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by Nerva Vels, December 5th 2000
'Bobbi' looked at Lee/Mycroft with some alarm, some surprise, some amazement. "And that's how you'll justify talking to me?" she said in her crisp voice. "I didn't make a secret of it, now did I?" She smiled, her eyes narrowing. "Differently abled, Mycroft. Remember that. But there are other things to do besides going over my own difficulties in adjustment." She faced Lee/Mycroft fully. "We have places to go, now, and things to do. To see, to assist, so that others aren't faced with the choices we made." She smiled at Lee/Mycroft. "May we proceed? You can pick my...mind...another time. If there happens to be time...."
Mycroft acceded to Lee Burroughs' control. 'Bobbi' saw this, noting the transfer, now aware of it as she hadn't been before. She looked to Doc and he nodded, the frown more concern for his patient than the preceding episode. She settled something in her head, and then said, "We're off to New York. The plane leaves in two hours. We're meeting with Harvey there. Are there any precautions I should be aware of?"
Doc looked from Lee to 'Bobbi'. "Lee can handle it, but I'll give you some pointers on the way to the airport."
Bobbi shook her head. "No one but Lee and I to the airport, I'm afraid. But by all means, brief me now." She looked over at Lee. "I'm sure, however, that he can handle it."
A few hours later they were in the air, approaching New York air space. Black hair and brown hair were together, while they spoke in quiet undertoned voices. Lee himself was monitoring his body, while Bobbi was taking her time and feeding him information--just enough not to overwhelm the concentration Lee was keeping. So far, he had learned that strange occurrences in New York had summoned Harvey and Bobbi to the city. He had heard the particulars of some. Harvey was due to report on others and any further investigation when they arrived. Lee's hands were clasping each other, while the murmuring voices of the legion within him asked questions and demanded responses. While Lee was discussing it internally with Mycroft and others, he was checking carefully for Red Thomas. There was no doubt this sort of disturbance would bring him to the fore.
Bobbi had been made aware of this, and was also watching Lee carefully. The former mathematician still had an eye for details, and after Doc's warning was carefully assessing Lee, and the necessary precautions were in place.
The time before reaching New York air space was uneventful. While Bobbi seemed at ease, she was still alert to any disturbance from the seat next to her. Lee was at the window, his hands clasped together. He was literally running inventory, checking his body for the least divergence in the Way Things Must Be. He'd left Mycroft and Banner to sort out the details of the information as he was processing it.
A hand came down heavily on Bobbi's right arm; she didn't know it was Cordelia, panicked at what Lee saw outside the window. Bobbi looked to her right to see Lee whitefaced, but in complete and severe control.
The plane was flying through thick yellow cloud cover. Bobbi found herself hoping that no one else saw what Lee and she were seeing; the thing or things at the window focused on Lee and Bobbi.
Bobbi realized that Lee's grip was getting tighter. "Come on," she said, hoping he was still in control. She reached over and shut the windowshade, pulling at Lee. "You'll feel better if you threw it out," she said for the benefit of any eyes and ears trained to them. Lee stumbled up and down the aisle with Bobbi until they reached the restrooms. "He's not feeling well," she explained to the steward as he tried to prevent them from entering the restrooms together. She didn't have to shut the door. Lee doubled over and threw up on demand into the stainless steel bowl and the steward backed away.
A quick glance up at Bobbi confirmed for her good news; he was still in control, despite the upset. She quietly flexed her own arms and hands for assurance. Despite the form of her challenge, it had not taken from her the strength inbred in the body. For that, in this instance, she was thankful. She would need this for the experience ahead.
Landing protocols were starting just as Bobbi and Lee made it to their seats. Lee looked shaken, grey around the edges, struggling inside with the situation outside taking its toll. Bobbi wondered again if this was the right course to take, but it was too late to back out now.
No one else had noticed the things in the yellow soup outside. Upon landing, they were entirely indoors, but Lee could not help looking outside and up. There was nothing there.
Harvey met them in the lounge. His eyes were small, his hands fidgety.
Bobbi was taller than he by an inch or so; Lee towered over him.
Mycroft,
lurking behind Lee's eyes, took note of a great many things about Harvey.
There was a scrubbed raw look about him, his skin coarse. And it almost seemed as if Harvey shied away from the bright lights of the lounge. The comparative cleanliness of his attire, mixed with the soil and scuffmarks on his shoes, raised questions. His slacks were clean, but the trailing edge of the trenchcoat's belt was stained with something dark that wasn't dirt. And Harvey gave the impression that it was too hot for him, that he was ill at ease under the bright lights, but he didn't break a sweat, as Lee was doing.
After the formal introductions, Bobbi said in an eventoned voice, "By the way, we saw manifestations in the clouds as we reached New York air space, Harvey." Lee nodded, adding, "The color of the clouds were yellow, and the ...manifestations... were obviously aware of us."
Harvey took this in, nodding. "All of a pattern." he said
gruffly.
"Let's get out of here. We're not going far; the hotel's here
in the area. There were some ... investigations I had to accomplish
here."
He lead the way out of the maze of LaGuardia and into a cab.
The hotel room, bright, cheery, airy, was a great contrast to the conversation
between the three. "I know you both were told that you would be consultants.
Ostensibly that is still the case..." he looked from Bobbi to Lee. "I'm
sorry for the deception, Bobbi, but it was necessary. There are things going
on that...that we have to end. That, with," nodding towards Lee, "your help,
we can end. We have to find out why these signs and portents are playing
out, and we have to destroy it."
He proceeded to fill them in not only
on the happenings here in New York, but the findings of his other 'consultant'
flying into Buenos Aires.
"Is that where we'll be headed next?" Lee asked. Harvey nodded.
Bobbi leaned back. "How soon?" "Forty-eight hours." Lee frowned.
"Why
not sooner?" Harvey chewed at his lip. "There's more to things here than
I've shared with you. You need to see them for yourselves."
He looked
from Bobbi to Lee, a question in his eyes.
Lee raised an eyebrow. "Pray tell." he said. The entities within hustled
for front row seats, so to speak, Mycroft and Banner alert and aware. Edgar
and Cordelia were clasped; Fallon and Jesse, controlling his legs, were crossed
over each other, wanting to flee very much but steadied by the soothing inner
Lee voice.
Red Thomas was ready, for trouble or anything coming his
way.
And far away in the inner landscape of Lee's mind, the thing held
at bay by Lee's confederacy of himself laughed.
Harvey furrowed his brow. "I would, instead, pick your brains, Lee, but as in your case, this is a need-to-know-as-it-goes operation. What I can say is that there are many factions at work here. Not much of it is making sense, but--"
Lee interrupted, his facial features seeming to change as another entity of his choosing took the com. "The manifestations aren't the only thing here, is that not so, Harvey? We know that's not your real name, but all things being relative, that is a moot point. You seemed to have freshened up before meeting us at the airport. Seems to me you have been very busy the hours before we landed. Not enough time for a shoe shine, however; there is dirt and scuff marks on your shoes..."
Bobbi now interrupted. "Harvey, this is Mycroft speaking, if I'm not mistaken. He, how can I say this, is a very alert observer."
Lee/Mycroft looked from Bobbi to Harvey. "Forgive me the rudeness. I am Mycroft," he said, extending his hand, Edgar not raising a ruckus and Cordelia grasping the chair's arm for security. "Pleased," said Harvey dryly, quickly releasing the handshake. Lee/Mycroft smiled thinly. "I disturb you. But you have need of my special talents, as you need Bobbi's insight. And your, shall I say, talent, works well in this. Perhaps if you were to fill us in on the full details, there may be more assistance we can provide you." Lee/Mycroft sat back in the chair, and a flicker of another passed over his face before the semblance of Lee returned to what was normal. He looked at Harvey and nodded. "Bobbi here mentioned it as 'differently abled'...I understand you both have had unique, altering experiences as well. So what's going on, Harvey?" And within Lee's head, Mycroft tallied the sensation of dry, cool, almost snakelike skin to his measure of Harvey.
Harvey twisted his mouth, fought the urge to pull out a cigarette, and then said, "Something is due to make an appearance. And, someone has caught something's attention." He looked up at Bobbi and Lee. "But, in the interest of having fresh minds and alert senses, why don't we just sleep on this and when we awake, we can discuss this at length? We will be meeting with local authorities at a couple of the sites of 'disturbances.'"
Lee looked at Harvey measuringly. Bobbi spoke the unworded concern; "Will this, presence, here, affect you, Lee?" she asked quietly. Lee noted that Harvey didn't bat an eye; Mycroft conjectured guinea pig status for Lee in this, mingled with all else going on under the surface. Lee stifled a yawn, which set the others off. "I'm sure I can handle it, Bobbi." he answered.
Bobbi stood up. "Then let's turn in." "I'll take the couch," offered Harvey, and the others did not protest. Only Harvey's short stature would fit the couch, needless to say. And the unspoken need for watchfullness and the safety in numbers kept them in one room. "Six hours from now a wake-up call?" The others nodded in consent and turned in with little fuss.
Lee sat in the dark, marshalling his inner legion to watchfulness, but also to compliancy and cooperation. Bobbi watched the dark for the thing that changed her entire life. And Harvey, he felt safe in the cool darkness of the room.
Six hours later, Harvey and the others learned that a flight to Buenos Aires had been hijacked. "Hardigan," breathed Harvey. The disappearance of the spinster sisters from Iowa went by without comment, but the sideline 'News of the Bizarre' about the sighting, unconfirmed, of mouths on the palms of a statue seemed to affect Harvey. He didn't comment on them, but someone else noticed the tightening of his face, the slight tenseness in his movements.
'Somehow,' said the voice that was Mycroft to Banner and Lee, inside Lee's head, 'he's not telling us all he knows.'
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