Participants:
| Scene Title | Business Opportunity In D Minor |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Elisabeth approaches Rebecca about a unique business opportunity. |
| Date | June 7, 2010 |
Rebecca's Office
Monday morning and while Rebecca Nakano might have a couple of cases ongoing at the moment, they are light duty stuff where she's mostly needed for night time stake outs. Things have been slow starting since things have started to thaw out, but one thing was constant: Folks who have it in their mind that their spouses are cheating, will still be suspicious even after the blizzardous weather have passed. Last week, she started making contact with those whom she was working for and only ended up with a couple of assignments left.
She's been up a couple of hours. After moving out of her apartment and into the office to save on money, she's found that her couch is not as comfortable as her bed was, but she has to do what she must to make ends meet. Today however, she was in a more creative mood so she pulls her viola from the closet, dusted it off and tuned it and is playing Brahms Viola Sonata Op 120. It's not perfect as she hasn't touched the viola in a number of years, but soon she's pulling the bow back and forth with ease, getting back into the flow of things.
The sound of music from within the office was not what Elisabeth was expecting when she came to pay this visit. She pauses outside the door and raises a brow, recognizing the music though the name of the piece is lost somewhere in those years of missing memories. She does, after all, have a minor in music. Her hand comes up to knock on the door, and she waits for the occupant to answer — or to finish the piece and then answer. Whichever way works for her.
The music is abruptly stopped. Rebecca sets the bow and viola on her desk, then hurriedly grabs her bedding from the couch and shoves it into the bottom of her file cabinet, slamming it shut before she checks herself in the mirror and shakes her head. "Maybe it's a customer." She can only hope. She walks over and opens the door, smiling when she sees who it is. "Elisabeth. Hey. Come in!" She steps aside to allow the woman through.
"Hey," Elisabeth greets Rebecca with a smile. "Long time, no see, lady. How's business?" Not so great, if the fact that she couldn't locate an address for Rebecca at home. But then again, that may play very nicely right into Elisabeth's plans.
"Yeah, notsogreat." Comes the quick response. "The frozen wasteland has been bad for business. Honestly, just getting back into things now that the temp has begun to rise again." Rebecca walks over and picks up the instrument and begins to put it in the case, sliding the bow in its little spot before closing it and setting it down. "How about you? How are things where you are?" She only knows a little about what Liz does, from what was mentioned in previous discussions.
"I can't decide if FRONTLINE's better or worse than the cop shop," Elisabeth admits. "Right now, we're all caught up in the same bullshit." She sighs heavily and moves further into the office to sit, nodding toward the instrument. "You play pretty well. It's been a while, though, hasn't it?" She doesnt' know why that even popped out of her mouth. "I'm sorry.. that was beyond rude."
Becca chuckles under her breath as she moves to join Liz, pulling up a chair. "It's true, so I'm not all that offended. I used to be alot better. I just felt the need to pull it out and see what I could remember from memory." Rebecca's nearly photographic memory comes in handy for that sort of thing. "I should really play more often. Who knows? I could supplement my meager earnings by playing in restaurants," she teases and leans back in her chair, crossing one of her legs over the other. "So, are you here on business or pleasure?" Liz has used Becca's services before.
Elisabeth considers and says, "Perhaps a little of both, Becca. I need to sound you out about a couple of things, but….. the possibility exists that a friend of mine is going to be opening up a private security firm. And while his own specialty is likely to be corporate security — you know, the kind where companies hire ex-thieves to break into their places and show the weaknesses in their security? — we're looking at making it a full-service kind of set-up. Including PI services. And I gathered you were having a tough time of things on your own, so I wondered if you might be interested in considering a partnership of some kind."
"And before you jump one way or the other, I guess there's a little bit of a story I need to tell you. And if your opinion of me changes afterward, it's probably not something you'll want to consider."
There's more than a little interest in what Elisabeth is talking about in the eyes of Rebecca Nakano. She seems to be seriously mulling over the offer, if you could call it that. There are questions already coming to her mind that she'll ask, but she's stopped when she's told there's something more to consider. "What is it?" She can't possibly think of anything Liz could have done that would make her think any differently of her, but she has her full attention. "I'm listening."
"I've done a lot of things in my career," Elisabeth says quietly. "And over the past year and a half, I've done a lot of things…. that probably make me a shitty cop. One of those things was removing bombs on the bridges." Rebecca will surely remember that, because though it was kept entirely quiet in terms of press, the precinct buzzed like mad. "With the help of the other organization I was part of at the time. Phoenix." She drops the bomb on Rebecca and then simply waits to see where the woman chooses to begin her questions.
Everything that Rebecca has read about Phoenix, including while a member of the NYPD, pointed to them being some sort of terrorist organization. So it shouldn't surprise Elisabeth in any way to suddenly see a look of scrutiny come across the Asian woman's face as she shifts in her chair. The bombing of the bridge was a big deal. "Wait. You were part of Phoenix? I.. I don't understand." Rebecca's no saint. Not at all. Her stint in rehab is proof of that, but Phoenix? "Why would you..?" The question trails off.
"Because the Vanguard bombed Washington Irving while I was a teacher there. I watched more than five dozen of my kids die, Rebecca, while they blamed their activities on Phoenix. I won't say that they — *we* didn't do some questionable things… but I needed justice for my kids. It's why I came back to the force and why I cooperated with Phoenix. Ultimately, that's the only way Vanguard was taken down. And it's how I continued to fight them even up until this past holiday. That's why I vanished the way I did. Homeland Security knew what I was into and I got jacked onto a classified mission to help take down other cells of the Vanguard because of my experiences here in New York." Her tone is calm, and Elisabeth simply answers as well as she can.
Her foot falls and Rebecca stands and walks over, glancing out her window at the snow covered city below and is silent for a moment. She's a very logical person, rarely doing a hell of a lot based on emotion. Maybe it's one of her faults. One of the reasons that she barely gets really excited about anything, keeping her emotions tucked away somewhere inside her. She doesn't look back, keeping her eyes out on the street below, "But why take sides? Two terrorist groups going after each other, why not just do your job as a law enforcement officer? Why become a terrorist?" She finally lets the curtain draw close and she turns around to face her.
"Because I didn't become a terrorist. The definition of a terrorist is to take actions aimed at creating terror in the populace. That's not what Phoenix has done. Have they done horrible things? Yes. Have I participated in certain of them? Yes." Elisabeth doesn't flinch from that, either. "The worst that Phoenix — at least the Phoenix that I became part of — can be accused of is being a militant vigilante group, Rebecca. The targets that I've participated in going after have been the ones law enforcement can't touch."
There's a definite inner conflict going on right now and Rebecca really has no idea what to think about all of this. There's the possibility of work involved and she does really need it at this point in her time as she's just barely keeping her head above water as it is. Maybe in the end, she really never knew Elisbeth all that well. Admitting to having done things in the name of Phoenix.. not technically a terrorist group, but they have walked that line. In the end, Rebecca's own nose isn't all that clean either. She realizes she's been looking down at the floor for several moments.. several long moments. She finally lifts her eyes and looks at Liz and asks:
"Did you truly think that what you were doing was for the best?"
That answer comes simply and softly, the expression accompanying it at peace. "Yes." Elisabeth has no doubts about that part.
The blonde pauses to let Rebecca take that in, and then offers quietly, "Over the past year and a half, Rebecca, I've seen things and been part of things that will blow your mind. It sounds stupid to say it, but to say that I've been part of at least two missions to save a large portion of humanity is not exaggeration. Some of the people in this security company could be called upon to do some things 'off the books' so to speak for the US government. And if you choose to partner up in the civilian side, I won't keep from you that some of what we do may not be…. quite above board. So I want you to have the out now, if you want to take it. Before you know anything that might make you squick."
Rebecca chew on her lip for a moment, a nervous habit she has when decisions have to be made. Difficult decisions. She finds her eyes drifting to different items in the room, knowing where they belong and finding her own peace at them being where she recalled. When her eyes find Elisabeth's eyes again, she releases that lip. "I want to know everything up front. If I do this, I don't want surprises later on. I don't mind walking the line, or even stepping over if it's for a greater good." She crosses her arms across her chest, "What is it that you need from me? What will be expected of me?"
Elisabeth knew she'd be taking a chance with this. Trusting anyone is hard. "Mostly, to be quite frank, nothing at all will be *expected* of you. If we make this work — if we can come up with the money to actually start the business and bring in enough clients to actually *have* a business — most of what you'll do is similar to the business you're already in. Between all of us and our skill sets, we might actually be able to take on some better cases than the cheating spouses ones, yeah?" She grins a bit. "It's the other side of the coin that could be the problem for you. But you see too much for me to ask you if you're interested in the legit side of things without also telling you that there are some other things going on. So…. I'm going to lay out for you everything I've done over the past year and a half. I've already got a pardon for all of it due to a classified mission for the government that I mentioned earlier. ANd once you hear that…. if you can live with what's already happened… we'll talk again. And I'll lay out for you where things stand from here. Sound okay?"
"I don't fancy jail, Elisabeth, so whatever you can tell me, I'd appreciate it." There's a light teasing to her voice. While there may be some hesitation in her demeanor, if there's someone she has felt she can trust, who's been there for her when it was really bad for her, it was Elisabeth.
It's a really long story, and Elisabeth settles in to tell Rebecca an abbreviated version of the last year and a half.
By the end of it, she figures Becca's going to be reeling with the information of what's been going on out there with Vanguard, Pinehearst, time travelers to the future, and the Company — though Liz makes a point of distinguishing that there are certain Company agents who can be trusted.
"These situations are not entirely over, Becca. In negating parts of it, obviously other issues come up. And those issues are the ones that we'd be dealing with off the books sometimes."
Rebecca finally walks over and retakes her seat and nods, still mulling this opportunity over. "I am going to have to think this over." She cants her head to the side just a tad, "Are there others already involved? Anyone I might know?" Might not get these answers, but if she knows who else is involved it might sway her a little one way or the other. "If you don't want to say, I understand."
Of the people who would make the list of people Becca'd know? "Gabe MacNamara of SCOUT helps out at times. Other than that…. doubt there's anyone in there you'd know. Though I could be wrong." Elisabeth tilts her head. "It's a lot to consider. I don't expect necessarily that you'd get yourself involved in all of this, Rebecca — it's not part of the job description. But it could impact the business side of things if stuff goes south, so I didn't think it'd be fair to see if you were interested in pooling resources in a security company without giving you a reasonable picture of what could be going on behind the scenes either."
She nods slowly as she takes that all in. It's a big decision, potentially a life changing one. "I think if I do this, Elisabeth, I need to go all in. I can't fathom doing this part time for you, then coming back here and chasing cheating husbands." Rebecca brushes a loose piece of thread off her pants as her eyes fall to it. "Is that an option?" She lifts her gaze again, staring at the woman across from her.
Watching Becca thoughtfully, Elisabeth asks, "All-in on just the legal front? Yes, absolutely. We'll maintain your plausible deniability so that if shit hits the fan, you're covered. If you're talking about the rest?" She pauses and says quietly, "It's not pretty and it's not fun, Becca. It's sort of like that movie "The Matrix" — once you can see what's happening, there is no real shutting your eyes to it and going back to normal. There's just … powering through it or pretending not to see it. Be sure. There are days I'd like nothing better than to chuck it all and run."
Elisabeth adds with a smile. "And do bear in mind that much of what we do is still going to be bread-and-butter security and private investigations cases, though I'd like to see us focus on corporate stuff more than cheating spouses."
There's a part of this all that almost terrifies the investigator. It's.. it's just crazy. However, those final words seem to aleviate those fears just a little. "Let me have some time to digest this. I'm fairly certain that if I'm going to be in, I want to be all in. But let me think about this." Rebecca finally stands stretching herself a little. "Thanks for coming to be about this. I'm happy that you considered me."
Moving to stand, Elisabeth says, "Even if you don't want in on the insanity, Becca, do consider the business part. I think it's got serious possibilities in terms of being lucrative. And we're still working on whether to bill ourselves as Evo specialists, but it'll be something we talk about when we know who's interested." She grins. "It's damn good to see you."
Rebecca has looked far better than Liz has seen her in the past, at her worst. Those days are behind her now though and she's eager to move forward. "It's really nice seeing you. Just, no matter what you do, remember what's important, okay?" She walks with Liz towards the door, "I'll call you towards week's end and let you know what I decide, okay?"
Elisabeth nods and moves impulsively to hug Rebecca. There was a day, not so long ago, when the other woman was cursing her. "I'm trying, lady. I'm trying." She heads out the door with a grin. "Sounds great."
As Liz leaves the office, Rebecca is silent, lingering by the door after closing it. She leans against the wall thinking over everything that was said today. Big opportunity, but could be big risk. She vows to really consider this as she walks over and picks up her viola again, plucking it out of its case. Soon, the strains of the string instrument could be heard again as she starts the piece again.