Participants:
| Scene Title | Mutual Assured Destruction |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kat and Liz go head to head over a missing intern. |
| Date | February 27, 2009 |
She's been out of the office on the streets a lot this week. Elisabeth's calls have ranged from riots to hostages to investigating domestic disputes where one partner was Evolved and the other called in the cops to several more jumpers. In truth, she's in a foul mood — not just from the job, but for personal reasons as well. It's got her temper on a hair trigger now, but she's doing all right thus far on keeping it off the job … she's just been doing a *lot* of running in her spare time. This morning, she's actually managed to make it all the way in to the squad room. There's a cup of coffee on her desk and she's sitting with her laptop open, filling out the *ridiculous* number of reports that need to be filed after every shift — they're busier than she ever thought possible.
She sat in her car as she drove in and parked it. She's usuallly not prone to emotional outbursts, but she's fairly pissed off at the moment. Harrison has been trying to undermine her, it seems. Kat doesn't have any proof, but she'll find it. At least if she confronts her, she might be able to get a read on what really going on around here. She finally feels she's cooled her head enough that she can have a civil conversation, so she steps from the car and heads inside the building. She's been here often enough, she knows right where to go and walks over to Liz' desk. "Harrison." she greets cooly. She can tell the negotiator is busy, but certainly an interruption would be welcomed. Then again, some would rather have a mountain of paperwork to do than to deal with Agent Katherine Marks.
Elisabeth looks up from her reports and schools her expression into one of neutrality. "Morning, Agent Marks," she replies mildly. "What can I do for you this morning?" The women have been working together off and on with some amount of a guarded truce in place since the sparring match.
Her words are chosen very carefully. Kat doesn't necessarily want a battle here with a member of the NYPD, so her tone is that of a casual curiosity. In fact, she remembers the last battle they had. The bruise on her face is almost gone. She takes a seat in front of Liz' desk and leans forward. "Following up on the Dobson case. You haven't seen Ms. Dobson around recently, have you? I've been asked by my superiors to follow up on her case, but she seems to have missed her testing appointment. Not only that, it seems that Ms. Dobson has disappeared. Rumor has it, she slipped across the southern border. Have you had any contact with her since that day in the diner?" Marks' hair is tied back into a pony tail, which bobs about as she speaks.
Elisabeth leans back and looks unsurprised. "No, I haven't. I took her to the registration facility and then took her home. That was the last I saw of her." She purses her lips and says thoughtfully. "Doesn't really surprise me that she rabbited, though — we've had jumpers all over town the past month. People are scared to death of being outed as Evolved, Agent Marks. They've heard all kinds of rumors about people being disappeared, they've seen other people get beaten on the streets by mobs for having an ability. No one wants to be known as a freak, and they sure as hell don't want to be disappeared." She shakes her head. "It's too bad the government won't get their heads out of their asses and try to *reassure* the population somehow instead of making matters worse." She shrugs, and looks up at the agent. "Anything else you want to know?"
Granted, Katherine already has her suspicions, but she isn't one hundred percent convinced about the officer's role in this disappearance. She watches her face for a long moment, as if that would give her some sort of clue as to whether or not the woman was tell her the truth. "Whether or not you agree with the laws of the governmen, I hope you are not insinuating that you aren't doing your job to the fullest extent of your capabilities, Harrison." It's an accusation, but not fully dressed as one.
Elisabeth moves to stand up, getting in the agent's face. "Whether I agree or not, *Agent* Marks, I did my job. I took her to the center, she filled out all her fucking paperwork, and I drove her home. I did the best I could to reassure the woman that her life wasn't over, that she wouldn't be chucked into a prison just because she fucking GLOWS, and I offered to call a family member or friend to keep her company. She made her appointment, she followed the goddamn rules, and I let her go ahead and go into her home because she'd done nothing wrong. *SO*, you better back up and regroup, and watch your fucking mouth with me, because if you even *remotely* think I'm going to take your shit or let you insinuate that I'm *not* doing my job, you've got another HARD LONG think coming." Her voice is more than a little tense, and the fact that it carries beyond the squad room actually brings several uniforms to glance in the door and see what's going on. Not like Homeland Security is very popular in the precinct, after all.
Katherine stands to meet the challenge of the NYPD officer. She's a little shorter then the other woman, but Marks is rarely intimidated. She narrows her eyes, knowing there are other eyes upon the two. As much as she'd like to reach across that desk and slap this woman in the face, she refrains and retains her composure. "First of all, I never said she did anything wrong. In fact, I was going to follow up with her to let her know that she was no longer under government investigation. You see, the governement doesn't feel that a 'glower' is any sort of security risk to this country. I think you, of everyone here, would understand that." She lowers her voice. "Now, if you want to raise your voice and say a few curse words for the benefit of your co-workers here, fine. Go ahead, but let me say this. We do what we do for the good of this country. For the good of those who live in this country who do not have abilities. Those individuals need to be safe as well, and right now, they do not feel safe. So don't get into my face because I *am* doing my job." There's a small smirk on the face of the Agent, as she finishes her 'speech'.
Elisabeth is furious, barely keeping her temper in check as she leans across the desk and hisses at the agent. "I don't give a flying shit what my co-workers think, Marks. They know me well enough to know it, too. But just so that you know that for a fact," she says, and then the two of them are surrounded. No more phones ringing, no more sounds getting in or out of her silence bubble. "If I see her or I hear from her — which I hope I do, I told her to call me if she needed anything — I'll let her know that she's not under investigation anymore. And let me point out something to *you*, Agent Marks. What we do for this country should be for *everyone* in this country, and *everyone* in this country should have the same rights. Law-abiding citizens being hauled off the street with no due process, no lawyers, no trial to establish that they've done anything wrong to DESERVE being locked up — that's a bunch of horseshit, and if you can't see that, then you don't DESERVE the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in this country. *ALL* individuals in this country need to feel safe — INCLUDING people like Oleander, who was horrified by what happened to his family and yes needed HELP to learn to control his abilities but did NOT deserve to get disappeared — which is what I'm pretty damn sure *you* would have done; INCLUDING people like Miranda — who clearly rabbited because she was terrified. She apologized all the way home about how she didn't even know she had a power and how she was SO SORRY, she didn't want to go to jail. Seeing good people prefer to kill themselves rather than let our government help them because they're utterly terrified? That is so far beyond wrong I can't even begin to articulate it. And if you weren't so stuck on yourself, you ignorant bitch, you might actually be working toward trying to make sure the law catches up with reality instead of just giving me the mealy-mouthed 'I'm doing my job' argument that every Nazi before you has offered."
It's quite apparent that these two will never agree. Very apparent. Marks just shakes her head. "You just don't get it, Harrison." She continues to remain calm and collected. She is about to say tell her that you can't left individuals with dangerous gifts run loose around the country. Accuse the negotiator of being a brainless dreamer who thinks everyone can live a peaceful existance when the balance of power is obviously misplaced now. Marks has a belief system, she also has a sense of right and wrong. She has a sense of doing what she feels is best for the country as a whole, even at the expense of individual civil rights. Maybe the government's system isn't perfect, but how could it possibly be? No one expected this. All this stuff goes unsaid as Agent Marks turns to leave. She gets halfway to the door and turns to look back at the NYPD negotiator. "You know what your problem is Harrison? You're an idiot. You're a damn idiot. You go ahead and live in your dream world. I'll be out there taking care of the real one." She turns and steps outside of the facility, heading towards her car.
Elisabeth picks up the stapler off her desk and hurls it with all her strength across the squad room to hit the far wall, keeping the silence bubble up around herself as she literally *screams* at the top of her lungs. At the very least, it's a tension release — it's probably the *only* thing that keeps her from attacking Marks outright. Live in the real world? As if Marks knows anything whatsoever about the REAL world out there!
When the silenced howl of absolute fury is done, Elisabeth is shaking. And every single cop who was peering around a corner or in a doorway to see the outcome has the intelligence to get the hell out of her way. Fast.
Marks steps over to her car and stops. A grin crosses the face of the Agent who marks this up as a victory for herself. Anytime she can rile up Elizabeth Harrison, it's a score for her. It wasn't a completely fruitless effort as a few of the things that Harrison spoke up confirmed a few thoughts she had. She beeps her car, unlocking it and slips inside. She makes a note in her file that Miranda Dobson is no longer in the country. Her face will be sent to all border patrols, and border crossings in case she gets homesick and wants to come home. She starts up the car and drives off.
 February 27th: Yellow Cage |
 February 27th: Method To Madness |