Shortly after Clyde and George stepped into the mobile command vehicle...
About fifteen minutes later, a completely unremarkable black Audi sedan pulled up to the curb. Mr. Nobody stepped out of the vehicle.
He just happened to be in New York over the last few days.
Furthermore...
Clyde Shelton was a practical asset he had personally recruited back in the day. Langley had sent an urgent flash alert stating that Clyde had initiated Code 3—meaning a retired Langley operative was facing an identity exposure crisis—so Mr. Nobody had rushed over immediately.
Inside the vehicle, George looked slightly startled when an officer reported that someone wanted to see him. He glanced at Clyde Shelton, who was sitting directly across from him.
Seeing George's reaction, Clyde immediately knew what was going on. He suggested,
"You should see him, Deputy Chief Stacy."
George let out a short chuckle, his tone absolutely certain. "CIA?"
Clyde spread his hands, adopting a perfect posture of: I know exactly what you are talking about, but I must absolutely behave as though I have no idea what you are talking about.
*I knew it.*
Seeing this, George became even more convinced.
When he looked at Clyde's standard background profile and compared it to those four bodies killed by instant headshots and matching insurance shots, a bizarre, jarring sense of contradiction had washed over him.
But if the man was a Langley operative, everything suddenly made perfect sense.
The profile was technically real, but it was also a complete fabrication.
After all, Langley operatives were legally permitted to disguise their identities to prevent unauthorized individuals from finding them, saving them from targeted retaliation by enemies. This was fully legal, and federal law explicitly protected it.
So...
Tonight's events were absolutely not a standard, run-of-the-mill violent home invasion. It was a targeted terrorist action deliberately disguised to look like one.
George thought to himself as he watched Mr. Nobody approach, guided by a patrol officer.
"Deputy Chief Stacy."
"And you are..."
"Me?"
Mr. Nobody shook hands with George, offering a brilliant smile.
"I'm just an insignificant nobody. If you absolutely need a name, you can simply call me Mr. Nobody."
Hearing the name, George seemed to remember something. He stared at Mr. Nobody.
"Mr. Nobody... You wouldn't happen to be the exact same Mr. Nobody who appeared aboard the Argo, would you?"
Gwen had mentioned him before.
After all, Locke had casually deduced Mr. Nobody's exact place of employment at a single glance. Judging purely by outward appearances, that was an incredibly miraculous feat.
But suddenly, George felt a strange sensation in the back of his mind.
Yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
After shaking hands with George, Mr. Nobody glanced over at Clyde Shelton and offered a brief nod.
Clyde Shelton stood up and left the vehicle.
George snapped back to attention.
Mr. Nobody smiled at George. "Deputy Chief Stacy, Langley will handle the investigation into this matter."
When one of their own group ran into trouble, it would be unseemly if they didn't investigate it themselves.
A retired family member was still a family member.
While many within Langley's management treated operatives as mere tools—and more often than not, disposable ones—Mr. Nobody was different. He preferred to treat his operatives like actual family.
Hearing this, George narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Langley has no domestic law enforcement authority."
Mr. Nobody smiled smoothly. "I am well aware of that."
But who ever decreed that a lack of law enforcement authority meant one couldn't handle a case?
No bodies, no case.
Naturally...
No law enforcement authority would be required.
Watching Mr. Nobody and Clyde prepare to turn and leave, George spoke up, his voice firm.
"Gentlemen, the NYPD hasn't signed off on this yet. This is New York."
Mr. Nobody turned back to look at George, his smile remaining completely unchanged.
"Deputy Chief Stacy, is there an issue?"
George remained expressionless. "Answer one question for me, and you can take the man. I can even hand the entire case over to you."
"Oh?"
"Is the Peerless Assassin one of your CIA operatives?"
"..."
Mr. Nobody glanced out at Clyde, nodding to the latter. Once Clyde had stepped entirely out of the command vehicle and stood waiting outside, Mr. Nobody took the seat Clyde had just vacated. He looked at George with an expression full of genuine interest.
"Deputy Chief Stacy, what on earth makes you say that all of a sudden?"
"Habit!"
"Hmm?"
'Nobody understands the Peerless Assassin better than me!'
George dared to say this, and he possessed the absolute confidence to back it up. From the very first moment the Peerless Assassin appeared in New York City to commit a crime, George had been deeply involved in the task force to capture him. It had been a continuous pursuit for an entire year.
"Habit is an incredibly powerful force."
"Particularly when you are first introduced to a specific skill, you will always subconsciously mimic your surroundings or execute it exactly as you were trained to do."
"Especially when it comes to shooting!"
"It's called a shooting profile."
It was exactly like how Locke used outward characteristics to judge whether someone was a Langley operative.
Shooting habits could easily reveal a person's background training.
For instance, if you saw someone completely empty a magazine in under a second, there was zero doubt they belonged to the NYPD.
Just like the four bodies inside that house.
A single headshot followed by a precise insurance shot.
The operational style couldn't just be called similar to the Peerless Assassin; it looked as though it had been carved from the exact same mold.
And for an operational style to manifest this closely, only two possibilities existed.
George stared intently at Mr. Nobody. "Either Clyde Shelton is the Peerless Assassin, or the Peerless Assassin is an active operative belonging to your Langley."
Outside of those two options, George couldn't conceive of a third possibility.
"So!"
Having finished his explanation, George's gaze turned incredibly sharp as he locked eyes with Mr. Nobody.
"Answer my question, and the case is yours. Otherwise, if the NYPD refuses to hand over a case, no federal law enforcement agency can rip it out of our hands."
Looking at the intensely serious George, Mr. Nobody let out a soft laugh.
"Chief Stacy, any interest in joining Langley?"
George remained silent.
Seeing his lack of response, Mr. Nobody chuckled once more and nodded. "I don't know."
"What?"
George had anticipated that Langley would either cleanly admit it or flatly deny it. This specific response was entirely outside his calculations.
Mr. Nobody twirled his sunglasses in his hand. "In truth, the Department of Homeland Security previously queried Langley regarding this exact matter."
George opened his mouth to speak, a realization hitting him.
"Last year, during that incident where Homeland Security disguised themselves as the FBI?"
That was the exact incident where Locke had filed a massive lawsuit against DHS.
Mr. Nobody nodded, appearing completely open and candid. "Homeland Security strongly suspected that the Peerless Assassin possesses countless intricate connections to Mr. Locke Broadway."
Locke.
George kept his composure perfectly, looking back at Mr. Nobody. "Go on."
Mr. Nobody looked at George with an inquisitive expression.
"By the way, Deputy Chief Stacy, from what I understand, Locke Broadway and your daughter, Gwen, seem to be in a relationship?"
George nodded. "You've investigated him."
Mr. Nobody let out a subtle smile. "Investigated? No, no. Protection. Merely a form of protection."
"Why?"
"My apologies."
Mr. Nobody left the thought hanging. He slid his sunglasses back on and looked at George.
"If Deputy Chief Stacy genuinely believes the Peerless Assassin is a Langley operative, I will have my people compile a specific roster upon my return and copy it over to the NYPD."
With that...
Mr. Nobody stood up and walked straight out of the command vehicle.
George watched Mr. Nobody walk away and immediately followed him out.
Swiftly...
George called out, stopping Mr. Nobody just as the man reached the perimeter tape. The latter turned around to look back at George, his sunglasses catching the night ambient light in a particularly striking manner.
"I'll be waiting for that data."
"Most certainly!"
Mr. Nobody nodded, lifted the yellow crime tape alongside Clyde Shelton, and stepped outside the perimeter. The surrounding patrol officers saw their boss George's hand gesture and chose not to intervene.
...
Inside the black Audi sedan.
In the back seat...
Mr. Nobody took off his sunglasses, looking at Clyde as the man sat down beside him. "What exactly happened?"
Clyde shook his head and walked through the entirety of tonight's events, focusing particularly on his conversation with Locke earlier that morning.
Mr. Nobody's lips twitched slightly. "You suspect this Nick Rice?"
Clyde said firmly, "It's not a suspicion. It's a certainty."
Langley operatives were like elite assassins; they operated heavily on intuition. When an intuitive feeling arose, they followed it first, and years of field experience had taught them to rely implicitly on such instincts.
Furthermore...
Outside of this specific suspect, there didn't seem to be any other viable candidates.
"I will have people launch an immediate investigation into this Nick Rice."
Mr. Nobody nodded, making the note before turning back to Clyde. "I will have arrangements made to select another excellent retirement location for you."
As stated before...
Other divisions might treat operatives as disposable tools, but Mr. Nobody firmly believed that mutual trust and genuine emotional bonds were far better at inspiring an operative's fighting spirit. He always looked out for his retired personnel.
However, Clyde shook his head. "No."
"What?"
Clyde's expression grew dark with anger. "If that Locke Broadway hadn't given me a warning this morning, do you have any idea what might have happened here tonight?"
Mr. Nobody made no outward comment.
He naturally knew exactly what would have happened. After all, Clyde wasn't a field operative, and he had only been granted retirement approval due to certain administrative compromises.
Clyde's technical proficiency was exceptionally high, but his active situational awareness was somewhat lacking. If he stayed in a comfortable environment for too long without anyone prompting him, his alertness would slowly degrade.
That was the primary reason Clyde had been retired in the first place.
Nevertheless...
Mr. Nobody couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh. "Locke Broughton."
Throughout this entire sequence of events, Mr. Nobody—who had been continuously observing Locke from the shadows—felt his appreciation for the boy growing even stronger.
Locke maintained an innate, hardwired level of alertness.
An ordinary person would almost certainly never sense that an individual was problematic during a single, brief encounter. Yet Locke had managed to do exactly that.
"Fascinating."
Mr. Nobody felt a sudden surge of excitement, practically fighting down the immediate urge to recruit Locke right this second.
Sitting beside him, Clyde heard Mr. Nobody's appreciative chuckle. He glanced over and immediately saw through Mr. Nobody's thoughts.
"You intend to recruit Locke?"
Mr. Nobody shot a glance at Clyde, then let out a meaningful smile.
"Do you even know who his mother is?"
***
Bonus chappy