Devon Hadden had some goddamn nerve.

Natalie sat in the boardroom near the top of Haven building, her mood souring quickly. During the initial LIE meeting about the fact that there was a group spotted in the area causing trouble, Natalie had done her best to point out the fact that perhaps Noel might not be the most reliable choice in a mission that required secrecy and discretion. Unfortunately, Nate and Devon had both, for some odd reason, vouched for her, so Natalie’s warnings had gone unheeded. So much so, in fact, that she’d actually gotten paired up with Noel in strange parody of solid reasoning.

The brunette and the other woman were the only two left at that meeting table, the rest of the groups having already gotten their directives and left. Their directive was to go to a call center and see what information they could dig up about the faction in question, but Natalie wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

She sat back in her chair, her pen poised above the paper that she’d been writing on and her eyes fixed on Noel. She wasn’t entirely certain that she didn’t have any ocular based powers, but if she did end up using some on her, then perhaps that would be reason enough to be able to switch assignments.

”So,” she began, trying not to twist her mouth into a complete grimace. ”What would you like the plan of action to be? Shall I hold back while you bite some more people like a rabid dog?” The image of Noel biting her was still seared in her mind. The pain had dulled and the brusies and cuts had healed, but she would never forget her face in that position. What was worse was that it hadn’t just been a bite - the woman had tried to take something from her and she had been utterly helpless.

Why couldn’t more people see how unstable this woman was?

Noel had been debating how she should introduce herself to the mother of Nate's child when the other woman broke silence first. There was plenty in her notes about Natalie, but it wasn't like they were friends. Noel felt like she'd never actually met the woman. Not as herself, anyway. It didn't help that Nate had feelings on top of feelings that she had no place harboring. She'd tried her best to cut them out, but seeing Natalie up close and personal was always a very different thing. She expected some amount of familiarity, however strained, but outright vitriol was unexpected.

Of course, there was that little note that Noel had bitten her. Apparently it had been more than a footnote to the other woman.

"Forgive me, if you can. I understand it wasn't pretty." This was going to be an obnoxious mission if Natalie was a petty woman. So far her tone was less than friendly and exactly the reason why Noel didn't get along with most women. She just didn't understand what that kind of tone was supposed to accomplish. Was Noel supposed to apologize? Was she supposed to bite back? Did she not realize that they had an objective to complete and that her frivolous emotion was a big, fat, stupid, selfish waste of their time?

So long as they could stick to the mission, Noel would strive to let whatever stupid, b*tchy remarks this stupid, b*tchy woman made roll off of her. She would just have to expect it.

"From the briefing it sounds like stealth and deception will be our best bet. It's safer to go in and get the information and get out unless we deem it necessary to take command of their space." And, as they'd already discussed, taking command of their space would be needed to deny them the use of it, but since that was bound to be costly in the way of lives, for now they were to avoid it. Natalie, with her standing in Haven, was in a position to override that directive on the field. Hopefully she wasn't too scared to make that call. Or too... the other way.

"I can't deceive people directly. Or won't. It amounts to the same thing. You'll have to do the deceiving. I'll be honest, I don't really know how your ability works, but if we can take someone outside I can get what we need to get in. Can you... I dunno. Make people think you are whoever we take? I'd prefer if we could both go in, in case something goes wrong." Because something always did. The biggest assumption underneath all of this was that they would be able to trust one another. This was life or death. Hopefully it wouldn't be, but it could...

To Natalie’s surprise, it seemed like Noel had come some ways since their last meeting. She was at least self aware enough to apologize for biting her all those months ago. Natalie blinked once, doing her best to maintain her poker face and not let onto her surprise. Maybe she had misjudged her a little.

Still, there were things that she didn’t like about the woman. A simple apology would not cover everything, and she needed to remember that. With her head held high, Natalie said, ”of course. I suppose I was a tad out of line bringing that up.” There was nothing to suggest that she intended to let her off like that, but perhaps she didn’t need to bring that up at every turn. Noel could make new poor impressions over the course of the mission.

Stealth and deception seemed like the way to go. If they were going to walk into the call center and for information, then they didn’t want to go in with guns ablaze and powers on full display. The more they could go unnoticed, the better. That would allow them to gather information without getting into something dangerous right off the bat.

”I can do images, but I can’t do voices,” Natalie explained, ”so either we’ll need to take a woman, or you’ll need to do all the talking.” She did not like the idea of leaving the talking and negotiating to someone who had proven that talking was not her strong suit, but it was turning out to be one of the only options that made sense. She just hoped that they would be able to take a woman so that she could show her true abilities of negotiation.

She did like the idea of them both going in, though. That would allow her to keep an eye on Noel and make sure that she was staying on task, not biting anyone. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t quite gotten over it yet.

This was a weird situation to be in. The hostility Noel was sensing went down a notch, but only just. And she still didn't quite understand how Nat's power worked so she couldn't plan. And Nat didn't seem like she wanted to, or could, plan. Not when she, herself, was going. She seemed more of a sit in the shadows and do shadowy things kind of person. Not someone used to going out and getting things done like Noel was. Which put things right back to weird.

If she was anyone else, Noel would have told her to stay home.

"Alright then. We take a woman. Or two women. Maybe you can change the pictures on their ID cards? That's less of a change so less strain for you?" Some things they couldn't know until they caught someone, like if the people all knew one another or not. If they all knew each other, then they would have to do it the hard-for-Natalie way.

"Do you shoot?" She wasn't going to bother asking if she knew any self-defense. Not in those heels.

Admittedly, just changing the photograph on someone’s ID badge would be a much easier task then to try to focus on changing the appearances of two living, moving, breathing women. While she could control and anticipate her own actions, she wouldn’t always know what Noel was going to do. Plus, from what she knew about her, the woman’s actions could be a little sportatic. There was no telling exactly what she would get up to - or into - if left to her own devices.

Still though, there was a chance that taking the easier route would take down their entire plan if people talked to each other or really got to know one another where they were going. If it would be strange for a new face to walk in like they owned the place, then there was no sense in trying to make the process simpler. They would be taking a chance by cutting corners.

”Let’s start with finding people to replace. If we can get people that we look relatively similar to, that would be ideal, but otherwise just stick to two females.” The cogs in Natalie’s mind were turning and she was doing her best to plot something reasonable out. They probably would have been better off discussing things earlier, but as much as Natalie was a natural planner, she didn’t want to have to spend any longer with Noel than she needed to.

>>"Do you shoot?"

Natalie raised an eyebrow and looked at Noel dead on. Did she shoot? Seriously? ”Of course I don’t,” she huffed, smoothing her dress. ”I’m usually on the other side of this kind of thing. Action isn’t really my wheelhouse.”

She was still surprised that she was even standing there. When she had joined Haven it had been under the impression that she would be handling all the legal work, not her fellow “team members”. Those days she did far more personal work than she cared for. It served her right for joining an organization founded by a psychologist.