They gathered near the edge of a service corridor overlooking the track: private enough to talk without being overheard, but still close enough to keep the competition in view below.
"Okay," Alex began, arms folded tightly across her chest. "We made our plans based on the assumption that the saboteur was a competitor targeting Jordan directly. One person. One obvious move. Something detectable if we knew what to look for."
Magnus and Sofia nodded.
"But what if instead of one big thing," Alex continued slowly, "it's a series of smaller, more—"
"—more subtle methods?" Sofia supplied. "Yeah, your boyfriend said something similar right before you got here, actually."
Alex blinked. Her gaze moved to Magnus — properly, for the first time today, not counting the stolen glances neither of them acknowledged — and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I was mostly guessing," he said. "But what did you notice? You wouldn't be saying that if you hadn't seen anything suspicious."
"Well… for starters, there might be something odd with heat and lane assignments." She frowned. "I'm not completely sure yet, though. I didn't notice anything wrong with them at first. But looking back, a few assignments felt… weirdly optimized."
"Optimized how?" Sofia asked.
"Nothing blatant," Alex said immediately. "That's the problem. No impossible lane placements or anything obvious enough to trigger complaints. But enough small things that if someone was manipulating the assignments, they could subtly affect fatigue buildup, pacing, recovery windows…"
Sofia's expression sharpened immediately. "So instead of sabotaging Jordan directly, they're nudging probabilities?"
"We'd need access to the assignment records to confirm it, though," Alex nodded. "Right now, it's still just a theory."
Magnus glanced back toward the track, thinking. His gaze lingered on the timing screen as another set of results populated. Something about it had been bothering him all morning.
"Hey," he said slowly, "if they could tamper with heat and lane assignments… what are the chances they also messed with the timing equipment?"
Alex stilled. Then she said slowly, "Actually… that's likely." Her eyes narrowed slightly as pieces started connecting in her head. "Why? What did you notice?"
Magnus shrugged faintly. "Honestly? Nothing concrete. Call it a hunch."
Sofia made a small palm-to-fist tap gesture. "You're thinking about the time lag some of the runners mentioned?"
"Could be nothing." He nodded. "But if the timing equipment really was tampered with, then it's—"
"—sabotage that could cost Jordan and a lot of other people a fair shot," Alex finished quietly. "Subtle enough to look like technical issues, and broad enough that no one athlete realizes they're being targeted."
"Okay," Sofia said, practical as always, "but how exactly do we verify that? Because we do not have the kind of access needed to even approach, let alone inspect—"
"Hold it right there!"
The voice cut through the corridor sharply enough that all three of them turned.
***
Ten minutes earlier…
"James, you should go see her," Katherine Hale told her husband for what was now the third time since they'd arrived.
General James Hale did not move from his position. "I shouldn't. What if I embarrass her? Or worse, distract her?"
Katherine stared at him. "James, this is not her first competition. She'll survive seeing her father."
"It may not be her first competition," he countered, "but if I show up, it'll be the first time she knows I'm here, watching."
"And why would that be a bad thing?"
"She'll start thinking about me when she should be focused on her race."
Katherine blinked once. "James… Vanessa's biggest problem with you right now is that she thinks you don't care."
"Whether she understands it or not is irrelevant. My duty as her father is to make sure she's safe and performing at her best."
"James," Katherine said patiently, like someone who had spent years learning how to communicate with a man who treated emotional vulnerability like a hostile military operation, "she's your daughter, not your subordinate or your superior." She exhaled. "And also, showing up and letting her know you care is one of your duties as her father!"
"I do care about her. I just believe that actions speak louder than words."
"Then perhaps stop acting like that is classified information."
James exhaled through his nose. "Emotional reassurance was not exactly emphasized in Ranger School."
Feeling like she could actually get through to her husband this time, Katherine opened her mouth to encourage him, then paused.
"…Wait. Is that Alex?"
James turned. Sure enough, Alex was moving toward one of the side corridors with two other students her age, one of whom had a raccoon on his shoulder.
"We should go say hi first," Katherine decided.
The group of young adults didn't notice them approaching, too focused on their conversation.
Then James caught part of what they were actually saying.
Heat assignments. Timing equipment. Subtle, systematic sabotage.
His entire posture changed.
Katherine heard it too, and her expression shifted as realization settled in. She turned to say something to her husband, but he was already moving.
"Hold it right there!" he barked as he strode toward the group.
***
The group spun around at his voice.
"Uncle James?" Alex's expression cycled through surprise, relief, and something more complicated so quickly it was almost impressive. "What—what are you doing he—I mean, uh, nice seeing you here!"
Magnus was surprised too, but the second he heard Alex call the approaching man in military uniform Uncle James, something in his posture shifted subtly, like pieces clicking together in his head.
Sofia glanced between the three of them and very intelligently decided this was no longer within her social jurisdiction.
When James reached them, he wasn't looking at Alex. He was looking at all of them in turn, taking stock. His eyes paused briefly on Tony, which was a reasonable reaction. Tony stared back without apology. Then James's gaze settled, and he asked:
"Alright. Who's in charge here?"
Sofia immediately pointed at Alex. Tony pointed a paw directly at Magnus from his shoulder. Alex and Magnus pointed at each other. Then both froze mid-gesture, their eyes flicking toward each other's hands, which was apparently enough of a moment that Sofia immediately switched to pointing at Magnus as well.
Magnus's eyes tracked across all the hands, and Tony's paw. Then he sighed and stepped forward.
"We're handling it," he said carefully. Then, after the briefest hesitation, "Uh… Sir."
"Handling it?" James repeated incredulously.
Before the situation could escalate further, Katherine stepped in and linked arms with her husband with practiced ease.
"What my husband means to ask," she said pleasantly, "is whether you can explain the situation to us."
The group exchanged a quick glance. Alex caught the silent question in Magnus's eyes immediately and nodded before she could stop herself from doing it automatically, then looked mildly annoyed with herself afterward.
Magnus exhaled once, then began explaining.
He walked them through the strange timing irregularities, the lane reassignment patterns, the reports of lag, the possibility that someone was manipulating systems subtly enough that no individual competitor would realize what was happening — carefully steering around anything that couldn't be explained without mentioning superpowers or a supernatural matchmaking System that threatened his life on a daily basis. Which left some noticeable gaps in the story, but he filled them as best he could.
James Hale's face grew darker with almost every sentences. By the time Magnus finished, he looked alarmingly similar to Jordan whenever she was about three seconds away from punching somebody. He pulled out his phone immediately and auto-dialed a number.
"Are you in position?" he asked the second the call connected.
A pause. "Based on what you've seen so far, is it possible someone tampered with Vanessa's heat assignments?"
Silence. Then a response too faint for the others to hear. James's expression darkened further.
"How fast can our people get here? I want every access point locked down and everyone who came within five feet of that system detained until—"
Katherine immediately yanked his arm downward. "Stand down, General!"
James looked at her like he'd just been interrupted mid-battlefield maneuver. "But Kate—"
"James," Katherine said firmly, "you are not calling in a military lockdown on a college-level track meet."
"We're potentially dealing with systematic sabotage targeting Vanessa."
"And I'm not saying it shouldn't be investigated," Katherine replied evenly. "But if you lock this place down, whoever is behind it gets alerted instantly."
James still looked unconvinced.
"And," Katherine sighed, adding quickly before he could argue further, "more importantly, if you put this venue on military lockdown, they'll have to suspend the competition."
That finally made him pause.
"…That could affect Vanessa's performance," he admitted reluctantly.
The silence that followed was short.
"…Then what do you suggest?" he finally asked, though it came out less like a concession and more like a tactical reassessment, which was probably as close as James Hale got to backing down gracefully.
Katherine looked between Magnus and Alex, who, for reasons she couldn't quite place, reminded her of Alex's parents when they were young.
"Do you think you can find whoever's responsible if we help?" she asked.
"We just need access to the systems and equipment logs," Alex answered immediately. "Once we can verify whether the timing and assignment records were altered, we can narrow down suspects."
Katherine looked back at her husband. He held her gaze for a moment, then put the phone back to his ear.
"Stand down and await further orders."
He hung up and turned back to Magnus's group. The look on his face made it very clear he was choosing to let this proceed — and that this was their one chance to not make him regret it.
"…Alright," he said. "You're with me. I'll get you access." He turned and started walking.
"…But," he added over his shoulder, "if you fail, then I'm stepping in."
Sofia blinked. "I'm sorry, did we just accidentally acquire federal-level backup?"
"Apparently, yes." Magnus shrugged. "That… worked out way better than expected!"
The group moved to follow James. Tony, still perched on Magnus's shoulder, leaned in slightly and said, very quietly:
"The fast stormy one's father smells exactly like she does when she's about to do something irreversible." A pause. "Do you think he'll also help with the vendor situation if we ask him?"