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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 0:35:59 GMT -5
Huber glanced haughtily at Alex. "Under the circumstances, it would seem that the quality of the meals is rather the least of my concerns." He sniffed.
Daws rolled her eyes. "Oh, boy -- this'll be fun."
She nodded at Alex and Miriam. "You be careful, you two."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 0:42:41 GMT -5
Alex grinned. "See you later," he said, and he and Miriam left the motel room.
"Well..." Sid dropped himself on the bed that wasn't occupied by Huber. "Here we are. The four of us ta watch one little twerp. Unless anybody has a suggestion how ta spend the time, I think I'm gonna take a nap. We'll haveta take shifts watchin' him, anyway."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 0:49:51 GMT -5
Daws nodded and shrugged out of her trenchcoat, draping the garment across the back of one of the wooden chairs. "Might as well, Sid."
She retook her seat and raised an eyebrow at Huber, who had lapsed into a sullen silence. "So I'm curious -- what happened to that son of yours? The one who's a mutant?"
The scientist spoke without turning his head. "I don't make it a habit to discuss my familial affairs with . . . things."
Daws shrugged one shoulder. "Gimme a day or two, Huber. I can be awful charming when I wanna be -- you'll warm up."
She shot a quizzical glance at Vance. "What about it, Major? Y'got any intel on the kid?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 0:54:28 GMT -5
Vance shook his head. "No. Kinda worries me, too. He mighta just been packed off to an institution or something, but..." His gaze slid venomously toward Huber. "After listenin' to this guy, I wouldn't be surprised if he's dead. Maybe even used up like a lab rat."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 1:09:08 GMT -5
Huber shot Vance a glare of pure hatred. "You really have no idea of what you are, do you?" He shook his head and glanced away. "The way you proclaim a so-called right to continue threatening humanity.
"I would think that even the most unintelligent specimen," a significant glance at Handy, "Would still be capable of recognizing mutation for what it is -- a devastation. Even on the individual level -- are you really unable to see that mutation does nothing but destroy human lives?"
"Hey pal," Daws pushed her fedora back and leaned forward, glaring. "F'r your information, turning into a so-called abomination improved my life."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 1:19:56 GMT -5
"You're preachin' to the wrong choir, Huber," Vance said coolly. "Without mutation, Handy here woulda died before he was born. He was a Siamese twin gone wrong--complications woulda killed him if those mutant genes hadn't kicked in to help him live.
"As for me..." Vance shrugged. "My problems were of my own making. I only wish I'd realized sooner that what I can do is pretty darn useful--and if you don't shut up," he warned, his voice hardening, "I might demonstrate the point on your worthless carcass."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 1:27:00 GMT -5
Huber redirected his gaze to a spot on the peeling wallpaper. "I see no reason to continue this further, at any rate." He muttered. "Your kind are notoriously unwilling to listen to reason in these matters."
Daws gave a short, humorless laugh. "Vance, before this all is over, I may be sorry I didn't just let you have at it." She dug a cigarette out of her coat pocket and rooted about vainly for a match.
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 1:33:28 GMT -5
Vance shook his head. "I might wanna hurt him a little, but I'm not ready to kill him yet. Remember why we got ourselves stuck in this taffy pull in the first place."
He leaned closer to Daws, lowering his voice to prevent Huber from hearing. "You planning to get Cole in here to dig up the name of Huber's partner?"
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 1:44:46 GMT -5
Daws finally dug a match out from her coat pocket, and paused before striking it to reply to Vance's question.
"If I can get in touch with 'im, yeah -- and if he's willing to do it." She shrugged one shoulder. "If not, we'll just haveta think about some other method to get Huber to tell us."
Studiously refusing to ponder what that other method might entail, Daws held up the cigarette and raised an eyebrow. "Y'mind?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 1:49:43 GMT -5
Vance grinned and shook his head, taking a cigar from his own pocket. "Not at all. If we're lucky, it'll annoy Huber some more."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 1:55:50 GMT -5
"Filthy habit." The scientist muttered. "Not that I'm surprised."
Daws chuckled and lit up, blowing a smoke ring at the ceiling. "Just found myself a new reason to put off kickin' the habit." She said gleefully.
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 2:01:53 GMT -5
"My cigars are just for special occasions," Vance replied with a hard smile. "Like the successful capture of mad scientists."
He took a satisfied puff, then looked appraisingly at Daws. "So how'd you get mixed up in all this, anyway? I mean, I know you're a double agent--so to speak--but I'm missin' some backstory on how you wound up with the job. From what I've heard of your work before, I wouldn't have thought you were the type for crusades."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 2:23:44 GMT -5
Daws looked around (unsuccessfully) for an ashtray, then glanced appraisingly at the carpet and settled for flicking the ashes on the floor. She chuckled dryly.
"It started with Doctor Van Linden," she said -- but then she paused and shook her head.
"No. It started before that -- about four years ago. There was a guy -- Shultz was his name. I did a day's worth of bodyguarding for him." She stared at the lazy curl of her cigarette smoke.
"Regular stuff -- until about six months later, when they dredged him up outta a river in Indiana. Seems his past caught up with him -- and busted open all his internal organs by way of revenge."
She shrugged and took a long drag on the cigarette. "Always kinda rankled me, for some reason. So one day Van Linden showed up in my office, with a corpse that was dead in the same way as Shultz -- and she was convinced Nicholas Tiernan had done it. So I took the case."
She shot a glance at Sid, who was snoring lightly on the far bed. "Long story short, I got caught nosin' around in Nick Tiernan's business, and he offered to bring me in. Didn't wanna end up dead in a river myself -- and figured I could learn some useful things -- so I signed on."
She closed her eyes briefly. "Alex Malone hired me not very long after that, to see who was pressurin' Sid for protection. Tiernan, of course. Tiernan got wind of it, and wanted to know how I'd handle the 'conflict of interest.' "
The detective took another long drag on her cigarette and looked away. "You already know Sid's wife was killed by Tiernan. Well . . ." she swallowed painfully. "It was my fault. Tiernan did it to see how I'd react." Her gaze flicked back to her sleeping friend. "I dunno how much of that Sid knows."
She shrugged and glanced back at Vance. "I've toldja before that I don't take to folks hurting my people. Well, somewhere between when the Doc hired me and when Caroline Rosenstein died," she gestured at Sid, "These guys became my people."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 2:34:55 GMT -5
Vance nodded slowly, saying nothing for a long moment. At last he said quietly, "I appreciate the confidence, detective. I guess I owe you repayment in kind."
He took a long drag on his cigar, then leaned back in his chair and stared away at nothing.
"Tiernan killed my daughter," he said finally. "That wasn't his plan; he was aiming for me, but his goons fouled up for once. I turned the ones who set the car bomb into a coupla piles of ashes some time ago, but..." He chuckled humorlessly. "You know I'm a thorough guy. I won't be finished until I get the man who gave 'em their orders."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 2:40:59 GMT -5
Daws winced. "I'm sorry."
She glanced at Huber -- who was either asleep or pretending to be -- and added quietly "Considerin' that, I'm surprised you've gone as easy on Huber as ya have." She blew another smoke ring and studied it meditatively.
"I'll never understand people who throw away somethin' as irreplaceable as their family."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 2:50:47 GMT -5
"I did exactly that after I was drummed outta the Service," Vance murmured, his voice suddenly laced with self-directed bitterness. "I couldn't handle civilian life, especially with... well, what I was, and how it happened. So I took it out on my family. My wife left, and my son joined the Army. The only one who stuck with me was Deanna--and I didn't appreciate her for it."
He sighed and shook his head. "Tiernan robbed me of the chance to make it up to her. He's gonna pay for that."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 2:55:15 GMT -5
Daws glanced sideways at Vance. "I don't doubt that a bit," she said. Then she tipped her head.
"Y'know, I get paid t'be nosy and shell out unwanted advice, so take this how ya will. But . . ." She shrugged one shoulder. "You still got one child left, don't you?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 3:00:55 GMT -5
"Nathan's in Iraq now," Vance replied. "I tried writing to him once. He never wrote back. He took it pretty hard--the fact that I wasn't proud of him for following in my footsteps." Vance gave a futile shrug. "I didn't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to him."
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Post by skybright on Jun 27, 2006 3:06:20 GMT -5
Daws gave Vance a wry half-smile. "Sounds to me like ya were just trying to protect 'im."
She shrugged and glanced away. "Don't give it up, Vance. It's hard enough rebuildin' a bridge after you've burned it. But it only gets harder once you've walked away from the ashes."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 27, 2006 3:12:53 GMT -5
"Maybe so." Vance looked away. "But as things stand now, the way to protect him might be to keep him away. This fight of ours is only gonna get uglier before it's over. I don't want him involved."
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