[hr][center][h3][u][b][Ares Palisades - Sector 7, Titan's Fall, Texas - USA][/b][/u][/h3][/center][hr]

Rice.  Salmon, filleted perfectly (of course).  Cucumber, sliced thinly.

Onion, diced.  Red Cabbage, shredded. Some Hijiki seaweed.

Sweet chili citrus sauce... some edamame and avocado.  Dash of soy.

Sairyn garnished his bowl with a mango slice and sprinkled sesame seeds over the top before returning to his chair across from a blandly dressed SINS agent.  He glared as the agent looked up at him with some surprise.  Sairyn could see the agent's eyes flick down to his lunch from behind his generic knock off sunglasses.

[b]"Oh, shit!  When you said you were making food I didn't think [i]Purgatory's Kitchen[/i] was happening behind me,"[/b] he chuckled.  Sairyn only raised an eyebrow at him in the awkward silence that followed.  [b]"Soooo...."[/b]

[b][color=#13B30D]"You bought a hot dog,"[/color][/b] Sairyn answered, cutting him off with his mouth full.  There was a note of annoyance in his voice, but truthfully he was grateful to have a few serene moments to sort out his manic thoughts and plan his next move.  Maire was a capable agent, and a quick review of the fight footage revealed that she fell though the plate gap on purpose, though to what ends he wasn't sure.  It was inconvenient that she was out of touch, but he wasn't worried that she was hurt.

[b]"Right...,"[/b] the agent replied, with a small sigh of defeat.

Yue was the more troublesome of the pair.  It's not that she wasn't capable, but since [i]the incident[/i] Yue's mental health was tenuous at best.  It didn't help that the staff psychiatrist seemed to have it out for her.  Sairyn didn't have any authority in that department so there wasn't a lot he could do about that... not yet at least.  She'd buried herself in work, and more or less cut herself off from other work relationships.  The only person in the office that could get her to regularly open up was Archer... maybe Felix.  She barely spoke to Ion anymore (a fact which Ion reminded him of frequently), and Echo was still in HR limbo following his injury-forced retirement.

Sairyn stabbed his chopsticks into the bowl with a flick of irritation as he stared out the window towards the Ares HQ building.  He'd known Yue the longest, but personal relationships were a thing... that happened to other people.  That didn't mean he wasn't desperately wanting to charge into UnderCity guns blazing to find her.  Fuck anyone who got in his way.  Without confirmation of her location all he had was an educated guess that she was down there, however, and being wrong could end up making whatever Maire was doing much harder unintentionally.

[b]"He's just staring at us,"[/b] sighed the agent.

[b][color=#13B30D]"That's what we want him to do,"[/color][/b] answered Sai between mouthfuls.  SINS had called him in to help with a surveillance operation, since they'd gotten a tip that Ares might be receiving some kind of illicit shipment.  They needed someone to fly a drone over the area they'd been tipped off about which... really anybody could do.  Flying a stealth drone through hostile, heavily monitored and guarded territory without sending any detectable signals that would tip Ares off to their presence, however, was something only he could do.  [b][color=#13B30D]"The longer we have his attention here, the less likely he'll notice something amiss elsewhere,"[/color][/b] Sai answered, chewing noisily after shoveling rice into his mouth.  The agent gave him a distasteful look, which cracked a smirk in one of the corners of his mouth.

[b]"It's fucking creepy though, he's done nothing but stare at us and drink coffee... I'm almost convinced we're actually watching a looped recording."[/b]

[b][color=#13B30D]"Tag his window with the laser mic,"[/color][/b] he instructed, raising an eyebrow.  The agent aimed the device at the opposing building, and for a moment a few hushed voices came through the speaker.  The silhouette waggled his finger at them, placing his other hand on the window.  His image blurred, and the speaker erupted in a loud buzzing.  Sairyn snorted when the agent gave a startled jump.  [b][color=#13B30D]"How convinced are you now?"[/color][/b]

The agent glared at him.  His phone chirped.  Sai watched him blink behind his dark glasses as he checked it.

[b][color=#13B30D]"That's probably for me..."[/color][/b]

[b]"Wh- This is a secure line on a private network?!"[/b] He blustered.  Sai shrugged.  [b]"41 messages?!  Who the fuck is Lux Discord??"[/b]

[b][color=#13B30D]"This is why you should've let me keep my phone,"[/color][/b] quipped Sai, smugly.