I choose to ignore her like I usually do.

“Did you manage to give Wallace the cinnamon buns?” Reed asks me.

I nod and repeat what I told them earlier, “Yep, I gave them to him before I heard the noise and followed it to the kelpies.”

“Did he like them?” River asks.

I nod, “Yeah, he seemed to. He took them off me and then just disappeared instead of walking into the forest all mysteriously like he usually does,” I smile. Turning to look at Evander I change the subject, “You wanted to talk about HID and stuff?”

“That can wait,” Van replies. “You’ve just had a near-death experience.”

I shrug, “I’m good. Honestly, it apparently happens a lot now. We haven’t got anything else to do right now while we wait for the food, so we may as well start to talk about it at least. If the food arrives before the conversation is over, then you should know that I will be tuning out for the rest of it in favor of the food.”

“Fair enough,” Griff replies, trying and failing to hide his smile.

“Are you sure?” Van double checks. I nod, and his demeanor changes as he slips into work mode. “We need to come up with a plan to weed out the compromised agents at HID.”

I interrupt, “We know that the boss, Richard, is involved because the agents that killed me mentioned that he would be pissed along with the mysterious guy that they are giving supes too. Even if I hadn’t overheard it, we could assume that he was, because the agents were using HID sanctioned vehicles andweapons. They also used the official clean up to sort everything out afterward and make sure that there wasn’t any evidence of the crash left behind.”

“That’s true. Can you remind me? I remember you saying that there were other agents there, but did you recognize them?” Ransom asks me.

I nod, “Yeah, I know who they are. Well, I know who three of them are, that I can say for certain are compromised. The agents that did the clean-up though I have no idea who they are since I was too far away to see or hear anything.”

“That’s good, we at least have a starting point of who we can look into,” Reed adds.

“If I can get close enough to his computer, then I’m sure I can get us some more names. Richard likes lists, he has lists of lists, and I am almost one hundred percent sure that he will have a list of agents that are working with him. He will most likely have information on what they have been up to as well. I have no idea how he managed to become the head of HID. He isn’t that bright.” I explain with a frown, “Although, he has been running the corrupt side for fuck knows how long without anyone really picking up on it, or if they have, without them being able to do anything about it, so I guess he can’t be as stupid as he seems to be.”

“I don’t think that it would be a good idea for you to go anywhere near HID, and especially not anywhere near Richard,” Doc says.

“Doc is right. Richard ordered you to be killed. We don’t want to risk him realizing that you are alive. Especially since they know that you were very definitely dead, so the fact that you are alive will most likely get back to whoever is taking the supes,” Evander agrees.

“That would be really bad,” River frowns. “Especially since we don’t know why he wants the supes.”

My frown deepens, “I don’t like it since I feel like I’m responsible for HID because I was a part of their organization, but you are right. It wouldn’t be a good idea for any of them to realize that I am still alive, and if I go to HID headquarters, then there is a good chance that I could be spotted.”

“We can still use your idea though,” Reed says. “We have some really good hackers at SID, and we can send in a team to get that information.”

I nod, “I think it’s probably our best shot at getting the information that we need to take down the corrupt people in HID as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it’s going to get complicated and involve a lot more of following agents, and that means a risk to our agents.”

River nods, “Yeah. We already know that they pose a significant threat to supernaturals, and obviously, those investigating will be supes. We need to make sure that everyone proceeds with caution. They must have something at their disposal that means they can easily subdue supes.”

“Fuck,” Griff curses. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about how they are getting the supes.”

“Let’s get Ty on the phone,” Evander suggests, “I need to talk to him about an update for what happened at the clearing anyway, and we can suggest your idea and warn him that everyone needs to be extra cautious.”

“I think you will probably need to emphasize that point,” I say. “Supernaturals tend to have a habit of underestimating humans, and therefore not keeping their guards up, and in this situation, that would be particularly dangerous.”

I know that because I have used that to my advantage a few times. The supes that I have been up against haven’t realized until it’s too late that they shouldn’t underestimate me.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Doc replies.

Evander pulls out his phone and presses a few buttons before holding it in the palm of his hand. I’m assuming that he hasn’t forgotten how a phone is supposed to work and has instead put it on speaker so that we can all hear the conversation, and he doesn’t have to waste time in relaying it all back to us later on.

My brain is doing that weird side quest thing that it likes to do regularly, and I have to force it to pay attention again so that I don’t miss anything important.

“Hey guys, I was actually just about to call you,” Ty answers with a warmth that I am definitely not used to hearing from a boss.

“We were just calling to get an update on the clearing and fill you in on the HID corruption case as well,” Evander explains.