Been Many Things

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ethan_icon.gif lucrezia_icon.gif

Scene Title Been Many Things
Synopsis Ethan Holden has been many things. Unfortunately for Homeland Security, they're not aware that all of them are lethal.
Date January 28, 2009

DHS Helicopter, over the Hudson


The throbbing pain of a migraine and paralysis slowly turns into the prickling sensation of numb limbs. Unconsciousness drowsily changes to blearily awake, letting the thumping roar of helicopter blades come into clear, sharp focus. Ethan Holden has been many things in his life, but a prisoner has never been one of them. It seems, in this case, there is a chance for all possibilities in this new future that has been created.

The first sensation Ethan can feel as his extremities painfully come back into clarity is the cold bite of steel on his wrists. A pair of handcuffs bound behind his back where he is slouched over a bench seat in the chill of a metal can whirling through the air. The matte black walls of the helicopter's interior do little to improve the blurry unfocused vision he's been given.

Across from him, on another bench, he can see Lucrezia's prone form on her back. A gauze bandage has been applied to her stomach, taped over where her clothing has been torn apart at the abdomen by whatever hasty medical treatment was given. Next to her, a woman in a black military uniform with helmet and goggles sits, assault rifle laid over her lap.

"…ing them in, sooner the better. We'll touch down in twenty, Carmichael will want us back up in the air after that to look for the others that got away." The voice fades in, along with the rest of the noise of the chopper interior. Slate gray skies shine brightly out the small, square windows. Seated next to Ethan on his bench is a man dressed similarly to the female officer; a black military uniform and body armor, full helmet and goggles with an assault rifle laid across his lap.

In the front of the small helicopter, a pilot and co-pilot converse, their voices swallowed by the sounds of the rotors spinning overhead.

Ethan Holden has been many things in his life…

And a prisoner has never been one of them.

That isn't going to start now.

Easy… take it all in before you make your move. Assess the situation, he opens his eyes as little as possible, just enough to get the layout of his temporary prison. Slumping to the side, he makes a look for what he can see outside.. The river. Good. Four guards, they must not have any idea who he is.

Eileen….

It's almost enough to make him lose it right there, despite his years of training and experience the raw emotional pain nearly sends him grabbing for the closest soldiers neck. But that wouldn't work, they would gun him down before he could take a breath. No.. Calm. Control, Ethan. That's what you do, you keep control… Even if it doesn't seem like it.

"Baby!" The man yells, slumping forward onto his knees towards Lucrezia, his eyes going wide, and moisture already welling around them. No way they could have seen that he was the one who shot her. "What have you done?! What's wrong with her?! Help her!" He practically wails, the cries sounding manic, a man crying for his lost love, completely out of control. His blubbering and screams of passion are a testament to the sheer pain he is going through. Or at least.. That's what it looks like.

Going forward on his knees, he tries to reach his apparent love, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Baby, it's going to be okay, talk to me, baby…" Calm on the inside. And show them what they want to see on the outside…

"God damnit! How the hell did he — " The HomeSec operative behind Ethan shouts, rising up from the bench as he lays his rifle down, dropping to a knee to grab the ragged looking man by the shoulders, drawing him away from Lucrezia, "Vickers," he shouts to the female officer, "Spray him!" His arms tuck up and around behind Ethan's, trying to restrain him and drag him partially to his feet.

"Fuck! Calm him down!" The pilot cries back as Vickers gets to her feet, retrieving a can of mace with one hand, stepping forward to spray a cone of the blinding, choking, searing chemical in Ethan's face. "Stay down, stay down!" Both shout together over the roar of the helicopter blades.

This isn't the first time Ethan Holden has been maced.

It kind've tickles.

"Let me to her! Let me to her!" Ethan screams, the desperate noises leaving his throat almost disgust him. But whatever needs to be done, must be done. "Please let me to her!" He scrambles desperately toward Lucrezia, wriggling out of the operative's grasp. And then comes the mace…

Reeling, Ethan flies backward from the mace, scrambling about on the ground like a fish out of water. That's the kind of effect they would expect, so it's what he will give them. Come closer, make me get in my seat. The Wolf sets his trap./

He thrashes all the signs of a man in panic, a man in desperation. Not a skilled and well trained operative that is about to kill them all. He's just a freaked out guy having a bad day… For now.

Though the black and comforting absence of everything comes a slowly swelling din that melts down through the cracks of consciousness and trickles into cotton-stuffed ears. Lucrezia stirs. Every swipe of the blade overhead are heard in slow motion, timed in sync with the blood pounding at her temples and pumping out in futility around her middle.

At first, her initial moments are barely distinguishable from the jostling she receives courtesy of the helicopter ride. Long fingers curl and clasp at her sides and then one hand weakly reaches for an illusion of that which is not there; straining to remove the dark veil worn by a spirit just out of reach.

"God damnit!" The male officer shouts, jerking Ethan up to his feet before throwing him down on the bench, "I said stop moving!" He didn't, really, but the idea was inferred by his earlier tone of voice. The female officer, Vickers, reaches for her radio to bring up to her mouth as her partner grabs Ethan by the shoulders and slams him down onto the seat.

"Carmichael, this is Vickers. The John Doe we picked up is awake and beligerent, do we have lethal force authorization if this gets out of hand?" She stares, wide-eyed, at Ethan struggling with her partner, even as shouting from the cockpit from the pilots nearly drowns out her voice over the other noise.

«That's a negative, Vickers.» A firm voice comes over her radio with a crackle, «Lethal force is not authorized, we need them for questioning. I repeat, lethal force is not authorized.» Her heart sinks at the voice, lips downturning into a scowl as she keeps the can of mace held out, breathing in a shallow breath as the vapor stings her eyes and nostrils from use ina small, confined space.

"I read you." She mutters out into the radio, "I read you."

And so did he…

It's a very small, very pointed grin delivered to Vickers from Ethan. A cruel, victorious grin. His vision is blearing, mace mixing with sweat, mixing with tears, he can barely see. But he doesn't need to, to know where she is. It's a manic grin, carrying a lot with it. But by the time she will realize what this gesture means…

It's too late.

The back of his head flies up powerfully against the man's nose, slamming the operative's head into the back wall of the chopper. An elbow follows up the strike, delivered at the man's groin. Ethan has to move his entire body to pull it off, and that slows him down. But not enough.

Click click

It's the sound Ethan's shoe makes as he pulls the trigger. A small blade slipping out of the point of his shoe. Vickers is already on her feet and moving to subdue the man, but it's already far too late. Throwing his body weight against the man behind him, he positions his chains around the man's neck. Using him as a lever, and strangling him at the same time. Two for one!

The flesh rips cleanly, as the small blade is jammed into the woman's throat. A flick of the angle, and that blood is sent spattering against the side of the helicopter, leaving Vickers to slump lifelessy against the floor of the helicopter.

"Jump!" He yells, his blurry vision settling on Lucrezia. "Jump!"

Lucrezia, meanwhile, clings desperately to the fuzzy fringe of consciousness for all that she's worth. She has no idea what's going on or who's screaming or why the whole world is apparently filled with dizzying levels of white noise. Coherency? Not so much. When she finally collects her senses enough to try sitting up, she's rewarded with a blinding amount of pain that causes her to grasp vainly at her bandaged belly and shriek. Jumping? Pretty much right out of the fucking question right now, but thanks for playing.

Choking from the strike, the male officer struggles as his hands move for his assault rifle. On his knees, he readies the weapon and raises it to open fire wthin the closed space of the helicopter — what Carmichael said be damned. While Vickers is still slouching over with blood spraying from her neck, Ethan turns around to see the other agent raising his gun. But this is Ethan Holden — it's like they don't know who they're dealing with.

Amidst the shouts of protest from the pilots, Ethan grabs the stock of the rifle, yanking it away from himself even as the wounded guard squeezes the trigger, spraying bullets into both of the pilots and the control console as he squeezes the trigger anyway out of fright.

Ethan spins and kicks the man in the head, sending him staggering back to smash into the closed door, followed by another kick once he's down simply for good measure. Wrenching the hatch door open, Ethan's hair is tossed about as whipping and arctic wind fills the rapidly decelerating and descending helicopter, watching it whirl towards Staten Island.

Lucrezia isn't running.

Frowning down at Lucrezia, Ethan practically growls. This wasn't his idea of 'jumping'. He looks out the open hatch for a moment. She tried to kill him…

He glances over his shoulder at the downed woman, his brows narrowing for a moment. He could just leave her, he wouldn't have to take care of her or worry about her but…

Eileen

The last thing she said was about this damn woman. And so, he backs up, grabbing her by the wrist and practically yanks her to her feet. She may not survive, but at least he's giving it a shot. The woman is yanked out and shoved out the hatch though the movement was difficult, he managed.

The helicopter is starting to lose control. One last look over his shoulder, killed four soldiers, escaped from Homeland Security, escaped and destroyed a helicopter, and saved the woman. And he did it all, with his hands behind his back.

He leaps…

Ethan Holden has been many things in his life.

A man free-falling out of a helicopter into the icy cold waters of the Hudson River and nearly drowning is not one of them.

That starts now.


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January 28th: Endgame - ...And All That Could Have Been
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January 28th: Almost
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