「 @Tacticalxkiller 」
That god-forsaken TURK floor, buried in the bowels of HQ. At least the lift was swift and empty, at least the hour is early and people few——oh, too few. He stands there, in the too-quiet space, damned to make conversation... "Tseng not in?" he asks the blonde, giving not a second of eye contact. Amos stares, rather, at a dim light that buzzes just a little too loud.
@amosq C'mon Mr. Cranky pants, the DRUM is the true bowels of the building... even if it is on a higher floor. With its nice sofas and [albeit fake] greenery, the Turks office isn't the worst place in the building. Besides, Tseng frequented it. That counted towards making it better, right?
And yes, that light was supposed to be fixed weeks ago. Unless someone is deliberately tampering with it. She wouldn't put it past a certain red head. The quiet click clacking of the keyboard would+
@amosq HOPEFULLY drown it out for him just as it eventually had for her.
Elena didn't look up right away either, focusing on her report as she responded. "Out on an errand for the boss, he should be back before the end of the day."
Her tone might come off as frosty, but rest assured it's not directed at him personally. She just gets really engrossed in her work. Once she finished the paragraph she was on, Elena finally looked up and blinked in surprise. The Hermit was out? Someone was in+
@amosq some deep shit if he's looking for Tseng... what did the boys do now?
Or... what if she's done something?
S h i t.
Spinning in her seat, she stood up to face the PR agent, smoothing out a wrinkle in her coat. "I can ring him for you... if you need him right away?"
@Tacticalxkiller Oh no no, he prefers not to think of any floor where R&D sleeps at all. TURKs can be the bowels, the DRUM, the labs...those are the unmentionables.
"End of the day? 𝐌𝐦𝐦..." he grumbles, running through little scenarios in his head, the potential outcomes: of waiting; of doing nothing; of taking care of things himself; talking to Heidegger; of getting struck by Heidegger for wasting his time; of using a phone when didn't prepare himself to use a phone...
Amos doesn't —
@Tacticalxkiller — seem to mind Elena's tone at all. The tone of that goddamn light is much more concerning. Are there a dozen bees trapped inside the glass tube? Is that what makes it glow?
When she stands, he does look at her——a proper once over. She's small, and...small. That's fine, people are small sometimes.
"No, that's fine——if he's busy, he's busy," he says. Using the phone wasn't on his agenda, save a couple of meetings. He'd —
@Tacticalxkiller — rather be called than give a call. "What level of clearance do you have, exactly? How long have you worked here?"
She looks young. Not that Amos doesn't, but——his skin lies, more creases and little cracks than most men his age. It's the eyes, the hands, the oft-moving parts. The skin adds years.
@amosq Not only the skin, the job doesn't help. In fact, the more stress a department faces, the more wrinkles you'd have and darker the circles under your eyes. And this gent... Elena couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever had a proper night's sleep in his life.
There's sure to be a truckload more to him than met the eyes, just as there was more to her. Yes, she's tiny. But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in ferocity, like a chihuahua. With just as much of a bite, too. Heiddegger was+
@amosq nothing but a big burly bully, she gladly chews up men like that before spitting them back out. If Amos is worried about getting struck by a higher up, she could accompany him. No one messed with the suits for a reason.
Although, it seemed gremlin energy would not be needed this fine afternoon. The blonde cantered her head to the side with an inquisitive expression. He just needed a certain clearance level? Given that she's personal security to the President--
"The highest, sir... did+
@amosq you need an escort somewhere, then?"
She could provide that much, so long as it was within proper protocols.
@Tacticalxkiller Nothing helps——there are genetic factors, invisible health factors...things he doesn't exactly wear on his (compression) sleeves.
Amos isn't worried about getting hit by higher ups. He can take it, he always does.
The notion that she is of the highest clearance gets a quiet chuckle out of him——sure, in theory, the TURKs are likely up there. But information is complicated, he doubts they'd be able to get their hands on just about —
@Tacticalxkiller — anything (nevermind the things he buries and burns). They both deal in sorts of cleanups, very different cleanups with overlapping mess.
"You could call it an escort task——would you rather do it alone, or have me there, 'escort' me?" which is to say, he's offering an assignment. "Usually I'd ask Tseng, then he'd designate someone, and I'd retroactively get Heidegger's approval. But, things go over much smoother if you solve the problem first, and —
@Tacticalxkiller — just get the stamp afterwards, hm? I'm sure you're more than capable, it won't be difficult."
As ass backward as it may sound, asking for forgiveness is often easier than approval.
Especially when there's nothing to apologise for other than getting the job done.
"I could handle it alone, but——𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒄-𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔," he says, a tacit acknowledgement of needing that little more sleep, and then some, and —
@amosq Regardless, even if he was accustomed to being whomped on by big ugly bullies, that doesn't make it okay for the abuse to continue. If ever she saw general heifer being cruel to someone much weaker than him, Elena would be sure to give him a swift kick in the back of his kneecaps and say she tripped. Consequences be dammed.
As for restricted access, Elena has he ways. Not to mention friends in both high and low places. Lucas was her go-to hacker, and there were a couple of people on+
@amosq the security team she's paid off to make footage conveniently disappear. The most recent case was when Reno discovered the truth about his parents that ShinRa tried to bury. He'd torn through the archives, devastated and furious, destroying God's only knew how much of its bloody history.
So, yes. She's more than capable of carrying out this assignment for him and getting the marks from Tseng when she's finished. "Whatever you're comfortable with, sir." If he preferred staying behind in+
@amosq the comforts of his own office, he was free to do so. If he felt she was incapable of carrying out this task, he was more than welcome to tag along.
"What is it exactly you need done?"
@Tacticalxkiller As much as it’s not okay—it’s unlikely she’ll ever hear him mention it, nor complain. It’s unlikely she’ll see it happen either. On account of clearance issues, most meetings are more or less private.
Most things like that happen behind closed doors.
“Mm,” he half-hums, half grumbles. Amos is thinking less about comfort and more about completion, and whether he has the time, and whether his eyes will be more suited for picking out the right things, and… “Well—” he —
@amosq Accepting what was handed to her, Elena intently listened to what he was saying. From what she was understanding, this was a snuff job. Something she was more than capable of completing in no time flat.
Was the information she'd uncovered really worth silencing her permanently, though? Ah, well... she wasn't paid to ask those questions. Obviously, someone higher up on the food chain was at risk.
"Understood. I'll do a little digging, and then I'll be on my way. Should I look for+
@Tacticalxkiller https://mastodon.social/@amosq/111286104181411595
Throwing this here for my own reference, since I clearly fucked it previously. 😭
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