Uari's body had gone from sitting to kneeling in under five seconds, and now both of Caera's hands were raised. Doctor Johnson was pulling a ring from her finger, the gun now pressed against her head. Caera debated the value of putting her mouth on the gun to eat it but batted the thought away instantly.
Metal Guts could digest metals, but there was almost no way it had protection against a discharge of lustre straight into her. Most of her body was still made up of soft flesh and shit.
Doctor Johnson took another ring and tossed it on the table after analysing it for a minute, humming in approval at the valuable goods.
If she wasn't careful, Doctor Johnson was going to rob her blind of the accessories Uari had given her, and then she would be fucked on all ends.
"Why so tight-lipped all of a sudden, hmm?"
Caera was busy trying to think up an answer that wouldn't kill her, that's why! She ran through the potential options in her head and prayed this one would work:
"We're defectors!"
"Mmhm." The weight of the gun against her head nearly doubled. Her Metal Guts did a nauseating flip.
"There was—there was a lot of stuff we already didn't agree on, but then we found the information on the missing people, and it was the last straw!" Lying straight through her teeth had never been a forte of hers, but she wove aspects of truth into it and believed with all her heart that she was being honest. "We have a plan to deal with them, but we need your help! Please!"
Believe. Believe. Believeeeee, Caera. Believe.
Doctor Johnson gave another little hum and pulled another ring from her finger. Caera realised she was giving her permission to continue speaking and she launched into an edited version of her speech.
On the fly, a nefarious organisation was born. This 'nefarious organisation' had seen how climate change affected the people, decided they were going to do something about it, and began developing new technologies to deal with the heating Earth.
Caera rambled on a little about how the new tech still needed an energy source and how they were unwilling to 'pull anything else from poor Mother Earth' and then decided to just use the scourge of their problems to power the energy.
As the press of the gun veered towards pain, Caera shrieked about how she wasn't complicit in this whole thing and had disagreed and that was why she and a few colleagues had broken off and now they were trying to stop them and if Doctor Johnson would just LISTEN to her then they could figure out this whole thing and maybe prevent any more missing people!
This entire plotline she'd contrived was loosely based on a game she'd once played called Finishing Fantasies 7, but Doctor Johnson didn't have to know that.
Anyway, by the time she'd finished explaining, Uari's body had been divested of all of its rings, and Doctor Johnson was beginning to make grabby motions at the Twin Earring she wore, which Caera ABSOLUTELY could not lose.
If she did, she might as well kill herself before Uari got his (real) hands on her.
Fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately), Doctor Johnson stepped away and the muzzle of the gun was removed from her head, although it was still trained on her. Doctor Johnson's eyes roamed over Uari's body and for a split second, Caera wondered if she was going to be stripped naked.
Doctor Johnson gestured at the table she was sitting at before.
Caera didn't dare let the trembling sigh in her throat leave her body. The last thing she could do now was to show additional weakness, babbling be damned. She raised herself cautiously and sat herself down. She lowered her hands slightly, and when Doctor Johnson didn't say anything, lowered them further all the way.
The rings glinted on the table. Caera debated taking them back and correctly decided to wait until their relationship was slightly more amicable.
"State your offer."
"One minor civil war or insurrection in Wren, fulfilling four conditions: firstly, to oust the current ruling party. Secondly, to install Doctor Johnson—that is, you—as one of the prominent members of the new ruling party due to her efforts in the insurrection.
"Thirdly, under the cover of civil war, to assist us in taking down as many possible members of the Gravts. Fourth, the assurance of an indefinite safe haven for verified rebelling members of the Gravts, as well as assurance that Wren will not knowingly harbour any current non-rebelling Gravt.
"In exchange for the fulfilment of these conditions, we will provide ten billion Geeglecoins—"
"Fifteen billion."
Caera paused. "Give me a moment."
A quick conversation with Aiam Adhick had her turning back to Doctor Johnson. "Eleven billion."
Doctor Johnson made as if to stand up.
As coached by Uari, Caera did not waver.
Doctor Johnson did not stand, and faced her squarely. "Fourteen billion."
"Eleven and a half billion."
Several minutes of posturing later and they had agreed on thirteen billion, still way below Uari's upper bound of twenty. Uari had promised her half of whatever was remaining, so it had been in her interests to keep the prices as low as possible as long as she got the job done.
Three and a half billion Geeglecoins could do a lot. She was finally going to buy herself one of those quality platinum tools and see what they tasted like. It wouldn't even put a dent in that cash stash.
They settled on payment terms and other minor logistics, and Caera left with her rings returned. Uari could wire the money on his own time, and then they would begin to plan properly. Doctor Johnson needed a few days to put her business in order anyway.
Caera and Uari also needed to figure out what to do next.
She was certain she knew what Uari was going to do, damn the rat bastard. He could hide all he wanted behind quips and insults, but she knew he wasn't going to be able to let this slide.
He could run, but given how he'd taken her with him, would his dumbass be able to leave other people behind to be subject to treatments that were 'Unethical Unless Consented To'? Especially when it came from an organisation Old Uari had set up, which meant he had some sort of personal responsibility?
Hell would sooner freeze over.
Start a civil war. Rope in the Gravts and overwhelm them. Maybe take down a few of them without killing them. Try and stop them from doing any more of this testing. Those were the main goals of their upcoming efforts, but there were additional unspoken rules they had established for the sake of being realistic.
If the testing was inhumane, kill them.
If their future plans were too dangerous, kill them.
If the Gravts show no sign of repentance or were too dedicated to their cause to care much for other human life—
Kill them.