Oh, Concordia! - Episode 1: Empty Thrones and Hapless Peons

A lot of fire and spine for all the lack of backbone, aren’t you Ms. Ἀχαιάνος, Augustus thought privately to himself as his instincts smoothly kicked in, preserving his real feelings from rising to the surface. The General Dynamics head of legal affairs contented himself and soothed the powerful burst of internal wrath with his recognition of the error in transliteration found in Βασία’s surname.

The fact that the man whose parents had labeled ‘Χρύσανθος Μακρής’ and who had opted for self-aggrandizing when it came time to romanization, had no leg to stand upon to gather stones to toss through his glass house when it came time to gauge transliteration quirks didn’t escape Augustus.

He had long since accepted that the line between hypocrisy and self-determination wasn’t for others to mark for him.

Even as his mouth muscles quirked, Augustus looked between the three women and wondered. Was there also as much of a lack of ‘I’ amongst them as there was between Acheanos and Achaianos?

Something about their posture—and the fact he was the sort of man to ascribe intuition to his obsession—led him to the belief that they might not be as unified an entity as his employers feared.

Were they truly selected in as ad-hoc a manner as their brief—but relatively thorough—research showed? Augustus couldn’t decide if that was more frightening or less. What unsettled him was that he couldn’t tell for sure: the room’s myriads of surveillance apparatuses had gone dead the moment Louis tried to activate them.

They really had the damnable malfunction’s grace in their corner.

Augustus smiled his most disarmingly charming smile—it was insured—before addressing Vasia's subtext with one of his own.

"Why of course, Ms. Acheanos, we are very aware of that fact. But just as the nanoelec-tech must consider the nature of the possibly shared electron in their coherence calculations, so too does General Dynamics view our respective interests as potentially mutually empowering at this time."

It took a full three seconds for the beaming smile to return to a relaxed half-smile, and both the arches at its corner and Mr. Solis’ dimples vanished in perfect synchronization.
 
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Malamadre, had taken in the man’s polished appearance, not much expression going through that unreadable expression of her. Her cybernetic eye glowed faintly violet as its processors accelerated, capturing the minute details in the room, and him for that matter.

Her arms crossed in front of her self, unimpressed, not that there were many things that could impress her, appearances were one of the things she cared about the least, , at least in the exterior, truth be told she was already thinking of who could've done this, who could she ask about this? Perhaps that god damned man, Brice, Brice surely knew something, that rat knew all about every single movemment in the underworld, he must've at least heard something, but truth be told, she was not eager to hear about him, not after the fight they had prior to her arrival in Elysium fields.

She leaned back slightly, trailing her right hand over a wall nearby, not leaving any prints or scratches with the metal, instead, discreetely leaving behind a slithering object, some sort of magnetic field hid it from view and from regular surveilance equipment, she knew there was nothing she could hide from the system, they were in her head after all, she could see them, hear them. She chose not to interact directly with them, but she couldn't deny their presence. Regardless, this was for their benefit, as much as she felt her mind was being completely invaded, she tried arguing with her new many conciousnesses about what she was doing, this little spy was merely just, a safety meassure in case someone somehow decided to come and get nosy.

Criminals often returned to the scene of the crime, she wasn't sure the culprit would be dumb enough to cocme back, at least, not to the exact spot, but it wasn't ridiculous to think that they would be around, maybe a building, maybe a street away, she was unsure, for now she paid it no mind, her drone would figure any of that out in due time.

She... Didn't like Augustus, hell, she trusted him even less than the trusted the other women, but there was not much she could do but add, a bit of pressure, She was the opposite of prim and proper, she was just, tired, she wanted to get through with this as soon as possible, so that her life could go back to normal, or well, as normal as it may be for someone like her.

She pushed herself away from the wall, clearing her throat quietly, but showing her annoyance regardless.

"While I appreciate the formalities, I believe we have important matters at hand, yes?"

Even if they didn't like it, she knew she was right, after all, they literally lacked the time to do this.

As they handled things on their side, Sacarina was already frantically sending calls and signals to Brice from her NeuLink. he always called her over and over, and now he was not even reading her messages, it made her neutral expression break a little, with a slight furrow of her brows.

Finally, he began answeing, message after message was displayed in the corner of her eyesight, B.R. Brice Reina.


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B.R. : "Sacarina?"

B.R. : "Angel, what was that about at the bar?"


SaCo: "I'm fine, I have questions."




B.R. : "Baby, are you sure? You just ran out and now you got questions? Come on. Where are you at? I will pick you up."


SaCo : "Don't fucking call me baby I am still upset at you."

SaCo: "Besides, I don't need a lift, I just need you to answer some questions. Can you, or can you not?"




B.R. : "Alright, I get it. If you didn't ask straight away it means it's something delicate. What is it?"

SaCo : "Activity in Elysium Fields. Know anything about that?"

B.R. : "..."

B.R. : "You are there, aren't you?"

B.R. : "I wouldn't reccomend you stay out there for too long, you know that is out of DH control."


SaCo : "Just answer if you know, or not."


B.R. : "Nothing I was told, I can ask the others if you want, but at least tell me where you are, I can send some folk to keep you safe."


SaCo : "Do not, I am busy."

B.R. : "Busy with what?"


SaCo: : "...."

SaCo : "...."

SaCo : "Hanging out with my girls."



B.R. : "I didn't know you had a book club."

SaCo : "Piss off Brice."




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The sequence of messages didn't help clear her ideas; if anything, she was even more confused now, and with a headache. It wasn't pleasant to speak to the man.

He wasn't much older than her, and they were in an on-and-off situation, mainly due to how persistent Brice had been about being with her, despite her constant threats to put a hole in his skull if he kept up his antics.

Truth be told, they both hated each other, but they were dependent on each other to continue their work. Sacarina had to keep her club afloat, and Brice did exactly that. She never lacked anything—money, shelter, food—she got anything she wanted from him. In return, he got everything he wanted from her: new members for Door to Heaven thanks to her club, and he could keep all his activities running smoothly in the Dark Alleys because no one would dare ruin the economy by going after Malamadre.

Besides, Brice was not bad-looking, and Sacarina, if her choice of career had been different, could've been an actress or model given her naturally attractive features. She had never modified a single cell of her facial structure until she was twenty-five, and even then, she only ensured she would remain youthful, with no major changes like many others did.

Love and hate, as an old saying went, were two sides of the same coin, and SaCo and Brice flipped that coin many, many times. In the end, both love and hate led to attachments, as unhealthy as they were.

In the end, she wasn't even sure she loved Brice that much. She surely loved the protection, the attention, the money, but dealing with him was like having a little sharp rock in your shoe that you could never remove.
 
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Cora didn't know what to think of the company as the man showed up. Habits were made in places like this, prestine image put forth no room for a wrinkle in clothes. One was encouraged to practically get hooked on whatever vice needed to not show how tired or worn down by life one was. They were greeted cordially and all it sparked was the itching inquiry back of Cora's mind how much a facade was shown. Not that Cora would fault a faux disposition she just was curious how much one had to carry.

For her part she didn't like jumping to ideas of the worst. She didn't want to insult someone just trying to get by or assume them the killer. She had so many questions who the man was to greet them, but she also realized the current occupation didn't leave room for socialization. Asking about his experiences and history, getting to know the man there was no time for. She supposed there might be time with her coworkers but certainly not right now. She downed a bottle of water she had been nursing as others spoked and picked up another. A brief moment taken to tap her wrist to a check out device.

The bar was open, they probably could have drained it dry with nobody carrying. Cora however did, she didn't know who ran the bar usually if anyone. She didn't know who stocked it in those ghostly hours where nobody came around and real work got done. While the good doctor didn't have time to get to know people though her actions would try and treat them right. Maybe if the world was more human and empathy there wouldn't be a lingering doomsday clock in her peripheral.

"I'd advise we just walk and talk. If anyone else is coming they'll need to catch up I suppose." She didn't like the idea of a split party but time had them all in a vice. "Will try to keep questions brief. One how much footage do we have of the floor. Two did Albrecht Enrique Klaustein-Maldonado have any enemies known? And third before we meet your newly stated employer what would you say about him? Off the record of course." She made a gesture to the cameras silently asking the AI overlords to intervene if necessary. Cora didn't know if the others had questions and how much information they might gain she figured best though to inquire the AIs keep everything hushed if demand arose. Other then that she moved to the door with an eagerness to just head toward the dead body or at least where they had died. She hated being so insistent on haste, that was apart of the acI deal though wasn't it?
 
Electrons and empowerment, how very scientific. Vasia did not make the mistake of thinking that their host found himself funny. Undoubtedly, he had people for that. Even now, he played to an audience, and she supposed she was meant to be impressed by his cleverness. She met his electric smile with a neutral stare, unmoved.

"I'm not interested in your shell game." There. Two could have at that. She left him to it, following instead with Ms. Sangora as she proposed the most excellent suggestion that they get going on whatever it was that they were doing. It would have been polite to allow their host to show them the way, of course, but Citizen Investigators could forge their own ways, it seemed, and Cora was simply making it evident that they were willing to do so, should the path not be prepared more immediately.

She let the other woman start with the barrage of questions, listening rather than interjecting her own. They were good questions, and often there was more to be found by following up on a subject than by starting the next subject all too soon. In not speaking, she could develop her own thoughts, or at least organize them. She seemed to be having far too many thoughts of late, and not all of them her own.

This, she did not care for.
 
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