After a few days of getting used to his powers returning (and the thumbs up from Hanna that Rylie was done with onboarding), Mark was ready. He shrank the magic metal into a coin and slipped it into his pocket. He put his full armor on, blended it to his skin, and double-checked that he could form a weapon quickly if he needed to. He reached his front door, took a deep breath, and exited into the hallway.

Approaching the elevator, he noticed a woman standing and waiting for it. He knew he had neighbors, but in the short time he had been a resident of the complex, he had yet to come across any of them. She was roughly his age, late twenties or early thirties, and smiled a soft smile as he approached. She had light brown hair in a braid down her back and he could tell just by looking at her that her body language entered a fight or flight response. He kept his distance, not wanting to intimidate her, and made sure to stand on the opposite side of the elevator.

Eventually, she sighed softly and turned to him, "Sorry, I don't want to be rude or anything. I know that we're neighbors. It's just been a rough week. I'm Lane."

"Marcus James. Mark is fine. And I get it. Living in the city, you can never be too sure."

She nodded and looked away. The ride remained silent as they reached the lobby and parted ways at the door. There was something else not said in that exchange that he couldn't quite grasp, but he quickly shook it off and made his way back to the Guardian Agency.

When the Guardian had decided to lean into the Traitor persona, Jonah Little, former chief, debated changing the name to the Traitor Agency. Everyone was quickly against it, as they believed people would be less keen into coming in for help. The agency worked publicly as a supernatural archive, where people who experienced something unusual or strange could come in and tell their story. Most of the people who knew about it thought it was absolute horseshit, but those who truly experienced something dark and evil often found themselves reaching out to anyone who would listen.

The archive team would take their statements, apply some research, and then send out a street team to handle anything that fell into patron category. That's where the Traitors came in. Even though their patron had decided to change his persona and entry policy, they were at their core, still meant to protect humanity. So, they handled everything case by case, doing everything in their power to keep the darker forces at bay.

After his rookie stretch of busting up low level get togethers, Mark and Jay began working their way through some of the bigger problems. Mark's pure defense/offense combo and Jay's rituals were a good team up for some crazier things. Once Boston happened and Mark got back to feeling normal, he was paired with Lily, who's elemental magic added a ranged balance to his melee. He began wondering what Rylie would be able to do, how her powers would balance out their team. As he approached the agency, he began to become more hopeful, rather than seeing it as a chore.

Hugh handed him a small package of cookies as he walked through the door as a welcome back present, and Mark accepted it. After five years of being gone, Hugh still knew that snickerdoodles were his favorite. What a legend. He passed by the archive section, looking in at the many new faces, and greeted everyone in kind. John Stoker, head of archives, greeted him with a hug and began telling the newer staff a story of the time members of The Splurge took over the archives until Mark and Lily came in and saved the day.

Mark laughed at the memory, shaking off the uneasy feeling of The Splurge being mentioned. Of all the different patrons and their followers, they were his least favorite by far. He walked through the bullpen, looking for Jay and Lily, but was told they were out on a case. He breathed an internal sigh of relief, not too sure he was ready to deal with them yet. He sat down in what was his new desk, kicking back and waiting for Hanna.

His ears pricked up as he heard her calling for him, and he quickly made his way to her office. She was sitting at her desk in a large, leatherback chair. Sitting across from her was Rylie. She stood, shook his hand, all poise and composure. As if she did this every day.

"Rylie Shaw, this is your partner, Marcus James," Hanna said.

Rylie was almost taken aback, but maintained her neutral emotion, "James? As in?"

He laughed, "Yup. Big boss is also big sister. Though big might not be the right word. Also, Mark is fine."

Hanna glared at the short joke before smirking herself. Professionalism aside, she was clearly happy to have her brother back in her life, both as family and as an employee. She gestured at them both to sit down and leaned back into her chair.

"Mark, I've filled Rylie in on the basics of what has been going on. You retired, now you're back. Everything else is up to you. Obviously, this is an unusual situation. We have one rookie whose powers are emerging, and one vet who has been out of the game for a while. As much as it may annoy you, Mark, you're going to have to do some of the basic cases first."

He nodded, "Actually, not a problem. I feel comfortable with my powers again, but practicing in the safety of my apartment is completely different to being out in the field. Plus, I'd rather Rylie have a shot instead of throwing her into anything deadly. However, Rylie.... Are you comfortable with a partner who has been absent from all of this for so long? Usually, you get paired up with someone more seasoned. I would understand if you were uncomfortable."

Rylie blinked, her shoulders slipping down out of posture before returning. "Yes. I mean, I'm absolutely fine with it. From what I can tell and from what I've been told, you should be able to shuck off any rust fairly quickly, I would assume. And even then, the knowledge you must have is equally valuable."

He sized her up for a second. It was like hearing the exact thing he wanted to. He almost wished Lily was here to sense any traces of magic. But something veiled washed over him, an unusual feeling/ He nodded slowly, then snapped back to it, "Perfect then. What do you have for us, Hanna?"

"We had someone come into the archives this morning, talking about random things catching on fire at her business. It happens every day around noon. The items are random, and the fire doesn't react the same as most. Once the item is completely burned away, the fire just disappears."

"Wow. That sounds chaotic," Rylie said, her voice calm.

The veiled feeling washed over Mark again, but then the connection clicked, "Dreaded."

Hanna nodded, "Our thoughts exactly. Low level Dreaded usually deal in small chaos while building up their powers. I'm assuming there's some sore of cool down and they're too excited to wait, seeing as how it's happening around the same time every day."

Mark turned to Rylie, "New Dreaded are bad at the chaos aspect. That's not unusual. At the end of the day, desolation is all that truly matters to them."

"Glad to see you still remember the basics, Mark. Rylie, you've been given a crash course on the patrons, but any other questions you have, any details you want to know, turn to you partner here. It's important that you two are able to have each other's backs out there, no matter how small the mission is at first glance. You guys are dismissed." Hanna turned back to her computer monitor and began typing as the two of them left her office.

"Neat trick you can do there, Rylie."

The girl stopped following him abruptly, "Wait. How did you know?"

Mark chuckled, "I'm dealt with a lot of difference mental powers. The ones who have been doing it forever have something that people with newer powers don't. Do you know what that is?"

He fed her powers the answer, and the word escaped her lips, "Finesse."

He nodded, "Finesse. You'll get there with time. I saw you the other day and was wondering what made you so confident, but after you answered my question like a well-practiced interview response, that explained it. Easy to feel comfortable and confident when you have all the answers."

Her posture dropped and she sat down in the desk across from his, almost but not quite leaning back, "I was actually worried you were too rusty, but you act like you haven't missed a beat."

"Some stuff becomes like muscle memory," he said. "It's like learning a new word. After you learn it, you start hearing it everywhere. There's some term for it."

"The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon," Rylie piped up too quickly, causing him to smirk, "Wait... You knew what it was called and wanted to see if I was still using my power."

He laughed, "And you were. So, I guess we were both being sneaky. Trust is a huge part of our job here. You can use that power on anyone else, but I need you to give me your real thoughts, feelings, and opinions. I don't need a telepathic parrot. Communication is absolutely key on this job. Alright?"

She thought about it for a second, her dark eyes meeting his, then nodded.

"Great," he continued. "We may be called Traitors, but that's really just a catchy nickname."

"Why are we called Traitors?" Rylie asked.

The smirk disappeared off of Mark's face, "Because, as much as we're here to protect humanity, we aren't humans. Not anymore. We're monsters. And the other monsters aren't happy that we're here to stop them.