Participants:
| Scene Title | Feeling Out A Partner |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Liz wants Fel's thoughts on obtaining FRONTLINE backup for some things. |
| Date | March 25, 2010 |
Delicatessan
There's a legend/running joke in the Bureau, the root of a piece of FBI specific slang. When a Fed is about to use his badge to shove around the local law enforcement, metaphorically speaking, he may use the phrase, "I'm gonna roast beef him." It stems from a story that a New York Agent was suffering under the misapprehension that FBI employees got a discount, or otherwise special treatment at a local deli…..and when he got a roast beef sandwich just like anyone else's, held up his badge and went, "FBI. More roast beef." And this is why Felix is chewing on a roast-beef sandwich right now…..because the current guy behind the counter has a warped sense of humor. Fel ordered a turkey club, this is what he got. Not that he minds, it's good, and he's wolfing it down like Liz might lunge snarling across the table and steal it from him. There's soup on hand, as well - tomato basil. Fel's no better than he was, and no worse; worn to a thread, thousand yard stare in his eyes, and that eternal dogged persistence.
The hot tomato soup and the warm Reuben were exactly what Elisabeth needed on this frigid day. She's dressed in the black BDU pants and top that make up her normal uniform these days, her blonde hair clipped at the nape of her neck, and as they ate, they've talked about inconsequential things. Things easily interspersed with two people shoveling food in like they haven't eaten in two days or more. But finally, with not even a quarter of the massive sandwich remaining in front of her and her soup bowl empty, Elisabeth leans back in her chair, replete, and picks up her coffee cup to sip from it. "Damn Feeb… I didn't realize how hungry I was," she admits quietly.
Felix looks down mournfully at the crumbs that are all that remains of his sandwich, casts a longing look over his shoulder at the deli case. What heights of cheddar, what rolling hills of salami remain to be conquered. Now, maybe? He's got a longish lunch hour. Or maybe cake. He swings that bloodshot blue stare back to Liz. "Me, neither. It's like, I'm never not hungry, these days." He sips from his coke, rubs at his eyes, and mutters, "I miss Lee, still. Nothing tastes as good as his cooking. Nothing tastes good a lot of the time, and I even gave up smoking, for real, this time. I haven't had one since the New Year."
"Wow," Elisabeth says quietly. "That's pretty impressive, Felix." She'd noticed the odor of stale cigarettes wasn't always wafting around him anymore, but she hasn't said anything for fear of jinxing it. "I'm proud of you."
She sighs a bit, looking around the deli. "I'm going to have to go soon. Listen… I wanted to run a thought by you. I'm on my way from here to a meeting with Kershner."
"Yeah. It's weird. I don't miss it," he says, quietly. "'What's your thought, Liz?" All he smells like these days is soap and aftershave, generally. Happily. Old smoke - it's a terrible, terrible smell.
"I'm going to read her in, in a limited fashion, on the intelligence we have regarding Kozlow and Dreyfus. I think we can actually make this damn busted system work for us this time, if she's willing. It's a risk…. but I think it's a risk worth taking. I'm not sure our little band of merry men is up to handling Feng Daiyu, Skoll, Dreyfus, Kozlow, Yvette Volken, and whoever the fuck else they might have on tap. And it makes me damn nervous that Muldoon and Logan are involved here, it tends to make my paranoia act up and wonder if Linderman is funding these fuckers." Elisabeth bites her lip. "I don't want to bring up all of that, but I do want to put us in position that FRONTLINE could potentially be called in to back us up, entirely legally. Foreign terrorists acting on US soil, actively making a target of a Fed — you — shit like that."
"I agree," Fel says, quietly, after a long, silent moment. "I agree. It's like…..no matter how fast we shovel, this just keeps piling up. I don't like her, I don't trust her….but it's definitely a matter of the lesser of two evils," He picks at a crumb, turns a crust over with a lazy finger.
Elisabeth studies him quietly, and then says, "So …. if push comes to shove, I can tell her we might be able to get the FBI on board? I'm not sure who has jurisdiction in all this, so I'm trying to cover us as best I can."
He heaves a slow sigh. "I think that's a -might-. But it's possible. I don't have all that much power, really - if anything, I'm seen as the loosest of cannons. But they loaned me to her before, maybe this can be payback time. That reminds me. Liette. You heard that name? Did I ask you about that, before?"
There's a pause. "You didn't," Elisabeth replies quietly. "But … I know of her. A little bit. Why?"
"I got asked about her. I was at the incident where she got lost. This technopath killed her handler. Behemoth, maybe?" he says, rubbing hard at the bridge of his nose. "She's apparently a human Mcguffin. I had some HomeSec spook come asking me about her. Not officially, right, he showed up at my house. Got told to keep my ears to the ground. She's a multipower, it seems."
Elisabeth blows out a breath. "It's…. my understanding that …. she knows enough about Richard's power to offer a suggestion on how to heal him," she says quietly. "But I don't know where she's hiding." At the moment, anyway. "I know she's …. in the underground with friends. And that she has laid eyes on Edward Ray. That he's alive." She keeps her voice low.
Felix closes his eyes, like maybe he can unhear that, if he doesn't see her saying it. "Shit," he says. "That son of a bitch. Well. If she can heal Cranston, good. I'll pretend I didn't hear that from you. But…." he looks for a moment as if tempted to bargrain, and then just waves the idea away, grimly.
"If you can sort out who wants her and what they want her for, Feeb…" She shrugs a bit. "I don't know what her circumstances are, but I gather she's damn important." Elisabeth watches him and grins slightly, a wicked twinkle in her blue eyes. "Some days, don't you hate it that I don't keep you in the dark as much as I used to?"
Felix just shakes his head. "I just want more power to -do- something about it, instead of running around like a middle-aged errand boy," he says. "I don't trust HomeSec, and that's dismaying."
There's a grimace. "Yeah. No shit," Elisabeth comments. "Being able to focus on the National Guard issues and shit? That's actually a relief, if you want the truth. It's simple, straightforward, and it doesn't strain my morals."
Felix looks down at his plate, again. Like more food should've manifested by now. "I can't blame you. But…I'll keep my ears out for her. I said I would. The question is if I pass on the info." Even if the agent who came to see him was kinda flirty.
Elisabeth eyes him and says simply, "I'm trusting you to keep it to yourself unless you get information from some source other than me." She moves to stand up. "I need to head out, Feeb. Gotta finish my shift before I meet up with the Shark." She strokes a hand over his head briefly. "See you later."