"Yes. Alive so I can strangle him myself" Sveta nodded. She was serious about it too. She didn't normally engage in torture, but she had very personal reasons to hurt the detective before he was taken to justice, whatever that looked like. "I mean, as long as Mirror manages to maintain their goodie two shoes thing and doesn't do it themselves. Hurting a toddler." Sveta clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "F*** monster."

She moved to her desk to unlock it and get a copy of the file she had compiled. She had several to go around, she handed it to Ranger, smirking at his force of nature comment. "Is it too much to say I missed you? Sucked to be the only black ops person around here. And it kinda clashes with also being in charge."

”Alive it is.” Ranger nodded. Alive always complicated things, you couldn’t just give the person a new hole in their skull or drop a missile into their bedroom. It was what most missions were though and Ranger would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the challenge. ”Whatever happens t’ him after I get him will be too good. F*** monster is right.”

Sveeta handed Ranger a file, Ranger quickly flipped through it and smiled. Seems older him had a reputation. ”Glad t’ be back. It’s a shame I cain’t remember anythin’ about the time before. I’ve read about a few of my exploits, but it’s not quite the same. That said, I didn’t know you were dark side too. Well, I didn’t now know, maybe then knew. ”

"Yeah... not many people know. Steel's one of them. I've been doing this longer than I've been at Haven" she admitted. "Self taught, though." No special training. Well, not unless you counted Sam himself, and SUPER. And now she was on the Inner Echelon. Which was a bit of a problem, with her going around as a vigilante. Sveta sighed, taking a seat. "It was dumb of me to trust Travis. It was sort of... a tit for tat information thing. He was looking for mutant criminals, because MRC... we had a deal so I could keep the Haven safe houses out of it."

Ranger’s eyebrows went up, ”Self taught, an’ y’r still alive. Impressive.”

Taking a seat, Ranger laid the file out on the desk. He continued to flip through it as he spoke to Sveta. ”You were attemptin’ t’ use an asset. He had a badge that gave him more credibility than it should. Problem is, y’ didn’t understand his motivations. An’ the attack on the mansion gave him the opportunity t’ act… The way it went down… It reads like he hadn’t fully planned it. Like he found the situation an’ seized it… Maybe this pushed up his time table. Makin’ him less prepared f’r what came next.”

Ranger pondered that. If he rushed the attack, then was quickly driven underground by Sveta and Cold Steel, then the man was less prepared than he had planned. There might be oversights the man made in his haste to go to ground. 

"I survived being a mail order bride, the rest is just bonus" Sveta snorted, looking over the file as he assessed it. What he was saying sounded right. Travis had not planned this correctly. "So what, he happened on a toddler and thought, what a nice day to attack this one?" she snorted. "I mean... we found him pretty easy the first time. But now he is gone. He wasn't expecting us coming for him like that, I guess."

”I’ve read horror stories about some of the women who’re mail order brides. So y’ self taught y’rself real fast?”

”If I was him…” Ranger thought for a moment. Trying to get into the asshole’s head. ”He was plannin’ on makin’ an attack. Thee mansion attack happened an’ he saw opportunity. Came here, usin’ the relationship with y’ as a way in. A way to move around mutants with less of a watchful eye. Everyone who could watch him would be busy. Then he encountered the kid. One so young their story might not be believed. Then he left. Went about normal life, prepared in his off hours. Not expectin’ t’ get cornered so fast… Or so aggressively. I’d wager he was expectin’ you t’ show up. Someone with whom he could talk his way out, ‘r thought he could.”

Ranger flipped to a page describing known elements of the mystic’s abilities. ”An’ now he’ll be usin’ this. Key t’ shapeshift. So need t’ find him without seein’ him, he could be anyone. Need t’ look f’r behaviors in people near the mansion… I’m assumin’ that’s where Iris is. ”

Everything Ranger said made sense. Sveta felt a sense of relief, having someone to talk this over with. Sam had been all about the offense, and he was emotionally involved in this whole thing, being an uncle to the kid. Ranger was more logical. Her eyes widened at that last comment, though.

"You think he'll go after Iris again?"

Ranger bobbed his head slightly side to side. ”It’s a gut feelin’. The attack was haphazard enough f’r it t’ feel rushed an’ experimental. My money is on Iris was a first test case. Might want t’ know how it worked out, use it on more people. The mansion has a pretty sizeable mutant population. An’ it doesn’ have you there lookin’ f’r this guy.”

Ranger flipped through the files some more ”I cain’t say this f’r certain. Somewhere t’ start the search though.”

"Sh*t." Sveta muttered, adding some curse words in Russian. So not only was the guy not caught yet, but if Ranger's gut feeling was right, then the threat to Iris was not over either. She ran a gloved hand through her hair. "Alright, I'll let Mirror and Rebecca know. They can up Mansion security... And we need to figure out how we are going to catch that ***hole. Especially with the shapeshifting."

Ranger nodded. If he was wrong there was no harm in Mirror and Rebecca knowing and tightening security. If Ranger was right, it might just save everyone a lot more pain.

”We’ll likely have t’ watch an’ wait. Eventually everyone slips up. I’ll put some boots on the ground an’ call in some favors at One Police Plaza. See if we can’t get someone lookin’ f’r this guy on the CCTV network. I’ll have someone pull some of y’r security footage t’ send over.”

”As f’r catchin’ him. When we find him, I’ll confront him. Seems like the worst threat he has is workin’ against powers. I can easily plan around not havin’ them. An’ I can bring a few friends. Breach charges, M84 stun grenades, some well placed lead poisonin’ in the knee caps.”

Sveta smirked at him. "Now you are speaking my language." Tactically applied violence. And making that ***hole hurt. She tilted her head. "Even if you don't need your powers, though... he can make them go haywire, like he did with Sam. And it also caused some sort of a seizure... not sure if that was a side effect of the haywire or not. And now I am more cautious about getting anywhere near him myself. My powers don't do much on their own but still..."

”An’ what a good one it is.” Ranger said in fluent Russian.

”That’s why the plan is t’ have some backup. I go in first, alone. If somethin’ happens t’ me I have a few men who were on standby snatch him up. My power is likely far less a threat to those nearby when haywire. It’s a bit more self contained t’ me. Might level the buildin’ I’m in if coupled with a seizure, but Sam’ll be in that same buildin’.” There was no perfect plan available. Sam was a mystic with far too many unknowns to his capabilities. Ranger’s best course was surprise and numbers. ” I kee him focused on me an’ if I fail have other’s catch him before he’s able t’ recover.”

Sveta sighed and nodded. As good a plan as any, as long as the mystic did not pull any more nasty tricks out of his hat. Or other mystics. These f***s never went alone, it seemed.

"I wish we could do this outside the Mansion" she muttered. It had just been rebuilt, but the scars were still there. Those kids didn't need any more trauma in their life. They already qualified well enough to be vigilantes. "Do you think... he works with others? Didn't seem like the cult type, but now I don't trust anyone anymore."

Ranger nodded. He understood, if they could engage Sam in a fight outside the mansion they could bring the might of the X-Men to bear. Along with whatever security measures they cooked up for the place. ”That would be ideal, but I doubt he’ll openly make that move. I think he’s an opportunist, if the situation presents itself he’ll approach. Otherwise it’ll be when he feels most ready.”

”I couldn’t say. If I had t’ guess. He might? But, I think he works alone an’ finds way t’ get others t’ help. Like how he got y’r confidence so he could roam the halls of Haven. I wouldn’t plan on him workin’ alone. “ Ranger didn’t comment that Sveta could trust him. They had one conversation clearing the air and then a history with a Ranger that Ranger no longer was.

"He's a damn spineless sneaky bastard is what you mean" Sveta sighed. She preferred to face someone head on if it was going to be a fight at all. "Alright... Let's coordinate on this. And let me know how your talk went with Jude... good luck."