The Director and the Dragon, Part 7

Posted on Tue Dec 2nd, 2025 @ 5:23am 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 watched as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director brought his technology to bear again, her dragon-hued eyes following each shifting display. Drake Academy had accumulated its share of patents over the decades, students and faculty stumbling into breakthroughs as naturally as breathing, so her interest in the field was far from casual curiosity.

She listened just as closely to Takashi himself.

In his careful wording she heard more than he likely intended to reveal. The deliberate omission of her earlier question about his abilities spoke louder than any answer would have, and she knew he realized it. He had already admitted that he believed he and Fractal shared a powerset. One that was uncommon, often unpredictable, and rarely seen in nature.

Syn had spent the last few years wondering about the extent of Bethany’s abilities. The girl had adapted to them with remarkable speed, but Syn had always attributed that to a life forged in brutality. Learn quickly or die. Bethany had always chosen survival.

At least, she once had.

“I’ve long questioned the true range of her power… and how instinctively she wields it,” Syn murmured. Her voice held no judgment, only a scholar’s fascination and a mentor’s quiet worry. “She never chases strength for its own sake. She discovers a capability, evaluates its tactical value, and incorporates it. No ambition, no indulgence. Only utility.”

The words lingered in the space between them. An observation, but also an unspoken fear about what that mindset meant for a young woman who had never been taught to want anything for herself. And what little that she had wanted for herself, had been violently stripped from her grasp.

“It truly is a shame,” Takashi said, almost casually, his accented English filled with lament. “Her having no formal education. She seems quite bright, no pun intended.” He shook his head at the way some people treated each other, even the ones they called ‘family’.

“I do have a question about the nano-suit, he said after a momentary pause, turning to face OG, then back to Syn. “How is it powered? You say it is bonded to her, but does that mean that it resides in her skin, in her blood stream, or is it more like a traditional nanosuit? Does it use only materials found here on Terra or do they have alien materials as part of their makeup?”

“She has managed to pick up French,” Syn said with a soft chuckle and a small shrug. Beth’s mother had been a linguist before meeting Jack Davies, and the girl seemed to have inherited that gift, along with the discipline her childhood had demanded. “She learns quickly. Sometimes a bit too quickly. As if immediate mastery of every new skill is something her life depends on.”

Syn’s smile dimmed slightly. “She excels when the instruction has clear, immediate application. Survival, strategy, anything she can weaponize or anchor herself with. But socially…” She trailed off, exhaling through her nose. “That is another matter entirely. She struggles to relate to the modern world, which is no surprise considering how she was raised. And gaining her trust…” Syn tipped her head. “That is a challenge for the very same reason.”

When Takashi shifted the topic toward nanosystems, Syn’s draconic eyes flicked to OG’s shimmering avatar. “The standard tactical nanosuits are fairly traditional,” she began, her tone instructional. “They operate on stored energy, require cooldown cycles, and each one has its own recharging cradle.”

She gestured toward the screens as the scans of Bethany’s last major detonation faded into schematics. With a few small motions, as though accustomed to signalling troops surreptitiously, she prompted OG to bring up a different model. Sleeker, more organic in shape.

“Six is… something else entirely,” Syn continued. “It’s a bio-technological organism, originally engineered for an alien species, though it does not require alien components, and is completely compatible with human physiology. In fact, it can’t survive without a host. Its biological elements degrade rapidly unless bonded, and once it merges, it relies on the host’s own metabolic intake for energy. Food, water, or, in Fractal’s case, sunlight.”

OG’s avatar dipped her head, the light around her dimming. We nearly starved her when she first arrived, she admitted. We didn’t yet understand how she metabolized energy. She was recovering in a sealed medical ward, no real sunlight at all. Artificial lighting doesn’t nourish her the same way.

The admission was apparently embarrassing for the digital being. It was a small reminder of how much they’d had to learn the hard way.

“Hmm,” Takashi said as he processed what she and OG had imparted to him. “So no other method of tracking her through the nanosuit. What about some kind of… recall signal for the nanosuit? Maybe a critical system update or triggering a critical system failure to get her to return here?”

“Or possibly some other means of communication?,” he asked her as he raised his gloved right hand to his head, then tapped his right temple with his index finger. “Maybe a signal that you could send to her with your telepathic abilities that may get her to respond? Anything that might get her to come out of the cold… otherwise it looks like we are back to square one and waiting for her next large energy burst.”

He sighed in mild frustration as he lowered his hand back to its customary perch at the end of his daisho.

“Because I am getting a distinct feeling,” Takashi said, looking at the ancient headmaster. “That very soon, something significant is going to happen, and it may be too late to react.”

The Director had been feeling a slight sense of danger starting that very morning, somewhere in the recesses of his mind. His Danger Sense was highly attuned and when he had this feeling, something was definitely in the offing. The problem was trying to pinpoint exactly when that might be, so he can then work on the where.

Right now though, both were eluding him. He had spent the better part of the day trying to meditate and focus on that feeling but it was still eluding him. There is still some time yet, but not far enough for me not to sense it.

We’ve tried, OG replied, her form shimmering as more data filled the air. She projected a constellation of known facilities, each point connected by faint lines marking Fractal’s previous strikes, along with a few supposed sightings that had been reported by allies of the Underground. That’s why we’ve been running predictive algorithms, mapping patterns, probabilities, anything that might lead us to them. Once the bonding occurs, the sentience develops around the host’s personality. It does not replicate them, but it reflects them in… unconventional ways sometimes.

Her avatar tilted slightly, her digital brow creasing, contemplative. Male-coded personalities are rare in bonded units. Which is odd, given her wariness toward men. Though, she is rebellious, so a more masculine aspect makes some sense. He’s shielding them and he’s doing it with the precision they’ve honed over the last few years together. Julius is deliberately avoiding all standard means of detection and communication.

Syn exhaled, folding her hands behind her back. “Regarding my own abilities, there is a limit to my range. I would need to be physically close to her to influence her mind in any meaningful way.” A wry, almost wicked chuckle followed. “Imagine the sort of power it would be if distance weren’t a factor.”

Her pupils tightened to slits as she studied Takashi more closely. Something in the Director’s emotional cadence shifted. Subtle, controlled, but noticeable to her. “For instance,” she continued gently, “you’re well within my radius now, and something has you unsettled beyond the current conversation.”

The dragon-eyed educator tilted her head, her tone neither accusing nor intrusive. “Don’t worry. I don’t pry without permission. I’ve already accumulated enough ill karma to last several lifetimes.” She paused, her voice softening. “What else is troubling you, Director?”

Takashi gave her a side long glance, several heartbeats of silence speaking volumes as he thought how to respond to her. Sōke Hatsumi Sensei had spoken to him at length about several types of mental disciplines, many of which were found in Togakure-ryu Ninjustu. What the headmaster was speaking about was something different. He came here with full knowledge of her mental abilities, knowing that at any time she could read his mind. He had trusted that she would not. And apparently, she did not disappoint.

“I have a distinct feeling,” he began, not knowing how much to say, so he went with his gut. “Of some sort of danger that will befall me in the near future. Something to do with Bethany.” He turned to face her evenly, allowing her to see his face and read his expression so that she would have no doubt about his honesty.

“Sōke Hatsumi Sensei trained those in Togakure-ryu about… feeling intent. When to move when there is a blade coming at you, moving your hands to block a strike before it happens, and so on.” He turned away from her to walk a few steps as he spoke his thoughts aloud.

“When an event that is potentially dangerous to me draws very near, it is almost as if I get the distinct feeling of a blade coming down at my head,” the Director said, raising his right hand, pantomiming a blade drawing down to his head. “When the event is further away, I have the sense of being watched, like the hair on the back of one’s neck stirring. It also happens in degrees of intensity; if it is something not so large or strong, the feeling is weaker, easier to brush off, as it were. But when it is something extremely strong or significant, it has a tendency of being overwhelming and everpresent.”

“All I can say is,” Takashi said as he turned to look at her directly in her serpentine eyes, his expression filled with sincerity. “Something is distinctly going to happen, and I will be at the center of events, as will Bethany. Likely something catastrophic in nature, which is why I am doing everything in my power to find her before it’s too late.” His tone was one of finality, as if the Pale Rider himself were in the room, lowering the temperature just by its very presence.

Absynthe Drake felt the weight of centuries settle against her spine as Takashi spoke. She was no mere academic overseer. The deceptively small woman had spent lifetimes studying under masters. Absorbing their philosophies, perfecting their disciplines, and weaving their teachings into her own relentless pursuit of balance. It was why she served as the academy’s martial master… and why history whispered her name even when few living would recognize the truth of the tales.

Or believe them.

“I know the teachings,” Syn murmured with a slow nod. The memories they stirred were best left untouched, shadows for another time. Still, she could not ignore what those arts revealed: practitioners who stepped aside from killing blows with uncanny instinct, who moved like water when the world around them turned to stone.

Her gaze shifted back to Takashi. “So you’re not simply pursuing her on Marshal orders.” It wasn’t a question, just a quiet truth laid bare. “There’s something personal beneath your duty. I won’t ask for certainty, but you have to have some reason to come to this conclu....”

A soft chime interrupted the moment, and the main display flickered as OG brought a new file forward. Lines of code unraveled into text. Messages exchanged between a Marshal’s office contact and HYDRA operatives from the original compound. Communications that should never have existed.

OG’s voice tightened. I’ve uncovered buried correspondence in the data that you shared, Director. Hidden deep, meant to be overlooked. If Fractal accessed this information, then a mole inside the Marshals is in immediate danger.

A picture from his agency ID graced the screen. More information began running the screen as the digital being investigated. Jeremy Franks. He’s based out of the Seattle field office. He appears to live quite well for a relatively low level federal officer.

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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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