Participants:
| Scene Title | And Got Worse As It Went |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The day just keeps on keeping on, and it definitely gets worse! |
| Date | December 8, 2008 |
Same bed, different room, and under her real name, not the false one. Which makes it unfortunately easy to find her. Brown hair splayed across the hospital pillow, face turned towards the window of the room, fingers worrying at the sheet hem. The phone beside the bed long since been disconnected because Abby got tired of it ringing. Bruising on her face, Like someone gripped her jaw quite forcefully, and peeking from beneath the drab hospital gown, more abrasions in a good two inches width march at an angle from chest to neck. Flower reign abundant in the room making for a somewhat cloying smell.
From the doorway, Elisabeth clears her throat. "Hey there," she says quietly. And then she steps in and closes the door behind her. She's wearing casual clothes — a pair of dark brown slacks with a cream, peach, and green top. She still wears the sling to keep her from using the arm, though the cast is no longer on it. "How're you holding up, Abby?" Her eyes take in the injuries with a slight wince.
"I don't want to discuss it" It's an automatic answer thrown out, even before abby looks to the door and see's who it is. "Elisabeth" Surprise flitting across abby's marr'd features. "I uhh, i'm good. pretty good. No fancy drugs this time around. Hospital bill should be cheaper" look for positives. "Going to need to change my hair again. I think i'm running out of colors though"
Elisabeth smiles gently. "Yeah, I'm thinking the next color's purple," she quips softly. "I know you don't want to talk about it, I was hoping two things… that you'd talk to me about whether you've got a safe place to go. And about what happened." She pauses. "With Felix dead, I wanted to be sure you were being looked out for. But I also want to stop the person who did this to you." She moves to sit next to Abby's bed in the chair.
"Felix was my get out of jail free card. I don't have that now. I have other layers of protection though. Ferryman. Or whomever is taking care of felix's case. Probably ferryman, i've stayed with them before" Abby still worry's at the hem of the sheets. "Phoenix. They'll do what they can. Someone will figure something out. I'm sure" So far, there's no invocation of god or faith in it all. "was them, people that Agent Ivanov was looking for. There was a.. teleporter and then there was a .. Demon" for lack of better word. "The guy that was present last time, that someone knocked me out to protect me from. Asian, long hair. Do you know how Brian is? He was hurt, pretty bad. I managed to get a hold of him, keep him from dying, nobody much is talking to me other than to just say he's lucky and alive" Abby shifts on the bed, for something to do.
Elisabeth listens quietly, the Ferrymen not familiar to her. But the Asian, long-haired guy brings her head up and sharpens her eyes on Abby. "I don't know how Brian is, but I'll check in on him if you'll vouch for me," she tells the girl softly. "I'm not sure I can be as much of a get out of jail free card, but I may be able to help you. Take you into protected custody as a material witness and you can conveniently escape with some Phoenix help if necessary…. Abby, if it's the same Asian guy — and yeah, I won't know that until you get me a sketch, he's the one who helped blow up the school." She probably doesn't have the authority to offer this; it'll certainly be something she'd have to run past Will — at least the 'protected custody' part. The escaping part? He doesn't need to know that. "If you think even that's too dangerous, I'll take your word for it and get word to Phoenix to get you out of here. Today."
"if they were going to kill me Elisabeth, they would have. i was trapped beneath three pews. They had to wrench them from their moorings to get me out" so Elisabeth was a cop still, not a teacher. the sheet twists beneath her hands. "I can't have you bring me in. Everyone who needs to know where I am, knows where I am. The moment everything started happening, Brian started telling people, i'm sure of it. He can make copies of himself. There were two copies with me. We'd had a fight, and he was trying to watch over me, make sure I didn't get hurt" As for the asian man… that would be no surprise to her if he was partly responsible for the school. "Demon"
Elisabeth nods to Abby. "Then I won't bring you in," she says quietly. "I'll just sit with you until another friend comes, okay?" She smiles a little. "I couldn't live with myself if I left here and just left you on your own. They clearly don't mean to kill you, they want something else from you." She's not stupid, she knows they don't want to kill Abby. "I've turned over the information that our friends have on all of this already… a blonde contact," Helena, without names, "gave me a bunch of it. But a good description or even a sketch of the Asian man might help us get him out of the picture. If you can see your way clear to helping that much. It can come after you're released from the hospital, though."
Nobody wants to kill Abby. Much like Munin, she's too valuable for one reason or another. "I already gave it to the police. They had someone in not long ago" But Abby goes through the process again, little numbly, describing Wu-long. His suit, the way he kept his hair back, color of his socks. Every little detail she could remember, even down to his power, how it felt when he grabbed her ankle and transformed her. Elias too, Teleporter, his suit, height, weight. Detail for him wasn't as good, she had been running from him and then just when he has spoken to her at the end. At the end, Abby's blue eyes lift to Elisabeth's with a hard swallow. "BRian, if he's awake, can probably tell more about the teleporter. The one that go away. I didn't see him come back with the clone…." which means that the other clone might have died and there's a dumbstricken look on abby's face at this sudden realization.
Elisabeth nods slowly, and she reaches out to hold Abby's hand. "I'll check on Brian next, I promise." She doesn't know Brian, she can only offer what small comfort she can. "Thank you. For the description." She'll make sure that her new squad gets it too, though given the situation they may already have it. "Besides checking on Brian… what can I do for you, Abby? I feel… somewhat helpless at the moment, honestly." She smiles a little. "You've helped me so much, I'd like to do what I can.'
"Give me a job where I get paid but don't have to show up or do anything?" She's going to have to give up Old Lucy's now. Just as she was starting to really enjoy it. Elisabeth reaches for her hand, but Abby pulls her own back. "I uhh.. I can't promise that nothing would happen if you touched" Make up a polite excuse as for why she's not wanting to be touched other than she just doesn't like to touch often. "A nightgown that doens't show my behind? Or um.. find Teo and get some of my clothes. My church dress is covered in blood and I think they'll be letting me out tomorrow, or tonight. They're wanting to keep an eye on me. Make sure you know, that my heart doesn't just up and stop or, some other crazy spontaneous thing and I can't… fix myself until I'm out of here"
Elisabeth nods easily as the girl pulls back. "I'm sorry." She didn't think about the fact that Abby might not want to touch in case her ability kicks in. She does smile. "Well… I can't precisely promise that I can keep things like your heart from stopping, but I *can* put the word to Teo to bring clothes," and backup because it's unlikely Abby's heart will just stop without help, "and maybe something to read while you're waiting. Not so sure about the job part, though."
"It's okay, you didn't know. And I had to ask, it's like, if someone asks you what you want, you add 'and a million dollars please' to the end. You know know it won't happen, but you have to ask" She flex's her hand though, a glance to Elisabeth's before reach reaches over, settling her hand into the other womans. No transfer of warmth and the like, she's got control and some small part of her relax's. "Teo shouldn't come. Someone else. They know what he looks like and he's too important. He'll make arrangement. he always does. He takes care of me, even when i don't deserve it"
Elisabeth lets Abby take her hand, and she squeezes the girl's hand gently. "You're all so goddaa…. freakin' young." She's not sure why she stopped, except that she knows Abby's religious. Teo, Abby, Helena… they're all so young, it seems. "If they've all got your back covered, then, all that's left for me to do is just… sit with you. If you'll have me…. in spite of the fact that I went back to my calling." She offers a faint smile.
"I'm not part of them Elisabeth. I was, i'm not anymore. I just picked up a guardian or two along the journey" but no objection to young, she's sure that to most, they are young. "Everybody is young at some point. And .. you went back?" well, there's no more school anymore. "Need me to fix you up, all the way then. So you can get back sooner?" Her hand squeezes elisabeth's back.
Elisabeth offers a smile. "One … no, I don't want you expending your energy on me when you're hurt. Two … just because you're opting out of an organization doesn't mean your friends stop caring. Just because I wasn't a cop didn't mean I lost my friends. And three … yes, I went back. In part because I needed to — I believe certain kinds of jobs are a calling. Teaching, healing, and police work are three of them… and my calling has always been more of the cop variety. I just NEED to protect people, to help. The school explosion pretty much was the last straw for me… I've sat out too long. And I feel better… more myself… since going back." She sighs heavily. "I'm not happy about the stuff AROUND that choice. The politics and the Registering part of it, particularly… but if I can keep people like the ones who attacked the school off the street, then… I have to. And I can also help our mutual friends a little better from inside the system too." She shrugs a bit.
"I'm in a bed Elisabeth, with nothing to do but sleep. I can expend it." She could be rude, could just do it while she's holding the womans hand, but she wouldn't force it on the woman. "You do, what you have to do. What feels right. What feels proper. It's you who has to answer for your own actions in the end and the consequences of them" Abby shifts again, turning onto her side, a heavy breath. "Wake me when lunch comes?" she doesn't think the woman will still take the healing even after the assurance. "If a nurse comes, ask about Brian for me"
Elisabeth offers a brief squeeze of the hand and replies softly, "Tell you what… after you take a nap, if I'm still sitting here, I'll let you do something then, okay? Because as much as I appreciate the offer, I want you to take care of yourself too." When Abby scoots down to roll over and settle, Liz leans back to get more comfortable in the chair. "I will," she reassures Abby. Both to the lunch and the checking on Brian. She doens't know Brian, he doesn't know her, but she'll try her best to look out for both of them. "Abby… what did they want from you that they were willing to beat it out of you?" It sounds like an afterthought, but it's not.
"what everyone wants from me elizabeth. Answers to questions I can't afford to answer" Abby closes her eyes. "I know too much"
Elisabeth grimaces and nods. "Yeah… I can see that," she says with a sigh. "Somehow you've made yourself the center of a lot of things … it's a shame that it has worked out that way, Abby." She sounds truly regretful. "I'd offer to help you bury what you know, but I'm not sure that wouldn't just make it worse. Not to mention, I'm not entirely sure I could do it — I'm not a telepath. Just a sort of hypnotist." She grins a little.
"people get hurt. They can't go to a hospital. I don't ask questions Elisabeth. And i don't want to know less. I can't explain why, I just… do. Nobody would believe me anyways if i said I couldn't remember" her tones gone soft, quiet.
Elisabeth nods to the girl. "Yeah, well… hence why I said I wasn't sure that wouldn't just make it worse," she says with another grimace. She sighs. "I admire what you do, and the reasons you do it. Far more than I can ever tell you." She smiles a little. "Actually, you're sort of my inspiration. In the short time I've known you, you haven't shirked from anything that's come at you… and even without knowing the details of what's happened, the number of bruises you sport on a regular basis pretty much tells me it's major. You're one of the main reasons I went ahead and went back… because if you can keep fighting to do the right thing in the face of all this, how the hell can I justify doing less?"
Elisabeth is regarded now like maybe she's the one who got her head thumped into marble. "The bruises on my face before now Elisabeth, was me being in wrong places at wrong times and not watching where i'm going… Not demonic jerks bent on pummeling an answer out of us"
Elisabeth laughs. "No, what I mean is…. in spite of all the trouble it could cause you, you heal anyone who needs it. You don't turn anyone away. You don't flaunt what you can do, but you sure don't hide it. And when your friends asked, you stepped up to help make their point… you know? You don't have to be a fighter to inspire people, Abby."
"I have turned people away Elisabeth" Abby answers.
Elisabeth tilts her head and admits, "I'd forgotten. You said you'd turned away a cop." And then she raises her brows and offers, "And since I'm a cop again… if you want me to stay away, I will."
"I turned away his daughter, who was threatening to turn me in. I tuned away her greed and her selfishness Elisabeth. I didn't turn away him. He hasn't answered me. I tried to get a hold of him. Why does everyone assume that I don't like cops." Abby pulls her hand from elisabeth's, settling it a few inches away.
Elisabeth holds up both hands in a conciliatory gesture. "I'm sorry — I misunderstood what you said to me when you told me about it, then. I thought what you said to me was that you turned him away because it was too dangerous for you to intervene more than you had already done to save his life." She's actually surprised at Abby's reaction — if only because she doens't think it was an assumption on her part!
"I saved her friend, not her father. I've never met her father. He was an officer on the anti-evolved task force. He… it'd be dangerous, but no more than it is to come heal any other person who I get called to. One of these days, they're right, i'll heal the wrong person. I'll pay for it. But till then, i'll keep using god's gift as he see's fit. I have someone to see to anyways once i'm out. I have brian, and someone else, and the detective hasn't sent word back, so I don't think he wants my help"
"Abby… I don't think you're a saint — don't take what I said wrong, okay? You don't have to justify yourself to me or anything." Liz hesitates at the news the cop's on the anti-Evolved task force, but she doesn't volunteer further information at the moment. "Like all of us, you have to find the balance between doing what's right and not getting caught." She grimaces. "Believe me, I understand *that*."
"I know the balance. It's just fitting everything in" The brunette murmurs. "I'm going to sleep now, my face hurts, it aches to talk and I've already done enough of it. You have the description of the two men. I hope it helps you elisabeth, I really do. You know who I am and how to get ahold of me, if you need anything more." Abby closes her eyes again. "You'd think that a church would be sacred ground"
Elisabeth murmurs regretfully, "Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?" It works that way in the movies, but then again…. real life is never quite that good. Bad guys target kids and churches, they just don't care - they go for the big impact. "Rest," she tells Abby. "I'll be here when you wake, or someone else you know will have relieved me."
"if you are, you are" Abby answers, doing her best now, to try and rest. "They won't try again, not me. They'll go for someone else. I'm just the messenger now"
*A bit later*
Elisabeth makes for good company when in the hospital. Quiet conversation that ended with abby taking the aforementioned nap. Paranoia doesn't mean their not out to get you, but having Elisabeth there, means less fraying on the hems of the sheets and actualy shut eye instead being awake and eyeing the nurses who might syddenly appear out of the shadows. She lets elisabeth do that instead. Pills dosed out for her head and throat, Abby's coming around after her afternoon siesta.
Elisabeth is still sitting in the same chair. Although she stepped out of the room momentarily to check on Brian's state with the nurses, she has remained with the young healer out of a sense of… what? Not obligation. Perhaps she just likes Abby that much. She's leaned back in the chair with a book in her lap - she always carries one in her purse, which is sitting on the floor next to the chair. She glances up as the girl starts to move, closing the book.
And there's a blonde heading through the hospital. She's dressed in scrubs and looks very much like a nurse right now…except that expression has nothing to do with caring compassion. She draws nearer, and reaches the door to Abby's room. There's a pause, then she steps inside…and looks quite surprised when she sees Elisabeth in Abby's room.
'Anything happen? How's Brian?" Words slurred with sleep, Abby's blue eyes opening to find Elisabeth still there. She'd sensed someone but wasn't sure if it was Elisabeth or some other 'guardian' that she'd got to sit in. She hsifts to start getting out of her curled up on the side position, reaching for the cup of water and straw while she comes to full conciousness. What a sight, the bruises niki last saw having shifted now to her jaw and mouth area. Niki's glanced at as she enters, no recognition for now.
Elisabeth looks up as the door opens, expecting a nurse. Her expression must be nearly as shocked as Niki's own. Moving to stand up, Liz's expression goes from surprise to wary caution. "Hi," is all she offers, being as she's not sure what to CALL the blond in the doorway.
The blonde smirks just a bit. "Hello there." She seems to have recovered quickly. "Get interested in something else for the next fifteen minutes, Elisabeth." She looks at her with a bit of superiority, but also a bit of caution.
The voice. The woman in the alley. "No" Abby speaks up quickly. "Stay here. Please. Please Elisabeth…." The former blonde inching across the bed away from Niki. Visions of the homeless woman pummeld and broken, dancing though abby's mind.
The blue eyes narrow slightly as Abby pleads, never leaving the person she's now certain is Jessica and not Niki. "No, I don't think I'll do that," Elisabeth says mildly. "Abby's fine with me being here. Is there anything we can help you with?" She doesn't want to start anything — especially with Jessica — but *shit*. She absently moves her left arm, freeing it from the sling as if she needs to just stretch the damaged limb.
Jessica takes a couple steps inside. "I like you, Elisabeth. That's why I'm going to give you what most people don't get. A second chance. Don't be stupid. Walk away." She takes a couple more steps towards Abby's bed.
"She killed a homeless woman I was helping" Abby spills out, blue eyes locked on Jessica. Her fear just rolling off in waves. "The woman in the news. Mary. She thinks i'm special, not that i'm just helpful" Abby slips herlegs over the side of the bed and now it and elisabeth are the only things between her and Jessica.
Elisabeth keeps her eyes on Jessica as Abby gets off the bed, stepping a couple of steps forward to put herself between the two women, remaining on this side of the bed from the other blonde. "For Niki's sake, I'm going to say this one time. Go. Now. ~It's my job to keep an eye on her and protect her from any threat, perceived or real. It comes with my badge. And because I don't want to start a ruckus here in the hospital, I'm going to let you walk. Get your sister and get out of here. There's no reason that we have to make this a big, newsworthy situation.~" Even now, she'll try to protect Niki as much as she can, and she laces the latter part of her 'request' with all the subsonic ability she's got to try to convince Jessica to walk away. She's not even sure it'll work, being as it seems to require some kind of 'don't really want to do this' mindset, but….
Jessica hesitates at the subsonic part of Elisabeth's request. But it has three things working against it. First, Jessica knows about Elisabeth's powers. Second, she's awfully opposed to doing what she's asked. And third, she's specifically guarding against Elisabeth's powers. Even still, it makes her hesitate. But only hesitate. Her eyes narrow. "Stupid move." She reaches to the side and grabs one of the rolling carts of equipment in the room…and then heaves it at Elisabeth like it was made from styrofoam.
"Elisabeth!" Abby calls out upon seeing Niki and her feat of oh my god she just picked up that cart… Down the healer duck on the other side of the bed, uttering aprayer in case Elisabeth get's hit, not even sure that if the woman did get hit, that abby could save her.
"DUCK!" Elisabeth shouts the word for Abby, but she uses it as an attack in and of itself, manipulating the airwaves into a concussion blast that will push the cart (and due to her lack of finesse, every damn thing else in the room) back at Niki and the wall behind her. "Get out!" she demands of Jessica.
Jessica's eyes widen, as the cart comes flying back at her, but she's a professional. She backhands the cart aside like it was nothing, and looks back at Elisabeth. "Not a bad trick. Can you do it with something smaller?" Because, completely aside from her powers, Jessica's still a badass hitwoman, and her hand dips into the scrubs, coming up with a gun, silencer equipped, that she levels at Elisabeth. "Like a bullet?"
"Stop!, Stop!" Abby can see the gun through the various opening of the hospital bed's mechanisms. "Don't shoot her. Please don't shoot her, I'll go. Jsut don't shoot her" Comes abby's pleading voice. "Don't hurt Elisabeth"
Her eyes never leaving Jessica, Elisabeth replies, "Abby, you don't have to." She'll take the bullet if she has to.
Jessica looks back at Elisabeth, gun still held on her. She looks over to the side, sliding her eyes just a moment. "Get dressed, Abby." she says, as she returns her eyes to Elisabeth. "Make one wrong move, one hint of something I don't like, and I'll rip off your arm and beat her to death with it." Unlike most threats of that kind, nothing in Jessica's tone or expression suggests it's hyperbole.
"i..I..I can't… My clothes are all bloody" Brian only you know bled near her, combined with them getting her out from under the pews. "I have my j..jacket, will that work, and my boots?" Abby's still behind the bed crouched, a look to elisabeth as she speaks this all. A calling motion made with her hand to her ear, fear still coming off in waves.
Elisabeth doesn't miss the motion because her eyes skim sideways to Abby, but she doesn't give away that she understood by any flicker of motion. "You can take my coat, Abby." It's a knee-length wool one, meant to be worn over a skirt. At least Abby will be covered… and warm. If that's all she can do for the girl, well…. so be it. Even Liz isn't going to win faced off with a silenced pistol.
Jessica considers it, for only a moment. "Strip." She tells Elisabeth. There's no malice to it. There's nothing to it, and that's part of what makes Jessica scary. No hint of emotion. "Abby, take the clothes and put them on."
Elisabeth slips out of her clothes a bit slowly, first shoes, then pants (which are then handed to Abby while Elisabeth opts not to look in the girl's direction), and then blouse. It leaves Liz in only her undergarments, but it doesn't seem to bother her a bit.
Oh, that prospect is not at all appealing to abby in the least. But it means saving Elisabeth's life, so Abby does it. A halfhearted thought to hit the little red button on the control looped near the head of the bed, but Jessica's promise/threat has abby doing exactly what the woman ordered. The brunette pulls her arms into the hospital gown but doesn't take it off. Waiting instead for the clothes to be passed voer, slipping them on under the hosital gown, an attempt to save her dignity in light of everything.
Jessica doesn't look to give a rat's ass about dignity. She waits until Abby is dressed in Elisabeth's clothes, and then she approaches Elisabeth. She still has the gun held on Liz, and then her left hand shoots out to grab Liz by the throat. Her strength is such that blocking her would be like trying to knock away an oncoming car with a hand. "I thought you were smarter than this." Her hand closes a bit, vice-like. "I really did. Play this smart, and nobody gets hurt. You didn't see me, I wasn't here. You stay okay, and she stays okay. Play it stupid, and you get her head back in a box." And she lets Liz go, backing away. "Abby, you're with me. Move up behind me, back up as I back up, for the door. Try to run, try to call for help, and I shoot her."
Jacket slipped on and buttones up, Elisabeth's shoes traded, though a size too big, Abby's bobble heading again. Up onto the bed she crawls then over it, making her way to behind Jessica, keeping her hands where they could be seen. Doing everything she needed to do to keep Elisabeth alive.
Watching Jessica approach, Elisabeth already knows the woman's going to go for her throat. She tries to dodge, but she doesn't really have anywhere to go in the small hospital room. So despite a (very small) scuffle, Jessica's once more got her by the throat. And Liz is just about ready to launch an all-out attack when Jessica lets her go. So instead, she remains where she is, her eyes on Jessica and Abby. She hopes that the younger girl finds the cell phone in the pocket of the slacks… Not like Liz had time to remove it.
Jessica waits till they back into the hallway, and then turns, to grab Abby by the arm, and she moves to march the other woman out of the building, bringing her along, as they head for the door.
No sound from abby, just a last glimpse to Elisabeth before niki drags her off to wherever she's bound to take her.
Wilting with relief, Liz stays in the hospital room. Three minutes, at most, and she picks up the hospital phone to dial the a phone number. She tells Trask, "Hi, hon, I'm going to be late. My cell phone's lost, so we should report that and see if they can trace it and disable it or something. I'll see you later."
 December 8th: It Started So Simply |
 December 8th: Ending In A Clusterfuck |