Chapter Text
[CLICK]
[12th March 2016]
(QUIET ARCHIVING SOUNDS, INTERRUPTED BY A DOOR OPENING AND FOOTSTEPS AS SASHA ENTERS)
SASHA
Has anyone heard back from Martin yet?
(PAPER RUSTLES AS IT IS SET DOWN)
TIM
No, nothing
MICHAEL
Not for a while
GERRY
Nope.
MICHAEL
That means we call his mum’s place, now, right?
(A CHAIR SHIFTS)
GERRY
I’ll get on it.
TIM
He’s not in danger, is he?
GERRY
(hm) hopefully not. His mum’s health might just be failing, I know what it’s like.
SASHA
Poor Martin…
MICHAEL
We should do something nice for him when he gets back. Like, a tea party!
SASHA
(Lil laugh) He’d definitely like that
GERRY
Hm, i think Oliver has some poetry at the shop, we could do poetry night?
TIM
You like poetry nights?
GERRY
(shrug) I used to do poetry. The edgy teen sort, at least.
TIM
Oh my god , we have to read that
MICHAEL
Poetry night and tea it is, then.
SASHA
Let’s focus on finding him, first
MICHAEL
Oh, right, yeah.
(KEYBOARD CLACKING)
GERRY
I’ll contact the nursing home. Does he know anyone else we could ask?
SASHA
I think it’s just us
MICHAEL
He’s Mike’s ex, but i don’t think they’re in contact anymore
GERRY
Right. Let me see what I find, then.
[CLICK]
—
[CLICK]
(A DOOR OPENS, FOOTSTEPS)
SASHA
Did you find him?
GERRY
Nope. He hasn’t visited his mum since January, which means-
MICHAEL
-he’s missing.
GERRY
Exactly.
(A DOOR OPENS)
ARCHIVIST
What are we standing around for, exactly?
SASHA
Martin’s missing and the nursing home hasn’t seen him.
ARCHIVIST
Ah.
GERRY
Does anyone know his address?
TIM
I do, i’ve driven him home before.
ARCHIVIST
Are we sure he’s even in danger? He could just be sick, or on leave.
MICHAEL
Jon-
GERRY
He could be, and that’s what matters. The entities aren’t going to sit around and wait for us to show up to start trying to kill him.
ARCHIVIST
(Mph) you're right.
GERRY
Actually, Jon, what was the last statement he was on research for?
ARCHIVIST
Uh, the Carlos Vittery statement, he said he’d do it on Monday-
GERRY
But he never showed up. (dawning realisation) which means he went on his own, over the weekend.
MICHAEL
(cautiously) what was the Vittery statement about?
GERRY
Corruption.
MICHAEL
…oh fuck.
(A CHAIR SCRAPES BACK RAPDILY AS TIM STANDS)
TIM
Come on, I’ll drive.
[CLICK]
—
[CLICK]
(A CAR HUMS AND THE TURNING SIGNALS TICK AS THEY PULL UP)
GERRY
Right. We don’t know what avatar might be targeting him, so stay close to me and Michael. If anything touches you, tell us. And don’t split up. Got it?
(COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS)
GERRY
Right. (The car door is opened) We’ll keep the car unlocked in case we need a quick escape, but i’ve seen Corruption avatars drive before, so i’m not risking them stealing it. Tim, you’ve got the keys.
Let’s go.
(CAR DOORS OPEN AND CLOSE, CLOTHES RUSTLE AND FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD AS THEY EXIT THE CAR AND TOWARDS THE APARTMENT)
ARCHIVIST (HUSHED)
Why did we not bring Aion?
GERRY
Aion doesn’t react to Corruption, it is corruption. All it will do is get in the way if there’s a fight.
ARCHIVIST
But there wont be, right?
GERRY
Hopefully not, but if it comes down to it, i’ll stay behind while the rest of you run. It can’t really kill me.
SASHA
Wait, guys.
…do you hear that?
(A DISTANT, LOW BUZZING CAN BE HEARD, MIXED WITH WET, SQUELCHING SOUND. IT SOUNDS LIKE ITS ABOVE THEM.)
GERRY
Shit, come on.
(FOOTSTEPS RAPIDLY ASCEND STAIRS AND ACROSS STONE FLOORS, THE BUZZING AND SQUELCHING ONLY GETTING LOUDER.)
ARCHIVIST
Good lord-!
GERRY
Prentiss!
(THE CORRUPTION AUDIBLY TURNS TO FACE THEM)
JANE
Do you hear it?
GERRY
Leave him alone.
JANE
The worms would love him… they sing for him.
GERRY
He’s the Eye’s domain, now back off.
JANE
Or you’ll do…what?
(STATIC CRACKLES AS IT RISES, THE BUZZING MATCHES ITS PITCH.)
GERRY
I’ll kill you.
(THE BUZZING TURNS INTO A CHIMING LAUGH, BEFORE THE SQUELCHING GETS CLOSER)
JANE
Come join the song.
(IMPACT IS HEARD, AND VARIOUS PEOPLE EXCLAIM. A COMMOTION STARTS, AND A DOOR HANDLE IS RATTLED)
TIM
Martin!
(TIM POUNDS ON THE DOOR)
TIM
Mate, its us, we’re here to save you! Open the door!
(THE SQUELCHING APPROACHES, AS COMMOTION IS STILL HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND, A BUILDING FLUTTER OF WINGS JOINS IN)
TIM
Oh, fuck it.
(THREE HEAVY SLAMS AGAINST THE DOOR, THE WOOD SPLINTERS AUDIBLY AS THE DOOR IS BROKEN IN. HURRIED FOOTSTEPS AS THE BACKGROUND NOISE IS MUFFLED)
TIM
Shit, where is he?
Archivist
Martin!
(THE TWO CALL OUT FOR MARTIN, UNTIL A DOOR OPENS)
MARTIN
T…Tim?
TIM
Martin!
(THEY HURRY OVER)
MARTIN
What-?
TIM
Don’t worry about the details, we’ll tell you later. We’re getting you to the Institute, Gerry’s keeping Jane distracted.
MARTIN
Oh thank god, I thought I was gonna-
TIM
Your not. We won’t let you.
ARCHIVIST
(Panicked) We need to hurry.
TIM
Right, come on.
(THE THREE HURRY OUT, THOUGH ONE SET OF FOOTSTEPS IS AUDIBLY OUT OF SYNC. THEY HURRY PAST MORE SQUELCHING AND FLUTTERING)
TIM
We got him, let’s go!
(GERRY GRUNTS IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, THE REMAINING THREE FOOTSTEPS CATCH UP AND THEY HURRY DOWN THE STAIRS. A DOOR OPENS-)
MICHAEL
Gerry, look out!
(A THUD AND YELL ARE HEARD, SQUELCHING AND BUZZING AND FLUTTERING FILLS THE AUDIO. IN THE BACK OF THE TAPE, FOOTSTEPS RETREAT)
JANE
I know you hear it…
GERRY
Get- off of me-!
(CLOTHES RUSTLE WETLY AS THE BUZZING GETS LOUDER, SOMEHOW, THE WRITHING OF WORMS IS AUDIBLE)
JANE
Join the hive…
GERRY
I have already Become, Prentiss- (agh) you can’t claim me!
JANE
Hear their song…!
(STATIC CRACKLES AS IT RISES, THE BUZZING MATCHES ITS PITCH, DROWNING OUT THE FLUTTERING. YOU CAN HEAR THE SONG. IT IS BEAUTIFUL .)
GERRY
I said- you can’t claim me!
(THE SONG HITS ITS CRESCENDO AS IT CUTS OFF SUDDENLY WITH A THUD AND SCREAM, STAGGERING FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD THROUGH RAGGED BREATHS)
TIM
Gerry, your-
(A CAR DOOR OPENS AND SLAMS SHUT)
GERRY
Drive.
(THE SQUEALING OF WHEELS AND THRUMMING OF AN ENGINE IS THE ONLY SOUND FOR A LONG WHILE)
SASHA
What do we do now? Your hurt.
GERRY
….I’ll be- (he thinks for a moment, then sighs) Get us to the hospital, we need to be quarantined.
[CLICK]
—
[CLICK]
(SEVERAL DAYS LATER)
(THE TAPE WHIRRS IN SILENCE FOR A MINUTE, BEFORE A DOOR OPENS AND FOOTSTEPS ENTER. A CHAIR IS DRAGGED ACROSS THE FLOOR, AND THREE PEOPLE SIT)
GERRY
Whenever your ready, Martin.
MARTIN
Right…right I… I want this on record, o-okay? I don’t care if its…if anyone else will hear it, I need to tell this.
GERRY
‘Course.
MARTIN
…good…good…
I’m ready.
GERRY
Right, Jon?
ARCHIVIST
Statement of Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant of- (A pause) what is his title?
GERRY
(leans to speak into the tape) Archival Assistant of Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
ARCHIVIST
I’m suddenly quite glad we don’t have to write this down.
GERRY
Keep going.
ARCHIVIST
Right. (Clears throat) Statement taken live from subject, audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of The Magnus Institute, London, and-
GERRY
-Gerard Delano, Avatar Of The Eye, Seeker, and Former Archival Assistant.
ARCHIVIST
Regarding an encounter with the creature once known as Jane Prentiss. Statement taken 16th of March 2016. Statement begins.
(A LONG PAUSE)
MARTIN
…um, so, what do I say?
GERRY
Hm. Let me help.
(STATIC RISES)
GERRY
What happened with Jane Prentiss?
MARTIN
Well, a few weeks ago, you- uh, Jon- had just assigned me the Carlos Vittery statement, a-and you told me to start on it monday morning, but I, um… well, i was planning on visting my mum- she’s…really not well- but she refused my visit so I um, didn’t have anything to do for the weekend. I knew Michael was busy and I- I didn’t want to be a bother, so I thought i’d do something useful and check the house mentioned in the Vittery statement in my own time. Gerry, I know you warned us not to do that sort of thing, but I…I felt like I had to.
Anyway, I went to the address you gave me- I had to take the Northern Lane up because I don't really like driving more than I have to- and when I got there, it was… unremarkable, I suppose. It was quite early in the morning, maybe 7am or so, and I remember almost missing it because it looked the same as every other place on the street, except… well, except for the door. A thick, arched door like the statement mentioned. It didn't seem like there were any other arched doors on the rest of the street, so I went in. Um, carefully, of course. I checked none of them were yellow, and even that they had no…whats the word? Motifs on them. It seemed like a normal block of flats, at least on the outside.
The hallway was kind of dusty, though wether it was actual dust or cobwebs i’m…not entirely sure. I tried buzzing- uh, mind the pun- up to several of the flats, i had a whole speech rehearsed in my head from the trip over about being a cleaner sent to clean up Vittery’s flat before anyone moved in, but nobody seemed to be home. I didn’t want to waste my weekend by going there, though, and I certainly didn’t want to come back here without something for the statement files, so I, um, looked for a different way in. And, you know, sure enough, I find a basement window round the back of the place, and at first I thought there was no way i was going to get down there- i’m taller than Michael and probably about seven of him wide- but then I thought well, might as well give it a go. Worst case scenario, I have to call one of you to come rescue me from a basement window.
(HE CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY)
I uh, didn’t actually consider there was anything still
living
in the flats. Tenants, obviously, but I thought after Vittery died, they’d…find a new nest. I don’t think i need to tell you I was wrong.
It took… a while for me to get through, and I did nearly get stuck when my, um, chest got in the way, but I did get through into the basement. I will admit, the floor of the basement was a bit further down than i’d thought, so I took a tumble on the way down. It was pretty dark, but there was just enough light coming through the window that as long as I didn’t stand in front of it, I could see alright. I didn’t think to bring a flashlight with me, so it was all that I had to guide me.
I started walking around, carefully, and checking the random boxes lying around the place. I opened them at an arm’s length in case it was like, teeth or human hearts or something, but it was just… regular flat stuff. It struck me that the hygiene of the place wasn’t exactly, um, up to code- there was a lot of musty paperwork and weird smells, and I swore I saw black mold in the corners. So, I covered my mouth with the collar of my jumper and kept looking.
Then, I noticed this… thing on the ground, so i knelt down to look. I did bring gloves, and I was wearing them, so I, uh, picked it up. And promptly threw it across the room when I realised it was a worm, like Sasha had described. (lil laugh, then sigh) I should’ve left right then and there, I know that, but I didn’t want to be the one assistant whos supplemental was ‘broke into basement, scared by worm, ran.’ you know?
So I, um, kept looking. I was on higher alert, now, cuz I knew Prentiss or… something like her was or had been in the basement. It was only then that the… offness to the place really struck me, I smelt the must and mould of it before, but being on such a high alert made me…well, this might sound mad, even to you, but I swore my shadow was wrong. Not totally wrong, it was still my outline, but it…moved wrong? I-I don’t know how to describe it, really, but it seemed too… solid, for how dark the room was. Even with the light through the window, i swear it shouldn't have been that solid of an outline.
But, we all agreed the statement was Corruption and Web, right, so I thought it was just… I don’t know, the Web playing tricks, or something. I don’t know if theres a limit to how many entities can infect one place at a time, so I just…ignored it.
That was when I wasn’t exactly
keen
on staying in the basement, even if there wasn’t anything
actively
supernatural, I didn’t fancy getting any sort of… black mould poisoning or lung infection. So I looked for the stairs up, and, well the basement was actually pretty big, I think it spanned most of the size of the flats, so when I actually
got
to the stairs on the other side of the room, it was…pretty much pitch black. The light from the window didn’t reach all the way.
It was just as I got up the stairs and began to reach for the door that something… instinctive hit me. Something that told me to not, for any reason, turn around. I don’t know why or- or how , but I knew that if I turned back to face that darkness, I wouldn’t be seen again. Slowly, so, so slowly, i turned the handle, not even daring a glance over my shoulder, and opened the door, praying there was a light on the other side. I…I don’t know what was behind me, wether it was Corruption or Dark or…or what , but I swear it was breathing silence. Not- not like it was breathing quietly, but the way the silence shifted felt like the silence itself was breathing down my neck. Does that make sense?
It was a relief when the door opened into a relatively well-lit main building. All of a sudden, that silent breathing disappeared, and I relaxed, at least a bit. But…there was still something off. I swear the hallway I entered was not the same one that the front door led to. I thought for a moment I had picked one of the Distortion’s doors, I couldn’t see what color the door had been in the dark, but everything else seemed normal, and there was nothing impossible about it, so I just…ignored it. I still don’t have an answer for that, really.
Once I was, um, relatively sure everything was normal, I found Mr Vittery’s old flat and knocked, I wasn’t really expecting an answer, and honestly it was kind of stupid of me considering it could’ve been crawling- heh- with Web or Corruption avatars. But it wasn’t, not that i saw. In fact, an old lady answered the door. I actually thought it was that Angela lady from a few statements ago, but then, she started talking in Polish, which I was honestly thrilled to hear. I’m, um, polish on my mum’s side, I don’t really mention it much but yeah, I only really speak it with my mum- her english isn’t great, especially not anymore- so it was nice to, you know, talk with this little old lady. She was really nice, she actually let me into her flat after I told her I was a cleaner. I don’t think she understood the history of the flat, and I didn’t want to scare her or anything, so I um, just told her there had been some issues with infestations with the last tenant. I actually got a good look at the flat, but whatever evidence had been there before was gone now. In fact, I think the whole place had been redone, the wallpaper seemed new- old fashioned, but freshly applied, if that makes sense- and there were pictures of her family hung all over the place. She told me all about her grandkids and family as i pretended to check for bugs and damp. I think she actually tried to pair me up with her granddaughter at one point?
Anyway, I um, got finished checking the apartment, and assured her it was clear. I was about to go home at that point, since I couldn’t find anything past a spooky basement, but then, as I turned to head to the door, this man stopped me. Told me his name was Alan Lukas, and that he owned the place. He asked why I was there, and i told him I sort of panicked and told him I was visiting my babcia, and that she had buzzed me in. He seemed to relax when I said that, told me she was a nice lady, and I had to agree with him.
I um, asked him what happened to the old landlord. I was almost certain he wasn’t the one who owned the place during Mr Vittery’s statement, and I was right. He told me, in few words, how he bought it off the old landlord after a ‘nasty bug problem’, but assured me he had checked all of the flats, and they’d been thoroughly cleared out.
There was something off about him, he had extremely pale skin but pitch black hair and eyes- a-and i know that just sounds like Gerry but i can see your pupils in the light, you know? But with Alan Lukas it was… just a void. His hair didn’t even have a shine to it, and his behaviour was… familiar.
At first, I mistook it for just social awkwardness, like me. But then, I noticed the way he looked at me, in the moments that he actually did. It was this knowing look, not in the way that an Eye does- I don’t think so, at least- but in a way that he could tell I was lying. But, for some reason, he didn’t call me out on it. I guess you can’t really accuse someone of not having a nan, especially when there was another tenant in the hall at the time. They seemed normal.
But, when I went to leave, he stopped me just before the door, asked if I happened to work for the Magnus Institute. I didn’t know the protocol for that kind of thing, so I said yes, though I didn’t specify my department. I suppose he presumed I was with Artefact, as he asked if I could remove something from one of the upper flats he hadn’t been able to renovate yet. I had gloves and I was reasonably covered up, so I said yes, i could. I figured, like with the window, that at worst i’d have to call the actual Artefact team in to move or destroy some weird artefact, and at best i’d save this guy some trouble.
He led me up the stairs, about three floors up if I had to guess, until we got to what was clearly the abandoned level. All of the doors were either taped off with construction tape or boarded over, which was… definitely eerie, but my own building had been under construction some years ago and looked about as eerie, so I didn’t really question it. I knew, of course, that I was going to face some sort of artefact, but by that point I had rationalised that it was just the artefact making everything feel weirder than it was. Alan opened one of the doors for me, but didn’t follow me in. He just stayed by the door, watching.
I went in slowly, it was dimly lit but not that horrible pitch black from the basement, just a regular, in-construction dim, like the new lights hadn’t been fitted so it was just old, flickering ones. Apart from the lights, and the lack of furniture, it was actually a pretty nice flat, it had these big floor-to-ceiling windows with a sliding door to a nice little balcony, the type that would be turned into a garden at some point.
I called out to Alan to ask where the problem was, and he told me it ‘kept moving’ around the flat, so i’d have to look for it myself. That was…unhelpful, but okay, sure. So, again, I looked around the flat. It had almost the same layout as the babcia ’s flat, so I had an idea of what the rooms were going to be. When I got to the end of the little hallway, though, I heard something… shifting in one of the rooms. By that point, I had actually completely forgotten about the worm in the basement, so I thought it was one of those… furniture with actual moving legs that Artefact dispose of sometimes- according to Sasha, at least. I didn’t really know the protocol for it, but I thought if I could get it restrained or tied up for long enough, I could call the disposal team and sort it out. I really should’ve connected the dots, but I didn’t.
So, when I opened the door, prepared to be tackled by a living chair or something, I was caught pretty off guard when it was Jane Prentiss. And I knew it was Prentiss, she didn’t… Run at me or scream or anything you’d expect, she just…sat in the corner, humming something, and slowly, so slowly, turned to look at me. I was frozen.
‘Do you hear them?’, thats what she asked me. The fear of facing what I knew was an Avatar that was very capable of killing me clouded my mind so badly, I just…said no. I asked her if she lived there, and she began to respond, but I didn’t hear what she said, because I became very, very aware of something on my hand, the one still gripping the door handle. It was one of the worms, small and silver, I think it had a segmented body, but I didn’t really think to check, because I screamed and shook it off of me. I think that offended her.
I…don’t really recall what followed. One second I was shaking this worm off of my hand, the next there was this… deafening buzzing and I was sprinting away from her. I heard a door slam, and I thought it was Prentiss following me- which she was , but when I went to leave the flat, I saw that the front door was closed. I didn’t need to check to know it was locked. I don’t know if Alan knew she was in there, but I was trapped.
I remembered Vittery’s supplemental, how he was cocooned in spider web and eaten, and how Timothy Hodge had been turned into that…writhing mass Sasha had found. I didn’t want to end up like them, so, in a panic, I headed for the balcony and just…jumped.
There was no fire exit, or anything of the sort, so I just kind of… hit the floor, got up, and kept running. It must’ve been the adrenaline, we were at least 3 stories up, I really should’ve been knocked out or something , but I didn’t feel hurt and I didn’t trust that she would give up that easily, so I ran all the way back to the Northern Line, and took it back to my flat. I considered taking several stops on the way, in case it was somehow following me, but I was distantly aware that my leg felt weird and i needed to check it, so I just got home as soon as I could, and bolted the door behind me. I striped off the gloves, changed my clothes and binned them as soon as I got there, just in case. It was only then i thought to call the hospital, and then you guys, but… I don’t know when , but I must’ve dropped my phone at some point, because I didn’t have it, and I don’t have a landline- I don’t think anyone does anymore- so I just… planned to head in the next day to at least tell Michael, since he’s always at the Institute, but I was so exhausted from the adrenaline and the running that I collapsed in my bed the moment it disappeared.
The next morning, I felt… a bit safer. It was just after breakfast, when I was getting dressed, that the knocking began. Just two, at first. I don’t actually know if that time was actually Prentiss or just a neighbour, but it stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t bring myself to check who it was, and I swore I felt that... wriggling across my hand all morning, until the knocks kept going, slow and methodical, but stronger each time. Eventually, it turned into pounding, and I panicked. I couldn’t hear any buzzing, but it sounded so angry that I barricaded myself in with a chair and hid. I thought if it was Prentiss, she’d get bored and leave.
She didn’t.
The pounding just kept going, and going , until it sounded like a heartbeat. Like- like this.
(A SLOW, RHYTHMIC, KNOCKING AGAINST WOOD.)
And then…and then the lights went off. I admit I screamed when it happened, it was bright one moment and dark the next. It was like the basement again, the only light was through my windows, so I threw the curtains open and prayed it was just a regular power outage, or a fusebox trip, since nothing else in my flat was working either. I spent a while- maybe half an hour- debating what to do. My flat had no direct fire exit- that was in the building’s hall, where she was, and none of my windows opened enough for me to get out through them. I considered opening the door and just… hitting her with the chair, but I just kept replaying this scene in my mind where i hit her and the worms just…explode onto me, and become me. So I didn’t do that. I didn’t do anything , I just hid. Like a coward.
It must’ve been a few hours later that I saw a little, silvery worm slither out from under the front door, and…I think I had a panic attack, because I started boarding everything up. I-I wanted to get into some new hobbies and Tim had some wooden planks he wasn’t going to use, so I took them off him ages ago and never really got round to using. I-I used them to cover the door, the vents, even around the windows- not where they could block the light, but where they blocked the seal around it. I even rolled up towels and shoved them under the front door, and the vents, and anywhere they could get in through.
This went on for days. I blocked myself into my bedroom for the first few, keeping one of my blankets wrapped around me like a shield. I-I had another panic attack when night fell on that first day, convinced that whatever had been behind me in the basement was going to find me in there. It was a few days in that I realised blocking myself into the bedroom was…. not a good idea. If she got through both doors, i’d be cornered. So I moved to the living room, where I could sit behind the couch and still see over it to watch the front door.
…The pounding went quiet, after a while. I thought maybe she had gotten bored, but the moment I approached the door, the knocking started back up. Softer, gentler than before, but not any less terrifying.
I boarded up the windows eventually, too. I-I don’t remember why, but I had some candles I had bought on impulse and never used, so I lit them as soon as the last board was up. At least they gave me some light. I didn’t realise, though, they were scented. I…don’t think I like Lavender anymore.
(A SLOW, SHAKY BREATH)
I was in there for fourteen days , fearing for my life and going mad. I actually considered at one point if it was the Distortion on the other side of the door, making me think it was Jane so i’d open the door and go into its hallway, but…
I knew the tapes would appear if it was. They always follow Michael, a-and the Distortion is- I don’t know, part of- Michael, and there were tapes for the other encounters, so there would have been one for me, too. Or, at least, I hoped.
The knocking stopped again the morning you guys showed up, but I didn’t trust it. The image of those squirming, writhing worms scared me too much to open the door. And thats when Tim started pounding on the door, it- it wasn’t rhythmic, like Jane’s was, but it was so much louder that I blocked myself back into my bedroom, now with no idea who it was. Jane’s pounding on the door had been angry , but it had been…consistent, in a way. The heartbeat rhythm had almost become familiar. But Tim’s was…it sounded violent , from my side of the door. I-i know now he was just desperate to find me, but it felt, for those few minutes, like i was being hunted.
…I-i won’t describe what happened after, since you already have it on tape, but… I don’t think i’ve ever been so happy to come back to the Institute.
ARCHIVIST
…Statement ends.
MARTIN
(groan)
GERRY
Sorry. Are you alright?
MARTIN
My head hurts…
GERRY
Yeah, that’ll happen.
(A CHAIR MOVES, GERRY STANDS)
GERRY
Come on, you can lay in the backroom.
(THE DOOR OPENS)
MICHAEL
(gently) hey, everyone okay?
GERRY
Martin’s given his statement, but it’s wiped him out.
MICHAEL
Oh, (to Martin) you can take my room
MARTIN
No, no, its-
MICHAEL
I’m not the one who just survived Prentiss, i’ll be fine.
MARTIN
She didn’t even touch me, its just a headache-
MICHAEL
Stormcloud. (Gently) You take care of me enough often, let me return the favour.
MARTIN
…
(sigh) okay.
ARCHIVIST
Wait, Martin, your not going back to your flat tonight, are you?
GERRY
(before Martin can respond) not a chance. Prentiss knows where you live, and I don’t trust the sound of that Alan Lukas guy.
MARTIN
Won’t she just find me again?
GERRY
Not if she knows whats good for her. And not in your under an Eye’s watch. Elias is the Administrator, but i’m an Eye too, so your best bets are either here or with me and Oliver. We have a spare room you can use.
MARTIN
Oh, no, i couldn’t-
MICHAEL
You can take my room, I really don’t mind. I could stay with… well, pretty much anyone here, actually.
MARTIN
…are you sure?
MICHAEL
I’m sure, Stormcloud.
MARTIN
…(sigh) okay, fine.
GERRY
Hey, Jon, can you get Martin to the backroom, then?
ARCHIVIST
Oh, er, sure.
(A CHAIR MOVES, TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS LEAVE)
GERRY
I’m guessing you already have a plan?
MICHAEL
I’ve had one since we found him.
GERRY
(proud lil laugh) who’re you staying with, then?
MICHAEL
Oh, a friend.
[CLICK]
—
[CLICK]
(FOOTSTEPS, A DOOR KNOCKS. THE TAPE IS CLEARLY INSIDE A BAG. THE DOOR OPENS.)
MICHAEL
Hi, Butterfly.
[CLICK]