warning: pseudo math and science

"This is going to take forever to look through…," Hank complained.

As part of the company's attempt to aid their investigation into the Steel Vipers, they sent him a database dump of their messages for the last month—the maximum that they stored at any given time. They should count themselves lucky, though, as many companies wouldn't send any sort of data, let alone on the short notice that they were given. The gang should have picked a more private app to negotiate their business on. Maybe a VPN. Or something out of the country.

Regardless, a few days after Hank had contacted them—that long because they had to transfer business documents, show proof of cause and identity, and other legal requirements that the company, at least, did require—he had a file rife with the gang's conversations.

But, good Lord, Hank hadn't expected it to be that huge. They were definitely a talkative group and parsing the data for information would be almost impossible. Hank sighed, scrolling a few minutes only to barely make a dent in the raw data.

There was no one nearby—either around their town or north—with the name Max Eisenhardt, which only served to support their suspicion that the name was a pseudonym.

Or, in other words, they had hit another dead end.

Hank had really wanted to have something substantial to show to Charles, but it was proving to be a difficult task.

"How's it?" Logan gruffly asked, leaning against the doorway. Hank sometimes forgot he was the one actually leading the case.

"Not good," Hank admitted, scrolling idly and not actually reading any of the messages. "I'm going to try to do an analysis, see if I can narrow down who it isn't."

"What?" Logan was a lot of things—analytic wasn't one of them.

"Well, here we have a large database of text messages from their group. The idea is that our texting habits—how we spell, our capitalization, our tendency to use abbreviations, every way we type—is so ingrained, so subconscious that our mystery leader likely doesn't change them—even if he interacts with the gang as a normal member as well. Essentially, while the leader Magneto is a mysterious figure complete with special costume, in order to keep up with the gang's activities, he would almost have to have a 'civilian,' so to say, identity that's also part of the gang. Through this analysis, I'm going to try to find who it might be, or at least narrow down who it isn't, which will help lead us to who he really is." Hank explained, hoping it would be fruitful.

"I'm glad you understand all that," Logan shook his head.

"Well, it's my job," Hank smiled weakly, picturing all the things that Logan regularly did that he knew for certain he couldn't. "I'm getting ready to go report to Charles."

"I can do it, if you want." Logan grunted and pushed himself off the door.

"…You can?" It wasn't that Hank didn't like Logan, but "kind" was one of the things he wasn't.

"Yeah. Getting ready to go on patrol, anyways." Logan turned to leave, "I might not have understood everything you said, but I can tell him that you have a couple ideas that you're exploring."

"Thanks…" Hank said, turning back to his computer to begin the analysis.

Logan walked into Charles's office, giving a curt nod of the head—the best he ever gave. "Charles."

"Logan," Charles respectfully replied. "How is everything?" He was getting ready to leave for their patrol, but an informal report could be made during.

"As good as it ever is around here." Logan shook his head. "Hank is trying a few avenues for your Steel Viper case, other minor things that you've already seen."

Charles hummed, ushering Logan out so he could shut and lock the door. "I'm not sure how to handle them," Charles admitted, following Logan out to the cruiser. "We've made no progress on their leader and haven't found any evidence of illegal activities minus the generic disruption of the peace charges."

"But if you call it off now, it'll look like you're pandering to your boyfriend," Logan ended, slipping into the driver's seat.

"…Well, I wouldn't use those words." Charles said with a cheeky grin, joining him in the cruiser.

Logan snorted. "The idea is still there. The force trusts your judgment, Chuck. If you think it's time to call it off, then it's time to call it off. But that's too close to quitting to you, isn't it?"

Charles chuckled, "You know me too well. But I can't justify wasting time and effort chasing a guy who may or may not exist anymore."

"Well," Logan started, only to pause as he needed to focus on backing out, and then continuing once they were on the road, "obviously he still exists. Hank is trying some analysis on data no older than a month, so there has to be someone being Magneto."

"That there is, yes, but if he's not doing anything illegal, then there's nothing we can do beyond asking him to be more careful with his gang activities," Charles replied absentmindedly, mostly focused on watching the environment for anything suspicious.

"Ask a gang leader?" Logan could barely contain his laughter.

"Oh, hush, you." Charles grunted, "There's some merit in the non-violent methods you seem to scorn so much." Charles decided to change the subject, "Where did Hank get this data, regardless? It's not that I don't appreciate it, but it is rather sudden."

"I guess he and Raven made a few calls and obtained it. He's going to do some mumbo jumbo on it and try to figure out who their leader is. You know I don't know how this shit works." Logan shrugged and pulled over, so they were perpendicular to and facing the road.

It was a long stretch of road, very clear, and one that he and Logan sat at often. Neither of them particularly liked setting traps for unwitting travelers (even if the argument that they shouldn't be breaking the law at all was very valid) so it was a typical routine. Charles filled out some papers for various crimes, Logan watched the equipment and surrounding area.

They passed time as such, until Logan spoke again, "Have you heard anything about Jean?"

"Jean?" Charles paused in his writing, raising an eyebrow to give Logan a critical look. Jean was Scott's wife, and most of the force agreed that Logan's interest in her was awkward at best and inappropriate at worst. "She's still teaching at the university and her powers are under control." Jean had extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic powers, but the powers came with control issues. Charles felt that was enough to tell Logan.

"That's good," Logan muttered, shifting uncomfortably in acquiescence but still obviously unsatisfied with the information.

"Yes, she's doing well." Charles gave Logan a comforting grin, but the man shrugged it off. "What are you doing for the holiday?" He decided to change the subject. It was hard to imagine that another year had passed already, but here they were. Many officers didn't notice the holiday season because the force was their family, and many others tried not to because the weather and celebrations lead to accidents, and, unfortunately, suicides.

"Nothing much. Same old. Stay in, get slammed, maybe go pick a fight." The neutrality of Logan's tone made it hard to tell if he was joking. "You're staying in with Hank and Raven, I assume?"

"Yes, most likely," Charles hummed in agreement, but Logan was no longer paying attention.

Instead, Logan was gripping the steering wheel, hunched forward, and staring at—past—Charles.

Charles blinked before tracing his line of sight, only to start in surprise as a purple and red blur streaked past. "Bloody hell!" Charles swore.

Logan growled and instinctually shifted into gear, but although the cruiser drifted forward a tad, they didn't move because they both knew that chasing him would be pointless.

"Teasing us. Fucking teasing us." Logan aggressively shifted the car back into pack.

"…Was he wearing a cape?" Charles asked, staring at the spot where Magneto disappeared. "Because that is a terrible idea."

Logan drug a hand down his face. "Can you focus?"

"Yes, well, I am quite focused."

"Charles."

"It's quite fascinating, really. Most cyclists travelling at that speed usually either kill or grievously injure themselves or someone else, but he's obviously been at this for years without getting involved in anything that lead to his arrest…" Charles rested his chin in his hand.

Logan groaned and returned to watching the road.

"Logan?"

"Yes?"

"Pardon my language."

Logan laughed.

I just now realized that it took five chapters to actually get to the scene described in the summary, I'm so sorry.

A friend told me that Logan's being a jerk. I thought this was pretty par for the course, but I'm admittedly not fond of him so if I'm playing him too harshly please let me know. In that vein, I have nothing against Jean/Logan or the pairing's shippers; I'll ship anything if written well but I don't think the movie handled it well at all.