.
On his way out of the facility, his superior, Joseph Grimm Irons, stopped him. It was strange to see him at a time like this; ever since Grimm’s’ son died in the incident with Cale, he’s been at every investigation scene. At first Grimm looked shaken and Alex noticed a small bloodstain on his outfit. Grimm quickly assumed a more professional pose, and Alex quickly did the same to prepare for whatever line of questioning or order came next. It had been a while since his last report.
“Stravier? You’re back?”
“17 disappeared, sir. I came to make my report. I was just leaving to investigate further.”
“Well, will you tell me the details or will I have to look at the report myself?”
“Ofcourse,” Stravier pulled a glass tablet out and quickly pulled up his most recent report while turning it for Grimm to see. “Subject 17, who goes by 17 now, developed a power. He also happened upon an artifact that our records say is still stored here. I didn’t check on it myself yet, but I updated the artifacts file to reflect this event.”
Surprised, Grimm looked up with a concerned expression. “Which artifact?”
“Otherwordly Headphones, sir. In case you aren’t familiar, they’re made of-”
“I’m familiar with them,” Grimm cut in in a grave and serious tone.
“Oh. Forgive me. They exhibited strange behavior, which might have been a result of 17’s powers manifesting.” Stravier sounded excited. “When he had them on, the gears were spinning and ticking extremely rapidly. When I had them on, I could, um, hear his thoughts.”
Grimm became extremely interested. Such behavior hadn’t been documented before. He silently cursed himself for dismissing the headphones’ intricacy. “Anything else?”
“Yes. He caused several sonic booms, one of which carried enough force to stop a bullet. After that he just disappeared.”
The same thing happened to Joseph just now, Grimm thought to himself, I wonder if this is connected somehow. If they are, that means... “This is important. I need you to call Event Investigations and get them there immediately. Tell them the orders come from Grimm.” Stravier nodded quickly. “After that, I need you to come find me at The Vault immediately. We’re both in danger.”

The last line sent shivers down Stravier’s spine. They all knew this was a dangerous line of work, but for Grimm to specifically say he was in danger was unprecedented. Grimm handed him a relatively normal looking phone.
“If other comms fail, use this.”