Without Conscience
“Well, tell your client that if this keeps up, a lawsuit will be the least of his concerns. … What does that mean? We’ll rip out his tongue and shove it up his ass, what the hell do you think it means?”
Jill slammed the phone back on its receiver with a sigh. She hated dealing with attorneys and clients from other law firms. The “normal” ones had no idea how things were run, and were even more brain dead to the fact that Wolfram & Hart didn’t need a lawsuit in order to get whatever it wanted.
Besides, dismemberment had its advantages.
The lawyer considered marching her ass up to the White Room again, give the Conduit a good what-for with regards to their last demand. Sure, being the director of the firm’s Special Projects division was just what Jill needed to begin her ascent in the ranks and bring about her endgame, but she didn’t appreciate the firm’s insistence she kill Victoria and Oliver to do it.
Even with all the baggage surrounding them, Jill didn’t actually feel right killing them. Stupid emotions – she’d see about having them removed by the firm’s medical department at some point.
Josiah Markowitz was a man who had seen it all. He had transferred to the Department of Homeland Security from the Central Intelligence Agency at the inception of Project Integration, his years of experience at intel gathering something his superiors believed would serve the government's new undertaking well. Tall and cadaverous, he stood head and shoulders above the other people in the elevator as he rode up to the higher floors of the Wolfram & Hart complex, facing forward through the lenses of his shades without bothering to make eye contact with anyone.
He flicked the cuff of his black suit jacket away from the watch on his bony wrist, glanced at the time. Eleven-sixteen. His appointment was at eleven-thirty. He was going to be early.
Polished black shoes made loud noises on marble tile as Markowitz exited the elevator, and behind him, the other passengers drew a collective sigh of relief. Even for Wolfram & Hart, the odd-looking gent in the undertaker's suit was a sight to behold.
The agent was technically still an immigrant himself, the third-generation descendent of pogrom survivors from Russia, but he tried not to let that go to his head. Sure, maybe he had a better idea of how the subjects of this little exercise were going to feel, but he was still The Man. Purvis kept calling him 'the Rabbi'.
Markowitz did not like Purvis.
He looked around the foyer of Jill Andersen's office with a jaundiced eye, tilting his sunglasses downwards to get a better look at things. So this was Evil Incorporated. No wonder the lawyer behind that door wanted to jump ship. Markowitz wondered if the DHS would be able to trust her anymore than her current employers could.
He walked into her office without knocking, flipping open his identification wallet and flashing his badge at her. "Good morning, Ms. Andersen. Josiah Markowitz, Department of Homeland Security. I'm your eleven-thirty appointment."
Jill frowned and checked her planner. “I wasn’t aware I had an 11:30,” she barked. “Remind me to have my secretary skinned alive when she comes back from lunch.”
The lawyer finally leveled her gaze at the intruder, focusing on the badge before realizing who the eerily-dressed man was. She stood, straightening her black skirt, extending an arm before her.
“Please, have a seat,” she said, falling silent when she realized she wasn’t exactly sure what to say next. This was the federal government; there was no telling what could set them off.
The agent barely quirked an eyebrow at the mention of skinning, but he did wonder what this was going to mean for Andersen's upcoming psych evaluation. They didn't need anymore Froot Loops with badges in the agency.
He took the seat in front of her desk and looked out the window for a moment. "Nice view," he said perfunctorily. His voice sounded like he'd just given up smoking five minutes ago. "So you're planning on joining our happy little family, hmm? I don't think I remember seeing you at the initial group meeting."
“Blame my bosses for that, if you can find them,” Jill replied, reaching inside her desk and pulling out a small orb, shining orange as she placed it on the desk.
“We’re free to talk. This keeps the prying eyes and ears away.”
Jill wanted to attend that meeting – particularly since the government had gone through all that trouble to invite her in the form of that written letter – but a case came up, and she was so busy proving a guilty man’s innocence, the meeting came and went without her.
The lawyer couldn’t help but wonder if somehow the Senior Partners knew and aligned that to keep her away.
Behind his glasses, Markowitz blinked, then pulled a small electronic device from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and used it to scan the orange-hued orb. His first thought was that it was electrically powered, but then he realized it was just run of the mill defensive magic. He made a note on a small pad of paper, then tucked that out of sight as well.
"You understand, of course, I'm just the messenger," he told the lawyer. "My superiors, the ones behind the scenes, have the final say, but I feel assured that we'll be able to work something out. What's drawn you to our program? Why would you want to give up this cushy office and be part of the U.S. government?"
These were preliminary questions, nothing more, but Markowitz was being very attentive to the attorney's facial expression behind the barrier of his dark glasses. He'd worked in government intelligence for a long time, and for him, at least, the phrase was not an oxymoron.
"I'm sure you realize we don't quite offer the ... financial benefits this place does. There are perks, of course, but mostly you'd be joining up to fulfill your patriotic duty."
Jill sat back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest and giving Agent Markowitz’s question some thought. It wasn’t necessarily that she was drawn to the whole thing – the government, after all, sent her the letter to begin with – but in light of recent events at Wolfram & Hart, a possible out was appealing.
“In order to work here,” she began. “Check that … in order to be good at working here, you have to be without conscience. Any trace of humanity of weakness and you’ll be gobbled up. Instantly, and quite literally.
“I find I no longer have the stomach for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of place you can just pack your stuff and give your two weeks.”
Her last trip to the White Room had been an enlightening one. The Conduit was right when it called her a scared little daddy’s girl, and it was largely because of what happened to Paul Andersen and what David Gregor did that turned Jill into what she ultimately became. She was human, still capable of good and in possession of that soul certain vampires were fond of, but at the end of the day, she allowed herself to become so corrupted that she became a shell of her former self.
And once her employer began asking her to kill people she cared about once upon a time, that was where Jill drew the line.
“I’ve done a lot of bad things over the years,” she added. “And not all of them within these walls. I think doing some good would be beneficial. Tip the karmic scales a bit, if you will.”
Markowitz looked at the notes he'd brought along, made a 'hmm' noise before re-directing his attention across the desk. "Your former ... associations ... with Ms. Foxworth and Mr. ..." note check "... Jerzyck, those are in the past, I take it? No longer an issue? Ms. Foxworth also received a letter, and she attended the meeting in the company of another possible recruit. Mr. Jerzyck did not receive notification, and he is currently on our watch list as a possible subversive element. Were you aware of that, Ms. Andersen?"
He let a silence pass by between them, held up one hand as if she might attempt to speak before he was finished. "Rest assured that your previous activities will not be held against you should you decide to sign on with Project Integration. It’s been decided that all participants will be given a clean slate, so to speak, a chance to start over. Tipping the balance over to the good side of the scale, as you said. However ..."
Markowitz cleared his throat, eyeballed the orb where it sat on the desk. "However, should these two individuals decide that they will not cooperate with the government in their own capacities, it will be your job to possibly inform on them, perhaps even to assist in their apprehension and rehabilitation. By the terms of your employment, it will become your responsibility to help us oppose them. Do you think you can do that? Turn on your ... friends?"
“I don’t have any friends,” Jill said in a solemn tone. “My … associations, as you put it, with Ms. Foxworth and Mr. Jerzyck are indeed a thing of the past.”
And as much as Jill didn’t like the possibility of turning them over to the government, it honestly beat the hell out of having to kill them in order to gain a promotion. In some ways, the federal government was no worse than Wolfram & Hart, but at least this particular agent was being up-front.
Besides, helping didn’t necessarily mean doing all the dirty work herself.
“I don’t know how much you know about my past,” Jill said. “But it’s no surprise I’m here. And I want out … I want a chance to start over, maybe get some of my humanity back and if I can begin to chase even a sliver of my childhood dreams, that would be even better.”
"Well, we're the government," Markowitz said with a faint smile. "We may not be able to reason with the people who run this place, but unless they want to be audited by the IRS for the next hundred years, they'll cooperate when it comes time to release you from your contract."
A single beat passed, and he pointed at the still-glowing orb. "That, by the way? Very interesting. We could probably use a few of those in Washington. Eavesdropping is a big time-killer there, too."
He got up from his chair, adjusted his tie, then offered the lawyer his hand. "I'm sure you'll start to feel much better about everything once you help us save a few lives, Ms. Andersen. Welcome to Project Integration. I'll be faxing the paperwork back to D.C. as soon as it’s completed."
Jill smiled to herself, glancing at the glowing orb. It had saved her ass more than a few times in her tenure with Wolfram & Hart, and this looked like it would be another one of those times. Just because she was planning to punch her ticket out of Evil, Inc. didn’t mean the Senior Partners needed to know about it.
“It’s a simple incantation,” the lawyer said. “Just a matter of having the right kind of orb. They’re actually easier to find than you might think.”
Jill stood and walked around her desk to Agent Markowitz, offering her hand to shake. “I appreciate the opportunity … nice to see that even vicious bitches like me can have a second chance every now and again.”
Did Jill deserve a second chance? No, and she knew that. But that didn’t mean she’d turn one away if it presented itself to her. David Gregor didn’t corrupt her because he was just that powerful; he did it because she let him. She allowed Gregor to sap her humanity and take advantage of the pain and betrayal she felt over her parents … it was her decision to sign up with Wolfram & Hart in the first place – and that decision led to the disintegration of her interactions with Katherine, Victoria and Oliver.
Jill walked through this firm’s doors on her own, and she was about to walk right back out.