It was true, at times I would sit and watch Proxy Blue spout her insane conspiracy theories. It often served me well to keep up with what my adversaries were up to. Occasionally she reported on items that were adjacent to the truth.
"We've been talking the past few months about sinister men and women chasing mysterious men and women with miraculous abilities through the streets," the blue-haired computer woman said. "Well one of my regulars called in to describe what might be the ringleader in all of this, a white-haired guy who seems to pop up in a lot of these stories."
I felt my stomach drop.
"Miss MacEvoy," I called.
My newest lieutenant promptly made her way to my office. She was immaculately presented as always, wearing a sharp suit and a style of glasses I might have chosen myself.
"As long as Proxy Blue seemed to be nothing more than a whining voice of the paranoid lunatic fringe, it remained nothing more than an annoyance. But to hear myself described in such detail," I said.
"I completely understand, sir," Miss MacEvoy said.
"We all know how difficult it is to do our jobs and still remain invisible to society's radar. Leaks are inevitable, but this story just won't go away," I said, clutching the back of my chair and looking distractedly at the computer screen.
"It's already been picked up by one of the electronic gossip boards, and it gets worse," she said, using a remote control to switch on Proxy Blue.
"These bruisers look like feds," said Proxy Blue, running a tape of some of my agents onscreen. "Armed with some pretty exotic hardware, they show up in black vans, do their jobs and then disappear. Sometimes, innocent bystanders disappear with them. And the guy in charge looks something like this." And then what seemed at first glance seemed to be a fair likeness of me appeared on the screen. They had certainly captured my style, at least.
"Oh dear," I breathed, sitting down and taking off my glasses. "Well, I hold myself responsible for allowing this to reach crisis proportions. But unless we find a way to take over control of Proxy Blue, this cartoon could destroy everything."
"I might be able to help you solve your problem, sir," Miss MacEvoy said.
I looked at her with some suspicion, but hoped that she would indeed be able to do that. I stood up and looked out of the window. "Do feel free to share your thoughts with me, Miss MacEvoy," I said.
"It's called social engineering, Mr Eckhart. The process by which with a few simple cues, one manipulates a mark."
I turned around to look at her. "The way a conman ingratiates himself with a victim?" I said.
Miss MacEvoy nodded. "Grifters have been using this technique for years. Political candidates too," she said, walking towards me.
"Multi-millionaire plutocrat passes himself off as a good old boy."
"Regardless of what the product is, social engineering is just a matter of selling the client what they think they already want."
I closed the gap between us and said, "I propose we attack the problem in two ways. I want Proxy Blue destroyed, and I want to seamlessly replace her with our own identical version."
"To tell our version of the truth."
"Exactly. Can you do it?" I asked, regarding her intensely.
She met my gaze without flinching. "I guarantee it."
It was not long before I received word that Miss MacEvoy had secured a useful new mutant with telecyber abilities who could implement our plan to oust Proxy Blue. I watched from the doorway as Miss MacEvoy wrenched the new mutant's head forward by her hair and implanted her with a sub-dermal governor. Kendra MacEvoy pulled no punches. It was nice to see someone who could work under their own initiative for once.
"What the hell was that?" Toni Quintana complained, although she was strapped to a chair so she could do nothing to escape. So this was the so-called computer expert. She looked almost too young and glamorous for it to be believable. She was hardly your textbook nerd.
"A sub-dermal governor, to keep you in line," said Miss MacEvoy.
"I thought you were my friend, Kendra."
"I am your friend, Toni."
"Friends don't kidnap friends."
"Oh, it's just a little social engineering," Miss MacEvoy said with a apathetic shrug that I couldn't help but admire. I noticed how different Miss MacEvoy looked. Her hair was no longer pulled back, and she had lost the glasses. A disguise to gain Miss Quintana's trust, I supposed.
"Call it whatever you want. Pretending to be something you're not is lying in my book," Miss Quintana said.
I refrained from commenting on the new mutant's shady past, but I could no longer just watch. "The truth is, Miss MacEvoy saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life. Separating you from those outlaws is a favour you could never repay," I said, walking into the room to stand by Kendra.
"Mason Eckhart. I've heard all about you," Miss Quintana said, in that accusing tone that I was never sure what people were trying to accomplish with. Did they expect me to feel remorseful? Ashamed? Hilarious.
"Yes, and I know all about you. Miss MacEvoy tells me she's the best computer cracker she's ever met."
"I don't flatter easily," Miss Quintana shot back.
"If anyone can crack Proxy Blue, Toni can, sir," said Miss MacEvoy.
"Get her set up in the technical analysis section. If she's as good as you say she is, I expect results fast," I said, turning to Kendra and taking the opportunity to scrutinise her striking new look a little more.
"I want to apologise for blowing the chance to bring Mulwray and Kilmartin into custody," Kendra said as we strolled past the stasis pods.
"Their presence was a complete surprise. I was just glad that you were able to grab Quintana," I said. "You know, I have to say Miss MacEvoy, I find this new look of yours a nice change from…" I said, suddenly becoming aware that I was straying into dangerous territory. I felt I could say just about anything to men, but I had developed a sense that I was supposed to take more care in what I said to women. Even if they were working for me. How infuriating.
"My previous presentation?" Kendra suggested, saving me from a potentially major social faux pas.
And perhaps that's why I dared to add, "If I were to offer an opinion, I would suggest it's a big improvement."
"Actually sir, this is my real look," she said.
I turned to take another look at her.
"I was afraid you wouldn't take me seriously if I showed up looking like this, so I transformed myself to convey the idea of no-nonsense seriousness."
"While I had you undercover infiltrating Miss Quintana's work, you were socially engineering me," I said.
Miss MacEvoy nodded. "I guess you could say that," she said, evidently unsure whether I would be angry or impressed.
"I knew we'd work together beautifully," I said.
I couldn't help but feel charmed by Kendra MacEvoy, even now I was aware that this was by her design. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. I quickly turned and walked away.
I walked in on Miss MacEvoy snarling at Miss Quintana. "I bent over backwards to make sure all of your machines were here, and I expect results."
"I couldn't have put it better myself, Miss MacEvoy," I said, pacing. "The media has seemed to be unwilling to let this story die. Everywhere I turn I hear about super powered freaks pursued by brutish thugs led by a white-haired gentleman who looks like me. It's all a little too close to home." I came to a stop in front of Miss MacEvoy and stared at her intensely.
"Maybe it's time to go public and cut your losses?" Miss Quintana suggested. Kendra and I both turned to look at her, and she added, "Or maybe not."
"We're making serious progress here, Mr Eckhart," Miss MacEvoy said.
"And I am quite serious. I expect to see a concrete example of Proxy Blue by tomorrow at the very latest," I said, walking around Kendra to breathe down her neck. This ordinarily unnerved people, but she almost seemed to enjoy my closeness.
"We'll be ready," she said in an almost flirtatious way. Or was she still using her social engineering against me?
"What are you doing?" Kendra asked.
"I was just stretching my legs," Miss Quintana said, even though she was quite clearly looking for something amongst the equipment we had seized from her establishment.
"We seem to make Miss Quintana nervous," I said, making eye contact with Kendra.
"What have you got to show us, Toni?" Kendra demanded.
"You know, I still need a little more time," Miss Quintana said, looking nervous.
I approached her. "You could have a beautiful future working for us here," I said with a slight smile. "Or that future could be short, swift, and brutally final. It's up to you."
Back in my office, Kendra pressed a button to activate a screen on the wall. "This is Proxy Blue's take on our round up last week," she said.
"Remember when you thought justice, freedom and due process were real? The family of five who disappeared from their home last week must have learned those ideas were just illusions," Proxy Blue said from the screen. I was forever irritated by her needlessly anarchistic takes. She mentioned nothing about how dangerous that family was to everyone around them.
"And this is ours," Kendra said, pressing another button.
"We've all been left in the lurch at one time or other, but those people who took off last week definitely had something to hide," said a slightly different version of Proxy Blue.
"Same story, with an entirely different spin," Kendra said.
I smiled. "I love the fact that it subtly blames the victim," I said.
Kendra smiled back and tilted her head towards me. "I thought you might like that, sir."
"And while the original encourages scepticism, ours raises doubts about the meaning of reality itself," I said.
"Just another form of social engineering," Miss Quintana said from where she was lounging against the wall.
"Nicely done, Miss MacEvoy," I said. "And we owe all this to Miss Quintana here."
"Absolutely, Mr Eckhart. I told you she was a genius," Kendra said.
Miss Quintana looked oddly unimpressed by the compliment. It seemed the complexities of women could not even be avoided by only speaking to those who were employed by me.
"So the news is out, and I'm not angry, I'm just hurt. The loser who called in the story on this white-haired mastermind turned out to be a hopeless dope," said the Proxy Blue on my computer screen.
"Just the right tone," remarked Kendra, who moved to stand behind me.
"Who really owns your thoughts, and your feelings, and your ideas?" Proxy Blue continued. Reality is yours to make, so make it right."
"A bit snide, a bit snarky, but with our spin on reality," Miss MacEvoy said.
"So," I said, leaning back in my chair to look at her. "Now we have our perfect replacement, when is this little genius of yours going to find the real thing so we can put an end to this problem once and for all?"
"We'll get to that eventually," she replied, a little too casually.
"Eventually?"
"I'll have Toni work on it until we find the real Proxy Blue website, but meanwhile we don't have to wait. Toni's programmed our version of Proxy Blue to function as a virus. Our version hunts down the real version, eats it, and then replaces it with itself," she said. "So, even if they turn on the real thing, they end up getting our version of the story. And that's how you get the masses to buy the truth as we see it." She smiled widely, evidently pleased with herself. I was not displeased with this as a stopgap measure. I smiled back at her, although not as widely.
It had all been going a little too well. I should have expected more from Mutant X than Miss MacEvoy's initial encounter with them. Of course they would interfere and steal Miss Quintana from under my nose. I now felt very different about letting Miss MacEvoy off the hook so easily for not apprehending those two terrorists.
Kendra stood before me, looking down at her clasped hands.
"It speaks ill of a number two to allow an invasion of this facility on her watch," I said.
"I completely understand, sir. But I still believe there remains a positive aspect to this whole affair."
"I have to admit your success with the counter version of Proxy Blue is a mitigating factor in this disaster," I said.
I pressed a button on my computer and Proxy Blue began speaking. "Why do the most distrustful people make the easiest dupes?"
"Is this the real thing or is it ours?" I asked.
Miss MacEvoy looked positively distressed when she said, "The real thing, sir."
"Of course it all depends on who you distrust. I'm talking to you, Mr Eckhart," Proxy Blue continued. I looked pointedly at Miss MacEvoy as the conspiracy theorist continued to speak. "Instead of bumping the real Proxy Blue off the air, Adam put me to work cleaning out your system. So sit back and enjoy the show, because tomorrow morning, you're going to have to start everything from scratch."
I watched breathlessly as one by one, the lights went out. An alien silence filled the facility. I could hear none of the normal background sounds of the systems. The security systems! The stasis pods! Everything would need to be manually reset. Then reprogrammed. What disasters would befall us in the time that would take to be done? I felt sick.
My whirling mind was brought back to reality by a much closer and present threat. "Miss MacEvoy, take your hands off of me."