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Stormy shot Nevada a look for the very poor choice of words. Let's not talk about killing.

"Who were those guys? What did Cass mean 'never really came back'?" she asked Aria hesitantly, desummoning her own weapon as well; the totem appeared on her ring finger, which she was quickly sliding off to move to her pointer. It was hard not to ask a hundred questions, but all she had to remember was the icy glare they'd received from their leader and the cold metal of the flamethrower at her throat to regulate her words.

Aria shrugged. "You may, however for now this is the safest place. Information is a very valuable commodity here on Deus Ex; I would not talk about this at all within headquarters. You never know how many bugs may be within a room, or who is listening with an ear pressed against a glass."

"As for your question... We don't know. That's why I called them in." Aria's weapon moved away from them, gesturing to where the group was once gathered. The pumpkin they were examining was missing; likely they took it with them. Or it ran off while no one was looking.

At Nevada's last remark, Aria openly smirked. "Haven't you ever heard 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I wouldn't keep such a black and white viewpoint of the world if I were you."



To Stormy, Aria shrugged again. "Those were my allies and friends." She watched them, waiting to see their reactions. "As to what Cass meant, I don't know."



"In a division filled with over a hundred people, some on island and others off, I'm afraid I don't have time to get to know each and every one personally." Aria said, shaking her head. "And I still feel that your response at the time is an excuse and not fact. I don't blame you for being honest with me, after all as we can see I'm not exactly a model Deus citizen."

"As for your other question," Aria continued, "We first met in December after I came back from spending three months in the Sahara. I showed you and Candace Pennington the then-secret Mist Lounge and introduced you to Lance Dacosta, acting Mist Assistant after dragging his a** out of the Moon recovery wing and putting him to better use than moping over things he couldn't change."

Allies and friends.

She mulled over this uncertainly. Allying with Halloween for the sake of a mission had occurred to her, of course; she knew right from the get go that they weren't all bad. Mei had healed her in battle, Thackery had been friendly; she had to stop herself from thinking about the witch, though. So something was up that required both Hunter and Halloweener attention . . . And whatever had happened that Cass knew about and Aria didn't? Was it another memory tampering effect like from the Tear? She made a note to ask after it if she could.

For now, Stormy's face wrinkled into a thoughtful frown. Nevada's question was whether they had to help now or not, but . . . "Can we help?" she asked Aria. "If so, how? You say the 'enemy of my enemy is a friend', so . . . If neither Halloween nor Insanity is the enemy, then who is this time?"

A mirthless laugh came from Aria. "You said it yourself earlier: some people would kill to discover a so-called traitor in their midst. I inherited this position myself after the then-leader was killed. I wouldn't put it past Lance to try and off me if he found out, either. After all, he was only interested in me after he found out I was the lead for a division that was still struggling to get back on its feet. Considering what happened to all challengers and those who openly intended to take my position, it's no surprise he opted for the... other route."

"What the three of you choose is up to you. I'm not going to force you down a path of damnation. All of you have already seen too much."



Stormy's question caused the lead to tighten her grip on her weapon. "It is your choice what you want to do. We here at Deus Ex are tasked with protecting humanity, are we not?" She spread her arms wide, "An entire world, protected from the supernatural by people who are based on one tiny island! The world is a vast, wide place and Halloween is bigger. Halloween may have its laws, but it has its lawbreakers as well. Like the horsemen." The word was spat out, contempt naked on her face. "It is their belief that they are superior and are to rule over humanity. They have no qualms with torturing or murdering. They aren't the only ones in Halloween that do this either. There are more, and as well as Halloween tries to stop them they can slide right through their fingers. That is where I and my friends come in."



Aria shrugged off Cass' initial comment. Now wasn't the time to point out that inviting a hunter into her office for tea and a "nice chat" was usually an invitation for disaster. Nor could she say that she lacked the social skills or knowledge of how to get to know someone better. All she had were excuses, nothing more.

She listened to the hunter, looking down at her own weapon and placing her hand on top of it protectively. "So that is what happened to her twin," she mused softly, "I had always wondered. It seems as though the Fear of a creature and weapon reacted in such a way that -- ah." Realization dawned on her. "I see. That explains why there is so much Insanity in the Haunted house. Thank you."

At the next bit, Aria shook her head. "Halloween is made up of many, many individuals. They are my friends; I owe them my life countless times, and they in turn are in my own debt for the same reason. Sometimes instead of focusing on what's different, if you take a moment to focus on your similarities? It turns out we're not much different after all." Blasphemy. If Caelius were here, her head would already be rolling across the floor.

"Well, I certainly have met all the wrong individuals, then." Albeit, her interaction with the Pyramid Head had been mostly amicable, as if they were both very amused by it. She'd certainly had fun with the meeting, at least. She couldn't think of any other meeting she'd had that had been very fun, however. She glanced down at the weapon - she'd heard whispers about a twin weapon at some point. The 'rare' twin.

The irony would be that Cass had been laid out coloring unicorns with Lance when Red had raised again, thus the 'dead' beast was actually still floating around. Oh, she'd be all levels of surprised when that happened.

After a moment of consideration, however, Cass had made her decision - "As I suspect you would never tell me to betray my friends, nor actively put me in a situation where helping my friends was made difficult, I won't do the same to you." She released the fists behind her back to flex her hand out, looking at the small red marks in her palms.

"However, my participation in such activity will remain as background assistance - limited and with things as under the table as asked for - given I only keep so many secrets from my husband." She grimaced slightly, not liking the idea of keeping more secrets, but - "I feel that would be the safest option. But-" She looked to Aria, "I will come help should you ask for my help, even though I myself am awful at doing the same."

They kind of did have a bit in common. Secret sisters (no seriously, side by side....)

"Yessum." Two fingers went to her temple in salute, though she did feel a little guilty in retrospect; Cass made her decision while thinking about her husband, and there she went pledging herself without thinking about how it might affect things with Gale . . . Let alone what it might mean for future missions. She'd have to be extra careful if priorities began to conflict, or pray that it never happened.

"When you say renegades, do you mean the Circle?" Stormy asked with a frown, remembering what the Mist leader had been talking about with her friends. She knew only what Lucky told her, and that was very little. "They're not happy with how Deus is run, right? And, uh, what's an Undine?" Since she was already picking at what Aria had been mentioning anyway.

Nevada stayed quiet longer as she processed one thing after another thing after another. Why she ever thought coming to Deus would be simpler than her normal life was beyond her.

Stormy's apt volunteering made Nevada swivel her head at the girl before lifting up her hand and pulling at the girl's cheek.

"Well where ever or whatever this one does, I go and do with as well." Nevada pointed to Stormy, "And I'm curious to know about this, whatever the incoming threat, because we all know it is coming, I want more knowledge on it rather than being thrown right into it."

The mist huntress lucky, had Stormy to share all her secrets with. Unlike Cass, She didn't have anyone to delve information to like that.

"Oh the circle hunters." Nevada grimaced, "Aren't they also hunters that have...thrown away their weapon bonds?" At least that was the rumor mill.

"Gray is better," she told Cass with a nod, as if she needed more convincing. "On my first mission, a student healed me when my charge went wrong and nearly broke my shield." Stormy could still remember the fetid breath of the corpse dog and the dracolich on her . . . Eugh. Mei had literally saved her life back there.

So, another uniform to keep, huh. Very clandestine indeed! It was really lucky that she and her roommate wouldn't have to keep secrets from each other in this regard. But no way was she interested in trying to fight something that clearly had some powers about it like hiding in underground caves unnoticed . . . "Don't engage Undine, don't make yourself a target with the coat: got it. He's also an ally, then?" Or a neutral party guardian thing? She still had something similar to Cass' description, a literal summon from a video game all serpentine and watery . . .

"If, um, it's fair to ask, this Binding thing . . . What is it exactly?" she asked, showing a little concern as she felt the slight but present chill inside her, the slow creeping doubt of what the hell did she just get herself into. "It's Halloween magic, right? I know we're not supposed to talk about what happened here to anyone else, but does it set any other rules or conditions we should be aware of?"