[Eckerd brings the two of you to a room set up for conference calls.] Any questions before I start this? * Marguerite has another cup of coffee and is busily splashing scotch into it. "Nah." * Jason shakes his head. Alright. Do be judicious with what you say, she'll doubtless have a primary interest in figuring out what you know. She'll likely also hold information back. Even after I mentioned Saki's disappearance Ms. Andrews feigned ignorance as to why we'd call her. Why'd she do something like that? Simple really. She wouldn't want to tell us anything we haven't already figured out. * Eckerd waits a moment to see if anyone has anything to add. * Eckerd, not noticing any comments, starts the call. "I'll be in my office working other aspects of the investigation if you need me." She then leaves. (Ard, you want to echo Katherine's end in here? That would seem simplest.) (Sure.) (Don't count on me for logs.) [And you hear Katherine's phone ringing on loud speaker.] (Okay) (And Cham needs to PAY ATTENTION.) * Katherine has joined #sab2020 (He does.) * Katherine picks up on the other end. "Hello?" * Marguerite takes a slug of coffee. "Hi." Hey. Look, it's ... fucking early'o'clock, let's just assume the niceties are out of the way, all right? Marguerite and Jason. Good to hear from you. (Switch those two, I think.) (Yes.) * Katherine chuckles dryly. "Sure. Consider them finished. What do you need?" * Jason lights a cigarette. * Marguerite flicks a glance at Jason. "Information. You heard about Saki." She slugs the rest of the coffee. Not much, I'm afraid. Just that her apartment was attacked and you wanted to interview me. * Jason shrugs at Margie. Bombed, actually. (/me tries to remember if he's allowed smoking in the conference rooms) * Marguerite puts a cig in her mouth and goes hunting for her lighter in one of her many pockets. Hey, I got it. * Jason snaps his fingers and the end of Margie's cigarette lights. * Marguerite grins. "Thanks." * Jason grins back. "No problem." * Katherine sounds oddly detached. "Bombed. That's a little different." Uh-huh. A little bird told me you might know something about it. Really? What bird was that? * Jason goes hunting for coffee, because Jesus. [There's a pot in the corner.] [Along with some bottled water. * Jason pours himself a cup of coffee! "Want some?" * Marguerite gnaws on her cigarette and nods to Jason. "A very tiny one who sees lots of fucking shit. Let's start with why there was blood in your apartment." (/me snerks.) You were in my apartment. * Jason pours Marguerite a cup, too, and walks over to give it to her. 'Ensuring the safety of a fellow agent', I think. I was going to say that I don't think I left anyone behind to let you in. You could have called me first. * Jason retakes his seat, removes the cigarette, and has a long gulp of coffee. * Marguerite ticks off on her fingers. "No time. We didn't know you'd left the country. It was three in the fucking morning." Why was there blood? * Katherine snorts. "Marguerite. I've been hired by the SAB, and you ask why I might have a few blood stains on my carpet?" It wasn't a stain, it was a puddle of dried blood. No cold water, no seltzer, no fucking carpet cleaner applied, not even a towel. It was also a few days old. * Marguerite has a drink of coffee, wincing slightly at the heat. I don't think I left any actual puddles, though I agree. I have been careless about cleaning the carpet recently. Thank you for pointing it out to me. * Jason sets his cup back down and takes another drag of his cigarette. "But it's got nothing to do with Saki being gone, right?" Yes. Nothing to do with her being gone or her apartment being bombed. I am not in mortal danger. And, while I'm at it, I haven't been killing people in my apartment, either. * Marguerite makes a pained look at Jason and stabs the mute button on the phone. "Do we tell her we talked to Tim?" * Jason shrugs at Margie. "Fuck if I know." Do you think we should? I don't want to tell her shit, but we've got to get to her somehow. She frowns. (That last bit was an emote, I assume.) (... yes.) * Jason rubs at his forehead. "Shit. I'm no good at this stuff. Uh, you've met her before." (Switching laundry loads. Back shortly) * Marguerite waves her hand. "Once or twice. Not like I knew her well. Fuck." She stabs the mute button. "My birds sing a different song, Katherine. One in particular was pretty shaken." * Jason nods. And which bird was that? I assume it wasn't blood this time. No. * Marguerite takes a looooong drag off her cig, then sighs. * Katherine is silent. Look, we'll lay our cards on the table, and you do the same. We've been talking to Tim. He's pretty fucking upset about this. Tim? He doesn't care about Saki, last I checked. Then maybe you can explain why he was scared. (back) Why don't you explain it to me, since you felt the need to check on myself and Tim after Saki's apartment and she went missing. (Saki's apartment was bombed.) (Sorry, add that bit.) * Katherine starts to sound a little angry. "I likely care more about Saki missing than you do. I do want her found. She is my friend. But you treating me like an enemy isn't going to make me think you're on her side." * Jason opens his mouth to say something, then he shuts up. * Marguerite curses silently, and chugs the rest of the coffee. "You heading out of the country without warning, right before this happens... I don't believe in fucking coincidences, Katherine. Seriously? We know you and Saki have something in common. Not really sure what, but some kind of resonance or some shit. Same with Tim." * Katherine 's tone remains clipped. "Fine. I assure you, however, that I am not out of the country because of what happened to Saki. It's as much of a surprise to me as it is to you, and had I known, I would have volunteered to be on the investigation team." * Marguerite throws the empty paper cup at the wall. "Okay. We got off on the wrong foot. It's fucking early, I didn't get much sleep, and when I got there I had to get back up and go stare at corpses. I'm sorry, okay?" * Marguerite mutters "Fuck." under her breath. Apology accepted. So do you know anything about it? I'm not even sure what this 'it' is. Why would a resonance of whatever sort have something to do with an apartment bombing? * Marguerite gets up for more coffee. "More, Jason?" Yeah, thanks. * Jason sucks on his cigarette. * Marguerite pours two cups, then sits back down and slides one across to Jason. She takes a drink of her own cup. * Katherine grabs the cup, removes his cigarette, lets out a stream of smoke, and has more God blessed coffee. (Ha.) (Totally the wrong character. Sec.) * Jason grabs the cup, removes his cigarette, lets out a stream of smoke, and has more God blessed coffee. (Sorry, left it on the wrong window. ^^) (putting in third load of laundry) * Marguerite drinks. "Don't know. It's a strange thing, though... those fuckin' corpses I mentioned? Bunch of them in her apartment. There was a kid and a woman there, for god's fuckin' sake." Women and children die, especially if an entire apartment goes down. I'd think both of you are familiar with that. But you're talking about in Saki's apartment? Specific? Yup. * Marguerite finishes the coffee and holds another cigarette out to Jason with a grin. * Jason grins back. The cigarette lights. That's odd. Perhaps they attacked her. * Marguerite takes a drag and eases back in her chair, folding her arms in front of her. * Jason leans on his elbows and has another sip of coffee before putting his cigarette back in. Along with a bunch of other people in her apartment, and some in the hall... Was it a literal bomb or just an expression? Who takes a kid to a gunfight, though... oh, it was certainly SOME kind of bomb. (back) All sorts of people take children to gunfights. They're typically not pleasant. Don't know. I didn't do many residential jobs. * Katherine says, distantly, "No, I imagine you don't." You know a lot of that kind of people, huh? I don't know what you mean by 'a lot', but I know they're out there. You still haven't made clear what this has to do with Tim or myself. * Marguerite looks to Jason for a moment and has a puff., * Jason shrugs. What if we said the kid has... had... the same resonance? I'd say that's very interesting. * Marguerite smokes. "Nothing else?" * Katherine pauses on the other end for a good moment before asking, "Was the child the only one?" * Marguerite glances up at Jason for a second, then back at the phone. "... no, he wasn't." * Jason has his eyes fixed on the speaker phone. Who else? How many people? (Argh. Maggie is _so bad_ at this.) (Yes, she is. Jason's worse. Why do you think he's being quiet?) (Doesn't help that I'm not that good at it either, and that even I don't know what Katherine's aiming at.) (Why would Margie know what she's aiming at?) (She wouldn't.) (Which doesn't help either. ^_^) (Hee.) me sighs. "Look, if I tell you, I've got to get something out of this. Eckerd's breathing down our necks for some leads, and you're it. After this, we're just tapped." (WHEE WHERE DID MY / GO) Like I said, Marguerite, I want her found. But I need to know what you have if you want information from me. * Marguerite flashes a quick thumbs-up at Jason. "Quid pro quo, huh? Well. The woman, and the rest of the corpses in her apartment and the hall. All of them had the resonance." All right. How many? Were any of the bodies identified? Uh, about four. In the apartment and stuff, anyway. * Jason looks to Marguerite. (Strike the bit about the corpses in the hall. I have a bad memory.) Yeah. But none were identified? We just found the place, and they were pretty badly burned. Working on ids. Good luck with that. * Katherine falls silent for a little while before she says, "Was there anything else unusual about it? You're sure it was a bomb." It was a fucking hot bomb of something. Plasma-based - telltale bubbling on the lower floors. So maybe I'm not sure. I don't know anyone who typically flings plasma around besides you, I'm afraid. No help there. (.... holy fuck, deja vu.) (?) (I think I had a dream about this way back in like 2001. ._.) Sorry. Whatever Tim might have told you, I don't have all of the answers. * Katherine pauses a moment, then asks, "What did he tell you?" (That's crazy.) * Marguerite shakes her head and lights a cig off the butt of the last one. "Nuh-uh. How about a little pro quo first? I told you what we know about the bombing. I want to know about this resonance." (changing more laundry) People with it tend to have dealings with each other. They, as you can expect, can be quite unfriendly at times. So I noticed. Where does it come from? What did Tim tell you? Not much. We were both kind of distracted by Yvonne. * Marguerite pauses. "For different reasons." Yeah, Yvonne wasn't hitting on *her*. * Katherine sighs. "Well, what did you get in that short time?" (back) He mentioned none of this should be possible, but wasn't really all that clear on why. You're certain he didn't say why? Something about fifty years. () (Gah, yes. Thanks.\ And there not being enough time. (All I can say, Ard, is that if this is how Katie acts? Then you are damn lucky Maggie is not an Arcana. <_<;) ( * snickers ) (Actually, she's probably damn lucky she isn't. She's just totally incapable of being subtle or working with people outside of creative thuggery.) (Eh, Katie can use someone like that. Just takes a little friendly manipulation. ;P) (She's trying hard. >_< Katherine's just got all the cards.) There are only so many of us, as you'd likely guess. And new ones appear on something of a schedule. Are they off schedule, then? To the best of my knowledge, too, there shouldn't be a child running around with the same sort of... resonance. How did you get a reading on these resonances, anyway? Eckerd'd kill me if I told. What would these people want with the EU? I'm not sure. Why would she kill you? * Katherine adds, "And what does this have to do with the EU?" SAB secret even I'm not supposed to know. I'm afraid that if she's tapping these lines, you've already let out that you know this secret you aren't supposed to. * Jason covers his mouth, then leans his head on his hand. He has another puff of his cig and listens. Fuckin' whoops. I'll say. (This is killing me. Maggie wants to punch people through phones. ;_;) (Oh yes. A face to face interview would go *so* much better for her.) (Buy a SA. ;P) (Hey, if it was face to face she could at least try to threaten. And FAIL, but.) Do these people do possessions, Katherine? That might explain a few things. I can't possess people, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. Is that what happened with the EU? * Marguerite gets up for more coffee. "Who fucking knows." She shoots a look at Jason. "You've never heard of it happening before? Coming back early in possessed bodies?" (That was not actually directed at Jason. My bad.) No. Though if one can possess people, then it would go follow that they can possess whoever they want and change bodies before they die, assuming killing the host even kills the possessor. Including women and children. (-go) So you think the kid was possessed by, uh, one of you guys. It's possible. It would get around what Tim said, too. So. Who would want to kill Saki? Or is the answer to that every other one of you? Is this like Highlander? ( It's more compl.. naw, that's it in a nutshell. ) * Katherine sighs and says, softly, "Give people power, Marguerite, and they'll want to use it. We're not all friends." I kind of figured. I want to get at these people, Katherine. People don't fuck with me and mine, and for now, SAB is part of that. Like I said, I probably want this stopped even more than you do. But I can't tell you who's responsible, because I don't know. I'll help you if I can, though. Do you want to tell me what happened with the EU? * Marguerite leans back in the chair. "Did you watch my fight with Peter the Fucker?" I'm afraid I wasn't there. What happened? * Jason looks at the phone, then Margurite, then back. He puffs on his cigarette some more and doesn't say anything. I fought Peter. Our best guess is he was possessed. We're not sure. He was using sonic blasts. Sound like anyone you know? * Katherine pauses, then says, "No. Do you know if the possessor got away?" If you don't know, why do you care if it got away? (Katherine: Question! Maggie: Counter question! Katherine: Noncommittal answer! Maggie: *smokes*) (Repeat!) Because I'd like to know if there's more than one thing out there possessing people, resonance or not.' (Nicely summarized Cham. ;P) I don't remember. After the fight was a little fucking blurry for me. * Katherine says, dryly, "And I take it you didn't ask anybody." I'm also fucking tired, and I'm having trouble remembering my goddamn name. And I've got a worse day ahead of me. My sympathies. Look, did that thing have the same resonance, or is it a different problem? I'm looking for anything you can give me, Katherine. Something to start into once I've had a nice sleep and a good breakfast. * Marguerite sighs. "... it was the same." Right. And the EU? * Jason grumbles. "Fuck sleep. I'll just get breakfast." Peter was from the EU. But there are definitely multiple ones going around. * Retrieving #sab2020 modes... I was referring to the other mission involving possessed EU members. I assume you know about that, since you were involved. * Marguerite winces. "Yeah." * Jason grumbles again, but this time into his coffee. Do you know if they had the same resonance? And was Saki around when you were fighting Peter? * Marguerite blinks, then shakes her head. "Not a damn bit more until I get something from you." I'm not sure what else you want, Marguerite. I'm trying to understand the situation. You're dragging info out of me. I'm trying to understand the history of this. I can't fucking do that if all you do is grab what you can and fucking hang up. So am I. You're witholding history. I already told you that I'm not familiar with anyone with our resonance who can possess people. Tell me about the incident in Japan and we'll see. Which incident in Japan? The one that ties you, Saki, Tim, and all the others together. 2002 or so. * Katherine says, calmly, "Before Saki came to the SAB, she had no involvement with Tim." Then exclude Tim. But I'll tell you about the incident. People suffered. They died, and they were tortured mentally, emotionally, and physically. They were kids. That's what happened. And apparently some people, Marguerite, become ghosts. They can't let it lie. Thanks. That doesn't tell me much at all. What the hell are you? I'm human, and it sounds like you have exorcism to do. Where, goddamn it? Give me something to fucking go on. * Katherine sounds almost angry. "It sounds like there's more than one out there, if they didn't die. I'd say six or seven. Make sure you have an exorcist when you go hunting. Jason." * Jason blinks. "Yeah?" I don't know what's between you and Saki, but if you're close to her, her problems are yours. You have to deal with them, too. Marguerite, was Saki there for your fight? Shit, I don't know! What the fuck does it matter? If you don't know, find out. If she wasn't, entertain the idea that whatever force this is might be hunting down everyone involved in taking out everyone involved in the Bug Zapper mission. It might not be me you need to worry about. * Jason frowns. (Wow, that was bad. Take out "taking out everyone involved in") (I wondered. ^^;_ (Sorry, I rewrote and my brain shut down.) Fucking christ. Anything else you'll bother giving? I'm afraid I don't have very much to give. My hunch is Saki is the number one priority, but you and Jason are probably both in trouble, too. Be careful. * Katherine pauses, then adds, "I'll help you as much as I can. If you find any additional information, feel free to get it to me despite the time zones." Great. Thanks. You're welcome. * Katherine says, sincerely, "I'm sorry I can't be of more help." Yeah, okay, fucking whatever. Jason, anything else? * Jason shakes his head. "No. Just let us know if you figure anything else out, okay?" I will. Bye. Good luck. * Katherine hangs up. * Marguerite stabs at the hang-up button, then stands up. "I've got to catch some sleep. Meet you tomorrow." Fuck. Yeah. Got a time? Shit, what time is it now? 5? Motherfucker. 9, for breakfast. * Jason checks his watch. "Give or take, yeah." See you then. * Marguerite walks out of the room, rubbing her eyes. * Jason nods. "See ya." He gets to his feet, finishes his coffee, and tosses the cup away. * Jason looks back at the phone, then walks out. [And break til morning!]