1.4 Bad Apples
A bittersweet evening visiting a dear friend ends in an unthinkable kidnapping.
Voice Over: Kevin
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Cold open to a Laundromat. The sound of turning dryers and clinking change machines. It’s night. Late. Kevin walks out with a small canvas bag. The sidewalks are glistening, freshly powerwashed. Walking with a quickened pace, he passes by two bums sitting on the concrete.
“Hey old man. Got some cigarette money?”
Kevin knows this routine, he keeps walking and doesn’t react. He keeps looking ahead, pacing.
“I said hey old man! I need some cigarette money. And my friend here is hungry.”
Keep walking. Keep walking.
The bums leap up from tattered blankets, their simple disguise busted, and jog over to Kevin. Still walking but now bracketed by two hungry muggers.
“Old man you deaf? You wanna make it home without a stop to the ER and we need the money you got….
(The ruffian finally regards his mark for tonight. Kevin is slight, thin but not frail. Surfer, Yogi, might have even been a dancer once, but a “lean appearance” can go two ways.)
"….Look old timer. Make this quick and we won’t make it bad for you.”
“Please kiddo, let me be. Don’t do this man.”
They mock him “bruuuuuuh don’t dooooo this maaaaaan”
The hoods walk with Kevin a few more feet until an alleyway opens up on the right. Kevin was already turning into it when the kids pushed him.
Stumbling for a few steps before falling and skidding into the trash bags left out for the early pickup. A handful of small rats skitter away as the muggers make their final move. Steam from the laundromat’s dryer vents conceal the scene from other passers by. Large, old and noisy window AC units on the floors above mask the sound. Rough hands on a gray hoodie lift Kevin up against the dryer vent wall.
“Look you stupid fossil. Just give us the cash and we’ll…..shit man are you ok? We ain’t gonna kill you, we’re just robbing your ass. Hell Ronnie look at how big this dude’s eyes are. He’s scared out of his mind. Ain’t you ever been mugged before?”
“Please…. Stop…. Don’t do this.”
Ronnie produces a butterfly knife with a quick flourish and holds it to Kevin’s cheek. A thin bloodline traces and begins to drip down the blade.
“Let’s see if we can make him piss before we take his money. Ready to die old man?”
Kevin’s eyes blink for a moment, narrow for a beat, and then, somehow get wider.
Kevin, pinned against the dryer vents, lets the kids pat down his pockets. "Nah…Just stand still. We could kill you but not for…..dang dude is this all you have??"
The AC window unit five floors up — held in by duct tape and a phone book the landlord kept promising to fix — finally loses its grip in the sultry night air. It slides slowly at first, but as the unit fan kicks off its cycle, the whole box comes all the way out.
Three hundred stories start the same way: a sound, then a half-second where nobody understands what they just heard. Kevin’s eyes go from fully wide to shut tight.
The 90 lb unit slams into Ronnie across the back of the skull and shoulders, the full weight of metal crushing bone with brutal force. A few twitches, and Ronnie stops moving forever.
The second robber stands there for a long moment, straining to process the sudden shock. Looking at the window five floors above where the frame now sits empty, curtains shifting slightly in the draft.
“Shit…..shit…..aw shit man…. What the……shit…. What the shit did you just do??”
The kid runs out of the steamy alley and into the street. Turns once more to issue a threat to the old man who killed his friend.
“You’re DEAD! DEAD you hear me?! I’m gonna find where you live and I’m gonna bring by crew and we’re gonna fuck-up everything you’ve ever known.”
Kevin walks slowly out of the alley. He’s crying. Grieving for the death he caused and for the death about to come.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry kid. I’m…”
“Eat shit and die old man. You’re gonna be so fucking sorr-”
The trash compactor driver was checking his phone and never saw the stupid kid standing in the street. Funny how when something so big runs over something so small, it doesn’t really make all that much of a fuss.
The truck’s brakes seize up the rear wheels and the air fuses the smells of dryer steam and burned rubber.
Kevin cries. He looks down at the remains of the kid, and then — because it feels like the thing to do — gets out his phone and calls 911, hands not quite steady, already knowing what the dispatcher is going to ask him and not sure how he'd explain it.
*****
Aqua Tofana: A more elegant name instead of “Arsenic”. Trust the Sicilians of the 17th century to make poison a Thing of Grace. No odor, taste or smell, acts over time, easily misdiagnosed as natural causes. Used by abused brides to kill their husbands when they had no other way out.
Kevin is making tea at home. Slowly, methodical, ingrained. If the power goes out and he’s in pitch blackness, he would still make tea with the same efficiency.
Four drops can kill you fast. One a day can kill you over a few weeks.
The cops called it all a freak accident and sent me home. That’s what they do. No other way to explain it without involving an embarrassing stack of paperwork. If they bothered to do it, though, they would find that this makes some twenty-odd now where I’ve “been on the scene”.
I’m a serial killer. Who knew?
This presence in me has become something of a companion. The kind that reminds you that you’re not alone, the kind that makes you think of big ideas late at night, and the kind that slaughters anyone that might threaten you.
I’m a peacenik with a body count.
You see what they don’t know is that I can actually defend myself. 40 years of yoga can teach you where muscles can stretch and joints can flex, and where they can tear and dislocate. I avoid confrontation not because I fear getting hurt. I fear others getting hurt on my account. This uninvited guest who has made a little house in me keeps me alive, and has pulled me out of more than a few situations. But I am tormented by my protector, and it doesn’t take into account collateral damage to others who may be innocent.
I’m a time bomb.
Kevin opens the bottle of poison as the tea finishes steeping.
But maybe I have just a little control after all. Maybe I have a way out. It doesn’t seem to care if I add a little “something extra” to my tea now and then. Sometimes a few days in a row. A few drops in a row. A few weeks for it to actually start, and once started, nothing can stop it. And then, no one has to stupidly die because of me. Offing yourself for the greater good is an old tale, even if it’s a losing battle in the end.
[drop] I’m a kamikaze. [drop]
The Griffin's Nest
Maeve: "Shady cops in shady alleys with shady doors with no signs. What could go wrong?"
In Whitecliff, Maeve turns into a cramped, unmarked, dark alley lined with dumpsters against the walls of Tudor style buildings. Checking the text on her phone from Cillian, she finds an equally unmarked, dark doorway and opens it.
Maeve ducks in to find herself in a quintessential pub with a lively atmosphere. The bartender takes a suspicious look at her and asks how she can help. Before Maeve can say much, Cillian appears beside her, and tells Nessie, the bartender that she is with him. With that Nessie immediately relaxes, chats up Cillian, pulls two pints, and offers them strawberry ice cream... that she apparently made with the strawberries Cillian grew and gave to her. Mortified, he mutters something about a green thumb.
Maeve: "You're like Farmer McGregor! I bet you even hate rabbits."
Delighted with this bit of information, Maeve takes her beer and her ice cream and follows Cillian to a door in the back of the pub, where Nessie indicates that "Cyrus" is already waiting for them. She grouses when he mentions that Seamus should arrive soon – apparently he has a tendency to set things on fire when he shows up.
Maeve: "Who are we meeting?"
Cillian: "Some criminals."
Maeve: "Oooh! My favorite!"
As they step outside the weather transitions suddenly to a pleasant English summer evening, and rolling fields are visible beyond the walls of the tavern courtyard. People are decked out in a ren-faire-meets-hippie vibe. It is a completely different scene from the streets of gang-heavy Whitecliff. Cillian makes an offhand comment about microclimates, but doesn't see anything strange about it.
Cyrus, a lean, dark-skinned, clean cut man dressed in a suit, waits for them at a table. He has a dangerous edge that implies the suit, however well he wears it, isn't his default attire. They are shortly joined by a large, booming, red-headed, bushy-bearded fisherman – Seamus O'Shea.
Cillian lays out the basics: he introduces Maeve to the two men. Cyrus runs the gang here in Whitecliff. Seamus runs the Longshore Union, a group of... well, thugs, basically... that work the docks in Ocean Heights and have a standing agreement with Hades. Cillian explains that Maeve is a PI, warns them that she has lots of questions, and basically asks them to please not kill her if she comes sniffing around Whitecliff, and to please physically remove her from the neighborhood if she shows up in Ocean Heights. (That pisses her off.) He goes on to ask Maeve to promise not to do any police-related work in Whitecliff. She agrees.
Cyrus and Seamus size up Maeve and vice versa, and she quickly realizes they both have mythic powers. Looking more closely at them, Maeve makes out that Cyrus gives the illusion of a sword with its blade vanishing into rock anchored at his side (and Maeve is pretty sure they're in his enclave right now). Seamus wears a crown of twisted branches, and has the impression of large, gossamer wings and a regal bearing.
They must realize the same about her, because as they begin to answer questions about Hades, Seamus emphasizes that Ocean Heights would be especially unpleasant for... someone like Maeve.
Maeve finally gets real information about the mysterious Hades.
- Hades real name is Vidales. He's the crime boss in Ocean Heights.
- He mostly operates in trafficking – drugs and people.
- Seamus is on his payroll, and works on the docks with his "boys" – the mercurially violent members of the Longshore Union.
- Apparently Hades has full control over the people who live and work in the heart of Ocean Heights, even though they seem normal. You'd have to go through all of them to get to him. (Maeve almost slips and calls them shades, stopping herself, but not before Cyrus notices.)
- They hammer home the point – Do. Not. Go. Alone. If Maeve needs something from Ocean Heights, go to the docks, find Seamus, and they'll figure it out. If she needs something in Whitecliff, go to Cyrus. The end.
As the evening wears on, the talk loosens up. It is clear from the stories told that both of these men are very, very dangerous, which explains why nobody should go into their territories alone or without permission. Maeve notices the pair are slightly deferential towards Cillian, which is surprising, and she's not sure what that means.
So guess what? She has more questions...
Helix Laboratory
Sergei sits on the floor of his mostly-settled office, surrounded by manuals, papers and cables as he does two things at once – work on his coherence engine and search for his pack of chewing gum. Michelle drops by with two coffees, joining him on the floor when he finally calls off his search. Sergei has slowly realized that while yes, Michelle was his buddy/mentor as he got settled in Leyland's facility, she is in fact a very high ranking presence here and close to the man himself.
They talk about his work briefly before she opens up about her current project. She shows him a thumb drive and explains that she's exhausted the computing power at her disposal and needs his quantum-level resources. She sticks the thumb drive in his machine and Serge realizes that this drive is just the initialization sequence that in turn accesses a vast network of petabytes of data. Then she explains.
"I need an AI created out of this. Well, no. I need an intelligence created out of this. The data isn't artificial.
"I call it Project Persephone."
Sweet Chariot Hospice
Three weeks after Denver's collapse, she's living at Sweet Chariot Hospice. Kevin has been to see her numerous times, and Whiro continues to whisper that they can fix this. He continues to ignore it.
At game night one night, Kevin opens up to his friends and the group immediately goes into problem solving mode. Sergei calls Michelle, who ends up not being super useful if the subject is still alive and requires healing instead of observation. Maeve activates the phone tree, resulting in London calling (now Dr.) Jamie Campbell, who they know has a Rift and is a doctor... but while she can help with real physical injuries, and could probably see the lichen-like growth invading Denver's body, she probably can't do anything to treat such a thing. That would require powers focused on healing or removing magic.
Sergei has his "tuning fork" project that he thinks might give them more information, at least, about Denver's condition. So in the end, they decide a group trip to Sweet Chariot is in order.
They arrive to find Denver is having a Good Day, although that term has become relative. B is there, visiting "Auntie D," leaving when the group shows up... but not before confirming that Denver is okay with this much of this sort of company.
Sergei: "Hold on, I need boring. Hey, you! Yes, you! In blue. You are boring. Come here, normal person."
Sergei wheels in his Frankenstein's monster of a box and sets it up. Kevin talks Denver in to letting him use it. Sergei gets higher energy readings off of Denver (and his friends) then he does off of the orderlies.
Watching Denver and Sergei, Wren has the nagging feeling she may be able to do something, even though she is not sure what. Maeve joins her and lays a hand on her shoulder, and they whisper briefly about these strange new powers that have awakened within Wren. She's still not sure what is happening to her. Maeve gives her an abbreviated version of what it's like to acquire a "hitchhiker," or Rift. She tries to coach Wren through an exploration of these powers. Maeve places her other hand on Denver, and gently encourages Wren to close her eyes and trust the process.
Wren starts talking to Denver about engines, and how the body is similar to a car engine, and how she can "see" the rust that has built up inside. Suddenly Wren's arms heat up and glow with hieroglyphic symbols to those that can see them. Maeve serves as a liminal conduit, Wren's power passing through her to Denver. Wren's litany abruptly shifts to an Egyptian chanting.
Ar eq-kua er seta
Sem-a em sentet en kshertu
Suddenly, Denver's parasitic infection seems to recede, just a fraction. Wren falls back, gasping a bit, while Maeve quietly praises her.
Denver: "You have a gift, child."
Denver looks exhausted, and Wren needs to sit down, while Maeve soothingly rubs circles on her back. But it's clear that Wren's assistance was effective. Sergei does another measurement and the intensity of the tuning fork's reaction to Denver has definitely diminished. Wren is not quite sure what she did – but it seems like over multiple sessions, she might be able to remove or at least drastically reduce the paranormal infection that's killing Denver.
GallerySergei: "Like, this is probably off topic, but I think we can focus on—"
GalleryMaeve: "We're never off topic, Scott."
Leaving Denver to rest, but with renewed hope, the group departs from Sweet Chariot and begins the walk to Kevin's apartment.
Shit goes sideways
Leaving the hospice center, the party's eyes are immediately drawn to a large group of Niners, the all-in-white police force that patrols Independence. There seem to be more of them than usual. Skirting the group, they take a route Kevin usually avoids – walking towards the Old Fort in Independence, known as Fort Garrido. Named for Juan Garrido, a Black conquistador, the fort's been here for hundreds of years, where it has long defended the water from incoming invaders. About 100 years ago, there was a massacre there, and it's been known as a very haunted location ever since.
Tourists are not allowed inside. As the group approaches, Kevin and Maeve realize that suddenly, they can feel their Rifts a bit more. It makes them realize that in Independence, they are more themselves – their minds are quieter elsewhere in the district. But here...
Kevin – Whiro – is content to mark the fort and move on, but Maeve (okay, Melinoë) starts to drag her heels a bit, falling to the back of the group. She's curious. So curious. There are so many who need to cross over... she'd have to break in, but...
Suddenly they are all distracted by a Niner with a megaphone.
Step away from the fort.
At first they think this is directed at them, but then they realize the activity is all at another wall of the fort's structure. Niners start moving in that direction, and the high-pitched sound of tween girls squealing floats over the fort. They start to scatter, but the Niners lunge at them. One of the girls pushes another out of the way of the cops, which delays her escape just long enough that she is grabbed around the waist instead by a Niner and moved towards the car. The light hits the planes of her face just so, and Sergei realizes he's looking at a terrified Inez Hill...
Daniel and Geoffrey are at home, enjoying a quiet date night in, as Inez has gone to her friend Sophia's house for a sleepover. About that time, Daniel's cell phone rings. It's Sophia's mom, who tells him she forgot to pack Sophia's medication, and asks if she can come by and drop it off.
Wait a minute...
They realize the girls collectively fooled them and Daniel puts Sophia's mom on speaker, activating the "find my phone" feature to track down Inez. The girls are in... Independence?!?
He fires off a text.
Everyone's phone goes off at once with a panicked text from Daniel, telling them Inez is missing, right about the time they're watching helplessly as Inez is hauled toward a Niner's vehicle. They leap into action.
Sergei starts running... straight into a lamp post. That triggers a kinetic energy transference, and electricity arcs out of him, slamming into the Niner holding Inez. The cop's muscles lock up as a dark Lichtenberg figure erupts across his arm. Inez is still struggling, and the cop is moving slower, but he keeps his hold on the girl. (There's a big conversation about physics, and the TL;DR is that Inez does not get zapped.)
Desperate to save her best friend's child, Maeve stops holding back Melinoë. Shadow coalesces around her in ways that defy the ambient lighting. Turning toward the fort, she reaches as far beyond the threshold of the dead as she can, commanding the shades within to her aid with the authority of a queen. In exchange she promises to help them cross over.
With a ghostly howl, energy pours out of the fort, rushing towards the Niners. The cop hit by Sergei's bolt has fallen to a knee, but his allies have grabbed Inez and shove her into the vehicle. The downed Niner is knocked back by a horde of ghosts, skidding to a stop on his back at Maeve's feet. Other Niners are harassed by the ghosts as well, but the car tires squeal as a few of them take off with Inez.
The ghosts spin in and out of the Niner, and Maeve tries to get them to force him to speak but it's too much. Maeve and the Niner both pass out briefly.
GalleryMaeve (to Kevin): "Don't you touch my shades, bitch!"
Kevin (or is it?) looks to the fort and whispers something softly in Maori. For a brief moment, shadows cross his face in an intricate tattoo pattern, then it is gone.
Cut to a jail like facility where there are multiple holding areas, including one for youth. One may notice that while there are some white adults, all the young people are people of color.
Inez is hustled in escorted by two niners and it taken to the youth pen.
"I wanna call my dad!"
"You'll get your call eventually."
A blonde man in a gray suit studies the adult cells, points at a couple of people, and then moves on as Niner guards, face shields still down, open the cells to collect them. He does a double take as he passes the kid's cell, then sighs, looking almost sad. He motions to a woman behind the desk. She comes over and he whispers in her ear. She frowns, looking at Inez.
Geoffrey checks his phone and gets two voicemails.
The first is from Inez.
"Dad I screwed up. I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, Dad. I screwed up..."
It cuts off abruptly.
The second is a babbling, sobbing voicemail from Maeve, telling him that they weren't able to stop the Niners in time, and they have Inez...
Geoffrey snaps, smoky shadows swirling around him and tattoos all agitatedly writhing, his eyes glowing with the faintest sheen of green light.
Daniel starts to seize. Seeing this, Geoffrey comes crashing back down to earth, and goes to Daniel, trying to get him to focus and calm down. Daniel eventually meets Geoffrey's eyes, but once he does, it's that same faraway gaze he had in the shower after his circle ritual.
Geoffrey: "That was weird as fuck. Like your first step was just a few weeks ago. I come home and I find you and...."
Daniel: "I sure as hell hope you're not judging me, Mr. Tattoos and Weird Conjuration Things That You Do."
Daniel stops holding back, and puts the pieces together of what Inez has been saying and doing over the past few weeks. He looks up, and his face is changed – as though a bright light is hitting it from the side, causing stark shadows. And those shadows are full of stars. He starts to speak in an eerie tone.
When the city glows beneath a misty sky
And the last train leaves with no goodbye,
A child will vanish between streetlights bright,
Taken from the crowd and swallowed by night.
No cameras will catch her, no sirens will cry,
Her name will be whispered, like wind in the sky
Beneath urban facade, behind whispers that shun
The missing child will wait for the rising sun.
Search for the one who escaped there before
Follow footprints, follow secrets,
Follows lies, follow war.
Daniel comes back to himself, gripping his head with a splitting headache. After a brief discussion about Daniel's deeper trip into his abilities, and in no mood to pull their punches, they grab their things and sprint for the car.
Kevin: "I don't want them to know where I live."
Maeve: "All it takes is one background check."
Kevin: "...That's comforting."
Maeve's friends manage to wake her up. After calling Daniel, they wake up the Niner. He scrambles to his feet, grabbing for his helmet, but not fast enough to avoid Sergei tasing him again with an electric hand to his shoulder. He stumbles, and suddenly Maeve, breathing heavily, has a loaded gun against his temple. She looks highly inclined to use it.
Sergei: "Or we could take the information from your spirit once she kills you. Either way, some part of you is telling us where she's going."
Under duress, the Niner answers Maeve's barely controlled questions. The cops took Inez to the Sorting Facility under Town Hall. It is a place where "they sort people to where they'll be most useful to society – one of us or serving somewhere else." The only way in is through Town Hall itself. You need at least "Seventh-Level clearance" to get in there. Apparently clearance is controlled by a group of people called the Shrouders. Their Niner is only a Level Eight, so he explains that alone, he can't get them in.
Wren (looking at Sergei): "You're about his size."
Sergei: "I don't know, I'm a little short to be a Niner."
He may not be useful, but his gear is. Maeve knocks him out with the butt of her gun and they strip him of his uniform. They're getting his pants off when Geoffrey and Daniel's car roars up and screeches to a halt. Both men are stone faced and scary looking.
Geoffrey walks up to Maeve, takes her gun... and points it straight at the unconscious Niner. His friends try to talk him down, but he is implacable. Neither Geoffrey nor Daniel are in negotiating moods. Geoffrey squeezes the trigger.... and it just misses the Niner's right ear. Daniel comes over to Geoffrey, gently takes the gun from him, and passes it to Maeve.
Daniel still has a distant expression, and he repeats his prophecy to the group. Then his eyes roll back in his head, his nose starts to bleed, and he seizes up before passing out. This shakes Geoffrey out of his red-tinged haze, and he quickly runs to Daniel's side to try to bring him around. But this seems worse than normal...
At Maeve's behest, Wren cautiously approaches Daniel. She places her hands on him, closes her eyes, and feels the same wild rush of warmth. Once again, her skin glows with molten gold hieroglyphic symbols to those that can see them.
Daniel jerks once and then stills, his breathing returning to normal. He tells them that he'll work on getting himself back under control, but at the moment, the most important thing they need to do is find "the one who escaped there before" – B, Denver's friend in Independence who myth says is the only one to ever get herself out of the Town Hall basement jail.
They quickly circle back to Denver's place and explain the situation to her. She gives them the address of B's apartment.
B's Apartment
The gang pounds on the door of B's apartment, and it opens just a crack as she peers out at them. After a super awkward conversation compounded by Sergei in the Niner suit, they manage to compose themselves enough to convince her to talk to them. She lets them inside, and they explain what has happened to Inez, and that they have this one disguise but not enough security clearance to get them in. She takes the badge, disappears into the other room, and comes back and returns it to them. Their Level Eight clearance is now Level Six.
B sits down and draws them a map of the Town Hall interior. She shows them the location of a side door they can enter, and explains the access panels that will require their security clearance.
The Rescue Mission
With such a large group and only one Niner, they start casting about for disguises. Things get more complicated when the crew runs into a group of Niners, but with some fast talking and an insurance business card, the squad lets them pass.
Finally at Town Hall, they successfully recall B's instructions and get through the side door without being seen. With their "Niner" escort and elevated clearance they manage to get through the standard checkpoints on their way to the basement.
Daniel and Sergei lead the way as they swipe through a final door and find themselves in a maze-like white hallway. The group hears the buzz of a busy office setting off to their right. Sergei and Daniel continue on while the rest of the group hides in an empty room off the hallway, since they have too many people to be convincing with one uniformed Niner among them. Daniel steals a badge somewhere and flips it around so the photo is not visible.
Daniel and Sergei walk authoritatively around the corner and up to the desk of a woman who appears to be some kind of gatekeeper/receptionist. They describe Inez and Daniel explains that she assaulted this Niner, and he needs to speak with her. He bluffs his way expertly through the conversation, figuring out the "usual place" these interrogations happen by the darting of the woman's eyes. She tells him Inez is with Agent (Ville) Haavikko.
They confidently head down a hall and through an interrogation room. Past the door beyond is Inez with a blonde man in a gray suit.
The agent looks up as they enter and a brief conversation follows. He quickly realizes that Daniel isn't who he says he is, and starts to threateningly back Daniel up to the wall.
Flashback
Three weeks ago, after the events in La Colonia, Daniel is sitting down to lunch with Inez. He's beside himself with worry for her safety after what happened to Santiago. He gives her a taser, explains how it works, and instructs her to keep it hidden on her at all times.
Daniel: "Zap him, baby."
Over the agents shoulder, Daniel locks eyes with Inez, and tells her to zap the agent. Inez pulls her taser out of her boot (where the cops did not check on her arrival) and uses it on the agent, who falls to the floor. Daniel quickly dresses her in the man's jacket, hat, and badge – which are large on her at age 11 – and they hustle out of the room past the reception area.
Geoffrey has been getting regular updates from Daniel as they move through the facility, but he's gone silent. Deciding it has officially been too long, the remaining crew in the office decides it's time to cause a distraction. Realizing there are ghosts in the area – poltergeist ones – Maeve commands them to sweep through the office and wreak havoc. Icy wind blows as the ghosts knock things off desk and harass the office workers, who run around in complete disarray.
In the chaos, everyone manages to get out of Town Hall and meet back up outside.
And from here, Jackie owes us a wrap-up scene. ;)
PostEpisodeDirector: "Guy's name was Ville Haavikko. Dude in gray. :)"
PostEpisodeMaeve: "OMG… there is no way… that was v. unkind to do to drunk people."