Week 76: Smeaking in Seoul

"Oh, yeah!" Dani said suddenly, practically forcing Una back on Hugo once it was pointed out to her. "Well, if you like this Steve guy then he can't be all bad," she thought out loud. "What's he do? Any other nukes in the corp, or is it just us?"

Hearing confirmation that Dani was a nuke made Hugo chuckle lowly, sounding a bit dumb. He took Una easily and moved away to look at her face. "I think there was one before us? But no, it's just you and me." He began to reholster his gun, strapping her in with speed and care. "And Stephen is great. Smart and really good and funny, plus he's a Fed too, so between the both of us, we can get you the good guns. Real primo WF shit." He motioned to his car and chuckled again, the doors on his new vehicle opening up like wings. "C'mon, I'm getting hungry. Hey, you good on money? You got everything you need to get kitted out for the next mission?"

"You kidding?" Dani asked as she sat down in the car, impressed at how nice it was. Even higher-ranking agents she'd seen driving around back when she was training had Ai-Jinn-made cars which were much more... function-first. "Even if I'd already spent all that money, I've been given damn near everything I could need for mission time. Gonna grab some more guns, duh, and heavier armour. Won't be the real good stuff, but it's gonna take some needling to get a Guan Yu now. Food sounds better now, though. Haven't eaten in... hours," she said, checking her watch. "What we goin' for?"

As the other two agents began to enter the vehicle, Khalid wondered if he should reveal himself to them now, or whether he should wait for a more opportune moment. He glanced around. No, this simply wouldn't do for a apparition trick; for one thing, from her position inside the car the woman wouldn't be able to get a clear view. No, he would follow, and wait.

It was a work of a moment to don his sticky gloves (made to look like white silk of course), before he pushed off the floor gently with his mind, landing as softly as he could on the car roof, and attaching himself. ((Agi+Stealth pass by 16 (using level 7 cloak)))

"Chambered Round does a bunch of stuff. Nothing fancy but agent sized portions and a pretty good bar, mostly Ai Jinn kinda food, some local, some not. But then we can shoot Una, plus it's a good place in Seoul to hang out for nukes. Closest thing to a nuke bar, really." He smiled, moving the car toward the entry gate of Oracle HQ. "But I'm not kidding about missions. I mean, I go in with field armor, two tac shields, a covert shield, Una and the Great White, like three other team members, normally a lot more, maps and security information, grenades and lock analyzers and.. And it never seems like enough. You need to be prepared for anything." Hugo glanced over at her with a smile, and said rather slyly, "Besides, if you wanted a temporary loan to get a few new weapons... Or upgrade your thrower.. I'd be happy to give you whatever you needed. I, I know that first signing bonus seems like so much, but it goes by so fast with cybernetics and stuff." By the end though, his slyness was gone, and he sounded a little... thoughtful and distant.

Dani mulled the idea over in her head. She hated owing other people anything, but Hugo seemed like he might be nice enough to just keep quiet and not mention it for a few months. Then again, she knew from past experience that just a little money could turn nice people into whiny bitches. "Thanks, but I'll be fine with what I've got. Trust me, I know how to budget 'n shit. Hell, it was most of what the Ai-Jinn paid me for. Talk about wasting my real talents," she said, patting her thrower's case for emphasis. "Of course, if you want to just give me stuff I'll take it off your hands, no questions asked," she added with a devious grin.

"Oh, good. Because I brought the other galvanic cannon I got as a back-up so you could see the difference between it and Una and.. And it's creepy having it around, like some uncanny valley almost-clone of her. So if you could give it a home, that would be good of you." Hugo didn't sound smug, or like he was doing her a favor; he seemed to even be a little upset. They turned away from the small shops around HQ to one of the larger highways proper, the car moving easily in traffic. "And besides, in a few weeks, you'll have more money than you'll know what to do with.

"Thanks! It'll take pride of place on my... floor," Dani replied. Now she realised that she hadn't really considered moving out of her office - sure, she'd need to do it some time, but right now getting well-equipped for the field was her first priority and more guns were her second, third, fourth... "Trust me, man. No matter how much money I end up with, I'll know just how to use it," she said, looking up from her weapon case to Hugo. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's wanting things."

Hugo shook his head. "I guess if you're not a one-gun kinda girl, it's easier to.. want things. Me, I am sitting on seven millions credits trying to think bigger. I already got two businesses on the go and I'm thinking about a third, and my family's town has a new school and all the security they could want. And now what?" He was complaining, but the more he spoke the happier he seemed, realizing how still his 'problems' were. "I spent half a million on this car just to have some way to escape in a mission, cortesana. And it's a great motherfucking car, yeah, but what the hell. It basically means nothing to me. This job is gonna motherfuck with you. It's not something the other agents talk about, but it's true. Not bad compared to any other corp, really, but... Well, I figure you'd need a head's up." Hugo gave her a look out of the corner of her eye, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Hmm... Sounds good to me," Dani stated firmly after a little thought. "I mean, if I'm not gonna care about all that shit then it wasn't worth caring about in the first place, right? Frees me up to think more about my guns 'n stuff. I'm sick of having to worry over every little thing in case the WF notices and takes it away, buying cars just to throw them off cliffs sounds way better." She leant back in the seat, watching Seoul go by. "You seem pretty put-together for someone lost in the depths of their bank account."

The massive agent's smile broadened to ridiculous-and-dumb levels as she switched to Spanish, and he looked away from the highway to flash his smile at her before he realized he should be driving. "...I wouldn't be able to be a nuke if I wasn't so well grounded." There was only one type of pun Hugo was good at, but at those, he excelled. He chuckled at his own joke. "So are you a Fed or what? You worry about the WF, hate the Ai Jinn.. A merc or a spy or what?" His hand fluttered a brief <<Requesting Details>>, in a way that could just as easily been him fixing his shirt cuff.

Dani sighed at the quality of Hugo's joke, completely ignorant of his hand signal. "You can be American without working for the Feds, y'know. Crime kinda runs in my family - we were 'legitimate builders', yeah? The Ai-Jinn have cells worldwide, and once you get established in WF territory there's not much competition.  But years of working for them got me nowhere and they were gonna send me to go test mass-produced crap for the army so I took the better offer." She shrugged, clearly not thinking much of her life story. "If you'd told me a month ago I'd be chillin' like this with someone who'd worked for the Feds I'd be filling your face with acid, and here I am. It's weird."

"Well, I'm not American, or even Mexican really, I'm from the Free State and I did work for the Feds. Of course, a month ago, I was here... But yeah, I never really considered construction. We used lots of independent firms where I was from. Big corps tended to get pushed out. Huh." He gestured with a hand to a wide low building. "There it is. But we're gonna park next door in the garage." He shook his head, pointing to a much taller building next to it. When the car passed, he waved a hand; he almost certainly had an account here. "I got lucky working with the DSI at AMS working with new weapons. Heh. It's where I met her." He tapped Una with one of his hands as the car pulled into a parking space along the lower levels of the garage.

"Yeah, but that was testing for weapons to go to market and sell to rich people, right? AMS make real quality guns," Dani said as she got out of Hugo's car. "I'm talking spending a working day trying out cheap-ass machine guns made to only break down some of the time, and then doing the same thing for years. Even if those guys you stole Una from wanted to destroy her in the end, they at least wanted to make a gun that worked good, right? I know I couldn't take seeing all those guns made just to fall apart in my hands, even if they weren't mine."

Hugo nodded sympathetically, his face understanding in the extreme. "I know, right? Ugh, my personal assistant actually invested some of my money in KAC Shim, can you believe it? It took a week to take the funds out even though we made a profit, I didn't even want the money. Like, I like the whole selling to anyone thing--even if the Ai Jinn don't--but those pieces of shit aren't worth the metal they are stamped out of it. Ugh. And no offense, but generic Ai Jinn guns aren't much better. I don't blame you for leaving." He shook his head, and then stopped a few steps away from the car. He turned back, popped open he trunk, and took out a brand new, never-been-fired galvanic cannon. "Here, take this." He held it as if it weighed nothing, catching up with Dani and offering her the cannon helpfully.

Dani grabbed the cannon enthusiastically, sagging a little under the weight. She studied it in quiet reverence, checking the clip bay and then looking down the barrel before leaning against a wall to steady herself and holding it in something like a firing position. "Kickass. Gonna have to lighten him up a bit - or maybe get some metal in me - but damn is this a great weapon. He's one of those top-shelf Feds-only deals, yeah? Or have they started selling these to anyone while I wasn't looking?" she asked Hugo with a face like a child on Christmas morning who just unwrapped a high-quality galvanic cannon. "Must be rough getting this stuff now you've left."

Hugo snorted dismissively. "Eh, yes and no. The AMS guys don't even respond to my emails anymore, but I know a few guys from agent training, summer school, secondary, and hell, my Tio is still an agent. Er, not active, but he can get his hands on things. It's not easy for them, but we can still get a few guns through every now and then." He continued walking to the stairs which would lead them to the Round. "Besides, all I need is Una. And.. Well, I could do with a better Great White, but it's serviceable for now." He looked Dani up and down and grinned. "And you definitely need some cybes, cortesana. Especially if you're gonna be switching guns. And get the galvanic grounder. And the respiratory filters, some times we use knock out grenades, oh, and--"

Hugo opened the door to the Chambered Round. Inside, there was a central bar with seating around it and a mostly-empty dance floor. It was still early in the evening, and it was never a popular spot for dancing, since the sound of gunfire interrupted most songs. Shooting ranges with various targets lined the outside of the room, creating a chambered effect. There was a gallery on the second floor for viewing into the shooting ranges. Most had one or two people at them. Hugo gave a wave to a few people as he entered. "--And you're gonna wanna get as much EMP boosters as you can, too..." He seemed content to keep talking about what Dani would need to do to prepare for her missions with Oracle, and he turned back to look at her.

Dani nodded in agreement as she listened to Hugo's advice on cybernetics - for all that she wanted to prioritise more guns now, surviving to use them was important, and given the kind of stakes that Oracle worked with he was probably right. She didn't pay much attention to the surroundings as they entered the Chambered Round; she was more focused on Hugo. When the larger nuke turned to look at her, she fidgeted a little uncomfortably for a moment.

"Yeah, there's something else I need." Before Hugo had a chance to respond, Dani grabbed his head and pulled him down into a passionate kiss.

Hugo was momentarily--very only slightly momentarily shocked--before he wrapped his arms delicately around Dani and kissed her back, his movements exceedingly careful. He squeezed her to him, and she could feel how much he was holding back. Still, after only a few seconds, he slowly pulled away and released her. He tilted his head slightly as he looked at her. Oh. Her eyes were blue. Pretty. He smiled a little, and said in a much softer voice, "What was that for?"

Dani was taken aback somewhat by Hugo's question. "I... thought you wanted it?" she replied tentatively. She'd really thought he was showing interest, and he'd definitely seemed to enjoy it... But he was smiling, so she'd been right, right? "I mean, how could you resist?" She laughed like it was nothing, or at least tried to. (Passed Pres + L&A on the dot.) "Let's get a drink."

Hugo actually had to think about her comment before he spoke. "I.. did." He cleared his throat, and repeated with much more certainty. "I did. I.. do. I do! I.. The.. The jersey really convinced me. But.." He bit the inside of his cheek, and then looked toward the bar before looking back at Dani. Her eyes really were blue. "Couple things. There's Una, but you understand that, so that's not.. a thing. But I have a girlfriend. Er, who also works in Oracle, but she's in Taiwan right now. And you should know that before anything, because.. I can sleep with other people, but you're gonna have to work with her, so you should know that. And she's.. she's not a nuke, she doesn't get this," And with that he gestured to each of them, to Una, to the room in general. He looked troubled by this himself, unable to keep making eye contact. "And sometimes even thinking about this makes her upset. And importantly, there's no way we can have sex." The last bit was said with a little bit of a smile, his voice much less awkward. His eyes returned to hers. "You're fragile for a nuke. I'd break you in half. You definitely need some augments first."

"Hey! I am not fragile, okay?" Once Hugo brought that up, Dani didn't really care so much about any of the relationship stuff. It was far more important that she had a point to prove, damnit. "There's a difference between being strong and being tough," she said, grabbing Hugo's collar and glaring at him. "Yeah, I'm not a mountain of muscle like you, that doesn't mean I'm some delicate fucking flower that snaps in half if you look at me too hard." She pushed him back a little and began walking towards the bar. "C'mon, let's just eat."

Hugo's response to being manhandled and yelled at was to grin, and as she walked away he took a minute to watch her before following happily. He took a seat next to her at the bar and tapped his order into a small console in the counter, pausing every few moments to look at Dani, still smiling. If anything her annoyance seemed to make him more amused, and given as to how he was sitting--slightly facing her, his knees angled toward her, a bit closer than strictly necessary--her ire hadn't done anything to turn him off. "Jokbal, fried rice, dumplings and.. whatever you want to drink." Hugo gestured to the console. "Or eat, too." And that was said in an apologetic tone of voice. His body tensed a small bit, as if he was preparing to be struck, before he added more quietly, "..And besides, some flowers eat animals whole and alive."

Dani chuckled at that last comment. "See, if I reminded everyone of those I'd be happy," she said as she poked at the console. "But everyone keeps thinking 'oh, look at her, how could she be dangerous' and I'm sick of it. Just don't call me fragile again and we'll get along... fine, yeah?" She laughed and leant against the bar. "So do you treat all your colleagues this way?"

"What? Like this? No, no. Most of them refuse to come here with me." He laughed again, low and stupid, delighted that Dani didn't seem to be too mad at him. "Hell, most of them don't even want to hear about Una, let alone any other guns, so..." He shrugged and looked around the sparsely populated room before turning back to Dani, "But what, getting food? Offering money? Yeah that's pretty standard for everyone, I think. People are pretty generous. Part of our suddenly rich complex, I think. It's nice."