Kat flicked her eyes to the side, sending the e-mail. She settled back into her chair, trying to focus on the pressure of the wood against her back in a vain attempt to relax. A single bead of sweat formed between her shoulders and traced a trail down her back.

She flinched. Head whipping around as a pair of girls walked into her peripheral vision, chatting with each other while holding lunch trays. They continued their inane conversation as they took a booth a couple of tables away.

Kat blew out an exasperated breath. God, she was nervous. One e-mail about setting up a meeting and she was jumping at shadows.

Reaching forward, she pressed a button set into the cafeteria wall. Tiny speakers set into the frame of her booth began emitting a whining hiss, blurring the edges of conversations from around the cafeteria. The audio filter was hardly a common feature in the outside world, but in a college full of the children of the elite, sensitive conversations were common enough to warrant its inclusion.

The sound from the filter made Kat’s molars ache, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice to turn the room’s constant chatter into indecipherable noise. She was wound up fairly tight after Whip and her had gone through the decoded records she’d pulled from the black site. Every movement out of the corner of her eye sent Kat’s hand darting for a knife.

Of course, she smiled wryly to herself. No one would blame her if they’d seen the data Whippoorwill had shared with her. The common wisdom was that Millenium was fairly large before it went underground, but it wasn’t like they published quarterly reports on their assets and holdings.

The records weren’t quite complete. They only really covered the North American continent in any real detail. There were references to other ‘cells’ active across the world, but only sporadic updates on their activities. That said, what they had on Millenium’s North American activities was more than enough.

Dozens of stallesp active on Earth, supported by almost a thousand flash clones, and any number of corporate employees and samurai eager to come out on the ‘winning side’ of a power struggle that had the potential to overturn decades of careful political balance.

Apparently Kat’s efforts and GroCorp’s subsequent purge had done a number on Millenium’s activities in Chiwaukee. The black site was an effort to rebuild that influence, and from the looks of things, Millennium had been much more effective than anyone thought.

They only had three flash cloning tanks, but the alien technology had been running almost nonstop for the-

Kat’s smartpanel buzzed, jerking her from her reflections as it alerted her to an incoming call. With a deep breath she accepted the incoming connection.

“Miss Debs.” Belle’s too-white shark smile appeared on the tiny screen just in front of her left eye. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I was just finishing up my morning workout when I got your e-mail.”

Despite her claims regarding her alleged exercise, the older woman looked immaculate. Not a single hair was out of place in the tight focused image of Belle’s face broadcast from her smartpanel.

“That was barely two minutes,” Kate chuckled dryly. “Frankly, I expected you to just send me an e-mail to set up a conversation.”

“I prefer being prompt because people rarely expect it.” Belle’s mirthful expression didn’t touch her eyes. “It’s an important lesson, dear. Whenever you engage in negotiations, the key is to keep your opponent off balance. Right now, you are unprepared for this conversation so I am at an advantage.”

“I keep forgetting how blunt you are.” Kat leaned back into her chair, running a hand through hair. “Most people wouldn’t tell me how they’re manipulating me as they do it.”

“I’m not most people, Miss Debs,” the other woman replied with a shake of head. “Over the years I’ve found that being straightforward is better than constant cloak and dagger shenanigans. My partners know who I am and how I operate. I will always put myself and my interests first. If they didn’t know my motivations and goals, they would be right not to trust me. Given that trust is important for cooperation, I make sure that those I’m working with know enough to make a sound decision.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Kat could feel a tension headache building. Belle’s games and the sonic filter were an awful combination.

“Of course,” Belle continued, tone becoming more predatory, “I could just be talking you through all of this to further disorient you before we start talking terms. My rational self interest could explain either option.”

“I’m guessing both,” Kat replied. “I also think you just flat out enjoy confusing people regardless of whether it brings you any advantage.”

“And this is why I like you,” Belle responded with a decisive nod. “You’re bright enough to spar with, but not an irredeemable asshole like half of corporate leadership.”

“Now enough repartee, Miss Debs,” the executive continued, smile disappearing as she switched to business. “Your e-mail said that you had more information about Millenium? As I’m sure you recall GroCorp has put me in charge of identifying and eliminating their influence in Chiwaukee. It’s a challenging task, and one I suspect was put before me by those that wish me to fail so they can punish me for that failure. I intend to prove them wrong.”

Kat took a deep breath, trying to tune out the persistent whine of the audio filter. No matter how she tried to put on a cool and collected front, the rapid barbs back and forth with Belle had put her on her back foot.

After spending a moment to collect herself, she reopened her eyes. Belle was staring at her with all the care of a hawk that had just spotted something small and furry limping through a field without cover.

“I was able to find a secure Millenium base and capture an intact database,” Kat began, choosing her words carefully.

“I don’t suppose this had anything to do with the firefight just off Greenspan-Volker Boulevard last week?” Belle asked playfully. “Someone destroyed most of an apartment building and left behind a lot of heavily chromed corpses. No one has been able to figure out which group did it, but most of the working theories among security personnel are that there’s a new gang establishing itself in that part of town.”

“No.” Kat caught herself, wincing as she remembered her short contact with Otto. “Well, yes. I was involved but the damage wasn’t my fault. I was trying to extract an informant when a bunch of Millenium samurai became involved and I had to gun my way out.”

“I thought so,” the older woman cut her off smugly. “Piling bodies knee deep in the streets with no evidence of your involvement is very much your style. It’s starting to get rather cliche actually.”

“More importantly,” Kat continued, gritting her jaw against the growing headache. “I ran into another extraterrestrial visitor while I was in the Millenium base. There were also a number of human conspirators working quite openly with alien technology. The informant hinted that a number of Millenium samurai weren’t originally aware of the company’s strategic alliance with the stallesp.”

“From the information he passed on to me,” she barely suppressed a wince as she spoke. The drive hadn’t even had a chance to cool from Otto’s body heat before he was gunned down. “That is no longer the case. It sounds like they’ve purged their membership and those that remain are very aware of the situation.”

“That is unsettling and unwelcome news.” A hint of a frown touched Belle’s face for the first time. “Not altogether unexpected, but unpleasant nonetheless.

“This informant of yours,” the executive banished her troubled expression. “I don’t suppose he’d be willing to sit down over a dinner so that I can pick his brain.

“Perhaps more literally if he’s someone you don’t particularly care about?” Belle asked carefully. “My security staff have put together a very effective cocktail of drugs that can unlock even the most sealed of lips. It has a tendency to leave the recipient a drooling vegetable, but that’s hardly a major problem unless he’s a friend of yours.”

“Sadly, he’s one of your bodies in the street,” Kat replied with a shrug. “I only have some of his files. The rest of the information died with him.”

“Unfortunate.” Belle pursed her lips. “He would have been useful.”

“Hopefully the database makes up for it.” Kat let a predatory smile of her own slip onto her face. “It doesn’t have as much data on Millenium’s inner workings as I’d like, but I do have a full register of the stallesp’s North American operations complete with the identities of additional aliens and flash cloned sleeper agents. Put simply, Elaine Williamson wasn’t the only shareholder replaced by an out-of-town guest.”

Belle froze, ruby lips half open as she prepared herself for some sort of witty response.

“What,” she croaked, eyes bulging slightly as she stared at Kat. “Did you say? How did you manage to get your hands on that? Hell, how did you manage to decrypt it? We haven’t been able to make heads or tails of the handful of mole artifacts we’ve gotten our hands on.”

Kat took a second to enjoy her counterpart’s discomfort. This might be the first and only moment where she had the usually unflappable Belle out of sorts. She’d be damned if she wasn’t going to milk the moment for all it was worth.

“I had out-of-town help with the decryption, but the end result looks legitimate to me.” Kat leaned back into her chair. “The long and short of it is that we didn’t exactly rip the stallesp out by the root. It was more of a light pruning if anything.”

“How big of an operation are we talking?” The perspective behind Belle shifted as the woman leaned forward. “Are we discussing three moles, twenty?”

“A couple dozen,” she responded. “They’re spread across the world in positions of authority, but that’s just the start of it. The stallesp have been flash cloning hundreds of people. There’s almost a thousand in North America alone.”

Belle’s response was little more than a strangled grunt.

“So.” Kat steepled her fingers in front of her face. “Now that you have an idea of what we’re looking at, what can you offer me?”

“Are there any technological specifications?” Belle forced the question out, closing her eyes to try and calm herself. “I need to know if this database is going to contain schematics or anything marketable that GroCorp can sell.”

“Unfortunately not,” Kat struggled to keep the elation from her voice. Belle was on the ropes. “There are some descriptions of what the technology can do, but nothing that can be used to replicate it.”

“Three hundred thousand,” Belle opened her eyes. “I can do three hundred thousand for an exclusive disclosure.”

“Four hundred and it's not exclusive, the information is too important to sell it to only one person. If Millenium nabs you, it’s all over with an exclusive.” Kat countered.

“Who,” Belle hissed, narrowing her eyes. Once again the background just past her face shifted as she leaned forward. “Who else are you planning on selling this too?”

“The Haupt family,” Kat answered evenly. “Davis will know what to do with it. Honestly, if there’s anyone I trust to do the moral thing with the data, it’s him. I just know that on this point, your interests align with mine.”

“Haupt,” the other woman said the word, almost experimentally. “Davis is virtuous to a fault. If things are as bad as you say, the idiot will probably work with me to put it to rest. For free.”

Belle snorted, her face brightening as she reasoned aloud.

“350,000,” the executive responded much more cheerfully. “Even if it’s only Davis, I can’t go higher than that without some sort of assurance of exclusivity.”

“So long as you put me into contact with someone that can sell military grade gear, it’s a deal.” Kat nodded decisively. “My equipment needs to be patched up and replaced.”

“Splendid.” A smile split Belle’s face. “I’ll send you an e-mail to work out the details. As always, it’s a pleasure doing business with a professional like yourself, even if you do have a distressing tendency to leave a trail of bodies behind you.”

“I’ll work on it,” Kat replied sardonically, struggling to avoid rolling her eyes.

“You know,” Belle chuckled. “That was a fairly decent piece of negotiating on your part. Keep it up, Miss Debs. I’ll make a businesswoman out of you yet.”

“Honestly?” Kat shook her head. “That would be a compliment from anyone else, but I’m not sure about you.”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Belle shook her head, the same cold smile from the beginning of the conversation on her face. “It just means you’re becoming more like me. It warms the heart.”

“I was afraid of that,” Kat replied, her tone sour.

“Very droll, Miss Debs,” Belle chuckled. “Until next time.”

The camera cut off, leaving Kat alone in the booth, audio filter buzzing quietly. She slumped into her chair, breathing heavily as she finally became aware of the cold sweat drenching her back.

Encounters with Belle were never easy. Every moment poised on the edge of a razor as she walked a narrow line between profit and doom. With as many credits as she’d made today, one wrong word could have launched a dozen hit teams to silence her.

“Kat!” Emma’s shriek jolted her from her musing.

The blonde girl climbed up into her booth, pushing past Kat and taking the chair next to her, food in hand. A second later, Iris and Jasper joined them, taking the two chairs across from Emma and Kat.

“Why didn’t you tell us that you were coming to get lunch?” Emma prattled on, heedless of Kat’s discomfort. “You’re always so serious about school, I thought you’d be wrapped up in studying for finals. I would have invited you down to grab some food if I knew you were interested.”

“I actually came down here to use the audio filter.” Kat indicated the button that activated the speakers with a nod of her head. “I just got off of a business call, but I’m free now.”

“Ugh,” Emma stuck out her tongue. “I don’t get why you’re always so focused on business. Once we graduate from college we’re all basically assured good jobs. We can work when we’re older. There’s no need for that nonsense right now.”

“I don’t know,” Jasper cut in, cocking his head slightly to the side as he glanced from Emma to Iris. “As someone who has personally benefited from Kat doing her side job, I’m not sure I’m as opposed to her moonlighting. For all we know, she’s out there saving the world.”

“Or just collecting blackmail on some low-level executive for another low-level executive,” Emma snorted, sticking a fork into her salad. “I mean, I’m not passing judgement. Blackmail and industrial espionage are important parts of the modern economy. I just don’t see much of a difference morally between Kat’s job and the sorts of things we’ll be assigned to within the company. Being a samurai is more exciting than ensuring that existing electronics manufacturing plants increase production by at least two percent per year, but in the grand scheme of things it's just work for money. We can worry about that later.”

“Seriously,” the woman continued between bites, “we’re almost done with our first year of college. We should be talking about where we’re going for summer break, not scraping together a couple more credits.”

“Actually,” Kat replied with a slight, self-deprecating shrug. “This time I am saving the world. At least I’m trying to. It’s kind of hard when you’re more or less on your own.”

“As someone that lives in this world,” Iris volunteered, leaning forward in her chair to address Kat, “I’m interested in knowing what I can do to help. Jasper and I might not be the most useful if things come down to direct action, but I can certainly organize a letter writing campaign.”

“Ooh!” Her eyes lit up. “Or we could put together solidarity merchandise to fundraise for you. Maybe we sell a ribbon or a bracelet to everyone who wants to support your struggle against tyranny and oppression.”

At least Jasper had the self-awareness to look embarrassed while Emma nodded excitedly along with Iris’ suggestion.

“I have a better idea.” Kat flashed a smile at her friends. “I’ve come across some fairly detailed information regarding stallesp operations in North America. I just sold a copy to someone in GroCorp security, but I think I’d feel a little safer if there were two sets of eyes on the data. It’s a lot harder to ‘make it disappear’ that way.”

“Jasper.” Kat fluttered her eyelashes at him, struggling to keep herself from bursting out into laughter. “I don’t suppose you’d want to buy some information on alien activity that might directly threaten your family’s business interests? I’d be happy to offer a friends discount.”

“Stallesp?” Emma asked, glancing around the table in confusion only for Iris to shush her. The levity around the table disappeared, only to be replaced by worried tension.

“How bad is it?” Jasper frowned. “Davis isn’t here, but I’m sure he’d be happy to pay market rate for-”

“It’s bad,” Kat cut him off. “When Millenium was exposed, every megacorporation went through an internal purge to rid themselves of their influence. Publicly, the stallesp and Millenium are now defeated and in hiding.”

“Unfortunately,” she shrugged bitterly, “flash clones complicate the matter. NeoSyne went through a power struggle just like everyone else, but at the end of the day, the old guard didn’t win. The stallesp can’t act openly through them, but it sure looks like the entire company has been co-opted. Unless we act quickly, things are going to spiral out of control.”

For almost ten seconds, no one said anything as they digested Kat’s grim news. Jasper sank back into his seat, worry creasing his features while Iris balled up her hands into white knuckled avatars of her stress and anxiety. Even Emma looked uncharacteristically contemplative.

“That’s it!” Surprisingly, it was Emma that broke the silence, slapping her right fist into the palm of her left hand. “NeoSyne is based out of Los Angeles. I completely forgot that my family has a vacation condo in the Grand Canyon. We should totally go there for summer break! It has a climate controlled pool built into the cliff face and everything.”

All three of them slowly turned to stare at their friend, slack-jawed.