Kate watched the exchange with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. The way the girl, Fray, talked heated Kate’s temper a bit, but she was used to that sort of reaction. Of course, that didn’t make it any more pleasant to deal with. However, this girl was supposed to be not just strong, but also amazing at hacking. That could come in handy, and possibly mean the difference between success and failure.
Kate did want her team to get along, but that wasn’t her first priority. They’d get used to working together even if they loathed it. At least this proved that the Amigna, Malachi, was as capable as he seemed, if he was in Fray’s head. What an odd nickname, Kate mused, waiting until their little spat was over to try and convince these idiots that this job was one to take.
As Malachi and Fray argued, Kate’s gaze flicked to Lika. He seemed intelligent, at least, if judgmental. Kate studied him. Some people might dismiss the Technologi one of the weaker classes, but Kate didn’t like to underestimate people. After all, people’s underestimation of her used to be one of her best tricks. They would never expect a little girl to do what she did. It was true that she didn’t look like she could control shadows, but that was nature.
Malachi just casually leaned back in the chair with a smile. This interaction is really fun and enjoyable to him. Is he making new friends? Who knows, he sure doesn't right now. Besides, the Amigna is getting way off topic with the mission; probably will again even in the most dangerous parts. He didn't expect someone to flinch out of their seat after talking to them telepathically. Well, it's the first time he's "seen" anyone do it. The inch of anger in her voice made him sneer again.
"Alright then.", he replied while loosening his tie. Malachi pulled out a little dagger before leaning his head back. "Okay, so I want you to get something like this and then press right here in the middle.", the blade lied gently above the skin as he kept explaining,"Right after I want you to press really hard so then some blood comes out. And after give it the best slice you could ever give; make it a clean one too." Sitting up, he put the dagger back in the little pocket in his sleeve and fixed his tie. Malachi dragged his pointer finger across his neck while staring at the young lady; he happily gave her a thumbs up. "Got it, sweetheart?"
Maybe it wasn't the best idea to do that again so quickly. Oh well, she'll be fine. In any case, the hacker did answer his question. "Aw don't say that.", he pleaded,"Then there wouldn't be a lovely computer genius like you in this team."
Lika’s eyes immediately shot open at Malachi’s remark, and slowly turned his head to look at the man. Perhaps he was wrong by initially thinking they could get along.
“I wouldn’t say being able to hack makes you a computer genius. Hacking is nothing in the grand scheme of things.” he gave the man a very bored shrug before looking back up at the ceiling, this time keeping his eyes open. Now came the question of why was he there when another had hacking abilities. Surely Kate didn’t need two people to do that, especially when Lika himself could produce better results than an entire team of qualified professionals——that’s a story for another day, but it proved to Lika that he wasn’t as ordinary as he thought he was even with his technological abilities.
Alexander's finger was tapping on the side of his seat. He wasn't paying attention to what the other people in the room were saying. He looked up and stared at Kate. He wasn't in the mood of chit-chat. He was there for something better. The Money. He would do anything for it. Of course, he'd have barely anything to do in this. All he had to do is get a glance of the future, see if everything is alright, and if not? They'll make a plan and go with it. He barely had a play in this. He knew how to combat fight but that won't be necessary.
He looked at Kate with a smirk. He raised his hand as a joke and said, "Im sorry for the late with the question but… What role do I play in this… 'game' of yours?" Alexander asked, looking at all the other's. He was just a pawn in a game of chess. Not needed, always discarded in the end.. He sat quietly, waiting for his answer.
Fray smiled sweetly, venom leaking from her tone. "I'm sorry, but I don't need to know how to use a knife to take your head from your shoulders," she said, acting as if she was talking to a very small child. "I have other methods, that are much more painful, and way less clean." Her nails slid into sharp claws, and she tapped them on her legs, smiling innocently at him, although her eyes flashed.
She was more prepared for his telepathic words in her head this time, and so when her memories threatened to rise to the surface and give her a panic attack, she shoved them down again and acted as if he had spoken out loud. "Oh, no, I don't think I understand. Please explain to me again. Your description was a bit too complicated for my delicate tastes."
"But you have the Technologi," she said, motioning to Lika. "He may not have as pretty a face as I do, but he's probably about as smart as me. Maybe." She snorted.
“Beauty is subjective, and frankly you’re far from my taste.” Lika whisper chuckled to himself, sitting up straight. He pushed his hair from out of his eyes and pushed himself up from his seat—he’d been sat down for too long and his long legs were in need of a stretch.
Lika glanced down at the short woman, eyeing her up skeptically. Upon closer inspection, he could see that she would perhaps be attractive in some eyes, but quite frankly, he wasn’t into animals or self-obsessed half-pints.
Lika turned away from Mercury and stretched his arms behind his head, wandering away from the group to stretch his legs. “Can we skip the small talk and get to work, please, Kate.”
Malachi's head swiftly turned to glance over Lika. Yesh, how dramatic can tech people be? Rolling his eyes, he brought his hands up in defense. "Okay well my utmost sincere apologies then, my friend. There's defiantly more grander things to make you a computer genius yet I wouldn't know.", he conceded.
His black eyes widened a bit in surprise to seeing the claws. Malachi tried to hide the dumbfounded look on his face. Now that was something he did not expect at all. Should he be scared or excited? It did catch him off guard; he'll gladly admit that. Honestly all he thought was that she's just a hacker or something, impressive. "Woah, now that is something.", Malachi nodded enthusiastically,"We should talk more about killing me after this; it'd be fun, I'm thinking of some restaurants already!"
He laid his elbows on top of the arms of his seat glancing away. In a matter of seconds, his attention went elsewhere. Malachi rolled his sleeve back to check the time before shooting a look at Rikov. Resting his chin on his hand, he listened to what everyone else was saying out loud and internally.
Kate glanced at the two men who had addressed her directly, smirking a bit. Good, people who didn't waste their time bickering. "It's not my 'game', Alexander," she addressed the first one with a bit of an eye roll. "I'm merely the one recruiting everyone, though I do like that you think I'm the boss here. I'm only in charge of you idiots. Anyway, I don't know your role, besides having someone who has visions of the future or present would be extremely helpful, especially with the little information we have. I'm sure you can find a way to make yourself useful in that area. Do you need anything else?"
Kate glanced at Lika next. "Cutting to the chase, nice. As soon as these two morons stop arguing, then we can get to work. If you want to try and shut them up, I can't say I'd be sorry." She laughed, the sound sharp, like metal on metal. She was getting a bit annoyed the two who were arguing. Kate raised her voice a bit, looking at them. "So, are you two done yet?"
Fray ignored the Technologi. Frankly, she didn't think she was good-looking, and so his comments didn't affect her a bit. "But where's the fun in working?" She asked, a smirk curling her lips. "Nothing. You're right. So why do it when you could be an asshole instead?" She shook her head in mock disappointment. "Some people."
She turned to the Amigna… Malachai, was his name? Something like that. "We should, I agree. It would be a very fascinating topic to discuss, especially if you let me kill you afterwards. I would love that." She lowered her eyes and looked at him through her eyelashes. "Would you really do that? For me?" She snorted.
"I prefer the term asshole, thank you very much," Fray said, her voice matching Kate's, sharp and cold, although her eyes sparkled with amusement and disdain. "And I don't know. If we aren't, will you try to kill us? Because then we might not be done. I don't know." She jerked her thumb at Malachai. "Is he done? I can't speak for him now, can I?"
Alexander shook his head and laughed. "Kate, Kate, Kate. It isn't that simple. Do you know that? Once I see into the future I won't be…Very active. Usually, I would-" He stopped and looked down. "Nevermind that. What If I see that something will go wrong…Usually, you can't change the future. Listen to me…I've tried several times." He shook his head.
Alexander sighed, shutting himself up. He leaned back with his chair and yawned. I got no time for this… He thought. "Ill just wait till those Dumb asses stop fighting." He rubbed his head.
Malachi's finger tapped on the arm of the seat. Every other moment he went back to staring at his watch. He tapped along with the long hand's small ticking. There wasn't a lot else to do except wait for someone to say something or do anything. Any moment now…
Throwing a glance over at Fray, his head shook. At least there's the new "friend" of his, oh how terrific. He couldn't help but chuckle as she spoke. "Possibly, if I make out of this; we'll see.", he winked before noticing Kate.
His attention couldn't help but go over to her. She defiantly looks like she's getting irritated at him and Fray. It's slightly amusing if you have to ask him, but now's not the time for it. Oh well, he dragged out the fun of an argument for an inappropriate amount of time in this case. Maybe the Animga will get use that skill later on; it gets even better with the telepathy for sure. "Just get on with it Raikov so I can know what tools should be cleaned.", Malachi sighed,"Also I'm done for now."
Kate let out a short chuckle, every bit as sharp as her laugh. Her truly amused laugh sounded like it came from a different person compared to these grating, metallic huffs of chuckles. She ignored the condescending manner in which Alexander spoke to her (and a sometimes the others as well), though it chafed her a bit. Once it was clear the argument was over between the two, she relaxed an infinitesimal amount.
"Yes, thank you for your obvious concern for this," Kate sighed, voice piercing as knife and slathered with a good dose of sarcasm. "Anyway, I'm assuming you all choose to accept, then? And no I won't kill you just for refusing, I'm not cruel. I already gave a brief explanation of the mission. The first thing that we would do is sneak over the border into Valeria, then we would have to find these labs. I have a rough idea of where they are, but I would need someone with either hacking or mind reading capabilities to figure out exactly where the labs are, as I'm sure you're all aware that the exact location is a highly guarded secret. Then we would break in, download their mainframe, steal one of the experiments, and attempt to get back to Nova City in one piece. Clearly, I don't have much of a plan besides the basics, but once I get a team together then we can finalize things. All you have to do today is tell me whether or not you're willing to join."
Kate surveyed the group before her, those in question seeming to get more and more ragtag with each minute. It wasn't like there was any better choices though. Everyone here was adept at what they did, and anyone better would have attracted too much attention anyway. This was not something that Kate wanted people to know about. She had done her best to maintain a certain aura of mystery for the most part. She just hoped that she was putting her faith in the right people.
"If you say so, Your Highness," Fray drawled, leaning her chin on her hand. "You sound like you have it all figured out. Will we all have to listen to you? 'Coz you should know by now that that's not gonna happen. I usually work alone. I'm not a team player." She smirked mildly.
"Also, how much are we getting paid?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "Because I heard nothing about money. Of course I'm in, but I want to know if we get money. I work best if I'm motivated."
She hadn't come to make friends. Although, the Amigna was fun to banter with, once this was all over, she would probably never see him again. Not that she cared. Friends were useless.
Kate was annoyed, but then again, that was a feeling she was used to. She pursed her lips, wondering if this girl had even listened to a word that she had said. "Yes, you'll have to listen to me, even though that's clearly hard for you. I don't care if you're a team player as long as you don't get yourself, or the rest of us, killed. And I already told you exactly how much we are being offered. Six billion dollars, which split evenly amongst us is one billion apiece. It's enough to set you up for life, yada yada. Does that work for you, princess?"
Why not join? There's nothing else to do around here. The plan seemed pretty straight forward although sounds like there are some gray areas to it; but it's all part of the amusement, right? The Aminga bit the inside of his lip; well amusement is not a way to put it. At least there's some use/benefit to the mission. He wondered who's brain he's going to explode this time.
Malachi kept his head down staring at the floor while listening to Kate and Fray. Such as waste of time and words; that's coming from himself. Just get over it and give in. What else is there?
Lazily, he raised his hand. Might as well add some reason or really just anything to this. "Alright, I'm in.", Malachi announced," I guess everyone else here is too since no one is objecting except, well I don't know what She-Wolf is asking for over there. Plus, what other idiots could you go to?"
Kate smirked at Malchi, the warmest expression she had shown these fools so far. “Well, sounds great to me,” she responded. “You are just the idiots I was looking for. So are there any further objections?”
(sorry thought i responded to this already)
“You know there’s not.” Lika sighed, running his hands through his hair. “So let’s just get on with it.”
The way he saw it, the sooner it started, the sooner it would be over, and the sooner he would have his hands in the money. Although, this job would be good change of scenery from his usual work——work that usually involved him being alone. Might be good to have others around him for a while, even if at least one of them was an insufferable egotist.
"Unfortunately, I can't think of anything right now," Fray sighed. She stretched her hands behind her head and leaned back in the chair, popping her joints. "So if I do have any objections, I'll be sure to let you all know right away." She smiled slightly, but it wasn't a warm smile. "In case you all were worried."
Straightening, she propped her chin on her hand. "When do we leave?" She asked, sounding bored. "Because I'm bored."
