2023-06-03: Bargaining Key
- Cast: Leina Ashta, (as Alberto Vist), Banagher Links
- Where: The Garuda
- Date: U.C. 0097 05 29
- Summary: Alberto Vist negotiates with Banagher Links for Laplace's Box. With the dark history of the Vist family haunting them both, can they find any common ground as brothers?
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
It's the third day Banagher has been here. It has been the third day right? Without a window, the sense of passing time is only marked by the changing of the guard shifts, which are out of Banagher's view.
And it's on some point in that day that two security guards walk in, and put him in cuffs. They don't harm him if he doesn't resist. "Mister Vist would like to speak to you."
That's all the indication of where they're going, but then they add, short and sharp. "Behave yourself around him."
Banagher's taken to a room which looks like it might have belonged in some Space Colony Police Procedural. Two-way glass, a table. Fastenings in the center of the table that his cuffs are attached to.
Two chairs, he's given one to occupy. The other is empty. He's made to wait something like a half hour, before Alberto Vist walks in. Suit immaculate, hair combed. He strides in, hands behind his back, and doesn't immediately take the chair.
He's looking at the wall, rather than Banagher.
"Mister Links, our Key to the Box."
He utters, his tone carefully neutral. "I was told that negotiations didn't go so well between you and our Aumerei. Unfortunate, but understandable. So much is being put on that girl's shoulders."
If he's looking at Banagher, then it's only out of the corner of his eye, and not directly at him. The shadowy reflection upon the shaded, mirrored glass.
"I'm here to expedite things. I do hope you can be reasonable about this, given your bargaining position."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Three days.
He hasn't been treated badly. He knows the girls are going through worse. Banagher has refused any food or drink unless Leina is present, and so far, this demand has been humored. While he hasn't showered, he's been given water and a cloth to clean himself up with every so often.
This morning when he woke up, there was a small bandage on his arm. Banagher ripped it off immediately, scowling at the pinprick-wound of a needle hidden beneath. Somebody either took his blood or injected him with something while he was asleep. Banagher doesn't... feel any different, as far as he can tell. Maybe they're just messing with him.
It works. He's on edge the entire day, pacing restlessly, twisting his thin prison shirt between his hands. Akane promised him a chance at escape, but nothing has changed. What's going on? Has she been found out? What's happening to Leina, to Audrey -- to any of the girls?
Banagher is almost relieved when the security guards enter. At least /something/ is happening. He's been cuffed and escorted away a few times before -- Vist sending him to their best negotiators to try and find the Box, and every time, Banagher has gone absolutely silent. But Vist has all the cards, and it's only a matter of time before Banagher is forced into cooperating.
Golden eyes go wide at the mention of Alberto, but the young pilot keeps quiet.
Akane, hurry. I'm about to run out of time.
Can Akane hear him? Banagher has no idea, but he desperately broadcasts the words.
As his cuffs are attached to the table, Banagher settles in. This room is nicer than the ones he's been in previously. It makes sense Alberto would be too good for a typical interrogation room. The guards leave.
Banagher picks at the cuffs. He understands how the mechanism works, but without a tool, he can't get them open. These things are professional grade, but they're bound to have a weakness somewhere... Rocking back in his chair, he puts pressure on the cuffs (and his wrists). They're not that tight, not really. If he dislocated his thumb, maybe?
Before Banagher can figure out how to do so, Alberto makes his appearance. The change that comes over the younger Vist child is remarkable -- shoulders stiffen, face twists with rage, and an aura of fury fills the room that even two-way glass can't disguise. Piercing green light shimmers around Banagher, painful to look at directly. Starlit wrath and radiant promises of violence.
Silence greets Alberto.
Internally, Banagher has a thousand things to say. How dare you speak my mother's name. That girl's name is Akane Shinjo. You're the one who did this. You're the one who did this. You're the one who did this.
YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS.
Banagher stares, unblinking, at the back of Alberto's head. For the moment, at least, he has nothing to say.
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Alberto Vist's eyelids flutter at Banagher's fury. Does he feel it? It's hard to say. He's so closed off at his baseline state. One doesn't need Newtype senses to understand it.
Alberto too doesn't say anything for a long while. "Ah the silent treatment. Do you think stonewalling us is going to help any of those girls in our care, Mister Links?"
He sounds almost, embarrassed, to invoke them? Still though, apparently he decides to take a different tact. "You must think of this as the ultimate betrayal by your own family. Your words said as much, back during our law enforcement action at the Photon Power Labs. You tried to reach out to me as 'a brother', even though our father never even spoke of your existence."
And now rather than look at the wall, he turns towards the two way mirror, his back towards Banagher.
"But we're no family to you. Even if we do consider this whole incident an embarrassing family matter. There are things, you just don't understand about the Vist family, because you were never one of us. But let's start with this detail."
Reaching into his suit pocket, he unfolds a piece of paper, "I took the liberty of drawing your blood this morning. Just one more thing for you to be upset with me about, but there was something I had to confirm." Holding up the piece of the paper, he looks at it, "Within your blood plasma was traces of a rare compound, that isn't excreted normally. A compound found mostly for use within Cyber Newtype labs to awaken their subjects."
He turns his neck just slightly, just the smallest fraction, a sliver of his eye noted, "And to ready the body for future physical enhancements."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Silence stretches out between the brothers. Alberto breaks it, finally, knowing exactly where to apply pressure to get through Banagher's defenses. The furious aura around the young Newtype shatters, and he lowers his head.
"You're not my brother."
Banagher's voice is quiet. Alberto almost needs to strain to hear it -- though every word is certainly being picked up and recorded by the cameras watching them. He lets Alberto's words wash over him. It's nothing Banagher hasn't realized on his own.
When Alberto brings out the paper and speaks of drawing Banagher's blood, the young pilot can't help but peek up at him through his messy bangs, defeated by his own curiosity.
Cyber Newtype..?
Banagher knew his father experimented on him. He can remember it -- the pain and confusion, until the day his mother took him away, but he'd thought Cardeas was simply... curious, or observing a baseline subject. Something harmless. Not... Physical enhancements.
Golden eyes squeeze closed. One more betrayal. The memory of Cardeas' dying moments appears to Banagher again, the warm feeling of blood streaking across his cheek as his father caresses his face.
Leina was right. Cardeas never loved him. Banagher was just an illegitimate child, a free test subject.
"Then you must be proud." Again, his voice comes so softly. "To be Cardeas Vist's true son. You're honoring him every day by advancing his work here."
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Something hurts within Alberto's chest as Banagher says that, but it numbs, like ice not long after, "It's good that you realize that."
It means that he won't be forced to remove him from this mortal coil.
Still, he can feel Banagher's turmoil as he says that. The idea of a father that never loved him.
Honestly, Alberto can relate, all those hours upset at boarding school from the neglect, the distance. However, he pushes those feelings away.
"Pride isn't the word I'd use for it." Alberto tells him evenly, "I have no intention of mirroring Cardeas' legacy, in our work here, in anything we do. He chose the wrong side."
And now, he does turn himself, looking at Banagher from a more indirect angle, as if he were finally half looking at him, with a sense of cold pity.
"My great-grandfather, Syam Vist, killed Cardeas' father, and Aunt Martha's over a family dispute decades before you were born."
His Lilac suit nearly hides the red of his shirt beneath, as if concealing the blood stained history, but only just barely. "Because Cardeas sided with Syam, he was made his successor in the Vist Foundation. Given great power, control. Aunt Martha has never forgiven that."
Alberto begins pacing all of a sudden, "You didn't know the first thing about the man whose legacy you took on yourself, did you Banagher? The man who sold out his own father for power, placing his dying wish upon you."
For a time, he doesn't say anything, as if he were considering the cruelty, and the hypocrisy of this act given Banagher's ignorance.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"It doesn't matter what you're intending. You're kidnapping and torturing young girls." Banagher's eyes slowly raise, staring into the back of Alberto's head again. "Do you think that's the right side?"
How could he have ever wanted this man to see him as a brother? Banagher curses himself, meeting Alberto's cold pity with burning hatred. They couldn't be more different. Even Alberto's expensive clothing proves that.
"Why are you bothering telling me this? You made it clear. I'm not one of you." The handcuffs rattle as Banagher adjusts his position. "I never did this for father's sake. I took the Unicorn because I wanted to help people."
Banagher watches Alberto pace.
"I wanted to help everyone." His words sound pathetic, echoing emptily in the cold interrogation room. Banagher huddles into himself. "Not just give it to someone who would cause another war, or oppress poor Spacenoids, or. Get more money, and more power."
The young pilot shakes his head. "What is it you /want/? Don't you have enough? What could the Box even give you that you don't already have?"
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Alberto listens to him, and tries his hardest not to show, or feel sympathy for his position, "If the situation calls for it, the end justifies the means, Mister Links. The Sleeves fed you lines about the Box being a negotiating prop to them. However, you underestimate the Federation's belligerence when it comes to a threat to their bottom line."
He tells him, as his pacing stops, "War. A third Neo-Zeon war, that is the more likely result of the Sleeves obtaining the Box. Even Ms. Ashta realizes that. How many more millions of lives, shattered and destroyed because we decided to 'wear kid gloves'? Compared to that..."
He does eye him now, "Do you really hold their lives in such high esteem that you'd prefer they remain unharmed, but countless others die as a result of your rogue actions?"
And in that, he pulls out photographs, photographs of Banagher with various members of the Sleeves. Of their mobile suits TRAINING.
He gives a quick toss, throwing them on the table. "Images Ms. Ashta was helpful enough to help us obtain. Of you being 'friendly' with a side that to this day does similar things like this to Ms. Ashta, Ms. Pommier, Ms. Takarada, and Ms. Shinjo - and deploys them in the field."
He tells him bluntly, "Apparently you can only muster outrage when it's done to people close to you. What exactly, are we supposed to think about your growing loyalties to the people in the Sleeves? What your ultimate decision might be?"
This is a tactic, to make Banagher doubt his judgment, to coax him into the belief he cannot trust himself to make this decision, to plant the idea that there is hypocrisy within him.
"As for what's in the Box, I have no intention of trusting you with that knowledge when it's plain you cannot be trusted to act within the interests of anyone but those closest to you, Mister Links."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"You're right about that. I had no idea how far people would go when it comes to money." Banagher's hands twist in the cuffs. He slides one hand beneath the other, bracing his thumb against the table.
He doesn't know how to do this. Just -- push until the thumb comes out of joint? Banagher has never broken a bone in his life. Sweat beads on his forehead. Is there even a point to this? If he threatens Alberto, they'll just use the girls against him. Banagher stills, at least for now.
"If you hate shattering lives that much, why did you wait to use Leina against me? You've had her for months. All you had to do was reveal that you had her, and I'd have given in immediately. And you know that." These questions have stuck in his head these past three days. "Why did you make her suffer so much? Why did you force her into the Banshee?"
The photographs make Banagher pause, sorrow in his eyes as he looks each one over. With awkward, hampered movements, he pulls one close to himself -- Zinnerman and Banagher standing together. He can't remember when it was taken.
"The Captain." Bangaher murmurs. "Has never allowed anything like what you've done. He's kept someone safe -- someone who went through what you're doing to the girls. He's the one I put my faith in. Not Full Frontal or any of the rest."
If Leina took these pictures... what else does Alberto have? Banagher feels a spike of nausea at the invasion of her privacy. "Stop talking like she chose this. We both know the truth. At least be honest about what you've done. You forced her to take private pictures of her boyfriend, like a creep. What else did you make her do, you sick--"
Handcuffs rattle, and for a moment, that aura of cosmic rage builds up around Banagher again. "You've only taken girls. Young girls. You got Akane to try and use her /body/ to convince me, even though she doesn't like boys. Either you, or that freak Murasame. Probably both -- you're perverts."
The scorn of a handcuffed seventeen year old may not be very threatening, but the earnest, wrathful way Banagher spits his accusations is damning. Even if he doesn't speak it, the young pilot of the Unicorn has already feared the worst, and is placing the blame squarely at Alberto's feet.
"You have no idea what I can 'muster'." Banagher snarls. His hand shakes, hidden. "And you have no idea what I've seen. The Sleeves, the Federation -- none of those groups matter! People are the same! Everyone, deep down, wants to live in peace!"
Memories of Sweetwater, of the raid on the Institute, of Palau and the PPL, all return to Banagher. Alberto is lying. If he'd spent five minutes surveying those Banagher had spoken to, he'd know better. The depths of the Unicorn pilot's love and fury have no end, and he's never hesitated to fight for those in need. That, at least, Banagher can be certain of.
Fingerprints smear across the photo of Banagher and Zinnerman. Banagher presses against the image of the Captain, as if he could physically draw strength from the bond he has with the man.
"I wasn't wrong to try and make a world where that dream can come true." Banagher insists. It seems this tactic was a failure -- it came too close connecting Banagher's beliefs to those he loves. "I never decided who I'd give the Box to, but it wasn't going to be any group. It was going to be someone who believed in Possibility for /everyone/."
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Alberto doesn't say anything when it comes to money. He's just a boy, a boy who didn't have money, he can't possibly understand it.
"We had no intention of using her that way save as a last resort. A trump card so to speak, just in case you reached the finish line and we had no alternative options for leverage upon you. Had we revealed her identity too early - you saw how everyone reacted. It would have been a hindrance, going forward if we had multiple coordinates left to unlock."
He does sigh at this point, fingertips moving across his face, "Originally our hope was that noone would ever know. That she would be so overwhelming in that blasted suit that her mission would be completed swiftly. The box would be ours, and her memories would be erased. She would go back to her normal life without having any memory of what she'd done."
He does look, rueful at this point, "Then Aunt Martha brought Dr. Murasame on board. Her eagerness to have... further data on the RX-0, as well as our experiment with the Psycommu to Psycoframe transfer started to override concerns for, Ms. Ashta's well-being."
His hand drops, and he looks at it, "I didn't want this Banagher, for her to suffer. I was simply willing to allow it. I suppose that difference is..." He sounds subtly sorrowful, "... academic."
Alberto is still looking at his hands fingertips shifting. Closing his eyes, he addresses Zinnerman, "Kept someone safe, by still deploying her in battle for the nation that did this to her. Still conditioned. Does the fact that he cares make a difference?" Does it make a difference, "I'm told by Ms. Ashta that Glemy Toto cared for his girls as well."
Still, the spike of nausea and the sudden fury from Banagher, as his handcuffs rattle, cause Alberto to nervously fluster, as she takes a step back, "I-I know she didn't CHOOSE this! But I've been doing my best to make sure she's-" She's what? Taken care of? Does the fact that he cares about her make a difference?
"I did nothing of the sort with Ms. Shinjo!" Alberto tells him, scandalized, and now even worse, pulling on his collar, "I don't share my father's appetites for younger women!"
His eyes suddenly widen, as he realizes how that might be taken by Banagher, whose father made a young woman his mistress.
Alberto is backed up against the wall now, as if afraid that Banagher might in fact, get out of his cuffs, "Even if- Even if it is as you say people do all secretly long for peace, deep down, can they really put those negative feelings aside, Banagher?"
It might be shocking at least, to hear him use his name for the first time, "If this stopped right now, if we released all of you, made peace. Could you set aside the things that have been done to them?"
And then more for emphasis, "Could they?" As he refers to the victims here. "Possibility. My father never used to laud such ideals, until he grew old."
Hope born from regret? How strange. Alberto can only dwell upon the blood.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher listens, as Alberto lays out the path that brought Leina to this point. Again, the young pilot's fury breaks and fades, leaving nothing behind but cold guilt.
It was Martha, Banagher notes, mechanically. A piece of him keeps thinking even as his heart breaks further. Martha is the one who did this. Alberto was just too weak to keep it from happening. Dynamics aboard the Garuda begin to make sense. Martha. Murasame. Martha. Martha is the one who did this.
Alberto uses Banagher's first name. Golden eyes dart up, meeting his brother's gaze for the first time. It's heavy, this sudden expression of familiarity. Banagher's hatred was strong enough that he could have murdered Alberto with his own hands, a moment ago, and now--
Tears fill his eyes.
"You have no idea -- how much you've taken from her. How deeply you've hurt her." Banagher's voice breaks. "How much she's suffered. There are no words for -- what you've done to her."
Banagher's hands jerk in the bindings, as though he went to reflexively wipe his eyes but was stopped by the handcuffs. Tears fall down his cheeks, but he continues staring his brother in the eyes.
Alberto knows his own hypocrisy. Banagher doesn't have to point it out. He just keeps staring, overwhelmed again by the weight of Leina's torture. It's as though reality is fading out around him. The light feels dim, sounds go quiet. Even the chill of the interrogation room seems to ease away. For a moment, Banagher fades out entirely. It feels like he's been in this state for an eternity, by the time Glemy's name is invoked, giving his brain something to latch onto enough to come back online.
"You should've just taken me." He says, numbly. "I'm not someone who matters. Not like she is."
Alberto all-but insults Banagher's mother, and without really realizing what he's doing, the young pilot applies pressure to his thumb until it audibly /c r a c k s/--
"Oh." Banagher looks down at his hand. His left thumb hangs at an odd angle. He doesn't move beyond that, not yet. The pain seems faraway. "Don't. Ever talk about my mother."
It's difficult to see Alberto through the haze of dissociation and tears. "I will never forgive you. But if you let all the girls go right now, I wouldn't do anything to harm you, even if I was sitting in the Unicorn."
No promises are made for Martha or Murasame's sake.
"I can't speak for anyone but myself. But I'd let you go without hesitation for Leina. For everyone." Banagher vows. Slowly, his damaged hand pulls out of the handcuff. Huh, it really does work. "I think it'd be enough for them just to go home and start to heal."
"If Martha cares so little for Leina's well-being. She's going to kill her, and the others, once you have what you want." Rubbing at his face with his free hand, Banagher goes on. "If you care. Help me get them home. I'll do what you want, just help me get all of the girls home, first. There's no other way they can get out of this alive."
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Seeing the tears, Alberto can't keep eye contact with him. His father always taught him that tears were weakness for men. It was his Aunt Martha that first told him to reject that logic, but his father's lessons still stick with him.
And he's never seen Aunt Martha cry.
Clearing his throat, "I do Banagher. Maybe... even better than you. Who do you think was listening to her all these months while she was here?" Still his eyes look away, "She always hated it, that I would, but I thought that... someone ought to."
It's in this moment that Banagher might realize to his horror... Alberto cares about Leina, even if he is too spineless, too cowardly to stand up to Martha, and was ridiculed whenever he tried to Murasame.
"But you're right. There are no words." He tells him more quietly.
Alberto waves a hand at his statement on just taking him, "We tried. The RX-0 is a remarkable mobile suit however, even when placed up against its reflection. We had to do something- more! There wasn't any other good options to stop you, given who you were consorting with."
The crack of his thumb causes him to flinch, and look away. "I apologize. That was- not my intention." He mumbles, "Uncalled for."
THAT is what he's apologizing for? His eyes can't look at him. Still though, Banagher says that he would, and Alberto closes his eyes, takes a breath, "No. If I release them, there is no guarantee you'll do anything. You're too upset, Banagher. Erratic. I can't trust that you'll give us what we want."
As he sees his hand come out of his handcuff, Alberto knocks on the door, and a security guard comes in, approaching Banagher immediately aggressively. But Alberto puts a hand on his shoulder, "Wait."
His eyes fall upon Banagher, "I know you won't believe me, but Aunt Martha is sincere on wanting to release them after it's done. She doesn't want to start a prolonged war with so many of these independent paramilitary groups. She just wants to meet our objective."
He gives Banagher a look in the eyes, "Leina may be conditioned, but she isn't mistaken in that regard. This could be over tomorrow, Banagher. If you seal the box, you have my word that I'll get all of you home..."
However, he adds a single exception, "... except Princess Mineva. Her situation is more complicated, but we can arrange it so you're not out of her life forever."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"Even down to her soul, you can see the torture." Banagher whispers. "On her /soul/, there's wounds and bruises, like someone's beaten her half to death."
Does Alberto even believe in Newtypes? Banagher doesn't care in this moment, overwhelmed and half out of his mind with grief.
Knowing that Alberto, at least, was there while Leina was being tortured, makes things both worse and better. Banagher sobs out a breath, gritting his teeth. How could Alberto have heard all of Leina's suffering and not interfered? And yet -- he was there. He chose to be there for her.
"...thank you." Banagher whispers, again. "At least someone--"
But the moment of gratitude is quickly lost as reality sinks back in. What was done to Leina, and /why/. Because Banagher didn't give up. Even when the Banshee defeated him, he had too many allies... The pain of Banagher's dislocated thumb begins to reach him, and he winces, holding his hand close to his chest.
Alberto calls in security, and Banagher freezes, glaring at the man defiantly. They can't hurt him, not really. Vist needs him to pilot the Unicorn. The man is stopped before he can do anything to Banagher, and the young pilot breathes a sigh of relief, despite himself.
"Even if Martha is sincere," Banagher grates out. "I don't trust Murasame not to have some kind of back-up plan to get all his subjects back. I could do what you want, and you could have all the girls back in an hour. I've seen what his command phrases can do."
This could be over tomorrow. Golden eyes close, his heart beating fast. Alberto adds in an exception for Audrey. Slowly, Banagher shakes his head.
"No. Audrey -- Mineva. Mineva goes home with Leina." Banagher rubs at his eyes, trying to banish the seemingly-permanent tears trailing down his face. "I won't doom her to a life of serving Martha."
Banagher isn't a negotiator. He doesn't have any faith in his skills here, against someone born and raised to complete high-stakes business deals. That's what this is, really. He almost laughs at the realization. It's just the worst business deal of all time, for Vist.
"I'll give you half of the Box's location." Banagher looks straight at Alberto. "I'll tell you if it's on Earth, or in space. Then /all/ the girls go home. Once I've gotten confirmation from their guardians that they're safe, I'll take you the rest of the way."
A darting glance to the security guard. "Put someone in the Unicorn with a gun to my head. It has another seat. I'll seal the Box and sign whatever papers you want me to sign. Then we never have to see each other again."
Though it's his injured left hand, Banagher reaches out to Alberto, offering a handshake. He's trying to appear strong, but there's something pleading in his eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Certainly Alberto believes in the Newtype Phenomena. Anyone at Anaheim does to some degree. One can't make technology like the Psycommu or the Psycoframe and not believe in it. Some people can make it move and react and some people can't.
And he knows Banagher and Leina can make it react very strongly.
Does he believe in the soul though? Part of him pales, trying to picture it, thinking of what a soul looks like.
"I had- had no idea of course. I can't- the soul isn't scientifically quantifiable." But it's clear he's disturbed. Despite his best efforts. Banagher's thanks makes him shuffle his feet awkwardly. Should he be thanked for that?
"Doctor Murasame isn't in control here. The security forces are on our payroll." Some of them were recommended to them by him though? That's something he brought up to Martha, she dismissed the complaints, "You have to believe me, we don't want to keep them."
Alberto's heart sinks as Banagher refuses terms, "You have to be reasonable Banagher, the Princess of Zeon can't just go gallivanting wherever she pleases. We're giving her a better lease on life than the other side would."
Banagher makes his deal, half the location. Send the girls home. Alberto wants to believe him. He does, but he knows Martha will never allow it.
He looks at the hand, desperately wanting to take it all the same, for this to be over. In the end, he closes his eyes.
He was as soft, and weak as Aunt Martha always said. That's why he's so tempted.
"N-No deal!" He flusters, "That can't work like that. You have to understand your bargaining position is terrible here Banagher." He takes a moment to adjust his suit, and steps towards the door, "Think it over and we'll come back to this table once you have a clearer head."
He does pause going out the door, "Don't be too rough with him. Take him to medical for an X-Ray and treatment before returning him to his cell." And then he keeps walking.
The guard moves to obey, as he tells Banagher, "Don't give me any trouble here kid."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher stares at Alberto silently as he tries to deny the existence of the soul. It's clear Alberto is rattled by the idea. Banagher has nothing else to add.
"Murasame only cares about his sick experiments. He won't listen, and he won't let the girls go. Not for anything." Though he hasn't met the man, Banagher speaks as if this future is a certainty.
There's a look of exhausted fury in the young pilot's eyes. "Her name is Audrey. Audrey Burne. She's not just some princess. Audrey has the right to do whatever she pleases! I won't trade her away like she's some object! Just the same as the other girls, she goes home."
For a moment, Banagher believes things are going to be okay. Alberto almost, almost takes the deal. But in the end... Alberto Vist declines, and moves to leave.
"I won't budge." Banagher swears. "I won't leave a single one of them behind, or in danger. I'll die first, Alberto. Then you'll never have the Box."
The Unicorn has resisted all Vists' attempts to access her data banks. Bangaher knows she won't let him down, and he knows, if he has to-- he can put his own life on the line to make them cooperate.
He wants to shout, to beg Alberto to take the deal, anything to make this torture end and save everyone -- but in the end, Banagher is helpless. He can only watch Alberto leave.
If he's being taken to medical... maybe he'll get to see Leina.
"Alright." Banagher mutters to the guard. "Let's go."