Smoke On The Horizon [CLOSED]

[acrossthememory]

Characters: Aya Brea, Jack Carter, Lelouch Lamperouge.
Content: Not long after her little trip to the underground, Aya returns to One Police Plaza to have a chat with Manhattan’s friendly neighborhood rebel.
Location: One Police Plaza.
Time of day: Afternoon.
Warnings: Conspiracy theories.

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[sheriffcarter]

After his own underground adventures, Carter had taken refuge in the police station. But after that first night, he ventured out to find himself a decent residence. This time, he didn't make the mistake of choosing a second floor apartment. A few blocks away, he found a rather clean building, undamaged from the attacks. He had to force the lock of this one as well, but this time, he didn't demolish the door frame. And before the day was out, he replaced the lock with supplies from a nearby hardware store. No more waking up to crabs.

He was more glad to be clean, however. He managed to get himself properly cleaned, as well as his clothes. The uniform was starting to show the wear and tear of his time in the city. Had it really been a month, now? He had arrived on Christmas of all days, and now they were anticipating the first day of February. And still, it was far too cold outside.

After receiving Aya's message about the meeting, he headed for the station, though he took his time. He assumed she was out in the city and the meeting wouldn't be until much later. He was surprised when he approached the building from the street, he saw her already heading inside. So he trotted up to the door and slipped in to see her heading down the hall. He didn't bother shedding his own coat, as the building was still fairly cold inside. "Aya?" he called out as he moved after her.

[acrossthememory]

Perhaps she hadn’t expected to run into someone immediately after walking into the door, because Aya had been in a bit of a daze. She almost didn’t catch Carter calling out to her when she started walking down the hallway.

She must have been more scatterbrained than usual... One could easily chalk it up for having so much going on. If only because Aya didn’t react right away to hearing her name. Slowing down, she turned, her heels clicking over the tiles as she did so.

“Carter. That’s right, you said you were going to be here.” She crossed her arms; a slight twitch of her lip formed a smirk. “Did you find yourself a better map?”

Didn’t seem like an appropriate time, but she thought of humoring him in any case. It really wasn’t a matter of finding a so-called “better map”, but it was following its directions.

Of course, looking outside at what the streets of Manhattan had become, Aya presumed it wasn’t a matter of directions or maps anymore, but finding a route that hadn’t been completely obliterated yet.

[sheriffcarter]

Carter's trot slowed and he eventually stopped once he caught up to her. Her map comment elicited a laugh from him, as he raised a hand sort of wagging a finger at her. The map was secure in his back pocket. He wasn't leaving with out it again. But it wasn't so much a matter of a map, or even finding a proper route. It was unstable ground over the monster's tunnels.

"That was only half the problem," he said with a warm smile. "Don't go into any convenience stores. They're bad news."

He ran a hand over his hair. It was starting to look a tad shaggy, as barbers were in short supply around the city. He glanced around her, expecting to see the one she said she might be meeting with. He was nowhere in sight. Lowering his hand to his hip, he said "So...when's Zero supposed to be here?"

[veep_of_chess]

Lelouch prided himself on his timing. Not too early and not too late. This was just such a time. He let himself into the police station, and strode down the hall, looking for Aya. "Agent Brea?" he said a bit loudly, his digitally altered voice tended to carry anyway. He, of course, had his gun under his cape. Just in case things didn't stay on his plan.

[acrossthememory]

Aya could only imagine. Walking into most of the shops in this city was bad news, now that she thought of it. Either it’s being or already has been looted, or something was already there waiting to jump you. A little survival skill that Aya herself had to learn during her months going solo.

“So are tabloids. Sometimes I miss those. Never could get enough of the adventures of Bat Boy.” She chuckled. It was good to at least humor someone, even if the joke was in poor taste.

As for Zero, Aya shrugged.

“Should be soon...” Before she could continue, she turned instinctively at the sound of her name.

Her gaze shifted from the guy in the cape to Carter, who would probably recognize if this was their guy. Aya had heard over the network that Zero dressed in a cape and mask, but never really took it to heart. Sounded more like something from one of those super hero scenes, not real life. Yet here one was.

Aya nodded. “That would be me, yes.” Of course, it could be anyone. It wasn’t the first time someone had recognized her. She never imagined she would ever get this many people talking to her ever since the incident at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Eve, several years ago...

[sheriffcarter]

Carter laughed once more. It was more of a soft chuckle, really. It was so hard to find a good, hearty laugh these days. But, then again, after all he had seen in Eureka, the things that lurked in the pages of Weekly World News didn't seem quite so ridiculous. Who was to say Big Foot wasn't some experiment gone horribly wrong and taken the wrong way. But that paper did take things a bit too far. He gave Aya a shrug, and was about to make a crack about how they could use some help from Air Force Bat Boy now, when he heard the voice further down the hall.

As Aya did, he turned to see it's source. And his smile immediately fell.

Hands planted on his hips, he regarded the newcomer. "Zero," he said, sounding not at all surprised. "I hope you don't intend to tear this place down, as well." Oh yes, he was still slightly irritated by the subway incident.

[veep_of_chess]

"You're an interesting man, Sheriff," Zero replied to Carter. He turned his faceless image on Aya. "You wished to speak with me about something?" his tone was even, and interested. "It would seem that your tunnel search was more fruitful than my own."

[acrossthememory]

Much as Aya would have enjoyed a pleasant discussions of absurd tabloid drama, there was work to do, and it wasn’t like they had much time in the day to do it. Least, with all the stuff that’s been happening, it certainly didn’t feel like they did.

She sighed as Carter addressed Zero with a bit of bitter sarcasm. She didn’t blame him in the least. He had been where she wasn’t and, from what she heard, the incident had been no picnic. Aya herself hadn’t forgotten that. But there were some things that she had to concern herself with, first.

Far as she was concerned, Zero’s actions had been careless. He had fully admitted to not fully researching the location of their meeting. Somehow, however, with the recent information she that had unearthed and a few theories beginning to unravel, she decided to put grudges behind her. For now.

“Yes, I... Wait a minute. You were in one of the other groups, weren’t you?” Aya stopped and thought a moment. “That’s right. You explored Chambers, the subway that I investigated beforehand. I take it you didn’t find anything new there?”

Very briefly taking Carter by the arm and veering him down the hallway, Aya started leading the three of them off into one of the offices. Gesturing that they follow, they could talk some more while they walked there.

[sheriffcarter]

Carter just kept his gaze on that helmet of Zero's, wondering what it would take to get it off the man. He was never one for people in masks, and the little incident with "Capitan Eureka" had left him with with a very bad taste in his mouth in regards to them. He opened his mouth raising his hand, just about to say something, when Aya grabbed his arm.

Just letting out the breath he'd drawn, he went with her. However, he cast a glance back toward Zero. He let his arms down at his sides, taking on that rather iconic cop swagger, arms out slightly to avoid hitting the holster around his hips. "Why exactly is he here, anyway?" he asked Aya, in a not so subtle whisper.

[veep_of_chess]

He shook his head, ignoring the commentary from Carter. "No, we didn't find anything new. Merely that the creatures' tunnels are far from safe to travel in. The ground is loose." He gestured idly, a bit more subdued for the moment than he had been in the past. "I would like to see this note you found."

[acrossthememory]

Already it was very obvious to Aya that Carter’s patience was wearing thin with Zero. She didn’t blame him, however, as he had ever right to feel that way. “I’ll let you know. I would like to have your input on a few things.” She patted his shoulder and continued walking.

At Zero’s mention of the note, she glanced over his shoulder. She had two, but the second note that they had discovered in Holland was different, and advised that none of them distributed this one over the network. Despite Aya’s skepticism that it would mean anything, she would rather divulge as less information over the network as possible. For everyone’s sake.

Still, it was a disappointment that the other groups hadn’t been quite as successfully. This appeared to be becoming quite a trend.

“I’ll show it to you if you’d like. I spent some time decoding it, since there was a footnote that said ‘DECODE 5’, which basically means you move each letter five back one.”

Aya hesitated before she could think to continue. Seemed almost too convenient, now that she thought of it, that the answer be right there in the note conveniently left behind with the most convenient hint right there...

Almost as if they were expecting them to find and solve it. Aya quietly went hmmm under her breath as she started heading towards one of the offices, which contained a safe where she stored any potential evidence in. “The parts that stood out to me the most was ‘trapping’ and ‘swan, shrike - categorize and log’. Almost like code within codes. They gave us hints to the answer, but not the full piece.”