Elle herself was hard to spot at first. She was apparently asleep; sitting on the floor next to the desk, her scarred and partially shaved head resting against the wall. Cloak had forgotten that they'd actually had to perform--goddess forbid--invasive surgery to patch up her brain. Shudder to think.
"I was wondering when you'd show up." Elle said languidly without opening her eyes.
"Shut it human." He snarled to keep up appearances, smoothly reaching into his pocket and activating a tiny thumbnail-sized device. All visitors were searched and scanned--hardly an issue for an infiltrator with Cloaks abilities. The jammer was programmed to project prerecorded conversations meshed with virtualized versions of the speakers, fooling any eavesdropping device in the room. The real Cloak and Elle were seamlessly replaced by digital fakes. Even if someone was actually paying attention they'd have to scrub through a horrendous amount of junk data just to find that the subjects being monitored were, in fact, not real.
Elle raised a brow at him. She received a nod in return.
"So." She said.
Cloak didn't know where to begin, so he just started talking.
"I know what happened."
"I know you do. You're too good not to have found out some way or another Elix."
"Why did you do it? Why would you? You're not a Ropae. You have no claim in our civil war, nothing to gain from taking this fall."
"C'mon you and I both know that's not true." Elle sighed, rubbing her temples. Cloak fell silent for a moment, assessing her. An annoyance and a burden. That was all she'd ever been to him. But now he found himself almost in awe of her. She was, quite literally, the reason that there was no longer a civil war on his planet. To end that civil war she'd put her head in the chopping block for all of them. Ended a genocide. Convinced everyone to vote Fay as the new planetary head and thus breaking the cycle of monarchy on his planet and saving Peace from a life of reluctant responsibility as the King. Saved Cloaks own life at great risk to her own well being.
"You saved me and Fay."
"I had to." She smiled at him. "You need to cut back on the booze though, getting kinda fat. I could barely drag your ass away from that awful bomb."
"I was wondering when you'd show up." Elle said languidly without opening her eyes.
"Shut it human." He snarled to keep up appearances, smoothly reaching into his pocket and activating a tiny thumbnail-sized device. All visitors were searched and scanned--hardly an issue for an infiltrator with Cloaks abilities. The jammer was programmed to project prerecorded conversations meshed with virtualized versions of the speakers, fooling any eavesdropping device in the room. The real Cloak and Elle were seamlessly replaced by digital fakes. Even if someone was actually paying attention they'd have to scrub through a horrendous amount of junk data just to find that the subjects being monitored were, in fact, not real.
Elle raised a brow at him. She received a nod in return.
"So." She said.
Cloak didn't know where to begin, so he just started talking.
"I know what happened."
"I know you do. You're too good not to have found out some way or another Elix."
"Why did you do it? Why would you? You're not a Ropae. You have no claim in our civil war, nothing to gain from taking this fall."
"C'mon you and I both know that's not true." Elle sighed, rubbing her temples. Cloak fell silent for a moment, assessing her. An annoyance and a burden. That was all she'd ever been to him. But now he found himself almost in awe of her. She was, quite literally, the reason that there was no longer a civil war on his planet. To end that civil war she'd put her head in the chopping block for all of them. Ended a genocide. Convinced everyone to vote Fay as the new planetary head and thus breaking the cycle of monarchy on his planet and saving Peace from a life of reluctant responsibility as the King. Saved Cloaks own life at great risk to her own well being.
"You saved me and Fay."
"I had to." She smiled at him. "You need to cut back on the booze though, getting kinda fat. I could barely drag your ass away from that awful bomb."
