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Every time she approached Malta in her Manta-class vessel she was scared that something would display her IFF wrong and have the defenses and every Outcast around shoot the thing to pieces. It certainly had its advantages and in a way was a trophy. The Bounty Hunters Guild was one of the biggest enemies the Outcasts had after all. Still this was home and the moment she approached the familiar mountainside of Euskal Herria she relaxed. There were small landing pads on the outskirts of New Gasteiz city that were Loyola property. The air was cold and fresh and Zoe could immediately feel the tension coming off her as she breathed in the cardamine that was part of Malta's air.

She would change in her apartment, nothing fancy at all, to meet up with Gabriel later. This was no holiday trip after all. They had to hunt someone who could potentially cause a lot of trouble. But Enma would certainly be proud if they dealt with this- him- quickly. Don Alberto de Velázquez had made the mistake of attacking Enma and her current focus of interest, Claire de France. So naturally such a declaration of war could not be ignored on Malta.

The immediate village was fairly small but cozy, built into the mountains in typical Outcast fashion. This place was as much a home as it was a fortress should anyone dare something bolder. And Enma Loyola certainly encouraged others to consider a move like this. But that was nothing she would have to worry about. She had to worry about working with that fairly scary Gabriel. Who she'd meet in the bar that served as much as a gathering place as a drinking one. And at this time of day it was empty. So she sat down, had some water and scrolled through public and Loyola data banks to find as much about their target as she could.

Where Zoe was scared of approaching Malta, Gabriel was bold. Burning his way down in a traditional Rapier outfitted with obscure weaponry. To him the choice was obvious, why use anything made by the overgrown ants that inhabited the rest of the Sector? Especially when the Outcasts were most certainly superior in every way, at least according to his own deluded outlooks on the matter. He hadn't been doing anything that would have caused exertion, then again he significantly more enduring than the average person given Cardamine's drastic alterations, this was especially pronounced for natives, hence their reputation as incredibly dangerous or perhaps even the most dangerous society in the sector. Opting to simply strip off the gear and remain in his more than fashionable jumpsuit, he'd receive a response from Zoe over the IMS and began to walk, having only just arrived at the destination.

A quaint little village built into a mountain, quite romantic regardless of whether the choice in venue was intentional or not, it would be entirely lost on him. Scenery rarely meant anything to him unless it was serving as an obstruction when trying to line up a shot, or conceal one. When he did arrive at Zoe's current location it was entirely possible that she hadn't noticed him enter the building. And if such was the case then he would remain in her immediate vicinity until she noticed him, otherwise he would elect to silently join her at the table if he had been noticed.

She was slightly startled as she noticed someone enter the room. Her focus had been on looking through boring sets of data and she nearly knocked over her now empty glass. She recognized Gabriel then and relaxed again. Nothing would happen, she tried to convince herself but with Outcasts she didn't know it was always a gamble if they'd accept her or if she had to suffer a new range of abuse.

But the amount of people that had been kind to her was near zero now so she had to deal with it.

— Hi, I've been looking through information on the Don.

She said fairly quickly as if she had to justify her presence here.

The subtle attempts people made to restrain just how uneasy they felt around an Outcast, perhaps the most underrated pleasure in the world. There was good cause for this, given the immense capacity and even cultural basis of ruthlessness that was commonplace in the society that Outcasts had fostered for themselves. Malta brought with it both benefits and consequences, but this was one such aspect to be enjoyed.

— Have you found anything useful?

He was giving her further grounds upon which to justify being here, wanting her to report anything they could act on or leads that they could follow, though there was no way of knowing what he was actually thinking.

No greeting, no apparent emotions. Was he even human? Or was that his weird perception of fun? Zoe inhaled deeply before looking back on the small file she'd been starting to create on their target. It wasn't a whole lot but it turns out that throughout the past years, every time Enma would start a new *project*, he would suffer from it. He had lost multiple plantations when he opposed the forming of the National Council. Later on he lost more when he would struggle against other new groups. Now that Enma had returned and built up a company, he had to shut down one of his weapons factories.
This seemed to be the end of his patience. Understandable in a way.

Zoe handed Gabriel the tablet so he could scroll through that.

— The location of his usual mansion is not difficult to find. And he has a serious issue with Enma. So I guess there was no choice either way... But he's not going to be unprotected.

He received the tablet from her and began to speed through the investigations she had made, evidently he was capable of reading quickly, very quickly in fact. Perhaps this wasn't the first time he'd skimmed through documentation while researching a mark's history. Murder was a complicated affair after all, just as any affair was.

— Good, you've established motive and we know where he's holed up. We don't have the means to invade his private fortress, but infiltrating it isn't out of the question. Are you any good as a pilot?

Perhaps he already had a plan in mind, if he did then he hadn't decided to enlighten her about it just yet.

It was weird how he just stood there and read. Did he even move apart from the necessary ones? The answer also didn't feel like praise or like a colleagues thankfulness. More like he told a child that they managed their homework. But if anything she WAS good as a fighter pilot. Or she'd be dead already.

— I am. Sure. But what does that matter if you want to... infiltrate?

That also sounded like she wouldn't be able to use her ship. She always felt awkward flying the newer Outcast vessels. They were made for- different people.

Handing the tablet back to her and taking a moment to somewhat relax himself, he considered how best to explain the plan to her. In all respects, he seemed quite rigid.

— He knows what we both look like. And it's not as if I can waltz through the front door with a tank. You could however have your ship outfitted with a cloak, drop me into the compound and then I'll clear out the air defences so you can actively support me, having achieved air superiority beforehand of course.

He seemed quite confident that she could handle herself in the air, at least moreso than on the ground. Perhaps that was a compliment, but it would be pressure regardless.

That plan sounded insane. And if anyone less serious had suggested it, she'd have thought it a joke. He wanted to take out an Outcast Don's defenses on his own?

— you mean yourself and a few more people right? I have a shop that can do this but... There will be plenty of armed guards.

It was nice that he trusted her to handle it but from him it just felt so calculated.

It was almost as if he was disappointed by her lack of confidence or ability to understand what he was suggesting, he would take a shallow sigh after a steady breath inward and try to rephrase.

— Zoe, I'm not going to take on all the guards in broad daylight and under fair conditions. We're going to make our move well past the bastard's bedtime and I am going to avoid detection at all costs. I'm confident in being able to sneak around, which is why I'm doing this alone. Most of the hired help was slaughtered when he laid siege to the quarters on Lentini. Not that they could keep up in any case.

In his mind, he was running through the sequence of things. She would drop him there at a sufficient enough altitude to evade scanner detection and he would get to work once his feet were on the ground. With his ally in the air, he could have a bird's eye view of the compound and where all the personnel were concentrated. Priority number one to ensure he had this advantage was to quietly go about disabling air defenses, namely the flak and tachyon batteries spread around the main building. But it was likely that a security fail-safe existed to prompt somebody about them being deactivated, so perhaps changing their friendly recognition codes would provide for a more chaotic distraction.

— If I can reprogram all the sentry turrets to recognize anyone that doesn't bear our identifiers as a hostile, and then cause a distraction that prompts immediate and coordinated action. Then his personal security will be too busy with attrition to pay heed to my entrance. It buys me time to get in, kill the fool and then exfiltrate. The distraction will be the fun part, you'll see.

For the first time since she'd met him, his lips cracked up into a smirk, but it was likely in response to thoughts of mass-murder rather than anything genuinely amusing.