Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me Come In (Hunting For Alex)

[emotioneater]

I. Not By The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin (OTA)

Well, this had just been a peachy month for Cooper. Things just seemed to be falling apart in Islington, from the new leader's manic laws to the Southwark claim failing spectacularly. (He was still going to be blaming that one on Jean-Claude.) Now his home was in the territory of a bunch of lousy witches. His personal life wasn't much better, but the last thing Cooper wanted to do was think about that. What he had spent a lot of time thinking about, as his injuries had mended, was his failure in bringing in Alex. The little werewolf had bungled things up awful good, not just for her pack, but for everyone in general.

The reward money didn't interest him. He was old enough to have plenty of that stored about. This was more personal. His pride had been hurt in letting some little nothing of a wolf take him down. So Cooper, usually so rash to act, uncharacteristically decided to take things slow. He sent out the word among his allies that he was looking for a certain young werewolf. He knew there was going to be at least a few interested parties, so he made it known that he would be at The Three Cripples. He waited there now, ready to follow any rumor or lead that happened to cross his path.

II. Then I'll Huff and I'll Puff... (Closed to Natasha)

Chasing down people who might have seen or known something had been a fruitless and frustrating search thus far. Natasha hadn't been at the top of the list that people would turn to. It seemed like she had taken a different route when it came to the squabbles that tended to make up the ever-lasting conflict between vampires and werewolves in the city. Then it occurred to Cooper, that reason right there might mean she knew something he didn't. Having an outsider's perspective was just what he needed.

So he'd headed for the Redbright Institute, remembering that she had told him that she worked there. He figured she might be around and about. A few questions pointed him in the right direction. A redhead that stunning was hard to miss. He sidled up to her, dressed in his usual leather jacket and T-shirt. "Have time for a talk?"

III. ...And I'll Blow Your House In! (Closed To Alex)

Finding Alex hadn't been easy, but what Cooper lacked in brain cells, he made up for in sheer persistence and tenacity. He'd spent weeks following every lead and rumor. Most of them had been fruitless, leaving the vamp more and more determined to track the girl down. Finally, a breakthrough had come. He knew that even a werewolf on the down low couldn't hide around the full moon. Someone had spotted Alex shortly after the moon had set in the sky. From there, it was simple enough to track the girl back down to where she was holed up.

Not about to mess things up by acting like a reckless fool (his usual modus operandi for dealing with problems), Cooper considers the problem at hand. Goal: To take in Alex, preferably alive. Strategy: Isolate her, get her alone, and hope the wolfsbane he had in his pocket was enough to give him an advantage. Cooper had been waiting, sitting on a deserted stoop along a street that would take Alex back to where she was currently staying. She'd have to pass by eventually, and when she did, the vampire was prepared to act.

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha is in the gym when Cooper finds her, a little extra curricular activity with one of the young metahumans. When a kid was a little stronger, a little faster than the other kids, sometimes it helped to have a teacher who could keep up. She disengages when Cooper gets in range though, crossing her arms over her chest and flashing a distracting smile.

It's a good smile. It's bought her time more than once.

"That depends. What are we talking about?" She says it lightly, as though inviting him to supply a fun topic. Probably no suck luck, though.

[emotioneater]

Cooper admires Natasha's physique for a moment. She's pretty and eye-catching with her red hair, but so are sea snakes that can kill a man with one bite. He smiles back at her. No need to be fully serious until he absolutely has to be. "We are here to talk of cabbages, kings, and wolves," he says, misquoting part of a line from Alice In Wonderland.

"You know about what happened t'Millicent last month." Cooper doubted there was a supernatural being alive (or undead) who didn't know what had happened. "I caught up with the wolf who did it, but she got away from me." Cooper's face hardens. "Things have gone from bad t'worse thanks to what she did, young fool. I've been tryin' to track her down with some leads with no luck. Figured maybe getting an outside perspective might help. I don't suppose you've heard of anythin' that could help me out?"

[outstandingbalance]

She doesn't miss the way he looks at her; she doesn't bother acknowledging it, either. Especially not once he springs his question on her. She doesn't expect him to be distracted, to underestimate her because of how she looks, but she wouldn't mind if he was.

It would make this conversation a little easier.

Her expression falls and she bows her head slightly, not in guilt because she doesn't have any time for that. Because what happened was a mistake, and the mess it's causing go well beyond nest and pack politics. "I know about it. It's a real mess," Natasha says, acknowledging the situation with unfeigned discomfort. It put her in an uncomfortable spot. "And I know the girl. We ran into each other a few days before it happened. If I'd have known what she was up to..."

She trails off.

"Haven't heard much since then, though."

[emotioneater]

Cooper's mouth twists into a disapproving frown. His hands go to his hips, and were it not for the fact he's pretty damn upset, he'd look almost comical standing there."You knew she was gonna do something." He refuses to believe that Natasha could be so naive as to not see that Alex meant to do something to the nest. "And you didn't bother to tell anyone?"

He doesn't even bother to let her get a word in edgewise before he continues on. "Jesus Christ, I thought you were smarter'n this!"

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha stands a little straighter, swallowing uncomfortably under his attention. She chose the information the reveal well, though. He thinks that she's incompetent, not that she's hiding something.

If that's an impression she can foster, it's worth falling a little in his esteem.

"I knew she wanted to try something," she admits with the air of someone ashamed and trying to hide it. "I didn't think she'd actually go through with it—and I didn't know she'd pull something off, let alone an assassination."

She adds then, glancing away, "I half figured she'd get herself killed."

[emotioneater]

Cooper's frown only increases and a thundercloud rolls across his face at Natasha's words. It irks him that Alex had gotten as far as she did. Had Nat had the prudency to speak up, this whole thing could have been avoided. Then again, he would have dismissed some little nobody of a vampire getting the better of the duchess before this whole thing had happened. "She's a damn sight smarter than she's appeared t'be this whole time and she's got a helluva lot of luck on her side to boot."

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose like his head hurts. "This should never have gotten as far as it did. Since I'm stuck in a nest of buffoons, I'm taking her in even if I have to do it all on own. Did she tell you what her plans were after she killed Miss High n' Mighty?"

[outstandingbalance]

"She didn't tell me any of her plans," she corrects gently, her expression and voice both steady. She shakes her head a little, not exactly apologetic but regretful. "I knew she was going to try something, but not exactly what."

She snorts then, her lip curling just a little. "I'm still not convinced she even had a plan."

Natasha doesn't have to work hard to play the part of someone who was wrong, and who's not exactly happy about it. Alex made all of their lives difficult, and Natasha would have tried harder to stop her if she knew what she'd been up to.

"Pulling something like that, you have to wonder if she expected to get away at all."

[emotioneater]

"You're a lot of help," he grumbles. He's not mad at Natasha, not really. It's just a frustrating situation for him to be in. No leads to go on and now the only person that had any idea about Alex didn't have anything to go on either. At this rate, he'd be better off sending carrier pigeons all around the city to ask for information.

"She shouldn't have gotten away. That one was on me." Never mind that Millicent had plenty of guards and was a formidable fighter herself. Cooper had a duty to his nest and he'd failed. He was going to make things right no matter what. "What would you do if you were her?" Cooper knew exactly what he would have done. He'd have hightailed it back to a country where he had friends. But he's heard no rumors about anyone seeing her abroad, so his theory is that she's still somewhere in the city.

[outstandingbalance]

"I'd say that was on her, too," Natasha says. It's not meant to be comforting, exactly. It's just the truth. However lucky Alex had been, she must have still done something right, or else she wouldn't still be alive.

His ext question, at least, was one Natasha could answer with total honesty. "If I were her, I'd be in another country, laying low. Moscow would probably welcome a werewolf who'd killed a powerful vampire. But if not there, Prague, Budapest, Berlin—somewhere I had contacts."

[emotioneater]

"You 'n I are on the same wavelength. I thought the same thing. Only problem is that I haven't heard any rumors about a new wolf showin' up anywhere." If there was one thing the supernatural community loved to do, it was gossip. Rumors swiftly made their way from city to city across the globe. "With how high of a profile she currently has, there should be somethin'. It makes me think she never got a chance t'make it out of the city."

[outstandingbalance]

"If she's laying low, she's doing a good job of it. I haven't heard anything, and I've had an ear to the ground." A reasonable thing for anyone in this situation, especially if she'd had an encounter with Alex early on. If maybe she's feeling a bit guilty about it.

She wasn't going to pretend not to be interested.

Even if the reasons for her interest were different.

"Unless you mean you think she didn't make it out at all."

[emotioneater]

"Nah. If she was dead in a ditch somewhere, there would have been news of it somewhere. Either someone would be braggin' or there would be news of it on the telly." Cooper believed in a certain amount of luck that watched over those young souls who often did stupid things. Alex seemed to have more than her fair share on her side.

"Keep me in the loop if you hear anything, will you?" He asked. Right now, he was still stuck in square one. Unless he managed to manufacture a little luck of his own, Alex was going to get away scot-free and Cooper was going to have a very bad temper for the next month or so.

[outstandingbalance]

"We don't know that for sure. Someone could have set her up—if she had an ally in the nest, better for them if people are still looking for her and not who might be helping her." Natasha lets herself consider the problem as she would if she were in Cooper's position. It's something she would have to consider if she were running this sort of investigation. Alex managed to kill a a vampire over a millennium old. It was almost impossible to credit she could have done it herself. "Whatever's going on here, I doubt she's doing it all on her own."

She sighs. She feels a little bad for Cooper, putting himself into this search. One way or the other, she doubts he'll like what he finds. "If I hear anything, you'll be the first person I tell.""

[emotioneater]

Now there was an idea he had never even considered. If there was someone in the nest who was a werewolf sympathizer, they could do all sorts of damage. That would open up a whole new can of worms. It would give Cooper something else to think about while he was hunting for Alex.

"Good. Keep yourself outta trouble, Natasha." He gives her a parting nod, putting his hands in his pockets and turning around. It hadn't been a particularly productive conversation, but at least it had given him something to think about. Maybe a new idea would crop up that would lead him to the wayward werewolf.