(no subject)

[thechief]

I leave Paris and Carrell gets himself arrested in a duel? Not that I'd have made for an ideal second, by any means, but I'd have gone to see the man at least. Seems like while he's in, the least that I can do is brighten up his day a little, rouse some rabble if I can.

I've got David Landeau and his amazing eye for imagery along, and like we managed when the ladies marched, I think we have a decent chance at some great shots to go with some okay words and see what we come up with in terms of something that'll sell. If Carrell can't print and Brian won't, despite the threatening messages he sent when he figured out I was in the air over Paris, then someone with the AP probably will...

We're on our way towards the mining operation itself , hoping to find something to help support both what's going on with the crowd and Mlle. Moore and hopefully find out how we can help them fix what's going on...

Comments

[thechief]

"Hold up a second." Landeau raised a hand, indicating that they should pause, and Enjolras pressed himself flat against the wall, having long ago learned to trust his favorite partner in the field. The man's angle and timing were incredible, and he seemed to work as if he had his own lens somewhere in his mind, almost like the strange flickers at the edges of Enjolras's vision, he'd done his level best to stop paying attention to until he'd come to Paris. Now, he shifted his gaze himself, not liking to use the ability but not wanting to place them in any danger because he didn't like to use it.

Irresponsible and wasteful, when you did THAT, the old grandmaster had pointed out, and Enjolras was in no position to argue that much. Heritage or not, he had been given a gift by virtue of his ancestry, and if he could use it in the cause of delivering France, and seeing it made safe and equal for all, as had been presented to him by Citoyen Robespierre himself, there was but one thing to do. Today, he'd act like an assassin, even when the footsteps grew closer and he made out the red auras surrounding the people coming.

"David." Enjolras hissed the man's christian name to be certain he knew how serious this was, then tapped out the signal to break up and get out of there the two of them had worked out ages ago, after their first riot had gone badly.

He was turning to run too, glad to see the other man had an escape route, when something grabbed him and a cloth pressed against his face with a sweet, cloying smell that made him want to throw up then and there.

"I am a French Citizen of Paris IV..." he started, the words feeling fuzzy and far away. "And I request represent..." And then there wasn't much of anything, until a while later.

When Enjolras woke up, he found that he was placed against a wall, with a screaming headache and slowly making out his new location with a little groan of disbelief. Well, he was nowhere good, that was for sure.

[citizendamian]

There's a foot wide strip in the ceiling that looks to be a glassy material, pouring down light, and the rest is some kind of flush paneling system. No knob on the door. Muffled noises outside.

There's a dark haired guy clutching the edge of the - probably some kind of bed, though it's just some metal and some padding. He's shifting to slide down to be nearer to Enj's height by sitting on the floor. "That ... sounds like you're awake," Damian says in English. "You are not a doctor either, are you?"

He's wearing a white shirt, rumpled trousers, and socks. There's some red spots on the left sleeve and he looks a little - maybe he got a dose of chloroform as well.

[thechief]

He also sounds a little out of it. Enjolras is zeroing in mostly on that sleeve, wondering how bad the bleeding might actually be. "Not a doctor..." he manages, shaking his head. "Best friend is, but..." He might as well try to make his way over to the other guy here, right? And wow does he look...not great at all.

"You know, every other time I've woken up in jail, I've at least known what I was doing there." He comments, then frowns as a little bit comes back to him, mostly with the headache. "Dare I ask what you're in for?"

[citizendamian]

Damian chuckles a little shakily and reaches over to set his hand near where Enjolras' hand is. Well - he's aiming for the shadow of it because that's more visible with his fuzzy vision right now. "Dare you? That's - new to hear. Haven't heard someone wonder if they could in a while."

He leans back against the wall. "I think - I don't know what I did. I mean, officially, I refused an order, but - you don't lock a guy up in IntSec for just saying no. Not instantly, you know?"

He's successfully gotten his hand close enough to feel the warmth of Enjolras' hand. "You're real?"

[thechief]

"Well, I don't dare much ELSE at the moment, and I doubt I should do more than ask, just in case." Enjolras shrugs a little, shivering in spite of himself, and makes his way over closer, trying to look at the other man like Combeferre would look at him.

Something's happened to him, something bad, and unseen, while Enjolras, himself seems fine. He suspects he's going to stay fine too, for most of this, which is sort of infuriating. Enjolras, after all, has some diplomatic pull here. He's not much officially, but he IS a citizen of a country that's not going to take lightly to his being detained at all, and he was wearing... He glances down, noticing the sudden lack of any weight on his ring finger and then pales considerably, a hand going to his earlobe and tugging too, where, yeah, his earrings are gone too.

Those are much more important to him, in the scheme of things, but his ring...that's definitely more important to anybody else and he's feeling his mind going into a bit of an organized panic that it's missing. Sure, he can get another one, but if there's anyone here who stands opposed to the order, he could be in a lot of trouble right this moment.

And if not...he could still be in trouble when he's back, for giving them away. He doubts he'll get kicked out or anything, but there's probably a long conversation with someone in his future, in which he disappoints someone he admires very much.

All the same, those are small things to pay, he reminds himself, forcing on the moment for now, and the fact that the man in front of him is someone who, obviously, has not as much support as he does in this. Someone who they feel like they have a RIGHT to hurt. The fact anyone could... his eyes go from confused and worried to angry in about a moment flat, eyes glazing over like ice.

"You refused...you're one of their own and they do this to you?" It sounds barbaric. Unthinkable, but there they are.

"I'm real. I don't have plans to leave."

[citizendamian]

Damian laughs quietly. "You can move up? It might be warmer up there." He gestures vaguely sort of near the - it may be more fair to call it a seat instead of a bed. "If you're cold. I mean - I thought I saw -"

He trails off. "It's wearing off? They wanted me to answer some questions, so, I'm a bit - I won't stop talking if I start. I mean, if it feels like I haven't answered something."

He tugs his left arm closer to his chest like he might be a bit cold. "I'm technically ExtSec. Was? I don't know if I was fired. An order came down to open fire and it didn't make sense, to I asked for verification. And -"

He's honestly not sure now what the charges are. Some blurry mess of knowing too much and saying the wrong things and then refusing. Maybe. Treason in action and mind.

[thechief]

"It's...they did dose you with something then? Stronger than they did me, I'm betting." Enjolras frowns, not sure what it might have been, but it helps to know. "Anything I can do to help? I ah..." He's trying to think there, and there's not a lot. "Sorry. I'm not used to druggings, in general."

He thought he saw something? Enjolras zeroes in with his sight again, his eyes going a little faraway, but it's hard to tell what Damian means. "What'd you see?" he wonders now. And then the story has him raising an eyebrow.

"Given what I know about them, I'm betting it's a good reason."

[citizendamian]

"You looked kind of like you were shivering. It never quite feels like it's warm enough." Damian hugs his knees. "I think it - it'd wear off. Eventually?"

He uncurls enough to pull himself back up and holds out his right hand to Enj to offer him a hand up. He's steadily blue in the sight, at least, and the hall has little flickers of red occasionally, but - no one at their door.

"I bet - you're not from around here, so if you ask for your embassy they should let you out. I think they would. IntSec doesn't want to get outside attention on them too closely. I think Hector thinks there's something rotten inside of Lorena. I think he thinks I run the Cards." Damian's voice is kind of going quiet and - he doesn't sound like he knows he's talking. Collected, maybe, but - rambling.

[citizendamian]

The door opens, and Damian attempts to get to his feet, but mostly manages to flinch at his own shadow and splay a hand on the wall.

"Ah, I see you woke up. So are you a corporate spy?" It's a guy who may be a year or two older than Damian. He looks like someone who takes great pride in looking impressive, but mostly manages to look like he has some money and a fine desk to sit at.

[thechief]

"I...was a bit chilled, yeah." Enjolras admits. "I think it might be...part of it, nerves?" It's a theory that he figures likely has some merit in the truth anyway. "I...you've been here long then." And it's infuriating, again, to think that anyone might treat their people like this.

"I did try when I noticed them coming." Enjolras nods. "And worth another when I get a conversation. I...my photographer got away, at least. I can imagine he'd be in far more danger than not." Proof they'd been sneaking around? No way. Landeau would be in a LOT of trouble here if this was what they'd thought appropriate in his case.

"Hector...Gantelet? Something like that?" Enjolras feels his head pounding but he IS trying to remember the right names and how they connect. "And it seems to me there definitely is something like that, but it's not so clear cut as he'd put it. Policies like this..." he winces. "Completely wrong. You're in no military prison so it's not an act of Cowardice as such......"

And then Enjolras is trailing off as someone new heads in, but has to laugh at the question. "I'm..." about the furthest thing from corporate They can imagine. he expects it drives his parents crazy sometimes, not that that's the issue here. It's not exactly a pleased laugh, by any means, and there's more than a trace of irony left there, in the silence.


"Why? Is that going to help or hurt my case, long term? I'd assume I have the right to contact my embassy before I give you details anyway. I'd swear it was somewhere in the immigration checkpoint signs."

[citizendamian]

"Cooperation gets you everywhere, if we have reasons to believe you were engaging in sedition," Hector smiles at him. "Hector Gantelet. Of IntSec. I'm the Chief Operations Officer. Were you causing trouble, Officer Montechristeu?"

Damian sharply shakes his head and gets to his feet.

"So was he?" Hector's pitching that at Enjolras. "He's suspected of trying to start a revolution. Sort of like Lidavia's one. You'd never guess it with such a unassuming guy like that."

[thechief]

"You know, it's funny." Enjolras stretches a little, yawning, and not bothering to hide it, or the fact his contempt for this guy is growing. He knows, really, that he probably shouldn't antagonize the people responsible for seeing that the embassy's contacted but sometimes you can't exactly help it, and the guy's attitude is helping with that.

"I thought sedition, technically, was a charge against your own state, not someone else's. Otherwise,the act changes entirely doesn't it?" It could become espionage,but there's no proof of that on Enjolras, he thinks,and he's pretty sure it won't go THAT far.

"And is he?" Enjolras doesn't see a problem with that, but even so, it's his duty to revolt if something is wrong. "So refusing an order in the guise of protecting someone is a revolutionary act here?" That's followed by a small shake of his head. "I think you people need Camille."

[citizendamian]

"Like the flower?" Hector's actually stopped in the middle of being offended to try to puzzle that out. "And don't you know? He's got some pretty girl campaigning to get him out. You know what'd happen if we used the drugs on Yvette, don't you, Damian?"

Damian blinks rapidly. "She's not breaking the law, Hec - Officer Gantelet. There'd be scandal if you needlessly set off her heart condition."

"If you," Hector says. "Since it'd be on your head that you put her there, all for the sake of your little treasonous overthrow."

[thechief]

"Journalist." The response is a little clipped, but still there. It IS a little context centric and the point stands whether they know who he's speaking of or not. "Clemency," He quotes. "Is also a revolutionary act." It occurs to me that your accusations of revolutionary activity would be defined amongst his urgings toward those of a very different kind. An irony, nothing more."

And then he's falling silent, listening to THAT conversation and he's raising an eyebrow. "You deem it acceptable to accuse and threaten those within their rights outside of here as well, oh well done. If everyone here is like you...that does explain a lot."

There's no one HE can get put in here after all, he can afford to be brave and stupid.

[citizendamian]

Hector grins at him brightly. "You must be feeling very off balance after my men took you in here. We found you and possibly someone else sneaking around restricted territory. So - better to quietly talk it over, right?"

He gestures and Damian flinches. It's hard to say if he's flinching because of the movement or because it's Hector. "He didn't say anything about sabotage or anything like that," Damian says. "He said he had no idea why he was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Hector tilts his head. "Simply nonviolently taken down and brought in. You should be careful, journalist. Do you have permits to work here?" He leans in closer, and - well, probably doesn't like that he's not taller than Enjolras. "Don't want to have you stumble into a wall or something like that, do we?"