Skeleton Coast
Part 5 of Tomorrow's Children.
| Skeleton Coast | |
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| Dates run: | November 28, 2005 - December 2, 2005 |
| Run By: | Alicia |
| Read the logs: | Skeleton Coast |
Times like this, I have to remind myself that it's Romany that believes in karma, not me.
Following right on the heels of the traumatic events at the Hellfire Club, Nathan and Pete discover that Gideon's laid a trap for them - with Domino as the bait. Being who they are, they walk into it anyway.
Contents
Cast
Nathan Dayspring, Pete Wisdom, Alison Blaire, Cain Marko
NPCs: Domino, Gideon Faraday, Saul Morrow, Colin MacInnis, The Pack
Timing
November 28, 2005 - December 2, 2005
Plot Summary
Two days after the defeat of Selene, the death of Askani, and the revelation of Pete's undercover role as the White King, he and Nathan had barely managed to catch their breaths when Bridge called from Africa with news that Domino had disappeared in Angola several days ago. Pete was very distressed, and confessed to Nathan that Domino in fact had known the truth of his role at the Hellfire Club all along, but that the memory had been altered with her permission, waiting for the conclusion of the affair and a trigger phrase from Pete to restore it. Nathan tried to reassure him as to Domino's ability to take care of herself, but a few minutes later, Gideon called, informing him that Domino was his prisoner and telling Nathan to meet him in Windhoek, in Namibia, if he wanted her back. Nathan called Bridge back immediately, only to find out that Bridge knew that Eris had been monitoring the Pack. In the middle of the conversation, it became apparent that Gideon had sicced the local military on the Pack. Bridge promised to get in touch when he could and hung up hurriedly. Pete insisted upon regarding the news as good, inasmuch as they now knew who had Domino, and went to review the latest intel on the area while Nathan went to arrange for a plane.
Moira, thoroughly unhappy at the idea of her still-traumatized husband flying off to confront his uncle, did arrange for a plane, but also placed a quick in-mansion phone call to Alison. When Nathan and Pete arrived at the airfield, they were surprised to find Alison and Cain there waiting for them, clearly intending to accompany them to Namibia.
Arriving in Windhoek, they proceeded to the address Gideon had given Nathan, only to find the house empty. Pete lost his temper, lashing out with his powers and shattered a bookcase, only to reveal an envelope taped to the back of the bookcase. Nathan opened it, discovering a map of Namibia with two locations marked - and a note from his mother in the margin, telling him that the map should help.
Very confused at this point, they followed the map to the first location, a traveler's lodge in Khorixas. There, they discovered that Domino had successfully escaped and made it that far before Gideon's men had caught up with her and taken her back. Nathan was stunned when the wife of the lodge's owner told him that his mother had been their guest ten years ago and told them about the events that would transpire in December 2005, both Domino's appearance and theirs. He realized that Esther must have been precognitive as well.
They traveled to the next location on the map, Luederitz, a mining town where Eris had a small office. The single staff member there quite freely admitted that he was aware that they would be coming, and Nathan and the others realized that Gideon was a step ahead not just of them but of Esther, as well. The young man permitted Nathan to scan his mind to establish that he in fact didn't know where Gideon or Domino were, and then told Nathan that his uncle wanted to test his precognition. To get past the dead end at Luederitz, Nathan would have to rely on his other perceptions.
The group retired to a local hotel for the night, where a frustrated Nathan camped out on the balcony, and tried and failed to force himself to have a precognitive vision. Pete joined him, and the two of them came close to discussing their fight in September when Nathan was hit by a vision, seeing wild horses in the fog. He made the connection to a ghost town in the desert nearby, where tourists went to watch the wild horses, and plans were made to depart in the morning when the sun was up. Later that night, unable to sleep, Nathan confessed to Alison that he had seen Domino dying in an escape attempt.
The next morning, they found the Eris camp precisely where Nathan had suspected. Alison, still using a cane after her near-death at the Hellfire Club, managed to talk an Eris employee into handing over his laptop rather than have her use her powers to take it from him. Pete found Domino just as she managed to escape, but she attacked him, Gideon having told her about how he and Pete had entrapped Nathan earlier in the fall. Only Alison's intervention allowed Pete to get out the trigger phrase, and Domino's proper memories were restored.
Outside, Nathan and Cain pursued Gideon, who attempted to use a sonic device on Nathan, having been given inaccurate information by Pete about Nathan's weaknesses as part of their earlier deal. A very irritated Gideon synched to Nathan's telekinesis and turned the ground beneath Cain to quicksand, taking him out of the fight. He and Nathan proceeded to have a mammoth telekinetic battle, one that Nathan won. He hesitated, however, uncertain about killing his uncle despite everything that Gideon had done, and in that moment's hesitation, Saul shot him with a tranquilizer dart from cover. His father helped Gideon up, telling Nathan that it wasn't yet time for the endgame, and departed, leaving Nathan lying there unconscious just as the Pack's helicopter arrived.
Nathan regained consciousness several hours later to find MacInnis leaning over him. After the initial moment of panic, he was vastly reassured to find out that everyone was okay. Bridge arrived to check on them, and as the three of them talked, Garrison, the Pack's hacker, arrived. He informed them that he had cracked the encryption on the laptop Alison had acquired and discovered files full of information on several other training camps for mutant children in Africa. If that wasn't enough in terms of revelations on the day, Alison gave Nathan yet another letter from his mother, one she'd discovered hidden in the vicinity of the camp - with an Askani glyph to mark its location. In it, Nathan's mother tried to apologize for not having been strong enough to protect him, warned him that his uncle would try to trap him over and over, and told him that the name she had been given at birth was not Esther, but Rachel.
Related Links
External Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
Months later, Moira bought the plane that had taken Nathan, Pete and the others to Namibia, putting its pilot, an old acquaintance, on her payroll. She would later use the Gulfstream G5 to fly back and forth between the mansion and Muir Island each week.
Meta
Plotrunner: Alicia
