Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

At first Adrian was fine, she knew Ciara was part of some organization still, and that getting permission was part of a deal she'd have to get around or put up with, whoever this Ms Tremaine was she'd probably not like to see her help go out and help other people, but still... "Muppets?" She repeated... her disappointed expression turning to a frown, before her face twisted with rage.

"Is that what we are to you? Just a bunch of nerds who got tired of bullies stealing our lunch money?" She yelled, drawing herself up to her full height, Ciara wasn't that much bigger than her, and any aura of fear she just had for her dissipated as the anger took over. "While you do 'Serious stuff for serious people' and ask all the kids to play nice!? Do you have any freaking idea how much pain she's caused us? What they've freaking done?"

"I don't give a fuck about your plans! I don't care that you have some big picture you're looking at all the time! You want me to just live with the fact that there's a group out there, who at any point, because they're bored or because they think we wronged them could go out, jump us and end our careers just like that? We don't have some big other thing going down, this is all we have! And you don't want us to fight for it as hard as possible? One of my friends was beaten within an inch of his life, his girlfriend forced to watch and then shot! And you think you can change our minds about wanting them out?"

"This is way bigger than lost pride, bruised egos or a few bumps we took. And if we... if I have to go through you to make it save for us to make a living, then so what? I could take you." She said with conviction, not caring that this was how she got introduced to Natalia... and what happened then. Started off nice, got heated and it ended up with a power cord around her throat and a fear of asphyxiation. Rebecca heard the yellings, and quickly got herself ready. If this came to blows between the two, she'd end it.

Ciara withstood Adrian's tirade with an impassive expression, her eyes tinged with the faintest hint of regret. It was clear to her where the other girl was coming from, and she greatly sympathized with the cosplayer's views. Siding with someone like Sarah if it was required didn't sit well with the soldier at all, much like many of the courses of action Lysandra was taking or preparing to take, but her mind always flashed back to the recent months and years of numbing horror and endless violence.

"I've seen plenty of people like you, before, Adrian," Ciara flatly responded, "that your struggles and efforts seem so important to you, making your immoderate emotions drown out the rest of the world into nothing. I also saw some of those same people come screaming and crying to us after the hammer fell, demanding an answer why we didn't do anything sooner, why we didn't warn them when the rest of the world came crashing down on their deliberate ignorance." A flash of memory sprang unbidden to Ciara's mind, a burning school, rows of bodybags in the gym, parents screaming and shrieking, many at her team...

"Sarah's a hell of a bitch, I could tell that much even from watching the streams overseas. But if you think she's the be-all, end-all enemy you need to look out for, you need to either hit up a shrink or take a good look at the news."

Ciara's brow furrowed, however, at Adrian's recounting, particularly the last incident. "I could easily get clearance to help you defend against bull like that, against beatings and torture and firearms. Don't count me as your enemy just because I'm following orders regarding a particularly extreme course of action. I'm just a scrap of metal in a greater machine that may not make it the safest for you to make a living... in exchange for making it safe for you to live at all."

Ciara's eyes narrowed as Adrian's declarations turned more and more combative. This was going downhill rather quickly. "It's not just me you'd have to go through," she responded in a measured tone, silently catching on to Adrian's slip of the tongue, "and I've fought through MUCH worse than you. If you, and whoever else you've brought with you, think you can intimidate me, ward me off with threats, or cease my involvement by beating on me, that's a bit sad. One, I haven't even been ordered to go up against your group at present, two, I'll still put your offer into consideration, and three, that course of action is something I'd expect from Sarah the Queen Bitch. How different would that make the two of you?"

Adrian's anger held out for a while, most of what the soldier said washing over her. The horrors she recounted bouncing off the cosplayer's mental state, before she said something that caused her to calm down. Just like her? she thought. "Sorry..." she said "Yeah, whatever you have planned like stopping terrorists or whatever it is you guys do is a lot more important, can't wrestle if I get blown up, can I? This whole thing was stupid from the start..." she said sadly, her head dropping.

"Just, could you answer this for me? Please. What makes that bitch so special. What about her is so unique that whoever your boss is will do anything to keep her here? Please?" The cosplayer asked, still not raising her head to look Ciara in the eye.