Falling Upwards - Arknights

Chapter 19: Thinking Mercs

"What do you think is the reason for Rhodes Island coming to us?" Torrent asked the team. "My best bet is that they're hiring operators in preparation for something big."

"Like what?" Strife asked.

"You know, that one." Torrent replied to Strife who took a moment before he understood what he meant.

"Ohh, right. That one." Strife thought out loud as he crossed his arms. "Honestly, that Reunion Movement is just a bunch of lowlifes. They're probably worse than the mafia of Siracusa." He added.

"You can't really blame them for doing so." Splinter told Strife.

"What do you mean?" Strife questioned.

"Well for one, they aren't exactly treated well in the more urban areas of mobile cities. And it's at its worst in Ursus." Splinter said to the feline. "Don't get me wrong, though. I ain't supporting them – hell naw. But there has to be a good reason if they're going ballistic soon." He added.

"I mean sure, they're advocating for the rights of the infected and I can get behind that, but our boys from Praetor said that they've changed their ways, for the worse might I add." Strife replies to the Sarkaz.

"Guess our old boss did the right thing to disband Praetor Enterprises, huh?" Odpis said. "Especially since Chernobog is pretty much the breeding ground for more hatred for the infected."

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to get caught up with the stuff that's going in there." Strife replied in agreement.

"Is it really that bad?" Bison who is at the rearmost seat asked.

"Back then? Yeah, it was really bad." Strife replied to Bison. "But it's not as bad as today. It's a hundred times worse than what it is before." He added and Bison shuddered at the thought.

"Wait, how do you guys know about this?" Exusiai questioned the Praetor agents.

"Friends in high places." Torrent replied. Exusiai simply replied with "huh".

"So Rhodes Island wants us to get involved in a conflict that we really shouldn't be in? Don't they already have people to do their dirty work?" Texas questioned.

"Who knows? If they are going after talents all over the world, then that must mean something." Splinter said to the lupo. "Besides, in the long run, I don't think Reunion will be the primary threat everyone will face. There are more sinister people out there."

"Now that I think about it, how did Reunion get a lot of weapons already?" Torrent questioned. "I mean, yeah, there might be some really intelligent people in there who could be making deals all over the place, but our contacts suggested that they have blast suits, drones, and several other heavy duty stuff; things that terrorists shouldn't be able to get hold off, much less in large quantities."

"Then it means someone high up is pulling the strings at the backstage." Said Sora as she, too, thought about it. "It's quite suspicious, but that really shouldn't be our problem." She said to the team.

"Right. Why would Rhodes Island go to a logistics firm? I highly doubt that they don't have logistics specialists of their own considering the size of their operations." Texas questioned.

"To be fair, you guys can't really be considered 'normal' from a purely business standpoint. And I don't think they need much help with logistics anyways, at least not as it seems to me." Odpis replied to Texas. "But if they did their homework, then they know the things that they really want from PL."

"Like what?"

"Information." Torrent answered. "It's more valuable than money nowadays. One could buy information with a few years worth of supply of Originium and still say it's worth it."