[PRP] Visiting Hours

[Dante-Sayre]

It was 9am and there was a sharp rap on Faleen's door. Only 30 minutes prior she'd been sent an email detailing her morning duty of escorting a spindly coworker to the brig for some interviewing. Not the most exciting way to start the day but that was the nature of orders. They weren't always pleasant.

The knocking at the door came again, impatiently fast, not really giving time for her to answer.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The sharp knock on the door was enough to alert her of her team mates arrival. With very good timing, as she finished tying the lace to her gray boots.

Another knock, this time giving a much more clear indication of impatience.
The blond agent lifted her head enough to glance over at the door. tugging once more at her boots before standing up, and crossing the room to answer.

"I assure you sir, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon." came her calm response as she opened the door, a hand moving over the belt of balls on her leg to make sure her team was all present.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Opening the door revealed a hunched Star, arms crossed, looking moody. "I'm in no hurry to see him. I'm looking forward to getting this over with." He had a roll of plans gripped tightly in his long fingers.

Contributing to his mood was the momentary glimpse of Faleen's quarters. It was the Grunt's first visit to the Agent level. He was only allowed up here because he was retrieving Faleen. Seeing this and thinking on the accommodations he was forced to endure made him want to launch into a rant that nobody would want to hear.
 

[Blood_Goddess]

The rooms were certainly an improvement from the Grunt quarters, what space was saved from another human occupying it was now given to whatever to owner wished it, in the case of the female agent; just more robotic tinkering.

She glanced at him for a moment, taking another couple of seconds to pick up a couple of items from the door side table, her tablet and dex that was then hooked to her belt. Switching off the light and closing the door behind her before she made a polite gesture in the direction they would go, before taking the lead.
"Shall we then."

"Have you been in contact with him since our last mission?" She asked, leading the way to the.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star sighed and dropped his arms as he followed. The sound of heels clicked leisurely after Faleen, "No. Not having to listen to the incessant rambling of Julian Todd is one of the perks of my new employment. I can't think of any reason I'd do it on purpose. If not for Hayes I wouldn't be spending my days deciphering his art either..." He failed to conceal a poisonous tone at mentioning the department head.
 

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen gave a soft hum in reply, though her eyebrows did twitch up a little.
"For what its worth, the progress that's been made with it has been quite favorable."
She knew very well how he felt about the whole situation though, He wasn't exactly quiet about his opinions, and she was allowed to remain on the project, at least somewhat.
She wasn't about to just give it up.

Everyone knew that this was going to be a next step. She wanted to make sure it was done right.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what results we get from this, Star."
"Thank you" she nodded at the guard when he opened the door that lead to the brig aria.  

[Dante-Sayre]

"Tsh.." The terse noise said what Star thought of Faleen's hope for results. If it came from Deimos' brain, he wasn't interested in it.

As they stepped into the brig he glanced around, expecting to spot a familiar shock of purple hair in one of the surrounding cells. He quirked a thick eyebrow as one of the guards crossed the room to unlock the isolation cell.

"..you've been keeping him in an enclosed space?" He sounded a little surprised.
 

[Blood_Goddess]

The Agent didn't look perturbed by his reaction, nor surprised.

"It appears so." She replied, watching the guards work. She wasn't in charge of where the prisoners were located, though a part of her had been curious as to if they had moved him at all in that time. Seems not.
"We found out during one of our mission that he's claustrophobic. It seems the boss intended to use that."
The though of constant psychological torture onto an enemy boss didn't seem to disturb her in the least, she might as well have been talking about the weather, or some interesting fact about jello.

There was a pause though as she waited for Deimos to be brought out, depending on how he behaved today though, she might have to suggest; for the sake of cooperation with the robotics lab, submitting a change in his captivity.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star's moment of surprised turned out not to be one of pity, as it ended in an amused snort, "Temero's colder than I gave him credit for."

Removing Deimos from his cell took only a moment. The small Galactic leader was led out into the main brig obediently. He didn't have any restraints. He obviously didn't need them. He seemed completely docile, and a little checked out at the moment. He wasn't looking anywhere in particular as he was led; pink and blind eye staring vacantly.

"Where y'want him?" The guard asked, looking bored.

Star was staring at Deimos, taking in his previous leader. He'd always seen the tiny man in billowing capes, making grand gestures and yammering his head off. This tiny creature was so far from that it was hard to wrap his head around. After several long seconds of gawking he smirked and gestured at a nearby table, "There will be fine."

The familiar voice brought Deimos' eye into focus. Nobody else in the world sounded like that. It was a sound from a place not crawling with Rockets. It was like hearing home.

He blinked rapidly and looked around before his gaze settled on the tall man a few feet away. "....Star?"

Star was still smirking. It wasn't a pleasant smirk. "Oh.. so you can still speak. Good, that'll make this easi-" He was cut off when the tiny man in the black jumpsuit scrambled forward and latched onto his lanky ex-roboticist in a hug. Star froze, arms raised, and looked down at the fluff of purple hair pressed against his midsection with an expression somewhere between shock and horror.
 

[Blood_Goddess]

Pulling a hand from behind her back, to place the bend of her fingers over her lips, joined with a barely audible clearing of her throat.
At least it was Star this time and not her.

But the look on her co-workers face, while being so that she just barely had the mental discipline not to be TOO amused with the situation, did take pity on the lanky Grunt and stepped forward to try and help remove the tiny man attached to him.
"Come sit down Deimos." Faleen offered, trying to guide the man away.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Deimos' hold on Star's small waist tightened against Faleen's attempts to remove him. "I knew someone would come eventually. I knew it. Are we going home now?" He looked up with big hopeful eyes.

Deimos' pleading did nothing to improve Star's mood. This wasn't the behavior of a leader. To think he'd ever let this useless man tell him what to do.

Two firm hands on Deimos' shoulders joined Faleen's efforts and shoved Deimos free. "I'm not here to rescue you, Julian." The words were crisp.

Deimos stumbled back and blinked up at Star, then at Faleen, then Star again, obvious confusion on his face. He could riddle through equations ten feet long in a minute, but this was completely outside his scope of understanding. "I.. don't.... ......then.. ......what are you doing here?"

Star was smoothing his shirt while Deimos stumbled through his question. He recovered from his look of revulsion and slipped comfortably back into his smug smirk. "It's amazing that you haven't figured it out yet." He stepped over to the nearby table and sat.

Deimos looked up at Faleen again before following.  

[Blood_Goddess]

That lost look again, the little purple disheveled puppet without his puppeteer to tug on his strings.
Abandoned again by someone he trusted, and he can't quite understand it yet.
Welcome to the real world little puppet.

Faleen remained as professional as ever, keeping her glance to Deimos calm, and her grip on his shoulder firm. She said nothing as she guided the man into the room, and to the chair he was to sit in.

One she made sure the man was settled, her attention moved briefly to her data tablet, setting it to record and prepare for this session.
The Agent remained standing, looking over to Star, and waited.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Deimos allowed Faleen to steer him, eye drifting back to Star as he sat.

Star brushed imaginary lint off his sleeve and set the roll of plans on the table. For the moment the plans went ignored as he focused his predatory grin on the tiny ex-leader. He hadn't planned on turning this into a gloating session, but he hadn't expected to find Deimos quite so stripped down and defenseless. Would a lion ignore a wounded gazelle? Of course not.

"Tell me, Julian. What do you know about how you ended up here?" Star's words were silky and fluid. He was exuding an air of confidence Faleen probably hadn't seen much of yet.

Deimos' brow furrowed at the question. He eyed Faleen, then Star again, "Team Rocket captured me."

"..yes. You may recall I was present at the time."

Deimos nodded.

"....which would imply?"

Star was connecting dots Deimos clearly couldn't follow. "You... were captured too?"

Star laughed and covered his eyes with a hand. "Arceus.."
 

[Blood_Goddess]

It was that childlike ignorance again, that naivety that she had been made very aware of the last time she had spoken with the Galactic leader.

letting of a soft sigh through her nose, she arched her eyebrows, looking from Deimos to Star.

"Star came to us." Faleen answered. "We did not capture him."  

[Dante-Sayre]

Deimos frowned at Faleen, then at Star, "I don't... ......came to.. Team Rocket?"

Star dropped the hand covering his eyes. It slapped the table, making Deimos jump. "Yes! I came to Team Rocket! How can you possibly be this stupid? Surely Tethys told you about the explosion." Star was shouting now and gesturing as he spoke, "I blew up half your ship!"

Deimos recoiled from Star's shouting. The tall man had never yelled at him before. "She did but.. I thought it... I was sure it was some sort of accident I-"

"Accident? How could it possibly have been an accident?? I did it because I was sick of having to follow your orders! Every day for ten years, following the whims of a moron! I sabotaged your ship, betrayed you and saw you to the hands of your enemy!!" It felt wonderful to let go like this and candidly tell Deimos exactly how he felt. He'd been wanting to do this for years.

Deimos stared up at Star, eyes wide. "But.. but you've always loved me. I'm your boss. I thought it was an accident" he repeated timidly. "You make so many mistakes..."

Like the snap of an over-stressed spring, Star's smug grin vanished and his chair toppled over as he threw himself at the tiny Galactic leader. The pair landed on the floor, Star's hands vice-like around Deimos' throat.

"Hey!" The guard nearest Deimos approached and was rewarded with a very sharp elbow to the nose.