The Full Monty

[Michael Beckett]

Mike had prepared himself for just about anything. He'd checked that his shirt was tucked into his pants all the way around; checked his pockets weren't making any awkward bulges; he'd even pulled out his aviators and popped them on for effect. His expression was a carefully honed mask of professional contemplation, and he nodded occasionally, arms only half-folded so he could muster a musing fondle of his beard while he pretended that everything Specialist Hawkins had to say was of the utmost importance.

He'd been prepared for just about anything. Except that.

The bottom fell out of his stomach, and drained down far enough to transform into an embarrassingly urgent need to pee. He was glad for the Aviators hiding so much of his eyes and eyebrows; the what the fuck expression his muscles urged him to adopt would have been much harder to disguise otherwise.

"You're General Heller's daughter."

It wasn't a question; or even a statement; more a resignation, and acceptance of a woefully undesirable, but completely understandable fact. After all, of course the universe would prank him like that. Why give General Heller a daughter who looked like him with pigtails when he could have a child who looked like Aphrodite?

"No ma'am," he answered with a sigh. "Seems that the General didn't tell us a damned thing."

[Kara Hawkins]

Kara's eyes darted from the woman, back to Mike, back to the woman, back to Mike all in swift succession and probably in some vain attempt at not laughing. The General's Daughter. Oh this was damn priceless. Better than all the hot chocolate and complex carbohydrates in the world. Okay, not really, but seriously of all the women to come walking down the street that caught Solider-Boy's eye it was Phillipa Heller? If it hadn't been for his supreme grump earlier Kara might actually have considered filing that little tidbit away to spring on him when Mike was trying to reclaim his crown of His Royal Assness.

For now, though, she'd stay quiet. Which was really for the best all things considered. If Kara opened her mouth now it probably would have only released the supreme case of giggles that she was barely keeping contained.

General's...fucking...daughter. Way to go, Mike!

[Phillipa Heller]

Phillipa felt the beginnings of a frown tug at her lips. She had been under the impression that her father might have treated the situation with the same importance that she had placed on it. It wasn't just for any kid that she would pull herself away from the DA's office and see to personally, she had better things to be doing.

"I see." The way her brows knitted together and the flat tone that escaped her reminded Phillipa a little too much of her father for her liking in that moment but it couldn't be helped.

Another glance was cast at the both of them and it became painfully obvious what was going on. Beckett at least had the dignity to look like he was taking stock in the situation, the girl however seemed like a kid who had gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar for the millionth time. Phillipa rolled her eyes and let out a slow breath upon the realization that not only was coffee going to have to wait but that the General had sent her a damn rookie.

"Very well, I suppose it's up to me to fill you in." A cautionary glance was cast about before she decided that the information wasn't nearly the kind of thing you had to keep under lock and key as long as you left specifics out until later. "The kid you're here for is my brother - Charles Montgomery Heller. If you guys can't convince him to go nicely along with you then he's headed for a 3-year minimum sentence over at Queensboro. I don't think I need to stress how much I'd like to avoid that."

[Michael Beckett]

The General's son? Oh, this just got better and better. It was like being sent out for groceries and being told to buy a sofa at the last minute, completely unprepared for the complex task of trying to wedge it into the back of your probably not big enough car.

The worst part that there wasn't a damn thing Beckett could do about it. If the General said 'Jump', it wasn't even his job to ask 'How high?': it was his job to jump without any questions at all, and to just roll with it when you suddenly found out that you were jumping into a pit with a hungry bear, armed only with a wooden sword.

He chewed the facts over in his mind. 3 years for minor cyber-crimes? he mused, dwelling on the scant information the General had provided. His brow furrowed.

"Just what did your brother do, exactly?

[Phillipa Heller]

She had been about to speak when a passing man casually looked at the trio as he walked by. It wasn't that the man had done anything even remotely suspicious, it just served as a perfect reminder of the fact they were in public, and that was never a place to discuss need-to-know information. All information was important in the right hands and the last thing Phillipa wanted to get out was that her brother, a mutant, had committed a crime against something that some might have seen as anti-mutant. A healthy dose of paranoia in this day and age never hurt anyone.

"That's probably best discussed back at the station." Phillipa nodded back the way she came and couldn't help but notice as the redhead in the uniform give a dismayed glance back at the coffee shop. Me too kid, me too.

A quick breath was taken to harden her resignation before a silent gesture was given for the two SHIELD agents to follow. The trip would prove short enough to avoid any further unnecessary questions. Everything in due time.

[Kara Hawkins]

Yikes... Okay, so even if General Heller hadn't forewarned that they were meeting with his daughter Kara would have assumed they were related in some fashion with curt way everything had been explained and not explained all at the same time. She mouthed a quick Sorry at Mike before falling in step behind the woman. Not that she was exactly sure what she was sorry for, she was the one being denied a warm beverage and a chance to actually try one of those things that New York was known for in other states. Maybe they could do pizza later to make up for it... Kara cast another glance at Mike, then back at Phillipa as they caught up to her. No. Pizza would probably have to come another time. This trip was going to be all business - Good times!

Kara wasn't sure if she was thankful or not that everyone had managed to not say anything further until they reached the police station - it was like Phillipa had put a complete halt to everything when she'd spoken about waiting. Mike was probably still mentally grumbling over his bad luck and Kara was... well... trying to avoid that really uncomfortable feeling that suddenly came upon her as she spotted the station. The last time she had been in one hadn't been all that long ago and it was for less than agreeable reasons. Sad thing was, the last time hadn't been the first time either. You'd think a few times being brought in would get you used to that sort of thing... or that disappointed look in your dad's eyes as he came to pick you up. The kid inside was damn lucky he only had Mike and her to deal with, Kara couldn't imagine what it would have been like to have the General show up in that sort of situation. The thought caused her to shudder involuntarily as she stepped inside the building on the heels of Miss...Ms? Heller.

A look was cast over her shoulder at Mike, wondering, well okay, pretty much assuming he had caught her sudden display of discomfort. "Don't even say it..."

[Michael Beckett]

Mike didn't say it; didn't even think it. Well okay, he thought about the whole we're in a police station, this must be very uncomfortable for her, all things considered thing; but there was no snark, no sass, no derisive remark or sarcastic joke. There wasn't a smug smile, or a disparaging look. In fact, the only thing he did do was something entirely unexpected.

He reached forward, placing a hand on the shoulder she had glanced over, and offered a reassuring squeeze.

"It's okay, Kara," he added, his voice under his breath and yet as sympathetic and resolute as he could muster. "If any of these guys want to get their sticky, doughnut fingers on you again, they're gonna have to go through me first." The faintest flicker of a smile tugged at his beard; not joking, just sincere. "Your partner's got your back."

[Kara Hawkins]

The smile she flashed wasn't fake, wasn't forced, just genuine in appreciation. The fact that he'd actually referred to her as his partner rather than any number of terms that boiled down to newbie I'm babysitting actually meant something to her. It was shocking really. More so that she hadn't tried to play it off as if it was no big thing.

Wait. Did her and Mike just have a moment? Rack up one big point for Solider Boy.

It was the soft ahem that snapped her attention back from Buddy Cop Super Spy Adventure Land and back to the real world of SHIELD operation. Right. Kara took a deep breath, gave another small nod at Mike and turned to as casually yet official looking as possibly stride past the ...What did they call it? Was this technically a lobby? Yes, room service - I'd like a holding cell with a view, please. Whatever it was called, the trio walked through it, and then through an few halls that never opened up into an area with a bunch of desks and detectives that Kara once again was expecting thanks to late night television. It certainly was a lot duller on this side of things than where suspected shoplifters were taken.

Down some more hallways and finally a door was opened to them which lead to something actually expected. The room they were entering was plain, dimly lit, held two guys in suits, but more importantly was the big wall that was taken up by a view of the room next door, and the nervous looking guy sitting at a table with an armed guard trained on him. Kara had a moment of sympathy as she watched the guy's eyes continually look from his hands, to the table in front of him, to the guy with the gun.

She had to force herself to look away from the scene taking place on the other side of the one-way glass and back to Heller's daughter. They'd been promised a rundownof the situation, after all.

[Phillipa Heller]

It bothered Phillipa to no end to see her brother being treated like some sort of dangerous criminal, yet her reaction to the scene before them was the same as it had been since she had first been called in. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she did her best to mask the concern she could feel tugging at her. Charles wasn't a bad kid, he didn't deserve this, but apparently that meant little as soon as someone had found out he could literally walk through walls.

Her attention shifted towards the other occupants in the room as the she caught everyone having that expectant look that let her know she was on. She first looked to the two men already occupying the room and tried to not frown once more. The taller of the two had been the detective who had managed to connect all the dots in bringing her brother in, the second... Well, she only knew enough to know he was there only if the two SHIELD agents couldn't talk some sense into the boy.

"Detective," she chose deliberately to only address the one, "These are the representatives from SHIELD."

The detective offered a disinterested humph in reply.

"Agents, this is Detective Marlowe, he and his associate are only here to observe." For now. She added silently to herself.

Phillipa cast another quick glance at her brother in the other room as he let out a loud sigh and decided that would be the perfect time to put his forehead against the table in front of him while mumbling something about"don't shoot" and "just resting my giant brain." She would have hit him upside the back of the head if she could have.

"He's already confessed, so you don't need to try and get any information out of him." Eyes leveled back on Beckett, then Hawkins. "I'm sure you both are aware of the Mutant Registration Act that passed in California a few months ago. Three days before it was set to become mandatory for all mutant citizens of the state, their system was broken in to. The main online registration page was defaced before being brought down entirely while behind the scenes files containing personal information regarding many of those who had already registered were accessed before being systematically removed. That in addition to the virus that was then uploaded to the sever which further corrupted Government data..."

Her voice trailed off as she once more found it hard to believe her brother, Monty of all people, would have been responsible for such a thing no matter how many times he said he was after going into all the technical details of how it had been pulled off. Something wasn't adding up.

"Given the extensive damage done to the State of California's databases on top of the theft of personal data of its citizens, I'm sure you can understand why the sentence he is facing is so severe. The other option on the table that I managed to negotiate for was where you two come in. If Charles agrees to join SHIELD and help towards preventing this sort of activity in the future, the charges will be dropped."

[Michael Beckett]

Defacing government websites was one thing; that was pretty standard fare for your run of the mill cyberspace political activist. The notion of hacking a mutant registry and screwing the bajeesus out of it to make some kind of statement was also right out of that kind of play book. But the actions were in different chapters: the former was the kind of immature activity that you'd expect some dumb kid to pull off, the hacker equivalent of graffiti or dying your hair neon pink to stick a middle finger up at society; the latter was the kind of militant, strategical approach that you'd expect from the kind of activists who used aliases or collected into groups, and acted out of a desire for anarchy rather than an encouragement for change.

Doing both at once was odd. One was the surgical, sniper approach to a situation; the other was the inelegant carpet bomb alternative. Granted, sometimes you might want to airstrike an area to cover up the fact that you'd made a precision hit against a specific target; but corruption to the mutant registry wasn't something anyone was likely to miss. It wasn't much of a cover-up if you left the assassin's dagger sticking out of the target's chest.

Of course, that wasn't their job here; and that made Mike's gut squirm uncomfortably. Part of his mind was programmed to uncover mysteries and seek out justice; the other half was coded to follow orders and prioritise objectives. Right now, ascertaining this kid's guilt or innocence was secondary: and if they succeeded in their primary goal of enlisting his aid, it wouldn't really matter that much either way. Ignoring the truth in favour of a technicality didn't sit right with him; but orders were orders.

"Unless your colleagues have any objections," Mike responded, "I'd like Specialist Hawkins to have a few moments alone with the -" His mind tripped over the right choice of word. Suspect? Defendant? That all seemed too bleak, too final, and too adherent to a conclusion that Mike himself wasn't totally sold on. "- candidate," he settled upon; the best he could contrive on short notice. "She's a civilian, not military, working for SHIELD because of her skills and abilities rather than any formal training, like Charles would be." He made a conscious choice not to elaborate on the legal circumstances the two of them had in common.

He looked at Phillipa directly; offered her an ever so faint and hopefully reassuring smile. "If anyone can convince your brother to make the right call, it's her."

[Kara Hawkins]

Kara had known it would be on her, General Heller had said as much before they had even left but somehow hearing it in the here and now was weird. Maybe it was the whole alone thing. She had figured that she might be doing most of the talking but with Mike behind her ready to chime in when she inevitably said something wrong. She tried, really tried not to give Mike a holy crap what the hell are you thinking are you fucking sure about this you crazy Canadian bastard look but knew she was only moderately successful. It really did nothing to bolster her confidence under the sudden scrutinizing gaze of Phillipa either. Kara wondered if she had learned that ability to look like they were seeing right through you from her father.

Some part of her genuinely liked the thought that things were depending on her, another was downright terrified. Too bad, Kara, time to get passed it. Into the fire and all that...

She squared her shoulders and attempted to straighten from the slump that had been forming along her spine. At some point a stray strand of hair had come undone and was curling in front of her face. It probably did little to try and assure everyone else in the room of the fact she was supposed to be a professional now. A quick wary glance was given at the other two suits before she forced herself to look back to the younger more lawyery Heller. All things considered she wanted at least some sort of acknowledgement before she went along with the plan Mike had laid out. Not speaking also gave her mind time to go into overdrive on just what she was supposed to say to try and convince the other other Heller to make the right move. She couldn't think of a lot of reasons why he wouldn't, but there had to be something. Some reason her and Mike were sent instead of the General just ordering his son brought to him. The trick would be to try and avoid digging up whatever that was.

[Phillipa Heller]

Phillipa regarded the younger woman critically, trying to take in all what Beckett was saying and make it match with what was in front of her. Despite the fact Mike seemed to stumble over the argument she could clearly pick up hints that although the Sergeant may not have known exactly how he wanted to state his case, there was undeniable confidence laced throughout. While she believed firmly that sending in a rookie in most cases belonged only optimistically in the 'So Crazy It Might Work' category, there actually was good solid logic at work here. Lingering reservations had to be pushed aside as Phillipa realized that even the fact she was feeling a bit uncomfortable about the Specialist's experience was a good sign. Sending in a highly trained agent who could make any argument sound smooth most likely would have been reacted to badly on her brother's part, Charles would be able to see through any sort of false empathy forced by professionalism just like she was certain both herself and her other brother could - it was something they all had learned at an early age.

If Hawkins couldn't get the job done, at least SHIELD hadn't sent her alone, there at least seemed to be a Plan B. A moment was taken to consider the interaction Phillipa had seen between the two, it was subtle to be sure but somehow all too familiar. Suddenly the confidence made sense and she had to wonder just how much of a part Mike had played in recruiting the redhead.

A sharp nod was given as she settled on it. "Very well. Let's not waste anymore time then."

[Kara Hawkins]

Right. Show time. Kara took a breath and cast once last glance at Mike; she had to admit she didn't exactly feel bolstered by the look of encouragement he offered - Mostly thanks to the healthy dose of Don't Fuck This Up mixed in with it. Like she needed that little reminder.

All the mental pep-talks in the world didn't do a damn bit of good the second she left the observation room, took the tiny trip further down the hall, and opened the door to the interrogation room. The guard with the gun leveled steely eyes on her that turned her almost into jelly. And not in the good way. It was like staring down what had been, what was, and what could have been all at one moment and for that split second that really mean voice in the back of her head asked her who the hell she thought she was to not be sitting right where the other kid was.

Somewhere in her brain she forcefully imagined Specialist Hawkins slamming The Evil Demon Bitch into a wall and telling her the party was over, that she'd had her fun, that it was time to not be afraid anymore. It only kinda worked, but least it let Kara find her voice and the ability to move wrestled back into control.

Kara looked away from the guard and towards the kid in the handcuffs as she moved to the opposite side of the table and sat down, which again caused all sorts of uncomfortable memories to be dredged up and only marginally successfully kicked aside.

"Mr. Heller," Oh for the love of... she hated it when they referred to you by your last name in situations like this and she had gone and done it anyway?! "My name is Kara Hawkins, I've been sent here by SHIELD and I'd like to talk with you, if that's okay?"

Jesus Effing HELL, Kara. It was like she couldn't turn it off!

"I mean, you know," she offered a sheepish smile. "As someone who's sat right where you are. Well, okay, so not in New York, but I'm sure you get the idea."