<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/b3/Motoko_kusanagi_resized.png)</div><br/>It was a couple of hours before Auxilia had a response from Firewall, more than enough time for any heart-to-hearts and potentially visits to fortresses of solitude if one happened to be a<em>particularly</em>fast flyer. Auxi's drones had roped whoever happened to be available into the conference room to receive it, as apparently their representative had wanted to do things the old-fashioned way.<br/><br/>Which was to say video conferencing. Auxi fiddled with the screen (and wound up asking Safiya for help, whether she actually needed it or not was a mystery but if she didn't, she at least put on a pretty good show of being baffled by the retro-tech), until at last she brought up the image and connected the call!<br/><br/>"Hey. Super busy these days but I wanted to take the time to congratulate you on the formation of your team." Paige Perkins a.k.a. Kanna Kamui, the cybernetic wizard (figuratively, for once) of the Firewall Remnant, was hooked up to both a 'net connection and what was probably a charging port. "Your communications director gave me quite a surprise," she smiled at Auxi, who rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I look forward to seeing you bring some justice and order, things are chaotic enough as it is and I'm glad to see you're stepping up.<br/><br/>Switching gears, it would be pretty shitty to do this over text so here we are. I've looked over your proposal and answer's no. I see what you're trying to do here and nobody would be happier than me if it works out. But I can't trust my organization's most closely-guarded secrets to Auxilia. Nothing personal, we just have a lot of rules about potential moles and I'm sure you understand why." Perkins sounded almost apologetic, but nonetheless completely firm.<br/><br/>Auxi balled her hands into fists and said nothing.<br/><br/>"Oh no, don't make that face, that's the worst face," Perkins said, "here's what I can do for you, since you warned me about a plot and I want to encourage that in the future. I can't give you our information on Ellie's kids, but I think I can help you steal Arachnos'. This," she made a small motion with her head and a supervillain's picture appeared on the screen, a black and purple uniform with a beret, shoulderpads and lightning so bright it had probably damaged the camera, "is Tzarina Tempest. For the uninitiated, she's part of the inner circle, she's been obsessed with Nephilim since she started as a villain, and I just happen to have gotten my hands on some communications that suggest she's moved into one of her old bases and she's been gearing up for something big. My gut says it's related."<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/2/22/Tzarina_Tempest_resized.png)</div><br/>She turned fully to face the camera and her smile was quite like a cat's. "So how do you feel about storming a storm castle?"<br/><br/><br/><br/>