Participants:
Scene Title | To Catch A Tiger By The Toe |
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Synopsis | In the wake of Remi's confession, something is hatched and ygraine walks right into it, despite her best intentions. |
Date | March 25, 2011 |
DHS Building - Audrey's Office
Ygraine is the last of those closest to Remi at the time and the most important individual that Audrey and Cooper needed to talk to. As Remi's personal assistant, though newly hired, she might have answers that roommates and friends just might not have.
Messages sent out at the beginning of the week, it was today that it was scheduled for and today is where Ygraine finds herself sitting in Audrey's office, no conference room, no interview room, nothing quite so intimidating.
Well, no.
Not really.
Because two walls of audrey's office are dedicated to the family Gray. With gabriel taking up one wall, maps of where kills, suspected kills, actual kills, have been laid out. The same goes for daddy gray, though those are more concentrated in new york proper.
This is not the office of someone who's just casually been assigned to the case. Remi hit it on the head the other day, this is personal, and she cares about it. That, and moving Remi really was protective if the racking up of kills on the wall are any indication.
The rest of the office, is traditional. Chairs opposite a space L shaped desk, shelves with binders and a filing cabinet even a couch in the back, necessary when you have to spend the night ala workaholic. Her desk laid out with a laptop, stacks of files, a tray for in and outgoing items, but very little personalization. She's a little more disorganized today than even Cooper has seen her, but in the last five seconds before Ygraine came in, files were dumped on her desk and memo's punted through to her in tray. which has left her seething at the intern but holding her tongue.
Except for the mug with two french bulldogs on it that holds coffee and says "we love you mommy" That's Coopers doing.
But Adurey is behind her desk, a handful of folders out on her desk, notepad and pen. She's a little more disorganized today than even Cooper has seen her, but in the last five seconds before Ygraine came in, files were dumped on her desk and memo's punted through to her in tray. which has left her seething at the intern but holding her tongue. Cooper is here too and she's quickly looking over things, letting cooper make some small talk.
One thing that should be known about Cooper, he's an example of stereotypical law enforcement.
"Donut?" Cooper asks a friendly smile on his lips, speaking of stereotypes. The sugar coated donuts, nestled in their pink box is pushed a little closer to where Ygraine sit. His own black tie shows a sprinkling of white, though it's harder to see with the yellow design. His suit is a darker blue gray, with a dress shirt, and his DHS badge clip to it somewhere.
"Glad you could join us today, Mrs. Fitzroy, have a seat." With Cooper the niceties are never really forced, he's just the all around nice cop in this partnership. Leaving the surliness to Audrey.
Though she is still unquestionably distinctive, Ygraine is no longer displaying Xiulan's back-covering artwork while clad in a slinky gown. The hip-length braid of hair - mostly a silken black, though the lowest portion is dyed an eye-catching blue - is just the same, as are the pale skin and the burgundy tone on her lips. Her attire, however, is rather more Gothically exotic: a heavy, archaically militaristic overcoat is draped over her shoulders, with her leather sling immobilising one arm across the front of a richly embroidered dark green waistcoat. That is adorned with brass buttons, arranged to show off her curves, and worn over a fop's loose white shirt, while also now having a visitor's badge clipped to one of its pockets. High boots part-cover skin-tight black breeches, completing the woman's distinctly un-Federal choice of clothing.
But hey, at least the tatoo's not on show.
Moving with the careful attention of someone guarding an injury while navigating an unfamiliar environment, she settles onto the indicated chair, flashing a grateful smile at the male agent as she does so. "Thank you, but I'm not sure that I should try to conduct an interview with my mouth full." Her accent is crisply educated and distinctly British, the visitor opting not to hide her origins in the slightest. "But I might filch one on the way out."
"He doesn't let just anyone take a donut. Even I'm not allowed one half the time" She just steals it. Usually the remaining half of his and out of his hand. Ygraines not the only one nursing an injury, though admittedly, ygraines will be healed fairly soon and Audrey's still got a little bit ahead of her. But when you've been gutted like a trout - or close to it - some things do take time and in all things injury related, she's been a good agent and listening to Cooper when he tells her to stop.
"For the record, following protocol and all that, if you might tell us your name, age, residence and places of employment?" She asks, gesturing for the woman to take a donut if she so likes.
"I'd waste away, if people kept taking my donuts." Cooper comments matter of factly, even if you looks like he's eating plenty. Leaning back in his chair, the agent takes a moment to brush at the dots of white sugar on this tie. Thumb licked and rubbed at one particularly stubborn speck.
"Place of employment might be a little complex", the Briton says with a rueful smile, having managed a faint chuckle in response to the doughnut discussion. "I'm still trying to help out a little at the offices of Alley Cat Courier Service, but it'll be some time yet before I can ride again, and that's just piecemeal work. The sling'll hopefully be coming off in a few days, but it'll be a while before I can put serious strain on the arm. Fortunately, Madamoiselle Davignon hired me as her personal assistant the day before the event. So my primary place of employment now would be 'wherever she is'. Name and residence, however, are rather simpler - Ygraine Catriona Olwen FitzRoy, of apartment 309 at Le Rivage apartments, in the Financial District."
There's no surprise there, she's listed off the same residential building that both she and Cooper respectively live on. Floor up from Cooper it seems. There's notes taken, scribbled on her yellow legal pad. "So the employment with Ms. Davingnon, we'll just call her Remi, if it's not an issue with you, has been a fairly recent thing. Can you tell me, from your perspective, what went down on the seventeenth. Please be as detailed as possible, every little bit will help us to catch the man responsible."
ORDER: Cooper has skipped their turn.
"I had a worse view of most of it than many people", Ygraine says softly. "I had my back to the main portion of the room, facing the dance floor, and I was in conversation up until just before things went rather odd." Indeed, Xiulan's artwork might well have featured as one of the 'landmarks' in various people's accounts.
"The… at the time it was interesting rather than odd. A stranger I am not aware of ever seeing before walked up to Remi, and addressed her in French. Part of the reason for my employment is that I was raised bilingual: I grew up with French, rather than being taught it, and can converse more easily in it than can Remi in English…."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Ygraine takes a slow breath. "The stranger was young, female, prettily-dressed. She fitted in. Her French was fully fluent, but learned rather than innate. Her accent was non-native, but… non-descript. She enthused to Remi about seeing her perform in Moscow. Appeared sincere about it. As you might expect, for the retired prima ballerina, that was distinctly flattering and certainly helped to get Remi to focus upon her in particular."
"Then she - the stranger, whom I never heard give a name, before you ask - said that she had something very important to tell Remi. In private. I was… a little wary. These aren't exactly the safest of times, and, well." She glances down at her sling. "I'm carrying around a reminder of certain dangers. So I suggested that they move to the very edge of the dance floor. In plain view, but those closest to them would be in motion and focusing on other things. That they did, and the stranger started what looked to be a very… earnest talk. Then… then we hit the craziness."
Picture time, that's what this is as Ygraine talks, producing one of Avi Epstein, sliding it atop some papers, disrupting what's beneath, memo's and the like. Audrey doesn't pay attention to that though, intent on the picture atop the scattered papers. "Have you seen this man before?" She looks at Ygraine's face when the englishwoman looks. "You're fluent in French. We know she spoke French to Remi, thank you for the in depth details about that, do you know if it was Parisian or Québecois French?"
And she's carrying on again, Cooper of course free to interject any questions he might think of. "Can you describe the 'craziness' as you put it. Starting from when you moved off with Remi and the woman for the private conversation"
The picture is peered at, then Ygraine shakes her head, expression regretful. "Remi was, mostly, facing the main body of the room so that she could be seen. I was, mostly, facing towards Remi so that I could see if she needed help with anything. I didn't actually get a good look at terribly many of the guests at all - mostly only those who came up to speak to us. And I'm afraid that when Remi and the stranger moved off, I stayed put. The private part of the request had been clear, and with them in plain view quite close by, I thought that things should be all right…."
"As for the French?" Ygraine purses her lips, then sighs and shakes her head. "As an analogy? Imagine, oh… a Scandinavian who has learned very good English. They're perfectly comprehensible, but there's something slightly… trained. Foreign to the exact sounds and the emphases they put on things. Nothing wrong, just… taught. Her French was similar: fully fluent, but… acquired. In style? I'd say continental. It didn't have the 'more French than the French' affectation of many Quebecois. And I'm afraid that I didn't hear her speak English to try to pick up any accent there…"
"The first I was aware of things going actually wrong was when I got hit from behind", Ygraine continues, expression rueful as she again closes her eyes for a few moments. "Not… struck a blow, but barged into. Something slammed into my good shoulder, forcing past me. Not only did that shove my bad arm directly into Graeme - Graeme Cormac, just to be clear - which produced… a good deal of pain… but it was also very obvious that there were two problems. One was that the movement was of someone or something forcing its way past me, on a straight line for Remi and the stranger. Not just a momentary bump, but sustained pressure to force by an obstacle. The other was that I couldn't see anything there."
She takes a deep breath, then offers a rather sheepish smile. "So… I reached out my hand to whatever-it-was that had just hurt me and that was barging straight for Remi, stuck it to my glass, and let go. Over it went… and when it hit the ground, its invisiblity dropped and it turned out to be a… rather famous-looking man, clad all in dark shades, who looked… pissed off and surprised. As I suppose most people might be after falling back-first onto a glass without warning. Then he started to…. Well. Glow orange. From the eyes. And with coils of orange energy rolling off him elsewhere. Which, I think, is the point that I joined a lot of other people in backing the heck away for a few steps, before I turned and went for Remi, rather than an exit. I think I was shouting at her to move. I'm pretty sure I switched into French at one point, which probably didn't help anyone else, but I hoped would get Remi moving. Since she was in a rather… unhelpful dress for running away…"
Brushing his tie straight, after making sure he's satisfied with it's cleanliness, Cooper focuses on the witness pale green eyes narrowed with that cop like interest. A single brow tips up and he glances at Audrey. Though it's hard to know what he's saying with that look.
So far no questions from the peanut gallery, but he looks mighty interested in what's being said. A small notebook is produced and he starts scribbling things down, thoughtfully.
"Okay" Audrey murmurs, writing down everything that ygraine speaks. "So he was invisible, then you hit him with your glass. He backed away and started to look like he might do something tricky" Audrey looks up from her note taking, produce a picture of Gabriel/sylar, proffering it up on top of Avi's picture, then Eileens. "Did you see these people at the gala?"
Ygraine takes a breath, pauses, then opts to accept what seems to be a tactful writing-out of her use of an Evolved ability on Sylar. Closing her mouth on what had been about to be a correction, she leans forward - stiffening immediately upon seeing the first new picture. "Two of him. Perhaps one of her. A… second Midtown look-alike showed up. The first was all in dark tones. The second… dark leather jacket over something pale. He's the one who who stabbed Remi. The first one never got near her, that I saw. But by that point, I was beyond her, trying to lead her and Graeme - who'd picked her up - out of the throng and towards an exit. The girl… I think I saw her over by Remi, as things went screwy. But the orange-glowing guy I'd just pissed off was rather more… attention-grabbing just then, so I wouldn't want to swear to it."
That mouth closing is caught, Audrey looking expectantly. "Did I get something wrong?" She inquires, a glance to Cooper, even as there's a knock on the door and some lesser not so special agent is sticking his head in to ask for their attention on a matter. "One moment, we'll be out" Looking back to Ygraine when the door is closed again.
Darn. Maybe it wasn't deliberate after all. Leaning forward to pick up the photos, Ygraine takes a moment to frown rather apprehensively at the three people depicted. "I didn't hit him with my glass. I stuck him to it", she says quietly. "As was confirmed in the Dome, my ability has developed to a point where I can attach objects as large as people to… other objects. I stuck the invisible guy to my glass, and dropped it. He didn't back off - he fell over backwards, and landed on it. That's why he lost concentration and appeared in view. And part of the reason for me being so keen to get the heck out of there right then. I don't think he had any idea what had happened, let alone who had done it, but… I wasn't inclined to stick around and find out whether he could identify the culprit."
"and what was I doing during this all Ms. Fitzroy, Ygraine?" Adurey's looking to cooper, then gesturing with her eyes to the door. "I'll meet you out there, see if it's important and can't wait will you, I don't want to drag this out and waste Ms. Fitzroy's time"
The knock has Cooper glancing up from his pad of paper. He glances first at the flunkie agent and then levels a glance at Audrey. Giving her a short nod, he moves to stand. "If you'll excuse me," he offers politely to their witness before moving to the door pauses to glance back at Audrey, before slipping out.
Nodding and smiling - albeit rather tensely - to Cooper, Ygraine then looks back to Audrey. Stiffly, she tries to ease a little tension in her shoulder with a very cautious roll of it, before kneading at the joint with her available hand. "I… couldn't say with certainty. I… used to compete professionally, as a cyclist. I'm trained to have certain responses to an adrenaline surge, and a rush of apprehension. Specifically, to get to where I want to be, around moving obstacles, as fast as possible. As soon as my instincts kicked in, I was moving to get ahead of Remi, and lead her out of there. But I did glance back a few times, as you might imagine. And I'm pretty sure that I caught a glimpse of a blonde woman confronting the… orange-glowing one, and heard what sounded a lot like a gun-shot. There was shouting, but… things were a little loud by that point. And when the second one showed up and stabbed Remi and Graeme, I'm afraid that my focus rather firmly shifted."
Audrey nods, clicking her pen closed, gingerly rising from her seat. "If you could give me a minute Ms. Fitzroy, I need to see what's so urgent, I apologize for this" She shakes her head, annoyance rising and not at Ygraine but more the disruption. "It'll be a few minutes, have a donut, we'll be back"
And around the desk she goes, to join up with Cooper and the third agent outside the door once she closes it behind her.
Ygraine looks a little surprised, but nods and murmurs "of course" - her gaze rather intent as she studies Audrey's movements to read the location and nature of the injury in how it restricts her and how the agent nurses it to avoid undue aggravation. Hmmmm. If it Audrey were a cyclist, then the appropriate injury would be a handle-bar to the gut or stomach while crashing. Ouch. Whatever that is, it's painful.
She waits for Audrey to depart, then rises to her own feet - leaving the photos stuck to her lap to avoid dumping them onto the floor - scowling as she rubs more vigorously at her shoulder. It she can punish a little for communicating tension to her damaged bicep. Then she pauses, head cocking… before leaning forward and picking up the box of doughnuts.
Making a show of examining them as if torn by temptation (just in case Agent Hanson is akin to the WWII-era General Wedemeyer, and bugs even 'friendly' chats with British visitors), the rather paranoid visitor is in reality stealing a look at a certain memo. 'Demsky' is a rather unusual name, to say the least. And… yes. It appears in association with the words 'Judah', 'Harkness', and 'Scott'.
Setting the box down again - she does only have the one hand after all - Ygraine uses it and the task of carefully picking up a doughnut (trying not to dip her extravagant cuff in the icing seemingly a concern) to nudge an obstructing paper further out of the way. Delaware Correctional Facility for the Evolved. April 2nd. Transfer. Right.
Now to nudge the box 'straight' to hide that memo, sit down, munch on a doughnut, and hope to heck that this isn't all a trap.
Odds of bugs in here? Pretty good, if only because Audrey knows someones had a feed in here or sound, from her friendly conversation with 'Gaston' and Ygraine would be unwise to think otherwise. In amoungst the memo's including one re: Judah and Scott are other things. Meetings that are important, building policy changes, procedure changes, papers that require audrey's signature, things that we just dumped in there by a lackey as Ygraine was coming in and much to Audrey's dismay.
She;s alone, few more minutes, Audrey and Cooper heard barely outside the door before the handle is turned and she's returning into the office once again. She favors her midriff, though not to any particular side, and it's hard to notice to an untrained eye. She's not a fan of showing weakness.
"Sorry about that. Sincere in her apology. "Where was I?"
By that point, Ygraine has finished her doughnut - a minor tweak of her ability helping to ensure that it doesn't shed iced crumbs all over her - and, duly fortified with sticky indulgence, is checking her phone messages. Survivors-related messages, very deliberately. Trying to help others might not just take her mind off things for a few moments, it might look good for her should the Feds check up on what she was doing….
Looking up when the door opens, Ygraine ventures a smile. "I'm… not quite sure what you had in mind to be next. You'd… you'd just asked me what you were doing, and I'd given my reply…"
"Thank you" She murmurs, running her tongue over the front of her teeth, ligting up pages from her legal pad to notes she'd made. "Going back to being her personal assistant, how much time before that did you know Ms. Davingnon?"
From Audrey last week to Remi years ago? Ygraine blinks slightly at the change of topic, then nods. "Early oh-six. I could dig up the exact date if required by checking the records of past races. I'd just finished a competition in Paris. Remi had just finished a successful run of performances. France is somewhere that cyclists are considered… part of an elite. Thanks in part to the Tour de France, cycling is seen in many ways as a distinctly French sport, verging on an artform in some eyes. So those who perform at a high level are embraced. As a result, the party of cyclists wound up mingling with the dancers, and the hangers-on of both…."
"We stayed in touch thereafter, though… the Bomb put our contact on hold for some time. She lost her mother, and I… I rather lost my mind. I got put through a storefront on Broadway by the outer edge of the blastwave. Things went downhill a bit from there, for a while. This year, Remi realised that we were actually in the same city, and got back in direct contact. Surprised me with a dinner invitation to celebrate my birthday. The next day, I got trapped in the Dome. When I came out, I was… not in the best of condition. But when I was up to it, I went to see her again, and… on the meeting after that, she gave me a job. The day after that was the party."
"Had she mentioned anything strange happening, any items going missing, a cellphone, any visitors to her home that were out of the ordinary, do you know if she had any meetings pop up that were last second and irrelevant to the gala, or with someone new?" Audrey fishes, trying to figure out when Sylar had first popped Remi up on her Radar.
Ygraine looks surprised. "Not that she mentioned, but… I was her PA for all of about… twenty eight hours, perhaps? Before the… attack. She might well have simply dismissed anything like that as an irrelevant distraction. She… it was to be her return to the stage, though only in a small part. And her first independent choreography. She was very caught up in it. It was… a way for her to get back to what she loved, after… some years away from the heart of productions. From what I could see, she was throwing herself into it with a commitment she gives to nothing else. To some extent, I think she was trying to get her life back, and… well. Prima ballerinas are renowned for being single-minded when pursuing their goal. I'm afraid that there's a good chance that anything unusual was simply ignored as irrelevant to her focus."
"Ms. Fitzroy" Audrey levels a look. "I'm not asking you about her passion or her prima ballerina status or that it was independant choreography. I care about catching the man who has put her in the hospital and hurting your friend Mr. Cormac and getting Ms. Davingnon back to her ballet and without her or you needing to worry about him making another run at her." There's more note taking but the meeting seems to be winding up, reaching over to peer in the box of donuts, plucking one out, then gesturing for Ygraine to help herself. "But so far nothing seems out of the ordinary which is making my job harder. Is there anything that you think might be relevant to the investigation before I turn you loose?"
Ygraine offers a carefully one-shouldered shrug. "I just didn't want to seem to be dismissing the possibility", she says mildly. "It's wholly credible that some strange things happened and she either didn't notice or forgot them seconds later. But… hrmmm. My reading of what I directly heard and saw, was that the strange woman was wanting to deliver a warning of some sort - that was partly why I was on edge when I got slammed into. It didn't just hurt, it fitted there being some kind of problem that had to be spoken about immediately. Though given the fact that Remi was standing still when it all kicked off, I'd guess she never got as far as actually delivering it. But the two… twins. There was no sign of active cooperation between them that I saw. It was like they were… acting, hunting, separately. I've seen a lot of teams operating in fast-moving, somewhat dangerous situations. Team-mates try to pay attention to where their colleagues are. The little I saw, there was none of that at all. I'm not claiming it's identical, or that I know what was going on - but for two damn-near identical-looking guys, my memories suggest that they seemed to have astonishingly little direct interest in each other. Just an impression, but… it might help with a profile or something."
All of that, scribbled down, some short hand, some of it not. She'll have a great deal to type out later. "I think, Ms. Fitzroy, that I am out of questions at the moment, but if I have any more, I'll let you know so we can meet and see if we can't get more answers. I wish I had been able to do this right after the incident when everything is fresh" She really does wish she had. "But, circumstances prevented as such." Audrey opens a drawer, fishing out a card and passing it over, her name, Coopers as well tucked with it. "If you can remember anything at all, that you think will be beneficial to the case, please don't hesitate to call" THe pinch faced woman opines, standing up again so she can start to escort Ygraine to the door where there's a lackey waiting to walk her to the security desk. Badges aren't for keepsies!
Working one-handed, the process of tucking away the card, returning the photos, then resettling her coat takes longer than the customarily speedy and coordinated Briton would like - but soon enough she's letting herself be guided out of the door… though she pauses just before it. "I do have a question of my own", she says quietly. "Do you know how he - they - decide upon targets? Specifically, how worried should I be, having used a power on one to make him drop his invisibility and get him confronted by someone I presume was you?"
"He was focused on Remi. To what purpose he wanted her, I don't know. But I believe you'll be safe. Or he would have made a move on you. Just make note of any people who are acting strange about you, safeguard your belongings, and feel free to call if you think that this copy cat is making a move on you. I doubt he will but… You never know" Audrey tries to assuage the briton.
"After my… fun in the Dome, I was intending to beef up my home security for peace of mind. This gives me another reason to do so", Ygraine says ruefully, moving to carefully negotiate the doorway, clearly keen to avoid bumping her arm while navigating her unfamiliar surroundings and simultaneously holding a conversation. Perhaps fortunately, she manages to resist the temptation to ask Audrey which one she thinks was the copy cat. "Thank you for your time. And… good luck catching them."
"Thank you Ms. Fitzroy, I'll need it. Albert here will see you to the security desk" The fresh faced agent who showed her the way up when she first came up. "We'll connect you with Ms. Davingnon soon enough once we're sure of her safety. Take care" She stands at the door, watching the briton leave before going back in her office. Read over notes, notes from everyone.
Ygraine nods farewell to Audrey, then allows herself to be ushered out. Though there is a mild temptation to filch the badge - have it disappear up her sleeve, perhaps - that's easily overcome, letting the Briton pass out into the cool beyond the building, gladly inhaling unfiltered air as she tries to force her paranoiac tendencies to shut up. At least temporarily. She walked into a lion's den and came out again. Time to go home, lock herself in, and curl up with her cuddly penguin to watch a movie.
Though perhaps she should let someone know about Demsky and Harkness first. Damn that inconveniently active conscience. The penguin will have to wait.