Participants:
| Scene Title | In Flagrante |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Bella visits Mortimer to inform him of his preliminary results, but her timing could be better. |
| Date | June 9, 2010 |
Mortimer's quarters.
It's been difficult finding ways not to be bored in this place, which unfortunately means Jack has buried himself deep in Mortimer's skull to play around in Imagination Land. Meanwhile, Mortimer's just been busying himself with Carla for the past few days, trying to keep it as discreet as possible, but this morning makrs the first slip up.
She's still sleeping in the bed with him during Bella's current approach. "Gah, get out of my side of the kingdom…" he mutters in his sleep.
Which is why you never fall asleep during a tryst. You've gotta keep that stuff business-like, well scheduled. Tch… kids.
Bella does at least knock on Mortimer's door before entering, giving him just the slightest advanced warning. But she doesn't wait for him to answer or clear her entry. That they don't have a camera in his room is about as much as he can possibly ask for. Bella is momentarily taken aback to see the dark sleep-and-sex mussed hair of the young assistant tangled over Mortimer's pillow, but it's not as if this wasn't in the cards.
Still, for all that Bella was fine with using the idea of bedding Carla as a means to keep Mortimer compliant, the actual practice causes her potential inconvenience and, with the project so recently hijacked by a veritable mad science freak show, inconvenience is not what Bella needs right about now. She slides her clipboard under one arm and claps, three times, loudly. "Rise and shine, campers," she says, with a somewhat hard mirth in her voice.
Mortimer slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes. "God, I need a shower…" he mutters, not quite aware of his surroundings yet. When he takes a look around, first at the girl on his pillow, the up at Bella, he holds his hands up defensively. "This isn't what it looks like!"
Carla stirs into wakefullness, blinking her dark eyes and rubbing the sleep from them with a slight wrist. Bella, meanwhile, arches a brow. Mortimer's 'explanation' is cut and pasted out of every film where this has ever happened ever. But Bella is not interested in dragging Mortimer across the coals, and as for Carla… "Assistant Lin, I need to talk with Mr. Jack about his test results. If you wouldn't mind getting dressed and giving us some privacy?" She doesn't sound mad. Just… disappointed.
Carla goes from deathly pale to deeply red in record time. She clings the sheets around herself, tugging them free from Mortimer, letting the blanket cover him as she covers herself and slips out of the shared bed, stooping to pick up her clothes and scurrying into the bathroom. Bella gives her a pleasant smile - thank you for doing as you're told - but otherwise keeps her eyes on Mortimer.
"So, uh… you gonna fire her?" Mortimer asks, sounding a tad guilty as he wraps the blanket around his waist and sits up, watching Bella now. "And what did my test results come back as? I'm kind of hoping for a positive here…"
Okay, maybe Bella is going to drag him over the coals a little. She arches her brows in a look of mawkish sympathy, "Oh, I see, you're ever so worried about Ms. Lin's position here," the act drops, "Too little too late, Mortimer." Carla is a quick dresser - mortification is quite a motivator. She emerges, looking no less post-coital, but adequately clothed. She's left the sheet in the bathroom. She doesn't even look at Mortimer, her eyes fixed on Bella's cool features, all trepidation. "Wait outside my office, Ms. Lin. This won't take long," Bella informs the young woman, who dutifully nods her assent and gets the hell out of there.
Once she is gone, Bella tsks, "Such an obliging young woman. Which is precisely the problem." She withdraws the clipboard and holds it before her, though she already knows what it says, "The tests were, frustratingly, inconclusive. You do not test positive for the Linkage Complex, but neither are your results consistant with a standard negative. This is, as maybe we could have predicted, a special case."
Mortimer shakes his head, giving Carla a look of sympathy. He's definitely sorry, sort of. But then they're back to business and he's listening intently to his results, sighing lightly. "So, what's this mean exactly? Are things gonna be harder or easier?"
"It means things are going to be more interesting," Bella says, flipping through the pages of results, much of which has yet to be properly analyzed, "The sheer variety of Evolved abilities suggests that the Linkage Complex is only the keystone in a genetic structure that determines the nature of manifestation. Then again, since it was your specific ability that was stolen, that data must have been replicated as well. Honestly, we're in new territory here. But I have confidence that the very inconclusiveness of the result means that you have genetic material important to ability still present in your chromosomes. And that gives us something to work with. We have to run your samples through the full gamut of tests, but there is something worth finding in there. We just don't know what it is yet. We're looking for a genetic cryptoid."
"Wait…" Mortimer doesn't sound as if he's having much trouble following, but he's also trying to keep up with the implications of everything she says. And there's a great desire to not seem like an absolute moron in her presence. "What if you had my original DNA to test on and compare to my current? Wouldn't that be the genetic equivalent of finding the square hole to slide the block into?"
Bella tilts her head, curious about this line of thinking. "Do you have a viable sample of your DNA previous to the loss of your ability? That might prove very useful in a comparative analysis."
Mortimer sits back against the wall, having to go through every possible thing he could have that's bloody. Then, of course, there's the obvious. "Well, do bloody clothes count as a viable sample of DNA?" he's pretty sure he heard something about that during the OJ trial…
"If you could tell us where to pick them up, they might prove invaluable," Bella says, smiling brightly, "That is an excellent idea, Mortimer. Thank you. I'm so pleased, I'm almost not embarrassed about not thinking of it myself."
"If I could make a phone call to, well, Jack's sort of girlfriend. She's who's in charge of the gang when we're not there. I'll tell her where the clothes off and you can exchange." Mortimer almost leaves it at that, but quickly adds, "I need you to monitor the call, to make sure Jack doesn't try anything."
Aw, that's so cute. That he'd assume they didn't already monitor all calls in and out of the building. Adorable.
Bella nods, "I'll make the necessary arrangements. For the time being, we'll just have to wait to see what the full testing reveals. I'd like to say I know just how likely this is to work out, but I admit that right now, I simply don't know. What I do know, however, is that I will do everything I can to see this through."
"I trust you, Bella. Just, whatever you do, don't get her hurt or Jack will completely lose it." Mortimer warns, then stands with the blanket around him, heading for the bathroom. "I need to take a shower now. Thanks again."
Bella steps back towards the door, sliding the clipboard back under her arm. "Of course," she says, "We'll proceed with the utmost care and respect," she lets one brow rise slightly, "I'm almost certainly going to have to reassign Carla now, just so you know. What she does on her off hours, however…" she shrugs, "I'll see what I can do."
"I hope so, otherwise it's incredibly boring here." Mortimer is sure to point out, figuring she wants her patients happy. He closes the bathroom door, then turns the shower on after his blanket drops. He's apparently done talking for the day.
Bella steps out the door, closing it behind her. Carla Lin is likely at a fever pitch of anxiety by now. Bella tries not to gain too much satisfaction from the thought as she paces towards her office, already constructing the appropriately sympathetic reprimand in her mind.