Ranger cracked a smile at how Noel shut JP down as he helped her up. The adult table was reserved for those who didn’t get caught breaking into secure buildings. Also, for those who didn’t stab one of Ranger and Noel’s dogs.

To add insult to insult, Ranger faced Noel. Sure, they had JP captive, but that didn’t mean they had to even worry about him getting away. Ranger was making it clear with his body language he couldn’t care less about the man. He was a source of information and in no way a threat or even another human. Other humans wouldn’t stab Dammit, dammit.

”Yeah. I don’t think there’s good enough news t’ make up f’r that one.” Not even if it was the good news. There wasn’t good enough news in any part of the Bible. Not even in the red words, and those were the important ones. No news would change the fact that the Bhagavad Gita best described how JP would have come know Ranger had Dammit not survived the knife and surger. ’Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’[/color]

”T’morrow’s his next scheduled call home. He wadn’t overdue f’r last weeks.” Ranger wasn’t overly worried. Blair wasn’t some run of the mill investigator. If things went sideways he could fight his way out… or shoot his way out. ”If he doesn’t know he’s made I’ll let him know t’ exfil.” If he doesn’t report in, well… That would make things more interesting.

Noel turned to JP and asked why he said Noel wasn’t ‘her’. JP responded with an age issue. Ranger momentarily thought the deaging would have been responsible… But that didn’t account for it. He was looking for a woman born in 1990. Had Noel not been deaged she would have been older than 30.

So Noel couldn’t be the person JP was looking for, but his employer—Noel’s brother presumably—still wanted to meet her. Sister? What would be the odds there? JP didn’t have a dossier. They would have to keep digging. With JP knowing them a little, that meant digging around in his head.

Noel glanced at Ranger. He inclined his head to indicate it was her call. ”Sauce might be worth the squeeze.” he said.

Clearly Noel had decided to dive into JP’s memory again as she asked for paper.

”On it.” Ranger could have had Steven fetch the paper, but this gave him a moment to check on Dammit.

The ursine goof of a guard dog—who was a very good girl—was sleeping where Ranger had left her. The improvised cone of shame was still affixed and the stitches were unmolested. Ranger gave her a few soft pats before he retrieved a spiral notebook and a pen and returned to the guest room.

Here y’ are.” Ranger handed over the notebook and pen before he quietly said to Noel where JP wouldn’t hear ”Dammit’s doin’ fine. I’mma send her t’ a vet when more people get in. Jus’ t’ make sure.”

Noel cringed at the update. Dammit being fine wasn’t the problem. The vet might not be a problem either, so long as they didn’t insist on a police report. ”I’d feel best if she got a real doctor. No offense but neither of us stitch too straight.” Their skill sets were not quite a circle, but the middle of their venn diagram was far too fat. Noel made a mental note to change that. Or, to see if their boss cared for her to change that.

She resumed her seat on the floor, bone tired and entirely over all of it already. JP tried to talk to her, but he was easy to tune out when there were memories to be had. She wrote herself a note, just in case, and set herself to her task.

As soon as she saw the man behind the desk, Noel understood why JP was so smug. He looked like the footage they had of the Noel from the otherverse: Nolan. Boy Noel. In fact, Noel wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t Nolan since she only had seen him CCTV. But JP called him Daniel.

She listened… well, she tried to listen, but she wasn’t really interested in what they were saying. She was more interested in the office she was in, the desk, the photos. She didn’t recognize a single person in any of the photographs, but there was a whole family accounted for. Mother, father, grandparents, sons and daughters. Wedding photos. Baby photos. There wasn’t anything definitive to be gleaned, but the girl who most looked like her, wasn’t Noel. They were similar, some might say they could be sisters.

A weird unease settled on Noel’s shoulders.

The only details were the ones that had remained in JP’s head so none of the papers were filled in. The computer screen was blank.

Noel reviewed all of Daniel and JP’s interactions on fast forward mode. Nothing too insane. They hadn’t murdered anyone together or done drugs for funzies. She would go somewhere else to review it carefully, but she just tried to keep an eye out for anything that stood out. Then she did the same, trying to find the people in the photos in JP’s memory.

…

It took time to be thorough. She stopped to write things down periodically. Sometimes JP did something that would draw her out of his memory and she’d have to re-focus. By the end of it all, she had a short list of names and approximate relationships and ages. She could share the faces with Michael by touch, but she was at the point of weariness where the bare floor was looking as good as a bed.

Noel was right, neither of them were surgeons by any stretch. While Ranger could stabilize someone in the field and keep them alive until they returned to base… That was purely an effort in buying time. Keep a man alive long enough to get them to a real doctor that could cut someone back to life. Clamp, tourniquet, apply pressure, fish out a bullet, or set a saline lock. That was most of Ranger’s experience.

Dogs? Ranger had no experience keeping them alive. He didn’t even know if he should use saline, ringer lactate, or some other formulation. What drugs were safe to give one? It was a highly uncomfortable level of unknown.

”None taken. I staple like most people shoot. On target but terrible groupin’.” It wasn’t an exaggeration. The staples were all in place, but it wasn’t the cleanest job. Ranger wasn’t even sure if he used enough. It was his best guess and his best effort. ”I’ll make sure she gets the best treatment. An’ hell, maybe Jude can help. Heal her up after a real surgeon makes sure she’s out uh the woods.”

Ranger pulled out his phone and sent a text to Jude.

Dammit was on the wrong end of a knife. Nicked an artery. Can you heal dogs?

It might be a while before Jude saw the text. As long as Dammit seemed okay that was fine. Jude might could help when he came in. If Dammit took a turn for the worst he might have to exfil Jude. Jude likely wouldn’t be happy, but he could deal.

Ranger returned his phone to his pocket and watched as Noel went back to work. She would find their next move while Ranger held down the fort and made sure Dammit was fine.

While she worked, Ranger was in and out of the room. He worked with Steven to see if their network had been breached. Steven wasn’t a network or DevOps engineer but he knew more than Ranger. Ranger also checked on Dammit and had arranged for her ride to an emergency vet who could keep their mouth shut.

Eventually Ranger returned to the room and could see that Noel was exhausted. Ranger knew from first hand experience how demanding her power was. He held out his hand to help her up. ”I’ve made arrangements f’r dammit. She’ll be fine. Y’ look like y’ could use a lie down.” Ranger could see that she had notes and she could likely show Ranger the relevant pieces of what she picked up from JP, but that could wait until she didn’t look like she was about to just use the floor as a bed. Coffee was off the menu as a pick me up so a brief rest would have to suffice.

Noel cursed when she was half-way up the stairs to their apartment. ”I shoulda looked at what he was trying to get at. I’m sorry that was stupidly selfish. I’ll go back. BlacTac is-”

”BlacTac is not going anywhere overnight. Go sleep. We’re circling the wagons and the bad guy’ll still be here in the morning, promise.” Demore was making his way in from the side entrance and damn if Noel wasn’t happy to see him. There was something really solid about Demore. Maybe it was knowing that if there were more invisible guys out there, Demore would know.

”If Demore is the vet you called for Dammit, we are about to have words.” She shot the Ranger an accusatory look, but ultimately let herself be cosseted. Doing anything more was more than she could handle at the moment.

She managed to kick off her shoes. She should have written notes. Instead Noel went face first into the pillows and only squirmed enough to get one leg under the covers before falling asleep.

Some time while Noel rested, Jude arrived looking odder than usual. Even in the morning light his greenish skin, sunglasses, and a writhing mass of snakes for hair made it clear that he’d been power shopping.

Ranger retrieved Noel’s notes and walked her to the stairs. As they were ascending them, Token made his way in to work. His arrival cut off Noel and let her know that they would have it covered. Ranger nodded at Token, grateful for the assist. WHen he looked back to Noel, she was giving him a look and making sure Token wasn’t the vet.

Shaking his head with a small smile, Ranger said, ”No. Would’ve been helpful f’r him t’ be here earlier, but she’s goin’ t’ a real vet. An’ not some ’D f’r diploma’ from a glorified junior college.” Ranger didn’t feel the odds were too good at finding an Aggie up here, them being the best vets in the country, but other schools likely produced vets who could at least identify what a dog looked like.

After waving her on, Ranger followed Noel up to the apartment. Once she was settled—and instantly asleep—Ranger changed his pants. While he had taken the time to change shirts because the old one was all but dyed with blood, he hadn’t taken the time to change pants which had only seen a small splattering.

After properly settling the covers over Noel and softly kissing her head, Ranger made his way downstairs.

Over the course of the rest of the night Ranger worked with Steven to see what data was compromised if any, checking on Dammit, comforting Reveille, and getting gear in order. Ranger didn’t expect to need to roll out an M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, but he had one ready to go by the time Jude showed up.

After Steven let Ranger know that Jude had arrived, Ranger went to meet him. However, before he could say anything he had to stop and look questioningly at Jude’s medusa costume. Sans boobs, and being a mersnake. ”Did… y’ get my text?” Ranger asked, confused by the very physical looking mutation Jude was sporting. Hopefully the mutation healed as well as made him a snakey-boi.