Early Bird

[Atropha]

"And hope they don't recognize you. Though I suppose it could help... Hard to tell."

[Samantha McManus]

"...that ship may have sailed with the Stantons."

[Atropha]

"The Sta-- oh right! Yes, don't ever call them that here, I doubt that'd go over well."

[Samantha McManus]

"I somewhat guessed that by the state of Will."

[Atropha]

She nods. "Anyway, they're certainly not going to help us for nothing."

[Samantha McManus]

"And what do we even have to offer, save threats?"

[Atropha]

"That right there is the problem."

[Samantha McManus]

"Even with your abilities, I doubt we really want to help their long term plans with a glimpse of the future."

[Atropha]

"That's when you make something up, but people tend to be suspicious of that one way or the other."

[Samantha McManus]

"So we hope they're more distracted by me being the second coming of the Grand Scary Bastard?"

[Atropha]

"Maybe... I don't know Faultline too well, but Legion tends to be a bit on the slow side."

[Samantha McManus]

"Seeing as she's bloody lobotomized him, you mean?"

[Atropha]

"I don't know what she does to them, but it seems inconsistent at times. Always fiercely loyal though."

[Samantha McManus]

"Suppose we might need to incapacitate a few of them, if she needs convincing."

[Atropha]

"Probably shouldn't be a huge problem for you."

[Samantha McManus]

"Risky given what I've tapped into here, but the situation demands I be as scary as him, aye?"

"I don't relish that. Or rather, I'm a bit wary of relishing that."

[Atropha]

"Something doesn't sit right about that though... You already met her and ran away. Regardless of the why, she's bound to remember that."

[Samantha McManus]

"Which is why we need it not to be due to weakness, aye?"

[Atropha]

"I just can't shake the feeling that's not going to work... They want to attack anyway. Maybe we just... need to offer some perceived advantage to set them off."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well with you, it's often more than a feeling."

[Atropha]

"I just don't think intimidation is quite the way to go. No one likes to admit defeat and here it's even worse."

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't necessarily want to do it the hard way, either."

[Atropha]

"Need to think this through a bit more... Right now I don't have any ground-breaking ideas..." she admits.

[Samantha McManus]

"Though between you and I, perhaps the key is just to keep them talking..."

[Atropha]

"If we just knock on their door we'll be lucky if we can get them talking..."

[Samantha McManus]

"So violence doesn't work, except when it does, and talking always works, except when it doesn't."

[Atropha]

"I'm just trying to look at every angle this could go horribly wrong."

[Samantha McManus]

"My point was more that between the two of us, we have significant capacity for adapting this plan on the fly, given what we can do."

[Atropha]

"So you just want to wing it?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Given that we're second guessing our second guesses by now?"

[Atropha]

She sighs. "Right, right..."

[Samantha McManus]

"No offense meant."

[Atropha]

"I'm just being overly cautious."

[Samantha McManus]

"I can see why."

[Atropha]

"No really." she mumbles and immidiately regrets it.

[Samantha McManus]

"...that too, aye."