[D7, MM] Across the Great Divide

[Uri-el]

The text had been simple: "Let's talk. Usual place."

The angel waited on the rooftop, well back from the edge, where he had positioned a table and three chairs.

[Bee Haw]

Bea arrived and took a seat at the table.

"Thanks for including me, Malik. I'd like to help."

[Dapper Dog]

Street Witch arrived through her usual portal, she removed some shades, wearing more casual clothes; ripped jeans and a t-shirt that read Bad Witch. She said, “Uri-el… not sure if we met, wait, the biblical girl from the gala. Beatrice, right?”

“So, I figured I would not hear from you since the boat job, seemed like you were on your high horse.” She remained standing, not so much confrontational but definitely wary at the request.

[Bee Haw]

Bea nodded.

"Beatrice Hawkins. Yes, we met at the gala. I'm glad you were able to raise so much money for the Malay people in Singapore."

[Uri-el]

Uri-el kept his eyes on Steet Witch as Bea congratulated her. Not for the first time, he was inclined to wonder just how much money found its way back to Malaysia, and how much was channeled down other routes. He raised an eyebrow.

"Does she take that as well?"

[Dapper Dog]

Uri-el kept his eyes on Steet Witch as Bea congratulated her. Not for the first time, he was inclined to wonder just how much money found its way back to Malaysia, and how much was channeled down other routes. He raised an eyebrow.

"Does she take that as well?"

She started laughing lightly and said, “I don’t work for Azrael, we run in very different circles, but she had resources I needed and I scratched her back, she scratches mine. I think that’s the saying. Besides we were both there, and we both did what we had to do.”

“My hands are as clean as yours, if that matters.”

Bea nodded.

"Beatrice Hawkins. Yes, we met at the gala. I'm glad you were able to raise so much money for the Malay people in Singapore."

“It’s done a great deal of good and we have lined up more donors, so that good can continue,” she said warmly.

[Uri-el]

"I think we can agree that she did a little more than she had to. But it's all the same to you? The killing? The pleasure they take in it?"

[Dapper Dog]

“You are more than welcome to ask her, baseline lives mean nothing to her,” she admitted. “Is that why you invited me here, because I have moved on.”

[Bee Haw]

Bea glanced between them.

Malik knew Zara better than she did.

"I ... I think that is part of why Malik wanted to talk to you. And my interest as well. I have the impression that you care deeply for people - baseline or otherwise - at least some people. Why do you work with people who ... don't care for baseline lives? I know UNJE tries to do right by people. Or, at least that is my impression. I don't have a good read on Pantheon. Beyond ... some sense that baseline lives are not as valued? Why do you choose to work with them? Why not be part of UNJE? I ask honestly. I want to understand."

"We are competing to be part of UNJE. Is there something we are not understanding?"

[Dapper Dog]

“I care about my people, I care about things happening in my world. But not enough to sell myself to become a tool of the UNJE and dance to their tune. They act one way in public and keep dirty secrets in private. Plus I do believe that Elites are better than baselines, this world was going to shit before we came along and fixed everything for their benefit,” she said.

“I at least have the freedom to be who I want to be and answer to no one. If I have to work with a psycho like Azrael to keep that, then so be it. I am not here to lord over people, I don’t need them to recognize my greatness, it is self-evident we are better. And it’s unclear that the UNJE isn’t behind the reason we are infertile.”

“Just like the DCP was behind Mexico City, or that the Pantheon Network were behind the Halloween Madness,” she said.

[Bee Haw]

Her eyes widened.

"UNJE has something to do with our infertility?" Her voice lost its usually serene quality for a moment.

She took a deep breath. "Could you ... uhh ... tell me a little more about that."

(Halloween Madness? Was that what had happened last night at the club, or a famous event she recognized from the past.)

[Dapper Dog]

“Yeah, crazy huh. We got people smarter than me looking into it, but there was an incident in the United States with some team called Red Eagle or something, they were looking into how to force emergences. Supposedly they got close but got shut down and the UNJE was involved. They gave amnesty to some involved and the way I heard it, some got to work on high level projects and one of them was looking into making sure our population does not get out of hand,” she said.

“Bet Paragon won’t talk about that.”

OOC: Halloween Madness is what happened at the club and around the world on Day 6, which was Halloween night.

[Uri-el]

Uri-el's assessment of UNJE did not put this entirely beyond the pale, but he had a distaste for the moral equivalency argument.

"I am willing to accept that the UNJE is not all-good and will need to be examined. I am not willing to accept that that means that anything goes. UNJE may be or have done wrong, we can turn our hands to that in a moment, but Azrael *is* and *is doing* wrong. We've seen that ourselves. You say that you've moved on, that you don't work with them. Fair enough. Help us to right this wrong, and then we can move on to the others."

[Bee Haw]

Bea listened closely. Red Eagle. Forced emergence. Infertility. UNJE wouldn't talk about it, but maybe she could still investigate on her own.

But also... "Wait, Pantheon was behind the Halloween Madness? The Necro-dancer and the others from alternate universe at the club? Why? What happened?"

[Dapper Dog]

To Bee Haw she said, “We were not involved, that wasn’t us at least anyone I know in the network. It affected our people as much as yours.”

Then she turned her attention to Uri-el and said, “What wrong? Those people were mercs and probably terrorists, I am not for casual murder, for baselines and especially elites. But if you came here to ask me to sell out my friends and fellow elites, then you really misjudged me.”

She sighed heavily and said, “You’re a good soul Uri-el, but we just stand on different ends of this issue. I don’t agree with her methods, but she has been there for me when I needed it. Look, you want my help with something, fine. I probably owe you, but turning on my brothers and sisters is a hard line.”

[Bee Haw]

"Oh, good. Sorry, I misunderstood you. I didn't mean to suggest I *thought* it was something Pantheon would do. I just thought you'd just said that it had been."

"I wish we did know what caused those folks to come through from the other dimension."

[Dapper Dog]

"You and me both," she agreed.

[Uri-el]

"Can you put us in touch with her?"

[Dapper Dog]

"Can you put us in touch with her?"

"She's not in country, but if you can travel, she's probably at the Null Zone," she responded. "Anything goes kind of place."

[Bee Haw]

"Oh, I heard about that place. It's ... lawless, right? Lots of ... drugs and parties?"