Participants:
Scene Title | So Far As We Know |
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Synopsis | Megan visits Michelle at the shelter she's staying at to help out, to inform the woman that her husband is missing. |
Date | April 19, 2010 |
Shelter in NY
Crowded :(
The shelter that Michelle and the girls are at isn't a great one. Stuffed witha great many people who are displaced by the lack of power and the quickly plummeting temperatures, it's little surprise since they reside in Brooklyn and it has been without power. There will be many a plumber if this storm ever ends, repairing burst pipes in homes.
It's evident not long after Megan sets into the place, the reason why she hasn't taken the children to a hotel and ridden out the storm in comfort. The temperature of the place is modulated by the french woman who's sitting and taking a break from doctoring to read to the twins on their cot.
"For who'd help me count all the stars up in space? Who would win first whenever we race? Who would give kisses all over my face? It's a good thing your my little girls" Marlena is writing on the cot beside them, legs crossed and corner of her tongue sticking out as she works away at something.
Watching the small family on their cots, Megan Young hesitates. God alone knows she does not want to have to tell Michelle about all of this, but the doctor deserves to hear it from Megan. After all …. it's Megan's fault they're involved in any of this. *sigh*
"Chelle?" Meg says quietly, offering a smile to the children. She's good at covering up worry, though Marlena may perhaps catch something in her expression. Same as Michelle will catch that nebulous something in her eyes. "Got a couple of minutes to talk?" she asks. Because there is News. And in the way of women everywhere, Michelle's automatically going to know it can't be GOOD news.
"Megan? Goodness, what are you doing here?" Michelle is surprised to see the nurse here, the smile that was on her face during all this, hangs for a moment or two before it turns quickly to concern and a flash of fear. Delicate brows crimp in at the nurses arrival which prompts her to reach over and touch the shoulder of her oldest. Sign language flows between the pair of them and Marlena apparently is taking over the job of reading. Likely the first time Megan's ever heard the oldest talk, but she can, and does with only some difficulty.
"Come, there is another room, we can speak yes?" Because she knows well that look and is trying to compose herself, shoulders flattening as she slides away from the kids with one backward glance. It's never good, there's hope, something can be done, it'll be a long road recovering etc etc. The list goes on and on. Threading through the other cots with only a pause to check on someone along the way, they are soon alone in a room off of the main gymnasium. "Well then, what has happened?" Michelle turns, chin up and expectant, hands folded in front of her. Battening down the hatches for bad news.
Following Michelle through the shelter after ruffling the littler girls' hair and dropping a quick stroke on Marlena's shoulder, Megan closes the door of the room behind her. "He's okay. So far as we know," she says softly, bluntly. "The safehouse that Harve had Liette in was raided, it appeared in one of the Evo flu kinds of raids. Guys in RBC suits and such. Worst case at the moment, he's in custody. Liette is still under cover; they managed to get her out." She's not sure how much Michelle will care about that information, but she went out of her way to help Liette, and perhaps it's important.
Long trembling fingers cover the brunette's lips when she lifts her hand up, turning away from Megan as she starts in on why she's come here eyes wandering as she listen. Processing, thinking, turning over what she said in her own mind. She nods once then twice, moving away from the red head, one hand on her hip and the other still covering her lips. "Liette is still safe then? Herve, he was taken. Taken where? Does anyone know where?" Her forefinger taps her upper lip repeatedly and the shift in air pressure in the room is palpable but the temperature itself doesn't change much except for a degree or two shift upwards as she lets her fear get the better of her.
"What is being done to get him back?"
Megan's expression hold concern, but more for Michelle at this moment than for Harve. "We've got someone who keeps tabs on the digital traffic — though I know Harve was doing his best to stay off the grid with Liette, I'm hoping that the fact that he's been picked up may wind up broadcasted across some radio traffic or something. The technopath that Harve was concerned about is not one of ours, obviously." She nibbles her lip.
"In addition, it's my understanding that some progress had been made on determining where she came from — if this was not a flu-related raid, which again I'm not certain of, it's possible that the girl's 'father,'" and Meg's tone makes clear that she uses that term very loosely, "may be at the bottom of the raid. There may be a way that they're tracking Liette when she occasionally surfaces. If it was actually flu-related, he should be released pretty quickly once they ascertain he's not infected. So… mostly all we can do right now is put our ears to the ground and attempt to trace where they went when they left the safe house."
It's not as simple as all that, and Meg's pretty sure that Michelle knows it. But it's all they can do. "I didn't want you to hear it from anyone else," she says quietly. "I'm not going to let him just vanish, Michelle. I swear it."
"It would not be flu. He was vaccinated, he would have been released by now or have been allowed a phone call if he was arrested." Michelle informs the other woman, pulling her hand away long enough to enlighten the other woman before forefinger and middle are resting on her lower lip once more. "We were all vaccinated. He passed around on Roosevelt Island easily before and after the press conference" The slender woman starts to pace the small room, one hand wrapped around her waist and jaw tight, tendons in her neck standing out.
"When did this happen?" Her tone a little more curt than she normally even holds for people who piss her off. "How long ago was he taken Megan? How is Liette, how is she taking this all? What is being done to protect the girl" Her concern more for her husband but also for Liette that was put under his care.
"He was, yes, but the raids going on in town are ostensibly to round up people contagious with the flu," Meg replies softly. "That's why I said if a flu raid is what hit the safe house, he'll be released pretty quickly." She pauses, but she doesn't lie to Michelle. "The raid happened on the fourteenth, late-night. I only just got word that Harve was among the Ferry personnel taken. There were nearly a dozen people; everyone scattered right after and with the weather, we had some trouble verifying who was missing. I haven't seen Liette, but I'll make a point of checking on her personally. I wanted to check on you and the girls first."
That long ago? "So that's all you're doing" Outrage starts to creep into her voice and accent thickening. "You're just waiting, watching. Four days it takes for someone to come and tell me that my husband has been kidnapped, that the father of my children is missing, taken from under their noses" She snaps for real now, turning around, poking a finger at Megan's shoulder with no small force.
"He's already vanished Megan, he's gone. He's who knows where and there's god knows what being done to him and you are all just sitting and playing the waiting game. What if it had been the girl? What would you have done then? Vous tous vous assoyez juste, en écoutant des transmissions et en essayant de trouver si vous pouvez pister où ce véhicule est allé qui l'a pris. C'était il y a quatre jours Megan. Quatre jours. Il pourrait être mort. Qu'alors ? Il protégeait une fille, une petite fille."
Rage is gaining a foothold in the woman as her face reddens and the air starting to climb to uncomfortable in her range, though Michelle seems unaffected. "Ils vont le trouver et le renvoyer. Je ne me soucie pas qu'il prend. Il est important. Important pour moi, Important pour les filles. Peut-être non important pour eux, juste quelqu'un pour utiliser, j'ai déjà presque perdu ma fille à un de vos safehouses, je refuse à desserré mon mari!"
"Do you understand me!" Yelling at Megan. "I will not loose my husband over this"
Megan simply lets Michelle rail at her — in truth, in the back of her head she figures it's the least she deserves. And what can she say? That they're going to raid someplace that they don't even have a location of? Michelle's a smart woman, she already knows there's not much else that can be done. Her command of languages is decent, but French is not one of the ones she knows. Wrapped in her jacket, Megan is roasting and while Michelle yells the redhead slides her coat off. This is why they came into a private space.
"Of course he is important. He is important to me, as well," Megan replies quietly as she sets her coat in a chair. "This shouldn't have happened, Michelle. This is not what you signed on for, and I know that. Liette's situation is complicated; even now, we only know that she is a child being chased. Harve took it upon himself to come this far into it — hell, Michelle, half the time I wasn't even sure where he was." There's a sigh. "I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to locate him. And I'll lean on people to make sure he doesn't slip through the cracks." It's the only promise she can make.
"And what is your power Megan" Michelle sneers and swats a hand to the side, emphasizing just how much power she things the other woman has. "You have none, the same as I have none. If there was power, this would not have happened and you would not be here telling me that my husband is missing and likely dead or… sitting somewhere and being experimented on. Yes? Because that is what you are telling me. That he's gone and you and your little group know nothing. You wait for days to tell me this"
Up and up the heat goes, trickling into the rest of her area of effect in the shelter. In the other room people are doing much the same, stripping down a little and looking confused as to why it's toasty instead of comfortable in the area as they start to sweat. One worker maneuvers to the cots that the Brennan children are on to inquire where their mother is.
"I refuse to loose my husband. Mark my words Megan, if he survives this, he comes out of this, that is it. I am making him stop. I can't and won't do this, this working with the ferryman. We do not, we are not in Africa and we are not with Médecine sans Frontières. We left that to make a family. Go away Megan, leave me. I need to figure out how to explain this to my children. They will find him Megan, they will find where he was taken or I will go to the government and we know just how much the Ferryman feel about them. I bring them down on your heads" Another pointer jab to Megan descends before she turns away from Megan with a sob.
Megan simply nods slightly. There is so little she can say to Michelle here — Harve's willingness to step up instead of turning Liette over to the Ferry or anyone else, that was his call. Megan did not agree, for all the reasons Michelle is listing, but it wasn't her place to get in the middle of their conversation on the matter. "You have my number, Michelle. I'll keep checking in on you and the girls as I can. As soon as I know anything, I will call you." She moves to scoop up her jacket, regret in her features for the fact that she cannot offer more comfort. This was not what she asked Harve Brennan for. She didn't draw him this deep in. But that won't be something Michelle needs to hear.
It will only be as she gets outside that it occurs to Megan to wonder how the hell Harve Brennan got his whole family vaccinated when the vaccine thus far is extremely limited. Himself… yeah. Makes sense, what with working at Suresh. But all of them? Interesting. She will keep that thought — and the possibilities that come with it — to herself, though.
"You won't call me till four days after you know anything" Michelle chokes off with nearly bared teeth at Megan's departing back. One of the volunteers is heading for where they saw Michelle and Megan disappear off to, security not far behind her to see what is up with the temperature AKA Michelle.
But the Nurses departure is noted and when they enter into the room in the redheads wake, Michelle turns her back to the door, burying her face in a palm, shoulders hunched inwards as they shake. Much like the Ferry, or even less, she doesn't know who to start yelling at or which tree to start shaking to find her husband.