[centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/5MIYERD.png[/img][/centre]

In the course of her brief twenty-two years of life, Maddie had come to recognize a fundamental law of the universe: No matter how truly insignificant they may be, men of power - without exception - suffer grandiose delusions. And those delusions, more often than not, ultimately lead to downfall and devastation. 

[b]"That's been a question floating around the group for a while, but inevitably the answer had to be that we need to knock out Shinra power, period. Not inconvenience them with a repair job, but ruin it, destroy it.”[/b]

The man she had the misfortune of drinking with was the perfect example of this: he truly believed that his “grand plan” would bring about the change he so desperately desired. But it wouldn’t. Maddie had no precognitive ability, nor did she harbor any belief in such matters of the supernatural, but it didn’t take a psychic to see the obvious consequences of the man’s plans. Destroying a reactor wouldn’t harm Shinra in the slightest. Their resources might as well be infinite at this point. For every reactor Avalanche could destroy, Shinra would simply build two more. Getting into a war of attrition with Shinra was a fool’s gambit. 

If anything, all this bombing mission could hope to accomplish would be the collapse of the community built around the reactor. Sure, plenty would die in the initial explosion and the resulting chaos that would ensue, but countless more would be affected in the aftermath. The number of lives that would be lost should even a single vital hospital lose power would be staggering. And for what? Avalanche would either (idiotically) take credit or be (rightfully) blamed by Shinra for the heinous act. Public opinion for the group would plummet. How could anyone play at being “Freedom Fighters” then take aim at the innocent? 

In a grandiose display of irony, Avalanche - by following through with this plan - would fend off potential destruction and suffering in the future by...causing destruction and suffering now. Shinra’s sworn enemy would become the company’s greatest asset - offering a loud, obnoxious diversion to the, quite frankly, morally repulsive actions the company was performing across the globe. Granted, Maddie wasn’t privy to EVERYTHING the company was involved in, but she knew enough to know that she wasn’t exactly working for the good guys.

But hey, when the “good guys” deem countless innocent lives being snuffed out as an “inconvenience”, maybe that was just a sign that morality is bullshit. In that case, was it really wrong to side with the people offering a bigger paycheck? And besides, Shinra offered dental. Hard to pass that up.

[b]“Their power must be [i]broken[/i] so they have nothing to lord over others with."[/b]

Yes, the tyranny of Shinra could not be suffered even a moment longer. We should all strive to do everything within our power towards the ultimate goal of suffering under the tyranny of Avalanche instead. Deep down, in her heart of hearts, Maddie loathed this man. The disgust was surface level as well - make no mistake about it - but it was comforting to know that on a fundamental level she also hated him. It was one of the few things about herself that she could confidently claim as truth.

Maddie let the man have his monologue and, when he had finished, took a nice, slow drink. The alcohol was cheap - even if she hadn’t paid for it herself, the way it violently clawed at her throat in a desperate attempt to save itself from taking a plunge like a terrified housecat above a bathtub of water was unmistakable - and the mix was stale. But to be fair, a disappointing drink was the perfect companion to a disappointing drinking companion.

[color=1BC6D0]“Hon’, I’m not gonna lie - you’re kinda letting me down here.”[/color] she admitted, leaning forward. She held the mug with both hands, her elbows propped upon the table. She gazed at her contact over the top of it, but offered a sly smile through the semi-opaque liquid and glass. [color=1BC6D0]“Any amateur with a cookbook could cobble together something quick and dirty that could work for your little job here. But you came to me... So I would hope that you would want something a little more than just... ‘quick and dirty.’”[/color]

She shot her man a mischievous grin before taking another swig of the burning piss that the barman had the audacity to sell her. But she wouldn’t show her disappointment just yet. Not in the drink nor the pig in pants pretending to be a man across from her. She had a plan. She didn’t particularly like the plan, but she had a hunch that it just might work. She also had a hunch that she would most likely need to make a number of appointments with a therapist in the very near future. But let’s be real, no amount of therapy would ever make what she was about to do any less horrific. And she would most likely need to eliminate the therapist after their session, have to protect those company secrets after all, but that was a whole ‘nother can o’ worms.

[color=1BC6D0]“There’s a golden opportunity here, y’know? Why settle for just [i]breaking[/i] Shinra’s toy when we could [i]use it[/i] to send a message? Babe, when it comes to booms, I’m the best in the business. Are you following me? No? Well then...let me break it down for you...”[/color]

Maddie lowered her drink onto the table and gave a glance about to confirm that no one was actively listening to her conversation. Then, once satisfied, she rose to her feet and walked around to his side of the table. Standing over him, the woman began to lean in close. She tucked her hair behind her right ear before resting her hand against his chest. She brought her face to his ear, close enough to feel the warmth radiating off his skin. When she was close enough to be sure that he would feel her breath brush against his neck when she spoke, Maddie set the bait. She dropped her voice to little more than a whisper and purred. [color=1BC6D0]“If you were to get me to the reactor core, well then honey, forget a bomb - we could set off a lightshow that they’d see all the way over in [i]Wutai.[/i] Then there wouldn’t be a soul on the planet who didn’t know about Avalanche.”[/color]

She let her words float for a moment before she pushed off of him and stood up straight again. Grinning like a fox, ‘Naomi’ let out a chuckle. [color=1BC6D0]“And you, sir, would be squarely at the top of Shinra’s Most Wanted list. Mr. Public Enemy Number One.”[/color] she teased, her grin spreading into a bright, toothy smile. Before he could reply, however, she held a finger up in front of her lips and pivoted on her feet before making her way to the bar. Once there, she flagged down a barman and ordered a shot of whiskey and a glass of water. The nausea was threatening to strangle her and she had half a mind to just let it. She desperately needed something to drown it and that watered down paint thinner in a mug back at her table wasn’t cutting it. She needed a shower and a lobotomy, but failing those, a gratuitous amount of cheap alcohol might just do the job. For now. 

After treating her trauma and starting what would likely end up as a beautiful yet troubling relationship with alcoholism, Maddie returned to her table, sliding into her chair opposite the contact. She grinned at him before leaning back in her chair and performing an overly exaggerated rolling of the eyes complete with deep sigh.

[color=1BC6D0]“Buuuuuuut...I guess if you’re so dead set on being [i]booooring[/i], I [b]SUPPOSE[/b] I could build your basic bitch bomb. You’re the boss after all. Just lemme know where and when to pick up my 'package.'”[/color]

And scene. 

She brought her glass of water to her lips, but didn’t drink just yet. Instead, she observed the man. If she were lucky, he would take the bait and she would have secured her spot on the mission. From there, she would have a much better chance at ensuring that the mission either failed or went poorly. It was her best bet at sparing both precious innocent lives and company property - regrettably not in that order of priority. Otherwise, there was little she could actually do to sabotage the bomb without dumping a dangerous amount of suspicion on herself. And, to be frank, if she had gone through something as truly vile as making physical contact with this creep, she wanted it to at least have been for something.

If she wasn’t so lucky, well…

A shudder ran down Maddie’s spine. It was best not to think about it.

Either way, if she got through this job, she was definitely renegotiating her contract with HR. If this was to be any indication for how the job was going to be going forward, she would be demanding both dental AND vision.