While Beth had been ranting at Roy, Winry did the check for imperious. It was negative. She shook her head no after making eye contact with Roy.
Beth had felt the spell but decided not to throw a fit about it because they would do it anyway. It was required to protect her and her family. "While I am fully aware he could be a formidable enemy, Sirius is not guilty of what he was accused of. When he told me about James and Lily I could feel his anguish. He loved them and he loves Harry. And He loves me, damn it!" Beth felt as if she was ready to burst into tears. She paced the room for a moment, "I need to walk. I want to go for a walk."
Riza sensed Beth was trying to calm herself. "Okay, do you mind if we keep this walk to the grounds?"
"No that's fine."
"Radar how about you walk Beth up for her shoes and a jacket." He did as suggested. As soon as they left Riza spoke again. "Things aren't adding up. Back off Roy, way off. George back me up."
"Hawkeye is right Roy. That little scene in the breakfast room, funny as it was, gave us a ton of answers about her. That scene was about control, she was giving notice to her parents she wasn't theirs to control any longer. She controlled what happened in that room from the time she entered it. Good choice or bad she is firmly in Sirius Black's corner, I don't know why. What little I know about about Sirius Black doesn't match with what we just heard. Our job is to protect Beth O'Neill, to do that we have to stay close to her, we can't do that if she bolts on us again. You push and we'll have nothing but trouble. Hawkeye you, Rachel, and Winry are women see how much you can get her say about her time in Palau. Get as much information as possible about Sirius Black. Walter, after you sleep since you were on watch last night, call the ICW office in New York and get everything they have on Sirius Black."
"Right it's times like this when I wish computers and fax machines worked for us magicals. I'll get them to express courier them."
"Roy, my advice for you is hang back give her space we all saw how Rodney treated her. Your reaction to Black may have put you in a similar place in her mind. We'll have to see how flexible she is. A lot of times people who come late to their independence, respond very poorly to anyone perceived as a threat to that independence, which sadly in this case means you and unfortunately by extension us."
"Fine." Roy all but snarled. "I'm just not looking forward to being the one to tell the President that the boyfriend is worse than a beach bum, he's an actual wanted criminal. Maybe I should keep it to myself a few days." Roy trusted George's take on the situation. George like each member of his hand selected team, had a specialty. He waved the rest of the team away to walk the grounds with Beth or in Walter's case to go off shift, and stayed in the conference room to think.
George Takei's specialty happened to be Psychology. He was a certified mind healer with degrees from both magical and muggle establishments. A half-blood he had been raised in the muggle world at the insistence of his 1st generation Japanese father. He had learned aikido, kendo and fencing in addition to being a superior magical duelist.
Walter Koenig was another half blood he specialized in warding; putting them up or taking them down he was the best. He was strongest in terms of magical endurance but he wasn't fast. He was a full fledged potions master and a useful man to have on the team. The team teased him and called him "iron man" because he trained for muggle triathlons in his spare time.
Riza "Hawkeye" Pierce was another half blood. Nicknamed Hawkeye because of her sharpshooter skills and training from her World champion marksman father and because of her eye for details. Riza had served with the U.S. Navy in Naval Intelligence for seven years before getting out and applying to the Wizarding Investigative Service to become a hit wizard. She was a perennial student after meeting George she started to work on a psychology degree. Magically she never met a Charm she didn't like.
Walter O'Shaunessy was a muggleborn. He was the weakest wizard on the team, His strength was he knew muggle mechanics and technology. He was unusual because unlike most wizards that touched a computer or other higher tech type equipment and shorted it, he usually managed not to short it out. Excelling at Runes and alchemy, he dreamed of finding a long term solution to the tech problem but he had been stymied in the research and development department by jealous co-workers. The team had nicknamed him "Radar" after Walter "Radar"O'Riley on M*A*S*H* because being mildly precognitive he anticipated their demands just like the character on the show. He kept a computer at home in his muggle apartment and usually did at least a few hours of work there using the resources it provided.
Winry Rockbell was the teams healer. She was also a champion duelist, she gave new meaning to the phrase don't piss off your healer because she knows the best way to take you apart. Roy had laughed when he found out she was able to pick locks and pockets. He suspected it had to do with her pre-magic school history as a runaway, but didn't ask as he feared her reaction. The muggleborn healer had a short fuse about some things.
Rachel Luttrell was an enigma. On the surface she was gentle and kind. But the twenty-seven year old muggleborn had a will of iron. She was a transfiguration mistress and could work through an arithmancy equation faster than anyone else he knew. He also knew she held black belts in six disciplines of martial arts. She had advocated certain advanced trainings with the Muggle FBI and secret service that they incorporated into their group training. How she knew about them was anyone's guess.
Roy himself was half blood. His wizard father had his mom as a mistress for two years before Roy came along as such acknowledged him privately as his son paid for his clothes, schooling and so on. He did it on the condition that Roy never force him to acknowledge him publicly. Roy had graduated top of his class, and had joined WIS as soon as he qualified. What he hadn't realized when he joined was just how bigoted his boss was. Roy got the rude awakening at his one year review when he had voiced his dream of taking over for the Director when the man retired. Director Chambers told him that he had as much likely hood of making the presidential detail as he did of ever becoming Director. That he'd hired Roy to fill his mandatory half blood hire requirement then he stuck him in a seemingly dead end job. Roy had gotten the last laugh about that though. Stubbornly refusing to quit because of his boss' attitude, six years later when President Stevens was elected he had looked at his security detail and insisted he needed at least one half blood, as the highest tenure half blood, Roy made the President's detail much to the Director's chagrin.
Roy genuinely liked President Stevens. Roy had first met him as a trainee with the WIS. President Stevens had been vice president then so Roy had been surprised when his first day on the detail the President had greeted him by name. Over the next couple years Roy had met and taken to socializing with Winry, and then George, finally Riza had joined them. Riza had made him aware of the plight of most of the requisite hire half blood and muggleborn hires with WIS and encouraged Roy's dream of changing WIS. After that Roy had made it a point to get to know all the muggleborn and half blood hires. He worked with them on developing trainings that combined the best of both worlds and since the trainings were voluntary and the people that lead them were volunteers Director Chambers couldn't stop them. He'd tried; not hard after all it was the useless half bloods and the even more useless muggleborns, let them do their useless trainings. Roy had been pleased to observe in his time on duty with the President that Chambers' attitude was the exception not the rule in most of the government.
Roy had been delighted when the President had been elected for a second six year term. Of course when the Presidents daughter ran away a month ago, he had shook his head. He had met the girl a few times he had observed she had always seemed so biddable and pleasant, not his type he preferred spitfires, so he'd been as surprised as most other people when she ran away instead of going on the prescribed trip.