Luke pushed off the wall and circled Gwin as Gabriel left the room. He reached a corner table and hopped up, leaning back casually on his palms as he watched her gather her thoughts. He steeled himself for what he expected to be a tirade against him for Jake's earlier surprises. His grin returned, and he swung his ankles lazily.<br/><br/>"So, what can we do for you, princess?"<br/><br/>Her reply threw him for a bit of a loop, but he quickly recovered and nodded in agreement. Neither he nor 'Ana forgot for an instant that this was no longer that befuddled shopgirl they'd first met; she had grown into a fearsome and dangerous manipulator worthy of the same respect as any other enemy.<br/><br/>"...Shall we discuss this rationally?" She asked, her tone the epitome of calm, reasonable diplomacy. She made her requests, and Luke nodded thoughtfully as he pretended to consider them. "I think we may end up having to trust each other. We should start as soon as possible," she finished.<br/><br/>Luke slid off the table and leaned back, resting on his hands and spoke almost as softly as Gwin had, albeit with a sly smile.<br/><br/>"Well. That is a very nice speech, princess. Bravo." He clapped a couple times and shoved his hands into his pockets. "But I'm afraid I must point out a couple of teensy flaws in your logic. First off, as I'm sure you've realized, I'm a big fan of contingencies. Jake didn't just come equipped with a kill switch for you, kitten. He's also programmed to shut down any additional A.I.s introduced into your implants while he's present. He's a derivative of Nirvana, after all, and she can be--" "Territorial," 'Ana finished from his shades. "And second, the one thing I'm not worried about is you taking a peek inside my cranium. I can assure you, you wouldn't find the experience at all pleasant, assuming you survived it.<br/><br/>"However, having said all that...you're not wrong. We should trust each other. And in the interest of trust, I'm going to be honest with you. I find it rather difficult to trust someone who shows such fondness for inflicting on countless others the very same sort of psychological hijacking she recently broke free of. The fact that your powers are tied to the whims of your emotions doesn't do much to bolster my confidence, either. Ureha, Alice, other Elementals...their abilities are mainly physical, which means they can be defended against. But psychics are another matter, Gwin. And from what I've seen, you're about as powerful as they come. That, combined with the fact that ArmsTech not only altered your abilities, but parts of your personality as well, leaves me feeling a bit twitchy. And that's quite a conundrum for folks who are supposed to trust each other."<br/><br/>Luke stood and circled Gwin once again, slow and casual. As he moved, he withdrew a small coin from one pocket and absently danced it along his fingers. "So, that brings us to another matter. Since I'm<em>such </em>a nice guy, I'm going to prove that you can, in fact, trust me. In good faith, I'll extract Jake from your implants and reintegrate him with Nirvana. You have my word, I will hold all the data he has on you in a secured location, and I will not access it without your express permission, or in the event it becomes critical to do so. I will supply you with an A.I. of your own, similar to Jenny, and free of any tampering or surprises, to be completely under your control." He stopped for a moment and thought about his last statement. "Well, as much as an A.I. can be, at any rate."<br/><br/>He stopped walking and leaned back against the wall, the coin vanishing and reappearing between his fingers. "And finally, I promise I will do everything in my power to help Gabriel with his condition. And in return, Gwin, you're going to do something for me." Luke shoved off the wall and moved closer to Gwin, his smile gone. "You're going to prove to me that I can trust you. That you will keep control of your abilities, and use them responsibly. You're going to prove that no matter what ArmsTech may have done to you,<em>you </em>are still in control."<br/><br/>Luke turned and resumed his position against the wall, flipping the coin high in the air. After the third toss, he caught the coin and slipped it back into his pocket, and smiled once again. "So, does that sound like a deal you can agree to?"