[October 15, 2020. Time: Noon GMT.] [Maggie's phone rings, she can decide where she is.] [Start] (Your one with Yuri was evening of the 13th.) * Marguerite is in the weight room, under the bench press. As her phone rings, she curses, lets the weight down into the rest, and slides out from under it. She grabs her phone and flips it open. "Yo." * Saki is, surprise surpirse, on the other end of the line. "Hey, Mad Dog. It's Saki." (And if you have trouble remembering anything Cham, feel free to ask here or in message) (Hahaha yeah, I'll prly have to avail myself of that. Um.) * Marguerite blinks, then reaches over to her jumpsuit - lying nearby - and pulls out a pack of cigs and her lighter. As she grabs one out of the pack with her teeth and flicks it alight, she says. "Oh. Yeah, hey. What's up?" Eh, not much. Still stuck in the hospital. Jason's here, too. Bastards did a number on us. Yeah, that was not a fuckin' pretty op by anybody's standards. Ya lived, though, which is a damn sight better'n some I can name. Heh. Yeah. * Saki pauses a sec, then says, "Listen, I wanted to thank you for pulling my ass out of the fire." * Marguerite puffs on her cig. "Hey, no problem. Eckerd wanted ya safe, so we fuckin' obliged her." There's some of the other fuckers here I'd as soon see gone instead of you, you know? Heh. That's almost a compliment. * Marguerite grins. "Plus, I got in some good demon fightin' practice. Kind of a bonus." Yeah. Almost every one of them died in that battle. You know, I kinda got the half-story, workin' it backwards. Something to do with some explosion in Japan a way back... but I still don't fuckin' understand what the shit was going on. It's a long story. I'll fill you in on it sometime. But for now, if you're up for it I could use your help again. * Marguerite slips her gun from her holster (which she's wearing. Maggie go unarmed? Hahaha no.), slides out the clip, and counts the rounds. "Oh?" she says, barely managing to contain an edge of hammy menace. (.... happy. Happy menace.) (/me snickers) (She's a B-movie actress) Yeah. I said almost all of my enemies died in the fight, right? There's still one left, who wasn't there. You in a safe place to talk? * Marguerite looks around the weight room for other people. [It's empty at the moment. People are at work or lunch.] I'm at SAB. Nobody around, though. Hmm... go for a burger or something, then. I'll call back in a few. Right. * Marguerite flips the phone shut and goes for her clothes! ( FF to burgerville? ) (Sound good.) * Saki calls back around twenty minutes later. [Maggie can get out and to a location of her choice without any trouble. There's a nearby pub that has a reasonable lunch crowd but a few secluded tables.] * Marguerite sits down at one of such tables, orders a scotch, neat, and leans back, looking around casually. ( Move my line down ) [A few of the denizens make note of her but seem content to give her space for the moment. Her drink comes quickly.] * Marguerite answers her phone. "Speak." * Saki gets right to the point. "It's Khalia. She was in on it." ... was she, now. Yeah. (God, remind me who the fuck that is, again?) (And again, any questions, go ahead and ask them) (Oh, Kahyla) (She's a PC. (She's got a scythe) ( Oops :P ) (... Rowyn's char, right?) (She fought the EU colonel) (Right) (I can't remember if I've ever had contact with her.) ( You have, at the very least in the tournament introductions ) (Yeah, that doesn't count for much, really.) ( It means you'd know who she is, if nothing else. ) * Marguerite takes a sip of her scotch. "So what, you want me to take care of her? That means my ass if I don't have fucking proof backin' me up." How the hell am I going to prove it? My apartment was blasted, remember? Maybe she's still got the bullet wound in her head. Look for that. Jesus. Man, fuck. It's not like they won't fucking trace it back if I do it, you know? Ninja shit ain't my style. * Marguerite pauses for a second. .... she took one to the head and lived? I was asking for your help, not for you to do it for me. I don't get other people to fight my battles for me. It's not my style. And yeah. Among other places, yeah, I shot her in the head. Fuck, man. Right after she tried to ice me, literally. Thought I could finish her off before I got dragged into hell, but she teleported or something. * Marguerite screws up her face and downs the rest of the scotch entire. "Then we really ought to get her checked out first, you know? Crap like that leaves signatures. You think she's in with the biblical basement fucks? I don't know. She was talking about a master she and that fire bitch served or something, but I was too busy fighting for my life to pay much attention. * Marguerite perks up. "Fire bitch...? Which one?" The one you shot in our previous mission. Turns her body into lava or something. Died at the tower. She was betrayed by those misty freaks who were out to get me. Who, by the way, Kahlya was with when she attacked me in my sleep. She brought three of the fuckers. They had some kind of deal to kill me off and get Jason to resign his contract at the same time. * Marguerite looks bewildered. "Contract?" Yeah, for his fire powers. They were worried he wasn't going to resign, so they kidnapped me for leverage. Shit, shit, doubleshit. Get the picture? [Maggie's cursing gets a few looks, but nobody seems that bothered.] * Marguerite plucks an icecube from the glass, sucks the remnants of scotch from it, then bites down. Hard. Then she speaks in a lower tone. "Look. For right now, I'm in, but I want to go at this slow. I've been fucking blindsided way too many times in this kind of thing. I'll keep it low-key but I want to poke around first." That's fine. Just be careful. Right. This number secure enough to call you at? Should be. Right. I'll get back to you soon. Wait, one more thing. Keep it from SAB. Bitch is in that tournament they're holding, and I've heard they're granting amnesty to the participants. I don't want to have to fight SAB, too. * Marguerite nods. Will do. * Marguerite hangs up! Right. Talk to you so- * Saki is cut off! (End?) ( K ) (nod) [End]