[centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/5MIYERD.png[/img][/centre] … … … Wait... What? As Maddie watched her contact, the way he sat, the way he looked at her...she came to a rather distressing conclusion: her attempt at seduction had not only completely failed, the man seemed to be almost disgusted by it. Which was a real blow to the old confidence, she had to admit. Was...was he gay? She hadn’t picked up that vibe from him, but she could hardly figure out what else it could have been. She had looked nice enough for the other drunks in the bar, right? And she checked all the seduction criteria, had she not? Prolonged eye contact, intimate physical contact, feigned interest in his passions, fed his ego… Books and film made it seem so easy. Perhaps she simply required more research on the subj- Wait. That hardly mattered here. The man broke the silence, and with each word, Maddie became more and more disheartened. [b]"So, you propose making use of your more technical expertise in there, rather than the cobbling together of explosives for the job. I'll run you a counter-proposal, a compromise if you will. The explosives would remain useful against the Reactor's automated security. If nothing else, they're a useful asset and not to be wasted, almost certainly guaranteeing that we make it to the core. Continue to help us with that and I'll entertain your idea. Maybe 'any amateur' can put together an explosive, but quality won't blow up in anyone's faces and still get the job done. We'll make sure they can stick to the hides of Sweepers and such. Those toys, we can do without."[/b] Part of her was almost relieved that he hadn’t taken up her proposal. Even with her having planned to sabotage the mission, there would have been a chance - however small it may be - of success. And that success would have likely ended in an unimaginable amount of death. Would she then be any better than the butcher she had condemned not so long ago? But matters of the woman’s struggle with morality aside, there was a bigger problem here: she had failed to earn a spot on the mission. Her options were now limited in a big way. The man wanted his bombs, and she had just made a big point of being an expert. Sabotaging them would now be out of the question. If anything went wrong on that end, the blame would fall squarely on her. And then what? Was it not her who admitted that ‘any amateur’ could put together his bombs? If her quality was the only thing that sat her apart, that drove the group to use her, then any doubt placed on that quality would effectively mean her end. Best case scenario, she got replaced, cut out of the loop. Worst case? An unmarked grave, if she were lucky? Sabotage was truly out. And setting an ambush at the targeted reactor seemed foolish as well. Her lack of actionable knowledge of the mission specifics aside, she figured there was a rather small list of people who were even aware of the planned bombing. If the team caught wind that perhaps Shinra was alerted beforehand, then scrutiny on herself would definitely increase. No, she would need to cooperate fully. Or at least, that was her opinion. In truth, the decision wouldn’t be up to her. Maddie was little more than a cog in the grand machine called Shinra. Even if she did enjoy some autonomy in her operations, at the end of the day she was a tool. It was her responsibility to report on her findings and then operate according to how her supervisors saw fit. She could only hope that she remained useful in their eyes. Useless tools often got discarded. Maddie only had a chance to murmur a brief word of agreeance before her contact beat a hasty exit. It would seem that things would, more or less, go according to his original plan. She would make his bombs and - Wait. … He never told her when or where she’d be getting the supplies. Maddie rose to her feet and scanned the entrance of the bar, hoping to see if she could catch the man before he was gone. No such luck. As quickly and as silently as he had appeared, he was gone. … For fuck’s sake. Maddie slumped down in her chair and rested her chin upon the sticky table in defeat. The meeting could have gone worse she supposed, but she was having difficulty imagining how. She checked her distorted reflection in the semi-clean mug. At least her hair still looked fine. Make-up was still holding up too. She sat upright and continued examining herself. Clothes stain-free and neat. She held a hand up to her mouth and checked her breath. Oh fuck. Oh sweet merciful fuck. It took all Maddie had not to gag on the smell of her own breath. It was like a mixture of goblin piss and soy sauce. Forget a gun - armed with that breath she could single-handedly take down the entirety of the Avalanche operation. Well, she certainly couldn't blame the Butcher for resisting her then. If he hadn’t been gay before, then he most likely was now, what with Ms. Skunkbreath wafting her poisonous fumes that close to his poor nose while clumsily groping him. If he wasn’t a murderous terrorist hellbent on sacrificing innocent lives for his foolish goals, she might actually have felt bad for having traumatized. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for the whole femme fatale schtick. Horror took root in the woman’s heart and her eyes went wide. A sudden realization struck her - she was going to have to report this. ALL of it. She would be embarrassed if Tseng read it of course, but at least that man could remain professional… … Reno could NEVER know. [hr] Maddie eventually gathered herself from the pit of despair she had fallen into and, after settling up her tab, promptly left the bar. She made a quick stop at a convenience store on her way out of the Wall Market. Breath mints were desperately needed. She also picked up a magazine featuring an exaggerated cover photo of a woman standing in front of a swooning man with the caption “10 Easy Steps to Make Him Fall for You.” On her way out of the pleasure capital of Midgar, Maddie checked her phone. She had gotten a notification earlier but hadn’t had a chance to check it before her meeting. It was a hit on her ad. A bite. Somebody was interested and wanted to chat. She had to admit, she was a little taken aback. That was quick. Real quick. Somebody was hungry. Still, she couldn’t dismiss the possibility that it was a false alarm. There were a number of people who had little better to do than waste other people’s time. Maddie accessed the address. It wasn’t exactly the time the potential buyer had mentioned, but it wasn’t as if these things were black tie auctions. She thought for a moment, considering how best to open. These types were often paranoid, which made luring them out in the open rather difficult. She also needed to be careful with the price. Too low and it reeked of a trap. Too high and the buyer would lose interest. For something like this… The potential buyer would receive a message from a “Mogsworth”, using a picture of a character from an old children’s show Maddie used to watch way back when. It was a cute, old moogle wearing a monocle, top hat, and a tailed coat, but no pants. Cartoons were weird. In her defense, she only rarely binge watched the series nowadays. [@rivaan] [code] Package too hot for digital - sniffers will pick it up Can do anonymous drop in Midgar area. Thumb drive 20k total 1st 10k gets u the location 2nd 10k gets u the passcode Wouldn’t suggest trying to brute force it. You fuck me, I fuck you. Deal goes well, can offer exclusives in the future [/code] With that taken care of, all she needed now was a good drop location. She had one in mind. It was just out of the way enough that it might not spook her mark, although Maddie wouldn’t have a great vantage point. Still, she didn’t need to cuff the mark immediately - just figure out if this bozo was the same one she was looking for. [hr] After leaving the Wall Market, Maddie made her way towards the Sector 5 slums. She rented a small apartment in the little shantytown there. It wasn’t exactly Maddie’s dream apartment - she wasn’t the biggest fan of being on the wrong side of the plate - but for her assignment, it served its purpose. Couldn’t very well smuggle bomb supplies topside without an extreme amount of hassle. Besides, the last thing she needed was for her Mother to accidentally detonate a delicate explosive downtown. At least in the shantytown, the losses would be… Maddie stopped herself. That was a cruel thought. She didn’t like those, even if she found herself having them more and more often as of late. In any case, that was the place she received her last shipment of supplies and, considering her contact didn’t deem it necessary to update her on drop spots, she assumed that he would just use the same one. It was...sloppy. If she hadn’t been who she was, if she had just been another radical, she’d have likely been busted by now. Perhaps that was something the group noticed as well? Or maybe she was overthinking as she often did. Bah. Maddie made a stop along the way at an old playground. It used to be pretty popular, or so she heard, but nowadays it was more or less abandoned. Too dangerous. She certainly had never seen anyone use it before. Which was good. She could use this as her drop. The woman crossed over to a slide in the shape of a fun, cartoon cat. Confirming that she hadn’t been followed - and as best as she could tell, her tail still hadn’t found her - she snapped a quick picture of the slide and continued on her way. That would be where she hid the thumb drive if the buyer took the bait. And with that, Maddie continued on her way. For a while. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something seemed...off. She thought she heard something but...couldn’t place it. But then the sound got louder. And louder. And more distinct. And unmistakable. A helicopter. One of THEIR helicopters. Odd, but not cause for alarm. Midgar was Shinra’s city, after all. It made sense for their choppers to be in the air, even if the timing seemed a little odd. But that’s when Maddie heard the gunshots. Heavy gunshots. A lot of gunshots. Off in the same direction that the helicopter seemed to be. There was trouble. It wasn’t Maddie’s concern though. It wasn’t her job. So she would keep on her way. Go straight to her apartment. Ignore the curiosity. It wasn’t her responsibility. … Maddie rushed off in the direction of the firefight. Whatever was happening there, she needed to know. It COULD be useful. Maybe? Shaky logic or not, the woman couldn’t help herself. The curiosity was too strong. And she was just a cat with a deathwish.