Billy went off to Vought Tower looking for all the world like a cat who ate the canary, while I was left at the office to greet Victoria Neuman.

Going through my own backlog of emails, more than Billy had no doubt, I had to call it quits when a knock alerted me to her arrival.

"Ah, Dr. Taylor," she was looking around the office with interest, which I could understand since it was her first visit since I'd started. Her eyes landed on the second office chair and computer - double desks that showed the differences of their owners by the gun cleaning paraphernalia on Billy's and the stacks of paperwork on my own. Shared photos of Terror and the group, along with a few of us decorated the space, alongside my degrees and the signs that we were an official office within the CIA.

Gesturing toward one of the seats reserved for the few guests we had, she took one and offered me a smile that I equated with every politician who wanted to gain both support and acknowledgement of their greatness. Seated on my own, I waited for her to guide the conversation, after all she'd only just asked for a visit to an office that she helped create.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't come sooner," she got nothing from me, after all that was such an obvious curiosity that I doubt anyone else would have felt it was necessary to even address. "With you in place, and after all you've been through," I was waiting for the typical 'thoughts and prayers' that usually accompanied the mask that fell across her face, the ever upwardly mobile politician facade greeting trauma victims after the fact. It didn't come. She took one of those deep breaths that I was both getting used to and that made me equally want to roll my eyes and possibly punch a wall. "Have you had any luck finding the supe behind the carnage?" Ah, the headpopper. Without much in the way of a segway, at least she wasn't doing the double speak I expected.

"I might have come across mention of the person imbued with a power that would allow for them to combust a -" dear God, now I was doing it instead. "There's a file I came across that sounds like the headpopper." She looked intrigued. Of course she did. "Unfortunately there wasn't any indication of who they might actually be." An eyebrow rose and I nearly sighed. "No name, Vought seems to have lost this person." I didn't realize that I wasn't giving a gender, but I knew it didn't matter. Male or female, or non-binary for that matter, without something more discerning than "this one has the ability to combust body parts from a distance" we had nothing.

"Lost." She didn't look as concerned as I would in her position. "That's disappointing," yet she didn't look all that disappointed. "I know that you've been meeting with the supes that you can find," a nod and she went on. "Good. I want the department to look as viable as I had hoped. Let the team control and combat against any supe that might act outside the bounds of acceptable behavior," my eyebrow's turn to take a lift. "The entire point is accountability, Dr. Taylor. While I would rather the team not create chaos while dishing it out, I'd like to see them act on anything they learn that would be considered unlawful in any other American citizen." Well fuck, the office wasn't just some showhorse that looked good on paper. "I'll be announcing my Vice Presidential candidacy beside Robert Singer in the coming weeks." Ah, and we'd be the real power behind her push. "If you don't mind, I think I'll have one of the staff give me a tour of the rest of the building."

I was scrolling through my emails, barely anything penetrating my brain while I considered how Neuman had reacted to my lack of information on the mysterious headbursting supe's identity. After being coated in the blood and brain matter of all those people who lost their heads during the hearing, I would have thought she would want the focus to be on finding that one supe - yet not only was she not pressing for more intelligence on who that freak was, she was almost dismissive.

That wasn't normal on any level. Especially if you're planning a run for the second highest seat in government.

My finger doing the work of looking like I was working, it barely registered when Billy returned. Not until he gave a groan as he dropped himself into his seat beside me and my chair was yanked close to his.

I'm not proud to say I let out a small screech at the abrupt disruption to my focus, but I am proud that I did manage to not swat him when he chuckled at the sound.

"Scare ya?" His face pressed into my neck and he breathed me in. "Stan Edgar wasted my fuckin' time, that meeting was nothin' more than blathering about cooperation between Vought and the office, and blah blah blah."

Giving into temptation, I let Billy divert me from everything for a few minutes - ok maybe it was longer. Reality seeped back in as we were fixing our clothing, the reason I'd been so fucking focused on anything but the multitude of emails that were somehow worse than SPAM - Victoria Neuman and her less than regular reactions to shit that normal people, much less politicians would lose their fucking minds over.

"Distracted?" He was watching me as I tried to figure out why I was so bothered by her lack of reaction. "Something happen when Neuman was here?"

Knowing that my partner was back and satisfied for the time being, I told him - every single thing that went on during our meeting.

"Didn't care?" Nodding that I couldn't detect a single glimmer of anything once I answered her inquiry about the status of our search, he looked as confused as I felt. "And she wants to run for VP while we go bash some lawbreaking supes?" Another nod, even if I knew that he was loving this new edict. "Maybe she thinks that the headpopping cunt ain't gonna get her elected, even if they're caught. But if we round up a bunch of overpowered assholes, that'll gain traction for her prospects."

I didn't really buy that. Which supe would give her more push - the one who made grotesque theater of an actual hearing where even the supes present looked fucking horrified or a few dumbasses who couldn't keep their noses, dicks, or asses clean in the eyes of the law?

"Look, until you can use that beautiful brain of yours to unlock the secrets of her behavior, we should focus on -"

"Get The Boys in," I shook off the creeping feeling that I was missing something incredibly important and made Billy's grin blossom into full wattage by telling him it was time for them to start bashing heads - sort of.