Participants:
| Scene Title | Our People |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Reunions happen. And, like any family, fights also happen. |
| Date | October 19, 2011 |
This building hasn't seen Monica Dawson in a while. Between being a bit of a wanderer and also being detained for many weeks. But this afternoon, she stands in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal like it was any other day.
Of course, it isn't any other day. For one, there is a black jacket hanging off a chair that is caked with mud. Monica herself is in a similar state. Legs, face, hands. Hair. Whatever she's been up to, she seems to have found it more important to eat than shower. Her foot taps to some unheard rhythm, but otherwise, the kitchen is quiet.
The sounds of someone in the Brickfront as she makes her way up the stairs doesn't surprise Liz at all — if it were someone who wasn't supposed to be there, EITHER they'd be kicking in doors (and have a lot more heartbeats) OR one of the people in the house would have tied them up and texted her. So the audiokinetic is expecting to see someone she knows. As she rounds the corner at the top of the stairwell into the makeshift kitchen/living space, though, Monica might have been the last person on that list. "Holy shit!" she breathes.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Elisabeth demands of the younger woman. "Alia just reported in that you'd been off the radar. Are you okay?" The hum of not-noise is just slightly audible. "Are you hurt? What happened? Jesus, Monica, you scared the shit out of me, I thought you were in the Blocks!"
The words bring Monica's attention over that direction and she smiles at first, then the expression dims. Because questions. "I was in the Blocks," she says, setting her bowl down for the moment. "They suck, by the way." As for the rest, she nods, "I'm mostly okay. Twisted ankle. And I'm gross." Mud, it's everywhere. "But I'm here." She says that like even she is a little surprised over it.
Elisabeth already knew the shadow behind her would disappear, though he too has to be relieved. She makes her way across the room and gathers the other woman into a desperate hug, ignoring the mud. "Shit." There's a subtle tremor through her body that Monica can feel, but when Liz lets go, she smiles. "I'm so damn glad you're okay. Jesus… I wasn't looking forward to sending word to a certain soldier out there that you were trapped in there without backup." Because she would have let JJ know once she knew for sure. "Sit, sit." Liz gestures. "Do you want something more than cereal? We can heat up stuff."
It's what she does when she's anxious. FEED PEOPLE.
"At least Jaiden didn't knock you up while you were in Eltingville, so," Cardinal's teasing voice stirs behind Monica, "That's something that we've changed, at least."
The shadowmorph, returned after so long as if he wasn't ever gone, picks up the box of cereal and peers into it, "Did you have to eat all the Frosted Flakes, though? Seriously, Monica."
Monica returns the hug tightly, eyes closing against tears she's been hold back for weeks. She doesn't seem quite ready to let them go yet, so she just hangs onto Liz under the she can kept them back. When she steps back, she nods, a strange laugh following Liz's words. "I was worried he'd hear and go do something stupid. He must be, though. Worried." Since she did just disappear.
She laughs a little more at the offer of food, but before she can answer, there's a voice behind her. She jumps, whirling around to look at him. "Oh my god," she says, "Where the hell have you been?!" Hopefully he's not too attached to the cereal box, because he's getting a hug next.
Elisabeth's hug was very tight. And now she laughs softly at Monica's reaction to Richard. She did tell them all that he'd been "evacuated into the time stream" — it was the only way she could think of to explain it. So his turning up SOMETIME was kind of half-expected. But watching the two of them for a moment, Elisabeth realizes that for the first time in six months… she can breathe. She'd been drowning under the weight of it all. It's all still there. But her family is intact again.
She turns away from them so neither of them can see the glisten of tears while she makes coffee and searches out the last of cookies she hid a few days ago.
As he's hugged, Cardinal exhales a low chuckle—setting the cereal box down to one side, wrapping an arm back around the ninja of their little group and offering a faint smile down, "Good to see you too. I was… elsewhen for a bit. Not a lot of time passed for me." The smile fades a touch, "Sorry I was gone so long. Shit happens, especially when time travellers get involved… and it seems like we're running out of time fast, now."
"Oh, yeah. Time travel," Monica says, as if this might be a poor attempt at an excuse. But a warm smile follows, so all must be forgiven. At his last words, she nods, "Saw the news." It wasn't good news. "So what's the plan?" she asks with lifted eyebrows, because… they have one, right? She seems to believe they do. "Oh. Has there been any sign of Peyton? Magnus told me he'd seen her, but she didn't want anyone to know where she was. So I figure… I gotta find her, right?"
Whipping around with a frown, Elisabeth asks, "Magnes has seen Peyton? Monica… no one has seen Peyton since … well, I haven't seen or heard from her since before Redbird blew." She slants a glance at Cardinal. "There's no indication that she's in Eltingville, and all my leads dried up along while ago. I honestly assumed… " Her lips tighten. "That she'd been darkholed."
At the mention of the woman, Richard's smile fades entirely, and he turns his head instinctively towards the cabinet where they keep the liquor. Suddenly he wishes he had one in his hand. "Peyton…" A deep breath's taken in, then exhaled as he rakes fingers back through his hair. He picks back up in a slightly flat voice, looking back to the two women, "Peyton is exactly where she wants to be. She's made her choices, and decided where her conscience and loyalties should take her."
He turns to step along over towards the cabinet, then, his head shaking as he pulls it open and reaches for a bottle, "I didn't pay close enough attention to her, and I lost her."
"What?" Monica looks troubled at Liz's words, and more so the longer she goes on. "No, we gotta go get her." It's spoken with conviction. She has to do this. She flips around to Cardinal, brows furrowed. It's a rare thing, Monica's anger, but it bubbles up just now. Not directed at either of them, exactly, but into her fist slamming against the counter. "That's bull," she says, "Peyton's our friend. She's my friend. She's not lost, we just have to go get her and bring her back. Where is she?" Honestly, she looks like she might march right out this second, if it wasn't for the fact that she still has no idea where to look.
It hits Elisabeth like a ton of bricks, honestly. She had no idea. "She's with Ezekiel," she says quietly. Her eyes are still on Richard, but it's not a question — there is a certainty to her tone that says she knows what he's trying to say without saying it. This she did not know. And one hand raises to shove her long, purple-streaked hair back and hold it in her fist at the base of her neck. "Jesus Christ…. everything could be compromised."
"I talked to her on the phone, just before… well." A bottle of tequila's used as a prop, gestured to and fro before brought back forward for Cardinal to twist the cap off, "And there's nothing left to compromise, Liz. Think about it. What do we have left, that the Institute wasn't aware of?" He considers the bottle for a moment, then with a shrug he brings it up to his lips and back in a quick swallow, mouth wiped with the back of a scarred hand, "I don't think she'd use her power against us, though, so there's that."
"Uh, yeah," Monica says, "Of course she wouldn't." Her feet pull her along as they pace the floor, although she is obviously favoring her wounded ankle. "So that means she's, what? In their headquarters or something?" Her hands come up into her hair, only to remember belatedly that it is both pulled up into a bun and covered in dry mud. Her arms drop back down to her sides. "Do we… have a plan?"
"We have a plan," Elisabeth sighs, dropping wearily into one of the chairs. She shakes her head negatively to the silent offer of tequila — far too early in the day for that shit. "Can't say it's a good plan. But it's the only one on the table." She looks at Monica. "We're going after him. Us, the Ferry, whatever of the future kids we can get to come along, anyone else we can bring to the table." That's an unusual set of allies. "God only knows who else. It's all coming down."
"Boom." Cardinal closes his eyes, "Temporal inertia tilts in our favor here, but that doesn't mean we all survive. We've got a team going to Alaska, and a team going to Cambridge. You could join either expedition, whichever you think you'd be best suited for. Or you could stay home and watch television like a sane person."
"No way. I'm in." Monica is not… exactly… a sane person. But who is these days? It's so gauche. "Okay, that sounds like something. Maybe crazy enough to not see coming." And that is Monica's kind of plan. "JJ'll come. I'll ask him." Asking almost seems to be an afterthought. Also, their chances of survival don't even seem to register. But then, what has low odds ever stopped any of them? "There's nothing good on TV anyway."
Propping her chin on her hand, Elisabeth looks between them. "If you can get a message to him cleaner than I can, that would be fine. They're picking up people off the streets, though. And lethal force is allowed," she tells Monica quietly. "You've already been in the Blocks, which means they'll potentially be actively looking for you." Not like Elisabeth and Cardinal can't say the same thing, though. "Just be cautious."
Cardinal slides himself into a chair, leaning back with the bottle of tequila in hand and resting its base on his thigh. "Just… be careful, both of you," he says with a little shake of his head, momentarily looking very tired, "Peyton's a target for exfiltration, but…" A deep breath, "She's not a high priority one. There's no way to sell our allies on that."
"I think I can. Are the bots out in the rest of the city yet?" Because that would make a bit of a difference as to how clean her message would be. Monica looks at Liz, her warning not falling on deaf ears. "Right. And if they catch me, I'm not going back to the Blocks. I'm getting a bullet. Or worse." There is worse, as they all know. She stops her pacing, settling against the counter again as she looks over at Cardinal. "I'll get her. Our allies can't argue that. There's no way anyone planned for me to be there and no one will be surprised if I run off and ninja all over the place. Right?"
There are a great many things that Ezekiel couldn't have planned for originally but MIGHT be able to plan for now. However, Elisabeth pins the other woman with a bright blue stare. "If you agree to go with this attack, I'm trusting you to stick to the plan and not hare off on your own. Magnes did that shit in Antarctica and damn near got us all killed. I won't stand for it here. If Peyton is in a place where we can get to her, fine. But if you break ranks and pull a Lone Ranger, assuming we survive at all, you and I will have a problem." Her tone is quiet but with a crack of authority that cannot be missed. She is not kidding. Deaths due to people having their own agenda are not tolerable to her. "The point of a plan is to keep as many of us alive as possible at the end. I'll have your word, Monica." Maybe Monica can see why JJ would follow her the way he did.
"I care about her too, Monica. I… more than I can say," says Cardinal with a subtle shake of his head, leaning forward and thumping the bottle of tequila down on the table solidly, "If we can get her out without risking mission objectives, we will. We will. But if we can't…" He grimaces, glancing back down to the table, "She's made her choices. She knows it, too."
Monica shrinks a little under Liz's stare. And her words. For the first time today, she's still. No tapping, no twitches. "I'm sorry, Liz," she says, first, contrition in her tone, "it's been sort of a day. Of course I'll stick to the mission." She looks over at Cardinal then, and reaches over to put a hand on his arm. "I know you do. I'm sorry. I'd like to try to help her, though. If we get the chance to."
Elisabeth's expression softens, and regret colors her features. "That … that was totally uncalled for." The hum around her seems to deepen slightly. "I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt people. I'm just…. I'm sorry," she tells Monica contritely.
"And if we do…" Cardinal's hand moves to cover hers on his arm, and he offers her a faint smile, "…we will. I promise. She's— I failed her once, I won't fail her again if I have the chance to fix that mistake. The rest of the world comes first, though." A look back to Liz, and then he offers more lightly, "So, uh… anyone want to order pizza?"
"It's fine, Liz. We're all on edge." Monica comes over to give her another hug, because she needs it. Both of them. Even when she lets her go, she keeps an arm around her as she turns to look at Cardinal. "Alright, I guess the rest of the world is important, too." She teases. And at his offer for pizza, she chuckles. "Yeah. I'm starving." Then she looks over at Liz. "You yell at my boy like that, Liz?" she asks, her smile crooked, "Poor guy."