Participants:
| Scene Title | Suicide By Cop (Sort Of) |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Helena discusses how to update the rest of Phoenix with Cat and Leo |
| Date | September 29, 2009 |
A Random Safehouse
Tuesday evening. The body is disposed of, as was the gun, and yet there is one issue that remains - what to tell the rest of Phoenix. Should they be told about Mona? Of course. But what about the rest of it? The issue has been troubling Helena, and she's been pacing all evening trying to make her mind up about it.
Making her way in, Cat is subdued. Weapons confiscated from the captive are stashed away. The guitar case is with her, but it doesn't contain any of those pieces. She moves to a chair and settles into it slowly. Eyes close when she comes to rest and remain so for some moments. Speaking is eschewed in favor of her own pensiveness.
Peaceful is not an aura one would generally imagine fitting Leo. But that's how he seems, even if a little tinged with melancholy. He's in his usual fatigues and t-shirt and hoodie, rent-a-badge uniform folded neatly in the backpack slung over his shoulder. He's got a six pack of IBC with him. Root beer makes everything better?
Helena continues to pace, and then finally stops, turning to stare at Cat. "Seriously, what do we tell people? They'll all completely freak if we tell them the truth." And the truth is, yummy yummy yummy, Cook's got Doug in his tummy!
"I think it's fairly simple," Cat replies in breach of her silence, "We captured a man at the Center who was chopping at people in the crowd with an axe. We held him for a time until we could arrange handing him over to Elisabeth for arrest and trial, because there were false police at the scene. One of those false police was him. And in trying to make the exchange, he managed to get his hands out from behind him and commenced to assault us. In defending ourselves, he died. We disposed of the body."
She returns to silence after that, which stretches out across a span of perhaps thirty seconds, before adding "Delilah knows we had a guest, I told her that when we spoke and she told me what happened at the church. She's not been told anything else."
"Is that the truth?" Leo says. His tone is utterly guileless, lacking in accusation. He wasn't there, but….he glances between them, dark eyes patient.
Helena nods. "It is." Helena admits. "He tried to attack Liz, and then he…" she trails off. "You know that phrase, 'suicide by cop'? It was sort of like that, you know?"
"He was handcuffed to a chair in the cell," Cat relates in a quiet voice. Her eyes are distant, fixed on a wall; a thing indicative of times when she's playing out memories in her head. In this case, it'd be an easy guess the events under discussion are being viewed while she speaks.
"Somehow he managed to work it so he had hands in front instead of behind him, and he stood up with that chair once I opened the cell door. Not wanting to fight him by hand again, I told the man to sit down and be good. To help with that, I shot out one of his ankles. He fell, and crawled across the floor to Elisabeth's feet. Bowed his head, like he was worshiping her."
"She backed away," Cat continues after a pause, "and his response was to stand up and fling the chair at her. I moved to shoot him in the head, Elisabeth drew to fire too, and when my shot was made he'd gotten his mouth on my pistol."
"I know that phrase. Had it happen to me," Leo says, and his tone is utterly bleak, and very much unlike him. "I see. Well. Good riddance."
Helena shudders and moves to sit in a seat, digging into her pocket and pulling out a phone. She looks grimly bleak as she begins thumbing a message into it.
"I really didn't need to add this to my collection of memories," Cat murmurs, "but it's there and it won't go away. Ever." She draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "The man was the purest psycho I've ever come across. He was shot again and again, he just wouldn't stop coming. It looked like pain was fun to him."
"He was strange." Helena admits with a shiver. Within moments, Cat and Leo's cells will beep with her text. Rising, she crosses over to where Leo's sitting and plops down next to him, leaning against his shoulder. "We need to pick a date for Miracle Day." she says quietly, "And Dee's birthday. That's real soon."