no one else was in the room where it happened Who: Bishop Coldiron and Nina Clarke, with appearances from Isaac Callahan and Demi Rafferty. Where: The Bar What: Bishop and Nina meet so Bishop can pass off the information that Addie left for Nina. When: May 7th, 2019 - Morning
Two Lawyers and a Hellhound walk into a room Diametric'ly opposed, foes They emerge with a compromise, having opened doors that were
They'd arranged to meet at The Bar early that morning, leaving plenty of time before Nina needed to report back to the Department of Justice for work. She'd have to speak with Isaac before leaving, too, to thank him for his generosity; Nina knew how much he despised the Hellhounds, and she knew just as well how he hadn't needed to offer his home as a place for her and Bishop to meet. Even if he'd pushed back on it, though, she would've pushed harder.
These documents had been a long time coming, after all.
She was waiting for Bishop at a table when the door creaked open, announcing the man's presence. The two of them hadn't gotten off on the best start when they'd met in La Quinta, though Nina couldn't blame him; the setting hadn't been very conducive for friendliness. The mere fact that it was Bishop Coldiron that she was meeting, though, instead of James Hawkins or his sister, smarted. It meant that her loyalties had gone beyond people from her past -- that she was now fully allying herself with those who had done nothing but seek to burn down her hometown.
Nina smothered a sigh as she stood to meet the man who now led the Hellhounds. "Good morning," she said as he approached, holding a hand out to shake his.
The new patch sitting where his Chaplain patch had once been on his cut still felt awkward, or like a new pair of shoes you were still trying to break in. Eventually Bishop knew he would settle into the role, would feel less like an imposter and more like the man charged with leading the Hellhounds. Acts like this, bringing the carefully gathered information to Nina Clarke, it helped to cement his new role. He hadn’t even broken the seal on the envelope, respecting the fact that this information was not for him.
Maybe someone else might have said to hell with it and opened it. But Bishop knew how important it was to remain on Ms. Clarke’s good side. After all, it wasn’t like their last meeting had been of the friendly variety. For that same reason Bishop had come with only a couple of other patches, both charged with remaining outside with the bikes. Demi’s guy wasn’t a fan of Hellhounds in the first place, so the sheer fact that he was being allowed to set foot in the bar also was not lost on Bishop.
With the envelope tucked under his arm, Bishop strode into the bar, serious gaze settling on Nina as he approached her and upon reaching her took hold of her outstretched hand and gave it a shake. “Morning,” he stopped himself short before adding his usual “darlin’”, aware that the woman standing before him may not find it as charming as most did. “You’ve been waiting long enough for this information, I’m guessing you ain’t itching to wait much longer for it,” Bishop continued as he released her hand and took a seat at the table nearby. “So here it is.” He laid the envelope on the table and pushed it towards Nina.
She appreciated the lack of preamble or the assumption that he'd be entitled to find out just what, exactly, was in the folder. Nina was of a mind to share it with him once she verified its contents, of course, supposing he ought to know what he was now taking ownership of, but there were other things to sort out, first: the notes that had been left along with the envelope when the Hawkins clan had made their leave.
"Thank you for bringing this," Nina said once she was seated across from him, reaching to pull it closer so she could examine James' letter. To her surprise, his familiar handwriting was like a punch to the stomach, a real sign that he was gone. They both were, him and Adelaide, and for a moment she felt that unmoored, uncertain feeling shake her once more. She'd spent so much time over the last year defined in the context of the Dog King's lawyer, the woman whose ties to both James and Adelaide meant she couldn't be trusted. Once she'd chosen to ally with them, she'd become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, a lawyer who supported a flagrant disrespect for the law. Though she doubted this would cease now that he was gone, the difference felt significant to her.
Nina pressed her lips together as she skimmed the letter's contents, noting the penmanship. "This doesn't seem inauthentic," she said finally, her eyes lifting to meet Bishop's as she realized that -- of course -- there were two of them at the table who were feeling adrift. "If it'd been written under pressure… You'd be able to tell."
It wasn’t his place to even begin to try and figure out what might have been running through Nina’s mind as she examined the letter. Just as Bishop had, he knew she had also placed her loyalties in some form with Rodeo and by extension his sister. So to be left like this to pick up the pieces of a mess neither had been the driving force behind (though Bishop was aware blame laid with him far more than it ever would the lawyer seated across from him), he could only imagine the sort of feelings that might evoke. Especially for someone who had quite literally risked her very reputation in supporting Rodeo.
“I agree,” Bishop finally replied, arms crossed over his chest as he held Nina’s gaze. “There ain’t a single doubt in my mind that the choice to leave was his and his alone.” He didn’t bother to hide the bitter note his voice held, there wasn’t much point. Bishop and the remaining officers had been left to sort out a mess they were only partially responsible in making, and he wasn’t alone in wondering if any thing they had done to create this chaos in Austin had truly been worth it?
She took a deep breath, willing herself to be more detached, less emotional, and set the letter aside. "You must be wondering what's in this envelope, aren't you?"
He gave a nod at her final question, blue eyes flicking down to look at the envelope again before coming back to settle on Nina. “I am,” Bishop answered simply. “But I ain’t expecting you to share it with me unless you want to.”
"I appreciate the consideration." A hint of an amused smile flickered on her face for a moment before she reached to break the envelope's seal and the expression disappeared. A couple of papers and a cassette tape slid out onto the table and she frowned, looking at the last item. "What a relic," she said, reaching to display the label: 10/7/18 Cptl. "Recently recorded, though." This she hadn't expected, but the rest of it -- quickly spread out before them -- she'd been looking for. A map of Austin, marked with blood and intermittent Xes, a wrinkled bottle label, an old Capitol ID marked with a name she didn't recognize.
None of these were things Bishop had seen before, but as each officer was prone to finding out, their former leader had often only shared pertinent information and kept some things close to his chest. Would he have liked to come into this meeting a little bit more in the know? Sure. But there wasn’t a single point in dwelling on that fact, on focusing on a thing he couldn’t change now. “Think they've got a cassette player in this place?” Bishop asked with a hint of a grin, knowing the likely answer was ‘no’, but asking anyway. After all Demi and her guy, the former deputy commissioner, could surprise them.
"I'll have to ask," Nina replied with a slight uptick of her mouth, glancing at the old jukebox in the corner. "Pity he didn't record it on a 45." Her gaze drifted again as she turned her head to look at the time before redirecting it back at Bishop. "The rest is evidence that the Prax came from outside the city limits. This bottle, specifically, was produced in Illinois, in November 2016."
“Yeah,” Bishop began with an nod. “Most of us who’d been with Rodeo since the day he found the Prax knew it ain’t being produced in the city, also knew the dates on those bottles. But that’s ‘bout all we knew, I can’t say any of us were real detail oriented at the time,” he paused. “Which means I ain’t got any information that’ll shine a light on any of that stuff.” Bishop waved a hand towards the table. “Wish I did, though.”
"Me, too." It was enough to raise questions about just what Olinger was up to, and who he was working with. Nina supposed there was a possibility that the documents and labels had been forged, but she wasn't yet ready to embark on a conspiracy theory. "This all raises more questions than answers, but that's always the risk with this kind of thing. It's getting a little late, though, and I'd better get back to the Capitol before I have to clock in." She extended her hand to Bishop, sure this wouldn't be the last time they'd have to meet and collaborate like this. "Thank you again for bringing this my way. I'll let you know if more comes of it all."
Not at all itching to linger now that his business with Nina had been taken care of, Bishop took her extended hand and gave it a shake. “Have a safe trip back to the Capitol,” he replied genuinely, and as he released her hand Bishop stood up and added. “You’re welcome, Ms. Clarke, and I’d very much appreciate being kept in the loop if you figure anything else out.” And with that he offered one final smile -- small as it might have been -- before taking his leave, exiting the Bar without another word.
She watched him go before she half-turned in her seat, looking through the almost-empty room for the man who'd unexpectedly become one of her closest confidantes. "Isaac?" she called out, knowing he was out there but unable to spot him easily; she'd left the lights off intentionally. "You want to take a look at these before I go back?"
“I’ll look over them after you’re gone. I have nothing but free time these days,” he said, emerging from the kitchen with two glasses with about a finger of whiskey in each, and he held one out to Nina. “Drink for the road? Seems like whatever is in these files might inspire drinking,” he said grimly. The world must be upside down if he was looking to the Hellhounds for answers.
It was early still, early enough for her to still be on time for work if she left within the next fifteen minutes. Nina didn't hesitate before she took the glass, though; the thought of there being another world outside Austin was entirely unsettling. The Bar was within walking distance from the Capitol, anyway.
Voices carried easily in The Bar and while Demi might have been upstairs (working on a puzzle), she couldn’t help the way her ears perked up when it was obvious the conversation had shifted from Nina and Bishop to Nina and Isaac. Curiosity had her eavesdropping, but not interrupting -- not yet anyway, especially not when she heard Nina begin to speak again.
"You don't know the half of it," Nina said, once she'd taken a healthy sip. "I don't even know where to begin. We better get ourselves a cassette player, though, see if we can listen in on this tape."
Isaac exhaled out a laugh and shook his head incredulously. “Cassette players, honestly. I thought these got left in the ‘90s where they belonged,” he said, sipping at his drink. “I’ll keep my eyes open for one next time I go out, though. Even if it is ridiculous.”
"Maybe that's why he used it, because the technology was so out of date." She paused, swirling the liquid around in her glass, then added, "I'm sure I can find one around the Capitol, somewhere. Maybe even in our department. I'll sniff around, if I can, and let you know." Another sip, then, her gaze tight on his: "Just to prepare you, I'm about 98% certain all these documents indicate that we aren't as alone in the world as we may think."
“Always knew there had to be aliens,” Isaac deadpanned before lifting his glass and draining what was in it, the burn of the liquid harsher than ever. “Guess we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it though, huh?”
"I guess so." Nina took one last sip, not quite draining the glass -- work may have been a farce, but she still had to keep up appearances -- before she set it back down on the table and stood up. For a moment, she almost felt as though she were truly leaving the weight of the parcel's contents behind. What a pipe dream.
“What bridge are we getting to now?” Demi had unconsciously (or maybe very consciously and she wasn’t willing to admit it.) shifted from her spot at a table upstairs, to the top of the stairs, and then had given up all pretense of wanting to give them their space to talk and had walked the final five stairs, catching the tail end of their conversation just as it was winding to a close.
A look of exasperation flashed across Nina's face, even as she turned to meet her friend. Really, she should have expected the eavesdropping or the fact that Demi would find this out sooner rather than later, especially considering where and with whom she was leaving the documents.
“And do not tell me you were thinking of leaving without at least giving me a chance to give you a hug.” Demi added, fixing a pointed look on Nina, before she flashed a look in Isaac’s direction like “You were just going to let her leave?”
"I do have a job to get to." It was a drier remark than Nina's usual, but she pulled Demi into a hug all the same and took a deep breath, steeling herself for her return to the Capitol. Then, to Isaac: "You let me know what you make of all that once you get a chance. Thanks again." She gave them both one last smile, then turned to leave.