Summary:Backdated: 3/25/2020 - Hank and Hisako deal with the fallout of the hideous debacle at the Kennel facility in the Disaster Zone. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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In the wake of the events at the Kennel, Hank evacuated with Hisako and the others to return to base and report in, once they arrived he would escort his young friend to her quarters, and set her down on the bed. "Rest, if you need something to help, I will provide, Hisako-Chan. I need to report in." Eyes of yellow are warm with concern, he looks to Hisako, holding her gaze. "Perhaps get cleaned up and changed, I'll be back as soon as I can, mm?"
Once he has her answer, he, still bloodied and battered, heads off to report in. He's gone a while, returning after having cleaned up himself, hair faintly damp still, a faint whiff of wet fur and a tray with some comfort food, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into quarters, a pot of hot tea, and a box of Twinkies.
A knock at Hisako's door. "Hisako-Chan, may I come in?"
Normally, Hisako eschews sedatives or other sleep aids - she got dosed with tranquilizers back when those extremists grabbed her as a young girl, so she tends to react poorly to being made to sleep. This time, though? "I don't think I *can* rest," she whispers - and she'd submit to an injection or something.
A while later, when Hank comes back, there's a muffled reply of, "Come in" - but the bed is empty, and light streams out of the miniature bathroom that's part of her quarters. Hisako is just getting to her feet, flushing the toilet as she does so, and the residual odor of an upset stomach hangs in the air.
Hisako is still looking much the worse for wear: not injured physically - her powers are a great boon in that department - but she's been through the wringer all the same, and she's feeling it too much to hide it like she'd normally try to. "Don't think I'm up to eating," she mumbles as she sees the tray. A cup of that tea might help to settle her stomach and change her mind, though.
Hank enters, and sets the tray on the small table in the room. Hank sighs at the scent of her having sicked up, and then pours the tea, this one is a very mild Chamomile blend, and he prepares Hisako's cuppa just the way she prefers. One of the perks of having known the girl nearly half her life. "Not to worry, dear girl. Here." He pours himself some as well, and then studies his young friend…her tea set aside as well as he does something he very seldom does, he initiates physical contact, he just gathers her close, if she permits and holds on. Nothing but comfort being offered, comfort and shelter and a strong shoulder to lean on. "I am sorry, Hisako."
Normally Hisako might refrain from accepting a hug, even in private - but right now, she needs it, dignity and decorum be damned. She leans into the hug, returning the embrace as best she can for a moment, then slumps.
"And that," she mutters ruefully, "is why I'd rather beat up robots, or just knock human bad guys into the next block over." At least she's got some trace of her normal sense of humor; that's a good sign, right? "I keep reminding myself we couldn't go easy on the 'Hounds,' but …" Her voice trails off.
Hank is a bit damp at present, but still warm, and there's no doubt that he's a solid presence, and one well known and trusted to cling to. He waits until she slumps, then guide Hisako to sit on the bed, and lets her lean against him, an arm about her her shoulders as he hands her her tea, and takes up his own.
"Without a doubt, robots are much preferable as opponents under most circumstances, Hisako. Indeed, it is sometimes fun to cut loose…just /slug/ them and watch sprockets and gears fly."
A sigh then. "No, there was literally no other choice, those 'hounds' were trained to be violent, monstrous killers. Had they gotten loose they would have been a /real/ menace in the Zone, and perhaps even spread beyond it." His voice is steady, every syllable exactingly uttered, the deep tones pitched to soothe. This man is very much in control of his voice.
"Horrible, no…/horrific/ as what had to be done was, it truly *had to be done*."
"I know …" Hisako stares for a moment into her tea, lifting the cup closer to her face so she can inhale the scent of it, then takes a generous sip, savoring it in her mouth for a few seconds before swallowing, and sipping more directly. She lets out a breath as the cup is lowered again, keeping a secure hold on it just above her lap, conscious to keep the cup level no matter how weary she might still feel.
And she's silent. It's not that she's withdrawing from the conversation, just reminding herself of what those monsters had already done. The sight of Kelli, short an arm and a hand, laying in her bed at the hospital and only able to sleep when Hisako and Dr. Kelsey went to comfort and encourage and reassure her.
'There's still something warm and lovely in the world.' That was what Hisako had said to Kelli - and as Armor, Hisako knows she's one of those people pledged to *protect* that bright place, that treasure of hope, however ephemeral it can be. *Because* it can be so fragile, people need to protect it.
"Thank you, Hank," Hisako says quietly, looking up at her mentor next to her, and mustering an actual smile - not a huge one, but it's there. Not that there's much to smile about in the subject at hand, and she knows it. "Has our newest … guest … had anything helpful to say yet?" she asks before sipping some more tea. She might indeed be ready for a sandwich or two after all - the tea is helping to settle her stomach as well as her mind, it seems.
Sensing her need for silence, Hank simply sits there with Hisako, quietly supportive and enjoying the tea. No doubt as intended the tea blend is chamomile and mint - meant to soothe stomach upset, especially the mint. Hank is patience itself and not in the least uncomfortable with the silence. He can feel the tension ease a bit, feel Hisako relax a smidge, and then he smiles down and nods as she thanks him. "My honor, Hisako. Know this, if you ever need to talk about -anything-, I will be there. I can't promise to have all the answers, but I can and DO promise to listen, and offer my support and advice - if needed. Always."
A shake of his head about the guest. "No. Posse is leading a recovery team investigating the site, I haven't had a chance to talk to the guest yet." He nods firmly. "You and my report to Doctor Kelsey were far more important priorities."
The tray is offered, and *gasp* it includes the Twinkies! Goodness. He's willing to SHARE Twinkies!
The tray is accepted, and Hisako places her tea on a corner, carefully angling her lap so things will stay balanced atop it. The Twinkies are arranged so Hank can pilfer them if he wants, and Hisako takes a nibble of one sandwich-quarter. Just a tiny bite to start, as if giving her stomach a chance to make up its mind, and to make sure she's not wasting too much if the answer comes out as a 'no'.
"Archimedes was the Greek who figured out buoyancy, right?" she asks abruptly.
Hank does indeed pilfer a Twinkie, his one weakness! He smiles as she nibbles, the peanut butter smooth and creamy, and the jelly a blackberry spread, simple, but comforting food.
He tops off their teas, keeping them warm, and then nods. "Archimedes was a brilliant mathematician, considered one of the best in history, and buoyancy is one thing he is credited with - statics and hydrostatics, in particular. He was quite impressive, one of the leading scientists of his era…mathematician, as I said, but also an engineer, physicist, astronomer, and inventor. He created a water screw, for example, and did much design work on defensive devices for his native Syracuse. Are you merely curious, or did you have a specific query in mind?"
A somewhat larger bite of PB&J follows the first cautious nibble, with a sip of refilled tea in between them. She's not stuffing her face, but she *did* just empty her stomach not that long ago, and if she's keeping food down, Hisako knows can probably use it. "That was the code name," she explains. "The 'emergency override' or whatever it was, the system gave it the name Archimedes. That was what made the merc freak out and bolt, so it was probably the base's destruct system -"
Hisako stops abruptly. "Domino. She was trapped …"
"The phrase, was it a woman's voice saying 'Emergency override Archimedes'?" Hank asks, attention engaged. A shake of his head. "That's a quote from the movie Forbidden Planet, not sure what it signifies but that was the command Altaira used to override the robot." Talk about classic sci-fi, that movie is more than fifty years old!
And then she remembers Domino's predicament, and he nods. "She's presently missing in action, the REACT team is searching for her as we speak, at present we don't know her fate, Posse is on it."
Hisako nods, taking the first part of Hank's reply first. "A woman's voice, yes. I don't know if they took it from the movie, I haven't seen it …" She purses her lips, letting the question distract her briefly. Old, and classic, and almost certainly filmed in live-action - maybe something her father would want her to check out, given *other* old science-fiction media of an interest passed from father to daughter.
And it's easier to grapple with that, or distract herself with it, than to think about the other part of what Hank says. "'Missing' is …" she starts, then trails off, squeezing her eyes shut. "That explosion threw *me* around. I was armored up, and big, and *I* went flying, I was lucky to make a controlled landing off of it. And Domino was inside the building … I know she said she's 'lucky,' but."
She forces her attention back to the tray, pulling her knees up again to keep her lap level underneath her sandwiches and tea. Distractions have their uses, and Hisako's not above using them on *herself* when she needs to stay focused. "How long have you known her?" she asks, glancing up at Hank again before taking another bite of sandwich, finishing the first quarter.
Hank takes out his phone, and does a quick search of the exact sequence, and when he plays it aloud, it is /the same/ voice, exactly. "That was the original, the actress Anne Francis, is that what was said and how?" He asks curiously.
He sighs at the description of the blast. "It was two blasts, actually, I heard two distinct explosions." A sigh. "We'll know soon, one way or the other."
He meets Hisako's gaze. "Neena? Only a few weeks, a handful of encounters, I can't say I know her all that well, really. She /is/ a character though, very interesting. Shady, without question, but I truly think she's trying to find her way to do things better…unfortunately her life prior has not given her the tools to do so, so the ride is sure to be bumpy, rough, and uneven."
A firm nod. "Still, her luck is -extrordinary-, I would not rule out her having survived, fallen face first into a pile of gold coins, and some random nuclear launch codes or the like."
"It would take the luck of gods to survive that," Hisako says grimly. 'Two explosions' is actually less worrisome to her than it might have been; *she* saw how heavy that door was, and presumably the walls around that same room were no less sturdy. Domino might in fact only have needed to worry about one explosion in the scheme of things …
There's nothing Hisako can do about it at this point, though. Except to drink her tea, eat her sandwiches, and try to be ready for whatever comes up next. Oh, and Hank asked her another question.
"I think it was the same voice, the same intonation and everything. It was right at a lull after we'd finished fighting the 'hounds,'" Hisako says to Hank, "so it stands out a little more in my head."
"Yes. Which Neena may very well posses, I wonder though if there's not some sort of balancing act that goes on, it seems her luck isn't always good, but just as extreme." Hank frowns at the mention. "Actually…the movie quote was 'Emergency cancellation Archimedes', but the rest is spot on if the voice sounds the same to you. Again, not sure what that signifies other than the coder or initiator of the override is a classic sci-fi buff. Hrm…even the 'hounds' are something similar to what I've seen in a movie, they're not unlike, though much larger than a 'hound' in Riddick when he was in the prison planet supermax. So…a movie buff."
Hisako picks up another quarter-sandwich, pursing her lips. "Do you think that might be a clue? Someting that'll let us help them down, or predict what else to expect as we close in?"
Because she's *sure* the chase isn't over. If anything, possibly killing one of their allies - one of their teammates - just means RESCUE will be all the more determined to bring whatever mad scientist type was behind the Hounds, and the base, to justice.
Musingly. "I'm not sure…but it might be helpful once we engage. I'm perhaps a bit nerdy myself, there's a chance it might prove useful." Hank smiles then to Hisako. "Thank you, that could prove valuable, that insight." 'Perhaps a bit nsrdy'? Much like say 'World War II was a bit of a tiff', or 'The core of the sun is a mite warm'.
No, the chase is far from over, and yeah…RESCUE is /heavily/ invested, and the enemy is about to find out that they have some dues to pay!