Week 77: So how about those burned bridges, eh?

FROM: dp275@bgnet.wdn
TO: HanJ@oracle.wdn
SUBJECT: What's up?
Hi! The name's Dani, I'm a new Oracle agent, don't know if you've heard about me. I was looking through the agent roster I'd been given and saw that you used to work for the Ai-Jinn - me too! I don't see any reason to be a stranger to the people I'm working with, so do you want to go for a meal somewhere? I have no idea where's good round here.

-Dani Potenza

FROM: HanJ@oracle.wdn
TO: dp275@bgnet.wdn
SUBJECT: RE:What's up?

Ah, good to hear from you. I'd be more then happy to meet you for a chat. Meet me at Keng's, best noodles in Seoul, with the added benefit of being close to HQ and slightly more secure then the average because of that.

I'll be waiting.

Han Ji

Dani arrived soon enough at Keng's and parked in front, slinging her caustic thrower's storage case on her back as she slammed the door shut. It looked like a pretty small place for somewhere an Oracle agent would prefer eating, but maybe the food was just that good?

She stepped inside and saw what had to be Han sitting at one of the tables. Well, potentially it might not have been him, but what were the odds of another agent waiting for someone and getting there first? The thing that struck her as really worthy of note, though, was that Han was tall. Really tall. Until the last few seconds she'd been pretty satisfied with her newly-enhanced muscles, but meeting up with a hulk of a man who had to be like a foot taller than her kind of made that seem unimportant. "That you?" she asked, glancing at the man she was pretty sure was Han.

Han waved. "Hey, Dani, right? Come and sit down, please." Han's tone was jovial. It's good to meet another agent who got sick of the crap that the Ai-Jinn were selling, let me tell you!"

Dani sat down with a smile, offering her hand to shake. "Same here, man. It's like I can finally breathe for the first time in years. You've been around here for a while now, right? How's it treating you?"

"Life in general or life in Oracle? Life's fine, as much as it can be in this world. Working for Oracle? Best job I've ever had...which admittedly, doesn't say much, but still, the pay's obscene, the freedom is divine, and I get to pursue personal objectives like sticking it to the Ai-Jinn on a daily basis and not only am I permitted to do that, but I get paid ridiculous quantities of cash and rank. He smiled and took a glug of smork. "As for the boss? Well, he's pretty much the single best boss I've ever had."

"Well, that sounds like exactly what I came here for. Awesome," Dani said as she pondered what to eat. "The whole obsessive-loyalty-or-die thing was bad enough, yeah, but it was all the worse because being a cog in the machine didn't even get you anywhere. I'm sick of spinning my wheels, y'know? Oracle does big stuff, stuff that matters. That's what I want with my life. That and plenty to eat - what's good here?"

"Well, the siopao asado are perfect, the cashew chicken is to die for of course. Personally, I always say you can't go far wrong with a big old bowl of Smork Fried Rice. So, given I've not eaten in the last 5 hours...I'll be getting a ton of all three. Order whatever you fancy, it's on me. I have a standing account with this place already.

Han shrugged. "As for stuff that matters, that's definitely something we do. We're in public, so I can't go into details, but we've done things I'd never dreamed possible. Some stuff I still have trouble believing."

Yesss, the magic words. 'It's on me'. "I've hardly eaten in the last 48, so thanks for the offer!" Dani said cheerfully, turning to Keng to order a frankly massive amount of food that would take a long time to eat even for an agent. "You'll have to tell me about it all sometime. I bet they're all better stories coming from you than reading dry mission reports." She leant back in her seat, relaxed and clearly enjoying the smell of the food that would soon be ready. "So how do you fight? I mean, you look like the fightin' type to me, I figure that's your thing, Mr. High-Ranking Professional?"

"Yeah, I've a few. Remind me to tell you about the time I dodged like, 12 guys armed to the teeth in a server room while the Hacker was busy hacking into the network. Good times."

He smiled, though his voice choked a little as he said "the hacker."

"Yeah, you've got a good eye. Shotgun's are my stock in trade. Never met a man who could match me with one. Or, in my case, two. Best thing for non lethal combat, really."

"Non-lethal. With shotguns." Dani clearly thought this was kind of totally bullshit. "They might be small, sure, but they totally wreck whatever you shoot into a bloody mess. This guy in my old division used them - well, he turned to them after correction - and they were anything but non-lethal. How the hell do you manage that, colossus?"

"Sure. Pacifier Ammo for when I'm facing non augmented people, plasma bore rounds for Agents. As long as you only target the limbs, you can take down an agent, remove their immediate threat capability and makes them easier to transport if you wanna interrogate them later. Course, it's a learned skill, took me ages to figure out properly do it, but nowadays, unless I'm up against a real close combat professional, I can pulp an arm pretty much as a standard. He looked up in delight as the food arrived at the table. "Thank you, my good man!"

"So you say your buddy got reconditioned? That sucks. It was...something kind of like that made me finally quit the Ai-Jinn."

"Yeah, a bunch of them," Dani said through a mouth full of noodles. "That wasn't really why I left, but it was one of the things that made me sick enough of it all to end up quitting. 's just fucked up, isn't it? Much better here, without everyone watching you 25/8 for signs of disgruntlement."

"Yeah, Oracle's pretty relaxed, as long as we're making a decent profit for the CEO and we don't cause too much trouble for the UIG, or rather, get caught doing it, that's about the bar for being a loyal Oracle agent." Han laughed as he slurped at his noodles, his behaviour indicative of the ravenous hunger that embodied most heavily augmented agents. "So from your accent, I'm guessing you were working with one of the Mafia branches over in Fed territory?"

"Egschagdly," Dani replied as she ate, pausing to finish what she was eating before she continued. "I was in Chicago, worked in a division with guys from all over that part of America. Spent so much of my time doing deskwork fixing the books and all though, tons of my skill at shooting things went to waste. Gonna make a change of that here, let me tell you. Where'd you work?"

"Well, mostly I was based out of Shanghai, did a tour guarding some experimental research labs, a coordination centre. Only spent about 12 months on the job before I had to leave. Fun investment for the fuckers, really, spend 9 years training me from the ground up, only to get one year of service before I go and turn traitor." Han smirked as he said the last sentence.

"Still, it's their own fault. If they didn't want me to turn traitor, they probably shouldn't have instilled such a focus on avenging fallen comrades, no matter who had wronged you. Turns out that includes them."

"Now that I can get behind. No matter what you think of them, no matter who's the problem, you gotta stand by your guys," Dani said with a nod. "And I figure you and I should work pretty well together, you seem to be on the right page about this stuff. Unless you've got some dark stalker-y secret you've not told me?"

"What, like I am a stalker? Or are you asking if I have one? Han raised the bowl of noodle soup to his lips and drained the broth in one large gulp. "Cause I'm no stalker, but I'd be surprised if the Ai-Jinn weren't keeping tabs on me, after all I've been through. Pretty certain they've already tried to assassinate me in my sleep."

"But yeah, you seem alright. Keep faith with me, and I'll keep faith with you, okay?"