Deadmen Tell No Tales {Trevor}

[Teague MacTáil]

September 29, 2011
11:30am – Follows Immediately After Found

---

The side of his head where that half-breed fugitive had clocked him earlier had finally stopped bleeding. Unfortunately the pounding headache was still there and was currently being amplified by the fact that he was in the owlery, bent over a table, scribbling out a hastily written note. It was short and to the point and should get the man here hopefully, fairly quickly.

Something urgent has come up. Yer office, soon as you can.
~TM

He quickly tied the small note to the leg of his Northern Hawk Owl, before sending it off with a sigh. The tracker was not looking forward to this meeting at all, mostly impart to the fact that he had no idea how Trevor would take this tid-bit of news. It wasn't like the dead made a habit of coming back to life. Teague slowly made his way back toward the floor where Trevor and Sienna kept their offices. Thankfully since it was a Saturday, not many people other than a few Imperium Guards were around, which meant he didn’t have to deal with the usually staffers that tended to impede his progress whenever he needed to see Trev, not that he ever really followed protocol anyway.

Teague stopped in front of the man’s office after checking to see if Sienna was in (which she wasn’t, surprise, surprise) and rapped on the door, not really expecting to get an answer. It was Saturday after all. When no one appeared to be around he tried the lock anyway on the off chance it was open. When that didn’t work, the tracker moved over to a section of chairs that lined the far wall and flopped down gracelessly into one. They weren’t the most comfortable things in the world but Teague was past caring. He let out a soft sigh and let his eyes slide shut. Who knew how long the wait would be. Trevor might be busy or engaged in some business or another and could be anywhere from a few minutes away to a few hours. Either way, the tracker was determined to at least catch a few minutes of piece and quiet before all the fun would begin.

[Trevor Williams]

Something urgent has come up. Yer office, soon as you can.
~TM

Well, it was a good thing it was a Thursday and he was in his office. Trevor chuckled lightly to himself as he crumpled up the small piece of paper and tossed it in the trash can before giving the owl a treat, which it proceeded to eat while watching him from the resting perch provided near one of the windows in his office. The tracker must have lost track of his days during his pursuits doing who knew what. The only mission he had him pegged on was keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any news of Darque. Had he found out something pertinent? He supposed he would find out soon enough. That decided, he went back to his paperwork.

Currently, someone was proposing stricter laws regarding slavery and slave trade. Trevor was tired of the rigamarole surrounding that since, personally, he could care less about slavery. He had merely implemented the law in the first place due to the more well known Death Eater stances. He hadn't wanted interior turmoil from the beginning. Now, he wasn't sure how changing things would go over. The most he was even thinking he could get away with was simply changing things to where they had to find homes in another wizarding community in another country if they were of less than half-blood decent.

But anyway, the law had its merits. Slave trade had been going on illegally, and they did need to crack down on it. Once they freed Maeve, they would have grounds to do so. It would stir up a public frenzy, and steps could be taken one way or another regarding slavery to appease the public. No one could fault him if he did anything about it then. He just hoped they could find Maeve soon. Following Lionel Blake's untimely death, their only ties to the slave trading ring Maeve had been abolished, and they had all been forced back to square one. He was certain that by now she was likely sold, which would make it even harder. Slave trading rings weren't always good about registering their slaves, and even if they did, it was unlikely they would use real names. All in all, it was frustrating.

Trevor sighed heavily as he ran a hand through his hair only to hear the sound of bells. That would be Teague. The bell sound was a charm used when Sienna was out of the office so he would know when someone was present in the outer office. He sighed again and set his quill, which he'd been using to make changes to the proposal, down on the paper. Then, he pushed back his chair and stood, walking over towards the door into his office. Once he opened it, he poked his head out. "Teague, come on in," he said before beginning to head back towards his desk. He figured Teague knew by now he could sit without an invitation, so he didn't bother.

[Teague MacTáil]

He cracked an eye as the sound of a voice penetrated his foggy sleep filled thoughts and it took him a minute to register that it was actually Trevor, that the voice belonged too. What the hell was the man doing in his office now? He let out a small groan, realizing he must have his days mixed up. That did it, as soon as this meeting was over he was going home to sleep for a week. Well at least with Trevor being here already, it meant he wouldn’t be kept waiting. Slowly he got to his feet, the pounding in his head having marginally subsided, and stretched out before making his way into Trev’s office and dropping tiredly into the empty chair. This was not going to be fun at all, there was no way Trevor was going to take the news Winslow was alive well.

He rubbed his temples tiredly and let out a soft sigh before fixing his gaze on the man now sitting across from him and tried to formulate the best way to go about this. Maybe he should have had the man meet him somewhere else, like a pub. After a minute or two the tracker realized he was stalling. Bloody hell, snap outta it ya idiot, he thought to himself. Best get straight to it and get it over with, quick and hopefully painlessly.

”So, ya want the bad news first? Or the really bad news? I’m kinda thinking you aren’t going to like either though…”

{sorry it's short... muse kinda sputtered out on me toward the end}

[Trevor Williams]

Once seated, Trevor was able to observe Teague's demeanor. Frankly, it was disturbing. He had never seen the man like this. No, dropping tiredly into a chair wasn't quite unheard of. The tracker was known to take long hours at times doing his job if things were particularly going well, but the rubbing of his temples and the sigh were odd as was the fact he was looking at him and not quite yet saying anything. It was like he was about to tell him he'd done something unforgivable. "Teague, mate," Trevor said. "What is it? You and Sienna do something or something? You join the Order? Find a higher bidder? Take Darque's side?" he joked half-heartedly in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. He knew it wasn't any of that, but whatever it was was bad, and he was running out of ideas.

"So, ya want the bad news first? or the really bad news? I'm kinda thinking you aren't going to like either, though...."

That as the first statement made Trevor feel even more uncomfortable about the situation. Usually, his friend didn't beat around the bush like this. Usually, he was very direct. "Teague, mate, just out with it, ok?" he said, an uncharacteristic apprehension lacing his tone. Whatever this was was bad. Worse than him cheating with Sienna could ever be in the grand scheme of things, worse than another paper forgery being discovered without leads, worse than him telling him a slave ring had been discovered, worse than.... Was it his children? Had they been hurt? Had Katya fallen off a broom during Quidditch practice? Had she been trying her hand at the Wronski feint and had something go horribly wrong? Had Layla blown up the potions lab and he now had angry parents of dead or seriously injured children to deal with as well as a child to bury? Or what?

[Teague MacTáil]

”Teague, mate, just out with it, ok?”

The tracker nodded. Out with it was right. Seriously, it wasn’t like he’d done anything truly horrible aside from let Winslow escape with his mark after that bastard he was supposed to call a partner up and ditched. ”I botched a job…” he started, still trying to figure out how he wanted to tell Trevor. He had screwed that Ministry job up pretty good, that much was true and he was pretty sure at least a few muggles caught a glimpse of some of the mini duel that had happened, if one could even call what had happened a mini duel. Eventually he decided straight to the point as per usual would be the best way to go. ”Yer guy McCaualy went awol on me during what should have been a routine track and retrieve mission… we found the girl, Ministry accused her of murdering her master and had her, up until we found out the hard way that she was part Veela. I mean it was the only explanation for what happened, and then things went south. She ran to the muggle world, I perused expecting McCaualy with me. Caught her in an ally and everything was fine up until…”

He paused, momentarily and let out a frustrated sigh before locking gazes with Trevor. ”Casey Winslow crashed the party Trev. I didn’t realize it was him until it was far too late to change tactics. I thought he was just some regular Order member that stumbled onto us and I was fighting to apprehend not kill… figured if I could take ‘em alive we could question him. I swear if I had known it was Winslow I would have done things different… put up an anti-apperation spell or something… but by the time I clued in he had already grabbed my mark and apperated. I think a few muggles saw the light show but I’m not sure and that ass-hole supposed partner I was paired with disappeared.”

For a day that had started out so promising it was sure turning into an outright disaster in the trackers mind. Teague slouched further into his chair, not really sure what to expect, though a good chewing out was probably in order. Bloody hell, this would be so much easier if his head would just stop ringing.

[Trevor Williams]

Trevor sat a little forward as Teague stated he'd botched up a job as though it would make him understand better. The deeper Teague got into his story, the more Trevor didn't like it. They'd gone into the muggle world? Well, he was certain the obliviators had already picked up on it and were doing their job if any muggles had been present, but still. He had no idea what the person Teague and McCaulay had been after was guilty of, but seriously, she had better be some major target for them--or rather, just Teague from the sound of it--to have chased her into the muggle world.

Then came that blasted name that never seemed to go away no matter what he did. Casey Winslow. Trevor sat even further forward and was leaning against his desk now. Casey Winslow had shown up to the party and Teague had let him get away. It didn't matter that it didn't make sense that the man was still alive. It just mattered he was alive. Winslow was a pest that needed to finally be exterminated. He had no idea how he had survived the last time. He'd watched the killing curse hit him. He'd watched him drop to the ground, dead. No, he hadn't felt his pulse, but he hadn't believed it necessary. Apparently it had been.

Trevor didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

This whole thing was surreal. It had to be a prank. Winslow was dead. He knew it. Trevor let out a nervous laugh. "Alright, Teague. You got me. Good one. Now, seriously, what was this veela girl guilty of?"

[Teague MacTáil]

If he had been in a better mood, Teague was certain he would have laughed right along with Trevor as the man proclaimed this to be some great joke and deflected the conversation back toward the escaped slave. If only! ”Escaped slave, murdered her master, stole a wand which I now have… I should have just let her go but…” Teague groaned and sat up, leaning forward to fix Trevor with a level glare. ”But I ain’t kidding about Winslow Trev. He’s walkin, talkin, and breathin, same as me and you. Last I checked that meant you were alive and well. Voldemort taught you some kinda mind trick right? You can wander through people’s minds and stuff? Take a look if you don’t believe me.”

Yes he was fully aware of what he had just offered, but in truth it bothered him less than using a pensive. The whole idea of putting a memory out on display for anyone to potentially stumble upon did not sit well with the tracker. Neither did the idea of having someone traipse around in his head, but considering the circumstances he figured this would be the lesser of evils. At least if you were going to mess around in someone’s head you’d have to work for it.

He continued to hold Trevor’s gaze. The guy had to realize he was being serious right? Sure he had a tendency to goof off and come off as a lazy ass most of the time, but he figured Trev knew that was not always the case. Teague leaned fare enough forward so he could place his elbow on the desk and prop his head up with said hand and let out a weary sigh ”He’s alive Trev…”

[Trevor Williams]

"....I should have just let her go, but.... But I ain't kidding about Winslow, Trev. He's walkin', talkin', and breathin', same as me and you....Take a look if you don't believe me. He's alive, Trev...."

Trevor shook his head, obviously in denial. "No.... There's no way, Teague! He's dead. Someone...someone's just trying to mess with me. I should have taken his body so they couldn't have it. There's just someone trying to get revenge or something. That's all it is--all it possibly could be. They knew they had to wait for a moment where Winslow would risk revealing himself, that's all. I don't need to look to know that." He smiled--barely. It was more of a brief upward twitch of the corners of his lips that screamed apprehension. "That's all it is, Teague. Really.... But don't feel bad. Anyone would've fallen for it. Very tricky.... Heh."

Trevor's leg was shaking, a surefire sign that he was nervous, though it barely was enough to show any evidence of the tremor in his upper body, which was still firmly planted with his arms on the desk. Seriously, Winslow couldn't be alive. It was just a polyjuice. The Order had shaved Casey's dead head, knowing the Winslow man was a surefire way to get to him, and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to introduce this Winslow imposter. Everyone knew that the dogooder Winslow had a penchant for saving people. He'd saved Evie time and time again, after all, and who knew who else he might have saved over time. That was all it was. Just a wannabe, just an imposter. Winslow was dead. He had to be. No one could survive a killing curse twice in his life.

[Teague MacTáil]

"No.... There's no way, Teague! He's dead. Someone...someone's just trying to mess with me… That's all it is, Teague. Really.... But don't feel bad. Anyone would've fallen for it. Very tricky.... Heh…

The man was in denial… great. To make matters worse, Teague wasn’t sure what he could do to convince the man otherwise and was growing more frustrated with each minute. Sure Trev was right in that it could be possible for someone to be playing them, waiting for the right time to have someone send in a look-a-like, but the trackers intuition was telling him otherwise and if anything, Teague had learned long ago to trust his intuition on matters like this. Things just weren’t adding up. There was no way the Order would have know he was out tracking an escaped slave. No way they could have known the chase would take him through Diagon Alley let alone the muggle world… hell, he hadn’t even known he was going to end up there.

”Trevor, listen to yourself mate. I mean sure, it’s possible I was played but things just aren’t adding up. Hell I didn’t know I was going to end up in the muggle world so how would anyone else? It was pure dumb luck that Winslow even knew what I was about and the only thing that might have tipped him off was when I damn near ran over some old lady when I crossed through the barrier… but even then, if it was planed then whoever it was would have had to be in on it right from the start…” Teague looked up again at his friend and the man’s posture was enough to let the tracker know Trevor was nervous. ”My intuition is telling me that Winslow was the real deal… just the way he acted, and he was trying real hard not to give himself away. It was only when the girl asked his name and he thought I was distracted by his damn spell that he told her and I almost didn’t believe it either.”

The tracker absently fiddled with the cuff of his jacket. He didn’t want Winslow around anymore than Trevor did that was for sure. That man had a certain knack for interfering in jobs he had no business sticking his nose into. He also knew Trevor and Casey had a history… He didn’t know the exact details but he knew enough to piece most of it together.

[Trevor Williams]

Trevor didn't want to listen as Teague went on to explain why he thought it was the real Casey Winslow. How many times did he have to kill the idiot? Twice so far. Would the third time be the charm for him or would it take nine tries like Voldemort? Thankfully, he doubted the reason Winslow was still alive had anything to do with horcruxes, but it was frustrating all the same. Why couldn't the man just die already? He had no family now to think about--at least not a wife and children, and weren't all his other family members dead or captured and not that close to him? Couldn't he just give up already? Decide he has no reason to live? But no. Of course not. Nothing was that easy. The will to live was too strong with this one.

"Will he just die already?" Trevor mused aloud. "Honestly, I watched him fall to the ground after I sent the spell at him! It hit him! It had to have. There's no way it didn't. And there's no way that was a decoy. They didn't know we were coming, and besides that, Winslow likes to do his own fighting--add to his battle wound collection." Consumed by frustration, Trevor picked up his paperweight and threw it away from them. It landed several feet away with a satisfying clatter.

((This post brought to you by The Real Slim Shady and The Bad Touch. Trevor muse is odd, yes? =p))

[Teague MacTáil]

The tracker could understand his friends frustration to a point, granted he’d never been in a position where and enemy of his just would not die… but still, he figured it was similar to a mark that was ridiculously elusive. When the man grabbed his paperweight and threw it across the room, Teague’s eyes followed its trajectory and when it finally rolled to a stop after hitting the ground the tracker was hard pressed no to laugh at the unfairness of it all. Maybe they were over-reacting… then again maybe not. Why couldn’t people just stay dead? Was that really too much to ask?

Teague listened as Trevor began to let his frustration show. ”So what now? Obviously having Winslow around isn’t going to do us any good… Do we figure out where he’s holing up and take him out for good?” Obviously those probably weren’t questions Trevor wanted asked at the moment but, the tracker was feeling a little lost at the moment. He hunkered down further in his chair in hopes of not drawing his friend’s ire and more than he already had.

{And that’s why we love him right <3 sorry for the short post put Teague’s being a right real pratt}

[Trevor Williams]

Trevor nodded at Teague's final question. "That would be ideal," he replied, "but I can almost guarantee the man's still at the Order safe house, and we don't have a single mole in it right now. So, that's out of the question. And I really doubt the man simply waltzes around most days of his life--at least not so close to our limits. But I do almost guarantee the man hasn't left the Order. He's got too much of a savior complex. He'll want to make a difference, and he'll do his best to whip them into shape."

Like that would ever happen. The last he'd seen of the Order was when their new leader had been taken and was about to be killed. But even then they hadn't done much damage. They'd gotten their leader and some other prisoner out of Azkaban, but as far as what they'd done in public? Not much. Not impressive in the least. And then the train fiasco was probably caused by them, but what had that even been meant to do? Their message wasn't even effective. This group lacked the touch the former Order had. They lacked the will. They lacked drive. Winslow would realize this soon enough, however, and that was what they would have to wait for if he didn't show his face again in London before then.

"But of course, he's going to eventually realize what we have about the useless group and go off on his own. Whether he'll choose to form his own or simply find and go after me, I don't know, but that's what we'll be waiting for. That's what we'll be keeping our eyes and ears out for. We need to plant people in each business in Muggle London. We need to have our eyes and ears out--not just for Winslow but also for any potential SAVIOR members. We have got to narrow down our Undesirable list."

[Teague MacTáil]

He reached up and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to get rid of his built up nervous frustration, not that it helped one bit, so he settled for taking a deep breath and slouched further into his chair. Teague nodded in agreement to Trevor’s guess that the man was still part of the Order. Of course he was, the man had stated he was an Order member once he entered the alley… unless of course the man had been lying, but from everything Teague knew about the guy and his hero complex, he figured that lying was out of the equation.

”We’ll just have to be sure to get him before he can get to you. I know a few places in the area we were in that would be good for some eyes and ears to be if you think he’d show his face there again. But I agree we need to crack down on SAVIOR. Maybe we can lure them out or something… just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do my damnedest to get it done Trev.” Teague wasn’t joking either and he was pretty sure Trevor knew that. He may come off as an incompetent idiot in most people’s eyes but that couldn’t be farther from the truth; he could be serious if the situation called for it and he could be and even though he didn’t show it often he could be downright protective of those he considered friends or family.

[Trevor Williams]

Trevor seemed to contemplate Teague's offer as he stated he knew some good places to station some eyes and ears. It was good Teague had resources, but he seriously doubted Casey would be showing his face again in that general area--at least, not for a while. No, he was too smart for that. Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to utilize his resources. After a while, Casey would figure he'd not be looked for so much in that area and might return there. On the off chance that would happen again, he'd have to make use of this even though he was certain the people would be bored off their rockers.

At least Teague was thinking and resourceful. It was much better than some of the talks he'd had with an Imperial Idiot following some botched search and detain effort. He had brains. He actually gave a damn, too. When Teague came to a closing, Trevor sighed and sat back to think a moment. "Use your eyes and ears," he stated, his blue eyes training back on Teague. "I doubt Winslow will go back there anytime soon if ever, but on the off chance he does, we need to have people on the look out. But honestly, the man's got to be under some stress right now. Julian's missing, after all. Took him a couple weeks ago. The man will crack soon enough."

Trevor sighed again. "And as for what I need you to do right now? I think that's something I need to think on. This is a lot happening out of the blue and from a man I thought I killed at that."

[Teague MacTáil]

Yea it was a lot to take in, Teague could understand that and he hadn’t really expected Trevor to know what to do about it this instant. He nodded in agreement when the man said he doubted Winslow would make an appearance in the same location again. That was also likely but still, some eyes were better than no eyes at all, even if those eyes saw nothing. But that still left them in the proverbial dark. The man was back, Teague had no doubt about that, but how to get him out in the open. A raised brow was the only indication the tracker gave to his thoughts when Trevor stated he had snagged the man’s son. When the hell had that happened?

”How’d ya manage to get his kid? Wasn’t he supposed to be holed up at the safe house?” It was a legit question since he was pretty sure his friend hadn’t just sauntered up to said safe house and grabbed the kid. If he had, Teague figured there would be no safe house left standing. No, Julian had to have been away from everyone for some reason. ”You going to use the kid as bait then to draw Winslow out then?” Now he was curious. What did Trev have planned? Keep him? For some reason the tracker found that thought highly amusing and he smirked to himself.