Phillip Hughes, M.D, S.J. (fidesetratio) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-11-16 16:45:00 |
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Current mood: | satisfied |
Who: Phillip Hughes, Krishnan Shashidhar & Penelope Clearwater
When: 3 November 2009 evening
Where: A safehouse in London
What: Penny decides to introduce her two MI7 informants to each other.
Rating: PG
Status: Thread, Complete
Penny was waiting in the foyer of the safehouse for Shashi. Phil was already settled in the conference room. She was nervous about this meeting, but she'd taken great care to make sure that neither of them guessed the identity of the other. Trying not to pace too much, she sipped at her water as she waited nervously for Shashi to show up. Hearing the special knock on the door, she opened it and couldn't help smiling.
"Hey. Glad you could make it. Everything alright?"
"Yup. You?" He reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. He didn't shift or look over his shoulder; to an outside observer, there was nothing in his manner betraying the anxiety he felt. "Everyone here?" He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
Once the door was closed, Penny allowed herself a quick squeeze of Shashi.
"Yeah, in the makeshift conference room. Just you, me, and my other informant. You ready to meet them?"
He nodded. "Let's do it." He followed her to the conference room, wondering exactly who he was about to meet, and whether it was someone he already knew.
Penny smiled and pushed open the door to the conference room and then stepped aside.
"Krishnan Shashidhar, meet Doctor Phillip Hughes. Father Hughes, meet Krishnan Shashidhar, better known as Shashi."
Phillip stood as the door to the conference room opened. He was dressed casually, in a pair of corduroys and a jumper to keep off the chill.
"Please, call me Phil. No need to stand on ceremony."
Shashi's eyes widened at the sight of Phillip. "Hughes!" he blurted out. "We all thought you were dead. Or a hostage." He paused, then held out his hand. "Glad to see you're not."
Phillip chuckled and shook Shashi's hand.
"Nope. Neither dead or a hostage. But the stakes get raised very quickly when you're a double agent and I ended up having to get out quickly. Keeping me safe required lots of secrecy. I'm glad to see that you're helping out Miss Clearwater's cause. Never can have enough help."
Penelope smiled as she took a seat.
"Forgive me for not disclosing your identities to each other, but the risks of a breach in security are rather high. And I'd rather not endanger any of your lives more than necessary. My hope for this meeting is that with both of you we can get a fuller picture of what MI7 is involved in."
Shashi blew out a sigh as he sat down. "Right." He looked at Phillip curiously. "I got a feeling you might know a bit more about some things than I do. Being medical and all."
Phillip nodded. "I see what gets brought in... or well, I did until something about me flagged the higher ups and I lost levels of clearance. When MI7 had Granger, I wasn't informed or given any clearance whatsoever. But I think you might have more knowledge about missions and such."
Shashi looked down at the table. "I helped bring Granger in," he said quietly. "That ... coulda gone better, aye." He sighed. "I did arrests. Cleanup. Taking out the odd vampire or other magical creature. The big events, the—the school and all, that was before my time there."
Penelope nodded as she took in the information, feeling a bit like an outsider between the two of them.
"Well, was there any standard procedure? What would be most helpful to the cause are obvious human rights violations - we have Father Hughes' testimony on the torture that went on under the name of research, but were there policies in place that violated human rights or due process? Anything we could get them on legally?" Penny asked, directing her question a bit more towards Shashi than Phil.
Shashi thought a minute. "Searches and seizures," he said. "Some of them definitely questionable. I also heard about them confiscating passports or freezing accounts on people they thought were a flight risk, but before any formal charges had been pressed."
Penelope nodded.
"Do you have any records of that? I understand if you don't - Father Hughes had a hard time getting records out, but he's reconstructed some. Were there any direct orders given to use excessive force or violate human rights?" she asked.
Shashi considered. "I ... Not to me. Not really. But I might be able to recover some information, from others."
Penelope gave Shashi a worried look and her hand reached out across the table to grab Shashi's hand and stopped herself halfway.
"I... I'm a bit reluctant to have you endanger yourself further," she said, trying to wordlessly communicate her worry to him.
Phillip watched the exchange curiously. He hadn't known Penelope was seeing someone from MI7. That put her at considerable risk. He'd have to talk to her about that later.
Shashi flushed slightly, and he gave Penny the most reassuring smile he could muster. "It's all right. I got some ideas. I think I can do this."
"Just be careful," Phillip admonished gently. "I'm sure Shauri is still on high alert with everything that's happened. I don't want to think what he and Somerset would do if they figured out you were here."
"It'd give the term 'severance package' a whole new meaning," Shashi said. He frowned a little. "Here's something I'm wondering. There's a lot of people at MI7 who aren't ... well, y'know. They're just workers. I'm not—I can't pretend my hands are clean, aye? But what's gonna happen to people? Are they all gonna get prosecuted, or—or what?"
Penelope sighed.
"Honestly? I don't know. I understand that some people are just doing their job - cog in the wheel as it were. I'm sure they'll have to undergo some sort of questioning at the very least, but I don't intend to push for their prosecution. Of course, I'm just trying to push for justice, not simply revenge."
"Right." Shashi leaned back in his chair and looked at Phillip. "What about you? What's your plan?"
Phillip shrugged.
"My testimony has already been recorded - names, descriptions, medical records that I could remember - basically, all the information possible that I had in my brain. Now, I just stay underground until this comes public or Miss Clearwater needs me to testify - whatever the next step is. After that, well, I haven't really thought that far. Try and reclaim what I can of my life if MI7 hasn't destroyed my records. Maybe go abroad, work for Doctors without Borders or something," Phillip explained. It was, of course, a touchy subject, but one that he'd thought about often. The hardest part was not knowing what the future held.
Penelope looked at Shashi curiously.
"Shashi, what are your plans for after? If you'd like, we could talk about some possible options later."
Shashi rubbed his hands over his face. "God. I don't really know. Keeping alive would be the main thing." He chuckled a little at his own very bad joke, then sobered. "I don't know." He looked at Phil. "Doctors without Borders, aye? Not a bad idea."
Phillip nodded.
"Figure if I can get myself to a place where there's less rules regarding magic and medicine," Phillip explained. "And where magic is not so strictly regulated."
"I think," Shashi said after a moment, "I'm just gonna want to get away from governments. And secrecy, and all that other bollocks. Dunno, though. Just going to have to take it as it comes, I suppose."
Secrecy's a bitch Penny thought as she bit her lip.
"Secrecy can be very difficult. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to get rid of - large legal mess on our side. harder than you'd think to get rid of it," Penny said with a shrug, losing a bit of her professional nature.
"I think now it's just a matter of keeping both of you safe until Liberty takes things to the press and put pressure on MI7. And then help you as much as possible."
"We'll manage as we go, I reckon," Shashi said with a little smile. "Don't forget to watch your own back, aye?"
Penny smiled.
"Well then, I think that's everything on my agenda, at least. I can walk you out if you'd like, Agent Shashidhar."
Phil nodded.
"Let me know if I can be of any further help."
"I will." Shashi stood and held out his hand to Phillip. "It's good to see you again, Hughes. Phil. Looking forward to working with you more in the future." He grinned.
Phil stood and shook Shashi's hand. "Likewise, Shashi. Take care of yourself. I'm not interested in doing any funerals."