Sitting in the company of the blips and hums of constantly active machines, a hunched figure glanced to the side through a pair of spectacles. All around her, screens of various sizes and importance filled the space. The one displaying the Dog House, the sub-zero prison for a monstrous criminal, was one she held with more vigilance than others.
Her tails swayed to the unseen rhythm of monotony. Only the sweet taste of silvervine candy and the anticipation for status updates from her most trusted subordinate kept her awake. After her measuring instruments had detected unknown signals going on and off, she sent him on a low alert patrol to increase the chance of encountering the source of those signals.
Her attention returned to the monitor displaying a variety of data being collected. Most of the numbers became white noise which she promptly filtered out to keep only the few relevant parts. Just then, her ears twitched at the sound of a beep. Without as much as turning her head, she reached over and pressed on the button to activate the communication line. "Tager?"
"Kokonoe." His voice passed through the device, carrying a heavy weight behind it.
"What's—" The visuals switching on abruptly from Tager's end cut her words short, enabling her to see what was in front of him. She expected an ordinary view inside one of the cities in line with his current coordinates, but certainly not to see a man with a golden mask at the center of her screen. "…Relius?!"
"My, it has been a while since we spoke, Kokonoe. You seem exactly the same as I remember." Halfway hidden in the shades casted by support structures, the man stood with his automaton at his side.
Kokonoe pulled herself closer to the screen, all her attention focused on it. "Cut the pleasantry crap, asshat. What do you want?" According to the vitals monitoring system, Tager didn't sustain any sort of damage. No ambush or combat took place, so she assumed Relius had simply shown himself in front of Tager.
"There's no need to be so on edge." Below the mask covering his eyes, a smile appeared. It was a convincing act of friendliness, only ruined by the way his companion stood with her gaze sharply focused on Tager. He chuckled before adding, "Don't tell me your Idea Engine is no longer up to par to ward off threats?"
Kokonoe's brows furrowed deeper. "No idea what you're talking about. Whatever's your reason to seek me out, it's exactly why I know you're up to something." The last time Relius and she had worked on a project, she got a glimpse of his true nature. "Tager, get ready to teleport back or fight. Can't be too cautious with that damn guy."
His voice responded through the communicator, "Roger that. Preparing increased output."
"Now, now. I want you to set your hostilities aside. I came to you with a mutually beneficial proposal," the man replied.
"…Hmph, right." The tips of her fingers turned the lollipop stick she held in her hand. "Is this a new scheme again?"
Taking her question as a sign of interest, Relius raised a hand to his chin. "Aren't we all scheming something at all times? Let me ask you this then. Have you noticed the state of the world?"
"Noticed what?" There was one thing she truly despised about the man, and it was the fact that he always seemed to be in the know of something she didn't.
"Oh, no use in playing ignorant. Surely the flow of events seems rather odd. Small abnormalities showing here and there, for lack of a better word. Don't you get that feeling too?"
Correct as he was, she had zero intentions in sharing her own findings with him. "Stop wasting my time discussing rhetorics. Spit it out or else I make Tager squeeze it out of you."
"Ever the impatient one, but I digress." The smile he carried curled into a calculating smirk. "You see, I've encountered something peculiar on my travels. The only caveat is that I require a capable workshop to store the specimen. Unfortunately, I no longer have the manpower at my disposal."
Kokonoe grimaced. "That's it? You're just using me to keep your research safe while you prance around elsewhere?"
"Don't worry, it's a simple task. I assure you that it'll be well within your abilities, guaranteed to be a fascinating subject for you too." The man on the screen let out a low laugh. "It might even give the answers you've been looking for all this time."
"The answers I've been looking for…" The last part renewed her attention by twofold. "What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. I will show you the means in discovering the forbidden, something not meant to be known in this current world. That too, its location is only known by me and I'm hoping to share it with you. Should you accept, of course. What do you say, Kokonoe?"
"Tsk." His proposal reeked of a trap, yet her drive to seek knowledge proved hard to deny, especially when she had been grasping at straws. She bit at her bottom lip. "You son of a bitch…"
Without waiting for a proper response from her, Relius turned around, his cape flowing behind him. "Excellent, let us rendezvous in the coming future. I thank you for your cooperation. Come, Ignis. Time is of the essence." Sinking deeper into the shadows, he disappeared along with his weaponized puppet.
After the pair had left, Tager finally voiced his concerns, "…Kokonoe, are you sure about this? It sounds too good to be true."
"..." If she were to continue her current method of looking for explanations behind the strange gut feeling plaguing the back of her already busy mind, then she could be potentially searching for a very long time. "It's a calculated risk, and I'll do my best to keep my guards up. Report back to base, Tager."