capeandcowl2020 | Open Post 001

'Team Fear' wasn't the official name, but that was what Kate had taken to calling the secret special ops team she and Phobos had accumulated over the past several years. They were mostly teenagers when the registration movement became widespread. Someone them had been arrested, some had surrendered, others had managed to evade capture. Kate counted herself amongst the latter, though she held no grudge against those who had been forced to register. They had a common enemy, one she intended to take out with the help of her team.

Colder than before and hardened by a life spent running and fighting the government, she's still the best choice to serve as spokesperson for their group. A recruiter of sorts, she seeks out imPorts who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and cause a little chaos, all in the name of liberty and justice for all.

"Did your mission go smoothly?"

More time spent on the net meant that Aoi found himself communicating through it, and the wifi-enabled earpieces regularly worn by his teammates more frequently. It was a bad habit to be in, especially since even for someone of his skills, the net still left a trail.

The voice coming through the net never ceased to weird her out, no matter that she ought to have been used to it by now. It always sounded like he was in her brain somehow, the eery way his voice come through the earpiece.

"Yes," she said hastily. "No casualties or damage on our end." Which was a good thing, of course. It was always good when everyone made it home in one piece. But something in this mission had left Kate feeling uneasy. She wasn't sure why, but she almost felt as if something bad was just around the bend. "It was a cakewalk, really."

"I'm glad. The intel was good, then? I only ask because that source hasn't been burned yet. I may be able to get more if it would be worth the time."

He returned to typing, plunking out a series of commands that brought up the building she'd probably been spelunking around half an hour earlier. Several areas were highlighted with red circles indicating possible stations that would be guarded.

"Alex will want a meeting, won't he. I don't particularly want to go."

"You don't particularly have a choice, Aoi. Debriefs are important, you know that."

She had information to share with them anyway, new data for Aoi and the others to analyze. Quick witted as she was, she understood that leaving this sort of thing to Aoi and Quentin was a better idea than leaving it to just her. Though having a human perspective on the situation would no double be beneficial.

"And if you can get more out of it, do it. We need all the good leads we can get."

The idea of a debriefing was really unappealing. Alex would yell at them for the slightest miscalculation, while incorrectly quoting various tacticians and attributing their work to a man he referred to only as "Nicholas". The information was so easy to prove flawed, Aoi didn't quite understand why the boy persisted, but it was what it was. Surely there were eccentricities of their situation that merited simply being forgotten.

"Do you remember the mayor?"He asked suddenly, not bothering to look up from the glowing screen or keys. "I believe that I have found him. Don't tell Alex."

Now that got Kate's attention. Whatever had been on her mind before was quickly forgotten, replaced by memories of the Mayor's downfall rushing back to her just as clearly as if they had happened five minutes ago.

"How could I forget," she grinned, sliding into a chair beside him. "I give you my word I won't say a thing to Alex... if you tell me everything you know."

He clicked a few more keys, bringing up a file with what appeared to be a series of saved emails, photos, and internet news articles. "Are you familiar with Adrian Maskin, the pro-import author? Maskin is an identity created by Mayor Hundred. He's been hiding his powers, the phony, and living like a native for years now. He keeps writing books about supporting imports, but he lives like a native up in the woods somewhere where nobody can really find him, but I found him. I found him because even though he changed his face like a cowardly sonuvabitch nobody can hide forever and it's stupid to try."

Another sequence of keys was entered, and the screen changed again to show the assassination attempt. "It makes sense now, even if I haven't gotten him to confirm it. The phony."

"Maskin is Hundred?"

It all made sense, now that it was spelled out for her, and Kate felt stupid for not having put the pieces together herself before. She'd had all the pieces, having a faultless memory, but never the motivation to see the big picture. Perhaps it was because she hadn't realized there was a picture to see.

She stared at the screen before her, taking in all the information and any supplemental material she hadn't come across before. In a matter of minutes, she was well versed in the files Aoi had displayed for her. There was no point in asking if Aoi was truly sure. From what Kate was reading now, she was already convinced that Aoi was 100% correct.

"We have to tell Alex," she said quickly, mind suddenly leaping to a dozen possible conclusions. Keeping something this major from Alex simply wasn't an option. "This information is too vital to keep from him. Come on. Come with me."

"No. I told you not to tell him and I'll erase the data from the main database if you do. I can do that and keep a copy in my cyberbrain's hard drive that you won't be able to get to. None of you can hack me and I know you can't. Plus it'll be in my ghost and I trust that instinct. It tells me that something big is coming." He paused, clicking away on the computer screen and burying the files to her, encrypting them away from anywhere the rest of his team would think to look. They were still technically around, of course, just nowhere that anybody but him would be able to get to.

"Something big is coming and my ghost tells me we will need the Mayor. I don't want Alex scaring him off. He scares people."

She narrowed her eyes at Aoi, glaring daggers at the screens as the information vanished into nothingness. "Alex isn't going to scare the Mayor. You have to trust me on this."

Kate trusted Alex, probably more than she trusted anyone else on their team, though she'd never admit as much aloud. There was something about working with someone so closely for so long, even the things she loathed about him she now relied on completely. Sometimes he did frighten her, and badly. He knew what caused the otherwise fearless Hawkeye to panic, and he knew what buttons he could press if he ever wanted to truly enrage her. But while he had that power, he'd never used it against her maliciously, and that, more than anything else had endeared him to her. She didn't expect everyone else to feel so comfortable around him, and their time together wasn't always pleasant, but she had full confidence that Alex wasn't some loose cannon that needed to be minded at all times. She sort of resented the implication that he'd terrify the Mayor on Alex's behalf. She knew he was in better control than that.

"We can get the Mayor, but we have to tell Alex. If you think he's scary now, imagine how scary he'll be if he finds out you're keeping this from him." Her death glare softened slightly. Her voice did, too. "He's my partner. I want his help with this."

[ Alex had learned early on during the development of his team that keeping tabs on all members was essential, especially after what he had gone through on Fury's team with J.T before being ported in.

Now, it wasn't that he didn't trust Kate because he did, more so than the other members at least. It had more to do with old habits. His precognition wasn't working like it used to, not after he died and was reborn, which was ironic considering that he was a god (but he blamed that all on the Porter). With his precognition and all-knowing powers on the fritz, the only way for him to be sure of anything was to witness it for himself which brings us back to him following Kate.

Rather than lurking in the shadows or sneaking up on her, he made it out as a casual bumping into each other scenario. But he wasn't fooling anyone and frankly didn't care.

He nodded as he greeted her. ]

Kate.

Alex.

[Kate was used to his brand of forced casual interactions by now. In fact, she'd find it unusual if he somehow decided to stop keeping tabs on her via this particular method. And she appreciated that he was upfront about what he was doing. It wasn't that she was antsy or particularly prone to fear, but she didn't like being approached from behind. Not by him, not by anybody. And it spoke volumes that he respected her enough to keep that in mind.]

How goes it, buddy?

It goes. You?

[ He shrugged, keeping a respectable distance between the two. At some point after the registration movement, their friendship became strained. This was partly due to the stress of being on the run and mostly because they often had conflicting ideas on how missions should be executed and how the team should function. Alex was strict, almost brutal, in his approach but he had to be. What they did was not for the weak willed. He had no qualms with being disliked, charisma wasn't going to win the war. ]

[Charisma was kind of Kate's thing. Perhaps she relied to heavily on being able to talk her way through anything, on being listened to and heeded. It had taken a lot of getting used to when she suddenly realized she wasn't in charge of missions and the team. And it was an adjustment to remember that aside from April, she was the only human in their group. It wasn't that she felt undervalued, it was that she demanded to be valued, and that didn't always rub people the right way. Especially not black ops trained Greek gods.]

I need a vacation. Can't the government take the next two weeks off so we can all go to Disney World? Or Hawaii or something? Seriously.

[ The two of them managed to balance out well enough despite butting heads. She kept him from pushing too hard, he had high expectations for the team, and he managed to keep her focused on the goal. They weren't heroes, they had a job to do and that was that. ]

Maybe if we ask them politely, they'll consider it.

Now there's an angle we haven't tried.

[And finally comes a smile, a real one, a relaxed one. Kate didn't smile enough these days, but then again, she didn't think Alex did either.

It was nice to hear him making jokes again.]

Hey guess what. I know something you don't know.

[ He didn't return the smile but she would be able to notice that he wasn't as tense as when he first approached her.

Alex arched a brow and tilted his head slightly, interested in what Kate had to say. ]

Go on.

Aoi may have found Mitchell Hundred.

[There is was, right on the table. She felt a little triumphant in having gathered the knowledge before Alex though.]

[ There is a brief millisecond of surprise on his face before reverting back to his usual serious demeanor. ]

It's either he did or he didn't. [ A pause. ] Where's Aoi? [ A rhetorical question, he knows where to find him, where to look. ] I'd like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

He's where he always is. [She reaches for Alex, as if to stay him for a moment.] He'll lock us out if he knows you know. He's afraid of you, and he's afraid you'll scare off Hundred.

She would be on her way back shortly, to X-Factor and her teammates. Her other teammates. Staying long after a mission wasn't her style. In and out.

"Good work," she said shortly, taking out her earpiece. "No complaints." Her frown would have made it seem a lie, but Monet was rarely not frowning these days.

"Thanks," Kate answered, trying to diminish the small smile that threatened to tug at the corners of her mouth. She'd take whatever compliments she could get from Monet. Praise wasn't easy to come by, it seemed. "Thanks for having my back."

Open Post 001

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