Friday 1.17 Unexpected diversion
May. 4th, 2010 11:18 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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Manx knew she was leaving the boys in a tough situation. She could only provide so much guidance. she was not their mother - she wasn't even their handler. She hoped they considered her a friend but at moments like this, she felt more like judge, jury and executioner.
She would have to work quickly to try and round them up some support - discreet, off-the-Kritiker-radar support. She had been out of Japan long enough that her civilian contacts had grown a bit rusty.
As she exited the Koneko, she gave a wary glance around the street. She had convinced herself that Thea had only been giving her a warning for letting herself grow lax. But maintaining these mental shields was proving to be exhausting. She gave a moments attention to her fledgling shields and headed for the street to hail a cab.
She would have to work quickly to try and round them up some support - discreet, off-the-Kritiker-radar support. She had been out of Japan long enough that her civilian contacts had grown a bit rusty.
As she exited the Koneko, she gave a wary glance around the street. She had convinced herself that Thea had only been giving her a warning for letting herself grow lax. But maintaining these mental shields was proving to be exhausting. She gave a moments attention to her fledgling shields and headed for the street to hail a cab.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-10 01:44 am (UTC)It could have come out sounding like a threat but it was nothing but an offer. A sincere one at that.
"How much of that is Rosenkreuz talking? Would you even know where you begin and Rosenkreuz ends? Thea had called you and Oracle 'lifers'... even she refused to imagine what it must have been like to be raised there. Yet... somehow... you emerged not as mindless robots but as individuals." She couldn't believe she was actually thinking these things... not just saying them as a sales pitch to recruit but actually beleiving her own words. "I assume you had no choice in what they required of you. What if something different were required?"
no subject
Date: 2010-05-10 02:07 am (UTC)He was quiet for a while, resisting the urge to throw her out of the car and run screaming. Brad had seen Schwarz and Weiss working together, but he doubted very much that had included becoming a part of Kritiker. And he really had no desire to work for anyone else. It had taken this long to finally be rid of Esset and Rosenkreuz, and the majority of that had been Brad's doing.
He finally spoke again, his voice a bit softer. "No, I probably don't. But I do know better than to accept anymore offers from big organizations offering me 'something better'." He glanced at Manx again. "Besides, you have someone manufacturing those discs right under your noses and can't even find him. Why would Schwarz lower ourselves to that sort of incompetence?"
no subject
Date: 2010-05-10 02:24 am (UTC)The disk. They had information and that suggested a few things. But, with putting the telepath on edge she wasn't willing to pry further. So far, he had not pried into her mind. At least she didn't believe he had. She wanted to keep it that way.
" I may be employeed by Kritiker but I am not Kritiker itself." The irony of turning Sato's words around made her smirk to herself. That was as good as treason. "Thea works with me, not for me. She is considered a freelancer by Kritiker. Not everyone chooses that path..." Manx left that statement wide open. She had 'recruited' nearly a dozen former Esset talents but only three worked 'with' her. She couldn't trust Schuldig, of all people, with the knowledge of her true motives.
"The origins of the disk are not exactly clear - Sato was not the most informative." She knew what it sounded like and what Schuldig was suggesting. It was still too bitter a pill to swallow. "this is not what Kritiker does. It has to be a project gone wrong - a rogue agent. Possibly even a mole from Rosenkreuz or some faction of Esset. Kritiker wouldn't do this." She couldn't believe Kritiker was capable of becoming their own dark beast.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-17 07:55 pm (UTC)"If you can catch whoever is going to use the disk, I would be willing to come see what they know." He finally offered. "I'm sure you have other telepaths that work with you. But I can guarantee you that they're not as good as I am."
no subject
Date: 2010-05-17 11:15 pm (UTC)Manx shook her head minutely to break the dumbfounded stare that she finally realized she had fixed on Schuldig. She also sealed her lips shut considering that her jaw also hung slightly open in her disbelief.
She went to begin to speak but stopped herself, clicking her jaw shut as she carefully reconsidered her words.
Slowly, she pieced her thoughts together into something coherent.
"I have no doubt in your skill. You have spared no opportunity to..." She stopped to choose a more appropriate word than 'flaunt'. "... display... your talent to Weiss. But I can't help but wonder how this benefits you and your team."
She had her suspicions. She understood the potential threat this weapon posed to talents. Was this Schwarz's motivation - self preservation? Sato and Weiss were quick to condemn, easily assuming the Black Team only wanted to cause more harm. It was an easy assumption to make based on past history. But they did not know what she now knew. While she didn't know much specifically about Schwarz, the things she could assume were enough to give he pause in passing judgement.
"Your team is much better equipped to handle this for many reasons. I'm assuming your interest is not in saving the lives at risk." To her credit, that statement was delivered without a single inflection in her tone.
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Date: 2010-05-18 12:40 am (UTC)"No, their lives are hardly our concern. But we do want to know more about the disk." He said. "For once our goals and your goals coincide with each other. And with all of the people Kritiker is going to kill... we thought it would be more... appropriate if Weiss went in. After all, this isn't our mess. For once." He smirked again.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-18 02:30 am (UTC)If he was right... if this did turn out to be a Kritiker sanctioned field test of some kind. No. She couldn't believe that. This was outside Persia's control. It had to be.
There was only one way to find out. The German was correct about that much at least. As a team, Schwarz could easily accomplish this without even bothering to notify Weiss. Was Schuldig just pulling strings, making them dance for another of his self absorbed diversions? No. Oracle sent Prodigy with a message. Their team was fully invested in this.
"You know what it can do... don't you? So you are unwilling to personally take the risk? That does not instill much confidence in your sincerity." She dipped her head, not seeing many options available. Weiss was taking this on personally. It wasn't their responsibility yet they were stepping up to it solely because they felt it was the right thing to do. At least, three of them did. She was no longer sure what motivated Ken.
"We do have the same goals but what is it you will do with the answers? Why is Oracle so concerned about this disk?"
no subject
Date: 2010-05-18 02:48 am (UTC)"Oracle had a vision about tonight." He slowly offered. "It was vivid, and managed to physically hurt him, which is very unusual." He kept his tone deliberate, making sure she would catch a hint of worry. Something she could use to judge his sincerity. "We want to know what is happening just as much as you do. We want this project stopped, and we want to be left alone."
no subject
Date: 2010-05-18 03:19 am (UTC)It was surprising to hear that Oracle was actually hurt by a vision. Nothing in her research or many conversations ever suggested such a thing was possible - it could be a fabrication. But his final words struck home.
"... left alone..." she repeated quietly to herself.
Slowly she looked to him, assessing the black eye, the worry lines creasing his young face, the drawn, sallow complexion that spoke loudly of exhaustion.
"Every talent I have encountered has requested exactly the same thing." She recounted sadly.
She had intended to keep this information close, in reserve should she ever need it. She decided that even though he was playing a game, he had chosen to do so with some shred of honesty. The least she could do was return the favor.
"Do you know how many teams are searching for you? Or exactly how close they are?" Manx did have the resources and the backing of an entire organization behind her efforts. She was bound to have some intelligence that Schwarz would find useful.
Hopefully, she didn't just paint a target on her forehead.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-18 03:26 am (UTC)"No. I have no idea. More than one, and slightly less than all of them, I would imagine." He answered, banishing the melancholy thoughts. He was a professional, and he was above emotions like that, especially with the enemy sitting next to him in his car.
Though he was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to shoot him anymore. Not without thinking about it first, anyway.
"Oracle knows more about it than he lets on, I believe. I would rather not know, because if I did, I would probably kill myself." He said, and it was true. He would rather be dead than go back to Esset, and he was pretty sure Esset knew that. After all, they had been willing to die in order to escape.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-18 01:35 pm (UTC)Death was a completely viable alternative. That gave her pause. She hadn't expected him to be quite as broken as the others. Perhaps because of their status, their rank within Esset, she had thought Schwarz was spared much of the unpleasantness. In fact, they seemed to thrive on the horrors they inflicted on others. All of this raised even more questions that begged to be answered.
"I can tell you that most of the Esset factions and Rosenkreuz teams still do not know that Schwarz survived. Oracle has done well in keeping you under their radar." As a team leader, Oracle always seemed to go above and beyond what she expected from him. The stories of other Esset team leaders painted a picture of cruelty and sociopathic disregard for any human life - even the teams. They were free of Esset yet Schwarz remained whole, together, seemingly unchanged as a unit.
Perhaps unit was not the correct word.
"He bears the weight of the world on his shoulders to protect your team, doesn't he?" She almost didn't want an answer to that question. Above all else, she had abhorred everything about Oracle. His ruthless disregard for life, his cold calculating demeanor, his arrogance, even his damnable talent that always gave him the upper hand, justifying that superior, smug smirk he always seemed to wear on his face. He was the face of Esset and yet, he was the one who brought it all crumbling down.
Oracle was the true monster yet, he was protecting his team still. They were free. Manx would have thought Oracle would be the first one to abandon it all and head off on his own - disappear into the world without a glance back. But here he was.
Again Schulidg's words had raised more questions, only this time, they were about herself and what she had believed for so long.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-20 08:00 am (UTC)And he refused to believe that Schwarz wasn't being looked for. He knew how Esset and Rosenkreuz worked. And on the other side, they knew how Schwarz worked. They probably wouldn't stop looking until the found bodies. However, it was possible they weren't spending a tremendous amount of energy on it. Both organizations were arrogant like that.
But at least Manx was starting to come around. She was the foot in the door that they needed if they were going to start poking around at Kritiker.
"A man by the name of Johnson is behind this." He said, pulling up in front of the Koneko again. He then reached out and grabbed Manx's hand. "Touch the gun and I'll kill you." He said before she could even move, then he took out a pen and wrote his phone number on her palm.
"That's my cell. If you feel like sharing information, we would appreciate it. Like I said, we aren't any happier about this than you. The faster we get this taken care of, the faster we can get out of each other's hair and go about our lives."
no subject
Date: 2010-05-25 01:33 pm (UTC)She knew she was pushing too far as the words left her mouth. But for some odd reason, she had to know. It felt like the one piece of information that would decide which way her fluctuating feelings would finally fall. If Oracle was capable of an actual human emotion, if he was able to care, then Schwarz, most definitely would fall in the 'victim' category that most Esset talents seemed to be in.
She actually felt a bit of disappointment as he pulled up to the Koneko once again. The suprising bit of information almost sailed by her and the warning was simply dismissed. Mastermind was proving to be full of helpful information even if his words couldn't necessarily be trusted. Shooting him was the furthest thing from her mind.
Even so she tensed as he grabbed her hand.
She sorely wished she could just take his words at face value.
Even more disturbing, she was warring with her instincts that were telling her he was being truthful.
"Tonight. Your team will be there." She said it as fact. There was no question in her mind. All the other questions she may have had were instantly clear in her mind. She pulled her hand free, wrapping her hand around the number scrawled there.
"You know more about this disk than Weiss does." She looked to him in all seriousness. "We have a common goal..."
She prepared herself for the mocking laughter she thought would ensue.
"... so help them."
no subject
Date: 2010-05-25 11:28 pm (UTC)"We won't be there. Aside from the fact that we don't want to, it might raise suspicion if we are there. Call me when they get tired of trying to get information out of them the normal way. Now get out and go talk to them. Tell them whatever you want."
He looked at her, waiting for her to leave. Vaguely, he wondered if a black eye would be in store for this little meeting. But... he just needed to meet her. Talk to her. See where Schwarz stood with them. If they were in good with Manx, Weiss would follow. Nagi might not be able to convince them to go, but he was sure as hell that Manx could.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 11:33 pm (UTC)Kritiker really needed to take human sexual response more seriously in their profiling. It was astounding that they were all still breathing.
She felt certain that Schwarz was looking for the same answers that Weiss was searching for but she didn't necessarily trust that they would leave well enough alone. No matter what Mastermind's true motivations were in this conversation, one thing was clear.
They needed Weiss.
That alone gave her the confidence to place a demand of her own. She reached for his pen as she reached into her purse, quickly flipping a business card out of the front pocket. She quickly scrawled her cell number on the back.
"I am the closest you will get to Kritiker. We both have information the other wants and after tonight, I will know much more. You can call me when the need arises... "
Sure he could just smash through her shields to take what he wanted to know but doing so would destroy a valuable resource. As long as she had inside information on Kritiker, and remained on the inside, she would have value to Schwarz. It wasn't a guarantee but she would put money on the odds.
Hopefully it would buy her some time to get to know their greatest enemy in more detail. So far, it had been enlightening.
She opened the door and slipped one foot out.
"Thanks for the ride. It's been... interesting."
no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 06:51 pm (UTC)How did these boys survive? It was really amazing to him sometimes. They had all of this information at their fingertips, and they were more worried about who fucked whom, who was going to fuck whom, and who wasn't fucking at all.
And Ken had gone batshit insane.
"Keep an eye on Siberian." He said before the door closed. "A very close eye. I would hate to lose such a valuable informant." He smirked at Manx. "Not to mention such a beautiful one."
He looked up one last time, easily finding Yohji's mind in the fray and wiping clean his memory of Brad and Schuldig's eventful evening together. He left most everything else, including the vision that led to his release, though he toned it down a bit, and made sure to add the memory of Schuldig wearing clothes.
It was for the best, Brad was right about that. Relationships were ammunition that they didn't need to have right now. They might be the "good guys" but they had no qualms about doing anything in their power to destroy the "bad guys."
"I'll contact you tonight." He said, looking back at Manx, then with a wave, drove off.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-06 02:50 am (UTC)As she stepped out onto the sidewalk the serious tone of the warning the telepath offered stopped her in her tracks. She glanced up at the Koneko, reminding herself again that the German's talent was unhindered by brick walls. 'Informant' twisted momentarily in her gut - again the uneasy hint of betrayal to Kritiker gave her pause. But the shameless flirting had her rolling her eyes.
At least the redhead was much smoother than Yohji. If he honestly thought she could be swayed by flattery, this would be easier than she first surmised. He was charming (to a point), engaging and negotiating with a skill she hadn't honestly expected.
She was beginning to feel like the fly in this web. Actually, she felt they both were.
She watched him drive off then slowly turned toward the Koneko lost in thought. She reached for the door but stopped herself. She shut her eyes wrestling with her decision and, with a sigh, released the handle and walked off down the street.
She needed time to put this into perspective before she approached Weiss with any of this information. The source alone would preclude it's validity in their eyes. She was sure why it didn't in hers.
She hailed a cab and headed off for her long awaited appointment. Perhaps there, she would find the clarity she was looking for.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 08:28 am (UTC)