If there was one thing she knew well, it was that one never starts a game until you know all the players in it. She needed information before she was going to start causing some problems, and that usually meant poking around the local underground. These days most everything you needed to know was online, criminal territories, what groups ran what, but if you wanted exploits on those that pretended to work within the law, that information was often best obtained directly through a broker.
There was one place in particular she found herself a regular at, a cybernetics-catering dive that miraculously didn't pry about her organic status. She wasn't sure if it was because of the suit or because she had the money, but she didn't care too much either way. The information was more than reliable and no one bothered her too much, it was pretty much ideal.
By now she had been established as a regular, the owner knew her by name, the name she gave him at least. She had been waiting in the corner restaurant for her 'order', a set of leaked documents on a prominent member in local law enforcement, with a side of food to go, when she was approached by someone she was not expecting. She noticed his presence before she actually saw him. Glancing in the direction she saw the movement she recognized him immediately. He was difficult to miss, and difficult to mistake for anyone else even if it was the first time she had seen him in person.
She had already done her homework on the local crime syndicates, and Xerxes was the first name that came up and his territory accounted for practically the whole state. It would be unsurpusing if this establishment was either an operation of his directly or one he permitted to exist for a cut; functionally, it was all the same. Him approaching her directly meant word of her purchases were numerous and significant enough to draw attention, or that she had been asking the wrong questions, possibly both. Or it could be a complete coincidence, but in this line of work, that was rarely ever true. She had expected him to notice eventually, but what she didn't expect was a visit from him and as opposed to one of his lackeys.
Ketna spoke as he approached the table, before he could say anything himself. "To what do I owe the honor of having Xerxes himself join me this afternoon."
"Glad t'see you know who you're dealing with, saves me the introduction so I'll get right to it." He sat himself down at a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Based on what I've got from my informants, you've been involved in some business that's slipped past my network. Normally I'd send one of my Boys to correct this little oversight but you pose a unique case I thought I'd take a personal hand in."
"Really? Well that is concerning." Ketna spoke with an exaggerated inflection of concern. "I'm grateful to see you take a personal hand in something this serious so we can clear this up right away." Her delivery was overtly saccharine, a taunting platitude.
The corners of Xerxes' mouth pulled into something that resembled a sneer but he remained even tempered in posture. "Seein' as you're new here, y'may not be aware of some rules. The way it works is any" he gave a big of a flourish with his hand before delivering the word. " 'Fringe' businesses, gotta operate through me. Now, I don't need t'know what you're doin' or how you're doin' it, all you gotta do is tell me how much yer makin, and give me a cut. How much? Well that can be negotiated based on how much you take. In exchange, you keep your business interference free, and we all go on our way."
"Seems more than reasonable to me, if I were running a business I'd be more than happy to comply, but I assure you, that's not what I'm doing."
"So then what do y'call the stockpile of information you've been purchasin' since you got here."
Ketna shrugged. "A hobby."
Xerxes snorted, "I'll give you one chance to come clean and clear up accounts, after that I'll leave you to whatever the fuck it is you wanna do your order." While he remained calm in his posture, there were hints of growing irritation in his voice. "But what I'm seein' is lookin' an awful lot like assassination prep, t'me."
"And I'm serious, it's a completely self-motivated, self-funded endeavor for my own amusement, thus a Hobby. I'm not working for anybody, I'm not taking any money for this, nor am I doing it for other favors, I'm doing this entirely for myself."
"Problem is, that doesn't check out." His tone switched from cordial to stern, as did his expression, eyes narrowed and leaning over the table just enough to emphasize his point. He was very likely convinced he had caught her in a lie. "See, my boys have been runnin' your IDs since you showed up and started askin' questions and I gotta say whoever ya got doin your forgeries got talent, almost wouldn't have noticed it myself had I not been in the business this long. I know the kinda money it takes to get those papers. And yer gear?" He gestured at her with a hand. "Not a single line manufactured piece, everything you have is custom. Maybe I'd believe if it was some sorta ornamental piece, but you work in that, that's gotta be repaired, replaced, and that's money. And every piece of intel you've paid for up-front, with untraced cash, and even a fuckin' tip."
Xerxes used his pointer finger to jab into the table to emphasize certain words as he continued to elaborate. "A person with no ties, no job, no capital, shouldn't have that much money to throw on this kind of information unless you've got someone or something bankrollin' you. Even a trust fund bitch wouldn't have the clean cash to do it." He rested both his arms in front of himself and laced the fingers of his hands, clasping them together, shouldering himself to lean further over the table. "So cut the bullshit and tell me what kind of business yer tryin' t'run, here."
Ketna didn't feel the least bit concerned about the assertion, her body language remained relaxed as did her casual delivery of her explanation.
"You're right, the kind of money it takes for my papers, gear, information, that's not something that comes out of nowhere, one has to have a consistent influx of credit to sustain that. And mine doesn't come from a day job, but it doesn't come from a business either, be it my own or anyone else's. The funny thing about people that embezzle is you can funnel out an awful lot of money out of their fringe accounts without a trace before anyone realizes they're dead."
The response gave him pause only for a moment, then leaned back in his chair with a chuckle and smirk.
"So what you pay for this by fuckin' robin' yer hits?"
Ketna shrugged again. "Yeah, pretty much."
Xerxes shook his head with a deep throaty chuckle that seemed to signal a sort of disbelief, but he relented.
"Alright, fine. I'll buy that, but if I catch you fuckin' with me, next time there'll be bullets instead'a words." he retained the smile but aggression hung in his voice as he finished his sentence.
"Believe me, that won't be a problem at all."
Xerxes remained quiet for a moment, studying what he could of her emotionless helmet and casual posture, he made a motion like he was about to leave then changed his mind, leaning back over the table.
"So if this is some sorta 'hobby' and you're not a hired gun, what's the aim? You get off on killin' people 'er somethin'?" He gestured to her with a hand while asking the question.
Ketna shook her head. "Nope, nothing like that at all. There's just some people I don't like that need to be taken out. I only get off on regular fucking." She didn't need to add the last quip but she was feeling curious enough to see how it panned out and to distract from potential further discussion into the why of her actions.
Xerxes tilted his head and smirked. "Care to prove that to me?"
The deflection worked just as intended, and maybe she'd get something out of it.
"Sure, why not?" She shrugged. "I got 5 minutes."
He seemed stunned for a moment, then finally "You fuckin' bitch." He muttered between dark chuckles. "Alright" He stood himself up from the table. "I got an office in the back for more personal arrangements."
Ketna stood up from her chair to follow him to the office.
"I ain't got no scruples against fuckin' ya on the table here," Xerxes continued as they walked. "but I like Arnie and I'd rather not leave a mess for him. Bad for business."
"I really don't care either way." Ketna quipped before switching to quiet observation following him through the restaurant.
They walked to the back, through the kitchen, there was casual greeting between Xerxes and the staff Ketna didn't pay much attention to, she was keeping note of the layout. The unintended interaction and detour was giving her small bits of insight into how he operated and where she would need to infiltrate should the need ever arise.
Xerxes unlocked the room by keypad, some bio lock, not easy to get past, no number to remember, unfortunate but not impossible to bypass. He let himself in first, he only lingered at the door to close it after Ketna walked through. He stripped off his suit jacket, hanging it on the coat rack as Ketna walked toward the desk on the far side of the room. Xerxes was the first one to break the silence.
"So how long will it take yah to get out of that thing, I'm not gonna wait here an hour just t'fuck." he rolled up his sleeve while awaiting an answer.
"Won't take any time at all, don't need to remove much." Ketna rested her hips against the desk, her hands behind her supporting her weight.
Xerxes followed her over, pulling the straps of his suspenders over his arms.
"Y'know, I'm not gonna lube up so if you want anything like that you're gonna have t'suck me off to get it."
"Oh, this isn't coming off, either." She tapped her helmet. "Besides, I won't need it."
"Why, you ugly under that or somethin'." Xerxes smirked at his own joke.
"Yep, you got me, I'm an absolute hag, I'm saving you the pain of my vissage by keeping it on."
