The Unstoppable Truth

[Reverend Del]

Nymph headed into town, the part of town she was headed for was a rich part, and the architecture alone lent an air of wealth and prominence to this sector of the great sprawl. Rent prices here bordered on the insane. Astronomical values that really pushed the point about the disparity in Liberty between the poor and the rich. Nymph hated it. It was all she despised and more, given the chance she would have levelled the lot. Just another example of Liberty's greed.

However she wasn't here for pleasantries, she was here for the job. Maximillian Black's offices were located in an ancient building nearly four centuries old. If they didn't represent the culture of greed, Nymph decided they might almost be pretty. As it was they stood for everything the Xenos detested.

She walked into the lobby, dressed as she was in expensive clothes now. She looked every bit the part of a wealthy woman. Walking up to the desk she put on her best smile, the smile to melt hearts and minds alike.

The desk clerk looked at her, she waited for him to finish, it was not like she was unused to this treatment after all.

"Can I help you ma'am?" He finally managed to get his words out.

Putting on her most silky voice, almost dripping sexual innuendo. She leant over the desk just far enough to tantalise the eyes.

"That depends," she purred, "On whether or not you can direct me to Max Black's offices."

The desk clerk made an audible gulp and without taking his eyes of her chest he stammered

"F...f...floor 41."

"Thank you." Nymph said abruptly. Standing up straight she turned back to the Clerk. "If I ever catch you looking at me like that again, I'll kill you. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Good." Walking over to the lift she allowed herself a small genuine smile.

The lift music was, as ever in these places, terrible. Horrible corporate nonsense almost like an advert for corporations. Once again Nymph decided it was detestable.

The lift pinged and the doors opened, showing her a hallway and opposite her the entrance to Maximillian Black and Associates. Once again she put on her best face, her sweetest smile, and the very best voice money could buy. She stepped through the door and up to the receptionist.

"Good morning, miss. How can I help?"

'Bitch.' Thought Nymph, but she contained her venom, at least outwardly.

"I would like to see Max; if I may I have a very interesting proposal for him."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but I assure you that Max will be very interested to hear this, and you wouldn't want to be the one who prevented him from accessing a potential goldmine, would you?" The question was put with all the sweetest Nymph could muster, which given her gene therapy was a lot more than this poor receptionist could take.

"Oh...no, of course not. Ill just make sure it's okay with him." It did not occur to the receptionist to even inquire as to Nymph's name, so off guard was she. She simply rang through and politely informed her boss that someone was here to see him.

Max Black stepped out of his office with a face like thunder, a tall lean man, dressed in a well tailored conservative suit. He looked every inch the businessman his reputation claimed him to be. As he walked into the reception area, he caught sight of Nymph and stopped for a few seconds, gathering his composure and all the charisma 30 years of trading favours and contracts had given him, he walked over to her.

"Greetings miss. What can I do for you?"

"Angelique Veron, Mr. Black. I have a very interesting proposal for you; perhaps we could discuss it in your office. Nymph smiled.

"Certainly, walk this way."

He walked her down a plush hallway, everything in this place cost more than her family on Pittsburgh had ever seen. She was going to enjoy every moment of this information gathering exercise.

As he walked her into his office, he moved over to his desk, motioning for her to sit down.


She did so. Making as much of a meal of it as possible whilst not attracting too much attention.

Max took it all in. Smiling he asked.

"So what is this proposal, my dear?"

Nymph reached into her bag and drew out a small gun like object; two darts graced its chambers.

"Do you know what this is Mr. Black?" he shook his head. "It's Cryer Pharmaceuticals XV-90 injector modified by the techs on Ouray to fire darts. Now before you reach for that panic button I'd like to inform you what is in these two darts. The first is a powerful truth serum; if I have to I will use it to get what I want. The second is a neurotoxin; its effects are undetectable on the human body. It will cause the heart to go into fatal cardiac arrest. Now you can give me the information I require or I can kill you and ensure I get the information anyway. So tell me what's it going to be?"

Max wiped sweat from his brow, he hoped the crazy bitch was bluffing but there was no way he was going to test her just in case her claims about Ouray were true, everyone knew the Xenos were mental.

"What do you want? I'm going to presume your name is not Angelique."

"I want the original plans for the Government Central Data Archive. I'm very certain you kept them, as are my informants. So do not try to pull any frakking crap with me."

Well that proved it, she was crazy. Obviously. It didn't matter if she had the plans, the Data archive was protected. Anything the Xenos might want had been under heavy security ever since the Lane Hackers had stolen the plans for the Spyglass. She could have them if it got her out of the office, and it wasn't like she'd ever leave the building.

He opened his terminal and found the data. Copying it on to a data crystal he handed it over to her.

"Thank you." She smiled and walked towards the door, at the last moment she turned around and fired the injector. The effects were near instantaneous. Black immediately began to suffer cardiac arrest. She walked over to his rapidly cooling corpse and withdrew the needle thin dart, ensuring it had left no marks in the process. Then she raised the alarm, slipping out in the confusion that it wrought.

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Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.