The Perk, Sunday Morning

[wannabehunter]

After sleeping through most of Saturday, and awaking to a very odd radio broadcast, Jo decided the best thing would be coffee, and lots of it, so she made her way down to the Perk, where she ordered the strongest black coffee she could.

Listening to the podcast again, she wondered just how hard she hit her head on Thursday.

[ze post, she is open

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[a_phale]

Bond had been up since before dawn, puzzling over the odd bits of information he'd gathered. In truth, he didn't have much, and when he'd finally called London and demanded to speak to M, he'd been told that she was here, in Fandom. That had led to a bit of breaking and entering, followed by a long lecture and very in the way of explanation.

M had warned him to keep his hands off her students, which Bond would have taken exception to if it hadn't been for his little tete-a-tete with Lana the night before. "How do I know which are your students?" he'd asked. "Exactly," had been her answer.

One thing the handwavey meeting with M had accomplished, though, was that Bond's mind was very much more focused on the job he'd come to do. A job that was making very little sense at the moment, but which he hoped Nadia could clear up for him

[a_phale]

That sounded like a possibility. Bond nodded. "So he's either very clever, and keeping everyone confused by the constant name changes, or he's so bad at his job that he can't keep his own alias straight. This is the first I've heard of him, but I'll definitely keep that one in mind. Anything else?"

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia thought about this. "My roommate. I haven't seen him for more than a day, now. I'm worried that he might have gotten caught up in all this craziness."

[a_phale]

"What's his name, and I'll try to keep an eye out for him." Bond typed himself a text message to save, with some of the information Nadia had already given him. "Have you contacted the authorities about it, or is the type who's known to go missing, and then show up a few days later?"

Because if that were the case, it wouldn't be worth bothering the local police about.

[nadiathesaint]

"Jamie Madrox. He's usually in, like, six different places at once. I don't know if it's been long enough to contact the troopers, but I would like to know where he is."

[a_phale]

"Active sort, huh?" Bond said, making another note. "I'll try and ask around a bit, and keep my eyes open."

He studied Nadia for a minute. "Exactly what sort of 'craziness' are you investigating? Other than the sort of vague idea that people are acting oddly. Oddly how?"

[nadiathesaint]

"My boyfriend has turned into a glam rock star from the 70s, my best friend is now apparently a ditzy, over emotional fashion model from Brazil, half the people I've talked to have no idea who they're supposed to be, and I want to know why."

[a_phale]

All right. That was definitely one of the stranger situations Bond had experienced.

"Some sort of mass brainwashing?" he suggested, completely oblivious to the idea that Nadia might be including him in that group. After all, he knew who he was supposed to be.

[nadiathesaint]

"Maybe. But I was with Walter and Pippi when they turned into Brian and Sandy. Why wasn't I affected?"

[a_phale]

"Possibly the work was done previously, and something just happened when they were with you to trigger it. Do you know, have any of the people affected had any strange experiences, spent time around someone new to town, received any unexpected packages...?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Unexpected packages" made her shiver, slightly. "There have been some attacks in town. Someone who's . . . very good at changing their appearance. They started in California, but seem to have moved here. I don't know if any of the people who have been attacked so far have been affected by it, though."

[a_phale]

"Attacks? Physical assaults, you mean?"

There was obviously a lot more to this little town than appeared on surface. Bond wondered if the person behind these attacks was his mark. It was definitely a possibility.

"I'll see if my people have anything they could share on that front," he offered. "Suspicious activities are one thing, but if you've got someone violent on the loose, that needs to be dealt with as fast as possible."

[nadiathesaint]

"Yes, physical assault, kidnapping, psychological torture." Nadia was deadly serious on this front. "The individual is extraordinarily dangerous, not the least which because we don't know yet who he is. He's masqueraded as more than one of the students here, though. I've been trying to track down his identity since I found a friend of mine on the edge of the preserve, unconscious with her jaw broken."

[a_phale]

Bond's demeanor became just as serious. This had to be his mark.

"No one knows what this person really looks like, then? Any distinguishing characteristics? Height, voice, something particular that might have been said to each victim. Things of that sort."

[nadiathesaint]

"Two of the victims don't remember anything about the attacks. The girl who was kidnapped could swear up and down that it was her boyfriend who did it, though her boyfriend was elsewhere at the time. The attacker even showed up to me, masquerading as my boyfriend. Who was live on the radio at the same time, so it was pretty easy to tell he wasn't who he looked like. The only thing I'm sure of is that he's male, average height. And likes to use fire."

[a_phale]

"A firebug?" Bond didn't like that at all. Not to brush off the attacks as unimportant, but someone like that could escalate to crimes on a grander scale. And wind up injuring a whole group of people all at once.

"Average height for a teen, or for an adult?" he asked. "That could make a big difference. And could also give us a little bit better understand of who we're looking for."