Just as she finished off her apple and discarded the core, Cat noticed what appeared to be an older man – though it was difficult to tell from the angle she was at – be sold an apple from the same stand she just bought from for more than twice the fare she was offered. The man approached the wall she was leaning against and began to eat his fruit; meanwhile, Cat went through the various possibilities in her head of why a person might be charged more than the normal price. He might be an Afflicted, but judging from the many Afflicted skins he was wearing, she doubted that. Maybe he simply had an unflattering reputation. It wasn’t unheard of, considering the many things one can do in this City to gain infamy: double-crossing a Sector, having specific political opinions, and being a particularly brutal mercenary are some possibilities. She didn’t recognize him, but from the glares that produce merchant and even random passersby were giving him, she figured he must be notorious for something big. It was too bad she didn’t keep up with politics or recent events much.

Her train of thought was interrupted by an earth-trembling, explosive noise; at first, she thought it was the City changing scenery yet again, but then she saw it: the massive burst of green light almost due north of the marketplace. Having been a Retriever for several years, Cat knew it was unmistakably a newly formed Cache, and from the sheer size of the beam, she judged it to be an extremely valuable one… And a valuable Cache always comes with tough security.

Cat was conflicted, to say the least. Despite her distrust of strangers, especially ones who look like they could shoot lasers out of their eyes from pure hatred, she knew she wasn’t capable enough to recover a Cache of that significance by herself, and it was far too short notice to be dispatched an official squad. Her imagination raced eagerly with the thoughts of payment and treasure; she had to make up her mind fast, before someone got to the Cache before her.

Hesitantly, she sidled closer to the callous-looking man, and cleared her throat before speaking with her firmest tone of voice.

“Hey,” she said, brushing her bangs to the side to get a better look at the man’s face, “Listen up. I don’t know you, and I don’t expect you to trust me. I sure as hell don’t trust you. But – you saw that giant green light, right? My job is to get Caches like that. I don’t have a team, so I won’t be able to get that by myself, but you look like you can handle yourself pretty well. If you help me retrieve it and bring it back to my bosses in Sector Three, we can split the payment straight down the middle – and you can take anything from the Cache you want to keep. What d’ya say?”

"Oh!" she added, her mind having slipped. "I'm Cataline, by the way, but you can call me Cat."