A...Friendly Visit?! |hazama!|

[cordy]

So today...Cordelia was gonna try and look on the bright side. And there was one here - she'd managed to find it! At least she was currently wandering through a reasonably nice New York City hotel, and not some...disgusting god-forsaken cave or abandoned building or sewer... because that was usually where your run-of-the-mill creeps could be found. This guy, though, if what she'd been hearing was true...was anything but run-of-the-mill. If he'd actually been enough to give Spike and Anya a run for their money, she was pretty sure it was safe to label him a serious threat.

Anya. Cordy rolled her eyes, because this situation really was typical - she would get stuck fighting evil on behalf of the vengeance demon who'd once nearly succeeding in killing her. 'Reformed' her ass...well, whatever. That was besides the point.

It'd taken a bit of poking around to find out exactly where this...Hazama person was located, but once she'd located the building it hadn't taken much more than a bit of asking around to get the room number. The mention of his name and the bit of physical description Anya'd given her had pretty much done the trick; but...well, the tracking down part was actually turning out to feel a bit easier than the actual confrontation. Vampires, zombies, your basic creatures of the night? She could handle any of those fairly well, but this would actually kind of be...the first real threat she'd be going after on her own. Without Angel, or Wesley, or...well, anyone.

...But at least her hair looked good. She beamed a little at her reflection in the elevator mirror, pushed her remaining doubts aside, and strode out into the hallway with a surprising amount of outward confidence. She was Cordelia Chase, after all - a horribly clashing outfit frightened her more than big bad monsters did - and, upon reaching the door where Hazama was presumed to live, came to a sudden stop. Outwardly, Cordy really didn't appear to be much more than your average, totally-not-supernatural-at-all California girl who'd...somehow gotten very, very lost.

..And was packing about eight different weapons either in her bag or hidden somewhere on her body. She really needed to just take a moment, sit back and...look at her life.

But that could wait for later. Presently, she raised her arm and knocked several times on the door - because even if this guy was kinda evil, she wasn't about to drop common etiquette like some kind of...barbarian.

Ew. Cave men. Cordy wrinkled her nose at the thought; but she was digressing. Had to focus, here...

[Hazama]

It felt so good to be back home! Well, home was rather relative in a way, thought Hazama, as his own home was destroyed along with the rest of his dimension not too long ago...still, the rather large suite in the 'Gaius Caliga' Hotel had been his residence in this world long enough for it to be considered a 'home' of sorts. Anywho, the point remanded that after a few months of traveling across the world with Miss Jill Valentine, Hazama felt at least some comfort in returning to his and Relius's room...even if the old man was as much a choir to live with as per usual...

Really, Hazama hated it when Relius got like this. He'd stay up all night all week, tinkering with some useless magi. He'd refuse to do the dishes, take out the trash, clean up after himself, make the beds, and he left sourkraut all over the room (that being all the damn German ate, sterotypically) to rot. Of course, outside of this, Relius was clean and 'polite' in a way only he could be, doing his part as much as Hazama himself...but damn, when he got like this, Hazama just wanted to kill him.

Today was no different. Their first day 'home' and he'd already found a new toy to play with-- a piece of Nox Nyctores he'd been trying to re-create after finding a shard of it in Hazama's bag. He'd already been uncooperative all today, forcing Hazama to carry most all the bags up to the room (at least the ones that weren't filled with all his science crap) and get everything packed in while he did cutting edge bullshit (er, science). Even now, Hazama felt like a maid as he went to get some ice from the machine down the hall...gah, and no doubt tomorrow Takamakahara would yell at them to pick up more dossiers and what not...and Phantom would likely have to come along...making the entire day a waste of time in the grand scheme of things...How Hazama hated that damn machine.

As Hazama carried the filled tan bucket under his arm, he noticed a rather odd sight in front of the door to their room. A young girl knocking on the door, a bag in her hands and a moderately uncertain-yet-confident feel about her as she brought her fist upon the wood. He tilted his head slightly, and his face turned from one of annoyance to one of curiosity. Who was this? Was this someone he had meet? A friend of Valentine's? Perhaps a compainion of that Bridget...thing from his first meeting-- afterall, he very much doubted Miss Jill Valentine to have children under her direct command...then again, Earth was a very odd place...

"...Pardon me Miss, do you have...business with me?"

[cordy]

"...Pardon me Miss, do you have...business with me?"

Blinking in surprise as the voice sounded from outside the room, Cordy turned sharply to face the speaker. She stared at him blankly for a brief moment, her eyes narrowed hesitantly. So this was the man who'd apparently been causing so much trouble. It was her first instinct to be wary of him, her gaze suspiciously sweeping his form as she considered the situation. To be honest, he really didn't really seem all that...evil. If she hadn't known better, he probably would have struck her as fairly normal (albeit green-haired - was that some kind of trend she wasn't aware of? She'd have to ask Jax..) guy on his way back from picking ice up for his hotel room.

If she judged potential threats solely off of first impression, though, she'd have been long dead by now...

Quietly clearing her throat as she attempted to compose herself, Cordy offered the man a bright smile. "Oh, uh, hi!" she greeted after a moment - probably best to at least start this out in a friendly matter, until she could better assess the situation. "I'm guessing you would be Mr...Hazama?" Without waiting for an answer, the young detective adjusted her bag so that it hung lightly from her shoulder and stepped away from the door, regaining a bit of confidence now that she was starting to recover from the slight surprise. "I'm Cordelia Chase, private investigator, and actually..."

Well. This might be the part where it'd be a good idea to exchange pleasantries, ease him into trusting her a bit - maybe talk about the weather or something random like that, but Cordy'd always been a bit too impatient to take such an indirect approach. "..I was wondering if you'd be able to answer a couple of questions for me?" Like, um, do you by any chance plan on murdering masses of people any time soon? She didn't want to get ahead of herself or anything, though. Straightening up and adopting a slightly more professional stance, the brunette continued, "Sorry. I know this is sort of spur of the moment, but it really is important."

This probably wasn't how Angel started off most of his evil-hunting; initiating a conversation..but if he had, maybe he wouldn't have had to fight so much...'cause she was pretty sure that was what had made him so perpetually grumpy. But instead of spending another moment thinking of her brooding vampire friend, Cordelia instead returned her attention to Hazama. Quietly taking a moment to analyze him, she wondered whether he was armed even at this point...

...That ice bucket looked like it'd hurt to be smacked over the head with...

[Hazama]

Questions? This girl had questions...for him? Oh dear, this might be bad, very very bad for him. Had someone caught on? Valentine? One of the illusive Mr. Wesker's henchmen? No...he'd never have been able to discover Hazama just yet, given his own subtlety. And Jill wouldn't have had any reason to question Hazama...just yet. What if this was Takamakahara's work? He suspected something? Then that'd be quite a turn for the worst indeed...then again, if Takamakahara didn't suspect him of something already, Hazama would be surprised.

As these questions ran through his head, his expression betrayed nothing but a light curiosity. Deciding the best course of action was to humor her, at least for now, he flashed a polite and moderately small smile and bowed oh so slightly.

"Ah, a private detective? My my, you must be very skilled at your craft! I'm not a particularly easy person to find, you know...Anywho, yes, I am indeed Hazama of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department...nice to meet you~! I suppose since you've already come this far they're might not be any harm in answering your questions...come inside, by all means!"

He attempted to be friendly, coming off as impressed by her 'abilities', even if someone just told her the hotel and room number he lived at. As he opened the door to the lavish suite, He could hear Relius working on his newest toy, the gears spinning and the sound of the seither being sucked into the device...still, it was quite enough, and Hazama paid no mind to it, hoping that 'Cordelia' might not either. Setting the bucket of ice within the refridgerator, he motioned her to follow him out to the den, where a table with a few leather chairs about it stood, papers and files strewn about said table. Most were closed, confidental, and the ones that weren't would more than likely never come to Cordelia's attention. Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Enrico Marini, Rebecca Chambers...all likely names she wouldn't recognize. Infact, the only one that wasn't directly related to the S.T.A.R.S. was FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan, and even that didn't have a picture and contained a bare minimum of data...

"So then, might I ask what brings you to the door step of the N.O.L., Miss Private Inspector Cordelia Chase? Were you hired by someone?...More interestingly, what made you search for Captain Hazama of the Intelligence Department in particular? That happens to be an alias that I've only used a few times around this part of the world...Well, not the Captain or Intelligence Department parts, but you get the idea."

[cordy]

Okay so, that hadn't been so difficult! Hazama seemed obliging enough so far...or maybe he was just inviting her in to try and kill her or something. That certainly wasn't a possibility she could afford to rule out, but none the less hesitating felt like admitting some sort of weakness. Here was her chance to actually prove that she could take care of herself just fine - and then maybe people would stop patronizing her so frequently.

And besides that, she couldn't sense that Hazama was an immediate threat. Though she was currently focusing her empathic abilities on him, she wasn't reading much more than a careful neutrality - he briefly seemed deep in thought, but his emotions were calm. Granted he could just be particularly skilled at keeping them in check, but for now...Cordy couldn't see much reason to react unless there was something noticeably wrong. So, settling for a brief smile, she chirped out, "Great. Thanks! I really appreciate you making this easy - some people would throw such a hissy fit..." She rolled her eyes; 'some people' meaning a good majority of New York. People in this city really did like their privacy.

Stepping into the suite, Cordelia tilted her head slightly to the side as she immediately began to survey her surroundings. Nothing seemed too out of place here; the room certainly was all fancied up and...more importantly, there didn't seem to be any evidently destructive super weapons lying around. Though there was some sort of sound coming from one of the other rooms that caught her attention; a sort of mechanical spinning noise that suggested...well, she wasn't quite sure. But it would seem that Hazama wasn't alone in the suite, which was interesting in itself. Anya hadn't mentioned any sort of accomplice of his...

Her attention was abruptly pulled back to the green-haired man before her, however, when he spoke again. Hmm, Novus Orbis Librarium. Sounded like some sort of high-end intelligence organization; the kind Giles would belong to. At any rate it sounded official enough, but that didn't mean it wasn't corrupt. Perhaps she'd look into it later...but for now, she needed to focus on answering Hazama's question. "Right. Well. Hmm...I don't really do 'subtle'..or I don't do it well, soooo I'm just gonna jump right into this." She glanced around a bit awkwardly, shrugged, and then decided to continue.

"I've received some, uh, not-so-anonymous tips that you may or may not be planning to...kill a whole bunch of people. Which is whatever, I mean, you hear that kind of thing god-knows-how-many times in this city, but I'm kinda obligated to investigate anyway..." Cordy paused briefly to draw a breath, "...Even though if you were planning on killing a bunch of people, you probably wouldn't tell me about it, duh. But I'm...just gonna be direct here. Are you in any way, shape or form..evil?"

[Hazama]

What. That was Hazama's only real reaction. What. At least internally. People like this...actually existed? I mean, he knew that there were some rather piss-poor people in the Intelligence field of work but...this was the one that found him? Then again, she did say she had help...or maybe she was like that squirrel something-another, Makoto, and just socially idiotic? No matter. The information she dropped could help him figure out who sent her...anywho, he thought he may as well humor her with an answer.

"...'Evil'? I don't much think I'm evil. Don't much think I'm good. But I don't think I'm evil...as for if I plan of murdering people? Yes, I do. Would you like dossiers on a few of them? You might be interested in reading them."

Gracefully, Hazama pulled several files from his coat and passed them to her. There were four in total, until Hazama picked up the 'Albert Wesker' one and tossed it onto the pile as well, making five. The names were as follows:

-Albert Wesker, Class B threat, Bioterrorist--- Current Location, Unknown (Mobile)
-Kabalite Trueborn, Class C threat, Xeno lifeform--- Current Location, Unknown (Mobile)
-Kharn the Betrayer, Class A threat, Daemonic Super-Soldier--- South America, Northen Texas (Mobile)
-'Slade', Class B threat, Terrorist--- Current Location, Unknown (Stationary)
-First Evil, Class Threat Unknown, Elder lifeform (B-Z Classes within consideration)--- Current Location, Unknown (Mobile)

The files themselves had a short personal summery (or in the case of 'Slade' or the First Evil, a short professional summary), and a 'status'. All of the contents within the files revealed that these people were likely some of the most evil, cruel, and callous people around in the world, at least when the dossiers had little information actually within them due to their subject's inherit engimaticness. While she flipped through the pages, Hazama began thinking as to who might have sent her...deciding to ask her once she finished, Hazama spoke up.

"Forgive me, but hopefully after reading those files you understand exactly what sort of thing I do when it's said that I 'kill people'...and after that, you should release why it's rather important I ask you who sent you, no?"

[cordy]

What the...? Had he just admitted to intending to murder people? Cordelia frowned suspiciously down at the files Hazama had offered her, tentatively accepting them after a moment and all the while wondering whether this was some kind of joke. Until she actually began to flick through them, that was. There were about five different names here, a few of which were unfamiliar - though the information the dossiers provided quickly filled her in on these particular cases - while she'd heard of several others through the murmurings of the grape vine. Albert Wesker, for instance, was said to be the ingenious mind behind the recent zombie invasion...but there was one name in particular that caught the half-demon's attention: The First Evil.

Wasn't that the...creep that gave Buffy all that trouble a few years back?

Warily, she closed the last file with a new edge of uncertainty to her demeanor. This made absolutely no sense whatsoever! Anya had sounded so certain that this man was some sore of malevolent entity bent on destroying the lives of everyone around him. .....Then again, Anya was convinced that bunnies were capable of the very same thing. At the moment, however, there was absolutely no evidence that suggested that Hazama intended to harm anyone than the most twisted, malicious people in this world. And as a result, Cordy was left unsure of what exactly to believe here.

"Wow. Okay. This is....really embarrassing." she muttered at last, biting her lip slightly as she slowly lifted her gaze from the files to meet Hazama's. Actually, 'really embarrassing' was kind of an understatement. She'd traveled all the way here, armed with all sorts of weaponry, on a tip from a vengeance demon, to confront a man who was projecting no hostile emotions, had no sort of suspicious activity going on in his hotel room...and on top of all that, had files on some of the most dangerous people in the world.

Smooth, Cordelia.

Shaking her head slightly, she continued on to answer Hazama's next question. "It was...just a friend of mine. And I'm using the term 'friend' lightly, here. Maybe you know her? Blonde, demon-y, has an aversion to rabbits and...apparently anything resembling normality." Banging her head off the nearest wall seemed an ideal course of action right about now...but for the moment, she supposed she'd refrain. "It's just...she usually doesn't get so spooked. She seemed convinced you were...trying to kill her.."

But right about now, it was Cordelia who was fixin' to take up that job.

[Hazama]

(GGGAAAAAAAHHH SMALL POST IS SMALL, IMMA' SORRY)

Vengeance demon? Ha! Anya! That little bitch from before! He'd nearly forgotten her in his escapades with Jill, and it seemed she knew he was back in town! Of course, he wasn't too worried about her at all, really, the harm she could do was really inconsequential. Physically, she posed little threat, and if she tried to raid or expose him to Jill...well, who's she gonna' believe? The demon or the trusted Captain Hazama? Still, this person was connected to her, and obviously not a fan of her...maybe he could use her a la Tsubaki, eh? Hopefully she won't be as useless...

"A Demon? Trying to kill me? That's nothing really new, in all honesty. But what troubles me is how easily she could discover where she is...and infact I know not where she herself is. I'm assuming this is 'Anya', correct Miss Private Inspector Chase? I had an encounter with her recently that ended in a fight between her and a vampire called 'Spike'. However, urgent matters came to my attention before anything too drastic could occur to either side...Miss Chase, would you mind if I...used your talents for a bit?"

[cordy]

Cordy nodded briefly, affirming Hazama's correct identification of the demon who seemed to have such a strong animosity toward him. But something here...just wasn't clicking into place. Anya and Spike? ..Fighting? It didn't make much sense; both of them were supposed to be 'reformed' - Spike had won back his "soul" (though, as Cordelia was quick to note...there was little actual proof of this) and Anya...well, she wasn't exactly sure what Anya's deal was. But she'd never quite learned to trust the vengeance demon at any rate; how did you trust someone who pretended to be your friend, only to end up using you to try and kill all of your friends and family?

No, something wasn't right here. It sounded as if Anya, for whatever reason, hadn't told her the entire story. What had started out as brief annoyance at the demon's apparent incompetence was now slowly turning to a darker shade of suspicion, and Cordy frowned for a moment as she considered this before answering Hazama. "My...talents?" she replied tentatively, musing over the words. "I guess it's the least I can do, since I ended up coming here...only to waste your time." She blinked a bit sheepishly, but didn't linger - right now, there were more important matters at hand.

"But, um, how can I help?" Cordy couldn't help but add. She wasn't quite sure what she was getting herself into just yet, but it certainly called for more investigation. And to think, her task had seemed so straightforward only a few moments ago. Hopefully this could all be sorted out fairly quickly, but then again...nothing ever seemed to work out that way.

(( OOC:// EEEP metoometoometooo! Muselessness is a diseaseee Dx))

[Hazama]

"Well, for starters, I'd like you to keep me updated on the wherabouts, location, and other such vital information of 'Anya' and others like her that you may or may not know-- afterall, it seems as though you, her, and the vampire, Spike, are all interconnected, seeing how you brought no surprise at the name to bear. I'd also like you to report to her that you found me already dead in some fashion that she'd believe. Make it seem as though I was murdered by someone with a great deal of power or something of the kind, so it could be a mystery of sorts to her. If she's looking for me, then it'd be far easier to keep tabs on her and her compatriots, even after your reports are through-- afterall, you won't need to be sending me reports forever. Also, tell her you found me in a different hotel if you could. If she requires evidence, I can tear something from my wardrobe and bleed on it to produce a convincing effect. I'd also like it if you could tell me as much about her, your connection to her, and about this 'Spike' fellow...assuming this isn't too much trouble, Miss Private Inspector Cordelia Chase."

Hazama spoke quietly and professionally as he listed off his long line of requests. He toyed with just forgoing the charade and killing her where she stood, but then figured that it'd always be good to have a 'man on the inside' so to speak with the Sunnydale Lot (as he had taken to calling them). Adjusting his hat to where the shadow from it eclipsed his eyes, he leaned back in his leather chair, his now invisible eyes staring directly at Cordelia's visible ones. He threatened her not in his tone of voice nor his requests, but he was almost certain that he let a dark chill become moderately prevalent within the room. For just a moment, he exuded enigma and mystery, but most importantly, ability...and perhaps a bit of his true self...

[cordy]

She was going to have to...lie to Anya and Spike? Cordelia frowned slightly as she considered this; telling them that she'd found Hazama dead seemed a little drastic - as well as a breach in her integrity as a detective. But then again, if the vengeance demon and the vampire really did have intentions to kill this man, perhaps it was better if they thought he was dead. The more fighting that could be avoided the better, as far as she was concerned.

But then, along with the several other requests Hazama had made, there was that...well. Cordy wasn't actually sure what it was. She shivered slightly, as if a cool breeze had just swept through the room. And while some might've just mistaken it for a random chill or just an inexplicable feeling of foreboding, an empath like Cordy was particularly sensitive to the fact that this dark energy seemed to be radiating from Hazama himself. This gave her cause for hesitation; suddenly she stopped and stared at the man before her with a newfound sense of suspicion. That had been...strange. Or perhaps what she was actually sensing was some of that power that Anya had mentioned; if Hazama possessed any kind of supernatural ability then it could read as dark energy. Just like Willow's had...

In an attempt to pull herself out of this moment of wariness, Cordelia cleared her throat. "Hmm. Okay, well...I think I'll be able to work the fake-death angle. I don't see how it could hurt much, it'll probably just keep things safer for everyone." she mused aloud, nodding slowly. "As for the reports...we might have to play some of those by ear. Don't get me wrong, I don't trust either of those two as far as I could throw 'em - but...Buffy does." And apparently whatever holier-than-thou Buffy said went for everyone, as far as the Scoobies were concerned...Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Buffy, Anya, Spike...they're all part of this tightly-knit little group...call themselves the Scooby Gang. You know, like Scooby Doo? I guess somebody thought that was cute. Pfft..." But she was getting slightly sidetracked here, and she quickly paused for a moment to bring herself back on-topic. "Anyway, I don't know so much about them anymore. I got out of Sunnydale the minute high school was over, it's not really an ideal place to live. But...if you had any questions, I could try to answer them. "

[Hazama]

Terumi Yuuki was excellent at reading people. He could often tell their surface thoughts with a simple focused glimpse, their intentions from a brief three sentience conversation...and here, he picked up a slight uneasiness and suspicion...and an aversion to lying?! What a surprise! For anyone who knew Terumi knew that the thing he hated most in the world was lies and the liars that told them, he was overcome by an odd sort of respect when she showed hesitation to this idea. He'd asked her to lie because her being a Private Inspector, he thought that everyone within his field lied with the exception himself--- everyone else in the Intelligence Department more or less lied to keep the secrets of the NOL...well, secret. He found it only natural that this two-bit hack would do so as well. But she didn't, and she agreed reluctantly...perhaps he should change his offer...

"Actually, Miss Private Inspector Chase? Forgo that 'pretend-I'm-dead' charade. I don't much like telling you to lie. Why don't you tell them...you found me, but couldn't kill me? It'd all work the same in the end anyway...as for questions, you need only answer the following: Who are the members of the 'Scooby Gang'? Where are Anya and 'Spike' located? Where is 'Buffy'? And what...is hell like?"

[cordy]

When Hazama seemed to rethink his earlier request, she relaxed slightly and nodded her consent...though the reasons for his change of heart were unknown to her, she was grateful either way. As long as she wasn't required to outright lie, she could allow herself to feel a bit less...guilty about this whole situation. This way, what she was agreeing to do felt a bit less like deception and a bit more like...safety precautions. Perhaps it was edging rather close to semantics, but even so.

It was with a little less reluctance that Cordelia was able to answer this time, only taking a moment to think over the questions Hazama had asked. "Ha, where to begin...well, you have Buffy - she's kinda the de facto leader, being 'the slayer' and all...then there's Buffy's inner circle; basically the people she trusts the most. Xander and Willow have been her best friends since like, high school...but Willow's a crazy-powerful witch who's been known to go psycho and try to destroy the universe when you piss her off, and Xander...well, Xander's just your average dork. Then there's Giles, this stuffy British guy who's pretty much the brains of the outfit - seriously, they'd be getting nowhere without him, and...well, Anya and Spike who are kind of members-by-proxy. Spike has some weird thing for Buffy, and Anya and Xander have some soap opera-esque complicated history.. "

Cordelia paused her rambling listing of information to draw a breath here, and in the process...sort of realized it sounded as if she was telling him all of this to draw up some kind of battle plan. "Um, but Spike and Anya are really the only ones you have to worry about. The others won't try coming after you unless you're like, fixin' to blow up the world or something.." she added quickly.

Well, that had been...wordy. Not that 'wordy' was an usual occurrence where Cordy was involved, but still. Probably better to get to those other questions as quickly as possible. "Anyway, I know Anya's living in town; I've been to her apartment a couple times...and Spike probably set himself up in a crypt in some cemetery somewhere. It's a vampire thing. They think it's 'hardcore'. ...As for Buffy....well, I'm not really sure." She'd only ran into Buffy once; and, not having been exactly fond of each other in the past, they'd only spoken...briefly. Was Buffy permanently holed up in the city somewhere? Cordy wasn't even sure...

"And hell? Well, literally living over its entrance is...I dunno. It always felt kind of normal. Freakish creatures trying to kill you every time you turn around, and there's always some weirdo trying to set themselves up to unleash hell on earth...but we all got kind of used to it after awhile. Which is insanely screwed up, actually. But whatever..." She shook her head, slightly exasperated. "I hope at least some of that helps you."

[Hazama]

"Indeed. You've been very helpful. I appreciate you answering my questions. Now then, I feel the only polite thing to do would be to levy the same offer to you-- afterall, this interview merely consisted of one question, no? Is they're anything you'd like to know about this operation here?"

Hazama's words were spoken with a kind smile as he leaned forward, exposing his closed eyes once again. He didn't much expect any questions about his organization, as he could guess that she didn't really /have/ any questions outside of her 'are-you-evil' one. Still, he figured it'd be rude merely to just brush her off and say 'get out', so he humored her 'professionalism'. He tipped his hat at her afterwards, as to show some more appreciation to her. As he did such, he toyed with the idea that by giving her information that she could spill, it'd merely be asking to be spilt. Still, he'd already mentioned it, and doubted even at that that she'd speak up...still...anything was possible with a stranger like Miss Chase...

"The Ars Magi is at 14.53% complete. I've identified it as Bolverk, likely a scrap from our escapade with the Kusanagi, the Murokumo. It's quite interesting what we could do with this reli--- Oh my. I didn't know we had company."

Suddenly and without warning, Relius Clover walked calmly from his bedroom door, his grand and operatic clothes illuminating the room. His voice was strong, articulate, and intelligent, entering the situation with tidy gentlemenly grace. His voice was an odd and stark contrast to Hazama's softer and lighter voice. Hazama looked up at him for a moment, and sighed--- of all the times in the world for the old man to waltz in a-

"Ah, Relius! Good to hear, very interesting, truly, really...let me introduce you to Private Inspector Cordelia Chase. I do believe she was originally sent her to question us by way of that demon woman, Aud, aka 'Anya'...Private Inspector, please meet Colonel Relius Clover of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Engineering Department. He's my associate and partner in the N.O.L.'s current mission."

[cordy]

About a second's worth of hesitation followed Hazama's offer - for a moment, Cordelia was actually considering it. Here was a chance to actually ask about some of the things she'd been curious about...like what this N.O.L. organization actually was, for instance, or how they obtained their information on so many of these worldwide threats...and what part Hazama himself played in taking said threats down. It seemed an ideal opportunity to inquire about some of these things, and yet something held her back. A small part of her, the part that had actually learned from all those years of demon-fighting and evil-hunting and being manipulated into a pawn of the forces she'd thought she could trust above all others, was still a bit wary of trusting Hazama...and it was for this reason that she wasn't sure about asking any further questions just yet. Not without a bit more...background information. From outside sources, perhaps? Certainly going back to Anya or Spike for further information would be disastrous, but it might be a good idea to see what all she could dig up on this...N.O.L.

And so with a slight smile, Cordy shook her head. "Thank you, Mr. Hazama, but I think I've used up more than enough of your time alre--" But she was abruptly cut off as a new voice sounded from one of the doorways leading into the room. Mildly surprised (though perhaps not as much as she would've been had she not heard the whirring noises earlier), Cordy turned to face this new stranger. Tall and extravagantly dressed with a rather demanding-yet-refined presence, this was, Cordelia was guessing, the 'accomplice' she'd been wondering about earlier.

As Hazama introduced him, however, she quickly recovered from her slight surprise, her taken aback expression quickly replaced with another trademark smile. "Hello Mr. Clover!" she greeted, formally but brightly. "Er...you sounded...kinda busy. Sorry if I'm in your way at all; I just dropped by to sort out a little... misunderstanding between Mr. Hazama and my demon 'friend'. But uh, now that we've worked that out..." It seemed about time for her to take her leave; probably a good idea at this point...and yet, she couldn't help the slight curiosity that lingered about her now. With an inquisitive glance from Relius to Hazama, Cordelia couldn't help but add, "..Engineering department? Sounds like the N.O.L.'s a pretty big deal, then. " And yet, she'd never heard of them before today, and whether that was because they were a somewhat secretive organization or it was just something she'd overlooked, she couldn't help but want to know a bit more about them. So despite not intending to ask any further questions, she ended up adding, "Where are you guys based? Here in New York?"