Noel's laughter bounced around in the corridor between buildings. Good thing he was fresh out of Ranger panties. Noel wouldn't be getting much done for the rest of the day otherwise.

The Ranger went around one way to grab his stuff out of the back and Noel went the other way for filming. She tried to get the clouds and the whole scene before she stepped in closer to document the actual weather close up. It seemed to be coming down far too fast. Too much ice was accumulating too quickly. Noel hoped that no one was without groceries inside. In the end, she decided to dial the anomaly in to 3-1-1 after she'd finished filming.

She tapped the ice from her sneakers as she finished up her call.
"No, ma'am. I need to be on my way. I just thought someone might need to check in on the people who live there. Maybe send a salt truck or someone with a shovel or something." She glanced back at the anomaly. The fog was not staying contained to the area and continued to leak out towards them. Whether that meant the anomaly was growing or what, Noel didn't care to find out. "No, I mean like a front shovel. A Caterpillar construction vehicle. It's seriously that bad."

Rather than argue, Noel hung up. She wasn't good on the phone anyway. No taste feedback.

She plopped herself into the co-pilot's chair and did up her seat belt while Howdy bickered with Actual. She got their next address and a few chuckles.

"2 blocks East and a whole lot more South. Actually." She grabbed the CB and pinged Actual. "Hey Blac-Tactual, are you choosing Manhattan locations only? Or are the locations only on Manhattan?"

> "They're a bit all over the place, Boots, but we've got waaaay more unanswered activity Manhattan-side. Emergency responders are spread thin. It'd be a hell of a time for a real bad dude to do a real bad thing."

That... yeah. Actually that kinda made sense. Noel glanced at the Ranger who'd managed to only smudge his grease around. She coughed out another little chuckle.

"Copy that. We'll go check it out."

Somewhere in the Washington Square Arch area, they drove into the sunset before lunchtime.

"This one's not so bad." It mostly seemed cosmetic. Maybe it was freaking the birds out?

The conversation with Jude started well enough. The Ranger radioed in that they’d located the ripple. He then gave a brief description of effect it had when it contacted a cloud. Everything went well until the Ranger gave the temperature and clarified that it was in, ”Freedom Units, not that French silliness.” Jude insisted that the French were plenty free and Americans enslaved. Those were fighting words.

”Listen up, Buddy Roe.” The Ranger affected a tone of fake bluster. ”Texas is in America an’ God blessed Texas with his own hand. Brought down angels from the promised land an’ gave ‘em a place where they dance, if you wanna see heaven brother there’s y’r chance... Now where is the next ripple?”

Jude gave the address. There wasn’t a response to what the Ranger had said. Probably in shock.

Knowing Noel would take care of the map the Ranger took one last stab at Jude. ”I been sent t’ spread the message. God blessed Texas... Howdy out.”

He returned the mic laughing and put the truck in gear. Noel gave him direction and the then they were off. Then Noel keyed up the mic and also called Jude “Blac-Tactual. It was always nice when others started using your jokes. Noel also asked about where the ripples were. Were they all on Manhattan or was he just only giving them Manhattan locations. That was an interesting question, the Ranger looked over to her while waiting for Jude’s answer.

He was sending them only Manhattan addresses.

Noel looked over. And gave a chuckle. ”What? Somethin’ on my face?” He wiped a dirty hand across his dirty face. ”Did I get it?” He asked, knowing full well he had not..

When they reached the ripple the world went from lunchtime to sunset. Noel commented how it wasn’t so bad. That ripple reminded him of something that had happened the previous day, ”Y’ didn’t happen t’ be around a at a little hole in the wall middle-eastern restaurant did y’ two days ago?” If she hadn’t he’d lost a significant portion of a day to walking into one of these ripples.

Radioing in to Jude the Ranger informed him that the ripple just gave them a nice sunset. Only danger was of enjoying it.

That grin was trouble. Noel felt a little sorry for the kid back at actual, but not that bad. He had walked right into it by taking the bait laid down by a master Texas-ician.

"No. You just got it more everywhere." Noel reached over to run her thumb across his cheek and give it a try, but the pad of her thumb was infected with under car grease instead. It was in his hair and on his ears. Everywhere. "It's going to take some seriously strong soap to get that gunk to go away." He was making a fool of himself on purpose. He was making a fool of both of them since Noel couldn't help but fall into his trap either.

> ”Y’ didn’t happen t’ be around a at a little hole in the wall middle-eastern restaurant did y’ two days ago?”

"Two days ago?" She checked her phone calendar. "Ah. Noonish I was in court for my emancipation junk. Otherwise, I think I was at Haven." It wasn't a huge leap to see where he was going with that. Noel had just warned him about losing time. She tried not to get her feelings hurt about that. He was only asking.

"For what it's worth... I don't remember doing it." Which meant exactly nothing considering her power.

Another location from Actual came in. Noel was loathe to leave the sunset. She snapped a picture and a video as they drove away. If she hadn't been there, she would have said it was a very neat photo manipulation.

"This one is east." The Fordasuarus skidded a little around a turn and Noel grabbed the 'oh sh**' handle.

"That's ah- not normal?"

Noel reached over and ran her thumb across his cheek and was rewarded with a black thumb. He laughed, "I'll just bathe in lava soap when we get back. Nothin' like a little skin removal t' get rid of some grease."

That's right, she'd had her court date while he was out running around doing meetings. He felt bad for asking. He wasn't trying to accuse her of erasing memories more that he was trying to confirm that he had been caught in a ripple for hours. Though, there was no way to ask it without thinking that she might have erased his memory. "I think I was caught in one of these ripples. Jus' wanted to see if I could eliminate the possibility." He pat her on the leg as he said it. "Besides why else would I have spent four hours in a middle-eastern food place..." He trailed off realizing he could set up camp in one and just inhale food. "Other than eatin' everythin' on the menu." Which sounded great to the Ranger at that moment. Moving the Fordasaurus by hand had given him a mighty hunger.

If he wanted to know for sure he could always confirm she was at Haven at the time. Security would have that log, they had a log for everyone. He would not check though.

Jude radioed them with another location. Noel indicated it was to the East. The Ranger took the next turn and the behemoth of a vehicle skidded and protested through the turn. The Ranger agreed with Noel, "Definitely not normal." The Ranger worked drifted from lane to lane to see how the truck was performing. "A arm must have bent when I set her down... We're fine f'r now, but this has t' be the last one we check. Then she needs t' go home t' Blac-Tac."

Ranger realized he'd told Noel about work, but he had never taken her by.

A few more, much slower turns, and they were approaching the next ripple. Similar to the first one people were everywhere. Unlike the first emergency service vehicles were also arriving on scene. The Ranger would take the Fordasaurus close enough for Noel to get a good shot of it.

Noel let the restaurant thing slide. If she'd done something, she had to trust it was for a good reason. She didn't see herself stealing a few hours being helpful to either of them so she was ready to lean on the 'it's a time ripple' defense. She also figured that she would have made a note of it somehow. Michael seemed ready to let her off the hook.

She wished he wouldn't. Someone needed to keep her accountable.

The poor Fordasaurus was so over today. The Ranger put the truck through her paces with the back tires not always catching. Noel took a blurry on-the-move photo of their last anomaly. It was over crowded already and difficult to tell what was going on, if anything. But they had it for posterity. Maybe that anomaly had ended?

She might have gotten better if they'd stopped, but officers were directing traffic well away from the scene. The results looked pretty messy, whatever it was. Noel grabbed up the radio and let Actual know they were on their way back. He said there were plenty more active.

"How many are active? We've seen, what? 4?"

> "There are reports all over. Without more boots on the ground, it's hard to say which ones are good reports or not. I've been sending you guys to ones I think that might be worth seeing."

"Rough estimate. Just ballpark it."

> "Maybe 6 at a time? They open and close and move. That could be very off."

"We'll be in to see the map. Maybe 20 minutes since we have to go over the bridge."

> "Cool. I mean, roger. Whatever."

As much as she was tempted to correct him 'No, it's Boots', Noel put the radio away.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but 6 seems like too many to just be one dude. Whatever's going on, I don't feel like we have all the pieces yet."

While the Ranger had managed to get decently close to to where the ripple was, NYPD was out directing traffic and kept him moving. No chance for him to stop for a good picture. It also seemed to have passed on, leaving an absolute mess in its wake. While the Ranger navigated around to where the police were directing Noel radioed Jude.

There was a back and forth that led to Jude informing them he thought there was about six that were active at a time. Though, he wasn’t sure. Noel informed him they were coming in to see the map.

Jude said “cool” but corrected it to “roger.” He was learning. Good for him. Maybe next time Ranger would add in fancier terms like exfill, AO, bearings. Why say West when you can say two seven zero, or East when zero nine zero just sounds better?

Noel got off the radio before addressing Ranger. She thought that six ripples was too many to be a single mutant. ”I think y’r right.”

What was with this city? Since moving to New York City there have been no shortage of weird city wide phenomena. Body switching, people waking up as their childhood selves, and nightmares of post apocalyptic future. Population density of mutants he guessed. Throw enough different powers into a bowl, stir, and before long you have wild difficult to explain events.

”Maybe we can add what we got t’day t’ what others at Haven have found out. Get a better idea.” Ranger said. ”But we can see what the map shows us first. Maybe it’ll have a good clue.”

Back to Blackforest Tactical the Ranger drove the Fordasaurus. He’d have to call up his mechanic to work on the work horse before she could go back into service. It shouldn’t be too long, assuming the Ranger was right about the problem.

When they arrived, the Ranger drove around the building to the garage doors. This gave Noel a good view of the exterior of the building. He hit the door opener and drove into the garage. He parked the Fordasaurus next to the Hellcat tamer, between a pair of black SUVs.

”Welcome t’ Blackforest Tactical. I can give y’ the quick tour if y’d like.”

It wasn't worth jumping to conclusions so Noel tried not to. Not until they got to see the bigger picture, anyway.

Noel watched out the window as they made their way across to Brooklyn. At the high point the the bridge, she tried to scan the city behind them for anything they might have missed, but the buildings were much, much taller. There was the usual snarl of traffic, but nothing obvious. No big pointing signs that said "beware the villain hiding here."

"I'm used to operating with little to no intel, but there's something about this one..." It felt... big.

Noel didn't come out of her brooding until Ranger pointed out Blackforest Tactical, AKA Black-Tac, his company. The front of the building was concrete and glass and steel. It didn't shout and shove money in the faces of all its neighbors like Haven did, but there was something very solid and it looked like it was quality and that it'd stay there forever no matter who came after it. There was something very Michael about the place.

"Yeah. I'd love to see. I have high expectations for your office decor after seeing your apartment." Noel gave the Fordasaurus one last pat as she hopped down. The poor thing deserved better than to be thrown around by that big mean old Ranger man.

The Ranger understood operating with limited intel. He’d operated for the most powerful country the planet had ever seen. This meant he was provided intel by agencies that in theory had unparalleled intelligence gathering ability. At least in theory. ”I’m use t’ knowin’ everythin’ down t’ the color of the target’s shirt. I’m also use t’ all of that intel bein’ wrong.”

Noel had high expectations for his office. If nothing else, he felt he could meet and maybe even exceed those expectations. Ranger smiled at her, ”It’s the only room in this buildin’ with any real personality.” Maybe a little too much. He only had so much space to make up for the lack of it elsewhere.

Out the door and onto the ground Ranger went. He looked at the Fordasaurus a moment. She had made it back home though her displeasure could be felt. With as much weight as there was on the truck, when things went wrong they could get bad quickly. Clearly it needed protections built in against being Rangered.

Into the building they went. Ranger gave Noel the quick tour as they went. Where the armory was, the shoot house, the highlights. Before going to the conference room the Ranger opened the door to his office. His door being a portal from a nice, modern office that fit in nicely with a higher class New York crowd to what could best be described as a hunting lodge out west.

”An’ here’s my office. Like I said, only room with personality.”

"For me, I might have known something going in, but I always had to pick things up on the fly. More often than not I'd leave with a completely different set of memories than I started knowing. Sharpie markers are invaluable, sticky notes, phone alarms... you've seen my process." She did close-in work almost exclusively. Her skills were wasted too far out.

Noel glanced at the Ranger as they walked through the halls. Maybe she shouldn't talk about how she worked...? Would she work that way again? Or ever use her power again?

And Hunter's office did not disappoint. Noel started with a snort that turned into a knee slap and devolved into a full chuckle and laughter from there.

"Please tell me the buck has a name."

It wasn't hard to tell when the boss was back. People who may have been lingering over their cups of coffee stepped to. More ammo was swept up. No one wanted to disappoint.

Plus, there was a woman in the halls.

Jude turned the police scanner down since there was mostly chatter about the huge wreck and the ice storm. There'd been one new anomaly, uncorroborated, but it wasn't useful to tell Michael since they'd said they'd decided to quit early and come back. It was on the map.

The teen straightened up the map area, moving his empty mug and grabbing up his notes. He didn't exactly know what the Texan said to get his girl giggling, but her question, at least, he did know the answer to.

"The dead thing is named Lucky. Though he doesn't seem terribly lucky to me."

The lady looked up and Jude's smile evaporated. He knew that face. He'd chased this woman all over New York.

"Michael." He wasn't sure what his face looked like, but Sebastian's Shadow did at least stop laughing. "Can I talk to you alone?" Leaving her alone in his office would be safe, right? No. "Maybe bring Tedward to sit."

The discussion about intel was interesting to the Ranger. As much as he joked about bad intelligence, because it often was woefully incorrect, it was the lynchpin of operations. Often much of what he had actually done on operations was gather intel… And then kick teeth in. Or kick teeth in to acquire intel.

Noel talked about how intelligence had worked for her. With her mutation she must be an intelligence agency’s wet dream. She can pick up memories at a taste and can taste if someone was lying. It was an incredibly useful and terrifying power. Nothing could remain secret if she wanted to know it. Beyond what she could do to someone else, it was a terrifying thought that she could leave somewhere with a different set of memories than she entered with. At what point is she not herself anymore?

”How do y’ stay you? I mean if y’re leavin’ with a different set of memories. Just rely on notes t’ guide y’ back home?” It was one part curiosity, another part worry that if she started using her power she might just forget who she was.

The reaction to the office brought a wide grin to Ranger’s face. A snort, a knee, slap and a chuckle to laughter. A trifecta of signs of amusement. And her first question was exactly where Ranger might have gone himself in her shoes. The name of the buck with the monstrous rack on the wall.

Before Ranger could answer Jude interjected himself into the conversation. The Ranger had not named it himself, Sideshow had named it because of course he did. And of course he would name the deer that got shot, Lucky.

Turning to face Jude, the Ranger could see an odd look on his face as he said, “Michael.” He then asked if he could talk to him alone. That was a little odd, but what was most curious was Jude suggesting having Tedward sit in with Noel.

”Sure.” He said to Jude before turning to Noel, ”I’ll be just a moment.” Addressing Jude again he said, ”She’s fine in there by herself.” He trusted her in his apartment, he could trust her in his office. Both had documents that needed to remain secret, which were locked away, and guns galore. Not to mention, Noel essentially couldn’t go anywhere else but the lobby without an ID.

Out of his office and into a nearby room the Ranger asked, ”Y’ look like y’ just stepped in horse s--t. What’s on y’r mind?” From his immediate change in tone after seeing Noel, Ranger put his money on this being about her.

Ah. Yeah. He got it in one. Noel rubbed the back of her neck. How did she stay true to herself with a rotating set of memories?

"I don't know, honestly. It's the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night." The people around her, maybe? People were terribly unreliable, though. Notes. Documents. Heck. The Ranger had met her 3 years ago. "Am I all that different now? From the wedding job?"

> "Michael." Noel set herself down on one of the chairs and tried not to jump to conclusions about whatever had crawled up the kid's butt. She looked him over, but the kid from the other side of the CB radio was young. If they'd ever met before, there was no telling what he'd looked like before.

> ”I’ll be just a moment.”

"Sure."

She frowned, but what else was she going to do? Maybe she'd go sit with the front desk security just to make double-triple sure she couldn't get blamed for anything... was there even anything in Hunter's office that she shouldn't be seeing?

She was not fine in there. Jude wasn't sure exactly what she did, but whatever she was, she was not fine. He would just have to make his point clearly so that Michael knew what he was getting himself into.

> ”Y’ look like y’ just stepped in horse s--t. What’s on y’r mind?”

Ever eloquent.

"Do you know what that is? In your office?" Jude pointed back through the door they'd come through just in case Michael felt like playing dumb. He wasn't' dumb. But he was a man and men were what that chewed up and spit out.

"In 2012, I ran surveillance on her for a year, Michael." Not her, exactly. The focus of his surveillance had technically been Sebastian, but they two were rarely apart in those days. That one sentence was more information that Jude had probably shared of her personal history and an interesting nugget considering that in 2012 he should have technically been 13 years old.

"That's Sebastian's Shadow. She latches on to men. She changes them and manipulates them and once she's done, she pushes them out the door and they're not even the same person anymore."

She'd almost caused a world-wide apocalypse, but even worse, she'd apocalypse'd his family. Jude's hands formed fists at his sides. He liked his boss enough to potentially out himself for his own history. Jude hoped he took the warnings to heart.

Now that the Ranger thought about it, Noel wasn’t that different of a person from when he met her. Sure she knew different things, it took her longer to pick up dancing this time around, but her personality wasn’t too different. He only had a snapshot of what she was like back around the wedding though, how she was in one situation.

”The first thing y’ did after talkin’ t’ me with y’r mouth full was kick out a chair so I could sit t’ stop blockin’ y’r view. On our second first meetin’ y’ stole my boot an’ ran out in the rain.” He thought for a moment before adding, ”Y’ seem more willin’ t’ up an’ do what’s fun, but I don’t think that’s a big difference from then. Y’ found little ways t’ do that while still gettin’ the job done. Y’ had a good head on y’r shoulders then an’ y’ still do now.” He shrugged, ”It’s hard t’ say havin’ only the one chance t’ interact. I’d say y’re mostly the same, maybe just a little different around the edges.”



The Ranger let Jude say his piece. As he had predicted it was about Noel. He frowned at Jude calling her ‘it Jude had run surveillance on Noel… in 2012… when he was what, thirteen? And then he called Noel Sebastian’s Shadow. He’d heard that name. Back in 2012 when he was busy establishing Blackforest Tactical, and having a nightmare of the future, and a million other things happened.

It was clear there was much that had gone on in the past. Jude had referred to Noel as ‘it’, indicted her, and was now standing there fists clenched.

”You surveyed her. When y' were thirteen?” The Ranger asked as he began his reply. ”An’ what does being Sebastian’s Shadow mean? I remember that name bein’ big in the news back then, but I was otherwise too busy t’ follow the story.”

It was always possible that there was time Noel could have been like what Jude had described. Though it didn’t like up with his experience with Noel, as far as he could figure she hadn’t used her power on him. That, and she had seemed open with him about her past. Of course he had not received a complete history from her, her power messed with her memory and he hadn’t pried too deep. While he was interested, he wanted her to tell him as she was comfortable.

Crossing his arms the Ranger added, ”An’ have I seemed different t’ y’? I’ve been around her the last few weeks.” He didn't ask curious if he had, he asked to point out that he wasn't.

Jude crossed his arms, both angry and embarrassed that he was in this position in the first place.

"I was in my twenties at the time." He grumbled the admission. Somehow Michael had a way of cutting to the heart of things and making him feel young and stupid when he was sure he was anything but. "Long story."

"Sebastian's Shadow is... I mean, I don't even know her name! Boots, whoever!" And he might just be stubborn enough to refuse to say it once he did learn it.

"People talked in whispers. She was glued to the guy. They both carried swords and fought each other and everybody else all the time. She trained people in the community and lead patrols and Sebastian sent her places sometimes. Places we couldn't get into or follow. She'd go wherever and people disappeared or changed their minds or she'd come back bloodied and the whole thing just kept gaining momentum anyway."

He huffed, aware that he was getting off topic. "The point is, Sebastian was a different person before he met her. He wasn't always a psychopath hell bent on bringing the world to an end! The only difference was that woman attaching herself to him. Once they paired up it was like... he couldn't hear sense anymore."

There. Tirade over. He hadn't really considered how much of himself Jude had left open to inspection. He didn't care that Michael wasn't different... yet. He was sure that Boots' influence was subtle and she'd worm her way through Michael just like she'd wormed her way through Sebastian.