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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2007 0:58:59 GMT -5
On the Friday following the Spooks' employment interviews, Jerod Vance slipped into Our Lady in the late afternoon, and found Father Steele in his office.
"I need you to muster the troops, Pop," Vance said without preamble, as he strode into the office. "Handy and a few more of my boys'll be dropping in soon as it gets dark, in about an hour. My mole's picked up some information. It might or might not be urgent, but I think we all need to sit down and have a think over it."
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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2007 1:10:33 GMT -5
"Easily done, Boyo." Father Rick pushed aside the book he'd been looking through and immediately reached for the telephone.
He swiftly dialed a number and then, after a moment's pause, spoke into the receiver. "Justin? It's the Padre." A brief pause. "Oh, fine, fine. Listen, son, I've been thinkin' it'd be best if we mustered up another choir practice before Sunday. Say tonight, about an hour from now -- I know, short notice, but you know how these things are. Certainly. . . . You'll pass the word along, now? Good man. We'll see you then."
The same phone call was repeated a handful of times, and then Father Rick leaned back in his chair, chuckling. "There y'are, Boyo. So far as their families and anyone else knows, this parish has the best-rehearsed 'choir' in the whole diocese. Our only problem'll be if anyone ever gets to wondering why all that practice hasn't made better singers of 'em."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2007 1:17:28 GMT -5
Vance chuckled throatily. "I'm afraid I can't help you there, Padre. But I need the word to get to Regina, Casselton, and Sid and his little household too. I'd have called them myself, but I'm leery of having my voice caught on anybody's answering machines."
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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2007 1:34:34 GMT -5
Father Rick nodded in understanding and reached for the phone again. "I'll call Daws -- she can get ahold of the others all right -- and she ought to be back at the office at this time of day."
The priest went through the motions of dialing Daw's office number, and the line rang for only a moment before it was answered on the other end. "Grimalkin Investigations."
Father Rick grinned. "Daws, it's the Padre. You have time for a rehearsal tonight, in about an hour?"
Daws chuckled. "Oh, sure. Nothing serious, is it?"
"The Boyo's not sure as yet."
"Gotcha. Well, I'll call everyone in my little section and tell 'em to be there. See you in about an hour," her grin was almost audible, "And tell the 'Boyo' hello for me."
"Sure. Take care." Father Rick replaced the handset and pushed it away with a slight shrug, grinning. "She'll be here, with the rest of 'em. Said to tell you hello in the meantime."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2007 23:54:11 GMT -5
Vance chuckled. "Quite a gal. How did you first meet her, anyway?"
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2007 0:06:44 GMT -5
Father Rick leaned back in his chair. "Jack Knight -- her old partner -- brought her around the morning after she turned up on the doorstep of Grimalkin." He said, with a nostalgic grin.
"He had a good heart, Jack did, but he wasn't exactly a social worker; here he'd taken in this poor scared kid, and didn't have the faintest idea what to do next. Figured it takes a village -- or a parish -- to raise a child, I guess." Padre chuckled quietly. "That's a long time ago, now."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2007 0:17:01 GMT -5
Vance chuckled. "That's a guy I'd like to have known. So you knew Regina as a kid, eh? I bet that was real cute... What was she like as a newly-manifested adolescent?"
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2007 0:30:32 GMT -5
Father Rick smiled. "Quiet, if you can believe it of her -- at least for the first few months, while she was still getting the feel of things." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess her first few weeks, before she met up with Jack, were rough ones -- took her a while to feel like she'd be safe here, I guess. Once she got to feeling at home, though, she started opening up."
Then his grin widened, and he laughed. "And Lord help me, she was stubborn -- but that hasn't changed a bit. Jack tried a few times to get me to back him when they'd argue -- mostly over her goin' back to public high school. But it never worked . . . not when she'd dug her heels in." He rolled all four of his eyes. "Jack bein' such a soft touch didn't help much, I guess."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2007 0:50:39 GMT -5
Vance laughed. "That's our Regina, alright. But I know how it is. If you haven't got an understanding family or someone to turn to, you have to be stubborn to make it alone. I've heard the same story often enough from my people."
He smiled wincingly. "I won't include myself. My family did try. I was the one who had a problem with it."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2007 0:59:12 GMT -5
The priest smiled sympathetically. "Hindsight's twenty-twenty, Boyo." He chucked a thumb idly at the back of his head, "In some cases more literally than others. But I've seen myself you're doin' what you can to make good on that hindsight of yours."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2007 23:09:52 GMT -5
Vance's smile turned crooked. "I'm not that noble. The highest goal in my book is seeing Nick Tiernan dead, and his organization well enough smashed to keep anybody else from picking up where he leaves off. Anything else that comes outta my work is beside the point."
He said the words with a straight face, but somehow, he was not quite convincing.
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Post by skybright on Nov 20, 2007 2:10:40 GMT -5
"Whatever you say, Boyo." Father Rick spread his hands with a knowing chuckle. "How's that boy of yours getting along, by the way?"
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 20, 2007 22:00:51 GMT -5
"Still complaining about KP duty," Vance chuckled. "I'm still not convinced he knows his way around the mutant underground well enough to be let loose on his own."
The Major sighed and shook his head. "Until he dropped back into my lap, Nate was living as a normal person--he'd made a choice not to get involved in the side of the world that even average-citizen mutants know. He may have changed his mind, but he can't learn it all in a few weeks."
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Post by skybright on Nov 20, 2007 22:08:05 GMT -5
The Padre nodded sympathetically. "It's a world of its own, and no mistake about that." He mused, leaning back in his chair. "But Nate seems like a sharp boy -- he'll pick it up, all right."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 20, 2007 22:33:20 GMT -5
"I'd rather he'd stuck with his first choice," Vance murmured. "I never wanted him in this. I'd like nothing better than for him to forget he even has a mutation, and go live a normal life somewhere--but in his own quieter way, he's as stubborn as Regina." He smiled humorlessly. "Or me."
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Post by skybright on Nov 20, 2007 23:15:45 GMT -5
Father Rick chuckled gently. "I can't imagine a son of yours being anything but stubborn, Boyo. Any more than I could picture him walkin' away from fighting the good fight." He grinned ruefully. "Him takin' after you doesn't stop you worryin' over him, though."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 20, 2007 23:33:05 GMT -5
"You said it, Pop," Vance replied quietly.
They continued talking about inconsequential things for another half-hour, until Mike Whitebird stepped in to let them know that members of the "choir practice" had begun to trickle in. Then the priest and the Major moved to the basement where the group was gathering.
Vance's chosen agents arrived soon after, and the Major reached out and collared Handy as the smaller man reached the bottom step. "You dodge Nate alright?"
Handy gulped. "Uh, well--"
"I thought you must've told him to lose me," Nate's voice answered chidingly from the top of the stairs, as he followed four other representatives of Vance's contingent into the basement.
Vance looked at the Padre with a beleaguered sigh.
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Post by skybright on Nov 20, 2007 23:37:53 GMT -5
Father Rick just chuckled. "I see he gets his cunning from his old man, too." He remarked.
"That's it, then," Daws broke in with a crooked grin, appearing at the top of the staircase as Nate and the other men reached the bottom, "We're all done for."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 20, 2007 23:45:49 GMT -5
Vance grinned and fondly squeezed Daws' arm as she came down the steps. "I'll bet you weren't expecting to see me again so soon."
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Post by skybright on Nov 20, 2007 23:48:46 GMT -5
"No, I wasn't." Daws grinned and slipped her arm around Vance's waist, giving his ribs a quick squeeze. "I won't complain about it, though -- so long as it's nothing too serious."
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