"Do not exaggerate, Lucas." Was the man's reply. "If your operation were blown, you would be dead." He said it rather casually. But then, he was merely stating a fact, as far as he was concerned.
"She would not have allowed you to come here with the information you have. And you would have a lot more than simple burns." He said, steepling his fingers once again before smiling darkly.
"But enough about that. Forget about everything else for now, Lucas." It was not important. "Tell me everything you know about this... 'SWITCH'. Everything. Appearance, Ethnicity, temperament, abilities, resources... Every detail."
After all...
"The sooner we deal with Avalanche's leadership, the sooner your operation will end, and your life will be safe." He claimed.
Autumn turned her back on the two men in the room as she busied herself with rummaging through a filing cabinet. She didn’t want her brother to see disappointment on her face. It wasn’t the time to worry about how his failure might negatively affect her career. She had to consider his safety first but the thought had crossed her mind.
She should have been the obvious choice for an infiltration mission instead of her brother but Autumn’s life had been a constant struggle to not be underestimated. As a Turk she had learned to use that against people. Maybe she had overestimated Lucas’s capabilities.
Her fingers touched a small plastic box and she withdrew the first aid kit and closed the drawer. She didn’t say anything. She was just listening to hear anything her brother could tell them about the AVALANCHE leader as she began treating his wounds.
Lucas sat and winced as he felt autumn began to treat his wounds making him calm down now and taking deep breaths to collect himself listening to what gawain wanted from him "switch is a female, short making her wutai whenever she comes out, when she does take her mask off her being wutai is confirmed,shes sadistic and a radicalist,she doesnt speak vocally like us she talks to people using text messages,she doesnt get into the front of the fight because shes litterally a master when it comes to technology and robotics, she will use whatever resource she has to win...before i came here when i got this burn she wanted me to prove that i was still loyal to her and avalanche by killing a group of soliders back in sector 5..." he explained through his ragged breathing "thats everything i honestly do know gawain...im sorry if it wasnt enough" he apologized
Last Edit: Jun 21, 2020 4:11:36 GMT by Lucas Garett
Gawain hummed , drumming his fingers together as he reclined on Autumn's chair, taking in every detail spoken by the youth before him. If nothing else, at least he had managed to grant them this information before this 'switch' decided to rid herself of him.
He supposed he shouldn't be surprised she was a wutai national; most terrorists with a chip on their shoulder were. But, that aside...
"Oh my. Is she now?" He almost purred when Lucas mentioned her... capabilities, regarding machinery. "Interesting. Very Interesting." The blonde man said.
His smile was stretched over his lips into a smirk, eyes half narrowed. Oh yes, he looked rather pleased.
"I can't say it for certain until I've captured her myself..." He began casually, turning his gaze towards Autumn. "But I believe we may have discovered the young miss responsible for... The Sector 3 fiasco." He assumed this might have some importance to Autumn- since she was part of the team Murabito had pulled together to see through the Reactor inspections.
He didn't seem to have even noticed the fact that she had tried to have some sector 5 troopers murdered.
"Not at all, Lucas. You have given me plenty, I assure you." He said, still smirking.
Post by Autumn Nevada on Jun 28, 2020 20:24:05 GMT
“I think you’re right, Gawain.” Autumn nodded. This Switch person definitely sounded like she had the skills required to pull off something like what happened in Reactor 3 as well as the incident on the train. “Knocking her off the board should be a top priority…”
The Turk didn’t enjoy the thought of killing a misguided but incredibly talented young woman but she didn’t need her brother to tell her how dangerous Switch could be. She was a radical extremist that would destroy anything and everything that crossed her path.
“I also think that you know more than you realize, Lucas.” Autumn had finished treating his wounds and she sat down in the chair next to his. “She obviously has fire materia. Is there anything else that a sensor might look for on her person.”
Lucas looked at the two of them and shook his head, “That's the thing she didn't use a fire materia to burn me she has no materia on her to use. She had a monodrive attack me using a fireball and burn me when I accidentally slipped up when I punched two shin-ra soldiers unconscious, yet she had it begin burning one of them to make sure he was dead... She has other different machines she uses to fight so when I mean she doesn't need to get in there to fight she literally need to get in there to fight. She uses this pad looking thing similar to what I had at one point to maneuver and activate her machines: a sweeper, a monodrive and one other machine. I've never seen or heard of it I just know she has another machine.” He explained as best he could. "One last thing however..." He started when they began talking about taking her off the board, "I would avoid using computers around her since from what I've seen in my time in her cell she's a master with hacking so i would suggest limited to no computer or electronics with you given her hacking skill." He suggested.
Last Edit: Jun 28, 2020 20:58:55 GMT by Lucas Garett
The man hummed as he reclined back on Thalia's seat, his eyes closing as he processed all of the new information.
"What a bothersome girl." He surmised bluntly after a short while, sighing as he began rubbing the side of his head with his digits. "Not that I would have expected any less from the one responsible for the mess left in the Reactor."
Anyone who could bypass and seize control of A Reactor's security systems was beyond simple hacking. Problem was- it left very little that could be utilized against her within the top of the line repertoire of Shin-Ra. Their most powerful weapons were all controlled digitally and through highly advanced AIs. He had already seen her seize control- or at least, remove any control- out of a Scorpion. That alone was a disaster. Their most powerful machines were being reencrypted enmasse to better protect their data, but such measures merely buyed them some time to catch that brat.
"Still... We are lucky, I suppose." He commented, smiling darkly as he leaned his head onto his fist. "Regardless of her skill, her actions so far have been nothing but foolish."
Both the reactor fiasco and Lucas had been handled poorly. With the reactor, she had shown her hand to the high command of Shin-Ra without truly accomplishing anything other than the death of a couple hundred employees. Easily replaceable cogs in the machine with no true control over anything.
But in the end, Lucas was easily her biggest mistake. She should have killed him from the beginning. That or fooled him into thinking his secret remained safe, while keeping him in the dark with misinformation and false kindness. In the end, her most powerful asset had been her anonymity.
Still... it was strange. That she had simply allowed someone she had treated in such manner to come into Shin-Ra HQ unopposed. Was she truly so foolish as to not actively keep tabs on him...?
Autumn sat thinking for a moment as she considered everything that had been said. It didn’t make sense for SWITCH not to have killed Lucas unless she didn’t think he was important or she had some other plan for him. She nodded at Gawain’s last remark. “She’s cocky.”
”Lucas…” Autumn turned her attention to him, “Is there some reason you didn’t try to bring her in? I know you’re not experienced but you’re a pretty strong guy. Surely, you could have overpowered her and taken the device she uses to control her machines.”
lucas sighed and winced at what he was going to say next "i thought i could save them from that fire..." he admitted "i had comppassion for the two troopers but i was so focused on saving the two men that it honestly never crossed my mind i just wanted to try to get them out of that fire..." he explained
"No, my young friend." He said, shaking his head. They didn't care for those 3 Shin-Ra grunts. Sacrifices were necessary if one was to maintain cover. That much had always been obvious. Grunts stationed in the slums had a history of accepting bribes and joining into the local crime and debauchery anyway. Statistically, he had probably done Midgar a favour.
Probably.
"Why have you not brought her in yet, is your Sister's question." He said, folding both hands together on his lap. "Surely you understand what a grave mistake it is for you to have come to HQ while under such heavy suspicion from your quarry?" He asked, tilting his head.
"If you suspected your cover was blown, but your target was much too overconfident to immediately act upon it- you should have taken advantage of her foolishness and brought her here by force." Or died trying, at the very least. One must make themselves useful to the end. Autumn NevadaLucas Garett
“Compassion…” Autumn whispered to herself as her eyes lingered on his burns. They would probably leave a scar. The red-head smiled weakly before pulling Lucas into a hug. “How do I deserve you?”
She clung to her little brother for a moment before pushing herself back and shaking her head. Autumn was so proud to have such a kind hearted brother even if he was a little misguided. “It’s noble to approach every situation with the intent to do the right thing but… you have to consider the big picture too.”
“SWITCH has killed countless civilians already and it seems like she plans to hurt even more people…” She continued, “including our family. Those troopers knew what they signed up for but there are people -innocent people- who will suffer as long as AVALANCHE is allowed free reign of this city.”
Autumn hated everything about this conversation. She hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true but she still felt like she was manipulating her brother. It was the same sort of thing her parents would say to her, the same mantra that led her to the Turks. You could justify anything with that sort of thinking.
lucas winced as he tried to close his hands he could feel the burns on his hands before being pulled into a hug by the red head "i dont know..." he could only say before she pushed herself back knowing that she needed to be serious as she scolded him about needing to consider the bigger picture,he already knew how dangerous this woman was and he hated it, he hated every fiber of her and avalanche "i know that, you honestly think i dont know that?, and i could have taken her but how do you expect me to bring in a woman who had a monodrive, a sweeper and a smogger with her at that moment?" he asked "it was either suicide and being mauled by those machines just to bring her in or...run away from that scene with my life intact to fight another day"
Last Edit: Jul 10, 2020 16:17:35 GMT by Lucas Garett
GAWAIN remained unmoved, but that hardly meant anything.
"Hn. I see." He said in a somewhat unconvinced tone, though he markedly did not chase the subject further.
There was nothing to gain from it at this point- and Autumn was there. If he went about it the way he usually would, he suspected he might do quite a bit more than just 'upset' her.
"It cannot be helped at this point. We'll need to place you under surveillance and protection for the moment." He didn't want to say 'until Avalanche is dealt with'- because even he couldn't tell for how much longer this would go on for. It had already been a good while longer than either he or the president appreciated.
Autumn crossed her arms as she listened to her brother’s explanation of how he’d survived; her pointer finger tapping along with the clicking of his watch.The short answer was that he’d run away. She had mixed feelings about his decision to retreat. Obviously, she was glad he’d made it back safely but now he’d have to contend with not only AVALANCHE but bureaucrats as well and worst of all he’d dragged her into it.
“You’ll be staying with me.” Autumn interjected at the mention of protection, “I’ll keep you safe until all this blows over.” She looked pointedly at GAWAIN for a moment. The seconds ticked by slower than before. Hopefully, he knew better than to argue with her. As an experienced turk, Autumn was more than qualified to babysit her kid brother. She’d been doing it most of her life.
A knock on the door caused her to jump ever so slightly. Autumn straightened the front of her blouse as she stood and flung the door open.
“What?” She demanded of a young male assistant that recoiled looking rather accosted. He shakily held out a pizza box which she snatched away before slamming the door in his face once again. Autumn dropped the pizza on the desk in front of Lucas Garett.
“What is that sound?” Autumn furrowed her brow as the clicking she’d mistaken for a watch became increasingly irregular. She looked down at Lucas and noticed something scurry across the back of his chair. Autumn went to brush the insect away and it leapt up onto her wrist.
“Ouch!” Autumn let out a high pitched shriek as a blue crystal broke against her skin and with a quick jerk of the arm the robotic spider was flung across the room. It hit the wall behind Gawain and fell to the floor. The turk clutched her trembling arm tightly against her chest, “That thing just bit me.”
Icy shards spread out from Autumn’s wrist, enveloping her right hand and most of her forearm. She could see her breath as she stumbled back against the filing cabinet behind her shivering. She could barely feel her fingers through the pins and needles pain that wracked through her nerves and up into the back of her neck.
"that is every thing i know sir i wish i could have been more help if i didnt run away..." he said with a bow of his head. Lucas looked at autumn in surprise as she suddenly said that he'd be staying with her at the mention of protection. at the knock lucas jumped with her before hearing her answer it and suddenly dropped a pizza box infront of him making him look up at her in surprise. as he was getting ready to open the box lucas also looked around for the clicking before hearing autumn do her infamous 'autumn shriek' Lucas spun to face her only to catch a glimpse of a spider flying across the room but it didnt look like a regular spider "oh shi..." he muttered as the spider hit the wall behind gawain before hearing her say that it bit her "AUTUMN!" he soon yelled as he grabbed her unfrozen arm pulling her back to him and laying her on the floor carefully "stay,thats an order" he told her,his face changed from his usual demeanor that she knew to a more serious face and demeanor, while he may not have been a turk or solider like the two in the room he always had a gut instinct on what to do if things went wrong. "damn that SWITCH...." he grumbled before looking up at gawain "sir gawain you have more experience than i do in this sort of scenario, what should we do? if we dont act fast theres a chance she'll die of what looks like hypo thermia" he asked