Participants:
| Scene Title | Unscathed, So Far |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Jaiden comes bearing his personal files for a meeting with Audrey, even though she already has them and subjects him to many questions. |
| Date | March 24, 2011 |
The telephone call came, but was not unexpected - after all, it had been discussed earlier that something like this may actually happen and to be ready when it did happen. Still, when the unknown number appeared on his cell, Jaiden felt a little nervous twist of something in his stomach, and the voice mail confirmed it. Still, wanting to be the proper citizen, he called back and made an appointment for later in the day so he could get some work done.
Closing the shop early was fairly easy. Getting across New York wasn't too terribly bad, but finding parking nearly made him late for his interview. Still, sitting in the conference room with a cup of fairly decent coffee steaming in front of him, he watches, observant, as Audrey does her things. It's a position that he's not used to being in, on the other side of the table - it's like when he was brought up in front of the drill sgt in boot camp - not fun, but you just sit there and answer questions when they ask them and try not to volunteer information.
He's dressed comfortably, in a work shirt, clean jeans, and steel-toed work boots, his arms crossed in front of him across his chest, a small backpack hanging from the back of his chair. A search would have found nothing out of place - an iPad, some books, pens, tools and the like - along with his registration papers, papers for citizenship, and even a copy of his military record, just in case she had any questions. All completely legal, all completely legit, and even sanitized to remove any information that may be sensitive. He sits and waits, quietly, waiting for the first of, he's sure, many questions.
"Could you state your name, please. Age. Residence?" one palm on the table, flat, the other with a pen clicked active and ready to take notes even though this is of course, being recorded in both audio and visual. Somewhere. For her benefit.
And here we go. Jaiden straightens slightly at the question, glancing around slightly to try and pinpoint the camera or microphone before giving up and turning his attention to the woman asking the questions. "My name is Jaiden Stirling Mortlock. 29 years old, resident of the borough of Red Hook, New York, New York."
"And what is your SLC-Expressive ability?" Adurey looks up again from making her notes. She's hunched over a fraction, a littel more relaxed than with how she's been rest of the day. Painkillers have easily taken away her edge, but not her mind at the moment. That will be later, when she and Cooper ride home and she bums him to walk her dogs while she blunts it with a beer.
"Hydrokinetic. Tier 2." Jaiden shifts slightly when he says that, a little uncomfortable at having to say it, having to register for the first time fairly recently, as his records no doubt show. "I can pull water from the air."
"Can you go through the night of the 17th for me, if you could. starting with when you arrived and who you arrived with and leading up to just before the disturbance happened?" Audrey's tone nice, her head turned slightly as she watches the other man.
"Well…." Jaiden rocks back on two legs of his chair slightly, putting them back down with a soft *thump* against the linoleum floor, his arms unfolding after a moment to reach for that cup of coffee. Holding it in both hands, as if to keep them warm, he peers into it, taking a sip before beginning. "Well, I was invited by Remi, er, Miss Davingnon, to be her date. She, her personal assistant Ygraine Fitzroy, and Graeme…er…" He goes quiet for a second. "Conan? I think? I haven't gotten his last name yet, but her roommate. Anyway, we all piled into the car and made our way over there in time for the reception, dressed in gowns and suits and the like." He chuckles softly. "Remi and Ygraine looked amazing."
Jaiden straightens after a moment, going back to the events of the evening, clearing his throat. "We were making our rounds of the ballroom, Remi greeting people, Ygraine and I talking about whatever came into our heads, Graeme just being supportive, when a lady came up and talked to Remi in French. Told her something, and then she wanted to leave. So….we started to leave. Then all hell broke loose.
"And when all hell broke loose?" Audrey prods verbally, giving Jaiden permission to carry on.
Audrey is following the interrogator's handbook rather well. Jaiden nods slightly, telling his tale. "Well, first the lady Remi was talking to changed - turned into someone else with silver-streaked black hair and some kind of bird in her hair. And another guy kind of melted into a tall, black haired guy and then vanished. I guess he bumped into Ygraine, because she was kind of knocked off balance, so she did something with a glass and threw it at the guy." Jaiden grins. "It was a hell of a throw. But when that happened, the black-haired lady pushed Remi into Graeme's arms and told us to run. So we started to."
"This ticked him off - he started glowing like bright orange, and another lady, dressed up really nice, pulled out a gun and shot at him, but was tackled by the black haired woman." Jaiden doesn't have names as far as Audrey knows, so he doesn't share them. "I think she hit him, but I'm not sure. Anyway…"
Jaiden closes his eyes as he thinks, trying to remember. "Now this part all happened kind of quick. This ticked him off - he started glowing like bright orange, and …you, actually. Shot him, but the black haired woman tackled you. I think you hit, but I wasn't sure.. The woman approaching us reached out and did _something_ to Graeme, making him trip and tossing Remi down, then did something to me like a sonic boom. So I covered her head in about six gallons of water to knock her out." Jaiden frowns. "Didn't work."
"That was me" In the super bloody hospital gown, getting ganked by the brunette. Audrey brings out a bunch of pictures, lining them up. Eileen, Avi Epstein, Jane, all in various states of facial expressions. "Any of these familiar?"
Jaiden leans forward to peer closely at the pictures, tapping Eileen's first. "This was the lady with the bird in her hair. She looked like she wasn't expecting her disguise, or whatever it was, to go away. This guy…" He taps Avi Epstein, "was the one who turned into the silver-streaked black-haired guy. And this lady here…" He taps Jane. "Was the one coming toward Remi, Graeme, Ygraine and I with a quickness. So I stopped her. Or tried to." Jaiden leans back. "Because she wasn't a she, apparently."
"Have you ever seen any of these people, around yourself or Ms. Davingnon before in the past few weeks, particularly this individual" Tapping Jane's picture, then Eileens "Or this woman. We have reason to believe that she has connections with the man who tried to make the attempt on Ms. Davingnon's life, contrary to her actions that night."
Jaiden shakes his head in the negative. "Sorry, no, I haven't. I've mainly been dealing with my business and getting registered. Remi inviting me to the ballet was supposed to be my night off."
"I'm sorry that your night got interrupted. I know that feeling all too well" The pen end is pressed to her lips, looking at jaiden across the way and then relaxes, taking the pictures back and putting them in the folder.
Listen. Let me be frank here Mr. Mortlock. I know that Remi's ability is not quite as listed. I don't care if it's just her choosing not to divulge the whole of it, or whether it's really just her learning to get better at it. From talking with Graeme and with Officer harrison, I know that she's got a more generic form of telepathy. That she can carry on conversations. So please, let me lay this out"
"The man who attacked her is a shapeshifter, who's been treading in on my territory and making himself a fairly big thorn in my side. That he went for Remi, confuses the hell out of me. I mean, she's a dancer, she's got telepathy, and that was a pretty public Gala"
The Australian's expression doesn't change, save for a lifting of eyebrow in surprise. How Audrey knew is pretty evident - Remi's scream kind of changed that rating with all of the witnesses. But the shapeshifter - that kind of gives Jaiden pause. "Which shapeshifter are you talking about? Because there was the inky black one and the lady who I engulfed in water. She broke free using some kind of scream and changed into, what looked like, a younger version of the inky lack guy."
"the one who went for Ms. Davingnon Mr. Mortlock" Audrey supplements. "In your time around Ms. Davingnon, have you come across anything strange, were there any incidents that you can remember, anything strange at all. Anything that you can tell, might help us find this person, and capture them, help make your friend safe, safe enough so that she and you and the others can go have that night off without the clusterfuck that whatever it was, became."
"I'm sorry." Jaiden frowns. "I really can't think of anything strange that's been going on around Remi. She never mentioned any calls, letters, stalkers, or anything."
The answers, mostly, it seems, are going to come from remi. Audrey taps her pen on the table before carefully easing back into sitting up straight. "You have been more than kind and patient Mr. Mortlock. I hope, that you can bear with me in the coming days, while we watch over your friend and hopefully, soon enough, she will be back where the lot of you can spoil her rotten. You're good friends, trying to save her like you did. It's quite possible that without your quick thinking, that he might have succeeded in whatever it is that he was going to do" Or maybe he did succeed. Who knows. "Thank you for coming down here even though I'm sure you were busy, I may ask you in if I have any more questions or stop in at your shop, so that you're not closing up again to appease me." She slides a business card over. "I appreciate your co-operation and I really am sorry that he ruined our night off"
Jaiden reaches across the table, taking the card, studies it for a moment, then tucks it into his breast pocket. He wasn't trying to be confusing or obtuse - simply telling the truth was the best that he could do right now. "I'll hang on to this. If I think of anything, I'll give you a ring, yeah?" Jaiden nods. "If you need anything, just give me a ring."
"Where is Remi anyway?"
"Some place safe, under protected custody" Not going to get it so quick. Audrey looks up from her notes, a soft smile on that pinched face of hers. "But she has a phone. I'm sure Mr. Mortlock, that she'll be in contact with you soon enough. To assure you that I haven't locked her up and thrown away the key. I take my job very seriously, and I don't want to see another person fall to this copy cat's actions and hands. When it's safe enough, she'll be returned to her life, so she can dance again. From what I've heard, she's a very good dancer"
"Oh, she is. I saw her in Paris. That's where we first met. She's very skilled at dancing." Jaiden smiles slightly at the memory. "Well, a lot of us are worried about her, so if you could have her call as soon as she can, I'd really appreciate it."
"I'll be sure to let her know, when I go to see her again Mr. Mortlock. Someone will show you the way out" You don't get to wander on your own. "If I have more questions, I'll seek you out" And there is someone, outside the door, ready to escort Jaiden out to where he can turn in his temporary visitors badge and head out. Unscathed.
Jaiden stands and shoulders his backpack. "You can keep those records I brought, if you like. Those are copies." She's probably already started collating and following up on his background, but it's nice to give a bit of a leg up to the person who's checking up on you. "Take care of that stomach wound, Miss. Those can get bad if you're not careful." He gives a slight smile, a nod of his head, offers his right hand to shake, and if she does, he gives her a good one. If not, he lets it drop, but either way, he turns and heads to the door.
Unscathed.
So far.