I12DT: A Strange Little Thing

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina knocked on the door of Ryan's office, holding a folder marked "CONFIDENTIAL - TOP SECRET" and "PROPERTY OF SHIELD".

It was also covered in unicorn stickers.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan opened the door, then motioned Nina in, closing the binder of his lesson plans. "What's the word?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"I found something really, really weird," Nina says, "Remember Edward Cranston, our mysteriously dead Brotherhood leader?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

"I haven't had much luck looking up any known terrorists that had been around the kid," Ryan admitted. "What did you find?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"I have death records and autopsy reports on Edward and both his parents," Nina says, laying things out on Ryan's desk as she talks, "What I don't have, is this."

Nina places a birth certificate for "Andrea Cranston" on the desk. According to the date, she was only a year younger than her brother.

"After the night her family dies, Andrea disappears. Literally. All of her neighbors, extended family, police, no one remembers she even existed," NIna says, "I talked with her grandmother and she swore up and down that there is no Andrea Cranston, even though I have a paper trail longer than my arm about her up until that night."

"I even found a picture," Nina says, putting down an photo taken at a soccer game. Edward is on the field, but in the stands you can see his parents sitting next to a girl. A girl with green skin and tentacles for hair.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan frowned down at the picture. "Don't suppose you had a tepe sweep one of them to make sure it wasn't some massive cover-up of something the family did to the dirty mutie?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"That is not what Psi-Ops is worried about right now," Nina says, "Andrea was tested at manifestation to have low level telepathy. She produced some sort of telepathic distortion that sounded like a scream according to her file, made it hard to think."

"We're still investigating things, but preliminary tests show she might have been seriously holding back," Nina says, "This girl might have been an Omega level telepath whose first order of business was making sure her entire family slit their own throats."

[Ryan Gabriel]

He rubbed his temples. "And that does track with what's happened so far. Doesn't explain how the knife got there, but I doubt this is a one-person operation. How old would she be right now?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Seventeen," Nina says, "Which is what makes the next part difficult..."

"The recommendation to prioritize lethal force came down the chain, Ryan," Nina says, "If we have a shot at her or any of the Brotherhood, Operations is suggesting we take it."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan rolled his eyes. "And I will bear that in mind. I'll send them my distinct thanks for their tactical assessment from god-knows-where they are."

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina just looks at Ryan, her expression as cold as ice.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"If you have something to say, say it."

[Nina Madaraki]

"You might think it's a joke," Nina says, "But some of us have to take things like that very seriously."

"The University's primary focus is on protecting mutant interests and that's not what SHIELD is interested in. I know you understand that, Ryan, but people like McManus? Your girlfriend? The X-Teams?"

"How are they going to feel about killing a seventeen year old girl for trying to save mutants from the MRA?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Probably about like how I feel about it," Ryan shot back. "Only difference being that I'll do it if I have to."

[Nina Madaraki]

"Good," Nina says.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"What I don't need is Oversight poking me and questioning and backseat driving this operation like I don't know how to do my job. They put me here because they trusted my judgement on the job, they need to act like it."

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina snorts, "They don't trust anyone."

"They don't even trust me! And I'm like, the most loyal agent ever!"

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan smirked. "Then you shouldn't mind me so much telling them to fuck off."

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina groans, "Please don't. That creates, like, an hour of paperwork."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Paperwork? What's that?" Ryan asked 'innocently'.

"All right. We've got a handful of kids who may or may not be under mental influence. We've got the Shah girl who definitely was. We've got this Ariel kid who may or may not be the sister of the name he's using. What we don't have are enough answers. Let's start with this one: The building they live in. Funded by the Shah girl, I assume?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Yeah," Nina says, "She was paying for the rent and utilities using her credit card."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Cute. All right..."

"There can't be this many threads without a loose end or two. We need to look over that building they were in. Find any surveillance of the place, any surveillance cameras from nearby buildings that give a view of the doors, anything that can't be psi-scrambled to show who was coming and going. Has the Shah girl's financial situation been looked over for any other strange payments?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Nothing so far," Nina says, "We're assuming that they have multiple backers at this point."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"All right. We need to look through the building. That's the only lead we've got right now." He thought for a minute. "How long would it take a requisition an LMD walk-along? If we have mind-manipulation going on, we'll need someone who can make sure they aren't being screwed with and that whatever they see syncs up with what we're seeing. And frankly I won't trust anyone with a brain between their ears who says they can't be messed with."

[Nina Madaraki]

"You know I don't trust those things," Nina says, "We should just bring along a teep to keep us protected."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"And you know I don't trust those. And if we're talking an omega level power we're going up against, we don't get any assurance that the tepe we bring will be up to the task."

[Nina Madaraki]

"And an LMD isn't going to keep us from slitting our own throats," Nina points out.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"And neither is a dick wearing a tepe probe. If they get that far into our heads to make us do that, we're fucked anyway."

[Nina Madaraki]

"Fine, it's your funeral," Nina says, "Pretty sure I can survive cutting my throat."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Haven't tried. I'm pretty sure that as long as I can see her to suck the life out of her, I can survive long enough."

"Both, then?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Sounds good to me."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"See? Now was that so hard?" Ryan teased.

"Should be safe enough for us to head to the house and give it a thorough search, though."