Spy Games

Participants:

raith_icon.gif kaylee2_icon.gif eileen_icon.gif

Scene Title Spy Games
Synopsis Three allies meet in New York City's proverbial badlands to plan for the future. Specifically, the future of a certain King and Queen.
Date February 20, 2010

Coney Island

Despite it's name Coney Island is a peninsula, and only formerly an island. This small piece of real-estate is the southern-most point in Brooklyn, with beachfront property abutted by the Atlantic Ocean. A neighborhood of the same name is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and the Gravesend neighborhood to the north.

This area was once a major resort and site of amusement parks that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. Since the bomb, Coney Island has fallen into a tragic state of disrepair, most prominently evidenced by the closing of the amusement parks on the island, notably Astroland and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. The latter of those two serves as a rusting and monolithic ferris wheel that overlooks the decrepit state of the island. It's once bright carnation red paint peeling to reveal rusted steel.

Much of the amusement park areas surrounding the beach are now closed off by chain-link fence, though some portions have been battered down by vandalism and portions of the closed amusement parks are now used by gangs and other unsavory figures as meeting sites. With the NYPD stretched to its limits, police rarely have the availability to respond in a timely manner to this small and remote penninsula, making it a relatively dangerous part of Brooklyn.


The amusement parks on Coney Island offer, in some small way and literal way, a viewing window into 'life after the bombs fall.' Although unblasted when Midtown went up, fear and fallout have nevertheless led to their closure and abandonment, save for a few gangs that use them as home bases. It's a chilling sight to see, straight out of a movie.

And that's exactly why Jensen Raith likes them. No one cares who trespasses on these properties, so long as you don't cause them any trouble, and that frees up possibilities for all sorts of illicit activities. In this case, a clandestine meeting involving both the invasion of privacy and possibly the procurement of secret information, two things he is not supposed to do, and Eileen Ruskin, someone he is not supposed to see. This day and age, however, is one where always following the law frequently accomplished nothing. It's the outlaws and renegades who affect change for the future in New York City, and no one else.

Already, he and Eileen are ready to begin, quietly waiting by the rusting hulk of a carousel, silent and uncaring towards those around it. That leaves just one party unaccounted for.

The crunch of boots on gravel is the first sign that the third party is question is finally arriving. Leather jacket, zipped up all the way, but there is still a hint of the black turtle neck she's wearing. Her long blonde hair is gathered up on the back of her head in some sort of mess bundle, leaving bits of it loose. When she comes into sight, she's pulling down her scarf so that, they knows it's her at least, but she wouldn't be surprised to still have a barrel pointed at her. What strange life they lead.

A small smile is offered both, as she continues to close the distance, seemingly unconcerned for the crimnal element around them, she's not unfamiliar with it. "Raith.. Eileen." She offers to both , nodding to each in greeting. Her hands tucks into her jacket to get warm, gloves or no, it's freakin' cold.

Seated sideways on one of the carousel's painted ponies, one gloved hand grasping the saddle's sapphire-coloured pommel and the other holding a lit cigarette between the bent joints of her fingers, Eileen returns the smile around her filter when Kaylee steps into view. It's a wan kind of expression, made more rueful and exaggerated by the way the cigarette's glow plays off her face's features and makes them appear malformed and much uglier than they really are. Shadows flicker under eyes drained of their colour, more pupil than iris, dilated like a stray cat's in the dark.

Long legs covered in thick wool stockings and crossed at the knee dangle over the side of the horse, ending in a pair of plain black flats that match the dress she wears beneath her pea coat and the knit scarf around her neck.

As expected, Raith has come armed, although it's not one of the M4s that Kaylee received instruction on, but a much smaller MP5 submachine gun lazily hanging from his shoulder. He's not expecting a lot of trouble. "Glad you could make it," he says to the blonde. For a change, Kaylee is the odd one out, rather than Eileen: Before Raith goes any further into why they are all there, he takes a half- or may three-quarters finished cigar from his coat pocket, sticks it in his mouth, and then strikes a match to get the tip glowing. There's just something about those two that draws them to bad habits.

"Got news," the man continues, "Some good, not a lot of it really bad. You remember our mutual friend Avi Epstein, I'm pretty sure. Well, the time has come to sneak a little information out of him. And maybe a few others, too, depending on our luck. You with me so far?"

"Had to rework my shift with the detox, but.." Kaylee shrugs with a bit a smirk, obviously not a big deal. Moving to lean against one of the thin coppery carousel polls, situated near Eileen's horse, while Raith takes the time to light up. At least she isn't bothered by that bad habit, she has her own.. though nothing like that. Huddling in her jacket, she listens to the man.

There is just a single nod to affirm that she does indeed remember the CIA agent, though the mention of a few others gets a raise of her brows. Her head gives a small curious tilt, though there is nothing telepathic about it… it's just curiosity. "I'm with you so far."

"Good."

Raith pauses long enough to draw from his cigar, and stretches the time out further by taking a few moments to roll the smoke over his tongue. "You know about the Linderman ball on Monday as well, I'm pretty sure. Well, that's where things start getting real fascinating. Eileen has, through her own channels that shall remain unnamed, acquired the guest list. There are a few persons of interest on it. Interesting to me, interesting to you, interesting to the Ferrymen, and possibly of interest to another party I haven't thought of yet. Eileen?" Raith is the director here, there is no doubt about that. But he knows a thing or two about taking all the spotlight for himself. Sometimes, it's not a good thing.

"I do… " Kaylee offers , shifting her weight a bit on the pole, so that she can cross one foot over the other at the ankles. "Peter left an invitation and ticket for me in my stuff, when he dropped it off." Nose ducks down into her scarf briefly to warm it, eyes going to Eileen, as it is lifted again. "Really? I'm guessing, Agent Epstein is on that list." She states the obvious looking amused.

"He may be," Eileen concedes, and her voice is very soft. There's just enough energy behind her words to carry them across the short distance between Kaylee and the carousel. Smoke leaks from her nose and mouth, filling the air in front of her face with an opaque haze. As she pauses to take a drag from her cigarette, she tightens her grip around the pommel and switches positions on the saddle, bottom leg traded for the top and vice versa.

"I haven't been able to determine anything one way or the other," she continues, "but we have a little less than two days left to prepare, so let's operate under the assumption that he is." A flick of her thumb discards the ash that's accumulated at the cigarette's tip. "I spoke with Emile Danko on Thursday and he tells me that Sarisa Kershner is the one we're after."

"One of the ones we're after, at any rate." Raith's mission scope is apparently much wider than Eileen's, although whether there is any particular benefit to this is hard to say. "Like she said, we don't know for certain who's on the list. It's possible that Danko could be lying, although I don't see what particular benefit there might be in that. He doesn't stand to lose anything if Kershner kicks off, so why lie?"

"Who?" As she wasn't one of the many that went on the fun little trip around the world, the name is lost on her. "I mean.. I know who Danko is, obviously, but Kershner is an unknown to me." Kaylee admits with a little shake of her head, eyes glancing between them both.

"Sarisa Kershner is, or used to be an agent of the CIA before being moved to FRONTLINE, if my intel in correct," Raith replies, "Special Activities Division, part of the Royalty. The Queen of Cups. If any of that means anything to you, congratulations. You've earned a toffee." Another pause, another draw. "If she's there, then she'll be your worst enemy. One touch, and she knows everything there is to know about you. Not exactly a good thing if you're trying to stay incognito, I'm sure you can imagine."

"Which also means you tell as few people about this as possible. Preferably, tell no one, you follow? Operational security is paramount here, especially since Epstein is starting to become a real pest."

"Don't think there is going to be a problem there. Not really anyone I would tell." A small smirk tugging at the corner of mer lips, Kaylee's head bumps against the pole behind her. "Although.. Peter was pretty unhappy with me not telling him about the raid.. and had such a wonderful opinion of you." Blue eyes look pointedly at Raith, "Sooo… that could make for a bit of an interesting situation."

"So Kershner equals no touchy… Got it." Kaylee gives a short nod of her head. "Thankfully, I haven't had another run in with Epstein since I caught him snooping in Peter's place. Shouldn't again since I'm not sleeping on Peter's couch anymore."

"Speaking of Peter," Raith begins. He's made a habit, during this discussion, of pausing at seeming inappropriate moments to fill his mouth with smoke. After this draw, however, he leans down towards the metal floor of the carousel and snuffs his cigar out, stowing the remainder back in his pocket even though it's fairly obvious there isn't much left to smoke. Not enough for it to be worthwhile, at any rate. "If he hasn't turned into a complete pussy on us, and he still wants to help save the world, why doesn't he come with? Two telepaths may well be better than one. Or maybe we should keep him in the dark, for fear that he might freak out and tell on us. What's your sense of his mood lately?"

"I… don't think he'd be in on it. You could check for yourself." Blonde brows lift a bit. "But considering his opinion of you… I'm going to guess it's a no." Kaylee's hands slip from her pockets to holds up and add. "But.. you might give a shot to him asking.. Otherwise, need to figure out how to pull me away from him when you need me." She's assuming since he did give her the ticket. "And he does have my telepathy at the moment."

"So.. I don't know, I'd say he's iffy." She tilts her head back and forth slowly, her expression thoughtful. "Will he tattle on us.. I don't believe so, but then I could be wrong. Depends on if you want that second telepath bad enough to try. Cause.. I can only do so much before I'm worn out… and how fast that is depends on the person. If we can keep it to surface thoughts I'll be able to do much more.. but that means getting creative on how we get it there."

A glance goes to Eileen before she continues, "Digging any deeper, we're risking them knowing something is up… I haven't done a lot of it."

"Surface thoughts will be fine," Raith says, "The trick, I would think, would be to get them thinking about it before you start digging. Leave that to us. No, the real concern now is Peter." Maybe no surprise there. "If he's going to be there, that is. Any ideas whether he will be or not?"

"He gave me the ticket.. So yes." Kaylee says with a small nod. There is a soft huff from her, "Not that I have a clue what the hell I'm going to wear. I don't do things like this." She gives a wrinkle of her nose. "In fact, I need to call him and tell him I don't have a clue.. though he might sic his mom on me." And amused look there. "Anyhow, yes he's going to be there."

"Well, then it might be best if we see whether or not he'll come in on the plan. If we don't tell him anything, then he'll just freak out as soon as he sees me and probably start digging just to make sure I'm not there to blow anything up." Raith gives a sigh of exasperation, as if this was just the sort of thing that Peter Petrelli does. "Besides, the fact of the matter is that having any information they might have is going to make things better for everyone. The Ferrymen can use it to make sure their operations are more secure, and help people stay safe.

"I'll tell him, if need be. My mother could put you on such a guilt trip. I think I learned a few things about it from her."

"Better you then me," Kaylee states with a chuckle, giving a wave of her hand giving him permission to do so."He was really upset I didn't tell him about the raid. Just warn me if he goes on the warpath, so I have plenty of time to prepare for the hurricane." Pushing away from the pole with bump of her back, hands tucking into her jacket again, she adds, lightly. "Cause, only thing I got from my mother was her temper… which I try to avoid. Anger and telepathy don't mix."

Eileen has been silent for the majority of the conversation thus far, but this doesn't mean that she hasn't been listening. Her cigarette has mostly burned away, leaving her with a smoldering stub pinched between two knuckles and a foul-smelling filter stained a shade somewhere between yellow and brown. Smoking is one of those habits that leaves plenty of evidence to indicate just how bad it is — if nicotine wasn't so addictive, she doubts very many people would do it.

She grinds out the cigarette's remains against the saddle, burnt paper and ash flaking apart between her fingers, then flicks it into the snow with a wet sizzling sound almost too quiet to be heard. "If there's any chance he's going to react like that," she says, "then I think it would be wise if we found some way to occupy him while we work. As far as for dredging up the thoughts we want you to read, that I can handle. It's all Epstein and I go back and forth about. It won't seem suspicious coming from me."

"Point made and taken," Raith replies, "I can handle Kershner, in that case. I know enough about how she thinks that I can at least stumble through a conversation with her, although I can't say for certain how much info I can work out of her. Communication might be an issue. We can't just walk around with radios strapped to our hips. How many stacks of thoughts can you listen in on at a time? Just one?"

Lifts a single finger up, and no not the middle one. "Just one… Unless…" Taking a deep breath, Kaylee offers an odd smirk. "I know this sounds weird, but unless your thinking really loud.. Colette's a natural at it.. so distracting." There is a thoughtful look, and her eyes narrow a bit. "But even at that.. there is a limit." She at least knows this much about herself as she takes a few steps back, snow crunching under boots, putting a little more then a person's length between her and Raith. "Beyond that is iffy."

"Sounds safer to just tackle one of them at a time," says the Remnant commander, "Even if you had longer range, it's too risky. It sounds like the only way we can get more than one at a time reliably is if Peter's with us, and not distracted by having to be important." Once more, Raith falls briefly silent, scratching at his beard in thought. "At the very least, it might be worthwhile to let Peter know that I will be there so he doesn't panic when he sees me. I won't be up to no-good, after all.

"None that he can see, at least." When is Raith ever not up to no-good?

"At least he knows that we talk." Kaylee's brows twitch up some, a small tugs at one corner of her mouth, as she steps back over again. "So if he sees you actually approach me, he won't be shocked there." Long fingers move to pull strands of hair out of her face, as a small breeze blows through, tucking it behind her ear.

"That's not really the concern," Raith replies, "I would just rather not have him sic security on me simply for being there." Bee-beep! Bee-beep!

The shrill chiming prompts Raith to check the watch he has strapped to his wrist, and subsequently switch off the alarm he's set. "That's all the time I can risk out here," he says, "Someone's following me. I didn't drag any tails out here, but I don't know how long it'll take them to find me again. The last thing I want is for either of you to get spotted out here with me. You have your marching orders and a couple days to prepare. If you could soften Peter up to the idea of me being there, great. If I need to do it myself, you know how to contact me."

A mess half-assed salute is given by the young telepath. "I'll see what I can do to soften him up, if not then.. yeah.. I'll call." There is a heavy sigh as she glances around, pulling the scarf up again for the cold walk. "If anything changes let me know, beyond that. Have a good evening both of you."

"Will do," is all Raith has to say on the matter before he walks away from the carousel towards… somewhere. Eileen slips away just as suddenly, but without a word, both of them going in separate directions. Looks like they'd agreed ahead of time that they should all take different paths home.

Two days to go before the big event, before the operation goes into action. It might well be the longest two days any of them have had since the raid. Only this time, there's a lot more at stake; if they get caught, there won't be anyone around to pull them out of danger. Welcome to the spy game.


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