Adam Black

Participants:

elisabeth_icon.gif katherine_icon.gif

Scene Title Adam Black
Synopsis A hostage situation pairs up Elisabeth and Katherine one more time. Will they survive the day?
Date March 5, 2009
Thanks To Nalani for posing Adam Black

St. Luke's Hospital

St. Luke's Hospital is known for its high-quality care and its contributions to medical research. Its staff place an emphasis on compassion for and sensitivity to the needs of their patients and the communities they serve. In addition to nearby Columbia University, the hospital collaborates with several community groups, churches, and programs at local high schools. The associated Roosevelt Hospital offers a special wing of rooms and suites with more amenities than the standard hospital environment; they wouldn't seem out of place in a top-rated hotel. That said, a hospital is a hospital — every corridor and room still smells faintly of antiseptic.


The late morning has come with the announcement of a hostage situation at St. Luke's hospital. Katherine Marks was just arriving to NYPD for additional information on another case when the call came in, and being the only other one around Elisabeth Harrison reluctantly joined her. The news had just hit the radio as they drove the car towards the scene, and not a word passed between them. Tensions between them had hit an all time high during their last encounter, as raised voiced won out over common sense until someone intervened.
As they approach, squad cars were already outside, lights flashing and the crowd pushed back. The two officers stepped out of the car and walked over to the officer in charge and received the back brief.
"At 1050 this morning, a caucasion male took the waiting room on the fifth floor hostage. Adam Laverne Black has a rifle, make and model unknown. One hostage manage to slip out without being seen and is over there at the ambulance right now. We're currently taking a statement. Mr. Black has a wife admitted who was in an automobile accident and was about to be pronounced dead as the result of no brain activity. He refused to terminate life support and left the hospital. When he returned, that is when he pulled the weapon. He's asking for a healer. An evolved healer." The officer shakes his head. "He /wants/ his wife back."
Katherine turns to Elizabeth, and shakes her head. "This is your lane. How do you want to handle this?" she asks. It's a sad situation to begin with and only presumes to become worse as time goes on.

Rubbing her forehead, Elisabeth grimaces at the situation. "I take it that there's no one on staff at the hospital at the moment who fills the bill? Has anyone actually talked to this man?" She only knows one healer — and just now, so far as she knows, that one's being held hostage on Staten Island somewhere. Looking at Kat, she comments quietly, "I'll handle him, but you get on that nice phone of yours and see if DHS has someone they can send us, please? There have to be some Evolved healers in that database they're so gung-ho on building. This would be the reason for building it, right?"

She looks back that the officer and says, "I'm going to need to talk to him. And I may have to go in there and talk to him in person if Agent Marks's people can't get someone here to us, but let's try it by phone first. Is he picking up at the nurse's desk or anything?"
Kat is on the phone the moment it's mentioned as she steps away from the vehicle. Apparently the conversation isn't going well as she starts to get animated. ".. You're telling me, with everyone we have access to.. there's not one single frickin' healer in the bunch? I.." she pauses, apparently getting read the 'riot act' as she pulls the phone away from her ear. She closes the phone and looks like she might throw it across the parking lot. She takes a moment to compose herself and walks back over.
"No healers, but it doesn't really matter much. We'll need to talk to a brain doctor, because the way DHS understands how the healing thing works, it's highly doubtful that someone who is brain dead would be worth restoring. Meaning, probably intensive brain damage. But, we can ask." She removes her new jacket and lays it out on the squad car. She starts to remove the harness for her weapons as well, before placing it on top of her jacket. "If we're going in, may as well go now."

By the time the cop in charge fills Elisabeth in on the fact that he's refusing to talk on the phone unless the answer to 'do you have a healer yet?' is 'yes' — otherwise he just hangs up on anyone who calls — the blond is shaking her head. Christ. Then Kat comes back with *that* wonderful news. In point of fact, she knows that Abby has some pretty darn phenomenal abilities. She knows that Teo was pretty much toast before the healer got to him. But she doesn't share that bit of information because it would involve *FAR* too much explanation… and she can't get to Abby anyway. Teo is pulling together a team to do that.

She's wearing a warm coat, but she slides that off and takes the holster from her pants, hand the holster with the gun still in it to the cop in charge and retrieving her kevlar (far more to her own size than anything SWAT has) from the trunk of her car. Just because Kat's a fool doesn't mean she is. "We'll be back," she says with a sigh.
And into the hospital the two women go. Up to the fifth floor.

The fifth floor of the hospital is more quiet than it usually is. Doctors and nurses are sitting on the floor around the nurses station inside the ICU, hands where they can be seen as patients lay in their beds, monitors beeping from within their respected open rooms. Some of the patient are awake, watching the man who paces back and forth with his weapons in front of one particular room and a nurse who waits inside. The doors to the wing have been barricaded, moved by the professionals that work here so that no one can come in without climbing over a bunch of things and Adam's express permission.
"She said you had a healer! I heard them talking. Talking about some woman who fixes the people here for you. Don't deny it, I heard it. So they better get her in here and fix my Marie. I'm not stopping till they get that evolved woman in here and she makes Marie healthy again" He flicks his eyes to the doors that lead out to the hallways and then back to the doctors and nurses. He's high strung, unkempt, twitchy. A nearly two day stubble on his cheek leads one to an air of dangerous that is really only grief. "We tried calling sir. I'm sorry, she's not answering. She doesn't work for us, she just comes in now and then" Speaks up the tall dark haired doctor, shaking his head. "STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND SAVE MY MARIE! FOR GOD'S SAKES FIND YOUR HEALER!"

The agent and the officer take the stairs, fearing that the 'ding' of the elevator would freak the husband out and he would start shooting. Five stories of stairs isn't as bad as it could have been. Kat prefers to go without the vest. One day she'll regret it, but for now, she's far more confident in her own skills than most in her shoes.
When they reach the fifth floor, the heavy door is pulls ajar so they can hear what's going on and the yelling that comes through is not a good sign. There is desperation and agitation in his voice. He's not very stable. It will not take him long to be set off in a bad way. Probably for the first time ever, Kat looks at Liz and asks. "What do you suggest?" she whispers. Regardless of the heatedness of their relationship, Kat actually knows that in this situation, Liz is going to be the key to a peaceful end.

Oh great. Some asinine doctor let a distraught family member overhear healers. They're getting far too complacent around here about that kind of thing, she thinks. She replies in a whisper to Kat, "The only think we *can* do it talk him down." She opens the door and steps out into the hallway, her hands out where he can see them.
"~Mr. Black? Don't shoot.~" She laces her voice with soothing undercurrents to calm him, to hopefully keep him from blasting her into oblivion. "~My name is Liz Harrison. I've been working on locating a healer for you, but we need to talk.~"

It's one of the nurses who makes a soudn and drawing his attention away from his vegetative wife to the glass doors and side walls that separate Elisabeth and Katherine from him. But her voice carries enough, and Adam's gun is pointed up towards the cop, distrust on his face. "Work harder then. Your doing a poor enough job! I'm not talking till you find me that woman! If she can regrow a kidney then she can fix my MARIE!" The gun is waggled towards the door though his finger for the moment remains off the trigger. A squeal goes off of a monitor in another room, making adam look over. He waves a nurse over to go and tend to the patient who's monitors are complaining so that she can see what he needs. He's not a monster, he's just a distraught husband trying to delay the inevitable and get a miracle.

"~Mr. Black, believe me…. if I could get you a healer in here to help your wife, I would do it in a heartbeat. My partner has been on the phone to Homeland for half an hour trying to find a healer ANYWHERE in the database that we can bring in here to help your wife. The healer who works in this hospital is not on staff here, she's a volunteer. And from what we can gather, she's not anywhere in New York at the moment. She's not answering her phone, and we're doing our best to track her down.~" It's a lie, but he has no way to know that. Elisabeth keeps talking, because the more she talks, the more she can soothe him. "~It's going to take some time. But the other people here are not responsible for that. You don't have to rush into anything. She's on life support, Mr. Black, she has time. I'm sure the doctors can allow her to remain on the machines for a little bit of time so we can try.~"

Katherine is not someone who's long on patience, however, she completely lets Elizabeth handle this situation. Kat already knows she'd only make this worse and folks would die. She leans against the wall, letting Liz talk through the open door. "We need to get in there and make sure everyone is already. See if he'll let us in." she whispers. She has placed her phone on vibrate, just in case HomeSec finds a healer.
She glances at her phone as if by staring at it, it'll ring. No such luck. She starts looking through her own database to see if she has anything. The only name that keeps popping up is Abigail. This is not going to be a fun afternoon.

"Are you a doctor Harrison?" Elisabeth's trick with her voice is working, he's less shakey, though he still splits his attention between his wife and the officers at the door. "Far as I know, your not so shut up with telling me how long she has. Find me that healer now or I'll.. " Adam presses his lips together and inward, jabbing the gun at the two at the door as if in emphasis, but no finger on the trigger still. "She's my BABY. We've been married less than a year! We're supposed to spend our lives together and we WILL spend our lives together! We're going to make babies and have the house and dog. But some ASSHOLE decided that he wanted to PASS SOMEONE ON THE STREET when he SHOULDN'T HAVE!" His voice goes up and down. Adam backs up towards the room hsi wife is in, looking at her then back to the two women. "You can't tell me that in a city full of peple flying, blowing shit up, reading minds and exploding shit that there can't be more than one fucking healer, so you find one!"

Elisabeth looks toward the doctors and asks one of them, still enhancing her voice for calm for Black. "~No, I'm not. But let's get this doctor out here to talk to us about how long life support can be used. Because if I were in your shoes, Mr. Black, I'd be worrying about making sure they *can* keep her alive until we can find the healer. If life support can be kept up indefinitely, then we have all the time in the world to locate and bring the healer here. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, Adam. I know you just want someone to help her, and that's what we're *all* trying to do here, I swear it.~"

"You can talk to him through the door like your doing to me! I'm not letting you take him! There's others in here that need him. My WIFE needs him, so you talk to him right here and now Harrison. You got a mouth, you can use it" His free hand comes up to scratch at the back of his head, while his weapon bearing hand gestures towards the dark haired doctor. "Well"

Elisabeth slants a glance toward Kat, with a slight shake of the head. She's not getting through to Black yet — he's too distraught to listen to her. Then she turns her attention to the door and calls through it, "Doctor, now's the time to have this conversation. Mr. Black's wife deserves the best treatment that can be offered, and it sounds as if he's been informed about the *possibility* of an Evolved healer being able to help her. That said, the hospital's position certainly can't be that it's appropriate to removed her before all options have been exhausted. *Is it?*" The doctor better answer correctly, or Elisabeth swears to God, she'll have Kat put snipers in position to shoot the doctor, not the guy with the gun.

From through the door, Kat and Liz can hear the doctor as he stammers. He realizes his previous mistake and doesn't plan to make the same one. "Sir.. if we can get a healer, your wife would be better of staying on life support until she can get that help." His explaination is paniced and rushed. He is trying to save his own ass here. The others as well, but his own ass is at the top of his mind.

If the doctor was smarter, they would never have been in this position in the first place. Kat glances at Liz as the doctor continues to plead. "Sir, we haven't seen the healer in some time, which is the only reason that I suggested that your wife would be better off. But if the authorities can find someone.. she'll be fine until they can bring someone." It's not entirely the truth, but maybe it'll buy some time before the blood starts to flow.

Begrudgingly, Adam scratches at the back of his head again before he lets loose a yell at the doctor, frustration and very primal. He swallows harshly before he stalks off to the room that his wife is ensconced in, disppearing from sight. The nurse that was in that room comes scurrying out a minute later, adam out of plain view as the petite redhead takes her place with the others beside the desk on the floor.,

Although she'd like to breathe a sigh of relief, Elisabeth doesn't quite feel like it's the time. With Adam now out of sight, she beelines forward to wave the family members of patients out of the room. "Anyone who wants to go, get out," she tells the medical staff. "Now. But I need at least three people here to handle the other patients until we can get Mr. Black calm." She looks at the woman clearly the head nurse of the floor and says softly, "And I want a hospital administrator waiting for me when this is over." She'll take out her rage on the hospital administrator instead of killing the doctor where he stands. She puts herself between the door Adam went into and the people scrambling to get to Kat's position near the stairwell.

As the hostages begin to file by her, Kat instructs them to go all the way out of this hospital. Do not stop at the vending machines. Do not stop for coffee. When they are all gone, Kat slips through the door and joins Liz on the floor. "He's going to be pissed.." she whispers to the negotiator. "What's your plan now?" she asks.
Granted, Kat doesn't have any wild plans either, but then again she's almost happy to have a gun waving lunatic here, than an ability weilding Evolved.

As the hostages begin to file by her, Kat instructs them to go all the way out of this hospital. Do not stop at the vending machines. Do not stop for coffee. When they are all gone, Kat slips through the door and joins Liz on the floor. "He's going to be pissed.." she whispers to the negotiator. "What's your plan now?" she asks.
Granted, Kat doesn't have any wild plans either, but then again she's almost happy to have a gun waving lunatic here, than an ability weilding Evolved.

Adam doens't come running back out of the hospital room, waving a gun and yelling about the hostages getting out. He's out of view still, in the room he disappeared into and no signs of coming back out, just a one sided conversation barely heard by Katherine, but likely easily heard by Elisabeth.

Slanting a glance at Kat, Elisabeth murmurs softly, "He may not be. He may be all right. I'm going into the room. You keep that stupid ass doctor out of sight, though, and don't let him leave. I'm not sure I can guarantee Black won't just take his head off, and I can't say that I blame him, but I want one of us to talk to that hospital administrator about being more circumspect with their comments like that." She shakes her head. Idiots. She moves to the door of Adam Black's wife's room and peeks inside, listening to him quietly. The man needs time in there with his brain-dead spouse. "~Mr. Black, I need to ask you to hand over your weapon.~" She laces that with the heavy suggestion to comply, though she can't force him to do so.

Kat nods in response to Liz and she walks over to the doctor. Of course, professionalism dictates that she not slap his face silly, urges within however that she wring his scrawny inexperienced neck. "You. Stay out of the way, but don't go anywhere." She points to one of the waiting room chairs in the far corner. "There. Sit. Now." she demands.

She grabs her phone and starts to talk into it, finding out if perhaps they've found a healer. She moves over behind the nurses counter and sits at their computer and begins typing. She eyes the doctor over the counter, who looks like he's eyeing the exit and ready to bolt. "Do it. I'll shoot you myself." She doesn't have her gun, but she'll hunt him down later if she has to.

In the room adam is bent over his wife, forehead to hers, lips pressed to her temple and talking. One hand curled in her hair the other holds the gun, resting across her chest that rises and falls with the metered hush of the ventilator that works to keep her alive. The compulsion the comes with Elisabeth's words sinks in, hyponotizing him, making Adam pick the gun up and hold it out to Elisabeth, butt side out, instead of business end. "I just want the healer. Is that too much to ask? I want my marie back. This woman can bring her back to me, they said it. She brought others back. I just want her to bring my baby back, anyone. We're supposed to grow old together"

"It's not too much to ask," Elisabeth replies gently. She takes the gun from him carefully, checking it to see if it's even loaded, and sets it outside the room. "We're going to deal with getting the healer here if it is at all humanly possible, Mr. Black. I've met the woman, she's amazing. And I'm going to do everything in my power to locate her, okay?" She glances outside to make sure Kat has the gun. "I'm going to give you a half an hour in here with her, and then you're going to have to come with me." Her eyes are sympathetic — there's no way he's not going to be charged for this, but his lawyer, she's sure, will get him leniency. "You're going to want to have your lawyer meet us at the precinct. And when I read you your rights, I highly advise you to utilize them. I'll be back momentarily."

Katherine gets up from her chair and picks up the gun. At least now she has something to shoot the doctor with.. if she needs to. She eyes him as she walks back over to the computer and sets the gun on the counter and begins to type again. He cowers in the corner at the glare from the agent, not even interested at all at what she's doing on the hospital computer.

Adam nods his head like some forlorn and battered bobblehead. Hearing but not comprehending. Elisabeth is speaking, taking the gun, but his attention is for his wife as he sighs, breathes deep and goes back to talking to his wife, reassuring her. Half an hour.

Slipping out of the hospital room, Elisabeth looks toward Kat questioningly. Any luck? With a soft sigh, she walks to the nurse's desk with her ears tuned to the Blacks' room, and she tells the agent, "Once we talk to the administrator, we'll be ready to walk him out." She picks up her cell, though, and calls down to the officer in charge on the ground. "Have them stand down — he's unarmed and the situation is in control. We'll be bringing him downstairs shortly, once we deal with logistics. Go ahead and allow emergency personnel and such in the doors, keep this floor quarantined for now," she instructs him softly. "Send the hospital's administrator to us on the elevator. I want words." Her tone is ominous.
And then her gaze turn to the doctor, pure rage in her blue eyes. But she'll wait for the administrator to get here.

Kat glances up at Liz and shakes her head, standing up as she leaves her solitaire game up on the screen. What? She wasn't doing anything else except watching the doc. She walks over. "Still no account of the where she is." She glances up at the clock, then looks towards the door to the Black's room. Just then the administrator shows up — the chat goes according to plan. Liz and Kat do alot of yelling, the doctor shrinks down to the size of a child emotionally, and the administrator promises to have a talk with his staff. A half of an hour goes by rather quickly and by the time the administrator and the doctor leave the floor, Kat turns to Liz and nods. "It's time. Let's wrap this up."

Elisabeth nods to the other woman, not relishing this move. She steps back into the Blacks' room, and she sighs quietly. "Mr. Black? It's time… we'll be taking you downtown. Your lawyer can meet you there. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, which I highly do NOT advise, anything you say can and will be used against you….." She finishes reading the poor man his rights, and then asks, "Do you understand these rights?" She won't move to cuff him until he acknowledges them.

Adam Black is where Elisabeth left him, and when the pair of women arrive at the door, it's a final kiss to his wife's forehead before he shuffles away with another destitute and defeated bob of his head. "DOn't let them pull the plug. Not till the healer comes. I need Marie back. The healer has to come" There's no other move made to resist or run, just him, standing there, waiting.

Holding the door open, Katherine waits. She is mostly silent as she lets Elisabeth work her magic. There's almost an expression of impression on the face of the agent at how well the officer handled this situation. Let's not get carried away, it's just a touch. She waits for Harrison to lead the man out of the room. She keeps the gun tucked into her slacks, walking over and pushing the button on the elevator as the car approaches and the double doors slide open waiting for its passengers.

The cuffs go on with no trouble, and Liz reassures him quietly as they walk toward the elevator. "They're not going to do anything for a few days at the very least. You and your lawyer can deal with that after you deal with this, okay?" She lets Kat call ahead and let them know we're coming out wth the suspect in cuffs and turns him over to the uniforms who'll take him through booking after letting them know she's Mirandized him. "I'll file a full report before the end of business," she tells the officer in charge. "The fifth floor is clear, go ahead and let people back in." She shakes her head, keeping other thoughts on the matter to herself as she removes her kevlar and retrieves her gun and jacket. In truth…. *this* is what she does best. The rest? She's still learning as she goes.


l-arrow.png
March 4th: Values of Consequence
r-arrow.png
March 5th: Mr. King Would Like a Word
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License