Participants:
| Scene Title | On the Case |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A pair of SESA agents are called to the scene when a SLC-Expressive loses control of their ability. |
| Date | August 3, 2019 |
Elmhurst Hospital: Emergency Room
The call came in from the NYPD. They were first on the scene, but it was immediately obvious that SESA would need to be on the scene.
The ER waiting room has been evacuated by the time Agents Diaz and Cooper arrive and the reason is obvious. Spiked vines curl around the doors, holding them open for the various officers on the scene. They wind through the room, through desks and walls, having knocked over tables and rows of chairs. Blood can be seen where people were hit, although the people themselves have been moved to triage or already being seen by the doctors here. One officer is taking pictures of the scene, while others are talking to a pair of nurses. The nurses look a little shaken still. The incident still fresh.
The SESA Agents know that a young evolved woman came into the ER and lost control of her ability. They had yet to determine the cause beyond that, waiting to let the agents take over the case.
A low whistle escapes Cooper as the twisting ropes of vines come into view, not something he’s ever seen before, clearly. “Damn.” The word is drawn out. It was a truly impressive sight. The urge is strong to reach out and touch the vine, but he doesn’t. “This is one hell of an ability, man.”
He had been in need of a break from the human trafficking ring, so Cooper jumped on the chance to work with Diaz. “Who they say the MP in charge was?” He glances at his partner of the moment, while scratching at a bit of glaze on his jacket lapel. It was rare that he doesn’t have a bit of donut somewhere on his suit, which today was a warm gray with a muted red tie.
“Dispatch says Rodgers,” Cesar answers his fellow agent as they stride through vine-bound doors. He gives the whole scene a bit of the hairy eyeball as well. No temptation to reach out and touch the spiked plant life. Yet.
A more charcoal grey ensemble offsets Cesar’s appearance beside Cooper’s, while his is kept usually clean of delicious pastries. He scans the waiting room with a note of the vines, “At least it doesn’t look like they're animated now.” Moving plantlife would be an issue for sure. “Still, gotta feel for Rodgers. He’s been assigned to this area for a while. Bet he’s seen some crazy shit come through these doors.”
Rodgers is easy to spot, looking harried and overworked just now, but he also sees them and heads over to them. "Diaz. Cooper," he says with a shake of their hands. "Thanks for coming." If there's any bad feelings for having to hand over a case, they don't show. "We've got the Expressive in a room in the back. She's coming down off what she was on," he says with a gesture toward… well everything. "The witnesses say she seemed to be having a bad reaction to whatever she took, and lost control of her ability. We haven't questioned her yet. We thought you'd want to handle that."
The paperwork is all handed over, including notes for those that the MPs have interviewed so far. "We'll have the photos sent over to your office," he says with a gesture toward the photographer. At least they're not just passing the buck and running. But there is a hint that they would all like to go home and let someone else handle this one.
Cooper could say so much, but he spots the MP coming towards them, so for now, his mouth is shut. “Rodgers, my man. Glad to hear you were on this.” The hand is shaken with a grin from Cooper.
“You look like hell, but just keep telling yourself, this won’t be your problem pretty damn soon.” After all that new NYPD Scout group was getting close to taking it all over, releasing the MPs to more important duties, like protecting the country. The information isn’t taken, Cooper allows Ceasar to grab that, but the agent does move to look at the twisting vines again.
WIth the fact that labs can take forever, Cooper can’t help but ask, “They have any guesses as to what she could be on?” Sometimes even a guess can be a lead when they need a push in the right direction.
"No tubas this time," utters Cesar under his breath just loud enough for Cooper to hear before Rodgers is within earshot. There's only one person they know where the imagery of tuba and hospital collide.
But that's neither here nor there. Rodgers gets a nod and wry smile bordered with professionalism. When Cooper scoots around the paperwork, Cesar takes it with a side-eye gaze for the other SESA agent, then rolls back the file cover to flip through the first few pertinent pages. Immediate information gleaned: Subject name, initial condition assessment, that sort.
"Is she under sedation or restraint of any kind?" he asks as he scans for any keywords jumping out. "Anybody injured we should talk to?" There, Cesar looks up to the MP and quick-scans the waiting room nurses being talked to by another officer.
"Ecstasy," Rodgers answers Cooper, "she reported that herself once she could." He looks over at Cesar, giving him a nod. "She's negated, but not restrained at the moment. She should be calm. If not exhausted." He looks between the two agents, letting out a sigh. "There'll be paperwork before you leave, but we'll start wrapping up out here. You're free to interview whoever you want, of course, but the injured have just talked to our officers. You'll have their contact information." He gives a gesture toward the doors to the ER rooms, as that's where the girl in question happens to be. Perhaps he thinks the people in the waiting room have been through enough without another agency asking them to recount what happened.
There is a grin at the mention of tuba’s, but his face falls as Rodger’s continues. A low whistle escapes at the mention of the drug, Cooper eyes the vines a bit more. He might be impressed. “Damn, that shit is scary with a regular person.” He’s dealt with people on a variety of drugs. Ecstasy wasn’t the worst… he’d really hate to see someone on PCP. He huffs out a breath at the thought.
“Yeah, I think we should talk to the girl,” is Cooper’s opinion. “We can give of the testimonials and call back in whoever we need. Whatcha think?” A glance goes to Cesar to see if he agrees. Jerking his thumb towards the ER. “Shall we?”
“Sounds good,” Cesar says of the paperwork and interviews being conducted. Rodgers’ reveal of Ecstasy being the culprit is a surprise to Cesar too. He glances over at Cooper and nods slowly in agreement. “Get her checked out first, then come back around… the lab techs are going to have a field day cleaning this up.” The spiked vines get another sidelong look, then he turns to take first steps to the back of the ER.
“I’m concerned,” Cesar notes as they get closer to the back room where their interviewee awaits, “If this was an accident, if she’s going to get in some trouble with those injured by it. If it wasn’t an accident, then why’d it happen.” His words are spoken quietly, meant only for his partner. As they approach the door, he knocks a few times, then reaches to open it, bidding Cooper in and himself a pace behind to close the door after.
Inside the room, a young girl lays on the bed, hooked up to an IV and various sensors that cause a series of beeps and drips sounding through the room. Her hair is a mess, her makeup smeared— other concerns have come first before anyone thinks about fixing her appearance— and she sits up a little as the agents enter the room. It's possible they might recognize her, if either of them paid attention to the list of people who came through to their world from other timelines.
Namiko Wesley-Khan was the name she chose to go by in this world.
She looks between the two of them, eyes bloodshot but alert. "You're not doctors," she says, although there is a question in that phrase. This is her first time in a hospital, after all.
“Uh… no. No we’re not. We’re the fuzz… sorta, kinda. More like the Feds.” Cooper’s hand wobbles, but then he smiles a bit more. “I’m Agent Thomas Cooper and this is Agent Cesar Diaz. We’re from SESA, Miissssss…” He leans over, into Cesar’s personal bubble, to look at the paperwork “Wesley-Khan? Any relation to Genghis Khan?”
“Would you call this the Wrath of Wesley-Khan?” Cooper asks his partner in the moment, pointing to all the vines around them. However, his smile fades as he realizes he might of said to much. “Uh… So…..” He points to him with both fingers. “Questions for her?”
Cesar angles the folder for Cooper to see the name, and shuts his eyes to prevent his fellow agent and their interviewee from seeing him rolling them for the references. When he opens them again, he levels a flat look at Cooper. "Come on, Cooper. You're going to compare Namiko and her family to a brutal warlord and the genocidal and genetically modified space villain referencing said warlord?" The agent swats lightly at the other's shoulder with the shut folder. "Coño."
Then he turns back to Namiko, huffing softly and stepping closer. "We're here to first, see how you're doing. And second, find out what happened that might have caused you to lose control of your power." He starts off coolly, gaze examining the equipment and following the IV drip line to the bed, then up to Namiko's appearance in initial overview.
Cesar studies the girl's face a bit longer, like he does seem to recognize her. Still, he doesn't act on that, but steps closer to the bedside table and sets the file down. He motions for Cooper to close distance as well. No reason to fear.
"Do you remember coming to the hospital?" asks Cesar after a beat, prompting the dive back into the circumstances, but not revealing the results of what's outside in the waiting room.
Namiko looks back and forth between the pair at their joking, either not getting it or not finding it funny in this particular moment. She doesn't answer any of the questions, at first, furrowing her brow for a moment.
"I don't remember how I got here, no," the girl says, shaking her head. "The doctors told me I was on something, but I didn't take anything. Not knowingly. So I'm not great right now." Answering a little out of order, but she's getting there. "I went to a party. I'm a DJ, I was looking for a place to play. There's a big party scene on Staten. All I had was a bottle of water." She leans back against her bed, energy apparently low at the moment.
“You kiss your mom with that mouth?” is Cooper’s knee jerk reaction to the smack and whatever the hell Cesar just said. He doesn’t know what it was, but he could tell it wasn’t good and was probably a bad word. So Cooper can only offer a sheepishly murmured. “Sorry.” To the young woman in the bed.
Brows furrow listening to Namiko, Cooper’s mind already over on Staten picking out what he remembered of the prime party spots. Too many months spent out there. “Staten is a risky place to party, you’re lucky you didn’t end up in a trafficker's cage.” The hair on the back of his neck stands up just thinking about it. “Do you remember exactly where on Staten the party was?” He looks at Cesar. “Maybe we can find something there. If she only had a bottle of water…” He trails off, lost in his thoughts again.
Not rising to the Cooper bait that time, Cesar focuses on the interview. His expression remains as cool neutral as possible while Namiko recalls the events. “The MPs told us you had said you were trippin’ on E. Ecstasy,” he counters to her claim about only having water. “Partying out on Staten, I might believe that it wasn’t your fault. As Agent Cooper points out, could have been a trap. Someone could’ve been passing out samples to drum up business. New drugs are hitting the streets all the time, and some of those could have an untold side effect on SLC-Expressives.”
He sends a glance to Cooper with a thoughtful expression. Things to note tumble through Cesar’s gaze.
““Did you go alone? Did someone go with you? Did someone hire you to DJ out there?” he asks as he gradually turns back to Namiko.
"Yeah, I can show you where the party was," Namiko says, reaching for her phone where she has the address and directions stored. She looks between the agents again, a frown on her face. "I went there for work, not to party. I'm a plant manipulator, if I wanted to get high, I wouldn't need to go anywhere. All I had was water." She passes Cooper her phone, so he can copy down the location of the party.
"I went alone. I was just talking to the DJ about how he got hired. We didn't get to talk too much, though. Not before I ended up here." She sighs at that and rubs her forehead before she looks back to Cooper and Cesar. "If it's the kind of scene where they're spiking the drinks, maybe it's better I didn't get work there, huh?"
Taking the phone and Cooper jots down the address and directions. “I recommend not taking any more jobs there or anywhere on Staten, to be honest. There is a sharp rise on abductions. Especially, people your age with abilities. Quite the market out there, I guess.” The phone is offered back. “Thank you. You don’t happen to know the name of the DJ or the person running the party?”
A note is jotted down to ask for any security footage for the hospital. “We’ll see if we can get footage of your arrival here, since you don’t remember getting here.” Brows furrow a bit, as he looks at his notes. Maybe they will get lucky and get a shot of the ‘good samaritan’ and/or a vehicle.
Once the agents have the address, Cesar looks more focused on Namiko. "Probably especially now with the MPs focusing on the clean up outside the zone. The faster they can, the better for everyone." He glances sidelong to Cooper when the other man makes note of the arrival footage.
"Namiko, are you aware of what happened with your power earlier?" he asks evenly, letting a slightly longer pause sit with the inquiry. He holds up a hand to stave off defensiveness. "We're trying to get the pieces together on this puzzle, to make out as full a picture as we can. And to make sure whatever's affected you isn't going to come back, or hurt anybody else."
"The DJ goes by Snapdragon. You can find them on instagram and stuff like that. They're looking to go bigger than just secret parties, so I knew there'd be an opening there." Namiko rubs a hand over her face, tugging her IV along with her. "I don't know who runs the parties, though. Didn't get that far."
She sighs at Cesar's question, but nods. "Hard to miss what I did. The doctor filled me in when I came to. But I can't help you with what exactly happened. You'd have to ask someone at the party, I guess. I was kind of out of it." Her face pulls into a frown— having missing time isn't fun for her either.
“DJ Snapdragon,” Cooper repeats amused. Not like he doesn’t believe her, more like ‘what a silly name’ He looks at the name written in his notebook. “I can’t imagine he’s too hard to find.” They find this guy, they might find out about the organizer. Dominos.
Well, if they are lucky that is.
“My daughter once broke some bones in a guy when she got freaked out and blasted a group of bullies,” Cooper says trying to be understanding. “It happens. What’s important is that no one died. In the meantime, you rest up and we will work toward seeing if we can figure out what caused the accident to occur.” For now, he’ll call it an accident.
With a look cast towards Cooper at the mention of Instagram, just to make sure he heard it right, Cesar nods and gives Namiko a more reassuring, if only slightly less serious, pull of a smile. "We'll have your case worker here at the hospital give your parents a call and you'll be home soon enough. Thank you for your time and best wishes for a speedy recovery."
Cesar turns and beckons Cooper to follow, leading the way out of the hospital. Once they're out of earshot and in the hall, he lets out a sigh he'd been holding in. "She's one of them," he notes quietly to his fellow field agent. "One of the ones we got back from Sunspot. Whoever's out on Staten, I don't think they were targeting her specifically, but can't rule it out. We definitely need to check out this DJ, though." He pulls out his phone, unlocking it to open up the very app she had referred them to, intent on searching out the Snapdragon.
Namiko says her goodbyes to the agents, grateful for them taking on the investigation but also grateful that the questioning was short. She leans back against her bed as they go and is probably asleep again before they leave the hospital.
When Cesar searches social media for the DJ, he finds that they never are seen in public without a mask. Specifically, a black dragon mask with eyes that light up and some method of letting smoke out of the nostrils. The music is all EDM, the lights are all neon, the buildings are all abandoned. But they do find pictures of the party Namiko went to, which at least prove that she wasn't making it all up. Though, with the crowd that was present, it seems like they have their investigation work cut out for them.