Queen and General [Cas/NPC]

If Cassandra had been expecting to meet the Xros General in person - at least at the start - she was mistaken. The general's Digimon had long left Akla, leaving Cassandra with a simple radio and a rough marker of time. It would have very easy to just leave the doctor out to dry in this regard.

However, it seemed the general had at least held true to the time itself. As the clock on her Digivice flicked from 8:59 to 9:00 even, a voice spoke out through the earpiece. "If you are alone - just you and your Digimon - state the time into the mouthpiece." A male voice, sounding like it belonged to a man in his mid-twenties, spoke calmly and plainly into the device in a fluent Japanese. So long as Cassandra gave the response, the conversation would continue. Well, almost:

"Before I proceed, I must ask: what is your intent here?" The general's question seemed fair in tone, even if he held most of the 'chips' in this conversation. In retrospect, this was very well organized - the general was doing his best to keep those potentially dangerous from simply waltzing into his inner circle.

Well, well - Cassandra was a rather shrewd individual, wasn't she? The 'queen's' answers were quite calm, and wasted no time betraying her intent: she wanted to research the D-Reaper's data, for some sort of medical purpose. At the same time, she gave off the clear air that she wasn't able to speak freely - and the General, at a glance, knew this as a finely laid trap. It would have been exceedingly simple to simply speak in a location where the conversation couldn't have been tracked, and it wasn't as if this radio could be tracked back to her personally.

Many would have taken this as a signal to simply distance themselves from their potential accomplice, but the General wasn't about to let someone so capable slip by. So, his next question was asked, with a careful tone:

"Very well. Renamon is still in Akla, at a relatively close distance - though the chip is no longer on her. Should you want to discuss this plainly, I can have her open a portal to my current residence. Will that work for you?"

Silently, the General was determining Cassandra's appetite for risk: accepting the offer immediately would have proven her foolhardy, as she was essentially signing a blank check to a situation with potentially no escape. A flat refusal, well, that would have just been taken at face value.

How about it, then - what's your answer?

Medium, huh?

From what he knew about Cassandra so far, this was one of two answers that he honestly expected, the other being an almost reluctant acceptance to his original offer. In the case of the latter, the General would figure that Cassandra was eager to get close to the information, but the doctor instead chose a middle ground. This meant that she was either being cautious, or that she seriously wanted to consider an ongoing alliance.

In either case, he had no reason to object to her terms. "I'll be there. The next train to Terminus will be leaving in approximately twenty minutes. Enter Old Terminus through the west access, hang a left, and keep walking until you see a building with a red roof. I'll be in the one across from that."

And with that, there would be a 'click', the voice on the other end of the radio going silent. Should the doctor board the train - a good three hour ride over to Terminus - she would find that she wouldn't be alone in the car. Just ahead of her, that familiar Renamon would slip in, and sit down in the same car, taking the seat opposite Cassandra's. Despite this, she wouldn't say a word, unless spoken to. No, she just leaned her head against a palm, pretending to nod off to sleep.

If Cassandra and Dagger weren't going to send any words her way, the Renamon certainly wasn't going to return any. For the duration of the ride, Renamon merely returned a few glances towards Dagger, before turning to rest on her back, at the very least pretending to close her eyes and rest for the ride over. Of course, she had a job to keep an eye on these three - but what were they really going to do, all the way on the other end of the car?

As the Trailmon arrived in Terminus, Renamon stood, and simply vanished from sight, disappearing into the crowd  with a single use of 'Kohenkyo'. Like that, Cassandra would be left to find her own way to Old Terminus - once she figured out that the 'West Access' was nothing more than a decrepit wall that led to a dingy staircase. Thankfully, the red-roofed building had been the only one remotely red on the block, and there was a convenient door directly across from the red building's own.

Here in this underground building, past a beaten up storage door, Cassandra would find herself in an old, dusty warehouse. Boxes were stacked up high on both sides, and it seemed like this building hadn't been used for anything legitimate in years.

Depending on the argument, that wasn't going to change today. The Renamon from before, leaning on the boxes to the left, gave a light nod in their direction - as the general himself stood up from his impromptu seat across the room. (X) Clutching his Xros Loader in his palm, the General gave a nod in his guest's direction.

"Hm. You look to have a little less of a 'murderous gaze' than Renamon originally described it." Musing that for a moment, the man gave a nod: "The name's Denryu. Renamon over there is my center partner - the remaining six are resting in the Loader for the moment." The fox, when she was addressed, gave another wave to the doctor: "Charmed. The master's quite fond of these smoke and mirror games, you'll notice."

"Hmph." Denryu simply gave a shrug at that comment: "Well, we're just here to talk, right? Though I might not answer everything you want me to - and you might not do the same for me. Even if we've gotten this far," he rolled his hand over his neck, "its hard to know if we can make anything out of this unless we both have skin in the game."

Cassandra figured he already had their names? Denryu gave a shrug at that: "True enough. At least, we briefly looked into you, as well as the other two groups that joined up." Did his connections go a step above the Cherrymon? The General didn't specify, simply giving a nod as the Digimon were introduced.

"Cloak and Dagger... a bit on the nose, isn't it?" Renamon shrugged with vague interest, the General giving a small 'hm' at Cassandra's slight poke at Renamon's caution. "Perhaps - though we really weren't considered about appearance at that point. No matter how we went about it, we thought we'd draw the ire with at least one of you." His tone moved a bit to match Cassandra's, though his lacked any sort of warmth that her's would - at least at this point.

The next part, however, was unexpected by both the Renamon and the General. Seeing her poise for something, the fox stood at a defensive stance, until Denryu gave the motion for her to stand down. The infection with the D-Reaper was obvious even from what he could see, but the extent? Well, that was soon laid out before him, Cassandra taking it upon herself to show the literal skin she had in the game.

That decrepit, jagged texture.
The red tone and veins that stained her stature.
Burns and bandages strewn across her body.

No wonder Cassandra was so desperate for information: she was a living embodiment of what the D-Reaper could do to the human body, even up to the metal 'implant' forced upon her left arm. Renamon's fur bristled in disgust, as even Denryu's eyes widened at the sight. "Quite enough, of course." His tone even managed to pick up a bit of warmth - though it was only natural that Cassandra would return the question.

"Actually, the D-Reaper data itself is uninteresting to me." The General's tone was rather calm, matter-of-fact. "If I wanted to run that, I could have hunted any agent off the beaten path of the Dark Area. Even then, I wouldn't have any ability to decipher it myself."

"Denryu, you're just going to- hm?"

Once more, the General raised a single hand, shooting a half glare in the Renamon's direction. With a nod, she fell silent, and gave a step back. Gripping around the Xros Loader, he tightened his hand, two 'clicks' echoing out as he drew two white chips: "The fox used one of these to load the Meicoomon's data. In fact, every Xros Partner - not just my own - are assigned a chip. These aren't just records - each is imprinted to and contains the full data of a Digimon. That includes the red chip."

Clicking everything back into place, he let out his intent, rather plainly: "I'm not interested in finding a cure. I'm interested in acquiring Hunter as a proper Xros Partner."

He let that hang in the air for a moment: "Provided that's not a non-starter, though, I think there's a mutual benefit we can reach by working together. Though I can't provide you the core data, I'm certain the scans themselves are invaluable information?"

Well, wasn't Dagger quite the righteous Zubamon? Though the Renamon's fur had risen at the sight of the D-Reaper, she actually snarled at Dagger's response - which was enough for the General to put a hand on the fox's shoulder. "Little guy's getting on our case for being shocked at something that was supposed to shock us?"

"Leave it be. You're the same way, Renamon." Leaving it at that, the next few steps of the conversation moved smoothly enough - Denryu had placed his intent on the table, and Cassandra didn't immediately back away from the offer. In fact, she offered a few points of caution, and for the first time, the General let out a chuckle.

"Yes, that is her current state. And that's before you even consider the D-Reaper." Cassandra definitely had experience with D-Reaper contamination, but Meicoomon by themselves were their own potential handfuls. "I'm aware this might not pan out entirely like I want it to, but at the very least, one of us stands to benefit from this." That much was true, though the next question Cassandra asked definitely came out of nowhere.

How good were his funds? "Denryu's not here to be your trust fund, miss." Renamon's words held a little venom at such a direct question, as Denryu mulled over the thought in his head. "Honestly, the accounting part of it's not something I handle on my end."

"Is that my cue?" A voice cut through on Denryu's radio, the General giving a shrug. "Might as well be."

At that response, another portal would open - but instead of another one of Denryu's Xros partners, another (X) human made her appearance. Briefly pulling the hair away from her eyes, the shorter girl gave a nod. "Name's Emma. I'm a spirit wielder, his sister. I got the jist of everything on recording."

"Well, what do you think?" Denryu gave a shrug.

"Hard to say. Financially we're positive - I'd say we can afford most things, but medicine's a bit tricky. Still, you couldn't convince her to meet at base? This sort of motif's not how you're going to make friends on the level, D."

Sheesh - she'd even managed to get under Denryu's skin! "Simpler question - how much are we talking, then? Dr. Cross?"

"Oh? Then Cloak must be quite the lively one." There was a tinge of doubt in the General's voice, as if questioning if he'd even fear such a personality - but such small bluster didn't play much into the discussion at hand.

Cassandra's bluff as she started her negotiations wasn't missed. If the doctor could truly handle all of this herself, then why was she here? Clearly she needed patients, and saw value in the information that Denryu could offer in this partnership. Thus, he simply gave a nod, his mask remaining just as firm as the Doctor's.

The Doctor's warning brought a bit more of a reaction from the three. Renamon and Emma quickly exchanged glances, mulling that over in their heads. Clearly, the two behind the General were a bit more concerned about the risk - but even there, Denryu wasn't going to budge. "From the start, Digimon are already quite dangerous. But I don't think any of us were chosen by this world to just be passive residents."

That aside, it came down to the price tag: Cassandra wanted them to cover ten-thousand USD, in what sounded like an upfront payment. "Hm. Its an expense we can cover, though - "

"Then its something we can manage. Very well - if you're asking about an isolated facility, then follow me along this way." Clicking a few times on his device, Denryu held the Xros Loader out - a portal opening up against the far wall of the warehouse. Through the veil, one could make out a cheery blue sky and well-trimmed grass.

"Fair warning, be ready for your ears to pop." Emma had already made her way past, Renamon following, as Denryu stood off to the side to allow Cassandra and her partners entry. On the other side?

Well, that ear-popping wasn't any exaggeration. As the portal would vanish behind herself and Denryu, the group would find themselves far away from not only Terminus, but ground level. Off in the far distance, Cassandra would see one of the holy outposts of the Empyrian Skies - in fact, the General had taken the Doctor to his own floating island, the group standing on a cobblestone path in front of a small manor.

"So will you finally be home for more than five minutes, then, D?"

"Hm. Well, this is about as isolated as you can get in the Digital World."