milliways_bar | (no subject)

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alexander knox,
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It's an exhausted and relieved Alexander Knox who stumbles through the door. After the long day he's just been through, a few hours - or maybe a day or two - in the Bar sounds even better than usual.

He throws off his coat and hat, and slides into a booth. In front of him is the evening edition of the Globe. Above the masthead, it reads "Four Star Extra". Below the masthead, in large type, the headline "MAYOR BORG FACES BRIBERY CHARGES" is easy to see. Knox takes another look at the lead story, and at his byline below the headline.

It's been a big day. It's a huge scoop. So why doesn't he feel good about it?

Signaling a rat, Knox orders two beers. And then slumps back in the booth, to try to relax.

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The enormous headline catches Annie's attention as she looks for a spot to sit down with breakfast and morning tea. "Bit of trouble back home, then?" she inquires.

"Hey, Annie. Guess you could say that." Knox finds the energy to give Annie a decent smile. "Guy's been mayor for a long time. Since '79. And now the Feds decide to investigate. They're claiming he took a number of bribes back when he got elected the first time.

"It's gonna be a mess." He looks at that headline again.

"And how are you?"

"Hm. Sounds like someone's covering his bum years after the fact," says Annie, "but then again I suppose I'm more cynical than most. I suppose I'm all right. We're likely- well, Harry's likely- to be heading home sometime next week."

This bit of news brings more a grin to Knox' face. "Really? Sarge told me a bit about his latest adventure, but didn't mention that. That's good to hear. How's he doing today?" His mind drifts back to the newpaper again.

"Covering his butt...maybe. I don't know. I...I'm as cynical as they come, but I really thought the man was honest. And now? I don't know."

"Well, he wouldn't've," Annie says. "I mean he's going home so he can deliver his ultimatum. I'm not to go anywhere until there's an answer one way or the other."

She looks more than a little peeved by this.

"Oh, I didn't mean your Mayor by that," she says. "I mean that it sounds as if someone is trying to cast him in a bad light so that no one looks at their own indiscretions. Give them a spot of breathing room to come up with excuses and destroy the evidence against them, sort of thing."

"Annie, you are a born Gothamite. Who else would think that way?" He smirks, and takes a gulp of beer. "'Cept that the theory my source told me is that the US Attorney is just doing this to make a name for himself. Whether someone else is using him for butt covering, that remains to be seen. I guess once they unseal the indictment, all will be clear.

"Or muddy.

"I suspect by now, tohugh, you know a lot about how government works, or doesn't. Even if Sarge is coming at it from a place i've never been. Military affairs are waaay outside my beat."

"I am English, you know," Annie points out. "We've had a bit more practise at scandal and intrigue than you. As for the fellow prosecuting the case, it's common enough for anonymous letters sent to the right hands to start the ball rolling; could be someone out there's tipped off your Attorney on the sly, so it looks as if his own hands are clean when the time comes. They do that a lot in France."

She reaches for her tea. "Unfortunately I've had to pick up on it. Without looking like I was picking up on it, I might add. That would've attracted attention to me, and eventually to Harry. I suppose it's left me a bit jaundiced overall, but that can't be helped."

"Ah, yes. The Profumo scandal, right? I don't remember much about that. That was that movie last year, but I didn't see it. That was one of the few scandals that would be over the top even for Gotham. Ours are almost always about money and crooks.

"But don't underestimate Gotham. I'm sure we can find s way to top England AND France." It's not exactly pride that Knox takes, but he does almost feel the need to defend his hometown.

"Sarge didn't say much abot his ultimatum. But I think I can guess...gie me what I want, or I talk to David Frost?"

"One among many," Annie acknowledges. "That was just one of the easier ones to stick on the cover of newspapers. We've had our share of financial messes, I promise."

She smiles, just a little. "Something along those lines. Only you're thinking a bit small, I'm afraid. Kill the programme and leave me and my family alone, or I start putting the news out in dribs and drabs. I've got a few friends at the Times, and he's made a few contacts in other news-media- he's going to arrange it so that if anything happens to him or to one of us the news starts to leak. Wants to make sure they take him seriously and don't just nip 'round to Philippa's place in an attempt at counter-blackmail."

A sip of tea later, she adds, "I might mention that he's also putting some of the more specialised information he managed to locate aside for special delivery to some of Britain's more militant anti-vivisection groups. I'm not sure if you've got those in America, but our government considers the animal-experimentation protesters to be a danger on the order of the IRA in its fledgling days. Harry got an awfully large file on what they were doing with dogs at the island..."

Knox smiles at all this. He likes the way the Wellses are thinking, even if the plan is to not tell his brethen in the British media things. Then again - and he keeps this to himself - he thinks that the Fleet Streeters and the Times will have their chance. Black ops types always call bluffs, from what he's heard.

"Wait. Animal right protesters are a danger? Aren't those the same people who yell 'ban the bomb' and protest death penalties and generally stay away from weapons?

"Not, from what I've heard, that the military doesn't have it coming for its games. But...when does Greenpeace become Greenwar?" And it's a good thing Annie explained in detail, because Knox doesn't know the word "anti-vivisection".

"I.... rather think you have a different sort of protester in your country," Annie says delicately. "These are people who believe with all their might that there ought to be no use of animals in laboratories anywhere- medical, scientific, cosmetic or otherwise. They're the sort who go beyond telling rich ladies that fur is murder and dumping red paint on their coats. The ones we've got would break into labs and destroy all the research, set the animals free- or hunt down the scientists to terrorise them and their families until they had to drop out of the public eye and find another line of work. There are people in the animal-rights movement in Britain who get zealous on behalf of the leech."

She shakes her head, tracing one finger over the bar-top. "Harry doesn't want anything to do with them, 'cos of their methods," she goes on. "They're dangerous people. He did what he did because he had to, and he still feels guilty about it- these people, he doesn't approve of. But he's .... well, if anything permanent happens to our grandchild..."

"Ah. Nut cases. Got it." Looking for someone to address issues of social and global import in a balanced and mature manner? Keep looking. Knox might be a good crime reporter, but he'll never be much more. "I just hope he doesn't have to deal with them. Though if he told them he's a werewolf, how knows? They might really be the friends he ever had." Knox smirks, trying to show that he knows this will never happen.

"I think that you can probably count on the press to be your best bet. Like you say, they love scandals. Though I would guess you'd keep the werewolves thing out of it. I know that would lose me, before the Bar."

Annie nods. "They're not right in the head," she says, with all the conviction of a woman who bakes with butter and cheese and who's wearing leather shoes. "But they don't let go once they've got their teeth in an idea. If the government gets too stupid, that's what they've got coming to them."

She sighs. "I'd rather stick with the press, frankly. At least that way I don't have to feel the slightest bit guilty about watching it all unfold. And the werewolf part doesn't have to enter into it, exactly. There's enough evidence in Harry's possession of a drive on the Ministry's part to use unwitting soldiers in potentially fatal experiments without their consent, plus the full extent of the animal experimentation, to give any reporter worth the name reason to pursue the story to the ends of the Earth. All very- very plain, very scientific."

"Ow. Be careful with that last part. Not that there's anything wrong with science reporters. Some of them are really good. William Broadhurst at the Trib did great stuff about the Challenger. But they don't put the science stories where most people read them unless it's something like Challenger. Animal research, even at this scale, isn't Challenger. It's not even test tube babies.

"Play down the science. Keep it real simple. And go after the people who cover scandal, not biology. Oh, and play up the misappropriated funds. Everyone loves to follow the money." Which is of course the famous dictum of Woodward and Bernstein, and would be Knox's choice for First Commandment of Reporting.

"I meant scientific as opposed to magical," Annie says. "Most of what he's got is the sort of thing you find on an appropriations audit to determine why the Ministry would spend a good million pounds on something that never worked at all. Neither Harry nor I are exactly what you'd call science fans- he left school at sixteen. I'm not sure he'd even recognise a science news story if it walked up in front of him and smacked him between the eyes."

"Ah. Yeah, you try to sell magic to anyone besides the Inquisitor and you'll get nowhere.

"And it really sounds like you guys are ahead of the curve. Not bad for a high school dropout. Of course, I've never put much stock in college being good for anything if aren't going to be a doctor or lawyer. And I was at the Globe when I was 16.

"He told me once his father threatened to break his and his brothers' legs if they followed him into the construction business," Annie says. "And that he very nearly did that anyway when Harry told him 'I've got my O-levels, I'm off for a soldier'. Mr. Wells didn't like that at all..."

She shakes her head, but she's smiling. "It's worked out so far, I suppose. And you seem to be doing all right for someone who started working that young."

"There's nothing wrong with being a soldier, as long as you're cut out for it. I hope Sarge's dad came around.

"Probably pays about as badly as being a beat reporter." He smirks. "But I guess have done pretty well. People sometimes know my name. I can afford things without going broke. And I do make a difference." Which brings him back to that darned story and headline. "Even if the difference is sometimes just that the three-term mayor of a big city will know what's coming when Foley has his press conference tomorrow.

"I think I'd rather be writing about Harry."

"Well, you can still count on him to mutter about how Harry should've gone RAF if he had to go into uniform at all, but I think he's all right with it by now."

Annie sips her tea again. "I do hope things work out for your city, but I'm having a little trouble thinking why an American reporter would have much reason to write about my husband."

(The mun cannot remember whether Knox told her about Say True. My apologies.)

"Well, I really don't have much reason I'd write about him at home. Fifteen years before his mission. And probably in a parallel world.

"But in theory, I could write about him here. See, I have a part-time job with the bar newspaper. I just don't know if Lilly would want a story about that.

"Or if Sarge would. But it would be more fun to write about the good guys." Which brings a calmer grin to Knox' face.

"Aaah, I see," Annie says. She taps a forefinger against her lips thoughtfully. "If your boss here wants the story, I can always lean on him a bit about it, if you like. It'd take his mind off things if nothing else."

"Between you and me, I have no idea what Lilly wants. She's...well, a dead 17 year old madam and famous murder victim. Hard to predict someone like that. I'm about to turn in my first story, but it's a fluff piece about the new Head Barman. After that, maybe I'll have a better idea." Assuming, that is, that he can find the energy to move from solid news to pure fluff.

Annie gives this some thought. The list of descriptors for Lilly does not really seem to hang together very well, if her expression is anything to go by, but unlike her husband she is far too polite to say so. "You'll let me know when the paper comes out, I trust?"

"Of course. I don't think it's that frequent, though. At least, I haven't been given a deadline." Which makes a nice change.

"Quite all right. Just as long as I know when there'll be an issue to pick up."

Knox smiles, and then suppresses a yawn. "Ooh. More tired than I thought. Maybe this would be a good time to get a room and leave the other beer for later."

Annie nods. "Do take care, Mr. Knox. I'm sure I'll see you around."

He gets up. "Mister Knox...okay, it's bad enough when a kid called me that. But not you too. Try Knox, or maybe Alexander, okay?" He smiles, and then heads to teh Bar to get a key.

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