2023-03-16: Harrier Unmasked
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Liam 7-020
- Where: GGG Orbit Base
- Date: U.C. 0097 03 16
- Summary: Alouette follows up on a hunch with Liam; they speak about the Phenex, the Banshee, and how the movements of the likes of Alexis Kerib line up.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Orbit Base is currently bustling, with much going down in the past week. Intelligence is in the process of thoroughly investigating Luio and Co. after Michelle Luio's most obvious science crime scheme during the Phenex Hunt.
The majority of staff is allocated to monitoring the activities of Char Aznable, who made his return as a Ruin Apostle and proceeds to stake his claim in space... with an ally and friend in tow.
In a time like this, it's not unusual that Liam would be found on Orbit Base, nor is it unusual that Alouette would request to speak with him in a more remote area of this cluster of ships.
"Bonjour, Liam." She greets, once he enters the agreed-upon location - a room marked personnel only. Liam's NERV personnel, certainly, it's fine. "It's been a while since we've spoken face-to-face, hasn't it? Not since the Tsutsujidai incident..." She recalls, setting a kettle of tea upon the table. "How's Lucine been? I bet you were glad to see her again."
Surely, if she's called him like this, she has more to say than just small talk. But the business she wanted to speak about, the person she fought against in the Phenex Hunt... she struggles to just come out and say it, putting Liam on the spot.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam knew he was compromised the moment he got the call. The question remains: how badly? But, as it turns out, 'Alouette knowing he intervened to help Rita' is suddenly very low on the list of threats. He is still grappling with the fact that a mass murderer--the man who very nearly ended human civilization on Earth--is back.
But this doesn't stop him from worrying.
Liam let himself in without fanfare. He manages a little smile to Alouette as he approaches the table, and takes a seat. Immediately, he folds his hands in front of him, a very conscious move to stifle nervous fidgeting.
"Been a while, yes," Liam says. "Lucine's been... all right. It's... difficult, for us to meet, with what's happened." Liam doesn't want to admit it, but the tension is written all over his face. "So much so I had to move... deniably, to help her. A mutual friend was in danger."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
It's not possibly on the priority list, of course... but Alouette doesn't like leaving loose ends untied, especially when it involves people she would call friends. She pours herself a cup of tea, and then motions towards Liam. "Would you like a cup? You look tense.."
She nods, and looks understandingly as Liam tells how difficult it is to contact Lucine. "Right... she's on the Nadesico. And they defected, didn't they?" It's hard to really blame them, with how the Federation handled things in Orb.
And then he pretty much comes out and says it... that makes it easier for her, at least. "..I have to say, Harrier is a pretty cool codename." She replies, with a smile. "I'm sorry we had to fight. And.. I'm also really grateful you didn't try to hurt me."
She takes a deep breath and a sip of her tea. "As far as my word goes, your secret is completely safe with me. It would be more than wrong to punish you just for protecting a friend. It's just that..." Memories of a purple hand flash in the corner of her eye. "You seemed to know something about the Banshee. A weapon powered by a tortured soul, you said.. is that really true?" She questions, keeping her focus on Liam in front of her.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"Yes, please," Liam says. Tea is one of the good things he remembers from his childhood. He drinks decaf, now, but.. even if it's not, a little won't hurt.
"While we were in Tsutsujidai." A sort of weary frustration surfaces in Liam's eyes. "Technically they're all AWOL. Criminals. But after what Blue Cosmos did, I have trouble caring about that." His fingers tense as he clasps his hands tighter. And--perhaps to his surprise--Alouette... understands.
"...I insisted Lucine follow opsec," Liam admits. "To keep us all safe. Wasn't expecting GGG to show up, you really threw us. Thought it was just going to be mercenaries. But Kafim was there, and the Banshee..." He pauses, and smiles, gently. "Least I could do. I didn't want to hurt you. But I... wanted to keep Rita out of a lab, even if it was yours. She was a test subject, too."
Alouette gives her word, and Liam sinks back into a more relaxed position, his hands unfolding. "Near as we can tell? Maybe. A contact of mine told me Neo-Zeon made Cyber-Newtypes, too, the 'Puru Series'. Their... original, or template, or maybe... genetic donor? Was a--a ten-year-old named Elpeo Puru." There's audible disgust in his voice. "The Puru-Series were designated number two through number twelve. The entity inside the Banshee responds to 'Puru-1'. But there was no Puru-1, just... Elpeo Puru."
A few words seem to lodge in Liam's throat, and he fights for a moment to get them out. "Elpeo Puru was killed in Dublin. My contact told me Puru-1... feels just like her."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"...And last I checked, they were a civilian vessel. I hate that Blue Cosmos gets to throw their weight around that much, too." She shakes her head.
"Like I said in the battle, it is one of our mandates." Alouette admits, about why 3G was on-site. "Something so powerful could easily escalate to a Zonder-level threat... and we didn't trust the likes of Luio to investigate it." Another sip. "There's someone inside the Phenex too, then. I thought I heard her speak to me. And a test subject... what did they do to her?"
But Rita isn't the only soul trapped inside a Gundam, and Alouette's expression sinks a little as she hears about the Puru-series. It's no surprise to her that people are willing to experiment on girls so young... she was younger. But her heart still empathizes for what they went through, what Puru-1 is still going through.
"...That does explain something, though." She pauses. "Ever since we encountered the Banshee, I've been having nightmares. A small orange-haired girl... I'd put her at about ten, but it was fuzzy. Jealously, possessiveness.. and purple hands." ...Does the Puru-1 in the nightmare hate her for being saved when she couldn't? She doesn't bring up what happened to Akane out of respect for her privacy, but that would certainly fit into it, too.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"Monsters," Liam says. "Lucine--she told me she had to fight off pilots in Long Daggers." He pauses, lets that sink in. Both he and Alouette know how those things are tuned. "Couldn't tell if they were augmented or just drugged. I guess we're fine when they're sending us to die."
Liam takes a few square breaths, and lets the anger cool. He feels... better, now that the thought isn't rattling around in his head. "I know. You're... right to monitor her. And this is... going to sound crazy, but..." But regardless of subject matter, Liam seems more animate, now. More conversational. Trust on this level is so precious to him, and so rare. "I think Rita's a ghost. But I don't know if she died. She's a tremendously powerful Newtype, and the Phenex is her body. She has trouble talking to me most times; we only met because she was trying to contact Lucine and she ended up in the wrong head."
"I don't know what they did to her," Liam continues, "but I know the Titans had her captive. Some point after that she was at that horror lab in the REA. I don't know how she ended up in the Phenex."
Nightmares. Liam's eyes widen, the pupils dilating ever-so-slightly. "I... haven't. Thought we were done with that after CK-12. But... I think others have been dreaming of her."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette's expression intensifies as Liam explains how Lucine had to fight off Long Daggers. "...That's how it goes, doesn't it?" She replies, quietly. She's not sure what she would do if faced with pilots like that so instead, she closes her eyes and siiiips again.
Liam says he's going to sound crazy, and Alouette figures it can't be so bad, but then he just says Rita might be a ghost, and she stares at him blankly as if he is indeed crazy for a moment. After she thinks about it, she nods tentatively. "If something similar is going on with the Banshee, it does make sense. Admittedly, my knowledge on Newtypes is.. quite limited." She adds. "And I don't think I could put anything quite so sinister past the Titans..."
Now it's her turn to sound a little crazy. "During the battle, I kept wondering. If the Banshee was powered by a soul inside, a core so to speak.. could I have used Hell and Heaven to save her?" She then shakes her head. "It was too dangerous to risk.. you saw me do it in Tsutsujidai, and it's a huge strain on my body. But if I went a little too hard on the Broken Phantom... that's why."
"Seriously," she agrees, at the thought of being done with dream-nonsense after Bujack, or CK-12. "...But it's so relieving to know I'm not the only one." A deep breath.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam returns Alouette's stare with a level gaze. "That's what we've gathered," he says. "Didn't say it made any sense. But she exists, and the fact that she does, is--yeah. Got it in one." He takes a long pull of his tea. "I do know Yuliana knows Rita. That means she wasn't... whatever she is now, until after that. Or maybe Yuliana didn't break until she'd already known Rita."
Yuliana. 'Break?'
"I... don't know," Liam admits. "You did catch me off-guard with that, so well done." A coy little smile lights up his face for a moment. "Yeah. Pass this on to anyone else who reports dreams like that. Won't help with the nightmares themselves, but... like you said, it might help in other ways."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Yuliana Kafim." Alouette states. "She knows a lot of people it seems. She contacted us over comms.. contacted Akan- Operator Shinjo specifically." Alouette recounts. "It seems she's acquaintances with Alexis. What they talk about over tea at the science crime convention... I don't want to know." She adds, a hint of grim humour.. "So she knew this Rita, too? It makes sense.. it didn't seem like she was only there to cause chaos." She doesn't press on Yuliana "breaking".
"Ahaha, thanks.. if you're ever up to it, I could teach you a few tricks. Dueling is a lot more fun when it isn't to the death." She smiles, but there's a certain gleam to her eyes, too. "I know you're not high school age, but we're considering a club for it over at Jindai. I'm really looking forward to it, honestly..."
"Yeah, I'll do just that," Alouette nods, about letting people know they're not alone with the nightmares. "It might help you to know Intelligence is conducting a thorough review of Luio and Co's practices." She adds. "It's never a good sign when you have Volfogg appears out of thin air in your office."
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"I heard," Liam says, some of the venom seeping back into his voice. "I--" And then that train of thought comes to a screeching halt as Alouette identifies a bit that Liam didn't process in the moment. "She what?" His hand tightens around the teacup handle. He sets it down--slowly, gingerly--so as not to break it on accident. He should've known better. It feels like betrayal anyway.
"Two-faced," Liam growls. "She was in one of those labs, she--" Liam trails off, takes a breath, and lets the anger makes its way out. It no longer feels like he has to force it. "She tried to... mentor me. I was in a bad place. I knew she wasn't well, but she tried, even if she was twisted about it. 'Make them need you, or they will use you until there's nothing left. But... BioNet. Just Alexis, or...?"
Liam trails off. He doesn't want to think about it too long. Thankfully, Alouette provides something else to speak about. "I'd... like that. I didn't do much fencing, just... what was needed to use a beam saber and confirm a kill."
As Alouette mentions Volfogg's appearance, Liam smiles. There's schadenfreude in it, but after what Michele said and did, he can't bring himself to care.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette notices the anger rise in Liam, she had no idea he knew Yuliana Kafim more than incidentally. "That sounds a lot like her," she states, as Liam explains how the mentoring went. "She made it sound like she was helping, and maybe she even believed it deep down. But her words were venomous... and no one speaks to my kouhai like that." Alouette recounts, a hint of pride in that last part.
"If she knows what it's like to live in a lab... I don't know what she's thinking." She shakes her head. "We're investigating, but it sounds like the relationship might actually be the other way around. Our data matches Alexis's movements with the Vist Foundation." She frowns, sharply. "Kaiju attack approximately within minutes of an attempted insurrection of the Photon Power Labs." She doesn't know Liam was one of the defenders there of course. "It was handled promptly, so Alexis managed to slip away from most people's radars that time."
Her tone lightens as they continue to talk about fencing and dueling. "Yeah.. it's a lot different from beam saber fighting. There's a certain fluidity to it, and you often have to think creatively to catch a skilled opponent's guard. I think you would enjoy it."
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam's smile, such as it is, brightens a bit in the face of Alouette's pride. "I hope she's doing well. That had to have been a hell of a first mission for her." There's a brief pause as Alouette explains Alexis's latest maneuvers, and Liam drains the rest of his tea. "Suspected it might've been him," Liam says. "But what's he getting out of this?"
That may be something they'll have to learn the hard way, he thinks.
"...Then I'd be happy for you to teach me."