"Any luck?" Archius asked, turning to Eliza as she exited out the room. She looked exhausted, and was drenched in alcohol. Judging by that, she seemed more successful than most. Kiri and Edain were standing around them, as Kiri swapped a towel around Eliza's head.
"Well... Not really?"
Great... Here he is, helping with this rabble when he's got shit to do. It's been a few days since the Cruiser Raid, and nothing's been happening.
They were in the private quarters of the Iron Will's barracks. Archius glanced at both Kiri and Edain, the two also drenched in alcohol. Though... their skins had the light markings of being smashed into by glass.
"There... you should go shower," said Kiri. Edain grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"We should call Claire or Amyé to drag him outta there," he said. "I'm not paid for this shit."
"Neither am I..." said Kiri, as she squeezed some of the oozing booze from her sleeves, looking disgusted at it. Though whether she was disgusted at the alcohol, or its wastage, was something Archius has yet to think of - yet.
Archius shrugged, keeping himself leaning against the wall. "So?"
The three looked at him, then towards the room. They glanced at each other, then back at Archius.
Eliza said, "I feel like you'll have much more success than the three of us combined, for this."
"Yeah, you did drink with him a few weeks ago when the operation began, so..." Kiri continued, "I feel like he'll have the least violent response to you..."
"And risk getting my gorgeous face ruined?" Archius stood up straight, squeezing his face into an offended look. "Uh.. that's a no, if you can't tell."
"How long has he been like this?" Eliza asked, a drone beside her drying her clothes for her, as she wore them. "Shouldn't we get someone like Kaz here?"
"KazukI? Absolutely not..." Kiri said.
Eliza sat down on a small bench outside, continuing to dry her hair off. Finishing, she gave it back to KIri, as she started to dry out her own hair. "Why not?"
Kiri glanced at Edain, who glanced at Archius. Archius glanced back at Kiri and for a moment, she turned to face Edain, before pointing at Archius. "HEY! You explain it!" she shouted.
Archius chuckled. Absolutely fucking not, he thought. He glanced around the hall, seeing if there was anyone he could pin this one... There was no one. They were the only ones awake in this area at this hour. He grimmaced, placing his hands on his waist before looking back at a confused Eliza.
"Well, will you get angry at Kaz if I tell you this?" Archius asked.
Eliza shook her head. "Why would I?" she asked, slowly smiling. "Come one, I'm sure it's reasonable."
Alright, he's heard it from her. Getting her to think or say that might redirect the 'blame' towards Kazuki, at the end of the day. He'd prefer not to be the scapegoat for this... "Well," Archius started, "During the rebellion, Riharia, Petra and Quinn went missing and Kaz went out to find them... He went missing."
"Huh?"
"Me, Claire, Lilly and Kiri led a search party to find him, and... we found him dead-smack drunk with the other three in some abandoned winery," said Archius.
Eliza's face soured quickly.
"Don't judge the guy!" Edain interjected. "We were being railed from all sides at that time."
Kiri placed a hand on Eliza's shoulder, leaning in with her brown hair. "Go easy on him, if you are going to judge him, it was rough for all of us… It was right before Old Terra, so we all thought we were about to die.”
Hmm, not far from Archius' own deductions. Kazuki's always had 'the face' up, an uncaring and deadly killer. Though it doesn't really weigh much on Archius, Kazuki's mind must have been ravaged by the rebellion... Even Archius knew it, but he was playing to win.
"Kazuki considered himself dead the moment he put a railgun slug into Matt's head," Archius said, attracting Eliza's attention. Her face frozen, eyes glistening as she looked down towards the floor. Oh... how interesting. "That battle over Old Terra was a gamble, Kazuki’s strategic masterpiece yes, but a gamble. If we lost, he’d be called an idiot and a fool by armchair retards for thousands of years to come. But, that's the past, right now uh... we need to get Quinn outta there."
Archius pointed with his thumb towards the room, as the three's faces soured. Edain and Kiri snapped into place, standing upright. Hmm? Was something wrong? Eliza turned away from him, as Archius felt a hand on his shoulder. FUCK. WAS IT KAZUKI!?
He twisted around, seeing Lilly. Oh... thank fuck, she can't harm him, he thought - at least officially. Lilly was just shy of his tall stature, crossing her arms. "The fuck's going on here?"
"Quinn... I tried talking to him, even offered to play Dullie with him, but uh..." Eliza trailed off, before gesturing towards her, Edain and Kiri.
Kiri said, "He's been like this for some time... did you do this?"
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Lilly shook her head... She probably was a catalyst to the problem, however, Archius thought. With her berating Quinn in the debrief and basically shooing him away. "I'll get him to straighten up, Archius, cover me."
"Huh? Me?" Archius grumbled.
Lilly tapped him on the shoulder as she walked past. "Yes, you," she said. “You’re the one with the silver tongue.”
Entering into the room, Archius followed her in, uisng her as what was essentially a human shield.
"STAND THE FUCK UP!" Lilly shouted. Archius looked over her shoulder, seeing a drunken Quinn slumped beside his bunk bed. Several bottles of alcohol laid at his feet. He looked up at them, raising a bottle of wine.
Wow. Very creative method, Archius thought, a method that 100% utilises his convincing abilities.
Quinn said, "Go away. I'll... fucking throw this at you if you don't." He narrowly squinted at Archius and Lilly.
Archius slowly shifted to the side, just enough so that he'd have enough margin of error to dodge, if needs be. Lilly, however, confronted the problem directly. She stormed directly towards Quinn, fast enough to grab the bottle of wine before he could throw it.
"HEY!" Quinn shouted. "I got that... with Petra and Riharia... Don't... take it?"
He was clearly drunk, anyone could see that. Lilly made a motion to pour the liquid away. This... might be bad, Archius thought. If Lilly nudges Quinn a bit too much, he might have second thoughts about why he's in the AGENCY to begin with. Petra's dead. Riharia's dead. Who's keeping him here? There's a lot more to life than just the paycheck... And given the circumstances of this operation, Archius would prefer things to stay as calm as possible.
"WAIT. PLEASE..." Quinn stumbled up, standing upright and coughing heavily, his face a mess.
His mental and physical scars were vibrant, for all to see. His turquoise fringe covering his eyes. But Archius could tell, there was hate in them, towards someone.
"Slow," Lilly snapped at him, placing her hands behind her back as she looked down at him. She circled around him, like a vulture. "Look at you, you look like a fucking mess."
Quinn murmured something slowly to himself.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, LANCE CORPORAL?!" LIlly barked at him.
Archius watched as Quinn's body snapped into place, any sign of distress or fear or regret washed away with fear. "NOTHING, MA'AM!" Quinn shouted.
Lilly pressed a finger against him, leaning in close. "NO. YOU SAID SOMETHING LANCE CORPORAL. WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?"
"I TOLD YOU GET FUCKED, MA'AM," Quinn said in all sincerity. Archius smirked slowly, watching as Lilly disciplined Quinn. Ah, just like how they used to do it in the military. Was it the right thing to do? Maybe, maybe not, probably not - now that he thinks about it.
"This one has balls," Archius commented.
Lilly gave him a small nod, agreeing with Archius. “He does.”
Slowly, Archius looked down at his ICAPAD. A notification... It was the timer, and a message from Kazuki to do something about it. He tip-toed over the broken bottles and booze across the floor, exiting back out towards Eliza.
"WELL THEN, IT SEEMS YOU'RE IN HOT TROUBLE THEN, LANCE CORPORAL!" Lilly barked, ignoring any spit she shot out whilst shouting her head off. Quinn slowly hovered back and forth, knocking into Lilly. "STAND THE FUCK STILL OR YOU'RE SCRUBBING THE REACTOR WASTE FOR A MONTH!"
“YES MA’AM!” Quinn shouted back.
Archius was just about to turn to leave, as he heard an interesting proposition come up. “WHAT ARE YOU, LANCE CORPORAL?!”
“WHAT?!”
“YOU KNOW THOSE GUNRUNNERS. DON’T THINK WE’RE BLIND OR STUPID, LANCE CORPORAL! YOU KNOW THEM! WE KNOW THAT,” Lilly snapped loudly, biting each word with the anger only a Drill Sergeant could have. “SO WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”
Ooh, how scary! Archius mockingly thought, as he tapped Eliza on the shoulder, who was seated outside. Kiri and Edain were watching.
“THE LANCE CORPORAL DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION, MA’AM!”
Lilly shook her head in disappointment. “LET ME PUT IT IN A WAY YOU CAN UNDERSTAND, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS! ARE YOU A GUNRUNNERS? OR ARE YOU AN AGENT!?”
“Hey… Lilly, aren’t you going a bit harsh on him?” asked Kiri, reaching a hand out. She absolutely was, but Edain stopped Kiri from pressing the matter further.
Lilly glanced back. “There is no excuse for this sorry state.”
“AN AGENT, MA’AM!” Quinn replied. Archius wondered for a moment, that answer was a bit too quick. With everything that’s going on, Quinn’s loyalties are up in the air… Will he stay steadfast? Archius couldn’t tell right now. He’ll have to ensure this guy stays loyal, for now at least.
"Hmm? Will Quinn be fine?" Eliza asked.
“I hope so,” said Kiri, the ever caring person she is, sometimes even matching her obsession with drones.
Archius nodded. "Come, let's do something about that deadline, shall we?" he asked, smiling as he walked off. There’s still much more work to do, it seems. Both her Eliza… and her father.
Eliza followed on. “Alright…”
Out of earshot from the rest of them, Archius slowed down, walking just a step in front of Eliza. He lowered his voice. “That was a mess back there.”
“I know,” said Eliza. “Sorry… I thought I could have done something but… oh well…”
Archius shook his head. “Not Quinn now… Kazuki.”
Her freckled face glanced at him in confusion. “Kaz? What of him?”
Did she really forget already? Archius maintained a professional façade, that was the best way to convey this to Liz: after all. No emotions needed, Archius thought - fighting his frustrations. “You nearly messed everything up. Why didn’t you tell me Kaz was nearing? A heads up would have been nice?”
“Oh…” Eliza trailed off. She placed her hands in her pockets. “Sorry…”
“No matter.” Archius sighed. “But you gotta fix this… You might be Queen of the Training sims, but those sims are ideal situations where you are controlling a singular team. That’s not how this goes, we handlers have to communicate and coordinate with one another, you finally getting what you got wrong?”
Posing the insult into a question was the right decision, to send both a strong message but also to tingle her brain into the trap.
“I should have told you,” Eliza muttered. “I… maybe I’m not fit for this.”
“You’re not,” Archius remarked. “But we all start from somewhere. You’re trained by Sato, that’s a good first step, but you’ll need to work on coordinating with the other handlers. We’re not just ten separate teams, we’re ten teams working in unison.”
Eliza didn’t reply. It seems she got the message. “Fine… I’ll work harder—”
“—No. Not harder,” Archius cut her off. “No one denies that you break your back over anything and everything.”
Eliza’s face grew at that comment. “Why… you…”
“It wasn’t a slight! Okay?” Archius mumbled. “It’s a good thing, alright? But you need to work on coordination. You’re smart, but you need to be wise, you need to understand your place beside us. You need to actually communicate what’s going on, and be willing to bite your ego... You’re not just Kaz’s handler now, alright?”
“Alright…” Eliza murmured to him. “And ego? Really? You’re... Archius, you’re just being mean, aren’t you?”
Archius shook his head. “I wish I was just being mean, but you’re a liability... No offence intended, Kaz shows up out of nowhere in the chaos of it all. I would have liked a heads up... you’re lucky that these Gunrunners are weak, if it was anyone stronger...”
“It would have caused a lot of problems, most certainly, would it?” Eliza asked.
Archius nodded. Slapping her freckled face together, Eliza took in a deep breath. “I think I get you... I need to coordinate better...”
“Don’t worry,” Archius said. “You’ll have your chance.”
Despite her ready-to-go attitude, Eliza didn’t seem to full grasp at what Archius was telling her. It wasn’t a question of whether she was good. It was question of whether she’ll be a good cog in this well oiled machine that turns criminal corpses into cash.