09.07: Boston Bound

JAMIE BRADDOCK
Jamie had just read that someone else had been assigned as both Harry and Noah had suddenly become unavailable. Harry was on some magical thing, and Noah had been dragged into the people trafficking thing that Emma was spearheading. He hoped for Eva or Yvette they had the most training, or Illyana as she had the most field experience. He liked working with the women.
But Ethan Stevenson’s greeting dropped a rock into the pit of his stomach. Jamie didn’t do coincidences.
.oO(Oh great. They have dumped a grey shirt on me.)
Jamie did not mind helping to train the rookies but it was rare to have a grey along on an op. Noah had had one in the incursion on that other school to plant surveillance on a mutant hating teacher. That had been in Boston too. He tapped a query to Tessa to ask for a download on the Cameron Hodge surveillance data.
He had no history with Ethan, unknowns were always tricky. People freely made assumptions about Jamie because he was telepathic. But it was pretty widely known that he did not go into others minds freely, or without permission. Some asshole bigots thought they ‘knew’ Jamie, seeing him in real life they extrapolated about his abilities and how he used them. They were wrong. Always wrong. What they thought actually had nothing to do with Jamie, it was a product of their deluded self-importance. Most people thought they were interesting, you only had to glance at social media to see that. They weren’t, they were little more than drones and so boring. A few were disturbing, like this guy, but Jamie would never let anyone here know what he sensed or felt about them. Jamie never shared his perceptions of others with anyone, even the person in question, he is big on personal privacy. And knowing someone is aware of your innermost thoughts would be a traumatic thing to know.
His face brightened as he walked towards his assigned teammate. “Welcome on board Ethan. Getting your first taste of field work. ” He ignored the dig about acting. They were moving into a world Jamie knew well, he had aced his espionage course, he had exceptional ‘trade craft’ knew all the strategies for getting to know and befriend all sorts of people. Not just depraved tricks and street scum, roughtrade craft. Having a top spy as the school head certainly had its benefits.
Kids who were clever and obedient were rarely any good at undercover work, troublemakers tended to be more creative, self-reliant and could think for themselves. With training those traits were a godsend, untrained they could be problematic.
At least he knew that Ethan coils assimilate information swiftly so hopefully they would avoid any undue delays.
“Let’s walk.” It was a pleasant enough day and as impressive as it was being so far underground was not the most conducive place to be. “Tablet,” he said, holding his hand out. “Pop quiz. I want to see how well prepped you are. This is a first contact op, hopefully we should be able to get it done in a day. Two tops.”
They walked along one of the many paths on the island, they stuck to the paved paths as it had rained recently and Jamie didn’t want the distraction of negotiating mud and puddles to get in the way.
He quizzed Ethan about the details of the op without referring to his own tablet. Ethan had a good grasp of their objectives, and was even aware of his own cover. Noah’s background had been binned and a new cover made up for Ethan. He was enrolled a couple of years below Jamie as a normal American student whose mother had just moved to the area for a job. His knowledge of the school and area were good, and whilst he faltered in a couple of places he swiftly and deftly corrected the errors. Quick thinking.
Jamie was well impressed and told Ethan so.