5/6 of "Quicksilver"
tiny related side note: Tomorrow, on Deadliest Warrior, we will see who would win - a Celt, or a Persian Immortal.
.
Title: Quicksilver.
crossover of Numb3rs and Cal's Immortals.
Dedicated to & written at the request of: Mustangcandi.
crossposted to my lj and to SaveColby
Author: Keenir.
Pairings/Characters: Callie, Charlie, Hannah Marlowe, Val Eng (Molly Mai Philips), Colby, Amita, Kim Hall (Wren Min), Janet Kotsonis, Trace McKay, Liz, Nikki, Don, Megan, Terry.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The hunt is afoot.
summary of part 5: standoff
Spoilers: Soft Target.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.
Notes:
- (2) indicates being tiny and superpositioned...aka its up top, like the "2" in "E=MC(2)"
- ((10)) indicates being tiny and low down, like some of the numbers in chemical formulae.
- for how Trace McKay sounds, I used the English in this interview as a reference.
--words in between dashes-- are on the other side of the phone conversation.
Warnings: none, actually.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
right after Charlie said he helped Marlowe:
"Charlie!" Amita said, running to him.
Val walked up to Liz and Poe and said, "I know this is a thankless job, but would it kill them to try?"
"We're not allowed to find out," Poe said.
"Your humor's getting better," Val told him.
"Thanks," and took a chance: "Not like your aim, though."
"I hit what I aim at."
"We talking about Edgerton?" Liz asked, wondering where he'd gone off to.
"I had to shoot his phone," Val said.
"What, you thought it was a gun?"
Val made a semi-impolite sound.
"If Agent Eppes had arrived on the scene," Janet said, her and Nikki joining them, "Val here would be trying to find a way to explain all this, while Eppes would be staring at her and her guns, drooling on himself."
"He does have that tendancy," Liz agreed.
Nikki shook her head.
"What?" Janet asked. "It's easily testable."
"Particularly with Don a few buildings down the street," Val said.
"I don't know - with how loud Amita yelled, we might be closer to him than you think."
* * * * *
right before Amita shouted:
"Kim?" Don asked.
"Been a while," Kim Hall said to Don. "You're doing well." It was an observation.
"I work out," Don said.
Kim nodded, then said, "You got a call from Marlowe, the woman we're after. Don't worry - Charlie's still alive."
"How do you know that?"
"Marlowe doesn't kill people. Not directly, anyway."
"Care to clarify that?" Megan asked.
"Knock-on effects," Kim said. "Enjoying the transfer, Agent Lake?"
"I...did," Terry said. Her tone suggests she had something to do with my transfer - my recent one or the one which took me out of California? Or is she playing me? Has she been playing us all from the beginning...even while helping us track the counterfeiters?
"Good to know. And I know you want proof that Charlie's okay," Kim said to Don. "Follow me," and looked at David and Colby: "All of us."
"Then who's going to keep an eye out for Marlowe?" David asked.
"If she's called in your cavalry," Kim said, "then she's already gone."
"Trouble?" Megan asked.
"If you had tracking skills, Agent Reeves, in on par with your profiling talents, think of how well you could hide from your colleagues here. So let's deal with what we can deal with here," Kim said.
"And what's that?"
"To reunite the Eppes brothers," for one.
Not thirty seconds later -
"Don!" Charlie said, running over to his brother (who had left the car, as had Megan and Terry and David and Colby and Kim).
"Hey, Chuck, good to see you in one piece," Don said.
"Don, you're not going to believe who's here..." Charlie said, trailing off when he saw Kim standing there. "Agent Hall?"
"Sometimes," Kim said.
"Yeah, Kim's here," Don said. "So who else is here?" he asked his brother.
As if in answer, "Hey Don," Val said, same tone and feeling she used the last time she had seen the inside of his house.
"Val??" Don asked as his old crush walked up, alongside Liz and Nikki and some guy in glasses. And a dead ringer for Agent Chen.
"Aaawkwaaard," Callie and Janet mouthed.
"Yeah," Val said to Don's question.
Nathan fell on his sword: "We're going to need to take your brother in, Agent Eppes," Poe said. "Make sure Marlowe hasn't done anything to him."
"Like what?" Charlie asked. "Turn me into a Manchurian Canidate?" he joked.
She had the training, Callie thought to herself, so it wouldn't be impossible.
"No way," Don said. "He's fine. We'll get him checked out by a medic, but other than that -"
"We're going to insist," Callie said. "We have to take him."
"Or what?" Don asked, challenging. He trusted his team - current members and past members; he just hoped Colby wasn't torn too long by what should have been completely separate loyalties.
Janet half-chuckled, half-giggled.
"Oy vey," Val said sadly. Don't get trigger-happy, not here.
"We have to question Charlie, Don," Kim said. "Marlowe wouldn't have done anything physical."
"Then what are you looking for?" Megan asked. "Psychological damage?"
"Damage would be easy," Kim answered. To Charlie, "You mentioned solving the puzzle Marlowe set out for you. What was it?"
"It turned out to be converting base-5 into base-10," Charlie said. "234 becomes 2x5(2)+3x5+4=69((10))."
"Shit," Callie muttered.
"Why, what's special about it?" Colby asked.
"Sumerian math. It means she's gone to ground," Val said. "We can't dig her up."
"Whoa," Nikki said. "Can't or won't?"
"It's like hunting the Invisible Man," Kim said.
"And we don't even know if we can trust your math whizes here," Janet added. "One's questionable, and the other's emotionally dependant on the questionable one."
"Excuse me?" Amita said. "I am not -" and stopped herself, not sure Kotsonis had meant Amita was the questionable one.
"So," Callie said, all business. "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Your call."
"You're not taking Charlie," Liz said before Don could open his mouth.
"Amen," Colby said.
"Can you say 'over our dead bodies' while you're at it?" Janet asked. "Please?"
"We won't be the ones on the ground," David said.
"Not this time," Liz added.
Janet shrugged.
As one, the Immortals drew their sidearms (Poe slightly slower than the others).
The FBI moved to match them.
"Mexican standoff," Kim said. "Hours of fun," letting her arms settle into the aim-and-wait feel she used when in the best position to sniper.
"What're you doing?" Don asked Kim and Val.
"Sorry," Val said.
"This is what we do," Callie said, not apologetic in the slightest: drawing verbal fire away from Val and Kim. "You wouldn't hand over a High Priority individual if you could help it."
"Nor shall we," Poe said.
"You're not us," Nikki said. "So put 'em down, and we'll let you walk away."
One of the Immortals snorted.
"Curly here definately needs to relax," Janet said.
"Excuse me?" Charlie said.
"Careful, Janet," Val said. "Charlie's good at defending honor."
"Thank you," Charlie said to Val. To Janet, "I just want to know why you think I need to relax. I'm fine."
Hmm, Liz, David, and the Immortals thought to themselves.
Janet blew a breath through pursed lips. To her cohorts, "How is it a mathematician doesn't understand the concept of shades and sequences?"
"I understand perfectly fi-" Charlie started to say.
"Pretty sure she means me," Nikki told Charlie.
"Oh."
A few seconds of tense quiet later, "You know what I think?" Callie asked, looking at Nikki, "I think you and Janet and David and Colby need to go camping together."
"A double date?" Kim asked, more than reasonably sure Callie wouldn't set up something like this, purely for the purpose of claiming justifiable homocide...but she couldn't see what Callie was up to.
"A double camping."
"And what would your role in all this be?" Colby asked, hoping he and she could share a tent...somewhat afraid of being anywhere near David's tent when the poles gave out.
"You lot need a duenna," Callie said with a straight face.
"I don't do duets," Janet stated. "You should know this by now."
"It's not a big thing," David said. "Colby can't carry a tune anyway."
And that was when FBI reinforcements arrived, the sudden and overpowering shift in numbers told Callie it was time to signal a waiting action, which looked to Don and his men like the Immortals putting their safties back on & placing their hands on their heads.
"Nothing personal," Don said as he walked up to Callie to take her firearms. "You pull a gun on Federal agents, you get pulled in."
"I guess Marlowe's laughing her ass off at this, right?" Colby asked Janet as he led her away. He knew which side he was on, but that didn't mean he wanted to cuff Callie.
"This?" Janet asked. "This would be a bonus, but not a big one. No, she's already achieved her aim."
"What's that?" Colby asked. "Watch your head," putting her in the car. "What's her aim?"
Doubt. Suspicion. You and Callie, Don and Val and Kim, Amita and... "Think it over," Janet said, relaxing as Colby sat down for the drive to the offices.
TBC
.
Title: Quicksilver.
crossover of Numb3rs and Cal's Immortals.
Dedicated to & written at the request of: Mustangcandi.
crossposted to my lj and to SaveColby
Author: Keenir.
Pairings/Characters: Callie, Charlie, Hannah Marlowe, Val Eng (Molly Mai Philips), Colby, Amita, Kim Hall (Wren Min), Janet Kotsonis, Trace McKay, Liz, Nikki, Don, Megan, Terry.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The hunt is afoot.
summary of part 5: standoff
Spoilers: Soft Target.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.
Notes:
- (2) indicates being tiny and superpositioned...aka its up top, like the "2" in "E=MC(2)"
- ((10)) indicates being tiny and low down, like some of the numbers in chemical formulae.
- for how Trace McKay sounds, I used the English in this interview as a reference.
--words in between dashes-- are on the other side of the phone conversation.
Warnings: none, actually.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
right after Charlie said he helped Marlowe:
"Charlie!" Amita said, running to him.
Val walked up to Liz and Poe and said, "I know this is a thankless job, but would it kill them to try?"
"We're not allowed to find out," Poe said.
"Your humor's getting better," Val told him.
"Thanks," and took a chance: "Not like your aim, though."
"I hit what I aim at."
"We talking about Edgerton?" Liz asked, wondering where he'd gone off to.
"I had to shoot his phone," Val said.
"What, you thought it was a gun?"
Val made a semi-impolite sound.
"If Agent Eppes had arrived on the scene," Janet said, her and Nikki joining them, "Val here would be trying to find a way to explain all this, while Eppes would be staring at her and her guns, drooling on himself."
"He does have that tendancy," Liz agreed.
Nikki shook her head.
"What?" Janet asked. "It's easily testable."
"Particularly with Don a few buildings down the street," Val said.
"I don't know - with how loud Amita yelled, we might be closer to him than you think."
* * * * *
right before Amita shouted:
"Kim?" Don asked.
"Been a while," Kim Hall said to Don. "You're doing well." It was an observation.
"I work out," Don said.
Kim nodded, then said, "You got a call from Marlowe, the woman we're after. Don't worry - Charlie's still alive."
"How do you know that?"
"Marlowe doesn't kill people. Not directly, anyway."
"Care to clarify that?" Megan asked.
"Knock-on effects," Kim said. "Enjoying the transfer, Agent Lake?"
"I...did," Terry said. Her tone suggests she had something to do with my transfer - my recent one or the one which took me out of California? Or is she playing me? Has she been playing us all from the beginning...even while helping us track the counterfeiters?
"Good to know. And I know you want proof that Charlie's okay," Kim said to Don. "Follow me," and looked at David and Colby: "All of us."
"Then who's going to keep an eye out for Marlowe?" David asked.
"If she's called in your cavalry," Kim said, "then she's already gone."
"Trouble?" Megan asked.
"If you had tracking skills, Agent Reeves, in on par with your profiling talents, think of how well you could hide from your colleagues here. So let's deal with what we can deal with here," Kim said.
"And what's that?"
"To reunite the Eppes brothers," for one.
Not thirty seconds later -
"Don!" Charlie said, running over to his brother (who had left the car, as had Megan and Terry and David and Colby and Kim).
"Hey, Chuck, good to see you in one piece," Don said.
"Don, you're not going to believe who's here..." Charlie said, trailing off when he saw Kim standing there. "Agent Hall?"
"Sometimes," Kim said.
"Yeah, Kim's here," Don said. "So who else is here?" he asked his brother.
As if in answer, "Hey Don," Val said, same tone and feeling she used the last time she had seen the inside of his house.
"Val??" Don asked as his old crush walked up, alongside Liz and Nikki and some guy in glasses. And a dead ringer for Agent Chen.
"Aaawkwaaard," Callie and Janet mouthed.
"Yeah," Val said to Don's question.
Nathan fell on his sword: "We're going to need to take your brother in, Agent Eppes," Poe said. "Make sure Marlowe hasn't done anything to him."
"Like what?" Charlie asked. "Turn me into a Manchurian Canidate?" he joked.
She had the training, Callie thought to herself, so it wouldn't be impossible.
"No way," Don said. "He's fine. We'll get him checked out by a medic, but other than that -"
"We're going to insist," Callie said. "We have to take him."
"Or what?" Don asked, challenging. He trusted his team - current members and past members; he just hoped Colby wasn't torn too long by what should have been completely separate loyalties.
Janet half-chuckled, half-giggled.
"Oy vey," Val said sadly. Don't get trigger-happy, not here.
"We have to question Charlie, Don," Kim said. "Marlowe wouldn't have done anything physical."
"Then what are you looking for?" Megan asked. "Psychological damage?"
"Damage would be easy," Kim answered. To Charlie, "You mentioned solving the puzzle Marlowe set out for you. What was it?"
"It turned out to be converting base-5 into base-10," Charlie said. "234 becomes 2x5(2)+3x5+4=69((10))."
"Shit," Callie muttered.
"Why, what's special about it?" Colby asked.
"Sumerian math. It means she's gone to ground," Val said. "We can't dig her up."
"Whoa," Nikki said. "Can't or won't?"
"It's like hunting the Invisible Man," Kim said.
"And we don't even know if we can trust your math whizes here," Janet added. "One's questionable, and the other's emotionally dependant on the questionable one."
"Excuse me?" Amita said. "I am not -" and stopped herself, not sure Kotsonis had meant Amita was the questionable one.
"So," Callie said, all business. "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Your call."
"You're not taking Charlie," Liz said before Don could open his mouth.
"Amen," Colby said.
"Can you say 'over our dead bodies' while you're at it?" Janet asked. "Please?"
"We won't be the ones on the ground," David said.
"Not this time," Liz added.
Janet shrugged.
As one, the Immortals drew their sidearms (Poe slightly slower than the others).
The FBI moved to match them.
"Mexican standoff," Kim said. "Hours of fun," letting her arms settle into the aim-and-wait feel she used when in the best position to sniper.
"What're you doing?" Don asked Kim and Val.
"Sorry," Val said.
"This is what we do," Callie said, not apologetic in the slightest: drawing verbal fire away from Val and Kim. "You wouldn't hand over a High Priority individual if you could help it."
"Nor shall we," Poe said.
"You're not us," Nikki said. "So put 'em down, and we'll let you walk away."
One of the Immortals snorted.
"Curly here definately needs to relax," Janet said.
"Excuse me?" Charlie said.
"Careful, Janet," Val said. "Charlie's good at defending honor."
"Thank you," Charlie said to Val. To Janet, "I just want to know why you think I need to relax. I'm fine."
Hmm, Liz, David, and the Immortals thought to themselves.
Janet blew a breath through pursed lips. To her cohorts, "How is it a mathematician doesn't understand the concept of shades and sequences?"
"I understand perfectly fi-" Charlie started to say.
"Pretty sure she means me," Nikki told Charlie.
"Oh."
A few seconds of tense quiet later, "You know what I think?" Callie asked, looking at Nikki, "I think you and Janet and David and Colby need to go camping together."
"A double date?" Kim asked, more than reasonably sure Callie wouldn't set up something like this, purely for the purpose of claiming justifiable homocide...but she couldn't see what Callie was up to.
"A double camping."
"And what would your role in all this be?" Colby asked, hoping he and she could share a tent...somewhat afraid of being anywhere near David's tent when the poles gave out.
"You lot need a duenna," Callie said with a straight face.
"I don't do duets," Janet stated. "You should know this by now."
"It's not a big thing," David said. "Colby can't carry a tune anyway."
And that was when FBI reinforcements arrived, the sudden and overpowering shift in numbers told Callie it was time to signal a waiting action, which looked to Don and his men like the Immortals putting their safties back on & placing their hands on their heads.
"Nothing personal," Don said as he walked up to Callie to take her firearms. "You pull a gun on Federal agents, you get pulled in."
"I guess Marlowe's laughing her ass off at this, right?" Colby asked Janet as he led her away. He knew which side he was on, but that didn't mean he wanted to cuff Callie.
"This?" Janet asked. "This would be a bonus, but not a big one. No, she's already achieved her aim."
"What's that?" Colby asked. "Watch your head," putting her in the car. "What's her aim?"
Doubt. Suspicion. You and Callie, Don and Val and Kim, Amita and... "Think it over," Janet said, relaxing as Colby sat down for the drive to the offices.
TBC