Elizabeth sat down in the busy plaza, yawning. After what happened in the meeting, Eliza needed some time to herself, luckily: Chloé was willing to flip the bill on their purchases. There were simply too many shops for them to scour through, even if they had a whole month to themselves in this place...
She heaved a large shopping bag beside her, nestling it between her and the armrest.
"Good shopping?" asked Cyrus, his arms crossed. "I am... unfamiliar with the concept."
Eliza glanced up at her guard. Wait, what? "Really?" she asked, with a hint of laughter beneath her stretched voice.
"A-firm," Cyrus replied. He looked down at the bag filled with collectables, figurines and holo-posters of various scientific and cybernetic engineering topics. "I never had the time to freely engage in free market purchasing."
"Oh! Well... Why don't you go shopping for something?" asked Eliza.
Cyrus shook his head vehemently, "My mission is to guard you at all costs."
"Oh! Come on, we're in a safe place," said Eliza. "You can relax a bit, right?"
Silence was ushered in by Cyrus, as he merely looked up and back out into the crowd of aristocrats, visitors and civilians. "How many people do you think are in this room alone? Let alone the station."
"A few hundred at least?" answered Eliza. Was he trying to imply that there were threats here? "Look, I'm sure none of them wishes to harm me."
"Sure is not good enough."
He turned to face her, as his eyes glanced over to one side, his hand readying up. A bolt of anxiety rushed into Eliza's heart with the appearance of a new individual. A tall individual, with piercing cold eyes, followed on by a small entourage of guards. Obadiah Cariana-Slynt.
The businessman had his hands in his pockets, approaching the two.
"Cyrus?" Eliza muttered, watching the giant stand in between Obadiah and herself. Cyrus didn't respond to her beckon, instead his eyes and body screened against Obadiah.
"Elizabeth," Obadiah calmly started. He stopped a small distance from Cyrus, who nodded to Eliza. Eliza did a subtle nod back, with the tall bodyguard taking a step to the side - creating a line of contact between herself and the business magnate. "Good to see you in health."
Eliza could tell that they were honeyed words, she may not be as experienced as Kazuki, but she was confident in her own abilities to see that. "And to you as well," she said, putting up a fake smile... Ugh, her guts hated it - felt a bit too 'Archius-y' for her liking... Though she guessed that's simply a part of who he is.
"First... I must apologise, about your second. That fight was quite the spectacle, don't you think?" asked Obadiah.
That fight had Eliza worried quite sick, yet Eliza knew that Kaz wouldn't go down without a fight - and it seems both sides came to an agreement of sorts to draw things out. She slowly nodded. "I guess it was a spectacle."
"Now... No seconds, we can strike a small deal right now, how about it?" asked Obadiah.
Eliza furrowed her brow. Huh? "Pardon?" Eliza wasn't too sure if she wanted to follow through with this idea; after all, Kazuki might have been right about him...
Obadiah gave off an aura of frustration by the mere shuffling of his hands in his pockets, stretching them out and placing his thumbs out of his pocket. "In the business world, we must learn to not take things to heart.”
"I... I'm not..." Cold and harsh wisdom seeped through Eliza's mind; silence was best for now. She knows that whatever Kazuki has planned will help them. However, she preferred not to use Kazuki's unique set of skills. "I'm not as well versed in what you speak of as I would have liked to be."
A member of Obadiah's staff stepped forward, presenting Eliza with a small holographic document. A Contract? "An alliance between our two forces, something for something, you need something that I have... and I have a particular set of... things that I need to be fulfilled," said Obadiah.
Cyrus shifted slightly forward, scaring the staff member back behind Obadiah. The only reason why they'd bring a contract into this was to enforce some form of legality... Eliza hadn't taken law since high school, but even her old academic knowledge placed this to be less than keen.
Standing up, Eliza shook her head. She dropped any form of Engan formalities, a cold glare washing over her rose-red eyes. “I see no benefit... for me."
"But you need my information," said Obadiah, a smirk growing on his face. Ugh...
"I'll... I'll hear none of this anymore," said Eliza. She will not simply work with Obadiah, especially after what happened. "I simply do not wish to conduct business with you, this is quite a bad time and place, after all..."
Obadiah's left eye twitched. Was he not familiar with people saying no? "Do you really think that Contract-Breaker will bring you what you want?" he asked.
Eliza nodded, with Obadiah forcing a small smile onto his face. "Of course, you'd think that. He has no one on his side."
She withheld the information about whatever Kazuki had arranged, her logical side forced her heart and guts to be silent as a cold wave of piercing frost slashed Obadiah from her lips. "He will see it through either way," said Eliza. "Leave us, I'll tell Kazuki of this if you do not."
Cyrus positioned himself standing to one side, able to instantly draw on Obadiah, his bodyguards stood firm as well. "That's enough," Cyrus said. "You heard her."
Instead of turning, Obadiah took a step forward. "What?" he gave an arrogant look to Cyrus. "Going to kill me? You damn Contract-Breakers... There are consequences, Eliza... You should listen to your seniors more. And just like all of ‘em, you’ll end up dead."
She had enough of this charade. She curled her hands into a fist, causing Cyrus to take another step forward, a mere inch away from Obadiah - towering over him.
Obadiah did not move, still.
"Consequences go both ways," Eliza snarled, finding a piece of her old, cold, self protruding out from her lips.
"Oh? Threats? Sadly... You are mistaken. What do you have? A few screw-loosed mercs and a Contract-Breaker?" asked Obadiah. He gestured out to the plaza. "I am the heir to the future... With each passing day, my influence only grows, and you will wither. I have the galaxy."
"And I'm calling my cousin!" shouted a new voice. All heads turned to a dirty-blonde-haired girl, her hair was done up in an extravagantly complex fashion, with curls and braids. The Theonari woman with markings on her face approached, denoting her age. It was Chloé! Her hair was braided nicely, with an ornament at the top of it. The tundra around Eliza's sense melted. "I wonder what Crown Prince Ésteban would think... some strange people... threatening a friend of mine?"
Chloé stepped in, and what Cyrus could not do - Chloé accomplished with the mere utterance of a name. He bit his tongue in frustration, turned... and left... "Chloé?" Eliza asked.
Sighing, Chloé turned back to Eliza. "Sorry about that... I hate name-calling on my cousin..."
"Prince Ésteban?" Cyrus asked, inquisitively.
"Hmm?" Chloé answered. "Yeah, he's a distant relative... Which technically makes Kazuki a distant relative as well, but you know, don't really dig into it."
Cyrus merely gave a dismissive nod. Prince Nicholi Estéban-Feonar of the Kingdom of Theonar... Despite being surrounded by people who are essentially distant royals, she didn't feel the social pressures of such. "Well, you are finally done with your shopping?" asked Eliza.
Chloé nodded, showing a large bag of collectables and other trophies and random stuff. "Barclay loves collecting shit, so might as well surprise him the next time we meet."
“That’s going to take a while.” She said, to which Chloé shrugged.
“He’ll come around eventually,” Chloé remarked.
Eliza smiled, picking up her own bag. "Well then, let's not waste any more moments, there's this one other shop we should go to..."
∗ ∗ ∗
The sharp hiss of cold water down Archius' hands rattled his mind awake. The freezing warmth stung harshly, as he brought up the water to his face, washing off any drunken fatigue. He glanced up into the mirror, highlighted and bordered with neon lights.
"You look fucking awful," Archius told himself, biting into his own tongue. He could still feel Kazuki's grip around his neck He was used to Kaz being a bit wrong in the head, but straight up attacking him?
Archius smiled, seems like he was learning new things about Kaz and everything now that Liz was over with them.
He clicked onto his uplink, seeing a dozen... hundred messages addressed directly to him. Oh! It's Sato! Oh... He rolled his eyes after seeing her name, clicking his fingers as he called her back. 'What? I'm fucking busy, right?'
'ARCHIUS!' Sato bellowed at him beyond the piercing limits of her lungs... Archius placed his hands on his hips, taking in a deep breath and looking down to the ground. Oh boy, he's in trouble...
'Calm down, calm down, I can hear what you're saying,' Archius said in a smug, calm tone, prime to just piss her off even more.
Sato replied with an equally angry comment, ‘You offloaded all your work onto me Do you have an explanation?! I thought you were just another hologram with Kaz! Fuck! I had Hosea searching for.'
Archius could hear taps through the phone. Sato was most definitely typing away angrily. ‘Well, I’m busy with Kaz, might as well have you pick up my slack, you like a lil’ bit of extra work.’
’Ugh, let me guess, you snuck in with Kaz or something? Like that time back in Martara?’ asked Sato, raising an eyebrow.
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'No, came in as a second of some random university student,' Archius explained to Sato. He pushed himself up onto the sink, leaning against it as his peer reprimanded him. 'So uh... what did you need me for?'
'WE...' Sato trailed off, an audible sigh and groan were sent through the channel. 'I wanted you to run intelligence operations! Martinez and I want to start an intelligence division, get the foundation started at the very least since that seems to be your forte.'
'Oh? So we're starting things without Kazuki's permission, are we?' Archius asked. 'Kaz is the majority shareholder so...'
'NO! No...' Sato sighed. 'We're just getting the foundation of it laid out, we'll present the idea to Kazuki later, he’ll probably approve anyways, we need our own version of the Clandestine Seekers.'
'Yeah...' Archius rolled his eyes again.
An intelligence division sounds nice, Kazuki thought. But would it be a power grab by Sato and Martinez since Kazuki isn't around? Archius narrowed his eyes, debating in his mind. No, they're too clever to know that it won't work. This is genuine, then.
‘Well, I always did want some Seekers. Too bad none defected.’
Sato nodded.
He might as well give a report on their current situation. 'Oh yeah, Eliza's investigation is currently ongoing.'
'Hmm? Ah, that’s good to hear,’ said Sato. ‘Probably the only good news I got today.’
Archius checked the fingernails of his left hand, before rubbing his neck, trying to massage the pain away... 'It's so and so, you know? Kaz choked me after I helped him fall asleep.'
'Oh! So you drugged him?' Sato asked. Archius froze, not exactly having a response against that.
He slowly nodded to no one. 'Yeah! I did, thought that it'd help him get some rest. Who knows what we’ll face later on, best that he gets a moment to breathe that lasts longer than a game of Dullie.'
'When will you learn that prodding Kazuki will only solicit a violent response?' Sato asked. ‘I learnt when I tried to trick him, after all.’
'Yeah. I was there. Well, you know I have to keep pestering him 'till he reveals everything to me!' he jokingly remarked.
'Ugh... Whatever. Things are going fine on our end, so you’re in the clear for now. We're done here,' she said, cutting the call short.
He groaned, trying to call Kazuki. He connected: 'Busy. Call me back later,' Kazuki said, and then cut the call. Awh... Archius’ face dropped back down to a bored façade.
He stopped the water, fixing his shirt before leaving the bathroom, and exiting into Yuki's suite. "What did I miss?!"
Yuki was sleeping on the sofa, snoring loudly whilst leaning against Nathan. The table in front of them had the ruins of a building block dreadnought that they were making… It was a total mess on the table, a cleaning drone was picking pieces from the floor and bringing them back onto the table.
Yikes.
Václavos was also present, standing guard behind the sofa - looking grumpy as ever. “I don’t think she’ll be happy when she wakes up.”
No shit. Archius’ eyes scanned three people in the room, Nimitz-Delia, Noah and Chloé, the latter was sipping on some alcohol.
Noah waved to him. “Hey, Yuki wanted all of us to help her build the dreadnought… but uh….”
“Nathan just had to trash it,” Chloé remarked - as Nathan’s face went tomato-red.
“HEY!” he raised his voice. “I… IT WAS A mistake!” His voice cracked in the middle of his statement.
Delia chuckled. Wait… Delia? Why the fuck was Delia here? Archius pointed an inquisitive thumb at the Senator, pretending not to know her.
"Oh! I should have introduced you to her, this is Senator Iana Nimitz-Delia,” said Chloé. “After I went shopping with Liz, Noah and I caught her, and she said she wanted to meet the young Tigress herself, might as well, right?”
"A senator of the Republic?! What does one want to do with our precious Yuki?" Archius playfully asked, with Nathan nodding along, acting somewhat defensive against the new ‘intruder’.
The woman had dark green hair, braided with a silver hairpiece keeping it together, with an accommodatingly brilliant and silky dress. Dark green eyes, with lipstick to make her face pop. She was… trying too hard, but such a display might cause Yuki to connect with her better? After all, Kazuki’s little brat might have a soft spot for looking absolutely marvellous.
Her brooch shone out her status as a senator, hiding the fact that she's the AGENCY's 'greatest' ally... for now.
By instinct, Archius ran a threat analysis. But… the was nothing, probably no weapons hidden under her dress, or by her stockings… Probably. He’ll need to see how she walks to confirm.
Iana Nimitz-Dekia chuckled, nodding. "Please, the senator is quite posh, especially for such a casual conversation," she said. “Just call me Iana. And you are?”
“Archius.” He waved Noah over to him.
Noah looked towards Delia for a second, as she nodded. He sprung up, walking across the room and leaning in towards Archius. "What?"
"Ima be a real man... I didn't know you could score that high…” Archius smirked and grinned. “You handsome devil, I should have known you had it in you.”
"What?! No?" Noah pulled back, nearly tripping over the half-built dreadnought. "Woah?!"
Chloé couldn’t hold in her laughter. “Pfft!”
“Please, you youngsters are so expressive.” Delia chuckled at the sight, pulling a bag out from between her legs.
Despite calling them youngsters, Delia was a part of the new generation of Senators within the Republic - those that rose after the war. Thanks to humanity’s extended lifespan, sometimes even reaching two hundred, the Senate was once stacked with senile old men. Now, it only consists of semi-senile hundred-year-olds and cut-throat upstarts like Delia.
Such an evaluation made proper manipulation hard for Archius.
Noah nodded and scratched his head. "Sometimes… Not all of us are so expressive,” he said. It was clear who he was referring to.
Archius hid a small laugh and replied, "Well what do you have there?"
"Hmm? Oh, alcohol, we're all of legal drinking age here, right?" Delia asked.
Chloé shook his head. "Nathan and Yuki are both seventeen, sadly.”
"But with an accompanying adult, they may drink in moderation," Delia continued as soon as Noah finished as if she had the answer sprung on his argument.
Archius couldn't find any reason to disagree and nodded with Chloé. “Sure, just don’t get ‘em drunk,” she said.
"Nathan, you want to wake Yuki up?" asked Archius. Nathan shook slowly, before taking a deep breath. He nudged Yuki slightly. "Hey... Y—Yuki? Can you wake up?"
Archius turned away, knowing that it'll take a while for Yuki to 'boot up' like those shitty old computers. In all honesty, he’d prefer to enjoy the little quiet moments before that happens. He sighed, taking in a deep breath as Delia slid filled cups onto the serving drones, as they hovered around the mess of brick on the table.
"It’s an old Lautrasian saying that alcohol loosens the tongue to the way of friendship," Delia said. Noah sat back down beside Delia, as she poured him a drink first. “Like Fer-Charelota, I am interested in helping today’s youth so that one day, you may be prepared to not only succeed but to exceed us.”
Her words were drenched in super-honey, too sweet for Archius' personal liking. Exceed? Really? Well, it seems that the honey was being eaten up by everyone.
Chloé said, “Uh, don’t, we’re not as bright as you think we are.”
Noah shrugged. “We’re bright enough?”
The senator poured two more cups, sliding them over towards the slowly waking Yuki and Nathan. She glanced up at Archius. "Would you like a drink?" she asked. “And your voice… it’s so familiar!?”
She smiled, a grin filled with multilayered poisons, a hand extending out with alcohol. Archius’s mind remained calm, however. He merely shrugged. “With quintillions of humans out there, there’s bound to be some that sound the same?”
Delia clicked her fingers. “No… your voice is the spitting… audio of an old actor.”
Archius played it cool, chuckling. “Thanks, I’m flattered.” Delia relented at that. With so many people here, any advance into mirky territories must be calculated to no fault. Václavos coughed a few times, as all turned their eyes to him. "Hmm?" he asked, before nodding to Archius’ cup of alcohol.
"Sure, why not?" Delia said, to his confusion. Another cup was poured and brought up to Václavos. “Back on my homeworld, we abstained from drinking, at least officially. But alcohol always makes us merry, so we stayed merry.”
Yuki raised her hand. “If you’re looking for an actor, how about a singer? Same thing, practically, right? Right, Nate?” Nathan instantly nodded without a second thought.
Archius didn’t respond. He didn’t want to think back to Máwt, its sprawling bazaars and trade markets…
“Well then, why not play us a song?” Delia suggested. “To hear the singing voice of a Princess, well… I would consider this day to be a very auspicious one.” Auspicious indeed, Archius thought, maintaining his scepticism.
Nathan got out his holo-guitar whilst Yuki flicked her wrist, a nanobot microphone formed in her hands.
The moment Václavos got his cup, he started to down it, probably expecting merc-grade alcohol or something, something to ease the mind. Everyone was awaiting the show as they drank.
Yuki counted them down. “Star’s forgotten, long diverged from the past – the far adventures await.” Whilst Yuki sang an old explorer’s song, Archius kept his focus on Delia…
“They barred our gates, stole our drives, yet the winds of fortune go assailed!” Taking a moment to look over at Nathan, Archius saw how concentrated the kid was, eyes bouncing from note to note to ensure he didn’t muck things up for Yuki. Yuki’s voice was near angelic, but Archius heard better… far better in the past. Then, he refocused one eye onto Delia, the other to maintain contact with the rhythms.
Delia was smiling, too much so. His focus was too intense for him to simply enjoy the music. But as everyone clapped, he did so as well. “My, if I had some connections in the music industry I’d throw them your way!” Delia remarked with a smile.
Making herself known to one of the two Imperial siblings, huh? Archius narrowed his eyes, finding no way to stop her without compromising his position.
Archius simply took a sip of his own cup and turned back to Delia. "So... Iana, right?" Archius asked. Yuki was finally waking up.
"Yes? Senator of Miranties, I represent the people there, first and foremost of all," Delia said, smiling as she crossed one leg over the other.
To that, Chloé rolled her eyes to the side. Seems both Chloé and Archius were on the same wavelength after all.
“Miranties? That borders Nizhnruya?”
Delia gave a slow and cool nod. "Indeed it is, quite a backwater, I assume you're also from a backwater, then? Backwaters know Backwater?" Delia asked. "Though, nothing beats Nova Terra as the Queen of backwaters!"
Noah downed a cup. “Better a backwater than destroyed.”
Archius chuckled at Noah's remark, his green eyes skimming across the room.
"Not exactly a backwater," Archius said. He wanted to give as little information as he needed. "Some trade hub, parents moved from it when I was young so I mean..."
Chloé furrowed her brow. “You never told us about your parents, did you?” she asked, clicking her fingers. “Barclay, Kaz, Liz and Hania did, but you didn’t!”
“Now, now,” Noah said.
Delia continued, “It matters not, parents or whatever.” Chloé slowly nodded, seemingly agreeing with the statement. Thanks for the save, Delia, Archius thought - taking another sip.
Delia gently nodded, glancing at Yuki, who was awake fully, although she was aimlessly staring off into the ceiling, with Nathan having retracted his protective arm. "Uh... Yuki, drink..." Nathan whispered to her - whilst she was still booting up, booting up circles peering up from her glasses and sparkling cyan eyes.
"I think... I..." Václavos leaned against the sofa, slowly coughing up in a drunken fit. UGH... Disgusting, Archius thought, shifting away and scotting closer to Nathan. "Sorry..."
'Go babysit Václavos, Nihara' Archius jokingly remarked across the uplink - making sure that no one around heard.
And just then, a rattle shook the room. Archius immediately twisted towards the door, ready for combat. But everyone else's glances turned elsewhere. The drones had started to clean up Václavos'... dinner.
"The fuck?" Václavos wiped away the vomit on his lips.
The rattle came from Pi, who was squawking in his cage.
That woke Yuki up, as she dashed up from the couch, releasing Pi from the cage. “HEY! STOP ACTING SO STRANGE!” She tried to grab the bird’s feet, but Pi kept panicking.
"Your Phoenix! It's real!" Delia shouted, amazed at the creature. "I thought it was just a replica but... it's real!" Her face lit up in amazement.
Chloé continued, “Thank fuck it’s tamed, then.” Neither seemed worried.
Noah rushed over to Yuki's side, making an attempt to help her. But before he could, Nathan lunged across the sofa, grabbing Pi by the wings and helping tug it down to the ground.
"PI!" Yuki shouted. "You're a very naughty bird! You'll get no treats for a..." She glanced at the phoenix’s warm face, cawing and murmuring in a low musical tone. "Oh... I can't punish you." She started giggling to herself.
Creatures like Phoenixes don’t panic for no reason… thought Archius.