Poker Face
Characters: Elle, Molly, Thompson, Bob
Rating: PG
Words: 1802
Summary: While sick Molly is being kept at Kirby Plaza, Elle's assignment for the day is to watch her
A/N: For superkappa, who asked for Elle stories at heroes_exchange's Summer Company Picnic.
“I’m an agent, not a babysitter,” Elle whined, gripping the armrests of her office chair to demonstrate that she was not going to the city today.
Bob ignored her complaints. “Part of being an agent means taking whatever assignments come your way. And today your assignment is to get briefed by Thompson at Kirby Plaza and relieve him of guard duty over The Walker System.”
“She’s a brat, not a system,” Elle clarified.
Getting up from his desk and grabbing his briefcase, Bob said on his way out, “Just be there before eleven.”
Elle was left alone in the office, scowling at the door.
*************************
Elle hadn’t even met the kid, but she already hated her. She was used to being the cute one, the Company baby, the troubled one that everyone fussed over, the one whose power made all the fuss worth it because she was so useful. But then, out of nowhere, everyone started talking about this new Walker Tracking System, and Elle had thought it was something developed by Cisco or something. That would have been fine, but oh no. The glorious new Walker System just had to come in the shape of an (apparently cute) little girl, and ever since the company had gotten its hands on her, it had been “Molly Walker this” and “Molly Walker that.” The cute little orphan. And then she’d gone and gotten sick, just to grab even more attention.
As Elle rapped her fingertips on the counter of the Starbucks across from the office building, she thought to herself that the last thing she needed in addition to Molly fucking Walker was mother fucking Thompson. She hated all those jerks from the Odessa office---Thompson, Bennet… even that recently trained bitch Candice was getting sent down there, which just proved it was a magnet for smug, self-important assholes.
This was just not her day, and Elle knew it was punishment for having asked The Haitian out a few days before. Her dad knew how much she hated kids, knew how much she hated Thompson, and, most importantly, knew that Laurent was supposed to be in that day and must have wanted them separated.
“Morning, Elle,” handsome Dr. Torino sing-songed when she walked in.
Daddy said the company frowned on fraternization between agents (and between agents and prisoners, dammit), but he’d never said anything about the medical staff. Elle sidled up to him, taking a long and hopefully seductive sip through the oversized straw of her Frappucino. “Hey there,” she purred. He smiled. On second thought, maybe there would be something positive about the day.
But then Thompson burst through the door, a creepy smile on his creepy lips. “Elle, and just in time!” he shouted in greeting. Blushing, the doctor stepped back to create a more professional space between them. Thompson filled it with himself. The jerk was always getting just a little too close, leering, practically. Elle hated it.
“Yeah. Don’t you have somewhere to be, Thompson?”
“Politer and politer with every passing day,” Thompson said, that smile still smeared on his face. He pulled his hand out of his pockets and picked up a small stack of files on a table. “But yes, you’re here because I need to pick up the one guy we think can help her.” Thompson pointed towards a glass barrier where the kid was sleeping in a room that had been lovingly decorated by half the company. Elle fumed to see it.
“And who’s that supposed to be? You’ve already tried Linderman, and that didn’t work. What’s this guy’s superpower?”
Thompson began to open the topmost file, but then shut it. “Actually, I probably shouldn’t show you that.” Brightly, he explained, “He doesn’t have a power. He’s just a geneticist.”
A tiny spark forced Thompson’s hand to drop the file. Moving quickly, Elle grabbed it before he recovered himself. “If he’s just a doctor, then why the secrecy?” she asked. Elle peeked inside and then gasped upon seeing the photo. Growing warm, she babbled, “Wow. Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? I could… I could go pick up Dr., um, Suresh, for you. Spare you the trouble.”
“Why do I have a feeling he’d never end up he where he’s supposed to be, which is here?”
“If I got sick, would you send him to take care of me?” she asked sweetly.
“We’ll see.” Thompson took the file back and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll buzz when I get back to the lobby, and then I want you out of sight. I don’t think meeting you would be good for the doctor, just now. He’s the suspicious type. We only want him to meet harmless people.”
“I can play nice,” Elle pouted.
“Right. Anyway, today you’ve got to watch Molly. She’s too weak to leave this floor, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Even you can handle an easy assignment like that, can’t you?”
Elle didn’t dignify that with a response. She simply sat in his vacated chair and started playing solitaire on the computer and seething hatred. She vaguely heard him tell Dr. Torino that his services were no longer needed. Both of them left, and Elle was left with only an old and unattractive male nurse who kept his distance.
An hour went by and the kid stirred in her room. Out of the corner of her eye, Elle tracked her movements. Finally, Elle saw her shyly leave the area behind the glass and approach her.
“What do you want?” Elle asked without taking her eyes off her game. With an entire childhood’s worth of practice under her belt, Elle was ace at Solitaire.
“I’m Molly. Are you the new nurse?” the child asked.
Elle scoffed, still not looking at the brat. “Trust me, kid. The last thing you want is me as your nurse. I’m just watching the place while Thompson gets your new doctor. Then I’ll be out of here.”
“Oh. So you’re one of the agents. Like Thompson,” Molly figured out.
“I’m nothing like Thompson,” Elle stated.
“No, you’re not. You’re a girl.”
“And you’re a genius,” Elle retorted, but then added, “I’m Elle, by the way.”
They were silent for a minute. Then: “Do you want to play poker?”
Elle did a double take and looked directly at Molly for the first time. “What?”
“Do you want to play poker?” she repeated, holding up a pack of cards. “I’ve been playing a lot of Solitaire, too, but I really like poker. Except there’s no one to play with. I mean, there’s Mr. Thompson, but he cheats.”
Elle couldn’t help but laugh. Molly didn’t like Thompson any more than she did. “Yeah, sure.”
The two girls, with matching swinging ponytails, moved to the floor. Elle watched, bemused, as Molly dealt. She actually was sort of sweet, not at all as snotty about being The Walker System as Elle had imagined she would be---as Elle knew she would have been.
“So, what’s it like being the Company’s great white hope?” she asked conversationally, although still with a twinge of jealousy.
Molly looked confused for a minute, and then understood what Elle was talking about. “Oh, my power? It wasn’t that much fun, really. They took me here and then Mr. Thompson had me using my power all day, every day, to find people---scary people that I didn’t want to think about. I was really tired.”
Elle remembered that this was how she had been treated when she first came to the Company, at an age even younger than Molly’s. How she’d been asked to use her power, over and over, no matter how tired she was. She’d been excited back then, happy for someone to actually want her to unleash all of that energy, but now, as an adult looking at this kid going through the same thing, maybe it hadn’t been such a great thing, after all.
“They did the same thing to me, too,” she said haltingly, not used to playing the role of empathetic comforter. “But they stop after awhile. It’s just…” But then she remembered that the system was down. Molly was sick. She had been for weeks. “Oh…”
Molly was a sharp one and understood. “Yeah, it’s already stopped,” she said bravely while pretending to concentrate on her hand.
“So, uh, does it hurt? You know… being sick,” Elle asked curiously. She had heard all about this illness, that it was something that she might get, too, something that affected only people like them. But it wasn’t airborne; playing with Molly wouldn’t hurt.
“Not today,” Molly said calmly.
“You’re getting a new doctor today,” Elle offered excitedly while they picked up new cards from the deck.
“Great,” Molly replied with quiet sarcasm. She didn’t sound convinced that anything would come of it.
“Thompson said he might help. He’s also…” Elle leaned in as if telling a secret. “He’s cute. Like, really cute. You’re lucky.”
The two girls giggled and then Molly spread out her cards. “Full house,” she announced triumphantly.
“Oh yeah?. Straight flush.”
“How did you…?” Molly began to ask, suspicion creeping back into her voice that perhaps Elle was a cheater, too.
“I’m just good like that,” she shrugged. In reality, Elle had watched a lot of poker on television and gotten the hang out it even though she hadn’t really played it before.
“Oh. Play again?” Molly asked eagerly.
“Sure.”
They were quiet again, but Elle could tell that Molly was watching her out of the corner of her eye.
“What?” she asked.
“What’s your power?” Molly asked simply.
Elle aimed a beam of lightning at the unused joker card and burned a hole through it. Molly clapped, delightedly, and Elle couldn’t help but smile.
“That’s so cool,” Molly ooohed.
“Yeah, I know,” Elle bragged. “What other powers have you seen? Who else have you met?”
Molly thought. “That’s it, really, since I got here. Mr. Thompson doesn’t have a power. There was a Mr. Linderman who came in, too. I think he was supposed to have a power, but I didn’t see him do anything. My dad had a power, though. And Officer Parkman could hear inside my head.”
“Who’s that?” Elle wondered why he hadn’t been picked up yet. That sounded useful.
“He’s the man who saved me from the bogeyman… the man who killed my parents.”
“Sylar,” Elle breathed, and a sudden rush of guilt as memories washed over her almost choked her. This was all her fault.
Molly became almost inaudible. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard he’s called.”
“We’ll catch him, don’t worry,” Elle said through gritted teeth, and with new resolved.
“You will?” Molly asked, tears coming to her eyes.
“Yeah. I promise.”
Molly smiled, and this time, Elle let her win the hand.
Rating: PG
Words: 1802
Summary: While sick Molly is being kept at Kirby Plaza, Elle's assignment for the day is to watch her
A/N: For superkappa, who asked for Elle stories at heroes_exchange's Summer Company Picnic.
“I’m an agent, not a babysitter,” Elle whined, gripping the armrests of her office chair to demonstrate that she was not going to the city today.
Bob ignored her complaints. “Part of being an agent means taking whatever assignments come your way. And today your assignment is to get briefed by Thompson at Kirby Plaza and relieve him of guard duty over The Walker System.”
“She’s a brat, not a system,” Elle clarified.
Getting up from his desk and grabbing his briefcase, Bob said on his way out, “Just be there before eleven.”
Elle was left alone in the office, scowling at the door.
*************************
Elle hadn’t even met the kid, but she already hated her. She was used to being the cute one, the Company baby, the troubled one that everyone fussed over, the one whose power made all the fuss worth it because she was so useful. But then, out of nowhere, everyone started talking about this new Walker Tracking System, and Elle had thought it was something developed by Cisco or something. That would have been fine, but oh no. The glorious new Walker System just had to come in the shape of an (apparently cute) little girl, and ever since the company had gotten its hands on her, it had been “Molly Walker this” and “Molly Walker that.” The cute little orphan. And then she’d gone and gotten sick, just to grab even more attention.
As Elle rapped her fingertips on the counter of the Starbucks across from the office building, she thought to herself that the last thing she needed in addition to Molly fucking Walker was mother fucking Thompson. She hated all those jerks from the Odessa office---Thompson, Bennet… even that recently trained bitch Candice was getting sent down there, which just proved it was a magnet for smug, self-important assholes.
This was just not her day, and Elle knew it was punishment for having asked The Haitian out a few days before. Her dad knew how much she hated kids, knew how much she hated Thompson, and, most importantly, knew that Laurent was supposed to be in that day and must have wanted them separated.
“Morning, Elle,” handsome Dr. Torino sing-songed when she walked in.
Daddy said the company frowned on fraternization between agents (and between agents and prisoners, dammit), but he’d never said anything about the medical staff. Elle sidled up to him, taking a long and hopefully seductive sip through the oversized straw of her Frappucino. “Hey there,” she purred. He smiled. On second thought, maybe there would be something positive about the day.
But then Thompson burst through the door, a creepy smile on his creepy lips. “Elle, and just in time!” he shouted in greeting. Blushing, the doctor stepped back to create a more professional space between them. Thompson filled it with himself. The jerk was always getting just a little too close, leering, practically. Elle hated it.
“Yeah. Don’t you have somewhere to be, Thompson?”
“Politer and politer with every passing day,” Thompson said, that smile still smeared on his face. He pulled his hand out of his pockets and picked up a small stack of files on a table. “But yes, you’re here because I need to pick up the one guy we think can help her.” Thompson pointed towards a glass barrier where the kid was sleeping in a room that had been lovingly decorated by half the company. Elle fumed to see it.
“And who’s that supposed to be? You’ve already tried Linderman, and that didn’t work. What’s this guy’s superpower?”
Thompson began to open the topmost file, but then shut it. “Actually, I probably shouldn’t show you that.” Brightly, he explained, “He doesn’t have a power. He’s just a geneticist.”
A tiny spark forced Thompson’s hand to drop the file. Moving quickly, Elle grabbed it before he recovered himself. “If he’s just a doctor, then why the secrecy?” she asked. Elle peeked inside and then gasped upon seeing the photo. Growing warm, she babbled, “Wow. Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? I could… I could go pick up Dr., um, Suresh, for you. Spare you the trouble.”
“Why do I have a feeling he’d never end up he where he’s supposed to be, which is here?”
“If I got sick, would you send him to take care of me?” she asked sweetly.
“We’ll see.” Thompson took the file back and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll buzz when I get back to the lobby, and then I want you out of sight. I don’t think meeting you would be good for the doctor, just now. He’s the suspicious type. We only want him to meet harmless people.”
“I can play nice,” Elle pouted.
“Right. Anyway, today you’ve got to watch Molly. She’s too weak to leave this floor, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Even you can handle an easy assignment like that, can’t you?”
Elle didn’t dignify that with a response. She simply sat in his vacated chair and started playing solitaire on the computer and seething hatred. She vaguely heard him tell Dr. Torino that his services were no longer needed. Both of them left, and Elle was left with only an old and unattractive male nurse who kept his distance.
An hour went by and the kid stirred in her room. Out of the corner of her eye, Elle tracked her movements. Finally, Elle saw her shyly leave the area behind the glass and approach her.
“What do you want?” Elle asked without taking her eyes off her game. With an entire childhood’s worth of practice under her belt, Elle was ace at Solitaire.
“I’m Molly. Are you the new nurse?” the child asked.
Elle scoffed, still not looking at the brat. “Trust me, kid. The last thing you want is me as your nurse. I’m just watching the place while Thompson gets your new doctor. Then I’ll be out of here.”
“Oh. So you’re one of the agents. Like Thompson,” Molly figured out.
“I’m nothing like Thompson,” Elle stated.
“No, you’re not. You’re a girl.”
“And you’re a genius,” Elle retorted, but then added, “I’m Elle, by the way.”
They were silent for a minute. Then: “Do you want to play poker?”
Elle did a double take and looked directly at Molly for the first time. “What?”
“Do you want to play poker?” she repeated, holding up a pack of cards. “I’ve been playing a lot of Solitaire, too, but I really like poker. Except there’s no one to play with. I mean, there’s Mr. Thompson, but he cheats.”
Elle couldn’t help but laugh. Molly didn’t like Thompson any more than she did. “Yeah, sure.”
The two girls, with matching swinging ponytails, moved to the floor. Elle watched, bemused, as Molly dealt. She actually was sort of sweet, not at all as snotty about being The Walker System as Elle had imagined she would be---as Elle knew she would have been.
“So, what’s it like being the Company’s great white hope?” she asked conversationally, although still with a twinge of jealousy.
Molly looked confused for a minute, and then understood what Elle was talking about. “Oh, my power? It wasn’t that much fun, really. They took me here and then Mr. Thompson had me using my power all day, every day, to find people---scary people that I didn’t want to think about. I was really tired.”
Elle remembered that this was how she had been treated when she first came to the Company, at an age even younger than Molly’s. How she’d been asked to use her power, over and over, no matter how tired she was. She’d been excited back then, happy for someone to actually want her to unleash all of that energy, but now, as an adult looking at this kid going through the same thing, maybe it hadn’t been such a great thing, after all.
“They did the same thing to me, too,” she said haltingly, not used to playing the role of empathetic comforter. “But they stop after awhile. It’s just…” But then she remembered that the system was down. Molly was sick. She had been for weeks. “Oh…”
Molly was a sharp one and understood. “Yeah, it’s already stopped,” she said bravely while pretending to concentrate on her hand.
“So, uh, does it hurt? You know… being sick,” Elle asked curiously. She had heard all about this illness, that it was something that she might get, too, something that affected only people like them. But it wasn’t airborne; playing with Molly wouldn’t hurt.
“Not today,” Molly said calmly.
“You’re getting a new doctor today,” Elle offered excitedly while they picked up new cards from the deck.
“Great,” Molly replied with quiet sarcasm. She didn’t sound convinced that anything would come of it.
“Thompson said he might help. He’s also…” Elle leaned in as if telling a secret. “He’s cute. Like, really cute. You’re lucky.”
The two girls giggled and then Molly spread out her cards. “Full house,” she announced triumphantly.
“Oh yeah?. Straight flush.”
“How did you…?” Molly began to ask, suspicion creeping back into her voice that perhaps Elle was a cheater, too.
“I’m just good like that,” she shrugged. In reality, Elle had watched a lot of poker on television and gotten the hang out it even though she hadn’t really played it before.
“Oh. Play again?” Molly asked eagerly.
“Sure.”
They were quiet again, but Elle could tell that Molly was watching her out of the corner of her eye.
“What?” she asked.
“What’s your power?” Molly asked simply.
Elle aimed a beam of lightning at the unused joker card and burned a hole through it. Molly clapped, delightedly, and Elle couldn’t help but smile.
“That’s so cool,” Molly ooohed.
“Yeah, I know,” Elle bragged. “What other powers have you seen? Who else have you met?”
Molly thought. “That’s it, really, since I got here. Mr. Thompson doesn’t have a power. There was a Mr. Linderman who came in, too. I think he was supposed to have a power, but I didn’t see him do anything. My dad had a power, though. And Officer Parkman could hear inside my head.”
“Who’s that?” Elle wondered why he hadn’t been picked up yet. That sounded useful.
“He’s the man who saved me from the bogeyman… the man who killed my parents.”
“Sylar,” Elle breathed, and a sudden rush of guilt as memories washed over her almost choked her. This was all her fault.
Molly became almost inaudible. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard he’s called.”
“We’ll catch him, don’t worry,” Elle said through gritted teeth, and with new resolved.
“You will?” Molly asked, tears coming to her eyes.
“Yeah. I promise.”
Molly smiled, and this time, Elle let her win the hand.