[The Human Element] From the Office of Director Samantha Clive

"Mr. Davis! Get Delta Medical up here, now!" Grace's mind had been 12 layers deep in thought as she tried to figure out her options moving forward with the investigation of her parents' disappearance. She wouldn't have even noticed Sam's change if she hadn't said something.


She let her subconscious mind work out details for later while she sprung into action. Leaping over the desk she caught Sam as she slumped taking her to the floor. She quickly found her pulse, checked her finger tips, and checked her face. If she was poisoned, she wanted to see if it was a contact poison, an inhaled poison, or injested. The obvious was injested but any good assassin would have chosen something else.


Grace had taken a full suite of emergency medical classes for the possibility of taking a summer job as a pool lifeguard at Lakepark Recreation Center. Basic and advanced safety, emergency response and CPR certifications. She counted the pulse and ran through her knowledge of medical and life sciences to figure out what was going on.


When Davis entered the room, Grace called out "Stay out. No one comes in unless they are from the medical team." Mr. Davis had been the last to touch the tea, most likely vector for the attack. While she didn't assume he was the attacker, she couldn't be certain.


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Sam's pulse was rapid, but weak. There were no burn marks on either her fingertips or her lips, but her mouth was slack. She'd stopped breathing altogether now, and her eyelids fluttered as she fought to remain conciseness. It was a losing battle.


Davis stepped inside, invoking Grace's command to stay out. He backed out with his hand against his mouth. "Oh, dear god." With his wide eyes and near-panicked demeanor, he was either the world's best actor, or . He disappeared in a blur--evidently he was a speedster--and reappeared almost immediately with Dr. Elizabeth Franks in his arms. He let her down outside the door, making sure to follow Grace's instructions and remained outside. He paced the floor, wringing his hands and placing them against his mouth as if to contain his worry.


Dr. Franks knelt beside Sam, running through the same gambit of simple tests Grace had done. Then she sat up on her haunches for a moment, and with a quick check for the likely source of the poison, she dipped a finger in the tea. She got a look of concentration on her face for a moment, then reached down and touched the side of Sam's face.


The woman began to breathe again. Her eyes flew open, and she sat straight up, hand against her throat. "Easy, easy," Dr. Franks said. "Take a few deep breaths."


Sam obeyed, then cleared her throat. "Thank you, both of you. That was a little close for comfort."
 
Completely, in shock, she did what she figured any adult would do. She straightened herself up and feigned an air of normalcy. "I am sorry I didn't bring my powers with me. I might have been able to do something." She was still also off kilter from finding out that her parents might be found.


"Sorry, Mr. Davis. I didn't know if you were part of the problem or just an unwitting element. Dr. Franks, you may need to check to see if he is unaffected. He prepared and carried the tea. Someone could have turned him into a vector for the poison." She still hadn't drunk any of her cola yet, so she couldn't be sure she wasn't targeted.


Meanwhile, she moved out to Davis's desk and picked up the phone. From her memory she dialed up Charity's cell phone. Until she had time to investigate she just needed to alert everyone. In her head, this was a very public attack and striking at the top. Someone was sending a message, and they were hitting the public figures. They had hit the head, and the body. That left just the face and the shadow. She needed to get to Charity and Drake as quickly as possible. Fortunately, she had their phone numbers memorized.
 
Davis' mouth fell open with a look of shock, disbelief, and panic. "I-I...what? I couldn't--I..." It evidently hadn't occurred to him until that moment that someone might think he was responsible.


Sam rose to her feet with dignity--a feat few could manage with such grace after being poisoned nearly to death. She grasped Davis' hands. "It's all right, Geoffrey. I believe you." He visibly relaxed.


"Excuse me, Director," Dr. Franks pulled Davis aside and began to check him. She raised an eyebrow at Grace. "Kid, I don't tell you how to do...whatever it is that you do. Don't tell me how to do my job." Her rebuff was a little uncalled for. Everyone was a little on edge tonight.


Charity picked up on the second ring. "Something I can do for you, Geoff?" It seemed she responded according to the caller ID.
 
"Mr. Davis, I doubt you willingly did anything, but there are powers that can make you do anything. Even become poisonous to those around you. Until you are checked out, I want to make sure everything is safe."


She then turned to the other woman in the room. Her teenage ire was raised when the woman called her 'kid', but she refused to raise to her baiting. "Doctor, I won't tell you how to do anything, but when the Director dies in her office, someone needs to decide what needs to be done. I asked Mr. Davis to bring a medical team, he brought you. It was his choice, not my... Charity!"


She turned away from everyone in the room. "Someone just poisoned Ms. Clive. She should have died, but we got to her in time. I am not sure, but there might be a pattern, and I think you are the next target. Where are you now?" Every person had their own weakness. She wasn't sure what Charity's was, but she hoped that the warning would be enough. Of course, she could be wrong in her suppositions. Mathematics couldn't determine a pattern from two in a series, but sometimes you needed to guess at the third.
 
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "I see," Charity finally said. It was no secret there was no love lost between her and Sam, but Charity would never wish anyone that kind of ill. "I'm with Jay and Meryl right now, but I think I should make myself scarce anyway. There's only so much a friend can do, and they need each other right now."


There was a muffled male voice; presumably Jayson's. "HQ," Charity answered, her face turned away from the phone. "Someone just tried to kill Sam." More muffled voices, this time female, so probably Meryl's. "She's alive. I should...you guys going to be okay?" Sounds of assent. "Okay, just...promise me you'll be careful. That's two of the leadership in one night. Someone might be gunning it for all of us..." A pause, then Charity spoke back into the phone. "I'll be there in a minute. Fill me in when I get there."


She hung up, and seconds later she was in the lobby in front of Sam's office. Still dressed in her covert ops uniform, she obviously hadn't taken the time to change from their earlier mission. She ran to Grace and put her hands on her shoulders, even embracing her if the girl didn't seem to mind. "Are you okay?" she asked.
 
Grace hung up once Charity disconnected. She paused for a second before picking up the receiver and dialing to Drake. Drake was the long shot in this, yet he was just as likely to be a target as anyone else. She hadn't figured out the pattern yet. Head-Body-Face-Shadow maybe? Or Head-Heart-Soul-Spirit? However she drew it up, it lead to the same four names.


Did they know they were going to attack the base that night. It seemed that they might have been waiting for them. And if so, had the only reason that both Drake and Charity were still alive was because they had been on the mission and not in place for their own attack. Or were the attacks still out there, undiscovered, the trap not yet tripped.


Worse, someone had managed to get on the inside. If the intel leak wasn't proof enough, the attack on Samantha certainly was. She would need to find out how the elements were put into place before she would know more. But first was to make sure that Drake was still safe. She already had suspicions how it would be done.


"Good, you're safe," she said quickly as Charity came and gave her a hug. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just keep that doctor out of my face before I have to ... hold on, its ringing."
 
Davis spoke quickly to defend his choice. "MIss, Dr. Franks can neutralize poison. I felt that was the best and most efficient way to avert the crisis." He shut up and backed away when Grace became far more interested in the phone.


Drake answered the phone with a grunt. He only used social niceties when it served his purpose. It shouldn't be a surprise that he didn't use the standard greeting.
 
"Mister Drake," Grace ignored the people around her, focusing on the voice on the other end of the phone. "This is Grace. Someone poisoned Ms. Clive. She nearly died. I think there might be a pattern, and you would be next." She didn't want to say too much in case someone was listening to the phone conversations.


"You need to be careful out there. There might be someone with psychic abilities out there watching for their moment." She stopped talking. It didn't occur to her that that person might be inside Drake's mind at the moment she was giving the warning. That they might realize they have been found out, and try to strike at that moment. She hoped she was wrong.
 
There was a long silence. "Be there in a moment." Then the call disconnected.


Dr. Franks approached her. "I need to check you for poison, just in case. Give me your hand," she demanded. "I can sense and dispel poison with a touch. I am sure it was only in Miz Clive's teacup, but I'd best be thorough."


True to his word, Drake arrived moments later, his group in tow. Marcus blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light and they took in the belatedly arriving medical team and the tense, worried looks on everyone's faces. "The hell--" he caught Charity's raised eyebrow, admonishing him for his choice of language. He modified his sentence. "What happened?"
 
"Bloody mother of mercy. There was once a time when I could not be teleported around on a whim by anyone but myself." He's more frustrated by the situation than the sudden teleport, but that's much easier to swear at. "Everyone here ok?"
 
"No. No. Not good at all." She allowed Dr. Franks to check her over. She wanted her to clear her as an attack vector, once she was certain that Mr. Davis wasn't one. But the doctor had already insulted her once.


"Mr. Davis, I didn't think you had anything to do with the poison, but I needed to be sure. Also, I was complimenting you on the decisions you made. That's what I wanted Dr. Frank to realize, I wasn't telling her how to do her job, but what needed to be done." Grace crossed her arms while facing everyone. She knew what she was doing here, but she wasn't sure anyone else felt the same way.


A little red in the face, she turned back to Drake. "For those that don't know what happened, someone poisoned Ms. Clive. This was directly after the assassination of Stryker. With Mr. Davis and Dr. Franks abilities, we were able to save her, though it was very close. I believe that Thundra and Mister X were also targets, but possibly were able to avoid their attackers because they were with us on the raid of the PSO center."
 
Vladamir Did his best to roll his eyes in bird form, something that probably wasnt accomplished easily and started doing his favorit trick... poking threw others minds..


Now lets see if there is anything usefull you can tell us. He thought.


(22 versus Davis will save.)


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Allen and Marcus nodded to Stefan. They were fine, but they looked a little shell-shocked as Grace explained the situation. If someone was trying to rattle the Delta Division, it was working.


"Told you I can fix that," Drake said to Stefan as he pushed back his hood and removed his cowl. "If you ever let me at your tech for five minutes." He was teasing, of course, seeing as this was a discussion they'd had repeatedly. He might even have smiled if the moment was a little more suited to levity.


Charity's eyes flickered to the white bird, and then to Drake with a curious raise of her eyebrow. "Vlad," Drake answered her unspoken question. Charity nodded with understanding. A centuries-old vampire who'd sort of died less than an hour ago and could now be a bird was just another day at the office.


"Nothing. You're fine," Dr. Franks said to Grace as she dropped the girl's hand.


Sam laid one hand on Grace's shoulder, and the other on Dr. Franks' arm. "I think we're all a little tense tonight. I wish I could say just go home, take a load off, and relax tonight, but this is only the beginning. Stay focused on what's important. If we can do that, we'll get through this, I promise."


Dr. Franks nodded, chagrined. "Yes, Ma'am." She turned to Davis. "I'll need you to walk me through the process of making the tea so I can determine where the poison came from."


Geoffrey Davis was a speedster; as such even his thoughts ran faster than an ordinary human's. He was already retracing his steps over and over again trying to figure out where the tea got poisoned, running the whole segment from beginning to end in a dizzying loop that yielded exactly nothing helpful except to show that Davis was not the least bit aware he was being used. Other than that, he was simultaneously rearranging Sam's itinerary for the next few weeks, admiring the way Stefan's uniform clung to his backside, making a mental list of people that had to be contacted for a press release, noting he must now see to the update of Vlad's registered abilities, and roughing out details for Stryker's memorial service. In addition, he was actively listening to the conversation and inclined his head politely at Grace in appreciation of the compliment. At Dr. Frank's command, he nodded and started walking her over to the small kitchen in the adjacent room.
 
Vlads eye twitched, normal humans thoughts were typically scatter brained and fast paced for his liking, longevity had a way of making you notice life slower like that, this guy took all his concentration to keep up.


"Ok Mr Davis is clean, he doesn't even know where the Tea could have been poisoned, putting any resources to use investigating him particularly would be a waist, checking where hes been and who hes interacted with might be useful, maybe even seeing if hes had his memory tampered with might be useful. On a side note I would appreciate you not keeping a dossier of my ability's, if some one brakes in and steals it, or sifts threw the rubble of this place a hundred or more years from now and find it they can use it against me. I realize you people probably don't expect or are even capable of living a hundred years from now but I can and intend to see it to eternity and the less the world can pin down my powers the easier that becomes." he said thinking.


He turned to Sam and connected to her Telepathically, not entirely sure of who may be listening Im not entirely sure as to the entire story of Strikers death, nor am I entirely aware how mutch the public knows of his death or how much information you've released, But I do believe it may be pertinent to try and keep a charade of him being alive, if he wore a suit and mask find some one to don it. It may work to draw out whom ever killed him tempting him to do so again and we can try to capture him in sutch a way. Though I suggest if you do try this use some one with a simular power set and at least the ability to regenerate.
 
Grace almost responded a 'she started it' to Sam's admonishment of both of them, but halted open mouthed at the touch from Sam. She didn't need another scolding from the group like the one she got from complaining about their extraction.


She looked silently at the group, waiting for someone to figure out all the pieces, but no one did. Finally, she started on her own, all the thoughts running through at once. "Okay, to summarize, we know that the shadow fae were involved in some aspects of the PSO activities, and in part with the Chronos-guy. They were present at the presentation of the boy, and were aware enough of our plans to have gone after the first safe house. Our attempt at a raid was anticipated and opposition was ready for us, though I doubt they expected Miss Charity and Mister Drake to accompany us. I am not even sure they know who 'us' are with any detail. They used our mission as a moment to counter-strike against the highest parts of our organization. They were successful in two of the suspected four attacks, though we were able to mitigate one of those attacks."


That was the moment where they were now. What should they do now was the question. "I doubt the shadow fae had anything to do with the attacks, the strikes were very unlike the fae that we read about in the report. But I still believe that PSO has somehow gotten into the higher ranks of Delta Division. It might be either a cyber implantation, or a mole at some of the higher levels. Or, and this could a possibility that we haven't considered, they might have someone cognizant of future events. It could be a soothsayer or a member from the future, much like our own teammate."


"The best thing I think we can do, is to try to trace the route of the poison from the cup to its origin. I don't doubt that the trail will be cold by now, but it might give us some insight into the nature and intentions of the attack."
 
Dr. Franks looked like she was going to tell Grace that she already was tracing the route of the poison, but thought better of it with a glance at Sam.


Sam looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head at Vlad ever so slightly in response to his telepathic message. "The only one who could successfully pull that off is his sister, and I don't believe she's in any condition to do so."


"You are not the only one in Delta with a particular longevity, Mr. Brodavitch," she said out loud.


"The Fae were involved entirely with Kronos," Drake corrected. "They followed him around at his beck and call like bloody fleas. We didn't find evidence of their involvement with PSO, but that doesn't mean anything, except that they might be playing smarter this time around. They know their mind tricks aren't going to fool GP."


"Smarter, yes," Charity agreed. "Drake's got a point. It may be that these attacks aren't so much unlike the Fae, and more so that they're unlike the Fae's former master. In fact..." She tapped her chin in thought. "If we take the two attacks, note how wildly different they are. John was killed by a professional assassin who managed to obtain and implement highly classified information. Sam was attacked by poison--a method unreliable at best. Also, even a little bit of homework would have shown we have an on-staff member who can counter such a thing." She scratched her head. "I haven't the faintest idea what any of that means."


"I wouldn't rule out Fae involvement just yet," Sam said. "I habitually scan the history of anything I eat or drink on the off chance that it may have been tampered with. Evidently it wasn't just paranoia. However, this time I saw nothing. In fact, I didn't even feel the need to do a scan. Changing an object's 'memory', tampering with one's instincts--that's all within a Fae's purview. We know there were no Fae in the room with us, but I believe using an object as a conduit for for their mental effects is not out of the realm of possibility."
 
Vlad thought for a moment "If the tea cup is still in the room and untouched we may want to try scanning it for anything useful, like who helt it and the like before two many people get to it."
 
Grace stopped to think for a moment. She made the assumption that the Shadow Fae weren't involved because they didn't use any illusory powers. But maybe Sam was right. Maybe they didn't need to use those powers to make an attack. Mundane means covered by a failure to perceive could be just as effective.


Of course this also made it likely that anything anyone else perceived could be illusory. New employees, the new soda machine, the recycling bin, even a tea cup dusted with poison. She hadn't fallen for their illusions the first time, and she knew she had blocked out her father's mental prying. Perhaps she was immune to certain effects completely. That could make her a huge asset to Delta Division.


"You know, if I am immune to the shadow fae mental powers, I might be able to tell what type of poison it is based on effects and attack vector. Then try to establish its origins." She wasn't a slouch when it came to reasoning out methods, but another pair of eyes might help. "MIster Vlad, you willing to help me with this?"
 
Vlad tried to ruffle his brow then realized he was still a bird and couldn't.. "Depends on what you need me to do." he replied.
 
Vlad's postcognition proved to be helpful. Whatever mind tricks the Fae had used to prevent Sam from scanning the tea were directed to her only--because it was indeed the Fae responsible. It had happened in the small kitchen as the tea was steeping. Geoff, though present, was none the wiser as a shadowy, nearly indistinguishable figure loomed over the countertop. The surface of the tea rippled, and the shadow slinked away.


For a race that had been so actively uninvolved for centuries in this world, they seemed to be involved with alarming frequency of late.


As for further discussion of the investigation, the group's attempts as unraveling the mystery just ended up spiraling in a directionless manner that helped no one. Sam's surprise was genuinely puzzled upon hearing that Drake had handed the reins of the investigation to Stefan. Charity muttered something about hell having frozen over, followed by an apology and explaining that she had no doubts about his capabilities, Drake was just a tight-fisted micromanager.


Eventually, they came to the consensus that if this mystery were to be solved, it wouldn't be done without sleep. As Sam had pointed out, this was just the beginning of a war, and they were in it for the long haul. Quarters were provided as needed, and one by one, they departed to finish the remainder of the night in their own respective ways.
 
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