[Date: September 7, 2020 Time: 1900 GMT] [Location: Outer training area for SAB.] [Currently the only one around from SAB permanent staff is Reverent Warlow, she's largely ignoring you lot and seems to be working on her close combat skills.] [Start!] * Ben is standing to the side, leaning against a wall, cigarette in his mouth. He's not doing anything but watching the others. * Marguerite is sitting in the middle of a disassembled Desert Eagle, cleaning it with a well-worn rag. * Tim is sitting on a bench behind the shooting range, where one of the combat robots is standing and shooting at a normal target ring. He's scowling, and not facing the bot or Ben right now. At what seem to be random intervals the bot fires, but so far more of it's bullets haven't hit the target than have. * Ben takes the cigarette out of his mouth and flicks it once to shake off the ash, then returns it. * Marguerite sets down the rag and picks up the gun oil. (Everyone stands around not talking. For hours. The end. :P ) * Tim glances at Ben for a moment and then looks away. (It's a King of the Hill intro!) * Kurt pops his head into the shooting range and looks around. He's looking far too chipper for someone who nearly died. * Marguerite looks up as Kurt comes in. "Woof." * Warlow gets tired of hand to hand fighting and works on using the silver bayonet attachment for her shotgun. The drill isn't all that different than a high tech version of the usual army ones. (No he isn't, I know his player :P) * Ben turns to look at Kurt. After a split second's hesitation, he walks over, right hand outstretched. 'I don't believe we've met. Ben Carmichael.' Bad dog. No Guns and Ammo for you. * Ben raises an eyebrow. * Kurt blinks and shakes Ben's hand firmly. "Hey, Kurt Petros." Nice to meetcha. * Tim gets distracted and misses a shot, "Argh." 'You too.' So whaddaya do around here, Ben? 'Blow myself up, mostly, it seems.' Well, I can help with that. 'I wasn't complaining.' Oh. * Tim mutters, under his breath in Japanese. 'But you were about to say?' * Marguerite snaps together the DE with lightning speed, twirls it three times and slips it into her shoulder holster. "So, Kurt, you feelin' alright?" Me? Great. Take me a few days to be back to full strength, but I _am_ mostly German. Anything that doesn't kill me just makes me wish I was dead, and all that. (*snarfs*) (Or makes you want to get a strong beer) 'What happened to you?' Got mauled by a real bitch, you might say. * Kurt winks at Maggie. * Marguerite snorts. "You loved it when I was pawin' you and you know it." * Tim misses the second shot in a row and turns around so he can see his bot. * Kurt ponders for a moment. * Warlow rolls her eyes as she disembowels a dummy with her bayonet. Funny enough, I'm fine. Wolf part healed me right up before I got hit with the serum. * Ben stiffens very slightly at Maggie's last comment. Go fig. Just be glad _I_ didn't wolf out. 'I take it things did not go as planned on your end of the last op?' * Marguerite looks over at Ben, and smirks. "It's a long story. Short part is I caught Lyco and kicked some real ass before they knocked me out." * Tim catches the next bullet, "Better not let Angel find out." Surprisingly enough, things went almost exactly as planned. Totally weirded me out. Eh, 'm cured now. I think. And yeah, worked pretty well. Helps to have a team that'll listen to reason. Yeah. That, would be useful, yes. 'It all depends upon what you consider reasonable.' What's this about this Angel person? Not killing everything you see? Not killing people chained to walls just see if you can? * Kurt blinks. 'Angel sanitized a lycan on our end of the op.' (There's interesting wording. ;P) Wait, wait. You sound like you've got the voice... of... experience... * Kurt trails off. ...Sanitized is not the word I use for that. * Marguerite blinks. What the FUCK? What the FUCK? (Shame Kahlya can't show up. But her continuity is screwed if she does. :/) (Heh. Apparently word hadn't gotten around. I hear there's a disciplinary hearing mini on Wed.) You're fucking shitting me! I didn't get to fucking axe one shaggy bastard, and this twerp shoots a CHAINED one? * Red pokes her head in. "What's with the fucking in here?" (Cracks up at Maggie IRL.) Fucking christ! * Red blinks. "Wait, what now?" * Tim stands up, "Oh it gets worse...much worse... See the one she shot wasn't even changed." ...someone start from the beginning, please? Wait, wait. * Warlow frowns a bit as she works. She goes over to a range and switches to new bots, this time shooting at a mob as they approach and switching to melee to finish off the rest. Somebody start from the beginning. *Who* shot an unchanged lycanthrope that was chained down? 'A number of lycans had already been captured. As part of our intel gathering, we tested their silver tolerance. Crosse inserted a small silver object into the heart of one lycan through ballistic projection. It did not survive.' ... Jesus. Christ. * Warlow gets knocked down by one of the melee bots. She frowns and slowly gets up, then reseting the drill. * Tim stares at Ben for a long moment...and then storms out of the room, not even bothering to turn off the bot. So... she was TOLD to do this? I hope? And this doesn't bother you at all, Ben? 'She did so under her own initiative.' That's not right. Did she, now. * Marguerite shakes her head. "Tell me she's not getting off scot free." Oh, no. She isn't. 'There's a disciplinary hearing scheduled for tomorrow, I think.' Hmph. Well, we'll see if she gets anything more than a slap on the wrist, as it were. Shit, I hope so. Hopefully, she'll get something nice and heavy for what she did. Killing for no reason, good Lord. 'It wasn't for no reason.' Oh? She couldn't have scratched him with the bullet instead of shooting him through the heart? Christ. There's over fifty distinct places to shoot someone, most of 'em aren't fatal. 'Are you sure? Certain varieties of lycans die when even the smallest amount of silver enters their bloodstream.' That's an awful lot of places. Doesn't fucking mean you've got to start at the heart and work out, now does it? And yeah, I'm sure. Plenty of muscles to shoot for. I mean, hands and feet alone work out to 24, and that's not counting wrists and ankles. That's very rare, Ben. It's better to assume the subject can survive the test and then try to make it happen. * Ben shrugs. 'I agree. That's the only way to determine if the silver is a determining factor; if it makes an otherwise nonlethal shot into a kill one.' I don't see any reason we would need to know if a silver bullet in the heart would kill a given wolf. 'In case you needed to kill a given wolf,' Ben says drily. Given that we were told "DON'T KILL THE WOLVES." Seeing as the combat team was instructed not to kill, I agree with Kurt. Do you have any idea how hard it is to work under a no-kill restriction for people like us? 'Our op parameters did not contain that restriction, nor any indication that yours would.' Plasma doesn't have a "stun" setting, you know. * Ben shrugs again. 'It's not my fault the SAB's orders to you were more restrictive than ours were. Complain to Eckerd.' Can't. In my contract I can't bitch about it. So you assumed it was alright to kill someone? Did it never cross your mind that some individuals wouldn't take well to being killed for no reason? Or that there are laws against such things? Killing the helpless is never justified. 'Really?' 'Do any of you people know the word 'triage'?' Shit, you got anything in your head but a military tech manual? * Kurt spits on the ground at Ben's feet. "Doctors are faced with a difficult choice of who can be saved and who cannot. DOn't demean them by saying that they're killing the helpless." You make me sick. (Man, Ben's totally got Kurt hating his guts in under five minutes. That usually takes him all of TEN minutes.) * Red is staring open-mouthed by this point. * Ben takes a long drag on his cigarette. ...I need a bloody damn drink. I was going to suggest dinner, but I've lost my appetite. Maggie, Kurt, you coming? Reverend, would you care to join us? I could use a beer. Shit, I could. * Ben just stands there puffing on his cigarette. * Warlow finishing dispatching some melee opponents, she glances over to Red fairly noncommittally. "Had thought to work here for a while longer." She doesn't seem to be either very solid on that, or to be particularly fishing for a stronger invite, just noncommittal. Oh, but I think it would be very good of you to come along. Or at least step into the hallway with me for a moment. Come along, Rev. It's bad luck to drink in less than fours. * Ben smiles slightly, recognizing that he's being snubbed and not giving a damn. Wait, really? Fuck, bad news for me. 'It's okay if you drink for four,' Ben says to Maggie. * Warlow looks over Kurt. "Well, I suppose I'll not violate conveniently manufactured superstition." Nonsense! Ancient ninja tradition. Not surprising you've never heard of it, since ninja don't exist. Would _I_ make up a tradition just to have another pretty woman to drink with? Yes. Are we gonna get this fucking drink or are we gonna let it get away? * Kurt pushes open the door. "Let's be off, then." * Red doesn't answer that, instead walking out of the room. "I know a place." * Ben doesn't follow. * Warlow puts her unloads her shotgun and follows Kurt. "Well, I've no complaints about ninja traditions, or amiable liars." She's got a slight smile. (Which annoys me, since I want to play. Stupid Ben, make friends so you aren't snubbed during socials. :P ) * Marguerite follows, lighting a cigarette on the way. ( Sorry, Ben'splayer. But Ben's a really awful person. ^_~ ) (I know. He was meant to be a bastard.) ( No, he's just misunderstood. Wait, no, he's rather clear. :P) (Look, MAGGIE hates him. That really fucking means something.) (True. But Ben hates Maggie right back, has since that time with Saldin.) * Red leads to the subway, looks, and doesn't see a train coming. "Poor Tim. He had to go on an investigative mission with a bunch of misanthropes." (Ben's just a mislycanthrope.) * Warlow's being a bit more quiet than usual. (That's okay, though. Lots of people hate Maggie.) * Marguerite looks to Warlow. "Don't think we've ever met." (Yeah, but Ben hates her because she strikes him as an amateur. :P ) Ah. Maggie, the Reverend Warlow. Reverend, Marguerite 'Mad Dog' McLochlane. * Warlow nods and offers a hand to shake. * Marguerite shakes. "Nice ta meet you. Any particular denomination?" [Subway pulls up] Anglican. * Red steps onto the Timestop Express. * Marguerite nods, then steps onto the Timestop. * Kurt steps onto the subway. Man, what a load of crap. Men like that don't fuckin' make it in the army. * Warlow boards and sits, she deposited her shotgun on the way out, is still in battle/priestly garb though. (Oh, Ben was never in the army. CIA was where he started out, actually.) (She can tell. ^_~) (Oh. Got it. Sorry, misunderstood.) No, they don't. I'm amazed he can make it here, but that's not quite my place to object... more on that when we reach the place I've got in mind. They get promoted to lieutenant, get stuck behind a desk and don't move. (Should be Saki. Get more gunbunny females in the group. ;P) That or they do something terrible and get booted out. Yeah. (Gunbunnies squeamish about shooting people...) Something terrible. Like shooting somene who's chained and helpless. [Train leaves, if Saki's coming, she'll be at the platform at the place where you arrive, planning to go to SAB, by amusing coincidence. (You're totally not allowed to call Maggie squeamish until you see her in combat. >_>) (Agreed.) ( I'm filling in for Saki today. Hiiii! ) ( It's a marshmallow monster! Quick, we need proton packs! ) * Marguerite grabs a handle. "Eh. Attrition's one thing. Shootin' em point blank's another." Well, yes. That it was deliberate is what makes it awful. * Saki gets on at the next station! This next stop is ours. Wow, tonight must be my lucky night. * Warlow stands to get up. She continues to be noticably quiet. Oh. Kurt, you haven't met Saki? ...come to that, I sort of haven't, either. Oh, no, I've met Saki. We met when we were playing bait. * Marguerite nods to Saki. "Hey." * Saki waves. "Yo." Ah, yes. And hullo, Saki. We didn't get to be properly introduced last time we met, so; * Red reaches out a hand to shake. "Leslie Seifer, please call me Red." * Saki shakes Red's hand. "Saki Morikawa." * Warlow nods and shakes Saki's hand as well. Well. Now that that's done, this is our stop. Saki, care to come, drink, and bitch with us? Sure. Don't have anythin' better to do. C'mon, we don't get there soon I'm gonna have to start early. * Red leads the way off the train. * Kurt follows Red, and does not comment about the view. This way. Maggie, Kurt, I think I've brought you here before? * Saki strides after, slouching. Could be, could be. ( o/` ) Eh, maybe. If you did it was good, cause I don't remember. * Warlow follows, she's got a fairly thoughtful look. * Red leads to a hole-in-the-wall place named in Spanish and smelling of Mexican food. Ah, the mexican joint. * Red leads in; there's a bar in the center, and a few small booths off to one side, and two tables with chairs. She borrows a chair from one of the tables and sits it next to one of the booths. "Please, sit. I'll take the chair if the rest of you prefer the booth." It'll do. Hey, yeah, I remember. Place had some good tequila. That's why I chose it. * Red waits for everyone to sit, and meanwhile the bartender comes over and hands out menus. He takes one look at Red, who is visibly angry at something, and nods to himself. * Marguerite glances down the menu and orders what she did last time, the enchilada plate and two bottles of tequila. * Warlow sits down and looks through the menu she flips back and forth between the pages a few times. * Saki takes a seat somewhere near the edge of the booth, half facing the outside, and picks a menu with one hand. * Red orders enchiladas as well, although a different kind, and doesn't bother asking for a drink. * Kurt just orders a nice, tall beer. * Saki orders a taco with all the stuff you can find on a common Taco Bell taco. * Warlow gets steak fajitas. [ The waiter shuffles off, returning soon with drinks. He sets a large and dark golden margarita on the rocks down in front of Red, who immediately has a large sip. You all also get what you asked for - honest! ] * Warlow's got a local beer, for the record. [ One BritBrew for Warlow. ] ( Bah. Beer's not beer unless you can stand a fork in it. ) * Marguerite snaps open one of the tequila bottles (Julio Herrado, reposado) and takes a nice swig. Ahhh, shit. Great stuff. * Kurt chugs down half his beer in one go. * Red has another long swig off her margarita. "Well." Ugh. Man, I left the EU to get away from this inter-departmental bullshit. It will be an... interesting trial. Yeah, I bet. To be a fly on that wall, huh? * Warlow looks up. "Probably going to be a closed hearing, should be on the record though." I don't want to know. I'll probably be disappointed. * Warlow drinks her beer, fairly big gulps. I probably will be, too. Which brings me to why I wanted you to come along, Reverend, as you're a superior of mine in the organization. * Saki munches on her taco. Munch. Reverend, you're aware of my past, yes? Somethin' happening? * Warlow push away her beer and looks over to Red. She nods with a rather serious expression. Indeed. Kurt, Maggie, if you don't know, I'll let you in on it now, so I can explain what I'm about to ask of you all. * Marguerite eats enchilaaaada if it's here yet, and nods. [ Sure, the food's here. Red hasn't touched hers yet, tho. ] * Kurt quirks an eyebrow at Red. Whatever it is, it can't be THAT bad. (Kurt didn't read the SAB dossiers on his fellow agents...) * Warlow holds up a cautionary hand in Kurt's direction. "Let her tell it." ( No, he didn't. Doesn't want to know. ) For the past few years, I've been a very picky assassin. I would only ply my trade on those I felt deserving of it. This is where you tell me I'm nuts, no doubt. And possibly where you guess at what I'm getting to. * Kurt blinks. "What's so nuts about that?" * Red shrugs, smirking slightly. "I'm just leaving it open in case." * Marguerite nods, silently, and works on the tequila bottle. * Warlow glances over at Kurt for amoment before looking back to Red. I could afford to be picky because -- well, that's not important. Right now, it's looking like I'm going to have to kill this Angel girl, because I think she more than deserves it. At least, I *want* to, and I'm going to be compelled to look into her past, which, if her recent mission performance is any indication, will only increase this desire. * Saki eats her taco. * Marguerite raises an eyebrow, and amazingly stops drinking. ... Now, where you dear friends come in. I want you to help me not kill her, because killing her right now would only lead to trouble. And if you feel like it, *now* you can call me nuts. * Warlow closes her eyes for a moment and listens for a bit, she then opens them. So, what, you're like, the fuckin' Crimson Avenger or something? * Saki finishes her taco. * Marguerite shovels enchilada in her mouth and chews thoughtfully. * Red laughs. "Something like that, I suppose. It all sounds terribly corny when you say it like that, tho." It IS terribly corny. I mean, come ON. More like the Punisher. Hell, the Crimson Avenger hated her work. Or his work, whichever. Angel's hardly unique in what she did, it isn't what we do, but you may have a lot of work ahead of you. Hell, only in the past hundred years everyone's accepted that lycans aren't undead. (She's killed people because she thought it necessary for the greater good, and that's okay. Wait, am I talking about Red... or Angel?) * Saki glances at Warlow. "Sounds like Nazism." She shakes her head. "Nah, forget it." (The first Crimson Avenger liked his work. It's only the new one who doesn't.) ( Is it? I dunno much about Lee Travis, honestly ^^; ) (Didn't know there was an actual Crimson Avenger.) ( Neither did I. ) ( At least, outside of A Modest Destiny. ) ( I mostly just know about the second. Still, Saki probably knows as much as I do on the subject. ) * Marguerite finishes chewing. "Don't have to kill her." (Yeah, Golden Age character, member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Now also in a new version in JSA.) ( Huh. ) Still, taking the law into your own hands just isn't right. * Warlow winces at Saki's comment. * Saki shrugs at Warlow. "Maybe not the best anology I could make." Yes, and I do know that. But it will be hard, to see her get off free, providing that happens - and it seems likely, as this feels like the kind of case to make a judge get squeamish. Although I frankly don'y know how SAB will handle the trial - how many judges will believe werewolves had anything to do with it? Ehh... Forget what I said and leave it at this: from what I've heard of what happened, I don't like it." * Marguerite takes a swig. "Hm. Y'ever heard of karma?" Technically speaking it's under Indonesian jurisdiction, and considering they used a chemical weapon on that island, admittedly one that only reallly effected Lycans, they aren't going to pursue it. * Red scowls, then turn to Margie. "Head of? Yes. I'm not sure how much stock I put in it, however. Do you believe Angel will get her comeuppance, as it were?" Session Time: Tue May 04 00:00:00 2004 * Marguerite leans back. "Fucker I knew in Bulgaria, when I was there for a bit. Real ass. Had a thing for kids. Unwillin' ones." * Red frowns even more, but waits for Maggie to go on. * Warlow gets back to work on the rest of her drink. * Red has more of her drink, as well. Demand and supply. But mercs, man, you don't fuck with each other. Never know what blood oaths you're gonna run into. Like World War I and the secret treaties, you know? * Red nods. So we both happen to sign up on this munitions raid for a rebel faction. Some internal politics thing, don't even remember. * Warlow seems to be half listening, she distractedly assembles her fajita. * Marguerite takes a drink. "Anyways, point is, 's a setup, we wind up down the barrels of a couple dozen AKs. Couple days of interrogation follow. They find out we're mercs, rough us up a little and let us go. Except this guy, who happened to have raped the daughter of his interrogator. He got mailed back to the merc house a piece at a time." * Marguerite smirks. "We nailed 'em to the wall till they started to smell." She digs into her enchiladas again, smiling. * Red nods. "Well, that's something." Maybe she'll get hers. One would hope. * Warlow keeps a fairly blank expression and finishes making her fajita, she doesn't say anthing though. * Saki orders a Coke. Perhaps I won't go after her; I was angry and rash, and the alcohol is taking that from me in dazzling fashion. Listen, Red. If you kack her, we're probably going to end up hunting you, and that would just be no fun at all. Yeah. If we go off our duel I'll end up paralyzed from the neck down and you'll just not HAVE from the neck down. * Kurt shudders. Yeah, I second that. * Marguerite swigs! Yes, I know. * Red has another sip. "And I don't want to have to be up against you two. I'm rather fond of you." Hey, there's an idea. You can just go shoot at holograms of 'er. ...now that is an idea. I hadn't considered using the training room for anger management. * Warlow looks over to Red. "I find it works wonders." Really? I'll drink to that. * Saki drinks her Coke. Yeah. It'd suck to lose one of the best two squadmates I got here. * Warlow shakes her head slightly. "Well.. no, not wonders, not really, but it's nice to work an environment that's simple. Like zombies, like most of the undead, take them down, save the potential victims, go home and get a beer." Yeah. You don't have to worry about if a vampire is evil. it's pretty much in the job description. * Red nods. They burn nicely, too. That's always a nice bonus. The smell of burning fur really got to me. * Warlow looks up a Kurt. "Can't say I disagree, but you'd be surprised how much of debate concentrates on that 'pretty much'." Ah, the vampires. That was a simpler mission. And I think you're right, Kurt, and that was refreshing. * Warlow gets to eating her fajita. * Marguerite finishes her enchiladas. "Eh. If this job was simple, it wouldn't pay so damn well." True. But with Vampires, I didn't have to worry about moral conundrums. Is it right, do they have redeeming qualities, etcetera. Don't they? From what precious little I know? No. Mind, this is discounting popular vampire fiction, which has noble and benevolent vampires all over the place. * Marguerite goes for a swig. * Saki grins and doesn't say anything. * Red raises an eyebrow. Shit, don't got to worry about it often anyhow. Someone rushes me, they're fucking toast. * Warlow assembles a second fajia, she speaks in a somewhat clinical tone. "There are cases of noble vampires, the Israeli's have one, though she's more a golem than a bloodsucker. Outside of those extraordinary cases, there are a fair number that according to some have about the same chance as making it in normal society as does your average sociopath." ([On fixed mistake] Gollum? You mean golem? ) ( We hatses the livins, my precious. ) ( Giveses us the blood! ) * Warlow waves a waiter over to get another beer. "I tend to think that's overly generous, but it's standing policy. Frankly I'm just as glad not to make that decision." * Red nods. Not a fun decision. * Red has more margarita. "So." * Warlow gets a new beer and keeps drinking. ( What should I roll for change of subject? ) ( Cultural Arts: Conversation/Mind ) ( :P ) ( Etiquette: Low or middle) ( Gun combat :P ) ( Wow, two skills I *don't* have. ;_; ) * Kurt drains the last half of his beer. * Saki has no beer! * Ben enters through the front door of the restauraunt. He looks around the place for a long moment, even after he's obviously noticed the other SAB people. Then he heads over. 'Good evening. Don't worry, I'm not crashing the party.' Hmm? * Ben holds out a leather wallet. 'Warlow forgot this.' He tosses it at her. .. * Ben raises an eyebrow. 'And what's gotten you so upset this evening, Reverend? You look positively on edge.' * Marguerite looks up from her drink. * Warlow catches it without quite looking. She adopts a surprised expression at the wallet and a bit more at the question. * Saki glances at Ben out of the corner of her eye as she sips her drink. * Ben glances back. He's never met Saki, nor she him, so he at least doesn't recognize her. * Warlow continues in a slightly noncommital voice with an appraising look at Ben. "Have a lot on my mind I suppose." 'Like what?' * Marguerite waves the waiter over and orders fried ice cream! * Red sighs. "Don't worry about it, Reverend." * Warlow keeps her appraising look for a moment and then puts her drink down, she shakes her head for a moment at Red. "Not you, I wish I could offer better council, but that's not it." Ah. Alright, then. * Red seems satisfied. Must be the margarita. * Warlow looks at Ben. "Just wondering if someday I'm going to end up in a dock at the Hague if they decide the sociopathic end of vampires are just another kind of human. Thanks for the wallet." The way she says the last bit sounds like a conversation closer. 'Fair enough. I'll be off now- Actually, I'm kind of hungry, so I'll be sitting over there if anyone wants me.' Ben indicates an empty table across the room. 'Good night.' He walks over to it. * Warlow goes back to her beer. * Kurt frowns into the bottom of his mug, then slaps down a handful of money and stands up. "I gotta get some air." * Saki glances Ben's way. "What's with him?" Take care, Kurt. I frankly, ought to get some sleep, soon, but if you delightful people want to keep talking, I'm game. * Warlow nods at the departing Kurt. "Godspeed." SHe then goes back to her food. Yeah. Seeya Kurt. * Kurt walks out the entrance of the restaraunt and disappears. * Ben, across the room, is ordering food from a waitress. Presumably. One had come over and he looks like he's talking to her, but no one here can hear. [ The bartender's really the only waiter in the place, but he's attending you, yeah. ] * Marguerite gets her ice cream! * Marguerite devours it. "Man, this place is great. Even better when you're loaded." * Red snickers. "It is, yes. Why else would I drag you all here?" Damn. First time in a while I'm invited to get drunk, and I blow it. Shameful, Saki. Completely and totally. Yeah. Hey, 'f it helps, Reverend, just remember what I do. Person on the end of your gun... or stake... has the same choice you do. * Marguerite nods and takes another swig. We'll have to give you tips on how to better get drunk. * Saki nods. "Yeah. I'll have to remedy that." She orders a been from the waiter. * Marguerite stands up. "Been real, but I've got to clean and reload Bubba." She wobbles. "Whoa. Shouldn't be that bad off." Later. I'll stick around to help Saki drink, I think. But after that, I must be off. * Saki drinks! * Marguerite grabs her unempty bottle and woozles out the door! Must be the serum. * Ben, for his part, sits off at his own table, alone. * Warlow nods at Maggie's comment and then looks over to Red. "One word of comfort Red, I do trust my employer, if Angel makes it through this one she'll damn well stay on the side of her name sake in the future or be dealt with. We clean up our messes." * Red nods. "That is comforting, yes." * Warlow than fishes some money out of her wallet. (Which is all there, honest. :P ) * Saki points at Ben. "So what's the deal with that guy?" * Ben nods at Saki. Her pointing was a bit obvious. It's obvious he's an agent, and he's watching us. * Warlow stands up. "Not mine to say." SHe then looks to Red. "It isn't really my strong point, but if you do want to talk more, I'm around." * Red nods at Warlow. "Of course." * Warlow then leaves her share plus a safe but not huge tip, and heads off. * Red turns to Saki. "Ben? Well, he seems to be alright with what Angel did. That is, at least, the impression I came away with. You could ask him yourself, of course; he could be feeling lonely." * Ben, upon observation, isn't just watching the other agents. His attention wanders the entire room in an apparently random but exhaustive constant scan of his surroundings. Hmmm.... Eh, think I will. And now that I've helped you drink, I must be off, I'm afraid. We should do this again, Saki. Have fun with Ben. * Saki goes over to do just that, waving over her shoulder. "Later." * Red pays the rest of the tab and walks out, mostly keeping her balance. * Ben's attention focuses on Saki as she approaches. * Saki slides into a chair. "Yo." 'I don't think we've met. I'm Ben Carmichael. Would you be Saki Morikawa?' [One of the guys at the bar had got up when everyone left but Saki and started walking towards her with a spare beer, he frowns when she sits with Ben and acts like he was going to the bathroom or something.] (Ben's not that imposing looking. But I bet if there's a bar fight, he's the last man standing.) (Mostly she's no longer a target of opportunity. :P) * Ben pronounced it 'Sah-keye Moh-reye-kay-way', incidentally. * Saki nods. "Yeah. You've heard of me." If she noticed the guy, she doesn't give any indication. But if there's a bar fight, it's probably her fault. (Ah, Ben. The worst Japanese accent this side of Sailor Moon fandom.) 'I read everything the SAB gives me, including agent dossiers. You matched one of the profiles.' It's actually Sah-key, by the way. But whatever. 'Sahk-ee?' Ben's pronuncination is almost there, but somehow not quite. Close enough. Ah. * Saki takes a sip of her beer. "Can't say I do the same." * Ben shrugs. 'I like to be prepared.' 'And the SAB gives us precious little intel as it is, without ignoring what they do dole out.' * Ben's food finally arrives. It's something extremely spicey and exotic; he's spent time in Spanish countries and avoided the beginner stuff. Also, a Diet Coke. 'So, what can I do for you, Saki?' Ben asks. (His pronunciation is always off, but I'm not going to bother typing it.) You've been watching us since you came in here. Les tells me you're on Angel's side for the Indonesia incident. Guess I'm just curious. 'I make it a rule to keep my eye on groups of people I know can be highly dangerous.' Ben grins. Everyone? 'No. Everyone is dangerous. But only a few people are HIGHLY dangerous.' * Saki shrugs. "Guess that's one way of lookin' at it." 'How do you see it?' * Saki shrugs. "Don't really care until I have to." * Ben shrugs. 'But how do you know in advance when you have to?' You don't. * Ben blows out a long stream of cigarette smoke. 'So doesn't that mean that by the time you know some f***er's out to get you and someone you have to watch, it could be too late?' 'I mean, for all I know, you people over there tonight were plotting to kill me. Some of them seemed mad enough to consider it.' Fair enough. But hell, I'm alive, ain't I? So, what happened in Indonesia, anyway? 'Yeah, but you're young and might not live to be my age with that attitude.' Ben pauses, frowning, as he stares at Saki. 'No, you're... not...' Hm? 'You're... too experienced. You're older than you look.' 'Not as old as Miles, though, and he looks even younger.' * Saki shrugs. "Don't have to be old to know what you're doing." * Ben smiles grimly as he pulls out another cigarette, lights it off his old one, and throws the old one away. 'No, but immortality gives one a different perspective, I'd imagine. I know invulnerability does.' * Saki raises an eyebrow. "The hell you talking about?" 'Nothing. Sorry. I didn't mean to pry.' 'So... Indonesia.; 'What happened there, you ask.' * Saki nods. "Curious." * Ben pauses before he speaks, consciously choosing to abandon his typical jargon. 'We were testing if the ly... werewolves were vulnerable to silver.' So I heard. 'I had determined that they had a mild allergic reaction to it upon surface contact.'; So we can give them the sniffles. * Ben snickers. 'Right. So the question became, what would happen it it were introduced into their system.' 'Angel asked to borrow a silver bullet from me. And shot one, through the heart.' Ben's voice is totally calm. Not a monotone, but he doesn't sound sad or shocked or regretful, just matter of fact. So I heard. 'Then you've heard the story.' * Ben takes a puff on his cigarette. Yeah. Don't much like it. 'Angel's method was tactically inefficient. I wanted us to shoot one in the leg or shoulder.' Ben pauses, and looks levelly at Saki as he continues. 'But only because I thought we'd learn more about their tolerance that way. I don't care if you hate me too. But I'm not lying about this, not selling Crosse out to gain everyone else's favour.' 'The threat of a new and virulent form of lycanthropy, one which spread with unprecedented speed and was already international, was pressing.' So you shot one. 'Crosse shot one,' Ben corrects. 'I just refuse to be a hypocrite about it.' 'If I thought that the best way to achieve the greater good with stakes that high was to shoot some random innocent person, I'd do it. In a heartbeat.' Mmm. 'Crosse's methodology was sloppy. I blame her for that. Not for immorality.' 'There are a f***ing shitload of things in this world that worry me. That's only sensible. A new form of lycanthropy is just the latest. They worry me, and that's only sensible, because it means I take care of them. But there are only two things that really scare me.' And those are? 'One is the thought of a world where no one is willing to do what it takes to keep all those things that worry me from really getting out of hand.' * Ben pauses, raising his Diet Coke to his mouth for a sip. (Diet Coke. No wonder he's evil.) (*laughs* I actually gave Ben that as his favoured drink precisely because I personally hate it.) (So, that actually *was* the logic) (In a way.) And the other? 'The Midgard Serpent. I mean, f***.' The wha? 'It's a big snake. Never mind. Shouldn't wake up for a while yet. Though then again, maybe you'll be around when it does, though I think I'll be long since dust.' A big snake... What's that got to do with anything? 'It doesn't. It's just the other thing I'm scared of.' 'Anyway, the point was, Crosse killed a lycan because she thought it would help us fight them.' 'Some people here don't have the stomach for that- or are too much of a hypocrite to admit that they've done similar things.' Maybe. * Saki sips her drink, "But you know..." If I was there when you were gonna shoot some random innocent person, I'd stop you. 'Would you like me to tell you about the first time I shot an innocent person? He was hosting a demon. I tried to exorcise it, but it got botched, and he was in the middle of casting a spell that was going to suck about three city blocks worth of people into some sort of Hell dimension.' 'I had maybe three seconds to act, and a gun in my hand.' (This is all in the backstory I wrote up! Yay!) Hmm... 'Would you have stopped me?' Dunno. Wasn't there. 'Think about it. One day, you might be.' I don't doubt that. But I'd just as soon face the problem when I came to it. 'Fair enough. All I'm saying is, I have been there. And so, no, I don't blame Crosse.' Fair amount of difference. From what I heard, she shot a prisoner. * Ben pauses to sip more Diet Coke. 'To learn more about the lycans still out there, the ones the SAB team, including a few of the people you were dining with tonight, were going to battle. They needed intel on the opposition. F***, all of England could have been lycans by now if they'd failed.' 'We were gathering information on them, including their vulnerabilities.' ... Shooting a prisoner told you how far they invaded England? 'No... But, if done correctly, it was a step toward telling us how to stop them from invading England.' 'Gauging their silver vulnerability could have been crucial to that effort.' I'm not buying it. 'I've dealt with lycans a lot in my day. One killed my best friend. You need every edge you can get with those things.' (Good lord, but I'm trotting out Ben's backstory here.) Guess you'd know better than me. (Can I get a tone reading on that?) ( Seems genuine enough. ) 'It's okay to not agree. I don't mind.' * Saki shrugs. "Never fought one." 'I meant, in general. I... It was over ten years ago, that story I told you. I was a mess afterward. It takes a long time to get used to that sort of choice.' Hmmm... 'Some people have to make those choices, do those things, and the reason they have to do it is so that everyone else doesn't have to.' I suppose. Well, Stalin would agree with you, at least. * Ben smiles grimly. 'And here, I defer to your expertise. I'm not very knowledgeable about the early twentieth century.' * Saki sips her drink. "Me neither." 'Have you ever killed anyone?' Ben asks gently. * Saki laughs. "You have no idea, man." * Ben raises an eyebrow. 'So, enlighten me.' * Saki shrugs. "Not much to tell. Sometimes things came up." (That's because she ate them too fast. :P ) 'So... You've killed a lot of people. None of them were innocent?' * Saki looks into her drink. "Dunno for sure... Maybe some were. Doesn't make me happy about it." 'F***. I don't go out and kill people for fun.' Ben adds in an aside, 'And I didn't even kill this one in particular.' But you'd do it again. 'Not that exactly. As I've been saying, the methodology was inefficient in terms of information gained.' 'I'd have shot one in the leg.' 'But I'd have been testing to see what the effects would be, up to and including death.' 'See if a non-lethal wound became lethal if silver was involved.' So.... you'd do it again. 'If you're asking, would I have killed a captive lycan in order to gain information about an imminent threat that could kill thousands? Yes. I'd do it again.' 'Or for the first time. Whatever.' * Saki nods. 'So, there we have it. Hate me now? You'll be in good company if you do.' Nah. I don't hate you. I just think your way of thinking is a bunch of crap. 'Your prerogative.' * Saki rises. "Well, it's getting late. Think I'm gonna head home and crash." * Ben nods. 'It was nice meeting you. Except, you know, for the part where we discussed my traumatic past, got compared to Stalin, and such. Otherwise, a pleasure.' Ben's voice is good humoured. He's a tough man to wound, in any sense of the word. Yeah. I'll see you around. * Saki waves and heads off. * Ben nods goodbye to Saki as she leaves. After she's long gone, he mutters quietly to himself. 'I saved hundreds of lives shooting that possessed person. It's nothing to regret. Downright heroic, really. I... I just wish he hadn't been an eight year old kid.' [End, any last comments by Ben will be put before the end]