The Director and the Dragon, Part 5

Posted on Tue Dec 2nd, 2025 @ 5:22am by Head Mistress Absynthe "Syn" Drake & Level 10 Minamoto 源 Takashi 孝志

Mission: HYDRA: Another Head Rises
Location: Mutant Academy Near Sedona, Arizona
Timeline: Current, 2300 hours

Syn lifted a small hand to her forehead, rubbing gently as a soft laugh escaped her. “OG’s programming lacks both a filter and tact,” she said apologetically. “Please forgive the snark. It isn’t personal. She talks to everyone like this. Fractal loathes being called Sparkles,” her fiery eyes cut briefly toward the hologram, “but OG seems constitutionally incapable of stopping.”

OG pointed toward the map as Fractal’s path pulsed across the display in iridescent hues. I’m just saying, she argued, the girl sparkles. It’s observable science.

Syn delivered a warning look; sharp, commanding, unmistakably military. Not the expression of a headmistress, but of a general who’d led armies before most nations had flags. OG stalled mid-motion, avatar freezing with her mouth slightly open as she aborted whatever retort she’d been about to deliver.

Turning back to Takashi, Syn adjusted her robe with quiet dignity. “I would like to hear more about your tracking technologies in the future,” she said. “The academy has maintained a cooperative relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. since its inception. I registered with your organization long before mutant rights were a concept. They call on me when needed. And our students…” She offered a faint smile. “Well, they rarely slip past your recruiters.”

OG’s head suddenly snapped toward the main display. The first site, she said, her tone shifting from sardonic to alert. The underground network that we missed. The one Fractal uncovered later.

The map instantly zoomed into the Utah compound now under S.H.I.E.L.D. control. A red schematic overlaid the terrain; tunnels, chambers, hidden exit points, all scorched or collapsed. Fractal’s route through the subterranean sprawl highlighted itself in a ghostly arc of light. A secondary window materialized: grainy security footage of Bethany and Takashi at the underground console. The view zoomed on Bethany’s hand just as her nano fractured the system and bled into the compound’s files. The frame froze on that moment of infiltration.

OG folded her arms, her expression deceptively casual. I’d bet a century’s uptime they found something in those files, she said. Something someone didn’t want discovered. I have no access to those files. S.H.I.E.L.D. has them locked down at this time.

“Yes,” Takashi cryptically said to OG, briefly turning to face the holographic representation of a woman to nod once, then turned back to Syn. “I am working to increase the sensitivity of the detection capability of my search algorithm. If I can find a way to pick up minuscule uses of passive multi-spectral bio energy, I should be able to track Bethany in real time.”

Turning to face the AI avatar once more, he responded to her sarcastic remarks with aplomb. “While you are correct in stating the obvious disdain she may have in overt usage of her powers,” Takashi continued his response by again facing Syn. “She is constantly using her low power level abilities, by her own admission to me the last time we spoke. The problem lies in those ambient multi-spectral energy emissions found all over the surface of the planet. It is exceedingly difficult to find ‘a needle within a stack of needles’ the size of Terra.” He continued to look at the ancient woman to see if she knew of what he was referring to. The Japanese definitely loved using silence when necessary.

There was a beat of silence. Just long enough for a brow to lift over one draconic, fire-glinted eye. Amusement curled at the corner of Syn’s mouth, a sharp little half-grin, before she turned toward her holographic counterpart. “Julius masking her location doesn’t help,” she said dryly.

OG made a faint, glitchy noise of agreement, but Syn was already exhaling a long, tired sigh. Something on Takashi’s face, or perhaps just the undeniable weight of his surface thoughts brushing her telepathic senses, made her hesitate. He was circling the same questions she’d asked herself for years, ever since she’d dragged a broken young mutant out of a glassed crater in Nevada.

Finally, with clear reluctance, she gave the order. “OG. Bring up everything we have on Fractal.” It wasn’t a command so much as a concession. A choice made because the alternative, ignorance, was worse. Syn never liked exposing her students, current or former, to outside scrutiny. But necessity was a ruthless motivator.

The air thickened with light as multiple screens blossomed to life around them. OG pulled files from the deep archive: power assessments, mission reports, security footage, medical logs. Fractal’s profile expanded across the displays in real time, a stark contrast of cold data describing a girl who defied categorization.

“She’s never been simple,” Syn continued, stepping closer to the monitors. The golden Loong across her robe shimmered as she moved. “Her abilities present as light-based...” she gestured as clips showed Bethany bending radiance, vanishing entirely, refracting beams like living prism-glass “but the readings we’ve recorded tell a much different story.”

Diagnostic scans pulsed across the nearest screen. Fractal’s vitals. Her energy signatures. The most recent set glowed with static interference. Taken just before she left, fresh off the upgrades with Julius.

“There are only a handful of solar anomaly zones on Earth,” Syn said quietly. “And yet the spikes surrounding her during moments of severe stress exceed anything we’ve ever attributed to her power set.”

OG highlighted the data graph in angry red peaks, each one far above a normal output for a photokinetic mutant.

“A… mishap with that power is what pushed her toward bonding with the nano,” Syn admitted, folding her hands behind her back to still them. “She managed to redirect the surge... but it nearly killed her. She survived by improvisation, desperation, and a talent she doesn’t fully understand.”

She looked up at Takashi then, dragon-eyed, ancient, and deeply unsettled despite her composed tone. “And that,” she finished softly, “is what worries me. Because I don’t think we’ve seen the true nature of her abilities at all.”

“I am quite familiar with her power set,” the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director said in his accented English quietly, for her ears only. “You could say, I am… intimately familiar.” He turned to look at the vast display of the accumulated file of the Academy, clasping his hands behind his back, committing everything he saw to memory thanks to his hyper-intelligence.

“But I was referring to her refraction ability,” he said finally, using his normal tone of voice so OG could hear. “I had asked her about it while we were making our way through the compound. She admitted to me that it was a simple, low power ability she used as second nature. While the power expenditure may be negligible, she still must exert some of her energy to produce the effect. It must be a truly low energy emission because I could not see it using my abilities, but there could be no doubt that it was manifesting.”

Unclasping his hands, he raised his left wrist to access the small computer there, using his gloved right hand to skim a list of files, ‘grab’ another file ‘ball’ and use a throwing-like motion to send it towards the large holographic display. After a second, a large holographic image appeared and a video file appeared, a “CLASSIFIED - TOP SECRET” label at the top of the video was easily seen. The file then began to play.

Moving back to where Bethany stood, Tak quickly looked over the bunker’s schematics then over to the other monitors, making sure the bunker was clear. Unless someone was using good stealth camouflage, they were alone. He also took note of the ‘blanking effect’ of Harrison on the video feed and pointed at it.

“I must say, that is a neat trick, Marshal Harrison,” he commented to her, a slight grin curling the right side of his mouth. “I can remain unseen if I wish, but this is something different. S.H.I.E.L.D. has very good stealth tech; it can even block an IR signature. Is it a subconscious backscatter from your abilities or is it something you have to concentrate on?”

It seemed as if someone had smudged her image on the CCTV, effectively leaving an unrecognizably hazy, ghost-like image on the screen where the Marshal now stood next to him. Moving his left hand behind her relative to the camera, he slid it first upward then downward hiding it from view behind the hazy image.

“My body automatically scatters light differently, I guess you could say,” Bethany answered, arching an eyebrow at his curious attention. “That tends to annoy the fans, frustrate the enemies, and make any family photos, well...pretty creepy if I’m being honest. Though, a band of traffickers managed...”

The video ended there, Takashi turning to face Syn, his face a mask of indifference.

“This,” he said to her and OG, motioning to the video with his right hand. “Is a snippet of the video my team confiscated from that compound you just showed me. It is part of the files that you cannot access. This is what I was referring to.” Takashi looked back at the headmistress to gauge her reaction. He was not as uninformed as he might purposefully appear.

Syn’s head tilted as she took in Takashi’s question, weighing his words before she spoke.

“It isn’t something she chooses to do,” she said. “It’s automatic, reflexive. A side effect of her abilities rather than an expression of them. She leaks a constant trace of her signature, even if she has no idea she’s doing it.”

The next video cued up: her team fooling around in a transport after a mission well done. Their laughter filled the room, the easy camaraderie almost infectious. Someone joked about a security clip of Fractal ending up on a ghost-story forum, and the camera swung toward her.

Just like before, the lens failed to catch her, her shape blurring, phasing, refusing to resolve into a real face. An apparition caught mid-laugh. A smear of a person. The sound of her amusement was bright and unmistakably human, even as the image was anything but.

She appears aware of the effect, OG observed, tone measured, yet equally unable to control it.

The display shifted again, pulling up layered data and cross-comparisons from the archives as she continued, It may well be an unconscious energy expenditure. But as you said, tracking a subtle deviation in a field of identical signatures is very much like searching for needles among needles.

“Ah,” Takashi exclaimed, shaking his head, then explained. “It is a similar signal, just very low powered so difficult to identify, but biologically hers. Similar to any biometric identification; retina, fingerprints, tongue prints, DNA, etc. The problem is finding it then isolating it to the point that it can be continuously tracked.”

Turning away from them, he looked at the holographic map and motioned to the dotted line of Bethany’s movements. “Otherwise, we will have to wait until she uses a larger amount of her power. I have been working on this for several weeks now, and it is slow going. I have tried tweaking the sensor capacity, I have tried to magnify the amplitude… It is mildly frustrating .” That frustration could be heard in his Japanese accented voice.

“OG, pull comparative scans of Bethany before, during, and after the bonding with Julius,” Syn said as she stepped beside Takashi. “Let’s see what stands out. I doubt we’ll find anything obvious, but then, I’m not the one with a processor array for a brain.”

OG’s digital form blinked out for a moment as she accessed the archives. A series of displays came alive across the room, each showing a different stage of the scans.

An unbonded nano is functionally neutral, OG narrated, her tone crisp. There are five standard armor tiers. Their AI is comparable to an advanced operating system. Support units for security, hazard-response suits, and the upper-tier tactical frames. All versions enhance a mutant’s abilities rather than impede them. Communication networks, physical augmentation, adaptive defense matrices, biometric relays. Each unit broadcasts a distinct signal.

A soft hum vibrated underfoot as Syn lifted a hand toward the hologram rising from the illuminated floor. An ornate metallic cradle unfurled, cradling a black sphere that churned and rippled like liquid shadow.

“This is level six,” Syn said. “It only forms if someone with sufficient power consents to the full bonding cycle. Three days. No shortcuts. If the subject is unaware or unwilling, the nano won’t bind at all. It’s integration at the genetic level... atomic, even. One human, one bio-tech becoming one.”

She hesitated before adding, “It can be removed… once. But the sentient AI dies in the process. And the host can never bond with another.”

OG’s image stiffened, a near-imperceptible tightening of posture that spoke louder than a flinch. As the progenitor of every AI consciousness in the fleet, the loss of one was more than a technical failure.

The bonding may have altered her signal, potentially interfering with her biosignature, OG said quietly, eyes fixed on the scans. More than we understood.

Takashi turned his head to look at the ball of black miasma, then to all of the screens and the data therein. Taking a moment to read over everything he turned to face the ancient headmaster.

“Why would she bond with something like this?” he asked, his accented English filled with slight confusion. “Mutant DNA all reacts differently from individual to individual due to the ‘X’ gene. There are almost always unintended consequences to any kind of genetic manipulation or tampering, even with alien technology. History has already proven this, time and again. This seems like such a drastic step for a mutant to avoid dealing with their powers, no matter how potentially dangerous they may be. Much better to learn to control them. Professor Xavier spent almost his entire life studying and teaching mutants and came to this same conclusion.”

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Director looked at the apparently diminutive woman in her serpentine eyes. “Sōke Hatsumi Sensei, my Master, would say ‘塵も積もれば山となる (If dust piles up, it will become a mountain’) and ‘継続は力なり(Continuation is power’). In finding external sources of control, she has none.” He shook his head, a slight sigh of… something, escaping his lips.

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TBC
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Absynthe Drake
“Wyrmwood”
Headmistress - Drake Academy

Minamoto Takashi 源孝志
“Hypernova 極超新星”
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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