Irene smiled at AJ as she stepped into the store, the bell over the door jingling with seasonal cheer as she walked past several customers looking through
various lingerie and yet again pondering where she'd gone wrong with her life that she visited a place like this more for espionage than to get something
nice to treat her boyfriend to....if she'd ever had a boyfriend. Really, it was almost depressing. She didn't even notice a black sedan pull in
across the street as she entered the rear elevator, heading down into the secret portions of the store.
"I'm getting worried, Sylia," Irene said without preamble as she strode into the other woman's workshop. She spared a quick glance and nod
at Nene, who was seated at a computer console, ostensibly running diagnostics. Irene suspected the redheaded hacker was long finished with those and was
simply killing time, but that was Nene for you.
"Why is that?" Sylia replied, straightening up from her position at one of the diagnostic consoles.
"Other departments are getting crowded in there," Irene said, waving her arm in Crey's general direction. "And all my recent data points
to something big on the horizon."
Behind her, Nene spluttered and coughed. Irene and Sylia turned and raised eyebrows.
"Dammit, not while I'm drinking," Nene muttered, setting down her soda.
"What's so funny?" Irene wanted to know.
Nene shot her a look. "Just tell me you're not about to mention a Twinkie."
Irene shared a baffled glance with Sylia. "Um... no?"
"Never mind, then," Nene sighed, turning back to her workstation and shaking her head.
Irene stared at her back for a moment, then shrugged it off. Hackers. "Anyway," she continued, turning back to Sylia, "I dug up what I
could, but that's not much, unfortunately," Irene frowned as she sat down. "This entire operation was apparently operating out from under my
oversight, which is worrying. It means they're starting to worry about internal espionage at best, or actual sabotage and infiltration at worst."
She slid a few dossiers between herself and Sylia on the table, the older woman taking a look at them.
In Sylia's opinion, the files were about as expected, yet simultaneously less detailed than she'd hoped. From what her other sources had mentioned, a
large portion of the the facility itself was simply gone, so the fact that Irene had gotten this much was impressive. Still, it would have to do, in
conjunction with what Sylia had gotten out of Sovereign regarding the rest of her team. The rest of her family.
"Unit 31JK5I, specializing in distraction efforts and support abilities," Irene began, opening a file with a near sky blue haired woman with
somewhat differently tinged blue eyes. "Classifies as an Illusion/Force Fields Controller under FBSA classification, and apparently was close to full
completion." The young woman had called herself Breaker, according to Sovereign, and had been a bit of prankster. Always ready with a quip, or using her
powers for her own personal amusement. She'd been off to the side of the main group, but only because she had been suspicious of others' good nature
since she'd been decanted. Getting her to accept the small group as family had been an accomplishment Sovereign clearly felt proud of, even if she'd
not seemed to feel anything as she told Sylia about her.
"Unit J1BLI1, specialized in support. Utilizes a unique new variant of nanoculture similar to the originals mounted on Nano Sabre's gauntlet. This
is far more elaborate, however, and can be used to regenerate the user as well as those around her. And the variety of effects has been updated far beyond
simple damage." Violet, a shy young girl who was about as home on a battlefield as a churchmouse in the open jungle. However her inclinations, Sovereign
thought she was braver than all the rest of them combined for suppressing that feeling and going into combat anyway, which Sovereign had realized was for the
sake of everyone else. This had made her ideal for intelligence gathering, though no one had expected her to throw herself between the escapees and their
Crey pursuers. Between that and what Sylia had been able to dig up from Crey files regarding the facility that they'd escaped from, as well as
Violet's equipped weapons, she suspected most of the structural collapse was her work. A fitting last stand.
"Unit I945I, a frontline attacker. There's some odd mention of "unique genetic structure" and "ether manipulation
concentrations". From what I can tell, she was an attempt to engineer magic into their new lines which didn't work out. Standard close combat skills
with dual blades and some regeneration," Irene said, passing over an image of a woman with long lavender hair and unusual, vaguely artificial looking
eyes. Sylia considered the picture as she called to mind the reliable and quiet woman that had nonetheless been Sovereign's principal rival during
training. Stronger than she looked, protective of Violet, and unfortunately the recipient of most of the guards' lecherous attentions due to her body
which had been endowed as if someone had been designing a supermodel rather than a soldier. Her nickname, "Rider", had resulted from this before
any of them had understood the implications of the guards' comments, but by then, it was almost impossible to think of her as anything else, so the name
had stuck.
"Unit KF8J1B1, rear fire support. Wide variety of energy projection and manipulation abilities, all tied back to molecular manipulation," Irene
noted. "How they managed to narrow that down to energy blasts and temperature manipulation is beyond me. But apparently she was something of the other
strategist of the unit, serving as Sovereign's backup." And more than that, though Sovereign hadn't said anything. She'd described Ruby much
the same, along with her reliability and sharp intelligence, as well as a teasing wit. But as much as Sovereign had been somewhat pained in discussing the
others, Ruby was a jagged wound in the girl's recent memory even more than any of the others. Sylia hadn't pressed the issue, but had her suspicions
about whether they simply hadn't had the time, in their short lives, to realize what they'd meant to each other.
Unaware of Sylia's internal thoughts, Irene continued, looking up at her. "There weren't any other files I could get a hold of without raising
suspicion. As Sovereign's known to have escaped, everything on her is restricted beyond my level of access, and everything else hasn't been
widespread beyond the cleanup division, for some reason. I don't know if this means they're potentially alive or if the technology itself hasn't
been recovered from the wreckage or what. More worrying is the fact that they've either got their own separate supply line or they're building them
differently." At Sylia's questioning glance, Irene sat back. "Basically, the Scimitar units are biomechanical, but there's a sizable amount
of artificial components that are necessary. You'll note that you're heavier than you remember being, for one, and your bones are stronger," she
said, receiving a nod from Sylia. "On top of that, all your musculature is artificial myomers and fibers that act like muscle but don't decay or
wear out nearly as quickly. Combined with some low level maintenance nanotech, you essentially self-maintain," she said. "But I have taps on pretty
much every supplier of the necessary materials...and the numbers for this new facility don't add up. They don't have enough here to make twelve
Scimitars, let alone the fifty some Sovereign identified as operating outside their group. Between that and scans of Sovereign, I think their new method is
actually a step forward and backward at the same time."
Sylia frowned in thought as she considered the implications of that. "Going back to Paragon Protector methods seems to be a step back, really, but I
don't see the advancement."
Irene set down another file on top of the previous ones, opening it up to a detailed view of the scans Sylia'd provided her of Sovereign. "From what
I can tell, they've gone with something that's more basic. The Protectors are clones of existing heroes. Identical in every way. These new Scimitars
are from a...a prototype mold. Someone whose genetics are suitably flexible enough to generate a large number of power templates by using fragments of
existing DNA that the principal source adapts to. Cybernetic enhancement as the growth continues further disguises the original genes, and the armor enhances
the existing abilities like they have as far back as Nene's, all of which makes them impossible to trace the genes to particular kidnapped victims. As
far as any DNA tracking would be concerned, these new Scimitars don't exist."
Sylia nodded. "That would explain the increased stealth capability, but it strikes me they'd be sacrificing something for this. What's the angle
of improvement?"
Irene slid a hand along the technical details. "It's more cost-effective, for one. I'm not up on the details of the Protector Project, but it
strikes me as utilizing some of their existing Project Locke gene sequencing and growth technology. They seem to have adapted the artificial components of
the 33-S designs as essentially undetectable cybernetics, and with a human base to work off of, no one's going to detect anything other than human blood
and tissue unless one of their Scimitars loses huge chunks of internal structure. Between that and using the hardsuits as amplifiers for existing metahuman
powers, they compartmentalize the ability for someone to trace back the systems. If you don't have the pilot, the hardsuit's useless. And when you
get to the pilot, you have existing cybernetic and biomodification which obscures the fact that the base organic systems were grown from the ground up, which
obscures the fact that the genetics are all remarkably regular. Beyond that, you'd need a specialist in genetics. I was able to get a little by showing
it to Reika and having people she trusted to keep their mouths shut examine it, but you need someone with a genetics or biomodification degree to sort out
the fine details," she admitted. "Hell, most of that analysis is outside of my fields of expertise. I'm a cyberneticist and AI specialist, not
a genetics expert. But, looked at logically..."
"...the pattern of effort seems more intelligent," Sylia completed with another nod as she grasped the connection. "They've gotten over
their awe of their shiny new toy and whoever's in charge has started seeing the applications of mixing technologies rather than keeping them separate.
Using one to cover the vulnerabilities of the other."
Irene nodded slightly. "I don't know much about the engineering aspect, but I do know about the relative stability. If they suspect
sabotage in the brain department, growing fully fledged humanoids means they have to train and brainwash their Scimitars the old fashioned way....but
it's less prone to failure before it even becomes viable for a Scimitar unit like their AI. Even if they don't suspect sabotage, from their
viewpoint, their AI based brains are finicky and problematic. Better to go back to the old methods."
Sylia tilted her head in acknowledgment, contemplating the situation, as well as what Irene hadn't mentioned. She didn't doubt the woman was being
completely truthful; Irene, unlike her sister, had no real talent for deception, at least compared to Sylia's ability to read people. Thus, it was
entirely likely she'd not found any indication of the young "Archer" that Neko had informed her of. Given that and the girl's story's
annoying inconsistency about how the Crey cleaners had mistaken a living body for dead... "Thank you, Irene. I realize this sort of thing must be
wearing on you besides avoiding attention from the higher ups."
Irene gave her a wry smile. "No more wearing than the nights out on the street on my sleep schedule. I'll keep an eye out for more data if I can
find it."
Sylia chuckled, standing up. "Of course. So, might I interest you in using your discount rate while you're here?" she noted with a somewhat
more mischievous glint to her expression.
Irene laughed. "Maybe...just maybe. My coworkers are all convinced that I'm in the middle of some secret love affair that's keeping me out all
night as it is."
"Well, if you like, I have a good deal of experience recommending intimate wear to those unsure of what they want...." Sylia offered as they
stepped out of the elevator.
"Maybe....ah, why not. It's not likely to see use any time soon, but I'm racking so much overtime I've got more money than I know what to do
with these days anyway..."
***
As Irene left the Silky Doll, she didn't notice the woman sitting in a car parked across the road. Truthfully, it's unlikely she knew anyone was in
it, given the tinted windows that were its only unremarkable feature. And even if she had looked closer, the shimmering electronic illusion played
over their surfaces would've shown nothing but the interior of a normal car, sans passengers, and certainly not a somewhat intimidating woman wearing a
dark black suit and sunglasses. Which left her observer able to watch her with impunity. The woman tossed a lock of her short red hair over one ear as she
tapped the two way radio earbud she was wearing. "She's leaving the store. Picked up a hot little number. Guess we still need to keep an eye out for
her boyfriend. I've been in there once or twice myself. If she bought anything, it wouldn't be just because she felt the need to feel pretty at night
with no one else to appreciate it. Not at those prices."
"I see. Keep an eye on her, but stay out of sight. She shouldn't notice you, but if she does too early, it'll be problematic."
"Yeah, yeah, boss. I got it," the watcher noted, rolling her eyes.
"Good. Maya will be by to relieve you in the evening," he said, and then the earbud went silent.
"Sheesh. He doesn't take even stuff that may go nowhere like this for granted, does he?" she frowned, before turning on the car and slowly
setting off in the opposite direction that Irene had left on.
***
"Yeah, yeah, boss. I got it," the radio crackled.
"Good. Maya will be by to relieve you in the evening," he said, setting down the receiver before looking up at the woman across from him. That
they'd met was a bit of a stroke of fate for him. Their goals aligned, but their backgrounds couldn't be more different. Yet, with her knowledge
and power base, it was entirely possible this gambit would succeed.
For her part, the lady stared across at him with eyes that had lost none of their laser like focus since that first meeting. Her long white hair draped
over her shoulders like she was some fairy tale princess, further enhanced by her aristocratic bearing and the old styled chair she sat in behind her solid
oak desk. For his part, he felt rather like a supplicant rather than a conspirator in this position, but that mattered as little to him as it did to her.
"One hopes this actually has a chance of going somewhere," she said coolly. "We've been working together for nearly half a year now, and
you have yet to show any true results."
"Such is the nature of intelligence work, milady. Regardless of whether it's governments or corporations, if our spies are detected and silenced,
there's no chance of finding what you want," he said in return. "I understand your impatience, but note that this is actually rather fast. I
doubt my assets would've been sufficient to get wind of this if you hadn't had shared what your connections allowed you to be privy to."
"For someone with such a professed skill in espionage, you seem to cloak most of your assurances with promises and no hard facts to back them, Mr.
E," she noted, with a wry look crossing her face at the pseudonym he'd contacted her under. "If the board of directors or, worse, the
Countess got wind of what I'm helping you do, I highly doubt that even Crey's rather lax opinions of internal divisions would keep me safe from
their wolves. And if I have to cut my losses, you're one of the least necessary loose ends at the moment," she added.
E let himself smirk ever so slightly. Just enough not to risk her temper. "Understood, milady. I only ask that you be a little more patient. If my
spies have gotten the right of this latest disaster, I think we may be drawing close to what I need to get you what you want. At which point, as promised,
I'll support you. No one will get in the way of you and the ones responsible."
The lady shifted slightly, eyes narrowing at the language used. "That is a vague promise, E."
E smiled. "I'm risking as much as you are in this little play, Lady Iris. Sometimes the best way to keep your enemies in the dark is to do the
same to your allies."
She scowled at that. "One hopes that it does not become a habit. Or your allies may wonder what benefit the alliance is to them in the future."
"Of course, milady."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
various lingerie and yet again pondering where she'd gone wrong with her life that she visited a place like this more for espionage than to get something
nice to treat her boyfriend to....if she'd ever had a boyfriend. Really, it was almost depressing. She didn't even notice a black sedan pull in
across the street as she entered the rear elevator, heading down into the secret portions of the store.
"I'm getting worried, Sylia," Irene said without preamble as she strode into the other woman's workshop. She spared a quick glance and nod
at Nene, who was seated at a computer console, ostensibly running diagnostics. Irene suspected the redheaded hacker was long finished with those and was
simply killing time, but that was Nene for you.
"Why is that?" Sylia replied, straightening up from her position at one of the diagnostic consoles.
"Other departments are getting crowded in there," Irene said, waving her arm in Crey's general direction. "And all my recent data points
to something big on the horizon."
Behind her, Nene spluttered and coughed. Irene and Sylia turned and raised eyebrows.
"Dammit, not while I'm drinking," Nene muttered, setting down her soda.
"What's so funny?" Irene wanted to know.
Nene shot her a look. "Just tell me you're not about to mention a Twinkie."
Irene shared a baffled glance with Sylia. "Um... no?"
"Never mind, then," Nene sighed, turning back to her workstation and shaking her head.
Irene stared at her back for a moment, then shrugged it off. Hackers. "Anyway," she continued, turning back to Sylia, "I dug up what I
could, but that's not much, unfortunately," Irene frowned as she sat down. "This entire operation was apparently operating out from under my
oversight, which is worrying. It means they're starting to worry about internal espionage at best, or actual sabotage and infiltration at worst."
She slid a few dossiers between herself and Sylia on the table, the older woman taking a look at them.
In Sylia's opinion, the files were about as expected, yet simultaneously less detailed than she'd hoped. From what her other sources had mentioned, a
large portion of the the facility itself was simply gone, so the fact that Irene had gotten this much was impressive. Still, it would have to do, in
conjunction with what Sylia had gotten out of Sovereign regarding the rest of her team. The rest of her family.
"Unit 31JK5I, specializing in distraction efforts and support abilities," Irene began, opening a file with a near sky blue haired woman with
somewhat differently tinged blue eyes. "Classifies as an Illusion/Force Fields Controller under FBSA classification, and apparently was close to full
completion." The young woman had called herself Breaker, according to Sovereign, and had been a bit of prankster. Always ready with a quip, or using her
powers for her own personal amusement. She'd been off to the side of the main group, but only because she had been suspicious of others' good nature
since she'd been decanted. Getting her to accept the small group as family had been an accomplishment Sovereign clearly felt proud of, even if she'd
not seemed to feel anything as she told Sylia about her.
"Unit J1BLI1, specialized in support. Utilizes a unique new variant of nanoculture similar to the originals mounted on Nano Sabre's gauntlet. This
is far more elaborate, however, and can be used to regenerate the user as well as those around her. And the variety of effects has been updated far beyond
simple damage." Violet, a shy young girl who was about as home on a battlefield as a churchmouse in the open jungle. However her inclinations, Sovereign
thought she was braver than all the rest of them combined for suppressing that feeling and going into combat anyway, which Sovereign had realized was for the
sake of everyone else. This had made her ideal for intelligence gathering, though no one had expected her to throw herself between the escapees and their
Crey pursuers. Between that and what Sylia had been able to dig up from Crey files regarding the facility that they'd escaped from, as well as
Violet's equipped weapons, she suspected most of the structural collapse was her work. A fitting last stand.
"Unit I945I, a frontline attacker. There's some odd mention of "unique genetic structure" and "ether manipulation
concentrations". From what I can tell, she was an attempt to engineer magic into their new lines which didn't work out. Standard close combat skills
with dual blades and some regeneration," Irene said, passing over an image of a woman with long lavender hair and unusual, vaguely artificial looking
eyes. Sylia considered the picture as she called to mind the reliable and quiet woman that had nonetheless been Sovereign's principal rival during
training. Stronger than she looked, protective of Violet, and unfortunately the recipient of most of the guards' lecherous attentions due to her body
which had been endowed as if someone had been designing a supermodel rather than a soldier. Her nickname, "Rider", had resulted from this before
any of them had understood the implications of the guards' comments, but by then, it was almost impossible to think of her as anything else, so the name
had stuck.
"Unit KF8J1B1, rear fire support. Wide variety of energy projection and manipulation abilities, all tied back to molecular manipulation," Irene
noted. "How they managed to narrow that down to energy blasts and temperature manipulation is beyond me. But apparently she was something of the other
strategist of the unit, serving as Sovereign's backup." And more than that, though Sovereign hadn't said anything. She'd described Ruby much
the same, along with her reliability and sharp intelligence, as well as a teasing wit. But as much as Sovereign had been somewhat pained in discussing the
others, Ruby was a jagged wound in the girl's recent memory even more than any of the others. Sylia hadn't pressed the issue, but had her suspicions
about whether they simply hadn't had the time, in their short lives, to realize what they'd meant to each other.
Unaware of Sylia's internal thoughts, Irene continued, looking up at her. "There weren't any other files I could get a hold of without raising
suspicion. As Sovereign's known to have escaped, everything on her is restricted beyond my level of access, and everything else hasn't been
widespread beyond the cleanup division, for some reason. I don't know if this means they're potentially alive or if the technology itself hasn't
been recovered from the wreckage or what. More worrying is the fact that they've either got their own separate supply line or they're building them
differently." At Sylia's questioning glance, Irene sat back. "Basically, the Scimitar units are biomechanical, but there's a sizable amount
of artificial components that are necessary. You'll note that you're heavier than you remember being, for one, and your bones are stronger," she
said, receiving a nod from Sylia. "On top of that, all your musculature is artificial myomers and fibers that act like muscle but don't decay or
wear out nearly as quickly. Combined with some low level maintenance nanotech, you essentially self-maintain," she said. "But I have taps on pretty
much every supplier of the necessary materials...and the numbers for this new facility don't add up. They don't have enough here to make twelve
Scimitars, let alone the fifty some Sovereign identified as operating outside their group. Between that and scans of Sovereign, I think their new method is
actually a step forward and backward at the same time."
Sylia frowned in thought as she considered the implications of that. "Going back to Paragon Protector methods seems to be a step back, really, but I
don't see the advancement."
Irene set down another file on top of the previous ones, opening it up to a detailed view of the scans Sylia'd provided her of Sovereign. "From what
I can tell, they've gone with something that's more basic. The Protectors are clones of existing heroes. Identical in every way. These new Scimitars
are from a...a prototype mold. Someone whose genetics are suitably flexible enough to generate a large number of power templates by using fragments of
existing DNA that the principal source adapts to. Cybernetic enhancement as the growth continues further disguises the original genes, and the armor enhances
the existing abilities like they have as far back as Nene's, all of which makes them impossible to trace the genes to particular kidnapped victims. As
far as any DNA tracking would be concerned, these new Scimitars don't exist."
Sylia nodded. "That would explain the increased stealth capability, but it strikes me they'd be sacrificing something for this. What's the angle
of improvement?"
Irene slid a hand along the technical details. "It's more cost-effective, for one. I'm not up on the details of the Protector Project, but it
strikes me as utilizing some of their existing Project Locke gene sequencing and growth technology. They seem to have adapted the artificial components of
the 33-S designs as essentially undetectable cybernetics, and with a human base to work off of, no one's going to detect anything other than human blood
and tissue unless one of their Scimitars loses huge chunks of internal structure. Between that and using the hardsuits as amplifiers for existing metahuman
powers, they compartmentalize the ability for someone to trace back the systems. If you don't have the pilot, the hardsuit's useless. And when you
get to the pilot, you have existing cybernetic and biomodification which obscures the fact that the base organic systems were grown from the ground up, which
obscures the fact that the genetics are all remarkably regular. Beyond that, you'd need a specialist in genetics. I was able to get a little by showing
it to Reika and having people she trusted to keep their mouths shut examine it, but you need someone with a genetics or biomodification degree to sort out
the fine details," she admitted. "Hell, most of that analysis is outside of my fields of expertise. I'm a cyberneticist and AI specialist, not
a genetics expert. But, looked at logically..."
"...the pattern of effort seems more intelligent," Sylia completed with another nod as she grasped the connection. "They've gotten over
their awe of their shiny new toy and whoever's in charge has started seeing the applications of mixing technologies rather than keeping them separate.
Using one to cover the vulnerabilities of the other."
Irene nodded slightly. "I don't know much about the engineering aspect, but I do know about the relative stability. If they suspect
sabotage in the brain department, growing fully fledged humanoids means they have to train and brainwash their Scimitars the old fashioned way....but
it's less prone to failure before it even becomes viable for a Scimitar unit like their AI. Even if they don't suspect sabotage, from their
viewpoint, their AI based brains are finicky and problematic. Better to go back to the old methods."
Sylia tilted her head in acknowledgment, contemplating the situation, as well as what Irene hadn't mentioned. She didn't doubt the woman was being
completely truthful; Irene, unlike her sister, had no real talent for deception, at least compared to Sylia's ability to read people. Thus, it was
entirely likely she'd not found any indication of the young "Archer" that Neko had informed her of. Given that and the girl's story's
annoying inconsistency about how the Crey cleaners had mistaken a living body for dead... "Thank you, Irene. I realize this sort of thing must be
wearing on you besides avoiding attention from the higher ups."
Irene gave her a wry smile. "No more wearing than the nights out on the street on my sleep schedule. I'll keep an eye out for more data if I can
find it."
Sylia chuckled, standing up. "Of course. So, might I interest you in using your discount rate while you're here?" she noted with a somewhat
more mischievous glint to her expression.
Irene laughed. "Maybe...just maybe. My coworkers are all convinced that I'm in the middle of some secret love affair that's keeping me out all
night as it is."
"Well, if you like, I have a good deal of experience recommending intimate wear to those unsure of what they want...." Sylia offered as they
stepped out of the elevator.
"Maybe....ah, why not. It's not likely to see use any time soon, but I'm racking so much overtime I've got more money than I know what to do
with these days anyway..."
***
As Irene left the Silky Doll, she didn't notice the woman sitting in a car parked across the road. Truthfully, it's unlikely she knew anyone was in
it, given the tinted windows that were its only unremarkable feature. And even if she had looked closer, the shimmering electronic illusion played
over their surfaces would've shown nothing but the interior of a normal car, sans passengers, and certainly not a somewhat intimidating woman wearing a
dark black suit and sunglasses. Which left her observer able to watch her with impunity. The woman tossed a lock of her short red hair over one ear as she
tapped the two way radio earbud she was wearing. "She's leaving the store. Picked up a hot little number. Guess we still need to keep an eye out for
her boyfriend. I've been in there once or twice myself. If she bought anything, it wouldn't be just because she felt the need to feel pretty at night
with no one else to appreciate it. Not at those prices."
"I see. Keep an eye on her, but stay out of sight. She shouldn't notice you, but if she does too early, it'll be problematic."
"Yeah, yeah, boss. I got it," the watcher noted, rolling her eyes.
"Good. Maya will be by to relieve you in the evening," he said, and then the earbud went silent.
"Sheesh. He doesn't take even stuff that may go nowhere like this for granted, does he?" she frowned, before turning on the car and slowly
setting off in the opposite direction that Irene had left on.
***
"Yeah, yeah, boss. I got it," the radio crackled.
"Good. Maya will be by to relieve you in the evening," he said, setting down the receiver before looking up at the woman across from him. That
they'd met was a bit of a stroke of fate for him. Their goals aligned, but their backgrounds couldn't be more different. Yet, with her knowledge
and power base, it was entirely possible this gambit would succeed.
For her part, the lady stared across at him with eyes that had lost none of their laser like focus since that first meeting. Her long white hair draped
over her shoulders like she was some fairy tale princess, further enhanced by her aristocratic bearing and the old styled chair she sat in behind her solid
oak desk. For his part, he felt rather like a supplicant rather than a conspirator in this position, but that mattered as little to him as it did to her.
"One hopes this actually has a chance of going somewhere," she said coolly. "We've been working together for nearly half a year now, and
you have yet to show any true results."
"Such is the nature of intelligence work, milady. Regardless of whether it's governments or corporations, if our spies are detected and silenced,
there's no chance of finding what you want," he said in return. "I understand your impatience, but note that this is actually rather fast. I
doubt my assets would've been sufficient to get wind of this if you hadn't had shared what your connections allowed you to be privy to."
"For someone with such a professed skill in espionage, you seem to cloak most of your assurances with promises and no hard facts to back them, Mr.
E," she noted, with a wry look crossing her face at the pseudonym he'd contacted her under. "If the board of directors or, worse, the
Countess got wind of what I'm helping you do, I highly doubt that even Crey's rather lax opinions of internal divisions would keep me safe from
their wolves. And if I have to cut my losses, you're one of the least necessary loose ends at the moment," she added.
E let himself smirk ever so slightly. Just enough not to risk her temper. "Understood, milady. I only ask that you be a little more patient. If my
spies have gotten the right of this latest disaster, I think we may be drawing close to what I need to get you what you want. At which point, as promised,
I'll support you. No one will get in the way of you and the ones responsible."
The lady shifted slightly, eyes narrowing at the language used. "That is a vague promise, E."
E smiled. "I'm risking as much as you are in this little play, Lady Iris. Sometimes the best way to keep your enemies in the dark is to do the
same to your allies."
She scowled at that. "One hopes that it does not become a habit. Or your allies may wonder what benefit the alliance is to them in the future."
"Of course, milady."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."