2007-03-02: Violated

Starring:

Claudine_icon.gif Ianto_icon.gif Drake_icon.gif TC_icon.gif Anders_icon.gif Elle_icon.gif

Guest Starring: The Haitian

Summary:

Claudine and Ianto head into the Starbucks after encountering some weirdness at Noodle Heaven, with their powers being nullified. In the end, the pair get whisked off to a Primatech Facility, after their encounter with Anders and getting electrocuted by Elle. T.C. runs off and tries to get help with Elle chasing them and they both cry to a police officer. In the end, no one remembers what happened, except for Claudine, Anders and Elle.

Date It Happened: March 2nd, 2007

Violated (What is this? Torchwood?)


Starbucks, NYC

It was a quiet, yet tense walk from Noodle Heaven to the Starbucks. Claudine has her hands stuffed in her pockets the entire time and her stomach still grumbles as she didnt finish her sandwich due to having to leave in such a hurry. As such, when she comes into the Starbucks, she finally says in a soft whispers to Ianto, "Someone fucked with my powers.." her tone quite bitter and angry as she feels almost..violated. "After that wierd sound, and then we were running out and it suddenly stopped. I tried to make something happen but I couldnt..it didnt feel right..it was like..a part of me was severed.." she says, considering her strong connection to the earth, due to the natureof her powers."Either way..I dont like it.." she says before heading on over towardsthe counter…

Following behind Claudine, Ianto listens as he walks into the Starbucks with her. "All this just keeps getting more and more odd!" He thought he was paranoid about his abilities before, /now/ he really wonders. And as for Claudine, jeez… this all has to be equally as weird for her, if not more so. "Alright, let's just have a coffee, have a seat, and relax for a bit." That's when he realizes he walked in with his juice and bag of chips from Noodle Heaven. He pauses to stare at them for a second, then with a sheepish grin, he looks to Claudine and says, "Well, /you/ can have a coffee."

Having been up all night, due to Elena sneaking in through his window to ramble about the shooting last night, Drake looks tired as he stands behind the counter, swaying a bit on the balls of his feet. His eyes are dark, and puffy, and there seems to be a bit of a cut along his left cheek. With a puff of blonde hair from his face, he tilts his head up to the pair who approach, then offers up a weak, distracted smile. "What can I get for you two?" He asks in his usual soft tone.

"Um..gah.." Claudine says with all the Fratalian on the menu as she hrmms for a few moments. "Just a venti iced caramel macchiato. And make it upside down please.." she says as she pulls out a five, sighing the entire time. she lets out an amused chuckle as she looks over to Ianto. "Yeah..this whole week has just sucked, with the crazyness last night, and then just more wierdness, and yeah.." she's keeping it vague for now, since well, she doesnt know Drake.

Ianto simply grins and nods. "Yeah, I've had enough. I think for the next few days I should just stay home." He gives a small chuckle and he looks to Drake. "Nothing for me, thank you," he says to him before he really gets a good look at him. "You look like you've had a rough night, lad," he comments to Drake, looking as though he's crossed between concern and a measure of disbelief in the form of 'What the heck are you doing here?'. "Would they let you have the day off?"

Picking up a cup, Drake scribbles a few X's on the correct boxes, before replying to Ianto. "Was just up all night studying. No big deal. Got a big test tomorrow morning." He shrugs his shoulders upwards, then goes about building the upside down drink. "I've had my share of call offs, and I don't want to do too many. I'm still fairly new though. You know?" After capping the drink and giving it a bit of a shake, he hands it over to Claudine. "Well, enjoy. Have a nice day guys."

"I can sympathize with you on that one. I was doing the same thing.." Claudine says with a warm smile as she leaves Drake a reasonably sized tip, cause well, he's a cutie and she figured she's make his day a tad bit better. She then starts to head off towards one of the small circular tables before slumping down, sighing a little while rubbing her temples. She waits until Ianto is seated before she asks in a soft tone, "So..how many of us do you think is out there?"

"Ah," Ianto replies to Drake with a nod. "You're a trooper, aren't you? Best of luck to you!" Then he takes his seat at the small table across from Claudine. o answer her question in a quest voice, "I haven't a bloody clue. I really wasn't aware there were others until earlier today." He shrugs as he sets his juice and chips down and he opens the bag of chips. "I can't even fathom how many there can be. It's all so new!" Then he turns the opening of the bag to Claudine. "Crisp?"

"There was at least one more in Noodle Heaven. Someone had to have made that noise and someone had to have screwed with my powers.." Claudine whispers, somewhat bitterly as she isnt too sure whether the two are connected or not. "Either way, I know of others, but I have to keep their confidence just like I'm keeping yours.." she says sighing once more while stirring her drink, mixing it all together before she takes a sip. Then at the offer of the potato chip, she shakes her head, "No thanks, it's all right. So..how long have you, ya know, been whizzing around?" she asks curiously.

After wiping down the counter, Drake lets out a soft breath as he stares out the window of the small cafe for a moment, before slumping his weight against the wall, propping a foot up behind him. Reaching up, he slips his visor off his head, then brushes his eyes with the back of his arm, sighing tiredly. His free hand is playing with a quarter between his fingers, flipping it around in an easy manner, watching it skip about, dancing over his knuckles, before sliding once more between his fore and middle finger. With a look to the clock, he squints his eyes, trying to will it on faster. He's only fifteen minutes away from the end of his shift.

Ianto nods to his present conversation companion. "That's definitely a possibility," he comments. To Claudine's question, "Well…" became the start of a somewhat delayed answer. He looks a bit uncomfortable with the topic, but he does answer her. After all, she has powers, too. "I discovered my running ability a few years ago back in Cardiff," he begins. "I was very athletic during high school and one of the sports I participated in was cross country. I was only a decent varsity runner until one day I just ran the course… really fast! Everything was a blur, and I thought it was strange, but I didn't give it much thought as I was concentrating on the race. I got to the finish line being the only one there." He shrugs. "It turns out I ran the entire three miles in well under one minute!" Then he looks down, shakes his head, and takes a sip of his juice. "Everyone thought I was a freak and I sort of became a social outcast. So, I try not to use my power at all." Then he looks up to Claudine and nods to her. "How about you? When and how did you discover your abilities?"

"Well..I didnt think of it really before, but I guess it happened when I was around thirteen years old. I was heading to Manila and a landslide was coming down. Details are fuzzy, but I woke up, everyone survived and it was hailed as a miracle by God, and there were news stories saying I was a reincarnation of an old Filipino goddess. I'm Catholic, so of course I didnt think anything about it, but..I didnt realize what Icould really do until a couple of days ago.." With that, Claudine takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to remain calm as she takes a sip of her drink.

Once she feels ready, she continues. "I was out of a jog, and someone was trying to shoot me. I freaked out, and it was like an out of body experience, I sort of made really strong tremors and formed a protective wall of earth around me..and so..yeah.." she says, shrugging once more while chewing on her bottom lip, chuckling a little as she pats his hand gently. "I dont think you're a freak. I'm surprised you didnt try to exploit your powers and win several Olympic medals. That's what I would've done.."

Glancing over slightly at the conversation, Drake's attention is finally caught as he pauses in his coin flipping. With a squint of his fingers, he leans forward some on the counter, dropping his head a bit as if to pretend he isn't eavesdropping. This is interesting. He gives Claudine a quick look, followed by a glance in Ianto's direction, squinting his eyes. He quietly clears his throat, but doesn't look to interrupt yet.

Ianto suddenly lets out a rather nervous laugh when Claudine touches his hand and she says what she does. "I might have, if I wasn't going to get treated like complete crap afterwards. Even my parents were spooked." He laughs a little bit more, then gives Claudine a warm smile. "Thank you. I appreciate it." And after a second, he looks down toward the table again, then he takes a drink of apple juice again.

She pulls back and starts stirring her drink once more, a wry grin curling onto her lips. "Well, at least you cant hurt too many people with your gifts. I..generally have to keep watch over my mood, cause as you saw earlier..bad things tend tohappen if I'm freaked out, or mad, or just feeling really strong emotions. I dont think you run only fast when feeling really happy..or can you just run fast when you want to? How doyou control it?" Claudine asks, definitely curious about it.

The door opens to emit one blonde blue-eyed devil. No cloven hooves or horns though. Elle's a caffeine addict and that's for sure. Tugging off her gloves now that she's inside, she tucks them into the pockets of her jacket. A quick survey of the patrons later and she's heading for the counter to order. "One strawberry cream please."

Glancing away from the pair talking, Drake turns towards the blonde with a tired, worn smile on his face. "Sure thi.." He pauses, his eyes widening at the sight of her, and the sound of her voice. He finds his throat seizing up into a dry swallow, before rasping out. "Sure thing.. ma'am." He takes a step back from the counter, then plucks up a cup, starting to tag the little box on the side. He looks nervous all of a sudden, his hand trembling as he starts to work on her drink.

With a thoughtful glance to the side, Ianto replies, "I don't honestly know how I control it, I just do." He shrugs and says, "I can run like that at will, and it just seems like my mind can keep up." He begins to gesture with his hands some, trying to explain in a verbal and somewhat visual sense. "It's like I can see weren't I'm going and all, and that I can run my path, but almost instinctually. It's hard to explain." Then the Welshman pauses, staring at Claudine for a second, and then says, "I bet you could find a way to control your powers somehow."

That's when he notices the new arrival at the counter, and the subsequent expression on Drake's face. What's up with that, then? He simply looks for a moment with a raised eyebrow.

The blonde smiles at Drake's reaction, confused at first before recognition hits her expression. To her credit, she recovers pretty well, going back to a purely friendly smile. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Elle glances behind her and then back to the boy. "It wasn't the strawberries and cream was it? I know its totally girly, but sometimes I just have to have my strawberry fix. I know, right?" Another pause. "God you're cute."

"No, it's all right.." Claudine says with a warm smile, sighing a little as she takes a few more sips of her drinks. "I'm sure it works different for everyone in the end.." she admits ruefully before pausing as she raises her brow as Ianto looks ather for a bit. "What..do I have something on my face?" she asks with an impish giggle, before looking on over to where Elle is and Drake. "What..she's just flirting with the barrista..I'd do that if I wanted a discount or something.."

"You can say I was just -stunned- to hear someone finally order the strawberries and cream." Drake says in a quiet murmur under his breath, before tilting the can of whip cream, and giving the pink drink a bit of a swirl. Placing it on the counter, he slides it over to her carefully, practically tugging his hand back a bit 'too' quickly. He lifts his blue eyes up into hers for a brave moment, then quietly clears his throat. "Well.. have a nice day." Please, leave, don't tase me bro.

Ianto shakes his head a bit as if to snap out of concentration before looking to Claudine again. He heard her ask if she had something on her face. She didn't, but this doesn't stop our somewhat socially inept speedster from fumbling about on his answer. "No, your face perfect!" Then he cringes. Oh, that could have sounded too forward! "I didn't mean that! I meant that there was nothing on your face!" Wait, that first part! Crap! His eyes widen. "Uh, not that I don't think your face is perfect. It's lovely, really. Almost too bloody gorgeous, when you think about it!" Hold on… 'too gorgeous'? Bligh me!!!! He starts looking nervous and nearly panicked now. "I didn't mean 'too' gorgeous, but rather… uh, you're just very…" Ugh! Palm to forehead, he just stops, swimming in awkwardness. He's thinking to himself, 'Jeez, what were you thinking???' And looking at him now, it doesn't take a mind reader to figure it out.

A hearty laugh escapes from her lips as it seems this is the second boy she's had an effect on,though she doesnt realize it. Maybe it's another power of hers, who knows? Claudine giggles impishly and reaches out to pat his hand gently once more, "It's all right..I guess? I mean, I dont know whether to be flattered or insulted, I mean at firstyou say my face is perfect, then you say it isnt..and so I'm confused.." she says with another impish giggle. "Dont worry about it.." she says with a nod in the end while crossing her legs to get a tad bit more comfortable, instead just taking a sip as she looks over to Drake and Elle.

Hrmm. The barista doesnt seem too comfortable with the blonde and so her brows raise a little, just watching the interaction between the two now. Wierd…

A tall, dark and not particularly attractive man enters Starbucks then, dressed in black, black combat boots, combat pants, one of those woolen jumpers with the epaulettes on them and a leather jacket, sunglasses, military goth, perhaps. Anders (for it is he), falls into step at the back of the queue and occasionally looks around. Of course he notes Elle, but she gets ignored in favour of Claudine, who gets just enough surreptitious looks to be obvious.

Elle slides a five dollar bill across the counter to Drake, one golden eyebrow arching at the boy. "Have a nice day yourself." She's trying to play the miffed 'don't know what you're talking about' card. Turning away, she stops as she spots Anders. Rolling her eyes at the negative karma she's experiencing, she moves over to a seat by herself. Legs crossed at the ankles, she digs out a Smutty Novel <tm> and starts to read it, sipping her recently acquired drink.

Dumping the fifteen cents of change into the tip cup, Drake nods his head to Elle slightly, then shifts his gaze up to the clock. Finally, it's clock out time. With a soft breath, he unties his green apron and heads to the break room for a quick moment, then hangs it up on his rack, punches out, then starts out into the main lobby. His eyes glance over towards Claudine and Ianto for a moment, then bee lines in their direction. As he rounds their table, he accidently bumps against the girl's chair, stumbling for a moment with a soft 'excuse me', then continues for the door.

A piece of paper lands on Claudine's lap and falls to the floor.

Giving a nervous chuckle, Ianto musters up, "It was a compliment, sorry," for Claudine. He swears this is reassuring. Almost thankfully, Drake causes enough of a distraction when he bumps into Claudine's chair. He just looks to him for a second until he excuses himself, then Ianto just nods and smiles to him. He knows the barista was especially tired; that was perfectly understandable.

His attention turns back to Claudine, and he tries his hand at some off-topic chatter. "So, Claudine, was it? What else do you do? Besides… you know." As he listens, he'll partake in a 'crisp' or few.

Claudine scootches her chair once Drake bumps against her and she raises her brows once more. even though she doesnt read minds, she can still see his discomfort from the blonde woman, but perhaps she's an ex..or something like that. Either way, it's not her place to really say something about it at the moment. "It's all right.." she says sincerely though she blinks a little as a folded piece of paper hits her lap and falls onto the ground. Well, isnt that odd.

She then puts up a finger to Ianto, "Excuse me for a moment.." as she picks up the sheet of paper and unfolds it, reading the message. She looks confused for a few moments until it hits her. Her face just looks pale and she looks towards the newcomer and the blonde once more. She just hands the sheet over to Ianto and eases on up. Yeah, she's not suspicious at all, she just has to go, gathering her things now…

The sheet of paper? It says GET OUT.

As if noticing the time, Anders looks at his watch and moves away from the rear of the queue and after Drake, shadowing him out of the door when he goes.

Elle seems pretty absorbed in whatever she's reading. At least to the casual observer. But she hasn't turned a page since she's sat down. And as Claudine looks her way, she lowers her book and makes direct eye contact. There's a wicked smile shared with the other woman and the book is tucked back into her messenger bag. Now she stares at Claudine (and Ianto by extension) openly.
Ianto can't help but raise an eyebrow when he's handed the sheet of paper and he reads it. His eyes flicker wide for a split second. Then, he slowly glances over to the where Claudine looked just a second ago as she's packing up. And he sees Elle…staring… at her and at him. The first thing to come up in his mind is, 'Bullocks. /NOW/ what?' followed by 'How bloody /creepy/!'. Oh, he takes the queue.

As he stands, collecting his potato chips and now empty apple juice bottle along with the note, he looks Claudine and nods. "Oh, right!" he says to her. "We can't be late for your appointment, dear. Let's be off!" He follows Claudine as if ushering her to the exit. Let's hope she knows how to play along with this ruse.

As Drake pushes his way out the door, he pulls his jacket a bit closer around his person as he starts heading straight into the street, despite the fact it's quickly becoming rush hour, and traffic is starting to pile up. With the crowds of people walking in, and out of the sidewalk, he pushes his way through a trio of young business suits, then feels the familiar, cold tug in the pit of his stomach. He feels the world start to swirl around his eyes, and in a bit of a static ripple, he disappears.

Well isnt that lucky. Not everyone can just teleport away, some people have different sets of powers, like her. but the entire time, Claudine closes her eyes just trying to think of calm pleasant thoughts until she opens her eyes once more to meet Elle's gaze. damn that gaze. It's way creepy and just sends shivers down her spine, and in that moment she slips.

The ground rumbles a little and shakes a few things and she looks over to Ianto, definitely apologetic. She chews on her bottom lip and she nods, hoping that the others didnt notice and instead beelines straight for the exit…

The big man doesn't make it three steps out of the doorway before Drake vanishes into thin air, causing him to reconsider his actions and even turn halfway back to the coffeeshop where.. oh, goodness, he meets the two rapidly heading his way.

"Miss Salonga? Your limo is here," Anders says, taking up as much room in the doorway as a 6'3'' burly man can, "Your gentleman friend can come too."

Elle stands up and moves rather quickly after Claudine and Ianto, "Excuse me… what my burly friend has failed to mention is that you are in fact winners. You've been randomly selected by Starbucks to come to a new flavor testing down town, afterwards you'll be treated to a five star dinner at Le Bernardin and a free night in luxury suites at the New York Palace hotel."

"'scuse me, sir?" The voice from behind Anders is the carefully wary politeness of someone forced to address a stranger in New York City. "I, uh — coffee." T.C. is attempting to get some! An attempt that is blocked by Anders; the man's back is all he currently sees of the coffeeshop. The teenager peers up at the bigger man, lip caught between his teeth and his fingers fidgeting nervously with one strap of his backpack. "Can I please — get through?"

Before Ianto could react with anything more then an 'Oh, crap…' look on his face to Claudine, he looks to Anders, then to Claudine, and asks, "Do you know this man?" Then, as Elle tries to explain the prize he and Claudine apparently won, he can't help look to her with some suspicion. He glances again to Claudine, looking uncertain, but finally says as he looks to Elle, "Thank you, but we'll have to pass. We really have to be somewhere." Then he tries to continue walking, ushering Claudine with him. He hasn't noticed T.C. just yet.

Oh crap, this cant be good. And it just gets worse when she realizes T.C. is there. "T.C! Get away…now!" Claudine says with a bit of surprise, please dont let him be one of them too. The words that Xander told her runs over and over against in her mind. There are some very bad people out there, and it's just a gut feeling that these are those people. The fact that they have two different stories sort of helps in that decision. It's then that she just takes Ianto's hand and starts to beeline in the other direction. There has to be a back exit/emergency exit afterall.

"One moment, Sir," is Anders' response to T.C., at least before the shouting and abrupt about turn from Claudine, "Sorry for the slight delay." he says, letting the young man in. Then the man seems to concentrate, gesturing at the floor beneath Claudine and Ianto and frowning hard.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Elle says as Ianto and Claudine make a run for it. "I guess we'll find someone else." She remains where she is, arms crossed over her chest. "Some people today."

Ianto's hand is grabbed and was being so graciously dragged off by Claudine. He doesn't mind; he doesn't trust those other two anyhow. As soon as he begins to step with her, the floor suddenly becomes like ice! His feet slip a couple of times before the momentum of him leaning forward gets the better of him. Wide eyes of WTF here!

"Claudine?" T.C. is bewildered by the girl's warning; his expression is puzzled as he slips into the store with a quiet 'thank you' to Anders. "I'm just getting coffee." He hesitates before joining the line to do so, blinking in surprise as Ianto falls. "Should be careful," he mumbles with a frown.

Claudine still has Ianto's hand and while she's somewhat athletic, she's not nimble enough to remain on her feet when the floor is so slippery. Where did all this ice from? No way, these people cant be evolved too. That is just great and she falls onto her rear with a slight oomph. "Shit!" she curses under her breath while closing her eyes, actually trying to focus her power this time. The ground rumbles underneath them as she stares at a certain spot in the floor, wanting to make another wall, but there simply isnt enough oomph there to make it crash through the foundation and through the tiling, but instead the ground just shakes. It's a good shake, miniearthquake style, but nothing happens. "Damnit!" she cries out while looking over to Ianto, chewing on her bottom lip…

The man at the door promptly moves forward to offer his help to the two (forcibly if need be), apparently unfazed by the slippery floor, which is now just a wet floor. However, the following earthquake catches him off guard and causes him to stumble too, ending up kneeling beside Claudine. "You will come with us and eat your expensive dinner.. please," Anders says as he grabs for one of Claudine's arms to help her up, "Unlike my colleague, I want the /actual/ winners to have the prize."

The back door of Starbucks - the one used by employees to sneak outside for smoke breaks and such things - opens, admitting someone who is not an employee. His timing is fortunate: people are more apt to be distracted when there's a miniature earthquake going on inside a coffee shop, and less apt to notice the dark man skirting calmly along the wall.

Elle remains standing where she is. Anders can do the heavy lifting. She examines her nails and then the other patrons, gauging their reactions.

Claudine winces a little as she's grabbed and wrinkles her nose, showing her distaste for what's being done. She tries to focus once more to use her powers, but finds that she cant, her eyes widening once more. Not wanting to causemore of a ruckus, she just looks over to Ianto and then to T.C., and then finally Elle. "Wh-what do you want?" she asks, seething with anger, but nothing happens since she's found that well, her powers arent exactly working at the moment.

"/Claudine/!" Not a puzzled question, this time, but sharply edged as the earthquake hits. T.C. stumbles backwards, the shaking throwing him off balance and the heavy weight of his backpack carrying him the rest of the way to the ground. "— the hell —" His eyes narrow on Anders and Claudine, and he pushes himself up to his knees. "What is going /on/?"

How just absolutely strange! Now the floor is simply wet. And the fact that neither of them seem to let that little quake phase them like most people would pretty much seals the deal for the the off-duty Oldcastle bartender. It's time to go, like, NOW.

Without hesitation, Ianto stands back up on his own, and seeing Claudine is being held by Anders, he looks to him and Elle, then says to them, "Look, I don't know what this is all about, but why don't you just leave us alone?" He actually sounds rather 'unamused'. "I swear, what is this, Torchwood? Let her go…" he motions to Claudine, "and let us be, okay?"

"Miss, I want to drive you to your dinner and hotel, as my colleague just mentioned," Anders begins, "Please address any further questioning to Miss Bishop." He doesn't relieve his grip on Claudine, but just looks over to Ianto, "Miss Bishop will answer all of your questions in the vehicle, come along, Sir."

"Will you stop playing with them? It's un-necessary," Elle says just a wee bit testily to Anders. She extends a palm towards Ianto and a palm towards Claudine, a crackling sound and some really eerie looking glowing blue light the only warning of what's coming. An arc of electricity shoots out of each hand, sailing through the air towards her targets.

Her eyes open wide at the sight. All she has time to do is to let out a cry of pain as she suddenly becomes smokey and sizzly from the electricity. Claudine winces a little as she's definitely weaker, though she's still putting up that sass as she looks over to Elle. "Bitch.." She's hurting for sure, but she's still conscious! Huzzah!

Suddenly behind Claudine by a few paces (not truly; his trek was gradual, but he is quiet), the newcomer to the scene stares darkly at Anders and Elle, of all people. His purpose is unclear; the Haitian simply stands there, his intense eyes moving from the two Company agents to the others assembled. His intensity is directed at making them listen to the orders, but he does nothing to help otherwise - at least nothing obvious. Electricity? He doesn't flinch.

Ianto's eyes get wide as well. Glowing hands now? Could this week get ANY more messed up???

Oh, wait… it can. BIZZRIT!!!!

Ianto gets nailed right in the chest! He convulses violently as the electricity quickly surges through his body! The result! He plops onto the ground like fresh Jell-o pudding.

T.C.'s eyes are wide as well, first frightened and then confused. His jaw tightens, and he scoots backwards, away from the confrontation, to pull out a cellphone and dial 911.

The man holding Claudine's arm gets a decent jolt himself, but is apparently becoming habituated to it, "Very nice, Miss Bishop," Anders says, after shuddering and riding it out, "Very.. nice.. and yes, she is, Miss Salonga, but you still have to come with us." The Haitian's arrival gets an eyerolling and an "Oh god." before the man continues, "Miss Bishop, can you handle this one? I think the other one needs carried." he asks his colleague, tossing her Claudine.

Elle gives Anders a stony look and says, flatly, "No." Eyeing the dark-look-giving man, she says, "Pick up the other one. Make sure /that/" and she points to T.C., "Doesn't remember any of this. I'm going after the teleporter." With that, she turns and starts to walk out.

With no one to catch her, Claudine just falls down onto the ground on top of Ianto with a little oomph. She's still a bit woozy from the electroshock treatment when she comes to her senses and looks over towards the door. Oh yeah, T.C. is still there. "RUN!" she yells at him. Hopefully he can get away, right?

Sighing, Anders heads over to Claudine and, grabbing her again, throws her over his shoulder in a coalman's carry. He then looks down at Ianto, considers the weight, "I will be right back for you, Sir," he says, to the poor boy, before turning and stomping out to the SUV with Claudine.

T.C. scrambles backwards at Claudine's yell, eyes wide and fearful, and — does just that. As close to the front as he is, he's out of the store even before Elle can reach the door, breaths heavy and panicked as he flees to the busy New York street outside.

Anders is bright enough to take Claudine to the SUV through the back door of the Starbucks. So that is where he reappears when he comes in to collect Ianto.

And Claudine, still woozy, is now just in the SUV. Yup, not much here to see, folks..
Too late to grab T.C. before he gets outside, Elle growls in the back of her throat and shouts, "Take care of the people here. I've got this one," and she's out the door as well, spotting the kid and making a run after him. "Stop him! Thief! He stole my wallet!" she shouts, pointing at the boy's back.

The Haitian stands in the door, watching T.C. flee with Elle on his heels. Calmly, he turns and focuses on the shop. It's time to clean up.

T.C. doesn't bother to look back; he is weaving through the congestion of pedestrians that tend to clog city sidewalks downtown. His face flushed and his breaths ragged, his frantic running is forced to slow to a semi-jog. Grey eyes flit nervously around the street, keeping a hopeful lookout for police as he heads in the direction of the nearest subway station.

If T.C. would look back, he probably wouldn't be too happy to see how close Elle was behind him. No more than a few meters behind the boy, she shoves her way through the crowd, intent on not losing him. And the look on her face? Is not a pleased one.

T.C. doesn't bother to go /in/ to the subway station, once he's near it. His stop is sooner — at the police officer right outside. His breaths come in panting, ragged gasps as he starts to explain to the man, sentences choppy — Starbucks. Fight. Someone took his friend. Already called 911. Help.

The police officer doesn't convince Elle to turn around. In fact, she smiles faintly before approaching with a distraught look on her face. "OFFICER! OHMYGAWD, DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY. He STOLE my WALLET!" There's tears and everything. She's had practice, what with throwing tantrums at her father for 24 years. An accusing finger is pointed at T.C.

The police officer is immediately concerned when T.C. approaches him, holding up a hand to try to convince the young man to slow down and speak understandably. "Slow down, slow down, what happened?" When Elle comes rushing up, he slants a cautious gaze between the two of them. While it's odd that a thief would approach him, a /police officer/, the crying blonde hardly seems like… a threat. She seems like someone who got her wallet stolen! "Both of you stay right where you are and tell me what happened."

T.C. seems near tears, too, though this is far less moving when it comes from a scrawny geek of a teenage boy than from a pretty blonde woman. T.C. pauses to catch his breath, pointing not at Elle but back down the street towards Starbucks. "I — called 911 back there — there were — people. In the coffeeshop. Some guy. I don't know. You can search me if you like. I didn't steal anything. I have to find my friend. I think he took her."

"I don't know WHAT this boy is talking about. I was in the Starbucks, reading and then he grabbed my purse off the table and started running with it and nobody would help me and I think he threw my purse into an alley or something because it doesn't look like he has it now and it was a gift from my father for Christmas and…" Elle starts, tears streaming down her cheeks, struggling to pull in a breath now. "He's just making excuses! He took my money and probably my iPod too!"

The conflicting stories have the officer eyeing each person critically. "Alright, you two, we're going down to the station to get this sorted out officially, okay? Please come with me." He moves to take each of them by the elbow in order to lead them to his colleague's squad car parked further up the street.

T.C. is more than happy to come with the officer; he nods his assent and puts up no resistance whatsoever to the leading. "Goes to my school. Columbia," he adds, in the numb, somewhat choppy manner of someone who is settling into the early stages of shock.

"Sure officer," Elle manages to get out around a sniffle. "Will you… can I call my daddy? I was supposed to be meeting him after work in like a half hour and he'll be worried." She wipes at the tears on her cheeks, then notes the officer's badge number. No resistance whatsoever on her end, moving along with the officer.

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