Fairies, Dwarves, and Ice Queen

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Scene Title	Fairies, Dwarves, and Ice Queen
Synopsis	After devising plots with Adam, Miss Sanders is paid an eventful cell visit by Elle.
Date	September 10, 2008

Primatech Research, Cell Block A

Time in the Primatech facility seems to just blur together. It's not like there's a window that you can look out to see day from the cells. So Jess' sleep cycle is off. Plus she usually is up late, given her job. She finally stirs, and sits up. There's a brief test…the sound of her hand hitting the wall. But she doesn't get the desired result. "Dammit…" is heard from her cell.

What's that? Claude's long since shut himself up for a nap, and so Adam has been without any entertainment beyond a book that he has already read many, many times. The regenerator slides off of his bed and leaves the book on it, wandering towards the wall that divides his cell from Jessica's. In a much lower tone than the one he used yesterday, he pipes up: "You awake in there?"

The blonde perks up at the sound of her unexpected support from yesterday. Good. They brought him back. She stands and moves towards the window. "I am. Thanks for the assist yesterday. What the hell is this place?"

A soft thud indicates that Adam has probably just leaned against the aforementioned wall. "My pleasure - and it's called the Company. It's a front for an agency that doesn't believe that special people should be free and clear. They'll test you and prod you until you can't stand it, and then they'll play in your brain until you don't remember a thing." The more you know.

To say that Jessica is not happy about this would be an understatement. "Wonderful. Torture and brainwashing. Glorious." She considers possible options, and then says "So how are they suppressing what we can do? What can you do?"

Hah! "Isn't it, though?" Adam's voice is almost cheery, but it has an undercutting edge of what might be a quiet hint of desperation. "They give you pills. Slip it into your food, tell you they're medication, whatever - but they knock your abilities out quick as you can blink. As for me, well. They just can't kill me." There's a pause. "I've been here for thirty years because they consider me a danger to the public. They'll probably do the same to you. My other neighbor and I are interested in knowing if you'd be willing to help with an escape."

Jessica nods. "Like I said, I'm pretty certain that I can come up with a way to get them to underestimate me. Have to see what we can come up with. When do they usually come by?"

"Either by hand or with meals. Depends on how sadistic they're feeling." Adam doesn't seem thrilled with the former option.

As if some sort of on invisible cue, it's possible to glimpse Short Blonde(TM) heading breezily down the hallway, not bothering to turn her head (and its calm expression) as she bypasses Adam's window. No heels are there to boost said height - this time, Elle's in black ballet flats. The rest of what is visible is comprised of a red blazer, gray tee-shirt, and skinny jeans. She appears to be empty-handed, but that, of course, shouldn't be taken into account as she gently pushes the door to Jessica's cell open.

Jessica looks over at the sound of the door opening. It might be a chance to overpower whoev—hey, wait a minute!! She stares at Short Blonde…AKA PictureBitch from Park. "You?!" she says, in surprised disbelief.

“It’s me.” Elle affirms this as she reworks the lock, lifting her eyebrows and pressing her lips closed in a delicate expression. There is little hint of the aggressiveness she had displayed the night she’d been “Kim” at Central Park; on the contrary, she looks perfectly nice. The door is just-as-gently pressed closed behind her, as though to give them privacy. “Iiii’m willing to bet you have some. Questions.”

The taller blonde scowls back at the shorter one. She could break her, sure…even without powers. (Of course, she doesn't know -Elle- has powers). But there's almost certainly someone out in the hall. "Just two. Why am I here, and when do I get out?"

Adam's sudden silence can be completely attributed to sudden fear, because - well. Elle is scary, and Elle tends to shock him into submission whenever possible. He recovers relatively quickly, though, and soon makes his presence known again. "Good day, Elle. I see you haven't managed to bleach yourself to death just yet. Jessica, darling: meet Elle, the worst thing ever to befall mankind's rapidly deteriorating gene pool."

False! There’s nobody physically out in the hall. Just the security system that’s always been wired in. “And I see /you’ve/ met our friend,” Elle shares with Jessica with a little sigh, relaxing after perking up her ears at Adam’s interjection. “He’s only bitter because he’s been here such a long time. If you learn to ignore him, it’ll be better for you.”

Well, so -this- is Elle. The one that Adam asked her to decapitate. Could be fun. Jessica looks back to Elle with a little smirk. "Let's see…he's in the same boat I'm in, and you people knocked me out and have thrown me in a cell. Have to say I know which way I'm leaning right now." She scowls.

"There's never anything bad about listening to me. You should learn from Jessica's wisdom, Elle. Remember all those times I've advised you to go jump into a lake?" Adam points this out cheerily, and then taps at the window between the cells. "By the way, you look /hideous/. It's an improvement."

Elle strides farther into the cell, timing her footstep so each one is comfortable. Her arms are held loosely folded against her chest, and she looks down briefly as she paces. She doesn’t have Bob’s gift for rhetoric, she knows. But daddy is occupied elsewhere. “He’s tried to hurt people,” she answers in a normal tone of voice, glancing meaningfully at Jessica by the wall. Adam’s barbed are ignored with a bite of her lip. “Lots of people, actually. We know it’s an itty bit of a problem for you, too.”

Jessica frowns. "Yeah, well. Some people need to be hurt." And then other people take money for hurting them. This is the system. The blonde looks back to other-blonde. "So unless you can change the world, that's a moot point.

"And it's not a problem for you? Elle. Don't treat us as though we're as stupid as you happen to be. We actually have two brain cells to rub together." Adam peers, now, at Jessica - and nods knowingly. "She likes to hurt people. More than I do. Possibly more than you do."

"We're talking about your family." Elle tosses her hair back to look Jessica in the face, slowing her pacing and allowing only a single glance to stray at that inconvenient window. It's the same air of quiet that someone would use to ignore a bully, or a known-and-lying criminal. "It's a bigger problem then you might think. You've lost Niki."

Jessica looks back at Elle. Oh, no she din't. The already icy ice queen glares back at the other blonde, and then says in a chilly tone "I know exactly what's happened to Niki, thank you very much."

Ever the nosy individual, Adam pipes up again: "Who's Niki? She locked in here too?" Taunting Elle is secondary to finding out about other potential inmates. Or other distractions. It depends on how you look at it.

The iciness looks like it’s lost on Elle, who simply sets her mouth into a line and shrugs. “Then why haven’t you seen her for two years?” Company agents have been watching yoo. As for Adam’s meddlesome little voice— well, that’s breezily ignored. None of it’s /his/ business.

Jessica scowls. "She's my sister." SHE answers Adam. "And she hasn't been around because she can't handle the reality of what happened. But it's not exactly like she can -go- anywhere." She looks to Elle, eyes narrowed.

And Elle looks right back, still as nonchalantly as a bird. “I wasn’t talking about her walking out like a ghost, silly. But dear, /darling/ sister’s been there, hasn’t she? You know it.” A sour mental note is made to move Adam and Jessica to cells that aren’t adjacent. She can’t make the move, of course; it’s only wishful.

"Don't tell the fairy princess anything she wants to know, Jessica. And don't rise to whatever bait she's feeding you. It's all rubbish at the end of the day anyway. Give her a good punch. For me." Adam continues to incite - it's practically his job. He peers into the other cell, eyes narrowed. "Do go /away/, Elle."

Jessica is not happy about it. "I said before I know what's going on with my sister. And there's nothing you can do about it, or I can do about it. So why the hell have you got me IN HERE!?" Her voice rises at the end, angrily, and she slams her palms into the door. Dammit. She wants her strength back.

What appears to be a sympathetic expression slips onto Elle’s face, raising her eyebrows in a childishly genuine look. “That’s where you’re wrong. We can help you with this, and that’s what we’re gonna do. Nobody’s made any promises, but it’s time –you- set things right.” Years of things. Jessica knows perfectly well what she’s talking about. Tentatively, she reaches out a hand to lay it on the taller woman’s shoulder.

Adam simply can't stand it anymore. If Jessica's not going to hit Elle, he's at least going to take out his ineffective frustrations on the window. A loud CLONK echoes through his cell when his fists batter up against the little window, lip twisted into a hateful sneer directed squarely at the so-named Fairy Princess.

Interestingly enough, Jessica does seem inclined to punch Elle. Or, rather, not punch, but inflict wrathy violence. This is the first time she's had a chance to really show her displeasure at being kidnapped and drugged. And while she doesn't have her powers, Jess is pretty scary even without them. And, worst of all for her…doesn't know Elle has powers. She reaches up to put her hand over Elle's when Elle puts hers on her shoulder…and then drives a fast and vicious kidney punch towards the shorter blonde while she has the hand trapped.

Elle doesn't have time to react or amass a ball of electricity; the punch drives straight into her taut stomach, forcing her back to curve violently. As she finishes her stagger, her eyes glint - first in shock, then as though she's about to do something terrible in retaliation. Her fingers clench claw-like near the spot. "Not…smart." It's a very good thing Jessica's off her power.

Oh, shit. Jessica's going to be in for some pretty nasty injuries at this rate, and it'd just be inconvenient for the heavy-hitter of the Grand Escape Plan to be out of commission. "Go pick on someone your own size, Elle! I hear they've got some dwarves down the hall just in from Kazakhstan! Don't hurt the blonde lady who actually has something approaching a reasonable height out of /jealousy/."

Indeed, Jessica doesn't have her powers, or she would have punched -through- Elle. But she's not about to try and stop now. One rule of being a hitwoman…you do not turn back once you start. And since Elle is working on the pain thing, Jessica kicks out at the side of her knee.

“Adam, shut /the fuck up/—” As Elle snarls, the hand that had been clenched at her belly suddenly arcs outwards. She’s ready this time, however, and as she painfully avoids with the kick with a light sidestep, a zolt of sky-blue electricity explodes from her fingertips. There’s enough force in it to drop Jessica, enveloping her like a cocoon. At least it’s meant to cause instant agony and not death.

DRUMDRUMDRUM go Adam's fists against the window as he continues his attempt to distract Elle. "I'm sure the dwarves will understand your natural sense of inferiority," he shouts, swinging his hands - knotted together - against the window. One of these days he might even manage to break it. "So perhaps you should investigate something /other/ than electroshock therapy."

Oh, -hell-. Jessica has enough time to look over, see the electric-blue, and then -shriek- as she's getting electrocuted. Her whole body convulses and then collapses, as she falls to the floor. She gasps as the twitching fades and she looks up. "What's going on??" She looks around, wild-eyed.

Before Adam can answer for her, Elle lets a bitter smile crawl onto her face, stepping around Jessica's feet and collapsed body. "Didn't like that, did you? I think you'll find it does wonders for the -muscles- you love using so well." Indeed, should Jessica get a diagnosis from a proper doctor later, she'll find that there are burns in various spots in her internal tissues - even though none are apparent on the skin. It will hurt to move for a while. "…Do kill yourself trying, sweetie."

The blonde tries to move, and cries out in pain when she does. "I…what's going on?! Where am I?" She looks about, and up to Elle, with what seems to be honest confusion on her face, as she tries to scoot back away from Elle.

"You really /are/ a bitch, Elle." Adam's voice hits the air in an unusually grim and low-pitched tone, and the man simply stares at the woman he's talking to with an expression that suggests she is so far beneath his regard she might as well be a cockroach. "New arrivals need the kid gloves before they get exposed to /you/. Look what you've done already. Not two minutes spent with the poor girl."

Over a heavy breath, Elle’s eyes flicker to Adam through the window. Her smirk widens so it’s exposing two rows of trim white teeth, though in this new shape it’s more of a contortion than a smile. “She attacked me first,” she breathes. “And I didn’t /kill/ her. So what do you care, pajama boy?”

"Perhaps I care because I'm a human being. You can't even imagine what it's like to care for anyone, can you? Elle. You really should meet up with those dwarves. They might teach you a thing or two about being a respectable little person." /Person/, not /freak/. There is a distinction, and the way that Adam emphasizes the word should make it clear, albeit unspoken. His gaze flits over towards Jessica. "At least have the grace to call a doctor."

The blonde on the floor scrambles up to her feet, wincing. "Is this a hospital?" She looks around, hearing Adam's voice. "What's going on? What happened? Who are you?" She looks to Elle, and to the window where Adam's voice is coming from.

Something about Adam’s remark makes Elle sneer, tensing her upper torso for a troubled retort. She doesn’t have time for it. It becomes clear that she isn’t exactly sure how to respond when the woman addresses her, and her blue-eyed stare lingers on the changed presence before she figures it out. “…Niki?” Doesn’t hurt to make sure.

Adam thinks more quickly on his feet than Elle seems to. He registers the use of the name and files it away for future pondering, instead choosing to prey upon what Jessica seems to be at this moment right now: a frightened girl. "It's not a hospital, it's a prison. The blonde in your cell has just gotten through with electrocuting you. I suggest you hit her hard enough that she can't do it again."

There's a pause, a wary look back at Elle after Adam's words. She moves back to the wall, putting some distance between them, and nods in answer to Elle's one-word question. "Prison? Oh, god…what did I do?" She looks uneasy about the prospect of the answer.

But though Elle isn't as quick at arriving at conclusions as Adam, she's swift in taking advantage of Niki's wiped slate. Besides, the delicate, long-haired woman doesn't /look/ like she's capable of electrocuting anyone — either physically (with bare hands? What is this, a Marvel strip?) or emotionally. "He doesn't know what he's saying," she murmurs quietly, turning her gaze to Adam through the square of glass and then back to Niki's eyes, as though sharing in mutual knowledge. She holds her empty palms up. "You didn't do anything. It was Jessica. You're safe now, Niki."

"Jessica hasn't done anything either; they just do as they like and kidnap people off the street. That's how /I/ got here. That's how Claude got here - he's a few cells down. And if Elle hadn't been born as daddy's little girl, that's how /she'd/ have been here." Suddenly curious, Adam looks over at Elle: "Did you ever consider that? It could have been /you/ living in a fish tank. You're a danger to society."

Niki looks to the blonde, and then the window. "Where is this?" She asks Elle, and looks at the window again. "And what happened to me? I feel terrible." She heard the "electrocute" thing, but there doesn't SEEM to be any equipment to do that with. She sits on the bunk.

The look Elle gives to Adam is benign. Almost adoring, though in a sadly observant way, particularly right after he interjects with a loud: "—/Electrocuted/."

"You're so adorable when you're delusional," she tells the man sweetly, unhesitatingly returning her attention to Niki. "You attacked someone as Jessica," she informs casually, swinging her palms daintily onto her lap and bouncing them once. That would explain the hurting. "The reason you're /here/ is so you wouldn't hurt anyone else, or yourself."

Rule Number One of being an Effective Speaker: Talk Louder than the Other Person. In this case, Elle qualifies as a 'person'. Barely! "/Lying/!" Adam says, in a tone both amused and annoyed. "They're lying to you, and they'll just wreck your mind. See. The woman with you? The short one with the fairy pom-poms? She /shocks people/. With electricity. I am being most literal." He stares back at Elle with his arms crossed - almost as though he's daring her to show the barest hint of her ability.

Niki looks back at the call, and back to Elle. And now that the immediate shock (pardon the pun) is beginning to fade, so too is any drive, it seems. "It doesn't matter." she speaks in Adam's direction. "This is where I belong." She -was- gone for quite some time…and the causes of that remain. She lies down on her bunk, back to the room at large.

Rule Number Two of being Convincing: Don't Raise Your Voice And Sound Desperate. Elle, of course, simply stands there looking mystified. "I wasn't lying, Adam."

She approaches the door then, adjusting the back of her t-shirt as she does. Though she doesn't attempt to lay a hand on Niki again, she does turn around right as she gets there. "I'll see if I can't get you a better spot to stay, Niki," she says easily, comfortably, as she leans. "You don't deserve to stay living like this."