Anything that made his family safer was Good Thing. While his father was out of the country, it was his job as Acting Head-of-Jaager-Family to make sure everyone was most safe. This meant many things, and Panu was doing his best to think of everything. He kept track of them in his list.

Ways to Improve Family & Maybe Earn Pat-on-Head Whenever Father Returns
1) Oversee expanding security installations at Jaager Worldwide as basement links to safe houses continue development

(The project heads seemed very competent. One of them had given him a cookie. It had tasted like Patronizing and also like chocolate. He had put calendar reminder on his phone to check up on their work again in one week.)

2) Make sure family is kept busy and happy with missions

(Mrs. Brass had kindly thanked him to remove his reoccurring reminders from her own scheduling calendar, she was capable of keeping track of who was next in the rotation herself, thank you.)

With 1 and 2 very under control, Panu was now on List Item 3.

3) Expand family with promising new additions.
3a) Potential for awesome medieval weapons-and-armor is +10 Excellent

Panu had watched the recent Cafas Johnson AMA. Panu watched all the AMAs, because even though they were complete and utter fluff like a kitten's shed hairballs, many of the people involved where High Interest, especially since most interviews were at the Mansion, and probably the X-Men would be their enemies if the X-Men stopped being drunk or throwing laptops at their student's heads. But two people had stood out as Passionate and Competent even while questions being asked were most stupid.

Gemma Taylor, Mansion Counselor. Adapted. Her competence was worrying, like watching pit bull watch you back. (He made quick note of List Item 4: Find list of Adapteds and give to Ms. Brass. Assassination missions were good for List Item 2, and kill-all-Adapteds was a list item so basic he hadn't even thought to write it down. Probably it would be List Item 0000 if he did.)

Other competent person was Cafas Johnson. Metal mutant. Weapons and armor maker. Gritter of teeth when X-Team and city and country policies were discussed. Grit teeth until almost break, Panu thought.

So he had called ahead to the man's armory and offered a meeting. This is commission and maybe job offer, he had left on the answering machine, his voice synthesized to be older, but mostly to just be not-his-own so there was no real recording.

This is commission and maybe job offer. If you are tired of the world's rust, and want to reforge it into something new.

He had thought to wear his Muninn costume, but this did not hide that he was still Very Short and Probably Very Young. Also it looked maybe-evil, which was not what Ragnarok really was. He did not want Mr. Johnson to get Wrong Impression.

He had thought about bringing an Adult with, but then someone probably would have given him a cookie and made him stay home while they went instead.

There was no use to his list at all, there was no use for him, if he did not go on missions himself.

This is why the Ragnarok agent that politely knocked on Cafas' door five minutes before his scheduled time was very blonde, and very thin, and very nine-years-old.

Panu pushed his headphones down around his neck while he waited, because it was Rude to look like you were not listening. He wore slacks and a nice button-up shirt, but both of these were mostly swallowed by the over-sized gray hoodie he also wore, because even though New York was too hot in its streets, it was too cold in its air conditioned buildings. There was a digital camera hanging around his neck, as if he was Tourist, but he did not look around like he was a tourist. He did not look around at all. Mostly he stared somewhere between the door and the ground.

Ragnarok is not the end. It is a beginning for us to choose. If you are open to discussing, please meet me at your armory at 10AM. You can bring whoever you want with you if you fear trap, but know that I will come alone, and in peace.

He would recruit Cafas Johnson right out from under the X-Men. His father would laugh a lot about this, and be happy. Whenever his father returned.

Cafas had been waiting for an opportune moment to approach Ragnarok for months. Ever since the forest, with Isabel. It was an organisation that had the green clad psychopath worried, and that scared Cafas more than he would ever let on.

Apparently the wait was worth it. Ragnarok had come to him.

Isabel came to me for help.

He'd been sitting behind the counter for an hour, door locked, sign turned to closed[/i]. His eyes hadn't left the door for that whole time, but his mind was well and truly in another world. He'd been running through scenarios since he'd got the message. After all, it may well be an ambush. He was alone regardless, he'd even given Verdigris the day off, fully payed of course. It would do him no good to get others killed if it did turn out to be a trap.

So what's the scarier option?

The knock wasn't what he'd been expecting. Neither was the shadow behind the door. It appeared to be a child's. Cafas had half a mind not to open it. What did he know, though? Mutants made the world a strange place.

That this is a trap and I'm about to die...

Cafas took a moment to center himself. This meeting would not make the blooper reel. His few steps to the door were relaxed, his body language open. He threw the locks like he was in no particular hurry to meet fate.

Or that it isn't?

The door opened on a boy, no older than ten, swamped in a hoodie. Headphones and camera registered in Cafas' mind, as did the fact that there were no parents around. The X-man scanned his environment with trained eyes, but nothing seemed out of place. Fine.

Cafas dropped into a squat to make eye level with the child. He could swear there was something about his eyes that seemed off, but he couldn't pick what it was. "You're not exactly who I was expecting. Are you looking for someone?" The fact his mouth managed to get out such perfectly innocent words with such excellent double meaning almost shocked Cafas.

First thing Cafas did was look around at Panu and at everywhere. This was good instincts for a maybe-new-brother. This maybe meant he was paranoid enough to not die quickly.

Second thing Cafas did was crouch down and treat Panu like child. Maybe like child. There was something in tone of too-sweet words that made him read translation twice, so that second time he realized that words were just cautious. Maybe-you-are-Ragnarok-member, but maybe-you-are-just-child-who-I-should-not-involve. This too was good instincts. And kind instincts, that did not just yell at child to go away.

Panu had liked Cafas in the video. He liked him better in real life.

There was no one near enough to record them, and Panu had politely asked other cameras pointed their direction to please malfunction for awhile. So it was safe for him to talk open. When he spoke, it was with quieter voice than he maybe wanted, but it was too late to start over so he would just have to keep going and hope he was Taken Seriously and try to meet eyes because the man wanted to meet his eyes but all Panu could really see was Close Up Of Shirt In Front Of Him so he was not sure if he got it right. Eye contact was hard.

“Hello Mr. Johnson. I am sorry for voice message that makes me sound older. I am not try to deceive, only it is stupid to leave real voice on recording. I am Muninn of Ragnarok. Real name is Panu Harmaajärvi-Jaager. May I please come into shop?”

He knew Cafas' real name. It was only fair that Cafas also know his. This made it Meeting of Equals, not meeting of Small Terrorist Child That Knows Where You Live. If things went very very wrong, Panu could always schedule Noel to visit the X-Man later. Her calendar was free this afternoon, and this morning was only Brush Teeth. He had made sure she was not doing anything she would need to remember before he picked this day.

It clicked eventually, when Panu tried to make eye contact with him. There was a certain spark missing behind the eyes. Like they were really only there for show. Maya's seemed the same when she was using her Ghost-o-vision. He would have been taken aback, had he not already expected the meeting to be super weird. Mutant terrorist cells weren't exactly something you expected normalcy from.

The order aside. Really just another gang.[/b]

"It's not a problem, Muninn. Come in." Cafas stepped back from the door to let the child-terrorist in. He let the door swing shut behind them, locking it as he did. It felt wrong, but letting people waltz in wasn't high on his priority list. "Thanks for calling ahead, it made it much easier to ensure no-one was here. Please, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?" He indicated a chair he'd dragged out of the drafting room just for their meeting. His own seat was on the other side of the glass display cabinet that operated as a counter. A few dozen knives and daggers sat within, next to price tags.

God I could use a whiskey.

Cafas began preparing himself a tea. He felt he was going to need something to steady his nerves. Coffee was just too stimulating to fulfill that role. Boiling water steamed from a third, much smaller tap on the sink. He could faintly make out his mug shaking. Surely he didn't need to be too nervous, right? No, he was about to turn into a spy within a terrorist cell, the shaking was warranted. "Sorry it's so crowded in here. The majority of the shop has to be given over to the forge." The store essentially had just enough space to carry a few of the bulkier items without knocking literally everything else over. The rest of the floor space was glass cabinets containing hundreds of weapons and dozens of pieces of armor. A few pieces were left out on racks, but they were the exception rather than the rule.

The boy took the offered seat. It was a little too tall for his legs, but most chairs were, so this was normal. He sat down and crossed his hands in his lap and tucked his feet under and adjusted his headphones on his ears except they were still around his neck so he put his hands back in his lap and this time kept them there.

“Do you have strawberry soda?” He asked, very hopeful. But probably this was unfair, Cafas was Grown Man, probably he did not have strawberry soda and had not thought a terrorist would want one. Strawberry soda was not very terrifying. “If not it is okay, I will have what you are having.”

What the Current X-Man Maybe-Soon-Ragnarok-Man was having was tea. As he made it, Panu had time to practice not fidgeting, and also to realize that Cafas was not treating him like child. At all. He was treat him serious and polite. Not just like Adult, but like Respected Adult.

Cafas would be Best Brother Ever. Maybe even better than Victor, who was always trying to get him to play with people-his-own-age, which was Most Uncomfortable Thing In Light Radius of Known Universe.

Panu could not see that Cafas had shaking hands. He was looking only with his little camera and any security feeds the man had (which would probably not have very good footage while he was here, probably more like no-footage-at-all). None of these were good for close ups of hands making tea. But he thought maybe the man would be suspicious of single small child sent to recruit him. If Panu was in Cafas-shoes, he would assume this was child like Kirsi, who could kill so quick it was like flipping light switch.

“Is really not trap,” the blonde boy offered quietly. “I really am alone. Also no offensive powers. So you are more safe from me than I am from you.”

Cafas was actually much taller than internet videos had made Panu think. Also much muscle. Also mutant power that was like bull in his delicate electronics shop.

...Maybe it was Panu who should be nervous. He reached up to adjust his headphones, but they were still around his neck, so he shoved his hands into his pockets and played with turning over-and-over-and-over a spare battery instead. Other spare parts in his pocket clicked against each other, plastic and metal and lithium ion.

>> "Sorry it's so crowded in here. The majority of the shop has to be given over to the forge."

“It is okay. I like it. It is busy place, like car work shop instead of car museum.”

He would like to look closer at some of the cases, but he did not want to seem like stupid child poking at sharp objects. Also sharp objects were useless to him, depth perception was not his mutant power. So it was better to stay sitting and only tilt his camera slightly and zoom discretely and wish the glass was not so reflective. 

Probably it was time to Begin Discussion. Panu took a deep breath, and made himself at least +0.02 Anti-Shy Units louder than he'd talked before.

“If you are wonder about why I call, it is because I watched your internet interview by stupid boy. You seem like someone who would maybe like less rules. If META robots or police or politicians are give you pink-purple eyes when you think about, then maybe for X-Man it is hard to fix this, but for Ragnarok it is easy. If we do not like, we break. If you want all METAs to die, I can help. If you want all Australian politicians to wake up with empty bank accounts and warrants with Interpol for human rights, I can help. The rest of my family, they are help too, if you are become our brother. I think you would make good brother.”

He definitely did not reach for his headphones, because his hands were very in his pockets, but he maybe scuffed the floor under his chair with the tips of his shoes.

“Probably you have questions?”

Strawberry soda? Cafas opened the fridge and had a rummage. With three people regularly in the shop, you never quite knew. Not the Isaac seemed the type to drink strawberry soda, and he would have thought he'd notice Verdy drinking it. It just didn't seem green enough to be her. Then again, that really was just her name he was basing that association off.

Two teas then. He brought out the small carton of milk, and bowl of sugar. The drinks were set on the counter top, and Cafas took his seat across from Panu, waving off his assertions that it wasn't a trap. "I appreciate the reassurance, however you lose the ability to relax in meetings like this after you've been to enough of them." Cafas took a deep breath, appreciating the relaxing herbal smell of the tea. It didn't really help, but it was at least a pleasant enough smell.

“It is okay. I like it. It is busy place, like car work shop instead of car museum.”

Cafas nodded but didn't say anything. After all, it was just small talk before they got to the actual business of their meeting. Cafas was rather anxious to get to that. If they were to have any chance to stop Ragnarok before it was too late, they needed someone inside. Seeing as it was the first opportunity Cafas had gotten in recent years to do something that felt like why he'd joined the team in the first place, he wanted to get on it fast.

Panu took his silence for what it was, and got on with his offer. Cafas had to admit, it was tempting. If he didn't know about the weaponised cure, and the plan to destroy the world, he may well have been tempted by the offer. He let a smile creep onto his face. Rather, he forced it in place, because the reality of what he was up against was terrifying. If they could even come close to achieving what the boy offered, he could see why Isabel needed help.

I'm probably a fool for even considering this.

"Huh, I see people have managed to decode my eyes." More an aside to himself, Cafas turned his attention fully to Panu again. "What you're offering, it's incredibly tempting. The X-men were not the freedom I was hoping for, it's true. Rather, they seemed more like the shackles binding me against fighting for my own people. What does Ragnarok need from me though? These offers are never free, after all. And what is their goal?" He was speaking perhaps a little slower than he otherwise would, calculating the words before they left his mouth. The situation called for such even without the whole double agent aspect.

Cafas looked for strawberry soda. This told Panu that the refrigerator here was like in Ragnarok basement, where no one knew what was inside, not even people who had put things in. Was it there or was it not? Maybe it was develop fuzzy sentience in a few more days, was it ethical to throw out or not? Probably there was Schrodinger Refrigerator in every workplace.

There was no soda, so Cafas made him tea instead. This made Panu realize something: he had never had tea. Coffee and juice and many sodas yes, but not tea.

The tea came with milk and sugar. He googled quickly, but most sites on tea for children said to serve it colder and maybe with more water in it than usual adult tea. Some said honey was very good. Other places said if you had to use milk and sugar to hide taste of tea then tea was bad and you should buy different type. Other people, especially British, said milk and tea absolutely necessary because all tea is crap without it. Still other said that proper Chinese tea was best as only tea, milk was lower class addition to make tea last longer, tradition from when tea was expensive--

Probably this was stupid thing to research. There was easier way.

“What are you recommend for drink this? It is my first time to drink tea. Is not popular in Finland.”

He had lost -1.75 Anti-Shy Units for asking this question, but it was better than spending next five minutes reading everything on internet when internet was always disagree anyway. He would just do what Cafas did, Cafas was the only opinion he cared about.

>> "I appreciate the reassurance, however you lose the ability to relax in meetings like this after you've been to enough of them."

This was nodded at very solemnly, over tea that still felt maybe-too-hot to drink, but which felt very nice to hold in his hands, like putting his fingers against car heater with temperature turned all the way up and thinking that probably this was what lobsters felt before they died in pots.

If there was anything fake about Cafas’ smile, it was no faker than every other smile captured by light sensors and translated to digital and interpreted by Panu’s brain as true image. This meeting was go Very Well. Like Cafas had been only waiting for someone to talk to him, and had already convinced himself that Ragnarok was Best Place for him.

>> "Huh, I see people have managed to decode my eyes."

This seemed like a comment-to-self. Some people made these out loud, because they could not open new file in their head and write in a proper list.

(Since it was comment-to-self, and since he did not know Cafas well yet, Panu did not say that there had been a 67-page thread on Cafas-mood-ring eye-colors after the AMA. People had gone through many many many videos and photos to try and decode, and also they had debated a lot about whether footage from movie counted as real eye colors or if good mutant actor could fake his eye colors, which was probably First Time In History that this topic had been discussed. Also he definitely did not mention that some people now were using colors as status updates. It was new meme.)

(These are the things he thought but did-not-say. Instead he tried to drink his tea, which was still burn flesh off tongue hot.)

>> “...What does Ragnarok need from me though? These offers are never free, after all. And what is their goal?"

The boy pushed his headphones back over his ears and adjusted and--

--but he was trying to keep them down to be polite--

--but probably it was too late to take them off again, that would be even more strange, and also it felt wrong and cold to have naked ears. It was honest mistake, but good mistake, so he would leave them.

adjust adjust adjust

Now his ears felt whole. Also sound came to him from distance now, just like video and information did, which felt right. Everything was best through buffer.

“Mission is destroy world,” the blonde boy said, picking back up his Radioactive Nuclear Summer Tea. It was good hand warmer, but he was starting to think that maybe people only drank it as dare. “World is stupid. Is place where--”

It was place where children were taken from homes and only not sold to worse people because they were useful.

Panu’s headphones were perfect-adjust, he double-checked to make sure. Very comfortable.

“--Is Very Bad Place, not safe at all unless your family is so strong that no one is dare to touch you. Many people will hurt you for no reason, or reason they think is good, or reason they know is bad, and they can hurt you if you are good because Good is Good. But we are evil, so if someone hurts, we can kill them and then others leave us alone. World is too stupid to protect. Break instead, break everything, then we make better. Like cleaning room. First all is mess and trash bags, then is clean and nice and smells like new laundry.”

They were in the open-closet-and-throw-things-on-floor stage right now. They had not even done enough damage to need trash bags yet.

“If you join then you are join. You are family. I protect you and you protect me. Break and build together, and keep everyone safe.”

Keeping everyone safe was Most Important Thing. Probably his father did not agree, but that is why his father needed Extra Protect, and also someone to remember to buy groceries and clean and cook and regulate time-playing-games-on-phone and time-eviscerating-hobos. When Jaager came back, first thing Panu would do was set up shared calendar for them like he had with Noel, so that he could send the dragon reminders.

“If you can be family we can trust to help and protect, then you can join. Is all.”

"A dash of milk and two sugars if you like sweet and milky drinks. Or, if you drink coffee, the same way you drink that." It was a good starting point anyway. One could always adjust later. Nothing was lost in knowing what you didn't like.

The answer Cafas received was unexpected to say the least. Usually these organisations thought they were doing some kind of good. That they were saviors of the world or something. The kind of beliefs that made you reassess the validity of your own cause because it sounded just too much like yourself. Not these guys. As it turned out they were properly nuts, and proud of it. He actually called himself evil like that was a good thing. Yet another reason for Cafas to be afraid.

Well, he was in far too deep now to back out. He doubted he'd live through the refusal anyway. He knew too much and was, in his own humble opinion, far too dangerous to be allowed to have such information. It really left him with no choice.

"Well then, brother, for what you offer I am more than happy to take out the trash. It sounds like just the kind of family that would suit me. How will I know which trash to take out? Or when family members need help?"

Cafas took a drink from his cup, the warm drink chasing out some of the nerves at his situation. At least the kid was seemingly willing to take him as he was.

Tea was only like Small Dragon Birthed in Lava now, so Panu took a sip. He had wanted to try it just as tea first before adding new things. ...After one sip, he reached for milk and two sugars, as advised. He was very careful with these, especially with milk, because the camera angles were all wrong for this and he did not want to spill on Cafas’ Very Reflective Counters. He made sure his fingers touched the sides of container before he tried to close hand, and then that he knew where tea cup was, and then he was Pour Very Slowly.

The tea was much better (and also much cooler) afterward. Probably he should have taken Cafas’ advice from the start.

Brother. Cafas called him brother. This sent a tingle up his spine like dog being pet, and ended on his lips with smile (which he stopped as soon as he noticed, pressed-lips-flat and hid-behind-tea-brim, because this was still First Meeting and also Professional and he did not want to Ruin Everything.)

His new brother started asking questions, good questions, like questions a spy would ask except sincere.

>> "How will I know which trash to take out? Or when family members need help?"

“Mr Jaag—father is boss in America,” Panu said, catching himself in time. Mostly he called Jaager ‘father’ in his head now, but it still sounded weird on his lips. But he wanted to be in good practice when Jaager was back so he could say it in front of the man without his voice running away. Hopefully this would make his new father happy. (Or if it did not, then Panu could go back to saying 'Mr. Jaager' very very quickly and pretend it never happened and maybe go die under a rock somewhere when the dragon was not looking.) “When he is home he is first one we should listen to, but he has not been home for many weeks, so maybe you are not meet him soon. Ms Brass is Second-I-Think, she is scary tiger and gives out orders so this is count. Loki is Whole World Boss, but he is not live in America.” Or anywhere, since he was fake, but probably Cafas should not be told that First Day.

The man’s phone made the noise of an incoming text. “That is my number, and I text you Ms Brass’ number. If you need something or someone or jail break you can tell either of us, probably me first because Ms Brass is scary.” It was worth repeating, she was tiger secretary who scared playboy CEO dragon into doing Real Work.

“Mostly though you are your Own Boss. No one is tell me to call you, I just do it because I think it is best for us. Is Chaos Faction. Do what you want.”

Panu carefully navigated another sugar cube into his cup.

“Do you want to ruin all Australian politician? What is First Mission for you?”

Cafas nodded along as the tech-clad boy spoke. It was all simple enough. Jaager was the boss, tiger mutant lady was second, Loki ran the whole thing from the top, wherever that happened to be. So far so good. Easy to follow, and a relatively simple command structure.

Then his phone rang and Cafas stifled the urge to jump out of his seat in alarm. He was saved the effort of checking the device as Panu continued. Contact details were good. It was funny, Cafas hadn't seen him actually touch a phone, and he seemed perfectly able to hear through his headphones. The camera, too, seemed to be what he was using to look around. It was all a bit disconcerting, but it was useful information. The kid had some control over tech, possibly? Cafas would make sure not to use electronic means to transfer his spy messages.

Probably best not to do that anyway.

The command structure proved to be even looser than the X-man had given it credit for. Do what you want? It was a wonder the chaos cult got anything done at all. Then again, if chaos is your end point, telling people to do whatever they felt like possibly counted as getting things done. "My first mission? Well, I wouldn't mind destabilizing the Australian government... Seems a bit out of my reach though. Ragnarok is starting to draw attention though. Perhaps a good first step would be making sure our family is... Protected." Cafas gestured to a rack of armor, to emphasize the point. It would give him a good excuse to get to know who was in the organisation, without having to do too much destruction of his own accord. It worked nicely.

Panu sat up Very Straight.

“Protected is very good idea. Also it is first reason I thought of you. Mr. Jaager--father is do many stupid things all the time. He goes out and kills and makes himself Big Giant Dripping-Red Target. Can you make armor for dragon that dragon can still fly in? Also for my dog. He is META robot, speed model. Needs armor I can put on outside so he does not look like META. His name is Skoll. Is very good dog.”

Probably his dog’s name did not affect his dog’s armor, but it was wrong to talk about your dog as an inanimate object.

...Even if your dog was an inanimate object. Panu took a sip of tea, then reached for another sugar cube. Tea was very good with sugar, so good that his leg was hop-hop-hop a little under chair like rabbit, and also fuel his brain so he remembered thing he probably shouldn’t have forgotten. He was talking very fast now, tea was also good for not-be-shy.

“Also, is possible to shield so electricity is not fry-people-where-they-stand? We are maybe make enemy of Stupid E-M-P Lady and maybe destroy her company a little but she still won’t leave state or die in hobo box because she is stupid. Probably she will want to destroy us, so is not safe to encase everyone in metal unless we can shield metal from her.”

He did not actually know what Lori Faust was up to recently, he hadn’t been paying attention. Was her company still in business? He needed to fix that. Maybe Cafas could help. Cafas was a very good brother already. He was sacrifice his own goals to help the rest of his family first. This was something Panu could understand very well.

Destroy bad parts of Australia, Panu noted on his list of Nice Things To Do For People. If Cafas would not think of this for himself, then he could trust his little brother to do it for him. This is what family was for.

Why was he not surprised that the tech kid had a META dog? One of them was unaccounted for, come to think of it. It made a lot of sense. That should be a breeze to make armor for, though it would have to be very well distributed to avoid the thing tripping over itself repeatedly. Cafas wasn't exactly sure how the servos would deal with the extra weight, but it was a problem for future Cafas. The dragon though. Now that was going to be a challenge. He may as well tell the boy that much at least.

"Your dog, Skoll was it? I think I can do something for. Making armor that can be flown in though, that would be challenging. I can do a lot with metal, but making it lighter permanently isn't one of those things. It would depend how much weight he can carry aloft with him." At the very least, he'd have to meet with the dragon himself. Even with his ability to make quick adjustments, it might well take months of testing. Then what? He had an armored aerial monster to fight when the time came.

"As for making things electricity proof, I'm afraid that would take some form of Faraday cage, which I could make, but it would not be very mobile. I will see what I can do though. Perhaps some rubber insulation on the back of the armor could offset the increased danger." It sounded like he was talking about Faust though. He'd heard stories, none of them suggested it was wise to annoy her. Insulating against her could prove difficult if not impossible. He could only try, though. It would probably serve the X-men just as well if he did manage to come up with something. With any luck it was a different E.M.P. Lady.

"To do all this though, it would probably be best not to be doing it here. Dragons coming and going, and huge electrical usage to test insulation, none of that is very subtle. It would draw too much attention. Attention I'd rather keep away from the name Cafas Johnson."

“Oh! You can come to basement, of course.” Probably this did not sound glamorous. Panu tried again. “Basement is headquarters.” That still made it sound like they were living with Ambrose’s mom. “Basement of Jaager Worldwide. There is much space, more each day. Please send details and I can give to engineers and they can make place for you.”

Faraday cage was--

Far·a·day cage
noun
PHYSICS
1. a grounded metal screen surrounding a piece of equipment to exclude electrostatic and electromagnetic influences.

Which was--

--an enclosure formed byconductive material or by a mesh of such material, used to block electric fields. Faraday cages are named after the English scientist Michael Faraday, who invented them in 1836.^[1]

A Faraday cage operates because--

And there were pictures of people in very low-tech cages smiling as other people were throw lightning at them and machines behind fancy chicken wire and videos of people looking a little nervous that psychics would break this time but coming out of cages okay at end. Also very helpful gif that showed how metal of cage turned plus on one side and negative on the other and somehow this made things okay.

“Yes, Faraday is probably too big,” the blonde boy said, frowning a little as search ended. It had happened very quick, much quicker than speak, he was already googling when he realized weird-new-word was not mistranslation. “I think maybe I want this for my computer room, though, please.” Panu grabbed another sugar cube. This one he put in his mouth. His tea was now on the counter. It had gone from lava to nice to gross-cold. There was very small time window to actually drink tea, maybe.

“Do you want to see basement today? Or maybe other questions?"

The basement of Jaager HQ? Bold of them. They really must be confident no-one would ever trace it back to them. That or they were just arrogant enough to believe themselves unassailable. Probably for the best if he went and found out what the reality of that was. Sounded like he'd get the chance soon enough once he sent through all the specs to their engineers.

Panu seemed to be almost bouncing. Cafas gently withdrew the sugar bowl before he could get at too many more sugar cubes. He didn't want to be answering to an angry dragon as to why his child was so hopped up on sugar. "A Faraday cage for a room can be done. I'll need to see the room, and materials will need to be sourced, but it shouldn't take more than a weekend, unless you want it to not be visible, then it'll be a much longer project." Cafas wasn't exactly confident he could achieve that. He was a blacksmith with a passing understanding of physics, not an engineer with building and architectural experience.

Though maybe they have some on the payroll.

Oh, it would seem he could get to see the basement, as Panu had so gloriously named it, much sooner than he'd anticipated. Perhaps this was the downfall of using a child to recruit for a secret organisation. All the same, it was very useful for Cafas. "Seeing the basement would probably be useful, and I can speak directly to the engineers. Plus I won't get lost trying to find it later. I do have one more question though, if you're Munin, the boss is Loki, does everyone get a Norse code name? Do I need one?" He knew Isabel had one too, but he wasn't about to come out and say that. It was best if everyone assumed him and Isabel hated each other, which was true, and that they would never dream of speaking, let alone working together. That was less true.

Though it did take a doomsday cult to make it happen.

“Faraday on room does not need to be hid,” the blonde confirmed, watching as the sugar bowl was moved further and further and further away from his camera and also his hand and also his soul. “If EMP Lady is there to see it then something is already go very wrong.”

Probably then he would be hiding in room so she could not make him into finely blackened Finnish Jerky. Being on one side of cage while Lori Faust was on other was not experience he wanted to have (somewhere in the back of his mind, there was deleted file that added in small whisper: again, but he ignored it.)

“Norse name is job perk.” Cafas had moved the bowl so probably that meant he did not want Panu to have more, but maybe he had only moved it on a on whim. Maybe if Panu reached for it... but then his new brother might be angry. But it was right there, still in reach if he leaned a little closer and slowly reached, Super Casual Slow-- “Do you have idea for name? Otherwise I can make database if you want. Metal or forge or warrior names, I can filter for you. Probably you should choose name before Jaager is back or he will name you after eight-legged horse as mean joke.” Not really, that was already his other brother’s name. But there were plenty of other very stupid names he was sure.

Panu sent quick text to Ms. Brass.

I have recruit new brother. Is metal mutant, will make armor, please tell engineers to set aside place for forge.

Ms. Brass replied like this:

Of course you did.

This was maybe just something she used so often that her text always auto-corrected to it. She sent it to him a lot, mostly for everything.

Also please send Most Impressive Car, I want to take him to basement but he is movie star so is important to make good impression.

Of course he is, Ms. Brass replied.