Rowe's Last Stand

[Beatrice]

Location: Admiral Rowe's Office
Time: 10:24 AST

"Here you are, in my office whilst she," he pointed to a screen, "is out there living her best life, the adoring heart of millions. You'd of been better off if you'd let me kill her as I originally proposed because," Rowe sighed, "your harlot will only cause us trouble moving forward. Look," he placed his hand on Stanley's shoulder, "my first wife heard details she would of been better off not knowing, I had her smothered in her sleep and I haven't lost a wink over it. Yet here we have," he said as he pulled up a video of Rowe's wife "out there singing songs about you and your failed marriage. Are you that afraid of her that your manhood died somewhere along the way?" Rowe asked as he folded his hands underneath his chin.

"Good gods man, I don't want her death," Stanley said in repulsion, to which Rowe sighed, "This bitch," he said as the video played, "will be your undoing, she might not have her intelligence apparatus anymore, she might lack the sanction of the Imperial Government, but she'll undo you. Give me the word and I'll see her voice never sings again, she'll be but a page in your history, and your humiliation will end. Do you agree to let me help you?" Rowe said as he extended his hand to which Stanley extended his. "Then I can assure you, her performance at the Association Fest will be her last, and there will be no blood on your hands as a result. We're eliminating a common enemy," he paused as he laid his hand on Stanley's shoulder, "she ceased to be your wife long before this point. "And when we take out this common enemy, I trust you'll play your part?" Rowe continued.

"I'll be a sad husband, I'll cry, and I'll play my role in the affair," Stanlley would reply. "Good boy," Rowe said as he again placed his hand on Stanley's shoulder, "you learn quickly. We'll silence this bitch once and for all, I promise you. You're on the right side, you know?"

[Beatrice]

Location: Pyrettania Central Cemetery
Time: 9:22 AST

After a rather splendid weekend spent with Asuna Lucinda had attained the required permissions to visit a cemetery where a soul special to her was buried. As they approached the site of her grave Lucinda asked them to remain a distance behind, "Please," she said, "this is something I must do alone. I have already missed a few years due to circumstances we both understand, I'm already trespassing in a way, don't bring another trespass on her memory, please?" she said to the Achkaerinese operative who, after a moment, finally relented to her request. "Thank you," she said as she hung her head, "I have someone to apologize to for stealing the life ahead of them. I promise I'll return, I'm not one to run and you know that much already."

While many moments passed in silence Lucinda finally spoke,  "You'd be 23 now, perhaps a university graduate, still with your future ahead of you," she said as she laid one flower down. "I don't know if you'd have found love by this point, but I'd like to imagine you'd have someone supportive at your side and, if they were nothing less than supportive, I'd sort them out for you, I promise," she continued, laying another flower down. "You'd still have your entire future ahead if I hadn't been there that day," she paused as a tear gave way to gravity and hit the ground beneath her, "all of that, probably more, you'd have seen. Nine years have passed," she continued as she rested her head against her tombstone, "it doesn't become easier though, if it weren't for me you'd have been so much by now and yet," she sighed, "you're just, not. Your life ended and you've your assassin crying over your grave, all over some poor intelligence, it isn't fair and it isn't right and I am so very, very sorry. You deserved so much better, and so much more than me, damn it all, I'm sorry..."

When she heard a twig break behind her Lucinda's instincts took over and she rose to her feet, turning in the direction of the noise yet seconds later she found herself pinned to the ground. "You insufferable bastard, not even a respect for the dead?" she spoke defiantly through the weight of the stock of their gun forced upon her throat, forcing him off with a burst of adrenaline from her legs before finding herself atop her would-be assailant. "You bastard, you disrespectful bastard," she continued as she let loose with punches from her left and right hands, rendering his face into a bloody pudding before anyone could run to intervene. "Am I not even aloud to mourn? What more do you wish to take from me, that you attempt to kill me here?" her voice raised to a shriek before Hazel could finally tear her apart from him and respond to, and when she ascertained the scene before her found Lucinda punching what had now become a mound of flesh upon the ground beneath her.

"By the Goddessess I am tired, so tired, of this," she said as her hands stopped. "Is the only thing I am proficient at is ending life...is this what I was born for because," she said as she punched the face beneath her three or four more times, "I am so Goddesses-damned sick of it, I am tired of ending lives, because..." "He's still alive, just stop," the voice came, which saw Lucinda stand up and back off. "I should've had you come with me," she paused before breaking down into tears and falling to her knees, "I can't even mourn the dead without someone wishing to hurt me, damn it, damn it all," she said as she descended again, her fist rose which was swiftly caught by Hazel who gave her a stern look. "Get back to the car, you don't want to finish this, not this way at least, you understand?" Lucinda paused, for the first time struck by the scene before her, "I leave it in your hands, then. I'm sorry you have to clean up my mess..."

[Beatrice]

Location: Admiral Rowe's Office
Time: 7:04 AST

"Well, it seems as if she's lost none of her touch from her Anauša days, he was one of SIS's finest," Rowe said as he briefed Stanley and the two reviewed the footage from the body cam of the agent, the mists of blood which filled the screen at time nearly caused Stanley to deposit his breakfast upon Rowe's desk. "Bloody goddesses man," Stanley said as he stood and shook his head, "the only thing you've accomplished is making my head hang even lower when I pass her in the Residential Wing, and now she'll undoubtedly be on an even higher state of alert than she was before. By every measure, your involvement has been a failure." Rowe shrugged, "you were the one who green-lit me trying to take out one of Beatrice's most potent weapons, the harm which befell that agent is on your hands, Lucius. I merely facilitated an avenue to the desires you relayed to me, after all."

"And, she certainly doesn't waste time," Rowe continued as he handed Lucius his tablet with a video playing from it. "She's practically taunting you here, less than twelve hours later and she's performing in Ashinxao?" "I've changed my mind," Rowe would say in response, "it can't be done your way, she's on one shoulder Beatrice's protecting graces and on the other, the graces of the fox, if you want to destroy her it has to be by a third means," Lucius left that last point hanging. "Do go on," Rowe would eventually add, to which Lucius smirked, "her talks with Kyle Barren, of course. If that should leak, that the personal assassin of the Empress of Rokkenjima met personally with Kyle and didn't kill him...."

"You devious bastard," Rowe smiled, "now you get it, finally. When you can't assassinate a body, you assassinate the person attached to it. I'll see what strings I have left at the RBC to pull, even better if I can connect her stage persona to her other profession. If this works," he was interuppted by Lucius, "it will work, the Ironsides cannot abide anyone who sheds an ounce of kindness to that lot." "Very well," Rowe said, "give it a few hours and we'll see what happens after the leak."

[Beatrice]

Location: Admiral Rowe's Office
Time: 1:19 AST

"I'm calling to request evacuation to whatever ship is closest to me at this moment, please see that Rowe responds personally," Lucius said, though the response would prove less to his liking. "The Grand Marshall wishes he could speak to every Rokkenjiman concerned with the welfare of the Empire, however, he is quite busy and cannot attend to all calls, emails or messages personally." And there it was, Lucius thought, the moment he'd outlived his usefulness. He didn't bother responding to the voice on the other end of the line, instead he reported to the closest INIS processing facility he knew of. "I'm surrendering of my own volition. I do have information which might be of interest to your ongoing investigations."

While Stanley was processed Kado made his way to the interrogation room, disconnecting the camera in a manner which Stanley could blatantly see. "So, torture is the response to my surrender?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Of course not," Kado said as he kicked the legs underneath Lucius' seat before bringing the butt of a rifle against his neck. "I'm sorry, Counselor, could you repeat that? I'm having trouble hearing you over your gurgles and gasps for air." Holding the rifle in position for a moment more Kado relented, helping Lucius to return to his seat. "I wanted you to feel what she felt and conquered though, if I might add, unlike yourself she found the will to fight off her attackers and damn near bloodied them into a pulp whilst you, well, your performance speaks for itself. I wasn't even aiming to kill you," Kado continued, "so tell me why I shouldn't do the Empress a favour in putting a bullet in your head here and now and calling it all good?"

"I have information," Stanley retorted. "Of course you do, you failed to kill Lucinda so now you're looking to save your ass by whatever means necessary. You'll survive," Kado said as he looked down at a few reports, "but your pride won't; I won't be able to find a prison safe enough for you, not because you're a threat, but because of what the guards might just do to you; your wife's quite popular with them, served with a good many in her intelligence days, I put you in a prison and you're one mere "oopsie" away from no longer breathing. That's not my concern though and no, before you ask, I won't be making any deals on your sorry behalf," Kado continued, "I hope they put you through just one ounce of the pain inflicted against Lucinda and even then, the scales of justice would be uneven. The only thing you can save here today is what historians will write about you so," Kado placed the microphone nearer to Stanley, "sing your song, then accept your punishment, and pray that the Goddesses are more forgiving than I am."