Participants:
Scene Title | That Is Why We Exist |
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Synopsis | Magnes leash is reigned in and his nose smacked with a newspaper. But llike all good dogs, there's a glimmer of understanding that promises to be obedience. And then he says something smart. |
Date | May 31, 2009 |
Primatech research - Minea Dahl's Office
Clean, tidy, devoid of anything really personal.
There's a message on Magnes's phone. Sunday and he still has training. Supposedly. Little did Magnes know that Minea had been spending her evenings parked in a company car and following the agent in training as he hops skipped and jumped across the city. Wouldn't have been so bad if he'd done it normally. Noooo. So when he went in through someones window, and spent the night and came back out and said window happened to belong to some woman from the presidents office of something or other, it raises eyebrows. Especially in light of it happening twice. Not to mention other trips to other people.
Reign him in she'd been told and while Lawrence was off doing who knows what, Minea was in her office, going over paperwork, signing her name and otherwise doing agent desk work while she waited for boy wonder to haul his ass in.
Arriving in a pair of silk running shorts, a short sleeved white t-shirt, and a pair of cheap black sneakers, Magnes suspects he'll have to train today, so he dressed for it. Entering Minea's office, he looks around curiously, walking closer to her desk. "Yes, Miss Minea?"
Ugh, he left the door partway open. "Close the door will you Varlane? Then take a seat. It seems, that you and I need to have a chat" Folders are closed and tucked away, the brunette leaning back in her seat with a sigh.
Quickly running back to the door to close it, Magnes returns and uneasily takes his seat. He stares, then averts his eyes, seeming as if he were just called to the Principal's office, only, he's never actually been in one before. "U-um, what did I do?"
"How was the night you spent in the home of… what is her name? Lemme find it here…. or you can remind me of it." She opens a drawer, making a movement as if looking for some file that she had tucked away.
"I drunk this gross scotch, then I passed out, then I woke up and she was… tongue kissing me." Magnes touches his lips, his cheeks a bit red before his eyes widen and he stares at Minea. "H-hey! You're watching me?"
'What have you been discussing with her Magnes? For that matter, how have you been getting into her place?" There's a folder forthcoming, seems to have his name on it even.
"Nothing, I was protecting her. She says someone who might work for Adam is after her, and me." Magnes explains, still a touch nervous, but trying his best to keep his straight 'professional' face. "She said Homeland was protecting her, but if Jake came after her, what are they gonna do? I was gonna tell you guys, but that stupid scotch made me pass out. I've never gotten drunk before, I didn't know those tiny glasses would do it."
"Christ on a pogo stick, Magnes, we're not a babysitting service. She wants protection, she goes to the god damned cops or her boss and tells him. But you don't volunteer to park your ass on her couch and drink scotch and you sure as hell don't break into people's homes. We still have to obey the law Varlane. We don't walk willy nilly into residences. You need to reign it in and use your god damned head"
"You said be myself, do what I normally do, well, I sometimes end up doing things like that. And anyway, the second time I wasn't breaking in, we arranged it on the phone." Magnes sits back in his chair, trying to relax just a little. Someone else lecturing him for doing what he thinks is the right thing! "Sorry, I thought I was doing the right thing, I'll just call you next time. But I'm gonna say right now that I'm not the kind of person who just sits around while someone could be hurt, if I can help, I will. But I promise, next time I'll call instead of jumping right in."
Minea's hand smacks down on the table, ringing through the room and ears. "Wake up Magnes J Varlane. We're not homeland. We're not the cops, nor are we the Calvary. Open your god damned eyes. What if she has an agenda? What if she was playing you with alcohol and you drank and you loosed your lips and you told her stuff? What if it's someone with ill intentions and is wanting information about the company? This is not so movie, this is not some feel good do gooder stuff we do here. We have a directive and we follow it. What if she //was working for Adam Monroe and playing the poor me, woe is me, Mr. Monroe is after me please save me Magnes Varlane? Did you think about that?"
"No…" Magnes frowns, staring down at his lap with a slightly shamed look. "I'm sorry." Looking up, he takes a deep breath, trying to compose himself. "I honestly didn't think those tiny glasses could get me drunk, and I thought she was a nice lady, I guess I just wasn't thinking. But I'm not talking, the brief time traveling I did taught me not to talk and put people in danger."
'Took a drink and you could have very well not woken up Magnes. Really, seriously. Hiro Nakamura learned the hard way when I slipped rohypnol in his orange juice. Welcome to a whole new world. Where you have to suspect everyone. The world is a dangerous place, add in people with evolved abilities hwo might manifest at very bad times and with very dangerous powers, it's even more dangerous, and your too busy prancing around thinking that your new job sis like your pizza delivery job. Well guess what buddy, it isn't. Mr. Monroe? The guy you're trying to protect this Ms. Strauss from? He was unarmed, and managed to get one agents gun, my partner, and shoot her five times in the chest. He took 7 from me. Then he shot me three times and landed me in the hospital and outright killed my partner, all because he wanted to send a message."
"I never once said Adam wasn't dangerous, but he's not invincible either." Magnes leans forward on her desk, closing his eyes with a slow shake of his head. "There was a moment in Japan, just a minute or so, I had him. I didn't know he was a dangerous person, I just thought he was some creepy guy, but I had him, and he couldn't do anything. If I were with the Company, or if I even knew what kind of trouble he was, I could have done something. But no, I let him go, and now Hiro's father is dead, and Hiro's probably dead, and god knows who else." He raises his head, giving her a sternly pained look. "Don't talk to me like I don't know he's dangerous."
"Then act like you understand how serious this all is. Right now, your hopping about, breaking into the apartments of important people, and not showing commitment to the job that we've offered. Do you really want to make the difference in the world? Or are you wanting to play bodyguard and some secret agent from a Men in Black movie? Because if you do, we can pawn you off on someone. You came the notice of the company because we saw potential in you if ti could be tapped and harnessed. I don't want to put a leash on you, but if you keep it up, Agent Denton will order me to. you're a good kid Varlane, Naive, your a good kid, but god, sometimes I wonder where you head is that you took the word of a god damned criminal that I was an evil woman and were going to send me to an island. I have to tell Denton about your.. consorting with Ms. Strauss, but if I were you, I'd get those rose colored glasses off your nose and wake up to the new world your living in."
"Listening to Flint Deckard was stupid, I know. And I'm sorry, alright? I'm still new to all this, but I'll try harder, I'll train more, I can be committed. I'm not making an excuse, but you don't know what it's like." Magnes holds his hands out, staring down at his palms. "Having these abilities, it makes you feel free, like you can just, do whatever, good or bad. I don't do anything bad unless I have to, or don't realize it, but the temptation is there, and you feel like you should do something right here and right now…"
Resting his hands on the desk again, he looks her in the eye. "I really do promise to try harder, I'll listen to whatever you have to teach me."
"Right there Varlane, say it again. Having these abilities. it makes you feel free like you can just do whatever good or bad. This is why we exist, this is why it was created, the company. Because that kind of thinking hurts people. Having an ability doesn't make you free'r. It makes you need to police yourself even more and understand, realize that the impact that your ability has around you. It's like having an alcohol problem. Only you can't just throw away all the bottles Varlane and avoid bars. It's in your DNA, it's with you where you go. I think you might be getting it Magnes. You, as an evolved, and now an agent need to be the stalwart upright moral example that those who are just coming into their abilities need to see.""
"I'll try, really hard, I'm gonna try to set a good example. I've always tried to set a good example, just, not in this particular aspect of my life." Magnes' lips subtly curl upward, not quite a smile, just an indication of his slightly improved mood. "I should probably try harder to live like a normal person, I mean, I've probably broken laws I don't even know exist. When I went to Japan, I rode on top of a plane."
"I don't think that you'll need to ride on planes. Really, the speed should probably knock you off" But that's neither here nor there. 'You have training down in the range for an hour, they're going to teach you how to use the taser and then the tranqs. After that I want to see you down in the garage and someone will take you out and teach you how to watch people. i have stuff to do." She closes his folder, shoving it in her desk drawer
"Alright, and um…" Magnes pauses, appearing briefly nervous before asking his next question, "Can I go out with a friend of mine, after my training?"
"Long as you don't do something stupid Kid. You got a tight leash on you right now. your new, we're still evaluating. You go have fun tonight. At least someone here will" Minea holds out her hand for him to shake. "Your good. you need polish, a lot of polish, but somewhere in you Magnes, is a good agent. Work at making others see it"
"I'll try." Magnes sighs in relief, his first Principal meeting over, he takes her hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "Good luck with your work."
"Go learn. Make Denton proud." With that, she points towards the door. Out. Go. Leave. "Close the door behind you please" She leans back as she watches him so, a soft sigh. From out of her pocket she snatches up a USB drive, steepled between her fingers and a grim look on her face as she wipes an imaginary smudge from it's surface. Moments later she's grabbing her stuff and heading out the door.