A Bitter Pill To Swallow

Saying high to everyone Melissa tries not to hug her shoulders as she joins the group at the table. She's cold but doesn't want to make Eva feel bad so she deals with it. Besides, the coffee will warm her up. When she sees Dave her eyes jump to the rip in her sleeve and her hand subtly covers the missing blouse button.

"You look like you had a rain bath yourself there, Dave." She wonders why Dave says again when he refers to Eva taking a bath with a blender. "So you've had this happen to you before, Eva?"

Her cheeks flush at Augusta's comment about the coat which she dearly wishes she was wearing now. It's definitely not a Miranda Dunn, but would they even really know? She doesn't offer any enlightenment on that subject and stays quiet while waiting for the message that she hopes Eva is about to give Dave from the guy who caused the catastrophe in the department store who she now knows is named Danvers.

GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023
Dark Lips Books

"Wait." Dave stopped mid-bite and looked over at Eva, his usually unflappable demeanor suddenly more serious than any of them had seen before. "You talked to Danvers? In public?" The tuna burrito and coffee sat ignored, "What'd he say?" Suddenly the state of Eva's clothes made a lot more sense.

GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023
Dark Lips Books
"It was strange," Eva replies, looking to Melissa for support as Augusta heads for the counter. "We were at Caine and Sloan… he just wandered in off the street out of the rain. He wasn’t really coherent at first… I think maybe he mumbled something about a raven? I thought he was dangerous, so I confronted him. And that’s when he blew out the entire storefront."

A waitress, Charlotte, stops by to take orders from the new arrivals. Eva asks the dark-haired girl for the sweater she knows has been in the lost and found for a couple of months, and when it’s handed to her, she takes off Melissa’s jacket and gives it back to the woman with a thankful nod. Then, pulling on the cardigan, she continues.

"After that he kind of got lucid. We went outside, and he said he couldn’t maintain control… and that I needed to find David Draven and tell him… something was going on. Other than him saying he wasn’t supposed to be there… and that they were going to take him back… that was pretty much it before the cops and the TANC goons arrived."

GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023
Dark Lips Books

"Dangerous? Yeah, he's definitely that..." he scratched his eyebrow as he sorted his thoughts. "Him not being coherent explains why only the storefront got flattened... In his right mind and a mood to 'showboat' around there wouldn't be enough of GBPD left to bury all the casualties." Dave looked over at Augusta as she browsed through the shelf of books across the table-space from Eva and Melissa. "He can be a whirlwind of anger and rage externalized by psycho-kinetic force welded by a mind as sharp as a scalpel. 'Dangerous' is a bit of an understatement." Until this moment, he'd never consciously realized the links between Augusta, Eva and Melissa with the members of his old team and how similar both groups were with each other. He grunted, pushing the realization down to ponder later.
" 'Something's going on' isn't specifically helpful but with Danvers being in the TANC the last few years at least narrows down the 'where'. Did they get him back into custody?" This might put a bit of a damper on their bi-weekly visitations for a bit.

Melissa gratefully accepts her coat, puts it on, and orders a coffee from the waitress while avidly listening to the conversation about Danvers. Daring to dip a toe into the discussion she asks, "How did he get out of the TANC? Isn't that like almost impossible?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023
Dark Lips Books
Glancing at Melissa, Eva shrugs, not knowing much about TANC. She does nod to Dave, though.

"Yeah. He went willingly. I think he was really worried about losing control and hurting people."

He nodded as he listened, "The TANC is supposed to be the highest security facility on the East Coast. No small small surprise why they put it in Graybridge... Hopefully no one was hurt." He hoped the weather had kept people at home and the store was as empty as the support group meeting had been. "Haven't heard anything about it yet except from you two so someone wanted to keep it out of the news. Guess someone didn't want to start a panic."
He slowly took a bite out of the tuna burrito before the lightbulb metaphorically sprang in above his head, "Don't you have a friend incarcerated in the TANC?" he asked Melissa. It was hard to imagine her knowing someone dangerous enough get thrown in the TANC but stranger things have happened.

Sipping her coffee she looks at Dave almost pleadingly. "Yeah, my bestie Belinda is there. She says she doesn't know why she's there. I don't know whether to believe her. But she's my best friend no matter what and I want to get her out of that horrible place. That's why when I noticed that guy Danvers had a TANC ankle bracelet I was going to ask him if he knew her and if he did, was she okay. But for whatever reason, I seemed to upset him. Do you think you could help me?"

The relationship between Belinda and Melissa is a strange one. Melissa tries to emulate Belinda in every way and both the good and the bad have rubbed off on her. Belinda is a snob. Melissa is a wannabe snob who aspires to be a member of the wealthy elite. Belinda is also her only real friend and since she's been in the TANC Melissa has been very lonely and hurt and a tad confused. She thought they were super close, so what is it she doesn't know about her that got her stuck in the TANC? This question bugs her every day.

Augusta hangs nearby, hoping that Dave can help the girls with whatever problem that has occurred. She listens in, and when she hears them talking about TANC, she listens more closely. Openly? Perhaps, at least until her politeness and decorum take over. Instead she listens and also tries to focus on the books nearby but they don't seem nearly as interesting as the prison. She spent years of her life obsessed with the place, on bettering the conditions for the inmates, and even now, she has volumes of notes that she took, observations of what she saw on her many visits.

"So... what's up with this guy, Danvers?" Eva asks inelegantly, warming her hands on her coffee. "What did he mean, and why did he call you out, Draven?"

"We worked together a while back, before he ended up in the TANC." the big man explained. "It was me, him, Mayer and Mose. We were like an off-the-books meta unit that worked missions people were better off not knowing about. Ran that gig for a long time... Early 90s up to around 2010, 2012 maybe. Then came the mission in Burkina Faso." He rolled the cooling cup of inky black coffee in his hands pondering whether to tell the tale or not.
"We were supposed to be extracting a medical team from a children's hospital in the back country. When we got there a local warlord was trying to siege the compound.
We figured it was for the drugs and medical supplies. Mayer and I go in to handle the hired guns, Mose stays back with the extraction chopper since he's not bulletproof and Danvers goes in to secure the med staff because he can fly. We're enjoying the firefight when the children's hospital goes up in this huge fireball and Danvers is the only one to make it out. The warlord runs and we make it back to the LZ for extraction. The CO in charge flips the fuck out once we get back and report. Brings Danvers up on charges and calls for his arrest by the MPs. We figure we were going to have to fight our way off the tanker but Danvers just...surrenders." Dave shrugged and set the coffee cup down on the table, burrito forgotten in the moment. "They put him through a kangaroo court military tribunal and sentence him to life in the TANC. I tried to forget about it and do my own thing for awhile but that didn't work out and I moved here to try and figure out what happened with Danvers and the hospital and why. He never has said a word about that mission but maybe he's decided to change his mind. I can't imagine being in the TANC as a pleasant experience... Augie can back me up on that."

Augusta screws up her face at the nickname, but Dave gets a pass on such improprieties. She steps closer to the table.

"My step-brother spent time in the TANC, and against my parents wishes, I visited him many times. I was young then, 13 to 15, but persistent. Raoul often showed signs of abuse, even torture. At first I thought he was getting picked on for being mixed race, but the truth came out eventually. I began to spend more and more time at TANC, and even launched a public awareness campaign to illuminate the crimes of the guards and researchers at TANC upon their unwilling and undeserving human captives. We had some success, raised some money, but I think in my heart all I did was get Raoul beaten savagely and released, and some of the cameras shut off."

She clenchedls her hand, sharp nails nearly piercing the chair back behind Dave. She shakes the offending limb and places it behind her back.

"However, I have extensive notes on the prison, the layout, the shift makeup, the security systems, and the population. Extensive."

"So you're bulletproof?" Melissa stops shy of saying wow to Dave but her eyebrows wing up at the idea. "I bet that's handy."

She knew about metahumans of course but never had experiences with them except maybe now she did since Belinda might be one of them and maybe she was too. In all the commotion, she had forgotten about her ability to see through things. She frowned at the thought and took a sip of her coffee, deciding to wonder about that later.

"So this Danvers ... they thought he was a coward because he was the only survivor besides you? Or did they think he blew up the hospital?"

When Augusta mentions she has plans for the prison she becomes hopeful that somehow she can get Belinda out of the TANC or at least find out why she's there in the first place. She was truly lost without her.

"Maybe we can get both Danvers and Belinda out of there?" she asks, almost grimacing at the audacity of her idea. Of course, she had no clue how they would go about doing that, but with these people around her, and with the plans and notes on the prison, maybe they could come up with something feasible.

Eva listens to Draven attentively, then turns to 'Augie' as she chimes in with her experiences at TANC. Melissa's got two cents as well, as it seems a friend of hers is also incarcerated there.

The blonde's eyes have a faraway look for a moment as a few images flit at the edge of her memory. People with ankle-devices like the one Danvers had. People in jumpsuits with a word stenciled across the back. Injections. Screaming. There was some connection between TANC and Wyvern Lake, but she had no idea what it was. But perhaps in all this was a way to find out.

"I'm in," she says to Dave and the other two women quietly. "Whatever this is, I'll help."

OUTSIDE GRAYBRIDGE, 28 OCT 2023
Terrorist and Anarchist Neutralization and Correction facility
The TANC is a massive structure, standing tall and wide in the pouring rain, almost appearing like a city itself - a city that somehow looks even less inviting than Graybridge, whose light can still be seen behind the small group hurrying across the parking lot outside the heavy walls and high fences of the correctional facility.

The four people are tracked by cameras and floodlights as they make their way to the small visitor's entrance doors through which they quickly slip inside to shelter from the flood of rainwater coming from above.
After some quick body searches, they are allowed into a sparse and uninviting room, plain metal chairs lining one wall, a single artificial palmtree the only decoration, and one that feels entirely out of place in this dark and cold room. There are four doors leading in and out of the room in total, as well as a large safety window along what is the new arrivals' left hand wall. There's a man sitting behind that window, waiting for the visitors to approach. Before they get a chance to, however, one of the room's doors opens and a woman enters, tall and muscular and wearing a guard's uniform with the oppressive logo of the TANC prominently displayed on chest and back. She would be an imposing figure, were she not directly contrasted by Dave and Eva, who both manage to have even more imposing physiques. The name tag on her chest simply reads PARKER.

"Well, if it isn't two of our most favorite guests," Parker greets the group, her voice rough and clearly sarcastic. "Ms. Ang, I'm afraid the director is in no mood to deal with your concerns today. Whatever it is about this time, can we convince you to simply file a written complaint? Mr. Draven, you're right on time for your appointment. You know the procedures." Her eyes wander over the two other women, focusing more on Eva than on Melissa, most likely since she appears like the bigger potential threat. Apparently, Melissa's own visits to the TANC haven't left as much of an impression on the guard as Draven's have as there is no recognition when she sees the young wannabe socialite. "Is Mr. Ellison expecting multiple visitors today?"

"Parker, you'll be glad to know that I'm only here for support and observation. Miss Kurt and I would like to speak with an inmate." She gestures at the man waiting at the window, someone she hasn't seen before, but her visits have slowed down recently. "We'll go sign in with the new guy. He looks fresh and eager -- I suppose the job hasn't broken his zeal and compassion yet?" She smiles her finest show smile. "But I have faith in you."

She thinks that in a better time, she'd actually like Parker, but the guard is wrapped up in the awfulness that is TANC, and Augusta just can't separate the two. That and being complicit in violations of the constitutionally protected sanctity of the human condition, there is that, too.

It was a dreary place made drearier by the incessant rain. She'd only been here once to visit Belinda and when she left, she was depressed for a week. Here she was back again but at least she wasn't alone this time. Raising her hands to block her eyes from the shockingly bright light coming from the spotlights, she squinted and followed the others. Her eyes had been overly sensitive to light lately and she had no idea why. It started sometime after her last visit to Brian Floyd. Maybe she had some weird virus or something and made a note to herself to go see an eye doctor.

It was hard not to freak out from the body search but she kept her cool and when they were done and released into the waiting room she couldn't help comparing herself to the forlorn fake pine tree. Her musings came to an abrupt end when the rather large and abrasive woman entered the room. Not knowing how to answer the guard she looked to the others, changed her mind, and said, "I'm here to see Belinda Hagman."

Eva does her best to fade to the background, but with her height and build and looks, that's a tall proposition. Still, she's with Draven and he's a bit of a gravity well himself when it comes to drawing and holding the eye. The blonde is wearing her thrift shop best: a faded, vintage Dokken t-short that hugs close to her figure and doesn't quiet cover her belly, a pair of grey jeans and black, low-cut Converse All-Stars. She carries a blue windbreaker in her hand, and she looks at David, hoping he'll respond.

"How are the kids, Roz?" Dave stood up from the metal chair as the burly guard entered the room. Clearly ignoring her stand-offish front, he just smiled at her and that only served to stiffen her icy attitude. "No. Well, Yes. But not all of us. Just me and 'Hair Band' today... Dave nodded over to Eva. "It's purely, completely incidental that we all came in together...all at once...from the rain. He could read Parker's blood pressure rising from the veins in her neck that stood out the longer he talked and he enjoyed every moment of it. She wasn't a bad person, per se, but worked for some allegedly bad people who happened to incarcerate other allegedly bad people. "Yep. Completely coincidental... So, we good to go back or ?" He cocked an eyebrow at Roz Parker as if expecting her to say 'no'.

Parker holds Dave's eye for a moment longer than most people could manage but then she breaks eye contact. "You know the procedure, Mr. Draven." She lets her eyes wander over the rest of the group. "Some formalities first, then you can go see your friends." There is a bit of disdain in her voice at that last word, as if there was something morally wrong with being friends with any inmate here.

Over the course of the next minutes, the group all has to fill out some forms, giving personal information and assuring clean intent and promising compliance with procedures. One question on the forms asks for metahuman abilities, something Augusta has looked into in the past and that is a legal grey area as to whether they're even allowed to ask that. If one of you lies on that question, nobody calls you on it, whether they should know or not. Dave can fill out these forms in his sleep by now, but they still require him to do it every single time, maybe more to annoy him than because they need to.

Once that is done and the man behind the glass front is satisfied, another guard, a man, still visibly strong but not as impressive in build as Dave and Eva, or even Parker, enters the room. He tells Melissa and Augusta to follow him while Parker leads Dave and Eva deeper into the facility.

- - -

Augusta and Melissa are led into a room divided in two halves by a wall made of stone and glass, chairs on both sides and small speakers to allow communication from one side to the other, a standard room for talking to prison inmates while maintaining basic safety measures.

A guard is standing on this side of the dividing wall, a second one on the far side. One of the uncomfortable plastic chairs on the far side of the wall is occupied by a young blonde who somehow manages to look beautiful even in her unshapely prison jumpsuit. She definitely managed to get her hands on makeup somewhere.

Belinda Hagman beams at her two visitors as they sit down opposite her, separated from her by a reinforced window that looks like glass but is probably plastic with metal wire woven through it. "Well, if it isn't Mel Kort," Belinda chirps as happily as if they were meeting at some beachside bar, not in one of the worst prisons in the country. "How long has it been? Far too long for sure. And you brought a friend." She turns her bright eyes to Augusta. "And not just any friend. Is this really Miss Augusta Ang, princess of the piano, countess of the keys..." She waves a hand. "I'm running out of alliterations, but you get my point. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

---

Dave and Eva are led by Parker herself deep into the facility, underground, most likely, but the network of corridors, stairs, elevators and doors they follow makes it hard to keep track of where exactly they are. Eventually Parker stops in front of a door Dave knows very well by now. A sign next to it reads

D. ELLISON
"THE TERRAPIN"
MAXIMUM CAUTION
"Mr. Danvers knows the procedure," Parker says, her eyes fixed on Eva. "Do not approach Mr. Ellison, do not cross the line on the floor. Any sign of foul play, the room gets flooded with gas. You will lose consciousness within seconds. We have had to tighten security around him after the incident." Dave is pretty sure he could last longer than that, but it might not be a good idea to point that out to the guard. "By entering the room, you agree to this and forfeit any right to restitutory claims should your actions force us to employ these safety measures. Is that understood?"

Once that is confirmed, Parker opens the door and gestures for the two visitors to enter. They notice how thick the wall here is as they pass through the door, which is almost more like a short tunnel due to this fact.
As the door is slammed behind them, they end up in a sparsely decorated room - a bed in one corner, a desk in another, a toilet against one wall. Most importantly, a thick white line painted on the floor and a man dressed in a black jumpsuit, his head covered by a black helmet, standing right by the line, on the far side. The helmet's visor is pitch black, making Eva wonder how the man would be able to see anything. Dave of course knows the answer. He doesn't.

"I had some thoughts on Halloween 3: Season of the Witch I wanted to share with you," Danvers Ellison says, his tone light, even through the distortion of the helmet. "But I've been told you brought someone else along today, Davey." He nods his head exactly in Eva's direction, knowing where she is even if he can't see her. "So maybe we should keep conversation to something a bit more accessible today. Who is your friend?"