Description: Agent Daniel Little seeks out more members for his team. One of first people he turns to is someone who he knew he could trust since they have worked well together in the past. Will she accept or will her duty to Queen and Country stand in the way?
A few months after the Rumble in the Streets Tournament and the Delta Red HQ was still abuzz with activity. Between the interviews and arrests and the various follow ups required, there wasn't a single member of the squad who didn't have something to do. Thankfully, for all involved(especially one person who was particularly instrumental), it was all winding to a close and they would get some rest relaxation.
Lita Luwanda in particular had just got done the most recent of her paperwork and now was headed towards the cafeteria to grab some grub and to eat in quiet peace. After all, Wolfman had some paperwork to look over, McCoy had training to put in at the firing range, and Ginzu was still going over some of the final details of the HitBit stuff with Mamoru Sugimoto.
Lita heads straight for queue, encouraged by the soft gurgling noise made by her stomach.
You know, British cooking gets a bad rap.
As Lita Luwanda files in to the cafeteria, she might notice a familiar Interpol Agent already in line. Further up in the line, in fact. Dressed in his government greys, he just stands fast, looking around the cafeteria idly. He was hoping to catch someone. And as a matter of fact, that someone had just sauntered in.
Lieutenant Lita Luwanda.
As she enters, the detective waves his hands. He doesn't call out, he shouldn't need to. But he was working to catch her attention. The presence of the agent might not bode well for the Delta Red agent's well-being and comfort. At the very least, Daniel was smiling.
In fact, a smiling Daniel might mean even worse for Lita's well-being and comfort.
Lita nods towards Daniel when she sees him but she isn't stupid. She knows that he's here for a specific reason which in turn means her R&R will be short lived indeed. Whatever is coming, it will have to wait. Those sword wielding muscles won't feed themselves.
The line slowly moves forward and eventually she makes her way through the line with food and beverage on her tray and she looks towards Daniel and tilts her head away from him in a silent suggestion that he should follow her. After that, she weaves her way through a maze of tables, chairs, and humanity towards a relatively empty table and rests her tray down and takes her seat before there is any potential for pulling a chair for her.
She then takes a sip of her drink while waiting for Daniel to sit down as well.
"What's on your mind?"
The Delta Red sees no reason to beat around the bush.
Oh, it doesn't take -that- long to get back around to Lita.
Now that he had her attention, it was just the long lines of acceptable cafeteria food. Once Dainel has his plopped up Bangers and Mash and some nice steamed broccoli on his plate, he heads over to the table after Lita. The question is asked, blunt and straight. Daniel doesn't wish to waste much time either.
"I got approved, Lita."
The smile on Daniel's face made it clear what was approved. "After your work in Japan, Interpol's interested in the task force, and can see the potential." He eases himself in to a chair, and settles his tray down. "They didn't think Delta Red could work well in integrated civilian activity. You proved them wrong. I just uh... I had to be clever about getting that task force approved." Daniel Jack pokes the broccoli with a fork.
"You heard about that King of Fighters tournament, right?"
Approved?
Her mind races to figure out what Daniel could've possibly been approved for. And then... It suddenly dawns on her. Her mind goes back to that conversation they had about about an international task force that never did quite get off the ground. Not to long after she finally reaches that conclusion, Daniel's words serve to confirm them. Even still she remains quiet though her eye twitches when he mentions his superior didn't think they could work well in integrated civilian activity.
She speaks with the sarcasm in her voice in full force, "Blimey! Us Delta Reds have been completely underestimated. My feelings are hurt! My heart is broken." To complete the melodramatic performance, she dabs at her eye with her napkin.
"I've heard of the King of Fighters... Why?"
Daniel Jack gives Lita such a look.
"Look, if you think Da Chief has a bad opinion of Delta Red? Let me introduce you to 'my life.'" The detective shakes his head. "Yeah he's kind of an ass. Believe me. The only time I've heard him happy was after Sergei put me in traction." Daniel Jack shuts his mouth for a moment. That was a thing. A thing he might need to tell her... later on.
Later on, definately.
Wiggling his mustache, he manages to get enough to follow up. "As for the King of Fighters, it's a big international tournament where teams fight teams. It's backed by somebody that... Interpol doesn't know. All we know that it might be somebody -big-. Da Chief's idea was to team me up with somebody, and get my ass kicked in the context of investigating. Because it worked so well with the Rumble tournament. I agreed... but only if I had a team that would remain, well after the tournament. Wham, bam, got my international Task Force, I just need to run it through a tournament first. You dig me, scuzzy?" And Daniel smiles again. "And of course, if I am gonna get a team, I am gonna need somebody on it I've worked with before."
"Quite successfully, I must add Lieutenant."
"Ugh... Sergei... That bloody arsehole is a homocidal maniac! Tried to strangle me with my own tie, he did."
Clearly, fighting him left a bitter taste in her mouth as well. She then lets the Interpol Detective continue. Meanwhile she's rolling around potential questions in her head about procedure, and command hierarchy as she listens.
Her lips form into a bit of a smirk. "Of course it was successful! You had my assistance."
She then lets out a laugh for a few moments before she lets the laughter fade away.
"But yes, you're forming a team and want me on it. I will have to see what my superiors say."
"Ha ha ha oh man, uh, yeah. Sergei is terrible."
Daniel Jack's laughter was... nervous. As she confirms that she is... sort of interested? She might just be British right now. "Da Chief will make sure that it gets moved forward, for sure. He's... very good at working across departments, for all his faults. But there is a detail. Like, I have another person on the team. And like. Well." Daniel makes a kind of gesture with his hands.
"Like... you ever seen The Man From UNCLE?"
Say what you will about Lita, she's not a stupid person. When she he hears that nervous laughter and those hesitations, she immediate realizes the reason. Her lips form into a frown. Her eyes widen. She mouthes the word 'no' multiple times. Daniel won't have to break the news. His tells told her for him.
"You mean we're going to be the ones holding on to that mad dog's leash?"
She cringes hard as her hand moves to her neck and shudders violently. She doesn't seem as interested as she did before.
"Now he isn't a mad dog."
Daniel Jack's hands now clearly identified what they were trying to do. Calm her down preemptively. "The opposite in fact. He's a well-trained dog, that will do exactly what he's told. He, uh. He still has the personality of a plank of wood mind you. And real quiet. But as far as I have seen, he isn't a crazed animal that lashes out. He's just... well." Daniel Jack actually shrugs.
"Boring."
Daniel Jack says that all with the presence of a man expecting so much more. "Like, he doesn't really -have- a social life. He just does his job, and then that's it. Doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't party. Even when working with him, even when sparring with him, he just... doesn't talk. He's a machine, you dig? But I mean, I'm the one in charge of this thing. ANd he follows orders very, very well." Daniel Jack was talking fast now, and this time he was nodding at Lita.
"Now, if you can't work with the man..."
"No."
She shakes her head at the whole well trained animal thing. She grits her teeth in rage. "No. A well-trained animal realizes there's a proper time and place to be vicious. That being said, maybe a more accurate description would be a robot with a line of bad code." George Ginzu would probably be proud of her.
"That being said, working with him would be preferable to being on the receiving end of his brutality. However we need to make sure he understands there's a time and a place for the brutal only one of us walks away breathing bull shit. That is an international incident waiting to happen."
"See, that's where I'm coming from."
Daniel raps his knuckles on the table. "The guy's problem is that he is being run by the Russians. I mean, that's what the Russians are all about? They don't give a damn, when it comes down to what they want. We get this machine in our corner, and suddenly we are reducing the number of crimes against humanity by tenfold." The detective nods conspirically. "Besides, uh." Daniel Jack gets such a look on his face. "I don't mean to brag, but I wanted to make sure before we get into a fight, I could take him. And well. I can take him." Daniel Jack somehow looks smug in all this.
"So I'm thinking you are gonna be a major lead in our team, right?"
"It's entirely possible."
She begins digging into her food. She doesn't want to let her food go cold. She's rolling things over in her head before she speaks. The actions of chewing and swallowing forcing her to take her time with her response. When she swallows, she looks up and is ready to respond.
"The way I figure, you two are our strongest fighters. Most likely our best strategy would be send you two out and keep me as a last resort. At least for now."
She stabs her food and lifts it near mouth before she talks again. "At least. My biggest asset is my ability to be comfortable wielding pretty much any weapon. I can help with training you to deal with whatever the opponents are likely to throw at you."
And Daniel listens.
Lita makes a good point. Several, in fact. The experienced fighter's tactical analysis comes into full bear. Daniel hadn't even really eaten his food yet. As she makes her proposition, the detective digests the information instead. As she finishes up, the detective nods, and finally responds.
"I like it."
"As I have seen it? Sergei's the genius when it comes to fighting. When I sparred with him? I didn't feel like I was in a fight. I felt like I was on an operating table, and he was a surgeon. I know I can cover grappling training with him. But with you? You are a weapon expert. And I'm not. Hell, I have -trouble- with people with weapons. You know Ayame? She was in the tournament, she uh. She won it." Daniel falls quiet. "But I couldn't handle a staff fighter, and frankly, with you? You tore me up with those knives. If you wanna keep on the bench and train us? Well, I don't know about Sergei. But one thing is sure."
"I need the training."
Lita says, "The day you feel you have nothing else to learn is the day you should pack it up and retire."
More food goes into her mouth. Some chewing, some swallowing. And then she continues.
"We /all/ need the training. Even if I consider my grappling fairly decent, I'd be daft if I were to say it can't be improved more and the same could be said for wielding weapons."
Her lips curl into more than a smirk but rather an honest to goodness smile. She reaches out across the table with her right hand ready to shake the hand and make joining the team official.
Everyone needed the training.
As Lita follows up, digging into her meal, the detective kept his attention on her. "I think this is a great opportunity for all of us to train up. There might be something behind the KOF, but frankly, that's not my priority here. My priority is to get our Task Force through, and then, off to bigger and better things. As the woman smirks, and reaches across the table, the detective reaches out as well, shaking her hand. "Welcome to Team Interpol, Lieutenant." He states, and then, grabbing his fork and knife, turns to his food.
"Aaaand my food's cold."
Great job at day 1 Daniel.
Great job.
Log created on 13:49:45 05/10/2016 by Lita, and last modified on 09:28:28 05/14/2016.