Eight Crazy Nights 4: Revenge and Alphas
for daria234: Revenge!! How about Victoria and Emily have to work together for a common goal? (Like they actually have a common goal, not just Emily pretending.).
From what Emily could hear through the microphone nestled in her ear, Victoria’s ice had never been closer to melting as she fended off the increasingly irritated questions of the Initiative’s representative. Emily wasn’t sure whether it was Daniel’s struggles against her that made her love Daniel less, or Charlotte’s status as the child she’d had with her true love. Either way, there was no question but that Charlotte was the favorite, and if that caused Victoria’s composure to crack then her love would have destroyed the very thing she was seeking to save. While that was an irony Emily could appreciate, she wasn’t interested in seeing it played out over the body of an innocent like Charlotte.
With one last wriggle, Emily made it through the window and landed silently behind the guard. He was big, and she couldn’t afford noise, so she shot him with a tranq dart on his exposed neck. He crumpled to the floor even before he’d turned halfway around, and she was there to ease his fall and muffle the sound.
“I don’t know what more you want me to say,” Victoria said in her ear. “I have come here in good faith.”
Emily picked the doorlock; shoddy work, not even electronic. She opened the door-and nearly got brained by the piece of wood Charlotte was holding, which on closer inspection seemed to be part of a chair Charlotte had managed to disassemble. Emily wanted to congratulate her, but she was a little busy putting her gloved hand over Charlotte’s mouth to mute her squeak. She held her other hand up to her mouth, miming for silence, and Charlotte nodded vigorously.
“I have information your masters will want to know,” Victoria insisted. “All I ask is a meeting.”
Emily gestured to Charlotte, who stepped into the hall and managed not to squeak when she stepped over the downed guard. She’d also kept her grip on her makeshift weapon. Perhaps there were advantages to being Victoria Grayson’s daughter.
As soon as she’d helped Charlotte over the wall, Emily hit the button that would make Victoria’s cell buzz. “Well, I see we’re getting nowhere,” Victoria said, smooth and fully confident again. “I’ll return when I have reason to believe that true negotiation is possible.”
Of course, if Charlotte had been identified, the Initiative would understand Victoria’s role as distraction. But Emily had examined all the security footage before she’d erased it, and Charlotte had cannily pretended to be a college student doing a sorority dare when she’d stumbled into the Initiative’s operation. Nolan was already creating a false identity for an investigative reporter matching Charlotte’s description, someone who could be the target of the Initiative’s wrath: an imaginary pinata for them to whack at with no candy inside. If they were lucky (and if the Initiative’s arrogance persisted), Charlotte would be as safe as any Grayson could be.
Someday, maybe soon, Emily would suggest to Charlotte that she’d be better off as a Clarke. Victoria had been helpful today, because it suited her own purposes. But the day was coming when Victoria would no longer further any of Emily’s own goals. And taking Charlotte with her would be both fitting-Charlotte deserved the best chance she could get, given what she’d already suffered-and sweet, leaving Victoria abandoned by the only person in her family who might actually love her, whether Charlotte wanted to or not.
Today, though, their goals had been aligned, and Victoria had played her part with steely resolve. Emily needed to remember that, for later. Not because Victoria would give her any credit for Charlotte’s rescue. But Takeda had often pointed out that the best way to understand an enemy’s weaknesses was to respect their strengths. It was a lesson Emily didn’t intend to forget. And one she was going to enjoy teaching to the remaining Graysons.
for
ariadnes_string: Alphas--canon Jewish characters doing Jewish things. Particularly acts of remembrance, maybe, since I was thrilled beyond reason to see a Jewish funeral represented on the show. But happy stuff is good, too. Dr. Rosen is my favorite (of course).
“I belong to a havurah,” Dr. Rosen said. For a moment Rachel couldn’t tell whether he was mumbling more than usual or just saying a word she didn’t know. Of course Dr. Rosen sensed her discomfort and the uncertainty of the others, and immediately clarified. “It’s a group, a sort of Jewish worship and study group. I’m hosting our meeting this Friday night. We’ll be remembering Danielle at the service. I’d be honored if you’d join us.”
“Dr. Rosen,” Nina said, obviously touched. “Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“It’s no intrusion,” he said. “And I wouldn’t ask you to participate in anything inconsistent with your faiths, or lack thereof, Gary-” and miraculously Gary shut his mouth-“but your company would be most welcome.”
They looked from one to the other (skipping Gary, so that there’d be no lecture about eye contact), and the consensus was simple. “Of course, Dr. Rosen,” Rachel said. “We’d love to come.”
****
“Oh, I get it,” Gary said, with his usual lack of modulation. “It’s like stimming. You do the same thing over and over again. You say the same thing over and over again. It’s calming.”
Dr. Rosen’s friends must have been told to expect Gary, because no one shushed him, though Dr. Rosen did take him aside. “Yes, Gary, it’s calming. The davening is how some of us enter a prayerful mindset.”
“Prayer doesn’t make sense,” Gary said. “There’s no God.”
“Gary,” Rachel said warningly, but Dr. Rosen shook his head.
“Sometimes God is in the relations we have with other people. Our shared history, our shared grief. The mourner’s kaddish is a recognition that others have lost loved ones, and that others will lose loved ones again. But we are not lost. We, the community, change and we remain.”
“Thanks for bringing us, doc,” Bill said, his voice careful.
“Do you think,” Cameron said, and then continued staring at the wall instead of meeting anyone’s eyes, “do you think you could teach me how to say it?”
“I’d like that very much, Cameron,” Dr. Rosen said. And Rachel believed him.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.
From what Emily could hear through the microphone nestled in her ear, Victoria’s ice had never been closer to melting as she fended off the increasingly irritated questions of the Initiative’s representative. Emily wasn’t sure whether it was Daniel’s struggles against her that made her love Daniel less, or Charlotte’s status as the child she’d had with her true love. Either way, there was no question but that Charlotte was the favorite, and if that caused Victoria’s composure to crack then her love would have destroyed the very thing she was seeking to save. While that was an irony Emily could appreciate, she wasn’t interested in seeing it played out over the body of an innocent like Charlotte.
With one last wriggle, Emily made it through the window and landed silently behind the guard. He was big, and she couldn’t afford noise, so she shot him with a tranq dart on his exposed neck. He crumpled to the floor even before he’d turned halfway around, and she was there to ease his fall and muffle the sound.
“I don’t know what more you want me to say,” Victoria said in her ear. “I have come here in good faith.”
Emily picked the doorlock; shoddy work, not even electronic. She opened the door-and nearly got brained by the piece of wood Charlotte was holding, which on closer inspection seemed to be part of a chair Charlotte had managed to disassemble. Emily wanted to congratulate her, but she was a little busy putting her gloved hand over Charlotte’s mouth to mute her squeak. She held her other hand up to her mouth, miming for silence, and Charlotte nodded vigorously.
“I have information your masters will want to know,” Victoria insisted. “All I ask is a meeting.”
Emily gestured to Charlotte, who stepped into the hall and managed not to squeak when she stepped over the downed guard. She’d also kept her grip on her makeshift weapon. Perhaps there were advantages to being Victoria Grayson’s daughter.
As soon as she’d helped Charlotte over the wall, Emily hit the button that would make Victoria’s cell buzz. “Well, I see we’re getting nowhere,” Victoria said, smooth and fully confident again. “I’ll return when I have reason to believe that true negotiation is possible.”
Of course, if Charlotte had been identified, the Initiative would understand Victoria’s role as distraction. But Emily had examined all the security footage before she’d erased it, and Charlotte had cannily pretended to be a college student doing a sorority dare when she’d stumbled into the Initiative’s operation. Nolan was already creating a false identity for an investigative reporter matching Charlotte’s description, someone who could be the target of the Initiative’s wrath: an imaginary pinata for them to whack at with no candy inside. If they were lucky (and if the Initiative’s arrogance persisted), Charlotte would be as safe as any Grayson could be.
Someday, maybe soon, Emily would suggest to Charlotte that she’d be better off as a Clarke. Victoria had been helpful today, because it suited her own purposes. But the day was coming when Victoria would no longer further any of Emily’s own goals. And taking Charlotte with her would be both fitting-Charlotte deserved the best chance she could get, given what she’d already suffered-and sweet, leaving Victoria abandoned by the only person in her family who might actually love her, whether Charlotte wanted to or not.
Today, though, their goals had been aligned, and Victoria had played her part with steely resolve. Emily needed to remember that, for later. Not because Victoria would give her any credit for Charlotte’s rescue. But Takeda had often pointed out that the best way to understand an enemy’s weaknesses was to respect their strengths. It was a lesson Emily didn’t intend to forget. And one she was going to enjoy teaching to the remaining Graysons.
for
ariadnes_string: Alphas--canon Jewish characters doing Jewish things. Particularly acts of remembrance, maybe, since I was thrilled beyond reason to see a Jewish funeral represented on the show. But happy stuff is good, too. Dr. Rosen is my favorite (of course).
“I belong to a havurah,” Dr. Rosen said. For a moment Rachel couldn’t tell whether he was mumbling more than usual or just saying a word she didn’t know. Of course Dr. Rosen sensed her discomfort and the uncertainty of the others, and immediately clarified. “It’s a group, a sort of Jewish worship and study group. I’m hosting our meeting this Friday night. We’ll be remembering Danielle at the service. I’d be honored if you’d join us.”
“Dr. Rosen,” Nina said, obviously touched. “Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“It’s no intrusion,” he said. “And I wouldn’t ask you to participate in anything inconsistent with your faiths, or lack thereof, Gary-” and miraculously Gary shut his mouth-“but your company would be most welcome.”
They looked from one to the other (skipping Gary, so that there’d be no lecture about eye contact), and the consensus was simple. “Of course, Dr. Rosen,” Rachel said. “We’d love to come.”
****
“Oh, I get it,” Gary said, with his usual lack of modulation. “It’s like stimming. You do the same thing over and over again. You say the same thing over and over again. It’s calming.”
Dr. Rosen’s friends must have been told to expect Gary, because no one shushed him, though Dr. Rosen did take him aside. “Yes, Gary, it’s calming. The davening is how some of us enter a prayerful mindset.”
“Prayer doesn’t make sense,” Gary said. “There’s no God.”
“Gary,” Rachel said warningly, but Dr. Rosen shook his head.
“Sometimes God is in the relations we have with other people. Our shared history, our shared grief. The mourner’s kaddish is a recognition that others have lost loved ones, and that others will lose loved ones again. But we are not lost. We, the community, change and we remain.”
“Thanks for bringing us, doc,” Bill said, his voice careful.
“Do you think,” Cameron said, and then continued staring at the wall instead of meeting anyone’s eyes, “do you think you could teach me how to say it?”
“I’d like that very much, Cameron,” Dr. Rosen said. And Rachel believed him.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.