[I][h2]A New Partnership...[/h2][/i][hr][sup]A collaborative post between [@Chulance] & [@Xandrya][/sup]

Floyd was surprised Network was having a better start then he'd hoped for, but things were starting to pan out in a positive manner so to speak. Getting Shade on his side was a major win for him, and one that he'd hoped would have a snowball effect on bringing forth momentum for his organization. But in order to effectively seize the black market & take the company where he wanted to go then he needed help. Not to mention his confrontation with Lori Martinez had left him reeling, people like her needed to go. He felt that both of his primary goals/obstacles would align with the interests of a certain female agent who'd decided to let him go free a few days ago. Fumbling through his materials he found Anya's card, and produced one of his burner cells. Examining the card once more he pushed in the digits and called her. [i]Two more days until the deadline for registration is up, things are about to get hectic.[/I]

She was sitting on a barstool leaning on her kitchen counter. Anya was wearing nothing but underwear and a white tank top. Fresh bandages covered her wounds, and despite the medication she was currently prescribed, Anya had a glass of wine in hand. She hadn't left her home much these past few days. While Liberty sent her home until she was fully recovered, the FSS did not have the same expectations. Had her incident been work-related, meaning, she was ordered to take Floyd into custody, they would have been a little more understanding of her situation. But Instead, when she was questioned, she explained to her superiors the she had engaged the Altered on her own account. Anya wasn't formally reprimanded, but there were some closed-door discussions she had had with her superiors, though in the end, all she was left with was some side work to handle that wasn't all that physically demanding.

Since she was lost in thought as she sipped her wine, Anya was startled when her phone went off. She grabbed it and noticed it was a number she didn't have saved.

“Hello?”

Floyd was tapping his fingers on his desk when he finally heard a click. "Hey, we need to speak or rather meet it'll be well worth your while. It's Floyd, Floyd Banker, the flying altered from the other day." Floyd added at the end to try to jog Anya's memory of him incase she didn't recall who he was.

"Yes, of course," Anya knew right away who it was. She quickly finished the wine left on the glass by gulping down the last mouthful. She wasn't looking to get drunk, but she didn't want to be completely sober either. "So you want to meet now?" she added, more so talking to herself. "I mean, yeah, I can meet you somewhere, I just need to get dressed. Will you text me the location?”

Floyd was glad Anya recognized him without  having to say anything further, it was good to have things going his way after the earlier confrontation with Lori Martinez. "Well now would be good timing." He added and went to his phone to send her a text of the location of a new factory he'd purchased two days ago to replace the warehouse Paige wiped out on the same day he'd finally gotten ownership of Taste of Paradise. "It's a fairly unoccupied factory, meet me there as soon as possible." Floyd added with some urgency in his voice wanting to meet up with her in person as soon as possible.

After getting the details from Floyd, Anya hung up with him and went ahead to get dressed. As she did so, she winced in pain a couple of times. She simply put on shorts and a light jacket, leaving some of the bandage exposed. Anya was not wanting to make the pain worse by wearing tight or restrictive clothing. Besides, she wasn't meeting Floyd in a professional capacity, so dressing down was fine. It could also possibly help her keep the meeting under wraps from her superiors since she wasn't running around town looking official as usual.

A while later, Anya finally arrived at the factory. She didn't see Floyd right away, so she walked around near the entrance.

"Floyd?" Her voice echoed off the walls.

"What the fuck happened to you." Floyd retorted as he became visible walking over to her from her a corner in the room. He was eying her up and down, noticing the bandage but also noticing more of her body with the way she was dressed. She had a nice figure, and the agent was more attractive then he recalled. Of course this meeting was much less tension filled then the last one that started off with him in cuffs. "Anyway I need your help, right now I'm starting my own group of altered humans and I'm trying to take control of the black market. I think being in charge of the american criminal underworld would be a valuable resource as the President's new laws make it harder for the majority of altered to have jobs aside from busines owners & the like. I'm looking to partner with someone in the government, and willing to offer up all manner of criminal enemies in exchange for immunity while in pursuit of this goal." Floyd retorted to Anya getting straight to the point.

She could tell he was checking her out as he didn't make any attempts to be the least bit inconspicuous, but Anya refrained from saying something. She couldn't deny he was attractive as well, but she wouldn't make it obvious. "Did you already forget how that Altered nearly killed me? Unfortunately, I'm not as strong as a lot of you with your abilities, so I've been out from work for little bit.

Floyd then brought up the reason he had called her. And to be honest, Anya had to give some thought to what he had just proposed. She wouldn't be breaking protocol with just one employer, but with both of them...despite the fact that she was not a legitimate Liberty employee in the sense of holding allegiance to the agency. "That's a very tempting offer...but I would have a hell of a lot more to lose than you. How do I know you're not going to screw me over?" she asked.

Floyd rolled his eyes at Anya’s first comment, surely an agent like her wasn’t complaining about being hurt or not being as physically strong as superhumans. Besides not all altered had super strength anyway, hell he didn’t. “Oh come on, what [I]do[/I] you have to loose? I’m the one whose a criminal trying to partner with the government. Not only that I’m offering you an unlimited peak into the other side, endless pool of regular criminals & altered criminals for you & your buddies to string up like a Christmas tree whenever you want. You’ll literally be the [I]best[/I] agent ever.” Floyd continued trying to focus on the potential benefits of working together while proposing this deal too Anya.

“Anyway how the hell can I screw [I]you[/I] over in this partnership. You think in any scenario they’ll believe me over you if something we’re to go left.” Floyd added with a grin, although he wasn’t planning on crossing her if she agreed. Part of the inspiration for this idea came from watching Sons of Anarchy. “Or maybe you don’t have the juice to pull off what I’m asking for huh? Is that it can’t get it up for my request hmm?” Floyd teased but with a hint of seriousness, after all if she wasn’t high ranking enough to help with what he wanted then he needed to be careful because that didn’t mean she might not have enough rank to put an end to it.

“Listen, if I get found out, I might as well start digging my own grave. All they need is any ounce of proof that I’m working with you instead of taking your ass to jail and I’m a dead woman.” Anya was being honest; she wasn’t exaggerating. Her superiors would not take kindly to her going behind their backs. She’d heard the stories of what’d happened to other operatives who just so happened to betray the FSS, and that alone was hhea deterrent on its own. Still, Floyd brought forth a pretty good point. She would be gaining [i]a lot[/i], and to her, it was worth the risk. Anya smirked at his latest statement. “If you didn’t think I had what it takes to offer you an in then you wouldn’t even be here right now, so don’t play that game. But you are right, your offer is a pretty good, one that’s hard to pass up… And with that said, I hope you’re ready to play by my rules.”

"Wellllll I guess you have a point there, if I didn't think you could do it I wouldn't be here, or I'd be pretty screwed considering I can't wipe away memories or anything." Floyd noted jokingly although he was being partially serious, if he had made an incorrect assessment he would be totally screwed right about now. "And okay then what are "YOUR" rules then Agent Donnovan." Floyd asked somewhat sarcastically wondering what he was getting himself into. Still he shoved any potential regrets he had to the side, if he was going to do this then he wanted to be connected with government forces from the start, it would lead to making the Network succesful, plus he was determined to take down Lori Martinez, Reaper & any other similarly threatening forces.

“The rules are simple. Every major job, movement, shipping, and anything else of significance must be previously approved by me. You will [i]not[/i] carry out these actions without consulting me first, and if I tell you to pull the plug, you will listen to me.” Anya then stepped closer to Floyd, decreasing the distance between the both of them. Her tone now lowered, she looked him square in the eye. “And last but not least, no one but you knows about me. If I find out you as so much mention my name, you are fucking dead…and that’s a promise I’ll carry out myself.”

"Suit yourself if your into micro managing, although I forsee that particular condition of yours being quite difficult as Network grows in number, fortunately for you the group's not that big right now."Floyd shrugged if she wanted to make her life more difficult and his easy that was fine with him. He could use the management help anyway. thi was not a field he use to being a leader in anynway. As she got closed he clenched his nose a bit. "Jeez you smell you went swimming in a pool of wine, stand back a little your breath is intoxicating." Floyd said to her when she approached and made her final lecturing threatening remarks. "You don't gotta get drunk, to threaten me.”

Anya rolled her eyes in response, shaking her head as she stepped back to turn away from Floyd. "It's not so much a threat as it is a fact. [i]You[/i] may get a slap on the wrist compared to the hell that will rain down on me." With her back to the Altered, Anya placed her hands on her waist as she looked up at the sky. She was remembering the footage they had showed her during her training of what they did to operatives who went rogue in one way or another. She initially had turned her eyes away from the screen, but the was warned just once to keep watching or else there'd be consequences. But that was then, and things were much different now, at least in her experience. "But as long as we can work with my rules, we won't have any problems...”

Floyd couldn't help but laugh a little bit at Anya's response, not that he found her particularly funny. "Right you think me, a black man & an altered will get a "slap on the wrist" for what amounts to being the leader of a super powered terrorist group trying to take over the entire criminal underworld." Floyd found that amusing, although maybe Anya's punishment would be more severe. After all she was an agent helping to make it all possible, he didn't have the government connections to fulfill this whole plan which is why he was here seeking her to work together with him in the first place. "I don't see any reason I can't abide by your rules Agent Donnovan, as long as you don't cross me you'll or try round 2 with the handcuffs you'll find me to be particularly loyal. Also your alcohol fueled breath isn't a problem the only real problem is that you didn't invite me to join you? Relaxing and having fun unwinding with good drink all by yourself? Come on now that isn't any way to treat a new partner is it? Floyd added at the end somewhat teasing her.

"Oh, so you're interested," Anya smirked, pausing briefly to contemplate the fun them two could have. "I would have invited you but you never gave me your number...and a man like you goes through burners probably at the same rate I go through bottles. Besides, haven't you heard? Never mix business with pleasure.”

"Hmmmm" Floyd responded allowing his eyes to survey Anya's figure once more before giving his answer. "Okay that settles it I'm 100% interested, and excuses excuses. Excuses are are the tools of incompetence, used to build monuments of nothingness.  Also I tend to think the opposite, mix business with pleasure and it hardly even feels like work." Floyd responded.

"I suppose that's another way to look at it... Open invitation, to celebrate this new [i]partnership[/i] of ours. If you're interested you can join me back at my place, I have a nice variety for your choice of poison. If not, I'll continue drinking all the same.”

“Why thank you, it's always a good idea to look at things from a variety of perspectives." Floyd shot back at Anya with a mischievous grin plastered onto his face. "Sounds like your gonna enjoy life with or without me one way or another, but I'd be happy to accompany you on this journey back to your place. Would you like to handle transportation I've acquired a more discreet means to go about it." Floyd added with a smirk as he hovered in the air before turning invisible, only to resume being seen by the naked eye with both feet planted firmly on the ground. "Or would you prefer more traditional means of moving around.”

“Preferably the more discreet method as I’d rather avoid being spotted with an altered outside of work. You know how it goes...”

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[I]Can’t wait to hear all about it. Give me about an hour to get ready and I’ll see you there...[/I] Michele picked up the pace, not wanting to look like the hot mess that was currently running around San Francisco. She liked Michael, and she would be lying to herself if she did’t admit that she was trying to impress him later on, whether he considered it to be a date or not. 

Some time passed and Michele was setting up a variety of finger food that consisted of a couple of cheeses and hams, some crackers with fig jelly on the side, corn nuts, and mini ham croquettes she had quickly fried up. It had taken her quite a bit to figure out what she wanted to wear, something nice but casual enough to not make her be overdressed in her own home. In the end, Michele decided on a denim [url=https://img.staticdj.com/e054efa3a732660e6005465c799c0c78_1080x_nw.jpeg]dress[/url] accentuated at the waist by a red belt and a simple pair of [url=https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0082/3374/6490/products/1000057814_shana_thongflat_106502_bamboo_white_tribal_AB_2021a905-5c30-4ee4-9a6d-319f577b4e98_2880x.jpg?v=1616712180]sandals[/url]. Once she was done, she looked at the time and realized she had maybe a few minutes until the hour was up. The young woman was relieved, and started to pour some wine on a couple of glasses.

[@FunnyGuy]