September 1st, 2222. Shortly after their formal introductions, Mathias left. Walking down the street and eventually fading into the night in this small town. Silas left shortly after seeing his new friend off, a newfound self-confidence and a smile upon him. It was long after that he ran into Jade again. "You're still around here?" Jade asks, in a more quiet and exhausted tone. "Did you forget something? Because I don't know if you know this, but people seeing you snoop around isn't good for your image. Not like other countries have the highest opinion of you and your country."
"N-no, I get that..." Silas says. "I was just..." Silas sighs, then says "I grew up here... wanted to look around before leaving. Just saw a friend off, is all."
Jade inspects Silas thoroughly. "I wasn't interested in a sob story..." Jade says in a disappointed tone. "I've already got enough gas barking up my ass, taking care of tying up this mess. If you could not show your face within the perimeter, that would be helpful."
Silas looked over at Jade, a little shocked that she seemed slightly less mean. He looked down at her face and caught a glimpse of her eye piercing directly through him before looking away. "W-well, I- uh... I'll make sure to stay out of the way."
Skeptical, Jade brings a hand up to her chin. "You're... cooperating?"
"I don't see why not?" Silas replies, confused. "You're not my enemy. I want to get to the bottom of these violent outbreaks as much as you do, so... If you need any help or request a joint task force, you can count on me."
"Count on you?" Jade asks as she looks down, thinking deeply. "Yes, I do suppose that would be beneficial. Someone with your level of clearance offering help? It seems unlikely. I don't see why I'd be able to turn this down. Alright, you've got yourself a deal! If my director deems it necessary, we'll be in contact. Take this, this is one of my burner numbers." Jade takes out a card and writes a number on it, then hands it to Silas. Silas hesitates to take it at first. "What's wrong? You offered, didn't you?"
"Y-yeah, it's just..." Silas says as he thinks.
"It's just what?" Jade asks, getting annoyed.
"Well, when you're not angry you just..." Silas says, scratching the back of his neck. "W-well, you're actually kinda..."
"Kinda...?" Jade asks, getting angry again.
"N-never mind." Silas says as he grabs the card and gives Jade a number of his own. "I look forward to working with you."
"We'll be in touch..." Jade says as she walks away.
Silas watches her walk away, and after she disappears into the night as well, Silas realized he was holding his breath for some reason and came back to his senses. "Wow..." he says to himself. "She was intimidating... but... Nah, I shouldn't think too much on it. She probably hates me." Silas puts one hand over his heart as he takes a deep breath. "She was kinda... cute though."
"Are you shitting me!?" Dana asks after Silas finally shows up in the command room shortly after midnight. "You leave us to go sulk, then come back talking about some new American friend and a girl's number!?"
"Dude... why did you get the angry SWAT chick's number?" Carl asks, confused.
"It's called a burner, and it's for contact on insider information or operations." Holly interrupts.
"Finally gonna date someone, Silas?" Finn says as he walks into the room.
"Finn, if you shown up in MY command room one more time without a good reason, I'll make sure they have to replace your nose with cybernetic enhancements!" Holly hisses.
"Silas has a girlfriend?" Rose asks as she enters the room as well.
Holly slams her head on the table, then looks up in dismay. "What do you two want?"
"It's just been a while since we checked up on the kids..." Finn argues. "Can't my daughter and son-in-law be allowed to be close to their parents?"
"In... a command room?" Holly argues.
"What's this about a girlfriend?" Tanya asks as she also enters.
"Get out!" Holly yells. "This information is proprietary!"
"But we're the mages!" Rose pouts.
"But you're not military involved nor ranked." Haru says as she enters the door. "You all may rank higher than me, but you don't have military involvement as a seat in the Mages Guild. We'll have to ask you to leave."
"But, Haru!" Rose pouts.
"No turning the command room into a daycare." Haru replies sternly.
"What about-" Finn asks.
"There is no girlfriend!" Holly hisses.
"Tch..." Finn scoffs.
After Tanya, Rose and Finn leave, Haru asks "So, what initiated this girlfriend business?"
"Silas got a girl's number..." Dana says with her arms crossed, in an unamused tone.
"A burner number!" Silas argues.
"A new informant?" Haru asks. "Nice! Every connection we make will make our jobs easier in the long run."
"But this one is an angry FBI SWAT lady with an attitude!" Carl argues.
"Even better..." Haru replies. "Break bread with the enemy. "We need a way to patch relations or solve possible future conflict with previous enemies. Otherwise, we'll be in a constant state of panic."
"Precisely my point." Holly says. "How much do you know about this lady?"
"She's angry." Carl says.
"We've established that." Holly replies.
"She's rude!" Dana adds.
"That was already inferred." Holly says with her arms crossed. "You two are acting like kids. You're both 26 by now, aren't you?"
"So?" Carl asks.
"She seems to know us well..." Silas says as he thinks.
"How well?" Holly asks.
"Not too well..." Silas says. "Just well enough to assume all of her ideas of us are based solely on propaganda or world politics."
"That's just another world for propaganda but go on..." Holly replies.
"Well, she seemed to be annoyed of our presence." Silas says. "Like... maybe her command has filled her head with the possibility that we're behind this. She brought up several times about us being there not looking good."
"So, she thinks we're causing these outbreaks?" Carl asks.
"I think she wants to believe it..." Silas says. "But I don't think she does. She seemed to really... mellow out considerably the second time we met. I think her chain of command might be driving her to do something she isn't convinced of doing."
"So you're an asshole whisperer now?" Dana asks.
"It's just... how she looked to me." Silas replies.
"How she... Oh my God." Dana says, then leans in and looks Silas in the face. "You! You have a crush on her, don't you!?"
"Wait, t-that's not what I-" Silas argues.
"So you do!" Dana interrupts.
"Hey, hey. Settle down." Haru says. "Look, you can ask the girl out on your own time."
"But I-!"
"But the fact you were able to engage, and they didn't come at you with weapons at the ready is a good sign." Haru continues. "Use this to your advantage. Let me take care of negotiations. I'd like to set up a joint operation in finding the root cause of this outbreak in rogue Hunters. Perhaps they know more than they're willing to show you. I mean, it is America we're talking about. In handling this, you may even be able to prove Omnia's innocence in this case. Two birds with one stone. Then you can ask her out. Three birds with one stone!"
"But! Ah- forget it..." Silas pouts.
"Cleanup went without a hitch." Jade says over the radio to her director Burke, while riding back to America on a plane. "In addition, we made contact with the infamous team, MTRU Delta-9, or Squad 9 as it's commonly known as. No additional details to add to the case about investigations on Holly Jeong, but a new insider, Silas Mahina has willingly given contact information."
"That's good news." Burke says calmly. "With a connection like that, we're sure to get at least a little closer to Holly Jeong through you. Return home and focus on the case regarding Skell in the meantime. I don't know how this bastard keeps slipping through our hands, but someone somewhere has to be helping him."
Elsewhere, in an unknown location, Mathias hides in an empty house that he recently made his safehouse. Taking out a large radio that was hidden in the walls, he makes a call. "The job is done." he says. "The loose Hunter that was about to leak information was dealt with. Now send me my money."
"Don't be so hasty..." an unknown voice on the other end replies. "You make a good hitman, but one wrong move and you'll no longer be under the protection of the CIA. You'll get your money, after we get you back here. Can't have loose ends running around with money..."
"You're sick." Mathias hisses.
"You're a murderer, Skell..." the voice replies. "You don't have room to talk."
"What makes you any different from a murderer?" Mathias asks.
"The fact that I also hold your life in the palm of my hands." the voice replies. "Now, I'll do my job in keeping you in good health, and your pockets full, so long as you do your job and keep the FBI off of our trail. Under no circumstances will we tolerate any slip ups. Understand?"
"... Understood." Mathias replies sternly.