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Scene Title | A Little of This, A Little of That |
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Synopsis | Two former Apollo colleagues discuss matters involving their other teammates and acquaintances. |
Date | July 25, 2010 |
Dorchester Towers Liz's Apartment
When she lets Vee in the door of apartment, Elisabeth has the look of a woman sleeping the bare minimum allowable. She doesn't look ravaged, but she does look a bit weary. "Hey you," she greets with a tired smile. "C'mon in. I have a boat-ton of baked stuff. Come take some of this shit to work for me, will you? Richard's complaining I'm going to make him fat again." The scent of coffee and fresh-baked bread permeates the apartment. She's been baking every time she get back to the place lately. It's a sure-fire glimpse into her psyche.
When the Company agent steps in, she looks rather weary herself, but she has looked worse in the past. At least she hasn't had to burn the candle at both ends as much this week. It's a Sunday and she has the day off, and actually looks it in a tank dress and flipflops, looking more the little surfer girl from California she once was than federal agent.
"Harrison. They will think I've officially lost my mind if I come in toting baked goods to work. Are you nuts?" she asks, reaching up to rub her forehead, laughing at the very image of bringing in banana nut bread. "I'll bring some to Brian, though. The kids at the Lighthouse would probably like it."
"Fine," Elisabeth retorts. "Bring it to the Lighthouse. I don't care where you bring it." She gestures into the living room, padding on bare feet back toward the kitchen. She's wearing a pair of black bike shorts and a battered NYPD T-shirt with her hair pulled up. Clearly been doing NOTHING today but being at home. Or hiding, maybe. There are eight printer-paper-sized boxes in her dining room. "Take at least three of those damn things. If you're taking them to the orphanage, take them all," she instructs her friend. "I already dropped off four of them at the security building, and I've even sent two around to the precinct." Yeah. She's crazy upset.
"Coffee? And before I go a damn step further, for God's sake…. next time Cat asks you for a meet, please give me a call first. For fuck's sake, Monica almost left town after that stunt."
"Coffee would be great," Veronica says, arching a brow at all the boxes. "These are all full of food? Jesus, Liz. Maybe you should quit Frontline and open a bakery."
The mention of Cat has her shaking her head at the pointless meeting, sinking into the couch. "It wasn't Cat's fault. I'm not sure why she set it up, but I handled it badly. At any rate, I found part of what I wanted to know, and that was that Dawson didn't cause the incident. Not that I really thought she did. I have a guess of who, just not specific names."
Weary dark eyes glance back up at Liz. "You calm Dawson down? I really don't care one way or another if she's Registered, except that soon it's going to be hard for anyone not to be. Fucking Praeger."
"Yeah, yeah," Elisabeth grumbles. "I know. When I don't sleep… I bake. Some cooking, but mostly baking." She brings the coffee back out, knowing by now how Vee drinks it, and plops down on the couch with her friend. "No, Dawson didnt' cause the accident. And I calmed her down some. I don't know why the hell Cat would … assume that Monica was in on the clean slate. She was off Phoenix's radar at the time that everything came down, but it was a good way to freak her the hell out." Shaking her head and playing with her ponytail for a moment, Liz says, "I just wanted to make sure you were squared away on things with her — that no one's looking for her. And yeah — I know. The deadline's looming and I'm hoping a lot of things at this moment." She sighs.
"Listen…. I realize I suck at keeping in touch lately.. And this isn't entirely social either. Got time for a couple of favors, or are you tapped out?"
Taking the coffee from Liz, Veronica brings it to her mouth, blowing on it before sipping, then setting it back down. "It's fine. I'll just say her ability isn't anything related and that her story was the same as the others'. If they press, I'll have to give her ability, but it's not something that should be an issue, and it won't be officially on the books, just in our books. We're not out to bag and tag anyone with a power these days. Times have changed. She'll be safe from us, it's the other bastards we have to worry about."
Sitting back in the corner of the couch, Veronica gives a nod. "I can't make any promises, but I can try. And I'm always tapped out, but that doesn't mean I don't keep adding shit to the pile, Liz. Whatcha need?"
Elisabeth nods slightly. "List her ability as higher dexterity than usual." It's technically the truth. "She's just super agile, really. But yeah… it's definitely the other bastards." She nibbles her lip. "I need you to keep your ear to the ground on the downlow and if you hear anything about Teo Laudani, I need to know as fast as you can get me the intel," she says. "The Institute snatched him up." The absolute agony that's causing her flashes briefly across her features, quickly hidden.
Veronica nods at the agility — easy enough, and not quite as interesting as the truth. Monica would be a good recruit for Company, Frontline, Institute if they knew the truth, after all. Show her lots of videos, and she's good to go! Super agility is not as diverse for field use. The latter information has Veronica's eyes widening. "Shit." She gives a head shake. "I'll let you know, though it's not like there's much that comes my way. What's his power, what would the Institute want with him, you think?" She can't recall his dossier if she ever saw it, having only had a couple of dealings with the Sicilian.
"Officially, he doesn't have one," Elisabeth says quietly. What she's telling Veronica now is something of an open secret within the org but she's trusting the agent to keep the knowledge buried. "He was given abilities by the successful formula… in 2019. He's a limited telepath. Make sure it stays out of his files, though, okay?" She grits her teeth. "And I don't know if you heard or not, but Ivanov got tapped for Frontline work.
"Off the record, I'm not putting anything in files that I don't have to, Liz. We're trying to get shit out of there, not put new shit in, you know? So no problem on that front. And I heard something about Ivanov. Is that good news or bad news, in your book? The bureau's losing a good agent in him. They keep pulling all the 'specials' to put them into Frontline, the agencies are going to lose all their best. Like you," Veronica says, with a nod toward the blonde, before picking up her coffee to take another sip. Caffeine and willpower are about all that keep her moving these days.
It's sort of along the lines of keeping Veronica up to date on who is where from among Antarctica colleagues. "Actually, it's good news — frankly, they flat out didn't deserve him. His SAC didn't even let him get the news from his own email. Felix walked in and got "Hey, heard you got a job offer! Take it, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" — It was horrible. He was torn to hell over it." Elisabeth grimaces. And then she flushes just a hint at the compliment. "Thanks… though if you ask the CIA fucker masquerading as an Internal Affairs fucker who hijacked me to Russia, I'm a shitty cop." There's bitterness there.
"So the second favor…. I need to know if a guy I ran into recently is on your roles of if he's a straight-up DHS guy. He used to be a cop, name of Lupinetti."
"If it helps, he's got a psycho little sister always on his heels…. Isabella," she adds.
"Lupinetti seems to be straight-up, from what I can tell," Veronica says with a shrug. "He's a decent agent except for the fact that she's his partner, and wherever he is, she is. She, on the other hand, is, to put it bluntly, an immature little bitch." No need to sugar coat things, Veronica.
"She was pretty rabidly anti-Evolved, but there's something in the fucking water at the facility or something, because she just manifested, too. She's now a blood manipulator, and probably still learning her control, so don't piss her off. Luckily, she can't hurt me or I'd probably be dead already." She smirks a little, so it's mostly a joke. "Let's just put it this way — right now, neither of them are on my trusted list, which is pretty damn short."
"Mmmm," Elisabeth says with her lips pursed. "Interesting. All right, thanks." At least it answers the question. Liz isn't entirely sure what she thinks of Lupinetti, except that he was a good cop back when. "Thanks for that, Vee. We'll have to see where it goes." She pauses. "Is he Evo as well?"
"Yeah, he's got super intuition. He's like that guy on that show Psych, basically?" Veronica says, with a nod toward the television. She doesn't have time for television, so she's pretty sure Elisabeth doesn't, but some things just make their way to the water cooler, even if one tries to avoid it. "I'm guessing that's normal enough that Dawson doesn't consider him a three-headed troll for being Evo, but anything more flashy than that, she's not a fan of. And I know I thought I was doing the world a favor by helping take down Evolveds, but I was never that bad." She hopes. Obviously, she had changed her ways before her own manifestation, so her turnabout was through other means. "Why do you ask?"
Pursing her lips, Liz grins slightly. "Well, he always was kinda pretty," she admits. "But…. all work and no play these days," she laments. And then she winks. "Nah, seriously…. I ran into him a few days ago and he asked me for lunch today. So I met up with him, but … being as I know DHS is essentially a cover for the Company, I wasn't sure if he was actually DHS or Company. And I want to make sure I'm not in vicinity of people who can royally fuck what I'm working on right now."
Veronica picks up the coffee and takes a larger swallow, now that it's cooled some, but nods her head. "I wouldn't trust him. He came in after Harper, so that makes him questionable in my eyes. I don't trust everyone who was already there, not by a long shot, but anyone who has come in recently, I'm leery of." She takes another swallow, dark eyes studying Liz. "What are you working on?"
"Oh…. a little of this, a little of that. Recruiting. Kicking in doors on Staten Island. Finishing a budget for Redbird Security. Packing to accompany Ivanov to DC for a few days for Horizon armor training. Painting walls at the new building. Worrying my fool head off about Teodoro Laudani, cooking to offset the worry, and catching my lover for a good fuck now and then whenever he happens to be around. We're sorta like that old Ladyhawke movie sometimes. We pass at dusk and dawn for a few minutes." Liz's tongue's somewhat firmly lodged in her cheek. "Trying to find a way to sleep at night around the nightmares of dying. Because I'm pretty sure that's supposed to happen in November. Oh, and did I mention that I was also trying to find time to see my friends and my father occasionally in the middle of all that, and waiting for Kershner to come down on my head for Claire's suicide bomb whenever she manages to unravel herself from the red tape long enough?"
Veronica's eyebrows raise and she laughs with a headshake, reaching to set the mug down again on the coffee table. "Shit, your life sounds worse than mine. And that was Claire? What the hell is that about? That your and Cardinal's plans or is she off trying to change the world by herself? Speaking of Claire, what's your bet on that white knight video being Varlane? I might just owe him my life and Niklaus', but that boy drives me to drink sometimes. At least no one's telling me to recruit him based on that video this time." Yes, it was her who had to recruit Magnes after the Japan incident.
Elisabeth's laughter is soft, and not quite as amused as she'd like it to be. "Claire's… in pretty deep right now," she admits quietly. Worry for the tiny blonde is pretty clear in her expression. "Messiah." And there's a moment where she hesitates, then she reaches for her cell phone and pops the battery right out of it. Maybe it's Richard's paranoia, maybe not. "She went in undercover, and they've got someone on their team who fucks with heads." She grimaces. "In the meantime…. some of the rest of the team seems willing to keep working with us, but we're still sorting the wheat from the chaff." She pauses. "I didn't see the white knight video, but considering what you're calling it, Varlane's a good guess." She sighs heavily. "He doesn't seem to get it. He got given a second chance. They handed him his life back. And he's fucking it all up again. Not that it should surprise me a bit."
The brunette shakes her head. "That's right. He said he joined Messiah to keep an eye on Claire," Veronica replies. "He's a good kid, but he doesn't learn. You can do more if you're discreet and discretion is one thing he doesn't have a lot of." She glances at her watch. "I should probably get. I'll let you know if I hear anything regarding Laudani. Was there anything else you needed?"
"Nope… just wanted to touch base with you, Vee," Elisabeth says quietly. "It's been too long. We should try to make a point of at least coffee more often, okay?" Her blue eyes go dark for a moment.
"Like you have time for coffee more often," Veronica says with a smirk, and then glances at the boxes. "I really gotta take all those boxes? I don't think my car is even big enough," she adds skeptically, moving to grab the one closest to the door. It'll take a few trips to get them all in the car, but Veronica is willing to do some menial lifting labor for the children of the Lighthouse — even if none of them have actually met Brian's secret fiancee.
There's a laugh and Liz helps her take as many as will fit. "There's cookies, muffins, zucchini breads, banana breads. It's all fresh too, so…." She shrugs. "Tell 'em to enjoy."