---- Blink looks at the photos and videos strewn on the holoscreen, he looks through the holo, unamused. "Alright. You have your theory. The Nobles have a secret princess. I assume we’ll get to why I should care now?"

"…I have picked up on rumors....within the Noble's servers, there has been a notable anomaly. Data files removed or replaced, logins happening by users that don't match records of entry. As if there's a mischievous digital spectre right in the server. This assailant had been successfully and consistently removing data files from the Nobles securities and releasing them into the Neo Vegas Intranet. See, The datafiles are always given a calling card, it matches the design you can see here on the walls in graffiti and second, a set of encrypted hashcodes that can't be deciphered without a specific type of hardware. Of course, I was able to figure that it had to be the IcePick v3, just some old war tec-.."

"Ahhh git’ to the point already Cods! Yer losin his damn interest." Dust exclaims with a slight sense of irritation. All three of them look at the clock.

16:04

"Ah sorry, I digress. To put simply, a few weeks ago, for the first time in 6 years, the sanctum woke up. The lights returned but instead of beaming straight up, they beamed down...like spotlights.”

“She got cabin fever?” Blink scoffs.

“ I well… it seems so, I should mention months prior to the wake up, that spectre removed some interesting files that was not diseminated to the intranet. Schematics, specifically for the Sanctum. Even more interesting, right at the time of escape, there was a even larger data breach. Big stuff here, This dataset was one that involves the deeper projects within the Union, hitlists, human experimentation, ghosting technologies. All the ones deemed important enough to b-be tracked by LIBRTI."

"Hitlists?" Blink interest finally piques leaning into Cods’ brief.

"Blink, There is a strong possibility that this girl is carrying the datafile that may involve the records for Gideon's assassination, Not just how it happened but who was hired by whom and why." Blinks feels his eyebrow twitch, his heart flips in his chest. Years of cycling and dead ends but here, right here, something he can grasp? His eyes fall straight down.

"….It's too good to be true right?." he says to Cle0. She responds. "I'm not so sure, I'm not catching any notable tells for lying but it's hard to see due to Cod's nervousness at the moment. That being said, I don’t believe he’s trying to trick by any means. The signature specifically, Sudo. That’s a major tell." Blink shakes his head anyway. It's clearly a trap he thinks, this is way too good to be true.

“Cods.. This girl looks nothing like the Royal family. Asides maybe the sister but even if she WAS related, You're saying to tell me this girl can hack into Noble dataframes and disseminate whatever she wants. Even with the calling card, it’s hard to believe. You know, thinking more on it now, you said you were in that place huh? ”Behind enemy lines?“. Now, you're on the run. Probably knee deep in shit with some folks in high places right now. Now you're asking me to get you out. It's a lot of work for just asking for a favor."

The two men perk up at this phrase. Codsworth holds another pause. He gulps silently and finally gives his rebuttal. “Blink I-.. Look, W-While she does not bear any resemblance to the family here. I assure you this is the girl we’re looking for. She is related, I was given information from LIBRTI to find her and bring her back. They did not tell me why she had been hidden. While I have my theories, this subject matter is not important to the job. The point being-” 

“I’m sorry it seems you misheard me. What I’m really saying is you gotta lot of nerve asking me of all people to help you out here. If what you're saying is correct, what's stopping me from jumping over you and taking that damn chip off her myself?"

The room is quiet again, Blink can feel his heart beat against his chest and it pisses him off. It shouldn’t get to him like this.

 Dust looks at the two of them and sighs. "Well, You're right, t'be frank I wasn't expecting you to jump right on and help us, but Blink I gotta call your bluff, never one to take a bigger slice than others..I didn't raise you like that after al-."

"You didn’t raise me for shit, Dust. Let’s get one thing straight, you did not raise me. Gideon was there when I was-.” He holds his breath for only a second. “He was the one to teach me how to deal with people like you…and y'all both must be out of your minds. Please...Am I really supposed to go out there, get in touch with this girl and bring her back to “talk things out”? And for what the off chance she might be nice and let us see inside that chip of hers? Nah, smells like bullshit to me." He hides his shaking hands in his pockets, now standing up and eyeing the door.

"Blink." Codsworth exclaims. The cyborg turns to peer into Cods' eyes. Within those eyes, Blink for a moment sees that confident man. It was a familiar feeling, a warmth even, of days gone. It hit him like a truck.

"I understand what happened was wrong and if there was something I could've done…I would have done it. It’s why I'm here now. It's why we're both here now. You of all people should know we have no intention to entrap you...This would benefit all of us if you help but it’s your choice to help us. We won’t force you."  Blink looks at the clock.

16:05

He looks at the two men. One, a completely nervous wreck, the other, an utterly shameless drunk, both of whom have seen better times and wish to see them again. Perhaps..this is the one thing the three of them all have in common. The city of Neo Vegas was built on betting against the odds, you know.

 If there was anything close to describing just what Blink was feeling in this moment; it'd be a cross between pity, irritation, and hope... 

Blink makes a "tsk" before sitting back down, pinching the bridge of his nose again, without looking up he says his piece. "Look. I don't want to hear your appeal to how I feel emotionally about this, I understand you didn't come here to help me. Seeing that you seemingly had no plan for how I would see what's inside this chip OR if I decided to grab it myself, I can see that I am your last resort. You couldn't find any other person who you could trust with this info AND actually get the job done."

"Hey. To be fair, by that logic, you were our first choice. Aaaand I was the one who brought you up to begin with." Dust says sheepishly, mid swig of his flask.

"And it upsets me that you did....But thinking more about this. I do see we share a common interest here. I will accept the job but I have more questions and conditions."

"Fair shot." Dust says. Codsworth nods.

"First question, what's stopping HIM from doing this?" Blink points at Dust, who's taking another drink from his flask. He swallows the alcohol and burps. “Too Drunk.”

Blink just stares at him and furrows his brow. "In that case, Codsworth, You said you were on a mission to find this Briteny girl but you’re not telling everything. You were caught. How."

Codsworth looks at Blink and then to the side, crinkling his nose. “It isn’t entirely important to the mission but I can summarize. As you can guess, I am a double agent within the Noble Union and while I’m unsure what happened exactly 2 weeks ago, I know it was my certs that were used to access those files, the schematics. With that being said. The Nobles as of now think I am in possession of highly sought out data along with the girl.”

“Tough break.” Cle0 chimes in. Blink just nods.

“Third question then. Do you expect me to track this girl down with no assistance, because it feels like I'll be looking for a needle in a haystack here."

Codsworth nods back. "We were getting to that…see we know she never leaves Noble territory, she remains specifically in District 2."

"Paradise?" Blink grumbles to himself. “And you know this, how?”

"Camera feeds only show up in District 2, specifically in the Patron Prefecture. We believe this is the easiest place for her to find food and shelter. So she sticks around there most of the time, at least that’s our leading theory. Also I feel I should mention these videos...They have intention. Briteny only shows herself in a periodic fashion, as if she's on a schedule. At least twice a day, she will acknowledge at least one and then leave.  We're unsure what her intentions are here but it should be noted every video log is instantly deleted. We've only been able to catch a few before they're deleted from the Noble database by an unknown admin."

"Someone on the inside is still trying to keep the secret. Why don’t you know the admin?" Blink says out loud.

“The admin holds privileges not even I could access and is allowed to remain anonymous to those with lower privilege."

Blink slumps back in his chair, staring at the wall. He closes his eyes and breaths deep.

"....Big district...but I was just there… also these videos are pretty telling and if it’s only the patron prefecture, it’s manageable. I'll see what I can do."

“You will? Really?” For the second time, Blink sees a spark in Codsworth’s eyes. He simply nods.

“Yeah…just tell me where we need to rendezvous."