ataraxion | 001. video; Public Service Announcement

001. video; Public Service Announcement

Guessing everyone's feeling a little closer to compos mentis now. Great, that's gonna make this a whole lot easier.

My name is Nathan Petrelli. I'm Senator for New York, elected representative of the people, and recently made Head of Homeland Security by the President himself. It's my job to do what's in the best interests of the people, and in this case I figure that's gonna be easier said than done.

I don't want any of you to worry. Once I get up to speed on the details of what's going on here, I intend to get to the bottom of how we got here, why we were brought here, and how to go about getting back. And I mean how and why, not the bullshit they've been feeding you about jumping and wormholes and the ship needing a crew. There's a malicious intent here I'm gonna address, and then I'm getting everyone back where we belong.

I realise we're not all Americans here, and maybe you think I have no jurisdiction, but I earned the right to intervene the moment I woke up with a tube shoved down my throat, just like everyone else. I want to speak to people who know the most about this place, or be directed toward them. Captain Kirk: you're on my list for starters, but I'd rather speak to the real Captain, rather than some washed up wannabe.

Oh, and before I wrap this up, there's one other thing. A few of you will have spoken to my brother, Peter; he got here during the 'jump' previous to this one, and as I understand it he's been pretty liberal with his imagination ever since. Some time ago my brother convinced himself that he could fly. He stood on top of a twelve story building one day, called me up and told me he was going to show me he could do it. He jumped, and he fell - fortunately only as far as the fire escape - and a couple days later woke up in the hospital with minor injuries. It wasn't long after my father's death, right in the middle of my run for Congress, and I guess he was desperate for attention.

What I'm trying to say is that he's had brushes with depression before - it runs in the family - and he's not exactly stable right now. All of this doesn't make it any easier. If everyone could please be delicate with him, take what he says with a grain of salt, and inform me if it sounds like he's planning to do something that might hurt himself or others. I appreciate it.

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[ He just shrugs, his own form of 'what're you gonna do about it now?' ]

If it didn't exist in the first place, I wouldn't have had anywhere to bring it.

It happened because you screwed everything up!

[ This is counting as an admission, though. Oops. ]

This is what happens with us. Escalation. The question is where're you gonna take it?

[ And it earns Nathan a slight eyebrow raise because lookie there you just admitted the whole operation exists in the first place.

He's not so crazy now, is he. ]

I'm not taking it anywhere. You're the one who called me crazy to try and prove that you're not an asshole. Now I don't even need to do anything to prove that you are.

[ It was only a matter of time, right? ]

I may be an asshole, Pete, but you're still crazy.

If telling yourself that helps you sleep better at night, then fine. I can't stop you.

You sleep?

Better here then I did back home.

Good for you.

Don't worry, when Danko shows up, i'll go back to being even more sleep deprived.

I'm not going to let Danko near you, Pete.

He shoots me, Nathan. Shoots me.

[ And now there's a clear flicker in Nathan's composure. It's not like this is the first time Peter's told him, but he was a bit shaken the first time, preoccupied with other things. He looks away, raises his chin slightly. ]

In the future, right?

You keep acting like this is something i've painted. Like Hiro coming back from the future. Or dreaming about the explosion

[ A momentary pause that's given along with the shake of his head. ] It's my present, you just haven't lived through it yet. And i've got the scar to prove it.

[ A pause, then more softly. ]

Show me.

[ He's rolling his eyes so hard. ]

Really?

Show me, Pete, because there's not a scratch on you since the last time you had Claire's ability. You want to convince me? Then show me.

[ And more than anything he wants to be convinced, wants to have one less thing to question. ]

[ Peter looks beyond perturbed, if only because Nathan refuses to believe him about anything. But he finally grabs the collar of his shirt, yanking it to the side and down, far enough to expose him from collar to deltoid. Closer to the joint of his arm and underneath his collarbone is an undeniably recent scar from a bullet hole, though it's only healed further since his arrival here.

Letting go of his shirt, he raises his eyebrows, daring Nathan to question that. ]

Happy?

That's from a rifle.

[ He shifts uncomfortably. ]

You going to keep keeping me at arm's length, or tell me how far south this goes? How much did I fuck up, Pete?

Like I already told you, Danko takes over your operation. Anything you tried to tell him about who he doesn't get to kill, he's thrown out the window.

And from what I saw on the news, you get to save Matt from being his own personal bomb threat. [ Because they all know how likely it is that Matt would do something like that. ] I don't know a lot more than that, Nathan, it's not like I talk to the guy.

You insinuating I set that up so I can look like some kind of goddamn hero?

[ He's forgetting where he is, forgetting how public this conversation is because he's just talking to his brother. It's meant to be private. ]

I'm not doing any of this for vanity, Pete. If you had the files... You know there's this guy that can disintegrate stuff with a click of his fingers? Literally split it apart into atoms? There's old Primatech files of people Ma used to know. Ted Sprague's parents. Matt's dad? Dangerous people with dangerous powers.

I'm not gonna apologise for something that's not even happened yet. Just like all the futures you saw with me in them weren't my fault either.

I don't know who set it up, Nathan, but it doesn't really matter who, because it happened. [ And this, this is why he's so mad at you.... along with everything else. ]

And you think you have the right to take away all of ours, just because you decided we're all dangerous. From a few files, you decided to send us all away. Including Claire. And Hiro?

What about you, Nathan? What about you makes you so goddamn special that you get to leave yourself out. What, flying isn't dangerous enough? Because if it doesn't matter to you who you're trying to put away, then you're no better than Danko.

So what do you want me to do, raise my hands and march myself in? Sign me up? And woe betide if it hurts anyone else. You, and Ma, and Claire? I was trying to protect you, but just like usual you were too thick headed to accept my help graciously.

After New York, after you locked yourself away and didn't even bother to call to say you were alive, you're gonna tell me finding a way to control dangerous powers isn't a good idea? Just because you've got yours under control doesn't mean everyone else has.

[ Peter just stares for a second because bringing up his stay in Primatech? Is another low blow, at least to Peter. Because he tries not to ever think about it. Or Adam. Ever. ]

I didn't give you a call because I wasn't allowed to. It was a prison, Nathan, don't use that against me.

It was a prison you walked yourself into because you didn't trust the right people, and you didn't believe in your family to do the right thing for you. After I almost died for you.

You don't want to talk about this? Too bad. You did wrong by us, Pete. Wrong by me. I started drinking, and I lost my family, even told Ma she could go to hell if not for the fact she was already there. So you know what? [ He shook his head, cutting himself off. ] Forget it.

You're blaming all of that on me?

[ That's far worse than him telling the entire ship that he's crazy and Peter just goes quiet for a long moment. Peter really doesn't need more things to feel horrendously guilty about, but he'll worry about all of that later. Because right now he's just... done. ]

Fine, blame me for whatever you want. I broke your heart, right? Disappointed you, ruined everything, and you even admitted you wouldn't have saved my life when I saved yours. So you know what, you don't have to. Not anymore.

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cargojet - 2012-05-10 02:08 (UTC) - Expand

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askedtobe - 2012-05-10 02:20 (UTC) - Expand

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