Participants:
| Scene Title | They Call This Entertainment? |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | While watching an episode of Charmed, Helena is briefed. |
| Date | October 24, 2009 |
An undisclosed location in Nuked York City.
She'd been out, come back with the bags of food from Piccoli's, and gone out again. This time when Cat returns she's carrying a different sort of bag, one which looks like it has things very much other than food in it. That bag remains in hand as she wanders around the common areas of this residence floor, looking to see if Helena is up and around. She doesn't call out, however.
Helena is in fact up and around. It's been just over a week, and with a mild case of kicking the habit, the minimum time seems to be all she needs for the physical recovery. The psychological recovery…well, time will tell. She looks tired, but she doesn't look sick anymore, and she's no longer puking, shaking, having cold sweats, or any of that other lovely stuff. At the moment she's watching a rerun of Charmed on the television with a wary sort of 'they call this entertainment?' aspect to her expression.
"Rose McGowan, Alyssa Milano, and Holly Marie Combs for a Saturday afternoon, really, Storms?" Cat asks with a quiet chuckle as she spots this situation and makes her way over. The large black duffelbag is placed on the floor and left there for a moment without comment as Cat looks around for evidence Helena's eaten the food brought earlier from Piccoli's.
Apparently, Helena devoured it. And it didn't revisit her later, a sure sign of improvement. "I didn't want to watch the news." Helena explains. "Especially since I was thinking about how I need to do another video."
"That would be a good thing," Cat agrees quietly as she settles into a seat. "I still don't know what else they might be planning," she relates, "but Peyton says Miss Hunter was rescued too." Her eyes shift to the screen for some moments, her thoughts on the quality of writing and acting remain unexpressed. "Who would your favorite actress be?" she asks as an aside.
"In general, or on Charmed?" Helena replies, admitting, "I don't generally think about that sort of thing." She takes a breath. "I'm glad Wendy got rescued." she says. "She wasn't exactly the best company I could have given the situation, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
"In general. Sometimes I wonder if I could be better than them at their profession. I certainly wouldn't ever forget my lines," Cat replies with a light chuckle before she switches topics in a quieter voice. "Tell me about her. What's she capable of, why would they have moved her like that?" Attention settles on the bag for a moment, then returns to the blonde.
Helena ah's. She hadn't thought about that. "She can detect the presence of Evolved, and determine their power type." she says. "That's how I found out about my father." Shifting in her seat, she makes a face. "When everything went down? She was calling the cops to turn me in. And I still think she'd do it in a New York minute."
Her eyes close. "She was taken by them before," Cat murmurs, "and she still doesn't get it? I should warn Peyton. But, then again, it may be she already knows. I won't speculate about the bond between them, they were captives together then. It might well have made a softer spot for her despite anything else."
"She and I talked most recently yesterday afternoon. Seems she got approached by someone claiming she has info on HF and offering it in trade for help with her daughter. The girl, Belinda Aniston, apparently got taken in by DHS and has cancer, as well as a newly discovered ability. She might be at St. Luke's Hospital, I'm working to narrow down her location."
"I pointed Sparrow Redhouse toward people lining up to tackle Norman White when I went out earlier. When I left again, it was to meet Magnes Varlane. Seems he had a not unpleasant encounter with Emile Danko." She taps the black duffelbag with a foot.
Helena cocks her head. "Not unpleasant? In what sense? That Danko didn't shoot him someplace Claire would would get upset about?" She shrugs. "Wendy was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for the second time in her life. They shot her ear off, too." With humor that isn't humorous, "You'd think she'd take that as a sign."
"He told me," Cat relates, "he managed to corner Danko as he was being surrounded by mercenaries, in a location only he could get into safely. From above, I imagine. He then proceeded to have a conversation with Mr. Danko, and relieved him of some items."
She then opens the duffelbag and extracts things from it. A pair of black handguns — a .45 and a more compact .40. Ammo for those handguns. A phone. A knife. Each item is in its own evidence bag, police style.
"Magnes says after his conversation with Danko it wasn't possible to arrest and extract him safely, given the mercenaries approaching, so he disarmed him and left. What happened from there I don't know. I would presume him alive unless a body is found, and maybe even still unless I saw it myself, but… It doesn't appear he was in much position to resist the chickens coming home to roost."
"Why didn't these get turned over to the police?" Helena asks, frowning. "Isn't he supposed to be a cop? These are going to be inadmissable or something, aren't they?"
"He stepped outside the bounds of normal police procedure," Cat supplies dryly, "in his conversation with Mr. Danko, in such a way that if he had arrested the man and taken him in, he would likely face charges himself. Why this was wrong, I believe he already knows. But I do understand his motivation." She has carefully not pulled out the evidence bag which contains the extracted molar. "There will be some further conversations between Magnes and I about the proper role of police and the rules they have. About why they have them, and what will become necessary if he continues to abuse the badge."
"In any case, as stated, there were mercenaries coming. Mr. Danko, it seems, has a price on his head. Magnes says he didn't believe he could get himself and Danko both out of that place safely, so he left him. These items he took with him, intended to give to me, which he did."
"Right. And what good are they to us?" Helena asks promptly.
"After the phone is looked over, it may have contact information and other valuable items on it," Cat replies. "As to his weapons, they may have fingerprints on them too, which could match other evidence from crime scenes. Whether or not he's arrested, or alive, these can find their way into police hands and be connected to them, as well as having Danko's prints to further incriminate him. Hopefully Magnes had gloves on when he took them. Given their placement in evidence bags, I believe he did. It could be arranged that these items are found by police we know aren't infiltrators."
"Or we could simply place them in our own stocks."
Helena nods. "Let's have Hana rake over his cellphone, and then we can talk to Liz about turning it all over to the cops. There's not much else we can do, I don't think."
Nodding along, Cat seems to have more to cover. "Peyton contacted me yesterday, saying she was herself approached by a woman who claims to have info on Humanis First. This woman, ostensibly, has a daughter suffering from an illness. She may also have newly manifested an ability and been taken by DHS. She might be at St. Luke's hospital, I'm investigating the details with an eye to slipping Deckard in. If freeing her is possible, that would be a bonus too."
A grin flashes along with this consideration, as she muses "Wouldn't it be interesting if, in a non-lethal struggle, whatever guards the girl has were overcome and she were taken away, then when the guards recover they happen to discover their assailants dropped a few weapons?"