[Nyxia]

The pre-dawn hours seemed to tick by at a crawl that in humanly early morning in the safe house as the pair sat waiting for news. Stígandr silently listened the the chatter the flitted across the radio wave they were on, waiting for a signal from the Circle or something from Control to come through, fiddling with the power gems in the hilt of his favorite sword as the clock ticked away like a bomb about to detonate. Meanwhile in the same flat staring aimlessly out the window into the darkness sat another figure, this one smaller in build than the lean man with the sword. She was clicking the edges of her perfectly manicured french nails on the sill of the grimy window, not only out of boredom but nervous tension as well. Anastasia was almost to the point of sheer madness since the first cryptic message had tapped itself out on the machine only and hour previous from Control himself, something odd in and of itself. "The carrier has arrived, and the angel is in route. Await further instructions."

Stígandr had only just lit his third cigarette of the morning when she suddenly stood from her perch near the window and groaned aloud. "Anything?" She question with a tone of both urgency and perpetual whine. When he shook his head not bothering to look up from the first in a pair of massive AMT AutoMags he was disassembling and cleaning she groaned again, louder this time before flopping into the chair which sat beside the window to give herself a more comfortable view this time. To her this was torture, left out of the loop and stuck in a rundown old building with a man who she considered the most annoying of all the other agents. A final glace at both him and the machines meant to connect them to Tower showed no new movement, and she sighed dramatically turning her sky blue eyes back to the looming grey of a 2am world.

[1], [1]

[Nyxia]

Sitting silently in the gloom and haze of the morning hours just before the sun's arrive was a dark colored car, something not only so ordinary it was easily over worked but also so drab and plain it didn't warrant value to most. To the woman sitting inside the plain dark gray little two door it was something between loved and dreaded, a thing that meant both her salvation in many cases and her eternal doom. "And I wonder why I can't get a decent date..." She muttered half reclined in the drivers seat, a small mounted camera attached to the door so it peaked out the window.

In one ear hung the bud that tracked down to her radio, in the other the bud to her mp3 player hung; currently the radio was silent and had been for about an hour and a half now, the mp3 was blasting Scavenger Of Human Sorrow by Death so loudly in her ear it would have made a normal being's bleed. Pausing the track in mid-song she pushed the button on her radio, "Yo, any word from Control yet?" She questioned sitting partly up to look out the smoke tinted windows that barely reflected. All she could see was the darkened out dump of a motel, not even mice moved about tonight as she kept an eye out to reacquire her target once more. There was a pause of silence where she caught in a deep breath and held it subconsciously waiting for something to come back, but after several long seconds when nothing did Iryna let the breath go and shrugged to herself popping her mp3 bud back in her left ear as she watched.

[1]

[Nyxia]

The plane had landed almost twenty minutes ago and a glance at her watch told the woman now sitting in the back of an unmarked cab that it was currently 3am, but somehow she felt like she was running late. Probably all the adrenaline pumping in her system from the call by Control telling her when and where to board, that they had one Peter Agresta spotted, confirmed, and being track as they spoke; and while she never fancied leaving in the middle of the night nor lying to her current lover Desi while bolting for the door and trying to finish buttoning up her shirt, this was the life she'd chosen to live long before she'd met him. Still she missed him for a moment long staring out the window of the cab at the clouds that blocked out her view of the stars before getting her head in the game as it were, her eyes went back down to the blank slim brown colored folder in her lap.

It didn't take the cabby ten minutes to make it into what passed for this area's downtown district, a place of grim and poverty that rippled across ones skin when a breeze passed. Something in that same breeze drew the woman's attention from the file she was staring blankly at to the world outside the cab, something she didn't like at all. Kyndra would tell you herself that she wasn't one of those rare being with the gift of sight, which made the tingling itch in the back of her mind more frightful to her telling her something was defiantly a miss with the world around her. Holding her tongue they continued in the quiet until the man rolled up on a dilapidated old apartment building, where she almost jumped from the backseat  -her fare having been prepaid- with the few things she'd brought in hand and dashed to the far stairs. It didn't seem to bother the man because he just put the cab back in drive and rolled away.

In a smooth pale limestone building hundreds of miles away in Aldrect, a mid-aged man sitting behind a massive dark wooden desk smiles in the dim lighting. "Good, all the players are here." He told himself reading the final coded message brought into his office. "Now we will see what creeps from the shadows to greet them." His smile was a menacing or terrifying sort, more like the sort of smile a man has when the perfect trap is set and he knows victory is in his hands.

[Nyxia]

It hadn't taken the young woman in the boots and rain coat a whole two minutes to cross the parking lot and dash up the stairs, in fact her whole trip had been so short Tower had yet to report her arrival to the safe. Which made it a deep shock to the pair of sleep deprived agents when the front door clattered open and slammed against the entry hall before slamming back shut, bring both people to their feet and causing both of the agents to launch from their seats one armed the other not. With no code or procedure to follow in such a matter Stígandr rounded the corner from the living room area into the long hallway, gun drawn tight and finger on the trigger. Behind him her could hear Anastasia quietly curse as the machine in the living room area ticked away like a mad cricket, still he moved cautiously.

Rather than being greeted by the intruder bent on killing both of them, he was greeted by an all to annoyed familiar face of the agent they had been waiting for which was announced to him seconds later by Anastasia. "Hey, hey wait you bone head! Tower has reported that she's here! Are you listening to me you ignorant shit I said don't shoot!" By the last few words she was yelling again, Stígandr shook his head and lowered his gun not taking his eyes off the woman standing in the hallway with a file folder in one hand and a small gym bag in the other with a rain coat held together by one button. With a second breath he released the trigger and brought back the hammer on his weapon as he grumbled his way back into the room. Anastasia however wasn't quiet done yet as she squeezed her way through the narrowed space of him and the door frame to come face to face with the woman in the hallway. "Oh look, the Circle's prize child. Busting in like she owns the place just because Tower gave her a key. No word of warning, no knock at the door...just boom and here you are." Exasperated Anastasia threw her hands in the air with the coded print out containing Tower's newest message and walked back into the living room to continue looking out the window.

[Nyxia]

Kyndra silently followed behind the angry small woman who was now raving on about what kind of person she was before the door behind the about-junk couch opened and slammed shut hiding the enraged woman from view. It was about then she heard the clicks of metal on metal and metal on wood as the male seated himself once more before the mass of machinery and radio equipment. "Let's avoid a remake of that, shall we?" Despite asking her a question the male didn't wait for an answer, instead he put one side of a headphone over his head temporarily abandoning his instinctive cleaning ritual. His hand turned the dial on the ancient radio only twice before it caught whatever channel he was seeking. "Hey, Iryna." He called into the mic before him. "Ryn, we got our end of the catch. You just say when yours move, k." To anyone else in the room only silence greeted him, but in the headset someone must have replied for that goofy grin to be on his face. Nothing else was said as Stígandr set down the headset and picked up the other disassembled wreck that passed for a gun, starting once more to wipe away at it with the polish coated rag. "Won't be too long." He told Kyndra who was leaned on the door frame to the living room. "Make yourself comfortable, its going to be a boring and long wait."

Kyndra did just as he told her and flopped into an over sized dirt brown armchair, her bag hitting the floor as she did. After a few moments of rifling about in the small gym bag she glanced up at Stígandr, and then towards the room the woman had retreated to. She and Stígandr went back years, having been paired together when she'd first joined Tower in order to teach her the ropes. A tender smile crossed her face like a ghost as she watched him, remembering how he'd shown her more than the ropes. Now however everything was different, and that pang of regret mixed with jealousy and a stab of anger. It had been two years since Tower had separated them and sent her off on this goose hunt. Since her string of failed relationships and international assignments, and this almost black mark on her. Having found the novel buried deep in her bag and removed it. "So, hows this." She gestured towards the closed door. "Been going." She then held her breath and waited for the answer she didn't want. Rule one in their business was 'never ask a question you don't already have an answer for.' Mentally she kicked herself as Stígandr only snorted and didn't put down his gun, an answer all the same and not.

[Nyxia]

Oblivious to the soap opera like drama playing out close to thirty minutes from her location sat Iryna, the radio having crackled and startled her from her watch on the dump. She'd already heard from Stígandr on the state of their friend and fellow agent Kyndra, making this crackle just a false feed. Iryna shook her head and turned up Disturbed - Night in her left ear as she watched, the place wasn't the most impressive place on earth and too many assholes coming and going. A few had come up to the car and offered an array of things from cheap watches at outrageous prices or a room for an hour, she'd even been approached by a couple of working girls to offer their goods then to try and scare off competition; they'd left when she'd brandished her weapons, a pair of  titanium and silver spiked knuckles. "Stupid flea ridden bitches." Iryna muttered as the girls made their way passed her car for the sixth or seventh time in the last hour. It wasn't that she had an issue with werewolves, in her defense she'd once dated one, and was still sprinkling flea powder on the carpet four months later.

Iryna sighed when she noted that they were blocking her view on purpose, an enhanced human like her was little against these bitches but that didn't mean she wasn't going to give them hell for messing with her. Slowly she step out of her car and left the ear bud to her radio behind, no sense in alerting anyone about this "personal" problem she'd found. "So, you bitches just don't get it? Or are you so high on Bane you can't remember?" She snarled at the two women as she shut the door, her knuckle tightly on her fingers, and her small hand cannon unstrapped in case she needed it. In that second Adema - Freaking Out blasted through her head and Iryna smirked cracking her neck and shoulders. She knew full well that her feral sort of smirk was bleeding through when both the women took a second look at her. One of the pair apologized quietly as they moved much further down the block, the other said nothing. It was Iryna herself who commented to get the last word in, "Better, now be good whores and leave the grown-ups be." She knew they didn't hear her, but it made her feel a bit better as she climbed back into the car.

[Nyxia]

Stígandr had no more raised his head to answer her questions than a much calmer version of Anastasia burst back through the door from the far end of the living room, she didn't speak, didn't acknowledge that she knew anyone in the room was talking; instead she quietly ducked into the tiny kitchen area and Kyndra could hear the fridge open. Having no been made uncomfortable by this situation and having made a mental note to contact Tower about her own apartment or booking a hotel next time, Kyndra fished out a file and handed it off to him not allowing him another word. "This is something Control wanted you to know as well, Anastasia." She called to the other woman who promptly returned to the living room as if she'd been waiting for such an invite and sat herself on the arm of Kyndra's armchair to hand off a can of cola. Having cracked open her own she watched the pair in some silence as Stígandr read over the file several times before handing it off.

Stígandr had gone back to putting the two guns back together after handing off the file folder, his look neutral and guarded all the same, but it was Anastasia's react that surprised Kyndra the most. Having taken a sip from her can a second before flipping open the cover the petite woman made a gurgling sound then sprayed a small amount of cola from her mouth in apparent shock. "Wait,how?!" she chocked out gasping for a few breaths. "That's not fucking right! U.P.A.M is seriously involved?" She looked from the file, now stained with little round wet marks, to Kyndra as if needing confirmation. When Kyndra nodded solemnly to her the woman went back to skimming the files pages once more. "And Control is aware that they may really show up for the buy even though you're here." All she got was another nod as an answer the girl almost jumped off the arm of the chair, dropping the file on the table as she picked up the radio's headset and mic, dialed in a frequency and tapped the mic twice. " Nyme, we have a much bigger fish than first thought. Additional ground men needed." It was brisk, short, and to the point, and she knew Nyme would understand without question. Which was why she didn't wait for the other girl to respond.

[Nyxia]

7:30 am

Several hours of strategy and planning over, the three members of the small safe house were armed with more than just a plan. Anastasia had called in a favor with a friend of hers who worked for the Tower's sister agency Gemini, and Kyndra had cut a deal with one of the local vampire clans to give them some not-so-legal weapons in the off chance things got a little crazy. So now armed with silver tipped bullets, a pair of small hand guns that had auto fire capability, and one titanium silver edged boot dagger for an up close and personal sort of experience Kyndra was dressed down to pass as an average human being working for a terrorist group instead of a half breed Tower agent. While she and Stígandr made final checks between their loan agents and their back up routes on a map in case the real terrorist made an appearance, Anastasia was making calls to Tower, Iryna, and trying to fit Kyndra with the tiny mic, camera, and tracking equipment they needed. The whole thing took about ten minutes of their time but it seemed like an eternity to all involved as they cleared their equipment, burned the files and headed to their vehicles to begin this final leg of the mission.

Iryna was already in place, sitting at this dive of a cafe that called itself the 'Grand Magistrey'. "Nothing 'grand' about it..." Mutter Iryna as she sat watching the only entry/exit point the place had, dark aviator sunglasses blocking the glare from the rising dawn sun that hit spot on her car. She was still listening to her favorite music blasting for one ear bud as she waited for the on-the-spot briefing that was bound to happen before the show. Standard way of operating it seemed in this little team when they were all put back together. Didn't mean it was fun, just meant it was a normal occurring theme. On that same thought she debated on getting a cat, something nice and mellow she could take along on these kinds of thing. Just as Iryna was scraping her mental debate she noticed something odd in her rearview mirror, a large black SUV that made her think of the military spooks pulled in and parked off to her left quite a distance from her own car. She couldn't see inside the stupid thing due to its height and darkly tinted windows, but she could almost feel the presence inside the SUV watching the cafe, and it made her really uneasy. There was no way to alert Kyndra or Stígandr at this point, so she did the only thing she could do and picked up her shortwave radio that occupied the passenger seat. "Tower...Tower this is Hawk 13B, do you read?"

The silence in the car was almost deafening as Iryna shut off her mp3 player and pulled from under her seat the loaded gun she always carried as a spare. Before she could make the split second call to fire on the SUV however the radio bud in her ear buzzed at her for a second, then a voice crackled through the monster waves of static. "This is Tower Central Nerve, go ahead Hawk." the familiar voice on the other end of the radio was enough to ease Iryna down from her stiff position in her seat.

Breathing out slowly through her mouth Iryna brought the gun to sit in her lap and pushed down the mic button on her ear bud, "Cisal, damn glad you're working the nerve today." She expressed with another heavily drawn breath, her heart pounding in her ears as her blood pressure soared for those seconds. With her heart no longer trying to make a hasty exit from her chest through her throat she continued, "I got a whack ass SUV, looks like a one of those black suit ones and it just showed up for the party. You know anything about it?"

Several more static seconds passed before the radio crackled back to lift, "Negative, no blacks just one of our SUV's. Leading a hand I would guess, with U.P.A.M making a possible attempt to intercept the target." The silence ensued after this tidbit as she sat processing the development, wondering if the others knew this was the back up they got. She was so unraveled by this twist herself that she didn't respond to Cisal, nor did she take the player off pause. She just continued to flutter her eyes between the door of the cafe and her own rearview mirror keeping an eye on all the fractions in place, and in some ways scratching her own head.

[Nyxia]

7:45 am

With the sun on the rise and almost none of the residence or tourist to be seen at this in human hour of the morning several new vehicles pulled into the almost barren parking lot of the Grand Magistrey all night cafe, one small gold colored sedan, one small hybrid sky steel blue SUV, and one jet black motorbike that slowly edged away from all the others. It was Kyndra who drew her helmet off first and glanced towards Iryna's car, seeking out a signal that her target was indeed inside. She got it in the form of a window on the passenger side rolling down. It was at that point Kyndra took a small breath of relief, Agresta had slipped her twice now in two different operations and she could have bet he'd have managed it once more had she not gotten that. Gathering her nerve and bravo up she leaned lightly against the bike, mindful of its lack of support, giving the other time to get in position for the operation. They wouldn't even get five minutes before the pay phone out by the run down gas station over the concrete divider began to ring. Shooting a look over her shoulder to Stígandr and Iryna as a heads up, she then waited; it rang once, twice, then stopped before two more successive rings and a pause before the final, his signal that he was ready to see her. Carefully Kyndra straightened from her lean on the bike and started towards the door of the cafe. Pushing open the door and a quick glance inside told her that only she, Agresta, and the cook/waitress were here; a good thing if something did go awry, less causalities. All too aware that this whole thing could end in a shoot out, and battle, or with the Fate virus being released; she rolled back her shoulders and made her way up to the far booth in the back of the room and sat across from Agresta, her back to the door. "Its good to finally hear from you." She kept her tone even and light with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

[7] [5] [5] [7]

[Nyxia]

With the pay phone signal and Kyndra having started her way to the cafe to meet Agresta, Stígandr took the moment to slip into the small SUV first to give a quick run over of the situation since Anastasia was briefing Nyme on it as well to save time. Lighting a cigarette as he walked from his gold sedan to their car he too notice the unmarked dark SUV at the far edge of the lot, and noted he'd have a chat with Iryna about it once he'd made it that far. For now he popped open the rear passenger door to their SUV and jumped in, rolling down his window before shutting the door so as not to smoke out the occupants. "Okay, here's the what and what of this damned tack mission we've got on our hands." He began before taking a drag from the cigarette resting between his thumb and index finger to gather his thoughts. It wasn't that these sorts of joint operations didn't go on, it was just very rare for one agency to share too much with the others. Meaning he had to be very careful what they knew, what they wondered, and what they would tell their bosses later on. "What we know is that the man in there is named Peter Agresta, the long and short of him is that he's a scientist and a Medicai native who vanished about three years ago with a virus not even his employer knew about."Another pause, another drag from his smoke before ashing it out the window of the SUV. Around him the four men nodded to let him know they were listening, something he hadn't been sure on a moment before. Stígandr took another thoughtful drag, slowly exhaling smoke from his mouth and throat as he spoke again. "Peter Agresta is not a dangerous man in and of himself, he's a cowardly and harmless individual who by all accounts is unable to fight and has never handled a weapon. He's the target here for only one reason, the virus. He's selling to the highest bidder, and unfortunately U.P.A.M was the highest. That's the real reason we invited you along, somehow information leaked to them about this buy."

Another pause in his brief to take another drag and give room for questions, and sure enough nothing but silence. These Gemini boys were all well enough trained that they probably didn't need warnings and lectures on caution and so he was about to continue on after ashing off his smoke again when one of the men in the front seat leaned a bit more around to him and caught his eye, a way of letting Stígandr know he was going to speak. The man's name was Kavar, not a terribly impressing figure of a man being of average height and weight, but the swirling blue to blue-green vortex eyes gave away his non-mortal heritage. Having allowed Stígandr the time to ash and make eye contact again Kavar cleared his throat, "You're telling us that you suspect U.P.A.M will be showing up to this, that the information some how got out to them. What you haven't explained is what the virus is, why you called us for backup in such a case as this, and why you're sending you agent in alone to speak with this man." His sentence finished was suddenly echoed by two other voices in the SUV, a man called Marcus and a man named Larono who studied him with hard expressions. Of them Larono was likely the most imposing of them all, a great burly man with a stocky compact build and python arms.

[Nyxia]

To that very statement Stígandr paused, watching the men's faces as they looked him over. 'So much for a lid on the detailed information in this conversation', with a sighing breath he let the cigarette fall from his hand to the ground below the car and leaned back into the seat of the SUV. "When Agresta flew he took some of his private research notes with him, but left the ones on his company computer behind. From those scrapes of data our techs determined that the virus he was creating was meant to be a bio-chemical weapon, designed to infect and mutate or kill its victims. In a way its sort of a design weapon with its buyer able to pick a genetic trait to be the target before turning the thing loose on the world in either small or large doses." With that Stígandr stopped speaking and glanced down at his watch silently in thought. After his mental calculations he looked up at the driver, Enaos, "Shit, this is taking longer than we'd planned for." A careful glance at the cafe before he pushed open the door of the SUV, "Keep your eyes open, if we take much longer we risk them catching up to us." His final words to them before he cautiously inched shut the door on the vehicle and ducked down to move behind it.

In seconds he'd slunk along the side of the two door coupe of Iryna's and in a swift and slightly overly dramatic motion had opened the door and plunked himself down into the unoccupied seat. Unfortunately he plunk right onto a small handheld radio device, several wrenches, some bolts and a pair of wire cutters. "Goddamn Iryna!" He yelp in surprise before frantically trying to dig the items out from under himself. "This isn't a car its a moving hazard as well as a half crapped rattle trap. Damn." The woman in the drivers seat merely smiled at him as he did this, offering no help at all instead continuing to watch the cafe's door with her small binoculars. A few more swears under his breath and Stígandr finally was able to sit all the way in the seat, a small accomplishment when he realized she'd just end up putting it all right back in an hour or so. "Any signs of anything, distress signal, clear signal...anything?"

His voice held an audible undertone of nervous tension when he spoke, it was also noted when he began fidgeting with his cigarette pack before pulling out another slime stick. Before he could light it she decided to speak, "Those things will kill you someday, you know?" She joked, never sparing him a glance as he lit the end of it and rolled the window a crack down. Thanks to the heavy tint of her windows they didn't risk the cherry ember being seen outside the car, but the smoke could carry a while if allowed to. She spared another glance in the drivers side mirror at the bulky black mass behind her before refocusing on the door, "So we're really ready if U.P.A.M show up, if they do at all. If not we get to explain to these guy's bosses the over time I bet." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the mass, pointing it out to Stígandr who suddenly looked very confused. Her cue to continue on it seemed,"Yea, called in to Tower. They claimed reinforcements since the cat's out of the fucking bag it seems." When he didn't look any less confused by her statement she leaned back some into the seat to get comfortable. "Cisal said Tower already knew about our leak and had sent along some bodies to lead a security hand. "

That was the moment when Stígandr turned in, studying the black massive SUV closely as he could. Which was hard when it had no plates, was onyx with almost charcoal wind shield and had no other identifying marks on it. It played over and over again in his mind like an endless loop on a video, the moment Kyndra had passed off the file to himself and Anastasia, she'd clearly told them both that they need out of agency help for the whole U.P.A.M potential show down, Control knew about the leak but no one else in Tower had any clue at all that they would be coming except Kyndra, himself, and Ana; everyone else was in the dark as far as Control was concerned, Nyme's team had only just learned of it from him not even two minutes ago. Bewildered didn't even begin to cover his expression or feeling suddenly, "Iryna, no one else knew the leak...Control has purposely kept all of Tower in the dark about it..." He suddenly trailed off with the cold realization sinking in to his very bones like the chill of Death,

[Nyxia]

With all the others getting their act together Kyndra entered the cafe and found to her surprise the place to be mostly empty like some eerie wasteland. The waitress only briefly glanced up at her from behind the metal counter island as she passed to the only occupied table at the back of the room where a shaggy looking man sat pulling back the blinds to see out. Silently she sat down across from him, her back to the door which made her edgy, and offered him a tiny smile. There was no real need for introductions as they both thought they knew the other, thus the ensuing silence between them as he let the heavy cloth curtains drop back into place and looked to her. At the same time the poor waitress scampered over with two cups of black coffee for the pair before vanishing again, so much for breakfast she figured picking up the lukewarm cup and taking her first sip. The man across from her however leaned back leaving his own untouched. "I had expected better of you, agent Baenurden." He mused aloud folding his hands in his lap, an amused smile on his face. "In fact I expected much better of both you and your boss. I see that was a mistake." The smile gone the man reached up and removed his dark sunglasses, a grave look spreading from his misty grey eyes down to his tightened mouth now.

So surprised was Kyndra that she choked on the stale coffee she'd tried to swallow, doing her best not the spit it out or couch while she reigned in her shock and schooled her features to look unimpressed and unfazed by this. It didn't work well and she cleared her throat several times before she could get enough air to speak, "You...did?" The questions swam slowly across the front of her mind, but she did her best not freak out and bolt. They were officially compromised now, but she couldn't help but wonder how. "Then why stay? Why have this meeting?" She couldn't help those as she took a glance about at the place; two exit points, only four bodies counting herself, easy enough. He however didn't seem to be paying attention to her, instead he was back to glancing out the side of the curtains once more.

[Nyxia]

He still hadn't come back to looking at her when the waitress returned and filled Kyndra's cup once more, the silence both semi-comfortable and deafening at the same time. Twisting the small white mug between her hands, her blood red eyes trained on a man she'd once thought she knew so well. His cold blue eyes never left the parking lot but he smiled somewhat. "Tell me, agent Baenurden. What do you know of the F.A.T.E virus? What has the circle told you its capable of?" Icy amusement lurked in those words as he let the blinds fall back to place so that he could look to her, watch her reaction and the already shake look of confidence fall further. When she continued to look shaken but blank he felt the need to continue, "The virus itself might be terribly harmless, unless someone adds the final marker to it. That's what UPAM and Tower both have geared up for." Smirking with some sort of satisfaction when she paled from the corner of his eye as he moved to the small pack he'd brought along.

Kyndra didn't know what horrified her more, the fact that the man across from her had the ability to kill her with this thing and unleash it on the whole diner or the fact that her own people had sent her into this with that same knowledge. "Always nice to be informed that your expendable." She mused watching as he brought a small metal box up from his seat and set the case on the table. "So what your saying is that this virus can be modified to fit any agenda?" She asked him quietly, trying not to seem alarmed by it. Some how she knew she was failing to do so, staring at the case in mild shock. He wouldn't unleash it here would he? Her eyes shifted once more to the woman leaning on the counter speaking softly to a man behind the wall in the kitchen.

[Nyxia]

To his credit Peter Agresta wasn't an evil man, hence why her dawning realization and the cold cut of reality stealing away his satisfied look as fast as it had cross his face. "Yes, I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm saying." He confirmed with a nod, pushing the case across the table to her. "The very reason I couldn't just leave it in the lab." He told her with a grave nod, his tone going from the little taunt to a deeper and sadder tone. For the last few weeks he'd been aware of what this moment would mean for both him and the woman across from him, now with everything coming down to the fateful moment he wasn't as sure as he thought he'd have been. "As hard as this may be for you to swallow agent Baenurden, your own people created this terrible thing for a purpose." A pause as he felt the weight of the ordeal on him; weeks of running, hiding, watching people who'd helped him be murdered. "This was the key to their goals, an answer to the problem if you will. Many of the groups you hunt want to see a rise of their kinds, be they shades, or in the case of UPAM all enchanted races. This was meant to be the answer to those creatures, a way of controlling them more efficiently." Finished with that bomb he sat back to look out the window once more, noting the arrival of two more black vehicles in his line of sight. "We don't have a lot of time left, agent Baenurden." He informed her in a soft tone, suddenly feeling decades older than he was. "They won't wait forever, I'm afraid." He sighed, leaning back and letting go of the blinds. "Inside that is the only copy of the virus, and six vaccines for it."

[Nyxia]

A fine cold sweat had broken out on her chest and stomach the moment he'd confirmed Tower's involvement in this little sideshow, five years ago she might not have believed this kind of shady business from them or Control when she'd been loyal beyond words to the cause of worldwide peace and freedom. Now however, as she sat in a run-down diner staring at a man she'd thought was the bane of her existence, his story made more rational sense to her mind than the half-cocked theory of Control. That was what scared her most of all, how easily peace and justice eluded these men in the face of their own rising power. Her hell colored eyes locked on the small silvery box pressed towards her end of the table, the man behind it looking frail and soul worn; not really what most people think of when they picture a man who might have brought to an end the world they so loved. "Not as hard as you may think." She remarked mechanically to him her mind having twisted around the very problem from start to present. Logic in this whole of things had not quiet yet abandoned her, she knew she'd have to make the signal to her team outside that she had it; from there protocol dictated that she take the unopened case and arrest the man across from her, report to Tower that she had the virus, and if all went well and the local police didn't find a need to question her, she'd be on a plane back by the evening.  

Unfortunately for Tower, Control, and her colleagues outside the diner, protocol went out the window the moment she was sent into this little mess unarmed to face what they thought was a mad man on the edge of world destruction. Instead she reached out towards the case, surprised at the steadiness of her hands as she did so, and drew it back to herself. Without so much a moment's hesitation she flipped open the case lid and questioned, if not for the first time, if they were so sure she was alive in there or had been killed with this very thing set loose. That caused her to huff out an annoyed breath as her eyes hit on the vial containing the virus, and just as promised six thin syringes of anti-virus. "So what do you purpose we do then?" She asked in response to his banter about the time, sure they might bust in here any moment, but Kyndra was just sure that she was suppose to be fed to the wolf so to speak. Thinking for a moment as she pulled out one of the syringes and inspected it, debating in her mind if she really wanted to trust him over the man who'd been like a father to her. "We could take you in, or you could make an escape." She mused making up her mind to wipe her arm with the alcohol swab and slid the needle into place along her arm. Slowly she inched the metal tube along the surface of the skin, plying for the right vein with her thumb as she waited for his answer. Lightning quick the sharp metal tip pierced the skin's surface only to slice a clean little hole into the vein wall milleseconds later, the concoction itself wasn't noticeable as she empty the small amount of clear liquid into her vein, searing the walls of her vessel as it flowed and mixed with her blood.