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snarky_blonde: habit is what keeps you going
Aug. 22nd, 2009 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heroslayerThe Company had stopped keeping him caged months ago. It had been Angela's decision, motivated by the fact that he'd demonstrated on more than one occasion now that he could behave like a rational human being, and he relished the freedom. He couldn't quite come and go as he pleased just yet, and his mother demanded that he live at Hartsdale as well as work there, but it was a start. He was making progress.
Not that he had much time to think about it. Angela kept him as busy as she could without either of them feeling like she was running him ragged. And that perhaps explained why, only hours after coming back from an assignment with Bennet, word came through to him that she needed him in her office again. He didn't need to sleep just yet, even though this would be the third assignment in as many days, and they both knew it.
Sighing, he didn't bother putting on his suit coat or tie back on again -- she could live with him deciding it was Casual Friday -- and moved through the halls quickly and quietly, knocking on the door briefly before letting himself in. He closed the door behind him, raising his eyebrows curiously, and she shot him a thin, tired smile in response. He didn't need rest, but hell if she didn't look like she couldn't sleep for days.
"I've already spoken to Noah," she started without preamble, reaching for a copy of the Times at the corner of her desk, "but barring him, you're the only the second person I'm mentioning this to." A pause, and she was handing him the newspaper. "I take it you've seen this."
Taking it from him, he skimmed it quickly, a frown pulling at the corners of his lips. From the look of things, from what the article refused to keep quiet, Pinehearst had won -- abilities were now available to anyone, assuming they had the cash. And as someone who had prided himself for so long on being special and worked so hard to be that way, this was a slap in the face. "What -- "
She stopped him with a wave of a hand. "It doesn't matter -- what matters is the fact that I'm closing down Primatech. We're done here; you're a free man."
"Why?" he demanded, bewildered, waving the paper at her. "Do you have any idea how many problems this is going to cause? How long before it's not just Accountant Bob with an ability? How long before someone like me -- like I used to be -- gets their hands on this. This is a -- a license to print money."
"I would imagine your father has already taken that into account," she answered, sourly. "And there are far more people working for Pinehearst these days than there are us. We can't handle everything, Gabriel -- I know it and Noah knows it -- and with Claire running off to go bat for the other team, so to speak ... " She sighed, shaking her head, and reached to take the paper back from him. "How long before it's just a handful of us, wasting away in this office?"
"I'd stay," he promised her. "I wouldn't leave you."
She fixed him with a disapproving look, her expression ice. "I'm telling you to. I'm still your mother; I think I still have that authority."
"This is -- "
"Get out of my office."
He stared at her for a moment, and then he was lowering his head, shadows creeping onto his face as he stared at her from under his eyebrows. Steel wired his jaw shut, and he took a moment to stare holes through her before turning, marching from her office as surely as he'd come in. She wanted him gone? Fine, he'd leave. And on the outside, he'd find someone to kill, someone familiar -- Peter, maybe, or Elle -- in an effort to stain her hands with blood by association. She'd close the Company yes, but she'd have to reopen it if only to cage him when he became a nuisance again.
That thought alone was enough to kill any possible hopes of further redemption he had, he knew, but at this point he didn't care. And that in mind, when he hit street level, he took a moment to look around before making a beeline in the direction of the apartment Bennet had mentioned Elle was keeping these days.
She was close and more convenient than Peter. She'd be a good start.
Not that he had much time to think about it. Angela kept him as busy as she could without either of them feeling like she was running him ragged. And that perhaps explained why, only hours after coming back from an assignment with Bennet, word came through to him that she needed him in her office again. He didn't need to sleep just yet, even though this would be the third assignment in as many days, and they both knew it.
Sighing, he didn't bother putting on his suit coat or tie back on again -- she could live with him deciding it was Casual Friday -- and moved through the halls quickly and quietly, knocking on the door briefly before letting himself in. He closed the door behind him, raising his eyebrows curiously, and she shot him a thin, tired smile in response. He didn't need rest, but hell if she didn't look like she couldn't sleep for days.
"I've already spoken to Noah," she started without preamble, reaching for a copy of the Times at the corner of her desk, "but barring him, you're the only the second person I'm mentioning this to." A pause, and she was handing him the newspaper. "I take it you've seen this."
Taking it from him, he skimmed it quickly, a frown pulling at the corners of his lips. From the look of things, from what the article refused to keep quiet, Pinehearst had won -- abilities were now available to anyone, assuming they had the cash. And as someone who had prided himself for so long on being special and worked so hard to be that way, this was a slap in the face. "What -- "
She stopped him with a wave of a hand. "It doesn't matter -- what matters is the fact that I'm closing down Primatech. We're done here; you're a free man."
"Why?" he demanded, bewildered, waving the paper at her. "Do you have any idea how many problems this is going to cause? How long before it's not just Accountant Bob with an ability? How long before someone like me -- like I used to be -- gets their hands on this. This is a -- a license to print money."
"I would imagine your father has already taken that into account," she answered, sourly. "And there are far more people working for Pinehearst these days than there are us. We can't handle everything, Gabriel -- I know it and Noah knows it -- and with Claire running off to go bat for the other team, so to speak ... " She sighed, shaking her head, and reached to take the paper back from him. "How long before it's just a handful of us, wasting away in this office?"
"I'd stay," he promised her. "I wouldn't leave you."
She fixed him with a disapproving look, her expression ice. "I'm telling you to. I'm still your mother; I think I still have that authority."
"This is -- "
"Get out of my office."
He stared at her for a moment, and then he was lowering his head, shadows creeping onto his face as he stared at her from under his eyebrows. Steel wired his jaw shut, and he took a moment to stare holes through her before turning, marching from her office as surely as he'd come in. She wanted him gone? Fine, he'd leave. And on the outside, he'd find someone to kill, someone familiar -- Peter, maybe, or Elle -- in an effort to stain her hands with blood by association. She'd close the Company yes, but she'd have to reopen it if only to cage him when he became a nuisance again.
That thought alone was enough to kill any possible hopes of further redemption he had, he knew, but at this point he didn't care. And that in mind, when he hit street level, he took a moment to look around before making a beeline in the direction of the apartment Bennet had mentioned Elle was keeping these days.
She was close and more convenient than Peter. She'd be a good start.
