[hr][h1][color=lawngreen][i]Sonya Mayfield[/i][/color], [color=lightgreen][i]Marcus Rowland[/i][/color], & [i]John Cole Sykes.[/i][/h1][i]Written in collaboration with [b][@DJAtomika][/b][/i][hr]


After getting to the Headquarters... situation didn't look good. Looks like their good old friend PR-1 got out. Thankfully, NEST pulled together and put him back in. Unfortunately... they lost far more than they gained. At least Maximilian will consider destroying Peter like they should have did in the first place. Well, Sonya really wished that she could have helped in that fight - but there was something else she had to handle. 

Now, after the trio made it back to Headquarters, the first thing that they did was put Marcus in one of the interviewing rooms... Unfortunately, it was wet because of the fire sprinklers. The floor had a layer of water on it, and the table was absolutely drenched. Fortunately, she managed to swap out one recorder for another. This didn't bother Sonya, who was sitting across from Marcus, even in the slightest. Due to her preference for wet places. Of course, that meant that Maria couldn't come anywhere near here.

Her oddly large green eyes were fixated on Marcus. "Hiya!" Sonya said, with a cheerful smile on her face. "I wish we can skip the introductions, but we gotta repeat it for our tape recorder!" She said. Pointing at the recorder on the table. Of course, she was just bullshitting while she waits for Leon to show up and "see the truth".

[color=lightgreen]"Marcus Rowland. Barista. Work at Haven, cafe down at the beach. But you already know that, don't you."[/color]

Marcus folded his arms as he sat back in the damp folding chair. The interrogation room wasn't exactly the most comfortable of places to sit and "have a chat". He'd been in worse, across the ocean in Afghanistan. [b]There[/b] he'd talk in pressure like this.

"Yup, and as you know, I am Sonya Mayfield of NEST Special Forces and Reconnaissance." Sonya said, her head tilting off to the side slightly. "Now, let's begin; what you said when I confronted you in the abandoned warehouse - what was it? Oh, "I have my ways" all dark and broody." Sonya started laughing to lighten the mood. She then faced Marcus, that smile turning into a frown. "Well, think we should address the elephant in the room; what are "your ways" oh kind sir?"

[color=lightgreen]"You need me to be honest? Cause I kinda like the way things are. Dark and mysterious."[/color]

"Well, a little honesty never hurt anybody." Sonya said, squinting, and putting two fingers together.

[color=lightgreen]"And what if I just don't tell you? What happens then?"[/color]

"Well..." Sonya shrugged. She was wondering why the hell Leon hasn't done the thing yet. Is he taking another piss? "Technically speaking, we're only questioning you, and you [i]technically[/i] haven't been arrested." Sonya put both hands on the table sideways. "[i]Technically.[/i]" She repeated. "Only thing we wanna know is how you were following us so carefully. I was underwater, and everything! There's no way you could have tracked me that easily." Every word Marcus said made her more suspicious.

"... Oh yeah, sorry, taking another piss." Leon said through the comms as he walked up to the observation window. "I can't believe all you guys need my ass to do is "see the truth" and "what did that asshole do", and never "Hey, Leon, wanna get some drinks". Disgustin'." Leon complained through the comms.

It was difficult interviewing Marcus and talking to Leon through the comms. Sonya hunched over, and whispered into the comms, "You know that I'll always take another Marksman out for some drinks - but you need to focus."

"Focus on that booze."

"The [i]mission[/i]. Silly."

"Oh? This a mission now?"

"[i]Yes-[/i] no - Leon..." Sonya found herself getting a little more annoyed with Leon. Enough that she shouted, "... [i]JUST DO THE THING![/i]"

"Fine, you don't have to shout." Leon's eyes started glowing a bright white color from underneath his shades. He grinned as he looked into Marcus. Ah. It was exactly as Sonya thought. "Yeah, yeah, he and his buddy have been been tapping into NEST tech. His little phone is tapped into NEST systems right now. Jackass forgot to take himself out."

[color=lightgreen]"Do the what now?"[/color]

Puzzled at her sudden outburst he sat back in his chair. He knew the "mirror" was a two-way window into the interrogation room, and there definitely was someone there.

"Oh, thaaaaaaank you Leon!" Sonya said into the comms with a smile on her face. She turned to Marcus, and folded her orb-tipped fingers on the table. "Gooooood news! Well, for us - but definitely not for you." Sonya's long tongue flopped out of her mouth, and landed on the table. Gently twitching to get up some of that delicious water. "Our... [i]techies[/i] exposed "your ways"-" Sonya fingerquoted, before folding her hands again. "-And your little phone has been tapped into NEST networks - Oh, that kinda rhymes, now does it?" 

She smiled - before that smile turned into a frown as she said, disappointed, "I suspected this, but I was [i]hoping[/i] you'd come clean. But err'body thinks they're slick around these parts!"

He smirked. Oh how wrong they were.

[color=lightgreen]"Yeah. You got me. Go figure. Was too easy. You guys should really beef up your security."[/color]

Within the mobile tower close to the NEST HQ, Cole floated within cyberspace, watching and listening the conversation unfold through the interrogation room's cameras and embedded microphones. He had a view on Marcus too, along with the room behind the one-way glass, but he stayed silent. Everything was being recorded on a databank somewhere in the HQ building, but at this point he was too concentrated to find out where. The fact that they'd found the link was unsettling, but they would never trace the break-in to the mind of a currently unconscious young man back in Uni Row.

Exactly what Sonya expected. She rolled her eyes at his comment. "... I hope you realize that you're in a world of trouble right now." Sonya said with a level of seriousness that she hasn't displayed before. "Tapping into government systems is a very, very, serious crime now now."

"Oh yeah, his "partner" is John Sykes." Leon said, giggling a bit like a British schoolgirl! "Dumbass just thought about it."

"... Oh, and we just found out your partner." Sonya smiled widely, tilting her head. 

[color=lightgreen]"Mind reader. Interesting. Used to have one as a customer at Haven. Asshole wanted to steal our till earnings after we closed shop, can you believe that? And you'll never get John. He's invisible."[/color]

He smirked again and shook his head. What he'd seen overseas paled in comparison to this, although the factor of metahuman powers did add a certain...flair to room interrogations.

"... Okay, can you dial it back just a wee bit?" Sonya raised her hand in the air, and put two fingers very closely together. "You don't get it! Nope. Not one bit. You've just committed a very serious crime, and you're acting all smug? Don't you realize that you walked right into my trap!?" Sonya started laughing.

[color=lightgreen]"That thing [i]killed my friend[/i]. You're with NEST. Don't tell me you haven't lost a friend or a comrade to one of these inhuman asswipes and [i]not[/i] felt a need for vengeance."[/color]

"I certainly lost many friends." Sonya shrugged with her eyes closed. "But, you gotta learn that you shouldn't let that need drive you to stupid things like this." She had to shrug again. "Me and Inkshade - I mean Maria - had the whole situation under control."

[color=lightgreen]"It didn't look that way. You almost lost the damn thing. It even looked like it was hunting you two, not the other way around."[/color]

"Almost lost the damn thing?!" Sonya said, baffled at this man's stupidity. "You wouldn't have found it in the first place if it wasn't for us."

[color=lightgreen]"Admittedly, yes. But it was still hunting you. Tasers weren't going to do jack squat against that thing anyway. Should've shot its ankle out. Taken out its ability to run. Bullets work so much better than those stupid things."[/color]

"And look who's suddenly an expert. Coming from the guy who forgot that NEST has a load of telepaths!" Sonya rolled her eyes. "This whole "I'm better than you" nonsense was fun, but... I'm serious."

Cole watched the exchange from within the cameras. He had to do something.

With a brief examination of the room, he found that the lights and cams were all hard-wired into an electrical grid local to the current block of the building. With a quick dip he had all control over the power grid, and a mere thought made the lights in the room flicker a few times.

Marcus caught the flickering lights and smiled to himself. Cole was here, and he was watching.

The flickering certainly irritated Sonya's sensitive eyes - the sudden slight differences didn't allow her to take advantage of her nightvision. She was wondering what was causing this - damage done to the system by PR-1, or...? Wasn't important. Sonya reached for her gun, just in case Marcus tried anything - if he did, he'd find how out effective these darts are the hard way.

[color=lightgreen]"Me? I think from what happened out there, and apparently in here, there are things out there that require more of your attention that just me."[/color]

He leaned forward, elbows on the table.

[color=lightgreen]"Besides, I could help. You saw how I could track you and your target. Send me someone's way. Someone you really, [i]really[/i] dislike, maybe. Working at the cafe's getting kinda droll lately anyway."[/color]

"You can help by giving us your partner." Sonya said, narrowing her eyes at him. "He's clearly a powerful technopath that can help us." She had an idea. 

[color=lightgreen]"Well, I can, if you don't tase me first. I'm just going to reach for my phone and place it on the table in front of you, okay?"[/color]

"After that, I wanna see your hands."

Complying, he nodded and reached behind him and pulled his phone from his jeans pocket, placing it and his hands on the table. Then he looked up at the camera, gave it a wave and then pointed at the phone.

A moment later the device vibrated as it received a text message from an unknown sender.

Sonya's tongue shot out of her mouth at lightning speeds and latched onto the phone. She caught it with her hand.

[color=lightgreen]"Ew man! Gross! Aw man my phone!"[/color]

"Just wipe it off." Sonya said, as she looked at the text.

[quote]Hello?
- JCS[/quote]

Her eyes went upwards towards Marcus. "JCS... that your parter?" She asked. She didn't want to send a text back before getting confirmation.

He spread his hands and nodded as another text came in.

[quote]Y-yeah, that's me.
- JCS[/quote]

[color=lightgreen]"He always communicates like that when he's in the zone."[/color]

"... Which means he's literally still tapped into NEST systems as we speak." Sonya dryly noted, getting very irritated at this turn of events. These boys are making NEST look like chumps. Just casually looking into NEST systems. "Now, let me say this now, if you tap into NEST databases and share [i]anything[/i], you'll become a target, lad. And I don't care how well you can hide - [i]We have our ways[/i]." Sonya was mostly talking to their little ghost in the room. She gave Marcus a sideways glance.

[quote]N-no way, agent Mayfield. The Academy taught me that messing with NEST was a bad idea.
- JCS[/quote]

"...[i] Then why are we having this conversation?!?![/i]" Sonya loudly exclaimed, putting her hands on the side of her head. Almost losing her shit. She was two seconds away from tasing Marcus in the dick, and sending Henry to beat Cole to an inch of his life.

[quote]B-because I needed to help Marcus
- JCS[/quote]

Sonya let out a sigh - again, only to convey body language - as she realized that there was no point in trying to tell them what they did was a bad idea. Emotions were flaring when Marcus found their dead friend - and honestly, Sonya would have likely done the same thing. Sonya put her hands on the table.

"Look, I'm going to level with you two," Sonya closed her eyes, as she shrugged. "[i]Both[/i] of you are looking at a very long time in jail." She said. "However... I have a deal - but the first term is that I get John here in person." She narrowed her eyes at Marcus. "If you [i]really[/i] want to help your friend, I advise that you show up here soon as possible. Hell, I'll even arrange a ride." Sonya pleaded. She didn't trust either of them to discuss her deal over flimsy systems he was hacking.

His phone vibrated again.

[quote]B-but I'm already here.
- JCS[/quote]

"No..." Sonya massaged her temples. "I want the real John. Right here. Not hiding behind... whatever the hell you're tapping into." She raised her head, and just came out and said, "Look, we got our own technopaths. Far stronger than you. They're not in Verthaven, but it's easy as one phonecall to hit them up, and a lot of them are long range. If you don't come, [i]we'll[/i] find you." It was a bit of a bluff just to get Cole to come along. NEST did have Technopaths, but not one the scale Sonya described. But they don't need to know [i]that[/i].

[quote]A-alright but you'll have to come find me. My powers knock me out for hours at a stretch. Once I return to my body I'll be out cold for the rest of today.
- JCS[/quote]

"Give us an address."


[hr]


After one long trip to pick up Cole (And a "stress relieving" session with Maria), Sonya had both Marcus, [i]and[/i] Cole in the interviewing room. They were on the same side of the table, while Sonya was on the other. However, just for security purposes, they were outfitted with power nulification collars, and handcuffs. Sonya's smile had returned as she folded her hands on the table.

"[i]Hiya![/i]" Sonya said, smiling widely. "Now that I'm far more calm, we can get down to business!" She started off. "First, before I begin, the little offer I presented requires confidentiallity from both of you! Meaning, if you tell anyone, you'll be in a way worse position than you started! And I mean, very, very, bad. They'll be squads after you!" Sonya followed that with a "teehee" as she waited for their reaction.

[color=lightgreen]"No problem."[/color]

"Uh..."

Nervous and a little giddy from being woken so severely like that, Cole had his head in his hands on the table as Marcus relaxed in his folding chair. A soft groan issued from the poor young man as his head throbbed in pain and lack of sleep.

Sonya reached over to the tape recorder and flicked it off. "Have either of you fine gentlemen heard of Task Force RAVEN? Or the Hands of Science? Or even REAPER?" Sonya asked. 

[color=lightgreen]"Wasn't RAVEN that thing you guys came up with to fight those bad dudes? The, uh..."[/color]

"H-Hands of Science?"

[color=lightgreen]"Yeah yeah, those guys. All over the news. Sure yeah, heard of 'em."[/color]

"Yup!" Sonya said. "Then you [i]must[/i] have some idea as to where I'm going with this...?"

[color=lightgreen]"You want us in RAVEN?"[/color]

"No, no, no, something else." Sonya said.

"So, here's the little deal I have in mind, both of you are in a lot of trouble - How-[i]ever[/i], I never officially made any reports, or any formal arrests. At all. Buuut, I'd figure that we put your friendie here's little superpower to good use." Sonya started laughing. "We're going to do a little raid on their homebase, and finally put a stop to those bastards once and for all. But, security is, understandably, tight, and we could use a [i]Technopath[/i] if you know what I'm saying...." Sonya started spinning her hand in the air.

"Well, let me just cut to the chase! John, if you assist RAVEN in this raid by using your ability, then we will forget about this little... mishap. It wasn't even that important to begin with..." Her eyes fell on Marcus. "... but your lad here was being a jackass." Sonya just [i]had[/i] to note.

[color=lightgreen]"Done."[/color]

"B-but Marcus- "

[color=lightgreen]"John, this'll be easy for you, man. Plus I can finally go home and, y'know, rest. Do stuff."[/color]

Marcus sighed.

"Great! You're going along with it! I'm certain we'll be great friends!"

[color=lightgreen]"Wish you had a use for me though, agent Mayfield. Who knows what stuff you might get in that raid? You could use a regenerator."[/color]

"Unfortunately, we have all fields covered... and we don't want to use no [i]amateur[/i] in the raid, now do we?" Sonya's long tongue flopped out of her mouth again.

Then something came to mind, "Oh, yeah, one last thing. Two of you are going to have to stay in Headquarters until we pull the raid. Sorry, but, it's for security reasons, since you two have demonstrated your ability to work outside the lines! That's great! But I don't want our friends at the Hands getting their surprise party spoiled." Sonya started laughing. She raised a finger up into the air.

"[i]Oh![/i] Operation: [i]Surprise Party![/i] I'll have to shoot that one to Maximilian."