Participants:
| Scene Title | A Predisposition to Megalomania II |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Every act has consequences. |
| Date | January 13, 2019 |
“No, I have it under control. Trust me.”
Slouching back into the leather upholstery of his desk chair, Donald Kenner twirls a pen in his free hand. The other is occupied by his phone, clutched in a tighter than usual grip. “No, I've tried to call Madame Secretary a few times already and it's gone straight to voicemail. Her assistant says she's traveling, so I imagine she's en-route to you.”
Rolling his eyes and turning in his chair, Kenner looks at the clock on the wall, exhaling a steady breath in a slow exhale. “Look, Vincent — Mr. Secretary — I understand that the president wants answers and I'm just— it'll be in my report.” Whatever was said on the other end of the line wasn't good, as Kenner closes his eyes and claps one hand to the side of his face, pen still clutched between two fingers.
“Look, Mr. Secretary, I— ” The door to Kenner’s office flies open, followed by the long-striding frame of Claudia Zimmerman closing the distance between door and desk in three strides. “ — need to call you b — ”
Claudia snatches the phone out of Kenner’s hand and hurls it at the floor. The phone shatters into four pieces, and Kenner sits in stunned silence for a moment. When he opens his mouth to speak again, Claudia shouts over anything he has to say.
“What the fuck were you thinking, Don!?” Claudia’s voice rings off of the walls and the door behind her to the lobby in front of Kenner’s office hangs wide open. “I authorized you to organize a fact-finding mission not punch a fucking hole in reality!”
Slowly raising his hands and pushing his chair back, Kenner comes up to stand. “Claudia. You're the one who told me to trust R— ”
“You do not get to fucking put this on me!” Claudia points back through the open door. “There are nine dead agents who you assigned to Sunspot! Nine agents whose families will never know what they died for!”
“Wait —” Kenner stammers over his words. “Just wait a minute. No, we’re going to make a public statement. I already drafted up a proposal for the speech to send to the President. We’re — ”
“We nothing, Donald! You told Agent Bluthner that I authorized his transfer. You took Agent Carrington off of an assignment that I personally put her on. You killed Foster, Carrera, Mitchum, Billingsley, Adler, and Wright! This wasn't what we agreed on. You jeopardized our Alaska Operation!” Claudia's face is flushed red with anger, hands flat on the surface of Kenner’s desk, leaned forward over it as she dresses him down.
“Ray got a lead. He found a second thin spot. By our estimations we only had— we only had one more shot to bring them home.” Kenner waves one hand in the air frantically, “You didn't see the video from the Deveaux Building! They were— they were human beings on the other side of that portal. Living, breathing people!”
“There are seven billion people on Earth! If that experiment unleashed a strangelet or a fucking black hole we’d all be dead!” Claudia slams her hands down on the desktop. “I expect better of you Donald! I expected you to fucking follow orders.”
“You don't understand!” Kenner shouts back. “You haven't— you haven't seen what they're dealing with what— what's happening on the other— you— you can't understand!”
At first Claudia is confused and shocked, but then she's horrified. “Jesus Christ, Donald. Did you have another episode? I told you to check with medical if you had another goddamn vision!”
“They won't stop!” Don shouts, one hand at the side of his head. “I'm there, Claudia. I was there, but it's not me. I— he— he massacred— he— he killed them. Every minute we waited…”
Claudia slowly backs up, shaking her head. “Don, Jesus Christ. Do you have any idea what you've done? What you've set in motion? We had a plan, Donald. We've always had a plan. I told you to…” She trails off, scrubbing one hand over her mouth.
“It'll be fine.” Kenner says shakily. “Claudia. They're back, we’re heroes. When they get back to New York and we have a press conference, everyone will— ”
“No.” Claudia says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “There's not going to be a press conference. We’re invoking privileged information. Everything that happened will be classified until the end of fucking time. The people who you allowed into this world will be put in the shadows forever. The dead will be buried. And we will move on.”
“Claudia,” Kenner steps around his desk, “that's not— SESA wasn't founded on the belief that things should be hidden. That’s the Company. That's the Institute. We’re better— the American people are better than that! I won't sit here,” he motions at his desk, “and presided over a coverup and lie to— ”
“No you won't.” Claudia says as she holds up a hand to Kenner. “I'm relieving you of your position effective immediately. Madeline will become Director, and Voss will take on Deputy responsibilities.”
Kenner stares blankly at Claudia. “What— Are you demoting me to a fucking field agent?”
“Donald you need a full psych evaluation.” Claudia replies, flatly. “I'm putting you on indefinite administrative leave.”
“Claudia—”
“Pack your desk.”