Week 92: Knock, Knock

It was evening, the sun down but its warmth still lingering over Seoul, when a stranger strolled into Oracle HQ and dumped a large, beat-up kit bag on the floor of the atrium. The woman was a striking sight, dressed from head to toe in battered black leather, with boots that added at least an inch to her height. She was dark-skinned and dusty, and scanned the empty room with sharp eyes.

"Hey! Anyone home?" yelled Subira, loud enough to echo slightly. It wasn't subtle, but it had been a long afternoon, and an even longer journey.

The lobby had beautiful landscape scenes displayed on holo-walls that gave the illusion of looking out of large glass windows. The bright blue sky and rolling green hills on display were a rather intense contrast to the industrial Ai Jinn city which loomed outside of the Oracle facility.
The feminine figure of Mieko Masuda, the company's ethicist, walked out of the door to her office that adjoined the reception area carrying a steaming cup of what smelled like a Multi-Meat brand Coffee ("Koffake - It's caffinated!").
Mieko was wearing a moderately expensive business suit with a knee-length skirt and she was smiling so much that someone witnessing her joviality might worry for her mental health. "Hello! I assume by your ability to survive entering the facility that you are our newest employee?" she said in greeting, seeming to barely contain her glee.

"I bloody hope so, after coming all the way out here," said Subira. She didn't bother to disguise the assessing look she gave the smartly-dressed woman. The contrast between them would have seemed incongrous to an observer, and the thought made Subira smile even as she tried to calculate the threat the stranger- who was almost certainly an agent herself- posed.

Of course, there was more than one way of gathering data.

"Didn't see your security on the way in. I'm guessing that means it's top of the line, though." Subira held out an empty hand to the woman, ready to shake. "Subira Cheboi. I'm guessing you probably know everything else you need to already, so how about you level the playing field some?"

Mieko continued to wear an overly-happy smile and shook Subira's hand. The Oracle staff member's grip was extremely solid without being so strong as to cause any harm, letting Subira instantly get a sense of the powerful augments that lurked beneath Mieko's cute exterior.

"A pleasure to meet you Subira. I am Mieko Masuda and I work here at Oracle as the Ethics Observation Officer. Do not worry though, I am not here to tell you how to do your job. I just do what I can to ensure that Oracle upholds the strictest ethical standards..."

After finishing her somewhat official-sounding greeting Mieko lent forwards and continued in a conspiratorial whisper. "I do not wish to alarm you, but we have been involved in some matters that could be considered... Illegal by the UIG. But do not tell anyone, since that is a secret. If you have any questions about things which might be against UIG law, you can always come to me. My office is just over there."

Mieko said 'just over there' without any kind of gesture or indication of where 'there' was and then took a very large sip from her cup of synthetic coffee.

"...over where?"

Subira was starting to get the distinct sense that she had been knocked on the head and gone daft. Between Glowbug and this bizarre tinker-toy agent, Seoul was shaping up to be the weirdest place she'd been, and that was some stiff competition.

She wondered if she should point out that everyone and their Auntie Nora knew that Oracle were involved in some shady business. But the old warnings came back to her; you can always open your mouth later, but you can't take back what's already said. This whole caffinated-ditz routine could be- probably was- an act to get her to lower her guard and let too much loose.

Either way, the best response was to act like it was, and make 'em think it worked.

Mieko moved forwards towards Subira's left side and began to turn so that both agents would be facing in the same direction. While one hand held a coffee cup her left hand had moved down into her suit jacket pocket and was retrieving something. Mieko did not appear to be a threat, but she was stepping directly into what anyone would agree was Subira's personal space without permission or a hint of what she was doing.

"Oh it is just over..." Mieko started to say. Being a combat trained agent, Subira could react to this situation in any number of ways...

Attack? Test? Misunderstanding?

Why wonder?

Subira extended her senses outward, rested them on the ever-shifting web of the future, and waited to see if it was about to bite.

Then, because anything else would be too telling, she took a sharp step back from Mieko and shifted her stance- not overtly hostile, but certainly ready for a fight. She didn't bother to reach for her gun. If this woman knew the first thing about her, she would recognise the second-string bullshit right away.

Subira prided herself on her first-rate bullshit, thank you very much.

INT+END AT 17 {lvl 5}, ROLLED 9, PASS BY 8

Subira's psychic presence did not feel any imminent danger from the Oracle employee. As the prescience activated it showed Subira a copy of the world a couple of seconds ahead of the 'real' one; it was difficult to keep track of both visions, but that is what years of training is for.

"... there." finished Mieko. She reached the hand holding her coffee out a little and pointed a finger at the office she had just walked out of. While she had been motioning with her coffee Mieko's left hand had taken a hold of the small PDA-like device in her breast pocket and lifted it out, raising it up at her arm's length.

The device flashed with Mieko looking at it and smiling. The picture that appeared on its screen showed a grinning ethics officer and the lower legs of someone stepping back and out of the frame.

Not an attack, then. Subira decided to stay wary, just in case- you never knew.

"Ah, I've gone and screwed up your selfie," she said, stepping back towards Mieko as if nothing had happened. "Here, you wanna try again, mate?"

She leaned past the other woman's shoulder and threw up a peace gesture.

The second picture was much better than the first and showed the two Oracle employees looking as if they had been photographed at a nightclub, or at any rate somewhere very different to a simple lobby.

Mieko turned her head towards Subira and said "Thank you. This will look excellent in my collection."

After a moment's pause Mieko started walking back towards her office door without saying a word of goodbye.

Well, that was... interesting.

"Hey!" Subira called. "You guys got anyplace I can bunk down?"

The idea of tramping around Seoul looking for a place to stay at this time of night was exhausting in itself.

Subira saw Mieko disappear into her office and after a second the agent's PDA/Phone/futuristic communication tool signalled that it had received a message. The smiling face of Mieko was looking out from the screen, along with her phone number, WDN address and links to numerous social media networks. The ethics officer had been added to Subira's contact list in a very thorough manner.
The message that she had just sent to the agent was a small introductory file that gave directions to the Oracle offices that lay at the heart of the base, deep underground. One office was highlighted and labelled as 'available'.