Anchor, Cornerstone, Foundation

[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]It was possible that the entity was attempting to be - what was the word Laine had heard others use? Smooth. Not smooth like a rock or a surface, but some emotional thing that she did not understand. Whatever it was passed by her, because she wasn't good at those things.

He spoke of bureaucracy, though, and she faced him with a blankness that was quite pronounced all of a sudden. Laine was very good at bureaucracy. There was no need for this anomaly to be doing it, unless he had a specific goal in mind. The goal came soon enough. While she could appreciate the candor, the matter itself she did not like at all.

[font color="a0522d"]"Absolutely not."[/font] Laine could be very good with absolutes, when she wanted to be. [font color="acacac"]"I belong at L-14."[/font] This was not being negotiated, not even in a temporary sense. [font color="a0522d"]"Also, [font color="acacac"]you do not belong at L-9[/font], either."[/font] The paperwork about L-9 was very clear about that. Laine was very good at paperwork. [font color="a0522d"]"Nor is anomaly transfer your department or your decision."[/font] The Foundation had people who were in charge of making those decisions, and Catian was not one of them.

[font color="a0522d"]"Also, I do my own paperwork. Thank you."[/font] Agent Smith had once explained that sometimes thank you meant you have overstepped, but I am not going to point that out specifically because you might do something weird. Usually Laine was on the receiving end of this sort of thank you, but that did not mean she could not deploy it herself if she was sufficiently motivated. Laine was very motivated about paperwork.
 
The silence was as heavy as the blank expression Laine gave him, unspoken tension rising again before she succinctly uttered her opinion on the matter with two words. Firm as they were she continued to deny his offer, even going so far as to deny his own freedom to travel as he wished. Catian returned her staunchness with a soft smile, patient and kind as one might offer a child.

”I see, very well then.” Catian rose from his seat, brushing at something on his legs as he did so nonchalantly. ”If that is the case then I suppose I will leave it to you. By all means, search for ways to rid yourself of the Stone while it continues feeling and changing its reality to whatever whims a rock might possess.” The smile faded to a silent disappointment.

”It is probably for the best. I was under the impression you were seeking my help, but I can see now that I was mistaken. You seem quite intent on keeping the Stone. More the better for me, I suppose, for it to be in the hands of someone so capable. I will look forward to some time without its irksome summons, then.” Catian turned away from Laine then, away from the desk and their observer. ”If you lose yourself so quickly after a simple whim the Stone enacted, I can’t help but wonder how you will fare when it finds a need. I suppose doing your paperwork in triplicate would be a boon for you, though, even if it is in a fracture such as you just experienced.

Catian’s hand raised, and sparks appeared in the air, spinning around themselves in an ever widening circle until something like a portal formed between them, the other side picturesque: a meadow filled with flowers. He turned back to Agent Cantrille and Agent Cotta with a slight bow. ”It was a pleasure to meet you both.”
 
[div style="background-color:crimson;border-top:crimson 4px outset;border-left:crimson 4px inset;border-right:crimson 4px outset;border-bottom:crimson 4px inset;"][div style="border-top:crimson 4px inset;border-left:crimson 4px outset;border-right:crimson 4px inset;border-bottom:crimson 4px outset;"][div style="background-color:white;color:black;padding:15px;font-family:courier new;"]Isaac stood up. It was a casual movement, one that did not at all seem sudden after being still for so long. He was an observational security agent, of course. But he was also the location manager at L-14. Laine’s location manager. And, apparently alongside ACF-833, the location manager for ACF-3473 by its own choice.

The need to recollect herself was indication enough that the reality around ACF-833 had been tampered with. Isaac had noted that without addressing it directly. The act of standing was not a response to that. He was watching her, without watching her. She was a security agent, though, and she would recognize that. His smile was invisible behind the mask that covered his mouth.

[font color="#568156"]“You’ve made it abundantly clear who here needs help, Mr. Valor.”[/font]

Isaac’s voice was no longer the contractual tone used by Councilman Strings. It was also not quite the professionalism she had used when confronted by the Traveler, either. But it was borrowed from her, something gentle and strangely understanding for a man whose armor reflected one of the most dangerous creatures in Foundation custody.

He continued in a steady tone, calling the deity’s bluff, [font color="#568156"]“You can’t leave until you have provided assistance. We have not even determined what that assistance is. Please don’t posture here, Mr. Valor, and have a seat.”[/font]

None of Cody’s warmth or sarcasm – but something very human in the curiosity. In addition, Isaac was hardly posturing himself, just on his feet, hands folded in a military rest. Laine would recognize this was not a research question. Some of it was too deliberate. Drawing attention with overuse of Catian’s name was deliberate. The edge of authority in Isaac’s voice was purely habit. The edge necessary for containing anomalies and controlling other agents.

Contain and control. Those were the realm of the agent, and right now, he was Laine’s commanding agent. He switched from her observer in a moment, as they both invoked bureaucracy, as he came calmly to his feet when a portal was opened in his location. He was the one who would have the final say on her behalf in terms of transfer and belonging, unless a Council member or Class-E personnel overrode his decision. Now that it was bureaucracy, Isaac was Security Director, and he directed a soft but firm tone to Catian.

[font color="#568156"]“Why do you want to go to L-9, Mr. Valor? What’s there for you?”[/font]

He did not expect an honest answer, but maintained eye contact. As much could be learned from a lie as the truth, after all.
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He was already hesitating, pausing for the effect when Agent Cotta stood and called after him. With almost comic effect Catian stopped mid-step and craned his head around to look directly into the visor that covered the Agent’s eyes, unerringly finding them despite the obstruction. While his expression was not quite grim the smile and amusement was all but vanished.

”Posture? A bluff I freely admit, but in this very moment I am more than capable of walking away. My help was expressly refused, Isaac, or did your impression of the inanimate briefly take your hearing?“ His tone was sharp warning, perhaps, the use of Agent Cotta’s first name meant to serve as a reminder that Catian did not play by the same rules that a native to the reality might.

”I will admit as well that I cannot simply pop into L-9 as I might certain other facilities, but I thought I was clear that the intelligence at that location would be component to freeing Ms. Cantrille from the attention of the Stone. Time and again I have proven myself not to be your enemy, if not a friend.” Though the tone had softened Catian’s expression did not lighten to its usual smile.

”If there are other intentions behind getting her and the Stone there then I will be sure to inform the necessary parties. My intentions with Laine, with the Stone, have been clearly stated right here in your presence, Sir. Why concern yourself with potential problems that are sure to fall under Dr. Note’s jurisdiction?” Catian turned to face Agent Cotta fully, and in the motion his glibness seemed to take over.

”Besides,” he said with a grin. ”Something tells me he is a bit occupied with larger problems than our current predicament. Even if we were to encounter any unforeseen issues I highly doubt that Ms. Laine or even myself would be capable of outweighing his current problems. For Ms. Laine, however, I believe a sentient , reality-bending Stone very much contracted with her might be a bit of an issue. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The smile fell away again, and instead a truthfulness, an open expression of frankness colored his features. ”I truly am simply trying to help, Agent Cotta.”
 
[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"Please do not threaten my location manager."[/font] Mr. Valor had not yet crossed the line into what Laine would consider threatening behavior. The words served as a warning. He was getting closer to that situation than she would have liked, and if he crossed the boundary, she would be required to step in as a security agent. Given their respective classifications, Laine did not think that was likely to end well. She hoped a verbal warning would be sufficient.

He had not particularly answered Agent Cotta's question. Laine had noticed that, but that was his job to point out, if he so chose. As Mr. Valor was doing quite a bit of speaking on the subject of her, however, it was viable for her to comment on that situation in particular.

[font color="a0522d"]"It would be an issue. You are correct. However, dealing with that is [font color="acacac"]my job[/font]. The needs of the Foundation come first. The Foundation does not need you at Location Nine. The Foundation does not need me at Location Nine. The Foundation does not need ACF-3473 at Location Nine. The Foundation, under the request of Agent Cotta, would like you to sit down."[/font] He had just requested it, after all.

[font color="a0522d"]"I will also sit down."[/font] This would assist in returning the situation to relative neutrality. Laine returned to her chair, though she would not actually sit until Mr. Valor did.

[font color="a0522d"]"Who or what are you trying to help, Mr. Valor?"[/font]
 
Laine moved from the corner and regained her steely composure, the tone of warning not lost on Catian as she moved back to her seat without taking it. He offered something between a scoff and chuckle as an initial response, snapping his fingers with echoing audibility that caused the portal of sparks to collapse in upon itself and fizzle out of existence. A quarter turn took him from facing Agent Cotta to facing Agent Cantrille, and though he let his grin remain there was a tension to his movements.

”My existence in your world is more than enough threat, Ms. Laine. I have no intentions to compound that threat with promises of my own, no matter how vexed I might become.” A heaving sigh sounded from behind a hand that wiped down his face stressfully. ”You have all of the answers I am able to give you. You have my reasonings, my intentions and my offer of assistance, and yet you continue treating me as if I am suspect here.”

Finally he walked back to the chair, though he chose instead to lean with his hands on its back rather than return to a seated position. ”I have read many files from the Foundation, including a few on previous encounters with entities similar to myself. I understand that it is rare for one to be helpful, and even more uncommon for them to do so without selfish plots.” He seemed to consider for a moment, then continued. ”I suppose I have my own desires as well. The secrets of the Stone are the secrets to my release from your world, as it were. Helping you may just help free me from its call.”

He motioned to the stone but made no move toward it. ”The Foundation has kept the Stone for far longer than I have been summoned by it, and yet here we are with very little working knowledge on its purpose or even its function. You speak of the needs of the Foundation as if all of the answers can be found there, but you seem to missing a key point. The Foundation’s needs have summarily dismissed the Stone countless times already. Are you so willing to do the same, even if it might cost whatever comforts you find here?” Catian took his seat then, pushing the Stone back toward Laine as he did so.

”I was called to help, and I am here to help who called.” He cast a look to Isaac before meeting Laine’s gaze again. ”I am not here to help the Foundation. No matter how you twist your argument my answer will be the same every time. I have no interest in becoming directly involved in your Foundation’s needs. If you wish my help with Alex’s theorem then my advice still stands as my only offer. Take the Stone to L-9 and have it examined, get answers to questions that the Foundation has failed to ask since the Stone was found. Only then can you get the answers for the questions you’ve already asked.”
 
Isaac did not drop the faint smile that just barely reached his eyes as Catian raged about the semantics of a bluff. He was calm in the face of the anomaly’s sharpness, even if Laine stepped between them. Aside from the stray idea that Cody would have laughed at the comment about imitating inanimation, he remained sharply alert. He blinked, because that was human, but he was not the one who broke eye contact.

Laine stepped between them. Not physically, but verbally. My location manager, which meant something. But Laine was under control. He would be able to tell if she wasn’t, perhaps because he was a security agent, perhaps because he was her manager.

Catian spoke. A lot. Isaac sifted through the lecture like a magnet searching for a needle in a haystack. He had worked with people who buried their point in bull[EXPLETIVE] so no one would go looking for it. He had learned from that experience that those cases were all the more important to discovering the truth. He did get a small reaction, a tightening of the eyes as the pang of a headache indicated you’ve been amnesticized for that name, but besides that he remained still and calm.

He determined, in the silence that followed, that they might be going in circles forever if the wrong questions kept being asked. The questions were vital, but they were not the right questions, because they were… maybe too specific, or not clear. Or Mr. Valor very much so did not want to share his information and insights, which was also possible.

“Why Nine?” Isaac could have said many things, but he stayed on task. He was not prone to rambling. He was an agent of the Foundation, and he was determining, like Laine, which course of action was for the greater good. “Eight or Two could be of more assistance. The stone, if that is your focus, alters reality. That is Councilman Butterfly’s focus, not Councilman Strings’s. Butterfly has worked with the stone – and with you – in the past. His familiarity, because it’s an outlier, could give important insights. And his relationship with ACF-707 is central to A.B.C.’s theory.”

He did not mention the overlap with Laine. It was a deliberate kind of not-mentioning, the kind that security agents could read between each other. He would not agree if L-2 or L-8 were considered as reasonable answers, but she would have to trust his judgment. He was her manager, and she was under his jurisdiction, even if the stone was not.
 
Laine didn't say anything for a while. Mostly, she was listening. Partially, she was not ready to say anything. Agent Cotta stepped in with questions and alternatives, giving Laine enough time to finish sorting through her thoughts.

Agent Cotta mentioned other locations as potential avenues. He was not wrong, but there was a wrong there that she didn't think she could explain right now. It would not be good security. She glanced in his direction, a rare moment of catching someone's eye and maintaining eye contact for a brief moment before her gaze slipped away again. A look of I have something to say about that, but not now. Laine was a security agent, after all. They all knew the look.

"Why does the stone have to go somewhere else?" she inquired, after Agent Cotta's inquiries about other locations. "Why not bring someone here?" This was not necessarily the best option available, but Laine was curious about how Mr. Valor would react. He was very insistent on the stone being somewhere else, after all. If that was important, then she wanted to know why. Whatever else he thought he might be doing, Laine thought he was acting very much like an anomaly who was trying to get around security protocol. Such protocol was usually in place for a very good reason, and Laine was not interested in averting it.

Her eyes drifted in his direction again: not meeting, never meeting; always assessing. Her voice was quieter now, but often that meant something was more important, not less. "I am here to help the Foundation, Mr. Valor."

He was repeating that he was here to help her, but Laine's allegiance was to the Foundation, and he couldn't just ignore that.

She wouldn't let him.
 
As Agent Cotta took up the argument Catian stretched his arms out behind his head, a slow smile playing across his face. He let the questions hang in the air, as he tended to do, and merely listened as the facts were presented and the questions asked. It had seemed that Isaac, at least, had stumbled into the crux of their communication problems that had been leading them in circles so far. He had changed tactics, though his end was much the same. For a moment Catian considered his angle, the reasoning behind his own interest in Catian’s motives. Although it was easy to attribute Isaac Cotta’s input to his position, Catian wondered if there was a personal connection.



Laine took up the case, expanding upon Cotta’s direction though she circled back around to the semantics of Catian’s help at the end. He had interlaced his fingers by then, lounging as she spoke as if he were as relaxed as in his own bed. His smile might have played down toward her last statement, but he lowered his hands and leaned forward in preparation for his answers.



”I will admit you both offer fair points. If you would like to follow either course then I am obliged to follow your lead. I suppose I could ask Rex to look into the Stone again, and we could always bring one of L-9’s researchers here. If he can spare the time. If they can spare the personnel.” Catian clasped his hands together and looked at them for a moment before continuing, meeting neither Laine’s eyes nor Isaac’s visored ones.



”I offered what I considered the most expedient and logistically sound option. The Stone can be transported, and it serves no essential function here. With both the Location Manager and the Agent in question here, now, we could cut through some of the red tape before it is even an issue.” Catian knew this argument was likely to be rejected by the two he spoke with, but he offered it anyway.



”Beyond the scope of this, honestly, I am not sure what I can share with you. L-9 might not need me, Agent Cantrille, but I could certainly help to a degree there. If I were to do so of my own accord, without the presence of Foundation personnel, it would surely cause alarm. I would like to avoid a repeating the mistake I made at L-7. I am not interested in sowing discord into your world.” He was offering what he could, sticking to vagaries that would save them future headache, though there was a chance they would not be satisfied.



Best to address that as well. Your Foundation has rules regarding information. I would be willing to detail every plan I have in your world, down to their minutiae if you so prefer. The question becomes how much the ACF will allow you to retain.” Catian finally met Laine’s eyes, the slowly roiling color of his irises reflecting blues and greens. ”Call it what you will, Laine. Wording is important. If helping you helps the Foundation then I am not adverse to that result. I cannot commit myself to your Order, though. You hold the Stone, and with it you can bind me to a goal. That goal has to fit certain parameters.”



Catian shifted his eyes to Agent Cotta. ”I have three reasons to go to Location Nine specifically. Each one will require sensitive information for context. I leave it up to you to decide whether or not it would be worth the headache to hear them.”
 
Agent Cantrille asked several valid questions, and Mr. Valor finally, finally offered some useful information. He did not give it, not yet, but he offered it, almost free of charge.

Isaac had no concerns about anmestics. Whatever he knew, Leviathan would know, and that was for the good of the Foundation. If he was meant to be amnesticized for this information that was necessary to procure results from this interaction, then that was best for the Foundation as well. Laine could be trickier, in that sense, because she had unknown reactions to amnestic therapy. However, something told him that if someone said she was not meant to know something, she simply wouldn’t know it. In that sense, it simplified matters.

But in order for her to learn the information, she needed to be allowed to know it. Isaac had all the authorization he needed by way of his position, but Laine was not the location manager. He shifted his eyes away from Catian, not ending the dominance game so much as overriding it for something more important, and looked to Laine.

“As manager and head of security at L-14, I authorize Agent Laine Cantrille to know whatever is necessary to fulfill the Stone’s purposes. This authorization can be overridden by anyone with authority over myself or Agent Cantrille at any time.”

And that was all the confirmation that Catian would get from him, for the time being.
 
Agent Cotta made a decision, and Laine nodded to acknowledge it. It was within management's prerogative to determine which personnel had access to sensitive information. Information security was important, but it was also sometimes necessary for additional people to be brought in so that they could properly perform a certain task. Laine was not sure whether or not this was one of those situations, but without the information, she would not know.

She was also aware that having Mr. Valor state his rationalizations might be helpful to the Foundation as a whole. She was still very suspicious of how he was going about this. If he wished for an introduction to L-9, it would make more sense to contact someone at that location or to contact someone with ties to the security council. Contact through an unaffiliated agent at a level 2 location was not preferable. Laine was aware that he was attempting to do so because of the stone itself, but that did not mean that she was comfortable with it.

Laine also thought that Mr. Valor was very self-centered, but she had learned that this was not a polite thing to say, even if it was an apt description.

She returned her gaze in the general direction of Mr. Valor and prompted, quite specifically: "You have three reasons."
 
”Very well, then.” A short pause as Catian collected his thoughts before raising a single finger.

”Councilman Strings has been experiencing side effects from his resurrection thirteen years ago. The situation has recently reached its apex, so to speak, though the energies involved seem to have gained a new influence in a form that is oddly familiar to me. I would like to make my awareness of the situation and possibly inevitable involvement known to the Councilman at some point and this seemed like a decent opportunity to do so because..”
He paused, possibly for breath but certainly to raise a second finger.

”Location Nine is an area in your reality where things seem to be thinnest, allowing for communication and possibly even transport between this plane and others that border it. There are hundreds of thousands of these places in your universe, many of them naturally formed. There are a few, however, that are formed by the impact of another reality with your own. Fragments of your reality could form tangible manifestations, and I theorize that this Stone might be an instance of such a thing.”
The third finger raised, and a mischievous smile colored each word.

”Location Nine has specific safeguards against entities like myself doing whatever they wish, particularly coming and going as they please. I am curious to see if the Stone’s summoning would qualify as a loophole through those guards. If that is the case I would be more than willing to assist in shoring that frailty, and if not I would find it interesting to speak with the person who created these methods. I have some experience in my world’s magics and would love to see how they compare.”

It seemed as if he were done, a moment of silence passing with the promised three fingers raised with their reasons given. Slowly in that silence he lifted another finger.

”I have a personal matter I would like to investigate that requires one of the previously mentioned thin places in your reality. I would like to take measurements and collect some data, but with all of the warding in place I will either require being precisely in the center of the thinning or the specific permutations of the energies used around it. Either way it would be far easier to gather my information with a Foundation pretense to justify my being there.” His hand lowered finally, and settled into his lap as he looked from Laine to Isaac for their reactions.
 
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