Sorry Doesn't Cut It

Participants:

curtis_icon.gif elisabeth2_icon.gif

Scene Title Sorry Doesn't Cut It
Synopsis Curtis is pissed about what happened.
Date Apr 11, 2011

Central Park


Elisabeth looks like any other young woman on this beautiful spring day. 80 degrees, she's wearing a spaghetti-strapped tanktop and a pair of threadbare, ripped blue jeans with hiking boots as she walks through the park. Her hands are shoved into her pockets and her blonde hair hangs long and loose around her in a mass of waves down past the middle of her back. She's got the front haphazardly pinned into a barette to keep it off her face, and truth be told, she looks a lot younger than the all-business head of FRONTLINE used to.

Curtis has decided to make a day of being outside as well, though his is for running rather than relaxing about the park. He's got a knapsack on his back, the straps snug about his shoulders so the bag doesn't jostle all that much. He's dressed in a blue tank top, and black nylon running shorts, with a simple pair of white running shoes on his feet. He doesn't necessarily look like a soldier like this, but he has a lot of scars, and with his arms bare, a good number show on his skin. His feet scuff the concrete of the path he's running along as he moves, jogging through the park. Though, a familiar face catches his eye, and his head turns, eyes dismissing the blonde, at least at first, not quite recognizing her in comparison to the woman that he knows.

The blonde in question is definitely not exactly what he'd expect. Especially when a turn of her head toward the lake exposes an intricate tattoo on the back of her right shoulder. When she turns back around, though, the sunlight falls directly on her face and Elisabeth catches his eye at the last second that he's looking. There's a brief moment of panic, and she turns to dart back up the path hoping he hadn't spotted her. The alarm is palpable even from where he's just about to make the turn onto the other path.

Curtis blinks, slowly at the panic from the blonde woman, and Curtis' head turns to regard the blonde in confusion for a few long seconds before recognition dawns in his eyes. His head tilts to the side a little bit, a hand lifting up to run fingers through his military short hair. He pauses, sweating lightly, but not breathing hard at all as he ponders what to do, the thinking process advertised on his features. In the end his shoulders give a slow lift and he starts off towards where he saw Liz trying to duck out of sight, but moves at a slow walk rather than the jog. "Ma'am?" he calls out, his deep voice carrying on the warm summer air.

Shit. Just…… there's no other word that comes to mind. SHIT. Elisabeth glances over her shoulder and it's pretty clear that he's going to talk to her. Or maybe, if she runs, chase her down — she's not entirely sure where he'll stand in this. So she stops, shoving her hair back over her shoulder and lets him get just close enough. "Stop there, Curtis," she murmurs quietly. "We can talk just fine from here." Because it'll give her a little space to dodge if he tries to grab at her — though it's not like she expects to beat him if he does.

Curtis arches a brow slowly as he takes a few more steps forwards then comes to a stop. "One…" He raises a finger. "If I was after you, don't you think I'd have just charged and taken you down? I know what you can do… it would be better ot run you down and knock you out, if I was after you. Two… why the hell would I be after you?" He asks, with that eyebrow still lofted high. "You're a rather strange woman ma'am…" he murmurs, shaking his head a bit, but he tries to offer her somewhat of a smile, eyes glancing down to the ground, then back up to her. "And we both know, that minus your powers, I'd kick your ass." He offers her a big cocky grin and winks at her. "I'm not here to arrest you Elisabeth."

Elisabeth offers a bit of a smile. She can't help it. "Because….. I'm topping the most wanted list at the moment and you might need to run me in to look good?" she offers. "Or…. more appropriately, for all I know you're being monitored because you were on my team and I'm kind of assuming all of you are under investigation for whatever happened out there," she admits. "And I don't want you to be in more trouble on my account." She shoves her hands into her pockets again. "It's good to see you," she adds softly. "Are things… going okay?"

Curtis offers a slight smile, his grin relaxing into it as he catches his thumbs on the pockets of his short, his eyes tracking around the park a little bit. "We might be being monitored, but if I am they are damned good. I'm more than used to spotting suspicious behavior." He gives a bit of a non chalant shrug, but remains where he is instead of approaching closer, giving the woman her space. "As far as I know we aren't under investigation. The governemnt sent some kind of kill bot Sentinel wannabe. Reminded me of a reject from the X-men or something. I kicked the shit out of it. It opened fire on our people, no discrimination. So I junked the fucking thing. Probably got the governemnt a hell of a lot of money. But they foobar'd that mission, and they did so with impunity." He shakes hsi head slowly, an annoyed look on his features. "Good to see you too. And… things are hectic… but starting to settle down. Everyone is wondering who is going to take over."

The blonde grimaces and looks around, her blue eyes worried. Not about being watched, though that fear is always in her mind now, but about what's coming next. "I guess you can lump me in with 'everyone,'" she murmurs. When she looks back at him, there's a bit of a nod. "I owe you an apology. I left Emerson one in a note in the barracks, but I couldn't get into the men's dorms to give one to you. I wish I hadn't had to leave that way…. but I knew that in passing on the information, I was blowing my situation sky high." There's sadness to her expression. "I didn't want it to be that way, but… I believe it was the right thing to do. I just hope you're not in danger from it."

Curtis purses his lips a little bit at the statement. "I don't know if I'm in danger becuase of it, probably won't for a long while yet." He shrugs his shoulders a little bit, his eyes glancing around the park as he takes a couple steps forwards, thens tops again and nods his head some. "I understand why you did it, though I can't say I agree with you sacraficing what you did on the off chance that they were actually transporting the real guy and not entrapping you like they did."

Elisabeth looks down and shrugs slightly. "Well, then I guess you and Richard agree on one thing in this world," she offers, looking up with a wry twist of her lips. Her tone is more serious though as she tells him softly, "It was a calculated risk. I owed a debt. And sometimes you have to follow your heart, Curtis. I loved the job. I was good at it. But I've been under investigation for months. And I've been toeing the line for years — literally. Things are coming and … I didn't want to be constrained by the role anymore."

Curtis gives a solid grunt at being told he agrees with Cardinal on something, a slight scowl from him at it, but the scowl doesn't stay very long, fading from his face as she continues on to explain it. "FOllowing your heart is one thing. Needless sacrafice is another. It could have been done another way. We could have made sure the info got leaked past us. There would have been trouble still, but you wouldn't have had to run like you have." He frowns, and inhales slowly, bouncing from one foot to the next as his body rapidly cools down, muscles tightening up unpleasantly. "Things are always coming, each one is dangerous and potentially world shattering."

She hesitates and then says to him, "I didn't honestly believe that if I told the both of you the truth that you'd … believe what I had to say, Curtis." Elisabeth rocks a little on the balls of her feet. "And I sure as hell still don't really know where you stand in all of this. You saw what goes on out here. You still have memories of it. And yet somehow you're convincing yourself that working for them is the right thing." She grimaces. "I don't want to live persecuted because of what I can do. I don't want to have to get the government's permission to have a child — or to be terrified of them because I accidently got pregnant and they might do something horrible to it or me." She swallows hard. "And that's what's coming… if the dreams that people are having are like the ones last November, Curtis…. it's coming."

Curtis crosses his arms, then frowns a little bit. "So you told us half the truth, put us in danger anyway by doing so, but decided not to give is all the intel. That doesn't make sense ma'am, not one little bit." He shakes his head slowly, a sad look in his eyes and on his features, lips pressed tight together. "No Elisabeth I'm not. What is the right thing, is helping to maintain peace, and order rather than the chaos that would ensue if the various freedom groups were free to operate as they wish. Yes, I have first hand knowledge and experience of what goes on. And… it is wrong. It is not the way to make ourselves heard. it is not the way to make a difference. Innocent Americans die in the attacks, the plans, the schemes. People who are guilty of nothing but trying to do their job." His head shakes again, slowly. "And I have no desire to be persecuted either. And, the future is malleable. It always is. If we had caught that shit and stopped Rupert, and stopped everyone else who had a hand in it turning out the wya it did, then it would not have happened. But we failed. Because we were all too busy fighting eachother than dealing with the real threat. The corruption within the government. And you deal with that by unitiing, not dividing."

The blonde looks toward the lake and sighs heavily. "No… I told you the truth. The reasons I gave for what I wanted to see and why were absolutely the truth." Elisabeth looks back at him. "Harkness and Demsky were being held without trial, without due process, and without the rights that we gave an oath to defend. I didn't know for sure if their friends would try for them at the time. That was their decision and theirs alone. The decision that was on my head was whether to tell them about it. I did that knowing it would be the end of my career because I believe that those men don't deserve to be incarcerated." She pauses.

"That said… you're right that it was probably not the best option," Elisabeth admits to him candidly. "It was a decision that I made for … a lot of reasons. But I made a point while I was your boss about not lying to you, and only omitting information because the less you knew, the less likely you would be pinned as a collaborator. I was trying to protect you from the fallout of my actions." She rocks on her feet. "The future is malleable," she tells him quietly. "And that in and of itself is what I'm trying to protect. Everyone's future. Because what precogs are seeing now? It's horrific. It's Humanis First in control of the US government, and it's people like us in concentration camps, forcibly negated, or on the run. I don't want that for anyone, but I especially don't want that for people like us — I've been inside the system for a long time, but the system's broken. And maybe I did the wrong thing here. It's entirely possible. I'm not perfect. I'm just… doing the best I can to follow my conscience."

Curtis glances over, and his head is given a slow little shake at that, his forhead creasing as he lets out a little sigh of exasperation. "It didn't need to go down that way though. We could have made sure they found out through legitimate pursuits. Made sure they knew we had sensitive intel, then leave it up to them to obtain it, stuff like that, so it would not have jeapordized your career and position, and you could have continued to work towards the goals you believe in the way it should be done, from within the system." He lofts a brow as she goes on to talk about the system and what she did and why. "The system is broken, but there are still things they cannot ignore. If we organized the Evolved. Every single one we can, minus those on the most wanted list and what not, and marched on Washington DC, in an old school protest parade… just like Martin Luther King did… they could not ignore it. Thousands of us. They could not make that dissapear, or cover it up, or stop it. It is our right as American citizens, and if they deny that right they would be stirring up far more trouble than they can handle from the rest of the country. There are always ways to fight things."

Elisabeth smiles at him. "I did admit that it may have been a mistake, Curtis," she points out drily. "I'm sorry. For whatever that's worth to you." She goes quiet, as if she's not sure what else to say to him. "If you need anything, you can …. " Well, he can't contact her. Not easily. She hesitates. "You can leave a message at the Blue Moon Cafe," she says softly. "But … only if it's urgent, Curtis. Aric's not involved in all of this, he just… cares about me. He's my friend. He'll make sure I get word if you need me, it just might take a little while."

Curtis sighs and rubs his fingers at his forhead, furrowing the skin around them as he pushes them about, then pauses to stare at her. "Sorry doesn't put you back in your position, where you could give people warnings, where you could help to make sure Frontline isn't taken over and corrupted. Where you could fight to keep the peace. Where you can do a hell of a lot more good than working from the shadows like so many others. It doesn't restore your status, it doesn't take away the suspicion we are now regarded with. Sorry doesn't …. cut it ma'am. I understand you're sorry, but it doesn't mean anything." He looks down at the ground, eyes closing as he listens to the rest of what she has to say. "Why would I go through there when I could just go through Harmony to get word to you?" he asks, his tone soft, but slightly angry, he's just trying to keep it under control and under wraps. "I'll see you around… ma'am." He lifts his hand to his forhead, as if to block out the sun, then lowers it, a salute to her, befor ehe turns and starts to walk away, back into the park.

Shit. Elisabeth sighs heavily watching him go. There's little she can offer by way of argument. Gutsy and foolish are not mutually exclusive. And the right thing and the best thing don't always match up. Like someone else she knows, he'll just have to get over it… or not… at his own speed. "Take care," she murmurs to his back, and then she pivots on a heel to go in another direction.


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