Participants:
| Scene Title | Setting Up A New Board |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A new gambit begins. |
| Date | Nov 21, 2010 |
Redbird Security Solutions, Basement
Though she's not as visible a figure in Redbird Security — especially lately with the new job she was just shoved into — Elisabeth Harrison is well known around the building. The actual business part of this operation is her baby; it's the thing she put into motion in the hopes of someday having a retirement to actually come back to. If all that thinking ahead is ultimately worthless…. well, what the hell.
The blonde is sitting in Richard Cardinal's office using a laptop with a set of books sprawled out on the desk in front of her. She's apparently comparing notes between them, tallying columns. Making sure things square. At least on paper. Wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers, an old NYPD zip-up fleece over a white long-sleeved shirt, her blonde hair loose, she looks…. not like the woman who's running the entirety of the Manhattan FRONTLINE organization. Not really. She looks exhausted.
There's a steaming cup sitting in front of her and Liz has her forehead propped on hand as she frowns at the books with a furrowed brow. Where normally she is acutely and perhaps preternaturally aware of other people appearing in the hallway, generally looking up anytime people pass, today she appears oblivious.
Sydney has mostly done her best to help with office and paper work. Little financial advice as she knows how to move and hide money and keep it going and lasting. "You know I could help you with that," comes her voice. She still bundles up hating the cold. She'll ever be a tropical weather gal. But the pretty woman is peek leaning against the door with a smile as she takes in the sight of LIz.
Elisabeth looks up, startled at the voice at the door. Sydney's is a face she hasn't seen in some time. When she speaks, her voice is raspy and she's clearly both exhausted and struggling with a head cold from Hell. "Hey…. I know you could," she replies warily. And there's a long moment's pause while she studies the other woman. And quite frankly, she's too goddamn tired to beat around the bush. "Come in, have a seat. With Richard out handling some things, we're finding we need some hands around the office."
And it's not like Sydney hasn't seen people in and out of the basement on a semi-regular basis, since she lives in the building as well. It's time, Elisabeth decides. It's a unilateral decision, but if Richard doesn't like it…. oh wait! He ran off and decided he had other things to handle. Fuck it.
"Up to this point, Sydney, we've been pretty cautious about the things you've seen in this office. To be blunt, I don't have time to do that anymore. The business just received a large bequest, and I want to put us in a position to be able to stash most of it. I want it easily accessible, but not visible." Elisabeth pauses. "And to put it quite bluntly, you're going to see a bunch of shenanigans in the books of this company. If you want out, say so now. You can walk and forget I ever said a word about this. If you don't want to walk, kiddo, …. you're in for all the chips. Whatever comes down, you'll be right in the middle of."
Sydney steps in. She's dressed casually with tights and a sort of long tops that hang past the hips. "Well can't blame you for keeping a stranger out. Though at times I've felt like the heat was off in my room." Cold when you get frozen out. She settles to lean on the edge of the desk careful to not mess up Liz's spread too much. "You sure you don't want help with that Liz. I am really pretty good at cooking books and keeping things off some and onto others. I had a fair bit of a pearl set aside for myself and knew how to be rich and not look rich to the finances. Also don't worry about me. I'm good at not getting caught easily."
"I'm sure you are," Elisabeth says quietly. "Considering the paper trail that you've managed to erase in the past several years, I'm about ready to trust you with my life and that of the people you're inhabiting this building with." Her blue eyes are intent on the girl. She feels so much older than Sydney right now. Responsibility is weighing heavily on her. "Like you, I don't tend to trust easily. But you've been here for a long time and you've kept your mouth shut about what you've seen." Which probably includes people coming in and out with guns. "So now I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom, so to speak." She pauses, the moment holding a kind of gravity and her voice absolutely sincere in its husky promise. "Don't ever give me reason to doubt you," she says softly. "The lives of people in this place depend on me, and I won't hesitate to put their safety above all else. That includes you, if you let it. If you don't let it… " She shrugs a bit, leaving that for Sydney to understand without it being said that she'll go balls to the wall to protect hers.
Sydney doesn't exactly look an age that is easy to pin down either. She's got that odd quality that depending on how she dresses and acts affects her perceived age greatly. "I'm rather good about keeping my trap shut Liz. I've done it for a long time and often that's all that kept me alive." Despite the light words her tone suggests she takes this seriously "What do you need from me. Also you could have asked me some of the stuff you likely dug up on me."
"Mmm," Elisabeth says softly. "But I don't ask questions I don't already know the answers to anymore," she informs Sydney. "So why don't you come in here and tell me what's got you on the run to the degree that you are. Because now's the time to come entirely clean with me on the whats and whyfores."
Sydney begins the story, "Well when I was young and stupid I had this boyfriend…" She leaves out names and details that could make it definitive. However she tells how her boyfriend was a bad guy and tries to frame her for what would get her killed. So she took his money and left him on the hook instead. Also some suits had starts to show up. So she took off. She doesn't ever give the really clear details but enough to give Liz the idea that Sydney hasn't walked arm in arm with the law in a long time and knows well the ins and outs of the lifestyle.
Which pretty much gels with what Liz has already been able to cadge on her own. "What kind of suits?" she asks calmly, those blue eyes remaining on focused on Sydney. She might get the impression that if she lies, there won't be a second chance on this — at the very least, Elisabeth's doing her level best to give the impression that she already knows exactly what was going on, but she's going to make the young woman say the details aloud.
Sydney shrugs on that one. "I never found out. They looked mean and bad news. Black Ops Government spook sort. Once there was a rumor going around about 'A Company' but that's all I got for info. Why I first came to New York. They were starting to sniff close to me after all that work to disappear and so rather then be hunted I went to the lion's den to look for info. Didn't get anywhere."
And there's the piece that makes it all fall into place. Elisabeth's expression doesn't give away anything at all, remaining level on Sydney. "And what exactly is the talent that you possess that made the Company want you, Sydney?" Her tone is calm, blue eyes flickering briefly toward the door to make sure we're still alone for the moment and then coming back to the girl in front of her. "Because the Company tended to go looking for people only because their Evo ability was either dangerous or useful to them."
Sydney gets a knowing smile as she follows the eye flick and then around to be sure they're alone. Then her form melts until she's a twin to Liz's own face. "Now Liz it's just us here so we can be open and honest. I showed, now you can tell." The form, and that's all that changed, goes quickly back to Sydney's usual looks.
There's a flicker in Elisabeth's blue eyes at that. Not just startlement, though that's part of it. But perhaps a more calculating kind of assessment. "Interesting. Very interesting indeed," she murmurs.
There are several ideas stirring around in that head of hers, but for now Liz says merely, "All right, then. So here's what I need you to do. I've liquidated a few of my porfolio assets, a little at a time. I want you to start stashing them in places where they'll be accessible to us with no hassles. A couple of overseas accounts are obvious — Caribbean and Swiss. But in addition, I'd like to funnel some of it into Redbird itself and obscure it. Trouble is, our books are already cooked. We have people on the payroll who aren't actually ours, and we have money coming in for government contracts that we don't really have. Are you skilled enough to hide the money the way I want it hidden and keep it behind your teeth unless or until I personally say otherwise?"
Sydney smiles back at Liz. "Of course I can handle that. YOu let me know and show me the true accounts and give me the access and I'll be funneling and shifting funds to where you can ATM swipe a machine for 20 grand in a panic or tap an offshore account when you need that rocket jetpack. The mini guns are up to you. But I will need full disclosure to finances."
There's a deep breath and Elisabeth slowly nods, pursing her lips. She slides her chair away from the computer and says, "Your first lesson in how the books already look." Gesturing for Sydney to take her place, Liz says quietly, "We are … well, to keep it as simple as possible, we might as well be considered a black ops arm of the US government. We operate independently and you answer to me, Richard Cardinal, or Peyton. Period. Anyone else asks you anything, you send them to one of us. What we do is not as easily explained. Redbird is… a front company for a small group — most of whom you've seen in this building — who utilize several precogs and a couple of other methods to attempt to thwart the worst of the bad shit coming at us in the future."
Sydney slips into the seat and first thing she does is grab a spare pen and spins her hair up into a quick bun and pins it in place. She then starts to look over the books. "Wow. I knew you were connected but not that far. So we are assassins of the future's problems." That's actually pretty damn cool. Long as she's not killed for it and gets to live comfortably. She's in!
Elisabeth's lips quirk into a cool, shuttered smile as she picks up the cup of tea with honey and lemon. "Have you not seen the news lately, kiddo? You're looking at the new director of operations for FRONTLINE Manhattan. This is just my side job." She winks one blue eye. "Richard's nicknamed us the Endgame. That part of things will usually be his baby while I deal with FRONTLINE; I tend to be the street general when he needs a gun."
Sydney shakes her head. "I don't read the news. That tends to be propaganda for idiots. But congratulations." She isn't totally being honest, she knew just isn't one to share info easily. It took WORK to tell Liz all that she has. "Any serious do or do nots that I need to know? Registration, carrying weapons, all that crap."
"You're going to need to Register. I can't get you fake papers for that. So you'll need to do it in such a way as to be officially set at Tier 0. Harmless. With the lockdown the city's under, I can't see many ways for you to avoid it if you're going to work for me." Elisabeth doesn't like it, that much is clear. "Tell them you can change your eye color or something stupid, I don't know."
Sydney grins. "I can just tell them I can change my hair color or something tame like that. That should work right?" I mean how is a dye job dangerous. "Eye is more 'risky' then hair. Easier to fake a hair color then an eye color change. Government types are all the same from what I know. So anything else?"
Elisabeth shakes her head. "Not right this moment, no. I'm going to read you in on the rest of what Endgame does — what we know and how we know it — but first I want you to get up to speed on the books." She sips the tea.
Sydney nods her head and nods to the tea. "Can you get me some?" Another show of trust that may go unnoticed in letting someone make her a drink. "Then lets crack these books>"
The gesture is not lost on the blonde. Elisabeth slips out to go make the tea. It's a start. That's all she can ask.
