A Proposition {Mia}

[Naomi Green]

This should be simple, short, a brief transaction. For one thing, Naomi didn't think that Mia would be the type to banter words, and Naomi certainly didn't plan on wasting any more than she needed to. In fact, she didn't particularly want this to last overlong. The longer it lasted, the greater the margin for error. Short, brief, to the point.

It had started with a note under the door. Please meet me in the student lounge after class. Attached had been a fifty dollar bill, which Naomi felt should be enough to catch Mia's interest, if her suspicions were correct. This was the girl who'd taken Zachary LaRousse's money to splash the love lives of the student body on a big screen. Somehow Naomi doubted she'd be stood up.

She looked at nearby clock. All the classes had let out now, so it was a matter of waiting, something that Naomi could handle. She proceeded to slide back into her chair, enjoying a book that she'd brought. Studying, technically, which should be perfectly acceptable given her location, if not exactly practical.

The only dangling question was how well a technopath and someone who couldn't use technology would get along...

[Mia Keystone]

Old habits die hard, and when Mia got a note under her door that was not only signed, but came with money, she did a background check. The note wasn't a death threat, nor was it likely someone would want to have a showdown in the student lounge of all places, and pay her for it.

Miss Green had money, that was easy enough to find out. Previously attended Kocher, English, magnetic wave manipulateion (and that was a concern: magents could do some serious damange to her computers,) but the biggest point was that she was very vry rich.

Apparently, the leseon people had learnt from Zac was less 'don't do bad things' as much as 'if you have money, Mia will work her magic.'

Hell, she wasn't complaining. Since Zac couldn't get her the hundred grand he'd promised until after graduation, funds were well below what she would have liked.

Naomi was easy enough to spot, and Mia slid into the chair opposite, her laptop hanging in its case over her shoulder and an orange beanie shaped like a pumpkin pulled down over her hair. Cable hasd been left in her room; the cold weather made him all sleepy, and a sleepy serpent was not threatening.

"So," Mia started, propping her chin on her hand, "How can I help you, Green?"

Cut to the chase. In that, they were at least of one mind.

[Naomi Green]

"I need your help with technology," replied Naomi. She'd already sized Mia up, had found her entertainingly small in actual stature. To think that someone so petite would cause such a gigantic stir. Truly, this was someone with cunning, which made her someone to keep on your good side. Thankfully, Naomi believed she had a way of doing that.

"It's quite simple, actually," she said. She set her book down on a nearby table and met Mia's eyes. "I need you to send an email for me. For, you see, I cannot use any technologies myself," she waved a hand toward Mia's computer, "if I touch such things, my power ruins them. It makes things quite troublesome, as you can imagine. It also makes us wholly incompatible in that respect.

"However, I hardly need you to send a simple email," Naomi continued. "I require this email to be untraceable, or at least very difficult to trace. I have no qualms about the faculty and staff here finding me eventually, but I'd rather have some time. I believe you can provide that."

Naomi lapsed into silence, realizing that she'd just gone the cheesy villain route, explaining a good deal in a relatively short amount of time, nearly monologing. The truth was much simpler. Time was of the essence, and Naomi was attempting to head off any possible questions before they were asked. So while there were several words, none were wasted, as far as the Brit was concerned.

[Mia Keystone]

Mia raised one eyebrow, face blank. "Well, I sure as fuck don't usually get asked for fashion tips," she drawled, rapping her chewed, purple painted nails on the table. "Specifics, please. And no school events, pretty sure Neville's gonna see that coming,"

Kaylee 2.0 was not to be used in demonstrations of destruction of technology, though Mia's fingers did tighten on her case as Naomi's hand got too near. "Fucking magnets, how do they work," Mia muttered under her breath with a slight smile, then shrugged. "Sure, most people don't wanna get in my way when I'm working anyway." The eyebrow rose again, and the technopaths eyes glinted in warning. "But you mess with my stuff and yeah, you'll find we're very incompatible."

Was it a warning? Yes, a little one... or maybe more of a threat. It was hard to tell when the threatener was wearing a pumpkin hat.

It was an interesting proposal, but it stank of trouble. And while Mia had occasionally thought that 'trouble' would be a more suitable middle name for her than Skye... "Ok, I need to know details," she said after a moment's thought, then held up her hand "not about what's in the email, I don't give a rats, but if I'm breaching or breaking federal or state law, or if people are gonna get prosecuted I need the heads up."

Her fingers steepled together and the tiny girl lent forward. "I can get you time. I can bounce an email off so many satellites and personal people will think it was written by Santa Claus in the North Pole, but, we need to talk price, and security of that payment. I'm thinking Switzerland."

Hey, live and learn, right?

Twisting a lock of green and black hair around her finger, Mia's eyes widened and she slapped the door. "And liability. As in what sort of lawyer you can get me if I get caught."

[Naomi Green]

This was going about as Naomi expected, and seeing her expectations met caused Naomi to smile. Yes, she was definitely of the opinion that Mia was someone she could work with. The magnets meet technology thing would be a sticking point, but Naomi would simply maintain her distance. Simple enough.

A nod anyway, and Naomi could certainly provide details. "I want some time out of the faculty's sight to do what I need to. So I need you to make the email difficult for them to trace. If they feel the need to call greater powers in, well," Naomi's smile took on an edge, "so much the better. I should hardly think that you'll be breaking many, if any, laws. In fact," here was going to be the kicker, "I fully expect and want you to, how should I put this, throw me to the wolves should you be discovered. Put up a fight, by all means, but feel free to sell me out, especially if you can get an exceptional deal on this."

Naomi didn't see any reason to tell Mia why. This was a stalling tactic. She needed to gather interested people, to discuss the treatment of metas, and she needed to do it with as little faculty interference as possible. Should the faculty go searching, then they would uncover things, which was precisely what Naomi anticipated.

"I can pay you in a Swiss account; that should be easy with my father's stellar connections," that was nearly said with a sneer, "as for funds, I'm willing to negotiate."

Another pause. "And I assure you, you'll hardly need a lawyer, since, as I said, you can finger me. If need be, I'm certain my family can provide one."

[Mia Keystone]

"Oh, I will," Mia promised. "It's why I don't want to know what you're doing; plausible deniability. Doesn't stop me being an accessory. It's not like the harpy isn't looking for a reason do kick me out on my ass." And sure, the Harpy was not a nice nickname for the new headmaster but she'd made Mia hand write and it had been an unpleasant experience, plus had given her writers crap which made replaying Shadow of the Colossus that little bit harder.

The sneer was matched by one from Mia, even if the reasons behind them were clearly different. As much as the technopath was aware that money was a necessity for her to get all the equipment she wanted/needed/thought she could play with, some people treated it the whole wrong way. "Yay for Daddy then," the short girl said with a crooked smile.

But there were no smiles when the talk turned to money. "How wide am I spreading this email," she asked, pulling out her calculator and resting her finger on it as numbers started appearing. "Just the school? The town, the state, the country? For just the state, do you want it circulated to all the local email accounts or just the students. Just hammel students or the universities too? I'd say between twenty five and fifty grand, but if just the students I'll do it for fifteen. Thousand."

[Naomi Green]

"Most likely. In fact, this might even be beneficial to you. I'm working to undermine the school a little, and, if things go well, they might look foolish in the bargain," said Naomi, smiling. Oh, she was counting on the faculty finding out. That was half the point of using an email instead of simply placing anonymous flyers everywhere. If you really didn't want to get caught, you left no trail whatsoever.

The smile faded. "Yes, quite." Because if Naomi ever took over the world, one of the first things she was doing was putting her father in a work camp. Or possibly having his brain removed and placed inside an automaton; he did have some political savvy, after all.

"Just student accounts. Just locally, no more than Pilot Ridge," because Naomi didn't need nor want to draw attention beyond the local, not yet anyway. "Fifteen thousand does seem a little steep, given the stipulations I've laid out. Or is dittering about prices considered poor manners when hiring a hacker?"

Because last time, Naomi had made certain to make friends with a tech savvy person first. This was her first time hiring someone for this sort of thing. At least she could appreciate Mia's straightforwardness.

[Mia Keystone]

Mia's smile turned sinister. "Should have led with that line," she grinned, showing teeth. "Undermining Hammel is what I do best. Let me shove it under Dr Neville's nose later and I'll give you a discount." It was possible Mia felt a bit of resentment towards the psychiatrist, just possible. Whether it was a reaction to his mind-reading and calling it therapy or just the fact that he never seemed to speak in a tone other then that of a disappointed parent was a mystery of course.

Oooh, there was some serious hostility there. The ever curious technopath tilted her head slightly, opening a mental note page and filing down a reminder to do a bit of a search on Mr Green.

Mia steepled her fingers and raised straight brows. "Have to pull up the data banks for the colleges, not to mention find the private and school emails for over 300 students at hammel," she pointed out. "Plus I've had to hike up my prices after recent events. You know, just in case this gets me thrown out." They weren't friendly enough for mates rates, and while Mia was not quite going to charge as much as she did for someone she openly disliked, like LaRousse, a stranger was always a risky thing. "Thirty percent now, the rest when the job is completed to your satisfaction."

[Naomi Green]

'By all means. I'm hardly a fan of Dr. Neville myself," said Naomi. In fact, she found him to be quite a leading example of exactly what was wrong with Hammel and schools like it. Someone who had powers, who used, almost abused them, yet spent their time enforcing a status quo developed by the same people who caged them all up like zoo animals.

Numbers, reasons, all of which earned nods from Naomi. She knew the risks. She also knew full well that it manipulating her father's money would involve some risks. So high was the risk that Naomi was fairly certian this would be her last endeavor with that particular finiacial source. Anything else would have to come from somewhere else.

"I believe we have something of a deal then," said Naomi. She drew out a check, having had the foresight to come prepared. While she might demagnetize cards, and computer transfers were far beyond her, Naomi could certainly still write a check. Even one that was clearly stolen, with a "Reuben Green" already signed. Not a forgery either; though neither girl had the method of proving either way in that regard.

"So does that come to five thousand now? I believe I need to know who I'm making this out to. I would so hate for you to lose so much money."

[Mia Keystone]

Giving Naomi a slight smirk of approval, Mia propped her hand on her chin and watched the beautiful sight of a cheque materialising. Only a quick trip to the bank and it would become money. A nice amount of money, and there was more money to come.

"OR Enterprises," Mia dictated, opening her laptop case slightly to touch her computer and check the bank account of one of her businesses. Yep, that one still had a small enough amount not to inspire any serious investigation and last time she checked, it was a felony to access a student's back account without permission. Or the bank accounts of small companies that provided circuit brakers for home use.

"Right, I assume you'll have someone either send the original to me, or you have it written down with a pen somewhere?"

What could she get with five grand? There was a new monitor she'd been eyeing, and she still had to pay Ginny back for the baby stuff she'd gotten for Jonah's sister...

Oh, and like, six slabs of Dr Pepper and a few more bags of frozen mice for Cable.

[Naomi Green]

OR Enterprises. It felt like there was a story there. Shame how Naomi really didn't care all that much. She would love to be able to utilize Mia's services again, but that struck her as being highly unlikely, given her soon to be diminished pecuniary services. Unless Naomi received a mysterious benefactor, her mercenary hiring days were over.

"I'll send the note to your room, addressed to you," explained Naomi. "I wanted to convey the information as privately as possible. The less time between you receiving it and it entering the system, the better."

Naomi knew she was already skirting a thin line as it was, especially with Dr. Neville breathing down her neck. She hadn't done anything to attract interest though; it was far more likely that they would start with Mia, the girl who possessed the abilities to pull something like this off. Wheels within wheels; interlocking and turning.

"Is there anything else you require? Ah, yes, I need this sent in the next few days. Within twenty-four hours of your receiving the note should be sufficient," said Naomi. A pause, while she waited to see if there was anything else Mia wanted to cover, then she rose, pausing only to straighten her clothing.