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Post by Azula on May 3, 2010 23:23:32 GMT -5
"We are," Azula confirmed, expression cool as she shifted to a business-like tone, "By all rumors, vague as they are, you were the last one to see her alive in Paris, and given your conflict with Gene Co... You can understand why we'd think you might know a thing or two about what happened to her, Mr. Veidt. And we've made it our business to find out what that was or is."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 4, 2010 0:03:51 GMT -5
Veidt sighed in annoyance.
"Would you like to see the video?"
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Post by Yomiko Readman on May 5, 2010 8:43:46 GMT -5
"Video? You have video?" That was confusing. It certainly didn't seem like something someone who had anything to do with a disappearance would keep around...
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Post by Azula on May 5, 2010 12:46:41 GMT -5
"Assuming that a 'video' is similar to what Micaela called a 'DVD', yes please," Azula answered, keeping her thoughts to herself behind a pleasant smile. Hrrrm, suspious. Must investigate further...
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 5, 2010 14:31:55 GMT -5
He tapped the intercom and asked whoever was on the other end to bring up the tape, with the additional vague clarifier of "Yes, that one" when pressed about it, before turning back to the girls.
"The local law enforcement all have copies of the surveillance tapes showing Micaela's abduction, vanishing, whatever you may call it. I've kept one for myself as well, and studied it numerous times in an attempt to discover what may have caused this to happen, but there's... nothing. No visible cause, no signs of entry where it happened..."
He calmed himself, though this was followed by a rueful glance at his mechanically reconstructed right hand.
"The Paris branch of my company is slowly becoming nothing but a mass of crime scenes, and I think I know exactly who's to blame. It was Largo who smeared my name in the press after a deal he agreed to, Largo who sent his hired assassin here, Largo who then had the gall to imply that I've ever owed him anything, and I believe it was Largo who had Micaela taken from me."
His voice had steadily become more bitter and intense as this speech moved onward, and this was like a very quiet crescendo of ugly feelings.
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Post by Yomiko Readman on May 6, 2010 19:53:32 GMT -5
This...unpleasant speech made Yomiko wonder just what kind of things happened in the business world, and if it wasn't nearly as bad as the world of international espionage that made up her primary career. Come to think of it, they probably weren't dissimilar.
"Largo", huh? She made a mental note of that name, which she might have known had she spent more time out and around Paris rather than reading. It was just as well, though, all things considered.
The whole time, too, she found her eyes drawn to Veidt's rather unusual right hand, sensing a connection with this story there. Of course, she was too polite to comment on it.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 6, 2010 20:54:41 GMT -5
Veidt noticed this and calmly returned the stare.
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Post by Azula on May 6, 2010 22:00:18 GMT -5
"Yomiko," interupted Azula kindly yet firmly, "That's rude. There's no need to antagonize our host when he's being so accomidating to our request."
She wasn't overly impressed by Veidt's rant, having heard and said much worse herself during her upbringing in and service to the Fire Nation as her Father's de facto heir. Politics was simply business with more teeth and less brains for the most part, after all. Largo's name was noted though if only to be prepared for when Yomiko dragged them both into another fire fight.
Not that she minded entirely. It was something to do with the other girl and she... enjoyed that.
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Post by Yomiko Readman on May 7, 2010 12:00:33 GMT -5
Chastised, Yomiko glanced away. "Oh...sorry about that. Sometimes I just don't notice what I'm doing..." Akwardly, she turned back to her book, thinking about what they'd so far found out.
It probably should have felt like a wild goose chase, but it didn't, somehow. If they weren't running around in circles, they were probably coming closer to the truth, and anyway she got to be around Azula, which was always a plus.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 14:29:26 GMT -5
A woman in a security guard uniform finally arrived and brought Veidt the tape. He thanked her for it and popped it into a television set in a cabinet to the right of his desk.
The video showed Micaela baking, shot from above. There was absolutely nothing strange about it, until suddenly the screen flashed to static.
"Two minutes and seventeen seconds," Veidt said. "For two minutes and seventeen seconds, this is all it shows."
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Post by Azula on May 7, 2010 21:37:47 GMT -5
"Plenty of time for something or someone to happen to her," concedes Azula with a nod, relaxing a hair from her most suspious thoughts, "And when the image recovers, if it does?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 22:04:19 GMT -5
Veidt responded by fast-forwarding through the remaining static. When the picture cleared, it showed the same view, entirely the same- except where Micaela last was was nothing but a pile of clothes.
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Post by Yomiko Readman on May 8, 2010 10:31:42 GMT -5
That didn't just happen. "I...I don't get it," mumbled Yomiko, staring intently at the spot. (That must have been awkward, wherever she reappeared--if she did.)
"But the only thing that could have caused that short-out would be some kind of massive energy release, I think."
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Post by Azula on May 8, 2010 12:07:41 GMT -5
"Assuming that your interest in Micaela was at least partially a mercenary bid to exploit her Realitybending powers, I assume that you... discovered a way to measure those powers," speculated Azula aloud, looking at Veidt from the corner of one eye, "Am I correct in thinking that and did you... pick up anything when this event occured?"
Dangerous ground, but important ground to cover. If this monster could confirm that Micaela had vanished under her own power and not been slain...
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 8, 2010 21:09:53 GMT -5
"I didn't keep Geiger counters trained on her every movement," Veidt snapped. "Take the matter up with Largo. He's the one who would have benefited from her vanishing. He couldn't stand the idea that I had her while he has to suffer his trio of disappointments."
With a small sigh, he turned off the television set.
"If Micaela was able to alter the fabric of reality itself, I was unaware of it. I only knew of her skills at physical manipulation."
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