Participants:
Scene Title | Interrogation |
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Synopsis | Trask returns to PARIAH headquarters, and is promptly taken prisoner under the suspicion of being a mole. |
Date | September 1, 2008 |
Condemned Tenement — Rooftop
While some parts of the roof are less structurally sound then others, someone seems to have sorted out which areas are dangerous and blocked them off. Some overhangs have been jury-rigged up to block a direct aerial view that gives definite indication of the presence of squatters - a rooftop garden, clearly meant to provide sustenance rather than aesthetic. Tubs full of dirt are situated to take best advantage of the light despite the overhangs meant to keep them from prying eyes. Tomatoes, beans, carrots, even potatoes and onions and chili peppers are carefully tended, little laminated labels indicating what each row of planting is. There's a separate section for a small variety of herbs, and a sole small window sill style planter that houses the one concession to beauty; a row of sunflowers, and even these can be harvested for their seeds. Here and there decrepit lawn furniture has been scattered to give the illusion of abandonment; a stone bench here, an ironwork table with chairs there, one of those latticed metal fold-up chairs leaned at an awkward angle in a corner. Aside from the overhangs, the rest of the roof is open to the sky, providing a view of the city and the span of rooftops surrounding the tenement.
The minute Helena got back to the tenement, she wanted to try and find Cameron to report to him. Unfortunately, he's gone out, and so in order to avoid a panic, she's kept it to herself and is waiting for him. If he doesn't show up in the next few hours, Helena's resolved to tell the others directly. Hopefully it won't all lead to the tenement being surrounded by police forces. The movement could fall apart at the blink of an eye. Presently she's standing on the roof, looking down over the street with arms folded. The sky above her is grey, and threatens rain.
A familiar sight to those in the safe house is Sergei's black cloaked form making it's way down the street shadow to shadow heading for the tenement. This is no different then any other day, except for Helena's new found knowledge about her fellow resistance member. If there is a police dragnet moving in, they are keeping well hidden.
The rooftop is usually a place Kathleen likes to sit and meditate. Take a break from chores and plans and the everyday life of PARIAH. But when she steps out of the door… that's not a sky to relax under. Unless you're a nut and like being soaked. By rain that wasn't anywhere in today's forecast. Green eyes consider Helena as the young woman stands on the doorstep. "Hey, Helena… what's the problem?" Unspoken: Can I help at all?
Looking up at the sky. Eve brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes as she comes on the roof. "Sergei?" she whispers and then settles down on the ledge, still looking up. She looks at Helena for a moment and then leans her head back. She looks down and spots 'Sergei'. "Hmm looks like he is coming back.." she states and tilts her head. She nods in Kathleen's direction.
Cameron actually gave permission for the rooftop to be used as a garden, so there are vegetables in planters and pots - tomatoes, herbs, and the like. "Sergei?" Helena echoes, and moves over to the ledge to see his approach. Thunder rumbles ominously. "We need to meet him at the door. Before het gets inside. Come on." With that, she heads for the door back into the building, taking the stairs at a rapid rate with intent of meeting Trask before he steps inside.
Trask crosses the intervening terrain at a good clip, trying to get inside before the storm breaks. He is more then normally worried about being struck by lightning for some reason as he looks up into the sky. He reaches the door, and is just opening it, as he hears rapid foot steps just inside.
Kathleen bails out of the doorway in time for Helena to barrel through, giving Eve a thoroughly perplexed glance before following in the younger girl's wake. "Doesn't he usually get back around this time?" What the hell is going on here? Whatever it is, it must be… interesting.
"He might have backup" Eve says quietly and she pulls a desert eagle out of it's holster on her thigh, which is covered by her dark blue dress. She heads down the stairs with Kathleen and Helena. Her hair flies in her face from the wind. "Helena, please don't bring the building down" she grips the gun and sets her face to a hard expression. Sergei, if that is even his name betrayed them! Meanie!!
Condemned Tenement — Entrance
And so when Trask opens the door, he's face to face with the three women. Helena's glaring daggers. "You've got some balls." she hisses, "Coming here like this. Where are your people? How many are out there? Don't you know if Cam says so, we'll kill you?"
Trask very calmly unbuckles his gun belt, holding the whole thing, holstered pistol and hand cuffs included out to her. "My people are in this building. I came alone, and yes I know. Now can we step inside, you can tie me up, or whatever and we can talk about this like reasonable adults?"
Wait, what? Guns? Kathleen relegates herself to the far side of the confrontation, staying out of the way of furies with loaded weapons. (While Helena may not have a gun in hand, her power counts well enough.) Fortunately, this time, Helena's words make some sort of sense. "He's a mole?" Green eyes scan the sliver of cityscape Kathleen can see through the open door, then Trask himself, as if looking for some sort of obvious sign.
"Must we wait for Cam's say so?" Eve inquires and her face shows that she is /very/ serious. How could he do that to them! Eve thought they were all family. Her light-colored eyes study the man and she cants her head. After a moment she holsters her gun and takes the stuff from Trask. "You are in /big/ trouble" she says and walks away.
"Yes," snaps Helena, "We must." She continues to regard Trask with narrowed eyes. "Take off your shirt." Right here in the hall? "Do it. Eve, keep your gun on him, please. You know he negates whoever he's near." It does make a sort of sense, Helena wants to make sure he's not wired.
Trask shrugs off the coat, letting it fall to the ground, then unbuttons the black shirt under neath, letting it fall as well. He is standing there in his pant, scarf, and gloves.
Looking as surprised as she feels, Kathleen folds her arms over her chest and watches the proceedings. Along with the door. Not that she's going to have any sort of useful warning if anyone does rush the building. "Hell." They're all in trouble and no one… saw it… coming… Green eyes narrow thoughtfully, and Kathleen's expression goes from suspicious to pensive.
Taking the gun back out, Eve gives Trask a look, "Are you going to try to explain yourself?" she closes her eyes for a moment and then opens them again. "How long have you been spying?" she holds the gun steadily at Trask.
"Not here, Eve." Helena gives the woman a slightly exasperated look. "The door's open. You really want to do this exposed to the whole street?" She looks back to Trask. "Get inside. We're gonna put you in the broiler room until we can figure this all out and Cameron has an opportunity to deal with you." She gestures for him to come in. She looks back to Kathleen. "Let the others know we're on alert and then come join us, would you please, Kath?" For one of the youngest members of PARIAH, Helan sure is kinda bossy.
Trask steps inside the door, letting it close behind him. He puts his hands on his head. "To answer your question I've been spying for almost a year. I'll be more then happy to answer all your questions, either now, or when Cameron gets here, your choice. Just do me a favor and don't spread this around quite yet till you talk to Cam."
Attention snapped back to the present situation by her name, Kathleen looks to Helena and nods. "Sure. Sounds good." She takes a step into the hall, then pauses. Looks over one shoulder at Trask. And realizes there's no way to share her guess — not without raising more questions than she wants to face. So Kathleen just continues on into the building at a run, footsteps slowly fading with distance.
Eve just looks at Helena. She is bossy! Eve does a light shrug and starts towards the boiler room. Her eyes narrow at Trask for a second, "You're calm" Eve's brain is working as she thinks about this situation. "Why so calm?" she asks and cants her head as she heads down to the boiler room.
Condemned Tenement — Boiler Room
Every run-down apartment complex has one. An enormous cavern of a room filled with furnaces, boilers, pipes, conduits, and all other imaginable forms of arcane technology required to keep the inhabitants comfortable and paying rent on time. Unlike most of the abandoned structures in the city, the utilities still seem to be operating here. The furnace is burning, keeping the building at a comfortable temperature. The lights are on. There are carefully tended valves and levers labeled 'GAS'. Locked cages separate the utilities into sections, preventing casual urban explorers from causing too much trouble.
And down they go. Helena finds a chair, and with a bit of rummaging, some duct tape. First thing first? Trask gets his hands pulled behind his back and taped. And then his feet. And then Helena counts out a rough ten feet, and starts taping down a circle around Trask to indicate the zone of his power from where he sits as a warning to whomever's dealing with him. "You want to talk? When Kathleen gets back, you can talk all you want."
Trask doesn't resist, sitting exactly here he is told, still apparently shirtless. He puts his hands exactly where he is ordered and allows them to be bound. He smiles to Eve, "No reason not to be calm. If we just work through this and don't over react every one should get through this with out incident. If I was nervous and jumpy you would be much more likely to fire that thing off at me."
"I like you too much, so let's hope that I don't have to shoot you" Eve smiles softly and watches as Helena ties Trask up. "I guess we're all ears to your explanation" Eve isn't /quiet/ as angry as she was a moment ago. She just regards Trask with a curious look.
"You can run your mouth as much as your inclined, but it'll be Cam who decides what to do with you." Helena informs him. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this. Right?" That last is obviously sarcastic, but it says something that Helena is so strident about waiting for Cam.
Trask looks up at Helena, scanning from Helena, then over to Eve again, "So you obviously have concerns of some sort, perhaps you can ask the questions and I can give you the answers?" One thing you all might realize is he hasn't been using the slight Russian accent he usually adopts around you all.
Footsteps clatter on the stairs, though Kathleen refrains from bursting through the door. "All right," she says as she walks in, breathing like she just ran around the building (which she did). "I got Monica and a couple of the other older ones. Said they'd keep an eye out and alert the rest." She glances to Trask, and still keeps her mouth shut, walking over to lean against some of the non-boiler-associated machinery. The lack of an accent is noticed, but again, no comment, aside from a raised brow.
"Name?" Eve looks at Trask and she looks back at Helena for a moment. She then just goes quiet. Seems like Eve is waiting for a second. She studies Trask, "How long have you been a cop?"
Helena gives Eve a shrug. She'll wait for Eve to run out of questions, though in the back of her brain she's considering where Cameron might be and if she can likely find him. "More like how long he's been a cop spying on us. How long do we have until your superiors expect you to report, huh?"
Trask settles back in the chair, "I join the police force in 2004, right after I got out of the army. My superiors are under the impression that I was assaulted by a coed earlier today and I'm going in the get checked out because of some neck pain. They don't expect me back till tomorrow morning, and even then as long as I call in I can buy a couple more days. I would prefer you didn't repeat any of this out loud, or if you find it nessacary at least step into the circle so we can't be spied upon. I have not been spying on you ladies at all. And I am afraid I am under orders not to tell you my name, for my own safety."
Listening to Trask, Kathleen nods slowly. She folds her arms again, looking at the man in the center of the circle. "You're Cam's spy." That's what he's implying — and it goes along with her earlier thoughts. "That makes some sense. I mean -" She looks to Helena and Eve, hoping they'll at least see her logic. "- if he was turning us over, he didn't have any reason to come back here." Green eyes flick to Trask.
"Thank you Kathleen" Eve smiles softly. "It makes more sense. His people would have already been in here rounding us up" Eve is relieved. "I'll find Cam and talk to him about it.. I have to talk to him anyway, so kill two birds with one stone" she says and leans against the wall. She likes it better to believe that Trask is working for them and not the other way around.
"I agree that's a likely scenario." Helena says. "But Cam's not here. I know some places he goes, so I'll go out and check 'em and bring him back. And I still don't want to count on it being definite until he confirms it one way or the other, so you're just gonna have to stay put, Mr. Lenin-Faker."
Trask smiles a bit, "Dah, we all have a part to play in de cold war, nyet Comrade?" he winks at Helena as the accent is back. "I'll stay right here, who else can say they were tackled by a coed, then tied up by three beautiful woman in the same day?"
Eyeing Trask, Kathleen snorts. "Don't push your luck. I can still shoot you." Or just throttle him, since her gun's actually upstairs right now. Whatever works. She nods to Helena and Eve. "Someone probably ought to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get loose. Just in case. I can do that."
Eve rolls her eyes and cracks a small smile. She doesn't say a word and then she nods at Kathleen, "Alright" is all she said. She must be thinking of something.
Helena makes a gagging face, miming sticking her finger down her throat. It's very teenager, even for nineteen. "Please, spare us." She then looks thoughtfully at Kathleen and Eve. "We could always slip him a mickey." she notes. "But I guess as long as he's behaving, there's no need to send him off into sleepyland." She looks back at "Sergei". "You going to behave?" She waggles a finger like a schoolmarm.
Trask smiles and gets a little of the cocky look back, "That depends, do I get a spanking if I'm bad? cause that might almost be worth it." he winks.
Green eyes regard Trask coolly. "Don't be stupid," Kathleen replies, in a voice that might well frost glasses if there /were/ any such in the room. And if she had such an ability. "Eve, can I borrow your gun? Mine's upstairs still."
Helena makes another face. "Yuck." she declares. "Alright, guys. I'm going to check out a few spots I know Cam loiters in. I'll check in in an hour, okay?"
Eve just shakes her head and she lays her head against the wall. What has her thinking so hard? Well anywho? "I'm gonna go and try to get some sleep. Good luck finding Cameron" Eve says and makes for the door. Geez! Somebody is moody huh? Before she leaves she does hand the gun over to Kathleen and without another word. She is gone.
Eve's gun in hand, Kathleen points it towards the floor, chambers a round, and gives Trask a serious look. 'Not Amused' and 'I Will Shoot You'. Then she goes to get a chair of her own, putting it where she can see both Trask and the door. There, Kathleen settles in to wait.
September 1st: Scars |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
September 1st: Storm Warning |