Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It's open!"

At some point Lance had moved his office out of the Mist Lounge and into the same area the rest of the division offices were. Initially it didn't seem that there was anything out of the ordinary. There was a desk, a bookshelf filled with various Halloween-esque trophies, a file cabinet, and what looked to be a raised section of floor that had been reinforced by runes.

Lance had his weapon out, the tip of it plunged into this raised floor. The assistant himself was holding both himself and his wheelchair up as he held onto his weapon's hilt, looking at Nevada from rather high up. The smile froze on his face as soon as he realized that this point of view completely invalidated the miniskirt she was currently wearing.

"Heeey," he greeted, giving her a nod. He wobbled slightly from his precarious perch, gritting his teeth has he shifted his weight to better distribute it. "Whatcha need? You caught me right in the middle of a workout. Unless you want to stick around...?"

Now would be a good time to note how hot it was in his office, and how it beginning to reek of sweat.

If trainees had a higher rate of survival, it might be possible that Lance would be open to additional attachments. Given how many trainees he's seen over the years, Lance had realized that hunters have a slightly higher survival rate.

That and, well, his current squeeze came with many benefits.

In answer, Lance swung himself around and let go, dropping back to the floor and bouncing on his wheels. He reached out and desummoned his weapon, nodding towards Nevada. "Yeah? What's up? Worried that she'd listen in?" He grinned wolfishly. "Nevada, trust me if she's found someone else then I'll be the first person to disbelieve that."

Lance raised an eyebrow at Nevada. "You didn't know? We go way back." He rolled alongside Nevada, throwing an unashamed glance of approval at her miniskirt. "Nice skirt, by the way. As much as it pains me to say this, you know Miniskirt Monday isn't official yet yeah?"

When they were outside, Lance stopped when Nevada continued. He stared at her, then laughed. "Yeah right! What's next, that she went into the Life Labs recently to get checked out for ice-crotch?"

"Hey, just because it's not official doesn't mean you shouldn't stop." Lance objected with his hands up. "I have no complaints here, but just so long as you're doing it on your own free will that's fine with me."

As Nevada continued, Lanced leaned back in his chair and listened. When she finished, Lance reached out and patted her back. "You know," he began quietly, "If you came to someone else about this, you're essentially admitting treason. The... things from Halloween are ******** up. If someone's working with them as close as you're implying, then leader or not that means we have a problem. And you know what happens to problems here on Deus Ex?"

His grip tightened around her waist. "It sounds like the three of you were roped into this unwillingly. That's good. You're innocent, and will likely be spared whatever the hell happens. Division leader or not, if Aria is as working with them as closely as you seem to be implying..."

Lance shook his head. "We might be able to save her before she ******** herself over too much. She's not the best at politics due to her upbringing and can be a little too self-focused."

The assistant drew Nevada closer, his voice lowering. "In the meantime, keep your mouth shut about this. Don't tell Cass or Stormy. Or Aria. If you do, s**t'll just get worse. The implications of this -- s**t. I'm going to need time to think in order to get all of you out of this, got it?"

Lance gave Nevada a hurt look. "Nothing wrong with looking. Now, if I didn't have morals or any qualms about really taking it to the next level..." At least he refrained from looking her up and down, or running a hand down her arm or side as she spoke.

He could only offer a shrug at her question. "Everyone's been screwed over by Halloween somehow. You, your eye. Me, my legs..." Lance dropped his arm from around her, sighing as he leaned back. "From what I've been told, things were ran... differently."

"See, Mist was split into two parts. You've got the run of the mill Mists like us, and then you'd get the extreme version like Aria. They were hardcore from what Aria described to me." He grimaced, adding, "She trained me as one as soon as I was awake. It's not fun, and it's pretty intense. Now, imagine bonding with a group of people over something like that. Camping trips, Halloween infiltration missions, that sort of bonding s**t."

"Now try to imagine losing them all in the heart of Horseman territory. Your leader, comrades, brothers and sisters." He snapped his fingers. "Gone, just like that. If anyone has a grudge with the horsemen then it'd be Aria. If what you say is true... Maybe it's worth it to her."

His eyes steeled. "But revenge isn't everything. Revenge is s**t you get on your own time, not Deus or your Division's. You follow?" He looked at her, his gaze on Nevada's eyepatch. "You follow?"

Lance left the topic of his legs at that. He ignored her question, focusing more on things that weren't him. "From what I understand and gather, the more extreme Mists trained extensively. They had these specialized training areas out in the world, yeah? They'd actually kidnap someone in the middle of the night and drop'em off, sometimes knocking them out so they'd wake up in these locations. 's why Aria always wears Symphony despite her weapon being a bulky knife."

"Anyway, they'd hide a pendant in the area as well as a portable power source. From what Aria told me, they'd have to find them. It'd vary from being like a ******** treasure hunt to oh hey look a Halloween creature go kill it and out from its innards pops one piece of the thing they're looking for. It'd be mixed up, y'know? But," he held up a hand, "Keep in mind that this is extreme Mists. More often then not I'd bet that it'd be a solo run."

Lance shrugged. "That's the gist that I understand. Aria doesn't tell me much, so this is mostly speculation on my part. With how portals have been lately, I highly doubt something like this would even get reinstated."

The Mist assistant fell silent, shaking his head. "s**t, this conversation's all over the ********' place isn't it? Look." He sat up a little taller. "Just try to stay clean, all right? Keep your head down, don't attract attention. If someone gets suspicious of you, of any of you then s**t can get worse. I'll see what I can do from my end, but if things get worse then you're on your own. I don't care if you swear to kill Halloween and everything in it or not, that's perfectly fine. But if you up and prance around proclaiming that you have allies? That s**t'll get you podded faster than you can blink. You'd better keep hating them for your own sake."

Lance shook his head. "Aria's a s**t poor teacher. She learned how to be like other divisions by shadowing them and figures that you lot can do that too. Otherwise?" He shrugged again. "Just send me a text. Keep your head down low and let this blow over, all right? Go on." He jerked his head back towards headquarters. "I need to get started on fixin' this. Or fixin' what I can, at least."