Appearance of Reality
Back on the SOLDIER floor, Pearl once more found herself with little to do. Her little empire was mostly self sufficient, which was necessary as she couldn't run things day to day anymore, but it did leave her with more time on her hands. Now wary of going on any missions, she had to find more ways to kill the time she had. She would need social capital when the details of her disgrace came back properly, so in the meantime, she made an effort to become a point of contact for SOLDIER (and a few other people) that needed things not easily found in Midgar. Her network was not yet global or even particularly extensive, but SOLDIER usually had low expectations. She was seldom asked for anything more complicated than a bottle of bubbly for a special occasion, or something like a basket of Costan crabmeat because Swift ate it as a child and got nostalgic. More complicated requests were rare, but if she couldn't fulfil them personally, Pearl usually found that somewhere along the line she knew a guy that knew a guy that might be able to help, which had the added bonus of keeping her own hands clean.
She knew she'd have to act more directly eventually, and began growing out her hair until it was long enough to conceal the scar over her right ear if let hang loose. She always wore it up when she was on the SOLDIER floor, secure in the knowledge that everyone would assume she was making some kind of political point about scars and beauty. Sooner or later, she'd have to go back into situations where it might not be best to be recognised as a SOLDIER at a glance. She had a glove made fitted with fake fingers to match the ones she had missing, something else she never wore on SOLDIER business. It wouldn't fool anyone already suspicious, but might turn aside a casual glance.
This was a long way from professional spycraft, primarily because she had no idea what she was doing. One of the few counterintelligence techniques she knew was to be a complete prick to everyone you encountered, as anyone who stuck around in the face of such abuse was either a spy, a masochist, or family. But that didn't work when you were trying to build business relationships. Her few small gestures towards future anonymity were nothing close to enough to stand up to scrutiny if anyone started looking hard at her, but they would have to do. She was now big enough to be noticed by the wrong people if she misstepped, if they weren't distracted, and AVALANCHE and Genesis had gone quiet enough that she might be moving up the list of priorities. But given the SOLDIER disappearance rates, doing nothing would be simply waiting for the axe to fall.
The kidnappers had backed off her transports when her precautions made things awkward for them. This was good in one sense, but it also meant she was dealing with people that knew when to cut their losses. Powerful people than had gone unchallenged for a long time often responded to any challenges with rage and overkill. They hadn't. That was controlled, cautious. Dangerous. And she still had no idea what she was dealing with or how to root them out.
Her whole plan had always been a long shot, but it would be getting truly hazardous the more success she had. Shinra couldn't easily bring her down quietly anymore, the trick would be to quietly advance her goals while not registering as enough of a threat that they would be willing to make some noise to crush her. There were nine offices that handled SOLDIER transports in Midgar. She would never get the Priority 1 emergency air traffic no matter what she did, and wouldn't have the facilities, expertise, or money to maintain aircraft anyway, so that was one less to worry about. The local, low grade within Midgar runs were also less of a priority, as she felt it was unlikely that SOLDIERs could be quietly disappeared within Midgar itself. That left seven offices she had to win ongoing contracts with, across four companies, without attracting the attention of Shinra. A tall order. She would need another plan.
Absurdly Secure Solutions (AbSec), one of her subsidiaries based out of Upper Sector 5, made the first move, unprompted, actually. This was the sector where the bulk of Scarlet' manufactories were, and they bid for and won a contract to move weapons from Junon to Midgar, a soft, easy, but important run, that somewhat regularly had SOLDIER escort. The rate at which that run disappeared was no higher than it should be, by her calculations. It made sense, it was by nature heavily armed and closely watched, it'd be difficult to attack unnoticed. But it was still something ticked off her list. One down.
There would be problems, of course. The Directors of AbSec made her aware that Sector 5 was home to a street gang called the Samazis, which made most of their money trading in weapons and mercenaries, weapons which they largely received from boosting small quantities from Shinra deliveries. Now that she was running some of those trips, they could be targeted, and any scuffles would draw attention she didn't need. So that meant either a deal, or a war, was in the offing. Which required her to take a few walks around sector 5 on quiet days. Some wandering eventually resulted in strangers asking her what she wanted. Eventually, she was directed to a cheap rented local hall, and a date and time to return.
Accordingly, one day Pearl left the SOLDIER floor one day and walked to a wood floored private hall marked out as a tennis court in upper sector 5. Introducing herself as Yiyunki Ligakas, professional negotiator contracted on behalf of AbSec, she checked her sunglasses were in place and walked in through the metal detector. The guards were lean and alert, not using known military formations, but still serviceably covering the sightlines.
Once inside, there were only two waiting to meet her. A huge silent figure in full Wutai regalia, and a short unarmed woman that introduced herself as Carla, which might or might not have been true. Either way, she was someone with authority in the clan, or someone that pretended to have. Who would have thought, that the 'random wandering' strategy would actually pay off?
'Carla' was sitting at a cheap chipboard table in the middle of the court, with the Wutai soldier standing behind her.
"Wow, you've fallen far, brother." Pearl said to the Wutai soldier as she was walking to sit down. He shrugged and said nothing.
" Veteran, huh? Don't judge, a man's got to eat," Carla pointed out. "And there's no need to be rude… Ms… Ligakas? But we have more to talk about. You have been asking about a certain group lately."
"Absec, who I represent, recently acquired a contract for transporting to Junon, which impinges on some of their interests. I was hoping we could find a compromise."
"They sent you alone? Mustn't like you much. I don't see how that could work… you'll be answerable to the Shinras for any missing inventory, and nobody's stupid enough to cross the Shinras. Not for money, anyway. Have you an alternative?"
"Protection payments are generally customary, I believe?"
"Very old fashioned, but true. But the cargos of that run are quite valuable." Carla stretched out her arms.
"Maybe so, but we can't deal arms to third parties. If they ended up in the hands of AVALANCHE, for instance, that's all our heads on spikes."
"No one deals with AVALANCHE any more. They always betray you, it's not practical."
Pearl saluted the thought, and then negotiations began. It came to no clear conclusions. There wasn't enough trust between them –not least, she had no idea if she was actually dealing with a real representative, or just some scammer. But they'd likely hear about it, at least.
When they parted ways, she hit the rooftops again, and waited for them to come out. She didn't have to wait long, before Carla and her Wutai soldier emerged. She tracked them for a couple of streets, but then they passed into open ground she couldn't follow through without becoming visible. By then she was pretty sure that Wutai soldier knew she was there, he was holding his helmet too still, not looking around the way a bodyguard should. She returned to the Shinra building without having achieved much. It was probably too much to ask that everyone she spoke to instantly agreed with what she wanted, but she didn't have much margin for error these days.
Strange to see a Wutai soldier after all this time. There was no reason they shouldn't be in Midgar, everyone came there eventually. How many were there in various gangs, cast off by their former nation, with no skills except killing, trying to carve out some kind of life for themselves? The full armour and mask were a bit of an unnecessary affectation, but maybe he was a merc that had to market himself to stand out. She was still not entirely comfortable facing that armour, even though she could probably tie him in knots with one hand. Odd, to realise that about herself now. Instincts clung. Sometimes, at least.
She retreated to the familiar kitchenette to figure out what she was going to do next. Her old 'what are you looking at' mug was still there, miraculously unbroken in the months she'd been away. She sat drinking and musing for quite some time. It was so easy to gain a rep for bravery when the risks were so much less for someone like her. There were still risks, but in ordinary situations, she had a much better chance of getting out alive than someone unenhanced. If she didn't have them, would she be doing right now? Unfortunately, her lack of concern about ordinary dangers was a problem, now. She needed some kind of bodyguards to be taken seriously.
A real professional negotiator would have them, but Pearl had found the whole thing problematic. She needed discretion, which other SOLDIER wouldn't provide, but she knew no mercenaries she trusted. Most of her truckers were able to take care of themselves, but they were all too busy to spend time following her around. Her own skills in personal combat made most ordinary bodyguards unnecessary or irrelevant, but using her abilities drew attention. So did walking alone through dangerous places. It was unusual not to have guards, it was going to draw notice if she didn't.
So she called Carla back, and asked for a team of bodyguards to escort her around Samazi territory as a show of trust. For an ordinary person, that would be crazily trusting, but she could probably handle any treachery, unless they were going to blow 500k on Marlboro Venom. Which was possible, for well connected arms dealers, but massively overcautious for a random negotiator.
She wouldn't let them near any of her premises, or the Shinra building, but thereafter they would escort her to future meetings if she was going somewhere moderately hostile. Carla seemed alternately impressed and amused that the person here to negotiate due to fear of being harassed by her people had hired four of them as bodyguards. It still seemed like a stupid move, but now she was in the 'error of judgement' ballpark instead of the 'suspicious, maybe a spy' ballpark. And if they underestimated her, that was all to the good. She needed every advantage she could get, considering that she wasn't actually a professional negotiator, and had no idea if she was actually making good deals or not.
Absec's bid had worked out for the moment, but she had to wait to see how it panned out. Benson and Sons was wholly preoccupied with its expansion into vegetable wholesaling, and couldn't take on another contract right now. She didn't want Elite Transport drawing attention, which left Shining Eyes and Silverback Deliveries as the two companies free to help her make the next move. One down, six to go, and nobody had killed her yet. She was exceeding expectations.
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