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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 16, 2011 20:59:21 GMT -5
Things were in motion now, and Walter was pleased with the progress. Siobhan and Nikola were together and on the run, or so they thought. Thanks to Siobhan's tracker, Walter knew precisely where they were. They were still in London. Meanwhile, Walter was slowly working on Kylie. But there were loose ends that needed to be handled, and Walter simply couldn't do it all himself, as much as he would have liked to. But when he needed assistance, there was only one person Walter could turn to, and that was Roman.
Roman wasn't exactly the most trustworthy guy in the world, but he was loyal to Walter and that was all that mattered. And he was good at what he did.
So Walter sent an owl to Roman, asking him to meet him in Knockturn Alley. Walter liked Knockturn Alley... it was dark and dirty and real. In more "respectable" places, everyone pretended that they were good and pure and innocent, but in Knockturn Alley, there was no such pretense. Some wore hoods and cloaks and even masks to hide their identities, but their mere presence in the Alley was proof of the blackness of their souls, or so Walter believed. In truth, many people who went to Knockturn Alley were not evil or base at all, but Walter often generalized and made assumptions because he had no faith in the goodness of people.
Walter, of course, did not wear any hoods or cloaks, but walked down the dark alleyway bold as you please, and stopped to lean against the sign for the Rusty Nail, where he was to meet Roman.
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 16, 2011 21:23:30 GMT -5
Roman was currently working on a small case already but once a familiar owl reached him, he stopped. When Walter requested his assistance, Roman usually stopped what he was doing and went to help his old friend. Of course, Roman was not a man to be trusted at all, however he was loyal to his old friend.
Knockturn Alley was one of Roman's favorite places to go. A lot of the people there knew him and he had no shame walking into the place. Instead of sending a reply to the owl, Roman simply apparated to Knockturn Alley. Walking toward the Rusty Nail, Roman didn't bother to make eye contact with anyone. He was on a mission and that was what was important. His black robes billowed behind him as he walked. Reaching the Rusty Nail, he saw his friend leaning against the sign.
"You owled," Roman said greeting his friend.
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 16, 2011 21:34:22 GMT -5
Walter could see his old "friend" before he came close. Roman had a way of walking, with his robes billowing and his shoes clicking against the cracked cement, that seemed to call attention to him. Walter, on the other hand, walked in a smooth, unruffled sort of way, barely making any noise as he walked. He didn't need to call attention to himself; people cleared out of his way no matter what he did.
"Roman. Good to see you," Walter said mildly, nodding his head in greeting. "I have a job for you."
He stepped back from the wall and nodded his head toward the door of the dodgy little pub. "Care for a drink?"
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 16, 2011 21:44:39 GMT -5
"Of course you do," Roman said with a half smirk. He was always willing to get involved in the project Walter had. Of course, he wasn't gifted with every detail of the project, but he knew enough about the situation to be able to do his job well.
"A drink sounds good right now. I was just about to have my tea, but I never turn down a drink offer." Roman was fairly predictable with his 'tea time'. He liked to have his tea at a certain time every day and if he didn't have his tea, sometimes he could get a little annoyed. However, if a drink offer was in place of 'tea time' there was no argument whatsoever. A nice glass of scotch and he was golden.
Roman reached for the door and opened it. "And what nature is this job you require to be done?"
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 16, 2011 22:03:43 GMT -5
Walter stepped through the door and walked into the pub. He didn't have to look too hard for a shady corner table; somehow the way the pub was laid out, all of the tables seemed to be in shady corners. He gave a quick nod to the barmaid, who would recognize them from previous visits and remember that Roman took scotch, while Walter preferred vodka.
Then he moved to an empty table and sat down, waiting for Roman to get situated before he answered his question.
"It's two jobs, actually, if you're up to it. They're the usual kind... although one might be harder than the other."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 16, 2011 22:08:26 GMT -5
Roman followed Walter to the table. Walter's usual drink, Roman would usually jokingly call it "the devil's water". Vodka was tasteless, at least to Roman, and of course with vodka one could drink and drink and not realize how much they really drank. Roman preferred the taste and burn of scotch. In reality, it seemed like their drink choices matched them fairly well.
"You know I can never turn down a challenge," he said raising his eyebrows. Roman rested his arms on the table. "What is the difference with the more difficult one?"
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 16, 2011 22:23:15 GMT -5
Walter saw the barmaid approaching, so he waited to answer Roman's question until the girl had placed their drinks on the table and walked away again. He doubted that the barmaid would pay much attention to their conversation--she probably heard all kinds of dodgy dealings working in a place like this. But Walter was not one to take any chances.
"I need you to get someone out of Azkaban for me," he said as matter-of-factly as if he were telling Roman to pick up milk and bread at the store. "But I need you to do it legally. Don't break him out... I need you to manufacture evidence to exonerate him. I need him on the outside and I can't have the Ministry on his tail."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 17, 2011 8:35:48 GMT -5
"Get someone out of Azkaban," Roman repeated raising his eyebrows. "Hm, that's going to be a little bit tricky but it will be done. Manufacturing the evidence will not be extremely difficult. I'm sure that I can find a few witnesses that I could include in the situation. It will take me a bit to do it, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve." He was fairly excited that he was gifted a difficult task. Sure, he didn't mind trailing people and tracking them but it was nice to have something different to do every once in awhile.
"May I ask more detail on the person you want exonerated?"
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 17, 2011 21:37:37 GMT -5
Walter took a sip from his vodka, then reached into his robe, producing a folder. He laid this on the table for Roman to see. Clipped to the front was a mugshot labeled Zane Manning.
"You may look it over at your leisure," Walter said, nodding for him to take it. "His name is Zane Manning, and he was found at the scene of a murder with no memory of what happened. The victims' necks were broken and their bodies... Well, I'll spare you the gory details; you can read all about it in the file. Apparently, the two men broke into his house and murdered his wife and baby in their beds, and he took out his revenge on them."
Walter smirked then as he took another sip from his drink. "He did it, of course. He was triggered... someone accidentally told the victims that they'd be safe if they said it to him. Anyway, I needed him to cool his heels for a while in Azkaban, but now that I'm starting to bring the others together, I need him out. See what you can do about it."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 17, 2011 21:43:27 GMT -5
Getting the file, Roman observed the picture on the front. "Accidentally, hm?" There was an amused look on his face as he glanced up from the file before glancing back down at the folder in front of him. "I'm pretty sure that I can get him out without too much trouble. Finding the evidence that falls in his favor should not be too terribly hard."
Roman might have quite a bit of fun working on breaking Zane out of Azkaban. He always loved a challenge. Opening the folder as he took a sip of scotch, he looked back up to Walter. "As for this other job, what do you need me to do?"
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 19, 2011 15:37:41 GMT -5
"I have no idea where they could have got such an idea," Walter said, a hint of a smile touching his own face. "Just do what you can. And if they need a psychiatric evaluation, I'm sure you know where to turn."
He took another sip of his vodka, then pulled another file from his robe pocket. This one had two pictures clipped to it; one of Siobhan and one of Nikola. "These two just 'escaped' from the St. Mungo's Psych Ward. They're still in London; I have a tracker implanted in the girl. I want you to find them and offer them any assistance they may need. Don't push too hard, or they'll get suspicious... just be as helpful and charming as I know you can be."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 21, 2011 11:08:15 GMT -5
"That I can do," he said with a smile. Roman knew that it was going to possibly be a little difficult attempting to jungle getting the man out of Azkaban, then following these two, but it could be done. "I can just so happen to find them on the street with no problem." He looked at the file and observed the two.
"The boy looks like he might be suspicious of everything, but the girl, the girl I don't think will be a problem at all." He looked at the pictures a moment longer and then took a sip of scotch then looked back up to Walter. "You want me to just follow them and keep an eye on them for awhile?"
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 21, 2011 23:58:35 GMT -5
"Good," Walter said, smiling as he took another sip of his drink. "The boy is definitely going to be suspicious, but I think you can win him over. Offer them a place to stay somewhere... some place... 'safe.' Whatever they need, get it for them, but don't let them leave London yet. Eventually, I want to bring a few more of them together. We'll need Zane, and I'm working on another one, Kylie. Then we'll see what happens when they're together."
It was obvious that the connection between Nikola and Siobhan had somehow stayed intact, despite the amount of time they had been separated. Would they remember the others? Would the others remember them? Zane had never been close to Siobhan and Nikola, and hadn't been part of the rebellion. Kylie had, but she'd always been the good little soldier until that point, and it was clear that she'd regretted her part in it. Could the influence of the other three bring Siobhan back into the fold? Walter was very interested to see what happened.
"Other than that, though... just keep an eye on them. Once Zane is out and Kylie's ready... and I'm looking for a few others as well... we'll work on bringing them together."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Oct 25, 2011 22:35:10 GMT -5
"I have just the place I can offer for them to stay," Roman said with a smile. "It's sort of a place that feels away from everything and it's perfect for them. Of course there can instantly be monitoring devices set in place." He loved that it was time for him to do something rather than track other useless people down. Now he could do something that was more worth his time.
"The boy will be won over one way or another," he said confidently. Roman felt pretty sure that if Siobhan trusted him, Nikola would probably come around. Taking another sip of his scotch, he couldn't help but ask, "What are you planning on doing once they are all together," as he leaned back in his chair.
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Oct 25, 2011 23:35:08 GMT -5
"Perfect," said Walter, satisfied. He knew he could rely on Roman for help on this little project. Right now, he was focused on just getting all of them together again. There were still a few others that he had to track down, and when he had them, he could start to put his plans in motion. First, there would need to be some reconditioning, to make sure they were still loyal to him, and some retraining to make sure they were in the best possible shape. Still, he had every confidence in them.
To him, the biggest worry was Siobhan, and he had debating bringing her into this. Maybe it would be safer if she languished away in the psych ward, her mind wasting away. But he was curious to see if Nikola could influence her the other way... although, so far, it looked somewhat unlikely. Still, it was worth a try.
"I'll let you know about that later," he answered evasively. "I'm still tracking down a few more of the children. I have a lead on Josephine, actually... but her brother seems to have vanished."
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Post by Roman Lennox on Nov 20, 2011 15:22:52 GMT -5
Walter was always secretive when it came to his bigger plans. Sometimes Roman didn't know exactly what he was getting himself into. One day he might end up signing his own death, but he didn't think Walter would ever exactly kill him. After all, who else would really do Walter's dirty work?
Roman didn't ask twice what the big picture was. He would find out soon enough. "Well then. Looks like they're all slowly coming toward the same place on their own." He finished off his scotch. "The brother vanished, eh? I could see what sort of records I can come up with. No one just vanishes, unless of course they're dead already."
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Post by Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt on Nov 20, 2011 18:06:04 GMT -5
It was lucky for Roman that he was so useful to Walter. As it was, he already knew a little too much about Walter's business, and since he didn't really trust anyone, he didn't exactly trust Roman to keep things quiet. But Roman was good at what he did, and no one else was as capable of doing the things he needed done. If he ever stopped being useful, or if Walter got any hint that Roman might betray him, Walter would put an end to it very quickly.
"I suspect he left the country," Walter said. "I'm positive that he's gone into hiding on purpose... you can feel free to make some inquiries, if you want, but I'll keep looking as well. I will find him eventually, if I have to use Josephine as bait to lure him out of hiding."
He looked into his glass for a long, silent moment, as if the liquor inside held all the answers. He was definitely going to have to make sure all of the pieces were in place this time. His experiment last month had not gone well, and he'd lost a number of valuable "assets." There were two other sleepers in Azkaban besides Zane, and he would have to get them out as well. And the ones that were killed... He couldn't deny that the losses stung, and yet, it clearly meant that they were not strong enough.
"Keep me updated on Zane and on Siobhan and Nikola. I'll focus on Josephine and Kylie for now."
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