Michelle Zuria

Michelle Zuria, also known as X, is a member of the Bureau, serving as an informant and an investigator. She was a suspect in three murder investigations before she joined the agency. She then became a quasi-suspect in two cases and also made appearances in three more cases before being officially promoted in In Plain Sight (Case #42 of World Edition).

Profile
Michelle is a 45-year-old former lawyer turned informant and occasional investigator for The Bureau. She has long, curly brown hair, earrings, and red lipstick. She dons a white shirt with gray suspenders, two pearl necklaces and a pearl earring on her left ear. In her Bureau uniform, her hair is parted to her left shoulder, she wears a Bureau badge on the right side of her shirt, and her suspenders are blue instead.

In her first appearance, it is known that she eats durian fruit, practices silat, and drinks Singapore Sling.

In her second appearance, it is known that she eats veggiemite, drinks Shiraz, and scuba dives.

In her third appearance, it is revealed that she knows Krav Maga, uses sunscreen, and knows Morse code.

A Stab in the Dark
Carmen and the player first came to Singapore to speak with Michelle regarding information about SOMBRA's "next level" program, but then she received a phone call from one of her clients, Anbu Devanesan, who said that a woman was dead in the Giant Cabin. She immediately went to the scene of the crime to meet up with her client.

She was first interrogated about the victim after she refused to let the team interrogate her client for information. Michelle said she only knew Constance because she dated Anbu. She also said the victim was the CEO of a financial company and felt she ran it well, but doubted her client's words when he said she had no enemies.

Later on, she came on the rooftop to take Anbu away after Carmen and the player stopped him from jumping off the building. She told the team not to pester him any further.

Michelle was interrogated again about a recorded argument she had with the victim, where Constance said she did not want her to be Anbu's lawyer. She said the victim knew about some of Michelle's past clients and said she lacked ethics, which Michelle did not like. When Carmen asked what the victim learned, Michelle said that Constance learned that she would defend anyone for money, but she said the victim did not understand how a lawyer works.

Michelle was found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Anbu Devanesan for Constance's murder. But before they could arrest him, he managed to escape holding Elliot hostage. Hoping to get more information about her client, Marina and the player spoke with Michelle again. She said she had suspicions after seeing the word SOMBRA in one of Anbu's files, but did not want to ask about it. When told of Anbu's money laundering scheme, she said she did not know anything about it; she knew that he gave money to charity, helping orphans get to the "next level". She also said Anbu hid something back at the observation cabin, but he never had the chance to tell her what it was, prompting the player and Marina to search there.

Six Feet Down Under
Michelle became a suspect again after the player and Carmen found her watch near the shipwreck on the victim's property. She explained the victim contacted her to do some private legal consulting, asking her to do an audit of his assets. Carmen believed it was a coincidence that he hired her, then turned up dead shortly thereafter, but Michelle was convinced they had nothing on her.

Michelle was interrogated again about her fingerprints being found on a bomb at the shipwreck. Despite the evidence against her, Michelle did not say anything since the bomb did not go off. Carmen pointed out her supposedly coincidental links to SOMBRA when they first met, but Michele kept dodging the question and refused to answer anything. So Carmen and the player decided to take her into custody under the charge of attempted arson.

Despite the suspicion towards her, Michelle was found to be innocent afternoon he team incarcerated Veronica Salter for Rufus' murder. However, they decided to try again to get any useful info out of Michele about SOMBRA. Once again, she refused to tell them anything, but ensured them whatever was down there was still safe. Carmen said she would eventually talk, but Michelle said they had to release her since they had no real charges to put on her.

Out of the Blue
Michelle became a suspect for a third time after the player and Jack found her message to the victim on a picture which said he will pay with his life. She was surprised to see them there, as was Jack to see her there and immediately told her to confess to her links to SOMBRA. When informed of Marshall's murder, she said she knew he would complicate things but admitted to threatening him. However, she had no idea who he spoke to or what he gained from it, but she warned him that SOMBRA does not take kindly to strangers.

Michelle was interrogated again about her fingerprints being found on the crystal containing the same poison that killed Marshall. She explained she was trying to take away the crystals from him because the victim was insane, becoming a danger to himself and everyone else. Jack pointed out it just made it all the more reason for her to silence him, but Michelle said she wanted to make sure no one was harmed by Marshall, not even Marshall himself.

Michelle was found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Brice LeBeau for Marshall's murder. However, she wanted to speak to the player, and she revealed that she was their informant, X. Jack had a tough time believing her since X pointed to her in Singapore, but Michelle insisted she really was X. To prove it, Michelle suggested they go to the lab and find the messages she sent them as X. They ended up finding a USB key, and Elliot found the exact messages that X sent to them. She said she betrayed SOMBRA because she refused to defend them for their experimenting on orphans. When Jack brought the shipwreck she tried to destroy, Michelle said she purposely sabotaged the bomb so the player could find the documents. In the end, due to her revealing several of SOMBRA's secrets, Chief Ripley decided to keep Michelle close by.

Crash and Burn
On the plane to Kenya, Michelle told Chief Ripley and the rest of the team that the assassins were most probably spread all throughout Africa instead of being concentrated in Kenya.

After Jakobo Nkosi's murder was solved, Michelle told Carmen and the player that SOMBRA used shortwave radio transmissions in order to send encrypted instructions to their assassins. After that, the assassins would decipher them and carry out the orders. Michelle told them to find a device that would receive the radio waves so that she could interpret the message.

Michelle then helped Elliot decipher the instructions received by the device Carmen and the player found in the US embassy. The message was a loop of a series of four names (Fabrice Kabila, Gordon Davidson, Lavinia De Brills, and Terrance Zimmerman) followed by the word "contact". However, none of the names were familiar to Michelle.

Continuing to help the Bureau in Africa
In Kenya, Michelle accompanied the player while they talked to Elliot per his request. Elliot said that the SOMBRA member within the Bureau used the satellite to send a message to the criminal organization. They then ripped a part out of the ground control unit used to communicate with the satellite in order to prevent Elliot from reading it. She and the player found the missing part in the savanna. She would later help Elliot decipher the mole's message, stating that it was both a warning that the mole's cover had been blown and that it was a suggestion to send an assassin after Prince Abioye in South Africa.

In South Africa, Michelle identified SOMBRA assassin Kayla Pieterse after she, Jack, and the player found her dead body in a Zulu village.

Michelle and the player later went to the Victoria Falls after Goodwill Ngele told them that a person in a raincoat tried to throw a file folder into the falls. They found the folder, which belonged to the Bureau mole. Per Elliot, the folder proved the mole was in the Bureau since Europe and that it contained dossiers on every Bureau member except Marina. She and the player went to interrogate Marina, who denied being the mole. Afterwards, she promised to keep her eye on Marina.

Going the Distance
After arresting Nomena Leroy's killer, Jack and the player continued to look for the smuggled diamonds. Once they found the briefcase the diamonds were kept in, and that they were no longer there, she said she could help find them. She explained that all SOMBRA operatives are trained to avoid suspicion at all costs, and that whoever retrieved the diamonds were aware it was too hot to move them out of Mazunda right then and there. She suspected they would use a location where they would be hidden until another agent would retrieve them, and requested some time to find a likely drop point. Jack kept doubting her, but Michelle said they were going to have to trust her if they wanted to find the diamonds.

Michelle reported that the local authorities found shipments of diamonds with traces of paint on them. She suspected the drop point was the art gallery, and went along with the player to locate the diamonds. They were eventually located in an African mask, and the person who placed them there was rally driver Thomas Moulin. He said he was ordered to move them by Lavinia De Brills, who promised to restore his career if he did. Thomas also said Lavinia told him her contact within The Bureau would collect them, which meant Lavinia knew the identity of the mole within the Bureau. However by the time they returned, Carmen came in saying that Lavinia was murdered.

Gameplay
The player may choose Michelle to join the investigation of each crime scene (in any World Edition case she teams up with the player) and provide hint bonuses. She is available as a 1-hint, level-10 partner.

Trivia

 * Michelle is one of the suspects to appear in three cases.
 * She is also one of the suspects of the World Edition to appear in two consecutive cases.
 * Michelle is one of the characters to appear as a quasi-suspect twice.
 * Michelle and Jonah are the only Bureau personnel to appear as a suspect prior to joining the team.
 * They are also the only team members in any of the seasons to appear as a suspect before joining.

Case Appearances

 * Death Match (Case #31 of World Edition; mentioned)
 * A Stab in the Dark (Case #32 of World Edition)
 * The Sweet Escape (Case #33 of World Edition; mentioned)
 * Six Feet Down Under (Case #35 of World Edition)
 * Out of the Blue (Case #36 of World Edition)
 * Crash and Burn (Case #37 of World Edition)
 * The Circle of Death (Case #38 of World Edition)
 * Kicking the Bucket (Case #39 of World Edition)
 * Diamond in the Rough (Case #40 of World Edition)
 * Going the Distance (Case #41 of World Edition)
 * In Plain Sight (Case #42 of World Edition)