Sheehan: Case 318 (R Lancaster)

[Ryuu Ohtori]

Being between partners, currently, Ryuu looked over the file that he had been handed and ground his teeth. This was not something that he should undertake alone. Glancing round the department he spotted just the person he knew might be up for this case. He marched right over to Lancaster's desk and slapped down the File.

"He's been spotted in London, I know you've got cases of your own... but say the word and I'll get you pulled on this case with me."

If anyone, Ryuu figured Lancaster would want this case. He had been on the case the last time Seven Scars popped up and that had not ended well at all but maybe between the both of them, they could get him trapped, subdued, and take him. At least these were the thoughts running through Ryuu's mind.

"And I will make sure that there is a block on apparation for the area this time..."

[Robert Lancaster]

Robert looked up, surprised, as Ryuu appeared seemingly out of nowhere and dropped a fairly sizeable file onto his desk. He slid the file out from underneath the other Auror's hand and flipped it open to see just what was going on and why it had the other man so worked up. He was already rising out of his seat as he read the name on the front page. He was well aware of the crimes this man had committed being on the force the last time he'd run across a pair of Aurors and left one dead. Aside from getting a vicious monster off of the streets it would be a pretty massive feather in what was, otherwise, a depressingly work-a-day career.

"Right now my cases are down to paperwork and that can wait in favour of getting this man put away for good. If you can get me assigned I'd be honoured to work with you on this."

He pulled his cloak off of the back of his seat an asked, "Where has he been spotted? Is he somewhere that it's going to be safe to lock him down and move on him or are we going to be attempting to transport him somewhere?"

Cases that required slipping portkeys to the targets were always the worst. It would be even more horrible with a suspect as paranoid as Sheehan had proven to be but Robert also knew that that same paranoia would mean that they couldn't just approach the man in a crowded area as he would be extremely likely to just open fire randomly at everyone around him.

[Ryuu Ohtori]

"North wants to set up a portkey... you and I both know that will not work for someone like Seven Scars... Pretty straight forward. I am going to get the portkey from North but we are going to have to catch, restrain, and force the portkey on him. It'll go directly to an Azkaban holding cell. North feels he is too much a danger to himself and others to be placed in a ministry holding cell."

Ohtori couldn't fault him for that, the last time they managed to get him in holding he killed the guy he was held with and almost killed the person who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the lock up. That was how he had escaped, proving he was just as dangerous without a wand as he was with one.

"I'll be back in a few then..."

Wasting no time, Ohtori walked off to the office of the department head. There was some low talking then Ohtori came back to Lancaster holding what looked like a gold galleon but it had the ministry seal on it instead of the dragon. Ohtori must have told North that they were not going to try and pull one over on a dangerous criminal like Seven Scars, so the portkey was very obvious yet small enough it could be pocketed. Ohtori slipped the coin in his pocket and nodded.

"To answer your earlier question, he has been spotted in Belfast, he has just left a Muggle area so now he is in our jurisdiction. He is at a pub called the Redcap, sound familiar?"

The Redcap, was just as someone might expect of a pub of it's name, peopled with wizards that could not stand Muggles. It must have been so difficult for the witches and wizards there to detest Muggles so much and yet live in communities that were right on the border of Muggle areas.

"There is a herbology supply shop that we are going to floo to, the anti apparation and anti disapparation wards are up but we only have two hours."

In other words, they needed to get a move on. Ohtori nodded for Lancaster to come as he headed off to the floo network and flooed to the closed herbology shop where the shop keep just nodded, willing to just let them through.

[Robert Lancaster]

The directions for the portkey were relatively straight forward and Robert figured that it would work as well as pretty much anything at this point in time. They really couldn't pass up the opportunity to take another shot at the guy and a direct trip to Azkaban seemed a lot more likely to hold him for any length of time than holding cells in the ministry had proven capable of. The situation seemed fraught with the opportunity for danger but it was also likely the best chance they were going to be presented with for some time to come. He nodded to show that he comprehended and agreed with the instruction as it had been given.

Robert nodded again, there wasn't really anything else to say since he had to wait and see if he would even, actually, get permission to go. That wasn't truly even guaranteed since he'd been a part of the team that had failed to catch Sheehan the last time he'd been popped up. As Ryuu turned and hurried off he stood and fastened his cloak in a show of hope; then stood and waited for his prospective partner to return.

A grin spread over his face as Ohtori slipped the Ministry coin into his pocket and continued to give him instruction. It was about as clear a statement that permission had been given as could be attained. Belfast was a busy place but from what he knew of the pub in question it was likely that the patrons would be able to hold their own at least well enough to protect themselves should a short scuffle break out or for long enough to escape. "Redcap; that's one of the Pure-Blood hangs over there. At least it shouldn't be overly busy and the people that are there should have at least a chance if everything hits the fan."

He made a mental note of the name of the Herbology shop they would be flooing too and nodded. "Two hours should be more than enough time for this to be decided one way or another."

Robert fell into step beside Ohtori and followed him through the floo into the shop he'd been given as a destination. It was closed which was convenient but it smelled strongly of all sorts of plants and flowers which left him with the sudden urge to sneeze. Being the Junior Auror on this endeavour he followed along behind Ohtori and waited to be given orders or for something to happen he needed to react to.

[Severus]

He had himself a live one here, some high born pure wizard was at the bar making muggle jokes then started on about mudbloods and halfbloods and how they are worse than muggles alone. Severus mulled over another drink before he pulled a knife from his back pocket and glanced over at the guy.

"Oy! You! Talk up a good game... bet you cry like a muggle at the first little thing..."

He took the knife and stabbed it across his own fingers, plunging the point into the wood of the bar in each open space between his fingers, never hitting a single one then back again before he took a shot. The wizard leaned closer, investigating what Severus was doing there.

"Want to see a trick?"

The wizard hardly had a moment to answer before Severus plunged his knife through the middle of that man's hand. The Wizard screamed out in pain and tried to liberate his hand and Severus just laughed.

"Toldja ya cry like a muggle..."

[Ryuu Ohtori]

“Let’s just hope the tip, was good, and we didn’t go through all of this for not.”

Ohtori said as Robert joined him in walking through the Herbology shop and out onto the street. The Redcap was easy to find, there was no name on the pub’s sign but there was a picture of a redcap painted on the sign all the same. The roof might even have been red at one time but the color at night was dim and seemed as average a brown as any other.

“We’ll sweep the place and see if he is in just yet.”

This was as good a plan as any. Things went too easy and that was what bothered Ohtori the most. Not even two steps into the pub and there were shouts at the bar. Severus was not doing himself any favors by randomly assaulting the other guy at the bar this way. Quickly Ohtori darted his eyes to the other side of the pub, a nonverbal instruction for Lancaster to get to the other side of the pub. This way the two of them were not in Seven Scar’s casting range. He could only cast in one direction at a time and they had to use this to their benefit. Like two dog catchers flanking a dog so that one could capture while the other caught the dog’s attention.

[Robert Lancaster]

“You can say that again,” Robert was practically drooling at the chance to make another attempt to bring Sheehan in. The very thought that the tip they’d received had been a false one was really depressing. He started to turn over in his head whether there could be any charges levelled against the person who made the tip if it turned out to not be any good.

There wasn’t anything impressive about the Redcap as a pub; in fact, the building was pretty much completely unmemorable when it came right down to it. Robert wondered if that was part of the attraction of the place for its patrons. It didn’t stand out as the sort of place that shady or illegal deals would be going down so it probably didn’t attract too much attention from any sort of law enforcement.

He nodded as Ohtori gave the instruction to sweep the bar before they made any sort of move; as they stepped through the door Robert found that the interior of the bar was sort of cramped and smelled of smoke.

He hadn’t really had a chance to look around much beyond that when his attention was captured by the sounds of pained shouting that suddenly blossomed from the other side of the room at the bar. He noticed the direction from Ohtori and immediately set out around the edges of the room. People were just starting to react to what was going on at the bar and were milling about – he watched as some of the people who were closer to the doors rushed out of the building. The edges of the room were still relatively open so his movement was unimpeded.

There was little doubt in Robert’s mind that Sheehan would likely start Cursing soon so he tried to subtly draw his wand as he came into position across the room from Ohtori, with Sheehan a little off-centred between them so they wouldn’t be in danger of catching each other with their spells when it came time to open fire. He could feel a slight increase in the sweat on the palm of his hands as he prepared to enter battle; ideally this would be quick and easy, but if it wasn’t, Sheehan was known to be a fast and deadly adversary. With an effort of will he pushed all thoughts of his family out of his mind and concentrated completely on the task at hand. Then he turned his attention across the room toward Ryuu to wait for some signal to start.

[Severus]

From Ryuu's angle, he could not see what Severus was up to but perhaps the second figure in the wings had seen him palm a knife and tuck it into his sleeve as the shock faint of the man he just stabbed, and the presence of Aurors, cleared the room.

"I knew it would be you... Dragon... when I sent that tip in... I knew you would just eat it up. Your blood is wasted on the ministry... come now... I surrender. I grow tired of this game of wolf and hound. We've run in so many circles I doubt either of us remembers just who is the wolf and who is the hound."

He turned to Ryuu, that dagger still hidden, ready to be pulled from his sleeve to slit that rat's throat once and for all. First he searched behind Ryuu for his partner. It'd been a while since last they met up, and it seemed Ryuu knew a few tricks since then. Still he offered his arms out in surrender as though he was ready to be cuffed. This would require Ryuu to take a step toward him, or to speak. If he started speaking up a storm to buy time Severus would no sooner throw that knife at him. A knife thrown was not as gratifying as a manual stab or slash, but it would do.

[Ryuu Ohtori]

"You... were the anonymous tip?"

An instant red flag went off in Ohtori's mind. Something wasn't right here. Why would Severus be surrendering so easily. Still he was offering his hands as if he were ready to be cuffed. Ohtori wanted to look to Lancaster for his feelings on this but that would reveal his position. So finally Ohtori pulled a pair of magic cuffs from his back pocket and approached Severus warily.

"If you wanted to turn yourself in? Why didn't you just waltz into the ministry?"

[Robert Lancaster]

Robert Lancaster rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4

Robert watched as the confrontation began between Sheehan and Ohtori. It was plain that the two men knew each other at least moderately well; though it was equally obvious that it was an adversarial relationship. It was a point that was driving home as he watched Sheehan surreptitiously palm a knife as he stood to face his opponent. A multitude of different disarming spells flashed through his mind but Ryuu had the Portkey so the best bet would be for Robert to remain in the background – hopefully Sheehan would get so caught up in the confrontation with his nemesis that he’d forget about the other Auror in the room and whatever action Robert took would be enough to end the fight before it had really gotten started.

The fact that Sheehan claimed to be the one that had sent in the tip was a little bit concerning and Robert started looking around to make sure that everyone else was leaving. Sheehan wasn’t known for working with a group but it would be stupid to write the idea off entirely and botch this mission because of it.

He tightened his grip on his wand as Sheehan held out his hands in surrender. He hoped that Ryuu wouldn’t be taken in and step forward – it would be just as simple and far safer to bind him magically from where he was standing. It seemed that wasn’t going to be the case though – Ryuu retrieved a pair of cuffs and approached Sheehan to attach them.

Robert Lancaster rolled 1 8-sided dice:
1

With a muttered incantation Robert shot a sticking charm at the knife that was tucked up Sheehan’s sleeve. He mentally swore at himself as the light of the spell missed Sheehan’s arm by a hair’s breadth and rocketed toward the cuffs that Ryuu held – he really couldn’t think of a much worse outcome for that move as it would not only give his position away but it could theoretically render one of Ryuu’s hand useless with a pair of cuffs stuck to it.

There was little doubt that things were about to devolve from this point and Robert hardened himself for whatever was about to happen.