After Exchange

Participants:

cat_icon.gif helena_icon.gif

Scene Title After Exchange
Synopsis Cat comes to terms with the reality of the situation.
Date December 12, 2008

A Clothing Store In Manhattan


Priorities exist, Cat understands this, after her release. They may well have stuck an electronic device on her person, this possibility needs to be investigated, and she also strongly desires fresh clothing. Leaving Chinatown, and heading elsewhere in Manhattan, the brunette enters a clothing store where people know her. She doesn't have credit cards on her person, given the situation, but it presents a non-problem. The manager is told she needs to buy some things and wear them out of the store, and is asked to bill her for them. Once that's agreed to, she's snatching up a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, bra, panties, athletic shoes, and short white socks then heading to a dressing room.

Helena has herself changed out of the dreaded white hoody, relinquished her body armor, and followed Cat to make sure she's okay. There's a lot to take care of, but initially she's willing to give Cat the means to feel like herself again, at least a little bit. A medical checkup, and situating the woman in a safehouse will come later. The apartment is compromised, and there's no going back there. She doesn't speak a word about the situation with Dani, but does follow Cat into the dressing room.

Silence is the rule. Cat doesn't speak a single word after making arrangements with the manager, in that stretch of time keeping the cold murderous expression out of her features somehow. Inside the dressing room, she removes all the clothing she has on and sets it aside, shaking each piece out to be sure there aren't any devices in them. Then she stands in full view of the blonde and turns slowly. There are a few bruises on her upper body which have the impression of coming from being kicked, but no other sign of injury about her.

The movement, that slow turn, shows she has no devices taped to her person. Once she faces Helena again, eye contact is attempted. She asks in silence by means of a raised eyebrow if she's clean.

Helena rises, standing behind her to make one last check - she runs her fingers through Cat's hair, being mindful to be gentle around her scalp. Then she nods and steps back, fitting herself to the tiny little shelf-seat while she waits for the brunette to put on clothes.

There's still no speaking, as she does just that. In short order Cat is clothed again, taking the unused short white socks in hand and the note regarding the means of retrieving Dani. Her opinion on this is expressed non-verbally: that cold murderous look returns to her eyes, her jaw sets, and she holds the document in her left hand. The third digit of her right hand extends and is shaken a few times at the paper. Then it's pocketed and she's on her way out, leaving the shed clothing behind as garbage to be disposed of and forgotten. Tags are given to a clerk on the way out and a bill prepared, she thanks the store staff and exits.

Only when she's outside the store, with any devices that might have been in her clothing and on her person left well behind, does Cat speak. "Stormy," she says quietly. "I probably won't even get to bury her, and she's going to die so very slowly."

Helena will feel guilty for the relief she feels, that Cat understands that Ethan's demands cannot be met. She's silent for a moment and then offers, "I'm so sorry."

"He asked me if I was smarter than him. I said I didn't know, but the evidence wasn't in my favor, since I got captured. Now I know the answer: I am. And he believes otherwise. He's overconfident. If he were as smart as or smarter than me, I would be dead." Cat begins to walk slowly, keeping close to buildings, the words she speaks kept quiet so as not to be overheard.

Helena looks sidelong. "I know you're angry right now." she says as they walk. "I know you're furious and bereaved and…just." She does know. She watched a mob kill her mother. "But we can't do anything that we don't plan carefully. This should never have happened. Even for what we managed to gain, the loss was just…" she trails off. Too much.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Cat intones, "and this one never forgets. I'm going to kill him. I'm not going to try it in such a way as he sees me coming and cuts me down before I get close, it won't be something reckless that gets others hurt or killed. My moment will come. I… I expected to die, Stormy. I was prepared for it. Ethan and his group, they're planning genocide. That's the only logical conclusion to take from mention of a flood. It carries the biblical implication of a cleansing, a purge. Killing him is about Dani, but not just her. It's kill or be killed."

Helena nods. "We know." she says quietly. "His boss - the real man behind the scenes, is named Kazimir." Her mouth presses tight. "And he's the one who killed Cameron."

"Kazimir," she replies, remembering the info in the Catabase on him. "He drew first blood. The girl, Eileen, traded for me, is she guilty or an innocent caught in their web?"

"She's someone who may be of use to us where she is." Helena says quietly. "The message we send, telling Ethan we won't trade - is there anything you want me to add to it?"

"I'll write it, and give it to you to send. Or I can just tell you. It's basically fuck you, Ethan, with the knife you used to torture her." Cat goes quiet to speculate for some moments, afterward adding "There are things to do. We have to warn Wireless to not be seen meeting with any of us, and to watch her back. He told us he knew about our techopath. He may have been guessing, or he may really know we have one. It's safe to believe they may have operatives watching us to see if we meet with her. I also need to see about getting hands on security tapes from the Dorchester Towers lobby of that night, and find out if he maybe lives in the building. There was a woman with him. Blonde, five feet two or three. Either he or she has time manipulation powers. Without seeing anyone get close enough to inject us, we got drugged and woke up in a dark room with Ethan."


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December 12th: Exchange
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December 12th: Result: Failure
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