#p: dav002

[isaacapatow]

with @davxdalexander | the training yard

It wasn't often that Ike approached David about anything in town, really -- not that he avoided the guy, they just didn't have too much in common. They weren't shoot-the-shit pals.

So when he found David doing target practice or some damn hero thing or the other, Ike was pretty sure the other man would know that this would be a conversation about something specific. And that was good; it would give him a minute or two to gird up his loins as he saw Ike approaching. Just so long as he didn't also get defensive right off the bat. This was gonna be a delicate enough situation as it was.

"Hey, man," Ike said, and glanced around for a moment. No sign of the girl Meg's presence; that was good. Finding David here teaching her to fight would've added a layer of complication. "I need to float something past you, about the Daybreakers."

[isaacapatow]

"You or Zack would make the most sense, yeah." Ike would do it himself, but there was a certain amount of delicate work needed for this task, and Meg would likely trust one of the guys who rescued her more than she would anybody else.

(Of course, if it turned out she was willfully and maliciously on the side of the Daybreakers, that would be a whole 'nother ball of wax. But Ike wasn't intending to have David and Zack be the only line of observation, just the most direct.)

"Listen," Ike said, "I know you don't like the idea of it, and you'll probably like doing it even less. But we need to explore every possible weak spot that Redwood has. Because you can bet that's what the Daybreakers are doing while they regroup and lick their wounds."

The more Ike spot, the more unsettled David felt. His hand was rubbing the back of his neck as Ike laid out everything. All the possibilities, scenarios and loopholes that could describe why Meg was acting the way she was. There was a part of him, maybe an underlying paternal part of him that he had never had the chance to use that wanted to jump to her defense. Swear up and down that Meg was not a threat to the town. But the soldier part of him, the more logical side, could see where Ike was coming from and this world - it wasn't like he could take that kind of chance.

Fuck, Ike was right. He wished Ike was wrong and that he was absolutely and one hundred percent sure none of this was the case, but Meg didn't open up to him about what happened back when she was with the Daybreakers so he couldn't say for certain. "No, I can't," he sighed.

There was a way to get answers but he felt bad about it. Meg was just a kid who went through an ordeal and he didn't want to reopen old wounds like that. "I take it you want me to talk to her about what happened, don't you?" he asked, although it was more of a statement or a fact.

[isaacapatow]

"You're very sure," Ike repeated, to reiterate. Sometimes it was helpful to do that. People had strong reactions about shit like this, their gut reactions, instinctive; that was understandable, particularly when it came to this young girl they'd rescued and wanted to think the best of. He wanted to give David a moment to sit with the notion, to mull it over, to let it permeate his brain like one of those jello poke cakes.

"Not saying she was faking that fear and that horror," Ike said, "but could be it wasn't for the reasons you think. Could be she was scared that she failed in what she was supposed to do, and having the General's right-hand man here, well. That could mean all kinds of checking in on her progress."

Ike watched as David seemed to have to really rake through his brain for the further information, about Meg's father and his death. "She hasn't said how her dad died?" Ike pressed a little further. "Not if she watched him be tortured, if they exacted any promises from her to try and get them to stop, maybe? Or if the only reason she didn't meet the same fate is because she promised to work for the Daybreakers?" He dipped his chin, dark stare on David. "You can honestly for sure say that none of those scenarios happened?"

“On the contrary,” David spoke up as he nudged his bow back a bit, “I think you’re smart enough to figure who to talk to what about.” While Ike was an enigma, the man never did anything without a good enough reason. He may go about it in a weird way but David wasn’t the kind of guy to question it. He was good at what he did. He was just curious as to why Ike would want to discuss Daybreaker stuff with him.

Although it didn’t take long for Ike to fill in that blank. As soon as he brought up Meg, his arms fell a little. A pit grew in his stomach but his face remained impassive. At least, at first. But when the other shoe finally dropped, he ran sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered with a shake of his head. It was a fair question, but still, he didn’t like it. “Not that I wouldn’t put it past the Daybreakers to train kids to do this but I’m very sure Meg ain’t spying on us. The moment everyone got back from the Ranch and she heard one of them was here, she was terrified. Holed up in her room and wouldn’t come out for anything. The horror in her eyes - that ain’t something you can fake.” He had seen it in enough soldier’s faces in a gun fight to know that it was real.

Having realized he answered only half of Ike’s question, he racked his brain for an answer to the first. “She doesn’t talk much about what happened when she was there, and honestly, I can’t blame her. What I do know is that it was they captured her and her dad but when we were found by them, her dad was dead. Whether he was killed or tortured or worked to death, I don’t know and I doubt she knows either.”

[isaacapatow]

"Come on, David. Give me some credit." Ike dipped his chin, eyebrows raised, part bemusement and part irritation. "You don't think I'm capable of figuring out who the best person is to talk to about something? I came to talk to you because you're directly connected to what I wanna bring up."

And after making that clear, there wasn't any reason for Ike to hem and haw before getting to the point, so Ike launched straight into it. "That girl you brought back from the Daybreaker camp. From the Factory. Meg." He frowned slightly, gaze steady on David. "How much do you know about her, by this point? Is there anything about her that might make you suspicious?"

Ike scuffed the side of his hand against his hip, not liking the idea but committed to it, the ugly possibility. "Is there any chance she's spying for them, is what I'm asking."

Thwip. Thud. Thwip. Thud. It was a steady rhythm in the air as David did some simple target practice. After his recovery from his shoulder and time off, David wanted to make sure to keep his skills sharp and honed in so when Spring finally came around there wouldn't be any problems when he went out on hunting trips. He didn't think he had been losing his accuracy or anything. In fact, the last time he went out to hunt after getting cleared he was totally fine. But in his head, there was always room for improvement. It never hurt to work on the basics and fundamentals. Besides, this was always his favorite way to clear his head.

Thwip. Thud. David smirked as the arrow hit the bullseye and was about to grab another when he heard Ike approaching. He lowered his bow and turned, giving the older man a nod. "Howdy," he spoke, eyeing how Ike was looking around. David did a glance as well, wondering what Ike could potentially be looking for. He set his bow down and crossed his arms as he gave Ike a nod. "Don't know if I'm the best person to ask but yeah, sure. Shoot."