Dragons Among Heroes

It took only two rings before McCoy picked up the phone when Devin rang him.

"Mr. Price, it's been a while. To what do I owe the honor for this call?" Hank asked over the line as Devin paced the racks of weapons in the armory.

"I was wondering if you would possibly be interested in some theorizing on something I've been observing?" Devin answered as he passed a hand over a magazine for an ȧssault rifle to which it disappeared into his inventory.

"And what would that observation be?" Hank asked with interest coloring the tone of his voice.

"Henric's mutation. Though I do hope that you can keep this information to yourself as there are certain individuals that I would rather not have sticking their nose into this?" Devin asked as a hum sounded through the speaker of the phone.

"I can since it is sėnsɨtɨvė information. So, what have you seen so far?" Hank said before asking about Henric.. For the next few hours Devin and Hank speculated on what exactly Henric's mutation could be. Hank did bring up Darwin and his adaptation ability and Devin did admit that he thought it was that very ability, but something about it seemed different.

It was like comparing the ice making abilities of Yana and Bobby Drake A.K.A. Iceman. They are similar in abilities and capabilities, but there are differences that set them apart. While Darwin's seemed like a adaptive evolution to preserve his life, Henric's seems more like he is evolving to any and all possible situations though the eyes and claws seem to speak of a more predatory nature. In the end they had both decided that he had a variation of adaptable evolution that hadn't been fully manifested due to Henric's age.

Soon, Hank mentioned that he had some responsibilities that needed to be taken care of so he had to leave, though Devin said that he would keep observing and update Hank at a later time. Hanging up the phone Devin looked to the clock and saw that time had gotten away from him thanks to the intense discussion. He had already finished refilling his inventory while talking. Heading upstairs Devin decided that checking in on the various individuals of interest could wait till later.

***

*One Week Later*

The time had passed quietly for the four. The kids said that the bullying was continuing though they couldn't prove anything. Yana's locker had been broken into and her textbooks ruined in the bathroom toilets. Henric's desk was littered with hateful writings. No one ever saw anything and the one time that Devin demanded to see the school security cameras he was told that the cameras were coincidentally down for repair.

Devin could see that the bullying was starting to affect the kids mentality and this was in turn affecting Izabela. That all changed on a Sunday night just before the school week began.

Devin and the siblings were sitting in the living room watching tv when the Devin's phone began to ring. Getting up and answering the phone while moving to a different room found Devin talking to Jessica Jones once more.

"Hello Jessica. How are you doing?" Devin answered as he stepped through the back door and out onto the patio.

"I'm better." Jessica said to Devin's shock.

"No insult? Who are you and what have you done with Jessica?" Devin joked as he could practically feel her glare through the phone.

"Don't push it ȧsshole." Jessica retorted with a high level of sarcasm lacing her voice.

"There she is. Any way, do you have some news for me?" Devin asked after a second. There was a sigh on the other end before Jessica answered.

"Yeah, I got some news and it isn't good." Jessica said with a level of weariness that spoke of mental exhaustion more than physical. This made a chill ripple down Devin's spine.

'I'm not gonna like this.' Devin thought before he answered back.

"What did you find?" Devin asked as he steeled himself for what the answer would be.

"Mr. Marvin Lynch. Single with no kids. I'll skip the unimportant details here and get to what you wanted me to look into. Lynch has been on the take for a bunch of wealthy families like I told you about, but that's not all. He's helped to cover up quite a few suicides, making them look like accidents and is in bed with some unsavory jackwads. He's been suspected as having information on two missing person cases though nothing came of investigating then and I believe that he's also involved in a couple others. How the hell did this guy get to be the principle of one of the state's most prestigious schools?" Jessica said as Devin's temper flared with each piece of information.

"Is there anything else?" Devin asked as he took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Yeah a bunch, but it's more than what I can tell over the phone. I'll send you a copy." Jessica said as a beep sounded from Devin's phone.

"Thanks Jessica." Devin said, his voice tight with anger.

"Happy hunting." Jessica said as she hung up, a mirror of Devin's reply not to long ago.

"Yeah, time to finish this." Devin said as he hung up his phone and began downloading the file.