Encouraging Compassion

Participants:

brennan_icon.gif ryans2_icon.gif

Scene Title Encouraging Compassion
Synopsis A meeting between Doctor Brennan and Senior Agent Ryans, results on a positive identification, marking Luke Campbell as being at the scene of the murder.
Date March 23, 2010

Financial District


Morning is easiest to get off staten island. You can melt in with the folks who are coming to and from the island for their work in cleaning up the place. Get to the mainland without fear of something from above watching too close. The meet was set up for a park, instructions that any and all technology was to be not brought to the meeting. Brennan waits on a bench with an issue of pause, flipping through the article on the interesting people. Peter Petrelli his focus, along with his current cup of coffee while he waits. Someone else waits, by the name of Vincent but he's incorporeal for now and unseen.

Despite being twenty years younger and his skin didn't feel as thin as it once was, the Senior Company Agent still dislikes the cold. Huddled in his brown canvas duster, the tie cinched tight, the cream and maroon scarf wrapped tight around the lower part of his face. Fedora topping his head, making him look like something out of Darkman, not that the Agent would know what that is.

Spotting the good doctor sitting on the bench, he chances his angle of travel. It was hard to leave his cellphone behind, but then that was the deal. A pen and pad would have to suffice. The scarf is tugged down, the end of his nose feeling like it is already freezing up. "Doctor Harve Brennan?" The greeting is rumbled, but without the rasp of age. A hand moves to pull the hat off his head in respect, revealing a head full of dark brown hair with only the barest hint of gray at the temples.

This was not some geriatric agent as Vincent has told him, no walkers here. No this man looks about the same age as the negator. A hand is offered, even now it seem alien to what he's been looking at for years. "Agent Benjamin Ryans, Homeland Security. Thank you for meeting me, I heard that there was some difficulty in her life. So I will strive not to keep you too long."

Probably a good thing that word trickled down that the Company agent had a bit of an accident. So at least the doctor had warning.

There's more than a few people in the world who would giver their right leg to have his sort of accident. People who spend thousands of dollars to achieve the fountain of youth look. So there is some surprise that there's not tennis ball laden walker despite the warning and when Brennan closes the magazine and puts both down, he offers his hand out in return and shakes firmly. "Agent Ryans. I appreciate it. I appreciate too that your agreeing to my demands in how to be met. Frankly, i'm confused. I gave my statement to the police and answered their questions. Surely they've shared them with you?"

There is a slow single nod of the agents head as he settles on the other side of the bench from the doctor. "They did, but I often find that I like to hear the story from the source, a fault of mine I suppose. " He settles back on the bench reaching into his duster for one of the inner pockets. "But also so that I could bring you a line up." Paperwork is extracted, eyes watching the crowd around them.

"And to do that, well, I'm willing to do what is most comfortable for the witness." The folded paperwork is slowly opened up, it is a series of two paged stapled together, pictures of various people, in those photos is one of Luke Campbell. It isn't handed over right away. "I talked to your wife, she mentioned your daughter witnessed something as well. With her being so young, I figured I would just come to you."

"Being a father, I know I wouldn't want to subject them to such questioning over something like thing late." The papers are finally offered over, before he rests that arm on the back of the bench, foot moving to rest on his knee. "Take a look at those and see if any of the individuals were there at the scene. I know your wife mentioned someone fleeing a monster." A small smile hooks up the corner of his mouth, the imaginations of kids, turning something horrible into something they can understand.
It's not so much the imagination of children that do that so much as a coping and survival mechanism for children. Unable to comprehend death, they convert it to indeed, something they understand. "Given that we were at the park together Agent Ryans and she was the one who alerted me to the body in the alley"

Brennan's gloved hands take the paper so that he can unfold it and look at all the pictures. When they light on Luke's image, he taps it. "This was the kid. Wasn't wearing a jacket, was freezing and came out of the alley disoriented. Said he'd lost his jacket and was in shock. Like he hadn't seen the body or recognized it. He surprised when I told him it was a human"

"Interesting." A pen is pulled out of an inner pocket as he takes the line up back from the doctor, a circle is drawn around the image and a note made of the date and time of identification. Some notes of what Brennan mentions. There is almost a look of satisfaction slipping through that ever present neutral mask.

The papers are folded up and tucked back in a pocket replaced by a small pad of paper, a thumb opens it to a clean piece of paper. While he does so he asks softly, "Did he say anything about how he got out there? Or anything unusual?"

"Nothing about how he got out there. He was cold which indicated that he'd been out there some time or long enough, like I said to the cops, he'd had no jacket Agent Ryans and seemed confused. A lot of halting sentences, and very brusque. He refused to stick around once the sirens were heard. Did he.. melt this body? Was he responsible for the individuals death?"

"Admittedly, I can not say too much about the case, but there is a possibility." The agent rumbles, blue eyes on the tiny notebook, making notes. "He is most certainly a person of interest and should you see him, stay away if you can." Contacting the authorities is left unsaid, common sense and all. "I'm sure I do not have to impress upon you that the person who did this is a highly dangerous individual." His hand pulls out a business card and offers it.

"Now, I don't want to keep you much longer, and while it doesn't bite these old bones as hard anymore, I would rather get warm." A small smile is afforded the man next to him. "But, is there anything else that you remember, maybe it did not occur to you as odd that day? Anyone else around you that might have seen it?"

The card is taken, Brennan casting his mind back to the day. "He called himself Larry. He was in Central park a week later. I saw him and he was calling someone a freak, that evolveds were freaks" Was he with Melissa that day? Brennan taps the card and frowns. "You want m opinion? If the kid did it, it seems more in tune with a manifestation than anything. Mind you, a manifestation gone wrong and someone unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time"

Glancing up from his notebook, brows lifting a bit, a touch surprised that he saw the kid again. Not that he knew about the connection then, so in the Agents mind it's excusable. "If it is a manifestation gone wrong, then that is a bad thing. He is a danger to those around him, until he has learned to control it."

"It also means, that it could happen again." The agent lets the concern color his deeply voiced words, his gaze moving back to his his notes, pen scratching over the surface. "It is an opinion that I will keep in mind, doctor." He may be a Company Agent, but evolved tend to know a thing or two about their own kind.

"If that is the case, I hope that we can bring him in safely, with little incident." The notebook is closed finally and tucked away. "So that if he is a manifesting evolved that he can get the help he needs to learn to control it." Ryans sets the hat on his head, settling it. So many memories with that old and well-loved hat.

A hand is offered again, and a pleasant smile, "I better let you get back to where ever they have you holing up, doctor." Ryans glances around, as he adds. "If anything else comes to mind, or you spot him again, do not be afraid to contact me. Set up another meeting or what have you."

“If he is Manifesting Agent Ryans, and he lacks control, that could explain the comment about freaks and the way he reacted to a woman on the scene. It's a terrifying time for a person when you manifest not a passive or defensive ability that can't harm another. It's a nightmare when it's an offensive ability that causes harm to another, and possibly, in this case, death. I can see how he might be behaving and I encourage you to, not that you don't already, have some compassion for the circumstance that he's in. If it is him, and if it is a manifestation. I hope he does get the help he needs"

As he rises to his feet, the senior agent's eyes dart around, suspicious by nature, he knows they could be listened too. "Compassion only goes so far," There is nothing nasty about the statement, merely matter of fact. "That is why it is important to get him in custody before things get too far." He head tips down, eyes glancing to the ground. "It is only a matter of time before he uses it for a much worse purpose. It only takes once. One use for something darker."

Head tilting back up, Ryans gives a short nod of his head. "But with hope we will get him before then." There was a time the Company helped people learn the control. Other more dangerous individuals were tucked away to keep the world safe, now it was a whole new ball game and Ryans was still learning the rules, so he can only fall back on what he knows.

“Maybe he won't use it for a darker purpose" Brennan rises from the bench. "Too many people assume these days that everyone with an ability has intentions to use it for nefarious purposes. To steal, cheat, lie, kill, to gain an advantage over others. I'm not saying he deserves forgiveness Agent. There's a difference between forgiveness and Compassion. One is turning the cheek. The other is understanding that some things, like manifestation, are beyond our control. Not everyone gets off as easy as I did in the ability department." But. Brennan grabs his coffee and his newspaper.

"But that is neither here nor there and if he did it, then he needs to learn control. Have a good day Agent Ryans. Get out of the cold, I know I will" And with a nod of hid head, Brennan turning, a glance around him as if looking for something and he walks off.

There is a hat tilt towards the doctor, and a pleasant, "Good day to you, doctor. And thank you for your time." Then Senior Agent Ryans turns and heads off in his own direction. He got what he needed from the doctor, another piece in the puzzle, and one step closer.


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