4690/Ted Kord RIP- NOT!

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Ted Kord RIP- NOT!
Date of Scene: 11 January 2021
Location: Penthouse - Kord Co
Synopsis: Ted's alive. Was there ever any doubt?
Cast of Characters: Ted Kord, Douglas Ramsey, Alyx Vance




Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord floats up to his penthouse, his costume the worse for wear. A few days growth of beard on his face. He drops down and carefully examines the door before opening it and entering. But, surely security would have noticed any booby traps and evil double would leave. He sees nothing out of the ordinary. After a moment he hits the kitchen and a few minutes later exits with a microwaved keto cauliflower pizza for one (weeeeell his one). He scratches his backside takes a good sniff of himself and pizza in hand goes into his bedroom. After a few moments, the shower goes on, set to his body temperature: 98.7. Briefly he sings a few bars from The Marriage of Figaro, then water shuts off and all is quiet.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Which is when the door to the penthouse opens, and Doug comes in, with his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up. He's holding a tablet, and making a recording. "Right. So I'm going to take an inventory of Mister Kord's possessions. He... doesn't have any next of kin, so anything of deep personal significance will be put into storage or given to his friends according to his will. Art objects will be auctioned off for charity, other personal effects will be given to people in need - it's what he would've wanted - and company property will be noted down and returned to the company."

He sighs, and says, "...The man never could keep a place tidy," He says, picking up a discarded article of clothing off of a couch, "It's like he was... just..." He narrows his eyes. "Hold on."

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Alyx Vance generally kept to herself in the tower, especially for the last few days. She's been spending most of her time in the sub-basement reserved for Special Projects. She helped stoke a rumor among the drones and support staff that it was haunted by the ghost of Ted Kord. Anything for some peace. But, B.O.B0.1 knew the truth. A lot of truths.

    Today, however, Alyx's restlessless knows no bounds. She hitched a ride up to the penthouse, courtesy of Bobo and Alyx's grip. She's standing in the penthouse, just off to the side of the door, leaning against the wall with one leg bent at the knee. When Doug swings in, she reaches up with a gloved hand and rakes her fingers backwards through her hair.

    "Who are you talking to?" she asks, her form suddenly becoming much more obvious. She looks up at Bobo, who has puttered in with a cup of coffee for her. "Did you tell anyone I was up here, Isaac?" she asks. There's some ongoing disagreement concerning the drone's designation. A pause. She looks over at Doug for a moment, nodding at his 'hold on' before turning back to drone that may or may not be called Isaac. "Did you put on some music?"

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord enters wearing a robe, his goggles and Hood and little else. His goggles are a little steamed up and he bears a pizza box in one hand. Obliviously he sings:



Voi che sapete che cosa e amor,

Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor,

Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor.

Quello ch'io provo, vi ridiro,

E per me nuovo capir nol so.

Sento un affetto pien di desir,

Ch'ora e diletto, ch'ora e martir.

Which Doug ought to understand. Before he realizes he is not alone and screams angrily dropping the pizza and reaching for a holster he left in his room.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Moments of recognition being what they are, there's still instant action and response. "I'm taking an inventory so that we can clear the place out of Ted's things. ...Mozart-" But Ted grabbing that holstered weapon causes Doug to react - which is to say, he grabs the nearest paperweight to load his fist. "Hey!"

He narrows his eyes, and then the Master of Language eloquently expresses, "What the *fuck*, Ted. Are you running cloning experiments on the side!? Is that what that was?"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Picking the bones clean?" Alyx questions, tilting her head to the side as she stares at Doug. Tsk tsk. She gives Bobo a knowing look over her sip of coffee. But then -- commotion! And there he is. Across the room, Ted Kord himself. Alyx stares. STARES. She holds the coffee cup into the air and Bobo takes it.

    Alyx starts marching across the penthouse, barreling straight for Ted, her browline low and forming a deep crease. She means business. Something's going down. Someone's getting hit. Bobo starts dialing 9-1 and waits a second to add the last 1. Alyx storms right up to Ted and...and...and...

    ...Leans up onto the balls of her feet and throws her arms around him, hugging tightly and closing her eyes. She holds that for a few seconds, a few loooooooong seconds, and then... Suddenly lets Ted go and pushes him away.

    "Get offa me!" she shouts.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord ignores the screaming woman and says mournfully, "I dropped my fucking pizza. Hey what's the matter with you two... have you never even thought I might be an evil double and the stiffs were the real Ted Kord and Joan Wright?! For Tesla's sake, I mean pose... a... few... questions... all right stop it, Isaac!" After Isaac causes these ellipses, Ted turns to pat the drone on its casing. "... the drone is the smart one." He shoves Alyx gently on the shoulder. "What are you... off your meds?" Then he goes over to Doug and hugs the young man roughly.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug exhales, and then he grips Ted and hugs him, and says, "...When people are *dead*, Alyx, one thing that you *do* is you go through their belongings and decide what to do with them." He lets Ted go and then says, "And now I need to figure out how to explain this one to the board. No, you're the real Ted Kord, I can tell." He picks the Pizza up, and opens it, before he tosses it to Ted. "It survived."

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "He's been 'dead' for, what, a day or two? And you're up here ready to count how many shirts he owns!" Alyx shouts, glaring. While arcing through the air towards Ted, the pizza slice suddenly stops and changes course completely. It shoots past Alyx and splats onto the wall behind her. She stands there with her arm down at her side, the visible electronics of her Gravity Glove blinking with activity. She stands there like a gunslinger staring at an enemy.

    "I'm sorry," she says suddenly, bringing her hands up to rub her eyes. "...I...I don't know." Alyx steps towards a nearby chair and flops into it, staring up at Doug and Ted. Let them sort this out.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord goes over to Alyx, almost goes to give her a pat or rub her back and then pulls back without her seeing (hopefully). "The board has been notified. Very convenient knowing their Swiss bank account numbers. Now, Isaac, get your brothers and get back all my shit. Uhm Doug there was this big black cardboard container in Booster's old room... what happened to that... did you go in that yet? That was Booster's... stuff. I'm keeping it for him. It was labelled Booster's stuff in gold marker." Sheesh may as well ask about clearing your browser Ted. Except the raciest stuff on his browser were Betty Boop cartoons.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    "No, I didn't." Doug says, "I wasn't going to do any inventory of Mr. Carter's room until I had a professional cleaning team go over it." He wrinkles his nose, and then says, "You have to take care of these things. They can't be left to sit. But that said, this is a load off my mind." Then he sits on the edge of a couch, and thinks. "Ted - what the *Hell* happened!?"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Alyx reaches her hand up to take her coffee cup back from Bobo as it flies past. "Thanks, Isaac," she says gently, not even looking up. The cup is brought to her lips so she can take a sip, staring forward with a neutral expression. A few seconds go by before she opens her mouth again.

    "The drones were worried sick about you!" she shouts, glaring up at Ted. The drones. Sure. Her face goes neutral again, looking away.

    Alyx holds that position for a few seconds before her face sours again. She turns towards Ted and, in almost precise unison with Doug, shouts, "Just what the HELL happened?!"

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord shrugs. "Apparently we are facing an invasion of evil doubles of ourselves from an alternate Earth. This Earth was attacked and subjugated by an alien entity. A group of our heroes defeated it but... the people were unhinged. They seem selfish and self-centered and out to take our lives over. There may be thousands of them. Here I got some pamphlets printed up on spotting phonies. They know nothing of popular culture for the last forty years or so..." He peers at Alyx for a second. Gotta be his Alyx.

"I'm sorry about... the drones Alyx... thank you for looking after Isaac and his brothers for me. I really appreciate it." We need signs and countersigns. Mine will be... Grampy. Pick yours now."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug furrows his brow... and then says, simply, "...Huh. *Huh*." Then he grabs his coat. "Mr. Kord, *thank you*. It makes *sense* now. I have to get to Westchester County, fast - a very good friend of mine might be in serious danger!"

He turns and heads for the door.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Well, neither do I," Alyx states matter-of-factly. She too lacked knowledge of Earth's pop culture. "So, maybe don't let that be your litmus test." She doesn't look at Ted as she says it, instead preferring to look in any other direction. She's mad. Sad. Relieved. All of it. Doug is obviously handling this better, but, this might just be routine business for all Alyx knows.

    Alyx finishes off the rest of her coffee -- good thing, too, since she was just about ready to throw it at Ted -- and Bobo is quick to flutter over and take it from her. "Plus," Alyx adds. "...I'm not even /from/ Earth, so. Probably fine." Still needs a code-name. "...Wait, you should pick. If there's another Alyx, she'd probably think of the same code-name." Doug gets the wave of her hand, but that's about it.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    "If my evil double shows up, you're not going to be able to tell till he kills you." Doug says, with his hand on the doorknob. "Because the first thing I'd do is get caught up on pop culture *real* quick." He looks up, and snorts, before he says, "Use 'Sancho' for me."

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord regards Alyx warmly for a moment then says, "Freeloader. You would never call yourself that. I wouldn't either! Unless you could think of something better. Ah I feel better setting this up. Also we will refer to B.O.B 01 by his new name Isaac. His godmother Alyx coined it. He may be my newest intern. Doug, take my car to Westchester. You'll get there faster and I don't care about any speeding tickets. Call someone else to speak to your friend. Tell them to meet you somewhere on the down low." He tosses the Bugatti keys to Doug.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    A sudden laugh -- just one lasting a half second, a single HA -- erupts from Alyx's mouth. She looks away again, her eyes reflecting more of the light than usual as a thin layer of moisture accumulates on her lower eyelids. "Freeloader," she repeats softly. "It's perfect." That's a weird thing to say. These are weird times.

    "Grampy, Sancho, Freeloader," she repeats to herself, committing them to memory.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"Actually, I was going to use one of the hovercrafts. The S.T.E.V.E. Virtual Intelligence I programmed as an example of what we could do in the automated transport market works great, by the way. He did everything but hose the puke out of the passenger compartment." Doug snags the keys though, and then says, "Maybe I'll test him on the road. Thanks!" And then he's out the door.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord watches him for a moment then says, "I build hovercraft? Cool!"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Yeah... " Alyx replies absently. "You built a hovercraft." She takes a deep breath and lets it out in slow, measured bursts. Alyx stands from her seat and starts to walk very quickly for the exit of the penthouse and, eventually, the elevator that would bring her to the sub-basement.

    With a single swipe, Alyx collects the tears from her eyelids and flings them to the floor. As she passes Bobo, she taps the drone twice with the knuckles of her fist, causing it to start following her closely. She doesn't even say goodbye, she's just in such a hurry to get the hell out of there.