Setting
The Montgomery Building, unofficially known as the IIA headquarters, is an imposing structure of plascrete, and stone. This structure contains the central headquarters of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, and is where the Director, and the IIA Central Admin carry out their various duties. The Section One Headquarters is located underground directly under this facility.
Much of the facility's layout is classified, but there is rumored to be an extensive prison facility housed inside this facility.
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When those words do register, he blinks once and nods.
He doesn't feel like he even needs to say anything, this woman understands everything he says and does.
"Set... Set loose?"
Doubt.
He blinks once and lifts up his hands to look at them, and the doubt begins to spread, drowning out the voice of the woman, and then the doubt turns into fear, and then to anger, and then there's just a battlefield, contained in the consciousness of his mind and then- It leaves him. The voice of the woman takes control once again. He is but a tool. To either side. But for once, he thinks about what he is doing, what he truly needs, what he truly wants.
The truth is, he wants nothing to do with it anymore.
But the voice of the woman inside his head is too strong. She demands control, respect, power.
And he can do nothing but yield it to her.
And the true Joseph, the one who wants out inside of his brain, goes Fuck.
The exact reason as to why he said this is not exactly apparent, but if Marlene were to exert her power to read his mind, for only a split second she would see a 3D map of the rebel compound he had pieced together during his time there. Not much of what was around it, and mainly down to the third line (the division of areas in the mine), as any deeper was specifically for the mechanics and techies and all of them. It wasn't perfect, but it detailed the areas in it pretty well.
The reason he said 'forty-two' because that was the number of members in his cohort, if that's what you could call it. He didn't know all of the numbers. He just was a perimeter guard. He did his job, despite his annoyance that they were still on the defensive.
He quietly looks up and stares into the eyes of Marlene Angel, then looks back down.
"What do you want from them?"
He's slightly surprised he said 'them', but he doesn't feel like a member of the Children of Ash. He doesn't feel like anyone. He feels like a hollow shell, almost. His fight has left him in the dust, but he serves a new purpose now.
"What do I want from them?" Marlene asked. "I want to put them down like animals."
She slowly rose from her seated position, staring down at Joseph Lawson. She clasped her hands in front of her, and turned to the guards that were positioned in the room.
"Give him an ocular implant, memory stamp him, and return him to Sky's edge." Marlene instructed, before she turned to start out the door.
The IIA officers in the room both started to approach the young man as Marlene released her mental hold on him, and reality would begin to set back in. Marlene had a job to do, she would head to the Scylla, and take command of the operation.
Some time after Marlene's call with the Terran National Government, she checked her itinerary to see what was coming up next, and it seemed she was supposed to interview someone from the Intergalactic News Network.
Marlene heaved a slight sigh and wondered briefly to herself why Prince decided to put her up to this, but she also figured anyone willing to bother with Aschen security checks would be worth at least talking to.
Winne had been provided a recording device on the way over. It wasn't the one she came with, and the investigative reporter frowned as she turned it over in her hands. It turned on easily enough and seemed of heightened quality. It wouldn't take much getting used to. Her smile resumed it's plastique dazzle.
The security checks at the IIA HQ were their own level of strict. Thanks to advances in fabric technology, her suit didn't runkle in the process. Winne was on the verge of exasperation by the time she was being introduced, moreso presented, to the subject matter herself: Marlene.
Atop Marlene's desk was a stack of papers written in Anquietas, a screen which was turned away from the reporter, and turned off, the flags of the Aschen Empire, and the seal of the IIA situated on either side behind her.
She had a glass of Ambrosia in her hand, and bore a somewhat bemused expression, the sun slowly setting behind her over the skyline of Caprica City.
"I trust your trip was... Uneventful?" Marlene asked.
"The view on descent was unlike anything this journalist has ever seen before. A delight!" She shifted her weight to a more relaxed stance, indicating that even if Marlene never invited Winne to sit she would be fine. With one quick glance around the room the journalist drank in the splendor of the office. The desk alone was worth half of the average Terran's estate. She didn't let her eyes linger on the stack of papers, or the screen, which she learned in her rookie days was bad practice. Nobody likes a snoop!
"Absolutely gorgeous," With her palm up, she gestured to the sunset dazzling behind Marlene. Her smile widened a bit more, if that was even possible, as Winne then clapped her hands together and brought her fingertips to a point under her chin.
"Did you have to redecorate?" Winne asked with a wink, waiting a beat for a response to her attempt at ice-breaking humor. Though it no longer looked painful to hold, there was something about her smile that seemed almost unnatural. There was nothing malicious behind the look, just the curiosity of a true investigative journalist and the skill of holding a smile through five-hour coverage of lighthearted events.
The lights briefly flickered during the screams, and the flickering stopped the moment the screams did. Marlene didn't say anything, rather she remained quiet as the door opened up, and a young man in a dark suit stepped into the office, moving towards the desk and placing a plate filled with a fried food that resembled falafel, with a side of Tahini and Hummus.
Inclining his head, the man poured Winne a glass of iced sparkling water.
The man inclined his head as Marlene frowned.
"Tell Giottis to take the prisoner to sublevel alpha before I deny his spider requisition, his screams are getting on my nerves."
The man nodded and slowly stepped out of the office, Marlene simply smiled.
"Enjoy." She said, gesturing to the food.
"My office needed refreshing, it was a little too austere for my taste, I'm glad your trip was safe, sometimes even the slightest innocent mistake could end in disaster." Marlene subtly warned.
The food, however, was an unexpected and delightful surprise. Her ears worked to memorize the tidbits of information Marlene dropped in passing. A part of her suspected this was all show to intimidate her. To display Aschen prowess. The rest of her knew that the Aschen had no need for show. They had been a superpower across the Verse for most of her own lifetime, if not all.
Winne turned her beam from the food, to Marlene, to the sparkling water. She swooped it up and took a bird-like sip.
"We do our best to avoid disaster," The journalist said with a wink, eluding at the news being a constant parade of disasters. She placed the glass back and gave a gentle clearing of her throat. She also dropped the full force of the smile, fixating hungry eyes on Marlene. From her pocket she drew a small disc-like object. It was an audio recorder, once sleek in design but clearly had seen better days. She waited for the screams, and other sounds, to fully subside before activating the recorder.
Winne tapped a small round black pane and audio recorder emit a squeak. She briefly frowned, tapped it again, and it emit a gentle whirr. There we go. Her smile returned, and Winne aimed it yet again right at Marlene. Showtime.
"How long have you held office?"
"Long enough." She answered, crossing one leg over the other quietly, as she smiled sweetly at Winne, before she continued. She looked towards the recorder for just a moment, and then back towards the reporter, as the lights flickered just slightly. Marlene reached, and took a piece of the fried falafel, and brought it to her mouth, taking a solitary bite, and swallowing the food, before placing the remainder back in her desk.
Marlene's eyes briefly glanced towards the telescreen behind her, Big Brother's piercing visage watched them closely. Were his eyes perhaps watching Winne.
"I was appointed to this position when the Party took power, following the reorganization of the Langaran Defense Agency, from there, I enacted further training reforms to hone the organization into the capable intel gathering apparatus it is today." Marlene replied.
Winne reached for a bite of falafel herself. She took a tiny bite, cracked a smile, then took another. Delicious. She didn't follow Marlene's eyes as they flicked to the ever imposing portrait of Big Brother, but she surely did notice it.
"Half witted rebels with a pipe dream, thinking they can play with their betters." Marlene said cryptically.
βThe sun is warm, the wind is wild, the grass is green along the shore, here no bull can hide.β
" 'No bull can hide'; a mighty quote. You've accomplished so much in your work, many consider you to be married to the job. Marlene, do you have your eyes on any young bulls for yourself?" Winne winked, eluding at Marlene's personal and romantic life.
"Three children; you know some say three is a lucky number. Do you have plans to expand your family?"
Winne was getting at something, but it wasn't Marlene's love life.
"What are you getting at with this line of questioning." Her gaze suddenly became piercing, she was after all a seasoned interrogator.
Her gaze was enough to send chills down a person's spine as she fumbled with something on her desk. Was that a piece of rebar?
"All of your offspring actively serving the Empire; you must be a proud mother. It is common for the children of those of your status," She flicked her hand to subtly gesture around the room, "To pursue careers in the military?"
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