Participants:
| Scene Title | Out on a Limb or Two |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Aric calls up Agent Pak, DoEA with a couple of demands. Agent Pak responds with something less tham amusement. |
| Date | March 08, 2011 |
A Telephone Call
As he strolls through Central Park, Aric looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath of the late afternoon air. He is walking slowly through the paths of Central Park where the trees are still green and beautiful. As he leans against the tree he looks down at the junker cell phone that Lizzie bought for him at the corner store. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as he says softly, "You got this dude."
As he opens his eyes he begins to dial the cell phone, "Agent Jane Pak please." As he watches a runner jogging by waiting for the woman to pick up her end of the line.
The first thing when the phone picks up is a blast of classic rock in the background, but it's quickly being turned down as a familiar voice answers, "Agent Pak. Unless this is the guy from the bar last night, then it's Melinda." Which isn't her name at all. But hey, what can you do.
A soft hmmm escapes his lips as he says into the phone as he begins to walk again, "Agent Pak. This is Aric Gibbs. I have been informed that you do not beleive my story and wished to speak with me. So…here I am. What do you wish to know?"
"Oh, Gibbs," Jane says into the phone before there's the sound of chair legs scrapping against tile. "Well, I'll start by saying, that entirely depends on which story you're talking about. But my questions are about the Institute," she says, not sugarcoating it a bit, "If you'd be willing to talk about all that." Not sugarcoating, but she is giving him the opportunity to say no, at least.
"I will speak with you on what you wish to know on one condition. I will tell you everything I can as long as you get my resgistration issue handled out. I was attacked and into this…" His voice crackles a moment as he takes a deep breath, "I want my restration done and handled or your not getting my whole story." He turns to look at a woman walking with her baby as she blinks at him. He smiles softly and tilts his head to the woman before moving away from her a few steps quicker then before.
"Do you really want to start playing hard ball, Gibbs? That's quite an opening pitch." Jane probably sounds more serious there than he remembers her general demeanor to be. "I didn't realize we were in negotiation territory."
The man has changed himself too and Aric's voice sounds a bit harder, "What the Institute did to me will have changed me forever. If you want the information you can ask but I don't trust you. I don't trust them. I don't trust anyone right now. So…don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. You want what I can tell you. It is only fair you give me something I want as well. Yes? Nothing in this world is for free."
"Well, listen to you all bitter and jaded. You may remember, but I never asked you for trust. But I thought the fact that I'm putting my job on the line on the off chance you all are the people I think you are and that I haven't tossed everyone of you in some cell while I sort this all out counting for something. Let me put it to you this way. To get registered, you need to come out of the wood work. It isn't something we do over the phone." And it doesn't take a telepath to know Jane isn't lying there. "So you need to figure out how to get over yourself for five minutes and decide if you want me to help you or not. Because really, I could drop everything about the Institute and keep my job in the long run and it would be a lot better for me."
"I am not coming out of the wood work until I know I am safe and will not be taken again. Tyler Case has big plans and when I tell you. You have no idea the limit of the fucking plans he has…I died Agent Pak. He had some Evolved bring me back to life. So…if I sound a bit bitter and jaded. You have no idea the level of anger I have right now and mistrust for any "organization" related to Evolved. I will consider meeting you but under my circumstances…not yours. I am not coming to your office or the Suresh Center. I am grateful you want to help but…with all due respect. It didn't save me."
"Well, considering I didn't know there was anything to save you from until it had already happened, forgive me if I feel you're being a little unreasonable. And hey, if you don't want to help me save anyone else from similar treatment, that's fine. Just don't expect to get my sympathy for your situation. Because frankly? You're expecting me to put myself on the line for you while you won't budge and inch. You expected me to, obviously or you wouldn't be shifting blame to me for not saving you. When you and all your friends have been keeping me in the dark even before I came to talk to them.
"I cannot do jack or shit if people who do know what's going on don't fucking let me know so that I'm not wandering around uninformed. But you know what? I am putting myself on the line for this. And I will continue to do so even while you're being selfish and scared. Because I'm a goddamn soldier, Gibbs. And I'm a soldier that believes in doing what's right. And you can believe that or not believe that all you want, because at this point? I really couldn't care any less than I do right now." Jane pauses a moment their to breath, and perhaps to get her temper back under control. "So. When you're ready to stop treating me like an enemy when I've don't nothing to deserve it, give me a call and we'll see about your registration. But understand that if you want me to go out on a limb and look into this Institute shit, I require that you show at least the tiniest bit of trust that I'm not one of the bad guys. If you can't do that, then I guess we're stuck at stalemate."
Aric hmmms as he listens into the phone and says, "I need to talk to someone I do trust and see what they say. I think your being sincere and your right. I might be being a bit unreasonable but when your tortured to death it puts a huge lack of faith in people Agent Pak. I will contact you again when I have discussed this with someone I do trust. However, I am not coming to your office and I am sure as hell not going to come to the Suresh Center. Can we agree on that if I come and meet you? And it will be someone maybe who will join me."
"Horrors of war, Gibbs. You've got to either take that and let it make you stronger or let it eat away at you. From where I sit, it seems like you're doing the latter." Jane considers those last words for a moment before she speaks up again, "Fair enough. You realize we will have to go to a police station at the very least to do the registration. But you can pick which one, if that makes you feel better. And bring whoever you'd like, the more the merrier. Let me know when you've got it all figured out." And there, the agent hangs up abruptly. No nice goodbyes this time. Maybe next time.
Aric looks at the phone and says, "And Liz says I have issue." As he looks down at the phone he looks at the trash can and throws it into the bin. He looks up at the sky and sighs. It is getting close to curfew in a few hours as he shoves his hands into his pockets and begins to walk down one of the paths of the park in silence.