Title: Unofficial Channels
By: Vehemently (
vee_fic)
Fandoms: Supernatural/Sarah Connor Chronicles crossover
Spoilers: Supernatural through 3.12, SCC season finale.
Rating: G
Wordcount: 839
What is it: a telephone conversation in the style of Manuel Puig.
Tagline: They say "bizarre" I say "suspicious."
-- Ellison.
-- Hey, this is Dave Addario in records. I got a guy on the line wants to talk to you.
-- He called... you?
-- Answer your goddamn phone some time, stop making me play secretary.
-- I've been in a review panel all day. We're, actually we're on break and I have to,
-- Just cause my name starts with A doesn't mean I'm the human Filofax, okay?
-- Uh, sorry about that. You said his name was?
-- ...
-- Hello?
-- Is this James Ellison?
-- Speaking. And you are?
-- Special Agent Victor Henricksen, up in Chicago. We met once, some terrorism detail in '04. You probably don't remember.
-- I, uh, no, I remember. What's... going on?
-- I just heard the wildest story on the news.
-- Oh. That.
-- And I got to thinking, a brother in a situation like that, he needs to hear from his peers.
-- ...Oh. Actually, I'm in the middle of... they haven't decided anything yet.
-- Whether to take your badge and send you to the funny farm?
-- Something like that.
-- You told them everything? Every dead end, every conclusion you came to?
-- I just... said what I saw. Just what I saw.
-- Don't want to sound too crazy.
-- ...What did the news say?
-- I got a nose for the things a news story doesn't say. It's my talent. They say "bizarre" I say "suspicious." I'm good that way.
-- I see. And you're suspicious about...
-- About some white guy who won't die even when he's been shot point blank in the face, about some white guy who walks and talks like he's an evil zombie, about our guys getting thrown off a balcony like popcorn. I think suspicious is the right word for it.
-- Slow down, slow down. You talk awfully fast.
-- I am a man with a lot to say. And I am... suspicious.
-- And you would like to advance your theory?
-- Actually I wanted to know if you have one.
-- Not at this time. It... not at this time, no.
-- Agent Ellison, you wouldn't happen to be a religious man?
-- Please, call me James. And yes, you could say I am.
-- I never cared for it myself. All that hoodoo mojo grandma stuff, snakes and spirits and speaking in tongues, waste of my time and my detecting skills.
-- ...
-- So you'll understand I am not talking out of my hat when I say that sometimes you have to look beyond a regular explanation for the things that happen right in front of you.
-- ...
-- ...
-- ...
-- James, you don't believe me.
-- I don't know what you're asking me to believe.
-- The subject, this Laszlo character, he came right up to you, is that right? Right up in your face?
-- Yes. He could have killed me if he wanted to, just like all the rest, and he didn't.
-- Let me ask you something. What color were his eyes?
-- I, what? I don't know. Blue, or green, or gray. His eyes weren't what I was looking at.
-- So they weren't black? All black to the eyelashes?
-- No. What made you think they were?
-- Wild guess.
-- Is... there something you want to tell me, Victor?
-- I don't want to sound too crazy either.
-- Do you have a case number you'd like me to look at?
-- I think the official case file would not be very interesting, no. But... there are things. That you see. That change the way you think about the world.
-- ...
-- And it's not the kind of thing you can tell anybody. Not your colleagues, not your family, definitely not your ex-wives.
-- But you have to tell someone.
-- There are strange forces in this world set against us. A man's got to reach out and make alliances.
-- I...
-- You've got to go. Panel's waiting, to judge you and your understanding of the world. They'll tell you that you're mistaken, that you weren't perceiving clearly in all that panic. Play along, don't look too closely at the details. Don't think too hard. Thinking's bad for a person.
-- They might say that to me, yes.
-- And will you believe it?
-- ... I am just starting to understand exactly what it is I do believe.
-- I'll take that as a good sign.
-- Okay.
-- I'll email you my cell number. Maybe we can discuss our suspicions at some other time.
-- ...Okay.
-- And James... now you know. That you're not crazy.
-- Well if I am, seems like it's catching. I... thank you for calling.
-- You've got to go.
-- Yes. I'll... I'll try to call later.
-- You do that, Agent Ellison.
-- Agent Henricksen, thank you for your help in this matter.
-- Any time, brother.
END