It's a little over a week before the Initiative's Internal Investigation is officially announced in the Department, but as soon as it's open Estelle applies to be part of the team working it. In addition to her having a personal interest in knowing who's screwing with Desmond's team, the Auror leading the II is none other than Clary Shacklebolt, former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, best Auror Trainer in living history, and one of Estelle's personal heroes. Estelle would honestly contemplate murder if it meant she could have a chance to study under the Auror legend, so this is an opportunity she absolutely can't miss.

Applications stay open for three days, and Estelle is incredibly twitchy throughout the entire time frame.

"You do know you might not be selected, right?" Desmond comments as she rambles to him for the third morning in a row about how excited she is to work with the Clary Shacklebolt. "I'd imagine there are a decent number of people who are applying to be a part of this."

Estelle pouts at him. "Don't destroy my dreams. Besides, it makes sense to choose people already familiar with the Initiative, right? We can more quickly focus on who might be the problem."

Desmond frowns. "I'd argue it just makes you biased, personally."

"Well there are a limited number of people available anyway, so bleh." Estelle replies cheerfully. "Statistically, they kind of have to hire me."

As it turns out, they do not.

"How did you get in and I didn't?" Estelle complains miserably as Tristan whoops next to her.

Her friend awkwardly clears his throat and obviously attempts to hide his elation. "Well, I mean, you are dating one of the Initiative Muggles - that's a pretty big conflict of interest."

Estelle just glares at him until he awkwardly sidles away. It's not like he can even talk - he just wants to help because he'll get to see more of Kylee. How is that not a conflict of interest?

"Other than the fact Kylee isn't going to be a suspect, since she's a Squib?" Desmond points out when she complains to him over lunch later that same day. She's still incredibly disappointed, so it's not what she wants to hear, and she levels a miserable glare at her boyfriend, who shrugs remorselessly.

"I did warn you about getting your hopes up." He points out, and she drops her head onto her forearms and groans.

"Now what do I do?" She asks the table miserably. "It's been weeks since the Hunters were downsized, and none of us have gotten a new assignment yet. Not for lack of trying, mind, I know Department Head Potter is scrambling to get work for a bunch of the other Aurors - it's not just us."

"That's why there were so many applications, I presume?" Desmond comments.

Estelle turns her head so she can stare at him, though she keeps her head on her arms. "Yes." She whines. "I hate it. There's nothing to do. The Incident happened and then every Dark Wizard in the world decided to go on vacation. It ."

Desmond hums, frowning. "Is that weird?" He asks suddenly. "That there's so little activity?"

Estelle stares at him a moment longer before sitting up abruptly.

"It is. There are always people doing creepy awful things, even in peacetime. Where did they all go? You'd think with Yurina out and in control the world would be their playground right now." She grins and grabs Desmond's arm so she can pull him close enough to give him a quick thank-you kiss. "You're a genius. Can you get the bill? I need to talk to Auror Shacklebolt!"

Desmond laughs and waves her off, and she hops up and darts out of the restaurant they'd been having lunch in, waving to the hostess as she passes but not slowing at all. She practically flies to the Alley's Floo, and she's never been more thankful to see that there isn't a line to go through. She grabs a handful of the provided powder, tosses a few sickles into the hat next to the fireplace as payment, and Floos straight into the Atrium.

She rushes right past the greeter, only hearing the first couple sounds of his standard 'welcome back,' and opts to take the stairs - it's only one floor up and her legs are almost definitely faster than the ancient, rickety lift. She takes them two at a time and bursts into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement offices only moments later, beelining straight for Clary Shacklebolt's office.

A middle-aged man steps in front of her, and she barely stops before slamming into him. "Woah there Estelle, what's the rush? Nearly everyone is out to lunch right now - whoever you're looking for probably isn't here."

Drake Jarvis gives her his signature amused grin, and Estelle blushes. Right. She probably should have thought of that before running out on her lunch date.

"Do you know when Auror Shacklebolt will be back?" She asks the Hit-Wizard hopefully, and he makes a face.

"Ugh, Clary. Everyone always wants to see Clary. You know, I have stories about her from school and all the unheroic crap she pulled back then. But no, now she's a big hero and everyone loves her."

"Because she's awesome." Estelle agrees with a grin, having heard Drake's whinging before - every Auror has at some point. Every Auror has also gotten to hear a few of Drake's stories as well, which are always a ton of fun.

He finally laughs. "Yeah, she is. Still can't believe she managed to snag Kingsley - never would have guessed it in school."

Estelle figures that since she has to wait anyway, there's no harm in waiting with one of the few Hit-Wizards willing to spend time with the lower-ranked Aurors, so she presses for more information, and Drake is happy as always to go off on a (definitely embellished) story about his time at Hogwarts as Clary Shacklebolt's yearmate.

He's halfway through a story about an apparent prank war when the woman in question returns from her lunch hour.

"Drake, are you lying to the children again?" She scolds, and he grins at her unrepentantly.

"If they can't tell the difference, then they shouldn't be Aurors." He declares cheerily. "Estelle here was looking for you, and in quite a hurry too."

Estelle isn't normally a shy person, but she can admit to flushing slightly when Clary Shacklebolt (The Clary Shacklebolt!) turns a curious gaze onto her.

But she rallies herself - she's on a mission here and it's not like she's so star-struck she's going to forget how to actually function - and clears . "I was thinking - where have all the dark witches and wizards gone? Prior to the incident there were still regularly run-ins with the occasional group or person intent on causing trouble. But in the past six months they've gone nearly silent. I know there are several hit-wizard teams looking into this, but I wanted to check if anyone has been examining things from an inside perspective?"

Auror Shacklebolt frowns. "Inside perspective?"

"Well, with all due respect, I think we can assume that someone working for Yurina is on the inside, ma'am." Estelle says confidently. 

Drake coughs. "And this is where I leave. Good luck ladies."

Estelle turns to watch him trot off with a frown, only to be startled when Auror Shacklebolt grabs her arm and pulls her into the office, closing the door tightly and spelling it with a strong silencing spell.

"Never say things like that out in the open." Auror Shacklebolt says sharply, and Estelle blinks.

"It was just you and Drake though, I don't think-"

"You don't know that. There are eavesdrop spells that even we can't immediately detect, which Drake is checking for and deactivating now." She sighs heavily. "You're correct that there is likely an insider. Possibly more than one. We've been unable to move effectively on that front, however, without showing our hand." She looks at Estele steadily. "I assume you're here to volunteer for such a task?"

"Yes ma'am!" Estelle declares immediately, excitedly, though she deflates somewhat when Auror Shacklebolt's expression remains stoic.

"And how do we know you aren't the insider?" The woman asks, and Estelle... doesn't know how to respond. She bites her lip and furrows her brow. What would be the best way to confirm that? Auror Shacklebolt's concern is completely understandable, and Estelle would do the same in her position. However, Estelle is only now realizing that if she can't answer the question well, she may have just gotten herself fired.

"An Unbreakable Vow." She says suddenly, the idea springing straight from her brain and out off her tongue without waiting for her filters to actually check it first. "I swear I'll never work for Yurina - that's easy enough to do since I have no intention of ever helping that woman with whatever horrors she's planning."

Auror Shacklebolt eyes her warily for a long moment, before giving one, short nod. "You'll never intentionally work for Yurina." She says. "We don't know who the insiders are, and working for them constitutes working for her. So long as you're unaware of their loyalties, the intentionality of the clause will protect you in such circumstances."

Estelle doesn't comment on how familiar Auror Shacklebolt seems to be with the Vow, something that most people would have recoiled from without a second thought. She supposes the woman was a Slytherin - she may be a bit more comfortable with the darker side of magic than others.

"We'll need a witness." She observes, pretending she's not abruptly (and very logically) nervous about her own proposal. "Is there anyone-"

"Drake." Auror Shacklebolt says immediately. "He's not the insider. If he was his best friend would kill him, and then resurrect him so Kent could kill him again. They've been through too much at the hands of the Deatheaters to switch sides." She pulls out her wand and gives it a flick - a silver-blue kitten leaps from the end of her wand and settles in front of her, head tilting slightly as if waiting for something. Shacklebolt leans down and murmurs something to it, upon which it hops up and darts through the wall.

"Your Patronus?" Estelle asks uncertainly, and is surprised when Shacklebolt shakes her head.

"Just a messenger." She says with a small, secretive smile. "She'll get Drake back over here without alerting anyone else. My Patronus is a King Cobra." She chuckles slightly. "My husband's is a kitten, though."

Estelle blinks. "Wait. Former Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus is a kitten?" She demands, and Shacklebolt lets out a genuine laugh.

"Well, a young Lynx." She corrects. "But it's still sweet. It changed after the war, when we got back together."

Estelle has about a million questions on that front, but she's interrupted by the door opening and Drake popping through, shutting it again behind him.

"You're completely mad." He informs the room, and Estelle gets the sense he's talking to both of them. "But I'll do it."

"Good." Clary says, and holds out her hand towards Estelle.

There are now butterflies swooping through Estelle's stomach, crawling along her guts and laying eggs in her intestines, but she reaches out to take Shacklebolt's hand.

Afterwards she doesn't feel any different, but the world seems a little darker, a little more threatening than it had only minutes earlier. She drops Clary's (she thinks she has a right to call the woman Clary after this) hand and takes a half step back.

"Well." She says quietly. "I guess I should get started then?"

Clary nods briskly. "Take two others you trust. No more than that. We keep this small and we keep this quiet - Drake and I should be the only high-level people aware of your mission. Clear?"

Estelle worries at her lip slightly. "One request?" She asks, and Clary looks at her, clearly unimpressed. Estelle clears awkwardly. "I'd like to discuss with Odette Grimond if at all possible - her office is in charge of the Trace and I think a modification on that could be of use, were she to allow us access to the system."

Clary tilts her head. "Request granted. Ms. Grimond is Muggleborn and was a fugitive during the last war, so the likelihood of her working for Yurina is minimal, if present at all." She agrees after a moment of thought. "If you need to consult anyone else, confer with me first. Dismissed."

Estelle nods and exits the room, leaving Clary and Drake behind. She's still feeling a bit off, but she assumes it's a side effect of the Vow so she ignores it and heads straight for her desk to start working out which two people she should recruit for her team. Her first thought is Tristan, but as he's on the II he's out, which is unfortunate. She hums and changes direction halfway to her seat, instead going to look at the II list again to confirm who is and isn't working on that team.

Cat Wolff is on the list, as is Isaac Harrison (not that Estelle would have picked Isaac even if he were available), as well as a few of her former teammates from before she joined the Hunters. However, two names are noticably absent, and Estelle grins.

Noah Travers and Demelza Robins are definitely two people she trusts. She'll submit their names to Clary to get approval and hopefully be able to bring them on by morning. For right now, she wants to get started with Ms. Grimmond to see how viable an altered Trace could really be for her search. She heads for the east wing of the second floor, where the Improper Use of Magic Offices are located, picking up speed ever so slightly when she notices people are trickling back in from lunch. The fewer people see her nosing around, the better. Clary is right about one thing - just about anyone could be an insider for Yurina, and the less Estelle is seen, the less likely she'll be suspected of anything too early on in her research.

Grimond's secretary looks vaguely confused on Estelle's approach, but acquiesces to her request for a meeting without a fight when Estelle flashes her Auror credentials.

Ms. Grimond looks up when Estelle walks in a few moments later, looking both curious and wary at the Auror's presence. "How can the Improper Use Offices help the Auror Department today?" She asks, professional wariness rolling off her tone in waves.

Estelle does her best to smile disarmingly. "Actually, I was hoping to speak with you privately about a certain, delicate matter?" She says. She'll need to work on her opening line in the future - any pro-Yurina eavesdropper could figure her out from comments like that.

Grimond raises an eyebrow, but nods and pulls out her wand, muttering a few silencing spells. She keeps her wand out when she finishes.

"How can I help?" She asks, the wariness from before that much more present in the question, not that Estelle blames the older woman. She keeps her own wand in sight but loosely held as she lays out her situation and what she hopes to accomplish.

By the end, Grimond has put her wand away and is leaned back in her chair fingers steepled under he chin as she thinks. "It's a good idea." She says after a lengthy stint of contemplation. "But it's not something I can do alone. You'll need to find a spell specialist you trust and I can work with them on modifying the Trace to see if we can locate any dark magic within the Ministry walls." She frowns. "It's... unpleasant, to think that someone we work with, people we might trust, could have been secretly working with that witch all this time."

Estelle shifts uncomfortably in place, unsure how to respond and feeling a bit awkward, as she always does when the emotional impact of the war comes up. At least Grimond's mild despair is understandable - Estelle would probably go slightly mad if she didn't think she could trust her friends.

"Right, well, do you know anyone?" She asks after a moment, want to move on as quickly as possible from the awkwardness. "If not I'm sure Clary has some ideas."

Grimond hums. "I think it would be best for Mrs. Shacklebolt to make that decision." She says after a moment. "And have her message me personally when she has someone selected. She'd know better than I would who was on which side of the war twenty years ago."

Estelle nods her assent and mentally notes to add the request to the report she plans to give Clary later. She does wonder how Grimond could not know who fought on which side, but given that Clary had mentioned the woman was a fugitive Estelle supposes it's possible she really had been out of the loop. Why she would still be out of the loop is confusing, but Estelle doesn't push. She has more important things to get on with.

She heads back to her desk, greeting the Aurors returning to their own workspaces from lunch as she goes, and gets to work scratching out her chosen teammates and Grimond's question to give to Clary.

It's only when she's heading home that evening, mind whirling with plans on what to do next, other people she might need to bring in, and how to set up a more discrete communication method to use, that she realizes she's not going to be able to tell Desmond anything about what she's doing. For all she knows that he's innocent of any wrongdoing, he is one of the primary suspects in the Internal Investigation - if she breathes so much as a hint of what she's doing now to him they'll probably both be out of a job.

She doesn't relish the thought of keeping something this major from him, especially considering how poorly that went last time, so she shifts her focus to figuring out how to tell Desmond she can't tell him anything without upsetting him. When she gets to her apartment she has a rough game plan laid out, and she decides that's as good as it will get for now. Desmond won't be by for a few hours yet anyway - he had a meeting with Baylee Danson this evening and those always run long. She uses the time to shower and get comfortable, ordering out for Thai instead of cooking anything herself - she just doesn't have the energy for it today - and checking if she has any popcorn since a movie night sounds like fun to her after the day she had. Preferable something light and funny.

She's flipping through Netflix (whose catalogue is somehow both massive and also has nothing good to offer) when Desmond finally arrives. He grins curiously when he sees her curled up on the couch with the Thai bags sitting on the coffee table.

"Long day?" He guesses. "Did your idea go well?"

"It did, and that's all I can legally say on the matter." She responds, attempting to convey honesty and apology in the short sentence.

Desmond tilts his head, but thankfully doesn't seem upset by the revelation. "Secret spy stuff then? That's cool." He grins and joins her on the couch. "Do I get to hear about it when it's over?"

"For sure." She confirms, glad he's accepting things so easily. Logically she knew he would, but obviously she's still not entirely over their drama from the end of last year. "But nothing for now. I just want to watch a turn-off-your-brain comedy and Netflix is failing me. Any suggestions?"

The enjoy a quiet night in, eventually settling on the old favorite Life of Brian when nothing else looks particularly promising, and Desmond ends up leaving afterwards, citing both their long days, and Estelle sees him out without complaint. She's definitely ready to collapse into bed and call it a day.

The next morning she's not feeling much more rested, but she's got a lot to do so she pulls herself out of bed, gets herself dressed in her Auror robes, and tosses together an easy breakfast of eggs and toast before Flooing to the Ministry.

She finds a note on her desk merely reading 'Approved', and she grins, knowing exactly who placed it there and what it means. She spends the morning watching the other Aurors and Hit-Wizards arriving for work, eyes peeled for two specific ones.

Conveniently enough, Noah and Demelza arrive at the same time, and Estelle pulls them over to her desk before they get a chance to take more than a few steps into the room.

"Hey, we've got a new assignment." She tells them brightly (well, as brightly as she can manage while still pretty tired). "I can't share here, but come with me." She'd spent a lot of time last night figuring out how she would bring Noah and Demelza into the fold without alerting anyone, and she thinks she's come up with the perfect plan.

The three take the lift down to the Archives, and Estelle leads them straight to the room housing files from the two wizarding wars. She closes the door behind them and activates several silencing charms around the space, ending with an anti-eavesdropping spell.

"Wow, very thorough." Demelza notes. "What have you gotten us into Firecracker?"

Estelle doesn't laugh, and Demelza and Noah both immediately get serious. "I won't beat around the bush here - what I'm about to ask of you is going to be difficult, and it could very well become dangerous. In addition, you won't be able to talk to anyone outside of this room about what you find."

The two remain silent, watching her closely, and Estelle nods after a moment. Neither is going to back out (not that she'd thought they would). So she explains in as little detail as she can what exactly they're going to be trying to do. Demelza and Noah remain stoic throughout, not betraying any reaction to their new mission as Estelle lays it out for them. She sticks to the basics, not mentioning Grimond directly or even that Clary was the senior officer who approved her proposal, and she definitely leaves out the Unbreakable Vow - it may not be illegal, but it's still magic that's rather looked down on in polite society.

When she finishes speaking, she lets the room fill with silence, giving her teammates a moment to process the new information and waiting for their reaction. Demelza is the first to speak after a drawn-out quiet that makes the room feel almost stifling.

"This is a massive undertaking." She observes, "And a multi-faceted one as well. The three of us alone aren't going to be enough, not if we want to get this done quickly."

"But considering anyone could be an insider for Yurina, we'll have to be careful about making the group too large." Noah purses his lips slightly. "If we need to confer with someone outside the group, how would that work?"

"If you can do it without giving away what we're doing, then it's fine. Otherwise tell me who it is and I can get them approved. Or not." She adds. "It's possible some people will be out of the question entirely based on the information the boss is using."

"Understandable." Demelza agrees. "Well, it sounds like you're only just starting - is there anything in particular we should focus on at this point?"

Estelle shrugs. "Like you said, it's multi-faceted - is there something you think you could start working on immediately?"

Noah hums. "I can get a pulse on Relocation to start out." He offers. "Start looking into where they were during the Incident, things like that. They were previously the group with the most access to Muggles, so it's not inconcievable one or more of them may be an informant."

Estelle grins. "See, I never would have thought of that. Sounds good, keep me in the loop on what you find. You're sure you can get that information without suspicion?"

He grins back. "I'm dating the Head of Relocation - I'm always down there anyway, I can just act like I'm trying to help since I have nothing else to do with my time at the moment."

Estelle laughs. "Brilliant. Demelza, do you have any thoughts for what you'd like to do?" 

She makes a face. "Unfortunately I'm not nearly as well situated as Noah seems to be." She sighs. "I can take over the Trace stuff if you'd like though, I have some friends who work with spell creation and manipulation and they may be able to tell me some things that could be of use with the modifications?"

Estelle nods. "Sounds good to me. If there aren't any other questions, you two should head out before anyone starts getting suspicious. If they ask, just say we were planning a surprise for McKay's birthday."

"That's not until May." Demelza points out, and Estelle grins.

"Well yeah, but who knows if we'll stay this inactive for long? Best to take advantage of the time we have!" She declares cheekily, and the other two laugh before Estelle releases the charms around the room and the other two head out on their new jobs. Estelle, however, makes no move to leave. Since she's down here anyway, she's going to get started on her own work, even if she's rather dreading it - going through old Auror files in order to compare them. If any have been altered, she's going to find them.

Even if she does rather hate paperwork.

Edward has been agonizing internally ever since the article was released. Obviously the saboteur in question is him, even if the article incorrectly put him under the Initiative rather than the Hunters, and with the Internal Investigation slowly getting its feet under it he's on a timer now. And the worst part is that his bosses know it - he'd had to tell them when the report came through, and they are not happy at his possibly having been caught. If he's compromised, then the entire secret service branch could be painted as an enemy to magic due to his working on their orders, and that spells unmitigated disaster for everyone involved.

The one bright spot is that, on reading through the article himself, he isn't named. In fact, none of his work is explicitly stated, only vaguely discussed - even the Archives don't come up, which would have instantly outed him as the problem. But Edward doesn't trust that the author doesn't have that information - he thinks she may be sitting on it, waiting to use it to get herself onto the front page once again. He doesn't mention this concern when his superiors call him in to formally yell at him over his massive -up.

"You assured us you were taking every precaution." The head of the service says sharply, and Edward carefully keeps his eyes trained downward in respect, and so the older man can't see him glaring. "And yet here is an article clearly calling you out as a spy for our cause! Why would they suspect such a thing Agent Clarke? If you were truly taking all precautions, you should have been able to blend into the background and collect your information without stirring up such a massive fuss. Tell me, Agent Clarke, do you have a plan to address this if and when your name is officially connected to what they are calling 'sabatoge'? Do you know how you will respond when they ask you who you are working for?"

"I of course will tell them I was working on my own." Edward says tightly, acutely aware of Jen and Kevin behind him, dragged into this mess only by virtue of being connected to him. He really owes them an apology after all this. Probably two. Maybe infinite. "My history will be enough to turn their eyes away from the Service and perhaps back towards themselves. As far as the Ministry's Internal Investigation will be concerned, I was a rogue agent."

It's not even a lie, really. The Service can claim no knowledge of Edward's actions (despite them having approved his placement with the Hunters specifically so he could take those exact actions) and with the way his parents were murdered no one will think to probe the story too deeply. People love emotional drama far more than they care for dry political maneuvering.

His superior tuts, mulling over Edward's claim, then taps the table in front of him. "Good. Make sure you don't screw this one up as well." He says warningly. "And consider yourself on unpaid leave from the Service until all this is resolved."

Edward doesn't protest - he's still getting a paycheck from the Hunters after all - but he does quietly think it's a stupid idea. If they cut his paycheck now, it will look suspicious should it come up in the II's investigation later, since if he really was a rogue agent he wouldn't have let his bosses know he's been caught. Right now though he's frankly fine with dragging the Service leaders down with him - they're all s anyway.

Jen and Kevin leave the office with him when he's dismissed a few minutes later, and they walk in silence to the lobby of the building, only beginning to speak once they're on the steps and out in the April sun.

"This is bull." He declares, and is immediately insulted when Jen and Kevin exchange a look suggesting that they don't really think so. "What?" He demands, and Jen clears .

"Well, you do kind of deserve it." She says awkwardly, shrugging when Edward looks at her disbelievingly. "What? You do. With everything you've been pulling the past few months getting yelled at is the least of what you've earned. Don't get me wrong, those guys are s, I know that better than either of you, and maybe they weren't the people who really do have the right to be pissed at you, but with everything you've been doing I can't say I blame the magical world for being royally carked."

"Seriously?" Edward demands. "Don't you think we have more pressing issues here then pulling some holier-than-thou crap? Whoever released that information obviously is working for Yurina, right? Or at the very least it's someone who wants to stoke all-out war between magic and non-magic, and everyone knows the next world war will be the last one what with all the nukes in play right now. Don't you think our focus should be there?"

His teammates share a look again.

"Um, Edward, not to be that guy, but isn't that what you want?" Kevin points out, and Edward stops in his tracks so he can turn to look at his friend incredulously.

"No? What? Why would you think that?" He demands, honestly caught off guard. His team should know him better than that - right? He'd never want to set off the apocalypse, and he's smart enough to know an all-out war with magic would do exactly that. He's actually rather insulted they'd apparently thought so lowly of him this entire time. Plus...

"And if you did think that, why would you help me at all?" He adds pointedly.

"We were hoping to mitigate damage." Jen responds flatly. "Seriously Edward, did you not realize what you were doing?"

"I was protecting non-magical people!" He responds hotly, not letting her go any further with her thought. "Magic was never going to be honest about what it's done in the past - we were here to force some honesty in order to keep them humble and make sure the playing field was even - that's what I was doing! I can't believe you'd think I'd intentionally stoke a war, what the hell. We've known each other since training."

Kevin steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's not like we thought you were doing it on purpose." He says soothingly. "But no offense Edward, what exactly did you think would happen if you made the non-magical world distrust the magic one as much as you do?"

Edward opens his mouth to argue, but the look on his friends' faces makes him stop and actually ponder the question. What he'd thought would happen? He thought...

He frowns. Had he thought that far? Surely he had, he always thinks thing through - that's the first thing you learn in the academy, to always be at least three steps ahead.

So why can't he come up with his end game? Why can't he see what he was fighting for, the path he was on, without also seeing and end point of all-out war? Was that really what he'd been working towards? And how had he not seen it?

Jen pats his arm, startling him out of his own head. "You really had no clue, huh?" She says sympathetically. "Well, how about we do takeout at my place and talk game plan for a few hours? You're right that we need to find out who dropped that information - if we can catch them, we'll have a good lead on Yurina's network more than likely."

Edward nods a bit distantly, still mostly numbed by his realization. He follows his teammates through the streets of London, not really listening at they chat, too lost in his own mind. He's still trying to come up with an alternate ending to his plan succeeding - he doesn't want a war, wars always end up with civilian casualties and that's exactly what he's trying to avoid. And yet.

He's still thinking when the reach Jen's flat and she pushes him onto her couch with instructions to 'not melt your brain with all that thinking, it'll be impossible to get out of the cushions'. No matter which way he twists things, the end point of his plans are always bloody. He shudders and finally looks up to realize that Kevin is sitting across from him, watching him with mild sympathy.

"Rule number two - never make it personal." He says when he notices Edward watching him. "All three of us have had issues with that one at some point or another."

"Not this badly." Edward murmurs. "But... shouldn't our bosses have realized? I was too close, and you two are under orders. But they-"

"Are old men paid to perpetuate violence in an attempt to minimize future violence." Kevin finishes wryly. "There's a reason every younger agent hates the higher-ups you know."

Edward just frowns at the coffee table. "Still. Feels scummy even for them."

Kevin hums, not agreeing or disagreeing. They wait in silence as Jen puts in their takeout order, buzzes in the delivery girl, tips, and then carries the food into the living room.

"You done moping?" She asks Edward, who gives her a half-hearted glare. "Good. Because we need to talk next steps. You're leaked, but your name isn't out there, and it's possible it will stay that way - uncertainty allows for finger-pointing and instability. If everyone is a suspect then no one can be trusted." She points out. "I've been studying Yurina through the documents you've been giving us, and stirring up mistrust and pitting allies against each other seems to be her primary modus operandi. If you don't trust anyone else, you're more likely to trust her."

Edward blinks - he hadn't actually thought of that angle, too busy fearing for his job stability, but Jen is right.

"Then do you think the reporter actually doesn't have my name?" He muses. "Unless she's the one actually working for Yurina's team, she may be as much a pawn in this as anyone."

"I'd argue that's actually most probable." Kevin says. "She's the face of this latest scandal - the last thing Yurina or her team would want was to be too closely connected to these leaks, lest the person be forced to reveal certain things about the network."

"So Jamie is probably innocent. Annoying, but innocent." Edward sighs. "That doesn't leave us with much, then, unless we can get our hands on the Internal Investigation's notes on her interview, which I doubt they'll be willing to share."

"And which you couldn't ask for anyway - you need to stay off the II's radar. For now the focus will be on the Initiative Muggles, but it won't stay that way if and when they clear everyone there." Jen adds. "I'd say our bigger focus should be figuring out how the information on you was discovered in the first place - we all know how cautious you were being, after all."

"Lopatkina-Paluch and Longbottom both saw me the night I returned the files." Edward says immediately. "If there are prime suspects, it's those two."

"Or someone in the Archives." Kevin counters. "It's possible they knew the entire time and were just sitting on it until it became beneficial to their cause to reveal."

Edward swears - Kevin is right, which means the potential suspect pool is massive.

"It could be someone in maintenance as well - Mrs. Weston already confirmed she knew I was up to something, and I don't doubt others working there could be just as aware of my movements." He sighs. "Not to mention the fact it could have been someone on our end as well - my role may not have been advertised, but it also wasn't exactly a well-kept secret."

It's Jen's turn to swear. "I hadn't even thought of that, but it is possible, isn't it? That someone on our end is in bed with the enemy? It's certainly happened before."

"What would their motive be, though?" Edward asks. "Something like this... Yurina isn't on the side of anyone without magic - why would one of them help her?"

"She might've sold them on something, or promised something." Jen mutters. "She is very convincing - she's still an absolute media darling across the Western world despite the ever-rising tension between magic and non-magic. I didn't want to say it earlier, but some people are saying war is actually inevitable at this point, with how things are going. A lot of folk think the only reason we haven't fired off missiles is because of Yurina and how well-liked she is."

Edward makes a face. "I'd argue, but knowing our leaders - and certain other leaders - it honestly wouldn't surprise me if that really was the case. And if she's the one controlling when the buttons are pushed-"

"Then we may already be beyond screwed." Kevin finishes with a groan. "It makes sense then to stir up the magical community now - she could be preparing for the next big step."

Edward exhales shakily. If Kevin is right - and all signs point to yes - then they're going to be in major trouble.

And Edward helped create it.

Author's Note: Well lookit that, a break through for our dear Clarke. Possibly a bit late, but points for effort I suppose? And Estelle finally has a job again too! :D One I'm very excited for ;) Anyway, I'll see you all on Wednesday~~