exsilium | Video: Filtered only to Talbot

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Video: Filtered only to Talbot

[Chloe doesn't look much like herself when she finishes tapping in the required lines of code to ensure her call is secure. Her hair's slick from lack of a proper upkeep, bangs covering her face in a way that she hasn't worn since the fiasco in Tibet came to a close. The dirt and grime of the underground still sticks to her skin, stays firmly wedged beneath her nails. If she has priorities at the moment, a polished appearance isn't one of them.

Either way, the details are (fortunately) hard to make out in the poorly lit place she's chosen to call from. Nothing but a few dark patches of rubble sit behind her, about as indistinguishable as any backdrop gets, and she prefers it that way.]

Talbot, we need to talk.

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Yeah, lovely chat, by the way. You really should've been there.

[Smarmy bastard.]

I get that we had our differences back home, but things have changed; we're not after the same goal anymore.

I don't see why we can't just let this one lie and move on from it. We're all adults here, right?

[Let it lie? That now all-too-familiar rage is back again, simmering just under a performer's mask of repose.]

They didn't tell you what happened in Ubar, did they? [The lighting on her end is dim, but he scans her face nonetheless, probing for a tell. If she's bluffing, he'll catch her at it.]

Miss Frazer, we've moved beyond petty rivalries over relics. Your friends took something from me whose value can't be measured in dollars or pounds.

[And what Talbot can read is as genuine as any look of confusion could ever get. She'd expected things to go poorly for Nate and Victor, but from the sound of it the opposite is true-- or, perhaps not true, if the result is Talbot in this kind of a fit.

Ubar, though. God, they really made it that far?]

Might be a bit tricky for them to tell the tale when it's not the pair you crossed paths with in Iram.

[His lip curls.] Explain.

They don't know who you are. They weren't pulled in from the same time you were-- none of us are, actually. Their memories stop years before ours.

[And she adds this as gently as possible, because it doesn't take much to read past the coldness in his eyes.] I hate to break it to you, mate, but you won't get any satisfaction from chasing them down.

I disagree. [It's not a lie, but it's not the truth, either. Given what he's seen here so far, he has no reason to doubt what she says is within the realm of possibility.

But he wants to believe that destroying Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan, no matter the circumstances, will ease his pain.] I think ending their lives will be immensely satisfying.

[Right, that's about the answer she was expecting to hear. She presses a few fingers to the center of her forehead, rubbing patiently just above the bridge of her nose. Easy, Chloe.]

Listen, I get that you're pissed off about all this, but this isn't really the time or the place to let objectivity fall by the wayside, all right? You're not the most frightening thing out there anymore, and you don't have anyone at your back. Be smart about this, just...let it go.

[You're only fanning the flames, Chloe.

During the course of her little speech, he stands up and paces an agitated circle just inside view of the camera before turning back.]

Do you know what it's like to lose your mind, Miss Frazer? [He's leering over the screen now.] Charlie Cutter knows. He can tell you.

If you don't want your friends' blood on your hands, I suggest you stay out of this.

All right. [She lifts her hands-- that somehow aren't shaking, and she's thankful for it, at least-- and despite the still fresh memories of Charlie's suffering, manages to keep her voice low and steady.

She's faced worse, hasn't she?] All right, I get it.

I'm not trying to trivialize what happened, I'm just trying to help. [Which is a lie, but not entirely. He needs to be calm, as much as possible, anyway.]

And how do you propose to do that? [Talbot has no intention of letting Drake and Sullivan off the hook, no matter how desperately this woman pleads with him. But that doesn't mean he doesn't relish the idea of watching her try.]

Well for starters, I haven't said a word to anyone aside from Charlie about this. [Which is all she'll say on that for the moment, as focusing on the potential for trust is far more appealing than the blackmail card she's holding onto.

The ice is thin enough without her adding pressure, after all.]

[His mind isn't so encumbered by thoughts of revenge that he doesn't realize these two might make life difficult for him here. It would be unfortunate to have rumors trailing his every step.]

You haven't even warned your other friends about me? [He shakes his head.] Shame on you.

What can I say? I'd like to think I won't have to. [And there's some part of her that supposes she should feel guilty for it, but when knowledge would only make them more of a threat in Talbot's eyes, she's not feeling all that bad.

Benefit of making yourself the target of a misdirect: your friends become less of one.]

You're clever enough to know what the odds would be like if word got out, or if you botched an attack on them. I've even been listening in on a gang of transports that wants to set up a law enforcement committee.

Not really worth having them on your heels, in my opinion.

[She's handling it with kid gloves, but there's no mistaking the blackmail here.]

And you realize if something were to happen to you...half my problems go away.

Not exactly.

You can't possibly expect something like that to go unnoticed, can you? No matter how careful you are, I'm certain one of my many, many good friends will manage to fill in the blanks. If Charlie doesn't bother to do it for them first.

I think you can see why cooperation's the better option here, yeah?

[The game's more complicated than he'd like, and he acknowledges that. If he wants Drake and Sullivan, he will need to play his cards closer to the vest than he has been.]

And what, by your terms, does "cooperation" entail?

You keep your distance from Victor and Nate. No trickery, no nonsense. Because if I seriously catch you up to anything, even for a second, I'm paging the whole damn network.

In return, you get a nice, clean slate, and all the freedom you like.

[Unfortunately for Chloe & co, Talbot is willing to take his chances. But she doesn't need to know that.]

Meanwhile, you keep your friends in the dark. Would they appreciate that, I wonder.

Probably not, but I'll take my chances. [Hone in on it all you like, Talbot. She's shrugging off the guilt like rainwater.]

Desperate times, right?

[And he's more desperate than any of them will give him credit for. The only future he's looking toward is one where Drake and Sullivan are dead at his feet.

What happens after that, he doesn't care.]

I think we have an understanding, for now.

Glad to hear it. [And it's not a lie in the slightest, though that 'for now' doesn't slip past her. The least she could have hoped for was to buy them all a bit of time, and if that's what comes of it, then she is, without a doubt, content.]

Mind yourself out there.

Until next time, Miss Frazer. [Even well after he ends the call, Talbot remains standing above the tablet, turning the conversation over in his head.

All things considered, he can't help but think he got the better of it.]

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Video: Filtered only to Talbot

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