tushanshu | 003 || [video]

Entry tags:

003 || [video]

Hello, again. For those who may not know me, my name is Sharon Carter. Back home, I was a government agent. I know everyone's busy with the cold and the disappearances, so I'll try not to take as little of your time as possible.

In short, if you know anything about the killings in recent months, I'd like to speak with you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Earth sector. [ Sharon texts her a location. ]

I can meet you there in an hour.

[Monet doesn't bother acknowledging. She simply searches for this woman on the network, looking briefly over the messages, before going straight to the location mentioned. She's dressed in local clothes, but wearing her double belt with the X buckle. Not that she needs to announce she's one of the X-teams, Sharon's government. (Possibly S.H.I.E.L.D? Monet doesn't care).]

[ Sharon gets there just in time to keep from being called late. It doesn't take her long to find the woman in the crowd, but as she approaches, she sees the X on the belt. The woman can't possibly be an X-Man, though. Here?

Of course, with all the X-Men there have been, it's not as if Sharon would know them all. It takes entire teams at SHIELD just to monitor the main group.

Once she's closer, she holds out her hand. ]

Sharon Carter.

[She rises primly, from where she'd found a seat. Her body language isn't entirely friendly, but it loosens, in appreciation that Sharon's efficient.]

Monet St. Croix.

[She keeps any handshake professional, and then gestures for Sharon to sit down next to her.]

[ Sharon takes a seat. Monet seems to appreciate not wasting time just as much as Sharon does, so she dives right in. ]

I have almost no clues whatsoever. One of the victims said it was a man, 5'10" or taller. He was wearing a disguise as a homeless person, so they couldn't say for certain if they were dealing with a foreigner or a kedan. The other victim I spoke to sent me to talk to other people. I've contacted them but am still working on hearing more. As for the victims themselves, it seems that talking about it upsets them too much, so I'm trying to find other ways to talk about what happened with them.

I have to ask, and I know it will make me sound paranoid. When did you first arrive?

[She listens, and nods along, her face betraying no surprise, she wears only a pensive expression.]

I'e only arrived recently. [She sits up, straighter, because 'new' connotes 'naive about this place' to her and she really doesn't want to be put in that category.] I'm a telepath, with X-Factor Investigations [She doesn't care if they've wrecked Mutant Town a few times, in her opinion, they do good work. It's worth it.]. If they're willing to submit to a scan, they won't have to speak about it, and we'll have much more information than we do now.

So you're an X-Man. [ Sharon grins slightly and thanks SHIELD for training her to put up mental shields against most telepaths. Emma Frost, Professor Xavier, and Onslaught could get through. She'll just have to hope that Monet couldn't as well. ] I thought you might be. But I focused more on international terrorism when I wasn't doing fulfilling my liaison duties.

I'm putting a suspects list together. Once I narrow it down some more, would you be willing to accompany me to question some of them?

Was.

[Hi, issues. Monet's not trying to take a crack at those psychic walls yet, but a brief probe shows Sharon's shielded. She doesn't like it, but there's other ways to verify information.]

I would.

[A mystery is something for her to do, thank goodness. And it keeps her skills sharp.]

Good. In the meantime, it seems that whoever we're looking for got superpowers the week of the murders. One of the abilities was superspeed.

Have you ever gone up against a speedster?

Quicksilver, but not directly. [She holds her head a little higher.] How fast was this one?

From the sound of it, faster than the eye could follow.

I've never dealt with speedsters. Any advice for if the person still has the powers?

[A pause.]

Anticipate. Aim for where they will be, they do have to throw punches like the rest of us, and most aren't skilled at hand-to-hand.

[ Sharon nods and considers for several seconds. ]

I think we're dealing with a foreigner, like us. I don't think a kedan would have just randomly murdered for a week and then go quiet again. We're likely dealing with someone who arrived within eight months of the week when people switched abilities, though that's a wide estimate. I think they tried to sate the bloodlust while they had the abilities to do so, so it's likely the person isn't a speedster anymore. Of course, it's possible they've been keeping their skills a secret and just used that week to use it under cover.

And they're likely intelligent. I haven't found anyone who saw anything. He didn't speak, so no one can identify his voice. He disguised himself. The attacks were premeditated, and he might actually get away with it.

But if they're still around to do so, they'll kill again. I've never heard of a serial killer who could go cold turkey.

[She listens, raptly, nodding at the sentences she considers salient.]

Are we aware whose specific abilities were switched? Super-speed is a highly specific power, there can't be that many here with it.

[A beat.]

What pattern have you noticed amongst the victims?

There's no list of what powers went to whom. I'm going to talk to the person behind the spell to find out if there's any way to track it, or if maybe one person could have gotten multiple powers. Want me to give you a heads-up when I go meet her? I'm trying to keep everything as off-network as possible. I don't want the killer to know what we're doing or how close we might be.

I would deeply appreciate that.

[And power switching, that's a problem she'll have to look into as well. Hers are tied too strongly to her identity and so are Rictor's, really.]

And now you know all I know. I'm meeting with other people to see what they know, but if there are any other investigators or such in the group, maybe we can combine our efforts. So far, judging by the public posts, the killer may think I'm one of the few people - if not the only person - investigating this. If we all worked together, you guys could work under the radar.

The less he knows before we tighten the noose, the better.

[A sharp nod.]

It's advisable we don't let it get out that I'm a telepath. The killer could easily learn to put up psychic shields [not that she thinks they'll be extremely effective, but it would make their job a lot harder]. I'm not currently aware of anyone who could possibly teach such a thing besides myself and Professor Xavier, but it does not do to make assumptions given the varied population.

Of course. I won't tell anyone. [ Her words imply that keeping Monet's mutation secret is a promise. It isn't her place to say anyway. ]

I'll meet you in a couple days to tell you what I've found.

I look forward to it. You may reach me at my suite, in ME-3A.

[ Sharon gets to her feet. ] I'll be in touch soon.

[ The words are a promise. On that note, she heads to her next meeting. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

003 || [video]

video; encrypted 55%

> action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action