Chloe shrugged noncommitally. "Don't worry about things you can't control, man. Stress is a good way to cut your lifespan short. Nowadays more than ever. Well, for humans anyway."

She didn't miss the looks she had been given. Rather, she had been expecting (and had, in the past, received) far worse. Oscar's distrust wasn't totally unfounded either. "As for my plans? You've gotta be kidding me. It's real simple. If they follow me here, I'll beat them until they never come back. I don't care if the whole damned city falls down around this building. If I'm here, these walls will stay standing... But I won't stay here for long. Hiding's never done me any good."

Thinking about it for a moment, she decided on a course of action. Which is to say, she picked a whim from the ether.

"In fact... You can go ahead and talk to the higher ups. If ever you fellas had any plans of world domination, any buns in the oven just waiting for the bread to rise, now might just be your time. I think I'm done waiting around. You lot can join me, take advantage of me, use me, or just sit there and watch me die for all I care. Like you said, you didn't survive this long on blind faith. I've got faith that the Compact will do whatever's best for the Compact. So I hope great things will come of this. But I think the time for a good hearty offensive is coming real soon. We'll just have to see."

Her little speech concluded, Chloe stepped down on her wounded leg a few times, testing different weights, before nodding, satisfied. "It's not perfect, but it'll do. Thanks Doc. Here's to seeing you alive on the other side. I'm out!" Tossing her headphones on again, she peered out a crack in the door to make sure she wasn't being followed, gave a thumbs-up to the people behind her, and darted out the door, closing it softly behind her. They would prefer she left no trace, probably, so she did her best to hide her presence until she was a little further away. After reaching a safe enough distance, Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. She was back on the streets, and away from the judgmental stares. For now, that would have to be good enough. And if she ran into anybody else, well, hopefully nobody wanted to shoot her.