The Replacement

Participants:

cardinal_icon.gif christina_icon.gif jessica_icon.gif

Scene Title The Replacement
Synopsis Linderman may have thought he was hiring a new Jessica, but there's still the old Jessica to deal with.
Date April 24, 2009

Financial District


Doing what she meant to do on Saturday, Jessica is back in the Financial District and a choice location for monitoring the Linderman Building without too many taking notice. She hasn't had the luck to beef up her wardrobe since being back from Staten, so dressing down is really what she does. She wears a pair of tan cargo shorts, with a white tank top and sandals. Her blond hair is tucked underneath a blue ballcap, and sunglasses hide her blue eyes. She's found a little diner with some outside tables as a nice little cover for watching the building across the street.

If they could get some sort of advantage, just a little, they could finally get somewhere in this private war. Unfortunately, for most of the morning things have been rather quiet. People have come and gone, but there's really been nothing that Jessica would call 'substantial' as far as influence goes coming from that building. She draws her soda close and sips from the straw, enjoy the cool as it rolls down her throat. The day is probably going to be a waste. At least she doesn't have nerd flying down on her today. For that she can be thankful.

And that would be Christina coming down, with Linderman next to her. They're talking as they come out of the elevator, with the woman occasionally punching something into a PDA or an iPhone. Clearly, it's not just a short talk; it's long and involved. Finally, they make it to the doors. There's a smile, a brief exchange, and then she turns and heads outside, putting away the PDA as she starts down the sidewalk. She hasn't noticed any surveillance, or if so, she hasn't drawn attention to that.

Well, now. What's this? Who's the chick? As tasty and refreshing as the soda is, there's something far more that holds her interest right now. Jessica allows the woman to walk past her before she stands and drops a few dollars on the table to pay for her drink and steps in a few paces behind the woman.

Jessica doesn't make too much of it, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She did, just finish at the diner and had to leave at some point, right? She occasionally stops and looks into a window then procedes on. She'll wait for just the right moment to find out just who this woman is to Linderman.

The brunette walks on, heading for the parking structure. She reaches to her purse, and takes out her keys, as she moves inside. That's one of the perks of working for Linderman at a high level. You get the good parking places. Of course, once inside, surveillance will become a lot less easy.

And we can't have that, now can we? Jessica considers a few things. The parking garage holds more security, which will be a problem. She picks up a light jog to catch up with the brunette and she acts like she's catching her breath when she approaches. "Excuse me.. I'm a little lost. Can you tell me where the Jefferson Building is? I thought it was around here, but.." she pauses to take in a few fake breaths. "I guess I've gotten myself disoriented." The smile is feeble, though intended to be so to portray a slight bit of embarrassment on the blond's part.

The woman looks over as she sees Jessica, and puts on a smile that never does reach her eyes. She replies "I would imagine that could happen. New York is different from California, after all. And after all, things were a little interesting your first couple years here, Ms. Sanders. Is there something I can help you with?"

The smirk that crosses Jessica's face is classic as she reaches up and pulls off her sunglasses. "So, you're not his latest girl. Far too smart for that, plus he probably wouldn't care enough about you to tell you about me. So you must be an employee. Someone who he values." Jessica moves herself around to stand between the entrance of the parking garage and Christina. "Since you know my name, how about you tell me yours." Sanders is definitely eyeing up the situation, as she looks up one end of the street then back down the other to see if reinforcements are forthcoming just yet. "And while you're at it, you can tell me exactly what it is you do for the old man."

The brunette smiles a little. "I would think that I'm a bit young to be involved with Mr. Linderman in that fashion. And of course. My name is Christina Hoffman. I am Mr. Linderman's executive assistant." She doesn't see that there's any harm giving THAT away; it would be learnable with a little research anyway. "I do anything that Mr. Linderman requires, and I handle the day-to-day business affairs of the Linderman Group to free his time for executive matters. I assume I'm speaking with Jessica?" She doubts Niki would confront her. Or smirk like that.

"You know people don't really talk like that. 'I assume I'm speaking with Jessica'." she mimics. "Seems that the old man wants to send thugs around to try and persuade me from kicking his old ass." As she speaks, Jessica is still sizing up Hoffman. Abilities can be decieving, and she's not entirely sure what Hoffman has that would be of use to Linderman, because everyone knows that executive assistants are a dime a dozen in New York. "So, I think it's time I sent him a little message back, so he is absolutely sure I'm not screwing around." There's an innate quickness that comes with having superhuman strength, as Jessica reaches out to try and grab Christina by the throat.

Oh, look, it's Richard Cardinal. It might take a second glance to recognize him, mind, given that he's actually wearing a faux-silk business suit all in black from head to toe, that he probably walked out of a store with. Changing rooms are the key to his wardrobe's expansive nature. He's walking along towards the building that the pair were walking away from, whistling a little tune under his breath. 'Singing on a Star'.

Of course, Christina knows what Jessica can do, having read her file, and ever since the blonde showed, she's been ready and aware that things might get…sticky. So when Jessica's hand shoots out, it ends up smacking into an invisible wall about three inches in front of the brunette. Force field, of some ilk. And now Christina is the one smirking. It's a demeanor Jessica likely knows well, since she has it herself…that whole "I could kill you if I wanted to" sort of air. "You don't really think I was going to let you hurt me, did you? He traded up, when he got rid of you."

The barrier actually pushes Jessica away from Christina when her hand slams into it. This was unexpected. "So, that's what it is then. From the corner of her eye she sees.. the fuck? Cardinal? The woman has a shield, so the direct approach is out. "You can't hold that forever, I bet. One of these days, I'll get my hands around your scrawny little throat and squeeze you until you beg me for mercy." There's almost an evil glint to Jessica's eye as she speaks. "I hope he's paying you well." Bitch. She steps up to the field, or at least as close to it as she thinks she can and reaches out her fingers to give it a little touch. It stings when she touches it, but she also notices that her foot is beyong where the field should be. She does a quick sweep with her foot to see if the woman is protecting her legs, if not, she'll trip her at least.

Ah, hell. At the sight of the altercation, Cardinal pauses for a moment… and then he picks up the pace, moving a bit more swiftly towards the pair, his head shaking slowly although the wrap-around shades he's wearing make it difficult to tell what his expression is. "Ladies," his voice lifts, hands raising, "Ladies, please…"

Christina could switch to offense, of course…but the problem is she can't have both at the same time, and dropping your defense against a woman who can punch -through- you is a lousy way to stay alive. She smirks back at the earlier threat. "I make as much as you did, and then some. Of course, I don't have to strip to do it."

The smugness is sort of ruined when Jessica makes the quick legsweep. Christina has some hand-to-hand experience, but she's more a gun fighter if she's not using her powers. Plus, there's that superstrength to consider. Jessica's footsweep hits her, and her little hundred-pound weight isn't anything against that kind of strength. Her legs go flying up and to the side, and gravity takes over, and she goes ass-over-teakettle, landing hard on her back on the concrete floor with a yelp. Realizing that if she doesn't get Jessica off her, she's liable to end up stomped into a bloody paste, her hands fly up in the blonde's direction, as she projects the force barrier as a flat plane at her, trying to shove the blonde up and back, away from her.

There a chuckle that comes from Jessica. One that's meant to 'rub it in' that Christina wasn't 'all that'. She turns to Cardinal and gives him a look before turning to the downfallen assistant. "Just remember something. You can't always have that shield on. One day. Maybe while you sleep, I'll slip in and cut your throat just because you work for Linderman. And you can tell the old man that I'm not done with him. We're still going to make him pay for what he did to Micah. You tell him, then watch your back, bitch. One day, I'll be there." With that, Jessica places her sunglasses back over her eyes, turns and walks past Cardinal, bumping her shoulder against his as she walks past him.

Ow. A slight grunt at that bump of shoulder to shoulder, and Cardinal glances back over his shoulder after Jessica— then steps in, over to offer a hand down to Christina, his tone rather dry as he notes, "Someone's in a bit of a mood, it seems, miss. You all right?"

Christina glares daggers at Jessica's back. In fact, there are brief, murderous thoughts of -using- them. One force plane, right through her heart. Or her lung. Or her brain. But not only is there a witness, Mr. Linderman might be unhappy that she killed someone as important as Jessica Sanders without checking it with him. He might be so unhappy that it would be No More Pot Pie Ever. So she takes her moment to seethe in impotent anger. She then looks up at the witness' arrival, and reaches up a hand, taking his offered one. "I will be. Nothing hurt but my pride." And possibly her expensive Jimmy Choos. "Thank you. Looks like I have a white knight to be my hero, Mr…?" She prompts for his name.

"Cardinal." The hand's clasped firmly, and he hauls her up to her feet with a chuckle woven through his voice, "She doesn't seem to be a very great fan of Daniel, either— I assume you work for him, given the ranting that I heard?" Once she's up, Cardinal takes a polite step back, brows raising over the edge of his shades.

Christina blinks in a bit of surprise at Cardinal's use of Linderman's first name. "So, she looks back. "I do. Christina Hoffman. You know Mr. Linderman?" She manages to force a smile to her face and tries to steady the slight shaking. The encounter with Jessica rattled her more than she'd ever admit to anyone.

Cardinal lifts one shoulder in a slight shrug, his tone easy and affable, "We've had our dealings. Actually, I was coming to try and arrange another meeting with him to discuss business— I don't suppose you could direct me to the right person once I get myself inside, Miss Hoffman? I'm really a field man, all this bureaucracy's a pain in my neck."

She files the information away mentally; his name, so she can look it up. "I'd likely be your right person, Mr. Cardinal. If you'd be so kind as to give me your phone number and tell me what this is all about, I can get something arranged for you."

"How fortuitous," Cardinal flashes a grin, "My number should be on file— as for what, well, the previous work I was doing for Mister Linderman became void due to the early retirement of certain involved individuals." In other words, the people involved are dead, "So I'd like to discuss renegotiation."

DEFINITELY need to look that up. She nods in reply, and says "Very well, Mr. Cardinal. I'll call you shortly, and thank you for your assistance." She smooths her skirt. "I should be going, though."


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