she looked up at him from the mechanism in her hands, listening, and a bit disappointed with his answer. all hope was not lost, though, to get something relevant and of use out of him. the materials were a start.

“was it durantium chrome, by chance?”

but she was already getting up, heading over to her desk. she pulled a klefki from her coat and it went to work on the lock. the drawer was slid open, and it she pulled the frustratingly vague notes of sun-sun and luna from its confine, given to her by Chu-e Choi .

she walked back and held the copies out for him to look over.

“i’m not sure if it has anything to do with genesect, but does this mean anything to you? the notes were found in cadis’ secret lab. it was stumbled upon when genesect was putting holes in the sub.”

___________________________________________________

this was vague, and a little disappointing, but it was something. she’d have to work backwards. what functions had they been testing? what was genesect capable of?

why hadn’t priam talked to genesect when it had been wreaking havoc on the submarine?

plenty of questions. she chose not to ask that one.

“hm. you mentioned experiments, on the steel-types. what were they testing for?”

___________________________________________________

duraludon? dura. duh. or maybe durant?

“durantium,” she aided quietly, pensively.

lulu had plans for a similar project—namely, smelting samples of heatran and megalopolan armor. with the access they had to such materials now, she wondered if she couldn’t create something even better than genesect.

this was still all pretty vague, but extremely helpful nonetheless.

“hmm. well, we know it’s tough enough to pierce the submarine’s hull—so that’s something.” her eyes wandered to a wall, remembering. “if you don’t know what they were testing for, do you at least remember how they were testing it?”

___________________________________________________

“interesting. and it did well?”

her face turned sour at the mention of FERNANDO SILPH . for the first time ever, perhaps, she looked angry with priam. it wasn’t directed at him, but it surely might’ve seemed like it in the moment.

“what did silph have to do with it?” and what did he know that she needed to get out of him?

her voice was as sharp and disdainful as her glare, but it softened as she pacified herself.

___________________________________________________

no recorded evidence. silph was good at hiding things, wasn’t he?

her eyes lowered regretfully for having responded to him so sharply, but the look of distaste still lingered in the shadows of her face.

she wasn’t sure what to tell priam. she’d kept the details mostly to herself, for fear of punishment for having been interrogated thanks to reckless decisions, and for putting rocket at risk. for being untrustworthy because of it.

but over time, she’d realized that Chu-e Choi ’s sentiment about the value of some sense of family, and his goal to solidify it within the syndicate, had been realized. perhaps there was not so much judgment these days.

or perhaps it was very foolish to think this.

regardless, she wouldn’t tell him much.

“we were… involved, at one point in time.” she sighed a heated breath, anger visibly rising in a moment again. “one of my greatest regrets.”

___________________________________________________

she tried to suppress the words. she managed to allow priam a couple more sentences of reassurance, but before the sound of his voice had faded, her own was cutting through the space in a sharp snap.

”there is no love.”

none between FERNANDO SILPH and lulu, nor between Cillian Quinn and Tempest Quinn , or Killian Decker and Alexandra Briarwood , or even Rowan Wrynn and Adrian Malcolm —because love didn’t exist. love was a lie. love was cruelty with a mask that could be ripped off in a moment.

and they were all liars.

with a sigh far too heated, she fumbled heavy-handedly with small parts before setting them down with another huff and pulling a cigarette from her coat pocket. lit it, and puffed, unabashed about their location.

she glared at the floor. ”i’ll be damned if he gets his hands on any more of our technology.”

___________________________________________________