Talking with Forte (Locked to Forte and Pallette)

[secretsnavi]

She warped into one of HQ's 'clean' rooms. The coordinate access would change as soon as she left, but for now, Forte would be able to come in. The room itself wasn't in MHHQ Tokyo, but it was connected. Hunters with Beta clearance and higher were given access. Pallette had found out about them as a rookie

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[forte_alone]

It was only a few moments before Forte teleported into the room, too. He gave the room a cursory examination, then turned to face Pallette. "What happened?" he asked, blunt and to the point.

[secretsnavi]

Pallette clanked as she sat, none-too-gently, on the floor, then glanced in irritation at her armor and changed into civillian clothing.

She rested her elbows on her knees as the code-shimmer died down and sighed.

"My brother came to see me a few days ago. I left before he could really... do, anything. He showed up again today and said he had information about me which could damage the Hunters. He wants me to meet with him at his lab, or he'll go public with what he knows."

Pallette smiled, bitter and angry. "My 'dear twin' is blackmailing me."

[forte_alone]

Forte lifted an eyebrow. Now what would Pallette have done that could be used as blackmail against both her and the Hunters? He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, but for now he remained in his armor.

"If you go, you'll have the same problems you had with your sister, right?" he asked, referring to how Pallette had buckled emotionally when Melody had hugged her.

[secretsnavi]

"It's more than likely," she murmured, trying to be honest with herself. Optimism wouldn't help her. Pallette smirked. "The awful part? I don't even know if he has enough proof to make his accusation stick. The fact that he knows is bad enough- but without hard evidence, he won't convince anyone in power."

"But it doesn't matter." Pallette rested her head on her arms. She was so tired of all of this. "I can't take the risk that he can tell the Government about Lumine and make them believe it. I can't risk that the Hunters will be implicated in associating with a known Maverick."

She laughed weakly. "Whether he has evidence or not, I'm in a situation where I have to meet him in a place he's chosen. Not a very good idea."

[forte_alone]

Forte's eyes narrowed. "So send someone else. Someone not associated with the Hunters, so that if they get caught, it can't be tied back to them. This is a trap, Pallette. You're too vulnerable, regardless of if he even has anything he can hold over your head. If you go to your brother's lab, you won't come back out until he's gotten what he wants."

He stopped leaning against the wall and started pacing. "On the other hand, if someone else were to go meet him, they might be able to destroy any evidence he has." He glanced at Pallette and snorted. "You could try the same thing, of course, but your brother's probably prepared for anything you might try."

[secretsnavi]

She nodded. "He probably is." Pallette's eyes narrowed as she thought about it. "He deliberately told me where he was keeping the evidence. If he knows me well enough now to know I'll do this- he'll know other things. Considering what I do for a living... he probably expects me to break into his lab."

She shuddered. Forte was right. A scientist's lab was his own little world. He controlled it- knew everything that went on inside it, and how to use it all to his advantage. Pallette thought she knew what Canvas wanted. If she met him in his lab, she'd find out for certian, and probably far too late to do anything about it.

"Who else could go?" she murmured sadly. "The bulk of my friends and associates are hunters. Melody wouldn't be that stupid, not for me. I'm not going to pay some idiot like Dynamo to do it- they'd sell the information to the highest bidder-" she caught the significant look Forte was giving her.

"...No," Pallette said flatly, holding his gaze.

[forte_alone]

"Why not?" Forte demanded. "Your brother can't pull the same tricks on me that he can on you - hell, I'd blast him in the face if he tried to hug me! - and no one would connect me with the Hunters. Hardly anyone in your time even knows who I am. Even if someone managed to dig up my specs in some old history archive, who in their right mind would think a Wily-bot like me would ever work for people like you?"

In his mind, he could see himself pulling this off with ease. Pallette's brother was probably some geeky little science nerd who'd never fought, might not even have any built in weapons, and definitely wouldn't know what to expect from Forte.

"I can do this, Pallette," he said, trying to communicate with his eyes how serious he was. "And if I want to, why stop me?"

[secretsnavi]

Pallette got a mental image of that very thing and bit back a smile. Vas hugging Forte. Scary thought... funny though.

"Maybe he's expecting me to try and break in. Maybe he'll leave the security down to make sure I'll get to his lab before the doors lock and I'm trapped," it sounded like the kind of thing Vas- Vandemere- any of them would do.

"But maybe he's not. Maybe he wants security to catch me. It's a Government-controlled building, Forte. I don't know if I could get myself in there undetected-" well, that was a lie, but she hoped it was convincing enough that Forte would believe her, "on a day no one would be expecting me."

"It'll make more trouble for the Hunters if Vas wanted me to get caught- and I don't even want to think of what would happen if you were captured by our Government!" she shook his arms a little, punctuating her words. Later, Pallette would have to review her memory banks to figure out when she'd stood up, much less walked over to him.

[forte_alone]

Forte dismissed his armor, opting for the more casual and more comfortable street clothes he'd gotten used to since he'd mastered the clothing chip. "Who says they'd catch me?" He grinned cockily. "I've broken into the Maverick Hunter headquarters before and gotten away with it, remember?" Granted, that had probably been half luck, but Pallette didn't know that, and he wasn't going to tell her. "Unless their security's a hell of a lot better than yours, they wouldn't even know I was there."

[secretsnavi]

Okay, he had a point there. The Government liked to think they had the best security in the world- but when more than half of them held Reploids in contempt, what they considered 'the best' was really only the best that Humans could offer.

Pallette snorted in amusement, shook her head. "Okay, maybe you could break in. First you'd have to find Vandemere's facilities. Then you'd have to find Canvas' lab," she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest.

[forte_alone]

Forte's grin broadened. "What, don't they have phonebooks in your time?" he asked. "Whether or not you approve, I could always go on my own. And since you called Canvas your twin, I even have a general idea of who to look for."

[secretsnavi]

She glared and considered knocking him unconscious. She could do it, then take him to Lifesaver to see that he stayed that way until she could get the meeting over with. She didn't want to. She wanted the help.

Going back to Vandemere was the last thing Pallette wanted to do. Everything that had already happened pointed towards Vas demanding that of her if he had blackmail material, or waiting till they were alone to break down Pallette's defenses until she said yes to anything he asked of her.

She sighed. "Fine." Pallette chuckled. "As if I didn't already owe you for helping me find Melody." The question was, how were they going to do it? Pallette gave Forte a considering look. "...Have you ever worked with a navigator before?"

[forte_alone]

Forte eyed Pallette warily, not quite certain what she was suggesting. "I've never worked with anyone before, unless you count that thing with Dynamo. What exactly is a 'navigator' in this context?"

While Forte knew about the chip research and development part of Pallette's job, he didn't know what else she did for the Hunters. And, of course, navigators didn't exist back in his time, either.

[secretsnavi]

She almost grinned. Was this his 'professional' mode? Pallette made an amused sound. "I don't know exactly what Dynamo was doing, and I'm not sure I want to know.

"In this context, I'd give you a camera and a comm. transmitter. Hunter Navis monitor what the Field hunters are doing and give advice where it would be useful. The camera would be hidden somewhere on your helmet, and will allow me to see what you would see. The transmitter would allow us to communicate.

"I can research the building's layout and defenses, and tell you how to avoid them. Once you got up to the lab, I would be able to identify the materials that need to be destroyed."

[forte_alone]

It went against the way Forte worked, but he had to admit that there would be some definite advantages to what Pallette was offering. Breaking in would be a lot easier and a lot less dangerous if he had someone helping him who was actually familiar with the technology of the time. Even so, if it had been anyone but Pallette, Forte might still have turned them down flat. As it was...

"That'd be useful," he said grudgingly. "There wouldn't be any way for a third party to figure out who my signal was transmitting to, would there?"

[secretsnavi]

"If you say my name in another person's hearing, there's a good chance they'll figure it out," she smirked. "Otherwise, it's unlikely. HQ's transmitters bounce the signal off multiple satelites to deter tracking.

"Once I get those things from HQ... and figure out the most secure place to set up operations, it'll be up to your schedule." She was duty-free for the next three days. Vas had probably known that as well.