[h3]Astraia Johnson[/h3] Nova Infinitum Headquarters Common Room “A-alright…” Nervously the girl took a capsule from the bottle and swallowed it. Instantly the agony in her head dulled to an ache, then subsided completely. “O-oh… g-goodn-ness… Th-that… o-oh… I-it d-doesn’t h-h-hurt a-anymore… wh-what n-neurot-transmit-ter d-does th-that b-block, I b-bet i-it’s s-seraton—o-oh…” she covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head. “I sh-shouldn’t h-have t-taken that… I w-w-won’t b-be a-able to k-keep i-it in, a-and th-then i-it might st-till t-take me o-over... I sh-shouldn’t let it c-cont-trol m-me…” She gave a shaky smile, appraising the boy Baihu again. A tall boy, probably sixteen or seventeen, at ease in a way that she’d never seen another Corrupt be like before. “W-we sh-should p-p-probably h-head o-out there… I b-bet o-our partner i-is w-w-waiting f-for u-us…” she put the lid on the pill bottle and handed it back to Baihu. Her uniform didn’t have any pockets. Then again, she didn’t have any possessions, other than her uniforms and her hairbrush and toothbrush, and so rarely had anything to put into pockets. She rose from the table, sighing slightly, and pushed her hair behind her ears and into some semblance of order. She grinned at Baihu, feeling much better for not having such a bad headache, and walked to the main doors. A guard looked at her and glared at Baihu, made her walk through a metal detector, but didn’t even bother with scanning Baihu. As they walked through the corridor teeming with white-coated researchers, Astraia reached up and took Baihu’s hand, nervously, though she winced at the childish mannerism. They walked out into the atrium, and Astraia blinked at the sheer number of people. She scanned the crowd to find Berthold, based on the picture they’d been provided. She thought she saw someone who looked like him, leafing through a thick manila folder. “E-e-excuse m-me… w-w-would y-you h-happen t-to b-b-be B-berth-hold…? I th-think w-we-re going o-on a m-m-mission, t-together… I-I’m Astraia, a-and th-this is B-Baihu…” She realized she was still holding Baihu’s hand and blinked rapidly, slowly dropping her hand to her side. Wow, way to make a first impression, Astie, you fool. [hr] [h3]Li Caixia[/h3] Somewhere above the Pacific Ocean, in a charter plane with her [s]dreamy[/s] intelligent and resourceful young employer “No, I don’t care that you have a scheduling issue. We are arriving in the States today and I fully expect you to have all the amenities ready for our traveling party. Surely you would not want to disappoint the great Qinglong Bayakko, not when he [i]specifically requested your establishment out of all the other establishments in this fine city.[/i]” Caixia spoke somewhat forcefully, talking to the terrified young receptionist at a hotel—she couldn’t remember which one, only that it was the finest one in the city. Her pretty voice was filled with disgust, though her face and eyes remained perfectly neutral. As she spoke into the telephone, her perfectly-manicured fingers flew over her laptop keyboard. She was responding to business email for Qinglong—She loved answering this kind of letter, from weak men who doubted Qinglong’s abilities as a leader and an investor, who doubted that he could do as he claimed. She was allowed to take liberties with how she answered these, and she used every shred of her intelligence to absolutely destroy these men and whatever sense of self-worth they might have. The butler came back into her tiny cubicle of workspace, which was still a luxury compared to what most people had on the plane. “Where’s the folder?” “I’ll get it. I have a stack of messages that must be passed on at any rate.” The girl turned her face away from her earpiece and spoke quietly to the butler, allowing her irritation at him to show in her eyes. How dare he interrupt her work? “Of course, Caixia.” The man averted his eyes and shuffled away. Caixia rolled her eyes. The person she had been talking to had long-since hung up on her, and was probably now trembling in a corner. She tended to have that effect on people. Caixia sent the email and rose to her feet fluidly, gathering up the manila folder and a pad of paper that had messages transcribed onto it. She tugged lightly on her dress, a dark red cheongsam, to get it to drape properly, put her usual professional mask on her face, and walked purposefully out of her micro-office to meet Qinglong. “Sir, here is the information you have requested. The most recent printouts were received seven minutes ago. I also have here a message from the director of IBM asking for an appointment for conference call as soon as is convenient for you.” She held the file and the notepad out for Qinglong’s inspection, keeping her eyes down, although she could not stop a faint blush from dusting her cheeks as she did so.