01292090 EOD A-Romeo

[Kat]: Nothing is wrong.

[St]: Your, if I had to guess, coffee is on fire?

[Kat]: What?

[St]: Oh, uh, I must be seeing things.

[Kat]: I came to ask how you were feeling, adjusting and all.

[St]: I still don't know. Having spited you for decades now being reasonably told to not spite you, it's not an easy shift.

[Kat]: I can understand that. Well, I'll be polite and ask- am I free to have a seat here?

[St]: You already are, but I don't care anyways.

[Kat]: I'll also ask you this, am I free to ask you some questions that might test your comfort?

[St]: You, especially you, should see this coming: it depends on the questions.

[Kat]: Well, how well in-shape do you think you are for old professional stealth work?

[St]: You mean like-

[Kat]: Yes, like the old work that required the bandana and nightvision headset.

[St]: As of recent I have become accustomed to wearing the old stealth suit under my typical uniform. Suffice to say, recently it's been weighing in on me like old times.

[Kat]: Better than I'd hoped for, because I have a proposition to benefit both of us.

[St]: So now you're asking me to do work, instead of forcing me in blind.

[Kat]: Would you prefer I not, silly girl?

[St]: Go on.

[Kat]: It involves old friends, new tricks, and your paranoid mind at ease. You see, ever since the transcendent awakening of inner-most powers in those sensitive to it, some troubling concerns have risen within me. You now have an ability to surpass most of my typical tricks, although it can beat me silly it cannot finish me like I could most of you and your friends. You have powers that are a concern to me, which admittedly is one reason I wished to make peace with you. Not the main reason, but more of an added bonus.

[St]: I understand the context, but what may this be about?

[Kat]: Aki and Hyun-Ae both have these abilites, I know you already know this of course, and I am perplexed at who else might get these abilities. I wish only for us two to possess these powers.

[St]: And you believe that my distrust of irresponsible users is justification for this?

[Kat]: Just like you do, you're already one step ahead of me. A trick I typically play on others but again can't use on you. So, I can only imagine you must have some concerns with this proposition.

[St]: I don't see any problem with them.

[Kat]: What makes you think that?

[St]: Aki is still more brawn for brains, and Hyun-Ae is too meek to do what I do. I think they limit themselves on what they could be.

[Kat]: Well, that's rather bleak. But consider this, Aki has a private military contracting service dedicated to the study of these abilities and the overall paranormal. Clearly she is getting smarter at this.

[St]: And you might say she could very well figure out how to rival me?

[Kat]: Our phantom abilities are a representation of our willpower and strength. Since yours' power surpasses mine and most everyone else's, then you are one virtuous, heroic soul. Aki and Hyun-Ae's abilities clearly don't and won't reach a level of ours' strength, but I have been concerned on some that might get close if they had these abilities themselves.

[St]: I understand what it is in me that you're poking at, and I have but one question to test this with.

[Kat]: Ask away.

[St]: Do you plan on this request to be an aid to monopolize our powers, or as an act of responsibility for your actions?

[Kat]: I gave you and your buddies a test, and you passed. The test was to ask myself if any of you had any responsibility for being given great power. You and that little clone of mine make an amazing protagonist against the forces of evil, but everyone else has either neglected to do the same or has done nothing remarkable the slightest with em. Thus ends the test, and I wish to take back these powers from the few who possess them to prevent any kind of future turmoil. Do you wonder if this is the right thing to do?

[St]: I do.

[Kat]: Isn't it that long ago, you found yourself the only "good guy" among all of these criminals, no matter how kind they were to you?

[St]: That was then, and this is now. Times change as minds sculpt over the erosion of experience.

[Kat]: Yes, and despite this you still don't feel comfortable with them like you do a major wanted felon like Nate or Ashton. Or, maybe even Ping? You still find the good within criminals and I never suggested against that, the point here being that you still don't like being around Aki and her type. This might be satisfying for you to do, and after all it was of major concern to you when she plotted to entrap that island under her control.

[St]: Then she saw the error of her ways and went into the private sector, prioritizing personal curiosities and the welfare of those she cared for while using massive wealth to ensure her assets and insurances.

[Kat]: While this may seem like a battle of wits under morals, what you have neglected to share with me is your personal perspective on these two and others around them. This is a personal offer regarding a greater issue. Do you truly think that anyone in that community has the responsibility to deserve something like Sweet Dreams?

[St]: Honestly?

[Kat]: As clear as spring water.

[St]: No.

[Kat]: Then I propose to you this; if you can get rid of all the research regarding these abilities wherever Nocturn has it held, then I can leave us two as the only users around.

[St]: Get rid of the research and their resources so they can't go about finding this information again.

[Kat]: See, even she could figure that out easily. Not a hard connection to make, hmm?

[St]: You want me to infiltrate Nocturn HQ, and all R&D wings it has across the island, and rid them of their resources regarding my abilities?

[Kat]: Yes! Tools, intel, research logs, machines, inventions; all of it. Anything they've been using to figure out how the abilities work. Then once it's all gone, I can nudge the tides of fate against their abilities' use and rid of them all together.

[St]: If I had to bother to mention it, you couldn't just revolver quickdraw in guns blazing due to divine intervention being quite dangerous for reasons other than the explicitly obvious.

[Kat]: If a god that never should contact the physical world they rule enacts divine intervention, then not only would zealot kooks freak out but Aki and the bunch might see it as an affront to their fate. Plus, I know you personally would have done this if they pushed you over the edge.

[St]: Such reasons were few of many I predicted. You realize that Aki has many corporate locations that connect all back to her, and she essentially never rests or has a facility of hers stop work at any given hour of the day. It simply has the resources to operate until she says "stop".

[Kat]: Oh, certainly I would be a fool to have gone to anyone else? How useless a question that is, as this is both a matter of the offer being personal to you and that it require your tactical espionage experience. Ren may be a master of the shadows, but you're a master of subterfuge and infiltration. She understands stealth as an art while you understand it as a way of life. You'd rather talk things out when it isn't detrimental to, but would always prefer subtlety over action. A snake as opposed to a monk, don't you see?

[St]: Yes, and what I do best is remain undetected in areas that are heavily guarded by security, personnel, and other similar resources while pursuing a goal infiltrated.

[Kat]: Ah, but one stipulation, love.

[St]: And what must it be?

[Kat]: I know where you must go for this information, and will tell you it rests solely in the government facility she operates just south of the Air Force base she just so happens to have a foothold in. You will need to go in the base itself to cut the connection it has to this facility so the immediate disappearance of the data doesn't ensnare you within the facility. After this, you will be able to travel at any length within the facility and wipe the required data from its servers, file cabinets, and in some instances people. Now here comes the stipulation: it all must be done in one night, no exceptions. It needs to be done as quick as possible within reason to ensure that no one will see it coming, not only this but also so that it can't have any evidence linking it back to you since it already would have had your name written all over it.

[St]: That's, simply, not a very concerning request. Doing it all within one night would have been my passive goal, and a prerequisite.

[Kat]: The sooner, the better! But whenever suits your fancy.

[St]: Was there, anything else?

[Kat]: Well, maybe one thing.

[St]: Yes, what is it?

[Kat]: You don't mind if I stay a while longer, I'd hate to just ask you to do something I would have used to force you to do and then simply leave.

[St]: I suppose.

[Kat]: I'm sure it also would make mending the relationship held between us look considerably less harsh on my end if I did.

[St]: Very well.

*end*