[ video ]

[hostage]

So here's the thing, right. I mean, yeah, the Initiative kinda kidnapped us. But they say they didn't do it on purpose. And I believe them, 'cause nobody in their right mind would wanna recruit me into their army on purpose. Some junkie loser. Ask anybody who saw me my first few weeks here, okay, all shitting in my pants scared and useless with the shakes. I couldn't hold a gun steady if my life depended on it.

So they didn't exactly bring us here on purpose. But what do they do when we end up here?

[He raises his hand to the camera, counting off on his fingers:]

They patch us up, bring us back to life. Hey, that's a big deal for some of us, ain't it?

They give us some swanky ass apartments. Yeah, we got roommates, but do you see what the rest of everybody's living in? We got some damn nice cribs in comparison, yo.

They give us money. Just like that. Like, "here you go, go buy a sandwich."

They give us weapons. You ain't never been a prisoner if you think that's something they'd do if they meant to keep us prisoner. Okay, nobody arms a prisoner. They'd be taking away our weapons if they were trying to hurt us all on purpose. And look at this shit -

[He holds up his own gun for the camera, popping the magazine out so the poison darts inside are visible.]

- All high tech. They ain't just giving us sticks to go out and defend ourselves with. This is some quality craftsmanship.

[He sets the gun aside.]

And you hear how I said "defend ourselves"? Yeah. Those U.E. sons of bitches are coming after us. They bombed the shit outta this place we're living in like my first week here. I mean, look around. You can see what they done to this place. To the people in this world. And they got the technology to do that to our worlds, too, unless we do like the Initiative says and go on missions and fix this shit.

And you know what else? You got a problem with the Initiative, you can just talk to 'em. Yeah. They ain't gonna hurt you. I was having some problems when I got here, so I went and talked to them, and guess what? They gave me everything I asked for! That's all it took. So yeah, maybe they can't send you home right now. But they'll help you out best they can.

Look, we're pretty much their only hope here. They wanna do right by us. So just... stop talking about dumbass rebellions and start - I don't know - communicating.

Comments

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Please don't tell me you pissed off one of the demons already.

Re: [ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

..Not that I know of. But one of my roommates is a vampire with a severe guilt complex. [Who already killed me once.] So that's fun.

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Awesome.

[Except not. Yeah, his tone is totally sarcastic there.]

Is your other roommate the serial killer?

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

Uhhhh no. He's some kind of.. Metal guy. Not, metal-metal. Music. He's cool.

[:| Not mentioning Sylar. Don't mention Sylar. Don't do it. She wants to so bad. So now she's just kind of stuck in limbo here looking conflicted and a little uncomfortable.]

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Ahhh...

[Wait, what's that look for? Did he miss something?]

Uh...

You're not actually getting stalked by a serial killer, are you?

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

[gdi Jesse. Even though Claire's a great liar she can't turn this around and make it seem innocent and truthful. Soooo she tells the truth more or less.]

..Not exactly. He's from where I'm from so I'm fine.

Really.

[:| Then, quickly:] Do you, uh, have anyone from home?

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

No, no. Hold up. What? "Not exactly" like he's not a serial killer but he is stalking you? Or like he's a serial killer but he's not stalking you? Or... What?

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

[Face....Palm.]

Um.

...

Both? But.. Past tense. He's uh. He used to stalk me now he just.. ... It's fine, I'm safe, I promise. I'm watching him. He's not going to hurt anyone as long as I can keep him under control.

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Oh, okay. As long as you can keep the serial killer under control. That's cool.

[THAT ISN'T SLIGHTLY COOL. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.]

Who the hell is this guy?

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

[SIIIIGH] ...Maybe we shouldn't talk about this.. On here.

Or at all.

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Look, I don't... I mean, I know you don't really know me. And you don't owe me an explanation or anything. But if you're in trouble? Like, you can talk to me. I won't tell anybody if you don't want.

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

I know. I feel like I can trust you but-

It's kind of me trying to keep you out of trouble. I didn't mean to mention any of this.

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

Whoever this guy is? I don't think he can do anything to me that ain't been done already.

[ encrypted ]

[breakablegirl]

[....lmfao.]

Trust me. He can.

[SHE KNOWS THIS HORROR BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE.] Look if you really want to know.. Then come over. I'm in 808.

[ encrypted ]

[hostage]

[He is so doubtful about that.]

I'll be there in a minute.

[ encrypted --> ACTION. ~ahh-ah~ ]

[breakablegirl]

Okay.

[She has the place to herself right now, which is nice, but she's also not really too keen on spending much time in the common area because of her emo troubled vampire roommate who kind of keeps looking at her with equal parts hunger and guilt. So before he comes over she's making sure to tidy up her bedroom. Making her bed, shutting her closet after shoving a few dirty shirts in there, and hiding a teddy bear in the top of her dresser drawer.

Then she waits, anxious, pacing, listening for his knock.]

[hostage]

[His place is a few flights down but he's at 808 real fast. He wants the story, even if he can do jack shit about it. And he sure as hell isn't scared for himself. He's got both guns on him at all times, anyway.

So it really is about a minute later that he's knocking at the door.]

[breakablegirl]

[Claire rushes to the door when he knocks but hesitates, briefly, on the other side, before opening it. Once seeing him and making sure it's not someone else, she opens the door wider to let him in, glancing out in the hallway to make sure nobody followed him or is outside or whatever.

Old habits.] ..Hey.

[After she closes the door she starts leading him to her bedroom.] Last chance to back out, I guess. [She's not happy about this in general. Claire wants to be able to talk to someone about it. But she's nervous.]

[hostage]

[If she was this paranoid before, he never noticed it. He's paying attention now, though. And it reminds him of himself, which he doesn't much like. That's not scaring him off, though. He's only getting more and more worried about her, and that does nothing but make him want to stick close to her.]

Ain't going nowhere, I promise.

[breakablegirl]

[She's usually better at masking it. Especially when there's good mood times and cookies and parties and stuff. Claire shuts her bedroom door once they're inside and kind of.. Lingers near it.]

Okay. [Claire hopes he's right. She takes a deep breath. Now or never.]

So, the whole idea of.. Superpowers, crazy abilities, stuff like that. You're used to it now I guess.

...But the thing is, he's got a lot of them. Abilities he stole from people. ..Most of who didn't survive. [As she speaks she's fiddling with her hands and watching Jesse very, very carefully. His reactions are important.] That's his MO. Most of his victims are.. Special.

[hostage]

[His expression doesn't change much while he listens. He's well-adjusted to the idea that he's essentially living in a comic book now. Sure, a superpowered serial killer. Why not? Of course those would exist. He's read plenty of stories just like it. He doesn't immediately get where she's going with this, but when it hits him, he doesn't appear shocked. He just looks at her, eyebrows all knitted together in concern.]

So you're..?

[breakablegirl]

[Oof, nope, not ready for her own personal coming out party just yet. Not even to Jesse. Her vampire roomie knows about it cause he accidentally killed her, and Mystique, but. She's not ready for that. She partly thinks that the reason she's here is because she exposed her abilities on live TV right before waking up here.

Good thing she's still a good liar.]

No, my dad- The dangerous one. He worked for this Company that rounded people like that up. Kept them from.. Hurting people.

But this guy. He thinks we've got this connection and I'm pretty sure he wants my approval, so I know I can at least keep him from slicing open everyone's heads here.

[hostage]

[He nods slowly. Her dad sounds about as shady as the serial killer, but he won't say that out loud.]

Is this guy like your psycho ex-boyfriend or something? 'cause your dad ain't here, right? So it ain't about, like, staying outta your dad's crosshairs. But you're saying you can control him.

[breakablegirl]

[Oh he is. He is. :| Maybe even worse sometimes. BUT SHE LOVES HIM TO DEATH.

Claire replies really quickly, appalled.] NO. Oh god, no.

[She runs a hand through her hair and moves to sit on the edge of her bed. DISTURBED BY THAT IDEA.]

Control isn't the right word. It's more like.. Reasoning with him. [:|] I'm from his future. I know things about him, about things that happen, that I can use.

[hostage]

[There's a great big hole in the logic of all this somewhere, though Jesse hasn't quite pinned it down. He figures she's lying about being involved with the guy. The whole connection thing.]

So what all can he do? Not mind-reading, I guess, since you're holding that stuff over him.