Blackforest Tactical had been the contracted security for Haven for years. An arrangement that had been reached between Ranger and Tempest as a way to create a legitimate reason for Haven to have Ranger around. The real reason was Ranger joining Haven as a clandestine enforcer. Someone skilled in black operations to handle sensitive operations.

According to official government documents, Ranger was working for the Strategic Unit for Preternatural Experimentation and Research. SUPER. He was tasked with infiltrating Haven and passing along details on the activities of the members, especially Devon Hadden, aka Tempest. Not just him, though all higher ups which would include Svetlana Sergeyeva, aka Muse.

All of this had been news to Ranger when his past had been retold to him after he had awoken in a lab, seemingly having lost a decade. They were the actions of a man Ranger was but wasn’t. Who he had been before he had lost all those years.

Turns out, it was a lie.

Ranger sat in a waiting room in Haven. He was wearing what to him said ‘professional.’ Slacks in olive drab and a black polo. For once his boots had laces. Ranger would be digging himself out of a rather deep hole so he opted for what he would have worn to guard a principal in theater.

For the last several years there had been an uneasy arrangement between BlacTac and Haven. Jude managed all affairs from the BlacTac end and Ranger didn’t get involved. This led to an incredibly surprised employee at the front when Ranger showed up asking to see Sveta. After a little coaxing, Ranger had convinced them to let him stay until either they closed the offices for the day or Sveta saw him.

The employee fired a message off to Sveta and led Ranger to a room to wait.

Sveta could scarcely believe it when she was told Ranger wanted to see her. Out of all the people... Not that working with Jude had been a delight (working with exes, ugh), but still, BlacTac was still on dangerous footing since the whole SUPER-infiltration fiasco. And this visit, coming in the wake of another infiltration. Haven security had left things wanting.

It was the end of a long day, and Sveta marched into the room like she meant business.

"You have five minutes."

It was approaching the end of the day when Sveta finally appeared. Ranger knew this was going to be an uphill sell, but he did have evidence with him. He just hoped it would be enough to sway Sveta.

The evidence that drove the professional wedge between Sveta and Ranger—before Ranger even met her in his subjective timeline—was substantial. It was a mix of physical documentation and classified files stored on a small laptop Ranger had with him.

Ranger stood up when Sveta entered and didn’t waste any of his five minutes, ”We’ve both been fed a lie. Gaslit by the former faction inside SUPER that was similar o’ that other universe’s.” Ranger handed Sveta a folder with ‘[CLASSIFIED]’ stamped on the outside. ”I’ve compiled a dossier on myself. There’s the official story we’ve both seen. All associated TS/SCI documentation is on this laptop. However, there’s another story there in what the documents say an’ what they don’t.”

Ranger took a breath and dove into the actual meat of the speech. ”The official story was a fabrication. I didn’ work f’r SUPER prior t’ bein’ de-aged. I was abducted with plans t’ bring me int’ SUPER as an agent f’r that more extreme faction. The plan was foiled by my escape an’ bein’ located first by Sabine. She didn’ know about it as the official documents’d been edited an’ I was marked as undercover so she wouldn’ve met me… Long story short, I was not a spy. An’ I brought the proof. If y’ll take a look.”

Sveta blinked, looking at the folder in her hands and shook her head. So many questions. Ranger really was right down to business.

"Alright hold up." She held up one gloved hand. "You have... investigated yourself?"

Alright, rhetorical question, he obviously did.

"You were never with SUPER?..." Sveta sighed, sitting on the edge of the desk to give the folder a look. "The... rogue faction just picked you up after you de-aged to make you believe that..." She scoffed. "Damn that's convoluted. How did you even find out?"

Having laid out everything quickly, Ranger eased back. Hopefully that was enough to buy more than five minutes. It seemed like he had as Sveta was now asking questions. Questions that gave a hint of her maybe having a willingness to trust, if the information was good.

Ranger nodded to Sveta, ”Yes an’ no. I was not with SUPER but they didn’ pick me up after I was de-aged. They caused it.” Ranger set the computer on the desk and opened it. The screen came on and a box and the top turned from green to red and said ‘Classsified’. Ranger opened a document and turned the screen to face Sveta. ”The rogue faction was workin’ with some of the black site creators of the de-agin’ serum. I was one of a few that were chosen t’ be abducted, de-aged, an’ then pressed int’ service under the guise of havi’ already worked f’r them."

Ranger gave Sveta time to look that over before changing the to another document. A transcript of an audio file that was attached. ”Turns out i’d had Noel wipe key memories from my time in the service. Things that I couldn’ let her know. Things we couldn’t have a physical relationship as long as she could learn them. I did leave a way for me t’ recover the information if I ever needed it. An’ I did. My personal files I had stashed didn’t match some of what was on the official record. So I dug deeper. The closer I looked at my ‘history’ the more it failed t’ pass the sniff test. So I dug deeper, probably put myself on some kind of internal Five Eyes watchlist… An’ likely got Pippa worried I was gunna do something very me and make her job a whole lot harder… Eventually I found this, a smokin’ gun. Buried in a computer seized when SUPER raided the abandoned mall to stop those responsible for the de-agin’.”

Ranger hit play on the file and there were a pair of people talking. The conversation was brief but it clearly discussed using the serum on ‘key principals’ and then handing them off to agents for transport and ‘reeducation’.

Sveta was working hard on wrapping her head around what she was hearing. The video spoke for itself. The de-aging had been a fiasco to begin with... but this was even more sinister. Sveta swore in Russian under her breath. "De-aging people and giving them a false history... beats the recruitment spiel for sure." She had done that version, back in the AU. As a SUPER asset, kidnapped from the street. Sveta sighed, taking a seat and rubbing her temples. "How many others?"

It was clear Ranger was making headway. Sveta swore in Russian and Ranger muttered an agreement in Russian. Then Sveta wanted to know how many other there were.

”Unknown. I’d assume myself and by extension Noel, but I cain’t prove that. I can find references t’ others an’ can find other files altered around the same time in JWICS, but…” Ranger paused for a moment making sure he felt his next statement was correct, ”I cain’t prove any other instance is like mine. I could guess, tens of people. Maybe. It’s a bit like huntin’ f’r a needle in a needle stack. If the needle stack was inside a bank an’ they only let y’ pick up and check one needle in the light at a time.”

Sveta sighed. It really was a seemingly impossible task. And not many people that could help untangle it. She looked up at Ranger. Sveta had had her fair share of crazy and trauma-inducing experiences. It seemed like there was a lot more to go around. Losing a decade, getting a fake past/future... "Can it be undone?" she ventured. "The de-aging, I mean..."

Sveta asked if it could be undone. Ranger shook his head, ”I don’ think so. There were hundreds if not thousands of people that were de-aged. Most’ve returned t’ normal. Some, like me, have not. Best I could find is that there were two different formulations. A temporary an’ a permanent. Looks like I got the permanent one… I think there’s still some research on reversin’ it but at a decade on, I’m not sure anyone wants it.”

Ranger looked to the side an after a moment smiled and continued, ”I got ten years back but kept the product of the labor of those ten years with BlacTac. That’s ten years… that if I regain… I’ll lose that time with my daughter. She’ll be four soon.” Ranger took a breath. ”No, I don’t want the time back. I have t’ imagine many others’re in that boat. I want t’ straighten everthin’ else out an’ use this curse that’s kind of a gift in disguise.”

Sveta sighed again. It made sense, what he was saying. And it was a theoretical question, more likely than not. Still, those decisions defined the rest of someone's life.

"So... you came to me to let us know you were not a spy for SUPER." she summarized. "I appreciate that, but... there has to be something more that we can do for you? Have you talked to Jude?"

Because she sure as hell was not going to. Just talking about de-aging and re-aging brought up a whole lot of unpleasant memories.

Ranger shrugged, ”It’s alright. There idn’t much that could be done an’ I’m okay with that. Jus’ tryin’ t’ clear my own name an’ mend fences.” Even if Ranger had lost the knowledge of even building the fence with the de-aging. ”I haven’t spoken t’ Jude about this. He’d likely have told me t’ not approach y’ with it. Let him bring it t’ y’. What with me being essentially cut off from managin’ the security here, him handlin’ the whole thing. Which… I know must be awkward given that I hear yall have a history. No, I thought I’d present this t’ you myself first. Then let Jude know the fallout. He’s used t’ leanin’ up from my flights o’ fancy.”

”There may not be much y’ can do f’r me, but I think I can help you. I heard through the grapevine there was a serious security breach here. My people let somethin’ bad happen, maybe I can help make it right. If I read the documentation correctly, Tempest did hire older me t’ handle black ops for yall.”

"Yeah well, you get to handle this with Jude" Sveta smirked. Her history with Jude was not exactly common knowledge, but she was not surprised Ranger knew about it. He seemed to know a lot, even when his mind was wiped. And she was not going to stand between him and Jude while they sorted their stuff out.

She did frown at the mention of the security breach.

"Your people didn't let something bad happen, I was a f*** idiot is what happened." she grumbled. Owning up to mistakes. "But... yeah, seems like we need help setting it right. I already tried, with Cold Steel, but the f**er got away."

”I’ll handle Jude.” Ranger laughed. ”One of the few conversations where he doesn’ leave the room with his heads in his hands. Let him know y’r willin’ t’ work with me again.” Jude would likely be ecstatic. He had been solely responsible for Bravo team at BlacTac for years. Now Ranger could help. That, or he would still try to keep Ranger away. Last time Ranger had spoken to the man he had been talking about buying a civilian legal tank-like vehicle ‘just in case.’

Sveta stated that Ranger’s people were not the ones who let something happen. She needed help setting it right.

”Oh, wow. Cold Steel took a crack at this guy?” That changed the mental algebra. The threat for this guy went up a few notches. ”Alright. Tell me what y’ know about the guy. I hear he was a detective with NYPD, potentially a mystic. Also heard y’ worked with the guy.” Ranger was thankful he could tell Sveta that he had not actually been betraying her trust.

>>”Oh, wow. Cold Steel took a crack at this guy?”

"Yeah. With me boosting his powers" Sveta frowned. It was still hard to believe. Sam was one of the most powerful mutants in the city. Probably in the world.

>>”Alright. Tell me what y’ know about the guy. I hear he was a detective with NYPD, potentially a mystic. Also heard y’ worked with the guy.”

"Detective Samuel F*** Travis." Sveta frowned. "I compiled what I know, or thought I knew of him. Sam has the file too, and Mirror... the f**er went after Mirror's kid. The little one. Locked her powers down somehow, from what we can tell, maybe with an actual key. Definitely a mystic. Shapeshifting I knew about... power control, that was new. Although in retrospect, he had bullets that were making powers wonky... must have been an experimental stage. And whatever he did to Sam, made his powers go on the fritz like... like me kissing someone." Her frown deepened. "I think he has a sample of my blood, too."

Ranger blinked. Twice. Cold Steel with boosted powers had not been enough. For a brief moment Ranger was worried, but a career in special operations had taught him to slow down to work the problem. He just needed intel.

Intel which Sveta supplied.

”Okay. I’ll take a copy of all that you compiled. Come up with a plan of attack, but I’m guessin’ since y’all’re not busy makin’ a city block a crater right now, y’all don’t know where he’s at.” Ranger took out his phone and started typing notes, “Shapeshifting, some kind of power control, putting powers on the fritz. Potentially has y’r blood. Bullets, keys… This guy sounds like the worst enemy f’r Sam. He’s got one hell of a power an’ relies on it.” Ranger typed a few more notes, ”I don’ need my power t’ be a force of nature. I have men and materiel.”

”I’m assumin’ y’ want him alive? At least until he reverses what he did t’ Iris.”