John suppressed a wince as he picked up the call from Scott. He rather hoped to give Penelope more time before Scott cottoned on to her.

Though naturally more reclusive, when John made friends, they were the sort that remained for life. He still wasn't sure how he'd ended up with Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward as one of his few good friends, but he had a strong sense it had more to do with her adopting him than anything on his part.

"Yes Scott" he replied keeping his tone neutral though sheer force of habit. "Lady Penelope has gone into undercover work." He knew what was coming but Scott didn't give him a chance to get a word in. The Field Commander was talking rather than the older brother. On reflection, John thought, sometimes there wasn't much of a difference.

"I'd like to you send her a picture of the woman and see if she knows anyone who can find out about her."

"I already did."

"I know it's a long shot but I don't like just sitting here and – hang on. Did you say you already did?"

"Yes, Scott." He gave Scott a moment to recalibrate. "I sent all the information to her the day after I ran the enhancements through. Penelope has a lot of contacts in a lot of places we can't reach. I thought it was worth a go."

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in when dad finds out!" Scott exploded. "He's been very clear on us not getting involved."

John rolled his eyes making Scott scowl further at his hologram.

"So, you didn't just ask me to do the thing I'd already done then?" he said pointedly.

"Yes but-"

"All I did was pass the information on to a service that could make better use of it. Something dad has also done by passing it on to the GDF" John said reasonably.

Scott gaped for a moment.

"You shouldn't be taking that kind of risk on yourself John."

"But it's alright for you to?" John fixed him with a stare that told Scott he needed to cut the crap. There wasn't anyone the stare didn't work on and if it came out during a rescue then the receiver knew they were well on their way to a total screw up. Scott wisely backed down, but only a little.

"Has she found anything?"

John hesitated.

"Maybe."

"Maybe. What does maybe mean, John?"

"An associate of an associate thinks he's seen her at a burlesque club, but he's not sure. Penelope is chasing it down now."

A burlesque club? That hadn't been the answer Scott was expecting.

"Scott, it's just a bar with some dancers" John said catching the look on Scott's face.

"Okay, one: it isn't and we both know it. Two: she didn't seem the sort. Virgil said he'd seen signs of heavy bruising and malnutrition. Hardly what people want in a nearly naked dancing girl."

"I did say it was only a maybe. This is coming from an associate of her driver, Parker. I've met him a couple of times and, whilst he has a rather colourful past, he's been really reliable. But I can't say as much for any of his, er, former colleagues."

Scott sighed.

"Well, it isn't much but it more than I had before."

"That should have been a 'we' not and 'I' you know" John said looking at his brother carefully. Scott might go off again at what John was about to say. "If you've been thinking this way all along then you should have spoken to Virgil sooner. It might have convinced him to cool it with dad if he thought he had some support down there."

That made Scott look up sharply.

"Down here? You and he have been working together on this, haven't you?"

"Of course. Dad might want us to leave it alone but since when has because-I-said-so ever been good enough for a Tracy?"

Scott let out a humourless laugh.

"That's true. I've just told Gordon what's been going on because he decided to scale the side of the house rather than knock on the door."

"Scott, how much has this been bothering you, really?" At Scott's blank look John continued, "Gordon was there on that rescue he already knew a lot of what was going on. Did you really think he'd just leave it?"

"I was hoping it'd blow over" Scott admitted. "Not that I don't want to try and help these people but fundamentally dad is right. If we wanted to stop things like this, we should have joined the GDF or the police."

"You are the poster child of why that wouldn't work for us."

Scott grimaced. Yes, he was. After the incident that had seen him captured behind enemy lines and subsequently given an award for bravery Scott had discovered that he didn't like blindly following orders any more. Not when he didn't know all the pieces of the puzzle and not when his team's lives were on the line. Quickly he turned his thoughts away from that damned place.

"That could apply to Gordon too, you know" he said trying to deflect but both brothers knew it wasn't true. Gordon's military career had been cut short through no fault of his own whereas Scott had terminated his by taking a medical discharge once it had become clear that those awful events had had more of an effect on him than he'd ever admit out loud.

"Go make it up to Virgil" John suggested. "I'll be in contact if Penelope comes up with anything."

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward sat very primly in a small tea shop in an even smaller village an hour outside of London. She sipped her tea from her china cup and made sure to glance around and watch the ducks every few moments as a distraction from her novel. She wasn't reading a novel, of course, nor was she interested in ducks. What she was actually doing was going over all the information she had received about the Tracy's mystery woman whilst awaiting the return of her driver all the while giving off the appearance of a well-to-do lady out for a spot of light tea. The disguise probably wasn't necessary, but it wasn't exactly a stretch for her and one could always use the practise.

Pointedly not frowning at the information in front of her Penelope reviewed it one last time. The only name she had for the girl was Oracle. No fixed address, no employment, no known relatives, nothing on her education. Oracle was clearly a stage name but Penelope agreed with Scott that she was unlikely to be an exotic dancer. The few accounts she had from those who had spoken with her showed she was slow to trust and had a fiery temper that seemed to end in violence. The doorman of the burlesque club Cascade had said she was generally sporting signs of being in a fight – though he'd thought an abusive boyfriend was to blame. He'd also confirmed that she sang there when the club manager was unable to get anyone else.

Penelope flipped a page just to keep up appearances.

There was nothing else to go on. She would have to wait until Parker reappeared.

Speak of the devil…

"Spot of tea, Parker?" she said, knowing propriety wouldn't allow him to sit with her otherwise.

"Not for me, m'Lady" he said remaining standing.

"You're right, it is time we were off." Gathering her things and leaving a generous tip (despite the very average tea) she made her way back to FAB One, pausing only for Parker to open the door for her. She waited until they were well away from the small village before breaking the easy silence in the car.

"How was your friend?" she asked.

"He's doing very well m'Lady, thank you for asking. Country life suits him right proper it does."

"That is very pleasing to hear. Does he get back to the city often?"

"Can't say he does, m'Lady, but his lad still works in town. He suggests that I might avail myself of one of the clubs but, as I said to him, I think I'm long past that stage now."

Penelope laughed lightly.

"I suppose he had somewhere specific in mind?"

"That he did, m'Lady and a specific time too."

"Wonderful Parker, well done" and with that she sat back against the seats of her charming pink car, her mind already whirring with plans. It wouldn't do for a Lady such as herself to be seen in a club like that and Parker alone might also cause too much fuss. But there were always other ways of going about things.