I gave Sonya's father a name and them both a last name, as neither are mentioned in this episode.

It is with an amount of regret that I must report that Mr Thorne opted to leave his employment at Genomex. I watched the CCTV tapes of him running away. I have a task force dedicated to tracking him down, but he is not of high priority. A stasis pod awaits him on his return. He has proved himself too volatile to keep in the field. There have been no sightings of him so far. Might Adam have helped him go underground? I somehow doubt that. But there is always the possibility.

I received some intel that told me that Mutant X had recently gained two new members. The first, Brennan Mulwray, did not particularly concern me. He was a thug, a new mutant with unremarkable powers. No question why he joined Adam's group of terrorists, it was a nice opportunity for him to branch out in his criminal endeavours.

But the second was the very new mutant I had desired for my own team, Emma deLauro. Described as a telempath and skilled in manipulating others, with reports that her powers may exceed the bounds of her new mutant typing. She was someone I certainly would not have chosen as an adversary, which is exactly why I had my team expend such efforts in capturing her. But alas, she had chosen the other side. But what exactly were her plans in joining Adam's team? With her powers, she could afford to have ambitions above this. Disappointing that she had not chosen to stay with the GSA, she would doubtlessly have rapidly ascended through the ranks.

"Mr Eckhart," a female voice said. Just as I was deep in thought, someone always had to walk into my office and interrupt me. I should really start locking the door. I held up a finger to the owner of the voice, telling them to wait.

I didn't look up from my screen, although my concentration was already broken. I heard footsteps coming towards me. "You've lost a lot of weight. All that work and stress," the intruder continued. Someone who knew me, Russian accent. I struggled to place the voice's owner, but then most people were of little interest to me. "I have something wonderful for you. The plans for the Pushka."

Now I knew exactly who this was. Sonya Ivanov, daughter of Pavel Ivanov. Out of my peripheral vision I saw her move her arm towards me. I held up a hand towards her and continued to try to focus on the report on my screen.

"We've been over this. Your father's weapon was an embarrassment. A humiliation that led to his untimely death in the Gulag. I promised you twenty thousand for each new mutant you could bring me neutralised," I said, not taking my eyes from the screen. I had given up attempting to read by then, it had become more of a façade.

"The Pushka H5B7 works," Miss Ivanov insisted.

I finally looked up from my screen. "Oh, in that case," I said, making a dramatic show of looking behind her, "where are these new mutants that you brought me?"

"We have a glitch in our operation."

"I'm busy," I said.

"Your manners have deteriorated with your white cell count, Mr Eckhart. Even with our glitch, we managed to neutralise an electrical new mutant," Miss Ivanov said, turning to leave.

That sparked my attention. It would be nice if Miss Ivanvov had already taken out one of Adam's new lackeys, even though the chances of that were quite unlikely. "And where is he?" I asked.

"He got away, but the Pushka got him. It did, I swear on my father's grave. Do svidaniya, Mr Eckhart. You know how to reach me if you want to chat about anything further," she said, and then she was gone.

A little while later, a call was transferred to my personal line. Someone wanted to give us information and refused to speak to anyone but me. "Eckhart here, can I help you?" I said, expecting it to be a telemarketer who had insidiously obtained my name. I was more than ready to dish out a snide comment before hanging up.

"I have some information on the whereabouts of two new mutants," the caller said. Likely not a telemarketer, in that case.

"Is that so?"

"One is my father, the other is a new mutant placed here yesterday by Mutant X."

"I'm listening."

"I want a face to face."

"We'll get back to you," I said.

I may have no longer had Mr Thorne at my beck and call, but I knew exactly who to contact to deal with this.

"Can I assume you called with good news regarding my proposal?" Miss Ivanov said, walking into my office once more.

"Yes I have an informant who will lead you to a family of new mutants. But I don't want them dead," I said. I gestured to a gun on my desk. "That device inserts a sub-dermal governor, so that you'll be able to control these new mutants when you find them."

"But this won't be necessary. We have the Pushka."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes of course. The Pushka. Isn't that Russian for colossal error in judgement?"

For a moment I thought Miss Ivanov was going to rise to my derision, but she composed herself before replying. "I've solved the Pushka's problems."

"That's wonderful," I said, not believing a word. "Take it anyway, just for me."

"The bounty?"

"Twenty thousand each just as we've discussed. Providing that you bring them to me neutralised and alive. Then we'll discuss a contract."

Miss Ivanov opened her case and put the sub-dermal governor gun inside and turned to go.

"Of course I fully expect to be disappointed, since as I recall the Pushka neutralises new mutants and then disintegrates their internal organs cell by cell, until they're dead."

Miss Ivanov set her jaw, and once again composed herself before speaking. "You will see," she said, before turning to leave.

I received one more contact from Miss Ivanov, to tell me that she had met with the informer who called my office. And after that, radio silence. When I tried to contact her, the line was dead. I suspected something had gone wrong. Inquiries traced Miss Ivanov back to a warehouse, which had mysteriously had a fire very recently. I later discovered that she and her associate had been detained for deportation. If she had asked, I would have pulled some strings and assisted with obtaining visas, but then Miss Ivanov had never been open to suggestions. She was just as stubborn as her father. But it did not particularly matter, the Pushka was useless anyway.

Mr Thorne had proved unreliable, and outsourcing new mutant capture had been no more successful. I was in need of assistance from someone smart, capable and dependable, but I very much doubted that such a person actually existed.