X27: Below the Line

Blast-doors sealed behind Archius as he entered the command deck. It was empty but for a few cleaning drones, wiping the floors and computers, and Sato. She was sitting on a hover-chair on the other side of the table sipping on a cup of coffee whilst watching something on her holopad.

Sato was a tricky person, she knew how to play against him. But even if Kazuki was aware of their little bouts for power, he never stopped them. Though her skills are remarkable, able to hide away for a month whilst a member of the seven hunted her own, she was not perfect. She's failed. 

And her first failure to him was the worst. Maybe if she was faster, he'd be somewhere else. He hid his contempt as he slid his hand across the edge of the table, walking towards her.

 "So, what're you watching, anything I should be aware of… you better not be slacking off."

She glanced up at him, placing the holopad onto the table as it projected a hologram upwards for the two to watch. It was a movie, nothing remarkable, Archius thought. She grumbled, "I'm on the clock, don't worry…" Sato's navy uplink was on full display, the earpiece slab covering a portion of her ear, a gold star seal of the navy still as pristine as the day it rolled off the factory.

"Ah, I'm guessing this means you're occupied, hmm?" asked Archius, crossing his arms over his jacket, feeling the arsenal of knives attached to his vest-rig. She grumbled silently. He pressed his face into his more jovial and friendly persona. "Oh come on! Won't you tell me what's going on in your noggin?"

"No." said Sato, somewhat boringly, her face was laden with post-uplink exhaustion, it seems like she overworked herself again. "To both."

"Good, how about the two of us go for a ride?" Archius nestled the thought in her head. "Take a break from all that uplink chatter."

"Alright, what are we doing now?" asked Sato, "Let me guess, you have some insane plan on how to win the war? Tell me, what happened the last time we accepted a plan like that?"

"It's not fully insane!" said Archius, waving the idea away, "Blacksite infiltration mission. Not your style but we can send a ping there to find other Loyalist bases. Mind-snared eye told me."

She rolled her eyes. "And? Get someone else to do it, Archius."

"Out of all our operatives, who'd you trust to go deep into enemy territory on a black-ops mission?" asked Archius.

Sato shrugged. "Hosea? Our old man's always able to pull shit off… Well, it's not necessarily our forte."

"Exactly." Archius started to ensnare Sato. "And he's currently managing forces on the opposite end of the country."

"But… we don't have the manpower for such a mission. And you're using Mind-snares now? Why don't you get them to do it??" asked Sato, putting a roadblock in Archius' manipulations.

But instead, she fell right into his trap. "They're dead. It was the last transmission they got out before ENFORCERs found their head on a spike, eye wobbling got them caught. You think it could be done if we had the expertise available?" 

Sato was proactive to a fault. And Archius knew that. Kazuki wanted to balance out his own hands-on experience with Sato's proactive networks. 

And as expected, she bit the bait. "Of course! A catch like that'd be war-changing, maybe I can finally get some rest."

"And it seems like you've just volunteered. Come on, let's go." said Archius, placing a hand on Sato's wrist and pulling her out of her chair, making it spin as it powered down, down beneath the floor.

"Woah?!" Sato tugged back, using her superior strength to stop him, "I ain't interested in whatever you have mining away."

Ow, fuck, fuck, forgot she has that navy strength.

"I need someone with the expertise to crack things from the inside. Of course, I can always go alone… might be messy." said Archius, using her pragmatism to his advantage. She might think him to be dishonest, but he wasn't lying… He really did need her for this; and that was all the credit he will ever give her, though at least Sato is more worthwhile than Eliza as an asset for the AGENCY… 

The two had their differences, maybe even their odds, but they knew each other's worth, and that was all he saw in her. She reluctantly sighed and loosened her grip on his arm. "Fine."

"Good," said Archius. He smirked as Sato followed him. With Kazuki being out of action, it seems like he'll have to pick up the slack.

∗ ∗ ∗

But his small triumph would fade as his smirk turned into dismissive whistling. Sato glared at him across the small gap between opposing shuttle seats. A drone was piloting it, skidding through the lanes of the Sublevel as it sped towards the infiltration point.

"This is sanctioned, right?" asked Sato, leaning in towards Archius. She placed the front of her stun-knuckles up to his exposed neck. 

"Yeah," said Archius, nonchalantly lying directly to her face.

She grumbled as she retracted the knuckledusters from his neck. Her suspicion of him had skyrocketed. But before she could ask anymore questions the drone twisted towards them. It beeped and booped as it caught their attention. Nice save, Archius thought.

The two slid their uplinks on, activating them as the devices hooked onto their ears, like a large earpiece. Archius threw one of the armoured disguises towards her as he started to put his on. "So… the plan is we just walk in and everything will be alright?"

"Of course. I had eyes on the inside mismatch documents and IDs, we'll have temporary access to most things." said Archius.

"Alright. I'm also guessing you know a bit about who Kazuki faced back in the sewers, right?" asked Sato, locking and sealing her armour in place.

She felt disgusted at the mark of Clandestine painted on the crimson shoulderpads, crescent moons and circles. As they finished, they placed raincoats over their armour. Though it never rained, it'll help against the moisture.

"Kazuki wasn't all too keen with sharing that info. An Eden Initiative Instructor— don't worry, it's not Hartius." 

"Fuck… well, at least it's not Hartius… Fuck, this is a bad idea!" Sato clawed at her face in regret. "I saw that merc blow up a dreadnought singlehandedly… from the outside."

"Don't worry, in and out, quick ten minute mission - tops!" assured Archius. "And don't worry about Svenn, alright? We'll leave Kazuki to deal with him.

"Offloading the hard killing to him, sure." 

She nodded dismissively as the shuttle came to a complete halt, parking nearby the hidden blacksite. Archius shimmied towards the back door of the shuttle, manually opening it and stepped out. He placed his revolving-load pistol into his right holster, tucking it under the raincoat as Sato followed him out.