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After dinner the Avengers are all sitting in the living room, talking, conversing, laughing, and having a generally good time. It's a work night, however, and one by one each of the Avengers takes leave, heading to bed or wherever. Finally, there are two. Steve is sitting back on one of the sofas talking about some funny story about a man in a foxhole in World War II that, despite the seriousness of the situation, was far more worried about how the French gave them wine instead of beer.
Bobbi had been quiet. She'd disapeared with only a little 'Job. See you later.' Note left on a scrap of paper. She'd had only just returned to the mansion that day. Though she'd smiled and laughed with everyone else, there seemed to be a certain lack of her usual levity by comparison. She sipped at her beer, relaxing back into the cushioned car in thought.
She had dressed down, in jeans and a tank top, and at some point in Steve's story, she had seemed to become distracted by her thoughts. When it became apparent that they were the only two left down stairs, she waited for a pause in the story and considered him.
"Steve, do you know where Barnes is?" She started softly, hooking a brow upwards.
"You mean as in right now?" Steve responds with a raised eyebrow of his own and a slight twist of his head. It's always this way with Barnes. Whenever the topic comes up his concern is unmistakable. And well warranted. "I haven't seen him in a while. He tends to come and go."
Bobbi nodded, "I thought as much." She sighed and sipped at her beer. "He's in SHIELD custody right now. Back in Triskelion. I came back from a job and got an offer to help out with his blood work. I saw him last night. He seems … better. He's getting help and getting tested. There's been progress in finding out what triggers the Russians used to manipulate him. And a whole lot of classified things, I'm not entirely cleared to know about just yet." Her lips thinned.
"Coulson quite carefully had me working in the lab instead of present for a while."
Steve sits back and says nothing for a while as he thinks. "That sounds like good news." Unexpected, but he seems grateful. "A couple of months ago you were you were lamenting them not giving you enough to do, so that sounds like a plus. Anything you can share or is it top secret?"
Abruptly, there is a knock upon the door. "Don't get up," Steve says, waving her off. "I'll get it."
Moments later she can hear him talking with someone and, eventually, inviting them in. A few moments later, Steve brings a tall man into the living room and offers him a seat. "This is Luke Cotton—he's a friend of mine from the New York office of the FBI. Luke and I served together in the war."
"Hi," he says a bit awkwardly. "I came to you guys with a problem we're having at the Bureau. Seems like it's more your guys' sort of thing than ours."
Bobbi inclined her head, "Yeah. It was nice to get out and do something for once." She murmured, glancing down at her beer and finishing it off. Her smile twitched faintly, "Can't share though still." She glanced toward the door as the knock sounded, her brows lifting as Steve returned and with an FBI man in tow. How curious.
"Bobbi Morse, nice to meet you." She offered with an nod. Her gaze swinging back toward Steve Luke Cotton comments about a 'problem'.
"What's your problem?"
"Well," Luke begins as he takes a seat and begins to unload a case file from under his arm. Steve takes a seat on the opposite sofa, so all three are facing the coffee table. "We've been tracking some troubling activity from an unknown vigilante. This guy, whoever he is, is ruthless, often killing his enemies. Those who survive describe him as faceless. The only attributes is that…he wears a police hat and drives a van." He sighs, "We've gotten nothing and aren't sure how to proceed. And, even if we do find him, we're a bit worried that we might need some extra help in apprehending him. We thought maybe the Avengers could be interested."
Bobbi exhaled a breath, leaning forward and resting her forearms on her knees as she listened intently. Her lips twisted faintly, "I can't say I've heard anything about this guy, but I wasn't particularly looking." Her gaze swung back toward Steve, and she hitched an eyebrow upwards in curiousity before her gaze returned to Luke.
"I'm curious at the very least. Any ideas on if this guy is powered or something?"
Steve remains quiet, thinking, with a hand drawn up to his lips as he's considering.
Luke nods, "We don't think so, but we're not really sure. His surviving victims have said he is huge and strong, but it's not clear if it's a mutant gene thing, or just someone who has put in a lot of work in the weight room." He spreads out some of the pictures. Perps splattered on the pavement. No mercy. That sort of thing. This guy must be a real piece of work and seems to take a lot of pleasure in eliminating these guys. Without a trial.
"We've had cases in Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, and then, a week ago, in Staten Island."
Bobbi leaned forward, a low whistle escaping her as she looked over the pictures. She didn't seem to have a problem with the gore at least. She reached out from time to time, turning a picture her way, bringing it closer, inspecting it. Before she moved onto the next one. As Luke talks about the sheer area that the reports have been coming in from she glanced toward him, arching a brow.
"That's a lot of area for a lone guy to work. Sure it's the same one?"
"We thought that too," Luke replies. "But it's the same sort of weird M.O. Guy comes in a white van, speaking over a loudspeaker. Gets out. Big, Brawny. Wears a police hat. No face. That comes from both victims he let live, and other witnesses. But other than that, everything is different. Sometimes it's urban, sometimes it's in rural areas. Since he waits a while, we're thinking he does a lot of recon."
Bobbi frowned, "Any connections between those he targets? Similar crimes? Ages? Anything besides the fact that they haven't seen a court day yet?" She set the picture she was looking over aside. Her eyes narrowed in thought. The chair beneath her creaked slightly as she sat up from her lean over the coffee table. It seemed at the very least, she was interested in taking the job. Regardless if the other Avengers agreed to take it.
"Let's see," Luke answers as he looks at a summary of the cases. "Two of the guys were thieves, one night he attacked a biker gang and killed fifteen guys. They were speed dealers. One was a murderer who got off on a technicality, so that one was post court date. This one here, well, I won't say what he did in front of a lady, but suffice to say he was accused of doing some pretty terrible things on a date."
Bobbi's eyebrows shot upwards in consideration at the details, and at Luke's attempt at sparing her the gory details of what the criminal had done. Her lips twitched and she glanced toward Steve. "It's okay Steve, I can handle the details for you. Wouldn't want to upset your delicate sensibilites." She quipped, her blue eyed gaze shifting back to Luke.
"Right, so no connections between the crimes committed, or the ones committing the crimes other than they did something at some point. That's a pretty broad description to go off of. This guy wouldn't need shit for recon if he's just picking off criminals as he finds them." She propped her chin up with her hand in thought. A hmmm following.
"Bobbi Morse, you're my hero," Steve says with a wink.
"We just don't know what we have to go on and we don't know where to go next. We figure if we do find him, we're going to need someone more…fitting to take this guy on. Steve already said he'd help. Sounds like you might be willing to, too, Morse?" asks Cotton.
A grin was flashed in Steve's direction and Bobbi had to hold back a laugh. "I do what I can."
A nod followed Luke's words, and Bobbi tapped her fingers against her knee. "Yeah, I'm on it. I dunno when my next assignment will come in, but I'll take this on in the mean time. If another body shows up here in New York, can you hold it at the morgue for me? I want to take a look at it in person. Other than that…" She paused, exhaling a sigh. "I want to read over the case files as well. And then hit the street. See what the local criminal population has to say on all of this. See if anyone is spooked."
Luke nods, "Well, these are copies, so they're all yours. I gotta head back to the office and get some things done if I plan on seeing my wife tonight before she goes to bed. Thanks for your help, Morse. Steve." Luke gets up and slaps Steve on the shoulder. "It was nice meeting you, Bobbi. Wish it were under better circumstances."
Bobbi stood up to offer Luke a hand shake. "Yeah, well, if I waited around until better circumstances to meet people I really wouldn't get out much." She offered another faint twitch of a smile and then sttled back down to the chair after a moment. She reached for the copies of the case files, beginning to flip through them once it was clear that Luke was headed out.
"Fair point," Cotton says as he shakes her hand and makes to leave. Steve's eyes trail to his friend before they lay upon Bobbi. "Initial thoughts?" he asks as she begins to work.
Her gaze lifted as as Steve spoke and she flipped through the case files, pausing to read one here or there. "Sounds like a serial killer that fancies himself a hero. Anger issues, possibly, judging by how splattered the bodies are. My guess is he's using something blunt judging by the pictures. Non-powered folks can easily do that." She flicked over to another page, reading briefly.
"I want to get out on the stree though and ask around. See if this guy has a reputation or a name he goes by." Her lips pursed in thought.
"What do you make of the cop hat?" Steve says with a raised eyebrow. "Sounded pretty weird to me. Faceless. That obviously is on purpose. I just don't know what it means." He sighs, "I'm game for going out tonight if you are."
Bobbi sighed, closing the files and setting them down. "Could be one of several things. My guess is either he fancies himself as a cop. Or maybe he's a former cop that got disillusioned with what he saw. Decided he'd try to take down the criminals that got away with it." She shrugged, "That's just a guess. It's hard to say. Could easily be any number of things."
When Steve offers to go out on the town, she quirks a smile. "Under cover, that means no spangles Rogers. I know it'll be a difficult urge to fight." She teased lightly, "But sure. Tonight sounds good."
"You love the spangles. Don't deny it," Steve says quietly as he reaches to clean up some of the bottle he and Bobbi drank from, as well as some of the Avengers. "Am I driving or you?"
A shrug, and Bobbi leaned back crossing her legs. "Guilty, I won't deny it in the least." She winked and tapped the arm of her chair in thought. "Dunno how do you feel about motorcycles?"
"I was going to offer mine," Steve says with a chuckle