Description: In a fancy cafe in Paris, a badly hurt Marz shares her suspicions with Crimson Viper. The pair face off over lattes, but not with fists, with dark words and nefarious plotting! Of course, Marz is glad to have such a trustworthy confidant in Crimson Viper, and who could remain cold hearted in the face of a young girl's pain? Who would have guessed that the streets of the City of Love are paved with such deception!
Paris: France. Home of croissants, the Eiffel Tower, and cafes galore.
It is also currently home of Marz, one of Vega's dolls, and a victim of sudden Juritis, a condition brought on by repeated pummeling of the torso. Although she had been severely injured, Marz had regained consciousness swiftly, and she had immediately ordered a huge amount of painkillers, and only enough treatment that she wouldn't be rendered permanently crippled. As she is a Doll, and therefore capable of healing from pretty much anything, this was not a lot.
Now, she's propped herself up by a window seat in La Poupee et L'espion, and ordered a latte. The doll is dressed in a heavy trenchcoat against the winter chill, and her midsection is heavily bandaged. If it wasn't for the fact she is as pale as death itself, it'd be easy to imagine she was fine.
Well, that, and she keeps wincing every time she makes the slightest movement.
The truth is that Marz simply can't let the kind of threats Juri made go unanswered. But Cammy is in the field, and Vega could not be disturbed with such things at this immediate moment. Not to mention that she'd have a hard time explaining what she was doing with Juri anyway.
Marz does, however, know that there ARE loyal people in SIN. People like the famed Crimson Viper, who her files assure her are beyond reproach. Though she's never met the agent face to face before (indeed, she was unsure if any Doll has met the agent), she'd sent word as swiftly as possible.
And so now, here she is. An emergency meeting has been called, and every inch of her hurts. But the sixteen year old girl is doing her best not to let it show. She has to do this. She couldn't call herself a Doll if she didn't!
Paris, the City of Light, is a much more ideal location for a rendezvous then some backwater jungle base in the middle of nowhere. The woman known as Crimson Viper has not been in Paris for quite some time now, but there is no time for sight-seeing or picking up a souvenir for her daughter when there is business to be conducted.
It is business that draws Viper down the back alleyways near the La Poupee et L'espion where she is supposed to have an emergency meeting with one of the Dolls. Hrmph. This had better actually be worth such a meeting at short notice as Viper's schedule is usually tightly regulated by her assignments at home in the United States and abroad. Wearing her SIN manufactured business suit and yellow tinted sunglasses, Viper casually enters the cafe a good ten minutes early to when the meeting is supposed to happen, right on time in Viper's book. Now where oh where inside the cafe is this Doll that she is supposed to be meeting?
Marz is, in fact, there first. Purely by virtue of the fact that she'd come directly to the place and just settled down as part of an effort to make herself comfortable and minimize the effect that her broken ribs were going to have on the meeting. It was inevitable that the agent would pick up on them eventually, but she doesn't want to seem any weaker than she has to.
The girl is sat in one of the window seats, with her coffee, and with a brown folder on the table in front of her. She also has a black beret with a red triangle on it. Which is the sign she was supposed to be identified by. She's paying a lot of attention to her coffee, though. Just staring at it.
It only takes a few minutes of cooly observing the inside of the cafe behind her yellow-tinted lenses for Viper to spot the young girl in the beret at a window seat. Good. Being on time already puts Marz in Viper's good graces. Viper does not immediately head straight for the girl. Instead, the red-headed agent over to the counter to order a latte and -then- heads over to the where Marz is seated.
Viper greets the other woman is a warm smile and greeting in French. It is only when the agent takes a seat across from Marz that Viper drops the act and adopts a much more business like and stoic look on her face. She now observes the other girl silently and starts to note the wincing and the pale complexion of Marz. Crimson Viper then waits for the Doll to make the next move.
While her face may be neutral, Viper sits in her seat very casually. Just as if she just so happened to meet a friend at a local cafe while on break.
People say the eyes are the window to the soul. Although Marz's eyes are normally quite cold and calculating, there's no mistaking the look in her eyes now. Behind the mask of professionalism she was trying to wear, Marz is both hurt, physically, and terribly angry.
"I am glad you could come on such short notice." She says, first. A vague attempt to maintain civility. But it doesn't last much longer than a few seconds, as she shifts, and her lip twitches up in a grimace.
"To get to the point. You are aware of SIN. What do you know about Juri Han?"
Marz, although wounded, had both arrived early and has gotten straight to the point. These all things that Crimson Viper is pleased to see in the young Doll. Perhaps Marz has considerable potential to operate in the field like this.
The pleasentries and mentioning of SIN both only get slight bobs of Viper's head in acknowledgement as she lounges in the seat across from Marz. The woman in the business suit then lets out a soft sigh and crosses her legs as she sits there. "You arranged a meeting to ask me questions?" Viper responds cooly before shaking her head while trying to connect the dots. Let's see here, a young doll who is obviously recovering from injury and is asking about Juri. Aha. It seems Juri has been busy lately. "Tell me, why did you really call me here?"
Marz grunts softly, and uses the napkin which came with her drink to mop, briefly, at her brow. When you can feel the pain through industrial strength painkiller, you know this was a mistake.
"Juri Han's loyalty has come into question." She says, bluntly. "I can not contact my immediate superior, and Lord Vega need not be disturbed on a matter like this. Not yet at least. I have not been able to acquire certain materials from SIN myself. But I need someone to watch her, and I need to gauge how much force will be required to eliminate her when it becomes necessary to do so."
Viper deep down has some sympathy for Marz' weakened position. Heaven forbid her own daughter would ever look as weak and as pale as Marz does right now. But, this does not mean that Viper is going to cut Marz any slack when it comes down to it. After all, it is all strictly business.
Ooh. A question of anothers loyalty, an issue that a secretive agent like Viper takes to heart. "You are correct not to bother Lord Vega with something like this," begins the businesswoman as she casually sips from her latte. "And why exactly do you believe Juri Han's loyalty is questionable? That is a very serious accusation." While there is nothing threatening in Viper's tone of voice, she does seem to be watching the other woman like a hawk from behind her sunglasses.
Marz laughs softly, and then stops, wincing, and coughs into her paper towel. A little blood comes up with it, and she grunts. This causes her to focus. It wasn't an entirely unreasonable question, after all. But Juri hadn't exactly left her in any doubt.
"If he falters for one moment, I will kill him. You are all just toys to me, and I will break and kill you as I am able. Words to that effect. Spoken about Lord Vega, when she was doing battle with me. Juri Han has outright said that the moment she believes she is able to do so, she will kill Lord Vega. Having felt her strength... I believe that she is not far from being able to challenge him. Though of course, he would win."
There's a moment of pained uncertainty on her features, and she looks away. "I am an analyst. It is my duty. Although I admit the beating I took means that I am not certain of what she said at the very last, I trust my faculties not to have deserted me after two blows. She is a monster. I have felt it. She cannot be ignored."
Basically the situation is a win-win for Viper. Juri fights Vega and kills him, the CIA would be most pleased. And if Vega kills Juri, then that is one less complication to worry about. Basically, if Viper was a scheming mastermind, then this would be the point where she clasps her hands together while saying 'Good, good.' But, Viper is a seasoned agent and would not dare to say anything along those lines aloud even if in jest.
The woman does reach up and slowly remove her sunglasses as if to hint at the gravity of the situation. "I see. You were correct in contacting me and you are also correct in your assessment that Lord Vega would easily dispatch her." Viper states with a nod of her head and then tucks her sunglasses away into her suit jacket. "I will have to investigate this matter personally." The redhead's statements are intentionally vague, but that is simply how she conducts business. Why promise something you can't or won't follow through on? "And the appropiate 'corrective action' will be taken after I complete my investigation, I can assure you that." Even if that 'corrective action' is to egg Juri on into attacking Vega.
Marz grits her teeth, partly against the pain, and partly against her frustration. Although she is quite young, Marz is also quite intelligent for a girl her age, and she knows precisely that the agent is trying to hedge her bets. It is what she would do in that situation.
"Do not agree with me when you are not in possession of all the facts." She says, more sharply than she normally would, perhaps. "I would estimate, given my experiences with both, that Juri is on the same level as Sagat. Under optimal conditions, with the proper preparation, there is a sixty to seventy per cent chance that they could pose a significant threat to Lord Vega. Given the tenuous loyalty of both, the danger is multiplied many times over."
She sighs, rubbing at her temples. "I wish to request, as I cannot formally order, that you report to me on any suspicious activity you observe in Juri. I would also like you to obtain whatever you can on the specific projects used by SIN on her. I have not been able to obtain that information quietly, and I do not wish to bring her wrath down on me. You should have an easier time, being a member of SIN."
Viper quirks her brow slightly at Marz' lecture. Her gloved hands are then brought together contemplatively as she sits there across from Marz. The young girl has got a lot of guts to talk to her like this and especially so in her weakened position.
"I did not agree to anything other than that I will look into this matter personally. Something that is not an assignment of mine and something that I will have to do -instead- of completing one of my missions. That alone should be more than enough to show how serious I consider this." Viper explains simply in a casual tone of her voice. "Beyond that, I can offer you no promises. Only that after I complete -my- investiation and have all the information, then I will inform you or perform whatever action needed to ensure that Lord Vega is not threatened and business can continue to be conducted as usual." Viper cooly takes another sip of latte and retrieves her sunglasses from her suit jacket, but does not put them back on yet. "Also, Lord Vega would be most displeased if unnecessary time and efforts were wasted. That is why I will not fully commit my time and efforts until I have investigated this personally."
Marz rarely lets her personal feelings get in the way of her work. This is largely because she doesn't have many personal feelings left, but the Doll, like all her fellows, is deeply protective of her Lord. The personal pain is fleeting, it will pass, and other than some mild frustration, it doesn't bother her too much. What bothers her is her limited data. She hates not knowing. She prides herself on keeping abreast of every major force in the world, and that Juri was so strong, and had managed to evade her notice until recently, terrifies her.
For a few, long moments, Marz is silent. Then, she speaks, slowly, and carefully. "I do not know what missions you have, so I am not able to accurately judge where you should be expending your resources." She admits, "But I have told you what I am requesting. I will be passing this data on to Killer Bee, as is my duty. I expect she will want to pass it on to Lord Vega at his earliest convenience. At the moment, I do not think any action will be taken. I am going to recommend that we allow Juri to continue to serve the interests of our mutual organizations anyway. However. It would be nice to know for certain that there is someone we can trust within SIN. I am glad I can report to Killer Bee that you are treating this precisely as seriously as it deserves."
The words are chosen very carefully. Marz isn't exactly threatening Viper, after all. But nevertheless, there's an underlying hint there. If it turned out that action was to be taken and Viper hadn't treated the issue properly... questions would be asked. Marz just wants to keep Vega safe. The fact that there was yet another person of incredible power working in the organization with the motive to kill him had shaken her considerably.
Crimson Viper was not actually lying about her busy schedule. She is a very busy woman except that it is trying to get home to her daughter which is the driving force in her life instead of Lord Vega like in Marz'. No matter, she will just simply have to rearrange a few things.
"Fine. I will add this to the top of my priority list. My other tasks are relatively simple in comparison if you truely believe that Juri has the potential to actually be a threat." And Viper would absolutely want to be right there should Juri make a move against Vega. It would put her in a position of delightful opportunity.
Viper slips her shades over her eyes and reaches down to pull her left gloves tight against her hand. "And if she is indeed a threat, then 'corrective' action must be taken before she has a chance to even endanger Lord Vega. Are we agreed on that?"
Marz seems genuinely relieved. Some of the anger in her eyes fades, and she bows her head. "I'm truly sorry to have to impose on you." She says, quietly. "Were there any other way... but, you are the only operative in SIN who comes recommended for her loyalty. I had few other people to turn to." There's a smile which ghosts at her lips before she adds, "Three moves was all it took to take me down. Only one other person has managed to incapacitate me with such... ease. That man was Sagat."
She stands up, then, and although the pain causes her to grit her teeth and hiss, she manages it first time. Leaning heavily against the table. Thankfully, she is relatively light.
"We are in agreement. I will have an additional line of credit opened for you, and should you require any specific materials, I will pass on a secure line which you can use to get hold of me. I have authority in such matters. But for now, I am going to return home and, rest. Good day, Ms. Viper."
C.Viper bobs her head in agreement towards Marz. It is a dangerous game to make promises like that, but it is sometimes necessary. In such a beautiful moment like this, it would be absolutely terrible for Viper's loyalty to be called into question. Besides, the CIA would also want to know all they can about Juri. It seems that Viper will still be able to kill two birds with one stone.
"I am pleased then we can agree on this. I will make my own inquiries and keep you up to date. Forgive my reluctance at first, but I have to be all too careful on who I share my own information with. Especially with information from SIN's files." Viper now lounges back in her seat even more casually then she had before. An additional line of credit? It looks like souvenirs from France is back on the table. Lauren will surely be thrilled.
Log created on 15:37:58 10/24/2010 by Marz, and last modified on 17:53:53 10/24/2010.