Solidarity and the Thin Blue Line

Participants:

elisabeth_icon.gif kaydence_icon.gif katherine_icon.gif

Scene Title Solidarity and the Thin Blue Line
Synopsis Even cops are not immune to anti-Evo sentiment — what happens when it runs afoul of the Thin Blue Line?
Date March 29, 2009

NYPD HQ Women's Locker Room


The women's locker room is a bit smaller than the men's, but it's not like it's a huge problem. There's just fewer women in the precinct, so they don't need a larger room. It's also the only place the women get to go for privacy in the whole place, too. Elisabeth hasn't been in the building long — just went through security 20 minutes ago. When the door opens, she's standing over the sink splashing her face, studiously not looking toward the door.

It was an interesting night. A job around the park turned into a bag for Katherine and her potential partner Minea. They were able to secure the services of a healer and save the empath they whisked off into the night and she is currently being checked over. It's still work as usual though as she has a crapload of leads to follow up on from that riot and so she's stopping in to ride Liz a little about putting herself up for target practice during the riot. She left before the action was over, and hadn't heard anything, so she /might/ be checking to make sure Liz hadn't died or something.. she's a softie that way.

She walks in and is directed to the women's locker room, so she pushes her way through the door and she spots Liz standing at the sink. "A little soap will do the trick." she says as she walks over and leans herself against the neighboring sink, back to the mirror.

The sound of Katherine's voice causes …. oddly, it causes Liz to relax. She was gearing up for something else. When she moves to stand upright and glance into the mirror, Katherine can get a good look at her face. The left side is swelling, her cheekbone showing signs of bruising, and her lip is split. It's a fresh wound. "I doubt it," she comments as she reaches for a paper towel to dab the lip with and a separate one to dry her face. Her eyes are a bit red, and her hands shake as she dries off. "What can I do for you, Agent Makrs?"

"If your boyfriend did this, we can go over right now and take care of the problem. I have no problem shooting him." she notes. "But, you're right — you'll need more than soap for that." Katherine leans in a little closer and takes a look. "Did a number on you whatever it was."

It's no secret that Detective Damaris has been pulling something of a double shift with her partner, between what they've actually been assigned to and Kaydence Lee's own pet project that she's been bribing the squints with donuts for. She's got a box of donuts with her at the moment, actually. She settles them on top of the bank of lockers where her own is housed before turning to regard the others in the room. "Morning," she murmurs, almost turning away before she takes a second look at Liz. "Holy hell. Who happened to you?"

Elisabeth pulls away from Kat's scrutiny of her bruised face and averts her eyes. "If one of my fucking boyfriends did it, he'd already be on the ground with a bullet in him." She grits her teeth, uncertain she wants to tell Kat what happened. When the locker room door opens a second time, though, a flash of relief crosses her face at the sight of Kaydence. She knows what she ought to do, but … in truth, with all that's going on in the cop shop? She's not sure it's the right thing to do for the squad. She raises a shaking hand to shove her blonde hair back. "Kay," she greets the other SCOUT cop quietly. And then she looks between the two. "I can't decide whether to report it," she admits quietly. "We don't need the press."

Kat's eyes narrow as she is trying to get the picture here. "Wait. A cop did this to you? And he's still walking?" Maybe she's misunderstanding, but that's certainly what it sounds like to her. Her head swivels around nods to Kay, whom she has yet to have the pleasure of meeting. Doesn't seem like such an appropriate time at the moment, so the nod will have to pass as such. "Someone you know?"

"That sounds serious." Kay finds herself glad to focus on someone else's problems for the first time in, well, it's been a while. Pastries abandoned, she approaches the two women at the sink. "Let me see, yeah?" Gently, she turns Liz's chin to face her, but not in the way of someone who thinks they know better than the injured party. It's only five or six seconds that she lets her gaze linger before she allows the cop to pretend like she doesn't have a purple blossom on her face. Motherly instincts can't be helped sometimes. "Do you want to talk about it?" She shoots a glance to Kat. "Don't be stupid. No cop would be dumb enough to fuck around with Liz." Though her tone has conviction, her eyes are asking: …Right?

Elisabeth looks up and meet Kay's eyes, her blue ones uncertain. "They've been giving me shit since I came on board," she admits quietly. "You know, 'sleeping with Harvard' and 'sleeping your way up the ranks' and all that shit. Same shit we always get." As the only two women on the squad, she knows for a fact that Kay's faced a lot of the same crap. She leans back against the sink she's standing in front of, her pose mirroring Kat's as she glances between them. "Couple of the uniforms that I worked with back before the Bomb… didn't like me to start with. Don't like the fact that I got the plum assignment to SCOUT after a two-year hiatus… and don't like the fact that I'm Evolved on top of it. They particularly like the camera's blind spots."

There is a flash of anger that crosses Katherine Montoya Marks' face. Oh yes. She even used her full name there. Where her jaws meet, the flexing of the bone there as she bites down hard in steady fashion is one of her key anger signals. There's giving someone shit and there's giving someone 'shit'. This is far more than that. Kat and Liz haven't always seen eye to eye, but there is a level of respect that held down underneath the surface. She looks to Kay for a moment, then back at Liz. "Who?"

That same flash of anger is mirrored in Kay's eyes. "Who?" she asks at the same time. Liz is getting the third degree in stereo. Her eyes narrow to furious slits. "Don't report it. I can handle it." And it's obvious what The Bitch means by 'handling.'

A shaky hand comes up once more to rub her forehead, and Elisabeth says quietly, "Yeah… see, here's the problem. By the way? Kat, meet SCOUT Detective Kaydence Damaris. Kay, HomeSec Agent Kat Marks." Her forearm has fingerprint bruising on it as she raises it. "These two? They're not the only ones. I could have … burst both of their eardrums. Probably should have. But what the hell's going to happen if I do that? There's a shitstorm already brewing. And frankly? I don't want to be in the middle of a "he said, she said" case." She looks between them. "The guys are gonna fucking flip too, aren't they?" she sighs.

Kat spots the mark on the arm and her scowl deepens. It's a talent. Just when you think she's scowled to the max, she makes it worse. "You should have defended yourself, Harrison. I don't give a shit what he said or she said. You shouldn't have let them walk all over you." She crosses her arms across her chest. "Look.. shitstorm or not, you have to look out for yourself. This place is about to erupt and that riot was only the starting point. And don't think for one moment all that video footage isn't being scrutinized. I'm doing some of it myself." Katherine adds, "And I didn't hear you give any names, Harrison. Who did this?"

"Uh, yeah." Kay almost rolls her eyes at Liz. Of course the boys will flip. SCOUT looks out for each other. The detective tilts her head to one side to regard Kat more fully than before. "HomeSec, huh? Nice to meet you." She can't quite manage a smile right now. This is too serious to be worried about pleasantries. Nobody messes with one of her squad. And especially not Liz. "You know if you don't tell us, we'll just figure it out anyway."

Liz grins faintly at Kat. "Who says I didn't defend myself? I never said that… I just said I didn't make 'em permanently deaf." Ow, ow, ow, that hurts her lip. She reaches up to touch it one more time, and then says, "I want to talk out the situation before I give you names. Seriously… this is not the first time I've been cornered in the stairwell in the past few months. They're not the only ones. And you're right, it's gonna get worse." She looks at Kay. "We're going to need a better plan of action than kicking their asses. And then you two gotta cover for me while I go see Abby, okay?"

Not the answer she was looking for. Diplomacy is for those who don't get their ass kicked. Sometimes there are particular ways to solve problems, Katherine turns to Kay. "She got a shot or two in it seems. Can't be too hard to narrow down the field with that. Find the two walking around funny and we probably got our guys." She is no longer talking to Ms. 'I got my ass kicked, but I only want to talk it out' and speaking to Kay. "I can tranq them and we could take them out somewhere no one goes. I do know a few of those types of places." She nods because she's serious as hell right now.

"We should drive them to the desert, kick the shit out of them, and then leave them there with a bottle of water each and a pamphlet on how to survive on only your own urine." Kay returns Kat's seriousness in kind. "Evolved has nothing to do with it. We all wear blue, and this is bullshit."

Elisabeth rolls her eyes at both women. "Look!" she says sternly. "I'll turn it over to Harvard if you want me to. I will!" She pauses. "But that's not going to help the next time I'm walking through the damn HQ in the middle of the night, you know? These guys let me off with a tussle… the next ones might try worse. Or I could just find myself shot in the back on the next call I take. Just kicking THEIR asses isn't going to fix it. Though YES, I'm all for that."

"I think you should do something about it." Katherine glances from one officer to the other. "What about the next evolved, who isn't as tough as you or can take what you can take? She might not get off as lucky as you did with your fat lip." She shakes her head. "You let them pass now, you'd handing the next one right over to them."

"They're trying to send a message," Kay points out with a rather sharp look. "I say we send one back. Fuck up a couple of them and maybe they'll think twice." The detective puts her hands on her hips, "And if anybody shoots you, I'll make them beg me to do the same to them before I turn them over to Harvard for a proper lynching." And there's no doubting she's serious. "Marks is right. You let this slide and someone else who's easier pickings will be hit next."

"Well, that's what I'm asking you two!" Liz replies in exasperation. "I don't want to let them slide, that's for goddamn sure. Outside the show of feminine solidarity…" She pauses and then adds, "And yeah… gotta tell you. Right now? That means more than I can possibly say." Her hands are still shaking with both fear and adrenaline, truth be told. "Us kicking THEIR asses will feel great. But do I take this to Harvard? Do I let the guys know about it? I don't want to start a bigger internal firestorm." She looks between them. "Or do I? If this wasn't the same week that the damn news was climbing all over us, I'd have never bothered to even come in here. I'd have just gone straight to Harvard, fuck that honor code shit. They just blew THAT out of the water by assaulting me."

Kat lowers her voice a tad as she responds. "I agree with Damaris. Look. We don't have to make a scene, or cause a public scandal." She seems to be dead serious when she suggests. "A couple of them disappear, then maybe they'll get the idea that you aren't to be messed with." She pushes herself away from the sink. "Give us the names, keep your nose out of it if you want. Squeal or don't squeal, that's totally up to you, but let us handle these bozos, maybe this'll end before it gets worse."

"They're going to find out." That much Kay is sure of. "It's better if you tell them, than if your cuts and bruises tell them. You should tell Harvard. If he doesn't want the others to know, he can help you come up with a cover." The detective trails off, turning the engagement ring on her finger absently. "The storm's already on top of us, Liz. You're just caught in the middle of it. It's going to get far worse before anything gets better."

Elisabeth grimaces and then sighs. "Yeah…. kinda thought you were gonna say that," she says as she looks toward the ceiling. She nods slightly. "Neil Jakes and Greg Farriday," she finally says quietly. "They heard that I was up for the detectives' exam next month on top of the rest of this, and we've always had issues." She rests her hands on the sink behind her and looks at the two women. "Harvard's gonna shit a brick." That's not even to mention what Ivanov is gonna do.

"Take care of this, Harrison. It's the right thing to do." Kat's PDA goes off and she pulls it out of her pocket. She checks it and makes a face. "I need to get going. I got those names." She glances to Kay, "You need my help, you get in touch with me. I'm not joking. Anytime. I will be more than happy to take these jokers out." She nods to Liz. "Get yourself taken care of, and call if you need anything." She turns and slips out of the locker room, letting the door slam behind her.


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