Private The Nature of Monsters

[Shade]

Shade listened without speaking, allowing the offer to settle rather than rushing to answer it. There was no immediate attempt to pick it apart, no instinctive refusal simply because it came from a Sith. She had spent enough years working in intelligence to know that the source of an offer and the value of an offer were not always the same thing. More importantly, she watched Engel herself. Her posture. Her breathing. The cadence of her speech. There was no obvious sign of deception. The woman standing before her appeared to mean exactly what she had said, a conclusion that fit remarkably well with everything Shade had uncovered during her investigation.

Her thoughts lingered less on the credits and more on the implications behind them. Engel was not asking her to betray anyone outright. She was asking for information, the same commodity Shade had traded for much of her professional life. It was an uncomplicated proposal on its surface, though both women understood there were layers beneath it. Information created opportunity. Opportunity created leverage. The question was never whether information had value. Only who ultimately benefited from possessing it.

A faint smile appeared, small enough to soften her otherwise composed expression.

"It would not be the first time I have worked both sides of a conversation."

She paused for a moment before adding, "Though it does not happen very often."

Her crimson eyes remained on Engel, searching not for lies, but for understanding. "The difference is intent." Her voice remained even and thoughtful. "When I have done it before, it has been because neither side possessed the complete picture, and conflict was becoming more dangerous than communication." She let that thought rest between them for a moment. "That is not always appreciated while it is happening."

Shade folded her hands together loosely before her. "Your offer is reasonable. More reasonable than I expected when I accepted this contract." There was the faintest hint of dry humor in that admission. "I have no objection to learning the truth from more than one perspective." Her gaze briefly drifted toward the ruined sarcophagus before returning to the armored Sith. "What I will not do is fabricate information for either party. If I agree to this, then what I report will remain exactly what I find, regardless of who benefits from hearing it."

Darth Engel

 

[Darth Engel]

Shade explained what she would and would not do, and what she had done before, while Engel waited patiently. She listened carefully, understanding the position the spy had. She understood that professionalism demanded a following-through, else if it was discovered her credibility would be destroyed for good, and she would never be hired ever again. So Engel couldn't realistically expect her to compromise her integrity like that, and she had no problem with the arrangement.

"I have no issue with you reporting what you've learned to your employer. There isn't much that you've learned that can realistically harm me." She said confidently. "I find that secrets tend to be harmless when one does not possess any. You are welcome to earn your keep from your friend."

Engel seemed truly unbothered by the prospect of Shade delivering her report, at the very least she was exceptionally good at hiding it if she was. She offered Shade a handshake, "Do we have an accord?"

Engel could tell that Shade was seriously considering the offer. It was simple enough with her lack of immediate rejection. And that was enough, she only needed her to consider it to know that Shade was not strictly her enemy. She doubted she would have much to worry about from this woman, even if she did reject the offer and simply return to her client to deliver her report and collect her reward. It would be a shame if that was all she did, but it would not set Engel back.

Shade

 

[Shade]

Shade regarded the offered hand for a quiet moment before answering. Not because she distrusted it, but because she appreciated what it represented. Weeks earlier, she had accepted a contract built upon anonymity, half-truths, and careful distance. Now she stood in the depths of an ancient Sith tomb being offered an agreement that was, paradoxically, more honest than the one that had brought her here. It was an irony she suspected neither of them had anticipated.

A faint smile returned to her features.

"You are either remarkably confident..." she said evenly, "...or remarkably comfortable with uncertainty."

There was no accusation in the observation. If anything, it carried a measure of respect. Engel had just invited an intelligence operative to continue reporting what she learned while simultaneously asking her to gather information in return. It was an arrangement built almost entirely upon mutual confidence that the other would keep her word. Shade had encountered stranger proposals during her career. Few had been this straightforward.

She stepped forward the remaining distance and accepted the handshake with a firm, deliberate grip.

"We have an accord."

Her crimson eyes remained on Engel's as she spoke.

"I will continue to report truthfully to the client who hired me. If I uncover information relevant to your interests, I will report that truthfully to you as well." Her tone remained calm, measured, and unmistakably professional. "Neither report will be embellished, altered, or shaped to satisfy the expectations of the recipient. They will receive what I find, nothing more and nothing less."

Only after releasing Engel's hand did Shade allow herself one final observation.

"You said there was little I had learned that could realistically harm you." Her gaze briefly wandered toward the shattered sarcophagus before returning to the Sith. "I believe you are correct." A brief pause followed. "Though I suspect what concerns you is not who knows the truth."

The faintest hint of curiosity returned to her voice.

"It is who understands it."

Darth Engel

 

[Darth Engel]

Engel couldn't stop the slightest hint of a grin from crossing her expression, it was small, but it was there. Shade had struck a Faustian Bargain, and Engel could scarcely contain her satisfaction. She'd gained an asset, a temporary one, that would put her ahead of the game. Because everything she'd learned thus far had told her that her unknown enemy had a lot more to hide than she did. So if she could trade blows with him in this informatinal slugging match, she'd hit a lot harder than they would, and that meant she'd be able to pull ahead straightaway.

And of course, characters like them tended not to take too kindly to being played. So while she wouldn't tell them outright that Shade was the one to deliver the information to her, if she could somehow leave them enough hints to imply her, and have them connect the dots themselves, they were liable to alienate the spy. Leaving Shade with two options, flee and try to escape the fallout between the two sides she'd been playing, or side with Engel to eliminate someone who was liable to be a threat to her life and livelihood if not dealt with.

None of this was said, and if there was one thing that her deliberate distance from the force was good for it was hiding her thoughts. It was doubtful that this scheme was heard. Shade might suspect something, Engel was still a conniving sith after all. But thus far, Engel had given her no reason to doubt her. So even if she did suspect something, Engel did not think she would act without knowing, especially since her preconceptions had been proven wrong time and again during her investigation thus far.

"I look forward to working with you," Engel said, the satisfaction in her tone impossible to miss.

Then Shade leaned into some speculation, a curious thought occurred to her that understanding was more dangerous to the sith than knowledge was. Engel mulled this over for a brief moment, but soon dismissed it. She was cutting the gordian knot, so to say. Her mission and methods were as straightforward as she was, and she didn't think that her brute-force approach could be easily derailed even by people who understood it. But she saw no reason to tell Shade that, now that she was privy to the fact that she'd be playing both sides, she'd be friendly and cooperative. But she'd make sure to keep some things close to her chest.

"Perhaps. We will have to see if understanding will be enough to do my mission harm."

Shade

 

[Shade]

Shade noticed the satisfaction, though she could not have explained its exact cause. It was subtle, restrained, gone almost as soon as it appeared, but it had been there. She filed it away alongside everything else she had learned tonight. Engel was pleased with the outcome of their conversation, and rightly so. Two strangers had entered the tomb from opposite directions. They would leave with an agreement neither had expected to make.

For a brief moment, Shade considered what accepting that agreement might eventually cost her. Intelligence work had taught her that eventually every carefully balanced arrangement tipped in one direction or another. If her anonymous client discovered she had accepted Engel's proposal, there would almost certainly be consequences. Distrust at best. Hostility at worst. Most organizations did not appreciate operatives cultivating relationships with the subjects of their investigations, regardless of the information gained. It was a risk she understood long before she accepted Engel's hand.

Oddly, the realization failed to trouble her as much as it once might have.

There was very little left in her life that could be taken from her. The organizations she had served belonged to her past. The people she had once considered family had become memories, distances, or names she no longer expected to hear spoken. Her work remained. Her principles remained. Beyond those, there was remarkably little to lose. It was a strange kind of freedom, one purchased at a price she would never willingly pay again. The only time someone truly ceased to fear loss was when there was almost nothing left to be taken.

A quiet breath escaped her before she met Engel's gaze once more.

"Understanding has a habit of changing the battlefield." Her voice remained calm, thoughtful rather than argumentative. "Sometimes it creates opportunities. Sometimes it creates vulnerabilities. More often, it simply reveals that neither side understood the game they believed they were playing." A faint smile touched her expression once again. "I suppose we will discover which of those this becomes."

With that, Shade gave a respectful inclination of her head toward the armored Sith.

"Until next time, Darth Engel."

She stepped back from the ruined chamber without haste, disappearing into the quiet passages of the ancient tomb. She had arrived seeking a report. She departed carrying something far more valuable.

Not certainty. Perspective.

Darth Engel