Daniel's spirits had never been higher than the ride back from Lautville. The soldiers sat next to them, asking questions about Traces and their lives. Daniel had to help Sam wipe black monster blood off her face with a wet wipe, but he didn't have to ask for the wet whipes. Ecks walked over with the pack, before he'd asked. Ms. Henderson stayed in the jumpseat, and Daniel dared think she had given up on isolating him.
As soon as they landed back at Deadrock he realized that was stupid. Ms. Henderson wasn't the kind of person who gave up control. She beckoned the two of them with a finger and made them wait while she put her black blazer back on.
The soldiers filed off the back of the chinook, leaving them alone with her.
"Samantha" she said, finally. "Head back to the house and wash up. Daniel needs to answer a few questions." Daniel's first thought was about how unfair that was, considering that he too was drenched in monster muck. His second was an all-too-prescient realization that he knew exactly what was waiting for him in the base's interrogation rooms.
Sure enough, Ellis sat in the sterile room's only other chair, her hands folded. It was, Daniel knew, at least 3 AM. She'd been woken up for this. Ms. Henderson closed the door behind him, and he heard the click of the lock. Ellis looked impeccable, her white uniform shirt pressed and ironed, her hair and bangs just poofy enough to look effortless. She smiled-but-not-really with her eyes and gestured at the metal seat waiting for him.
Daniel limped over to it, only now feeling the day's bruises. His stiff leg since the theater. The bandaged but still aching cut on his shoulder from the fieldhouse. He did the math and was sure he'd been awake for twenty hours at this point.
"Do you have a coffee?" he asked.
Ellis' eyes twitched. Amusement maybe. "No."
Daniel looked at the interrogation room's one way mirror. Ms. Henderson would be back soon. Maybe with others. If she did, that would change how he played this. He needed to go over Ms. Henderson's head now.
"Four people." Ellis said with a smirk. Daniel almost jumped. "Sorry, you were looking at the glass and feeling curious." She offered him another one of those not-actually-smiles. They were practiced, and just disarming enough to make you forget whatever she was apologizing for. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Her face said something different. These were head games, trying to throw him off. The more unbalanced he was, the better her Trace would work.
"Now don't get angry at me. I'm just doing my job." she said.
"I don't like people messing with my head." Daniel said neutrally.
"Must have been hard growing up around here." She glanced at the mirror. "Especially with her around. I think Ms. Henderson really likes messing with you."
She just kept scoring. Daniel watched her eyes narrow with something feral as she gaged his reaction.
What had Jefferson said? "Tie him to the tracks".
Ms. Henderson wasn't going to be coming back in here at all. She'd set Ellis loose on him, and because Jefferson suggested it, she didn't lose a thing. If Daniel held his own, she could take credit for his training. If Ellis got something out of him that he didn't mean to— well, he couldn't think about that. Not while Ellis was sitting there looking at him like a frog in a jar.
"You've had a long day?" Ellis asked. Daniel nodded and thought about food as hard as he could. He wasn't hiding anything, he was hungry. She smiled, for real this time, the same way Daniel did when he tracked down a source. This was her hunt. What her trace was built for. Cheeseburgers, salads. Focus on food. He could hold his own verbally. He just had to keep it together visibly. She could only see his emotional reactions, not his thoughts.
Ellis licked her lips. "The mission log says that Samantha canceled the phenomenon."
Daniel felt a surge of pride sneak through.
"She performed well." Daniel said, thinking about how good the parking lot Denny's had been. Sam had been literally licking her fingers.
Ellis' eyes lit up, even as she struggled to hold her face still. That meant she knew about his trace— and how he used it. Which wasn't in the paperwork.
"Last time we talked, you said that you didn't think of her as more important than the mission, is that still true?"
Daniel nodded. Cesar Salads. Ellis shuffled through some papers.
"In the theater, Sam destroyed a section of the stage, allowing the phenomenon to escape, to protect you. Do you think she views your relationship the same way?"
Daniel fought the urge to shove his hair back. It was still wet with monster blood and kept dripping into his face. It was suddenly too hot in the interrogation room, or maybe too cold. Focus.
"I think she understands our job, if that's what you're asking." He needed to get some control of the conversation back. Ms. Henderson would have made sure her boss was here for this. She could— with this girl, cut him off from leadership forever.
Ellis smiled. Freckles stretching, pearl white teeth flashing amidst olive skin. "You're avoiding the question, Daniel. Do you think she would risk damaging a mission to keep you safe?"
Too late, Daniel realized the trap. This wasn't about him. "I think she performed extremely well today as a result of our work together." Daniel said carefully. The head games were a trap. He'd been so focused on her initial feints. The jabs at his emotional state. She'd taken the conversation in a different direction entirely. He wished he weren't so tired.
"Samantha trusts my experience when interacting with phenomenon. That enables a better deployment of her abilities."
Ellis tutted. A short click.
"But you do acknowledge that she has grown reliant on you?"
"Of course. Samantha is a child" Daniel said quickly. "She needs emotional support in a way that older operatives might not. I'm sure that's consistent across many cases."
He wasn't going to be able to reclaim the lost ground.
Ellis' lip curled. "You would describe Samantha as emotionally reliant on you?"
She had him. And she knew it. She knew exactly how helpless and frustrated he felt. The conversation dug into the pit of his stomach. It felt like someone had hit him there too.
Daniel took his time responding. Everyone watching would know what was going on now, there was no point pretending to be casual. He needed to consider all the information he had. This was Ellis' mission. She was in the field. He'd act like he was too.
Four people behind the mirror. Ms. Henderson, Jefferson —who seemed to run Ellis— and two others. That must mean Ms. Henderson needed approval for something. She might bring one aide, one assistant, but not two. The decision makers were right there, on the other side of the glass.
And if they had been called in, maybe woken up, Ms. Henderson must have called for it. She'd told them that there was an issue. Maybe that he was causing an issue. Daniel held the twisting smile inside as he saw his next steps, the scent of blood in the air. He let Ellis feel his bitterness. She'd taken him apart, cornered him, but he wasn't going to go quietly.
He sighed. "I'm aware that our Operant, Ms. Henderson, is supposed to provide that kind of guidance. Samantha is unstable, but she's got the kind of Trace that equalizes conflict with Tier III Phenomenon. Ms. Henderson alienated Samantha early with pattern of physical discipline, and verbal discouragement."
Ellis' eyes widened in shock. She hadn't seen that coming at all, Daniel thought bitterly. He pushed that bitterness at her, begged her to pick up on it, and kept it off his face as he continued.
"I don't know why Ms. Henderson refused to engage with Samantha, but it resulted in months of under-performance from a Tracer who ought to be among the most powerful in the program."
Ellis knew she had lost control of the room. It might even blow back on her— depending on what Jefferson had wanted from the interrogation. "She destroyed a Tier III phenomenon today" she interjected quickly.
Daniel nodded. "You understand perfectly. And she saved my life earlier in the day. Not to mention her actions in San Francisco six days ago."
He glanced at the mirrored glass, acknowledging the audience, then back to Ellis. "Ms. Henderson treated Samantha's actions in San Francisco like a failure. She had you interrogate her about them, which must have seemed weird. I was left to do Ms. Henderson's job. I had to address why she'd frozen up and tell her that it was okay. I talked to her about solutions for the future. A week later she was able to utilize those strategies to destroy a Tier III phenomenon."
He looked back at the glass, abandoning the pretense of Ellis' interrogation. "It's obvious that Samantha isn't less capable than other operatives. However, if Samantha is punished for the progress she's made as an operative, she will fall short of her potential. The Agency needs Tracers with capabilities like hers. I think that's too important to mess up."
The door opened suddenly with a clack. Framed by it, was a man he'd never seen before. Tall, salt and pepper hair, oak brown skin, the same agency standard black suit. A thin smirk knew exactly what Daniel had just done.
"Thank you, Ellis" he said. Ellis' eyes had gone fearful at his entrance. This was a decision-maker she knew. The kind of person that Ms. Henderson had so carefully kept Daniel isolated from. He met the man's eyes, then matched his smile.
"I'm sorry for causing a scene, sir" he said.
The man's smile vanished. "No, you aren't" he said coldly. Then, "Go clean yourself up."
Daniel used the soldier's showers, then walked back to the house in the dark. By the time he got there, Sam was gone. She'd left a note on the door of Daniel's room. It was short.
"Ms. Henderson says I have a new assignment. Working with Jefferson." Then her signature, a loopy cursive 'Sam'. A signature that must have taken entirely too long to draw. A signature that said everything the note couldn't.
He opened the door and found the man from the interrogation room perched on the end of Daniel's bed, reading a report.
Daniel froze in the door, but the man just pointed to a cup of coffee on the bedside table. "Drink up, then pack your stuff." He said, "I'm re-assigning you too."
Daniel took a sip. Everything hurt. His leg, his head. his shoulder, something deep in his gut. A sharp knot where his stomach should be. At least Ms. Henderson hadn't gotten what she wanted, he thought bitterly.