Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Edit: I didn't know I was supposed to put this at the top and Mir thought I had so here:

Rated R. Mature Topics will be in this Story.

IC

Some Years Ago

Germany

The church was quiet, silent. It was peaceful and serene, just the way that the man liked it. He sat in one of the pews, thinking to himself. The inside of the church was beautiful as churches were supposed to be. Leaning against the pew, the man stared up at the image of Christ crucified. There were only a few of the faithful in the building and there was a priest that was walking around, talking to a few of them that the person knew. It was a small church, and the community was rather tight knit. The man walking around was a young priest, only in his late twenties. It was obvious that he was a pious man, and everyone in the town spoke highly of him. The man in the pews was about to get up, and leave, but he stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see that the priest was standing behind him, a calm smile on his face.

“How are you?” The priest asked. “Something appears to be troubling you, can I offer you any assistance?” He asked, his local accent in German coming through.

“No, Father Schaefer.” The man replied.

Father Kasper Schaefer knew that he’d never really seen this man before, but the fact that he knew his name wasn’t that abnormal. Father Schaefer was a well known part of the community, and he was a local boy who had been brought back by the Bishop to be a part of the parish. Almost everyone in town knew his name.

“I figured I’d check.” The priest said and turned to leave. He was stopped when the man reached out and grabbed the sleeve of the black cassock that Schaefer wore.

“Actually, Father, there is something that I would like to talk to you about. But...it’s something that I fear discussing about.”

Schaefer moved into the aisle in front of the man and sat down, turning slightly so that they could speak. “How serious is this?”



“I fear something terrible could have happened. The Devil...”

“What? What is it?”

“He may walk amongst us, Father.”
Last edited by Foxx on Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nightcrawler: Stay Wide Awake

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Kasper Schaefer was a devout man of God. He was well versed in his religion and knew that the gates of heaven opened if one lived a good life. That was something that he’d sought to do day in and day out. Live a good life. He followed his moral compass wherever it led him and it had never led him astray. So when he was presented with a little baby who’s skin was blue, had blue fur instead of hair, and who had a blue tail, he saw not the devil walking amongst God’s people, but a baby in need of care and attention. The fact that the eyes that stared into his own were a piercing yellow barely factored into the equation. The man who had come to his church had been sworn to secrecy concerning the child and how the birth had come to pass. Kasper had been able to get the man's name at least, Rolf Schmidt. Rolf Schmidt had been told under no circumstances to reveal anything to anyone about the child.

As a matter of fact, he had been told to kill it.

But he had worried. The man had worried whether or not he could kill the child. Was it the devil? Or was it a child simply possessed? Or...was it something else entirely? The man hadn’t known, but he had known that in his life, the Roman Catholic Church had never led him astray. So he’d gone to find Father Schaefer. They were dealing with, above all else, the possibility of a mortal sin. Murder was a serious thing. Furthermore, if this was the work of the devil or a demon, how was he supposed to kill the thing?

Try as Father Schaefer might, he had been unable to pry anything from Rolf about the child. The man was remaining tight lipped, though he had spoken on the fact that whoever had charged him with this duty was threatening his life and limb if he did not kill the child. He hadn’t given him any information to go off on and it was upsetting for Schaefer. The priest wasn’t sure what to do . Well, he knew that he was going to take care of the child, but he would have liked to have known who was trying to hurt the child and who would have wanted the child to die. It just didn’t make sense.

His rosary beads were being worn down with the amount of praying that he was doing over the situation. From everything that he had seen, Kasper couldn’t see anything wrong with the child. His decision had been to hide the baby away in the rectory for now. The baby was only a few weeks old, maybe a month or two at the most.

This was going to be difficult, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t doable.
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Re: Nightcrawler: Stay Wide Awake

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The rectory was no place for a child, this Kasper knew, but it was all that he could do for then. He had spoken to the other parish priest, Father Mueller, and Klaus had been, when told everything that Kasper knew, more than willing to help him. He too didn’t think that the child was any danger to them. They had concocted a story that the boy was an orphan and that someone had placed him on the doorsteps to the church, with instructions for the priests to take care of him. This would take care of everything. Despite the fact that Kasper knew that foster care might have been the better choice, he also knew that people would not be that accepting of the boy because of his appearance. People were an interesting sort, shunning what they did not understand.

Kasper had chosen to name the child Dustin, after his older brother who had passed away many years ago. Dustin had come down with a series of illnesses and the family simply hadn’t had the money to pay for everything. It had been a terrible loss to the family and to Kasper in particular. It had been one of the things that made him feel the calling to the priesthood. Their family had always been religious, always been devout, and their parish’s pastor had been nothing but kind to them while the family had been going through the whole ordeal. He had visited at least once a week, and had spent time praying with them for Kasper’s brother to heal.

The man had shown compassion and kindness for people in need, and Kasper had decided that that was what he wanted to be and that was what he wanted to do with his life. To help people. He had dedicated himself to the priesthood after his brother had passed away, when he was twelve years old.

Kasper knew that the boy did need to be checked though. He had a friend who was a doctor in the next town over. One of the first things that he’d done was take baby Dustin to the doctor to see just what was going on. The priest was fairly positive that the boy was not possessed or a demon, but was in fact something else entirely. He had read about mutants and he had heard of some famous ones in his time. Kasper wanted to see if Dustin was one of them, which was a suspicion that he’d had.

His friend had been a little put off by the appearance of the boy, but after being reassured that there was nothing wrong so far, his friend had been more than happy to look at the baby. As it had turned out, the boy was indeed, a mutant.

The next thing that Kasper had needed to do was to make sure that the German authorities validated everything and that Dustin did indeed become his adopted son. That was trickier, but it had been pulled off. Even the boy’s tail had complied.

Dustin Schaefer was now safe, away from those who would harm him.
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Re: Nightcrawler: Stay Wide Awake

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Dustin Schaefer’s eyes took in his surroundings. They were familiar as they always had been. It was the church of his village, the one that he’d grown up in. This village was something that he’d known for almost all of his life. Dustin loved this village and he loved the church. His father, Kasper Schaefer had been the pastor of the church for years now. The village was very small, nothing too big, and the bishop hadn’t seen a need to move Kasper. Also, there had been something about him and moving him often that had been tossed into the mix. Dustin had been quite happy that they’d never had to move. As he walked through the church, his black cassock swayed around him. He would never forget the story that his father had told him of how he had come to live here. Dustin’s tail was neatly and nicely tucked in as it always had been. 


That had been probably the biggest reason why Kasper had never been asked to move by the bishop or the one who had succeeded him. Dustin was a mutant. Normally, when he didn’t mask his appearance, he had blue skin, yellow eyes, blue furry hair, and a completely prehensile tail. He knew what his powers were and he had worked very hard to make sure that he knew how to use them. That was something that his father had insisted on. He had told him that he had been given great gifts by God and that he would need to know how to properly use them in order to help people.

In the end, that was what Dustin had learned about his faith and about his church. The Roman Catholic Church was on this planet to do good deeds and to lead by example. They were the hands and feet of Christ and did what needed to be done to alleviate the human condition and to help prepare the faithful and even those who weren’t the faithful for the journey that they were headed for. It brought him great joy to help people and to be of service. That was what he felt that he’d been put on this earth to do. His father had seen to his education rather well. Of course he’d also gotten very lucky.

Every time a new priest was transferred, Kasper had that person impart any interesting knowledge that the person had learned and garnered over their life. They had taught him a variety of subjects, and he had had a great second education in addition to everything that he’d learned in the regular schools. The greatest thing that they’d ever had, had been an English Anglican priest who had visited and had stayed for a good month or so, who had taught Dustin a lot about fighting and hand to hand combat. The man had been in the SAS before he’d felt the calling and had become a priest.

All in all, his education had been great, and everything he’d learned had helped him to better serve the community around him. Granted, Dustin never knew when he’d ever need to use a lot of the stuff that he’d learned, but at the same time, he was very well prepared for things. That was always a plus in his book.

It was late in the night and the next day was Sunday, which, as was expected, was a busy day. It was time to head to the small house that was nearby that the priests lived in and get to bed. Dustin would be up early in the morning to start his day. The journey to the home was short, as it was nothing more than a simple mile walk. For someone like Dustin who made it a habit to run a few miles every other day, it was nothing. Heading over to the small room that the priests used for their personal belongings, he grabbed his coat to guard against the chill.

Stepping out a few minutes later, Dustin was greeted by the cool September air. Fall was coming and winter would soon follow. There had been a cold front recently, and the temperature had dropped a bit. Nothing too bad, but still, his heart went out to those who struggled to make ends meet and take care of their families. Making a mental note to check on the pantry when he returned in the morning for the parish’s outreach program, Dustin started walking. His journey would be short, and he had a soft bed and his pet German shepherd waiting for him when he got there.
Last edited by Foxx on Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nightcrawler: Stay Wide Awake

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Sunlight streamed through his window and woke Dustin up. Rolling over, he got up out of the bed and stretched. As he prepared for the day, he thought on how concerned he was about his father. When he’d come home, he found out that his father wasn’t home. This wasn’t that surprising, as his father was friends with a large group of the town’s people. At the same time, it had been rather late in the night and whenever his father had gone out for a visit with someone, he was usually back by that late of an hour. It had given Dustin a little cause for worry, but he wasn’t overly concerned. He knew how his father could be. In his old age, Kasper had developed a bit of Alzheimer’s. Dustin worried more about that. He had done the research and had found out that his father was not in any danger, just yet. They wouldn’t have to worry about him for a few more years at least. It was something that Dustin was preparing for. 

He wasn’t sure what he would do when the descent really started. That was something that he definitely worried about. Unfortunately he could only wait. But Dustin would face it when it came. That was all that he could do in the situation that he’d been placed.

Dressed and ready to go, Dustin started his run. Because he always left before his father woke up, he didn’t think to check on Kasper. He had a regular path that he took every day. Dustin’s run was close to four miles. It was early in the morning and at his pace, his total run time was a little over twenty eight minutes giving him a seven minute per mile pace or around about it. It was a nice pace, one that wasn’t too slow for him and enabled him to properly wake up. The air was cold and he enjoyed it. His path took him out of the town and towards the mountain that they lived close by. His return journey took him back into the town through another way and then came back to the parish priests’ home. It was a good run, and he passed by a number of the townspeople on their day to day lives and activities. Since it was Sunday, some of the parishioners who were out of towners would be on their way in.

He would be able to greet them before he saw them later in the day. Dustin enjoyed the little things like that. Some days he was able to see the farmers bringing produce in for the market, and one day he’d been able to help a couple who were traveling and had had their car break down just outside of town. He’d cut his run short that day, deciding that helping to push the car in to the town to the mechanic’s was a better way to spend his time. It helped, which was the important thing, after all. As he ran, Dustin breathed in deeply, loving the cold air that rushed into his lungs.

Close to half an hour later, he was headed back into the town. He was shocked when he saw a police car speed by him, sirens blaring. Dustin recognized the police car and recognized the officers in the car. One of them was one of his parishioners. Worried about what was going on, Dustin came around the bend and stopped, slowing his pace down so that he was just standing. He saw smoke rising in the distance, coming from the town proper. Increasing his pace, he headed towards the smoke and was shocked to see one of the houses in the town on fire. There was extensive damage to the house and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Deciding that he could help, he ran faster, towards the group of people congregating outside and the fire trucks and police cars that were approaching from a different angle.

What the hell was going on?
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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The house belonged to a friend of Dustin and Kasper’s. The man had come to their town about a year or so ago and had settled into the house. It was a small little place, nice and cozy. Dustin and Kasper had invited the man over to the parish priests’ home for dinner with the man once or twice when he’d first come to the town, to help welcome him. He’d responded by inviting them over once. Dustin could still remember the decorating that the man had done, which honestly hadn’t been much. He was a rather absentminded research scientist. Dustin had found the man’s company to be enjoyable, and he’d had some interesting stories of his research into genetics. The man had been a part of a few different companies and government projects, and the British man had retired only a short while ago, deciding to travel to and live in Germany.

Why he’d chosen this small town, Dustin did not know, but he had welcomed the man into the town and had worked to make him part of the community. Now this had happened. It was a tragedy, and a horrible one at that. Dustin joined the crowd that was milling around the house. “What happened?” He asked one of those standing around.

“I’m not sure, Father. They say that it was a gas line that blew, but this is a little too big for that. There was no explosion though, nothing. It’s more like there was a gas leak and something set it off. The fire only started a little while ago.” The other said, still wiping sleep from his eyes. Dustin could understand that. It was only around four thirty in the morning. The town was only just starting to maybe wake up. Not that many people kept to the same regimen of sleep that he did.

“There are two bodies in there though.” Someone said. Dustin turned to look at the woman. “That’s what I heard the firefighters say. They’re working on identifying them right now.” She added.

That doubled the tragedy. A loss of life was a horrible thing indeed, and two made it all the more worse. His heart went out for those who had been lost and their families. Moving forward, he pushed through the crowd. He was a priest after all, maybe there was something that he could do to help. 



“Father Schaefer.” He heard his name being called and he turned.

It was one of the fire fighters, the chief. 

“Yes?” He asked, as the man reached him. “Is there some way that I can help?” He asked.

“Father, we identified the two bodies. The burn damage wasn’t sufficient yet and we identified them.” The chief said.

“Who...who are they?” He asked, assuming that one would obviously be Charles Mountbatten, the researcher.

“One is Mr. Mountbatten.” The chief said. “The other...is your father, Dustin, Father Kasper.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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His father was dead

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, next. The next two hours had been a blur. Really what was an hour though, it wasn’t that much time. Dustin had been held back by a few of the firefighters, as he’d tried to go rushing into the building to find his father, to hold his father and see that this was all just a lie, that his father wasn’t truly dead. This was a joke. It had to be. Dustin couldn’t believe that his father would just be dead like that. He didn’t understand what was going on. Slowly, the story had been pieced together, after the other parish priest, Father Rolph had come and told him that he would say all the Masses and take the burden off of Dustin during these times. Dustin had barely remembered that indeed, it was the Lord’s day. He’d didn’t even remember if he’d thanked his friend. The story was that Father Kasper and Mr. Mountbatten had been here in the house. It was assumed that they had been talking and having dinner. Lights had been seen on up until close to midnight, when one of the neighbors had left to start the early morning shift at his place of work.

From that point, there was no information until roughly around five in the morning. Dustin had been on his run at that point. There had been a series of terrible screams from the house, which had woken up one of the neighbors. Then there had been a series of explosions and that was when the fire had started. The explosions had been small, nothing too large. At most, around the sound of a hand grenade going off. Dustin vaguely remembered hearing something, but he had been too far out to properly hear what had happened. Neighbors had called the fire department and the proper authorities then, but the blaze that had started had consumed everything, leaving there no doubt that the people inside had been killed in the fire.

Already, their charred bodies had been found. Dustin was now sitting in one of the fire fighters’ trucks, a cup of coffee in his hand. He didn’t usually drink coffee, he had developed a taste for tea after meeting some of the English priests who had visited many summers ago. Still, the heat that the coffee cup generated in his hands was something to hold on to. Dustin latched on to it and in a way it anchored him to the world, to what was going on. Ever since he’d gotten into the passenger side front door, he’d started to pray. He didn’t understand under what circumstances his father had died, but he knew that his father was in heaven. Still he prayed.

Because for Dustin, that was what prayer was for. Prayer was the thing that guided his life, that helped him when he needed it. Sometimes he prayed in the rote form of things like the Hail Mary or the Our Father. Other times, during the more trying times of his life, he prayed in a more free form, a stream of consciousness form. It was his way of communicating with his Creator and understanding what it was that God wished for him in his life. People were capable of amazing things, that was something that he’d learned at a very young age. Whether they all wanted to admit it or not, they had the guiding hand of God in their lives. They weren’t always conscious of it, but it was there. The saying that God works in mysterious ways was very true, and Dustin had seen it many times throughout his life.

Sometimes he did understand why God would allow such a thing to happen. His father had taught him to simply put his faith in God, to leave his problems at the altar and that God would take care of them. It wasn’t a “God will take care of all of my problems and give me the easy way.” type of thing, not at all. Dustin had found that it was more along the lines of God reaching out and showing us tools to accomplish our goals, or putting people in our lives who would help us, or even still, using both to show us that we had the abilities to help ourselves the entire time within us, we just needed the light to find those abilities ourselves.

But nothing had ever hit as close to home as this. As Dustin sat there, he began to wonder, and he began to question.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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It was Monday.

The police had come to his home and had questioned him. He had told them everything that he’d known. Anything that he could remember, Dustin had told the police, knowing that it would help. They had identified the source of the fire and the explosion. A gas line had been cut and a fire had been started through household appliances which had set off the detonation and the subsequent blaze. Much of the house had been damaged in the attack, so it was hard to tell exactly what had happened before the explosion. The screams had been documented by multiple people, and work was still being done by the forensics people to determine if any damage had been dealt to the bodies before the fires had consumed them. All Dustin knew was that it was going to be a bit of time before he was able to know exactly what had happened. It was starting to eat at him, and he wanted answers.

The bishop had sent in two priests from a neighboring parish to help with everything. Kasper had been old, but he had still been saying daily mass and helping out around the school and the community. The slack needed to be picked up, and Dustin was doing his best, under the circumstances. He had been to the police headquarters twice since the attack had happened. The second time had been in regards to the forensics team, but he had been politely told to go home and that they would contact him when they had something conclusive. It hurt, not knowing and it hurt knowing that there was nothing that he could do. His father was gone, dead and deceased.

There was no way to bring him back. No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how badly he needed to. His father was gone.

Monday evening, Dustin decided that he needed a reprieve. The people of the town had loved his father and there had been an enormous outpouring of support for him in these times. There had been numerous floral arrangements and roughly the same amount of offerings of food. Many had asked when the funeral was going to be and whether or not he had started on the arrangements. Unfortunately that was another thing that laid in the hands of forensics since he required them to be done with their testing in order to begin anything like that. Furthermore, if there was some foul play involved, that would mean that the body would stay in the custody of the police for some time longer, as whatever case was started might need evidence from the remains of Father Kasper Schaefer.

Dustin deeply appreciated the support that he’d received from the people of the town, but at the same time, it was starting to get to be too much. Choking almost. He hadn’t had time to grieve and that was his main problem. There was too much going on around him, for him to be able to properly express what he was going through. His father had been everything to him. Kasper had rescued him, he had raised him, he had taught him so much. The man had saved him, and now he was gone, and Dustin was alone. Dustin had known that his father would pass away, yes. Death was eventual, and he knew that his father wasn’t scared of death, for his faith was in God. But at the same time, that didn’t mean that Dustin had wanted his father to go so soon.

Monday evening, he got into his car, and he started driving, heading towards the nearby mountains. There were a number of trails and sightseeing paths, and he needed a hike. He had already spoken to Father Rolph and the two priests who had been sent by the Bishop. Dustin had his cell phone on him and it was fully charged. He wouldn’t be gone too long, so he didn’t have too much to worry about.

He just needed time to himself, and the three priests had understood.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Dustin Schaefer had finished his hike through the mountains. He was close to the top of the mountain now, and he could see so much of the surrounding area. The view was beautiful and he loved it. He loved his little slice of the world. Dustin knew that this part of the mountain was wildly ignored by the townspeople and by whoever came to hike up the mountain. He came here when he wanted to be free of all the restrictions that the world had placed on him. The entire town knew that he was a mutant. Few had seen his true appearance though. He came here when he needed to get away and when he needed to be himself. He had already washed the make up that he usually wore off. It would take time for the hair dye to wash out, and he wasn’t planning on being here that long anyway, so he hadn’t bothered.

Dustin had also taken out the contacts that he usually wore and now his regular eyes blinked up at the world. Yellow as they had been the moment that he’d been born. His tail was free and he had stripped down to his undershirt and shorts. He was also hanging by his feet from a tree, having taken his socks and shoes off. His eyes were closed and he was breathing in a regular pattern, but different from his usual one. It was a breathing technique that he’d learned many years ago, and he used it when he meditated. It had been something taught to him as part of his martial arts training and he had used it ever since.

He used it when he needed to. This was a time when he needed to.

The world was closing in around him and he just wanted to get a break from it all. This had been his solution to it, taking some time away for himself, almost forcing it to happen, no matter what. He needed in order to keep his cool. He couldn’t understand who would want to harm his father and how that person could have done such a thing. Kasper Schaefer had never had any enemies, he had never wanted to hurt anyone nor had he ever tried. His father had been a simple man in the world, who just wanted to help people. He had tried to set a good example for everyone around him and to live his life according to the code of morality set down by Jesus Christ. To see his father’s life ended in such a senseless way, it was demoralizing. Dustin felt the tears welling up, and he tried to fight them. But he knew that they were coming and that he wasn’t going to be able to stop them, even if he tried.

So he spun himself, moving around the tree limb and flipping through the air. He landed on another tree limb, in a perfect crouch, his hand coming up to his face to hide his grief. The tears spilled over and he couldn’t hold them back. Why he had thought that he could, he didn’t know. Dustin felt grief and felt everything and felt the sadness wash over him. It felt good. It felt good to finally release the pain and he could feel it all leaving him. He searched for the word. Catharsis seemed to come to mind for some reason. Maybe that was what he was looking for. He scrambled backwards until he was leaning against the trunk of the tree and sat there.

A good twenty minutes passed and then there was a phone call. He had brought his cell phone with him and he spun through the air in an acrobatic somersault, landing on the ground in front of his gear. Grabbing his phone, he answered it. “Dustin Schaefer.” He said.

“Dustin, this is Police Chief Gottel. Forensics finished, and I figured you’d want to know what they found.”

“I’ll be there in a little over thirty minutes, Police Chief. Thank you.”

His time had been cut short. Hopefully he’d finally get some answers.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He hadn’t known whether or not he would be ready for this, but he had gone anyway. The forensic people had done their best and Dustin wanted to understand what was going on. He knew that they would be the best people to figure that out. He was in the forensic department of the police headquarters. Considering the fact that the town was not that large, the police headquarters was not that large. The forensic department was proportional in size and strength. Dustin was pretty sure that this had to be the most interesting death that they’d ever had to deal with in the entire time the forensic department had been around in this town. They had two forensic scientists there and Dustin, who knew a little, but not a lot, watched as they did their work. He mentally prepared himself as best as he could for what was going to happen.

It didn’t help.

When he saw the pictures, his stomach pitched and rolled. When he saw the video, his stomach tossed and turned, and when he finally saw the body, he almost threw up. He had had to walk away and take a good five minutes to compose himself before returning to the room to continue speaking to the two specialists. 

“So what exactly do you know?”

“It would appear, Dustin, that your father was heavily mauled by some kind of creature.” The lead said. “We don’t know for certain what kind of animal or creature, but we know that it had claws and that the damage inflicted by the claws is what killed your father and Mr. Mountbatten, not the fire. The fire, the detectives think, was created to try to burn the evidence of the attack, but we were able to get the bodies out in time to prevent that.” The lead said.

“In each attack on the bodies, there are a total of two slash marks.” The second said. “Based off of the distance between the two slashes, we’re in the process of narrowing down the list of what the possible attackers were.” The second said.

“Wait a minute.” Dustin said, a frown coming across his face. “You’re saying that an animal did this, but then you’re saying that a fire was started to cover the attack. There’s no way that an animal would be able to start a fire like that. I don’t think there’s any animal in the world that smart.” He said.

The two of them nodded slowly. “That’s all we have right now. We’re waiting on further analysis of the slash marks.” 

It didn’t make much sense. The only thing that Dustin could think of was what the lead said next.

“We’re theorizing, at least for right now, that someone with malicious intent, came in, with some kind of animal and set it loose in the building.”

That was the best that they could come up with. A hare brained theory that had randomly popped into Dustin’s head when they’d told him everything that they knew. He was positive that they weren’t going to be able to give much more help. Not that he was angry or blamed them for it. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. Which meant going to the detectives next.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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“Did your father have any enemies?”

Dustin almost laughed. The detectives had sat him down to talk to him when he’d left the forensic department and he figured that what they were asking him was standard procedure. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” He asked, taking a sip from the cup of coffee that one of the detectives had brought him. “You do know who he was, Kasper Schaefer, right? He was more loved than the mayor of the town. Who would possibly want to hurt my father?” He asked, looking between the two detectives. They were in their office, and one of them was sitting behind one of the desks, the other was leaning against the wall.

“Dustin, your father baptized my two little ones. I know that no one in the town would want to hurt your father. I have to ask the question, it’s part of the procedure.” One of the detectives said in reply. “You realize that just because the town loved him, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t have enemies. This person might have come from out of town.” The detective said. “We’re headed over to the hotel to ask some questions there, once we’re done here.” She added. “We’re just trying to get a picture of your father’s life. Anything will help, Father.” She said.

“Kasper had no enemies that I knew of. Maybe in his younger years, but now? No. I mean, he never really spoke much of his early years to me. I mean, he hasn’t in a very long time, so I don’t remember a lot of what he told me back then. It was when I was younger.” Dustin said.

He looked around the office. There were pictures up on the wall of the two detectives in various places throughout the town. Some of them even had his father in them. A pang of pain went through Dustin, and he quickly remembered the body of his father that he had seen only a few minutes ago. He clamped down on the urge to puke again. It wouldn’t do. He needed to be strong right then. “Maybe there was some connection with Mr. Mountbatten?” He asked, thinking that that was probably the next step.

“We’re going to look into it, Father. That’s our next step after the hotel.” The detective said and Dustin looked away for a moment.

“That’s all that I can think of, really.” The priest said.

“I understand. Remember, if you think of anything, anything at all that might help the investigation, please, feel free to tell us.” The female detective said and she rose, looking over at her partner and nodding. The other started to push off the wall, when Dustin rose himself, looking between the two of them. “What is it?” She asked, seeing that the look on his face made it obvious that he wanted to say something.

“Would it be alright for me to go with you? To the hotel, I mean.” Dustin said. “I know I’m not a detective, but I’d like to help.” He said. He didn’t make mention that he’d received a little training in the art of uncovering the truth. He could only wonder if what little he knew was even going to be able to help him in this situation. He hoped that it would. Finding out what had happened to his father was something that Dustin dearly wished to do.

“I don’t see why not.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He had chosen to ride in the backseat of the detectives’ car as they drove over to the hotel. As they’d driven, the two detectives had shared their favorite stories of Kasper Schaefer. It had been a good drive, and they’d reminisced a good bit about the town priest. When they’d reached the hotel, Dustin had stepped out and had walked in with the detectives. At the front desk was the man who owned the hotel. It wasn’t a large building, it only had three floors. As a matter of fact, it was one of the tallest buildings in the whole town. It had a monopoly, considering that it was the only hotel, but at the same time, the town didn’t get too many visitors. So in a way it wasn’t like the monopoly gave him that much control. Walking through the front door, Dustin gave himself a little shake to get the cold off of him.

The man behind the desk smiled at the trio that had just walked in. “Detectives, Faster Schaefer, how may I help you today?” He asked.

“Arnold, we need to ask you a few questions, do you have some time for us?” The female detective asked.

It didn’t take him long to figure out what the questions were about. After all, the entire town was abuzz about what had happened. People were talking and everyone had something to say about it. Also, why else would Father Schaefer, the son of one of the deceased be with the police. It just made sense that it would be about Father Kasper Schaefer. “Of course.” He said. “For Father Schaefer? I have plenty of time.” He said, turning and gesturing for them to come behind the front desk. There was a door and he opened it and walked through, revealing his office.

When all four were inside, Arnold shut the door. “What questions do you have?” He asked, moving behind the desk in the office.

“We were wondering if you could tell us about any visitors that you’ve had recently, particularly people who got here around the time of the murder, around a couple days before.” One of the detectives said.

Arnold stopped and thought. “We’ve only had a few guests arrive during that time frame. Unfortunately, all but two of them have checked out. The two that aren’t, well, they’re an older couple. Both of them are well into their late seventies.” Arnold said. “I don’t think that they would be connected to what happened, do you?” He asked. He looked between the two detectives and then at Dustin who could do nothing but shrug. Dustin himself doubted that the couple had anything to do with the murder of Mr. Mountbatten and his father, but he wasn’t as well trained as the two police officers who were with him, so he kept silent. He just wanted to listen and gather everything that he could without imposing.

“We have to follow all leads.” The female detective said. “But I think that you’re right about that one. There probably isn’t a connection between them and the double murder.” She said. “What can you tell us about the others?” She asked. “Anything can help, we’re just trying to see if we can get something that we can pass on to other law enforcement agencies to see if we can catch this perpetrator.” She added.

Arnold paused again. “I can give you the documents that they used when they were here. We have copies of everything, we keep it all for three months before we get rid of them.” He said. “There were I think three other people.” He said. “I’ll put everything onto a flash drive for you all.” He said.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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The three other people who were on the flash drive were an interesting set. The owner of the hotel, Arnold, liked to consider himself an amateur sleuth, and whenever he met people at his hotel, he would ask them about themselves and document everything. Some might have considered this to be wrong and intrusive, but Arnold never used it to do anything bad or evil. When he got rid of their personal documentation, he got rid of whatever he’d written on them as well. It was his hobby, and since he worked in a hotel, he had a lot of people to deal with. If Dustin had to guess, he would have guessed that it made working the long hours more tolerable. Either way, the information that they’d gotten had been a great deal. There had been two women and a man. The man was a businessman who was traveling through the area before heading elsewhere during a business conference. There hadn’t been too much there, but at the same time, there was enough that could be verified so that his story checked out.

One of the women was an American, on a sightseeing trip. She had been almost immediately discounted, as it was reasoned that she probably wouldn’t have hurt anyone. Dustin wasn’t too sure of the detectives’ logic, since anything, if properly prepared, could be used as a good cover story. But still, he listened to them, when all three were back in the police department and in the detectives’ office. The last woman was interesting. She was Russian, and she had arrived in town about two days before the attack. While she had already checked out, Arnold had noted that she hadn’t given any reason for leaving and that she had been in a rush. Also, she’d never put down an exact amount of time that she’d be staying, whereas the other two had.

Arnold admitted that he didn’t remember much about the lady in regards to her reasons for being there. Dustin could see why. The woman was rather striking, incredibly attractive. Dustin himself was celibate, having taken vows to be so when he had become a priest, but still that didn’t mean that he was dead inside. He could appreciate beauty and good looks. He could understand why Arnold had been rather enraptured by the woman and hadn’t remembered much to write down.

The detectives, faced with a choice of who to go after, had decided to go after all three. They’d spread their names and faces throughout all the agencies that they could get in touch with. It had been interested talking to the various agencies, and Dustin had listened as the detectives had tried to explain the claw marks and how this was still not an animal attack. They’d heard a theory back, that it had been an animal attack, and that the animal had inadvertently caused the fire. But it had been a gas started fire, and the animal would have had needed to have been rather intelligent to pull that one off. Dustin had thanked the detectives after one particularly vicious phone call.

Interpol had laughed at them and had told them that they were hacks and that they needed to turn their badges in. He had felt that it was necessary to express his gratitude that they truly were trying to find the person who had killed his father and Mr. Mountbatten. It meant a great deal to him and he hoped that they understood. He’d excused himself then, saying that he had decided to head home. However, he was headed down to Forensics because there was a question that he had that he hoped that they could answer. The answer that they gave him startled him, to a great degree.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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As it turned out, there was no way that the slash marks had been created by an animal. While they weren’t particularly sharp or anything like that, they were incredibly precise. Each set of slash marks were in known kill areas. Mr. Mountbatten had been gutted, very physically, but Father Schaefer had not. If anything, it appeared as though this had been a well thought out plan, but that the plan had not included for Kasper to be there. It was obvious from the pain inflicted that Mountbatten had been the real target. But why? That was what had puzzled Dustin. After he had spoken to the two Forensic specialists, he had headed home, thinking that it was time to do some research himself. He wanted to know what was going on, especially when this was beginning to look more and more complex by the minute.

When he got home, he booted up his computer and opening up a word document started typing up everything that he knew about what had happened. He wanted to have a detailed list, because he needed to know what he actually knew. His fingers typed quickly and the list grew. However, it wasn’t that long, but it contained everything that he knew about what had happened. There wasn’t much, but he was willing to look at everything that he could. Leaning back in his chair, Dustin sighed, unsure of where to look, what to go to next. He needed a moment of clarity, and he didn’t know what was going to give it to him. Dustin could only imagine that the doctors were going through similar problems themselves as they tried to solve the case.

Also, he wasn’t sure why he was doing this, why he didn’t leave it up to the two detectives. When he thought about it though, he felt that he did, in the very least, have an answer to that question. He owed it to his father. Kasper had done so much for him and he had given him so much. Dustin owed it to him to know that his father’s killer would be caught and that the person would be brought to justice. Who knew how many people this person had murdered in the past. It could be countless. Before the thoughts of dozens if not more people murdered in such a brutal fashion proved to be too much for him, Dustin realized that he had his next step. It had been in front of him the entire time.

Google was an amazing thing. Within ten minutes, he had a few leads.

He had started a search for murders that had been committed following the same modus operandi. Deciding that the use of the fire had been particular to this situation, Dustin had only looked for people who had been killed by two claw strikes. The information that he’d gotten had been interesting. He was still in the process of looking it over. There were a number of cases that were ongoing throughout Europe that fitted the description that he had inputed. It would take time for him to fully get to the bottom of everything that he was looking at, but he was getting enough information to see that this was a repeat situation. There were multiple people who had been killed in the same way and so he knew that this wasn’t a one off murder.

Rising from his seat, he went to fix himself something to eat. He was going to get to the bottom of this, if it was the last thing that he did. Anger was rising through him, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it just yet.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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The anger was there because the people who had ridiculed the detectives had done so in horrible fashion and the detectives and Dustin had been on to something. All of the murders that fit the description that he’d been looking for, all of them had taken place in the past three months. Something was going on and he wanted to know what it was. Dustin wasn’t a fighter, though he had been trained to be very good at fighting. He wasn’t someone who regularly engaged in fighting people. But he knew that with everything that he’d been taught over the years, and the powers that he had, that he could do something about the person who had killed his father, Mr. Mountbatten, and a large number, it would appear, of people. Dustin had controlled himself though, stopping himself before he’d done something rash inside his home. He had employed a breathing technique that he had learned many years ago, and he’d let it calm him. Then he’d started typing a letter to the bishop.

He’d explained in the letter that he needed some time off due to his father’s death. The bishop had already gotten in touch with him and had told him that if he needed a sabbatical that he could take it, and Dustin had decided that he was going to take the man up on the offer. The other priests could handle the slack here and he needed to look into this. Something was telling him, and he believed it was the Holy Spirit, that he needed to investigate these happenings and get to the bottom of this. Once he had finished the letter, Dustin had risen and had started packing.

None of the other priests were home and he was able to move swiftly. Packing light was something that was out of the question, but he didn’t want to pack too heavily. In the end, he had a duffel bag that went on his shoulders, a backpack, and a garment bag that held a set of priestly vestments, in case he needed them. While he doubted that he would, he also knew that it made sense to be prepared. That was something that was always smart. His German Shepherd had been able to tell that something up. The poor animal was already distressed, because it had become acutely obvious that Kasper was not around. The face of the dog had shown it’s own level of discomfort with the grandfather of the pack as it were not being around. Dustin, being the alpha in the dog’s mind was now packing and it appeared as though he was gearing up to leave.


To the dog, this meant that he was leaving also, or Dustin was leaving him. The first option brought about joyous rejoicing for he was always up for a trip, especially when there was a moving thing involved with the clear thing that allowed him to feel wind. The second option brought about sad thoughts and the dog sat near Dustin and whined, wanting to know which option was going to be the one that was to be pursued. Dustin, for his part, kept absentmindedly scratching his dog’s head and telling him that it was going to be okay. The German Shepherd merely acknowledged with another whine and then went to Kasper’s room, to lay down on the rug right next to the bed. He missed Kasper, who always took him for walks, every day no matter what.

What was freedom to the dog, was Kasper’s daily jaunt through town and his daily conversations with the townspeople that he met along the way. But to Pfoetchen it was his time with Kasper and he loved it.

When it was time to leave, Dustin placed a handwritten note in the kitchen, detailing what was going on and instructions for care of Pfoetchen. He doubted that the instructions were necessary, but still, it was proper to leave something. He’d bent and hugged his dog, whispering into the one that he’d had since he’d been a puppy, that he would be returning soon, but that he needed to go and do something first. A few moments later, Dustin was out the door, after having gotten a face lick from the last “family” member that he had in this world.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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His first stop was a small town in the Netherlands. Groenlo, in the municipality of Oost Gelre. It was located in the eastern part of the Netherlands, very, very close to the border with Germany, and it was part of the province called Gelderland. Since it was one of the closest to Germany, it was Dustin’s first stop. The tickets to travel hadn’t been too expensive and now he was in the small town. He’d read up on it as he had traveled there and had learned a good bit. It was a small town, but it was definitely far larger than the one that he came from. With a little over ten thousand citizens, it was decently well populated. Everything he’d read about it lent it an air of peacefulness, which was something that he liked. Dustin had opted not to wear his priest vestments for the travel. Not wanting to draw much attention to himself, he knew that he needed to focus.

There was always the possibility and the probability that by not wearing his vestments, someone who needed help would not be able to turn to him. As a Catholic priest, he knew that that was one of his first and foremost responsibilities, but right then and there he knew that he was not in the proper mind state to give good and healthy advice. After all, he was starting a journey to find the person or persons who had killed his father and he was not showing the proper amounts of forgiveness that were needed and necessary. How then, could he expect to give moral help to those who were in need? It didn’t make sense. Also, there was a level of selfishness contained within the action.

Dustin rarely had time to himself. He did have time to himself, but he was never really alone. The people of his town knew that if they needed him, he would come. It was his duty and his obligation to do so and he fulfilled it as was required of him. Simply put, helping brought him great joy. But at the same time, he craved being able to be by himself and to be alone. To be alone with one’s thoughts, that was something that he wished for deeply. This sabbatical and this burning desire to get to the bottom of what had happened, he felt that it was a sign from the Lord to recharge his spiritual batteries in the way that a retreat or a period of silence would not be able to help him with. He doubted that the Lord had allowed or put into place the series of events that had brought him here with that purpose in mind, but if there was one thing that Dustin had learned over the years and learned well, it was that God worked through mysterious ways.

There was something for him, with this journey. Of that he was sure. Of that he could be sure. Now, he found himself in Groelno, in the Netherlands, his path before him. All of the documentation on the murder in Groelno that he’d found pointed him to one particular area of the town. He had the name of the detective who had worked on the case. Brouwer, Niek Brouwer. The detective was still working in the same precinct that he had been when the murder had taken place. Dustin put in a phone call from the train station and had made an appointment to see the detective. That was his first stop in the town. He would speak to the man first and then if he needed to stay, he would see about lodging.


Dustin caught a taxi from the station and headed directly to the precinct. The trip was short, but he enjoyed seeing the town as they drove. It was a beautiful place, and had he been here on a normal sabbatical, he would have enjoyed spending time there. Unfortunately, he wanted to speak to the detective, see what he could and move on to the next place on his list.

When he got to the precinct, he paid the taxi driver and headed up the stairs, to meet with Detective Niek Brouwer.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Niek Brouwer was a bear of a man. The detective had welcomed him into his office and he’d offered him a drink. His office had been a large, cavernous place, the police precinct clearly an old building. It had character and history, something that Dustin liked and appreciated. If he’d had the time, he would have liked to have gotten a tour of the place, but unfortunately he knew that that was not something that was going to truly be possible. Luckily the man knew German, because DustinThe two of them had started to have a conversation about random stuff. But that was simply small talk and both of them had known that. Dustin had told him about what had happened in his town back in Germany. Niek had listened intently, hearing everything that Dustin had told him and looking at all the paperwork that Dustin had brought with him. Then he’d brought out a sizable folder and had given it to him.

“This is it?” Dustin asked, looking at the folder.

“Yes.” Niek said, nodding. “This is what I have from that case.” He said. “It was, indeed, an interesting one. We were unable to solve it and at this point, all of our leads have gone ridiculously cold.” He said, in good German. “I think, that there is not a high possibility of me helping you, Father Schaefer.”

“That is unfortunate. Would you mind if I made copies of this?” Dustin asked and Niek smiled at this and pointed at what was in Dustin’s hands.

“That is a copy. I had to take out some of the information that may be considered sensitive, but for the most part, that is everything that I came up with during the case. I wish you luck, Father, that you are able to make heads or tails of this. I tried to get in touch with others who’d dealt with similar cases and I got different results. However, most of the results were the same. No one can figure this out.”

“I don’t know if I will be any more successful, but I have to try. I don’t have the skills or the training that you all have, but I have to make an effort. I owe my father that much.” Dustin said. “He was a great father and he did a lot for the community. Closure is something that is hard to achieve.” He said. “But it is something that we must strive for.” He said, rising. “I do want to thank you for your time. You’ve been a great help.” Dustin said, extending his hand.

“I’m just sorry that I wasn’t able to offer more help to your search. It was a very gruesome murder, the one that happened here in Groenlo. It shocked the community and it rocked everyone to the core. It truly was a shame. Where are you headed to next?” Niek asked as he shook Dustin’s hand.

“Well, I have to make a few phone calls, but the next one that I should be headed to is in Lyons, France.” Dustin said. “I have to make my arrangements but it shouldn’t be anything too difficult to do, I think.” He said.

“Either way, it was wonderful to meet you. I pray you have success.” Niek said and the two shook hands one more time, because Niek walked Dustin out of the police precinct. From there, Dustin headed back to the train station. It was time to move on.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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His Lyons trip had been far less fruitful. The inspector there had given him some information, but most of the time, the man had spoken on how if he couldn’t figure it out then he doubted that Dustin would be able to uncover what was going on. While this wasn’t that big of an issue, the way in which the man had phrased everything he’d said had been. Dustin didn’t mind being told that he wasn’t a smart person or wasn’t able to understand something in comparison to someone else, but he did mind when he was basically being insulted. There were polite ways to go about it and this man lacked that tact. When their meeting had been over, Dustin had been more relieved than anything. He’d actually been happy to leave, which was a feeling that was rather alien to him. Normally he enjoyed everyone’s company, so the fact that he had felt relief in leaving had been weird. Still, he’d pushed it out of his mind and concentrated on returning home. It was time for him to return to his town and see what he could do with the information that he already had.

On the train ride home, he started to compare everything that he had. In all the cases, there was one or more persons involved who had attacked people with claws. The murders were rather unconnected actually. Mr. Mountbatten had been a researcher, and so had the man murdered in Groenlo. However, in Lyons, the couple that had been killed were not scientists at all. They worked in business. Dustin wasn’t sure what connection there was between them. He was trying to figure that out now. Unfortunately he didn’t have access to enough information like tax returns in order to see if maybe there was some kind of monetary connection between the two. There wasn’t much else that he could go on and he was trying to decide what his next step would be. He only had access to so much.

Now he was sitting in his kitchen, eating some Knödel. Pfoetchen was next to him, sitting obediently. He could tell that his dog had missed him and that his dog had definitely realized that Kasper was no longer with them. As he sat there, eating, Dustin could still visualize the claw marks that had been in the body of his father and Mr. Mountbatten. They looked the same as the claw marks that had been in the other victims in Lyons and Groenlo. Something was going on, he just didn’t know what it was. He wanted to find out, it was a burning desire within him, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to properly rest until he knew what had happened to his father. He remembered the agencies that had laughed at the detectives. Why would they laugh when there were now at least three known cases such as the one that had happened in his town? It didn’t make sense.

His mind kept coming back to the Russian woman. Something about her seemed off. She had never given Arnold the owner of the hotel a definitive amount of days that she would be staying and she had left shortly after everything had happened. Last but not least, she had been in an incredible rush according to the hotel owner. He wanted to know more about her and even though he was celibate, he knew that a part of him just wanted to look at her again. The picture on her ID was all that he had, and it wasn’t that good of a copy, but still. Looking at the picture, he tried to figure out what was the woman’s story and why she had done everything that she’d done.

It just didn’t make sense.

He was still on sabbatical but he wanted to help out, so he decided that he would head to his parish to see if there was some work to be done.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He’d gotten into his confessional booth and had sat down, happy to be in a comfortable place once more. Dustin wasn’t sure how well he would be able to perform his priestly duties, considering his overall mind state, but no one had ever claimed that being a priest was easy. It was an extremely hard job and one that Dustin took seriously. He owed it to his parishioners to be the best that he could be, always. He’d taken vows to tend to Christ’s flock and that was what he would do until the day that he died. Regardless of what was going on in his life, he needed to be there for his people. However, Dustin doubted that there would be many visitors to the confessional. It was early in the day and everyone was going about their business, conducting their normal lives. If there was one thing that he knew, he knew the schedule of his town.

It was the middle of the week, and there would be few to no one who came to him. He liked the quiet of the church though and it gave him a chance to pray and to be close to God. There wasn’t anything special about the church building that increased someone’s ability to be close to God. It didn’t have some holy way of conversing with heaven, no. But for some, the serenity of a church helped them in different ways. Helped them focus their thoughts, helped them find a mental clarity that otherwise was harder to achieve. Dustin could understand this and he respected it. He felt it too. With the exception of his mountain retreat, this was the place that he found the most solace. Whenever he could steal a moment or two for quiet reflection in the church, he did.

This, he figured, would be one of those times.

About thirty minutes later, he found out that he was wrong. There was a knock on the door of his confessional booth. Then a voice followed. “Father, are you in?” A woman asked, in German.

“Yes, I am. Come, enter and let us talk.” Dustin said.

He heard the door open and then the sound of someone sitting down on the built in bench of the parishioner’s side of the confessional booth. As was custom, there was a protective screen set up so that neither person could fully and properly see the other. The sanctity of the confessional booth was something that was near and dear for the German priest. He fully believed in it and he fully agreed with the ideals that it espoused.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Bless me Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was three weeks ago.” The woman said.

Dustin waited. For some people, it took time for them to say what they needed to say, even if they had waited in line for a while. This woman hadn’t so he understood that she might need some time. Furthermore, her voice was rather foreign to him, so he knew that she wasn’t a regular member of the parish. Quite possibly from out of town.

“In that time, I have killed two men.” She said.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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It didn’t click at first for Dustin. He was wrapped up in his own thoughts, admittedly. It was wrong of him to be thinking about something else when there was someone here in the confessional who was upset and needed to be helped. He focused on what the woman had just said though and it grabbed his attention. She was Russian, he could tell by the accent. Unexpectedly, his palms started to sweat. Was this the woman who had killed Mr. Mountbatten and his father? Was she responsible for the murders that he had found out about around Europe? If she was, then she was incredibly dangerous, and he was not safe. He had never, ever used his powers around people before and he didn’t want to break that. Unsure of what level of danger that he was in, Dustin cleared his throat and tried to push the thoughts out of his mind and focus on the task at hand.

“I understand. Please, continue.” He said.

“The two men that I killed, Father, you have to understand, they were evil men. They had done, evil things in this world, and I felt that I was right in ending their lives.” She said.

This definitely confused Dustin. His father was not evil. Far from it. Kasper had been the most saintly man that Dustin had ever known. On the other hand, he did not know enough about Charles Mountbatten in order to make an informed judgment on the woman’s words. What Mountbatten had done before he had come to this town, a lot of it was shrouded in secrecy. It wasn’t a conspiracy or anything, the man had just never spoken about it. Dustin himself had never asked and had never really inquired of anyone else. To him, the man’s past belonged to the man and the other people who’s lives he had touched. Dustin didn’t deserve nor did he need to know anything about it. If Mr. Mountbatten had chosen to confide in him, then that was a different matter, but he hadn’t. Still confused, Dustin waited.

“I guess it comes down to what is a righteous kill. When is murder justified. I know that Christian writers have worked a lot on the just war theory and I felt that what I did was justified.” She said. “I don’t know how far into detail I can go.” She said. “I’m not even Catholic. I was raised Russian Orthodox.” The woman added.

“I fear,” Dustin said, choosing his words carefully. “I fear that absolution may not be something that I can grant you. It is not because you are of a different understanding of Jesus Christ than I, please do not think that. I understand your position. I myself have never been in a similar position.” He said. Until now... The thought raised itself, unbidden to his mind, but he pushed it out. “I can say that your soul is troubled and that you need help.” He said.

He was about to speak more, when he realized that the woman had gotten up and had stepped out of the confessional booth. 

Dustin was about to turn and exit his side to see just what was going on, apprehensive about his actions, when the door to the confessional was kicked in. Fear showed itself on his face, and somehow he clamped down on the gut reaction to teleport out of the confessional and the church. With shock on his face, he watched as the woman stepped into the booth. He couldn’t even stop to think about her appearance or anything like that, but he did recognize the face.

The same way that he recognized the MP-443 Grach pistol with a silencer on the end of the barrel that was in her hands and pointed at him.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

Post by Mir »

The woman pointing the pistol at him had a look on her face that told him that he was in deep trouble. She reached forward and grabbed part of his robes and then yanked up, pulling him up on to his feet. “Father Schaefer, you’re going to want to listen to what I tell you, otherwise there’s a strong possibility you’re going to be killed.” She said. “I’m going to ask you a few questions. Answer correctly and you won’t be harmed. If you don’t answer or don’t answer to my satisfaction, well, this pistol is chambered for nine millimeter rounds.” The woman said. “I suppose you can figure out what that means for you.” She added. 



She was getting ready to ask him her questions when they heard a noise of the heavy, main door of the church opening and then closing. Dustin, already frozen, was joined by the woman who’s eyes narrowed and looked at him. “Who else is here?” She asked. “I waited until there was no one else. Are you meeting anyone in the church?” She asked and Dustin shook his head. “Good, come on, we’re leaving.” She said and waved him out of the confessional. Dustin knew that the church, while small, was also rather spacious. The confessionals were far from the main entrance and he cursed that design flaw now. “We’re going to your home, Father, and I suggest you make this the easiest thing I have to do all day.”

“You’d shoot me, in a house of...of God?” He asked, awed by the woman’s brashness.

Her response was to level him with a glare. “I’ve seen worse things than the wrath of God, Father, trust me. I’ll do what I need to do. Find us a way out of here that’s quiet and won’t be seen.”

It didn’t take him long, he knew the church like the back of his hand, probably better all things considered. They stepped into the chilly air, and the sweat that had started up on his forehead started to go cold, making an uncomfortable sensation and making the uncomfortable situation even more so. They started walking towards his home, side by side, her nine millimeter pistol shoved into his back, unseen to anyone else. “Now, let’s talk.” She said, seeing as there weren’t many people out on the street. “Your father was killed in the fire, yes?” She asked.

“He was, yes.” Dustin answered.

“What’s your connection to Charles Mountbatten? What’s your connection to Mountbatten?” She asked.

Confused, he shook his head slowly. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” He said. “Neither of us had any connection to him, we were just the parish priests. He came to church on Sundays and he was quiet, he kept to himself. The man liked to talk to my father, but he never really spoke to me. Why, what’s going on?” He asked.


“Dustin, why don’t you let me ask the questions? I'm the one with the gun shoved in your back, after all. Probably be a good thing to just do what I tell you.” She said to him, using his first name for the first time. She was keeping an eye out for passerbys, and not really on him. At the same time though, he didn’t want to risk running away, he didn’t know what could happen.



“Fine.” He said. “One more question and then I'll tell you whatever you want to know. What’s your name. Who are you?” He asked.

“Don’t worry about my name. If you really have a burning need to call me something though, it’s Irina Zakharov. We won’t be around each other for that much longer, so don’t worry about it.” She said. “Next question. Why was your father there, at Mountbatten's house, that night?”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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“I don’t know!” Dustin said as they rounded a corner and he could see his home. “I don’t know why he was there, I’ve been trying to figure out why.” He said.

“You had better not be lying to me, or I’ll kill you.” She said. The gun jabbed hard into his back and Dustin winced as they walked up the path to his front door. “Keys out, open the door, Father. Do you have a dog?” She asked, the question coming a moment later.

He considered lying. But he couldn’t. No matter what the situation was, Dustin Schaefer stood firm to his beliefs. “Yes, a German Shepherd, Pfoetchen.” He said. “I am not lying to you, Ms. Zakharov.” He said. “I do not know why my father was there. I don’t even know much about Mr. Mountbatten. He never really spoke to me, he was a quiet individual.” He added, pulling out his keys. Unlocking the door, Dustin sighed mentally, knowing that the other priests would be out of the house. For one, it was his day to visit the hospital and tend to the sick and dying. The other, the one who was on loan from the Bishop, was actually on his way back to his parish, to pick up some personal belongings. He was completely alone with this woman.

There was a low growl as they walked through. She was going to speak in response to his sentence, but then the dog came stalking towards them, rather unhappy about what it perceived to be an affront against it's master. That had to be dealt with. Zakharov pointed the pistol at Pfoetchen, who was able to sense that something was wrong. “Call the dog off, or I’ll shoot it.” She said.

With disbelief that she would shoot an innocent pup and bewilderment at who this woman was in the first place, Dustin gave the hand signal that told the German Shepherd that everything was alright and that the woman was a friend. Pfoetchen was well trained. Too well trained, Dustin realized, unfortunately. Kasper had loved dogs and had been rather good at training them. His father loved rules and order and made sure that any dog that he’d ever had understood that well. Dustin watched as the dog sat, then laid down, and then whined. “So you say you never knew Charles Mountbatten?” Irina asked, backing away, but keeping the pistol trained on Dustin.

The priest turned and nodded. “Just that he was a private man, now he’s dead and you’re the one who killed him.” He said.

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk. “I never said that I killed him, Father.”



“You said-”

“I confessed to killing two men. I did not, however, tell you their names and who they were. I did not kill your father or Mr. Mountbatten.” She said.

Things were getting more and more confusing for him by the moment. Dustin was a simple man. He woke up, took stock of the day and took care of the problems that were raised during the course of that day. This was all too much for him. “What do you mean?” He asked. “If you didn’t kill them, then why are you coming after me? What is the meaning of all of this?” He asked. “Who are you?” Dustin asked, his voice raising to the point that Pfoetchen’s ears perked, but then he settled. “I want answers.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Irina took a few steps back but she kept the pistol on Dustin. “Like I said, you don’t need the answers.” She said. “I do need to know how much you know, and now I do.” She said. “You don’t know anything about all of this.” She said. The woman stopped and paused then. A part of her had to admit that the priest was a good looking guy. Of course, Irina was not here for that, not at all, but that couldn’t mean that she couldn’t look. Unfortunately, he was a priest, so he had taken all of those vows about celibacy, which was a shame. Even though there was that, there was also the fact that Dustin was a good person from everything that she could tell and see. People’s homes told a lot about them, and she’d picked up on the warmth in the home, the love, caring, and support that the people who lived there had for each other.

Something that she often felt was missing in her life. Irina gave herself a mental shake. She didn’t need those kind of thoughts right now, no matter how forthcoming the man in front of her made them be. “I will tell you one thing though, Father Schaefer.” She said, holstering the pistol.

“What’s that?” He asked, looking at her with a rather angry expression on his face.

“I’d push it all out of my mind if I were you.” Irina said. “Your father died, it’s a tragedy, yes. I understand the pain that you’re going through. But there are things going on that you don’t know and don’t understand the implications of. Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. It was never my intention to harm you. At the end of the day, you are a man of God. A god I no longer believe in, but that is what you are, nonetheless.”

“What happened to you?” Dustin asked. “What happened to you to make you this way? You seem cold and in need of comfort.”



“We live in what can be a cruel and harsh world, don’t we Father? It’s not your concern though. We’re not in the confessional booth anymore.” Irina said. She knelt, keeping her eyes on Dustin and scratched Pfoetchen behind the ears. The dog whined and his tail thumped the ground. He was just happy to have some attention. The dog rolled over, exposing it’s belly and she gave it a few good scratches, watching Dustin watch her. Rising, Irina started to walk out of the house, but she stopped at the front door. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Dustin was looking down at the ground. “If it’s any consolation, Father, I can tell you that his murder, it was unintentional. He simply happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” The woman said.

Her eyes studied him, and she looked for a response. Getting none, she nodded and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her.

She had parked her car near his house, anticipating that everything would go smoothly. Dustin was a priest, and priests usually did not want to fight people, especially people with guns. It had been a bit of a stretch, but Irina had been willing to make that bet. This loose end was tied up though, and so she would be able to get back to work. Dustin Schaefer didn’t know anything. Hopefully the priest would take her advice and that would be the end of it. There was something inside of her that his presence had stirred up though. She would need some time to think those things through.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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She was gone. She had been gone for two days, and Dustin still couldn’t wrap his head around everything that had happened. The woman, Irina Zakharov, had come into his life like a whirlwind, unsettled everything, and then she’d left. He had no more information than he had had before and now he had more questions that lacked answers. He couldn’t get her words out of his head. Things going on that he didn’t understand and couldn’t understand the implications of? That brought a plethora of thoughts to his head. It conjured up images of cloak and dagger, subterfuge, and things like that. But he couldn’t believe that Charles Mountbatten had been involved in such things. Yes, the man had been a researcher, but involved in things like that? Whatever had the woman meant?

Then there was the woman herself. He couldn’t get images of her out of his mind either. She had been strong willed, but underneath that, he had sensed weakness, loneliness. He didn’t know enough about her, not nearly as much as he would have liked. There was something about her that was commanding. But what had stuck with him the most were her words over her looks. He was a priest and had long ago learned how to clamp down, to a very good degree, on the urges that came with being a mortal man, with instincts built into him to search for a suitable mate. Her words had him hooked, entranced almost. By the simple virtue of telling him not to go looking now he had to go looking.

So he’d started with the basics. Simple things like google searches for her name. At first, Dustin had doubted that it was her real name. Interestingly enough, it had been. Why she’d told him her real name, Dustin did not know. But he still wasn’t sure if it was or wasn’t. It could have been a carefully constructed facade. Photoshop was an amazing thing and for people who knew how, it was easy to hack into the University of Paris and inject a picture with her in it for one of their years graduating class. That couldn’t be that hard, all things considered. But what he had learned had given him a glimpse and he had followed that glimpse. Taking the information that he had received from Arnold, the hotel owner, had been the next step. Arnold had given him copies of everything he’d had. Dustin had vaguely wondered if there were some laws that he was breaking. In the end, he’d advised himself to seek reconciliation after this whole matter had been resolved.

Then he’d started to run credit card numbers and see what he could find.

He was a few hours in to his endeavor and he had yet to find anything. Hopefully, and it was a big hope, he’d be able to get something. Dustin had done a lot of digging and he’d found some programs that allowed you to backtrack a credit card. It was supposed to be for people who were worried about identity theft or credit card theft, but it could be used in a number of different ways. He would have to wait longer though in order to get a good number of results. That way he would have a bit of material to work with. Dustin needed a history in order to figure out any patterns.


Once he had that, he would be able to figure out some more about this woman because he knew what his next step was. He was going to track her down. It was an interesting thought for a man of the cloth to have, and one that troubled Dustin. Vengeance was the Lord’s, it was something that he had to repeat to himself often ever since his father had died. He wanted vengeance, but he knew that it was wrong. At least if he caught the person who had done this, he would be able to have justice. Justice, by bringing the person to the authorities and letting them deal with someone who had killed multiple people, possibly over ten according to what his information told him.

Someone who probably would kill more before Dustin was able to get him.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He had finally found something.

A name, a single name, but it was something and Dustin was going to take it as far as he could. It was the name of a company, the Icarus Trading Company. Going on their website, he was able to confirm that Irina Zakharov was an actual employee. The woman that had held him at gun point worked for the Icarus Trading Company as a high level account manager, actually someone who traveled and met with people from the companies that Icarus Trading Company had contracts with, in order to keep them happy and to maintain the pre-existing business relationship. Dustin had gotten the information by having the name recur a few times on her credit card. Now he needed to find a way to backtrack. He knew that she traveled, and he knew that she used this credit card number.

From there, if he could figure out where her purchases were located, then he would know where she had been. But that didn’t help him with where she was going, and that was a problem that he had yet to find a good solution for.

Dustin sat in his home, thinking to himself. He had been trying to figure out how to do that, when he decided that after spending so many hours on this problem, it was better to take a break as he was very close to being mentally burnt out. Feeling that it was time to get out and get some fresh air, the German man changed into his workout clothes, opting to go for a short run. He started on his run, knowing his route and his pattern by memory. This was a simple run, not that intense, just two miles. The air outside was cool and crisp. The sun was setting and he knew that the street lamps would soon come on. The run was something that he needed to clear his mind.

The realization of what could be a solution to his problem was came around halfway through his run. It came to him as he reached the halfway point of his run. He was following a pattern, he always did. The paths of his runs always followed a preset path. Someone who worked in a company and worked by traveling to different cities and meeting with members of different companies, that someone also followed a pattern. This pattern was something that he could potentially isolate with the information that he had. He had his way of tracking her down. Once he knew her pattern of behavior, then he would be able to determine what was a normal stop or something that he should pay more attention at.

When he’d gotten back to the house, he’d set to work, figuring out what her pattern of behavior had been.

Then Dustin stumbled across something very interesting. There were purchases in all of the cities and areas that he had found murders in. Irina’s claims that she had not murdered his father or Mr. Mountbatten, well, Dustin was finding them harder and harder to believe. How was he supposed to believe her with all of the evidence that was in front of him? It was just too obvious. What else was he supposed to believe?

Leaning back in his chair, the man steepled his fingers together and brought his hands up to his face. There was only one anomaly out of the anomalies from the pattern that she’d established from her work travel. He was able to verify, through Arnold’s records, that this was the first time that she had been in the location of one of the murders before the murder had happened.

But what did that mean?
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He knew where to go and he was already packing his things. Dustin’s hands moved quickly as he stuffed clothing into his travel cases. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to pack as he had only recently returned from his other travels.

She was in Geneva, Switzerland. Now that he was tracking her credit card and he had analyzed her pattern of travel, Dustin had found that she had never traveled to Geneva before. This was a new place. Even if she was there only on Icarus Trading Company business, he still had the ability to find her and pin her down, to ask her just what was going on. Dustin had his passport ready and everything that he would need packed. He was out the door and on his way to Geneva. There was one problem however. Zakharov usually only stopped in these cities, when she was in a place on non ITC business, for a day or so. He needed to be quick, since he didn’t know how long she had been in the city. Otherwise he would lose her and he didn’t want that.

So though he couldn’t control the speed of the train that he was on, he urged it forward with his mind, feeling that the positive energy would work. Eventually, the priest decided that it wasn’t going to do him any good, but he knew that he needed to settle his mind. With that need in place, Dustin turned to one of the things that allowed him to be calm and allowed him to have peace of mind. Prayer. Specifically, the Rosary. With his set of the prayer beads in hand, the man closed his eyes, saying the prayers over in his mind. As someone who had never known his mother and had never had a surrogate mother, Dustin had a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary. Repeating the Hail Mary over and over settled him.

He didn’t know why he was as excited as he was. Maybe it was because he knew that the woman had lied to him and that finally he was going to get the answers that he had been searching for. Maybe it was the woman herself, who intrigued him deeply in ways that he wasn’t sure he wanted to explore. All over though, he had the feeling that his quest, his journey was coming to an end. He would find what he was seeking in Geneva, Dustin was sure of it as sure as he was that Jesus Christ was God’s son and had died on the cross for his sins. He believed it, with the fibers of his being. Geneva was the place and the hour was fast approaching.

Feeling like the virgins with the torches waiting for the groom from the parable that Jesus had told in the Gospel, he continued to pray as the train continued to move through Germany and onwards to Switzerland.

They didn’t stop too often, which was something that he appreciated. From time to time, Dustin would open his laptop and run the program that he had gotten, not realizing that technically what he was doing was illegal. As far as he could tell, Irina Zakharov was still in Geneva, Switzerland. She had not used either her personal or business credit card to make any purchases while in the city. When she did, hopefully he would be alerted of it and he would be able to determine if she was leaving or not.

When the train pulled into Geneva, Dustin was ready and raring to go. 

Entering the train station, he set to work finding a taxi that would be able to take him to the hotel that he was looking for.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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He was in Geneva, and he had the location of where she had last used her credit card. It was at a restaurant. Already he had spoken to the people who worked there and they didn’t have much information on Zakharov. When he thought about it though, he could not blame the people who worked there. After all, he had presented no real reason as to why he had needed to speak with her or know more about her. All they could have had to go on was that Dustin was a priest, but even then, he hadn’t worn anything that demarcated himself as a priest and he hadn’t introduced himself as a priest so why would they have known? The trip hadn’t disheartened him, but he had known that he was going to have to be very vigilant if he was going to locate her.

When he got back to his hotel, he checked up on everything and found that she had registered another use of her credit card. With this address in hand, Dustin set out. He knew where he was going and he knew that it was a hotel building. She had to be in the area and if he moved fast enough, he would be able to reach her. If not, well, that was something that Dustin didn’t really want to think about at the moment. He had to find Irina Zakharov.

The journey to her hotel didn’t take him that long and when he got there, he was ready and prepared to meet her.

He asked the man behind the counter for any and all information that he had on Zakharov, but there was only so much that he could get. Unfortunately, Dustin wasn’t able to get enough to find out what room she was in, but he was able to find out that she was not in the building. That information had come from one of the bell hops, who told him that she had just left, asking for information about a particular building that wasn’t too far away, by taxi. Glad that he had something to go on, Dustin left, the bell hop getting a taxi for him. The taxi ride had started off fine, but then it appeared that traffic had started to block their way. There had been an accident of some sort, and so the traffic had slowed down, rubber necking and otherwise generally impeding the flow that Dustin desperately required.

As he sat in the car, worrying, he tried to keep calm. She was so close, and he didn’t want an accident to be the reason why he was unable to reach her. His heart went out to the people who had been in the car accident, and he spent a few minutes in quiet prayer, beseeching the Lord to ensure that no one was seriously injured and that the only damage that would come from this accident was property damage. Property could be replaced, but as Dustin had so recently learned, losing a person was irreplaceable. There was nothing that an insurance company could properly do to make up for the loss that had been endured by the lost one’s loved ones.

Finishing his prayer, he opened his eyes, to find that his own personal prayer had been answered. In the distance, he could see Irina Zakharov stepping out of a building. She stopped, looking at the accident, before putting on a pair of sunglasses and starting to walk. 



He’d found her.

Paying the taxi driver, Dustin stepped out of the car, deciding that he could do the rest on foot. She had been rather in shape when they had met, but he kept himself in great physical shape. Also, she would be walking, whereas he would be running.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Irina had her sunglasses on and she was moving quickly. She knew where she needed to go and she had a deadline. Her target was only going to be in the area for a certain period of time. The lucky though educated guess that she had made in coming to Geneva had paid off, now it was time to capitalize on it. She had just exited the building after getting the information that she needed to find her target when that car crash had happened. There was no jarring motion for her, no need to flinch. She had been trained and seen a great number of things over the years, so she knew what she was doing and she knew that she couldn’t let anything bother her. In this situation, time and speed was the most important thing. A deadline. In order to make sure that she got her man.

And Irina Zakharov always got her man.

As she walked down the street, she brushed past people who were coming in the opposite direction, trying to get a glimpse of what had happened with the accident. Giving them no mind, she continued to walk and continued to make her way past them. Ignoring the people around her, her mind was focused on what she needed to do. Her appearance would make anyone think that she was nothing but a businesswoman carrying out her day to day activities. She didn’t realize that someone was following her until it was almost too late.

Turning, her eyes widened slightly when she saw Dustin Schaefer standing near by. Then her eyes narrowed. “I thought I told you to leave it alone, Father.” She said after a moment. She couldn’t only begin to wonder how exactly he had been able to track her movements to Geneva. This priest, he wasn’t your average priest, not by far. Something was going on here and she didn’t like it, not at all.

“I know what you did.” Dustin said and she sighed in response.

“No, you don’t. You think you do, but thinking it and knowing it are too different things, Father. You should know that.” Irina said. “Now, you’re making me late for an appointment, one that I can’t afford to be late for.” She said. “Would you like to excuse yourself and not follow me anymore?”

“You’re going to go kill someone, aren’t you?” He asked and when she shook her head and tried to speak, Dustin cut her off. “I can’t believe that you would lie to me about this.” He said. “I know you’re going to.”



“We’re not in the confessional, Father.” She said. “I don’t need to tell you the truth about anything. But if you’re so God damned concerned that I’m going to kill someone, why don’t you tag along and see what exactly I’m going to do?” She asked. Irina smiled when she saw the indecision that was on his face. It was obvious. He wanted to come with her, but the part of him that was good and kind didn’t want to see what was going to happen. However, he also knew that if he went with her, there was the possibility that he could stop her from doing it. “Tell you what, just in case you’re thinking of alerting some authorities.” Irina said and then leaned in close, brushing up against him. “If you do, or I think you will, I will never tell you the reason why your father was murdered.” She said.

After that, it didn’t take too long before the two of them were walking together.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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OOC: It is great to finally have internet back up and running! :D

IC:


Dustin knew that this was going to be important. He wasn’t sure if he could trust this woman and he was leaning towards erring on the side of caution and just stopping her and telling her to tell him the truth. But what if she was? What if there was an innocent that was about to be harmed by someone and going with her was how he could stop it and find the answers that he was looking for. Well he owed it to the person to go. Maybe he was being naive. Maybe it was the fact that he was a priest that he was allowing it to cloud his judgment. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter was that he was a priest and he had to think like a priest. Ensuring the safety of human life was something that was dearly important to him. He couldn’t stand by and do nothing if an innocent life was going to be harmed. He just couldn’t. His father had raised him better and his Church had taught him to live by a set of rules, a code of ethics. A code that Dustin firmly believed in.

They were in a building now, rising up floors. The building itself was an apartment building, filled with hundreds of homes. There were easily a couple thousand people living in this one building. A living, breathing community, and someone was going to be killed here, unless Dustin helped Irina stop it. At least, that was what he thought was going on. That was what he hoped was going on.

The last thing that he wanted was to walk in and find out that she was indeed a murderer and that all of this had been a trap. He had his way out, he knew what his powers could do for him, but that wouldn’t make the betrayal and the pain any less of a thing to deal with. With bated breath, he stepped off the elevator with her onto the twenty second floor. They walked down the hallways until they reached a door that had the number twenty two and then the letter N on it. Irina pointed out something that made his heart fall.

The door was open, and it was obvious that the lock had been forced.

A Beretta M9 was in her hands and she used it to open the door. They walked in to see a sight out of some movie. A large burly man was standing over another person. The second person was on their knees, hands folded in prayer, in supplication. They were begging the larger person for their life. The man who was standing over the other turned and saw the two newcomers.

His eyes widened. “I’ll deal with you later, Zakharov.” He said with a growl. “Smart to bring backup.” He added and then turned. That was when Dustin saw that on the tips of his fingers, the man had what looked like razor sharp claws. His mind flashed back to what the detectives had told him, what the bodies of his father and of Mr. Mountbatten, what all the victims had had. Some kind of claw attack.

Irina Zakharov had not lied to him. She had been telling him the truth. She had not killed his father. No, this man in front of him had. Finally, finally he had found his father’s killer. His eyes caught those of the woman next to him and an unspoken apology passed between them. He turned at the sound of a scream. Everything had taken only a split second, and in that second, the man had swung his hand in an upwards motion. The claws were wrenched through the face of the man who had been on his knees. Blood spurted as the wounds opened up, deep gashes. The spray went in a big arc and Dustin’s eyes widened as another attack happened, ripping into the man’s neck and then pulling out vocal cords.

He had to act.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Dustin surged forward, in a lunge. The man reacted by swinging the arm closest to Dustin, catching him in the stomach and tossing him backwards. The priest landed on the ground and scrambled back to his feet, not willing to give ground to this person. Though he was a peaceful man, he had been trained in a number of ways to defend himself, and they all started coming back to him, unintentionally. When the man attacked him, swinging a balled up fist at him, the priest dropped and then lashed out, his foot catching the man in the knee cap. He used the momentum to move backwards and turned it into a flip so that he was in the front leaning rest position.

Popping upwards, he lifted up off the ground high enough that he was able to perform a missile dropkick on the man. Landing on the ground, Dustin moved forward, as the other man stumbled backwards. Irina watched, her eyes widening as the events unfolded in front of her. The man with the claws swiped blindly, and the German man dodged the attack, weaving under the attack and lifting up on the other side. He threw a punch that connected to the man’s chin. But then the other came back into the fight with a vengeance.

He dove forward, the act going contrary to what Dustin expected. Before he could react, he was taken down to the ground, and the fight turned into a ground game. The two grappled for position and ended up with Dustin under the man, trying to put him into the guard position, while defending his face with his forearms. Knocking away another’s attack when that person had claws on the tips of their fingers was hard, and Dustin was doing the best that he could. Already he’d been cut twice. When the bigger man tried for a smashing attack, double fisted slam, and the priest reacted instinctively.

He disappeared.


Irina’s eyes, already widened, started to narrow though when she saw this. There was a sound, a bit of an explosion, not unlike a “bam” sound, but with a softer ending, and then acrid, dark bluish purplish smoke. That was something that she had most assuredly not expected to see happen. Neither had the man who had been on top of Dustin. The other looked up and stared past her. Irina heard the door to the apartment close and realized that Dustin was behind her. Lifting the pistols that had dropped to her side, she aimed them at the man.

“I think it’s time we had a talk.” She said.

“We both know that isn’t going to work, Irina.” The man said, rising. “I’ll just heal from the bullets. Magic boy can’t stop me either, but I like the ingenuity of bringing him in.” He said.

“You killed my father.” Dustin said.

“I’ve killed a lot of people.” The man said. “That’s why the Facility wanted me. Maybe you should be a little bit clearer.” He said. Dustin was about to speak, but then the man made a break for it, running forward and jumping through a window.

Irina fired her pistols, and four rounds were fired in the process, two hitting the wall and then two streaking through the window after the man who jumped through the window.

“Shit.” She said.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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“Who was that man?” Dustin asked turning to her.

“He’s the guy who killed your father.” Irina said and then turned and looked at him. “I told you I didn’t do it, Father. You should be more trusting.” She watched him curiously. There was no way that he would be able to convince her that he didn’t have powers of some kind, but that was not what made him interesting to her in that moment. It was the simple fact that he was shaking. With anger being the emotion that was bubbling the most. She was willing to bet that this was one of the first times that he had experienced that emotion on such a big level. Anger was a powerful emotion. It had caused a number of problems throughout history.

To see him going through it was interesting for a number of reasons. The one that came to mind first was that it was because he counseled people, in the confessional booth about things such as this and how to deal with them. Granted, Irina could understand that he had finally come face to face with his father’s killer and a priest was still human, still a man. He was going to have human emotions and problems.

Who is he?” Dustin asked.

“That, I can’t tell you.” She said.

He turned and looked at her. “You mean to say that you won’t.”


“No, I can’t. As in, ‘I’m forbidden’.” She said.

“Fine. What’s the Facility?” Dustin asked and she mentally sighed. She really wished he hadn’t heard that one. But then again, she couldn’t blame their foe for his actions. He’d thought that Dustin was a member of the Facility come to help Irina stop him. It only made sense, all things considered.

“That’s another thing that I can’t tell you.” She said.


“What can you tell me?” He asked.

“I can tell you that I’m currently attempting to track him down and take him down. Not for killing your father, but for a number of other reasons.” Irina said. “Now that you know that you can trust me, trust me when I say that he will go down. You can rest assured of that.”

“I don’t want him to hurt more people.” Dustin replied.

“I’m only one person.” She said. “There’s only so much that I can do, by myself.”



“What are you asking me?”

“Father Schaefer, I got some information on you between now and our first meeting. You’re a straight forward man, and you’re the epitome of what it means to be a priest. Everyone in your little town in Germany loves you and thinks the world of you. There have never been any complaints made about you to any Archbishop. So I know you’re not going to lie to me. I know you’re not going to stand there and tell me that you don’t have powers.” She said.

“I do have powers. They’re...I’ve had them for some time. Around the age of puberty.” He said, confirming her suspicions. He was a mutant. This made him even more interesting to her. Suffice to say the fact that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him and his actions when they’d met, that face was present in her mind now.

“I’m asking for your help, to track this man down and to stop him from hurting and killing more people. Do it for your father.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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The priest sold shock on his face. He looked at Irina and tried to stop staring. What was the woman suggesting? He spoke. “You want me to go on a sabbatical from the priesthood and leave everything I know?” He asked.

“Isn’t that what you’re doing right now?” Irina asked, pointedly.

She did have a point. Here he was, miles away from his home in Germany, from his ministry, chasing after her because he had thought that she had killed his father. What was so different from this and what she was asking him? Dustin needed to think. The most glaring dissimilarity, to him, was that he was only on a temporary respite from his priestly duties. If he went with her, he’d need a far longer and far less temporary sabbatical. He’d have to take the year long sabbatical. That would be very hard to do. There was paperwork that needed to be done and lines that needed to be signed by his superiors. It wasn’t something that he could just do.

“I...I can’t.” He said. “I have obligations in Germany.” He said. “To my congregation. I’m their parish priest.” Dustin said.

“I understand that, Father Schaefer.”



“I don’t think you quite do.” He said. “I’ve been toiling with these thoughts, these sinful thoughts since my father’s passing. Revenge, violence. I want to commit these things against the one who would do such a thing as murder a holy man of God.” Dustin said. “That’s why I’m here. If I go with you, if I follow the path that you lay in front of me, I would do those things and I would break God’s commandments. How am I loving my neighbor and caring for them if I do this?” He asked. “I’m not.”

“You know, I’ve always found Catholic’s whole stigma about violence and revenge to be pretty, I don’t know, something. Your boy Jesus did do that whole cleaning people out of the temple with a whip, didn’t he?” Irina asked, gesturing that they should leave.

Dustin started walking, not realizing that Irina was doing all of this on purpose. She had realized that talking to him about theological matters put him at ease and so she was going to keep it going. “Righteous anger is one thing.” Dustin said as they walked, not realizing that they were leaving a crime scene so as to not incriminate themselves. “One needs to realize that Jesus was acting on behalf of God the Father as the Son. Vengeance is the Lord’s and Jesus was the Lord.” He said.

“But what about the human part.” She said.

“That is a valid point.” Dustin said as they got into the elevator, but then he shook his head. “Wait a minute. I’m getting sidetracked.”

“No, you were just starting to get good. Shall I come to you and get your things?” She asked.

“I guess.” Dustin said and was about to speak again when he paused. “Wait, I never said I was going to come with you.” He said.

She gave him a look and then a bemused smile as the elevator doors opened as they reached the lobby. “Father?” She asked and he looked at her. “You’re coming with me. You don’t have to fight anyone, you don’t have to kill anyone. But you know that you’re going to go back to Germany and sit and stew and have misgivings about your choice. Come with me.” Irina said.

The German looked into the Russian’s eyes.

“Alright.” He said.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Dustin Schaefer had put in the necessary documents to extend his sabbatical. He’d cited his personal issues and just a need to be closer to God. The bishop had signed off on it, but he could tell that there had been some misgivings. Dustin himself had misgivings regarding this whole thing. Was this really what he should be doing? Did not his flock deserve his care and attention? He knew that they did. Was he doing justice to them, was he doing right by them? That he wasn’t sure of. He just knew that this was the path that he was on, a path that he had put himself on, whether it was right or wrong for him to do. In the end, he would find out, but he prayed and hoped that he was making the right decision. Especially since everything about this troubled him. He knew that he needed to do this, and that one of the reasons why was because if he didn’t, then he would go back in his mind for years and wonder what would be.

But he felt that one of the biggest things that made him apprehensive about all of this was his traveling companion. Irina Zakharov was most assuredly not Catholic. Which wasn’t that big of a deal in and of itself. He had been around and worked with many non-Catholics in his time as a priest. He held no malice in his heart towards anyone who did not share in his faith. That was their choice, and it was their relationship with God that they needed to be concerned about. If they were willing to live good and morally just lives, and adhere to the codified rule of law that governed the country or area that they lived in, then Dustin was more than willing and more than able to get along with them. But Zakharov was...something else.

She was nowhere near being close to a Catholic. More than that, she knew it and more than that, she flaunted it. Directly in front of him.

They were in the air, on a flight to Cairo, Egypt. Cairo of all places. Why, he didn't know, because she hadn't told himand had worked to deflect his line of questioning on the subject. She had already had a couple drinks. Dustin had abstained from partaking in any alcohol. He didn’t drink that much. Beer yes, with meals. Wine during the weekends, particularly when his father had made Italian. But he never drank to excess, and he never drank hard liquor. She had drank more hard liquor during this flight so far, than he had in his entire life, and he was fairly certain that they were close to the same age. Imbibing large quantities of alcohol was not against any particular tenet of Catholicism, provided that she remained in charge of her faculties, which she seemed to be able to do.

However, Irina had been, since they had gotten to her hotel room, asking him questions about the Catholic faith. Questions designed primarily, it seemed, to either stump him or to aggravate him. Like why there was such a big deal about numbers and had the Catholic Church stolen that from paganism too. Yes, there were twelve stations of the cross and twelve disciples. But just because Saturnalia had been in the winter months and the holiday had been cannibalized by the young Church fro Christmas did not mean that the number twelve had been stolen from paganism. That was just juvenile. She seemed to be attacking his faith for the sheer purpose of attacking his faith, which he didn’t take too kindly too. He hadn’t turned around and started attacking her faith, of which it appeared she didn’t have any.

She had told him that she had been raised Russian Orthodox. Whatever the case was, the woman who had been pestering him with questions and comments was far different from the woman that he had encountered previously and that was something of what concerned him.

But it also intrigued him.

The helper in him wanted to know more about her, wanted to know what made her tick. Why was she like this? Why did she appear so jaded, a trait that had been common both in the confessional booth what seemed like years ago, and now? What had happened in her life to make her like this. Tragedy and Irina Zakharov seemed to have walked hand in hand. He would get to the bottom of this and he would help her. Just as she would help him bring to justice the man who had murdered his father.

Hopefully more would be revealed when they reached Cairo.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Irina Zakharov adjusted the sunglasses that she wore. The sun was coming down strong, but that was to be expected in Egypt. They'd gotten off their flight bout an our ago and had finished with customs after that. She knew that the priest had been a little surprised at her ability to get her weapons through but such was the nature of the people that she worked for. Their connections afforded her much in the way of luxury and amenities and this was just one of them.  The five star hotel that they we going to be staying in was another one of them. Cairo was an interesting place to be in. The air of change was sweeping through the country and after Mubarak had been overthrown the air was looking cleaner and cleaner. The government was working on it’s first elections, and Irina wanted to be in and out as fast as was possible for them. How well they were going to work that remained to be seen. She was planning on being her normal efficient self, but she had never worked with someone like Dustin before.

She had intentionally tried to annoy him on the flight over here. Mainly because he seemed to always be so stuffy and uptight. That was something that she couldn’t stand. Irina hated it when people were like that and it was something that she was going to drill out of him. He looked as though he’d never relaxed before in his life. Her eyes watched him as he paced through the hotel room. It was obvious that he was wondering just what was going on and how they had gotten such living arrangements. They wouldn’t be in Cairo for too long though. Hopefully.

Keeping that thought channeling through her mind, she cleared her throat. This got his attention. Adjusting the flowy sundress that she was wearing to accommodate for both heat and travel, she spoke. “There’s a lot about this that I can’t tell you, because, unfortunately, it’s rather hush hush and secret. But what I can tell you is that there’s definitely a list of people that our target is hunting down.” She said.

“So how do you know that he’s headed to Cairo?” Dustin asked.

“Because, he’s strong, not smart. He’s using a credit card that I can track.” She said. “The same way that you said you tracked mine. Which, incidentally, don’t you need to go to confession for?” The Russian asked, an amused smirk on her face. 


The priest pointedly ignored it and the comment that she’d made.

“What’s this list for?”



“Can’t tell you.”

“Who’s on the list?”

“Can’t tell you.” She said with a shrug. 



“What can you tell me?” He asked after a moment, deciding that seeing what he could find out was better than just asking questions and taking blind stabs in the dark. He learned. And quickly. She could admire that about someone.

“What I can tell you is that this will involve fighting, and blood. Are you up to that, Father?” She asked. “I don’t want to upset your seemingly delicate constitution.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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The priest shook his head slowly. “I’m committed to this path, do I really have a choice at this point?” He asked, more to himself than to the Russian woman in the room. He did that a lot, she was learning, talking out loud to himself. Just the way that he seemed to do things, it appeared. It didn’t bother her that much.

“There will be blood.” She said. “Hopefully you don’t have to shed it. I’ll try my best to keep you out of those situations, but, well, you’re a mutant, and you have powers. From how you fight, I know that you can handle yourself well, Father.” Irina said. “Now, to the task at hand.”

She walked over to the bed in the hotel room and opened the suitcase that was sitting on top of it. Dustin saw that it was rather well packed, and smaller than he would have expected or was stereotypically usual for a woman. There was very little within it, giving off the obvious air that Irina was not only one who traveled light, she was used to traveling that way and traveling a lot. It was a good insight into the woman herself. Reaching in, she took out a laptop and opened it up. After a few moments, she pulled up a small map of a building and showed it to Dustin. “This is where we’re going.” She said. “It’s a small gala event for a charity in the area. One of the people involved there that night is on the list of targets for the man we’re after. We’ll go in there and shadow the target, a Dr. Barnard, and hopefully we’ll be able to stop the attack from happening. Sound good, Father?”



He nodded slowly and then looked at her. “I don’t particularly have a suit or anything and we’re in Egypt, so will my Roman collar be alright or do I need to get a suit?” He asked. A part of him, a small part, was almost giddy at what she was talking about. It sounded so cloak and dagger, so spy like. Like something you’d see on the tv or in a movie or read about. Never had he thought that he would do something like this, a small town parish priest. It just didn’t seem like something that he would ever do. Assuredly it was not in the job description for being a priest. He was trying to contain his overall excitement, because he figured that he needed to keep a lid on whatever was going on in his mind. The last thing he wanted to do was to give a poor showing of himself and make Irina rethink asking him to come along on this whole thing.

She shook her head. “The Roman collar should be fine.”

“That’s good.” He said. “I’ve never been in a suit before.”

“Really?” Irina asked, partially startled by this revelation. “I guess the collar works for everything, when you think about it.” She added after a moment. “I almost want to get you into a suit but I have a feeling that it would be too uncomfortable for you.” 

The woman looked down at her watch and then back up at Dustin. “We have a few hours before it’s time to go. Probably should start getting ready.” Her hands reached into the suitcase again and took out a red silk dress along with everything she’d need for her shower. Then she was gone, headed to the bathroom, leaving Dustin looking at the computer screen.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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She’d left the computer out there on purpose. Before she’d shown it to him the first time, Irina had started up a program that tracked every keystroke made. Her plan was to check it later to see whether or not the priest was snooping around. But for now, her thoughts were on what his reaction was going to be when she stepped out wearing this dress. It was red silk, and hugged her and was cut in all the right places. Irina could tell enough about him, and had seen enough of that small town in Germany to know that she could very well have been the most attractive woman that Dustin Schaefer had ever seen. Vanity wasn’t the word that she was going for, more of a simple statement of facts. Stepping out into the hotel room, she looked for the priest. He was standing on the balcony, looking out at Cairo.

Strapping on the pumps that she had with her, she stepped out. The noise that the shoes made drew his attention and he turned. The shoes gave her the two inches that she needed to be at the same height as he was. Whether he was a priest or not, he was a man, and he couldn’t stop his innate biological reactions. Irina watched as his pupils dilated for a second or two and then stopped, returning back to how they had been. He was good. The priest had been attracted on a base level, but he had quickly been able to clamp down on whatever was going on inside of him. The idea of him having had a lot of practice in that regard didn’t seem to be too big, so she attributed it to his years of keeping his mutant abilities hidden from his small, sleepy German town. “The shower is all yours, if you need.”

“Thank you.” Dustin said and stepped past her, with a faceless expression.

Interestingly enough, she’d had a feeling that he’d have the ability to do exactly what he’d just done, but the fact that he’d actually been able to do it kind of upset her. Irina knew that she was an attractive woman, she’d known that since her days at college, and she liked being able to see the results of that on the faces and in the actions of people around her. Maybe it was a bit of a hit to her ego to know that he could easily resist her looks. She looked out at Cairo and then once he was in the shower and she knew that he wasn’t coming out anytime soon, Irina walked over to the computer and checked it.

Now that was a bit of a surprise.

Yet again he was proving to be someone beyond reproach. He hadn’t touched the computer since she’d shown him the information. Anyone else probably would have gone for the computer and gone through the files to find out more, especially since they were being intentionally kept in the dark like he was. But he hadn’t done that. There was no doubt that it wasn’t because he trusted her, it was because he respected her privacy and he was a gentleman. That was something that she had rarely run across in all of her years on this earth. A true gentleman, a man who respected people for what they were, people, and wouldn’t hurt anyone unless it was the last thing that he could do. True, he was a priest, so it had been built into him, but still, the ability to maintain that, in the situation that he was now in, it was commendable.

And she was keeping him in the dark, but for good reason. He was an innocent guy and he didn’t deserve to be tangled up with everything that was going on. A bystander who had been dragged into this, she knew that if she told him more, it was just going to get him involved more. The last thing that she wanted was that, because she knew enough about who paid her bills to know that they would be highly interested in him and not stop until they had him.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Putting the razor away, Dustin looked at himself in the mirror. The shower had been good, needed, and he’d indulged a little bit more than he probably should have. It was a very nice hotel room, and a very nice bathroom. Definitely more than he was used to and had come to be used to in his life. But here he was, in Egypt, in Cairo, in a hotel that he would never be able to afford, with a woman who’s actions and past troubled him greatly, and he was about to do something that he’d never thought that he could do. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. No, it was still him. Still Father Dustin Schaefer who read to the children on Sundays during Sunday school. Still Father Dustin Schaefer who helped people in the town with their goats and sheep when he had the time. It seemed such an interesting juxtaposition, what he knew to do and what he was doing. He’d known when he started on this journey that things would change for him. Not necessarily in a big way, but he’d known that he was going to see more of the world and that he would be exposed to so much more.

A part of him was deeply looking forward to it. As much as he hated the reasons why he was doing this, he did like the fact that he was doing it. There was nothing wrong, to him, at least, in absorbing what one could when one had to do something, even if one didn’t like the reasons behind it. He thought about that as he changed into his attire for the evening. Once he was done, Dustin stepped out of the bathroom, what few wisps of steam were left, escaping with him.

She was on the balcony where he had been not too long ago, looking out at the city. He knew that she knew that he was there. Well, he didn’t know, but he had a feeling. Whoever this woman was, exactly, she was very good at what she did. What she did was a mystery, per se, but he could guess at enough of it to know that the word “clandestine” probably fit in there a number of times.

“I’m ready.” He said to her as he stepped out on to the balcony.

The Russian woman nodded as she turned and looked at him. “We’ve got a little bit of time before we have to head out.” She said and then looked back out at the city.

Dustin headed over to the other end of the balcony, which wasn’t that big and leaned against it, to look out at the city as well. There was a large amount of hustle and bustle going on, more than he was used to. He liked the simple life, the quieter life. This just seemed too fast paced for him. However fast paced it was, it was decidedly interesting to watch and to study. “It doesn’t do much to you, does it?” He asked.

Irina turned her head and looked at him, confusion on her face.

“The view of the city, all the people down below, everyone living their lives, it doesn’t do anything to you, does it?” He asked.

“No, it’s just another city.” She said and then she frowned. “Why, what does it do to you?” She asked.

“Amazes me. It startles me.” He said. “All these people, all these lives. So many stories, so many journeys on the road of life. It doesn’t get to you?” He asked.

“I guess I’ve become numb to it over the years. It’s just another city to me.” She said, turning and looking back out over the city.

“Not to me.” He said.
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

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Irina walked across the floor of the charity gala, turning heads here and there. She was blending well, but naturally she called attention to herself. It was both curse and blessing, though this time, it was more of the former than the latter. Being inconspicuous was what she was aiming for, and it was rather hard to do. On the other hand, the priest was blending in far more than she was, which was something that she had been wary of. The Roman Collar had a tendency to stand out, or in the very least, make one memorable. But he seemed to be getting away with everything that he was doing without any problems. As the man accepted a glass of ice water from a waiter, she couldn’t help but remember when they had arrived.

He’d gotten out faster, on purpose. Just to open the door for her.

That was something that she wasn’t used to. Well, that wasn’t true. In her career choice, men did different things for different reasons for her. But none of their actions seemed as pure and kind hearted as the things that Father Dustin Schaefer did. Most of the men who did the things that they did, did it because it was their job. Bell hops and the sort. Others did it because they wanted to be in her favor, for a myriad of reasons. But she had yet to meet one who opened doors and acted the act of the gentleman because it was just the right thing to do. Undoubtedly some of the men had some altruistic reasons on their minds.

But what did the priest have to gain by being nice?

The actions made her want to trust him, even though it went against her better judgment. The woman accepted a glass of champagne from a waiter holding a tray and she took a sip. Looking around, she pushed thoughts of the altruistic priest out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. They had to find this Dr. Barnard. Reaching into her purse, she removed her smartphone and accessed the photo that she had of Barnard.

The man was in his late forties, and he already had silver creeping in to his brown hair. Roughly five feet and nine inches, he wasn’t that tall for a man. His weight was relative to his height. Studying his facial characteristics one more time, she put the phone away, to go back to looking over the people.

Dustin had looked at the photo before they’d left. After seemingly just looking at it once, he claimed that he was ready to go and that everything was okay. She’d seen agents in the field who could do things like that, but it seemed weird still. As she walked, she picked up the various bits of conversation that were floating in the air. It helped her merge together a story that she could use for herself if people really wished to speak to her. She had a cover, but Irina liked to inject it with the local flair and things like that.

She was moving up towards where Dustin was standing when she saw him freeze and tense up. Wondering what it was that could cause him to do something like that, Irina followed his line of sight and then her eyes narrowed. The attacker was here. The man who had killed Dustin’s father had just stepped into the room. She walked up to the priest and laid a hand on his back. Leaning in, she spoke.

“Don’t do anything rash, Father.”
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

Post by Foxx »

Don’t do anything rash?

How was...It was easy enough for her to say. Much, much harder for him to do. His entire body, tense and ready to spring into action if he needed it to, if he wanted it to. How could she tell him not to do anything rash. The man who had killed his father was here, in the room with him. A man who had killed before and was planning on killing again. Anger coursed through him and he was having a hard time keeping it at bay. The look that he gave Irina showed that, through and through. She surprised him then, by putting her hand over his fisted one. Holding on, she also held his look, unflinching. What was he to do though? Looking away, he closed his eyes, trying to keep it all inside of him. It was then that his mind blanked, and he found the calm that he was looking for.

“Matthew, chapter six, verses fourteen and fifteen.” He said, looking back at her.

She deadpanned. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to Sunday School, Father.” Irina said with a humorous smirk.

He nodded slowly, the look on his face one that showed that he was not that surprised by her glib response. “I surmised as much. It’s part of the Sermon on the Mount. ‘For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ A beautiful verse, in my opinion.”

“So you can forgive him, just like that?” She asked, a little amazed.

“Yes, yes I can. I’m not working with you on the basis of revenge, Ms. Zakharov. I’m doing this because he needs to be brought to justice. I have a particular set of skills, both God given and human trained, that allow me to help in that matter. Many people wonder why God puts them in situations that they feel they can not manage, or gives them tools that they don’t properly understand why they’ve been given. He does all things with a purpose.” Dustin said, and the hands that had become fists uncurled. He was to follow in the steps of St. Peter and be a fisher of men. Such actions of anger would not help him, only hinder his cause. They had no benefit.

“Maybe the purpose is so that you can stop the man who killed your father from killing more people?” Irina asked.

“That is something that could very well be the case. I don’t claim to even begin to understand the path that God has put me on." He said, his voice full of confidence. "I just know that the trials He places before me are tasks that I can accomplish. Otherwise he would not have put them before me."

She sighed, shaking her head slowly. It was a bit much to take in. Here he was, able to forgive the man who had murdered his own father. That took a lot, even for a priest. “That’s a hell of a faith, Father Schaefer.” She said.

“My beliefs do not require others to believe in them. Just that they are willing to try to understand.” He said.

They looked at the man, walking through the crowd. Dustin began to see past the anger and began to notice other things, such as the way the man walked, the way he acted, his body language. “This one does stand out, doesn’t he?” Dustin asked.

She nodded. “He’s not trying to blend in at all. I don’t know why.”

“Because your Dr. Barnard probably doesn’t suspect a thing.” Dustin said. “We should move.” He added.
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Mir
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Re: Nightcrawler: In Nomine Patris

Post by Mir »

Irina nodded, her eyes moving around the room. She knew that they were up against the ropes when it came to doing something here. The number one rule she followed was keeping her cover intact and maintaining secrecy about her movements. For the people that she worked for it was of the utmost importance. Hellfire Club had a rule that their agents had to keep their usage of their mutations down to a minimum as much as possible. It was eighteen years since the Chrell Invasion had ended, but the fact of the matter was that the world was still very much like it had been before the Invasion. Prejudices remained, and since the majority of the mutant population had died in the Invasion, there weren’t that many mutants in the world.

So anyone who used powers that were found out to be mutations, well it was easier to track them. Hellfire preferred anonymity over easily acquired results. It made those results that much more difficult to accomplish but Irina wouldn’t have had it any other way. She liked the challenge of the work, that was one of the reasons why she had been recruited in the first place.

Her eyes continued to scan as they walked. “We’re not going to be able to do anything here. There are too many people.” She said. “We need to get him away from here, where we can move and operate without interference.” She added.

Schaefer nodded. “That is definite.” He said. “But the question is how, without making a scene. He’s the largest in the room, the most obvious in the room.” He said, thinking out loud. He turned and looked at her. “You’re supposed to be the expert at this, what do you think?” He asked.

“We found him, but not his target.” She said. “That’s the ticket. If we find Dr. Barnard, he’ll come to us.” She said. “Any luck with finding him?” She asked.

“No.” Dustin replied, and she saw that his eyes were still on the large man.

That was a bit of a problem. Tunnel vision, many people had it when given a good enough reason to have it. All things considered, she could understand why Dustin would have it. The man had killed his father. Were she in a similar position, she would probably only focus on the end goal, and miss the steps needed to get her to where she needed, and in that situation, desperately wanted to be. She would need to play the straight man in this, that much was obvious. With that in mind, Irina kept looking around the place, until she finally saw the man that they were looking for.

“There.” She said, and indicated discreetly.

Dustin managed to take his eyes off of his father’s killer long enough to see Dr. Barnard. The doctor was engaged in conversation with a few people, and they were all standing around a table of appetizers. "Alright, so we found him. With that established, how do we work this?” He asked.

“Leave it to me.” She said with a smile. “This is my specialty.”
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