Just when Ludmilla felt settled, ready to tackle whatever came her way in the course of the next few minutes, she heard -to her great surprise- her motherland's tongue.  Accented or not, it came from the girl she'd just casually badmouthed to her supervisor, which meant that she understood every word. [color=ff5800]”Дерьмо!”[/color] she ejected beneath her breath, before she could stop herself.  The meaning of Chika's words came across loud and clear, indicating in a matter-of-fact manner how presumptuous Ludmilla had been.  Oddly, the smaller woman didn't seem to be mad, which rendered any defensiveness on Ludmilla's part unnecessary.  She hadn't intended to be confrontational, after all—just a little mean-spirited, in a private fashion.  [i][color=ff5800]”Uh...my mistake.  I did not know you could speak Russian.  It's...uh, good to meet someone I can...talk to?”[/color][/i]  Inside, Ludmilla broiled with anger that she'd thrust herself into such an awkward, embarrassing situation.  Thank God nobody else other than Whitesnake could tell, so an impassive expression could save some face.  Speaking of the man, she cast her mentor a glance and found him rolling his eyes in suppressed amusement, which put Ludmilla dangerously close to turning red.  She reached down and replaced her facemask to hide her embarrassment, looking up at the ceiling.

A moment later, she was grateful for the distraction of Kane, who approached her at a rapid pace.  Doing her best to not flinch at the huge mutant stomping so close, she watched with narrow eyes as he snarled words in Japanese and gesticulated to the two of them.  For a few seconds she felt both confused and perturbed by the bond between Kane and herself implied by his pointing, but the action of slamming a fist into a palm held universal significance.  Either he wanted to fight her, or he wanted her to fight with him, and one of those options did not bear consideration.  Regardless, the last few sounds he uttered after shaking the whole bar with his palm-pound seemed to be questioning, and considering the ramifications of aggravating a giant brute such as he, Ludmilla felt it best to agree.  [i][color=ff5800]”Yeah, sure,”[/color][/i] she guessed, punctuating what to him would be meaningless with a nod of affirmation.  

He turned his attention to Chika, so Ludmilla turned hers elsewhere.  A couple moments passed before a ringing sound filled the bar.  Shade Walker's sudden reach for his phone and its subsequent examination made her think it was already go-time.  A peek at Whitesnake for confirmation resulted in a stiff nod.  [i][b]”Looks like it's time for you to begin.  Stay sharp, stay mobile, and support your teammates.  Keep surprise attacks off their backs, and incapacitate any especially dangerous enemy.  Lastly, don't underestimate the opposite.  Ready, Akane?”[/b][/i]

Though nobody could see it beneath her mask, Ludmilla smiled.  [color=ff5800]”Hai, sensei.”[/color]

Chika rushed off, probably to make preparations, but Ludmilla and several others were already good to go.  She jogged a little closer to where the others gathered around Shade Walker, and awaited orders with arms crossed.  Away from the group, the man with the television head produced a steady stream of speech without any emotional inflection whatsoever, bidding Ludmilla look his way for a few seconds.  [i]What a cool, creepy guy.  He'd be perfect as the mysterious, dangerous number two for some action flick's big, bad villain.  Or number three, maybe?  Like that one Transformer, Soundwave.  Weird, but badass in his own way.  Well, either that or some boring communications lackey.[/i]  Time would tell.  For now, she needed to concentrate on the mission.  Sticking with Kane would be best given his signaling earlier, and even though she couldn't understand his speech, it was enthusiastic enough to tell her he was raring to get some action.