[ 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

[hostage]

Oh, uh. Okay.

[It doesn't take a whole lot of tugging to get him to follow. He was feeling a bit caged anyway.]

[breakablegirl]

[She leads the way with a purpose. Her goal here is try to get him to forget about, uh, being dead and have fun with her. She also needed to do something or else she was going to either shut everything out or do something stupid. ..Not that doing something stupid isn't a big possibility now.

Claire doesn't know where they're going but she'll know when they get there.]

So! .... I guess there's some big party coming up.

[hostage]

[It's funny because he really just wants to cheer her up. He's been coping with his own situation for a while now - in less than healthy ways, but regardless... She's the one with a serial killer hanging around her.]

Oh, yeah. I think I'm supposed to do something for that.

[breakablegirl]

[Dododo, walking. Sort of.. With no real direction.

It's kind of a normal situation for her. Well. Relatively. She's accustomed to everything sort of being the end of the world. Especially when it comes to Sylar.]

You think? [Side-look.]

[hostage]

[He's cool with walking. He lights a cigarette and smokes it while they wander.]

Cookies. I think.

We're supposed to dress up, right?

[breakablegirl]

Ah.

[The cigarette smoke reminds her of her birth-mom sob. She doesn't mind.]

Right. Masquerade. Which could be fun. I haven't dressed up since.. [My father's funeral?] This stupid sorority mixer I went to. [Where she nearly got impaled by a flagpole thanks to an invisible girl named Becky trying to ruin her life.] I guess there's no legal drinking age here, huh.

[hostage]

Ain't no law at all.

Wait - how old are you?

[He's been running on the assumption of "over 21".]

phone tagging. it's the cool new thing to do.

[breakablegirl]

Uh. [She sort of wants to lie. But she doesn't.] Nineteen.

[hostage]

Oh.

[Noted. Yep.]

I don't think anybody around here cares anyway.

[breakablegirl]

[Noted and filed under Legal.] I always thought the whole being old enough to join the army but not to drink was bull anyway. [Someone's hatching a conning plan for MONEYZ.]

How old are you? [So casual.]

[hostage]

Twenty-six.

[breakablegirl]

[You look younger to her Jesse.] Oh.

[Yes she is doing a quick calculation of age difference in her head. There's a second there where she nearly falls back into the previous topic. How he died at twenty-six. That's..

Claire lightly clears her throat.] I guess I showed up at the exact right time. With the party and everything.

[hostage]

Yeah, pretty much the perfect time. No bombs falling or anything.

[Damn, this would be the perfect opportunity to ask if she's got a date - if he hadn't just confessed to being a junkie murdered at 26. He considers it, but... wow, she really doesn't need that in her life. Even as a one-night deal.]

[breakablegirl]

Just have to remind myself not to get too comfortable. [Smirk.] Actually, that should be easy. Life as usual. [GRIN.]

[She'd probably say yes anyway Jesse. But she'd be surprised and probably super shy about it. What is having a date to something.]

[hostage]

Nah, nah, nah. Get comfortable. Chill out. You gotta enjoy the moments when you get 'em.

[breakablegirl]

[Slow agreement.] Okay.

Enjoying the moment. I can do that.

No monsters, or bombs, and the rain's pretty mild. Enjoying.

[hostage]

There you go. Perfect.

[Meanwhile, he enjoys his cigarette.]