She had heard enough of this, it didn't seem to be anything of high importance to her. Not to mention that if Hussaini by chance found her here, secretly listening to their conversation, his patience would probably end. Discreetly, she sneaked out of the bush again, and walked down the rest of the path which lead to the exit of the biodome, all while trying to keep the lowest profile possible.
Making her way through the number of corridors again, at the end she would end up at the rosty, worn Sunburst that she had used to come to this place.
One way of seeing it, the Operative thought as he moved out of the pageda without wasting time. It was a very daring move to mention Laguna and Unschuld here, but at least he was now very sure Bassam was an infectee, as otherwise he couldn't be as sure as he was about the Operative not being infected. That would sort of put Bassam on a similar level as Maren. Knowing that was quite fortunate, too. Before that, the Operative assumed the Commune was just worshipping them in a similar way like the Oracles do or did, without actually being infected.
Leaving the building, the Operative headed towards the exit of the biodome, intending to make sure he would have a short moment to talk with Elena about what just happened. It the situation hadn't been this tense, he would have given her the typical I-told-you act, but this time, it would be different. So he moved to the exit, now knowing there were other people around. Other people he did sort of expect but didn't find. Maybe the helmet could use some upgrades to the visor, he thought, in his mind taking this note for future alterations of his Operative outfit and equipment. Or maybe it was time to give up on this alias and invent a new one, he thought.
When the adrenaline got weaker, the chills ran down his spine as he entered the hangar bay, heading for the Sunburst. Lucky choice of ship, as it would allow her a few moments of privacy before their paths would split again. It was imperative to talk with her now, though, he thought.
Unsuspiciously leaning against the hull of the Sunburst, as if nothing had happened before, Elena waited for the Operative to make an appearance again. Hands in her trouser pockets, whistling a faint melody, mainly just to calm herself down from the situation a few minutes ago. Yet the thought of Hussaini still lingering around somewhere on the Freeport made her shudder. In general, just thinking back made her shudder, a lot. She was certain there would be going to be very pleasant nightmares pestering her in the next few days.
Seeing as he finally approached, coming closer to the freighter, Elena straightened herself. Putting on a distinct and sincere smile that spoke of a lot of relief. If he hadn't been there after all, she would have probably collapsed under Hussaini's mind and manipulation tricks. Actually that made her quite angry, realizing that she had done anything but well, and had in no way achieved what she wanted to.
A sigh, then words. "Hey", she just said, still a bit confused, and with a bit of a tremble in it.
"Let's move inside for a moment," the Operative said, actually a bit impatient given how straight he moved to her and then with her to the airlock. "You can bet they have at least one guy still watching us, so move inside." He hoped it was enough to convince her to not idle around.
She did as he wished, not commenting further upon anything until they were inside the freighter, safer from any kind of imaginable observation. Opening the back airlock, Elena walked in, closely followed by Red. Immediately after he had gone in as well, she closed their airlock again, seperating them from anything else. The insides of Sunburst were anything but nice to look at, the Operative was probably used to a lot more luxury in his other vessels. Yet it was very discreet, she thought, and didn't draw too much attention.
There was probably a lot they could and should talk about, she thought, at least Elena had plenty of ideas. However, she was also curious in what he wanted to tell her. So she just leaned against the ship's hull once again, looking into the visor with an eyebrow raised while she was crossing her arms before her chest, fairly tilting her head. "You wanna talk first?", asked she. Innerly she hoped he would. Even a slight feeling of guilt arose in her mind, making her lower her head for the time being.
"Check my back for unusual things like wiretaps," he told her, turning his back to her, being pretty convinced there was nothing but he wanted to be sure. In the meantime, he took off the mouth piece of his helmet while she did as he said. As there was nothing to find, he would do the very same thing with her, noticing a bit of green that was on her clothes that wasn't there before. After all he had stared at her butt for quite a while before they had reached the biodome.
But no wiretaps. "Elena, I can't express how sorry I am for interfering. I had the role of a bodyguard, not the one of a well whatever I was in that moment. I am 99% certain he is infected. He is a dangerous man and you should never, never, never again allow yourself to get close to him. The same vice versa, Elena. If they didn't know about your baby earlier, he does now. It is exactly as I told you. The bad guys will make use of any means to achieve their goals," he said, taking his time as he kneeled down behind her to see if she might have sat down onto some sort of wiretap. She would feel his hands sliding up her legs, her bum and her back, then her arms and her hair. "If the situation would have escalated, we would have been dead in less in a second, both you and me. Infectee can do that. In the worst case however you would be infected now." Moving up infront of her, he hugged her for a moment. "We had more luck than skill this time."
A few moments later, Elena would break off the hug, stepping a few steps back from her friend. There was still a somewhat guilty expression on her face as she stared on the ground, not into the visor of his helmet. For a moment, it was dead silent inside the Sunburst. Then she looked up again, but not exactly confidently.
"You don't have to be sorry, I'm glad you have been here. Even without you interfering, I guess he would have made use of that rifleman", she told her, taking a step towards him again. "You can believe me, I don't wanna meet this guy again, not if when I'm not in my ship ... he - he absolutely gave me the creeps. That he's been infected doesn't make it any better, looking back." The shudder reappeared again.
She gave him another quick hug. "Thanks for coming and for your help." A pause appeared as Elena opened her mouth again, but stayed quiet. Nearly she would have asked him a silly question. Who was 'Unschuld'? And for whatever reason did Red think this person could influence Hussaini's behavior? However, asking him that would have revealed she had been listening to their conversation, so she rathet kept quiet for now. Instead, she gave him a smile. "And before I forget it: Greet your friends from me. Tell them Elena sends best regards."
Holding her for a few moments, he ended up rather confused about her last statement. "What do you mean, which friends?" he asked her. Did she listen to him? About Laguna and Unschuld? That would be bad, but maybe that was how she got the green stuff at her clothing and her hair. The more she knew, the less likely she would have the priviledge of living an unbothered life. Damn! Why was he even worried about it? He wanted to hire Forlorn to help him with stuff he can't do himself, but now he managed to drag her into all this, step by step. "What did you hear? Be honest. You didn't leave, you eavesdropped on the last part, eh?" She would notice he wasn't too happy about that.
Elena recognized how he felt about the whole deal, and for a moment she thought about lying to him, but dismissed it again immediately. He would have probably found out about her lying anyways, never had she been the best of liars. And it felt wrong telling him a false truth now, as he had been pretty honest to her in the past. "I heard a few things", she admitted, again with a guilty expression on her face, looking down onto the ground. Her voice became ever more silent while she spoke, up to the point when she was merely mumbling anymore. "But didn't understand most of the gobbledegook you and him were talking. Might have caught a name or two." She shook her head, further staring into the visor. Looking back, she began regretting to stay there, but obviously it was too late for this thought now. He seemed quite serious about it. Now that she had heard it, though, her curiosity once more struck. "What was that about?"
She would hear him sighing after a few seconds of him staring at her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, caressing them slightly. Another audible exhale. "I made a stupid move there. A bluff, sort of. I risked something I might regret." There was a bit of regret in his voice. He knew it wasn't the best idea to do it, but there were many things about what happened in the last sixty minutes that was pretty amateur-ish. In the end it made him realize that Operative Red was just a role, not a real professional agent. Hunt wouldn't have been that careless, he thought.
Again he took his time to continue with his words, and she would see how he bit his lower lip with his right canine, kneading it in thought. "Could we sit down somewhere?"
