Vanessa had gone after Josh knowing they'd end up causing a scene, but she hadn't planned on one quite so enlightening to so many people. She sunk a little more into herself, shoulders and head both lowered. There was a moment of silence, when Vanessa contemplated giving an awkward thanks and good night and finding her way to the guest room she hoped to vacate soon -- one way or another. She had just started to look up when the quiet revelation came, one she didn't expect at all. The first sentence didn't rattle her. She'd been called an agent around the school as well, by the professors. She assumed he meant he'd finally realized she was the agent the professors talked about, the one who had betrayed the school.
But no. He knew much more. It took Vanessa a moment. Winston. She hadn't done more than maybe pass by him once, in her blue form, and had been too focused on other things to take in his appearance. But she'd heard his name. "You aren't meant to think about them," they had warned her more than once. "Just bring us observations. Others will take it from there. Agent Cowell will decipher them, Winston will make sense of them - it's taken care of. Don't hurt your pretty little head worrying about things too big for you." They'd worried that if she did more than observe, started to think about them, that she'd get attached - and that she didn't have the brains to be useful in anything but straightforward observations anyway. Winston. First Laura, and now this man? She felt a stinging in her forehead, all psychological, but she brought a hand up anyway, pressing it against her temple. She didn't know how to take the information. Had he sneaked in like she had, lying to everyone, intent on taking up Weapon X's mission? No... everyone at Weapon X knew she'd betrayed them, right? But there was still their hardware in her head. What did that mean?
She withdrew a step, only to find a wall behind her. "You're Winston?" she said once she finally found her voice again. She could have come up with something much better, in retrospect. Xavier... he was getting more careful, right? He'd know if there was an active agent. That meant Winston -- Mister Wisdom -- was safe, right? "I didn't realize anyone else... Does... Does anyone know? I mean..." She didn't know what she meant, it was a stupid question, and she winced visibly and just barely stopped herself from apologizing again. If he was, he could just lie, and if he wasn't, as she hoped and suspected, it was just insulting, wasn't it? She thought too hard about it, and blurted out another generic apology anyway.