Starring:
Date: April 8, 2010
Summary:
There's a whole lot of posturing going on, how long will tempers keep in check when faced with a deadline?
"The Catty Duel"
An Abandoned Subway Tunnel - NYC
Where Emily wakes up is quite dark, she's standing in water and handcuffed to a pipe overhead. Geneva Convention be damned when it comes to dealing with treason, she's not a prisoner of any war, she's a criminal of the highest order. The sound of water dripping is pretty much the only thing she is able to hear, save for a distant rumble at irregular intervals. No life aside from the rats around her feet and crawling over her hands on the pipe. Every once in a while, one of them gets brave enough to attempt to crawl up her leg for a bit of blood.
The wounded leg has a tourniquette and field dressing on it, it's stable for now, but without medical attention it's likely that the woman could very well lose it. In the distance, there are voices and the flicker of a light. At first they're too garbled by the rumbles and echoes but eventually they become audible. The first is the voice of the shooter.
"Don't say a word, I just want you to get the bracelet off, I'll deal with it from there." She says in a commanding voice.
Micah openly gapes at their surroundings. This is not what he'd expected. In fact, in his teenage-ideal-brain he'd had envisioned something less depressing, but he follows after Cody willingly enough; the two have the same goals and have been working somewhat together, at least. "I'll get the bracelet off," that much he'll agree to no problem. In fact, he'll essentially promise Cody that one. He quickens his steps to keep up to her. "I've deactivated a few collars off, a bracelet shouldn't be an issue."
Not that George was the one she was addressing, but he at least is happy to stay quiet; he's got plenty enough to fume about silently. It seems so long ago that the president was giving him a thumbs up, albeit for nothing more than basic attentiveness. Telegenic attentiveness, perhaps, but still. The reality is so much messier… he's against capital punishment, but what else could work here? They can't put her in a regular jail or psych ward, she'd just take over a guard or something.
As the trio rounds the corner into the little side tunnel the rats scatter from the light and the beam is shined first at Emily's face, then down her body. Apparently Cody is giving a cursory gance to make sure she's still alive. Truly, she is in a pitiful state. If it weren't for the fact that the former Alpha agent was still pissed off at her attitude at first meeting, she might feel sorry for the woman. But she doesn't, not for now.
Without a word, Cody raises a gun and fires a single shot at the woman. The dart that hits her isn't full of tranquilizer, but inhibitor solution. "Stay back for now, she hasn't blown up yet so we've got a few more seconds while the solution works its way through her system." Then she looks between the man and the boy and shrugs, "Unless you want to be the first she tries to possess.
The teen stares at the blonde Amazon he'd met what feels like a lifetime ago in Germany. He's been instructed not to speak, and glances at Cody knowingly before shooting a glare her direction and then one to the Congressman. The fourteen year old is less than impressed, and his displeasure is more than evident as he shoves his hands into his pockets.
"It's not right," he finally utters while his face scrunches up into a very prominent scowl. Bright-eyed and busy-tailed, Micah isn't buying this. "Heroes don't hurt people like this." He stares at Cody determinedly. "I thought… I thought you were one of the good guys." Swallowing, he backs up against a wall, his belief in the good of humanity failing him. If this is what the good guys do, can there be room for hope?
George keeps a safe distance away from Emily, standing close to the wall but not leaning against it like he would it if weren't filthy. He has a feel for her favorite weapons - and Cody's - but he doesn't know Micah that well yet, so that's where his attention is focused. "She and her backers were trying for a coup against the president— and damn near succeeded, too. What would you suggest?" He may be something of an idealist compared to his peers, but the wide-eyed teenager easily outclasses him.
In comic fashion, the tranq dart hits Emily…where else but in the other thigh. Her response is to give a little grunt at it, and flex that leg. She grimaces a bit too, but the folks can't see that; her head is hung forward with her hair spilling over her face. "Well, hello there. So nice to see you again," she says after Cody fires the dart, but before Micah says anything.
When he does talk though, she looks up and blinks a few times, clearing out the bluriness and looking at him. "Well…didn't she tell you. She's a Big Damn Hero. She doesn't play by any rules. Didn't you know that? I'm not the first one she's hurt, I'll bet. I'll bet my life, in fact." Emily just gives Micah a weird little half smile…and doesn't even bother to respond to George.
"Good guys who aren't willing to get their hands dirty end up dead. You can wear a white hat, kid, but if you're not willing to shovel the horse shit you've got no business riding a horse into the sunset." Cody checks her watch and after another moment or two, she nods and moves forward. She has a key in her hand and raises that to uncuff the woman. "Try anything… anything and I swear to God I will be sending your boss pieces of your pretty face to piece back together when he finally gets you back." Note that she didn't say kill.
When the woman is released from her bonds, the agent flips the dart gun into the back of her pants and pulls out her trusty Glock. The pistol is leveled at Emily's head as she jerks her own in the direction of Micah. "Get the cuff off and give it to me, when it's done we can move her somewhere else."
"I'd suggest treating her like a person instead of an animal — actually that's not even accurate. If you treated an animal like this PETA would come after you," Micah keeps his hands in his pockets. "Look. A lady, controlled by the Protocols, murdered my parents. I wouldn't put her through this. Even if she went along with it, do you think they would've given her a choice?" He's digging his heels in on this one.
He stares at Emily and then back to Cody. "Real heroes don't hurt people." It's a point he won't yield on, not this time. He bites his bottom lip and sideglances Cody, "Where you gonna move her?" The details matter here, and Rebel has learned not to trust too openly.
"If I take the bracelet off, then I'm keeping it. I already have the collars from Mark — it'll help me stay up with the tech." His eyes narrow.
"If you knew where to send them, we wouldn't be here." Emily practically singsongs it. She's quite aware of the fact that these threats aren't entirely empty, just mostly; optimistic threats, maybe? Like half-full? Regardless, let free from the cuffs to the pipe, she steps out of the water, and lowers her arms, finally given a chance to shake them out. Oh precious blood, making them not tingle!
"She's doesn't even know how to treat me like an animal. They wouldn't let her adopt at the shelter, I hear. Too much aggression. Let's just get this show on the road, so Joan McClain here can play copper and try to get the info she wants from me, huh?" First, she rubs her eyes. Then, she shakers her arms. Then, she pulls the dart out of her thigh and tosses it on the ground and leaves it lie there. Bring it.
"If she was an animal I would have just shot her and put her out of her misery. Because she's able to tell me where the terrorists are, and she's protecting them, I don't feel the need to treat her any better than they treated Mark and I when we were in their custody." If the teen was willing to toss the scion's name around, so is the agent. A quick glance is given to the congressman and then she focuses on Micah again, "When I'm sure they won't be able to track her, she can be put somewhere else. Maybe somewhere with a bed, food, whatever she wants…"
It's kind of funny, the way that Emily beaks off, it's just about the time that Cody shoves her forward and hip checks her into the wall. "Get the bracelet off, make sure it's completely deactivated. I don't need them tracking you down."
Micah steps towards Emily, but his posture is defiant in a way by being shockingly gentle, presenting a stark contrast to Cody's rough and tumble treatment of the prisoner. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Emily," he says quietly, openly breaking the no-talking rule and really not caring about it at this point.
Gently he holds out a hand to touch the bracelet. As his fingers grasp it, his eyes close gently, the piece of technology in communication with himself. Moments later it's deactivated in his hand. He opens it — removing it from her wrist. "It's deactivated. No one will track me down." He's 99% confident.
"Well, good." George walks up behind Micah, arms folded over his chest— still at a safe distance. If she gets a hand on him like she was trying with the president… "So. What should we do with you?" This is addressed to Emily, since Micah didn't come up with anything. "I don't especially want you hurt, but I want all those people out there hurt a lot less."
"So…Congressman. Isn't there a law or two about torture? Particularly as it applies to say, American citizens? And if not to citizens, to terrorists. I'm pretty sure there was some hubbub about some overzealous masochist guards down at Gitmo…but then, maybe I'm thinking of something else." And wasn't it that those guards are no longer employed by the government, or in jail for their human-rights violations? Or is it that those prisoners were subsequently released back to their countries?
This, of course, is said after peeling herself away from the wall, rubbing her temple with the hand that's not having a bracelet removed. Conveniently for Micah, Emily's pretty much at eye-level, since Cody's little hipcheck, roller-derby chick style, combined with that gimpy leg, has caused her to stumble and hit the floor with her knees…then the wall with her face.
"I plead the fifth. I insist on this being video taped before I answer any other questions. Whatever it is that you politicians need to deal with the real baddies here. Here's a freebie: if I'm here I'm not there. And since that was their plan…I fail to see how it can continue."
You paged Micah with 'Once the bracelet is off, Cody is quick to tuck the gun into her pants and wrench Emily's hands behind her back again. Then the handcuffs are snapped back on. "Keep lipping off about rights, Emily and I'll have you sent to Guantanamo with a permanent collar. I'm sure the president will be more than happy to write a letter detailing incarceration arrangements after he finds out what you and your friends were planning to do to him."
The agent has been thinking carefully about the events of the last little while and has come to the conclusion that the president must be innocent if they were planning an attack on him. "You're in no position to make any demands, you can either tell us what we need to know, or what little of your life you have left will be fairly miserable. Treason is still and executable offense."'
Micah cringes at the word executable. He takes a step back from whence they came. Finally a defeated look is shot to Cody, "I… I don't belong here." He knows it's true this time. Interrogation isn't something he wants to be privy to or a part of. He takes a few steps back and then calls as a sort of reminder before disappearing from sight, "You said you'd take her someplace with a bed and food and stuff. Don't forget that."
"I haven't seen any torture," murmurs George, "just necessary measures to stop a fleeing criminal and keep her contained." A sidelong glance at Cody: and don't you make me have to retract that, either. "So, you want to convince me? So convince me… Suppose we take your backers down, keep this quiet— if you're not going to turn around and play loa to the president on your own, then what would you do?" He's not committing to anything yet, but he's at least willing to hear her out.
"What you both seem to assume is that these backers told me all of their plan. That's…fairly…grossly naive of you. For someone who likes to play Dog the Bounty Hunter…" How droll, and appropriate on a few levels, with that hair, right? "…you sure as shit jump to conclusions. Human weapon, right? Do you program a missile to tell the difference between friend or foe? To allow it to guide itself wherever the hell it wants to go?"
Emily poses the question to them as she stands back up, wobbling, and shaking hair out of her face. The other two don't get a chance to answer though. "No, you program it with just enough info to do its job. So, why the fuck would they have told me anything you don't already know, huh? Am I the only sane person here, or what? And…my plans are my own. No harm, no foul. You take out the real criminals, and I go about my life right where I left it." No need for them to know where she left it right yet, though.
Cody's lips twitch as Emily speaks and a hard glare is pointed at the blonde Amazon. "Well, you see, the problem with your story is that every one of the other weapons that I've met has been more than willing to answer questions. I would have let you walk away in the hospital if you would have told me what I wanted to know… So you can answer the question. Emily. Where are the people you work for." Then she looks over at George and nods her head toward the woman as if to indicate, she's all yours now.
George purses his lips, considering. Cody could be pulling a bluff of her own— but it isn't really her style, he takes her claims at face value. And Emily's stubbornness is liable to force her hand to further violence… "Fine, let's suppose you're the exception. If you don't know where they are, then can you bring them in? Tell them you missed this chance, but you figured they'll have you silenced unless you tried again."
"Ha! As if I know how to contact them. They found me, bud. I didn't find them. Sure, I was kept in a nice house, given sweet clothes…" Oh that poor, poor dress under the hospital stuff. It'll probably have to be thrown out. "That doesn't mean I wasn't their prisoner. They made it very, VERY clear that I was purchased for a job. They told me about the job. That's. It. Period. End of story." And what do you do when the thing you purchased doesn't work? You take it back, return it, or exchange it for something else that will get the job done. Whether that satisfies their curiosity or not…
The gun is pulled from its place at the back of Cody's pants and pointed at the woman again. "I want names, descriptions, location of the house, everything that you know. The more you tell me the easier this is going to be on you." It's fairly plain to see that the woman is very conscious about her looks, so Cody's free hand reaches out and she touches the woman on the shoulder, just a brief touch then she withdraws. Then the gun is lowered and the briefest of smiles touches her features as she witnesses a few strands of the woman's hair fall to the ground.
Emily watches the strands of long golden hair fall to the floor at her feet with wide eyes. "What if I don't know that, huh? What if they only referred to themselves by numbers? Or be cartoon names? I mean, I could just say that the person I had contact with was named Buckaroo Banzai, and you'd have to take me at my word. That's what makes this so much fun! You try your best to be cruel and unusual in your punishment, and I get to be tough." Deep down though, Emily is mortified at the loss of hair…but it'll grow back. And hey, she can wear a crazy wig until then, right? She breathes deep through her nose, in between giving Cody a cocky smirk, the corners of her mouth and eyes turning downward and wrinkling given the hair loss and throbbing, pulsing pain in her leg.
"Then I want the numbers and cartoon names that they used. Every bit of information you know, that's what I want." Cody says calmly as she watches the woman's hair fall from her head and into a little pool at her feet. Then she raises her hand again and wiggles her fingers. "So, Emily, have you ever considered what back hair would look like on you?"
While this has been going on, George has been pacing back and forth, letting the contest of wills between the women play out on its own. Finally, he snaps his fingers. "Wait, I think we might be going about this all wrong. As much fun as you two might have clawing each other's eyes out… maybe she's not the weak link in the chain. There's a press conference coming up in a few days…" Which already has four different items on the agenda. That's going to be one busy day, all right. "Say we bring Emily on camera, make it out like she's ready to spill something, but still wearing a familiar bracelet… think your techno-wizard would be able to track them down when they hit the panic button?"
This is between George and Cody, for the moment. Emily just sits (leans) back, and smirks a little, playing Pong with her eyes at the banter. "The wanted me to talk at the press conference. To introduce some new information to the world, I think. That from the driver's seat of course, but that's not going to happen, thanks to you two." Carrot. See it? She's holding it out there. Gotta get the horse moving.
Cody listens intently to George as he speaks, then she nods and turns toward Emily. "What were you supposed to say at the press conference?" The gun is tucked into the back of the woman's pants again and she folds her arms across her chest. Her jaw flexes at a rapid pace as she tries to keep civil with the woman. Her right hand hooks around her left arm and squeezes lightly, as though she's trying to keep it to herself for the moment.
All right, now we're getting somewhere. "It makes sense," George murmurs, "they land a fish that big, they'd want to use him for something in a damn hurry— before people start figuring out he's not himself." After that, he trails off again, back to pacing as he gives Emily room to continue with her story.
"Well, new cabinet. New domestic policies. Things of that ilk. Mostly, they'd have to write the script, once I played my part. I'm getting played, you know?" And so. Are. You. She can't help but smirk. It's so delicious.
Looking at George, Cody shrugs and unfolds her arms as she moves toward Emily. Then she pulls her up and unlocks the handcuffs from behind her back. "From what I know of Sayf Udeen, he's not interested in cabinets and domestic policies. He doesn't work that way. She doesn't know anything, so we'll go with your plan." The problem, is keeping Emily contained without allowing her to possess anyone. So she's shifted again and the cuffs are replaced, this time with her hands in front of her. It'll be more comfortable with what she'll be gowing through next. Then, Cody places her hand over the woman's face and concentrates.
George's plan? George has a plan? Not really. Or, rather, he's been tossing out one plan after another, in case any of them stick. And here comes another one: "Oh, fuck this," he mutters, "we're wasting time. Just kill her and move on to the next lead." And turns, and walks away. Let's see if Emily's motormouth holds up when the gun's not pointed at her legs any more.
"Oooooh, real gung-ho now George, huh? You don't have any other leads, I bet. Or else my 'partner' would be sitting here with me…" Emily stares daggers into George, and tries to bat Cody's hands away from her face. "What the hell are you doing? Come on, that's just annoying at this point." Like the gunshot and all that wasn't annoying, right? "Unless you're fixing my hair back the way it was with your weird…hair powers, then let me out of these cuffs so I can get on with my life. I told you what I know, and you stopped what they were trying to do. I fail to see why this is necessary…"
Kill her? As much as Cody would like to silence the woman permanently, she has a promise to keep. A new place to stay with a bed and some food. Not that Emily will actually experience either of them, they'll just be there. "Fine, I won't do it with witnesses, so you'll have to go Congressman." The hand tightens over Emily's face and all over the blonde woman's body hair begins to sprout and weave its way around her, forming a cocoon.
As soon as the hair begins to tangle with itself, every move that the Amazon makes causes pain. The same kind of pain you get from a full body wax. Unfortunately there's no sweet release when the hair is pulled away, because this hair is too strong to break. Within five minutes, Emily is completely covered in a carapace of pure white hair and it actually takes effort for the agent to pull her hand from the woman's face due to the amount of it.
Emily is able to breath, barely, and should she be able to tolerate the pain of opening her mouth she will be able to let out a muffled scream. Once it's done, the tall woman is hoisted in a fireman carry over Cody's shoulder and carted through the tunnels.
Meanwhile, George gets about two steps into his Unflinching Walk before he turns back around, just as abruptly, throwing his hands in the air. If that gambit didn't work either, then he's just gonna vent a bit. "Goddamn, you run your mouth a lot, you know that? That must be why Trenton left you— he finally got so sick of it, he got over his fear of you sending his ass into a coma again. A coma would be a vacation." Oh yeah, note to self— go find Trenton later, and if he's back to his roofie tricks, then send him on a one-way trip to Alaska. "And how stupid do you think I am, anyway? Even if they did keep you in the dark, why wouldn't a psycho hose beast like you run off and take another shot just for yourself?"
"Ooh, nice surgeon's knot there," he adds, pointing to a triple-twisted piece of Cody's rope work. "Have I mentioned how totally screwed I'd be right now if you hadn't been in on this?"