The whole time that he was speaking, Skye remained silent as she watched him carefully. Occasionally, she nodded in understanding or gave a slight smile, but otherwise, she kept still. The voice of a radio host announcing commercial break was the only sound that waded through the few quiet moments when Stan did not speak, but surprisingly, he did talk a lot. Perhaps, she thought, too much.
There was a reason why she worked where she did. While he told her of his background, Skye felt that kind of itch that she couldn’t quite scratch—the itch that told her that something else was behind his transfer than mere disagreement between him and his superiors. While his story did match up with what little things she had heard about him so far, there was something remarkably generic about the things he said. As far as Skye was concerned, there were no blatant lies, but his words sounded too well-rehearsed, and more importantly, too detailed and yet still lacking in substance. He listed too many details that covered up anything directly related to him, which further rubbed her the wrong way. He seemed to blame anyone but himself for what had happened. People, lawyers, news papers, politicians, and even the officers were mentioned, but he seemed to take little responsibility himself.
Still, it was his first day. She couldn’t expect anything else, and she shouldn’t blame him for being reserved or nervous. In fact, she should be thankful that no matter who he and his background was, he at least had the sense to keep whatever had caused his transfer to himself. It was possible that he was completely honest too. It was not her place to doubt him—while questioning him was inevitable, she was sure that the departments knew what they were doing. Had he been a complete jerk he would, as he’d put it, have been fired.
”Well, perhaps you won’t fight the bogeyman, but I’m sure we can find you a scary vampire or two to wrestle”, she finally said and, for the first time since he opened his mouth, turned her gaze away and instead looked at the road ahead. She thought she heard him commenting something about people and people, but before she could ask him what he had said, he fired questions back at her.
She knew he would ask sooner or later. It was her turn, and rightfully so.
”Indeed I am”, she nodded again. ”Which means that I'm useless without you since my powers can’t do anything on their own. Magical enhancers, which I’m sure you already know, use their powers to cast enhancements on humans, causing things such as increased strength or agility, but it won’t work on supernaturals.” Many of the enhancers she had met thought their gift quite dull—they could never enjoy the extent of the powers themselves. It was like baking a cake you would never get to taste. When that happened on a day-to-day basis, it easily became frustrating.
While explaining what enhancers were was simple, telling her own story was another fact. Skye didn’t even know what parts of her story he wanted to hear; however, she decided to follow his lead and focus on her career. It was all he needed to know. ”Before joining the ASA, I got my education. You know, the mandatory League of Magic qualifications and all, and then I went on to college. I always knew I wanted to work with supernaturals though, so applying to the ASA came naturally to me. They’re almost always in need of good people, because supernaturals seem to breed like rabbits. And yes”, she admitted with a hint of playfulness in her voice, ”I know I’m one of them. Anyway, I got the job soon after graduation, so I think I’ve been working here for maybe two, three years.”
As they drove through the city and left the downtown areas, the surroundings turned less bustling and more lifeless.
”So, just to make it clear. We’re going to his house to take a look and see if he’s around. Depending on what happens, we’ll see where we go from there. Quite simple, you should know how it works. Turn left here.” She pointed her finger at a road leading to the outskirts of the city. ”And if you have any questions or feel like you want to take a break, just tell me, okay? You don't have anything to prove on your first case."