Debrief and Regrouping: UOW Friday Night Clash 8:

A hospital, somewhere in Germany:

Kronin lies in his hospital bed, glancing out the window for a moment, his body hooked up to a variety of machines all monitoring his vitals. Kara sits to one side of him, her eyes focused on the two other people in the room. Lilly is sitting outside the room. The two people look at her, than at each other and finally to Kronin before one of them speaks. “We’ll sorry we had to ask her to leave, but her past is making it.. Difficult for her to get the proper clearances. Also, the less she knows, the less likely she is to be targeted.” Kronin nods. “I’m pretty sure she’s used to it by now and has shown no inclination to want to try and get on the allowed lists.” The first official looks at the monitors keeping track of Kronin’s vitals and then looks back at Kronin. “They still haven’t found a cure?” Kara answers the question. “You should know better than us. I know both the Americans and us are working on it.” The second official shakes his head. “We don’t know how much longer that will be true. The American CDC is facing more crackdowns from the McStrump regime, since this disease afflicts only 2 people on Earth at the moment and that only 1 of those is American, the doctors there aren’t sure how much longer they’ll be able to work on a solution.” Kronin reacts and the man holds up his hand. “If we cure it, we will, obviously make the cure available to the Americans to treat Mr. Huckleberry with.”

The two officials think for a moment and nod, before the lead one clears his throat. “We are beginning to think assigning someone else might be a better option. We almost lost you in Korea. You need time to recover from whatever they injected you with.” The other official nods. “And your win-loss record isn’t what it was expected to be. You’re almost 40 years old.. It’s not viable for you to continue on as a professional fighter much longer.” Kronin laughs. “So you want me to stop because, in order, I’m wounded, I failed my mission by getting infected with mystery poison, I’m washed up because I am, in fact, too old for this shit? That about cover it?” The official begins to talk but Kronin cuts him off. “I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood my mission. I thought you wanted me to assess the political and socio-economic situation within the U.S. generally as well evaluate things like support for McStrump, and other factors. A professional fighter presented a good cover. Thus I understood my mission to be gather intel and assess the situation, not win titles and the like. If you want me to win more, just say so.”

The two officials looked at each other for a moment and the secondary officer spoke first this time, “Do you have a report to give us?” Kronin nodded and started to reply when a violent fit of coughing interrupts him and he looks to Kara who steps forward and answers for her brother, displaying the weird inexplicable connection twins seem to have “Well, you might want to know we’re not the only ones taking action.” The officials both nod, one of them speaking. “Yes, we always suspected Salinas was a terrorist, nice to have confirmation of that.” Kara rolls her eyes. “I wouldn’t say terrorist so much as covert op. You saw the footage of the Battle in North Korea, yes?” The two officials both nod and Kara nods as well. “She was either trained by MOSSAD the organization or a former agent from them.” The lead official nods. “It’s going to be hard.. So many MOSSAD agents become mercenaries when they leave the service and we are assuming Valora is not Jewish? She is Mexican and they tends towards Roman Catholicism.” Kronin’s coughing fits passes for the moment and he nods. “Valora isn’t big on religion so yes, we can assume she was trained by Ex-MOSSAD mercenary types. But she is and has been using her skills to help us.. Matter of fact, McStrump actually helped us there, by specifically targeting Hispanics in general and Mexicans in particular, he made an enemy of Valora.”

The second agent held up his hand and nodded. “She’s been to Germany before. She’s competed here and throughout the EU. In light of certain theories about her being confirmed INTERPOL and a number of European governments would like to see how many unsolved crimes she might be responsible for.. Or if her knowledge can help us find answers.” Kronin laughs a bit as he shakes her head. “That’s a tough sell. She will at the very least demand immunity from prosecution, but you might have a way to get what you want.. The proposal needs to come from someone she trusts, though.” The first agent nods, casting a glance at Lilly outside the room. “That’s why we want you to make the approach. We know she’ll have demands, but we have leverage too.. She’s on the run, with no support. We might be able to help her.. She knows you.. If she doesn’t trust you, she at least seems to accept the fact that you are an honorable individual and you have a history of being able to rehabilitate criminals.” Kronin narrows his eyes, glancing to Lilly. “My wife being Romany doesn’t automatically make her a criminal.” The second agent shakes his head. “No, her record of criminal behaviour and history of anarchistic sympathies makes her one. However, we aren’t here to argue about your wife. What is your take on the situation with Valora Salinas?”

Kronin clears his throat. “Well.. I think we’re all pretty sure ‘Valora’ is not her true name. Salinas is a common surname amongst Hispanic individuals. In other words, separating the truth about who Valora really is and what she really is from the legend she has constructed and wants us to believe is.. Difficult. Valora used to be motivated by money, by glory, by fame and all that. Now, she has something that makes her potentially the most dangerous person in the world. She has a purpose. A cause to fight for. She just lost her hometown. Los Angeles. She will focus on the 2 cities she failed to protect rather than the 4 she did. Valora relies on rage, loss and tragedy to fuel her and she just had her tanks refueled for some time to come. I can guarantee you, she’s off planning her response. If we can ally with her, I believe we should.”

The two agents considered this for a moment and the lead agent walked towards the window, looking out before turning and looking at Kronin. “What do you believe she would want?” Kronin thought for a second, mentally going over everything he knew about Valora. Finally, he nodded. “I believe the answer to that depends on what you want from her. She is already working as an ally of mine. If you want her to actually join Interpol, or us or something… or if you want information..don’t expect to get it for free. I’ll talk to her about it and see what options we have.” At that moment the door opens and Lilly walks in, “Just got a text about your next match.. Submission match vs. Vastrix.” The two agents look at each other and then look at Kronin. “Continue to fight for now, but make plans for a replacement if needed. Either someone that can be introduced as a protege of yours, or an ally we can work with.. We’re not saying you need to win every fight. Or win the title.. But you need to find a way to win more than you currently are.” Kronin nods and sits up a bit. “Fine… I’ll start looking at options for a contingency if my win loss record stays poor.”

The two agents nod, say their goodbyes and leave the room. Lilly looks at Kronin and sighs. “So they’re upset you’re not winning enough?” Kronin shrugs. “It’s a valid criticism. I haven’t focused on winning matches. I’ve focused on competing. I’ve focused on the mission. Maybe it’s time to try to focus a bit more on winning than I have been… and contingency plans never hurt anyone. However, now I have an interesting challenge.” Kara nods. “You have to figure
out a way to make a cyborg tap out.” Kronin nods. “Exactly.” Lilly shrugs. “Well you’re like German James Bond.. don’t you have an emp thing or something?” Kronin laughs a bit. “In a word? Probably not.” Lilly nods. “That was two words.” Kronin nods. “Thank you. Bottom line is I don’t think we have anything like that and if we did we certainly don’t have one small enough to only damage Vastrix and no one else. Also.. an EMP might kill him, and I don’t want to do that. No, I’ll take him on, man vs. machine and we’ll see which is better.”