[Hannah Kerela]

"Explosives? That I can help you with," Dark assured her. "How many years ago was the explosion?"

He forced his instinctual panic reaction to the back of his mind. Explosives had been something of a soft spot with him in his thieving days, being used both by him and against him. He hated them, to tell the truth, though he was good with them - they were volatile and prone to accidents, and easily traced. He'd come close to death a few times because he'd teamed up with other thieves, only for those other thieves to leave a trail with their explosives.

His would-be captors, that time, had used the same type of explosive against him. There's irony for you, he'd thought at the time.

He shook his head slightly. Focus. He looked at Elektra. "So... I'm assuming this is a personal mission," he said, carefully.

[Elektra]

"I guess you could call it that.  Or you could just call it revenge."  Clearing her head, she lead Dark over to where she had been resting when she heard him.  "There used to be a bridge here.  But after a hostage exchange, which is where the explosive comes in, well, all that's left are the marks obviously.  But I'm afraid that they may be to old to tell us anything..."  Sighing, she just hoped that Dark was as good as he said he was when it came to explosives.

[Hannah Kerela]

"Unless there's been serious erosion or attempts to cover it up, there should still be some singe marks," Dark assured her, shifting into a humanoid form in order to move about the area and inspect the ground better. He ran a hand along the ground as he looked, searched for disturbances in the soil or differences in the consistency or color of the selfsame soil. His eyes were slightly narrowed in concentration, his entire posture a picture of focus and precision.

"If nothing else, I should be able to get a reasonable guess as to where the bomb was and the relative radius of the blast. That will narrow down the list of possible explosives. From there, we can cut out some of the more advanced builds, since they've only been perfected recently: something tells me that a bomb that took out the bridge, but didn't seem to affect very the ecology of the area too horribly isn't going to be one that was put together sloppily," he explained, not looking up at Elektra. "Do you remember if the blast affected any of the trees nearby and, if so, how far into the foliage it went?"

((Yeeeeah... I couldn't come up with a good way to describe a Kuhna doing soil analysis, so Dark switched forms for a little bit. /is lazy when it comes to thinking up descriptions))

[Elektra]

"Well, considering that there were about twenty trees that should have been standing around where we are, I'd say it did considerable damage.  Of course, that was many years ago."  Walking over, she showed him where some of the marks were still visible.  "You can actually poke a stick into the ground about here," she said, pointed a few inches away, "and you'll find that it goes in a way.  That was where the bridge supports were put in.  Do you really think that you can track whoever made this?"  It seemed extremely unlikely, but who knew what he could do.  But still, Elektra could help but be skeptical of the outcome.  "So when did you become a thief?" she asked, trying to make some conversation.

[Hannah Kerela]

"There's a good chance that we can at least narrow it down," Dark said. "From there, it's a matter of finding out who we can force to talk to us." He continued his inspection. "The soil has a consistency gradient, radiating outward from somewhere in this area," he commented, then glanced over his shoulder at her.

"When I became a thief? Hm... I had to have been six or seven when I started, I guess. Small stuff, back then. Gum and candy. My mentor said it was good practice for later, and that if I couldn't best a few store security cameras, then I had no hope of being an accomplished thief. I guess at the time, I just sort of believed he'd make sure I was on the right track."

[Elektra]

"You must have been awfully young..." she trailed off, thinking of how much his situation had started like hers.  Only he was lucky enough not to have gotten caught.  Ignoring the stabs of sorrow that came with the remembrance of how her ill luck had begun, she tried to focus on the task at hand.  "So wait, how do you know so much about bombs?  Unless you were blowing up the stores you robbed, I don't see much of a need for bombs in the thieving business."



(If you want, I can have her tell Dark about how she became an agent, but yeah.  Don't want to bore you unless you're okay with that.  xDDD)

[Hannah Kerela]

"You make deals with other criminals to stay alive," Dark said, glancing over his shoulder. "And, smaller explosives are incredibly useful for diverting security guards of large corporations." He actually waggled his eyebrows as he said that. How could such an accomplished thief be such a dork? "So, how'd you become an agent?"

[Elektra]

Although she had brought the question upon herself, she wasn't sure if she had it in her to answer.  Pushing aside the fear, she started.  "I hope you know what you just asked for, since it may take a little while.  I was actually a robber myself.  But I got cocky, and went for a bank in Medicai.  There was some important guy staying there, and the place was loaded up with agents.  But I hadn't looked into it, and didn't know until it was to late.  Turns out it was some foreign ambassador who was seeking some medical advice, and was told to go there.  I was taken by them and locked up, tortured.  That's how I ended up with all these scars.  They thought I was some spy for the Black-Ops here actually.  And then to add to the irony, it was the agency that rescued me from the hell pit.  Of course, they only gave me two choices.  Go to juvey for the rest of my teenage years, and then be transferred to the Slums jail, or join the agency.  Obviously neither were satisfactory compared to my old lifestyle, but I sure didn't plan on staying in jail until I died, so, well, you know how that goes.  That's when it all started.  Years of training, countless missions, and then one goes wrong, one that changes the whole situation.  Changes you, your life, everything."

[Hannah Kerela]

Dark whistled appreciatively. "That's tough luck for you," he remarked. "Black Ops... You know, in one way, I sort of think that it'd be interesting, but in another way... I think a lot of them would rather kill me than teach me. I've made my fair share of agents look pretty silly."

[Elektra]

"Well, who knows.  You'd certainly be useful, even if the others didn't like you." she said thoughtfully.  She had almost offered to train him herself if he were to ever join the agency, but the chances of such weren't very high.  And then, the thought of having him around were actually comical.  Elektra could see him blowing up something in there, and being chased right back out.  Smiling, she thought about what Dark had said at first.   "It is interesting, but it also has a lot of sacrafice.  You lose relationships because of the secrets you have to keep, and enemies can use those as an advantage even.  Soon enough, you lose feelings all together.  It's a job, regardless of who gets hurt.  That's what they teach you."

[Hannah Kerela]

"Regardless of who gets hurt, huh..." Dark murmured, quietly, then sighed. "Alright, I have a general idea of the size and make of the bomb. From there... I can ignore about ten of the specific types that come to mind, because they were only made about six months ago." He looked at her, rattling the specifics off quickly. "Any of them seem more likely to you than others?"

((Edited only because my copy/paste buttons left off half of the message the first go-round. Yay faulty USB mouses!))

[Elektra]

"Well you did that in a record time." she said, smirking.  Although, she wasn't just complimenting him.  The bomb technicians took at least twenty minutes to firmly analyze a bomb sample, as you might call it, but Dark did it in about ten minutes.  "So if you know some of the makers, what do we do?  Hunt them down, or just let them find us eventually?"  They didn't have all that time.  The agency would send people after her if she was gone more than three weeks, and if they found Dark with her, who knew what would happen.  Shaking her head, Elektra wondered about him becoming an agent.  There was a chance, but it was extremely slim...

[Hannah Kerela]

"I'd suggest going to them - they're not likely to just come volunteer their customer records for analysis. I can pull some strings with some makers, but others, either you'll have to pull strings or we'll have to steal their records." Dark grinned cheekily. "I bet you can guess which one I'd go for."

He brushed himself off, looking at her. He could guess the same thing, that they didn't have a lot of time on their hands. So he was willing to do whatever went fastest, already plotting ways to convince old friends to repay favors, or grant him new ones. And plotting ways to circumvent security systems.

[Elektra]

"So if I were to pull some strings of my own, would you be willing to join me in the agency?  You'd be protected then, so any warrants would be subdued immediately.  And your skills could be used in a more effective way, if you'd like to say it that way.  In a way that wouldn't break the law."  Smiling, Elektra hoped that this would all work out though.  The sooner they found some of the makers, and once that happened, they could find the murderer.  From there, it was her problem alone.


(Sorry for the fail post, not sure what to say... xDDD)

[Hannah Kerela]

Dark had been about to refuse. Honestly. But then he spoke, "That'd be great, yeah." He stopped, surprised at himself - did he really miss the thrill that much? He supposed that it was just that one thing keeping him back, truly. And if he could still get that thrill without risking his freedom... Well, then, why shouldn't he? Why wouldn't he?