Chief Director Rebecca Costa Brown hated her job. If it wasn't so important that she be in the seat, she would have left it years ago. Her job could be boiled down to sitting in a chair and putting out fires. All she ever seemed to do was fix other people's screw ups or bark at people incapable of fixing the problems it was their job to fix. It was tiring.
"You're telling me we have nothing on Stringent?" It had been a full day since the PRT had been embarrassed by Canary's escape, and they were still no closer to locating the perpetrator.
"No, ma'am. If he really is with the Elite, they've done a good job of hiding him. We don't even know what his power is." Director Wilkins said from his panel of the monitor in front of her. Rebecca was on a conference call with the other directors and Dragon who was acting as a Guild liaison.
"What about the tracking chip we had on Canary?"
"It cut out over the Atlantic Ocean. If I had to guess, they probably sent a flier to drop it in the water to throw off our search teams before their Tinkers cut the signal." Wilkins said.
"So the Bad Canary is in the wind? A Master that can make you do whatever she wants with her words alone is on the loose?" Director Tagg stressed, staring intently at the screen. "I'm sure you can understand why this makes me uncomfortable, Chief Director. If the Elite went out of their way to acquire such a powerful Master, they must be planning something."
"That's a valid concern, Director Tagg, but we can't do anything without proof. It's possible Stringent was trying to frame the Elite. Toybox turned over their records. They never made a transaction for a teleportation disk like the one Stringent used." Director Wilkins said.
"How hard would it be to make an off-the-books project, Director?" Tagg countered.
"If I may," Dragon interjected. "I have extensively reviewed the footage from Bad Canary's escape. The device Stringent used did not appear to be Tinkertech. It did not appear to be any form of functional technology whatsoever. I believe the device was an attempt for Stringent to conceal his power from us."
"You're saying you believe he is a teleporter?" Rebecca said, propping her elbows on her desk and resting her chin in her hands thoughtfully.
"I do, director. I believe the Elite may attempt to use him to free other imprisoned parahumans to recruit them in the future. Revealing Stringent so publicly made it known that he is able to infiltrate high security areas and extract targets at will. The Elite has now painted themselves as an alternative to imprisonment."
The other directors continued to bicker amongst themselves, but Rebecca felt something was off. She opened another window on her monitor and pulled up the footage from Stringent breaking Canary out of her cell. She watched the feed at normal speed, pausing and setting the footage to one-fourth speed when Stringent began to teleport Canary out of the cell. The blue energy surrounding Stringent was familiar. Rebecca was known around the world for her power to weather any assault, to break any foe with her strength, but there was an aspect to her power not many knew about – that those who did know of overlooked, yet Rebecca felt it was her greatest strength. She named herself after the Library of Alexandria because she was one of the most versatile Thinkers around. Her perfect memory stored every experience she had ever lived and her powerful mind used that information to reach conclusions that would otherwise be impossible.
Rebecca recognized the blue energy surrounding Stringent. Not only did she recognize it, she had been subjected to it personally many times. The energy belonged to a power she was intimately familiar with – Strider's teleportation.
Rebecca muted her microphone and pulled out her personal cell phone, punching in Strider's personal number and calling him. The call went straight to voicemail. She tried again only to receive the same result. Maybe she was overreacting. It was possible Strider had a cousin or a friend that his agent branched out to.
Rebecca restarted the video of Canary's escape, watching the entire length at half speed. Her eye was focused, searching each individual frame for the most minute details. She began to breathe a sigh of relief when the video neared the end with no noticeable cause for concern. Then her eye focused on a single detail. She paused the video, zooming in on the miniscule detail her single remaining eye was able to uncover. Underneath the metal table Canary had been secured to, there was a fragment of blue-hued wispy cloth just barely peeking out, only the barest hint of its outline visible against the shadows under Paige's bed. Without the perception and memory granted by her power, Rebecca would have thought nothing of it. Because of her power, Rebecca recognized the effect. While she could not see the greater body, she had seen such a spectral appearance once before – in a tense exchange with Glaistig Uaine, her 'faeries' flanking the woman herself.
"Chief director?" Director Wilkins, called loudly, as if he'd been trying to get her attention for several seconds now.
Rebecca unmuted her mike and said, "I apologize, but something has come up. Please continue without me. Dragon, call my office immediately." She closed the video chat without another word.
Only a few seconds passed before Rebecca's office phone rang.
"You wanted to speak with me privately, Chief Director?"
"Dragon, I need you to locate Strider immediately. This is your top priority. Use every resource at your disposal. If you require PRT or Protectorate aid, inform me and I will ensure you get it."
"I… Of course, Chief Director. Is there a specific reason for the urgency?"
"I hope not, Dragon. You have twenty-four hours to locate Strider. If you are unable to locate him after that time, I will inform you and the other directors of my suspicions."
"Of course, Chief Director. I know several of Strider's favorite stopping points. I'm sure I can convince him to return today."
Rebecca hung up. Clasping her hands together as she fell deep into thought. She would need to research other strange occurrences in the cape community. It was possible she was wrong, but if she was right, there would be other evidence. A cape like this wouldn't be able to control himself.
If Rebecca was right...it wasn't necessarily a bad development. She needed to coordinate with her allies.
"Door me."