Beth's Story

Max drug the last body to the center of the floor where she had been asked to do so. The bodies were lighter to her then they might be to others, but considering her cybernetic limbs...she had an advantage. The job had been easy. There were only five people and they were no match for her and Seiren. Her breathing even, not even an ounce of adrenaline running through her. It was almost like she was getting bored with killing. But that couldn't be possible. She loved it and it was what she was made to do. Maybe she just needed to train with a different weapon for a while.

"Excuse me, miss," someone from the clean up team said, bringing Max back from her thoughts.

"Sorry," Max said simply. The whispers around her were ignored as she made her way through the small abandoned factory to one of the cars out front. She could still smell the blood and looking down, she could see she had gotten some on her jacket. Clothes never mattered to her, so she took it off, wiping what blood was on her face off. It was a disappointment in her mind when she got blood on herself. If I were better that wouldn't happen, she would tell herself. Back to training. But she liked training, so that was okay. The feel of her Beretta in her small hands as she maneuvered through the old building they used for training brought her joy that nothing else ever could.

"Normal little girls want dolls and dresses," she hears some of the scientists say,"These little girls want to murder and follow orders." There was nothing wrong with murder if it was for the right reason. She killed bad people. If they thought of it as justice instead of murder, it wouldn't sound so evil. Max new she was a good girl and that was all that mattered. But today she wasn't a good girl. She had made a mess. Sure it was what the cleanup crew was for, but still. A good assassin would have been quick and clean.



Alice squirmed in her seat, looking out the window once every three minutes. "Are we there yet? I hate flying in airplanes. They smell and people snore loud." Yep, your average little girl. Can't sit still and hates being bored. She had sat in her seat everyway possible trying to get comfortable, then just stared out the window. The job they had been sent on wasn't nearly interesting enough to keep the young girl occupied in thinking about it. She had to think of what she was going to do when she got back. What games she was going to play.

"Oh!" Alice remembered she had brought her music player, grabbing it out of her small bag and sticking the head phones in her ears. "Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle," she said in a sing song voice as she searched through her gigantic erray of songs. Settling on an old rock song, she once again gazed out the window, watching the clouds dance and flow to the rhythm.

Alice had a bad habit of blasting her music so everything around her was drowned out and she was in her own little world. A world filled with music and white, puffy clouds. She practically had her nose pressed flat against the glass as she named every cloud as it passed. That one is a fuzzy caterpillar and that one is an elephant balancing on a giant ball, she said in her head, bobbing to the beat. A simple recon mission. All the way to New York! They didn't have us kill anyone! It was a waste of our time, she imagined a conversation with the cloudy caterpillar. Well, at least we got out of the Agency. When we were walking around, there was a cowboy in his underwear singing a pretty song. He even let me sing with him! Alice smiled happily as her thoughts and imaginary conversations continued on.

Walter

Walter smiled as he exited the door, and locked it. It was a fun mission, and he didn't kill anyone. He didn't need to. Walter locked the door to the room with the key he found, and walked out, through the building, and out to the street, carrying his briefcase with his equipment within. He was now in the clear. From the radio, he could tell that, on Max's end, it was a mess, and a lot of people died. Oh well. Walter passed through the street and continued on until he made it to the getaway car, a very inconspicuous black van. He waited for the others, while leaning on this van. The mission wasn't too bad. It had it's excitements, and it's ups and downs. Walter was stealthy enough to avoid having to actually fight. Naturally, he left his briefcase behind for the duration of the mission. It was too bulky to carry and hide effectively, so he hid it somewhere in the building instead. Walter hated violence. He did not have an aversion to it that prevented him from doing it when necessary, but in his eyes, there were not many situations where violence was necessary. He was never violent in the past, not particularly. And above all, he enjoyed peace. That was why he took this job as a Handler. If it was in him to fight, he might as well fight for something that would help people. Walter looked back up. He was slightly worried. Seiren and him had been separated for a short time, during this mission, and he has not seen her since. Seiren could easily get in trouble, and he needed to watch her carefully. The rendezvous would have to wait. The longer he stayed here, the more danger there was in Seiren causing trouble. He picked up his briefcase, and began to head for Seiren's location. He used his earpiece, as he moved back across the street. Hopefully Seiren didn't make things too difficult for the clean-up team. Walter jogged, before sprinting to the area Seiren was. Hopefully Wes wasn't having trouble with Max. Those two get along great, though.

Sitting to the right of the young and spirited Alice was Samuel, hunched over in his seat, eyes flickering over a few sheets of paper scattered across his fold out table. These were the mission reports, documents that he had spent hours labouring over on his old laptop before printing them out. There wasnt much on them though; fortunatley their reconassiance misson hadnt involved any combat. Samuel felt that this misson had actually been pretty dull, nothing particularly odd happened and if you can ignore the fact that Alice had been prancing through the streets singing with the craziest folk in the city then you could call it the quietest mission yet.

Though the thing was that Alice's behaviour wasnt something Samuel could ignore, not with the agency pestering him for behaviour reports after every mission. Samuel glanced to his left, distracted by the quiet hum of music he heard coming from his partners earphones. She made things difficult, put him in a few tough situations. He probably should have scolded her for her actions at the time but couldn't bring himself to. And he couldn't tell her off now either, Samuel didn't want to ruin her mood. Thoughts buzzed through his head every time he caught sight of a smile on Alice's face and this time was no different. "I guess I can twist the facts a little, no need to deal with a lecture from the lab coats as soon as we get back" he though to himself. Samuel slowly turned back to his papers, wearily scrunching one up into a ball and shoving it into his pocket before the rest were hurriedly put back into a black briefcase and tucked under his seat.


Samuel look across the isle, checking that Beth and Chris were doing fine, and from what he could see it seemed they were. As a quiet sigh parted from between Samuels lips he felt a wave of drowsiness sweep over him. He lay back in his seat, listening to the barely audible hum of Alice's music as he drifted off. Just before he fell asleep he tapped alice on the shoulder gently, waiting for her to turn around before he sleepily whispered to her; "Alice, Please wake me up abit before we land". Then with a small smile Samuel turned away, muttering a silent "Thanks" as he did.

Wes Thornton

Wes watched as Max got into the van with him. Aside from some blood on her clothes and face, blood that wasn't even her own, she appeared fine. Wes smiled over at her and gave Max a light pat on the head.

"You did good, Max." Wes told her, meaning every word. True, the mission hadn't gone quite so cleanly, and the targets had put up some resistance before death, but it wasn't an unexpected variable. No battle plan survived contact with the enemy, after all. So all things considered, Max and Seiren had done a good job for this little 'find and exterminate' mission.

Though a part of him couldn't help but wonder if Seiren had purposely made her own killings...messy. According to the clean up crew, their was little left of her targets. Not for the first time, it really made him feel uneasy about the oldest of the cyborgs. Something was seriously wrong with Seiren, that much was sure; but it appeared that the Agency didn't have his concerns...yet. It seemed that only he considered Seiren to be the true threat he knew that she was. Her instability would come back to bite them in the ass one day, he knew that for sure.

At the very least, it seemed that Walter had some amount of control and sway over Seiren. That was good. But he wondered how long that might last. Perhaps one day Seiren would be pushed over the edge, and lash out against her handler...

Brushing such morbid thoughts out of his mind, Wes looked back down at Max and smiled.

"When we get back to HQ, how about I treat you to some ice cream, Max? That sound good to you?" he asked kindly, ruffling her hair with his palm.

Max was a good kid, in his opinion. She had her...issues, of course, but almost all the cyborgs did. And Wes wasn't about to fault his charge for that. Despite her flaws, he really did love Max; she reminded him a lot of the little nieces his sister had back home. Though much more trigger-happy, of course. He was glad to be her partner, and when able, he was more than happy to treat her like an actual child. It was the least he could do for her, all things considered.

Beth

Beth smiled and hummed happily to herself, as she drew on the sketch pad held on her lap. She was almost finished with the drawing of Alice singing with that cowboy fellow in Times Square. That had been a bit of a surprise, but New York City was....quite an odd place, to say the least, and Alice had certainly enjoyed the experience. For her part, Beth had made sure to take plenty of pictures, and had plans of developing them all for her scrapbook. She'd also make sure to show Alice those pictures when she got the chance, too!

Beth couldn't help but also draw the scene too, though. She loved to draw, and even if she already had a real picture of the event, she wanted to draw out Alice's happy moment all the same. Somehow making a drawing of the event made it feel all the more special, and no doubt Alice would love the sketch, too! Hopefully she'd finish it by the time the plane landed.

The young blonde looked over at her handler Chris, sitting right next to her. She grinned happily at him and showed him what she had drawn, so far. "How does it look, Chris? Do you think Alice will like it?"

She already knew Alice would, of course, but she couldn't help but ask Chris all the same. She loved talking to her handler, and she loved getting his opinion on her drawings. She always felt so proud when he complemented her skills, especially when it came for her talent with art.

It wasn't like Chris hated New York. No, that wasn't the reason why he felt so at ease about going home. It was because of the noise. New York had to be the loudest place in America. If it wasn't the cars, it was the peoples, If it wasn't them, it was some random music guru whole thought he should be on America's best band show by himself. The man was relieved. So much in fact that after his sigh of relief he laid in his chair comfortably for once. Usually, because of being in live combat in and out the country, he would literally sleep with on eye open. One of his stranger talents. It's not even like he saw anything when he had that eye open. Maybe it was just a muscle twitch.
Still, this time was different. He had both eyes closed and slept soundly, keeping his ears out for different voices. He finally woke up while they were in air. Looking around from his seat, he finally managed to catch Samuel who was doing paperwork at the time. Lucky for Chris, the pictures that Beth and him took weren't going to need work until they reached a dark room. Maybe they wouldn't even need to do them all this time. Seeing as nothing really happened in New York.

"How does it look, Chris? Do you think Alice will like it?" Beth said while holding up a pretty good picture of Alice and that Cowboy singer. He analyzed it for a moment, making sure he could critique it properly. He didn't know much about art so it seemed more like he was keeping her in suspense.

Chris crack a small smile, showing no teeth, and said "I think she'll love it. It's perfect Beth." He finally said and patted the girl on top of her head. He was a sucker for Beth's pictures. He was sure that even if she made a picture out of mud, he'd still like it. However, that still didn't stop him from knowing the good art from the bad and Beth's drawings were always good.

Max had been staring out the window, thinking about her training when she got home. A pat on the head didn't come to a start to her, but she only continued to look out the windshield.

"You did good, Max." Wes said. "When we get back to HQ, how about I treat you to some ice cream, Max? That sound good to you?" he asked kindly, ruffling her hair with his palm. Max never asked for anything from Wes, he always offered. Not that she didn't mind. He was her handler, she loved him and somehow she felt as if she could never tell him no.

So with a dull smile, she nodded. "Sure, I love ice cream sir." With that, she threw her jacket onto the floor, ridding herself of any trace of blood. Max wondered how Seiren had done, no need to worry if she was okay. "Have you heard from Walter or Seiren, sir?" She wasn't worried, oh no. She knew the pair was more than capable of handling themselves, especially Seiren. But it was nice to know.

But it isn't my business, she looked back to her bloodied jacket. My business is at the Agency. I need to focus on training.



Alice felt a tap on the shoulder, and thank goodness she had taught herself to read lips. Otherwise she wouldn't be aware that Samuel had wanted her to wake him up before they landed. "Alice, Please wake me up a bit before we land." Then with a small smile Samuel turned away, muttering a silent "Thanks" as he did. She nodded, a big smile on her face. Alice sat back in her seat, closing the window shade.



"Pardon me. All passengers please take your seats and fasten your seat belt. We shall be landing shortly."

"Samuel," Alice started, shaking her handler by the shoulder. "Samuel, they said we were going to land soon!" She reached over him quickly, buckling him in and then herself. Alice couldn't contain her excitement. The airport was only an hour and a half drive from the Agency. She couldn't wait to tell Max and Seiren about her adventures in the 'Big Apple'. If she took a nap in the car then the time would fly! Most of all, she couldn't wait to get back to her weapons and the training building so she could shoot a little bit. Going on such a boring mission left her feeling deprived.

"A day full of hard work should cure that!" Of course she was bound to complain the next day about how much she had done. That she had trained for a weeks worth. But when she looked over at her tired handler, she thought maybe she shouldn't. I should give him a little break. He's been looking more tired lately.

Beth

Beth beamed at Chris and leaned into his touch, a radiant smile across her face as she blushed proudly at his praise. She nodded happily at her handler and continued work on finishing her drawing.

An hour later, the plane began to land, and Beth neatly finished up her drawing. Once the aircraft had completely landed and parked at the gate, she got up from her seat and quickly moved over to Samuel and Alice, a wide smile etched across her face. She flipped open her sketch pad and got to the page where she had drawn Alice and the cowboy singer. She reached over to Alice and happily handed her the pad, pointing at the drawing.

"I hope you don't mind, Alice, but I drew a picture of you and that cowboy singer from Times Square! Do you like it?" Beth inquired excitedly, eagerly anticipating her roommate's response.

Wes

Wes was about to answer Max about Seiren and Walter, when the duo abruptly showed up in the van. The driver then gunned the engine, and they were off.

Wes let Max answer Walter's inquiry about the mission, since she had more first-hand information on how things on her end had gone. He glanced over at Seiren once or twice, noting the blood stains on the oldest cyborg. No surprise there, he thought. Seiren was already a bloody assassin.

Well, no doubt Walter or someone else would take care of that as soon as they arrived back at headquarters, which...ought to be soon, he hoped. The sooner Wes put some distance between him and the unstable cyborg, the better.

Samuel was wrenched back into reality by a gentle shake from his partner. He still felt abit sleepy though, having just woken up. From his left he heard her voice, full of excitement and urgency, "Samuel, They said we were going to land soon!". Alices voice was quicky followed through by a quiet -click- as she swiftly buckled his seatbelt for him. Samuel looked over to his left to see how she was and, as he had expected, she was bouncing up and down with the biggest smile he had ever seen plastered across her face. This trip must've been her first to New York so of course she would be happy; her brain was probably bulging with new found knowledge and experiences. There was no doubt that she would spend hours telling Max and Seiren story upon story when the got back. As he though about this a few other reason came to mind, all quite depressing, leaving Samuel hoping that meeting her friends was the main reason for Alices enthusiasm about returning to base.

Unfortunatley when Samuel got home his routine would be very different. The briefcase of reports would have to be delivered, verified then reviewed and he'd then have to plan out a schedule for the week; Thi was the was the most "fun" he was going to have today. Not that he minded though, Getting the tedious stuff out the way first would be best for him and Alice; giving him one less thing to stress about and more time to spend with her. They were both much safer in the agency too, not becuase of the actual defense system but the rumors about it. Most people heard about the agencys building through associates and atleast three quarters of those people would actually believe in their exaggerations about evaporator rays and laser shooting satelites.

Whilst Samuel was thinking up names for various weapons people might believe in and considering as to whether they were possible to create or not a quiet -bing- sounded throughout the aircraft, grabbing his attention. Seconds later the captains voice could be heard through the cabin, "Could all crew now take their seats, We are coming in for landing." and was followed by another irritating -bing-. Samuel watched a airhostest quickly prance by, moving to buckle into small seats hidden away. He was looking forward to their landing, as he did with every landing, becuase he enjiyed observing how the pilots handled their crafts and waht techniques they decided to use. Often he would sit in the window seat and watch the wings but Alice had beaten him to it this time, He wasnt too bothered though.

Walter

Walter remained quiet for the trip back to the trip back to SWA headquarters. After a few hours of driving, Walter stepped out of the vehicle, and entered the SWA building, carrying his briefcase with him. He opened the doors, entered wordlessly, tossed his suitcase onto the ground, nearby, and left it there. The place was nice. It wasn't a mansion, but it was a nice place. He lived within the headquarters, in a rather spartan room. Walter had several briefcases in the corner of his room, filled with his things. Other than that, there was only a bed. And of course, a closet full of the same outfit. Walter changed his clothes, into an identical set. His jacket was replaced by another one, and he took off his, and threw it onto the bed, before coming back out. Walter's suitcase was still there, where he left it. Good, good, good. Now, there was only one thing left to do. Walter washed his hands, rolled up his sleeves, and went to the fridge, to cook. He managed to buy some foie gras, and he has been waiting to eat it for a while. Nothing fancy, he didn't really care too much about what he himself ate, and right now, he just wanted a snack. He took some of the salt-cured foie gras, and made a simple sandwich. If someone saw what he was doing to the foie gras, he would imagine they would scoff, but Walter had no idea. Another thought came to him. Maybe Seiren would want some. She hates cold food, so he would have to cook it. After a short time, he made a soup, nice and hot, for Seiren, before writing a sticky note with Seiren's name on it, and then leaving both at the table. From there, it was off to the computer with Walter. Maybe he could find a nice lead for a potential mission while enjoying the sandwich.

Alice had unbuckled and grabbed her bag, but before she could think of getting it off the plane, Beth ran over to where Alice and her handler. She reached over to Alice and happily handed her a drawing pad, pointing at the drawing. "I hope you don't mind, Alice, but I drew a picture of you and that cowboy singer from Times Square! Do you like it?" Beth inquired excitedly.

Alice couldn't contain the squeal of excitement that escaped through her smile. "I love it! It's amazing!" Alice leapt on her roommate, not worrying if they toppled over. "I'm definitely framing this and hanging it up!" Alice giggled, carefully closing the pad and handing it back to Beth. She grabbed her hand, walking off the plane with her. "I can't wait to get back and show everyone. The ride shouldn't be that long."



Alice leapt out of the car, despite the fact that it was still rolling to a stop. She didn't spot any sign of the other girls, but they might have been in their room. "Are Max and Seiren back yet," she asked on of the scientists passing by in the hall.

"No. They haven't arrived yet." He passed by Alice as if she were nothing. But all she was allowed to do at the moment was stick her tongue out when his back was turned. The small girl ran back to Samuel, throwing herself onto his back.

"They aren't back yet," she pouted.

---

"You’re not too bad yourself, Max... A couple more years and you’ll be finishing your assignments faster than they can assign them." Max put on her dull smile and nodded. That was her secret goal, even if it wasn't so secret. Her want and need for training had never been more driven.



Max exited the van, taking her bloodied jacket and weapons case with her. She would make a quick stop by her room then head straight to the training course.

No, Wes wants to take me out for ice cream, she remembered. I'll definitely go afterwards.

"Sir, I'm going to drop all of this off in my room." Max dismissed herself, making her way to her room. She didn't see much use for her jacket, so she just threw it in a dumpster on her way around. Max could sense someone close by, only assuming it was the always energetic Alice or Beth. Her sense was right, causing her to topple to the floor, Alice giggling on top of her.

"I missed you! I have to show you the picture Beth drew of me and a cowboy in his underwear singing together. It was awesome! Chris and Samuel didn't look to amused, but I don't really care what they thought. I was having so much fun!" Max got up and picked up her case, entering her room.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"I did! Next time, we have to go to New York, all four of us! Okay?"

"I'll go if Wes goes," Max said simply.

It was a boring ride home to say the least. At least he knew that in the car it would be quiet, which it was. Chris simply looked out the window enjoying the view. He liked the feel of home. It was comfortable and he felt as if he could relax. As he watched the bubbling Alice bounce out of the moving car he let a small smirk crease his lips. He definitely had to give props to Samuel. He didn't think he could handle a female more outgoing than Beth, let alone a younger one. As they got out the car, he walked over to Beth. "Do you want to develop these pictures with me?" He asked. "If you do, you can put your things away and meet me in the Lab." Afterwards he then proceeded to talk to Samuel. "It seems you have allot of paperwork to do. Tomorrow we should combine the information we have and see if we find any new leads." With that, he headed to the Laboratory. Inside he would find a dark room that he could use for photo development. It wasn't the most exciting thing he was made to do, but it was definitely one of his favorites. It took time and it was quiet. If he had to he would compare it to fishing. It really put his mind at ease.

As soon as the hatches hissed opened, stairs now connected, Samuel was rushing out the plane, his right hand grasping the briefcase and left holding onto Alice's small hand. They moved through the crowded airport quickly, picking up what little luggage they had before stepping out into the narrow pickup area. Amongst all the trucks and cars was a vehicle Samuel knew quite well, A bulky black jeep with tinted windows; its engine purred quietly as the driver sat patiently. Samuel watched Chris and Beth climbing into the vehicle before he himself stepped onboard and helped Alice who followed. The driver turned and glanced at them from his seat, nodding once before slamming the vehicle into gear and starting on his route to the agency.



About half an hour later the vehicle came to a shuddering halt, its destination now in sight. Alice was the first to disembark though didn't go far before turning right around and hoping onto his back. Beth was much clamer, staying for a moment to speak to chris. Samuel couldn't quite make out what they were saying though, only a word or two got through to him. He guessed it was something about photos, nothing of any major importance. Chris then turned to him and started to speak, "It seems you have a lot of paper work to do. Tomorrow we should combine the information we have and see if we find any new leads." then he walked off, leaving Samuel alone with Alice. He kneeled down and let her climb off his back before turning to face her directly. He spoke to her slowly, occasionally pausing "Alice, You go inside, Ill be awhile, Find me later". And like that she scurried off, leaving Samuel on his own.

For a few minutes he stood very still, staring into the distance. He knew others would think this to be odd, his boss might even shout at him for such actions but Samuel didn't care; He was taking a minute think and to remind himself of something very important. As he pondered upon these things a smile appeared, however it was quick to fade when Samuel returned from the depths of his mind and quickly dashed into the agency with his briefcase. After some walking this briefcase found its way onto an old ebony desk of some importance where it was to stay for the rest of the day. The figure sitting in the seat behind this desk quickly signalled for Samuel to leave as he set down the briefcase, telling him to go do as he wished. From here Samuel wasn't entirely sure what to do, Until he got a basic plan for this week from an member of staff he couldn't form a proper routine for himself or Alice. So he decided to go look for Alice instead and found himself roaming through the facility, peering into open rooms and through small windows, looking for any hint of her location.

Beth

Beth beamed at her handler. "Of course! I'd love to develop the pictures with you, Chris!"

Beth worked quickly, dropping off her pad and other unimportant items in the room she shared with Alice. Once that was done, Beth checked herself in the mirror, making sure that her appearance was acceptable and clean. With that settled, she got out of her room and hurried over to the Lab where Chris was working at, finding him in no time. She walked up to her handler and grinned, giving him a playful salute.

"Beth reporting for duty, sir!" the young cyborg chirped with a slight giggle.

She always did love it when Chris invited her to help out with developing pictures, both personal and mission-oriented. It always seemed to relax her handler, and any activity that allowed her to spend more time with her partner always made Beth cheerful.

"So, what are we working on first?" Beth inquired.

Wes

While Max took her time cleaning up from the previous mission and catching up with her fellow cyborgs, Wes paid a visit to his workstation and set about typing up his report on the mission in California. It had been a simple and quick 'find and exterminate' mission, so he didn't have a lot to detail in the report itself. He did make a note about Seiren's behavior during the op, but he knew that the higher-ups wouldn't do much about that little fact. Past experience had proven that, so far.

Wes finished up his report and handed it off to his assistant, to be brought directly to the people in charge of the Social Welfare Agency. With that complete he made his way over to the cyborg dorms, and waited outside near Max's room, ready to take her over to the cafeteria for some ice cream, as he had promised.

Walter finished the delicious sandwich, and began think about what to do next. As he turned on the computer, he thought about what to do. The mission was good, and he needed to send in his report. A simple mission only needed a simple report. Walter typed it up very quickly. Walter was good at typing and using a computer. His fingers moved with an almost supernatural level of dexterity and speed. He wasn't an olympic-level typist, but he was very good. the report was done very shortly after Walter began to type. In the report, Walter included Seiren's behavior report, and noted what happened. What happened wasn't too bad, and it didn't jeopardize the mission, but Walter wished that level of violence did not happen. Maybe he should limit Seiren to non-lethal weapons. To be honest, it probably wouldn't work, and it wasn't going to make her any more versatile. Rather, she may just kill people with her fists. Well, whatever. Walter was selected as her Handler because he was deemed capable enough to handle her. She shouldn't have her weapons swapped out. She should just use them in a different way. She was really combat oriented. Well, whatever. With that, Walter let his mind wander. He began to browse the internet while he thought of something. There was a lead, not more noteworthy than the others Walter was thinking of, and a lot more hard to follow than the normal one. Natasha Wright. Not a noteworthy case, compared to a few others. A CIA agent who vanished, and now was considered a dangerous individual. How she got so much money was anyone's guess, but what she did with it seems to be alarming CIA members. In fact, Walter wouldn't be surprised if the SWA got a call to find and apprehend her. The SWA was capable, funded, secretive, and had a lot of support staff. Hearing light footsteps, Walter closed the tab of LOLCats he drifted to, and turned in his chair. It was Seiren, cleaned up, with wet hair, falling to her knees. Walter couldn't help but wonder how much it dripped on her way here. She spoke.

”You said we would talk later. So here I am.”

Walter replied, short and sweet, in a mostly neutral manner, but rather than coldness in his voice, this time it held more of a feeling of message conveyance. As if trying to make a point, or accurately transcribe an idea.

"Make sure you don't kill when killing is unnecessary. Life has value, too. Also, I made a very good, expensive meal for you on the table in the kitchen. I think you'll like it, since it's probably still warm."

Walter smiled, the edges of his lips angling upwards, before he turned back to the computer. As soon as he did, several things that looked like spam messages popped up on his screen. Walter's lack of reaction, when seen from the back, was almost comical, until he actually read the messages and looked at the pictures. It looked like a new mission came up. And, speaking of the devil, it was to apprehend Natasha Wright.

"Get ready to leave soon, Seiren, and make sure all of your weapons are loaded," Walter said, before forwarding the messages, that looked like spam, to all the handlers at the base.

Chris set everything ready and set before Beth arrived. He divided everything into sections. A section for Beth, a section for him, and a section of the pictures he was ordered to take in. When he was done with that he decided to wait outside the dark room for Beth seeing as there was no part in starting without her. He wanted her to have fun working.

That's what little girls are supposed to do right? Have fun?

Even in his own thoughts he wasn't sure himself if that was the case or not. He still wanted her to smile and have fun. He flipped out his phone to see if he had any messages.
"Chris. What do you want for dinner?"- Tria

His heart sunk at those words. Tria was a good cook, but her foods tended to be a little too spicy. He sat stood thinking about what type of food he could get that wouldn't be spicy. He decided to put the answer on hold just awhile longer as he saw Beth approach.

"Beth reporting for duty, sir!"

He smiled a little wider than he would if someone was around. Still, hiding his teeth he tried to match hers as much as he could. "You came just in time. Let's get started." He said while leading her into the dark room. He proceeded to pulling out the film from its case, carefully putting each small picture into slides.

"So, what are we working on first?" The girl asked.
"Well. I figured we could split the work. That way we'll be done faster so you can go play. Here," he said handing her one off the slide holders, "you work on the pictures we took of Alice and the city area's and I'll work on the building pictures and rooftop areas."

He then placed his slide into the projector, exposing himself for Beth to see. The two had done it many times before but if she needed a reminder, she could always look over at him. After he had the setting right he turned the light off, placed the reflective paper under the display then turned the projectors light back on. Letting it sit for about seven minutes, he finally took the picture and placed it in the developing chemicals. Plashing it around gently, the picture finally showed up clear on the paper. When that was done he hung it up to dry. That marked one down, only so much more to go.

Wes

Wes looked off as Alice retreated, a bemused smile on his face. He looked back over at Max, giving her a reassuring nod. "It's fine, Max. It wasn't a long wait. Now let's go get you some ice cream."

He reached down and took her hand in his, and soon they were off, briskly walking over to the cafeteria. A few minutes later they arrived, and Wes went over to get Max her sweets. He returned to her shortly with two ice cream cones, one for both of them. They sat down at a table, and Wes gestured for his partner to eat, as he took a bite out of his own vanilla ice cream cone. Not the most unique of flavors, perhaps, but Wes certainly liked it best. Sometimes the classics had a good thing going for them.

"How do you like your ice cream, Max?" Wes inquired kindly, smiling down at her.

Beth

"Alright! Sounds good to me, Chris!" Beth cheerily replied. She took the offered slide holders, and set to work developing the pictures. She worked contently for a good while, humming softly as she did her job.

"Have you heard anything about us going on a new mission soon, Chris?" Beth asked casually, curious. She wouldn't mind a little time to rest and relax, of course, but she was always eager to get out in the field and do some good work. Especially considering the fact that her previous assignment with Alice had been nothing more than a simple recon mission in NYC. Not that that hadn't been great, of course, but Beth was more than a little impatient to engage in some real action. After all, she and the other girls were conditioned to be superb killers. It only made sense that she wanted to work out her talent a little, especially if she could impress Chris at the same time.

And so she left. Walter didn't have a problem with Seiren's stoic behavior. It was fine, to him. He never really thought it somehow detracted from her expression. It was probably something Walter alone seemed to think. Well, whatever, time for a new mission. Walter was already ready, in terms of clothes. His suitcase was where he left it. He didn't get a call from Samuel, who typically made plans for the missions, nor did anyone else seem to be immediately ready. There were some things Walter could do to pass the time. He could follow Seiren, but he decided to leave her be for now. He'd come back to her, and together they could wait for the others. Walter decided to see how the others were doing, first. Entering the training room, he saw no one inside. Seeing no one around, Walter picked a handgun as a weapon form the selection, A simple SO-COM pistol. Walter held it in his hand, before twirling it around his finger. He cherished the feeling, the weight, the things the handgun were to him. He had not used one in a long time. His skill were rusty, and, while there was no need to use one, for him who had other weapons, Walter couldn't help himself. He was born on a battlefield, and raised in it. Throughout all the allegiances he had gone through, with different people and organizations, Walter hardly ever complained. He just fought. It was in his nature to fight. He immediately stopped twirling the gun, and in a motion that seemed too quick for even practiced officers, he whipped it forward, stopping it right when a target was in his sights. A bulls-eye seemed imminent, but Walter did not pull the trigger. He couldn't pull the trigger. He knew all too well, why. His choice of weapons was oddly devoid of a handgun, when in the field. Walter wasn't fighting for whoever told him to, anymore. He honestly liked being in the Agency, and conducting manners in their way, because they were something Walter could believe in. His weapons that he used were almost entirely for special operations. Even when loaded with lethal rounds, he didn't look forward to harming his opponents. He didn't think much of it, other than that he would hate doing such things, except on a mission.

Oh, right. The mission.

Walter had gotten lost in thoughts again. He put the gun back where it was, and jogged out of the training room, into the lobby where Alice and Sam were. He didn't pause his jog to the exit, to his suitcase, but he did smile and wave at Sam and Alice briefly, before running out the door, and arriving to his briefcase a short bit later. Grabbing it, he opened it, checked to see his equipment was all there, and loaded, and that he had plenty of ammunition, before going to go wander around with it in his hand. Maybe he would run into Seiren, or any of the others, again.