EXSILIUM - contact.

[hostage]

UNIT№409



_“ Hey, it's me. Wait for the thing. _”

Comments

[hostage]

I'm not crazy.

[legal_eagle]

[Again, she shrugs, this time a bit more aggressively.]

Good. So have you been paranoid at other times. It's a psychological effect of drugs, right?

[Sofiya Karimov: has never taken drugs in her life.]

[hostage]

I told you, I'm not on anything.

[legal_eagle]

Yeah, but habitual use leads to persistent effects.

[hostage]

Are you really gonna blame this on the meth? After everything I told you? God. I mean, you guys are acting like I don't even have a reason.

I'm telling you, this is how he does things. He does it so you look like the crazy one and nobody believes you and then there's nothing you can do.

[legal_eagle]

Calm down.

[She lifts a hand but maintains an aloof, annoyed expression.]

Look, I don't have any connection to this guy of yours. I'm not gonna get emotional about him or what he might have done. I'm asking because these are the questions I have to ask if I'm evaluating your claims in a rational way. Okay?

[hostage]

[He grinds his teeth for a moment, but he does take a step back and lower his voice. He doesn't want to scare her.]

I'm not just making this up.

[legal_eagle]

I'm not accusing you of that. If I were accusing you of that, I'd say something like, "Hey, I think you're making this up." What I'm doing is asking questions, and it would be excellent if you were to answer them.

[hostage]

Yeah, I get paranoid. When I'm high.

[legal_eagle]

[She raises her eyebrows in a brief, sardonic, Well excuse me princess sort of look, but accepts this.]

Okay. Has he ever done anything that drastic before? Faked his death?

[hostage]

He never had to. Used to be he could just kill a rat before they rolled on him.

[legal_eagle]

There some reason he couldn't do that here, in your opinion?

[hostage]

Too late, right? I fooled him. 'til now, I guess.

[legal_eagle]

Mm.

[She purses her lips.]

I dunno if I buy that. I think he could kill you easily if he wanted. You say he's smart, right; he could probably make it stick. That'd be easier, too, and run a lot less of a risk of ruining his reputation.

[hostage]

That's the really scary part, right? I mean, I was gonna do it for him. When Saul told me. I figure, if that's what he was after, Saul woulda just let it happen and gone and told him. But Saul totally freaked and told me to stop so - so, like, what then? Mr. White's probably got something bigger in mind, right? If he's not gonna just let me die.

[legal_eagle]

[Sonya narrows her eyes; that part, she didn't follow.]

Hold on. Stop what?

[hostage]

I figure he was trying to get me to let me guard down, right? Sending Saul over to tell me he's gone? Well I wasn't gonna just wait around and see what happens next. I figured I'd cut to the chase, save him the trouble - you know, make sure nobody else gets in the way, make it clean, so it wouldn't turn into a war. There's hundreds of people now he could use to get to me. So I was just gonna do it right then. But Saul stopped me. So now I dunno what Mr. White wants. I haven't figured it out.

[legal_eagle]

[There's a moment of perfect stillness. Then, into the silence, she breathes out - ]

You were going to kill yourself.

[hostage]

Yeah.

[Come on, Sonya, keep up with him here.]

[legal_eagle]

[A slight nod, and then she holds up a single finger. And then she puts down her bag on the floor, and then she takes two steps forward and viciously, viciously slaps him across the face.]

[hostage]

[The force of it nearly knocks him over, unexpected as it was. He catches himself on the back of the couch and turns wide, shocked eyes up at her.]

[legal_eagle]

[Which is her cue to, of course, do it again. This one's not nearly so bad; her anger was largely expended in that first one, and she also really hurt her hand a lot so it's gentler. But she still does it, more for the symbolism, and then she leans down in his face and says to him, pronouncing every word with exaggerated distinctness:]

Stop. Being. A. Fuckface.

[hostage]

[He kind of expected that second one. Now he's flinching in anticipation of a third.]

What'd I do?!

[legal_eagle]

Are you fucking -

[She's tempted to deliver a third, but Sonya doesn't know how to slap very well and so she's feeling the first two hard in her wrist and elbow. So instead she steps back.]

You don't fucking kill yourself! You don't fucking do that, you inconsiderate - You know all those things I was saying, back there, about how fucking selfish your perspective is? Well, I didn't know the fucking half of it!

[hostage]

I'm not gonna! I told you, didn't I? I told you, I'm not gonna do anything!