It was, Sachie had to admit to herself, not the most...boring job interview she'd ever taken.
Of course, years upon years of punishing training to be the epitome of social grace, delicacy, poise, and sensuality(only the last of which Sachie had any real
belief had been worth honing to the degree her former teachers insisted on) gave her a slightly skewed impression of what "boring" consisted of.
If it weren't for Crey being cheapskates, she wouldn't be here, admittedly, but Sacchan was entirely too well trained by her clan to think that added
complications outweighed the advantadges that contract had given her. The first of which was the advanced set of powered armor and the hero liscense that went
with it that allowed Sachie essentially free rein within the entirety of Paragon City but the obviously marked Hazard Zones for which she wasn't cleared
yet. The latter were only a matter of time, all things considered, and the PPD had no reason to suspect or investigate one Mace Sabre having a privately held
identity not on her paperwork. Many more of the Knight Sabres she purportedly belonged to did as well, and those had checked out fine.
The second advantadge was that, since they'd breached their contract with her, Sachie had been perfectly within her "rights" as Rogue Isles law
saw them to utterly trash and ransack the Crey branch that'd crossed her by planning to quitely "rub her out" when the testing of their new armor
was done. As such, she'd acquired powered armor, credentials, her fee, and had only had to do a minimum of work to acquire the previous three, after which
point, no witnesses were around to identify her in her new identity.
Which brought her back to the present, and the intriguing woman sitting across from her. Despite her enjoyment of open combat, direct personality, and curt
verbal manner, Sachie Hanagawa was no dullard, or she wouldn't have survived her clan's displeasure with her lack of capability(and eventually gained
its grudging acceptance of her methods, if not approval, to boot). As such, while she nodded and engaged in monosyllables as the woman talked, she was
privately taking stock of the inherent contradiction that would've made any Hanagawa clan teacher gush with pride had they been the one to teach her.
Sylia Stingray was a dark haired neo-aristocrat as far as the public knew, possessing a large and growing collection of financial holdings both in Paragon City
and abroad, a brilliant fashion designer equally skilled at both gowns and intimates, and a small time philanthropist who regularly donated to such causes as
the cure research for the Trolls and Lost gangs.
Those who dug a little deeper found yet more layers. Shadow funds that even Sachie's contacts couldn't directly trace with absolute accuracy indicated
that this woman might or might not be one of the cadre of private financiers behind the security agency-slash-mercenary army known as Wyvern, Manticore's
private strike force within the Rogue Isles. Further complicating it was the fact that she owned a not-inconsiderable share in Crey Industries total stock,
allowing her a minority seat on the board of investors that she never publically appeared in, and with rumors that she might potentially have an influence in
the company's board of directors, were she ever to press the issue, to rival the Countess herself.
But none of Sachie's contacts had ever given the remotest impression of her connection to the "heroic" mercenary unit known as the Knight Sabres,
and Sachie'd been completely unaware of the connection until Miss Stingray had politely, but with an undercurrent of iron beneath the straightforward
phrasing, requested Sachie's presence under one of her Paragon aliases shortly after she'd begun openly operating as Mace Sabre. The fact that
Sachie's cover story and fake identity had been pierced so quickly when she'd strayed into the Sabres' territory was certainly impressive, and the
various layers that'd shown themselves when Sachie'd done a quick background check were more impressive still, but until she'd sat down with the
woman, Sachie'd been notably expecting another boring power broker whose power mostly lay with influence and those loyal to her rather than the woman
herself.
Which couldn't be further from the truth. Sylia Stingray had never come into the knowledge of the Hanagawa, or any of their rival clans, before a few years
ago, but her ability to mask herself as a harmless aristocrat could've fit any of them. Her clothes, while expensive looking, were both non-restricting and
probably capable of being taken apart in an emergency to give her full range of motion. Her hands, though delicate looking and free of obvious callouses
didn't bother with lengthy painted nails that could be a liability in a fist fight. Her knuckles, similarly, bore almost invisible signs of wear and tear
that could only have come from direct fighting. Her musclulature was lean and hard, but semi-loose blouses and suitcoats focused the attention of the viewer on
exterior appearances and her attractive appearance, distracting one from the steel fist beneath a very elaborate velvet glove. And despite an occasionally
absent minded temperment seen in public, Sachie knew from looking at her eyes that Miss Sylia Stingray, proprietor of the Silky Doll, had a mind with
quicksilver reaction speed and the steel grip of a bear trap. In fact, if she hadn't been trained since birth to do the same thing, she might've missed
the telltales entirely. This woman wasn't to be dismissed off hand at all, which made this little interview very interesting.
"So, I imagine that what it comes down to is how much it will cost to keep your activities within a range that my operation can tolerate," Sylia said
pleasantly. "Your reputation precedes you, so little things like no assassinations while utilizing the attire of a publically known Sabre and, of course,
not accepting any contracts on my own girls would be necessary."
"Hn," Sachie grunted. "That'll be expensive."
Sylia made her an offer. Sachie carefully kept from goggling.
"I'm not that big a price gouger..."
Sylia smiled. "I know. This is so you'll ensure a lack of conflict of interest by similarly making such a promise on behalf of your two...associates
as well. Best if you never have to worry about which side of the contract you're loyal to. Prevents....ugly situations."
Again, Sachie noted not to underestimate the woman, as only someone well connected with the isles would've known about Inari and Misao, and her choice of
emphasis also implied she knew precisely why Sachie would've felt conflicted about such things. She made a note to find out who'd squealed about that
tidbit and advise them of the folly of such loose lips when she got back to the Isles.
"'Kay. One question."
"What's that?"
"Which one are you?" Sachie asked, in a direct query that would've made her former teachers blanch and possibly commit ritual seppuku for any
student of theirs ever doing something so blatant in public....or so Sachie liked to think. Such spiteful yet satisfying thoughts kept her warm on long cold
nights on assignment.
Sylia just cracked an artfully reserved quirk of her lips that might possibly have been a smile. "Well, if you've figured out that much already, I
could hardly spoil the fun of discovery for you now, could I? I guess you'll have to stick around long enough to find out if you care to discharge your
curiousity," she noted.
Sachie grunted again, standing up as Sylia similarly slid smoothly to her feet, extending a hand. Sachie glanced at it for a moment, then shook it firmly,
noting with satisfaction that the grip was as rock hard as she'd expected when she put pressure into it.
As she left, however, she couldn't help but wonder at the odd vocal tone that'd crept into Sylia's voice with that last sentence. There was a
double meaning there, but damned if she could figure it out at the moment. Hn. She was patient. She'd figure it out eventually.
***
"You sure this is a good idea, Sylia?" Priss noted, stepping into the room in her armor from where she'd been waiting behind a retractable wall
in case things went south.
Sylia smiled softly, considering the look in the white haired woman's eyes before she'd left. Curiousity, and perhaps not just as to what identity was
truly hers. Maybe something more?
"Some might've said the same about bringing you in back in the beginning, Priss. But I like to think I'm getting closer to that diamond I saw in
the rough all those years ago. One merely has to be patient."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Of course, years upon years of punishing training to be the epitome of social grace, delicacy, poise, and sensuality(only the last of which Sachie had any real
belief had been worth honing to the degree her former teachers insisted on) gave her a slightly skewed impression of what "boring" consisted of.
If it weren't for Crey being cheapskates, she wouldn't be here, admittedly, but Sacchan was entirely too well trained by her clan to think that added
complications outweighed the advantadges that contract had given her. The first of which was the advanced set of powered armor and the hero liscense that went
with it that allowed Sachie essentially free rein within the entirety of Paragon City but the obviously marked Hazard Zones for which she wasn't cleared
yet. The latter were only a matter of time, all things considered, and the PPD had no reason to suspect or investigate one Mace Sabre having a privately held
identity not on her paperwork. Many more of the Knight Sabres she purportedly belonged to did as well, and those had checked out fine.
The second advantadge was that, since they'd breached their contract with her, Sachie had been perfectly within her "rights" as Rogue Isles law
saw them to utterly trash and ransack the Crey branch that'd crossed her by planning to quitely "rub her out" when the testing of their new armor
was done. As such, she'd acquired powered armor, credentials, her fee, and had only had to do a minimum of work to acquire the previous three, after which
point, no witnesses were around to identify her in her new identity.
Which brought her back to the present, and the intriguing woman sitting across from her. Despite her enjoyment of open combat, direct personality, and curt
verbal manner, Sachie Hanagawa was no dullard, or she wouldn't have survived her clan's displeasure with her lack of capability(and eventually gained
its grudging acceptance of her methods, if not approval, to boot). As such, while she nodded and engaged in monosyllables as the woman talked, she was
privately taking stock of the inherent contradiction that would've made any Hanagawa clan teacher gush with pride had they been the one to teach her.
Sylia Stingray was a dark haired neo-aristocrat as far as the public knew, possessing a large and growing collection of financial holdings both in Paragon City
and abroad, a brilliant fashion designer equally skilled at both gowns and intimates, and a small time philanthropist who regularly donated to such causes as
the cure research for the Trolls and Lost gangs.
Those who dug a little deeper found yet more layers. Shadow funds that even Sachie's contacts couldn't directly trace with absolute accuracy indicated
that this woman might or might not be one of the cadre of private financiers behind the security agency-slash-mercenary army known as Wyvern, Manticore's
private strike force within the Rogue Isles. Further complicating it was the fact that she owned a not-inconsiderable share in Crey Industries total stock,
allowing her a minority seat on the board of investors that she never publically appeared in, and with rumors that she might potentially have an influence in
the company's board of directors, were she ever to press the issue, to rival the Countess herself.
But none of Sachie's contacts had ever given the remotest impression of her connection to the "heroic" mercenary unit known as the Knight Sabres,
and Sachie'd been completely unaware of the connection until Miss Stingray had politely, but with an undercurrent of iron beneath the straightforward
phrasing, requested Sachie's presence under one of her Paragon aliases shortly after she'd begun openly operating as Mace Sabre. The fact that
Sachie's cover story and fake identity had been pierced so quickly when she'd strayed into the Sabres' territory was certainly impressive, and the
various layers that'd shown themselves when Sachie'd done a quick background check were more impressive still, but until she'd sat down with the
woman, Sachie'd been notably expecting another boring power broker whose power mostly lay with influence and those loyal to her rather than the woman
herself.
Which couldn't be further from the truth. Sylia Stingray had never come into the knowledge of the Hanagawa, or any of their rival clans, before a few years
ago, but her ability to mask herself as a harmless aristocrat could've fit any of them. Her clothes, while expensive looking, were both non-restricting and
probably capable of being taken apart in an emergency to give her full range of motion. Her hands, though delicate looking and free of obvious callouses
didn't bother with lengthy painted nails that could be a liability in a fist fight. Her knuckles, similarly, bore almost invisible signs of wear and tear
that could only have come from direct fighting. Her musclulature was lean and hard, but semi-loose blouses and suitcoats focused the attention of the viewer on
exterior appearances and her attractive appearance, distracting one from the steel fist beneath a very elaborate velvet glove. And despite an occasionally
absent minded temperment seen in public, Sachie knew from looking at her eyes that Miss Sylia Stingray, proprietor of the Silky Doll, had a mind with
quicksilver reaction speed and the steel grip of a bear trap. In fact, if she hadn't been trained since birth to do the same thing, she might've missed
the telltales entirely. This woman wasn't to be dismissed off hand at all, which made this little interview very interesting.
"So, I imagine that what it comes down to is how much it will cost to keep your activities within a range that my operation can tolerate," Sylia said
pleasantly. "Your reputation precedes you, so little things like no assassinations while utilizing the attire of a publically known Sabre and, of course,
not accepting any contracts on my own girls would be necessary."
"Hn," Sachie grunted. "That'll be expensive."
Sylia made her an offer. Sachie carefully kept from goggling.
"I'm not that big a price gouger..."
Sylia smiled. "I know. This is so you'll ensure a lack of conflict of interest by similarly making such a promise on behalf of your two...associates
as well. Best if you never have to worry about which side of the contract you're loyal to. Prevents....ugly situations."
Again, Sachie noted not to underestimate the woman, as only someone well connected with the isles would've known about Inari and Misao, and her choice of
emphasis also implied she knew precisely why Sachie would've felt conflicted about such things. She made a note to find out who'd squealed about that
tidbit and advise them of the folly of such loose lips when she got back to the Isles.
"'Kay. One question."
"What's that?"
"Which one are you?" Sachie asked, in a direct query that would've made her former teachers blanch and possibly commit ritual seppuku for any
student of theirs ever doing something so blatant in public....or so Sachie liked to think. Such spiteful yet satisfying thoughts kept her warm on long cold
nights on assignment.
Sylia just cracked an artfully reserved quirk of her lips that might possibly have been a smile. "Well, if you've figured out that much already, I
could hardly spoil the fun of discovery for you now, could I? I guess you'll have to stick around long enough to find out if you care to discharge your
curiousity," she noted.
Sachie grunted again, standing up as Sylia similarly slid smoothly to her feet, extending a hand. Sachie glanced at it for a moment, then shook it firmly,
noting with satisfaction that the grip was as rock hard as she'd expected when she put pressure into it.
As she left, however, she couldn't help but wonder at the odd vocal tone that'd crept into Sylia's voice with that last sentence. There was a
double meaning there, but damned if she could figure it out at the moment. Hn. She was patient. She'd figure it out eventually.
***
"You sure this is a good idea, Sylia?" Priss noted, stepping into the room in her armor from where she'd been waiting behind a retractable wall
in case things went south.
Sylia smiled softly, considering the look in the white haired woman's eyes before she'd left. Curiousity, and perhaps not just as to what identity was
truly hers. Maybe something more?
"Some might've said the same about bringing you in back in the beginning, Priss. But I like to think I'm getting closer to that diamond I saw in
the rough all those years ago. One merely has to be patient."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."