Participants:
| Scene Title | Getting What You Need |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Get your minds out of the gutter, you people! |
| Date | Oct 26, 2009 |
Deserted Subway Station under Ruins of Midtown
She hasn't been back down here in months. And truth to tell, the trip down memory lane — and the darkness that accompanies it — is not exactly on Elisabeth's list of favorite things. She's sweating a bit even in the cold night air as she walks through the tunnel, carefully keeping her flashlight aimed at her own feet. She knows the man with her can see everything down here clear as daylight without it, but she's not so lucky. "I think it's about another…. 300 yards or so from here," she says, her voice echoing around the huge tunnel though she spoke in nearly a whisper. She steps carefully around the rails, having a hard time hearing anything but her own heart thundering in her ears. Raw panic is clawing at the back of her mind, but aside from being very quiet — and the whole clammy, pale, and sweating part — she's doing okay. "There's a door in the wall; it's about 20 feet to the left, beneath the catwalk, shoved all the way to the back under there, if I remember right."
Although he doesn't need it, there's a flashlight in Cardinal's hand as well; a sturdy maglite, heavy in his hand, casting a bright beam across the walls and floor as he sweeps it about fairly aimlessly, just to keep things illuminated in Elisabeth's path. His other hand's resting at the small of her back, as it has the whole time. "Not too far, then," he observes casually, "Just a little bit longer. We'll be there in no time. What'd you say, M16s and shotguns?"
"Yep," Liz replies softly. "Last I knew, anyway. Maybe half a dozen of the M16s and maybe… I don't know. Same number of shotguns? I only saw the crates once, when he moved them from the Dispensary to here," she admits. As she walks with him, she smirks faintly. "You going to move the crates themselves, or just want to move the guns? Or hell, leave 'em here til you're ready. They've been down here ever since Conrad put them here — if they're still here now, they're probably safe enough until you're ready to move."
"That should be more than enough," Cardinal admits quietly, "We don't have that many people to arm up, unfortunately, so that should be fine." A thoughtful sound in his throat, "We'll grab some of the guns… and— well, we'll see. Worse comes to worse I'll get Andrew down here to move them by hand. He's supposedly super strong."
"Supposedly?" Elisabeth slants him a half-amused look in the darkness, reaching up to absently wipe at her damp face with the back of her hand. "You don't know for sure?" She picks carefully across the tracks, the beam of her flashlight shooting ahead to illuminate a service door and then dimly lighting up a section of the raise walkway a bit further on. A metal grate is screwed in place over a hole that looks just big enough to accomodate the crates of weapons. "There," she points with the light beam. "We shoved them in and then back about halfway toward the door under there." She grimaces. "This time, you get to climb under there. Cuz I really fucking hate rats. A lot."
"I just have his word for it, but I don't see why he'd lie," Cardinal admits, slanting a look over, lips twitching in a crooked smile, "He's ex-military, too. I think you'd like him." Then he steps over to the door, crouching down slightly beside the screwed-on grating. "No rats, huh? Noted if we consider pets— " A faint chuckle, "Okay, gimme the screwdriver."
There's a soft chuckle as Elisabeth pulls the screwdriver from her back pocket. It's one of those convertable ones — she couldn't remember what kind of screws were holding the grate in place. "I'll like him because he's ex-military, or I'll just like him?" she asks suggestively, waggling her brows in the dark. "And no ferrets, either. They're sorta like rodents."
The screwdriver's taken, and he leans in to check the screws; switching it over to philips-head before starting to work on the screws, metal squealing softly as he turns it. "Hey, I'm not trying to give myself competition," he chuckles in the dim light, "No ferrets? Shit. What is still on the table?"
"Interesting…. competition implies jealousy," Elisabeth taunts gently with a sage-nod. "I'm definitely liking that idea. Dogs, cats, fish, birds, … no snakes, though." Carrying on both conversations at once doesn't seem to be fazing her. But then again, it's a good way to stave off the incipient anxiety attack. She's having a little trouble catching her breath, and since he can probably see better without the light than with it, she uses her flashlight to glance up and down the tunnel nervously.
"Liking what, jealousy?" A glance back over his shoulder, and Cardinal smirks, "I'm not the jealous sort." The grate comes off with a rasping grind of metal and rust, and he slides it to one side, "Alright. Let's see if your friend's stash is still hiding n here…"
She laughs. "Good," Liz replies. "Let's keep it that way. It's just plain messy. Although still… I do like the idea of seeing two men in fisticuffs over little old me. I can bat my lashes and pretend I'm all aflutter about it. Really!" She's being entirely facetious here, in case he can't tell. "You know, you probably could have just slithered in there to verify it," she notes.
"What about you? Should I bring a girlfriend and a pool of jello to the library sometime?" Cardinal ducks down, moving to crawl into the crawlspace, voice echoing back, "…yeah, but I couldn't've gotten them out that way."
There is a roll of her eyes that he can't see what with being inside the small space and out of sight now. Elisabeth squats down, biting her lip as she waits to see if he finds the crates. The dark out here with just her and the flashlights is ….. oppressive. "No. You should not. I'm not likely to go scratching anyone's eyes out, but you know, discretion is the key word if you're gonna fuck around." She wipes her face with the back of her forearm, feeling like she's been running. "For example, you're never going to walk into my apartment and find me with a guy in there — you have a key and an open invitation, so that's just bad manners."
"I'm not that uncouth, Liz." A chuckle echoes against the walls of the crawlspace as he vanishes into it, ground rasping under denim-covered knees and gloved hands, "Alright, crates, crates…"
There's a laugh from the blonde, but it's starting to sound really shaky. "Good to know." She presses her face against her knees, sucking in quiet breaths. "God, Richard… please tell me you've got those things so we can go?" she whispers. Looking back up, she brings the flashlight around to look through the tunnel again. She keeps listening for things…. and hearing skitters and squeaks, and even feeling some trains rumbling along tracks far away, the sound carrying through the rails she's standing on. She can hear some homeless people using the station a mile down the track as a shelter. And she can hear Cardinal's breathing and heartbeat, along with the scuff of his pants and shoes on the ground. Hell, she can hear the creak of his joints as he moves. And none of that is helping a single little bit. "You find anything yet? It shouldn't be too deep — we were going to need them in a hurry if we had to come for them," she calls softly.
"Found them!" The words echo in the enclosure, and then there's the creak of wood as he pries the lid of one open. Metal and plastic clatter, and his voice emerges triumphantly, "They're all here. Okay. Let me just load up this navy bag with some of everything, and I'll be right now, lover. Just hang on there. Only thing in here is me'n you…"
Relief staves off the hyperventilating that she really wants to do right now. Elisabeth calls, "I'm fine!" in a stern voice — and ruins the effect when she makes a very girlish squeal as she backpedals rapidly from squeaking foes. "~FUCK~." The expletive reverberates around the tunnel sharply. The next thing he hears is the sound of her boots on the walkway above where he's standing. She's fled from the rats and she's above his head.
"That's a rat, Liz." The comment's mild as Cardinal steps back out from the cache, sliding the grating back into place; the heavy navy bag slung over one shoulder, he looks up to the walkway, brows lifting, "This'll do for now."
"No shit, Dick Tracy," Elisabeth retorts in a biting tone, her blood pressure sky high. Now that he looks ready to blow this pop stand, she jumps back to the ground and turns to leave. Then she stops and says, "Gotta put the screws back in." If he's leaving any weapons there, we don't want them tampered with.
"Yeah, yeah." The navy bag, loaded with weapons, is dropped down to the ground with a light clattering before Cardinal turns, crouching down a bit and reaching for the screwdriver to steady them back in, "Mm. I'm thinking we're going to want to move to the underground levels of the library."
She's practically dancing with the need to get the hell out of here by now. "For what?" she asks. "I think it's a bit more dangerous than staying on the main level, honestly. What if you get penned in down there?" Well, not him specifically, but the others. Elisabeth moves over to haul the bag onto her shoulder. He can have it back once they're in motion.
"Warmth." Cardinal steps back, pushing himself up to his feet and stepping over to bump his hip against hers, bringing the maglite up in an arc of illumination before them, "The place is going to get fuckin' cold as hell once the season gets on, Liz."
That brings her head up, and Elisabeth grimaces. "Yeah," she says quietly. "Sorry… I wasn't thinking." Girl who's never spent a day on the streets in her life. "Shit." So to stay warm enough, everyone's going to have to move downstairs, and maybe bottleneck themselves. Isn't that just a wonderful thought? "C'mon… I'm losing it down here," she admits quietly. She's starting to shake pretty bad by now, and once he's ready to move she starts walking back the way they came at the quickest pace she can manage in the dark.
"Alec'll be thrilled," Cardinal admits with a shake of his head as he walks along beside her towards the entrance once more, keeping up with her easily, "I know he was bitching about all the possible places that people could crash into our place from…"
"Well, you know…. sure, let's move everyone downstairs just to make Alec happy." Elisabeth glances at him and grins faintly. "He'll find something new to bitch about, you know. Like…. I dunno… that now that you're moving, his security stuff will not be as useful or something." She laughs, though it's just a bit forced.
"You okay?" A more quiet question from Cardinal as they walk through the darkened tunnels, the flashlight angled upwards to better spread off the ceiling and illuminate the hall, "…we'll be out've here soon, babe."
Elisabeth nods quickly. "I'll be okay. Just…. dark. Cold. Rats. A lot of bad memories." She's not running, but she's definitely moving quicker on the way out than the way in. "I'm just glad the stash was still there. Wish it had vests - that would definitely make me feel better. Maybe we can get hold of some."
Cardinal's head bobs in a brief, tight nod of understanding— and apology — his hand brushing to her hip before he picks up the pace. "I've got a few that I picked up from Tuck awhile back," he says quietly, "Not a lot, but should be enough for the non-regenerators."
Liz purses her lips and looks thoughtful about where he got those, and then seems to mentally shrug. "Okay… that sounds better than anything I've been able to come up with, certainly. If you talk to Cat, she may have supplies, too. If you need extras." The panmnesiac always seems to have lots of supplies of everything. Money does have its perks. "And just on a side note… I got assigned a new partner. So if you call me at work, I might need a little extra time to ditch the tagalong."
"A new partner?" Cardinal glances over curiously, "What's he like?"
There's a chuckle. "I like that you assume it's a guy. But you're right," Elisabeth grins a bit. She has one hand tangled up in the strap of the heavy bag on her shoulder and one hand holding her flashlight, so she can only gesture with the one free hand and it sends the beam skittering around a bit when she does it. "He's…… I'm not sure how to describe him. Absolutely a horndog, that's for sure. I keep catching him checking out people's asses." She smirks. "Doesn't seem to be anti-Evo. Isn't sure of me, given the rumors about the IA investigation, though the basic story does seem to satisfy him. Not really sure how to read him yet."
"A horndog, hm?" Cardinal slants a sidelong look over, lips pursing in a thoughtful line before he grins, "Lucky you, I s'pose. Want me to do some background checking on the guy, or d'you think it'll be alright?" The flashlight's cradled in his hand as he walks, although there's the faintest illumination from up ahead now.
That earns him a light elbow to the ribs. "Bastard," she comments. "I don't fuck my partners. Not my official ones, anyway." Cuz Felix was never officially Elisabeth's partner. "And I think the further you stay from him at this point, the better you are. He's…. going to be one to watch for a long time, I think."
A soft grunt at the elbow to his ribs. "Ah, I wasn't aware of your rules," he teases, his head shaking a bit, "Got it. Just keep an eye on him, in case he starts to figure things out."
Elisabeth blinks and says, "Hey! Everyone has rules." And she grins at him. The closer they get to the light, faint as it is, the less out of control she feels. Although it might as well be daylight in here with as well as he can see the lines of strain over the whole situation. Still, … she came in here, she made it all the way down that tunnel, and she didn't bolt or lose it. Okay, okay… two pills before she walked into the maw of darkness were required. And she dawdled in the doorway for half an hour before a well-placed nudge could get her to step off the platform they used to come in. But still! "I will. I don't know where he stands on shit yet, so I don't want him anywhere near the rest of what comes down."
Cardinal's head bobs in a slight nod. "Just try and feel him out as time goes by… we can always use a few more friendly faces in the force," he admits, watching her a bit as she walks — the grin bringing one of his own, proud of her for this even if he's not going to say anything. It'd get him punched. "Anyway. I think we've got what we need, now…"
"I'm not feeling him up, no matter HOW friendly you want his face to be," Elisabeth quips back, catching his grin from the corner of her eye. "So glad I could oblige… I live to give you what you need," she comments with a sly smile.