Criminal Elements

Cetea was far too focused on finding her target to notice her commanding officer as she sat beside her. Though she jumped in surprise once Azumi spoke. Turning to face her, the asari exhaled. A friend, not a hitman hired by those who might have caught on to her activities. "Oh, yes. It was the least I could do, think nothing of it." She said, speaking with a tone of confusion. How did Azumi know...?


Once the initial shock of Azumi's arrival wore off, Cetea, despite her initial worry that her arrival would disrupt her plans, was immensely glad to see a familiar face. To be in trusted company was lifting her mood after several weeks of watching over her back. Though a mental reminder of Azumi's question broke her out of these idle thoughts.

Cetea cleared her throat as Zero (who she had to admit had a very effective 'human' look) joined the table, she nodded in response to his question, "As you know, our organization has been having trouble in it's central base of operations in Haven. We lack the personel to train recruits to the degree of performance required for their line of work. Our treasury, so to speak, is all but empty with no form of income, which in turn means expansion is impossible and what little equipment we have ineffective for field use. The most threatening issue, however, is our awareness of universal events. We are meant to be a universal organization, this is a difficult task when we cannot manage to track down a local case of police brutality. We are in the dark, so to say, uninformed to the problems we wish to solve."

Cetea then propped her arm on the table, and it was instantly surrounded by a bright orange holographic gauntlet of sorts. "I have come across a potential solution to these problems, however. I apologize for leaving you both... Uninformed," a nervous glance to them both, sliding through layers of menus, a holographic portrait of a man leering at the camera propped itself above the omni-tool. His hair was short and black (though close examination showed a few gray hairs), and the skin that his beard and moustache failed to cover was adorned with several small scars, "Vido Santiago, head of the Blue Suns mercenaries," she flicked the image aside, this time a portrait of a frowning asari with piercing blue eyes came into view, "Liara T'Soni, notorious information broker.

The omni-tool powered off after Cetea lowered her arm below the table. A few glances around the room... Good, it seemed that everyone was enjoying staring at a blue haired boy's rather bad dancing and the ensuing dance rejection that followed.

"I hope to work out an agreement with Santiago. He shares his considerable surplus of combat experts to train our recruits, and in return, we help him should the need arise. I've searched for weeks for any traces of him to make such a deal. That search as led me here, he's questioning the survivors of the Blue Suns Omega branch that had tried to kill Archangel. While he wants Omega to believe that the assault was a success, the fact that he's 'rewarding' the survivors with a bullet to the head suggests otherwise. I know it is a dangerous risk to barter with an angry, murderous war lord, it is a risk I intend to take, as he won't make a visit to a populated area for a while after this," she said, feeling more uneasy than her seemingly calm tone would suggest, "I intend to visit T'Soni after my business with Vido is finished. Though we can discuss this later."

With her explanation finished, Cetea drummed her fingers on the table nervously. She had hoped nobody overheard her... Clenching the edge of the table, she cleared her throat again, "Any questions?"

===

(Greg's post)

Azumi nodded to the information, waving off the apology for not keeping informed. "Relax, PFC. I've been busy. Try to relax a bit, especially here, or we might get guns in our faces." She looked over the options. Best to go Cetea's way on this one, considering she still didn't know how things worked. "Good plan. A cover up for a botched op isn't exactly out of the question for a high grade military organization, even just private contractors. In any case, I don't think he'll take us seriously in a million years unless we face strength for strength with some planning. Find some part of an escort and drag him to a back room for info, that type of thing. Anyone here we can ask about him? Some authority, any kind of authority whatsoever on the station?"

She looked over at the young man at the bar, opening her mouth as if to ask him something, something about if he knew anything... but a hand was raised, not even looking at her, waving her off. He was busy, and knew she was there. How? She looked under his chair then... there. A red eye, seemingly alive, on that weapon he had. Clever. Still, as she checked on her VISR, he was non hostile. No big deal. Wait, was that Cheryl Mason next to him? Still, business first.

"In any case," she looked back to her partners in the top branches of their organization. "I met with Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Helped me out a bit with organization an such, so I think we're good in some ways, but yes, T'Soni and Santiago will help. Good work, Cetea. Still, I see some allies scattered around the bar, so you think we should get them in on this? I'm aware that in the movies a three-person squad can take out anything, but collateral damage is far easier to avoid when people know how many people we have in a high enough amount. Yeah, muscle, but the ones I see aren't exactly stupid." She tapped Zero on the shoulder, motioning to the bar. "Recognize anyone? Oh, and about that ladies' man act? Don't do that too often. It weirds me out."

===

Meanwhile, Isaac could hear the woman beside him. He froze a moment, but nothing more than that. He knew he'd be seeing Cheryl Mason eventually after all. So he spoke, acting nonchalant. "I'll get the tab. How's it been when you aren't--? Hold on." He looked to Kalas, grinning at his horrid dancing, skimming his heart. Based on the very recent past, with just a brief skim... "He's drunk. Not that I expect he's a good dancer when sober. Anyway, how's it been? I see some allies around the bar, but I never thought you'd sink to my level to go to a place like this. Not that we haven't visited an Afterlife or three."

Cheryl blinked as she heard the voice of the demon right beside him. Though she knew she'd be meeting up with him again soon, she didn't think she would right now. So she turned to him, having to remark, "Why does it seem like when we meet up, it's where we least suspect?" She had to roll her eyes at the pun, taking another sip of her drink. "That's not funny, and you know it. Just dropped by because this place looked interesting. Anyway, things have been alright. Been training up a bit and just hanging around. Nothin' too special."

Kalas just gave the two the finger before he walked off to sit by one of the empty tables. Like he promised, that was enough for the day. Or night; hard to tell around here. He leaned back against the booth he sat at, placing his feet on the table, as Lucifer curled up underneath. Besides Isaac and Cheryl, he could see that there were others nearby, and would have recognized two of them had it not been for the armor and the disguise. For that, he didn't think too much on it, and just thought of what to do once he sobered up.

===

Riza continued to survey the people in attendance at the Afterlife club when she noticed something odd. A few people were conversing with one another, looking somewhat suspicious due to how out-of-place they all looked. She scowled for a split-second before walking over to the bar and taking a seat next to them.

"Lookin' for a drink, miss?" the bartender asked. Riza politely waved him off.

"No, thank you," she told him. "I'd prefer to stay sober for the time being." The bartender merely nodded in understanding before taking care of other patrons. Still, Riza leaned in towards the group of (unbeknownst to her) Interferences that were discussing with one another.

"Is something wrong here?" she asked. "Something I should be let on about?"

===

Zero listened to the asari's explanation, also forgiving the apology. "We can't all be in contact all the time. It might be a better thing that you didn't summon us until now. Surveillance such as this is generally better the less people are involved."

He didn't add much other than that. Cetea already seemed to have a plan, or at least a good idea, and she was right about the need for resources. The Reploid wasn't sure about having someone like Santiago on their side, but he knew the need for allies was too great to be picky. The Interference Assassins had to first establish themselves if they were to be a strong force in this multiverse, and they couldn't do that without the proper training and funds. After Cetea finished with her explanation, Zero nodded in agreement with Azumi's suggestion.

"The Sergeant is correct. Showing that we are worth this Santiago's time is key, and the best way to do that would be through force, one of the few things this type of man will understand. I'm not sure what valuable information the authorities will be able to provide, considering their lack of control over the criminal activity here, but it's a good place to start."

When Azumi tapped his shoulder, he answered immediately, having already scanned the room earlier. He first glanced at the one sitting at the bar, talking to a woman. "Isaac Zivaku, of course. We were both there when we fought the viruses within K1-R4. I have... a hunch, that the AI may be with him, perhaps carried within an Omnitool or similar device." Next, he nodded at the boy who had been drunkenly dancing before. "Kalas. He helped put down a Maverick uprising some time ago. He's trustworthy, but I doubt his abilities while inebriated." At Azumi's next statement, Zero paushed for a moment, then spoke again. "Of course, Sergeant. This disguise is only for when necessary. My armor can be warped on at any point when needed."