Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

Once Burned

"So." Dr. Director steepled her fingers and leveled me with an inscrutable one-eyed stare. I stared back, equally unexpressive. "Congratulations on a successful mission. You brought Motor Ed in even faster than expected."

"Thank you." I inclined my head. "I've been working out." More than she could possibly know. But I knew I wasn't here to be congratulated.

"Yes. Hmmm. Speaking of which, he was in pretty bad shape when you brought him in."

There it was. Considering the tone, she was sounding me out, not looking to discipline me immediately. I mean, it's not like she could. They needed me far more than I needed them. I held all the power in the relationship, whether Betty recognized that or not.

Still, no point in needlessly getting on her bad side.

"Yeah, Ed's a tough customer. He put up a pretty good fight."

"I see." ****. Her poker face was pro level. I couldn't get a read on her at all. "And I'm sure that Mr. Lipsky's general state of disrepair has nothing at all to do with his well known penchant for being an infuriatingly flirtatious pervert."

Double ****. She was good. Better to come clean, or to stick to my guns? "Is he?"

"Let me put it this way." Dr. Director leaned over the table and pointed at herself. "If I have to fend off his advances at my age, with THIS face, I can only imagine what our younger, better looking agents have to deal with."

Ha. Ha, ha. She didn't know, but that was quite a joke she'd just made. She wasn't wrong, though. **** it all. "I guess I'm not his type."

"Lucky you." Her one eyed stare was very uncomfortable. "What I'm getting at is, if, hypothetically, an agent were to get so angry at Motor Ed that they did quite a bit of unnecessary damage while subduing him, I would understand. I could not possibly approve or condone it, but I would understand." I tried to say something, but she talked over me. "HOWEVER, I would caution such a hypothetical agent not to allow such a thing to happen again, or I would be forced to take actions that no one would be happy with. Hypothetically."

I would have swallowed if I could. I could break this woman like a toothpick. She had nothing to hold over me whatsoever. How was it possible for her to so thoroughly intimidate me like that? It defied reason. "That won't be a problem." I said with grudging respect.

"Excellent." She shuffled some papers. "Good luck in Ireland."

Like anyone ever needed luck to deal with Killigan. The fact that he'd been the de facto ruler of the country for any length of time was a travesty. I took the obvious dismissal with silence.

"How'd it go? Did you get read the riot act?" Ron asked.

"No. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry I didn't make it there with you, KP." He lamented. "Maybe then you wouldn't have had to beat him up so bad to bring him in."

"That's okay." I reassured him. "It all worked out. I didn't get in too much trouble, and in a way, this is better for all the normies."

Ron mouthed the word 'normies' like he couldn't believe I'd said it. "What do you mean?"

"Well, normally after I bring a villain in, they break out in like six months and start ruining people's lives again. This time Ed will need at least a full year to recover before he starts wrecking havoc again, even if he breaks out before then."

I could tell Ron didn't like that reasoning, but neither could he deny it. "That's a pretty brutal way of looking at it, KP. Hurting Ed so bad he can't commit crimes anymore can't possibly be the right answer."

I pushed down the surge of anger that had become such a familiar part of me. "That's backwards. We should be more concerned with the innocent people getting hurt because we're letting psychopaths run amok than we are for the psychos themselves. If an Ed or two has to be broken to keep the public safe, so be it."

"It sounds like...Kim, you didn't mess Motor Ed up that bad on purpose, did you?"

"Of course not." I reassured him. "It was a tough fight."

"Okay, but I'm not getting left behind next time. I'll be there to help you so you don't have to go overboard to win."

"Sounds good, Ron." Yes, I actually meant it. Much as I'd like to put Killigan in a hospital bed next to Ed, I needed to keep a check on myself to stay on everyone's good side, and Ron's presence would keep me in line. Like he said, I wouldn't be able to go overboard with him watching.