[Plot] Offley Place, Great Offley, Hertfordshire, England, UK

[Narrator]

In Great Offley lay a stately manor which housed the lesser known family Spencer, lead by Sir Dinis Spencer. Though not as in high a favour as they once were, the Spencer family had yet to completely lose their place in the world thanks to the financial machinations of the head of house.

Having died in childbirth, the family has been left without a matriarch. The children were raised by a series of nannies, though these days they're old enough not to need one. A good thing too, because for some reason after the last one five years ago, no one wanted to return.

Currently, the household consistents of six young adult Spencers, Sir Dinis, and a smattering of staff including a particular member of security that seems unusually interested in the affairs of Lady Augusta Spencer.

[Basil Benson]

One day in June, an invisible man arrived at the gates, giving the security a bit of a startle. After an inquiry that might constitute genetic harassment, he was capable of convincing the security detail clocked in to take his letter, though not until after they opened it to snoop through it.

They were contented to throw it away, until someone watching the scene from the comfort of their bedroom called them and told the security group to hold it.

[Dafne Spencer]

This really wasn't how Lady Dafne Spencer intended to spend the day. She was hoping to get some time catchin' the sus for pretend, not for reals.

Stepping into the security room to collect said letter, Dafne combed over it with her eyes to see what this joker had to say for himself.

"To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Basil Oliver Benson, son of Jessica Benson and Edmond Dantes Jules Spencer. On June the fourteenth, I will turn twenty years of age. I am a mutant, and a recent graduate of Xavier's University of Maldon with a major in library sciences.
You may not have known my name, but I have reason to suspect you knew of my existence and neglected to observe it for reasons I haven't fully determined. Perhaps you were concerned I would expect financial aid in some form. However, based off who my mother is, I feel like I don't need to tell you that I have no need for assistance.

I am reaching out to you in hopes of re-establishing a connection with my father's family, and perhaps even my father himself. I have hand delivered this letter so that you may know that my intentions are genuine, and so that you are not surprised by my condition when we meet.

If it suits you to do so, I would like to meet at the below provided address and time to chat. If it better serves, you may send a car around to collect myself, plus one.

Eager to meet you,

- Basil Oliver Benson."

Dafne chewed on her lip ring in thought, mulling over who to go to with this first.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

A redheaded man in his late twenties stepped in not long after Lady Dafne. While there was no threat to his charge involved, it wasn't every day his little birdy on the household security team informed him of anything this unusual and the bearded bodyguard was damned curious.

"I hear the invisible man dropped by. Color me intrigued."

[Dafne Spencer]

"Another rando claiming to be our cousin from Eddie...." She replied, sounding a bit dismissive, despite her expression.

"First mutant one though."

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"I'm more surprised that more of them aren't legitimately... illegitimate."

[Dafne Spencer]

"Perhaps we should write Durex to suggest him as a spokesman." Dafne joked, but she was still staring at the letter.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"Any possibility this one is real? From what I understand, money might not be a motive."

"Assuming he is who he says he is."

[Dafne Spencer]

Daf's eyebrows arched only slightly as she handed the letter over to Hugo so he could read for himself. She did not comment on the validity of the boys claims.

"Any clue where Gus is?"

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"It's cute how you pretend you don't know these things as much as if not better than I do," he smirked.

"But come on. I'll take you to them," he said, handing back the letter.

[Dafne Spencer]

Dafne twisted her lips up in an amused grin.

"It's not as if I document their ever move. Believe it or not, Gus is in the bottom three on my list of 'People who's behind the scenes behavior I need to monitor.' "

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"Really? That low?" he asked as he led the way out of the security room.

[Dafne Spencer]

"Gus wears their differences on their sleeve, like me. And whatever Gus does that I can't account for has yet to cause an issue.

So, yea. That low. The only person more boring that's still alive is Birdy."

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"Never tell Gus that. I fear what they might do to prove you wrong."

[Gus Spencer]

"Something tells me the two of you are far too amused with yourselves," a voice says from the doorway.

[Dafne Spencer]

"I'm exactly the level of amused with myself as I should be, thank you very much. Hugo might be out of his element however." Dafne commented non-pulsed, using her phone to do a internet search and only half acknowledging her siblings presence.

"Did you know he thinks you're The Stig?"

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"I think no such thing," he protested.

[Gus Spencer]

"Because he doesn't know what you're on about."

[Dafne Spencer]

Dafne looked up at Hugo, holding out the letter to Gus.

"Oh, sorry Hugo. Do let me know where between your pensioner's check and the care home you'd like me to leave these dusty, British pop-culture references for you so you can leaf through them at your leisure." She replied, grinning.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"Luckily for you, I value my job too much to give that the response it deserves," he said dryly.

[Gus Spencer]

"You know, normally when you deign to confuse Mister Ealdwine, you've got the grace to keep it to yourself, Daf."

[Dafne Spencer]

"Apologies sibling of mine, but this particular title claimant of the week made it impossible.

He wrote a letter that apparently got Hugo's narcs attention too." She indicated with a nod of her head to what she held out.

[Gus Spencer]

"Well, that's certainly a name that raises some flags, isn't it?"

[Dafne Spencer]

Dafne was closing the door behind them once the trio was in the same room as Gus asked their question. She responded once the door was secure.

"Indeed. For all of the supposed children we've had come out of the woodwork, not a one of them claimed to be the child of someone who had a documented, ongoing relationship with 'ole uncle Eddie.

And apparently, he was invisible." She added, though only Gus would know why that was even remotely significant . Hugo might be able to figure it out with some mental detective work.

"Well, alright, not all of him. It was more like shite H.G. Wells style where just his body was invisible?" She clarified.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

Hugo raised an eyebrow. This was the first hint he'd had that long lost Edward was a mutant. Not that the kid being one definitely proved anything.

"I'll be sure to flag any history of murderous impulses on his background check," he deadpanned.

[Gus Spencer]

"Point is, that letter's not joking. If he's a Benson, he's not here for money."

"So what does he want?"

[Dafne Spencer]

"Fuzzy wuzzy family feelings?" She states, sounding a bit more like a question than a statement. " Something about connecting with his father, if we know how.

He wants us to meet him in the most pedestrian ice cream parlour in Luton in two days.

The real question though, is do we tell father?

1-2-3 not it." She adds at the end of her inquiry, placing a finger to her nose.

[Gus Spencer]

"I don't see any reason to tell him with this little information."

[Dafne Spencer]

Dafne nodded.

"I'll get together a dossier of information I can find on the chump."


-----------------

Dafne spent the next two days not only information mining what she could on Basil Benson, but any of his associates and contacts in the interim time. Granted, he didn't make it easy. He seemed to drop off the face of the planet social media wise somewhere around five years ago.

As the trio entered Luton, Dafne began going over the information she found while Gus drove.

" Alright lads, let's get our ducks in line before stepping into enemy territory.

Government name Basil Oliver Benson, though claims to be the son of our currently AWOL uncle Edmond Dantes Jules Spencer. Nineteen years old, though twenty in just a handful of days. Many happy returns, Jon Snow.

Attended Holland Park School as a secondary, a state school known for pumping out drama majors, until he was sixteen years old. He seemed to be going down that path himself based off what he was willing to share about himself online when he was younger, but it seems turning into a gothic fiction husbando when he was fifteen threw a spanner in his plan. He basically fell off the radar then, internet trail wise.

What I have found post his mutation is that he's not only telling the truth when he says he's a graduate of the mutant school, he's also an employee of the Uni. Works in the library as an assistant.

Didn't find anything on any of his coworkers that seemed relevant, but in searching for more information on him I found out he owns several properties, which is probably his back up plan to make money once this all breaks and his supposed step father George finds out about all this, presuming this Basil character is correct in his presumptions.

The one that really stood out though, was the purchase of a townhouse in Maldon which he owned for exactly two days before he signed it over to a Colette Astrid Madeleine Rosenhof in exchange for a single 20 quid note.

I didn't find any photos of her persay, but I did manage to locate an Instagram of hers where she posts pictures of things she's eaten, cute animals she encounters including the neighborhood cat, and things she finds weird about British culture. Did I mention she's French? She's French. And by the snap shots of her arm, literally the same colour as Pinkie Pie."

Danfe texted a link to Hugo of the Insta account she referred to, specifically a set of posts from Colette about Colin the Caterpiller, how weird Brits are for liking them, and later begging forgiveness of Colin after having tasted one for herself. Colette's use of the English language in text form was a whole, completely separate mess from the English that came out of her mouth, but Hugo wouldn't have the pleasure of comparing them just yet.

She also sent him a shot of a shocking pink arm that was supposedly the account owner's covered in cat hair. Blurry in the background was a huge blob that was vaguely cat shaped. The caption read:" When ur other BF visist be hind the 1st 1s back. Hesso fuzzy!" A much clearer complimentary photo of the cat in question was posted with the same date stamp, and read "hansum boy."

"Worth noting, our potential cousin also has a love of the drink, according to his partner."

Dafne sent Hugo one more that showed no faces, but a large, slender fingered hand holding a plastic cocktail glass resting against a trouser'd knee, suggesting the hand belonged to a man. If Hugo employed his training well, he'd notice the wristwatch was the same as the one worn by the invisible man in the security feed stills he'd been provided by his mole the day before. The caption on this one read: "Brits take NE escuse they can 2 drink. even a 30min trainride. hes lucky hes cute."

"It's safe to say from her commentary pertaining to him through out her account that this woman has him around her finger. Which is to say, it's possible he's not looking for money, but she might be. And a randy, lonely mutant boy seems like a thing that would be very easy to exploit. Especially one that genuinely is Edmond's progeny. We know how the men in this family behave when they get a whiff of perfume in their nostrils and he was the shining example of the rule.

I think that's everything for now. I'm sure I could find more given the time, though I doubt this yobbo's time limit was deliberate to keep me from finding anything else. With how badly he wanted to be in the public eye in the past, I suspect his disappearance has more to do with embarrassment than any shady behavior.

Questions, comments, concerns?"

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"Given her skin tone, the girlfriend's small social media presence isn't really a red flag. The really obvious mutants do tend towards being rather private by necessity. But she does warrant further scrutiny as a matter of course. I'll see if I can dig up anything on my end."

"And we should follow up with others in his orbit to be safe. It's not unusual for students at these mutant schools to have... colorful pasts."

[Dafne Spencer]

"Probably worth looking into, though I couldn't find much on my end since he's not forthcoming with information about himself these days.

I did manage to look into his friends he used to have, and one of them, Kyle Evans who claimed to have seen him sometime in November at 'a show'.

Kyle is apparently a burlesque dancer, so seems our boy likes watching people dance in their underpants for fun. Apples falling and what not..."

[Gus Spencer]

"You two are awful, you know that?" Gus says, looking back at them through the rear-view mirror.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"You make it sound like we're having a pun competition back here."

[Gus Spencer]

"No, you're just... nevermind. Let me do the talking when we get there."

[Dafne Spencer]

"Aye aye captain." Dafne replies with a false salute just as they arrive at their destination.

The group was looking at a chain ice cream parlourthe interior of which was decorated in a garish pink. Through the storefront window they could see the invisible man seated in a booth along the glass, an empty suit that was tapping his foot, and doing some strange 'tik' movement with his arms that involved him tapping his finger against his clavicle. Black leather gloves telecast his hand movements, though otherwise he was dressed prim and proper. For all the lectures he gave Colette about not caring what people thought, he seemed to be backpeddling on that today.

He was wearing a pair of Wayfarers, just like all the old photos of who he claimed to be related to, which made it apparent where his line of sight was. Currently, it was on the person seated across from him.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Sitting across from Basil was the very colourful young woman dressed in red, white, and green in a strange mixture of "this is a serious meeting" and "this is an ice cream date". For someone who didn't show herself off on social media, she wasn't dressed particularly conservative - at least in colours. Being seen as an entire person for the first time instead of just an arm, it was a bizarre sight. She looked very much human, she moved like a person, she was detailed like a person, but there were elements that were just off. The skin of course was the biggest thing, what with its vibrantly unnatural pink colour, with the subtle gradients and textures that one might expect from human skin still present, just... pink. The hair was also strikingly off - it was shaped properly, it even moved and swayed, but it very clearly was not made out of individual strands. Instead it was made of a translucent pinkish-purple matter that looked as though there was glitter inside, sparkling in the fluorescent lighting of the establishment. She was just a very strange creature, how when she opened her mouth her teeth, as light as they were, were still pink - it just wasn't right. How lucky for the Spencers and their guest that they hadn't met her before her change, when her appearance was even less human - though perhaps now it had shifted closer to the uncanny valley. At least they could no longer see her "brain".

While the invisible man fidgeted, she appeared to be fairly relaxed, even going so far as to be consuming a borderline obscenely indulgent milkshake while they waited. She would lift her spoon on occasion, waving it through the air or gesturing toward him as she spoke. What topic they were discussing could be anyone's guess, but it was likely related to their upcoming meeting.

[Hugo Ealdwine]

"It's times like these that I'm glad I don't do the talking. I'd just put my foot in my mouth," Hugo said quietly.

[Gus Spencer]

"I think I see why you chose the venue," Gus says, approaching.

[Basil Benson]

"The woman has particular tastes. " A masculine voice replied in amusement as shades turned upward to look at who addressed them. The suit stood in one fluid motion, and a glove was offered.

"You must be Lady Augusta."

[Gus Spencer]

"I must be Gus, if we're to come out of this on cordial terms," Gus says, reaching out to shake Basil's hand.