Hartley strode through the automatic front doors of the Houston branch office with his usual quick and over-confident stride, reaching up to take off his hat as the tassels of his duster billowed around his legs. He gave the woman at the reception desk a smile. She, in turn, rolled her eyes at his appearance.
"You still look ridiculous in that getup, sir," she commented as the detective stepped up to and leaned against her desk.
He snorted in response. "Madeleine, I'm an investigator. I've gotta look the part."
The receptionist tipped and tapped away at her keyboard, bringing a list of files onto the screen set into the tabletop. A moment later, the PDA in Hartley's pocket vibrated.
"That's what we have on her," the woman said. Then, eyeing Hartley and shaking her head in exasperation, "You're too old for costumes."
Hartley chuckled gruffly and walked off, down the busy corridors of the office building, down a flight of stairs - elevators irked him -, and into the holding and processing area, where a long line of men and women awaited their turn to be scanned, frisked, and shoved into a temporary cell to await 'trial' and transfer to a proper prison. Putting his hat on again and pulling the wide brim down over his face - no point letting any of these petty lowlifes recognize him -, the detective made his way through the crowd, past the busy officers, and into a smaller section separated into makeshift interrogation rooms by simple dividers.
A young corporal met him there, directing him towards one of the cubicles.
"Want an armed guard, sir?" The officer asked as they stepped up to it. Hartley regarded him with a condescending eye.
"She came willingly. I think I'll be fine. Besides," he patted the slight bulge in his coat's chest, "I'm already armed." With that, he strode into the small room and found himself face to face with the woman he had arrested just half an hour earlier. She sat at the small table in the center of the cell, hands cuffed to its top with magnetic bonds. Hartley regarded her for a moment; then, with a sigh, removed his hat again and sat down in the empty chair across from her, dropping the hat on the desk. His eyes shot up to the small camera set into the corner of the wall.
Hartley: [Removing a PDA from his coat pocket.] Sorry for the spartan accommodations. New leadership's restructuring the offices, y'know?
Victoria sighed to herself another time when another person was called out via the speakers. She didn't really know what she was hoping to hear, but it wasn't her name so all she had to do was to stare at her cuffed hands, waiting for someone to finally arrive. She was still wearing her neutral dark grey pilot suit with an empty gun belt and steel-tipped boots that reached just over her shin.
She was going through the entire situation over and over again from start to finish in an attempt to work out what the mistake was that she ended up here in the first place. Her ship's engines weren't powerful enough, the countermeasure didn't work against the officer's cruise disruptors, or maybe she just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She let out another sigh, it didn't really matter now that she was already cuffed to a table without any hopes of escape. She closed her eyes for a bit in preparation for the interrogation. Victoria had only been a child the last time she was here, but even back then it felt like a big show. Few people who arrive here live to tell the tale.
Victoria's almost meditating state was quickly interrupted as a male officer entered the room, and by the looks he was giving her he definitely was the one who considered sparing her a death sentence on Huntsville.
The young woman got up to sit straight and looked into his eyes before her gaze shifted back to her cuffed hands.
Victoria: Sorry for being the reason you can't be out there chasing more bad guys with your boss. [Sighing as she responded with an apology just as half-hearted as his.] Wasn't hoping to ever see this place again. Wrong place wrong time I guess.
Hartley: [Leaning back in his chair.] Oh, don't you worry about that, young lady. I've never actually been all that fond of jockeying snubcraft. [Glancing at the PDA, muttering.] Was a navy officer before this. Capital ships, all that kinda fun.
Now, our files on you are a little sparse. No doubt as a result of your... affiliation. Mind - just for the record - stating your full name and date of birth?
Victoria: Do you expect honest answers even? [Shakes her head and coughs once.] Victoria Romero, born on December third 802 A.S. . You will have to believe me on that one, chief. [Leans back and rattles with the cuffs on the table as she's waiting for the Officer to write it down.] How comes I'm not with all the other criminals? Almost everyone at the scene wanted me to end up in Huntsville.
If you want me dead you might as well spare me this interrogation, I won't sing like a bird.
Hartley:
[Typing into PDA.] Victoria Romero... Eight-oh-two... [Raising an eyebrow.] If you mean the crowd outside, it's because those are just your everyday lowlifes from Manhattan, Pittsburgh, and so on. Free labor, as far as LPI is concerned. [Leaning forward, placing PDA on table.] You're a bit more valuable to us. It's not every day we actually manage to catch a lane hacker alive. In fact, as far as I know, it's never been done.
[Leaning back again.] All we usually arrest are their affiliates - ignorant contractors, mostly. [Cocking an eyebrow.] Or is that what you are, too? In that case, of course, we can skip all this and put you to work on the assembly lines for the next decade or two right away.
Victoria: One usually doesn't compliment themselves, so I'm not going to either. I just won't rat out anyone for my own benefit. I'll rather be useless in your eyes than a rat in the eyes of my people. [Sighs and leans forwards, looking at the officer.] Isn't that what we all are to you? Backstabbers, murderes, pirates who all just work for their own benefit? [Speaks calmly and rolls her eyes.]
Now I have to live with the shame of not killing myself before you guys got a hold of me. And the project on my ship, along with the ship itself is probably already in the scrapyard.
Hartley:
[Sighing.] I'll be blunt with you, Romero. I don't share Commissioner Nazumaki's odd ... infatuation with some criminals. That isn't to say I think each and every criminal in Liberty is a bad person, y'know? [Leaning forward, quietly.] I know Liberty's a tough place for most people. And I hate what LPI does in order to keep its factories churning out shit for the lucky rich folk to enjoy.
[Leaning back again, loudly.] But lane hackers. Now, that's a bad lot. Dangerous, too, what with their fancy technology and insight into Ageira's systems. But I've gotta wonder, y'know, whether you're all that dangerous. After all, we managed to arrest you easily enough.
[Pause.]
So, you don't want to rat anyone out? Fine, let's start with something else then. With you. Tell me about yourself. [Putting hands behind head.] And don't worry about your ship, it ain't getting touched till I say so.
Victoria: [Nods slightly, apparently the officer wasn't as bad as the thought to begin with, despite not being like Miss Nazumaki.] Just because I'm not on the bright side of the law means I'm out to point a gun at officer I see, or anyone I see for that matter. In my eyes the Libertonian government isn't treating their citizen like humans, but rather as resources. What's a dead soldier to a commander that sits in their office, pushing ships around on a display? They're so distanced from everything. As long as the corporations make them money they can get their fair share on it doesn't matter what happens to the citizens.
[Takes a deep breath and speaks more silent again.] I can't speak for everyone with my affiliation, but I can promise you that I'm not preying on those who need their money to survive. I'm after those who make billions upon billions while others are starving because the government doesn't care. [Leans back and takes a few more breaths as she tries to calm down again.] Unless they ignore me or straight up shoot me I don't even lock them as a target! But whatever, you probably don't believe a single word coming from a Lane Hacker's mouth.
Victoria: [Shakes her head slightly, forming an answer in her head.] If I kept it all for myself I would have been able to work on my project full time, and show a big middle finger to all those Outcasts and Rogues. I do have a family, bills to pay and people to care about. [Sighs, taking a deep breath.] If I kept it all for myself, then I would just become like the people I'm taking it from.
[Gets up briefly to stretch her legs.] I've heard this comparison before, but I don't like it, because most people using it don't understand the motivation in working for someone other than themselves.
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