How High Does It Go?

Participants:

abby_icon.gif colette4_icon.gif elisabeth_icon.gif erin_icon.gif hart_icon.gif kaylee5_icon.gif modi_icon.gif wilson_icon.gif

Scene Title How High Does It Go?
Synopsis An ordinary night on the job draws members of NYPD-SCOUT into a web of intrigue and conspiracy.
Date February 11, 2020

“So you’re saying they just had to… keep driving?”

Some nights, the bullpen for SCOUT is a hub of activity, with emergency calls coming in from across the Safe Zone. Other times, like tonight, there’s a sense of calm and camaraderie that falls over the whole of the Watchtower, nights when SCOUT’s specializations aren’t in high demand but officers are still working their desks and on duty. Usually, it’s Sunday nights. Tonight is one of those Sundays.

“Well, sure. That’s— I mean that’s partly it. But they can’t go under fifty miles per hour.”

Sometimes being a member of SCOUT means being a member of a dysfunctional family of war veterans and civil servants whose shared trauma means bonding in the most unusual of ways in both celebration and sobriety. Other nights

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Other nights, it’s the entire squad finding out that Sarah Hart hasn’t seen the movie Speed.


SCOUT Offices
The Watchtower, Red Hook
NYC Safe Zone
February 10th
7:07 pm


Practically everyone in the office has gathered around Hart’s desk and the blushing technopath is practically trying to crawl out of her skin at the attention. It’s Detective Gordon that has expressed the most disbelief, sitting on the corner of Hart’s desk trying to explain the entire plot of Speed to her piece by piece. Once you start spelling out the plot of that movie, the more ridiculous anyone starts to sound.

“I’ve never seen Speed either,” comes from two desks over where Colette Demsky sits in front of the glow of her laptop, peering up and over the top of her screen. A gasp of shock escapes Detective Gordon as she hops to her feet and throws her hands up in the air. “Okay, fuck, show of hands who the fuck has seen Speed!?

Sergeant Modi, who was lingering nearby to the conversation slowly raises his hand and looks around the bullpen toward Captain Wilson’s office, where the blinds are drawn, then scans the rest of the officers on duty to see who else chimes in.

This is not a new concept to Abigail Beauchamp. Not in the least. This is a common thing for her really. Name a movie that Abby hasn’t seen. If it’s not a kids movie or had some religious moral or tale, then the odds were pretty high that she hadn’t seen it. So when Gordon calls out, Abby’s hand stays down with no shame whatsoever and gives Hart a look of sympathy. She’s not alone. “There’s lots of movies that people haven’t seen. Maybe you shouldn’t be telling us the plot and let us get a chance at watching it at some point. That’s if anyone actually has it to lend.” Maybe. Maybe not. “How’s that saying go, y’all shouldn’t be spoilering us?” She lets her drawl really deepen and gives a pointed look. “Bet there’s movies she’s seen and probably ones that you haven’t.” She points out. But still her hand is there, raised in the air with Modi. Colette and Susan are not alone. Not in the least.

“Sandra Bullock is totally my girl crush.”

Was that Kaylee?

The declaration is followed by a crunch of a chip from the direction of the recently returned SCOUT detective. The spread of paperwork before her, one hand clacking away at a report as the other stuffs her face.

It felt great to be out of the business suits and back into her more comfortable clothing. It had felt like forever since she had been there. Of course, as soon as she was back, the paperwork flooded in. Kaylee had no complaints about the amount of work that had waited for her.

Kaylee’s chair creaks as she sits back and turns to look at the group around the screen.

“In fact, that was the first movie I saw her in,” The telepath adds before retrieving another chip. Crunch.

Elisabeth has been quiet as they harass the resident technopath about the movie and raises her hand at the query. "I feel old," she laughs. "I liked Speed. The launch of the bus off the ramp always made me roll my eyes. But the first thing I remember seeing her in was a made-for-TV movie that none of you has probably ever heard of."

She looks more far more relaxed and smiles more easily than she has in weeks. It's a far cry from the tightness and worry that has been her usual demeanor since her husband was kidnapped. "Unless of course you're fans of bionic people." Seriously? Apparently so.

“Oh my god how have you people survived to adulthood?” Erin asks with both of her hands up in the air. “Thatcher, Harrison,” she points to both of them, one finger with each hand, “you two’re my saving graces.”

What?” Colette says with feigned exasperation and a slow shrug. “I was like— three when that movie came out.”

Elisabeth feels older.

So, so much older.

“I’m just glad I’m not alone,” Hart says with a cheerful smile, closing her laptop with a slow motion of one hand. “Maybe now Erin won’t pick on me so much when I say I haven’t seen some old movie she hasn’t.”

Old movie. Elisabeth’s bone’s ache.

“Okay, we’re gonna do a watch party. I’m gonna find it on the internet,” Erin says as she storms over to Hart’s desk, laying her palms on top of the blonde’s laptop, “and we’re all gonna’ huddle around together and watch— ”

Friendly conversation is broken by the door to the bullpen from Captain Wilson bursts out with Modi not far behind him. Colette sits up straight and pivots in her desk chair in the Captain’s direction while Erin and Hart each angle a look toward the noise. “Conference room,” Captain Wilson says without breaking his stride, heading to the very place he mentioned at brisk pace, “now.”

Something must have happened.

“I was raised in the backwood of Louisiana. Movies about speeding buses don’t rightly really show in Butte La Rose at my church.” Abby points out. There’s talk of a viewing party and that gains a bit of a sigh. But they’re saved by Captain Wilson and even as the others pivot toward the conference room, Abigail’s rising, grabbing her notebook and heading there as swiftly as her feet can get her there. “Gosh darnit, it’ll have to be another day!” Such a shame.

“I was raised in Kentucky, but I found a way,” Kaylee comments with that mischievous curl to her smile. She was never a good girl growing up and never really hid that fact. Erin’s idea gets an even brighter smile. However, anything she might have had to say at the idea is lost to the void as their boss comes steamrolling in.

From her desk, she has a perfect view of his arrival, watching him sweep through to the conference room. Liz knew what she thought of that man, comments made in their off hours… A puff of air leaves her like she was holding her breath once he’s out of view. Damn.

“Welp…” Kaylee comments after a quick recovery, slapping her laptop closed and moving to follow after their leader. “So much for getting my backlog of paperwork done.” She doesn’t sound broken up about that at all.

God, I feel ancient. Elisabeth sighs with a faint smile. The kids are having fun; that's a good thing. Her blue eyes flicker toward Wilson's door as it hurls open and he barrels through. A single brow quirks upward but she's up out of her seat and moving quickly, hot on Modi's heel even as she wonders what the hell has gone pear-shaped this time.

Once inside the conference room, she takes up a post near the door to listen. She looks calm but there's an alertness to her that gives away subtle tension.

What stands for SCOUT at this hour of night files in to the conference room nearby to the Captain’s office. Wilson is the last to come in, with Modi and Hart just ahead of him. The latter of the trio quickly takes a seat in a chair toward the back of the room and rests her hands on her closed laptop, carefully listening. Modi moves toward the head of the room and Wilson pauses to…

…shut the blinds.

“Seal the room, Harrison,” is the first thing out of Wilson’s mouth before he moves to take a seat. The sudden decision has Colette and Erin offering uncertain looks to one-another before squaring a look on Wilson, who scrubs his forehead with one hand.

“Sergeant Modi just delivered a report to me, straight from the FBI.” Wilson offers a look to Hart, who closes her eyes and furrows her brows, remotely accessing the report through her technopathic connection to her laptop. “This stays here, in this room. It stays in SCOUT. You don’t talk to your families, you don’t talk to your friends.”

Whatever this is, it’s serious.

Seal the room. That gets the blonde brows on the resident pyromorph inching upward and an even more serious look on her face in the wake of the order that everything spoken in the room remains in the room and in SCOUT. Abby gives a nod, ponytail bobbing as she does and crosses her arms after taking a seat in one of the chairs around the table. All attention on Wilson.

The telepath is just starting to sit down when the order is given, making her stop midaction and look at Liz warily. What was going on?

Slowly lowering the rest of the way into her seat, Kaylee’s attention was fully on Wilson, only glancing briefly at Modi when he was mentioned. Whatever was going on was clearly bad, especially invoking the FBI. The tension around her mentally and physically is bad enough it has Kaylee speaking up, “What’s up,Captain?”

Elisabeth's posture tightens and she quirks an eyebrow, sharing a glance with the telepath. Then she reaches out with her ability — for the first time ever at the request of her commander — and settles a sound field around the conference area. The most obvious thing is that the exterior sounds simply vanish. The audiokinetic doesn't bother with masking the effect. All the random background noises just vanish and, much like in a soundproofed room, the very lack of those sounds feels awkward. Like the entire world suddenly held its breath and you're standing there caught between the moments of inhale and exhale. The sounds within the room lack the flat quality that comes with genuine soundproofing, though. She's very very good with her sound fields. And her blue eyes rest in her Captain with obvious concern.

Once Captain Wilson has the confirmation from Elisabeth, he starts to pace around the long conference room table. “Since we hit the Refrain distribution center on Staten Island, the FBI has been actively working on the prosecution of the Ghost Shadows members we apprehended. One of the top-level lieutenants within the organization, Michael Green, brokered a deal for reduced sentencing in exchange for information…” As Captain Wilson continues, Modi watches him carefully, then observes the reactions of the others in the room.

“We just received confirmation that several of Green’s leads have panned out, and we have evidence linking the Ghost Shadows’ distribution of Refrain through the Safe Zone and much of the coastal United States to two individuals who directly profited from the enterprise.” Wilson says as he stops behind an unoccupied chairm resting his hands on the back. “The first, being Fumiki Tsuchii, the head of international imports at Yamagato Industries here in New York.” At that, Hart’s eyebrows rise sharply. “The FBI is already working with the DOJ to handle the snarl that represents, given that Yamagato Park sits on its own sovereign soil. Tsuchii fled back to Japan after the Staten Island facility was hit, likely expecting to be outed, and Yamagato is cooperating with the DOJ in tracking him and any of his affiliates down…”

But the way Wilson ends that sentence leaves a weight hanging in the room. Colette edges forward in her seat, shooting a quick look over to Abby and then Elisabeth before folding her hands in front of herself and listening intently. Wilson glances to Elisabeth as well, then around the other officers. “Michael Green laid out an operation by which the Ghost Shadows would supply the Refrain through their production facility on Staten Island, Tsuchii helped with distribution inside of Yamagato Park and back onto mainland Japan which is struggling with the drug all on their own, but it never would have been able to spread as far here without the help of someone inside the state government.”

Wilson scrubs a hand against his brow. “Green implicated mayor Caroline Short.”

“Well” Abby sighs. “I should be surprised but…” But she was with the Ferry and this situation was a little too common. “I’m sorry.” For what, Abby doesn’t say. She has a good idea of how serious this is.

The telepath’s brows pop up at that. Well shit… That wasn’t a small thing. “If that got out….” So much for them putting a new government in place.

Abby, her fellow former Ferryman, speaks up giving voice to other thoughts in her own head. Kaylee gives a soft huff of disappointment, leaning back in her chair. There are things she wants to stay outloud, but holds fast to them. «So much for trusting the new government,» whispers through Liz’ head.

Kaylee’s lips roll into a line, before she asks, “I have to ask wwwwhy are you telling us this?” It’s a curious and straight forward question. Though she has a guess, she still continues with more questions. “Wouldn’t this be SESA’s issue to investigate at that point?” Refrain was all about getting their kind high and SESA did the investigations for Evolved crimes.

Well shit echoes through Elisabeth's mind too. Her blue eyes flicker toward the other women — Abby, Colette, Elisabeth, they have all had ties to the Ferrymen. And for Elisabeth, this is a step backward, given she's still 'recovering' from an inability to trust those in power easily. Why the fuck do we even bother? she thinks at her sister-in-law. Her expression doesn't show how deeply it bothers her. She should have just expected it.

"Jesus fucking Christ," the audiokinetic contributes in a weary tone. "Does Ma— Donovan know about this yet?" Because that's going to be an ugly political football to try to manage. She leaves the SESA question hanging just because it's a valid one.

“The Commissioner is aware,” Captain Wilson confirms quietly. “Jurisdictionally, this is a bit of a snarl. SESA does have claim here because of their ongoing Refrain investigation. But the DEA and FBI are all looking for a piece of this. The evidence against Mayor Short is damning and given that she was heralded as a face for the new administration and Expressive rights makes this even harder to swallow.”

Wilson slowly settles into a chair, scrubbing one hand over his brow. “Our role in this is being dictated by the feds. They want us to be the ones to bring Short in, as a show of the rule of law and that we’re willing to pay ball even when it means pulling in someone who’d been on ‘our side’.” He doesn’t like the taste of those words in his mouth.

“I’m sorry are…” Colette leans back in her chair, “are we not even going to address the fact that this could be some sort of setup to discredit Short?”

Wilson exhales a slow sigh and shakes his head. “That’s trial territory. The Feds are certain there’s enough evidence to move on Short and her cabinet based on what we were able to get out of Green and the Ghost Shadows’ telepath. Her guilt isn’t for us to ascertain.”

“So this is just a show?” Erin wonders aloud, to which Modi shakes his head.

“No,” Modi counters. “We have real concerns that if this is intended to smear Mayor Short and her supporters there may be an attempt made on her life as well. We need the arrest to be a protection detail as well. We’ll be coordinating with federal agencies on this, but there’s been a request for Wolfhound to not be involved. We don’t want this to look like a military operation. Another reason why SCOUT was requested.”

Wilson nods and shifts his attention to Elisabeth. “My worry is this is all above-board. That Short was taking kickbacks from the Triad. That all of this is real and if she or anyone supporting her got word one about this, she could rabbit. There’s a lot going on right now, internally and externally, and we can’t risk this getting too wide.”

“We’ll be arresting Short on the 14th once the DOJ has everything in order,” Wilson explains with a slow shake of his head. “I need everyone we can get on SCOUT on this. I’m going to see if Ivanov will be back from his medical leave, but we may be short-handed.”

There’s a grimace from Abigail as the possibilities are laid out. “Well, that’s a rock and a hard place regardless. Hopefully, if she’s not in their pocket and she comes out the other side clean, she doesn’t hand us all our asses on a platter for entertaining the possibility that she was and needing to make sure that she wasn’t.” Abby reaches up, scratching at a brow.

The telepath takes in all this information with curiosity, brows twitching at the mention of Wolfhound and their non-involvement. Considering everything lately, she isn’t sure there was enough of them to cover something like this. It all made sense. But, still…

“God, I hate politics,” Kaylee sighs out under her breath, sitting back heavily in her chair. Even interagency. Politics was what got them all there in the first place and would continue to make their lives difficult. Still, despite personal thoughts, Kaylee nods to everything that is laid out.

"You might be in the wrong place if that's the case. Just sayin." The words aren't murmured in a low voice while she processes. Listening to the information as it's laid out, Elisabeth is turning scenarios over in her head. Blue eyes flicker to Colette and she pulls in a slow breath. As her gaze comes back to Wilson, there's a shuttered expression on her features. It looks like neutrality, but Kaylee knows better — there's a wealth of emotion behind the calm.

"So between now and the 14th, what is the expectation? Are we simply sitting on this and waiting for a go-ahead, are we looking to become the mayor's shadows, or are we coming at this from some other angle?" The grimace that flashes across Liz's face is brief but her words are straight to the point. "SESA is already in the spotlight for taking in a member of Wolfhound. And now we're going to be in the spotlight for taking down the mayor. Forgive my cynicism but this clusterfuck happening back to back like this is a great way to fracture everything that we've begun to build. We look weak, like we can't keep our houses clean. The more things change, the more they don't, yeah?"

“If we aren’t willing to police our own it’ll look worse,” Wilson says with a bitterness that implies he doesn’t like it anymore either. “The fact of the matter is Short has put us in a lose-lose situation right now.” He glances to the door, then to Hart who slowly takes her hands off of her laptop and folds them behind her head, then back over to the officers gathered.

Officially, we’ve been asked to sit on this until we trot into the Mayor’s office and parade her out in handcuffs,” Wilson explains. But the way he quantifies it with officially has Colette firing a look over to Kaylee with one dark brow raised. “But I learned a long time ago that sometimes, in order to do what’s right, you’ve got to be willing to do what’s wrong.” The reason for his request of Elisabeth becomes twofold now. “If anyone in here is unwilling to go against a federal order, you’re free to walk out of this office right now, no questions asked.”

Wilson looks around at everyone, giving a moment’s pause for that opportunity.

Colette pointedly sits back in her seat, folding her hands behind her head much as Hart had, kicking back and showing that she’s here in the long run. Erin mirrors the gesture, adopting that same casual posture as a show of solidarity as she looks to the others.

Abby has been chewing on her bottom lip, deep in thought and clearly torn. The looks between Elisabeth and Kaylee, then to the rest of the group are few and lingering. But Wilson’s last sentence has her looking down for a moment before standing up. “I can’t. Those days are behind me. I have my daughter to think of, and I’m not that person I was back then. I would have back then, but not now. I can’t go against a federal order.” There’s an apologetic look on her face as the woman pushes her seat in quietly and heads for the door to slip out.

Yeah, Kaylee caught that word, too. Curiosity piqued, blonde brows pop upward. She doesn’t miss that glance from Colette either, they know. The telepath can respect Abby’s choice, Joseph had felt the same when things started happening again.

However, after a few moments of consideration, Kaylee doesn’t move from her own seat. In fact, she leans forward on elbows with interest, keeping her curiosity and ability in check.

The squad's lieutenant takes a long time to study the reactions of the people in the room, leaning back on the wall and crossing her arms thoughtfully. Abby is not a surprise. Her smile is gentle as the other woman leaves — there is no judgement on her end that Abigail makes that choice. Her blue eyes flicker across Colette and Kaylee, apparently unsurprised by their responses as well. Erin's and Hart's? If she had to choose, those would be the ones she'd have said she was uncertain of. Well, and of course, Modi and Wilson himself.

Of all people, Wilson understands that if he makes this move, it's career suicide. And he's good for the department. Elisabeth had to sign a hell of a lot of papers to be allowed to come home. And she does take this moment to weigh it all in the balance. The silence draws out perhaps longer than she intended before she speaks.

Her voice is low but carries just fine. "As long as this investigation is carried out in unbiased fashion so that if she's guilty she is visibly punished by the system and if she's innocent she's cleared, I'm fine with whatever you want done. That said, sir?" Her blue eyes flicker to Modi and then around the room once more. "I think it prudent at this time to advise you that once you speak of this to all of us and outline what exactly you want done, you should leave the room. If this falls on anyone's head, it should probably be mine." The corner of her lips curls upward in a vaguely bitter half-smile. "They already know who and what I am and have been for the past decade — and if it goes sideways, they won't be very surprised that I jumped the rails on you." She's giving the captain plausible deniability, if he's willing to take it. It'll be her career that takes the hit instead of his if it goes pear-shaped.

Wilson doesn’t stop Abby, but he does offer a look over to her. “We never saw you here,” he offers her. She’ll still need to be at the arrest, but Wilson respects Abby’s decision to protect herself and her family against reprisals. If there was anyone he’d understand walking out, it would be her. Colette watches Abby leave, brows furrowed with worry, but then — in much contrast to their entangled pasts — understanding.

Once Abby has left the conference room, Modi closes the door in affirmation of his own stance on this.

Captain Wilson doesn’t want to agree with Elisabeth, but a part of him also does. He draws in a deep breath and

"You want out, I ain't gonna' think less of you." It takes a while for Myron to come to that decision. "You got a career ahead a'you. This? This extra-jurisdictional bullshit I got you doin'? It ain't good for a long career in law enforcement." Punching the bridge of his nose, Myron leans back in his seat, tilting his head back to stare up at the torn upholstery of the roof.

Silence hangs in the car, so much so that the distant chiming of a railroad crossing is the only sound to be heard, not even the usual static and pop of Myron's terrible car radio; Just the distant ping, ping, ping of the bells at a train crossing. "What good's a career you aren't proud of?" Oliver asks with a crooked smile, looking up to Myron with a new found earnest expression. "Come on, put this old broad in drive and let's go… canvass the area some more."

“What good is a career you aren’t proud of?” Wilson says, echoing his last words to Richard Myron from eleven years ago. “We’re NYPD. We stand up together, we go down together.” Adjusting the blinds on the door Abby left through, Wilson moves back over to the conference room table.

“I think this is a setup.” Wilson says quietly, offering a look to Modi and then back again. “Mayor Short has an election coming up next year. Her stiffest competition is Timothy Treadwell, a DA with a history going back before the war. Treadwell’s a moderate by current standards, but he was a radical for Expressive rights back before the war. Now he’s talking in measures of how strict registration has to be, whether the Safe Zone can abide non-compulsory registration as a unique corner-case to the rest of the US. Caroline will stomp him into the ground come election time.”

Wilson rubs one hand where his neck and shoulder meet, tense from worrying about all of this. “Treadwell goes to a lot of political fundraisers with Frederick Medina,” one of the candidates running for President against Raymond Praeger. “Medina, while also a moderate by today’s standards, has a lot of support from grassroots anti-SLC sentiment. We’re talking shotgun militias that think they’re Humanis First and Pure Earth, and some that probably are.”

Wilson’s hands come down on the back of an unoccupied chair. “I don’t think Treadwell himself is behind this, or Medina, but I feel like Green isn’t telling the whole story. He’s federal evidence, we can’t get a minute with him. Not legally.” Wilson looks around at the agents left in the room, then over to Modi.

“Michael Green is scheduled for a prison transport,” Modi says in such a way that immediately explains what Wilson is thinking. “He’s currently being held at the holding facility in Red Hook. On the 14th he’s going to be moved to a federal facility in Kansas City. They’ll be flying him out of Floyd Bennett Airfield.” Modi looks to Wilson, then over to the others.

“NYPD will be handing Green off at 4:17am,” Wilson picks up where Modi left off. “NYPD will be transporting him. Commissioner Donovan picked two NYPD officers I know. I’m going to ask them to park and leave the vehicle for ten minutes.” Wilson’s eyes flick between each SCOUT member present. “We’ll have ten minutes to hit the van and press Green with whatever you have at your disposal. We won’t be able to use anything he says as actionable evidence, so we need to get Green to lay out something we can backfill justification for.”

Then, treading deeper into morally gray territory Wilson adds, “if we can make sure he doesn’t remember the exchange, all the better.” That comes with a look directly at Kaylee. “I don’t care if we have to call in a third party, so long as they’re trusted and confidential in your circles. But we have to get at Green before we lose any chance we might have at getting ahead of this.”

“Wait,” Erin says, sitting forward. “Aren’t we arresting Short on the 14th?” She looks over to Colette who nods in agreement that she heard that too. That’s where Wilson’s grimace starts to show. “We’ll have eight hours between when we hit Green and when we’re supposed to arrest Short to make good with any of this information and present it to the Commissioner. If Short gets arrested…” Wilson shakes his head, “even if it doesn’t stick, it could kill her election chances and pave the way for someone like Treadwell to start trying to roll back Expressive protections.”

“Fuck that,” is what Colette offers to that sentiment.

The name Michael Green really gets Kaylee’s attention. They had history. Both had worked for Adam… maybe that would work for them now.

Minding wandering a little, it takes a moment for her to realize Wilson is looking at her. A single brow ticks up and there is a hint of amusement as he lays out his plan. There is a twist of concern for what he is planning for her in all this, but she waits until he’s done playing it all out, before she reluctantly speaks up.

“Get me in there and he’ll definitely talk…. But tech-nic-ally, I can’t block memories,” Kaylee reminds Wilson sheepishly. “I mean… sorta… but none I’ve done have been permanent.” She looks at Colette and some of the others, “Not unless we want to dip into the far illegal side and find something to amp me.” Gillian was still out west for all she knew. “I can do something, but it isn’t as clean as throwing up a door to the memories…. More of a slight of hand.” She waves a hand all Obi-wan like, hoping they get it… No? Fine she'll spell it out.

“I can tell him to think of this other thing when asked about it. The memories are all there to be explored for any telepath, but… he won’t be able to think about them” Kaylee’s shoulders shrug. “Either way I’m up for the challenge.” How easy it was to fall into old ways and habits, especially when evolved rights were on the line.

The longer Wilson talks, the more Elisabeth feels like she's walking through a dream. The deja vu is so strong, the disconnect so powerful, that for a long moment she has to wonder if she really is asleep… because it's like nothing has changed. She left this world in 2011 and came back, spent a year trying to do the right thing and rebuild… and she's literally right back where she fucking started. She remains still and quiet as Kaylee explains that her ability can't do what they want. And ten minutes is not near enough time to break the prisoner anyway.

To the others in the room, the subtle change in her posture and the shuttering of her gaze to a calm neutrality may not even be noticeable. But for the woman who is as much her own sister as she is Cardinal's, the stone-cold tone of Elisabeth's voice when she finally speaks is a glaring warning. "There's really no need for a telepath. We can get the information earlier. I have someone who can get through the underground passages in the Red Hook facility to interrogate him right under their noses. We can have our answers by tomorrow. Green won't tell anyone what happened." Richard Cardinal was scary as fuck as a shadow before he was in possession of conduits.

Wilson’s brows furrow as he angles a look at Elisabeth, then back over to Kaylee and around to the others. “Can they be invisible?” Wilson asks, looking to Colette who quietly mouths me? and suddenly looks to Elisabeth trying to figure out what she’s angling at. “Green’s in a monitored cell in holding, it was decided he might be a suicide risk. Cameras do audio and video. If somebody hears him talking to a… a vent or something,” he isn’t sure precisely how Elisabeth planned on this shaking out, “it could screw up everything. My concern is there may be someone on the inside at the holding facility.”

Pacing back and forth, Wilson goes over the thought. “If it’s just about bypassing security or getting into the cell, Erin,” he motions over to her, “can run through walls. But if your source can do this without Green alerting the guards or telling them what happened after the fact, we might be able to work with it.”

The telepath slowly turns to her sister-in-law with some concern, back straightening as she readies to protest. Was she trying to keep Kaylee out of this? Deny her a bit of fun? But as Liz continues to speak the feeling doesn’t linger long. A smile slowly touches her lips, pulling to one side with amusement, as Liz lays it all out.

“I know who she’s talking about,” Kaylee says with a significant look to Colette, but not for the reason she thinks, before that gaze falls on their boss. “That is a pretty solid option if played right.”

Oh, no… Elisabeth is doing nothing of the sort. And the smile Kaylee offers might… be… a concern? Nah. "Invisible, yes. Inaudible… sort of. Whispers." Her blue eyes are hard, and there's an edge to her words that comes across still quite cold. "By the time they're done with Green, he'll be too fucking scared to do a damn thing. It's been done before." She remembers Richard haunting the guy who cut out Abby's tongue. "But if you want him permanently silenced, that's entirely doable as well." Wilson did say he was on board for illegal. Does he want to play hardball? Is his lieutenant seriously offering to get rid of a witness? "I wouldn't recommend that — it raises too many questions. And frankly, it compromises what we're building here far more than letting this guy or his friends frame the mayor. But I guess it depends on how far down the rabbit hole of 'for the greater good' you want to go, Wilson." What has this woman had to do in the past years? "The person isn't known as a power and there's fuck-all way to trace them… this can go as far as you think it needs to for the truth."

There is a reason Elisabeth was a wanted woman a decade ago. But she's not actually advocating to take out their witness — she's searching for whether he's willing to tumble down the same slippery slope that got everyone into the shit last time. And maybe, just maybe, she's hoping he will nix the whole thing. Her expression isn't giving away that answer right now, though Kaylee almost certainly can glean it.

Colette finally leans forward and rests her chin on her hands, blind eyes tracking as an affectation up to Wilson. “What’s the over-under on Green just screaming for help and thinking someone’s there to kill him?” Erin slides a sideways look at Colette, then looks up to the Captain.

“I haven’t met him, personally, but I watched some interrogation videos,” Wilson says, angling a look to Modi.

“He’ll scream,” is how Modi frames it. “If we can’t do inaudible, I don’t know if this will work.”

“Couldn’t we have Harrison in the building?” Erin proposes, motioning to Elisabeth. “She soundproofs the cell, Demsky keeps her unseen,” and then flicks a finger gun to Kaylee, “and Thatcher does whatever mind-trick shit she does as coverage?”

Wilson rests a hand at his chin, brows furrowed as he weighs the options. “That’s a lot more eyes for, I don’t know how much gain. It gives us a potentially longer window of time to act on whatever Green feeds us, but we’re relying on Harrison’s inside man to get all the info. That means no telepathic confirmation that he isn’t lying through his teeth to save his own skin.” He sighs, deeply, and begins pacing again.

“More time could be useful,” Modi notes with a cautious raise of his brows.

“But if any of us get caught, or if Green gives us bad information…” Hart starts to say, then looks down at her laptop and back up to Wilson. “I’m not sure what the fallout from that would be.”

Colette slowly eases back into her chair, looking to Kaylee, then back to Elisabeth.

Kaylee is quiet as she listens to everyone plot, but a thought occurs to her and a hand slowly lifts. “He is in NYPD custody so getting in is easy. Covering it up isn’t. If we can find a way to loop the video… or… system goes down and oops… no video. Liz and I can get in and get out with the information.” The telepath looks at her sister-in-law. “I have an idea, but… I don’t know what measures are in place against technopathic intrusions. It would be a good test of the system and I trust them implicitly not to wander if asked not too.” A smile twitches at the corner of her mouth.

Looking at Wilson, Kaylee nods in his direction, “Like you said we can’t confirm anything without me and this might be our only shot to find something that either confirms or denies this accusation.” God help them all if the mayor was truly corrupt.

“Elisabeth?” Wilson asks, turning his attention to her. “I brought you on here for your expertise, both in and out of uniform. I trust your judgment on this, god knows you have more field experience than I do in situations like this. Do we go for Green at the holding facility… or do we wait and grab him in the transport?”

Wilson crosses his arms over his chest, shifting his weight to one foot. “We don’t have long to make a choice.”

A brow quirks up and Elisabeth slants a look at Colette and Kaylee. "I have a feeling he doesn't know some of us too well," she observes drily. But her blue eyes come back to the captain at the front of the room. "I was thinking the logistics of getting to him in federal custody, but if he's already in ours, that just makes it simple. Let me check with the technopath and see if they can get in… We'll know pretty much in the next hour. If they can without trouble, Kaylee and I can make the run in." She glances to the others in the room. "Not because I'm cutting anyone or their skills out, but because if the technopath can take care of the video and I have the sound cut, it only requires Kaylee to find out what we need. The fewer people exposed, the better I'll feel." Eyes cut back to Wilson. "If the technopath can't get in, then hitting the transport seems to be the only play we have, sir."

She holds her thoughts close for a long moment, meeting Wilson's eyes. Her tone is very quiet as she admits to her boss, "The deja vu here is hard for me. There was a time when someone asked me in to talk about a prisoner transport of a Ferry leader and was basically waiting to see if I passed their test. I took this job because I trust you. If this is one of those moments of testing to see where my loyalties lie, own it now before anyone on this team is endangered, please." She doesn't want to take anyone else down with her if it's a test.

“Remember the human element too, just because the NYPD is holding him doesn’t make it any easier than the transport,” Wilson says with a worried tone. “The more things we touch, the more things potentially trace back to us.” He breathes in slowly, then exhales a sigh through his nose and smooths his hand over his head and down the back of his neck. “It sounds like, pending one technopath,” that isn’t Hart, based on the way Elisabeth eluded to them, “we’re going with hitting Green in the holding facility.”

Modi looks down to the floor, then nods slowly. Erin slouches back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head. “I don’t like this,” she says in contrast to Modi’s silent vote of confidence in it. Colette seems nervous, angling a look at Kaylee, but doesn’t voice her opinion one way or the other. Hart slowly rises from her seat, laptop tucked under one arm.

“Alright, we nail down our plan no later than one hour from now.” Wilson says before looking to Elisabeth. “You let me know the moment you have confirmation.”

“We don’t have time to burn on this.”


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License