[Sonnet Matsuda]

Shortcut My childhood spat back out the monster that you see + Alice Forsythe

The journey had taken a lot out of Sonnet. Not physically, she hadn't even tried to teleport that far, but being cooped up in a cramped plane for nearly six hours had left her wishing that she'd tried to simply step across the country. Not that she knew what would have happened. She'd never actually tried to find out her exact range limit, but she knew that the more she used her power without food, the hungrier she got. She'd even had one particularly memorable moment where she'd lost nearly forty pounds by trying to teleport with too many people. It had taken months to regain that weight. She wasn't willing to risk it. Not for a business trip like this. That was exactly what it was, a business trip. There was something of a rivalry between the east and west coast Yakuza, not to mention the different groups. That and the Inagawa-kai had recently experienced something of an upset in their leadership. Several significant members of their group had been killed in some sort of devastating attack, and no one knew who by. Needless to say, the Yamaguchi-Gumi had sent their condolences, then promptly started moving in on the business interests left unattended in the chaos. The location chosen for the meet was typical of it. A tiny greasy spoon in a rough area of town. It was lit by cheap fluorescent lights that illuminated far too much grime, while the girl behind the counter spent more time on her phone than actually serving customers. Several pots of stale coffee sat in a row of machines at the back of the shop, and the girl periodically lifted one and poured it into a proffered cup without even looking up. The till chimed as its drawer opened and cash was deposited. This place didn't take Apple pay, or card, or anything of the sort. Cash only. Anyone too naïve to realise how a place like this could possibly still be open would have left immediately after trying the overpriced, burned coffee. Sonnet had a cup of said coffee sat in front of her. She sipped it occasionally, but more for appearances sake than because she was actually enjoying the muddy concoction. She had her back to the wall, giving her a full view of the rest of the establishment, particularly the door, while she waited for the woman she was here to see.

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[Alice Forsythe]

This whole experience was certainly novel to Alice. It's one thing to plot and another to act. She had become so accustomed to blending in and playing innocent that she began to wonder if she would ever feel comfortable making a move. She was well aware that her goals were extreme even at its concept. All of that changed, however, the moment she learned of a woman going by the name 'Shortcut'. Alice had come to the conclusion that her best option for networking in the metahuman community best lied within the criminal sphere. Those individuals who knew the true struggles of life and the unforgiving reality therein lies. She figured that she couldn't just settle for the average thug of the week who thought they would stand a chance going up against the Hero Program. No, she needed a better class of criminal to ingratiate herself with, which lead her to organized crime. It was simple enough to connect reports of supernatural happenings and criminal activity, but getting in touch was a matter unto itself. Fortunately for Alice, though rather unfortunate for the Bay Area, the Yakuza had a prominent presence in the west coast. It was certainly 'fortuitous' then that something should befall the heads of the west faction to bring the east coast over. Most importantly a high ranking lieutenant who has reportedly been seen vanishing out of thin air. It was quite a task to collate all of these accounts and ensure a meeting but ultimately worthwhile. At least, if what she was lead to believe was true. That is how Ms. Forsythe found herself walking through these seedy streets. The area smelled of raw sewage and marijuana, making for an distinct repellent for anyone finding themselves lost in this area at this time of night. The young lady walking up the sidewalk definitely seemed out of place. A bright white button-up shirt with a floral pattern, draped in a yellow cardigan was contrasted against the parade of hoodies and track jackets. In stark contrast, her visage was inhospitable and indifferent, causing most to turn their eyes away upon contact. She made her way to the building, staring up at the yellowed illuminated sign with a steaming coffee cup emblazoned on it. A sign in the window advertised 'Coffee Made Fresh', a statement she doubted considerably. Upon entering the coffee house with the telltale ring of the door bell, she took quick note of the establishment and it's patrons. She clocked Shortcut fairly quickly who stood out by virtue of being well-groomed even slightly. Alice walked over to the counter, finding herself across from a disinterested server. Her eyes were entirely glued to her phone and yet somehow she could sense Alice's presence as if by ESP. If she didn't know any better, Alice might think she had powers of her own. "Coffee. Black. Thank you." It was a simple order, and yet Alice had no confidence in the girl standing before her. Glancing up briefly from her phosphorescent prison to glance at the brightly dressed girl, she responded with an affirmative noise. Soon after a cup was served and a dark liquid that can only be presumed to have been coffee at some point was poured in. Upon first glance the musty beverage appeared dark as pitch, which Alice supposed was accurate to her request. She handed the girl what she owed and made her way across the room towards an empty table. Methodically, she lied out a napkin and folded it into a smaller, but higher square upon which she placed the cup. Following that she took another napkin, opened it up and neatly placed it upon a very dingy looking chair. As she seated herself, she took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of a bag and put the smoke to her mouth. Most buildings in California had strict rules forbidding smoking, though Alice was certain that wouldn't be an issue here. She lit the cigarette, knowing full-well the extent of the damage the nicotine would inflict upon her bronchi. It was one of the rare few reckless things from her past life she continued doing. It no longer served to calm her nerves, but rather test the extent of her control over her own body. She exhaled a vaporous plume of smoke as her eyes fell upon a woman sitting across from her at another table.

There are no heroes or villains. There’s just what I want and how I’ll get it. Tag: Sonnet Matsuda Notes: Hope everything's right!

credit to Laura of Adox

[Sonnet Matsuda]

Shortcut My childhood spat back out the monster that you see + Alice Forsythe

Sighing, Sonnet rolled her eyes. It wasn't as if there were a whole host of Asian females in the coffee place. There were a grand total of two other people bar herself, the newly entered woman, and the girl behind the counter. One of them looked high, while the other was clearly the one who had given him whatever substance had led him to that state. Neither of them were even slightly interested in what was going elsewhere. Sonnet stood, making her way carefully over to the table. Weaving between the dirty and stained plastic chairs, she deftly avoided spilling any of the muddy liquid she was carrying, before gracefully dropping into the chair opposite the woman that could only be her contact. "Are you stupid? Or just blind?" Sonnet was not in a good mood, the journey had been bad enough. Then there had been the coffee here. Now the woman she'd come to meet was playing dumb. That said, Sonnet was usually a fairly irritable sort of person. The Yamaguchi-Gumi had no idea who this woman was, and therefore they didn't care. She might have resources that would be beneficial, but Sonnet's organisation was large, and powerful, and wealthy. They hadn't become that way by being beholden to every little wannabe gangster that came along. They'd become that way by destroying anyone who got in their way. Sipping from the coffee, more for appearances sake than anything else, Sonnet grimaces. "You're Alice." It's not a question. "Now tell me why I've been dragged across the country to meet you."

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[Alice Forsythe]

Alice blew the steam off the top of the murky black liquid as she watched the young Japanese woman approach her. Her frustration was so apparent even someone as insensate as Alice could recognize it. She made note of the woman's grace of movement, the precision of her motility. Factors such as these that further confirmed her hypothesis that metahumans weren't random accidents, but deliberate agents of evolution. Of course there were outliers, like with any species, but metahumans represented the cream of the crop. As her cohort sat, Alice took a deliberate sip of coffee in response to her flippant comment. It really didn't merit a response. She had her reasons for what she did and frankly didn't have the time nor the inclination to explain them. Gently placing her mug on the folded napkin, she returned the cigarette to her lips enjoying the feeling of her cholinergic receptors activating mixed with the burning bitter taste. One had to enjoy the simple pleasures when pleasure became nothing but a biochemical reaction. Alice let out a soft puff this time, allowing the smoke to settle just outside her mouth as her cold blue eyes met with the woman sitting across from her. "I appreciate you taking time out of your surely busy schedule." She tapped the cigarette, letting the ashes fall onto a corner of the folded napkin. "I won't mince words. I need information from a federally funded organization I'm certain you're familiar with. I won't waste anymore of your time and I hope you won't waste mine. Let me know now if you have a problem with this. We will end our business transaction and cease all communication." Without a breath, she followed that up with another sip of the bitter brown beverage, her face entirely impassive.

There are no heroes or villains. There’s just what I want and how I’ll get it. Tag: Sonnet Matsuda Notes: ^^

credit to Laura of Adox

[Sonnet Matsuda]

Shortcut My childhood spat back out the monster that you see + Alice Forsythe

The woman was smoking, which hardly bothered the Yakuza lieutenant. She was used enough to the smoke filled Yakuza gambling and drinking dens, even if she didn't partake of the small cylinders herself. Her vice was booze, not tobacco, though she wondered if her power would protect her from the effects of the smoke in the same way it seemed to guard her from most of alcohol's negative effects. Sonnet's clear anger seemed to have almost no effect on the woman, clearly she's here to play some sort of game, and Sonnet is in a poor mood for such play. She's been on a plane for hours and waiting here for at least half an hour. Now this girl wants to establish her superiority. Sonnet doesn't need to establish her superiority over anyone, she's secure in what she's good at. Rolling her eyes at the way Alice dances around the subject at hand rather than getting straight to the point. Really, the fact that they are in a location clearly intended for laundering, rather than making, money should have given away the fact that they could talk freely. She taps her fingernails against the coffee cup in front of her. "I am familiar with a lot of federally funded organisations." Taking a sip of the less than impressive coffee, she continued. "Either you need to stop playing games or I'm just going to leave, I would have thought there would have been less dick waving with a woman. Clearly I'm OK with dealing in information, you see the tattoos?" They were not completely visible, but as Sonnet pulled down her collar the intricacy and detail in them became clear. Anyone that was even passingly familiar with the world of organised crime would recognise the tattoos as belonging to a member of the Yakuza, the largest and some of the most powerful crime syndicates in the world. "Now tell me what you want, and what you have to offer."

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[Alice Forsythe]

Alice was mildly disappointed. It appeared that her companion saw her through the lens of the lowly precursors. Pride and ego were two qualities of humanity that Alice found most distasteful. It was lamentable that her kind still suffered from the maladies of human deficiency. A product of the society they were born into. It was going to be a difficult task to move away from such weakness. An unfortunate side effect lead to situations such as this, where her caustic personality seemed to off put her ilk. Not that she could blame her. Alice was well aware that she didn't naturally possess the charm she once did years before. However, that girl wouldn't have had the fortitude to be in this situation to begin with. "Miss Matsuda, you misunderstand me. If I thought you were beneath me we wouldn't be having this conversation." She folded her hands together, placing them softly onto the table. "I have a great deal of respect for you. You use your talent to take what you need from a world that undervalues you. It's the reason why I believe you to be perfect for this." She took one hand from the table and reached down for a small satchel she had been carrying with her, "I'm well aware of your association with the syndicate. In fact, I did considerable research." Alice removed a small tablet from the satchel and slid it towards her concomitant. "I've compiled a comprehensive record of the three families activities in North America, but especially our friends here on the west coast. Bank accounts, criminal records, personal documents, etcetera." She allowed her to take in the information on-screen, as she sipped at her cup once again "The Sumiyoshi were rather difficult to track, I'm embarrassed to admit. They're woefully unstructured, but seem to have a large stake in real estate from my understanding." She reached into her satchel once more while continuing to speak with her. "My offer is a fair trade of information. I imagine this has some significance to you. Destroy it, use it, frankly, I don't care what you do with it but it's yours whether you decide to work with me or not." She pulled out an external hard drive and offered it to the young lady. "Consider it an act of good faith. If this proves insufficient I'm certain we can come to an arrangement." While no emotion came to Alice's face, she was genuine in her motives. She saw Shortcut as an equal and preferred to work in those terms as opposed to the typical taskmaster paradigm generalized by humanity. "My target is substantially more Machiavellian than your employers. I need you to retrieve information from the Hero Program."

There are no heroes or villains. There’s just what I want and how I’ll get it. Tag: Sonnet Matsuda Notes: ^^

credit to Laura of Adox

[Sonnet Matsuda]

Shortcut My childhood spat back out the monster that you see + Alice Forsythe

The information presented to her did make Sonnet arch an eyebrow, this woman's sources were good, there was more here on the Yakuza's operations in North America than she herself had access to. She'd place good money that even Kenshin, her boss, would have struggled to amass this much intelligence. Tapping the screen, she scrolled through pages of notes, financial reports and photographs that documented the operations of the Sumiyoshi. There was more, but she tore herself away from the tablet, she didn't want to present it as too valuable after all. Even then, Sonnet couldn't keep the surprise from her face as Alice proffered the hard drive. Information was not free, certainly not in her business, and information like this was extremely expensive. Expensive enough that she instantly suspected a trap. Carefully one hand moved to pull at her collar. There was a gun concealed beneath her jacket, close enough to be pulled and fired in a split second, should this prove to be an ambush. She drops her hand back to the table at the woman's next words however. Nodding, it suddenly made sense. Why else would someone come to a meeting like this with such a large bargaining chip. "Sounds about right." She sighed, she'd had an encounter with Tank several months ago, an encounter she'd lost. Since then everyone seemed to assume that the two were on good terms. They weren't, at least not what most might deem good terms. That said, he hadn't killed her when he'd had the chance, and Sonnet had been eager to work off that debt. She had more of a connection to the Program than she would like. In addition to that, she had the resources of a powerful organisation to work with. Almost nobody knew of her strange relationship with the New York Hero, but if this woman had managed to turn up so much about the Sumiyoshi then maybe she'd been able to find something about Tank. She leaned back, not playing up that she might be one of the best placed people outside of the Program to locate information about it. "What exactly do you want to know?"

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