Participants:
| Scene Title | Line In The Sand |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | This far, and no further. I'll give you only what I have to. |
| Date | January 13, 2009 |
Jessica arrives at Elisabeth's place. It's the wee hours of the morning, not quite 4:00 am. Time to start getting some answers. She's aware that Elisabeth's a cop, so she's probably armed. Because of that, she's added the concession of a bulletproof vest worn under the black sweater. Black jeans, black boots. Hair pulled back into a ponytail. Jessica checks the lock setup on Elisabeth's door. Not that the door will keep her out, the only question is how much noise will it make.
The lock on her apartment is better than average. She is, after all, a cop. But it's not crazy unpickably secure or anything. She's got the doorknob lock, the deadbolt, and the interior slide bolt on the door, though. Getting past the slide bolt could be the thing that causes the issue.
Well, not really. Not with superstrength. Jessica debates it, but picking it would be a bitch. And honestly, she's just not that patient. She takes a step back, and then slams a foot into it. She fully expects the door is going to either blow open or blow apart. Either one suits her.
Well, *THAT* wakes up the blond living in the house, that's for damn sure. The sound of the door blasting against the inner wall of the apartment is assuredly going to draw some attention, from the occupant and the neighbors. And it takes less than five seconds for Elisabeth, wearing a pair of flannel shorts and a T-shirt and looking sleep-rumpled but FAR from sleepy with a Springfield XD 9mm in her hands, to round the corner into the hall with her weapon pointed ahead of her.
Jessica was rather expecting Elisabeth to come out with weapon. Which would be why the remnants of the door are now sailing through the air at her. It's thankfully not lobbed as hard as Jessica -could- throw it. That could kill someone. She's relying more on its mass to knock someone down or daze them.
Well, pieces of the door sailing at her head are not what she was expecting as she rounded the corner. Ducking instinctively, Liz doesn't avoid getting hit, but at least she avoids getting hit in the head. Slammed backward into the corner of the wall behind her, her hands fly back as well, though she does manage to not drop the weapon. Still, she's thoroughly dazed and not going to be shooting at the intruder.
Which serves her purposes. Jessica is not far behind the door, also using the throw as cover to close. The blonde reaches out to try to yank the gun away from Liz. Getting control of it is a priority.
It's dark, Jessica's backlit by the hallway, and Elisabeth is dazed. But damned if she's giving up that easily. She fights back by kicking out at Jessica, trying to force her to step back so she can bring the gun back up and around…. failing miserably, and only in that moment realizing who she's facing. As the gun is ripped from her hand, Liz gasps, "What the FUCK are you doing??" It could be the last thing she ever says, but… hey…
With control over the gun, Jessica's a lot less worried. "Shh." she says. "One sound I don't like and I rip your tongue out of your head. You have information. I want it. You're going to tell me what I want to know. If not, it's going to be painful."
Elisabeth just rolls her eyes now, furious. "Fuck you… if you're here to kill me, do it. If not, don't stand here threatening me." She moves to get up. "If you wanted information, you coulda fuckin' CALLED." She makes no attempt whatsoever to use power on Jessica, being as she's just been told that it's not a hit on her for some reason.
Jessica frowns. Okay. Time to establish the dynamic here. When Liz makes use of the "fuck you", Jess swings a backhand at her. She's not aiming to kill Liz, but knocking a few of her teeth out could be on the agenda.
She's already on the floor, so instead of even trying to do anything else, Liz merely goes limp before the hit can even connect. She's going to have on HELL of a shiner that takes up the entirety of the right side of her face, that's for sure. But it doesn't negate either her own rage at Jessica's actions or the fact that she's not saying another thing. Yeah… it was stupid. For a split second, she forgot that Jessica's a complete sociopath and *NOTHING* of Niki lives in her. It won't happen again.
Jessica looks back. "You get one warning. That was it. From here on out, I break things." She states simply. "First topic: Abby's roommates. Everything you know. Go."
Elisabeth looks up, frowning. "A context on where to start would help," she says mildly.
Jessica looks back at her. "I didn't ask you for context. I asked you for information. What do you know about them. Names. Personalities. Who they work for, who they work with." And also…that was not an answer to her question. Jessica reaches down, and unless prevented, she's going to reach down, manhandle Liz's left hand into being grabbed with Jessica's own left hand, and use her right to grab Liz's pinky finger and snap it like it's a twig.
Elisabeth will definitely struggle with her. "I can't answer if I don't know what you're looking for!" she cries out, alarmed. But if Jessica actually snaps her finger, there's little enough she can do about it. Her face throbbing, her lip split, and doing her level best to hope that this is not going to get much worse, Elisabeth answers on a gasp of pain, "T.. Teo. And Alex. I don't know them *real* well… Alex is an ex-cop and Teo's an ex-teacher. Not sure what they do now for real jobs! Uhm… personality? They're… nice guys." Well, if one doesn't count that Alex tortured a girl, but whatever. "They adore Abby. I don't know much more than that."
Jessica does, indeed, make with the snap. It's establish the rules: Liz gives answers Jessica likes, no snappy. Jessica doesn't like, and the Rice Krispies make an appearance: Snap, Crackle, and Pop. "Good. Last names?" She's terse, but then that's no surprise.
Elisabeth fights back tears, refusing to give Jessica the satisfaction. "Laudani and Knight." Because Jessica could find out easily enough. And she says nothing more.
Jessica nods. "Good. Next. Sylar. Anything you know beyond the "blew up New York" crap." she says, as she looks down to the fallen woman.
Elisabeth looks surprised, and puzzled about what the roommates have to do with Sylar requests. "Uhm…. I know he steals Evolved powers, killing the target to do it. I know he's after Abby's power. And that he's part of the Kazimir Volken group, the one I mentioned the other day at your place." She glances toward the kicked-in door and idly wonders how long it'll take for the cops to arrive when the 911 calls go through. This could get ugly. She looks up at Jessica again.
Jessica nods. "Wu-Long. Same question." she says. She knows that she can't wait too long here, which is part of why she's rapid-firing her questions out. She has two more that are still waiting to show up.
Elisabeth answers quickly. "Not much, aside from his name and that we believe he can teleport. The whole group was involved in the hit on the school, and they're behind the virus thing, but I don't think I know anything at all about him personally."
Jessica nods. She looks back to Elisabeth. "Now. Who else are you and Abby working with? Beyond the police." Because she's taken the things she learned when Liz came to read Abby the riot act, and some things Abby's said, and put two and two together.
Elisabeth gulps and says quietly, "Besides Homeland Security because the Volken group attempted to assassinate Rickham while he was here? Phoenix." No point in lying. She's pretty sure Jessica guessed anyway.
Niki nods. "Tell me about them. Membership. Leadership." she says. Now we're getting somewhere. After all, if she's going to pull strings, she's going to need bargaining tools. The Company is not so easy to just intimidate.
Elisabeth is generally a pretty good liar—hostage negotiation requires it. She chooses now to look Jessica in the eye and lie. "I only know my contingent. Abby's not officially part of it. Teo and Alex are the ones I know about, and my handler Sergei. I don't even know his real name, he only goes by Sergei. I only *just* got in a couple weeks ago, so they don't trust me with their leadership or with important information yet."
Of course, Jessica is expecting Elisabeth to lie on this one; this was the first important question. She reaches down to manhandle Liz's left hand into her grip, as if hand-shaking with her. "Last chance, Liz. Don't be careless."
Elisabeth shakes her head and now allows the tears into her eyes. "I swear to God…. would *you* trust someone who only got brought in two weeks ago, Jessica? I know exactly who and what I need to know for whatever task they set me on. The only thing I've done for them is pass information on the Volken group to my captain. That's it."
Jessica has partially disconnected.
There's just a moment of hesitation, and Jessica squeezes right up to the point where the handshake is painful. "Don't make me crush your hand, Liz. I won't let Abby heal it. Names. Membership." She says, looking back to the police officer, eyes locked onto hers with laser intensity.
Elisabeth shakes her head and says quietly, steadily, around the tears on her cheeks, "I don't know. I really don't know." In spite of the pain, in spite of the split lip, the bruising that is already starting to turn the side of her face black and purple, in spite of the broken finger, the blond officer doesn't flinch under Jessica's stare. God forgive her, she gave up Teo and Alex. And she'll make a call as soon as she's able to try to make that right… but she won't give up anything else. She's made a nearly fatal mistake, misjudging the level of Jessica's sociopathology, and she knows it. But she won't give Jessica more than seems plausible.
Jessica looks down at Elisabeth. She considers her. But if Abby already knows these people, and Abby's not so competent, she can't believe that Elisabeth doesn't. She says "This stops when you talk." And she starts squeezing harder, waiting for the poppings and snappings to start coming like bubble wrap.
Agony. There is nothing left in Elisabeth's world but agony, and she sees spots, gritting her teeth as the first bones start to pop. And that's all it takes. She screams, and the instant she does, she *BLASTS* at Jessica hoping to burst her eardrums with the sound.
Jessica is at point-blank distance, and holding Elisabeth. It's not like she could go anywhere…and even if she could, she can't exactly dodge at the speed of sound. It's her turn to scream as the sound hits her, and it gets her to let go of Elisabeth's hand. That's the good news. The bad news is that even as it deafens her, it doesn't knock her -out-, and she retaliates, punching out HARD at Elisabeth.
Elisabeth is already on the floor, there's only so much movement she's got. She does attempt, immediately upon being released, to roll to the side. And burst eardrums, thank God, also knock Jessica off-balance enough to allow Liz to get out of the way. Somewhat. The punch was heading downward, toward her head, and the two circumstances combine to cause Liz to get hit in the shoulder instead. Which on the up side means she's not DEAD from a caved-in head, but on the down side? She just got hit full-power by Jessica in the shoulder. Her collarbone snaps like a piece of straw, two ribs also break, and her clavicle cracks. It's NOT going to be pretty. And Elisabeth blacks out for just a moment from the pain.
Jessica is reeling herself. Her balance is shot to shit, and the blown door plus the scream equals her needing to get out of here. She keeps a hand to the walls, using them to lean on as she stumbles out. She got some of what she wanted, but she got torn up for it too. Good thing she knows someone to help.
Elisabeth's address is, obviously, flagged in the NYPD system as 'cop home', so when the 911 calls start pouring in from her floor and the ones above and below and someone gives her specific apartment number, patrol cars are immediate scrambled. In addition, the supervisor at the 911 call center is alerted, and she in turn alerts Elisabeth Harrison's captain. By the time the patrol cars arrive, there is no sign of the perpetrator and no one appears to have seen the person responsible for the blasted in front door at Elisabeth's apartment. The guys come through with weapons drawn and check the place out, and the call goes out for a bus. Paramedics needed, officer down. When William arrives on the scene, the paramedics haven't gotten to the scene yet and a young patrol officer is sitting next to Elisabeth, who is lying on the floor covered by a blanket.
He got here as soon as he could. It's apparent he wasn't at work. Gray sweats from head to toe. At least he got a gun holster on before he left. Proof that Harvard cares about his men…woman a little more than he's given credit for. William quickly brushes by the patrolmen, going to one knee by Elisabeth's side. His attention goes to the officer. "Anything?"
The patrol officer shakes his head. "Perp was already long gone, Captain Harvard," he says quietly. "She clearly tried to fight back. Her gun's over there on the floor, and she's…. a mess, sir."
At the sound of his voice, Elisabeth forces open her eyes, turning her head just enough that he can actually get a look at the right side of her face. She's lying on her right side down there, so her face was somewhat hidden. Her right eye won't open all the way from the bruising that is already beginning to vividly purple the whole side of her face.
"Cameras." William says quickly. "Anyone on that yet?" He asks, looking up at the officer. "They have cameras in the lobby. They have a doorman. Find me a picture find me a description, find me a footprint, something!" William says, irritation shining through. He looks down at Elisabeth with a deep frown. One hand comes down to gingerly touch her shoulder. "Who did this, Liz?" He asks mostly of himself. He doesn't expect an answer right now, though his eyes take in her sadly. "Damnit."
Elisabeth whimpers softly as soon as he puts his hand on her left shoulder. "No!" she gasps. Tears. Aw shit, she's gonna cry in front of him. That sucks. "Don't touch," she gasps. "I think… she broke at least my collarbone, if not more. Hit me in the shoulder." She closes her eyes, riding out the waves of pain, and says softly, "I'll give you a full statement, Will, just…. after. Okay?" She looks up at her boss, and whispers softly, directly into his ear so that no one else can hear it, "I know who it was."
The cops on the scene all wince in sympathy, and they're all nodding. They're definitely doing their job.
Bringing his hand back, he frowns deeply. "We'll get you taken care of Liz. You're a trooper." He murmurs back sympathetically. He wants to do something rub her back give her hand a squeeze, something. But the fear of hurting her again is too great. Standing up he puts his hands on his waist. "Forget about the cameras." He says, waving a dismissive hand.
When the call 'officer down' goes out, the paramedics in this town don't screw around either. A bus is on the scene within five minutes of William's arrival, and they're as careful as they can be when they move her, but yeah…. Liz is *not* a happy camper. "I'll see you at the hospital," she murmurs softly. "Would you let Darius know I won't be in this morning?" she asks, forcing a smile for Will.
"Anything." William says softly in return to Elisabeth. "I'll see you at the hospital." The Captain echoes, his jaw tensing visibly. Sweeping the officers he waves another dismissive hand. "Let's go."
 January 12th: Black Moonlight |
 January 13th: A Little Closer To The Goal |