Null closed the door to Brigitte's apartment, watching her as she moved, furious at his mere presence. It became obvious enough to him that this anger was born of fear; she wanted her life to remain the same, wanted her settlement to remain quiet and safe as always. She was no Bonita - hadn't realised how much things could change, and in how short a time. Too young; in her own lifetime, too sheltered.
She still hadn't seen the winds blowing, hadn't seen the gathering clouds that would rain blood over the desert. All of Sigma's projections pointed to a regional conflict being imminent - he'd written some of those reports himself. Bonita knew it, too - her actions had proved that.
But Brigitte didn't know. Not yet. She was still under the illusion that her life was safe and would remain as such. He wondered if she'd ever held a gun, ever felt hot lead whiz inches from her skull, shoved the corpse of a hacked-apart enemy off her, felt her ally's blood splatter her face. Goddamned civilians...
Still, he couldn't judge her too harshly. She was just that - a civilian. She was one of those whom he'd sworn to protect, if for wholly abstract reasons.
"It's far too late for that now. If you want your life to remain as it is, you're just living a lie," Null spoke, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at the tiny woman, voice like ice. "As long as Slasher lives, your settlement will never be safe - even you must recognise that. I can ensure this settlement's safety by killing him. But to do that, I'm going to need men, weapons and ammunition. Can you, or can you not, provide those?"