savetheearth | [Closed] Between where I'm going and where I've been

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[Closed] Between where I'm going and where I've been

Who: D!Cesar, Nathan, Tony, potentially anyone else living at the school.

What: D!Cesar's going to kidnap Nathan for his plans to get at Tony!

When: Today or yesterday

Where: Locke!
Warnings: D!Cesar is yandere as all get out. There will probably be swearing, attempts at serious violence, and anything else that comes with a kidnapping.

The school outside the computer room is silent with the night's stillness, and computer fan whirring fills the small room. There aren't many lights, but the doppelganger realizes by now that this is normal. He's been here before. Everything is as he expects.

The door was already cracked open, and he pushes it all the way, letting computer-screen light spill into the hall. Whether or not the room's sole occupant turns at the shift in sound, Cesar removes the outermost paper from a pocket, shaking it out of its folds. It's loud and out of place in the silence. Permanent marker stares out from the dim lighting in bold.

DON'T TRY TO ALERT TONY. COME WITH ME.

I HAVE A GUN.

Heavy seconds tick pass. Cesar pulls back the edge of his jacket to show the brand new holster at his waist, dropping the cloth back down when the point has been made.

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It had been such a long couple of weeks. Nathan had hardly had a good night's sleep since Cesar's double had shown up with that virus. Witnessing Elian's heart attack had not helped in that regard, either. He was tense all the time, and especially coupled with the lack of sleep, the tension was exhausting.

It was a testament to his weariness that he look up from the screen at the sound of the door opening further. Likely just Tony coming back, anyway. And then he heard the paper rustling, unusual enough even in his tired state that he looked up --

And froze.

The double. When did he -- How had they missed --

Nathan's eyes widened, throat went dry at reading the note. His gaze instinctively followed any move the double made, and the confirmation of the note was not lost on him. That was -- but he couldn't just -- what if --

There was no disguising his trembling; even the idea to disguise it didn't enter his mind. He blinked slowly, took a shuddering breath, swallowed thickly.

"What --" He tried to speak, softly, but his voice caught. Another swallow before attempting it again. This time, he got it all out, but his voice was shaking terribly. "What assurance do I have it won't be used if I go?"

The quiet of the air whistling through his throat is louder in his ears than it's ever been, and he lifts one hand halfway up his jacket. Rather than sign, the hand produces another slip of paper, and this one is also shaken out. He's come prepared.

I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU. THIS IS BETWEEN TONY AND MYSELF.

He has the timing all planned out. They have room for another exchange or two before Cesar has to start ushering Nathan out, or risk discovery or worse.

Edited 2015-04-02 06:19 (UTC)

He flinches slightly when the double's hand moves, but it's just going for another slip of paper. And he blinks again when he reads the next note. To get at Tony? There's some small, selfish part of Nathan that's glad that Cesar's double isn't out for him personally -- if he's telling the truth -- but only a small part. And the reality isn't much better. Nathan doesn't want anything to happen to Tony.

But he still doesn't move. Not yet. "Why." It isn't a question. There's still a quaver in his voice, but the tone itself has gone flat, inflectionless.

Why? Cesar's smile is as slow as it is condescending, and there's no answer forthcoming. He jerks his head towards the door and gestures with one hand, pulling back his jacket again with the other.

He doesn't plan to shoot Nathan--doesn't even plan to hurt him--but if it's the only way he can get his plans to work out the way they're supposed to, he'll do it. Getting to Tony is more important than anything else; after all, nothing Cesar can do with a gun will outweigh the damage Tony can do to their unprotected backs. L's compassionate reaction was proof of this, and Cesar knows now that no one would respond fast enough if his true nature ever decided to show itself. By the time they could work themselves out of their humanity they'd be dead.

That smile is awful and he wants this over and he doesn't know what to do. It's not that his physical well-being has never been threatened before. It has, far more times than it should have been, and though the bruises have long-since faded, he still has the emotional scars to prove it. But even at the worst times, he'd never felt like his life had been in danger.

He bows his head, hair falling over his eyes. If he keeps sitting here, if he keeps resisting . . . what's going to happen? It would only take a few seconds to just shoot . . . Maybe if he just goes, it will not be as bad. That was how it had worked growing up. Shut up and shut down; that way, it will be over faster and with less harm.

Without looking back up, he gives a shaky nod. It's awful that he's doing this, he doesn't want to endanger anyone, but he's in immediate danger of being killed. Maybe everyone will have a better chance this way. It's better than thinking he's just being a coward.

There is no sound when he moves. There's an almost eerie quality about it when taking it all together -- the quiet movements, the soft voice, his natural pallor in both skin and hair. He's like a ghost. One that's moving slowly toward the door as instructed. His breathing is remarkably even for the situation -- he's shutting down emotionally; he needs to or he'll break -- but his body still visibly trembles.

The small hairs at the back of Cesar's neck stand on end as Nathan passes him, and Cesar swallows dryly, following. It's all nerves, nothing more: if Nathan actually had a supernatural echo, he would have used it by now. He would have talked about it on the network, too, and more than anything, L would have mentioned it.

The school's silence turns into a double edged blade, now. Every innocuous sound of the building itself magnifies in his mind, and turns into the pounding footsteps of a vengeful guardian coming to kill him before he can reach his trap in the first place. He tries to suppress the motions, but if Nathan is paying attention, there's a jumpy quality to all of the man's motions.

They leave the school. There's a rental car parked in the main lot out front. He waves at it, opening it's already-unlocked door without getting in: he's not doing anything until he's certain Nathan is inside and not about to try making a break for it.

Nathan himself might not have been so open as to discuss any supernatural Echo he'd gotten on the network; he isn't secretive to an obscene degree, but he dislikes talking about himself and has never even shown his face there. His double, of course, is a different matter. Far more talkative, far less careful. But even he has said nothing, because there is nothing to say.

He just keeps watching the floor as he walks, not daring to lift his head. But he can't help a measure of hyper-awareness, and all sounds seem magnified to him. He's perhaps straining to hear if help might be nearby -- Tony had only supposed to be gone a few minutes; it's far from impossible -- but no such sound comes. But he does pick up on a nervousness in the cadence of his captor's steps. The double is worried. Probably about the very thing Nathan is hoping for.

But nothing comes.

Nathan is through putting up any resistance at this point. What is it going to accomplish? If he tries to run, he's liable to just get shot in the back. Just go with it. Just go with it, and maybe he won't be hurt. He doesn't want to leave, but he hardly sees how he has any choice in the matter. He gets in wordlessly, head still bowed, shoulders slumped.

Misa is still awake, wandering the halls on her way to make herself a calming mug of tea. She doesn't know any details about what's going on, but the fact that Nathan has a bodyguard skulking about is obvious enough and their consistent presence at the school has her a little on edge. She doesn't want to pester them or Lazarus with questions, but it just feels like preparations for something bad that's coming.

But maybe she's over-thinking it, still twitchy from the influx of echoes a couple weeks ago. Seeing the lights on in the computer room, Misa heads that way to see if Nathan wants anything. Did these boys ever sleep?

Misa should have listened to her instincts. While Tony had been a frequent presence at the school before, the fact he was usually glued to Nathan almost literally had to be a little alarming. But he'd made a mistake. After a couple weeks and not a peep out of Cesar's double he started to let his guard down, and asked Nathan if he could grab a shower while he worked. Didn't seem like a terrible idea at the time, it was only going to be five minutes, what could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

Towel still draped over his damp head he'd made it back just before Misa, and moments after Nathan and someone else had left. The room was empty. Trying not to panic Tony searched around a little, called for Nathan once, then headed back out into the hallway almost bumping directly into Misa.

"Woah, hey! You haven't seen Nathan have you?"

And no, they didn't sleep. Luckily Tony didn't really need it too much anymore.

Misa stopped short with an eek, clutching her chest and tilting her head back to see Tony's face.

"You scared me!" she exclaimed, taking a deep breath. It didn't help that Tony was physically imposing as hell, even if he didn't tower over her quite as much as most guys. "No, I thought he was in there. I haven't actually seen him for a few hours."

Shouldn't he know that? He was the bodyguard, after all.

Whoops. Tony offered an apologetic grin, traced with obvious distraction and worry. Yes, exactly, he should know where Nathan is at all times. The fact that he doesn't is worrying.

"Sorry." With how much he's been working out it's no wonder he's fairly intimidating, he's hinging on it. He was kind of hoping that looking scary might be enough to keep the coward away. Apparently that isn't the case at all.

"Did you go in there?" He needs to know for reasons. "Have you seen anything?" Tony it's generally polite to answer a lady's questions before you start grilling her.

"No, I was just on my way to," Misa answered cautiously, glancing around for backup. Of course the place was deserted, without Nathan; not that Nathan would be of much help. "He stays up working so late, I was going to ask if he wanted coffee or something. If he isn't in there I'm sure he'll be right back."

The rental car smells new, and when Cesar sits it takes him a moment to make sure his gun doesn't get wrapped up in the seatbelt. Despite his threats, despite the cloud of menace that's been hanging over the academy, despite the way L has been wasting away... This doppelganger is a novice. He's one man with minimal experience with weapons, and this is probably the most dangerous thing he's done in is life.

Nathan will barely have time to buckle his seatbelt before Cesar is guiding the car out of the parking lot. He's clearly familiar with the route they take to wherever they're going, Nathan may recognize several landmarks as they drive clear across town.

If Tony is going on foot, he's going to have quite the walk.

---

Their destination is an abandoned church, this time. It's symbolic to the point of absurdity, and the only saving grace is that Cesar directs Nathan past the main room, and away from the stained glass windows.

Smaller rooms crowd into the back of the church. The one Cesar picks is the second biggest in the building, and Nathan will have to put his shoulder into it to get the door open at all. It's clear from a glance that Cesar has taken time to prepare this place, and that he's gone all out.

Leaves and rat nests have been swept aside to make room for sigils on the floor. There's an extra set of ceiling sprinklers attached beside the building's original setup, all attached to an enormous water tank in a corner. It's dark, and the odd flimsy obstacle makes it hard to see more than a few things at a time, but Cesar seems unconcerned, waving Nathan off to the room's far end.

Cesar shrugs his jacket off, drawing his gun. He unloads and reloads it, before moving past a set of unstable shelves and reappearing with a heavy bucket.

His head only lifts marginally when they start to move, and he only watches out the window from the corner of his eye. He mentally ticks the landmarks, tries to measure how long they spend driving. Not that he thinks he's going to be able to get some kind of signal out, but it's at least something to occupy his mind instead of the anxiety.

He blinks a little when they arrive at the church. Not being privy to certain facts about Tony, the symbolism is lost on him. It makes about as much sense as any place, Nathan supposes. If anything about this made sense. Which it doesn't. Getting the door open is more of a chore than the double may have anticipated it to be. Nathan is not a prime physical specimen, or even someone in halfway decent shape. It takes a great deal of effort for him to get the door open, and he only manages to exert it because he doesn't want to think about what might happen to him if he fails to comply.

The setup in the room catches his attention, and he simply stops and stares for a few moments once he's in. What is the meaning of all this? The sigils, the extra sprinklers . . . Nathan is not a religious person, and the only thing he can think of is holy water. But why?

He does as he's bidden, stumbling over a few unseen obstacles on the way. But he doesn't complain. No use in complaining. It would help nothing. He leans up against the back wall, startles when he hears the gun being reloaded; his heart hammers against his ribcage, but a look at his face will reveal nothing. His expression has gone completely blank.

He'd been silent all this time, but now that they were at their destination, for better or for worse, he actually found it in himself to speak. Like his face, his voice is blank, empty of any trace of emotion. "I do not understand what you hope to gain from all of this."

Tony narrows his eye back at the empty room in thought. "Someone else was here," He mumbles more to himself than to Misa before he turns back to her. "Can you do me a favor? Call L, tell him to get back to the school now. It's an emergency."

Way to be mysterious Tony, that won't scare her or anything. Now is probably the worst time to ramp up the intensity but there it is, he can't help himself. His heart is racing, his mind playing out all the worst case scenarios. But he has to stay calm, search the school a little, maybe poke at Luca make sure no one saw anything before he goes on a rampage.

One step at a time, breathe.

He looks up and pauses when Nathan speaks, seeming to consider responding. Then he ignores him: The bucket is set on a table halfway to the back of the room, and Cesar reaches. Whatever it is, he doesn't lift it out, and just touching whatever it is seems to have reassured him that everything's in working order.

He goes to some half-collapsed cabinets along one side of the wall. The wood they were made from has rounded edges, and old wear and tear that suggests the attention of children, once upon a time.

Nathan hadn't entirely been expecting an answer. Hoped for one, perhaps, but not expected. He just watches, intently. Whatever is in that bucket is important. But his eyes mostly remain on Cesar.

Nothing has happened to him for speaking, and so he finds the courage enough to continue.

"This is going to make Lazarus unhappy. Isn't that the opposite of what you want?"

For all the twisted actions of the double, Lazarus had explained that the impetus for it is a kind of concern for him. If he can appeal to that somehow . . .

Edited 2015-04-03 15:18 (UTC)

Nathan gets a sad, knowing look when he says that, and then is (again) ignored. If he's trying this tact then L must have told him at least a basic summary of what happened between them, and it stings. Still, did Cesar expect anything different? No, not particularly: L's concern for his friends is outweighed only by his trust in them, and Cesar had known this was coming. He kneels at one of the cabinets while a quiet breath whispers through his teeth, and he takes out a box.

This is too much preparation. Knowing this as someone who's overstudied for more exams than he can count, he can tell that he has too many possible ways to kill Tony here, and not enough possible time to actually fall back to the next option if the first one fails. This doesn't make him actually stop what he's doing, but his eyes do take on a distant look, and he leaves the box at a different table.

Then he turns to Nathan, reaching into a pocket. All he does is pull out a silver cross on a chain, and he walks towards the 'kid' (young man), holding it out.

Edited 2015-04-03 16:30 (UTC)

"Wait, what should I tell him?" Misa asked, obviously frightened by this point. "Is Nathan okay? What's going on?"

He knows. He already knows and he's still doing this. What good is he expecting from it?

"If you know, then why?"

Nathan does not take the cross. While he might not precisely understand all the preparations, this feels too much like a way for him to hurt Tony unintentionally. He wants no part of that.

Edited 2015-04-03 17:33 (UTC)

"Nathan's gone. There's no reason he'd leave on his own without telling me. I have an idea what might have happened but I need to know for sure," He moves to slip around her, still talking. "I need L to access the computers, see if something was caugh on camera. I need him here because he might be in danger."

He doesn't know what the doppelganger is up to, but whatever it is it can't be good.

Well and truly freaked out now, Misa pulled out her phone and immediately started dialing Lazarus's number.

"You mean someone took him?" she called after Tony.

"I'm not ruling it out. Hey, tell him to bring me a rain coat alright!?"

He calls after her, moving swiftly down the hall. He's going to rouse Luca and set him on locking down the school while he arms up. Then they'll move from there. Too far a head start he won't catch a car on foot. But that doesn't mean Cesar won't make his intentions clear soon.

"Ah, alright! I'll tell him to meet us here!"

Feeling exposed in the open hallway, Misa sequestered herself in the computer room to complete the call.

Shou remembered the network and numbers as soon as he hit the one echo barrier. Unfortunately, that was also when there was daylight out and he had started smoking with his skin peeling, which had a bunch of other people panic. Luckily he was in a place where he could duck into a windowless spot at the airport and make a post on the Network about said snaffoo, and then wait. When it was dark enough, he went to the nearest teleport spot and headed right for the school because it was like a second home.

Popping out of the transporter, he headed for the room, shedding bits of clothing that had gotten a little charred from being next to his skin, muttering at the destruction of a favorite shirt. He certainly wasn't paying any heed about the happenings around him as he walked, instead just pouting at the hole he just stuck his finger through.

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[Closed] Between where I'm going and where I've been

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