… then it would be matter over mind. The only thing I can't figure out is how to get matter to triumph mind; I've considered the possibility of two conflicting intents that nullify each other, or a stronger intent to 'cease' the mystic-whatever, but that still follows the same mind over matter script.

-That is a promising theory. I will certainly have my people look into it. Have you already tested it?

-Not yet, it's difficult coming up with something that can deliberately disrupt thought. The closest thing I can get think of is like when annoying music is played too loudly. That's a form of broadcast mindlessness, right? Or white noise? Something a machine could generate? I never thought I would have to ask dummies how they operate.

That was it.

The application was still astoundingly complex, but the answer itself was that simple.

With seemingly unlimited magical powers, it was no wonder that there was so little Yokai engineering. But with this theory, the engineering that did exist made so much more sense. Bishop turned to the anti-mystic device sitting on the counter, quiet and unblinking, ready for action.

Machines don't think.

They were looking at the wrong issue with Jericho. It wasn't the strength of the signal, it was the content of the broadcast. They seemed to have the right frequency, judging from the massive attempt to secure all of HQ and Cocytus from mystic energy, but now they could really up its effectiveness. It would be so simple to test, as well. Endless code streaming from the inner workings of Jericho and they should be able to judge strength, range, sustainability…

Oh yes, this little mission of tracking down Othello von Ryan had been quite worth it.

Bishop pushed away from the Cherubim, standing so quickly he knocked the chair over. He needed to pull Chaplin from Bronze and focus on Jericho completely to test this breakthrough. If successful, they needed to get Maria off the ground now. His proposal to Washington was already half-drafted; he would complete it tonight.

And perhaps this elusive, yet so informative, Othello von Ryan could consult, if not head, its revival. For a scientist already familiar with mystic energy, and likely the sources of those mystic objects, surely he would understand Bishop's motives with these projects. The Cherubim still had not been able to find Von Ryan's real name, though it did locate a few library cards and other accounts using the alias. He was getting impatient. Blocked on all cyber fronts, he had to wait for Agent O'Neil to get back to him. He didn't like waiting on people.

Perhaps he wouldn't have to…

Robyn was pensive. Bishop could tell that from a distance. Her distraction led her to miss a step in arming the electric stun gun she was demonstrating to the recruits. Instead of firing a couple volts of energy at the dummy target, the gun just clicked. She fumbled with it for a moment, retracing her steps, before finally redialing the voltage setting after pressing her thumb to the biometric scanner, which she had skipped. Blue energy crackled around the weapon's muzzle. She pointed and fired two rounds at the dummy, hitting it in the torso and upper chest. Sloppy; she normally hit the same spot twice.

The air smelled of ozone and static as she disarmed the gun and put it away. Augustus tapped her shoulder and stepped in to handle questions. He must have noticed that she was off her game, as well. Bishop thought a couple days off would have done them good, and while Augustus appeared the same as ever his wife was troubled.

Bishop was pleased; if it was related to trouble with her daughter, as he suspected, then this would work to his advantage.

He stepped forward from the back of the training room where he had been hovering. "O'Neil," he spoke, his voice cutting through the recruits' questions like a knife. When husband and wife both turned to him, he indicated Robyn. "A word, please."

They exchanged looks – one of cringe, one of encouragement – and Robyn made her way over to him. He could practically see her mentally berating herself. A smile barely touched his lips. Let her think he was going to chew her out for the slip with the stun gun. It would make the real conversation seem a relief.

"Agent Bishop," she greeted stiffly.

He jerked his head to the door. "Let's take a walk."

Her face reflected surprise and a hint of dread. He turned and left the training room, expecting her to follow.

"What's on your mind?" she recovered professionally once they were outside in the hall. Bishop kept walking, and Robyn was forced to lengthen her strides to keep up with him.

"Is everything alright?"

She faltered a moment in her steps, thrown off balance by the question. "Um, yes, sir. I'm fine."

"Really? You seemed bothered by something during the demonstration. I've not known you to ever mishandle a weapon."

She straightened, the defensive posture returning. "It won't happen again, sir."

"Relax, Robyn." He watched her blink, not yet fully registering that he had used her first name. It was meant to both relax her and keep her unbalanced. "I am not grading you."

It took her another moment to process the joke. When she did, she laughed suddenly, and then cut it short as if she shouldn't have. "Thank you, sir." Then, haltingly, "I have been a little distracted."

"Is it something I can help with?"

She shook her head, shoulders a little more relaxed since the conversation was kept lighter than she had anticipated. Perfect. "No. Well, yes. No, no! It's just April."

Bingo.

"Is everything okay?" he worded carefully. "I understand you dislike being apart from her."

"Well yes, but I'm not like, a helicopter parent or anything." She crossed her arms. "We're… she's keeping secrets. I know it, she knows it, Augie knows it, but I don't know why. She can tell me anything, I thought she knew that! I'm at a loss."

He nodded sympathetically. "Do you fear she's getting embroiled in trouble?"

"That's the thing, I don't think so. And I can't figure out what she's being evasive about, either. It's like…" she broke off with a frustrated sigh, then snapped her fingers. "You asked me about an Othello von Ryan, remember?"

"Yes," he replied neutrally.

"Well, I asked April if she knew him and she said 'no', but…" the troubled look returned to Robyn's face. "But she was lying, or at least, I thought she was. All her tells were there, but when I looked up the school's roster she was right, I couldn't find any Von Ryan's enrolled there." She looked questioningly at him.

"He may have transferred," Bishop answered smoothly. "It has been a while since I've been in contact with the family."

Robyn still looked guilty, so he innocently pushed the subject. "Don't you trust your daughter?"

"Of course!" she insisted, but her nervous eyes betrayed her. "I just… don't know how to reach her."

He could work with that. "I've been reviewing those stationary projects I've mentioned, and it appears we will be able to launch them ahead of schedule." She perked up, predictably. "We should take a lunch or a dinner sometime to discuss our options: what you want exactly for connecting with your family, and what would fit best with the new openings. Of course, Augustus and April are invited, so that everyone may be on the same page moving forward."

Robyn's eyes widened comically. "Of, of course! Yes, sir! I mean, when would you like?"

"The sooner the better, wouldn't you agree?"

She did, quite eagerly, practically tripping over her words. He regarded her, amused, as she talked herself into promising a home-cooked dinner that very night.

Of course he accepted. It would have been rude to decline.

"Girl, I can't believe you've never played Castle of Cats!" April exclaimed.

"I haven't played any video game, it's not like we have a TV at home," Sunita said. She hugged her books to chest in excitement as they walked. "What's it even about?"

"Oh, you are in for a treat," she gushed. "You start in the capital castle of Kitty Kingdom, after you design your cat-avatar, which-" she animatedly described the details of the video game as they climbed the steps to her apartment. Sunita stayed glued to her with attention, excitement building.

"Wait, so how do you carry tools and weapons as a cat? I thought they needed to walk on all fours."

"It's a cat-avatar, so you walk upright, like humans, but you're in cat form so you have a mixture of both traits." April unlocked her door and threw it open. "Like, you still hock up hairballs, but at least you can clean up after yourself and it's actually a societal norm."

She turned to take in the apartment as she spoke and froze.

Her mother, father, and a man in a suit all looked at her from the kitchen. Both her parents were more dressed up than usual, and the nice dinnerware was set out on the dining room table. April stayed frozen as the door swung shut behind her. No one seemed to know how to handle her bizarre entrance.

Sunita poked her head around her and looked at the stranger. "Ooh, is this your uncle?"

Augie barked out a laugh and the weird tension dissolved. "I take it back, some people are colorblind."

"April, this is our boss, John Bishop," Robyn explained.

"A pleasure to meet you and… your friend," Bishop spoke. He sounded like a cheap, monotone Batman. Something about his tone made April shiver. She grabbed Sunita's hand and squeezed.

"Yes, I'm sorry. This is Sunita."

"It is very nice to meet you!" she chirped confidently.

"Indeed." He pushed his tinted glasses further up his nose. "That is a lovely brooch you have on."

"Thanks!" Sunita beamed. "My grandmother gave it to me."

"Did she now?"

April interrupted with a forced chuckle. "Well, we, ah, were just going to play some Castle of Cats; I'm sure you all have very important things to discuss, so-"

"April," her father said in that tone of voice warning her not to be rude.

"I sent you a text, sweetie, did you get it?" her mother asked.

She blinked and fumbled for her phone. "Um…"

"It's okay," Sunita tapped her arm. "We can play video games another day. Pops mentioned he might need an extra hand tonight, anyway."

April gave her an apologetic smile. "Thanks. See you tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Sunita hugged her.

As her parents bid Sunita good-bye and they broke the hug she noticed Bishop slip his phone back into his pocket. She narrowed her eyes and pushed her glasses further up on her face.

It was dinnertime.

Hun waited outside of the apartment in a black car, as was his usual position. He saw the two teenage girls enter, presumably April O'Neil and a friend. Just a few minutes later, Bishop texted him two words.

Follow her.

He started the car and waited, and before long the friend reappeared. She wore a pink jumper, which was bright and easy to track as he slowly trailed behind her through the streets. It didn't feel creepy; John never had him tail somebody without justification. Plus, it had to be important enough to send him away from his lookout position. He trusted John in all things, and he had yet to steer them wrong.

The Hawaiian girl skirted through a crowd of people and for a moment Hun thought he lost her. The crowd wore many bright colors and shifted quickly enough that he couldn't see who was a part of it and who was just trying to walk through them. He kept an eye on the edges and finally spotted her pink jumper turning a corner… back in the direction she had already come from.

Clever.

Hun drove a little more cautiously. It was too soon to tell if she had spotted him or was just being careful. At any rate, a guy like him was more inconspicuous in the car rather than outside of it.

At last the girl paused next to a laundromat and looked around. Hun shut down the car across the street and pulled his scarf up over his lower face. With the windows tinted, it should look like it was empty, but just in case, he didn't want anybody to recognize him if spotted. After a few more moments of checking, she walked down a dead-end alley beside the laundromat. Hun leaned forward as she stopped before a wall graffitied with NYC and a couple of skulls. After one last look around, she made a hand gesture.

The wall opened in a swirl of light.

The teen skipped to the side as an elderly woman and young man walked out carrying what looked like take-out boxes. She ducked into the light after they had passed and the wall returned to normal.

He didn't need John's glasses to know what was going on. He pulled out his phone.

Since April hadn't had time to change into something a little more formal, she stuck out oddly at the table with her regular jacket and bandages peeking out from its arms. Fine by her. She didn't like being ambushed by a dinner and wasn't going to play catch-up for a last minute decision she had no say in. The meal began with a few comments on how delicious everything was, but lapsed into silence pretty quickly. She kept glancing between her folks and the waxen John Bishop. This was the guy they worked for?

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and neatly folded it. "The three projects I have in mind involve mostly research and technology. They could all easily accommodate a regular 9-5 work week. Would this be satisfactory?"

Her mother straightened, chewing faster so she could swallow and speak. "Yes, that would be wonderful."

"You won't get bored?" Augie raised an eyebrow.

"Do you find anything about what we are already researching boring, Augustus?"

Her father reflected for a moment, steadily eyeing Bishop. "No, I suppose not."

"It will be interesting, Augie," Robyn reassured. "Something a little different!"

Her father still looked skeptical.

April's eyes bounced back and forth between everyone, trying to follow the conversation. What was this, a work meeting? Was her mom getting a promotion? Didn't they just get one? Weren't they already working 'normal' hours, except, no, they still sometimes had to work weekends, or stay late, so was this an attempt to-

Her eyes widened.

"But Mom, you've always groaned and complained about the average 40 hour work week," April said quickly, siding with her father. "What changed?"

Her mother bit her lip and looked down.

Her father crossed his arms and looked at Robyn with a mixture of concerned understanding and indignation.

Bishop looked at April.

"There is nothing yet set in stone," he said. "But the BAI is growing, and our needs are shifting. We are simply trying to do what's best."

Somehow his words were anything but reassuring. It was vague enough that April couldn't tell if he was referring to her mom wanting to stay home more or referencing something larger within the bureau. In fact, it was probably meant to be ambiguous, which only annoyed her further. Why couldn't people just say what they mean?

He changed the subject before she could reply. "How is school faring? You're in the 10th grade, correct?"

"Yeah." She stabbed at her potatoes. The creepy feeling was back and she suddenly didn't want to talk about her life with this guy. His gaze was too intense, and his voice too composed.

"Almost 11th," her father filled in anyway. "Final exams are in two weeks? Three?"

"Three," she mumbled.

"I asked Robyn here if you knew a friend of mine," Bishop gestured. "Though admittedly I have been out of touch with the Von Ryan's for some time."

April stopped eating and looked up at him. He met her glare passively. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. A smirk slowly spread across her face. She had him, now. Caught in a lie, maybe her parents would finally see how shady this guy was being.

"You know, it's funny," she began, not taking her eyes off of him. "The only person I've ever known to go by Othello von Ryan is my good friend, Donnie. But that's a stage name he came up with. Weird how you know a family that doesn't exist."

Her parents were looking at her, aghast, but Bishop only smiled. "What an astounding coincidence."

"You said you didn't know anyone by that name!" Robyn accused.

"I don't, because it's not a real name," she snapped back, annoyed.

"I didn't know Donnie acted," her father mused.

"He doesn't. Well, he's always been dramatic so he probably should, but that's not the point!"

"You could have clarified as much!" Robyn still didn't let go. "You could have simply told me it was Donatello!"

"Are you kidding me?" she exploded. How were they still missing the point? Bishop lied! Were they just going to ignore that? She pointed her fork at him. "He says he knows Othello von Ryan but there's no Othello von Ryan to know!"

"You know him!"

"Oh my god." April stood up. "If you guys can't see the problem here, then I'm out." She turned and headed for her room, fuming.

"April!" her father said sternly.

"It's fine, she can go," Bishop replied, and that was all she heard before she slammed the door behind her.

Robyn turned to Bishop. "I apologize, she's normally never this disrespectful."

"I would not expect otherwise from any sixteen-year-old," he assuaged. He returned to eating his food as if the entire debacle hadn't just happened.

Augustus was watching him closely. "She does raise a curious point."

"Oh?"

"That it's a remarkable coincidence you know someone with a made-up name."

Bishop took an unbothered moment to swallow his potatoes. "It is also curious that neither of you were aware of it. How long have you known this Donatello?"

"Oh, April's known him and his brothers for years," Robyn said. "The five of them hang out all the time."

"So you've never met them?"

Hesitation flickered across her features and Augustus looked away. "No," she admitted. "But I've spoken on the phone with everyone except Leo, I think. I've certainly heard them all in the background when they play video games. Their father sends us a Christmas card every year."

"Indeed?" He set down his fork. "Family holiday photos and everything?"

"Well… no…"

"I see." A dangerous theory began forming in his mind. His watch buzzed and he glanced at it. It was a reply from Hun. Excellent timing.

He scooted back from the table and stood up. "Thank you both for your time and hospitality, but something has come up that I must see to immediately. I will be in touch about those positions, Robyn."

She also rose quickly, stuttering pleasantries, but Augustus remained seated, eyeing him. Bishop would need to keep a watch on the medic. He was far too perceptive when he wasn't blinded by a goal like his wife, and of all the wrong things. Bishop couldn't believe two of his best agents had just let their daughter walk in hand in hand with a Yokai, of all things.

But he could deal with him later. Judging from the text from Hun, there were bigger things that he had to prepare for.