost her breath, stumbling back.
Joseph covered the body back up, then turned his attention to Chelsea. He caught her just as her knees gave out, pulling her face into his chest and holding her tight, running his hand through her hand while trying to calm her down, the sounds of her sobs being muffled by his body.
It didn't take long before Horatio showed up and shared a few words with Joseph, then helped Chelsea up off the ground. Joseph left the two of them alone, Horatio letting out a sigh as he put a hand on the small of Chelsea's back and guided her out of the room. "What inspired you to do that? You had no interest in coming back here until now, so why did you do it?"
"He told me to." Chelsea stood her ground as Horatio shut the door to the room. "I'm not crazy, I know I'm not but I saw him, plain as day. He spoke to me and told me where I could find the body."
He stayed quiet for a moment before crossing his arms. "I believe you but for now, I need to get you out of here. Amanda and Alyssa have some final tests to do on the body and an autopsy to try and get more information on his sickness, even if it's not what killed him."
"Whose decision was it for me to leave while they do that?"
"Their own and partially mine. They don't think you'll be able to handle beind around the body and after doing the autopsy on Kimber, I don't think you should be a witness to it. There's some things in life that you're never going to forget and that's one of them, it's better that you focus on your memories with him and not seeing him the way you just did."
Horatio led Chelsea out of the medical center, taking her back to his own home. "What was the conclusion of your talk with Pierre?"
"Don't worry about it, it doesn't involve you." Chelsea could tell Horatio wasn't very comfortable not telling her, but she knew he had his reasons. "Jean Luc is going to be finishing repairs on Lecia's house today so while you're asleep today, she's probably going to be here. Is that okay?" She nodded. "Alright, we'll take things one step at a time. For now you need rest, when you get up then we'll go get your stuff and move it over here. Does that sound like a plan to you?"
Chelsea agreed with him and went to the room he was letting her stay in while he left the house, the silence she had endured before she saw Zachary filling her ears again. The room started going cold once again, she pulled the covers over her head to try and stop whatever was happening.
The blankets were pulled away from her, Zachary looking over her with a disappointed look on his face. "I take it you don't know what's happening, otherwise you'd be doing something to change it because you know it's detrimental to your health and the people around you."
"Will you just tell me what's going on instead of making me seem crazy all over again?"
He crossed his arms, looking around the room. "The only person who knows you saw me believes you because he already knows what's going on from when Elizabeth went through it. You just went through a traumatic situation and the gene is malfunctioning. For Elizabeth, it made her target the weakest mind in the area so she could help them through whatever situations they faced and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're the weakest mind right now. You're shaken up and the last thing you expected was to be left alone all in the matter of hours and you're feeling guilty, hurt, and unable to wrap your head around it. All those negative emotions manifested and created what you're seeing right now. An illusion of what's hurting you."
Chelsea got out of the bed, leaving the bedroom to find Lecia in the kitchen. The two shared a look before Lecia broke the silence between them. "You good?" Chelsea nodded, Lecia meaning onto the counter in front of her. "Really? Because you look pretty lost to me."
"I'm fine, I was just going out for some fresh air." Chelsea slid her hands into her pockets, trying not to seem too worked up. "It's a bit difficult being cooped up right now, I'm sure you understand."
Lecia nodded, taking a sip of the drink in front of her and not responding to Chelsea.
As soon as Chelsea took a step out the front door, Zachary appeared to her once again. "You might want to make an effort to not be seen, wherever it is that you're going." He quickly registered the look on Chelsea's face, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Chels, I'm not going anywhere except for wherever you go. I'm in your head and yours only. Nobody is going to hear what I say, see what I do, they're going to see you freaking out and trying to run from somebody who is already dead."
"No, that's not true.. you said Horatio knows what's going on, he believes me. He'll know what's going on, Elizabeth will know." Chelsea continued on her way, Zachary following after her.
He appeared in front of her once again, aore stern look settled on his face. "Take a good look around you, neither of those two are around you and someone capable and willing to end your life is. If you're going to run then take someone with you, I get that you want to be alone but don't let yourself become prey."
Chelsea took a look around, only seeing Filip in the immediate area but paying no attention to her. She turned back to find Zachary gone, leaving her to go on her own.
Chelsea went to the creek, knowing it was probably the farthest she would get from the town without causing a panic within the group.
She was there for an hour, staring at the water before someone appeared across the water from her. They stared at the water before looking at Chelsea herself. "You're a long way from home, my dear, and so soon after the departure of your leader. Why do you stray so far?"
Chelsea looked up to see the same man responsible for shooting Zachary that morning, only looking him in the eye to let out a sigh. "Why did you do it? I'm failing to see any reasoning for what you do. You kill eleven of your own people, then you kill Zachary while ranting about equivalent exchange. What is it you're going for? Psychological discourse?"
He gave a grin, cupping his hands in front of him. "Weakness is one of my biggest pet peeves, I can't stand seeing a weak person lead the masses and I can't stand seeing weak followers. When I had you and Horatio, I had him shot to test his strength and his desire to live, if it was bad enough he would have commanded your help. He did exactly that and whether my companions agree with it or not, he's not a target of mine."
"Why are you telling me this?" Chelsea got off the ground, brushing the dirt off her pants with her hands as she took a few steps away from the water and immediately backing into someone else.
She turned to see the same hooded figure from when she was being kept in the new resistance's house, the scar on their wrist on full display. "To test your own strength."
Chelsea focused on the hooded figure, her skin going cold. "I know who you are, so do three other people within the group. You won't hurt me because you're afraid of blowing your cover and losing your place within the group."
The hooded figure rushed her, pushing her against a tree and holding her there by pressing a knife to her throat. "Don't underestimate me. That's been the mistake from day one. I don't fear the group, I don't fear an individual, I don't fear who you are or who leads your blood."
Chelsea looked over to where the man was, seeing Zachary joined him, his stern look from earlier being replaced with a look of defeat as he whispered something that only she could hear. "Keep her talking, they know where you are."
She returned her vision to the hooded figure, trying to reach up to the hood. "If you're going to kill me then at least be bold enough to show me your face."
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
"You let Horatio see your face before you shot him, why am I not allowed the same treatment?"
"Because he was supposed to die. He knew who I was before I showed him and I fully intended to kill him, he wasn't supposed to live past that day."
Chelsea could tell by the tightening grip of the woman that she was panicking. She turned to Zachary, now seeing Elizabeth in his place. "What am I supposed to do?"
The hooded figure turned to face whoever Chelsea was talking to, focusing on that just long enough for Chelsea to knee her in the stomach, making her drop the knife and stumble back.
Chelsea grabbed the knife before the woman opposite of her could act, holding it tight in her hand. "Get on the ground."
The woman stayed standing for a minute before doing what Chelsea said, shaking her head. "You're not doing this of your own choice. You're doing this because your heart aches and I'm the only one who you can take it out on without facing repercussion. If you thought about this for just one moment you would realize that I'm just going to be replaced in death."
"Take your hood off."
The woman reached up to her hood, grabbing it in her fist as a shot went out and dropped her to the ground in front of Chelsea.
Chelsea looked to the person responsible for the shot, seeing the man had taken his place again across the creek from her.
She looked back down at the body in front of her, letting out a hiss. "I forget how desperate you are to seem like you're in control."
The man didn't seem phased by what he had just done, holstering his gun. "What she was about to do was weakness, but I must say that I see your strength now and I've made note of it."
He turned on his heel, leaving Chelsea with the body and a knife in her hand.
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Post by Kal on Feb 13, 2021 6:22:17 GMT
Devin, Gregory, and Gwen were the first people to spot Chelsea on her way back into town, the small blonde woman dragging a body along with her.
At Greg's order, Gwen made a break to go find someone to help while he and Devin stopped Chelsea and tried to talk to her. She didn't say a word to them, only dropping the body when Pierre showed up.
He questioned her about her whereabouts and what had happened, quickly blaming her for the death. Pierre removed the hood from the body, finding a silver haired woman underneath it. Identifying Leona only made Pierre's questioning grow heavier while Chelsea refused to say a word.
Devin looked over the scene, immediately jumping to Chelsea's defense. "She didn't do it." He approached Pierre and Leona's body, pointing out the obvious bullet wound to her head. "That's a gunshot, the bullet is still in plain sight. Chelsea has a knife in her hands."
"And how are you to know she didn't just drop the gun?" Pierre questioned the boy, his face bright red in anger.
Devin backed off, having already made his point and sensing Pierre was about to freak out on him.
Pierre motioned to the body. "This is what we can't do. We cannot enact justice as vigilantes because that's not how civilization works. You don't get to choose who lives and who dies based on what you believe."
A crowd had gathered, the only one speaking up being Horatio after he had looked at the wound. "Devin's right, she didn't have a gun." He stood and faced Pierre, neither of them being the type to back down. "I know because I took the only gun she's had in her hands for weeks and returned it to the owner. Elizabeth's gun has been getting passed around and Chelsea was the last person to have it, yes, but it was back in Elizabeth's hands hours ago and if you'll look at her right now, it's holstered on her right hip. Chelsea's clean for this one."
Pierre turned to Elizabeth, who simply nodded with her arms crossed. "That's right and I'm willing to place bets on who did it." She approached the body, kneeling and whispering something to herself before using two fingers to reach into the wound and force the bullet out. She held it in her hands as she got off the ground, her legs a bit shaky. "If I pass this bullet to Horatio, he'll tell you where he recognizes it from. It'll be different from where Amanda and Alyssa recognize it from, but they'll all recognize it."
She handed it to Horatio, taking a moment to look at the blood on her hands before she looked to him for an answer. He studied it before handing it to Amanda. "The same markings as the bullet that killed Kimber and the same markings as the bullet shot me, ironically fired by Leona herself."
Amanda allowed Alyssa to look over it while it was in her hand, closing it in her palms. "He's right about the Kimber part. It's also got the same markings as the bullet that killed Zachary."
Devin's glare stayed focused on Pierre. "The makeshift autopsy says it was new resistance, so we're not questioning Chelsea anymore, right?"
Pierre looked between the people, his gaze stopping on Chelsea. "Chelsea, why aren't you saying anything? These four just fought to prove your innocence and you did nothing for the same fight." Pierre caught Elizabeth's eyes as she crossed her arms once again and looked to the ground. "If you know something then say something."
"She doesn't know that what's going on is real." Elizabeth looked back up to him. "The last thing she recognizes as real is Leona getting shot, but right now she's disassociating to the point of being unable to recall how she got here and if what she's seeing is true. She's hearing things that we're not, seeing things that we're not because Zachary's death sent the gene to malfunction. What she just experienced from talking with the new resistance leader to watching Leona getting shot is quite literally breaking her from the inside. She only knows that one person is real, she needs to go with them until she's able to decide real from thought up."
"It depends on who it is. I can't let her go with just anyone." Pierre looked conflicted between doing what was good for Chelsea and for the group, knowing they were two very different things. He hesitated a minute before turning to Horatio and Jean Luc. "Horatio, take her somewhere where she can process her thoughts. Jean Luc, I need you to take Carlos and Cyrus and hurry up with Lecia's house."
Pierre spent a good amount of time in Zachary's house going through records he had kept to try and understand how exactly Zachary had planned to get the group out of new resistance territory without relocating.
Marie eventually joined him, taking a seat with him at the table. "Nicolas, do you really believe that Chelsea was capable of killing Leona?"
He didn't look up, only continuing to scan the papers in front of him. "I'm not sure. All I know of the situation is the gene is unpredictable and if Elizabeth can overpower and kill someone then Chelsea's just as capable of it. She showed up with a body and with her just being able to carry it shows she would have had enough strength to overpower her."
"I think it's quite obvious who did it and the question is why. The only one who knows the answer is Chelsea." Marie put her hands in her lap. "Ines mentioned that Filip saw Chelsea leaving the town and talking to herself as if she were holding up a conversation with someone else. She needs help from someone who can understand her, Nicolas. You need to have Horatio take her to her father until she gets back to normal."
"I'll think about it, that's the only thing I can say right now." He kept his head down until she left the house.
Elizabeth took some time to think about Chelsea's situation, Marie eventually catching her off guard on her way to the medical center. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that we're going for the same goal."
Marie seemed confused, but didn't let the conversation phase her. "Chelsea's health is my goal right now, more so fixing what's going on with the gene. Are you not feeling anything?"
"No, I can't say I am. She didn't feel anything when the gene in me was malfunctioning, so it's probably an individual thing." Elizabeth shook her head. "The one thing that's an individual thing, I guess."
"I feel like you already have a way to fix it, but you don't want to share because you aren't confident it will work." Marie stopped walking, Elizabeth stopping with her.
Elizabeth turned to face her, looking at the ground. "Theoretically, weaponization would allow the gene to have a clean slate and she wouldn't have to deal with everything the gene is doing to her, which would help her a lot."
Marie turned around to see Pierre heading their way, his hands buried in his pockets. "Did you find something new, Nicolas?"
"Zachary's plan was to have Chelsea go undercover." He stopped walking when he caught up to the two women. "I can't help but agree with it. She knows the area and in her current state, she would fit in with the new resistance pretty well." He started walking, the two following him. "She's gone to headquarters with Horatio, Ines, and Filip, we don't have long to make a decision."
Elizabeth seemed hesitant, cupping her hands in front of her. "Shouldn't Chelsea or Horatio get a say in this too? It's kind of a big decision to make on your own, Pierre."
He turned to her, walking backwards for just a moment. "It's not just up to me. She doesn't care what happens to her from here and I already know what Horatio is going to say, if a tie comes up then I'll just ask Filip. Ines is incapable of making decisions yet, apparently." Pierre shook his head as he turned to face forward again, leading the two to the dining hall.
Chelsea, Ines, Filip, and Horatio made it to headquarters before nightfall. Chelsea went straight to her father's office while the rest of the group stayed downstairs.
The receptionist seemed to be paying a lot of attention to Filip before she eventually broke the silence. "Weren't you two with the group that broke the window in the meeting hall?"
Filip stayed quiet, looking to his brother for an answer. "What are you talking about?"
"The night of the Richardson's party." She pointed at Filip. "You were there when Anthony almost fell, right?"
Horatio grabbed his brother's wrist, leading him upstairs. Ines followed them, her arms crossed. "She was fishing for information. Filippo, have you ever met that woman? She acted as if she had met you before."
Filip looked to his mother, shaking his head as Horatio let go of his wrist. "I don't think so, that's Debbie Renolds, she used to date Zachary but I never met her."
Horatio left the two, not really minding if they followed or stayed in their place. He went to the fifth floor, following a line of offices with open doors to the one door that was closed.
He held his hand on the handle for a minute before pushing it open, the smell of dust quickly overwhelming him and making him burst into a fit of coughs.
Ines went past him, turning on the light to the office. She went to the desk, reading the only paper that sat on the desk. "Horatio, why did you come up here?" She took the paper in her hand, continuing to read it. "This place has been empty for months."
"No it hasn't, look at the closet door handle and the filing cabinet handles compared to everything else in the room, someone has been in here recently." Horatio motioned Filip into the office, shutting the door behind them. "Fil, check the closet. Ma, look in the desk drawers please." Horatio went to the filing cabinet, Ines looked through the desk, and Filip looked through the closet. "We're looking for any papers relating to the Voyagers, Crusaders, or the new resistance."
Ines immediately pulled out a stack of papers from the desk. "This is all on the new resistance."
Filip stood on his toes to pull a box down from the top of the closet. He quickly looked through it and shut the lid. "Crusaders."
Horatio sorted through the papers in the filing cabinet, taking what he recognized as work relating to the Voyagers. He took the material Filip and Ines had gathered, putting it into one stack and frowning as he looked at it. "I don't suppose you guys have an idea of how we're going to get this out of here?"
Ines took the papers into her hands and passed them to Filip. "Put them in your shirt, make sure that you make them flat and act like you are uncomfortable, cross your arms and slouch."
"What if someone asks what's going on?" Filip hesitantly took the papers from his mom.
"Filippo, do what I said." Ines quickly snapped back at him, going to the door with her sons following her.
Chelsea sat opposite of her father, who had given her his undivided attention. She had already told him about Zachary's sickness and death, along with what she knew of the new resistance.
"Now that he's gone, there's not really a place for me with the Voyagers anymore. That's what it feels like, anyways." Chelsea had her head in her hand as she tried to recall everything that had happened recently.
"That's not right and you know it." He leaned over the desk a bit, his eyes focused on hers. "You went with a group of Voyagers to assist with the Richardson's gathering, that was a you decision, not a Voyager decision and not a Zachary decision. Who brought you here today?"
Chelsea thought over what he had already said, then went to answer his question. "Filip, Ines, and Horatio."
"The Villa family, they never go out of their way unless you're good with them." Isaac shook his head slightly. "Cristiano Villa, as abhorrent as his behavior towards women is, raised his boys to be socialites. He taught them how to pick their own teams and disregard anyone else around them. That sounds quite familiar from what you've told me about Horatio, does it not?"
"Well him, yeah, but Filip isn't like that. He cares a lot about what everyone else has to say."
"Filip is more of Ines' son than he is Cristiano's. Make no mistake, all four brothers belong to both parents but Filip has a softer personality than the rest of them because of how little time he spent with and around Cristiano. I've been reading into the files the family has in Canada and they've got some extensive research on the boys until they disappeared." He paused. "Chelsea, have you spoken with Orsino or Camillo yet?"
She shook her head. "No, they're always around Cristiano and I was told to avoid him. I only ever see them in passing."
"Work on getting to know them." He took a breath, seeming a bit tired. "You doubt yourself too much, you've always been like that but you were quite literally programmed to the best person you can. Your words have the strength to move anyone if you try hard enough. You and Anthony were genetically crafted to be socialites, Elizabeth was genetically crafted to be a protector. You three have your talents and from my perspective, you're wasting yours."
There was a knock at the door, Ines taking a step in whenever Isaac gave her the all clear. Horatio and Filip followed her, shutting the door behind them.
Chelsea watched Filip for a moment, growing a bit concerned for him. "Filip, are you okay? You weren't walking like that when we came here."
He nodded, taking a stack of papers out from under his shirt. "Mr. Hampton, can I pester you for a folder? My mom is saying I have to get a folder from you or leave the papers in my shirt and it's quite uncomfortable."
Isaac slowly nodded, reaching into his desk and grabbing an empty folder and passing it to Filip. "What are those papers for?"
"It's Zachary's research." Horatio watched this brother fumble with getting the papers into the folder before he shut it. "I hope it doesn't inconvenience you for us to take them."
Isaac shook his head. "If I didn't notice they were there then I didn't need them." He looked at the clock before getting out of his seat. "I'm afraid I have to get running to a meeting, thank you for bringing Chelsea to see me." Chelsea got up and hugged him, Isaac whispering something to her. "You're much stronger than what you limit yourself to, you just need to stop doubting yourself and put your mind to work."
As soon as the four returned to town, Ines and Filip went to the medical center to put Zachary's research in the surveillance room, leaving Horatio and Chelsea alone for the moment.
She hadn't spoken much since she left headquarters, but there was something about her that had changed that Horatio couldn't place. "Do you feel better after talking to your dad?"
Chelsea nodded. "I think it's just what I needed. I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary right now and I hope it stays that way."
He gave a gentle smile, putting his hands in his pockets. "That's good, I'm happy to hear you got some closure."
The two started back home before Pierre cut them off just outside Horatio's house. He seemed stressed. "While you were out, we had a meeting. The meeting was in regards to Chelsea and Zachary's written plans for her. There's a tie on following his plans and sending her undercover into the new resistance or leaving her here. Chelsea, I want you to be the deciding voice."
Horatio crossed his arms. "Who all was in the meeting? You gotta remember there's still someone undercover here, even when Leona's dead."
"It was Marie, Marshal, Elizabeth, your father, Alyssa, and myself. Three and three." Pierre sounded certain of himself. "Nobody there posed a risk of being undercover." He then turned to Chelsea. "Think about it tonight and tell me your thoughts in the morning, we'll go from there."
He went on his way, heading towards his own home. Jean Luc had finished repairs on Lecia's house just before the sun went down, which meant that the two were alone in the house.
Horatio immediately brought up the topic. "I'm not going to try to talk you out of your decision, I just want to know what you're thinking so I can help you."
Chelsea thought back to her conversation with her dad, knowing this would be the perfect opportunity for her and that the leader of the new resistance could easily be tricked by her.
"I'm going to go undercover." "I'm going to find a way to help from here."
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 13, 2021 17:11:10 GMT
"I'm going to go undercover."
I think Chelsea can handle this. Hopefully, the gene doesn't cause her too much trouble now. I actually wasn't expecting Leona to be the traitor. My suspicions lied with someone else. I knew Leona had started out bad, but I thought she had changed. Especially after everything she went through with the Voyagers. I wonder if her betrayal could possibly be some sort of side effect of when she was implanted with the foreign chip from earlier. Maybe, they didn't completely get rid of it like they thought they did. Perhaps, when the power was shut off when they were operating on her could have prevented their success. I guess, we won't see how Devin would have reacted to Leona when he would eventually find out her role in what happened to his family. I guess we can still see his reaction to the other person involved with that later.
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Post by Kal on Feb 13, 2021 18:04:10 GMT
"I'm going to go undercover."I think Chelsea can handle this. Hopefully, the gene doesn't cause her too much trouble now. I actually wasn't expecting Leona to be the traitor. My suspicions lied with someone else. I knew Leona had started out bad, but I thought she had changed. Especially after everything she went through with the Voyagers. I wonder if her betrayal could possibly be some sort of side effect of when she was implanted with the foreign chip from earlier. Maybe, they didn't completely get rid of it like they thought they did. Perhaps, when the power was shut off when they were operating on her could have prevented their success. I guess, we won't see how Devin would have reacted to Leona when he would eventually find out her role in what happened to his family. I guess we can still see his reaction to the other person involved with that later. I wonder, who were you suspecting? I tried my best to not make it obvious it was her and as Chelsea said, not many people in the story knew either. Pierre's a man of diligence and wits, so rest assured there's going to be an investigation that will hopefully provide answers.
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 13, 2021 20:30:48 GMT
I'll pm you on who I suspected.
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Post by Kal on Feb 14, 2021 4:36:25 GMT
"You had a plan on how to deal with Leona, didn't you?" Chelsea moved the topic along to give herself some time to think.
"Yeah, Pierre didn't agree with it." Horatio noticed the diversion, but didn't comment on it. "I was going to kill her and by the time I managed to talk Pierre into letting me do it, she went missing and showed up on your back twenty minutes later." He hesitated, letting out a sigh. "You remember what happened, don't you?"
"Yes." Chelsea took a moment to think. "I'm going to go."
Horatio looked a bit concerned for a minute. "Are you sure it's a good idea and that you're ready for it? You're going to have to do some unpleasant things to fit in with their group."
She nodded. "If Zachary was confident enough to send me in then there's something there for me to find."
A week after her decision was made, Chelsea went back to the creek where she saw the new resistance's leader.
Nobody knew she was going to leave besides Pierre and Horatio, which is how she wanted it to avoid letting the new resistance's second undercover person blow her cover before she even got there.
Within twenty minutes, the same man who had shot Leona right in front of her showed up on the opposite side of the creek bed. "Is there a reason you're here, Ms. Hampton?"
"I want in." Chelsea crossed her arms. "There's nothing for me with Onyx or the Voyagers. I have plenty of information to offer you that can end the fight with both groups pretty quick." The man looked a bit curious, taking a running start and grabbing onto a branch that hung above the creek, swinging himself to the other side and landing right on his feet. "I've been trying to think of why Leona would want to go against the Voyagers and I just couldn't figure it out until I realized that she was only looking out for herself. She wanted to survive, so she aligned with what she thought would keep her alive."
The man looked around the immediate area, then seemed to stare at Chelsea herself for a moment before stopping in front of her. "How can I trust that there's not a group just waiting to grab me ten or twenty feet back?"
Chelsea shrugged. "You can't, that's obvious. Check your cameras, you'll see there's only one person I've been around since Zachary died and I didn't make a single conversation with him. Those people aren't my people."
"Then tell me, what do you know of Gustave, Grady, Ines, and Isabel?"
"What is it you want to know?" Chelsea uncrossed her arms. "Gus and Isabel are from France, one is made of money and the other isn't. Ines is from Italy, emigrated to Canada, has four grown sons and a bad relationship with her husband, she doesn't speak English. Grady isn't close with anyone, recovering alcoholic, he was part of Rocco's group."
The man nodded, taking a running start to the branch and swinging himself to the other side once again. He turned back to Chelsea, standing in place until she did the same. "We should be arriving by the time our guests do, this should be new for you."
Chelsea already had a feeling on who to expect, based on the man's line of questioning earlier. "What is your name?"
The man shook his head. "That's where our two groups differ from each other. In the time we've known of your group, we've taken the time to learn of you all, your names, your relationships to each other, where you live. I can tell you that your leader is named Nicolas Donadeu, his girlfriend is Marie Duval and they've been together for over four years now. Joseph and Eris Duke were married fifteen years before she died, Marshal and Elizabeth Kennedy have been married about five or six years, Whitlock and Victor are what they named their boys."
"That's not what I asked. I already know all of that." Chelsea crossed her arms once again, trying to hide her discomfort. "I asked for your name, not the history of the Voyagers."
He looked at her and chuckled. "I like that, you have spunk. My name is Danny."
"Okay, Danny, what exactly is our goal?"
"You don't believe that that's my name."
Chelsea uncrossed her arms, trying to throw him off of her trail. "Not particularly, no."
"Daniel is the name I was born under, Danny is what my people call me." He stopped talking until they reached the house that Chelsea recognized from her last visit, an RV parked up front. "Answer me this, Chelsea, has Elizabeth made any reparations in what she's done to the kids from quarantine?"
"What do you mean? The only connection to quarantine that Elizabeth has is that Kimber and Jude were from there."
"If you'll follow me, we have business to attend to." Danny went downstairs, stopping on the staircase to whisper something to a man who was going the opposite way of him, then continued on his way. He grabbed something off of a counter that Chelsea recognized, handing it to her. "You should wear this, you wouldn't want to get caught by the others."
Chelsea slipped on the black hoodie, pulling the hood over her face, an unsettling feeling building up in her chest as Danny waited for her in front of the door to the room that she and Horatio were kept in. "Who's behind that door?"
"Ines Villa and Isabel Ramone." He pointed to a door across the way. "Behind that door is Gregory Remy and Gustave Fortin."
"So are you separating them by the letter of their first name or their gender?" Chelsea focused on the other door. "And why did you ask about Grady if the other one you have is Greg?"
"Neither and I wasn't supposed to have Gregory, I was supposed to have Grady, but my people said he was with the Villa boys, who aren't in my plans just yet." Danny's hand rested on the door handle. "Any more questions?"
Chelsea nodded, looking at a shut door next to the door that Gus and Greg were behind. "Who's behind there?"
"Nobody yet, I've let my people make the decision which other two people they want to grab." Danny pulled a gun out of an ankle holster and passed it to Chelsea, keeping hold of the one holstered to his hip.
The two entered the room to find Ines and Isabel sitting opposite of each other. The two women looked up at them, neither of them saying anything.
Danny seemed to focus on Isabel. "Ms. Ramone, do you want to tell me why you were caught sneaking around my territory with Mr. Fortin?"
"Don't act like you haven't been caught on the Voyager's territory." Isabel held onto the edge of her bed, looking paler than she normally was.
"I'm afraid I have no recollection of what you're talking about. All my travels have been clear of Voyager territory."
"You were right in the middle of Voyager territory when you shot Zachary, there were eleven witnesses to it."
Danny crouched to meet Isabel's eyes. "Were you one of them? Do you know how many times he had come into my territory prior to my one crossing?" He stood straight once again. "Him and Isaac Hampton both have been in my territory countless times that I've ignored, but when I find out he's actively planning on invading my area and instigating issues with my people, I'm not going to let that happen."
Chelsea briefly looked at the window at the top of the room, seeing that they likely hadn't found how Horatio had gotten out as the window was still out of place with enough space for someone to slip out of it.
Isabel didn't have anything else to say to Danny, who walked her through how she was behave and dress while she was in the presence of the new resistance, telling her that if she wanted to be forgiven and civilized once again, she would start following the rules that were placed in front of her.
He left in a hurry, leaving Chelsea with the two women, Ines finally taking a stand. "What's the deal here? What's your place?" Her brows were furrowed as she crossed her arms. "Just because you people think you know something about the people in the group doesn't mean a thing. Any one person with a gun can shoot someone else and the people in our group don't usually wave around empty threats, you got that?"
Chelsea didn't say a word and instead looked for the camera in the room, pointing it out to Ines and dragging her finger along her throat.
Isabel watched the interaction, taking a stand and grabbing Ines by the shoulder as she went to confront Chelsea. She lowered her voice to a whisper as she got close to Ines. "They want us to disconnect the camera."
Ines only seemed to get madder, Chelsea quickly seeing where the Villa brothers really got their tempers from. "How are we supposed to do that? Neither of us can reach."
Chelsea moved to put her back to the camera, hiding her arms and hands from its view. She pointed towards the window and then at Ines. She stepped closer to the two women, keeping her voice barely audible. "Watch your temper, it didn't work out well for Horatio when he was here."
She then left the room, finding Danny waiting for her at the door that Gus and Greg were behind. "That didn't go too horribly, now these two are probably going to be more riled up as they've had time to adjust to their surroundings and discuss the situation with each other. Don't be afraid to take aim at one of them if they step out of line, yeah?"
Chelsea nodded, Danny leading her into the room where neither Greg or Gus could be found. He looked around for a moment before Gus' arm was wrapped around his neck, pulling him tight. Chelsea took aim at Gus just as she saw a leg swing out from behind her. She spun around and grabbed Greg before he could do anything to her, putting him in a headlock while continuing to aim at Gus.
Danny let out a strained chuckle. "Mr. Fortin, I would recommend you let me go… unless you want the boy to be shot." Gus continued holding onto him. "Right, you don't care about the Voyagers. You do care about Isabel, who I'm more than happy to kill already, let me go or there'll be a bullet in her head."
Chelsea pulled Greg along with her to the room with Isabel and Ines. She pushed him away, keeping a tight grip of him with her left hand, opening the door and firing a single shot into the room with her right hand. She then brought Greg back to the former room to find Danny had gotten out of Gus' grasp and somehow managed to get him to the ground.
She pushed Greg into the room and stepped in herself, shutting the door behind her. Danny gave a smile and a nod, acknowledging her trick. Greg went to Gus' side, helping him to his feet.
"Let's start that over, won't we?" Danny's tone towards the two seemed to be rather condescending, Chelsea knew it was taunt Gus. "Mr. Fortin, I found you on my land and then you have the audacity to try and strangle me in my own home. I've met plenty of people from your group, but meeting them comes nowhere near the displeasure it was to meet you. Lay your hands on me again and I'll see you the same fate as Isabel, do you understand me?"
"The people you've been taking and killing haven't been my group." Gus crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. He focused on Greg. "The kid isn't part of my group either, let's get that straightened out before you try to use him as leverage against me."
Danny holstered his gun, going to stand in front of Gus. He balled up a fist and threw it to Gus, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him close as he stumbled back. "Change your goddamn tone, that's your last warning." Danny pushed him against the wall, speaking through gritted teeth. "You are here to reform, there's no room for a contract killer in the new world and if you can't reform then I'll kill you myself." He let go of Gus, who had his own fists clenched, then turned to Greg. "You're going to learn how to act, dress, and confirm to society here. Either one of you protests and that's it."
Danny left the room, grabbing Chelsea's wrist and pulling her along. Unlike Ines and Isabel's room, he locked the door after they had left.
He took Chelsea upstairs, explaining to her that there were a few more questions he had for her while they waited for the next pair of people from her group. He seated her in a room that was away from the main room, allowing her to take off the hoodie. "Tell me your relationship with Horatio. That's one I could never narrow down."
"We were close, I guess." Chelsea looked at the papers in front of Danny. "You seem quite interested in him and I'm sure it's no coincidence that Ines was picked. What's your interest in the Villa family?"
Danny grinned, pulling a specific paper and handing it to Chelsea. "Ines is the daughter of Patrizio Palmiotto. Does that name sound familiar to you?"
Chelsea nodded. "The mob boss." She read of the papers in front of her regarding Patrizio. "So the Villa family is connected to the Voyagers, Wanderers, and the Italian mafia."
"Correct. Getting hold of them would do a significant amount of good in the world, don't you think?"
"Depends on what you mean by getting hold of them." Chelsea passed the papers back to Danny.
He folded his arms on the table. "Getting them to work with us. That holds some struggles, though. Cristiano is a stubborn old fool who refuses to see the value in anyone other than himself, Ines quite literally can't speak the language, and the boys are hot-headed, brash boys. I need you to start with Horatio and once you sway him, he'll be able to talk to Ines and calm her down."
Chelsea shook her head. "What about Filippo? He's her favorite and the youngest so she has a soft spot for him, he's also the easiest to manipulate. If we can get him here and sway him, he can do the rest of the work for us."
Danny nodded, taking down some notes on the same piece of paper that referred to Patrizio. "And what do you know of the middle boys?"
"Orsino and Camillo. I know their names and that's about it. Horatio told me that they're closer to Cristiano than they are to Ines, which would probably mean that they're also quite stubborn, top that with being hot-headed, we'd have our hands full with just one of them." Chelsea out her hands in her lap. "I don't think swaying Horatio would be beneficial for us. He's not close to anyone in the group and he's not a favorite to either of his parents, he would make no difference here. Now I have a question, what is our goal?"
"To stop the civil unrest that's happening here. Onyx couldn't get it under control and certain members of the organization are even going as far as enabling the unrest. No proper functioning organization can have that. The demonstrators can either reform or die, there is no room for a third option."
"Then why are you talking about Canada and Italy? What is Onyx's place in all of this?"
"Because the mob is out of control in Italy, the Wanderers are still active in Canada. If you make an example of people, they'll follow suit quite quickly." Danny seemed to be getting worked up now, which made Chelsea back off of the topic. "Onyx has a history of enabling the behavior of the resistance as a way to make it seem to the people that they're doing something. I was flown in from Europe to stop that behavior through any means necessary."
The door to the room opened, the same man from before poking his head into the room and giving Danny a nod before leaving the room and shutting the door. Danny got out of his seat, waiting for Chelsea to put the hoodie back on and follow him to the room that was once empty.
He opened the door for Chelsea to see Elizabeth and Devin sitting opposite of each other, Devin having a few cuts on his face and arms.
Danny looked at the two, crossing his arms. "You two are the most likely to leave out of the six that I have, all you two have to do is clear your grievances with the other. It's not that difficult as I know that it's been eating at Elizabeth ever since she learned what she was directly responsible. Elizabeth, you need to be honest and Devin, you need to be able to control yourself. One of you holds back too much and the other doesn't hold back enough." He uncrossed his arms. "If you can't do that, then you have to work on reforming. Changing your mannerisms, the way you dress and behave. I know which one I would pick, but I'm not either of you."
Danny left the room in a hurry, Devin narrowing his eyes at Elizabeth. "What did you do?"
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 14, 2021 21:48:45 GMT
Things definitely took a dangerous yet interesting turn that I didn't expect. Hopefully, they can figure some way out of this. Definitely curious to see how this conversation between Elizabeth and Devin goes down. So basically Danny wants to bring about order, he doesn't care who does this, but he wants to punish and reform those who he believes are causing the disorder. Well, he definitely has a hard task if that's his goal. However, he has definitely done his research and has very competent people working for him if they can continually capture the people from the main group. I wonder who flew him in from Europe to do this, and why him specifically?.....
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Post by Kal on Feb 17, 2021 10:58:16 GMT
Chelsea was sent back to the Voyagers for the night. Danny told her to work on getting the Villa brothers comfortable with her, starting with Orsino as soon as the sun came up.
She met with Pierre and Horatio at Mai's diner to give them a recap of what she had learned while she was there. Pierre asked her if she knew about the Voyagers and Crusaders that Danny had taken. "Yeah, it's Gus, Isabel, Devin, Greg, Elizabeth, and Ines."
Pierre went quiet after her answer. "Whitlock and Jack aren't there?"
Chelsea shook her head, the two men suddenly looking far more concerned than they had before. "Are they not in town?"
"No, there's a group out for them but the only trail they've left ends where Daniel's group is. We assumed they were with the rest of the group." Pierre quickly left his seat, heading out of the diner.
Horatio got up to follow him, Chelsea grabbing him by the wrist before he tried to leave. "Is your family involved with the mafia?"
He turned to her, seeming genuinely confused by her question. "Where did you hear that from? You know, nevermind." He took his wrist back from her, heading to the door. "By the way, Noelle wants to talk to you whenever you go back into town."
Chelsea nodded to herself, crossing her arms. She left the diner last, quickly getting cut off by the man Danny spoke to back at their base. He kept his distance and seemed a bit nervous approaching her. "Chelsea, my name is Elliot. Danny needs to see you again."
She briefly looked past Elliot, seeing Horatio and Pierre were already out of the new resistance's view.
Elliot took her to a path that she assumed the new resistance took to avoid going into the Voyager's town. A woman who looked close to Chelsea's age stood there waiting for them, turning on her heel and walking back towards the new resistance's base without saying a word to them.
Chelsea stayed a few feet behind her, Elliot stuck by Chelsea. "What is her name? Is she normally like that?"
"Shae? Yeah, she's usually really quiet, don't be offended if she doesn't jump for joy when you're around." Elliot put his hands in his pockets, a slight metallic tapping in his right pocket. "She's also a bit biased against people like you."
Chelsea narrowed her gaze at Elliot. "First, what's in your pocket? Second, what do you mean people like me?"
"Your dad is in charge of Onyx, I don't think I have to explain to you where the conflict lies in that."
She dropped the topic after getting a weird feeling about Elliot. "Why does Danny want me back so soon? I thought I was supposed to stay with the Voyagers."
Elliot didn't respond, Shae only looked back for a moment before Chelsea saw a look of distaste fall over her face, prompting her to stay silent for the rest of the walk.
As soon as the three entered the building, Danny approached Chelsea at the door and handed her the black hoodie she'd worn earlier in the day. Elliot and Shae went their own ways, Elliot going downstairs with Chelsea and Danny, Shae going upstairs by herself.
Danny took Chelsea and Elliot to the room where Ines and Isabel were, stopping with his hand on the handle. "We have no information on this kid because we have no name and the two women aren't helping, you're only here to identify him."
Chelsea nodded and pulled the hood over her head, then led the two men into the room to see a tanned little boy with black hair sitting next to Isabel. He wore the same shirt with a UFO on it that he did when his family joined the group.
He looked up at her, Chelsea catching a glimpse of his brown eyes before he looked back to the floor.
She left the room, Danny and Elliot following her out. She turned to Danny, taking the hoodie off and passing it to him. "And you checked with all your people on his identity before you came to me?" He nodded. "Then someone in your group is lying to you. His family owned that RV that's out front, he was in it when it was stolen and told the Voyagers that he had been spoken to by one of the people who took it."
"Did he describe the person?" Danny's face quickly turned red, which told Chelsea that he was trusting what she said. "What is his name?"
"I can't remember what he said about it but he's just a kid, I wouldn't say he's the most reliable witness. His name is Jack Carter."
Chelsea went to turn back, coming face to face with Zachary for the first time in over a week, which was a giveaway to her that Whitlock was around. He seemed to be looking past her, focusing on Elliot. He shook his head and pointed at him. "I know him." His voice was quiet and shaky, his skin paler than the last time Chelsea had seen him. She could tell his connection to her was breaking and soon enough he would be gone for good.
She turned back to Danny. "I just spoke with Pierre, he knows that all of these people are missing. He mentioned Whitlock is gone too, is that true?"
Danny pointed at the door where Gus and Greg were being held. "He's with the other two."
"He, Elizabeth, and I can't be in the same place if this is to work. They can feel when I'm around, I can feel when they're around, they can quite literally see through my eyes if they had the energy to. We're bonded through a gene."
Elliot nodded alongside her. "I didn't think to mention it because I didn't think you would bring her back so soon."
Danny crossed his arms, his face staying red. "How would we get him back without exposing you to the group?"
Chelsea shrugged. "It's dark out and pretty cold, I doubt there's groups out looking for him anymore. Depending on the time, you could probably just drop him in town and nobody would be any wiser as to how he got there. You would just have to watch out for Grady."
Elliot didn't seem too confident in her answer. "There's a group out for someone, I saw it when I passed the cameras. They're around here, two Villas, three Voyagers, a Crusader, and I'm going to guess Jack's father."
"Give me some names and I'll decide if it's worth it or not."
Elliot and Danny went to the monitors that were on the wall, Chelsea following them but staying quiet to get a grasp of what Elliot knew of the group. He pointed at a specific monitor. "Camillo, Filippo, Milo, Marshal, Grady, Jean Luc, and Jack's father."
She looked at him, seeing the outline of something in his right pocket, likely what he was tapping on the way there. She thought better than to bring it up in front of Danny.
Elliot then switched to another camera. "If we take the same path back that we took bringing Chelsea here, the only person we would run into is Horatio. His credibility with the group isn't too high, so he's the ideal person for us to run into."
Danny's face lost it's red flush, his arms uncrossed as he made a smile. "Perfect. I want you to do it."
Elliot looked surprised, turning his attention back to Danny. "Why me?"
"Because your physical features match Horatio's own pretty closely, besides the glasses. The only thing that might get you called out besides that is that he's a bit more muscular than you, but if you're keeping your distance then they shouldn't be able to tell a difference." Chelsea answered the question for Danny, who suddenly seemed to beam with joy.
"That's precisely it."
"Does Juan fit the description better than I do?"
Danny shook his head. "His hair is too short, you and Horatio have noticeable curls." He then looked back at the camera. "I can see the curls on his head from the camera, full head of hair, they can and probably will use that to narrow it down. He, Elizabeth, and Ines are the only ones with brown curls." He paused and raised his index finger. "That reminds me, Elliot did you ever figure out what we can expect Camillo's hair to grow into?"
Elliot looked at the ground, giving a sigh. "Assuming Camillo grows his hair out and it maintains the same style as it was when he was younger, he'd be another with brown curls."
"Excellent, now go get changed to fit the person better." Danny motioned towards Chelsea. "She's going to go with you since her credibility holds higher than his."
Elliot looked at Chelsea for a moment before turning away and going upstairs.
Chelsea left the house, Elliot eventually catching up with her, Whitlock being dragged along behind him with a brown bag over his head. Elliot took them to the exact spot he ran into Chelsea an hour before, leaving Whitlock with her and then turning off and leaving them.
She put a hand on the boy's back and removed the bag from his head, crouching to get on his level. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"Why were you there?" Whitlock immediately pulled away from her.
Chelsea held up her hands, her voice nonexistent but her words making it to Whitlock. 'I was there because I'm undercover. Pierre and Horatio are the only ones who know, you can't say anything because we don't know who we can trust right now.'
Whitlock seemed to ease up, nodding a little. He went past her, heading towards the diner. She followed him, the two of them going inside.
Chelsea expected Horatio to be there, maybe talking to Mai, but was caught by surprise to find Cristiano with him. They didn't seem upset with each other for once, Cristiano actually seemed happy.
Whitlock approached the two with confidence that Chelsea couldn't have around Cristiano. She could tell by the look on the boy's face that he had smelled something he didn't like, which Chelsea knew was likely alcohol as he had always been sensitive to the smell of it.
She approached them, resting a hand on Whitlock's shoulder. Horatio looked at her, giving her a kind smile. "Don't mind what you hear from him tonight."
"And how long have you two been at it?" Chelsea pulled Whitlock a few feet away from the table, keeping an eye on Cristiano.
"I haven't had anything to drink, instead I've been watching him chug drink after drink since I last saw you." He got out of his seat, holding out both arms to his dad. "Come on, it's time to go, you're overstaying your welcome here."
Cristiano turned and initially gave a harsh look before laughing and putting his arms over Horatio's, allowing him to pull him out of his seat. Horatio slung an arm around him, keeping him steady as he walked.
Chelsea took Whitlock's hand, leading them all out of the diner and back to town. Marshal was the first person to notice their arrival. He went straight to questioning Whitlock before he picked the boy up in his arms.
It was while Whitlock was talking to his dad and promising him that he was okay that Chelsea realized that Marshal likely wouldn't be getting any sleep any time soon and that he wouldn't have any answers on Elizabeth's whereabouts for the foreseeable future.
The group that was with Marshal eventually split up with Camillo and Filip taking Cristiano from Horatio when David and Sarah went to talk with Chelsea and Horatio.
The two parents seemed hopeless, but Chelsea could tell that they were relying heavily on each other in the moment. "You guys didn't find Jack with Whitlock?" David's voice started to falter just from asking the question.
"No, I'm sorry." Chelsea shook her head, watching tears immediately fill Sarah's eyes.
Horatio reached out to Sarah, resting a hand on her shoulder. "We're not going to give up on Jack. Chelsea and I are going to keep searching through the night. When the sun comes back up, a full party will be split into four going all different directions. We're going to find him."
David took Sarah's hand in his, leasing her back to their home. Chelsea could see Gwen waiting for them on the porch, looking pretty upset herself.
Despite knowing exactly where Jack was, Horatio and Chelsea stayed out most of the night to try and relieve the Carter family's fears.
They had wandered into the new resistance's territory, where they stopped for a few minutes.
"You need to go find out who they want for Jack." Horatio shook his head. "I can't handle seeing so many people upset, it's bothering me."
"How do you expect me to do that?"
"You go to Danny and ask him who he wants in trade for Jack. It's not that difficult." Horatio snapped at Chelsea, seeming a bit tense. "You need to do it soon so we can say we just found him by the creek or something instead of sending out four different search parties in the morning and trying to 'find' him then."
Chelsea nodded, seeing the new resistance's base in the distance. She broke away from Horatio and went to the base, simply walking into the house.
She went downstairs, finding Danny sitting in front of the monitors, with all of them being off. "Danny, do you have a minute?"
He turned to greet her with a smile. "For you? Always. What can I do for you?"
"Say that I can get Horatio to work for you on the condition that Jack gets to go home, what would you say to that?"
Danny seemed hesitant about the offer. "I would take it. Nobody in my group speaks Italian and Ines doesn't speak English, he speaks both and that's what I need." He got out of his seat, turning the monitors on. "I'll take Jack back home, you get Horatio here."
Danny went upstairs, leaving Chelsea there. She couldn't break her eyes from the door where Elizabeth and Devin were, knowing exactly what it was Danny had conspired against Elizabeth.
Chelsea didn't hear anyone come down the stairs again, only realizing she wasn't alone when she turned and ended up spotting Elliot at the feet of the stairs. "Do you know who the other person in your group is?"
"I… no, I don't. I only knew of Yvette."
He nodded slowly. "You get along pretty well with Danny and you're educated, why do you think he picked the people he did?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry." Chelsea studied Elliot for a moment, seeing he was just as standoffish as she was appearing to him. "You have a lot of questions."
"That should tell you how in the loop I am with my own group." Elliot scoffed and turned to go back up the stairs. "Thanks anyway."
"Elliot, wait." Chelsea followed after him, stopping him as he went to leave the building. "Can you at least tell me about some of the people I'll run into here?"
He shook his head. "You got a job to do, you'd better get to it before you get in trouble with Danny."
Chelsea eventually went back to Horatio, telling him about her conversation with Danny.
He seemed conflicted about it, giving a sigh. "I'm going to warn you now that I'm not going to abide by his rules. I'm not going to change my beliefs to conform to what he wants. I'm there as a translator and that's it, if he tries to make me more than that then I'm going to fight back."
"If you think that's what's best for you then I'm not going to stop you, but you have to try to make it work. If not for yourself, do it for your mom, and if you can't do it for her then do it for me."
She then took him back to the base where Elliot had returned along with Shae and another woman who stood taller than Chelsea with auburn hair that was put into a neat bun, she was dressed professionally and carried a notebook tight to her chest.
Danny arrived behind Horatio and Chelsea before anyone could say anything, motioning for the five of them to go upstairs with him. Shae instead went downstairs, the rest of the group going upstairs to a large table that had about ten seats around it.
They each took a seat, the auburn woman picking her seat last and taking one that had nobody sitting in front of her but put her group by her side. Danny passed Chelsea the black hoodie, which she had almost forgotten about. She pulled the hood over her head just as Shae returned with Ines in tow.
She put Ines in front of the auburn woman, then went to stand behind Danny's seat. The woman set her notebook down, flipping to an empty page. Danny turned to Shae, whispering something to her before she went and took a seat next to the woman, her focus shifting solely on Ines.
The woman looked to Shae and gave a soft smile before she turned to Horatio. "You're here to translate for her, is that right?"
"That's it."
She made a mark on the paper in front of her. "Alright, I can tell now that you're on your guard, that's okay. You're in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by people you don't know. I just have a few questions for her so we can focus on what method of treatment would work on her."
He narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Treatment for what?"
Danny quickly jumped to the woman's defense, noticing Horatio was fully ready to argue with her. "She meant reformation. That's why your people are here, they're here to get better so they go home and lead your group stronger."
"I don't know why a seven year old boy has to go through reformation but sure, whatever you say." Horatio stayed focused on the auburn woman. "What do you want to ask her?"
The woman started with basic questions like her name, age, and basic background that Chelsea knew that Danny already had. It was likely a test to see how truthful and accurate Horatio's translations were going to be.
She eventually got into the questions that Chelsea knew weren't going to go smoothly for Horatio and Ines. "Our information gathered that Ines' father is Patrizio Palmiotto, correct?" Horatio nodded. "The godfather of the Italian mafia, right?"
He rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Yes. She married my dad at nineteen and they moved to Canada at twenty-one, there's been no contact between the two families since she moved."
She made some more notes, nodding as she set her pen down. "Why did you refer to the mafia as a family?"
"Because that's what they call themselves, go ask Gus, go ask Elizabeth, they'll both tell you the same exact thing."
"How active was Ines in the mafia's bidding and in the Wanderers activities?" She picked up her own again. "Please be truthful this time, as there is evidence of her being active in both until after she had her fourth child."
Horatio turned to his mother, whose face was bright red as she put her hands down on the table. She stopped him from answering, quickly getting out of her seat. "I wasn't active with either of them, it was my goddamn husband doing his business under my name so he wouldn't get caught doing anything illegal."
"Sit down." Shae got out of her seat, her eyes never breaking from Ines.
Horatio never left his seat, but he held out a hand to block Shae as she went for Ines. "She's angry. It's in your best interest to let her pace before she turns one of us at the table into a punching bag."
Shae looked down at Horatio's hand, her own face turning a bit red. "You're lucky your hand didn't end up on me, touch me and I'm going to break your hand, we clear?"
Chelsea and the auburn woman caught Horatio giving a slight smirk before he shrugged and pulled his hand back, Shae immediately going to Ines and pulling her back to her seat with a bit of struggling from Ines.
The auburn woman waited for a minute and a half before she said anything to Ines. "Are you ready to continue? I have more questions for you."
She gave a soft nod, her face now looking tired.
"Why doesn't your family know you can speak English?"
"I didn't want Cristiano to find out. I'm simply here for him to be able to have connections to higher people." Ines placed her hands in her lap and stared at them, her body tensing up. "I got pregnant with my first son when I was twenty, I gave birth in Canada. I had all my sons in Canada and in hospitals. Cristiano said that if I was going to leave, I couldn't take our oldest with me because he needed him to remain in contact with my family in Italy. I learned English because I was going to leave and that one thing is what stopped me. I didn't want him to use my son for crime."
The auburn woman took some more notes and leaned back in her seat a bit, studying Ines. "Can you tell me all your boys' first and middle names in order?"
Ines nodded slightly, tapping her fingers. "Horatio Remo, Orsino Dante, Camillo Romeo, Filippo Angelo. There's two years between them all."
"Horatio earlier seemed to allude to you lashing out when you get angry, is that true?"
"Yes, but never towards my boys."
"And Cristiano?"
Ines stayed quiet for a minute. "If you mean me hitting him, I never did. He had a tendency to get rough with the boys growing up. I would throw glasses or hit walls, I'd never lay my hands on another person."
"That's not what you said towards one of our people today. You threatened violence onto them, just because they were in the room with you, why did you do that if you wouldn't hurt anyone?"
"Because I was afraid and I wanted to go back. I don't even remember how I got here, I don't know who any of you are."
The auburn woman finished her notes, giving a slight nod. "She can go back now, I have a few questions for Horatio, I would like to see Gustave and Isabel next."
Shae got Ines out of her seat, Danny going with her to take the woman back downstairs.
The auburn woman kept focused on Horatio. "Why are you so aggressive? Ever since my group has been watching your group, I've only ever heard you to be combative and aggressive towards almost anyone who you're around."
"I'm not aggressive, but that does tell me what exactly you're looking for." He leaned forward in his chair. "You notice I'm more aggressive because it's all or nothing, I don't play other people's games. You're watching for aggressive and combative people to correct because they don't align with Danny's vision, is that right?"
Chelsea saw Elliot hesitate before he finally spoke up. "Maybe we read it wrong. He's never actually hit anyone that we've seen and if I can guess from tonight, he just has a bad attitude and manipulates his own body language to try and make himself intimidating so he'll be left alone."
The auburn woman nodded in agreement. "It sounds plausible to me. Gabbie did cut him and hold a gun to his face and he didn't do anything about it either time. He's just as scared as Ines is, but I've got no clue why."
Danny and Shae returned, putting Gus and Isabel in two seats next to each other. They then went to their own seats.
The auburn woman turned to Shae and pointed at Gus. "I need you to keep an eye on him, he's combative and he will act if provoked, clear?" Shae nodded, the auburn woman turning to Gus. "Mr. Fortin, I only need you to listen to me right now. I'm not going to interview you yet because you're too distressed."
Gus quickly pointed out Horatio. "You were the second person against the group? Is that how you knew the first person? You just get off on lying to the people around you?"
"Nope, I'm here as a translator. My mom was up here before you two were and we all just learned she spoke English, I was here to talk Italian."
"She's back downstairs, why are you still here?" Isabel crossed her arms slightly. She then looked towards Chelsea. "Who's under the hood?"
Horatio turned towards the two, his demeanor changing on a dime. "It doesn't matter who's under the hood, I'm here to make sure you two don't fuck around and end up dead because you don't realize who you're up against. Gus, you cannot fight your way out of this situation. You are at their mercy. Isabel, they don't want your money. You are at their mercy. Do you guys get what I'm saying? You comply, you go home. You fuck around, you end up dead."
Isabel shook her head. "Be honest, Horatio, who exactly are you playing for? You keep secrets from the Voyagers that ended up getting Zachary killed, you show absolutely no remorse for your place in his death and suddenly you're here telling us to just give up."
"Isabel, are you in my head? Do you know a single thing about me?" Chelsea watched Horatio grow angrier with the two. "I wasn't involved in Zachary's death because I wasn't there. Leona, the one person who I knew was working for the new resistance, was also not there. I know for a fact that you weren't there either so you might want to get your facts straight before you try talking about something you weren't even around for."
"You just said you weren't there either, what was the truth?" Gus narrowed his eyes at Horatio. "A career liar who doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself, can't trust a word he says."
"I would rather be a liar than a murderer, Gus. For the entire time I've known the Voyagers, I've never once laid my hands on anyone in the group. I don't think you can say the same about your relationship with the Crusaders."
The auburn woman nodded, taking in every word. "Excellent, are the three of you done now? I believe you've all aired your grievances, can I speak now?" The three stayed silent, prompting the woman to go on. "I will say that since he's been in this room, Horatio has been only truthful. A lot of lies have been told at this table and not one of them has been by him. He is right when he says that you guys need to get your act together and he needs to do the same. Outbursts like those are a sure-fire way to end up in trouble with the law after reforming. I'm going to talk to you all individually, but for now I need you two to work on your tempers before I feel comfortable talking to you alone."
Shae and Danny got back to their feet, taking Gus and Isabel back downstairs. Horatio left before they returned, Chelsea taking off the hoodie and leaving it on the table. She said goodbye to Elliot and the auburn woman before leaving right behind Horatio.
She caught up with him before they even left the new resistance's territory, but they didn't share any words until they got back to the town and into Horatio's house. "You barely defended yourself back there, why would you do that?"
"Because your buddy Danny is just waiting to taunt the group and let it slip that there's two people against the group again, I'd rather lead them to believe it's me then to let them figure out it's you and have them force you to blow your cover." He shrugged slightly. "Plus if the Voyagers fail, I have places I can fall back on that the new resistance isn't going to target, you don't since the Voyagers and Onyx are both targets. You can't afford to lose right now."
Chelsea crossed her arms with a sigh. "Sure, but you should probably be ready to physically defend yourself from all three groups. Danny is probably going to use you as an ongoing experiment to see if he can reform you without isolating you, the Voyagers and Crusaders are going to want justice for what's been done to the group and they already don't completely trust you."
"I know what I'm doing. I want to remind you that I've gone through the trust and distrust cycle with the Voyagers, I know how to win them over and how to break their trust, the Crusaders are no different from them."
Chelsea frowned, cutting him off as he tried to go past her. She briefly looked up at him, seeing he looked exhausted. "You're punishing yourself, why are you doing this?"
He looked at her, the cold look on his face going away in almost an instant. "I've spent years on the fence of my morals, ambitions, and beliefs because of what's lined up for my future. If I wanted to, I could have the Wanderers and the Italian mafia. Everything is changing on a whim because I don't know who I'm supposed to be."
Chelsea placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him into her embrace. "I've been there. I had to choose between my home, Australia, and the Voyagers. It didn't hold the same gravity as your decision does and I hate that it doesn't because it caused me physical pain to have to choose, I don't even want to imagine what you're feeling right now. You can talk to me about whatever you want, got it?"
He simply patted her back for a moment before pushing away from her. "No promises, but you usually are the one who ends up hearing about my stuff, so maybe I'll let you hear it from me instead of some new resistance member next time."
She gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, it's a bit difficult to defend you when I ask you a question and you just pretend I didn't ask it or you just flat out don't tell me anything about what's going on." She paused, stepping out of his way. "I think you should tell Pierre and Milo about your plan with the new resistance."
"Why Milo?"
"They killed his daughter and you're someone who has been around his family for years, he would be devastated if he had any thought of you knowing about it." She gave a yawn, slightly stretching herself. "Maybe Jean Luc as well. He still suspects it from months ago and I don't know what he'd do to you if he was proven right.",
"I'll think about it. Remember that you have to talk with Noelle tomorrow." Chelsea went towards her own room, Horatio only looking at her for a moment before he went into his room.
As soon as he shut the bedroom door, he took a deep breath and started thinking about what Chelsea had said.
[Tell Pierre and Milo] [Tell Pierre, Milo, and Jean Luc] [Don't tell anyone]
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 17, 2021 21:57:42 GMT
[Tell Pierre and Milo]
I guess telling someone is better than telling no one, but I'm not sure if it's in his character, from what I've seen, if he would tell all three of them. Plus, I don't think Jean Luc would do anything too rash on his own. Plus, if it's safer that he doesn't know, that's fine.
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Post by Kal on Feb 18, 2021 12:54:40 GMT
The next morning, Chelsea left the house and went to the gardens where she found Orsino sitting on his own. "Do you know how to garden or do you just come to stare?"
He briefly looked at her, offering a kind smile. "I come from a farm, of course I know how to garden."
She walked past the bench he was sitting on and got on her knees in front of a plant. She then looked back to him. "Would you like to help, then? I know what plants these are, but I haven't got a clue on how to take care of them."
He hesitated for a moment before pushing himself off the bench, Chelsea immediately noticing that something was wrong with his left leg. He eased himself over and sat next to her, looking over the plants. "They're cold and thirsty."
Orsino got up, going back to the bench to grab his water bottle and passing it to Chelsea so she could water the plants. He then went to look around the area for a tarp.
He returned fairly quickly, covering the plants Chelsea had already watered. "That should help keep them alive. Most plants are seasonal and almost all of the ones here are out of season. I can tell that they've only been able to stay alive through the winter through constant maintenance."
Chelsea got out of her spot, moving along to the next section of plants. "What happened to your leg?" She noticed the look on his face. "The way you walk, you're putting all of your weight on your right leg."
FLASHBACK It was a year before Horatio and Filip left for the states. Despite being out of the public's view for years at this point, everyone around them knew who the boys were.
The specific day Orsino had in mind saw the four brothers and Mona wandering through the streets and buildings of Stratford since Mona didn't know much of the area and at the time, she intended to stay in Stratford.
It was Camillo's idea to go into the bar where he thought more Wanderers would be around to give them some ideas on places to show Mona. Instead, a number of people from the Amber organization sat inside and were having a few drinks.
Mona was the only one who had the chance to get out of the building before the brothers were recognized and confronted. The man who did all the talking was a bigger guy with thinning hair and rectangular glasses, he quickly became a man that Orsino couldn't forget. His name was Percival, which was something the brothers only learned after the Amber organization launched an investigation into Percival's behavior.
Percival had another man block off the door as he confronted the brothers. "Judging by how quick y'all's lady friend got out, y'all know you're not supposed to be here." Percival took a swig of his drink before he set the glass back down on the bar counter. "Why are you boys here? Couldn't find a way to stir up trouble anywhere else?" He positioned himself in front of Horatio. "Actually, while you boys are here, let me ask you a few questions."
Percival shoved Horatio back into a seat, then went on to put his hand on Orsino's shoulder to seat him. He pushed Orsino back, only for the boy to get out of the seat Percival had put him in. "Are we under arrest? Did we commit a crime by walking into this building?"
"You're in a restricted area, you gotta be nineteen to drink around here and not one of you is there yet." Percival stayed in front of Orsino as another man put Camillo and Filip in a seat. He took a set of handcuffs from the man at the door then pulled Horatio's hands through the bars on the back of the chair, then tightened them around his wrists. He then went on to do the same to Filip and Camillo.
"That's the law, yeah, but we weren't drinking when you cuffed us and you have no proof that we came in here to drink. What you just committed is three unlawful arrests, which is just enough to get you terminated." Horatio chimed in, trying to take attention from the other end of the line as Filip looked at the ground, trying to slip his small hands out of the handcuffs.
Percival ignored Horatio, his eyes staring straight into Orsino's. "Sit down, boy."
"You can't make me do a thing, I'm not under arrest and I'm not doing anything against the law right now."
Orsino stayed standing straight against Percival, knowing that the other Amber organization men were keeping their eyes on him and not Filip, who had by now slipped his little wrists out of the handcuffs, or Camillo who had started to use the chain on the handcuffs to pull on the wooden bars of the chair, hoping to break the bar.
The boys saw Percival reaching for his gun, causing Filip to jump out of his seat and reveal himself. "Wait! We'll leave and we won't say anything!"
The man closest to Filip, grabbed the boy and threw him to the ground, putting his boot to his back, Filip letting out cries as he dug his heel further into the boy's back. He then pointed at Orsino. "Sit down!"
Percival looked at Filip, a grin coming over his face. "Now we can get that one for resisting."
"He's just a kid, he didn't do anything. He wants you to leave us alone because you're scaring him." Horatio finally managed to grab Percival's attention.
Percival turned to face Horatio, getting a kick to his upper left thigh as soon as he did. The kick made him stumble away from Orsino, who sent a fist to him as soon as he straightened his balance out.
The men in the building rushed to Percival's aide by trying to subdue Orsino, which was done with ease as four men grabbed him from different sides.
Percival got back to his feet and grabbed his glass from the counter. He finished his drink and smashed the glass on the counter, taking a shard in his hands. He then turned back to the man who had Filip down. "Shut him up already!"
He then turned back to Orsino and the men holding him back, clutching the shard of glass tighter. Camillo tried tripping him and placing himself in the way as the man went for Orsino, to no avail.
Orsino could remember Horatio calling out for Percival to stop and threatening him, but he was still powerless to do anything against him.
Orsino wasn't even looking at Percival when he attacked him; he was looking at the man behind him who had put Filip in a headlock, his free hand covering the boy's mouth. He could only see his brother's terrified eyes when Percival grabbed him by his left shoulder and forced the shard of glass into his upper left thigh.
The four men holding Orsino let him fall to the ground, not one of them or Percival taking the glass out of his leg.
Filip bit the hand of the man who was restraining him and ran to Orsino's side, clutching onto him as the man tried to grab hold of him once again.
Percival stopped the man with the raise of a hand, then took a set of keys from his pocket and went to the back of Camillo's chair. "They should have learned their lesson by now." Camillo went to Filip and Orsino, the Amber organization's men leaving before Percival uncuffed Horatio.
Horatio went straight to tending to Orsino's leg, sending Filip to look around the bar for a first aid kit so they could at least patch him up until they could get him back home. Percival watched the boys for a minute before leaving the four of them alone in the bar. Horatio told Camillo to watch the door and keep everyone else out of the bar because he needed his space to work.
When Filip returned with the first aid kit, Horatio made him go back to the farm, knowing that if Filip showed back up by himself then their mother would go out to find the rest of the boys.
Orsino couldn't remember much of what Horatio did to him, he just remembered that he started fading in and out once the shard was out of his leg. He remembered hearing Horatio talking to him, he remembered his mother rushing to help Horatio when she got there, the both of them talking to Orsino in English and Italian to keep his mind focused on their words instead of what was going on with his leg.
Orsino couldn't walk for months afterwards until his mom thought it was time for him to try walking again. When the Amber organization started asking Mona questions about what had happened at the bar, Horatio took the fall for the entire thing and ended up in jail for six months.
"What happened to Percival?" Chelsea and Orsino walked along the plants, watering them as they went along.
"Either my dad or my grandfather. The two of them went out one night and the next morning, an alert was sent out to everyone in Stratford to say that two men had attacked Percival. One of them stabbed him in his left thigh, hit his femoral artery and he bled out in front of the same bar he stabbed me in." Orsino dragged the tarp over the final row of plants, tying it to the lower link of the fence.
He brushed off his hands as he got back to his feet, Chelsea looking over him. "Thank you for helping me, Orsino."
"Of course." He nodded, taking his water bottle back from her as he walked past her.
Chelsea caught up to him, walking alongside him. "Why did you trust me with the story about your leg?"
He kept going forward, Chelsea keeping pace with him. "Horatio trusts you and I know you talk to him quite a bit. I figured it was only a matter of time and that of he trusts you as much as it seems he does, then I can trust you as well."
After Chelsea had left the house, Horatio had stopped by Pierre's home to tell him about his involvement with the new resistance before Pierre started his daily routines.
Marie was on her way out the door as Horatio walked up to the house. "You here for Nicolas?" He nodded and Marie left the door open, passing by him. "He's in the kitchen."
Horatio went into the house and shut the door, going straight to the kitchen where Pierre was seated at the table, reading over some papers. "Hey, do you have a minute?"
Pierre looked up at him, looking a little surprised for a moment before he motioned at the seat across from him. "You're the last person I would have expected to ask for my time, so I'm going to assume it's important."
Horatio took a seat as Pierre cleaned up the papers in front of him, putting them in a folder to his side. "Yeah, I guess it is." He cleared his throat. "Last night, Chelsea and I talked with David and Sarah. Jack was with the new resistance and I told Chelsea to work with Daniel and figure out a way to get Jack back. Daniel's condition was that I help the new resistance with translating for my mother."
Pierre leaned forward, nodding his head. "I know that Jack miraculously showed up in the dead of night last night, so I'm assuming you agreed to do it."
"I did and Chelsea took me back to where their base was. When we got there, there was a woman who was asking a ton of questions. She got a reading on my mother and then proded me with a ton of questions to try and get a reading on me. Gus and Isabel got brought up and I'll admit, I fought with them. I told them to comply with the new resistance if they wanted to go home."
He stayed quiet for a minute, looking at the folder by his side. "Why are you telling me about this? You normally do your own thing, stay out of everyone else's business, and keep them out of yours."
"Because I need to be honest with you. I don't want it coming back to you that I'm there and for you to not have known. You know that I'll tell anyone what it takes to get by, but I need you to know that I'm with the Voyagers."
Pierre reached into his folder, pulling out a paper that looked to have lab results on it. He slid it over to Horatio and allowed him to look over it. "Tell me what you see on that paper, front and back."
"Your patient is a woman, dead. Clean system with the exception of…" Horatio paused, reading the name over again. "Pe-Hydrophetaform, a pretty heavy disease of it."
"I already know it, but why don't you tell me what it's used for and how a doseage like that can effect someone who's living. After you tell me that, I'll tell you why you should be concerned about what you're reading."
Horatio took note of the doseage, finding the woman's height and weight listed at the top of the paper. "With a woman of your patient's size, the Pe-Hydrophetaform would have completely destroyed her frontal lobe. She wouldn't have been able to remember things, speak more than maybe two or three words. Prior to death, she was probably someone who seemed like she was just there, a blank canvas. She was also probably pretty hasty." Horatio looked to Pierre, who looked to agree with everything he was saying. "This is a toxicology report on Leona, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Pe-Hydrophetaform is found in a few specific organizations chips and Onyx isn't one of them, it's mainly European organizations. When she was chipped, the chip more than likely went deeper than we believed and while they got most of it out, I'm almost certain they didn't get all of it."
"How deep did the chip go?"
Pierre shrugged. "I never checked. It feels wrong to me to dig into her spinal cord."
"Then let me do it." Horatio got out his seat, passing Pierre his lab paper back. "We need to get answers if we're going to get ahead of it. If someone else ends up chipped, we need to know how deep to cut next time."
Pierre went along with it, taking Horatio to the medical center where Leona's body had remained since her death as to allow Pierre and Alyssa to investigate.
The two cleaned up a bit and threw some gloves on before Horatio took his place at the head of the table with a scalpel in his hand, Pierre stood at his side.
Horatio cut along the lines that Alyssa had made when she originally cut out the chip, making it a point to make his cuts deeper. He pulled back what he had cut with tweezers, clamping the back of Leona's neck open.
After a bit of digging around, Horatio found the rest of the chip. "It would have been impossible to remove it all without killing her. It burrowed into her neck and stopped just before it hit her thyroid. To get it it, you would have to go through a major artery and a major vein that cutting would have caused her to bleed out." Horatio paused, taking the tweezers to pull the rest of the chip out. "What I want to know is how it got that deep without killing her with no surgical assistance, it's impossible."
Pierre looked over what Horatio was talking about, nodding slightly. "From the looks of it, you're right." He held out his gloved hand, taking the rest of the chip from Horatio. "I'm going to have Noelle run some tests on this and see if we can't narrow the location down even more." He started on his way out. "Horatio, do you remember where Chelsea said Daniel was from?"
"Europe… Daniel's from Europe." Horatio quickly closed up the back of Leona's neck and returned the body to where Pierre had brought it out of, threw away the gloves and left the medical center himself.
He went to Milo's house next, finding Milo in the yard with Sarah, Jude, and Jack. Sarah looked a lot happier than she did the night before while she watched her son, her gaze never slipping from him.
Milo took Horatio inside the house, which was completely empty besides the two of them. Milo didn't have much to say to Horatio, which wasn't uncommon.
"You've been through too much for me to lie to you anymore, man. As of last night, the Voyagers have two people undercover and one person in the group who's against them. I'm one of the two people undercover and I'm telling you this because when it gets out that I've been around the new resistance, I have no plans to tell the truth because I don't want the other person to get caught. I don't want you to think that I knew what was going to happen to Kimber."
Milo stared right at Horatio, but he could tell that his mind was somewhere else. "You the one that got Jack back or Whitlock?"
"I was practically traded for Jack."
Milo cupped his hands in front of him. "Then you weren't the one Whitlock was talking about." Milo returned his full attention to Horatio. "Whitlock told Marshal that he recognized someone at the new resistance's base and that they were responsible for getting him freed. He wouldn't tell him who it was because he said they were undercover and that it would be best for Elizabeth if Marshal didn't know who to confront."
"I guess that's good to know in advance." Horatio could see Milo looked worried as soon as he had mentioned Elizabeth. "She's okay, by the way. She's alive and from what the other person said, she has to tell Devin about quarantine before she's allowed to come back. In an essence, she'll be let go when she lets go of what's holding her back."
"And what's holding you back, Horatio?" Milo watched him, scanning his face for any change. "You're changing for now, but you haven't forgiven yourself for what Rocco tried to do to Alyssa because you were the reason he got away. You didn't give me a warning because you were concerned on how I would think of you, you were concerned that you'd be letting Alyssa down again. You remember what happened to Rocco and you don't want to be categorized with him."
"It sounds like you've been putting a lot of thought into it too, then." Horatio sighed. "It's not just her, it's you too. I don't expect her to forgive me and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I am sorry for my place in that situation. Thinking back on it makes me physically sick, it makes me hate the person that I've been." He went for the door, forcing a smile. "But that's a topic for another day."
"That's the thing," Milo reached for the handle, stopping Horatio from leaving before he was finished. "I do forgive you. I know you're capable of change and I know you never meant to hurt anyone."
The two went back outside, Milo rejoining Sarah, who now had David with her, while Horatio went to go back home.
"Hey! Wait!" Horatio heard someone calling behind him, Gwen stopping at his side. "You got my brother back, that's what my parents said. Do you know where Devin and Gregory are?"
He shrugged, knowing he couldn't be truthful with her. "I have a general idea based on tracks, yeah."
"I want to help get them back. They're my friends and my family owes you a favor since you found Jack, let this be that favor."
Horatio chuckled and shook his head. "Your family owes me nothing, Gwen. The situation is a little messy, but I promise you that I'm doing what I can to get them back."
"Elizabeth, what did you do? Why won't you talk to me?" Devin had been trying to get answers out of Elizabeth, who refused to say a word since they'd been there.
It was on their fourth day there that the man in charge and a man with a buzz cut brought the two of them to a table where an auburn woman, a brown haired man, and another person who was in a black hoodie sat at.
They sat Elizabeth across the auburn woman and Devin to Elizabeth's right.
The auburn woman started asking questions to Elizabeth after she opened a notebook that sat in front of her. "Elizabeth, you've died a few times now, haven't you?" She got no response from Elizabeth, who only leaned back in her seat. "You used to do some undercover work on Onyx, didn't you? Rumor has it that you kept doing some pretty difficult work for the Voyagers well into your first pregnancy, is that true?"
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the woman, sitting up in her seat. "Don't try to pretend you know me and don't talk about stuff that you're not involved in."
The auburn woman didn't seem surprised that Elizabeth snapped at her, instead she just took some notes on her paper. "What do you mean by things that I'm not involved in?"
"You're not stupid and neither am I, stop trying to bait me." Elizabeth crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat once again.
The auburn woman closed her notebook. "Well, I feel the need to tell you now that I think you have that conversation with Devin, neither of you can leave. You can accept help or you can just stay here."
Devin looked at Elizabeth. "What are they talking about?"
She sighed, shaking her head. "Devin, I… I don't know how to talk to you about it. I can't even find the words for what I've done to you that you don't even know about."
"Just say it, please."
Devin could see years building up in Elizabeth's eyes as her face turned red. "When I was pregnant with Whitlock, there was a few of our group members that had gotten caught by Onyx and put into quarantine. Chelsea was around at the time and the group knew that using the gene was the only chance we had at getting our people back, so Leona made a plan to break into quarantine and get everyone out, not just the people from our group. I went with her and we stuck to her plan by getting everyone out."
Devin's face went pale as he watched Elizabeth. "Why would you do that? The people there were getting better, we were going to get out."
"I did it for my people, I didn't think of the consequences it would have for the people who were actually sick because a majority of the people there weren't even sick."
Devin shook his head, a sudden wave of anger taking him over. "It's in the name, Elizabeth! People were sick and dying! Because of your stunt, more people died instead of getting better and going home. People who were sick died from completely unrelated illnesses because they were exposed to the outside world too early. You trust Alyssa, Amanda, and Horatio, they all got the same training at Onyx so why is it that you couldn't trust Onyx doctors who were actually certified to work in the medical field?"
Elizabeth gritted her teeth, her face staying red. "Alyssa is the only legitimate doctor in the group, Amanda was in charge of cybernetic enhancements and Horatio has never once been with Onyx. A majority of people in quarantine were already healthy and being kept there because Onyx needed healthy test subjects for new chips. My people weren't sick, Kimber and Jude weren't sick. I understand the consequences of my actions and I'm constantly reminded of it when I see you around, I know that I'm responsible for the death of so many people when I was only trying to help them in getting out."
"They were already going to get out when they were healthy."
Elizabeth threw her hands onto the table, letting out a harsh breath. "Devin, nobody was going to get out of quarantine!" She turned to him. "Joseph's wife was there for years for the same sickness that Zachary had. Did you even know that he was sick?" Devin stayed silent. "No, you didn't because he acted completely fine. Eris was able to do the same things that he was before they tested chips on her, that's what made her sicker. Kimber and Jude has asthma, you can't cure asthma so you give the person an inhaler and let them go about their day, you don't hold them in quarantine for their entire lives. Your family wasn't going to get to leave."
"No, there were people there who were definitely never going to leave. My family was going to get to leave."
Elizabeth looked past Devin and at the person in the black hoodie. She then got out of her seat and left the table. She had already made in downstairs before the man in charge got out of his seat and started to follow her.
She never looked back at the staircase behind her before she went straight to the base's front door, swinging it open and taking off in a sprint out the door.
The man in charge called for the other people upstairs, who ran down to try to catch her with the exception of the auburn woman. Devin stayed in his seat, tapping his fingers on the table.
She looked at him before shutting her notebook and getting out of her seat. She took him back downstairs, locking him in the room by himself.
Chelsea came back from the new resistance's base later in the night and went straight to Horatio's room, trying her best to wake him up.
"Elizabeth's in trouble and I need your help." Chelsea grabbed his wrists, pulling him up. "She ran away and got caught, they want to kill her. I talked them into letting you do some tests, but you need to do them fast."
Chelsea repeated herself until he had finally gotten up and gotten dressed, going with her back to the new resistance's base.
Danny met with them, handing Horatio a kit as soon as he entered the building. "If you can't give me a definitive reason for her behavior today then she's beyond reformation, are we clear?"
Horatio nodded and went down to the room where Elizabeth was now being kept with Gus after being forced to switch with Gregory. Danny shut the door behind Horatio, allowing him to speak freely with Elizabeth and Gus. "Give me your arm, Elizabeth."
She held it out, allowing him to tie the rubber tourniquet are her forearm. She clenched a fist and Horatio slipped the need into her arm, her blood trickling into the tube that was waiting. "Why am I not surprised that you're working with them?"
"Why am I not surprised that you're getting yourself executed with your stupid decisions?"
Gus watched Horatio's every move as he performed multiple tests on Elizabeth, noting all of his findings. "And what are you doing all that for?"
"In trying to save her life. Based on what her blood test says, I have to make some theory as to why she bolted and hope that it's good enough to not be called as the bullshit it is." Horatio sighed, holding onto the tube of blood. "Physically, she's fine and that makes things a lot harder on me."
Horatio took the blood back to the medical center in town and ran it through. It took two hours for the results to come back, multiple red flags immediately going off about them.
He went back to the new resistance's base when the sun came up with the lab work in hand. Danny had sat him down with Elizabeth at the table with them.
"The best theory I can give you is that she was placed into a situation that stressed her out too much and she felt that she was in danger, the gene told her that she needed to get out and do that's what she did. She doesn't think when the gene's in control and when she's afraid for not only her life, but the child inside of her as well, she can't be blamed for running." Horatio caught Elizabeth's eyes for a moment. "It doesn't make what she did right, but it makes it understandable. She had a slip up because of external forces, she had literally no control over it. You did and you failed her."
Horatio looked at the paper in front of him, one thing standing out to him that he wanted to ask about. Somewhere along the line, Elizabeth had gotten Pe-Hydrophetaform in her blood stream and that that was the true reason she ran. He didn't know how she had gotten it and he knew that Danny had the answers.
[Ask Danny about the Pe-Hydrophetaform] [Don't mention the Pe-Hydrophetaform]
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 18, 2021 20:25:50 GMT
[Ask Danny about the Pe-Hydrophetaform]
I went back and forth with this one. I figured it may be too dangerous for him to discuss, but I thought it could be solved in the way he asks him about it. He could just say that he found a little bit of the substance in her bloodstream and ask if he knew anything about it. He doesn't even have to mention Leona or anything. Besides, Danny may not even know to much about it because he indicated to Chelsea that Leona betrayed the Voyager's for selfish reasons, and he didn't seem to say it had to do with when she was chipped. Their group definitely did their research on the Voyager's, but they may not even be aware of the event in which Leona was chipped. I'm not sure how much of that event was recorded by either side. However, being from Europe he may be aware of how various organizations use it. My main concern is what he'll do with Elizabeth if he finds out, but she may need treatment soon, which she can't get if locked up here. Either from a doctor there or be released back to her own group would probably be the best outcome. Sometimes these choices are pretty stressful.
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Post by Kal on Feb 19, 2021 4:10:19 GMT
Horatio looked at the paper in front of him and let out a small sigh and he tapped his finger, trying to decide if he wanted to talk to Danny about it.
"What's troubling you? There's something on that paper that you either don't like or don't understand." Danny leaned forward in his seat.
Horatio nodded. "Something weird came up and to be honest with you, in all the time that I've been doing stuff like this, I've never heard of this before. It's called Pe-Hydrophetaform and whatever it is, she's got a lot in her system for somebody her size." He looked over the paper again. "Or maybe she doesn't, I guess that depends on the recommended dosage per weight."
"That's something I gave to her after her outburst today, it's a sedative and it won't harm her."
"What about her baby?" Horatio finally looked up at Danny to see he didn't seem concerned at all. "I mean, she's been back here for how long since her outburst?"
Danny looked at his watch. "About six hours."
"For this much to still be in her system after so long, you had to give her a hell of a dose and because she's pregnant she can't have any in her system without it damaging her baby's development. The development also can't be tracked without equipment that she'll have access to back in town."
Danny shrugged. "How far along is she?"
"I can only make an estimate based on her blood levels, she's around thirteen weeks. That concerns me because when I was checking her out before I ran her blood, I didn't hear a second heartbeat, I just heard hers." Horatio briefly saw Elizabeth's face fall. "She needs a check up and she needs a detox on the Pe-Hydrophetaform, otherwise her and her baby are probably going to die."
The man across from him tapped his hands on the table before letting out a sigh. "I want you to come back at two in the morning, I'm going to let you take her for a check up on the condition that you do it and you take Elliot, Savannah, and Juan with you. I'm going to get you some blood samples from people here and I'm going to test your knowledge on what you're telling me. If you fail then she stays one hundred percent under our care, if you pass then I'll let you take over her medical care."
Danny then got out of his seat and took Elizabeth back downstairs. Horatio went back to town and to the medical center where he and the other doctors kept their notes.
He spent hours reading through Alyssa's material from her own pregnancy with Nora and Elizabeth's pregnancy with Victor. He knew well enough that reading up on her first pregnancy wouldn't matter since her third wouldn't be afflicted by the gene.
The sun had gone down by the time Pierre came to the medical center and took a seat next to Horatio, quickly noticing that he was reading Alyssa's material. "Why are you reading about pregnancy?"
Horatio took Elizabeth's blood work from his pocket and passed it to Pierre. "Her hCG levels are elevated beyond a level that a nonpregnant person can have. I remember someone mentioning that she and Marshal were trying to have another kid before she ended up with the new resistance and by the looks of it, it worked."
Pierre read over the sheet, stopping on one specific line. "Pe-Hydrophetaform is in her system."
He nodded. "I asked Daniel about it and he lied his ass off. He admitted that he gave it to her, but he claimed it was a sedative and that she would be unharmed. He said if I can prove myself through some bloodwork, I'd be able to take control of Elizabeth's medical care and that's what I'm studying up for."
"Noelle got a hit on the chip, she's trying to get into their systems using what's left of the chip." Pierre pointed to the door to the surveillance room. "She's been in there just about as long as you've been out here."
"Then I guess I should tell you that Daniel's letting me bring Elizabeth back here at two in the morning to check on her in more detail. His condition was that three of his people came with me. One's a scrawny guy, the other is a woman who's taller than Chelsea, and I don't know who the third is."
"I'll make sure we've got four or five guys around to mediate if something goes wrong."
"I appreciate that."
Horatio met halfway with the small group of new resistance members. The bigger man, who he assumed was Juan, had an unconscious Elizabeth in his arms. Elliot had a box in his hands and Savannah, the auburn woman, had her notebook. Danny walked a few paces behind them and stuck with the group, which Horatio knew was to try and catch him slipping up.
He took them back to the medical center and led them to the second room, knowing that three of the Voyagers were in the first and three more were in the third.
Elliot set the box down on a counter in the room, then took a seat while Juan laid Elizabeth on the observation table. Danny and Savannah watched Horatio's every move.
Horatio had already gotten what he thought he would need before he went to meet with the group since he didn't want to leave them unattended at any point.
As soon as Horatio started Elizabeth's ultrasound, Savannah started with her questions. "Horatio, how long have you been doing medical work?"
"All we used to see you doing was scout work." Elliot chimed in, watching the screen instead of watching Horatio.
"Back in Canada." Horatio stayed focused on the screen, trying to find Elizabeth's baby. "Danny, did you give her more Pe-Hydrophetaform after I told you not to? Her own heart rate is pretty low."
"It was necessary in order to move her around. She's not trusted to walk freely." Savannah answered instead, her vision still fixed on Horatio.
"Well then she's going to die." Horatio stopped as soon as he saw the baby on the screen, pointing out the baby to Danny. "She and that baby. I would say that she's due in twenty seven weeks and I'm willing to bet right now that this kid is going to be premature, a stillbirth, or gone before twenty weeks. You're actively killing both of them by continuing to administer the drug, the state she's in isn't just unresponsive, it's bordering unresponsive and an overdose."
Savannah didn't say anything, prompting Danny to let out a sigh. "Elliot, do you think we have the equipment you would need to keep her alive back at the base?"
Elliot's vision stayed focused on the baby on the screen. He shook his head slightly. "We could probably get her detoxed, but that's all we could do. We don't have the equipment to work on the lasting effects of it on her and we definitely don't have what we would need to safely deliver her baby, assuming she makes it to term."
Danny crossed his arms, going over to the box that Elliot had left on the counter. "Then she'll stay here. She's not good to anybody dead and if time is what she needs then that's what I'll give her."
The new resistance group left the room, leaving Horatio with Elizabeth and the box on the counter. Horatio gave it a few minutes before he left the room himself, going farther into the medical center and grabbing a drip bag to start Elizabeth on the detox.
It was going to be painful for her and she was going to fight it because Horatio's options were limited due to her situation, but he knew that if he started when she couldn't fight it then she had a better chance of succeeding.
He returned to find Pierre in the room with her, looking at the frozen picture on the screen with a bit of a sad look in his eyes. "They're just leaving her here?"
"Yeah, for now. The way Daniel phrased it, once she has her baby then she's immediately back on his list." Horatio got the IV hooked into Elizabeth's arm, then motioned Pierre towards the box on the counter. "That more than likely has the blood samples I was telling you about earlier. I'd recommend having Noelle finding a way to set up a database and putting the blood into it. If the names aren't on the tubes or a paper, I can narrow it down through some tests and what I already know of the people in the group."
Pierre took the box from the counter, then left the room.
Horatio briefly looked up to see Milo and Marshal in the doorway of the room. "Hey, guys. I supposed this is as good a time as any to let you guys know that I got Elizabeth back and congratulations on your third kid, Marshal."
Milo chuckled and shook his head, stepping into the room. Marshal went straight to Elizabeth's side while Milo stopped next to Horatio. "You're a wild card, man. Thank you for getting her back, we owe you one."
Horatio went back to tending to Elizabeth, putting a wet cloth on her forehead to help with her head. "I wish you guys would stop saying that, that you owe me one. Nobody here owes me anything, I don't do what I do so I can cash in favors."
There was a knock at the doorway, where Noelle and Alyssa now stood. "Pierre wanted me to take over for you here so you and Noelle could go work on the blood that he has."
He nodded, said goodbye to Milo and Marshal then went with Noelle to go work on the blood.
Chelsea met with Orsino in the gardens the next day, going about the routine they'd established the day before of watering and then covering the plants.
She spent some time getting to know Orsino, finding he was pretty different from Horatio, likely as a result of Orsino's injury that prevented him from doing a fair amount of things for a few years.
"I've got a question. It's not one that I can ask Horatio because I don't want to upset him by asking." Chelsea walked alongside Orsino. "He told me that Mona was executed but he wasn't very detailed in what he said, was that the full truth or did he leave a few bits out of it?"
Orsino frowned slightly. "It sounds like he left a few bits out if that's all he told you. I won't tell you the full story because I wasn't there and even if so was, it's something that drove him to where he is now. It's important to him and if anyone is going to tell you, it should be him. The Amber organization shot Mona nonlethally, she was alive for about fourteen hours after she got shot. Horatio stayed with her for every second of those fourteen hours trying to save her life through any means he could. He told me that the last hour, it seemed like it was working and she was getting better and then she just started crashing. He put everything he had into trying to fix her and he lost her."
"That's why he stopped practing medicine until they basically forced him to, isn't it?"
Orsino nodded. "Probably. He stopped caring for the animals after that and was gone with Filip before a month even passed."
Chelsea stuck around for a bit, keeping up some small talk before she went to the medical center and found Noelle in the security room. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot that you were wanting to talk to me."
Noelle gave a soft smile. "It's no problem, it was probably for the better that you did wait it out. Horatio and I made a database for the members of the new resistance, we've got their blood so that way it can be compared to any crimes committed here. I was wanting to go through the security footage with you so you could identify their faces for me. Horatio already gave me four of their names but he didn't have the time to put names to the faces."
"He didn't have time?" Chelsea leaned against the table. "That's weird, he hasn't even been home since yesterday morning."
Noelle nodded. "He's been here since yesterday morning, he's had a pretty heavy workload just tossed onto him. Right now he's checking up on a lead that I found regarding Leona's body."
Noelle pulled up a frozen bit of footage from Danny's confrontation with Zachary. Chelsea crossed her arms, looking away from the screen. "That's Daniel, he's the leader. He was the one who killed Zachary and Gabbie." She pulled up footage from the night before where the camera saw Horatio coming into town with four new resistance people. Chelsea pointed out the smaller man and the woman with the group. "Elliot's the guy, he seems to be in charge of their research. I think the woman is named Savannah, she never introduced herself but I've heard the name passed around. Either way, she's a doctor of some sorts, probably a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or a counselor." Chelsea stopped on the man carrying Elizabeth. "I don't know him."
Noelle switched to the night Kimber died, freezing the frame on the man leaving Milo's house. "Does this help?"
"No, I still don't recognize him." Chelsea crossed her arms. "I don't know his name, but I know there's another woman with the group named Shae. I have no information on her and I'm not sure if you would be able to find her on the cameras, I hadn't seen her before I went to their base."
"Alright, that'll work." Noelle scribbled some thoughts down on a paper next to her. "Chelsea, just a bit of advice for you."
Chelsea had already gone to leave but stopped at the door. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Don't let any of them get physically close to you. It's unconfirmed right now, but Pierre has reason to believe that the new resistance chipped Leona." Noelle set her pen down and turned to face Chelsea. "They put the chip in so deep that we would have had to kill her for it to be fully removed. Horatio got what was left of it yesterday and told me all he had to do to get to it. It would kill someone and whoever put that chip in her did that intentionally."
Chills went down Chelsea's spine before she left the surveillance room, going room by room to try and find Horatio and Pierre.
Looking in the second room, she saw Leah, Marshal, and Alyssa standing around a bed where Elizabeth had been hooked up to a few different machines. She was unconscious and looked to be in pain.
"Chelsea, what are you doing here?" Chelsea turned to see Horatio approaching her, a look of concern on his face despite having blood on his arms and clothes. "Is everything okay?"
She nodded softly and crossed her arms. "Is she going to be okay?"
He stopped next to her and looked into the room himself, a sigh escaping him as he turned away and started back the way he came from. Chelsea followed after him. "I'm not sure, all we can do is try to keep her comfortable and hydrated until she regains consciousness and can communicate to us what she's going through."
"The others have been telling me that you're doing a lot around here lately, I guess that talk with Pierre helped you out, didn't it?"
"You would think, but it was really Milo. He put things into perspective for me and I know right now that I'm in a position where I can help people that the group can't."
Noelle quickly turned the corner with Pierre, who motioned for the two to follow them. "Ines and Isabel were spotted in town, Cyrus is following them, he said they seem like they're just walking through."
The four left the medical center, quickly catching up with Ines, Isabel, and Cyrus at the edge of the town. Cyrus had gotten the two women to stop but he couldn't convince them to turn around.
Ines went as soon as Horatio told her that it was safe back in the town, Isabel only agreeing whenever Jean Luc and Carlos showed up. Neither of them said a word about seeing Horatio at the new resistance's base, which was a bit of a relief to him.
They took the two to the medical center and had their blood drawn at Pierre's order to test for Pe-Hydrophetaform.
Pierre and Horatio could already tell something was wrong with Ines before her results came out as she spoke about calling her family in Italy to come assist. It became more apparent that something was going on when Cristiano came to the medical center and she continued speaking in English, making no effort to hide her fluency from him.
Isabel's results came back clear of it, but Ines came back with levels around Elizabeth's first test.
Noelle looked around Ines, quickly finding a chip in the same place that Leona had had her chip put in. It bore the same markings as the chip Leona had and seemed to be put in just as deep.
Horatio fell silent after the discovery, an unreadable look on his face. Pierre had Jean Luc, Carlos, and Isabel leave while Cristiano went to get the rest of his sons. Noelle and Horatio worked on subduing and sedating Ines, who seemed focused on talking to Horatio.
Cristiano returned with Orsino, Camillo, and Filip after Ines had gotten to sleep. They all questioned Pierre, who answered their questions to the best as he could. "She was chipped. What they're putting in her right now is taking control of her frontal lobe, she's not in her right mind."
"And why can't you just take it out?" Cristiano watched over his wife.
Horatio took the question, knowing his father wasn't thinking right. "Era troppo profondo. It might kill her."
Noelle scrunched her nose, turning to him. "Might? It definitely would if we were to get the whole thing out."
"Maybe not. If we start close to her thyroid and break up the chip from there, it should be easier to pull out in its entirety."
Noelle didn't seem too confident in the theory. "Maybe that is an option, but if we aren't careful when breaking it up, it'll release everything in it and send her into an overdose. We're using a lot of resources to bring Elizabeth back from one and I don't think we have the medical capacity to work on a second one."
"And what are our options?" Filip crossed his arms. "Why can't we just remove it the way we did Leona's chip?"
"Because it didn't work, she was still under the influence of what was in the chip. It was so deep that it was essentially going through her throat and we had no idea since we didn't think it would go that deep." Horatio looked at his youngest brother, trying to get him to understand. "It's deliberately being placed that deep to ensure that it won't be noticed and removed."
Chelsea crossed her arms, looking at Cristiano to see he looked defeated for once. "Mr. Villa, what do you say they do? She's your wife, you should have a say in it."
"The way it's being presented, it doesn't sound like we have many options. It sounds like you guys are telling me that we can put her out of her misery or risk killing her in surgery." Cristiano never stopped looking at his wife. "I would ask that you try to do something for her, even if it doesn't work."
"Pierre, are we struggling on supplies?" Chelsea questioned, Pierre shaking his head in response. "You've always been one for experiments haven't you?"
"I suppose that can be said. I think with all of our doctors focusing on it, it has a decent chance of succeeding." Pierre put his hands on his hips. "The problem with taking all of our doctors and putting their attention to Ines is that Elizabeth's still in critical condition and needs someone to constantly watch her."
"Marshal has been with her since I got her stable, she hasn't changed much since then and I feel like he would be able to identify when something is going wrong with her." Horatio shrugged.
"Okay, so he can identify it, can he fix the problem? Say that Elizabeth takes a turn for the worse while you guys are operating in Ines. You're all busy and can't step away, Elizabeth and her child would die and Ines probably would too."
Horatio shook his head. "You're probably right. Chels, what are your thoughts on it?"
"I think that Noelle could easily communicate to Jean Luc what would have to be done to help Elizabeth based on what her symptoms are in the same fashion that you could walk any of your brothers through it. You don't have to be there to give instructions, you just have to listen." She paused. "But that leaves the risk of Elizabeth not getting timely or proper care."
[Advise they do the surgery on Ines] [Advise they don't do the surgery on Ines]
Leona met the new resistance after her chip was removed. It was one of the free days she had, despite being confined to a wheelchair at the time.
She took herself out of town and that's where she met Gabbie for the first time. Gabbie refused to let Leona leave without talking to her, even taking control of the wheelchair herself.
Gabbie told her all about Daniel's plan to overtake the Voyagers and told her that she would be left alive to watch it all unfold. She told her that if she joined the new resistance that things would go differently.
The last memory Leona had of herself was joining the new resistance because she didn't want to see the group she had invested herself into crack under pressure.
Everything after that she only heard from the Voyagers in passing. She was as oblivious to the new resistance's actions as someone like Kyle or Lecia. She had no idea she was the one doing the things that she thought so negatively of.
When Horatio confronted her for seducing and killing Samantha, then snapping Vincent's neck. She didn't remember doing that. Chelsea and Horatio were in the new resistance's base, when Leona shot Horatio while the two stared each other straight in the face, Leona had no idea that she did that.
The night before she died, Leona was faced with undeniable proof in photos and videos that she was responsible for a number of shortcomings that the Voyagers had started facing. She sobbed, pleading her innocence.
The tears she shed were real, her pleas were real. She had no idea that she was being used against the people she cared so much about.
Even mere minutes before she died, she had no idea what she was doing.
She remembered Chelsea talking to her and going to take off her hood because she felt like Chelsea was afraid.
The only person who knew these things couldn't tell anyone about what he was seeing and hearing without exposing a deep issue with the gene and forcing himself, his mother, and Chelsea to go through genetic therapy to find the problem and then genetic splicing to allow it to be fixed.
Whitlock knew what was in the group's past. He saw the preparation Angie had taken when she killed Kimber, he saw the preparations Daniel had taken just to get his shot at Zachary.
He also knew what laid ahead of the group. While it hadn't happened yet, he saw Gwen step up and defend the people she had only just started to know. He saw what his uncle and Horatio did to Daniel and what happened to them because of what they did. He watched Isaac start the steps to destroy the very gene he created after it was used against him by two of the three carriers.
Passing these people on the street every day, Whitlock would see something new.
He was on a walk through town by himself when he was stopped by Amanda and Jean Luc, who both looked a little concerned to see Whitlock out by himself. "Whit, what are you doing on your own? Shouldn't you be with your granddad or something?"
"No, he's with Victor so I got to go for a walk."
The two adults looked at each other and shared a chuckle before Amanda reached out and pat Whitlock on the shoulder. When she did that, the world around him changed and his body went cold.
Amanda and Jean Luc were no longer in front of him. He heard a bit of yelling coming from behind him.
Whitlock slowly turned to see what looked to be a confrontation between Jean Luc and Filip, Amanda stood in between the two of them while Noelle tried to get Jean Luc to back away from what was happening. Filip was grabbed by Chelsea and he reacted by shoving her back. Cyrus stepped in and that was all Whitlock could see.
Someone kneeled next to Whitlock, looking forward with him. "The groups are going to split over one small thing that can easily be disputed. You know who's undercover and who's working against the group, you know the difference and you know that a lot of people in the group are prideful individuals. You're going to have to speak for them to prevent that. If it happens then everyone loses; Onyx, the Voyagers, the Crusaders, and the Wanderers. Every single one of them."
Whitlock turned to face Zachary, shaking his head. "How do I get them to listen? If this is about what I think it is, I already can't do anything about it."
Zachary turned to Whitlock with a smile on his face. "That's not true. Start now and maybe you can get a headstart. You know a few of the people here that you can trust, you can start small and go with them or you can go straight to the problem."
"How do I know anyone will listen to me?" Whitlock crossed his arms with a sigh. "I'm only seven, I feel I should remind you of that."
"Seven, but you have seen alternate futures play out before your eyes. Nobody else here has had that happen to them so there's no way they can dispute what you say." Zachary got back to his feet. "You gotta get going, they're starting to get worried about how long you've been zoned out. The last thing Amanda asked you is who was supposed to be watching you and if you were okay."
Whitlock eased back into reality, taking small but deep breaths as he did so.
He found Amanda and Jean Luc were now crouching in front of him and talking to him to try and understand what had just happened to him. "I'm okay, I'm supposed to be with my grandpa. I think I should go back so I don't worry him too much."
Whitlock turned around and ran straight home, ignoring the two calling out for him. He tried to pretend he wasn't even gone and went about his day as if nothing had happened.
Whitlock knew he was in trouble as soon as his dad got home since his granddad told him about Whitlock going out on his own. Whitlock overheard his dad saying someone had already told him about it.
Kyle went home and neither of them said a word to each other while Marshal was getting Victor ready for bed. Whitlock could tell he was upset just by his silence.
Victor went to sleep pretty soon after he laid down. Marshal left the room and found Whitlock sitting on the couch with his head down. He let out a sigh as he sat down next to him. "I'm not mad at you, I just think you made a few bad choices today. Why were you out in the town by yourself? You know your mom doesn't like it and you know that I don't like it, so why would it be acceptable just because we're not around to say no?"
"I'm sorry, I just got tired of sitting around here and Jack and Jude couldn't play today." Whitlock kept his hands in his lap.
"When you were talking to Amanda and Jean Luc today, what happened? They told me that you just phased out and were unresponsive for like ten minutes. Is that true or is it an exaggeration?" One thing Marshal and Elizabeth knew about Whitlock was he had a tendency to space out and that it normally wasn't anything to worry about.
Whitlock sat in silence, thinking over what Zachary had told him while he was zoned out. He knew he could start small by telling his dad and that his dad would make sure that things didn't turn out the way Whitlock saw, but what was holding Whitlock back was that he didn't know how quickly Marshal could change the course of events that led to what he saw if they were already in effect.
He looked up at his dad and opened his mouth to talk, but no words left him.
[Start small and tell Marshal] [Don't tell Marshal and have Whitlock confront the issue]
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Post by Tales93 on Feb 19, 2021 19:16:21 GMT
[Advise they do the surgery on Ines]
This was another one that I wasn't sure on, but I figured it would be better that they try something instead of do nothing. Chelsea seems to think Noelle could have Jean Luc help Elizabeth if need be. If things do go worse for Elizabeth, she has the gene that could end up helping her. Something, Ines does not have to fall back on.
[Start small, tell Marshal]
It's so interesting that Whitlock can see possible future events. I think he should tell Marshall about his abilities so that he should get ahead of and change possible future events. I think it would be better that an adult know than to try to solve everything as a seven year old. Plus, if anyone should know about the the unpredictability of the genes abilities it's his father Marshal. He's one of the most likely to probably believe and take him seriously.
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Post by Kal on Feb 25, 2021 8:48:01 GMT
Whitlock let out a sigh and pulled his knees to his chest. "I've been seeing things. Today I saw the group fall apart and Zachary told me that if that happens then everyone loses."
"How long have you been seeing things?"
"I don't know, a month maybe." Whitlock rested his head on knees and took a few deep breaths to keep himself calm. "I saw what happened to Zachary before it happened and I know what's going to happen to uncle Milo and Horatio when they gang up on Daniel."
Marshal seemed speechless for a minute before and sighed and rubbed Whitlock's head. "It's going to be alright, we'll figure this out. Can you tell me what you saw today that freaked you out this bad?"
"I was talking to Amanda and Jean Luc. She touched me and then they disappeared. There was fighting behind me and I turned around to see what was going on. It looked like the fight was Filip and Jean Luc, Amanda was between them and the Crusaders were going to pull Jean Luc back. I don't know what caused it or when it's going to happen but that's what's in store right now." Whitlock clutched his knees tighter. "Zachary said that if that happened then the group would lose. He said I had to change what I was seeing."
"Have you tried changing these events before?"
Whitlock shook his head. "I didn't want to tell people I knew."
Marshal tapped his fingers, quickly tying together the pieces that Whitlock had already given him and realizing the information he needed to know was missing. "What else have you seen?"
"When Greg gets back, he's going to be hurt. Whoever finds him is going to help him and while they're distracted, a new resistance member is going to show up and try to grab them. Gwen is going to be outside and see what's happening and try to help by firing at the new resistance, it backfires on her and she gets shot. Later the same day, I had another one. It was you and David talking, David said that four people died that day."
"And that was the first thing you saw that hasn't happened yet?" Whitlock nodded. "Then go from there and tell me the next thing you saw."
Whitlock finally let go of his knees, crossing his legs and focusing on what he knew. "Daniel came back into town and started mocking uncle Milo and telling him that it was his fault that Kimber was dead. Horatio was there but wasn't involved until Milo punched Daniel. Daniel tried to convince Horatio that Milo was in the wrong and Horatio got mad, he told Daniel that it was his fault that things were falling apart and that he knew what Daniel was doing. Daniel took a chip out of his pocket and tried to put it on Horatio, Milo stopped him and they both just started beating on Daniel." Whitlock paused. "They didn't kill him, he came back in the next one I saw and told Pierre that he killed them both and he didn't feel bad about it."
Marshal sighed, knowing he probably wouldn't have an issue stopping Gwen but he'd have a difficult time with Milo and Horatio. "What's next?"
"It was Isaac, Chelsea, and mom. Chelsea and mom weren't right, they were fighting him and he told Amanda that if she couldn't get the gene under control then he would shut it down because he wasn't going to risk the lives of his people so that the new resistance could use his own daughter against him." Whitlock finally looked up to his dad. "He shut it down and it killed all three of us. He was talking to Luke at a funeral and he was crying, saying he didn't want to do it but he had no other options. The last thing I saw was Jean Luc and Filip's fight."
Marshal nodded, trying not to seem too distraught with what Whitlock just told him. "I'll figure it out, I'll find a way to stop it."
After Whitlock went to bed, Marshal went for a walk through town to try and clear his head and work out a plan. He knew there were nine deaths that he had to prevent, but he only knew who seven of the people were.
He went to the medical center to check on Elizabeth before he went home and found Horatio in her room, setting up her machines to be able to support her without assistance overnight. "Do you ever sleep, Horatio?"
Horatio turned back and gave a nod to Marshal. "Not when I have things to do. I didn't think you'd be back so soon."
Marshal shrugged slightly, going to the side of the bed. "I can't sleep when I've got things to do."
He chuckled, looking over a clipboard that was sat on the counter. "I feel like this visit isn't entirely for Elizabeth, what's going on?"
"When was the last time you took her blood?"
"Around noon." Horatio looked at Marshal, leaning against the counter a bit. "Why?"
"I'd recommend you check it more frequently and you might want to check Chelsea's tomorrow as well."
Horatio seemed confused but complied with what Marshal said, testing Elizabeth's blood once again. He spent the waiting period trying to get answers out of Marshal, which wasn't going to happen.
He left and came back with the results, his confusion only growing more from there. "I don't get it, her numbers are almost normal again. Why did you want me to check her blood?"
Marshal got out of his seat, heading to the door. "Just keep checking them while she's around then, it's not time yet."
He went home, wondering how much time he had to stop Gwen and hopefully avoid the four deaths that followed. He knew he had no clue what to be watching for with Elizabeth and Chelsea, but he knew Horatio did and he'd only raised his concerns with his visit tonight.
Horatio got home to find Chelsea waiting up on the couch. It was a surprise to him as he'd stayed at the medical center a lot longer than he intended to as Marshal's visit concerned him enough to run blood tests on Isabel and his mother.
Chelsea gave a soft smile. "It's been a busy day, hasn't it?" He nodded and took a seat next to her. "They're going to do the surgery on your mom. Do you think you're going to take part in it?"
"I have to. It's experimental and one of Zachary's rules that Pierre is keeping is that if it's an experimental surgery, every doctor we have had to be there since we don't know how to go about it or how long it'll take." He hesitated, taking a soft breath. "I want to be there either way."
Chelsea looked over him, realizing he was beyond exhausted and quite close to drifting to sleep. “You should probably get some sleep. How long has it been since you’ve got a full night of sleep?”
He shrugged with a small smile fixed on his face. “I don’t know, but I do know that I won’t be getting it tonight.” He pointed to the clock. “Even if I fell asleep at this second, I’d only be getting four hours before I have to be back at the medical center.”
Chelsea frowned slightly, letting out a sigh. “You should start taking better care of yourself. You can’t be expected to take care of other people if you’re unwell yourself.”
“Chelsea, I appreciate the sentiment but I’m going to be okay.”
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Post by Kal on Mar 1, 2021 15:32:12 GMT
The first hour was spent preparing Ines for the surgery, Cristiano was the first to arrive at the medical center before any of the doctors, leaders, or his sons had gotten there. He spent the first hour getting Ines ready for the surgery himself since he knew there wasn’t much he could do for her once the doctors arrived.
The leaders and the doctors had arrived by the time the second hour arrived. The doctors gave their plans to the leaders, which took about half of the hour, then they spent the rest of the hour relaying the same plans to Cristiano, Orsino, Camillo, and Filip.
The third hour found the doctors preparing themselves, the room, and their tools for the surgery and setting up Jean Luc with specific instructions on how to watch over Elizabeth while they were occupied.
After four hours, the doctors gathered around the table that Ines was on and started speaking among each other in hushed voices, knowing that the leaders, Cristiano, Orsino, Camillo, and Filip were watching every move they all made, listening to every word they spoke and if something went wrong, it would be traced the second that it happened.
Alyssa looked at the other two doctors with her, giving them a nod. “Are we all ready?” It wasn’t Amanda she was truly worried about.
She could tell Horatio was hesitating on something, debating with himself on if he should say anything. He flinched as Alyssa picked up the scalpel, letting out a quick breath that he had been holding. “I don’t think any of us are knowledgeable about numbing agents, I don’t think we did it right.”
Amanda turned to him, looking a bit confused. “Why are you thinking that now? She’s been under for an hour at this point, I think we would have realized something was up if we didn’t do it right.”
“Give me five minutes to prove this to you guys, it’s all I need.” Horatio pinched the skin on the back of Ines’ neck and then pulled his hands away.
The two women watched her for a minute before seeing her flinch and her shoulders tighten. Alyssa furrowed her eyebrows with a sigh. “She’s still feeling but because of the anesthetic, her response time is delayed. I don’t know how that is, though, she got way more than we should have even given her.”
The door to the room opened and Joseph stepped in with gloves on his hands, scrubs covering his normal clothing, and a mask on his face. “Whatever the chip is putting into her is actively overriding whatever you guys put into her. The more you put into her, the more the chip puts out. Horatio, do you share her blood type? I wouldn’t advise bringing any of your brothers in here unless it’s a last resort.”
Horatio nodded. “Yeah, I do. What’s your plan?”
“Two lines, one going to you and the other going to her.” Joseph went to the cabinets, looking for what he was going to need. “If I’m right, you would be taking in her blood and by extension, the foreign material in it through the first line. Your body will almost certainly be able to fight it in smaller doses and then filter clean blood into her through the second line.” He gathered what he needed and surveyed the looks he was getting from the doctors, focusing on Alyssa. “You’re having doubts, what are they?”
“How do we know that whatever the chip is putting out isn’t just multiplying in her bloodstream? If that’s the case, we would be infecting Horatio and opening the both of them up to the control of whoever is behind that chip and endangering their lives for a theory.”
Joseph’s eyes seemed to light up. “We know it’s not multiplying because we’ve seen Elizabeth’s numbers. She’s not chipped, but she does have the same drug in her bloodstream. The difference between her and Ines is that Ines’ numbers are continuing to rise with a chip while Elizabeth’s fall without a source. When I was with Onyx, the chips were made specifically to counteract anything the host put into their body so that Onyx could retain control. Chelsea could probably tell you the same thing; the design hasn’t changed.”
“And how did Milo, Elizabeth, and Marshal stay in control when they were chipped?” Alyssa knew that Joseph would have an answer, but she wanted him to explain it so Amanda and Horatio knew exactly what to expect.
“The scouts were exposed to a drug that Elizabeth made herself to counteract the effects of the chip. Onyx’s chip was more of a psychological control so it wasn’t difficult to do.” Joseph started hooking Ines up to the lines, focusing more on what he was doing rather than what he was saying. “Horatio knows what’s normal for his body, physically and mentally. If he does start to fall under the effects of the chip, he should be able to stop us before he’s under complete control.” He then looked to Horatio, passing him the ends of the lines that he would be hooked up to. “Worse comes to it, he can unhook himself. I don’t see it possible to fall under complete control when the dosage he would be getting is pretty small in comparison to what Ines has in her.”
By the fifth hour, Joseph had started the two lines between Horatio and Ines. He was there strictly to monitor the lines and make sure Ines wasn’t going to get close to dying through a mishap with the medicine administration.
The four doctors watched over Ines’ numbers before deciding that Joseph’s idea was working well enough for them to start operating on Ines at the start of the sixth hour. They tested her reactions one final time as the fifth hour turned into the sixth.
Amanda made the first incision on the back of Ines’ neck while Horatio made the exact same cuts on the opposite side of her neck. The two carefully made cuts until the chip was exposed in its entirety.
Alyssa took over for Amanda, looking to Horatio for a moment. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this?” He nodded, focusing on what he knew his job was. “Okay, just remember that as soon as I break it off from my end then you need to get it out. It’s either going to give an immediate reaction or a slightly delayed one but it can’t stay in her or it’ll kill her.”
The four doctors in the room stayed silent until Horatio got into position, waiting for Alyssa to snap the chip. At almost seven hours, Alyssa snapped the chip in half and quickly removed her half, Horatio removed his at the same time.
Amanda and Alyssa went straight to stitching Ines back up while Horatio took the chip and what was coming out of it, gathering it all together and placing it to the side so he could do his own research on it later. They spent the entire eighth hour ensuring that they were doing everything right for Ines.
By the time the ninth hour came along, Amanda and Alyssa had started cleaning up the room and the tools that they had used. Joseph cut the first line that was going from Ines to Horatio but left the second line that went from him to her as an attempt to filter out as much from her system as they could.
He left the option up to Horatio on whenever he was ready to cut the line, which he did after another hour, then he went to cleaning up whatever mess he made.
After eleven hours, the doctors went their own ways with Amanda going to check on Jean Luc and Elizabeth, Horatio getting Noelle and going to run some tests on the chip, Alyssa going to run a blood test on Elizabeth, and Joseph returning to his place with the leaders and Cristiano.
Alyssa was running her tests in the same room that Horatio and Noelle were running theirs. She would occasionally look over to make sure he was still doing okay after being hooked up to two different lines for six hours. He looked tired, his usual tan skin was now rather pale.
She didn’t say anything about his condition, instead she turned back to the results of her own test, one number catching her off guard. She read over it multiple times and shook her head. “Horatio, how are you feeling?” She looked up at him, catching her own tone to be rather defensive. “Are you dizzy? Unstable? Your head fogged up?”
He slowly shook his head. “No, why?”
Alyssa passed the paper to him and then turned her attention to Noelle. “Who was in the surveillance room last night?”
Noelle stayed focused on her tests, but thought on the question. “Last night should have been Grady. He wasn’t there when Carlos got there this morning, though.” She paused, turning to Alyssa. “What happened?”
“Someone who knows the code to the building came in after I left last night and administered more Pe-Hydrophetaform to Elizabeth.” Horatio sighed, giving the paper back to Alyssa and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t see Grady when I left last night.”
Noelle crossed her arms. “Didn’t you guys take Elizabeth’s blood before you started the surgery on Ines?”
Alyssa looked to Horatio for an answer, knowing he was the one who focused on the tests. He seemed to mull over it for a minute before nodding. “Yeah, I did. I don’t remember where I left the paper, though.”
Horatio went to leave the room, Alyssa and Noelle following after him. “It couldn’t have happened while you guys were doing the surgery, Jean Luc never left the room and the only other person who went in was Marshal. Marshal wasn’t in there long before he went back to where Pierre was.”
The three went to Elizabeth’s room where a paper was sitting on the counter. Horatio looked over the paper, suddenly starting to tap his fingers. “This is the same paper that I went over with Jean Luc this morning but it’s not her results from this morning. I did this before I left last night, Marshal was here when I did this. He would recognize these numbers.”
“You’re thinking someone switched the papers to hide what they did?” Alyssa compared the two papers. “It would be a good way to frame whoever was watching Elizabeth during the surgery.”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking, but I don’t remember anyone being around me when I ran her tests this morning. Pierre, Joseph, Marshal, my dad, and my brothers were already here when I got here.” Horatio sighed, finally breaking his attention from the paper. “Whoever administered the dose did it last night and they did it with the intention of killing her, she’s alive right now because of the gene.”
“Where is Chelsea? Nobody would bat an eye if she came around and from what I heard, she was out pretty late last night.” Alyssa’s defensive tone finally fell as she started to think more on what was happening.
Horatio shook his head. “It couldn’t have been her, she was home when I got home and we left at the same time this morning.” He paused, looking at Elizabeth. “She might be able to tell us what happened, though.”
“Then we need to find her.” Alyssa briefly turned to Noelle. “Can you go check the cameras and see if you can find something on there? I’m going to go talk to Pierre.”
The two women left the room, leaving Horatio in the room alone. He let out a long breath and gripped the counter, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to stay conscious long enough to find Chelsea.
He tracked down Orsino and explained the situation. He got his brother to go find Chelsea on the condition that he stayed with Ines. Horatio looked at the clock, knowing his brother had just two hours before the fourteen hours were up.
At the end of the fourteen hours, Orsino had returned to the medical center after finding Chelsea and convincing her to come back to town.
Chelsea went with Alyssa and Pierre while Orsino went back to his brothers and father. Horatio stayed with them while Joseph and Amanda ran a few tests on Ines.
Orsino could tell by the look on his older brother’s face that the tests weren’t going in her favor. Still, they stayed there for over an hour while the two continued on their tests and eventually brought Alyssa in to see if she would get any different result.
Alyssa went to Cristiano and the boys about half an hour after she started her own tests on Ines. She didn’t seem hopeful but kept it hidden from the men. The only reason Horatio knew the look on her face was because he’d seen it before.
She explained to them that it was unlikely that she would make a full recovery and that even if she came close to it, that she was certain the Ines wouldn’t be able to speak again as a result of the surgery.
She asked what Cristiano wanted to do from this point forward and he told her that he wanted the doctors to try their best and do what they could for her.
Amanda and Alyssa got a room ready for her while Cristiano and the boys stayed with Ines, most of them talking amongst themselves.
Horatio ended up leaving the room and going home. Pierre noticed his absence when Alyssa and Amanda moved Ines to the room next to Elizabeth’s and went to find him.
It was clear to Pierre that he had a lot on his mind whenever he did find him as he didn’t say a single word for over an hour, even after Pierre spoke to him.
Pierre left the silence alone until Horatio cleared his throat, his eyes fixed on the front door. “Pierre, I need your advice.”
His voice lacked the confidence it normally had and sounded quite sad, that paired with asking for advice was all new behavior from him to Pierre. “What’s on your mind?”
“I need to leave.” He briefly looked at Pierre, realizing his statement was vague and a bit concerning. “Zachary and Eris carried the same illness. It killed her and was days away from killing him, the length of time it took him to just waste away is completely improbable. The only connection between the two is that Zachary’s aunt and Eris’s family emigrated from Italy, I don’t think I have to spell out to you why that’s a little concerning to me.”
Pierre thought over what he was saying for a moment, nodding to himself. “You want to study their illness and you think your best shot is going to Italy. Tell me, how do you intend to find someone who has the same illness? You do know the symptoms and the tests you have to perform, but do you intend to do those tests on everyone you see in Italy?”
“You and I both know that I lack the patience for that.” Horatio gave a soft chuckle, his eyes lighting up for a brief second. “No, before Zachary died he had me take a sample from him so that I could study his genes and the illness, which is more than likely genetic. The best way to find out how it works would be monitoring it from conception and Pierre, you know that I can’t pass on a project, but I can’t put this on any of the women here because I know that the kid would die, even if they don’t know that.”
“And where is this attitude coming from? You’ve had the sample since before Zachary died, why do you intend to do something about it now?”
“Because I’ve failed the two people I care about the most.” Horatio cupped his hands, his thumbs brushing over his knuckles as he tapped his feet. “I spent fourteen hours working on a girl who I knew was going to die after just an hour. I spent fourteen hours helping with my own mother and I truthfully don’t expect her to survive this, it was too risky and we didn’t have the materials for it. If I can find a way to cure this illness or even just get basic information on it, just maybe I’ll be worth something to myself.”
“I can’t let you go anywhere. There’s a lot on the line and you’re in the middle of it.” Pierre shook his head slowly. “If you disappear, Elizabeth becomes a target all over again. You’re the one who fought her fight, not her. You do most of our research and that would be another loss on our end because at the end of the day, you’re worth something here. Daniel hasn’t targeted you himself because he knows that you’re more of use to all of us alive.”
Horatio didn’t seem convinced. “And what if I could find a way to use this against them?” He went silent, his foot no longer tapping. “The gene that Isaac manipulated was formed on a variant of a food allergy that was genetic, it was built up from there and eventually the only thing that remained was it being genetic, none of them are allergic to any foods.”
“How do you know this?”
Horatio looked to Pierre and finally offered a smile. “All of your doctors here have multiple specialties, hematology, biology, and genealogy are mine. I’ve done my research on the gene and my research is how I know that at this point in our efforts against the new resistance, it’s completely useless but it’s going to be a necessity relatively soon.”
“If you do use the sample to turn the illness into a weapon, you wouldn’t be able to study it, would you?”
“I could do both, but turning it into a weapon is going to be time and resource consuming- resources that we don’t have. Isaac has the resources we need and while I know Chelsea could get him to allow us to do some work there, I can’t let her know about this. I can talk to Isaac myself.”
Pierre leaned back in his seat, cupping his hands together. “And what is it that you were seeking my advice for?”
“I need to know which I should do first. If I study it first, it’s going to take a lot longer to turn it into a weapon; if I turn it into a weapon first, there’s an endless list of risks that come from instability and insufficient research. Do you think we have the time to spare?”
[Advise Horatio to study the illness first.] [Advise Horatio to go straight to Isaac.]
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Post by Tales93 on Mar 1, 2021 16:53:26 GMT
[Advise Horatio to study the illness first.]
I think it would be better if he knew how the illness worked before turning it into a weapon. Things may go wrong if they don't know what their dealing with.
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