[h2][color=00a651]Neil Maxwell[/color][/h2]
and special guest [color=f26522]Alex Mercede[/color]


[color=00a651]“Hey where do you want to read that?”[/color] Neil asked Mercede, with a gesture to the file they had been given by the director. He watched as Autumn left with two Neil didn’t know very well. He had heard of Bautista, she was supposed the best at field investigations of scenes. He had her being called a walking CSI kit before. Neil wasn’t sure if that was something Bautista cared about. The guy he had seen a few times but he didn’t know him. Cassie headed out too, she had a case by herself. 

[color=f26522]“Well,”[/color] Mercede replied as he grabbed the file off the desk, [color=f26522]“It sounds like there’s a flight we have to catch, so why don’t we read over it while one of us drives there?”[/color] 

[color=00a651]“Fair enough. I get car sick so I guess you’re reading.”[/color] Neil let Mercede lead the way out of the director’s office, and past Autumn who was asking about the nearest computer or TV. [color=00a651] “Also if we’re going to be gone any length of time I need to stop by my apartment and get a travel bag. I don’t go on missions usually so I don’t have a bag ready. Actually to be honest I’ve never been on a mission before.”[/color] Neil snapped his mouth shut. He was telling Mercede that he was a rookie. He was going to die of embarrassment right then.

[color=f26522]“Okay, that’s fine,”[/color] his newly ordered partner said in a surprisingly unperturbed tone, [color=f26522]“Everybody has their first. Just follow my lead for the live-action and remember the book is mostly guidelines and you’ll be fine. Oh, one second.”[/color] Mercede ducked into his own office as they passed by and re-emerged with a black duffel bag slung over his shoulder a minute later. [color=f26522]“Okay, to your place then?”[/color]

~~~several hours and hundreds of miles later~~~

The two landed in Albuquerque, it was hot. It was late in the day, but it was hot. Neil had forgotten how oppressive the heat could get in the west. It was a dry heat though, he rolled his eyes at the idea. They barely knew anything about this person Pixie. Chris, one of the technopaths back at HQ had tracked Pixie a bit closer, but at the moment they didn’t have much to go by.

[color=00a651]“Hm, I think I’ll play,”[/color] Neil flicked open the file to glance at the list of games Pixie was known to play, he looked at the top one. [color=00a651]“Hero League.”[/color] He pulled his laptop out of his bag and set it up on the desk in the hotel room. It was a nice hotel, not five star, but there wasn’t signs of a body under the bed. Neil had at least played Hero League before. A few times, but he wasn’t a total n00b at the game, and that could be enough to get him in a game with Pixie. 

[color=f26522]“That’s…”[/color] Alex began to say before his face gained an incredulous look to it, [color=f26522]“That’s actually a good idea. Could you trace him if you got into the game? Using your ability, I mean?”[/color] he asked as he looked up from the pile of papers and the state map in front of him on the table.

[color=00a651]“I can’t, but Chris might be able to. I’ve already got him linked up to my laptop. I’m only good if you need something in code, or something that is in code not in code. Well that’s not to say I’m not good with other aspects of computers, but my power is for code. Honestly I didn’t even notice that much of a difference after the change.”[/color] Neil shrugged. Okay that wasn’t entirely true. He had gotten scores better of understanding codes after the change, but he [i]had[/i] been one of the top already. He felt a little cheated on his power sometimes. [color=00a651]“Anyway, Chris will be watching and if Pixie pops up he’ll follow them.”[/color]

Neil paused and glanced up at Mercede, [color=00a651] “Well there is something my power would be good for. If Pixie is good enough he’d be able to pick up a message from me if I sent him through the game. I might be able to get him to trust us without even ever having to find him.”[/color] Neil blanched a bit. [color=00a651] “But only maybe, there’s no telling if he could decode something I sent to him, and if he got it it’s possible Shadow is watching him close enough that they get it and if they have someone with my power on their team...”[/color] He trailed off.

Mercede seemed to ponder that for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of the idea. [color=f26522]“Judging from how much trouble our techs have finding him, I think it’s safe to say he’s got good defenses. If you can get that message to inside of those defenses, it should be okay. Either way, I’ll leave it to your discretion. My part of the game comes a little later.”[/color]