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Post by Jordanna on Nov 28, 2007 23:40:58 GMT -5
"But the Bat's people are all looking for Nate!" Handy pointed out. Nate nodded agreement--clearly not so much out of fear for his own safety as his reluctance to take part in the scheme on general principle.
Vance shrugged. "Foxy Malone's good with costumes. He should be able to come up with something."
He glanced at Cole. "Does this plan sound satisfactory to you, or are you going to keep arguing?"
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Post by skybright on Nov 28, 2007 23:49:02 GMT -5
Cole shook his head wearily. "No, no arguments. Not so long as Marla is going to stay out of harm's way, anyhow."
From her position by the door, Ana Cordova made a faint scoffing noise. "Ain't anybody in the world, mutant or human, who's ever really out of harm's way." She said. "Life is harm's way."
"And certain people forgetting that is what brought us to this point to begin with." Daws added.
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 29, 2007 22:52:42 GMT -5
"Mm-hmm." Vance turned a scathing glance upon Cole. "And that brings us to another point. We need an excuse for you to meet with Tiernan and admit to your supposed powers--without him suspecting that anyone knew his plans for your sister. And we don't have any good ideas about that yet."
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Post by skybright on Nov 29, 2007 23:10:07 GMT -5
Cole frowned thoughtfully for a long moment. "I . . . suppose I could try a version of the truth." He said hesitantly. "Tell him I had reason to believe he had Miss Dawson looking into my background . . . and that I wanted to reveal myself as a kind of show of good faith?"
"That's awful risky." Daws broke in with a scowl, "Particularly if it makes me look incompetent enough that you could catch me."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 29, 2007 23:25:21 GMT -5
Vance smiled slightly at Daws, then frowned. "Well, we have had to show you up plenty enough times before."
He considered for a moment. "Cole, you must know something about Tiernan's more run-of-the-mill political or business dealings--at least the supposed mutant-welfare stuff. If he has any situation coming up where knowing another party's mood might be useful to him, you could..." He shrugged. "Well, volunteer your services--much as it galls me to suggest it."
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Post by skybright on Nov 29, 2007 23:33:42 GMT -5
Cole shuddered slightly, but he nodded. "Tiernan's been spreading around his influence concerning the anti-discrimination policies I've been trying to get introduced." He said. "There's supposed to be a fairly important conference of industrialists and financiers coming up, to talk about what the new measures would mean. I suppose knowing who is and isn't going to play along might be something Tiernan would want to know."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 29, 2007 23:53:59 GMT -5
"Yeah, that's something." Vance nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if you're game for it, you can meet Tiernan and try to sell him our little lie by suggesting you'll help him that way. Just do your best not to make yourself actually useful. The whole idea is to make him think your powers are very limited--especially since we wouldn't want him to make a habit of using you for it."
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Post by skybright on Nov 29, 2007 23:56:32 GMT -5
"I wouldn't want to make a habit of being used." Cole murmured wryly. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "All right then. My first instinct is to call him right away . . but I suppose that would only serve to make him more suspicious."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 30, 2007 0:09:20 GMT -5
"Right. And I don't really expect Tiernan to try to move on anything tonight--he's not a man to rush things when he thinks all the pawns on the board are in his reach. Anyway, we have your sister's place covered, and we won't let anything happen to her if he does try it too soon."
He half-grinned wickedly at Nate. "And it'll give us time to arrange our little ploy for getting Miss Cole out of the way."
"If I'd imagined this, I would've stayed in a nice safe war zone," Nate deadpanned.
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Post by skybright on Nov 30, 2007 0:14:04 GMT -5
Cole chuckled almost in spite of himself. "You don't need to look so nervous. Marla is hardly that intimidating." He smiled, a bit sadly. "Just quiet and sweet and very shy."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 30, 2007 23:27:10 GMT -5
Nate ducked his head. "I didn't mean it like that, sir. I just meant this--uh, was not exactly the kind of jobs I had in mind when I invited myself in on this fight." At that, he glanced accusingly at his father, who grinned insolently.
Then Nate glanced back at Cole, and grinned feebly. "But I'll try not to spook your sister either, sir."
"Just don't let that specter of yours go wandering around loose in front of her," Handy put in.
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Post by skybright on Dec 1, 2007 1:49:31 GMT -5
Cole shook his head. "I don't think his mutation would bother Marla -- her physical mutation isn't exactly commonplace, after all." He sighed. "It's not what people can do that frightens her . . . just what they think."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 2, 2007 0:22:53 GMT -5
"What else is there in this world that's really worth fearing," Vance murmured. He sighed and frowned at Cole.
"As for the future, Cole--I'm rather inclined to cut you out of our operations. Frankly, what we've gotten out of it so far has been a lot more risk and trouble than useful intel."
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Post by skybright on Dec 2, 2007 14:42:47 GMT -5
Cole sighed and shook his head. "I won't deny that things have gone badly." He said, "And I regret that. I'm not sorry for protecting my sister, but . . . in retrospect, I would have done it differently."
He spread his hands. "I'm not willing to let Tiernan get away with his ugliness, Major. If that means I have to do it alone, then I will -- and something tells me you wouldn't stand for that."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 2, 2007 23:36:12 GMT -5
Vance shook his head, giving Cole a dubious look. "You're a problem."
Then he sighed and spread his hands. "If you get any more bright ideas, just make sure you run them by us. You can contact Miss Dawson for that. And you'd better not even think about doing anything on your own. In the meantime... we'll get this other problem sorted out the way we've discussed. When is that big industrialist meeting Tiernan's in on?"
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Post by skybright on Dec 2, 2007 23:44:46 GMT -5
"Monday evening." Cole replied.
"That gives us a few days to work in, if Tiernan doesn't make any moves." Daws noted.
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 2, 2007 23:52:51 GMT -5
"Mm-hmm." Vance looked at Cole. "You'll have to visit the Bat sometime before then with the proposition we've agreed on. I'll leave the exact time to you. We'll let you know when we've got things arranged for your sister's little out-of-town trip."
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Post by skybright on Dec 2, 2007 23:58:27 GMT -5
Cole nodded. "I'll see about meeting with Tiernan tomorrow evening -- tell him I've decided to offer him my services and wanted to do it before I could change my mind."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 3, 2007 0:08:20 GMT -5
Vance nodded. "I'm sure we can arrange to take Miss Cole out of the way in time for the weekend. Out of sight, out of mind--we hope."
"I just hope you find a nice place to park us," Nate muttered.
His father chuckled. "Sid Rosenstein has high-class connections. He oughta be able to get the use of somebody's summer house somewhere."
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Post by skybright on Dec 3, 2007 0:13:58 GMT -5
Daws grinned a bit wickedly. "Sure, sure. Maybe he could get you into that place in Connecticut we went to that time. 'Course that's where Alex and Miriam really realized they'd fallen for each other . . ."
Cole made an alarmed noise. "That train of thought is hardly the sort of thing I need to be picking up, Miss Dawson -- even though you do only mean it jokingly."
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