So, Miguel was taken to this safe house that was cleverly hidden near the port, pretending to be an old fish processing plant. The walk over there was super quiet, except for the random orders being shouted into a radio, like "Stand down" or "Back to your post."
He wasn't really a fan of stepping into unknown places, but honestly, he didn't have much of a choice at that moment.
"Not exactly the luxury I expected," Miguel muttered, trying to mask his tension with sarcasm. "A fish factory, really?"
Giselle who was part of the entourage cracked a small grin. "That's the idea. We hide in plain sight, or in places no one wants to enter due to the unique aroma in this place. Works like a charm."
Miguel huffed, glancing around. "Yeah, real charming."
They brought him in, through some tight hallways that smelled a lot like fish and bleach. Eventually, they stopped in a low-light room with a metal table and a couple of chairs. He still had his wrists cuffed when they plopped him down. There was a projector and some people in front of their pcs.
A few minutes later, Mr. Nobody walked in, just giving Miguel's cuffs a quick look.
"Take those off," Mr. Nobody said like it was no big deal.
One of the guards hesitated. "But—".
"We don't cuff people we're trying to work with," Mr. Nobody cut him off, his tone firm but calm.
The guard unlocked the cuffs. Miguel rubbed his wrists and shot a sharp look at Mr. Nobody. "Real friendly of you."
Mr. Nobody didn't seem bothered. He slid into the chair across from Miguel. "Well, where's my manners. For obvious reasons my name is not something I can tell you but I do answer to Sir or Boss."
"So you are a nobody then. I think Mr. Nobody seems to be a fitting name for a person like you who lacks an id." said Miguel with a tone full of sarcasm.
But Mr. Nobody just laughed." Mr. Nobody. You know what kid, I think I like that name. You can call me that."
Miguel leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes. "Fine. But first, what happened to Dom? Why'd he sell me out?"
Mr. Nobody smirked faintly. "Straight to business I see. Well he technically didn't."
Miguel's jaw tightened. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"The footage of Dom in the cell was just a quick work by some incredible people that I employ. They just fabricated that and made it to be streamed in our servers as we really wanted you to pay us a visit. Seems like you might want that friend who helped you hack us to upgrade his algorithm to know how identify a work of art from the real deal."
Miguel swore that he could hear his AI grumble. 'I thought you had to have feelings to get them hurt in the first place.'
"We already knew where you were and who you were." Mr. Nobody said, leaning back like he had all the time in the world. "Giselle was tailing you. Of course, she wanted to take you from your home, but I didn't think your parents would be open to that idea."
Miguel stiffened. "Tail me? No way. I would've seen her."
Mr. Nobody shrugged. "That's the thing about Giselle. If she doesn't want you to see her, you won't. She can vanish when she needs to."
The realization hit Miguel like a punch to the gut and made him cringe at the thought of how smart when he felt that he was invisible. "So, she's been watching me this whole time?"
"Pretty much, I mean she did lose you for a good while as she had get away from our dear colleagues at FBI that barged in" Mr. Nobody replied, leaning forward now, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "That's how you ended up here."
Miguel's stomach dropped. What the hell? He kept his expression neutral, but his mind raced as the AI sounded. 'Analysis failed to detect external interference during the live feed scan conducted that day. Security footage of Giselle's pursuit is missing—no signs of deletion. Either they are gaslighting or there is something else. Updating the algorithm for future avoidance of inconveniences regarding deep-fakes and searching for alternatives.'
Miguel didn't want to interrupt the motivated AI. But that was not it. He should've known if somebody was tailing him in real time as he was indeed in possession of characteristics of a master in counterintelligence. He was very sure that the ai he possessed was doing its job right and he himself didn't pickup any tails. So, something fishy was going on here. He could only hope that his abnormal abilities was not revealed.
Miguel forced a smirk, masking the boiling frustration beneath. "Now what?."
"I am against the chaos you were creating. Let's be clear—you're talented, Miguel. But you're reckless. And in this line of work, reckless gets people killed. We had to clean up your mess before it got out of hand."
Miguel leaned back, crossing his arms. "So, what now? You're gonna keep your agents on me like some kind of babysitter?"
Mr. Nobody tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. "No. Now, we work together. You and Giselle, by the way."
Giselle just waved towards him, as if on cue.
Miguel barked a short laugh. "Yeah, I'll bet she's thrilled to work with the kid who got her work disrupted."
"She doesn't have to like it," Mr. Nobody said, standing up. "She just has to do it. And so do you."
Miguel's tone was clipped. "So I wasn't just being tailed—I was being played. I have to admit, that was one hell of a planning. I never saw that one coming. Now that I am here, I suppose am expected to follow your plans."
"Not played," Mr. Nobody corrected, stepping closer. "Guided. There's a difference. And now that you know what we're capable of, isn't it just easy for you to work with us. The talents like Giselle is not exactly common in any other agency but we do have bunch of them. That's possible only because we hire the best."
Mr. Nobody's smirk returned as he continued " I know for a fact that you are a talent that we can't miss. But you still show the signs of immaturity when it comes to making the decisions. What you did at the warehouse was perfectly done but Braga is like an elementary school kids team when compared what's gonna come in the form of Shaw. They succeed because they know how to hit and where to hit. Trust me there are gonna eventually make your identity out and that's gonna pan out much differently than what you think. So we needed to bring you in before we see some good talent perish before blooming fully."
Seeing how much sense did that actually make, Miguel just stood up, his tone finally showing signs of acceptance. "Fine. I'll play nice—for now. But if you guys pull anything sneaky like that again, we're going to have a problem."
Mr. Nobody grinned, unfazed by Miguel's veiled threat. "Good. Keep that fire, Miguel. We're going to need it." He turned, walking over to a nearby console and tapping a few keys. The large screen at the front of the room lit up, displaying a series of dossiers following the name Miguel Galindo . One of them caught Miguel's attention instantly: the name *Mayans MC* stood out in bold in the list of known affiliates.
Miguel's eyes widened on seeing that name. He have seen that series albeit not as much as it's parent series Sons of Anarchy. Now things were getting a bit too complicated. By knowing the fact that if he is aware that there is a particular movie or series world was merged with his current world, and ignores it, that won't usually go well. Even though bikers were not exactly a challenge at this point, only the guy who put him here knew what would happen.
'This just got hella complicated. I really thought that I would have to handle just two universes, now the number of fuckers that I have to take off the screenplay just got a lot more. Fuck You the guy up above!' suddenly the electricity within the room fluctuated for a moment as if a response to his curse.
Once he just got over the self-venting, he turned to Mr. Nobody.
"Miguel Galindo," Mr. Nobody said, gesturing to the screen. "He's next in line to take over the empire Braga left behind. And trust me, this isn't just about drugs—Galindo's network makes Braga look like an amateur. The only thing that kept Braga in power was Shaw and now Galindo has an empty goalpost."
Miguel stared at the screen; his voice low. "So, what's the play?"
"Owen Shaw," Mr. Nobody said simply. "He's going to Galindo with an offer. Surrender the empire, hand over the network, and step aside."
Miguel let out a sharp laugh. "And you think Galindo's just going to roll over for him?"
"No," Mr. Nobody replied. "But he'll take the meeting. And that's when we strike. We let Shaw distract him, buy us the time we need to dismantle Galindo's operations from the inside out."
Miguel leaned back, processing the plan. "So, let me guess. You want me on the team while all this goes down?"
"You catch on quick," Mr. Nobody said with a faint smile. "Let's say you are one of a few investments that I am making now. Plus since the Braga fiasco, some pencil pushers decided that our intranational operations will have to be put on a leash and there are some nauseating reasons for us to not do any ops on the cartel anymore. But you are different. You are a person without any affiliations, yet you've already invited yourself into this side of the world. And we managed to keep Giselle's ex cartel member cover status online. With Giselle covering your back, you might just pull this off."
Miguel smirked but then stood, his gaze steady. As he was gonna wipe some threats he decided that he might as well go for the big ones he knew now.
" Mr. Nobody, I'll help you with Galindo and Shaw—but let's get one thing straight: he's not my endgame. My target is somebody else. You might know her. Cipher."
Mr. Nobody paused, studying Miguel with newfound curiosity. "Cipher? You've got some big ambitions, don't you?"
"Call it tying up loose ends," Miguel replied. "You want Galindo; I want her. Help me get to Cipher, and I'll make your Galindo problem disappear."
Mr. Nobody leaned back slightly, his gaze steady. "We've had Cipher in our sights for a while now. Let's just say she's high on our list of threats—too dangerous to let roam free. And if she's on yours too, well, that makes things simpler, doesn't it?"
Miguel's expression didn't change. "Good. Then we're on the same page."
"Looks like it," Mr. Nobody said, extending a hand. "Welcome to the team, Miguel."
Miguel looked at the hand for a sec before giving it a shake. "Don't make me regret this."