Putting Him Through His Paces

Participants:

curtis_icon.gif elisabeth2_icon.gif

Scene Title Putting Him Through His Paces
Synopsis Trying to get along
Date Mar 16, 2011

Textile Factory 17


The building seems always to be a beehive of activity. The members of FRONTLINE are kept busy out on the streets a lot of days backing up local police in a variety of actions. They generally run in teams of two from all appearances — Emerson and Ivanov have similar enough abilities that they tend to be split up, and it just depends on the day whether Elisabeth herself is boots on the ground with the squad. Today's not one of those days. She spent much of this one in meetings, if her clothing's any indication. Khaki slacks, low heels, a white button down shirt and navy blazer with the sleeves rolled up her forearms.

She's just entering the Rec Room from Operations with a small computer pad in her hand. It's getting more and more like Star Trek around here, it seems to her — datapads they can carry around with all their stuff on them. Elisabeth's got a half smile on her face as she skims the pad, but she looks up as she comes into the room, automatically skimming to see who it is that she hears. That it's Curtis Autumn makes her footsteps pause and a wary look come to her eyes. "Autumn," she greets quietly.

Curtis is standing in the middle of operations, but he's doing a damned good job of staying out of the way. He's observing, watching how things happen, how operations works, how everyone interacts, his eyes constantly moving, constantly studying something new. His arms are crossed over his broad chest, the man's focus on learning. He's dressed in a simple pair of jeans, and a US Marines t-shirt on, tucked into the jeans.

When Elisabeth makes her presence known his eyes lift up, and he acknowledges her with a respectful nod. "Ma'am." he reponds to the greeting in kind, a slightly amused smile playing across his lips. "I always hated the suit and tie days." He admonishes in a soft tone before turning his eyes back on everyone around him.

Rueful amusement greets those words. "Yeah, pretty much," Elisabeth admits. "Walk with me," she invites, gesturing toward the rec room. It quieter in there. And there's drinks!

Curtis does smile again at seeing the amusement on Elisabeth's features. The smile tugs at the claw scars on his left cheek, twisting them a little bit. His head turns to watch people until she makes that request. He turns back to her, eyes curious at the invite. He pauses there for a few seconds before his shoulders roll in an unconcious shrug and the soft scuff of shoe on floor announces his followin gher towards the rec room. He pushes open the door, and holds it for her before slipping into the room himself and taking a quick glance about. "Course, my suit and tie days didn't happen all that often, but when they did it was all day. Early morning until evening, meeting after meeting, review boards, family's of the deceased… whole days of nothing but meetings and function." He grumbles at the idea of it and comes to a stop a few strides into the room.

Elisabeth goes through the door he holds for her and walks toward one of the fridges where drinks are kept. She sets the pad she's carrying on a table and helps herself to a bottle of water, cracking it open as she turns back around to look at him. "Mine tend more to be … strategy. Or lack of. Boring as shit," she admits, taking a swallow. She watches him thoughtfully and says, "I owe you something of an apology. Your arrival yesterday took me by surprise. And I didn't handle it as well as I should have." She caps the bottle of water. "Your record's impressive."

Curtis remains in place, his eyes watching the tactical officer as she moves across the room to the fridges and fetches herself a drink. "Strat meetings were usually held just before a mission in my case, so we were geared to go, ready to deploy, a bit different approach, but then, alot of the missions I was part of were secret ops."

He cocks an eyebrow up at the next statement though, surprise showing on the large soldier's features when she apologizes to him. "Thank you." he offers softly, to the compliment on his record. "No, you handled my arrival about as well as could be expected. You /could/ have handled it better, but you shouldn't have. You have close connections to Cardinal, which is how you got the information you had, and you have a deep hatred for the Institute, that much was obvious yesterday if it wouldn't have been obvious before that. I've fought and engaged Frontline on multiple occasions when I was under cover, and been a direct part in the deaths of members of the team. I couldn't, nor did I, expect you to react well to my arrival." He offers her a reassuring smile, and then glances to the fridges, and strides over that way, pulling it open to peer about inside and see what is available to drink.

The list runs from waters to flavored waters to sodas in the fridge, and Elisabeth steps sideways to allow the man free access to it. "The Institute has experimented on people that I know with Refrain, they've kidnapped and killed people that I know. And they're currently in the process of assisting in developing military hardware that I sincerely dislike for a great number of reasons not the least of which being that I grew up in an age where the Terminator movies were quite well known. So no… I'm not a fan of the Institute. And most people don't even know they exist. Normally I would be able to keep my cool about the situation and you wouldn't have had any idea that I knew where you came from. I would have simply assigned you to the shit jobs and you'd have never had a clue why."

She tilts her head. "Richard Cardinal is a friend of mine, yes. And the Institute has already attacked and injured a number of people who work for him as well as sending an assassin to take him out personally. So … frankly, I can't blame the man for being leery of a bodyguard sent to protect him from the same place."

Curtis looks over the selection, and ends up going with a simple water. he snags it out of the fridge and cracks it open, taking a small sip of the clear liquid before recapping it and taking a few steps back towards his former position. Curtis listens to everything that is said, his eyes slightly amused at it all, though not mockingly amused. Heuncaps his bottle and takes another sip of it, his lips pressing together when she finishes talking about the Institute. "Well, I can honestly say that the Institute is really just more open about what it's doing, but do you really think the government hasn't been doing similar things for years?" He lofts a brow at her, fingers tipping the bottle one direction, then the other, the water sloshing about within. "And I highly doubt the Institute sent an assassin after Cardinal. Not with how fervently the director and his partner want him protected. And I mean fervently. It was not a small thing. They want him protected, and they want it bad. Why? I have no damn clue, but they do. I don't see them sending an assassin."

HIs shoulders give a lift and drop back down as he uncaps his bottle to take a long swig of the contents. "And normally you might be able to keep your cool, but I"m hardly a normal recruit… now am I?" He asks with a slight smirk on his lips. it's not a cocky smirk, but he knows that he's not average.

"Let me be very clear with you here, Mr. Autumn," Elisabeth says quietly. "I'm impressed with your service record, but I've never been in the military. I was a cop first and foremost, and I was a member of Phoenix as well." Blue eyes are on him with a kind of mild amusement. "I know exactly what the government is up to. I know who got pardoned for activities like mine and who didn't. The Vanguard has been a … special project… that I've been involved with for a lot of time now. I sincerely doubt there is much at all that you could tell me that would in any way shock me. The reverse might not be said of you, however."

Curtis crosses hsi arms, his uncapped water bottle in one hand, the cap in the other, being rolled between and along the backs of his fingers as he watches, and he listens. He remains quiet while she speaks, a habit of his, not interupting, letting someone get everything out before he responds. When she's done he cracks a smile in her direction. "I highly doubt anything you tell me could shock me. I went on some nasty missions, did some bad bad things just as a Marine, before the general knowledge of the Evolved and everything, before all this chaos and disorder. I can perfectly well imagine what the government has been doing in response to it in secret, since I know the kinds of things the government did in response to normal every day threats. I'm a soldier, but I'm also not stupid. In fact, quite the opposite to be honest." He lifts a hand up, fingers brushing back through his short cut hair, scritching at his scalp lightly. "But in the end… I've done alot of bad mixed with alot of good, and I'm really not sure if the good outweighs the bad. That's a big part of why I'm here." He lifts the bottle again, taking another long swallow of water.

Elisabeth leans back on the table where her pad sits and tilts her head. "How so?" she asks, seeming genuinely interested in that, if cautious.

Curtis offers a slight smile at the question he's asked, the man's shoulders giving a slow roll up and then back down. "I know there will be assignments I don't like, but by and large missions with Frontline will be things I"m okay with. It's a rather public unit, at least… this part of it is, which means for the most part, things have to be kosher. Protection, keeping the peace, stopping the destruction of innocent lives… by and large… good work. Something I won't regret being part of."

For a long moment, Elisabeth studies him. She uncaps her own bottle and takes a swallow from it, her hands capping it again just to keep busy. And then she says quietly, "You might fit in here better than I expected, Autumn." She purses her lips a bit and sets the bottle on the table behind her before looking up at him again. "Now I'll tell you the same thing I've told every member of this team: You go out on those streets? I don't care what the law says about Registration being mandatory and the city being under martial law meaning you can throw your weight around. You don't have the right to stop people minding their own business on the streets to make them show you a Registration card. You understand probable cause? Make sure you have it in any circumstance under which you take action as a FRONTLINE officer. That means if someone's using lethal force, you will not be penalized if you have to use lethal force in response, but I would prefer you to disarm and disable first. Wearing that armor is both a privilege and a responsibility — and although some people out there would like to point to us as being the armed guard of the Evil Overlords, that is not my team. You can't justify an action to my satisfaction, and I'll take you off the streets. If you can live with my rules, you'll do fine here. If at any time you can't… speak up."

Curtis watches the woman, the busy hands, and he waits for her to speak, draining the rest of his own bottle in a long swallow. He walks over to the trash can and tosses the bottle in, unless there's a recycle can, in which case it will go there. THen he turns and regards Elisbaeth, a faint smile when she mentiones him fitting in, and a nod of his head to her statement, acknowledging it. He listens though, as she talks about law and order, and he waits until she's done, silent and thoughtful. "If I were a cop I wouldn't stop to pat down, or ask, or harass every citizen I saw to see if they had a concealed weapon on them, so don't see a reason to do it for registration cards. In my opinion it's no different from having a concealed weapon. As long as the proper people know you have it, I don't see an issue. I agree with the idea of registration, but not how it's been executed. So no, you won't have to worry about me harassing random citizens. Nor will you have to worry about me killing random people for nothing. Subdual wasn't ever really an issue before, don't see why it would be an issue now." He tilts his head to either side, a few pops sounding from his neck. "But I won't hesitate to protect people or team mates if they're in danger. I'll use non lethal force if I can, but that's not always an option. You won't have to worry about me in those regards."

Elisabeth smiles faintly. "I know it's not — as I said, you won't be penalized. I just expect that if you have to use lethal force that you can justify it. The lives and welfare of innocents or your team? More than adequate justification. All I ask is that you do what you can not to turn into the fucking Gestapo," she says quietly. "But it sounds like we're on the same page here, and that's good. So… welcome aboard. And you ship out first thing in the morning for Horizon training."

There's a brief grin. "We keep the plane on standby for you while you're in Annapolis, so you're free to travel back and forth at will. Training's usually a full two weeks, but in this case you'll do the rest of this week and all of next week down there, and then we'll fine tune your training here on the streets. The first few times we deploy you, you'll partner with me so I can make sure you're squared away with the armor. After that, we're pretty casual about the team-ups — so long as Emerson and Ivanov aren't on the same one." Elisabeth rolls her eyes. "Speedster and superhuman endurance? Exhausts everyone who looks at them."

Curtis tilts his head to the side as he listens to her, a faint smile flickering over his lips, and then a more full one settles there as the talk of training commences, and missions and getting settled into the unit. "Two weeks training, no problem. Will probably have to come back after a week, handle a few things, then go back, but shouldn't be an issue really." he smiles again and tucks his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Sounds like a plan though. Get settled in, train, do a few missions under the wathful eye of yourself…" He winks, amusement flickering through his eyes. "And yes, I would imagine it would make everyone rather tired. I can go for awhile myself, but nothing superhuman… and I've seen Felix in action. Watched through a sniper scope as he took out a speedster that was part of Messiah briefly."

That makes Elisabeth do the squinchy-eyed flinch. "Don't tell me shit like that. It makes me wrathful," she informs him on a pained smile. She shakes her head and murmurs, "You're gonna be a pain in my ass, aren't you?" Blue eyes assess him and a half smile quirks her lips. "If you have questions of me… feel free to ask. If you disagree with a call I make, come to me in the office. My door's open."

Curtis laughs a little bit at that statement. "Wrathful?" He quriks a brow upwards, a soft chuckle leaving his lips at the statement. "I can't help what I experienced Ms. Harrison. It's also part of why I thought to join. I saw first hand how the unit operated. Put itself between impending life threatening danger and the common people. I should know, I was one of those dangers briefly." he smiles lightly before he barks a quick laugh and nods. "Yes, I am going ot be a thourough pain in the ass. At least, in so far as stuff like this. out in the field I won't be, but here back at base? Yes ma'am." He winks, a grin pulling at his lips. "If I have issues with a call you make, I'll certainly come to you, but it won't be until after the deployment. I know better than to question orders on the spot. I had it done to me enough in my time that I wouldn't tolerate it in myself."

There's a roll of blue eyes and Elisabeth says, "I don't stand on ceremony much. You're welcome to call me Elisabeth or Liz here on the base." She pauses. And then smirks. "I'm sure there are days where other names are bandied about, but I'm used to that too." She hesitates. "Is there anything you want to know from me?" she asks. "I'll answer to the best of my ability."

Curtis sees the roll of the eyes and he can't help but smirk, lips curling at one corner. "Yes Ms. Harrison." He offers in defiance of her allowance to call her by her name. "Anything I want to know?" He hesitates, thinking over the question before he shakes his head. "Not that I can think of no ma'am."

Elisabeth grins slightly. She's had this argument with every military person in the group. "All right," she says quietly. "Then I'm going to hit the barracks to get out of the monkey suit and then the gym, I think. If you need anything, let me know."

Curtis offers a grin back to her, and nods his head to her when she says all right. "Take it easy ma'am. I've got a few things to go take care of, but I'll be around. And I'll be ready to go for that first week of training." He offers a smile and turns to walk towards the door.


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