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_ Augtober 27_

"Governor, you have a call on line one" Ingrid put down her data pad. She pushed a button on her desk phone. "Put it through." She had spent the last few minutes reviewing nothing but corporate incident reports, and was eager for a distraction.

"Hello, Ms. Masters? I'm with the Ministry of Finances, I've been assigned to inquire about your Province's spending of taxpayer money." Ingrid held back a swear. She'd hoped to obscure the several thousands of dollars which had gone unaccounted for, thinking no one would be bothered to look too closely. It seemed that unfortunately for her, someone had.

"Of course, I'll be willing to help you with whatever you need, Mr...?" "Agent Stephens. I'm glad you're willing to cooperate with us. I'll be over to your office shortly." Normally, Ingrid would solve the problem on her own, but given the particular nature of this situation, she knew she would need a little extra help. She picked up her data pad, and messaged Gregory.

Gregory, have some government spooks looking into my spending. Could use a little help.

She didn't bother signing off; not long after meeting up, no one really stuck to Fox's message format anymore. After all, they all sort of knew each other now. She tapped her fingers on her desk, wondering how she was going to deal with the situation. The agent had surprised her, though she supposed that was the point of the sudden investigation. She was thinking of trying to hack the ministry's registry, when Helena clambered in the window.

"What are you doing here?" Ingrid asked blandly. By now, she was used to Helena's antics. "I came to see if we had any more work. Data pad's been dark for ages." She went around to the front of Ingrid's desk, and sat down in the spare chair. "So, any work?" Ingrid rolled her eyes, annoyed by the intrusion. "No. And actually, it'd be great if you got out of here. An MIF agent's coming over as we speak. To look into the gear you lost." Helena crossed her legs, and threw her hair back. "Hmph. Only because I was trying to pull you out of the mess _you_made." "Whatever. In any case-" The door opened before she could finish, a smartly dressed male panther standing behind it.

"Ms. Master's, it's good to see you. And you are...?" "Attractive." Helena said, with an expression of disinterest. The agent remained unfazed. "Very well. I'm agent Stephens, we spoke on the phone." Ingrid put on a smile, trying to make up for Helena's rudeness. "Yes, agent Stephens, hello." She stood up, and shook the agents hand. Helena remained uninterested, refusing to offer up her seat. The agent stood beside Helena's chair, "If we could have some privacy, then we can begin." Helena made no motion to leave, and Ingrid internally told her off. Nevertheless, she decided to put up with her for now, and to play things diplomatically. "Of course, I was just having a word with my private security. Anything you want to discuss, she can be present for. She has the necessary clearance, of course." The agent took out a small pocket book. "Actually, that's what we need to talk about."

"In the past few weeks you've spent over ten thousand on 'personal security' alone. There's several thousands more that aren't even accounted for. How do you explain that?" Ingrid sat straight, realizing the severity of the situation. "Ms. Cass may be more expensive than the rest, but she's also among the best." "No offense, Ms. Masters, but given the nature of your work, I don't see exactly how such level of security is needed." Ingrid was about to protest, when Helena turned to face Stephens.

"Mr. Stephens you work under the MOF Internal Revenue Service, correct?" The agent seemed slightly taken aback, but he answered nonetheless. "Yes, that is correct." "Do you tend to poke your nose into covert operations?" The agent gave a short laugh, but quickly stopped when he noticed her serious expression. "You're serious?" Helena crossed her legs, "Of course, you can check with your superiors, but given you're looking into a key undercover operation, I doubt they'll be very happy." Stephens clearly wasn't buying her story, and pulled out he cell phone. He typed a messaged, and waited.

Ingrid had already taken the measures to hack and clone Stephens' cell phone using her data pad, which she took care to keep hidden. She intercepted the outgoing message, and spoofed the recipient.

Sir, Ms. Masters is claiming to be part of a domestic op. Can you confirm?

Ingrid did her best to work quickly, keeping her hand hidden under the desk. She was incredibly thankful Fox had used touch screens for his data pads, as well as for the fact she'd recently trimmed her nails. Once she finished, she quietly sent the message.

We've just received word from the CIA to halt all investigation into Ms. Masters and her associates. Settle the matter and return for reassignment.

Stephens didn't react immediately, and Ingrid's heart stopped for a few beats before he finally looked up. "Well, it would appear I was mistaken. Apologies, Ms. Masters, I suppose I'll leave now." He left quickly, with a somewhat confused look on his face. After he was gone, Helena turned back to Ingrid, a whimsical look on her face. "There, he's gone. Let's just hope no one asks too many questions." Ingrid rolled her eyes, annoyed at how Helena had decided to handle the situation. She was grateful that the agent was gone, but less so given they could still be easily exposed.

"So, In any case-" Ingrid said, continuing the conversation from before, "It would be best if we were careful with the government funds. And by 'we' I mean you." Helena simply cleaned her nails, uninterested in the conversation. "Didn't you have a meeting with the

mayor today?" she asked, casually. Ingrid swore, "Crap. Please tell me you brought the van." Helena turned her head, "What else would I bring?" Ingrid gathered up her things as quickly as she could. "Come on. If I have to sit through that moose's muttering then so do you." "And here I thought we were actually friends." Helena said, sarcastically.

*****

They arrived at the mayor's office at 9:52. The meeting was at 10:00, leaving them with only a few minutes to spare. Ingrid tried to make herself seem as composed as possible, and Helena simply tried to find a way to entertain herself. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however, normally she wouldn't also be tailing Ingrid so closely.

Ingrid checked in with the secretary, who showed them to a meeting room. "I thought it was supposed to be a private meeting?" Helena mused. "It was. Guess something changed." Ingrid replied. A few minutes passed before the moose arrived, along with a few other people; one human and two wolves. For an older moose, Holt was unusually upbeat. "Ms. Masters, glad you could make it. And I see you brought your little friend too." Ingrid gave a slight sigh, "Private security." "Yes, well, you know what they say. The more, the merrier." "I thought we were going to discuss how to attract more businesses into the province?" Ingrid asked. "We were, but just this morning these fine gentlemen approached me with an offer I couldn't refuse. Of course, I told them It would be best to have you involved, so here we are." Ingrid immediately grew suspicious. It wasn't often that a corporation was so readily invited to a private government meeting. "Alright then, let's get started." The human went to the end of the table, followed by one of the wolves. The wolf began to set up some charts on an easel, while the human spoke. "Ms. Master's, Mr. Holt, I'm pleased to see you both here. Now, I've already gone over some of this proposal with Mr. Holt, but I suppose it never hurts to cover everything."

"As you know, California has been seeing mixed success over the past few decades after the NAC passed it's universal regulatory laws. In Yakima, this has meant a slow gradual decrease in the city's income." He motioned to the first chart, which showed the city's economy over fifty years. "Given this trend, it is clear that the city could clearly benefit from an increase in locally based revenue streams." He motioned to the wolf, who changed the chart.

"This is where we come in: Parthenon Inc. 'Bringing godliness to you." He paused for effect. The moose gave a small clap, but soon stopped when he noticed he was the only one. Ingrid was intrigued, "What exactly do you have in mind?" The human was quick to answer, "Ah, well at Parthenon Inc, we believe in bringing the convenience of industry level electronics to the everyday home consumer." He motioned to the next chart, "As demand for our products grow, so does the need for greater production." "And what exactly would that involve?" "All we require is support from both local and provincial governments, along with the purchasing of a few empty properties currently held by the state. With your help, we're certain we can bring jobs-" "What exactly do you mean by 'a few empty properties?" Ingrid asked. The human was clearly phased by the interruption; it was likely no one had been so abrupt towards him before.

"Um, well, if you'll look here," He pointed to a map of the city, where there was a group of lots circled, "You can see that currently, these buildings are nothing but an eyesore. However if we obtain these buildings, we can transform them into a money making machine." Ingrid sat back, noting that the area wasn't exactly small. Holt on the other hand, seemed very interested. "That doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. Of course, the city council will need to vote on this, but I think they'll come around quite easily." He turned to Ingrid. "What do you think, Ms. Masters. Sounds quite like a good thing, doesn't it?" Ingrid sat up straight, "I'll have to think about it." She noticed Helena giving her a subtle nod towards the door. "Right now, I'm afraid I have other places to be." She stood up, with the human hurrying over. "Of course, if you have any questions, any at all, please just call." He handed her a card, before trying to shake her hand. She ignored him, instead turning to the room. "Gentlemen." She gave a slight bow, before leaving with Helena.

***

"Alright, what do you have?" she asked Helena. They managed to find an unpopulated space to converse. Helena pulled out her data pad, "While he was talking, I cross checked the company. Well, surprise surprise, it's one owned by Nona." Ingrid nodded, "I thought I recognized the name." "Not only that, but according to some of the communications Fox found, they do work in electronics. But not just ordinary consumer electronics." Ingrid was puzzled. "What do you mean? Like military grade?" Helena looked her in the eye, "More like 'Auxiliary peripheral devices'. Here, there's a diagram." She showed the print to Ingrid, who immediately spotted the issue.

"Everything seems normal, but it looks like they're putting what I can only guess are microphones and data splitters in their commercial boards. Wait, no, their putting them in _all_their boards. Interesting." Helena put away her data pad, pleased with her self. "I think it's safe to say they want to spy on the people using their products." Ingrid agreed, "Obviously, but the real question why? What exactly are they going to do with that much information?" "Who cares?" Helena answered, "We know what they want, now what do we do about it?" Ingrid thought about it, not sure of what the best measure would be. For the moment, she decided to inform the others.

*****

"This is troubling news indeed." Fox said, over the data pad. Despite the excuse, Ingrid had had much to do, only being able to message him in between meetings. "Of course, given the nature of what they're doing, I don't believe there's any way you can allow this project to go forward." Ingrid protested, "If they don't build it here, they're only going to build it somewhere else. Plus, who knows how long they're been doing this?" Fox thought for a while. Ingrid certainly had a point. "I suppose that only leaves us one option. Though I have to say, there's no guarantee it'll work." "What exactly did you have in mind?" "You said that the components were easily identifiable on the boards?" He asked. "Yes, although I've personally never seen one. Just a blueprint for a prototype." "Either way, it should be easy enough to expose their actions. Hopefully, at that point, the public should react appropriately, and they'll be forced to stop their practices."

It sounded easy enough, but there were a few caveats. "There's no guarantee that anyone will actually take notice. And who exactly are we going to get to do the leak?" "You'd be surprised at how much people value their own privacy. As for 'who', I'm sure you'll figure it out." Ingrid was going to protest, but Fox hung up before she could. She sighed, annoyed at the surprise extra task she had.

*****

It was 8:00 pm when Ingrid had finished all her administrative duties, and finally gotten back to her house. It was a decent sized home, three bedroom, four bathrooms, a kitchen, and few other rooms, along with a two car garage. Naturally, it was fenced, with an automated security gate. While it seemed extravagant, given the usual residence of provincial governors, it was comparatively modest.

She went into the living room, and collapsed on the couch. Helena was already there, brushing her fur. "I told you to do that in the garage." She said, her voice muffled. Helena kept brushing her fur, "And I thought you said you _liked_your job?" she said, mockingly. "I did, and then you came along." She rolled over, sighing deeply. "Well Fox has another task for you, if your up for it." Helena's tail wagged, just a little, "Finally, it's been boring so far." "Here, that's all you need to know." She handed Helena her data pad, "In the meantime, I'm gonna take a shower." She got up, and headed upstairs, taking off her blouse on the way. Helena glanced briefly over the data pad, admiring Ingrid from behind, though she composed herself when Ingrid finally disappeared upstairs.

***

Ingrid was getting dressed for bed, when Helena came bursting in the door. "What the hell is this?" She demanded, furious she had been tricked. "You said you wanted more work." Ingrid replied, and resumed dressing herself. "I wanted something exciting, and instead, you give me... this." "I'm sure you'll find a way to make it exciting for yourself. In the meantime, don't you have some knives to sharpen or something?" "I'm going to bite you." Helena said. Despite her furious look, Ingrid simply yawned, and took Helena to the door. "Yeah well, don't forget this hand feeds you. In the meantime, kindly go the hell to sleep." She shut the door, an audible snarl coming from the other side. She ignored it, knowing there was no real threat, at least not to her. The target dummy outback however, was a different story.

*****

Unfortunately, unlike other professions, Ingrid's had no real days of rest. As a result, she had refined her daily routine, with a set morning schedule. She was making herself breakfast when Helena waltzed in. "Ah, why if it isn't the very nasty vixen. And how are we today?" Helena was not amused, "Shut up, and give me a coffee." Although she was normally very vain in her appearance, this morning, Helena was very disheveled.

Ingrid gave Helena her coffee, which was quickly downed. "Well I did your little leak." Helena said gruffly, "And I demand a raise." Ingrid served herself some eggs and turkey bacon. "Only if you did good work. What did_you do anyway?" "I forwarded the specs to all the news outlets I could find. Of course, first I had to dig through all the files to find the right ones, but at least now we can get back to things that are _actually fun." Ingrid smirked, "Before you do that, you may want to clean yourself up a little." She giggled as Helena haughtily left the counter and headed to her room.

Ingrid finished her meal, and prepared to go to work. She thought about telling Helena, but figured it was easy enough for either to get in touch with the other should something arise. Besides, she wasn't going to be working the whole day today, mainly just basic policy review.

*****

Ingrid came home after what felt like an endless day of work. Although she had initially taken the job to help pass altruistic legislation, she had imagined the paperwork would be fairly simple. Of course, it wasn't necessarily the complexity of the paperwork, but rather the amount that was the real downside.

She went to the living room, and started to head upstairs when she noticed something peculiar. In the middle of the living room, in one of the dining room chairs, there was a person in a suit tied up and blindfolded, with muffled screams coming from him. Ingrid calmly went past him, and headed upstairs. She popped into Helena's room, where she found Helena rummaging through one of her duffel bags. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked, in a calm but strict tone. "Looking for- Ah, here it is." Helena pulled out a leather bundle. Inside were several thin, long needles.

"Okay, before you start torturing some guy in the middle of _my_living room, I'm gonna need a little bit of an explanation." Helena turned around, and stood up. "Clearly you didn't notice our friend agent Stephens was the 'guy' you're talking about." Ingrid was befuddled, "I need more than that." Helena sighed and only just refrained from rolling her eyes, "I found him skulking about house when I came out of the shower. One thing led to another, and now we have a date." She held up one of the needles, the message being very clear.

Normally Ingrid wouldn't really interfere with Helena's little adventures, but in this case, she figured she had no choice. "Alright, before you go playing doctor, why don't you let me handle it." Helena went to hand her the needles, "Fine. But I doubt you'll get as much information out of him." Ingrid glared at Helena, "I meant without using your little 'toys'." She left, and headed downstairs.

***

She stood looking at the agent for a little while, deciding what the best approach was. Based off the fact his clothes were torn and tattered, and Helena had been spotless, she figured it had been a pretty one sided fight. As such, it was unlikely he had been trained in hand to hand combat, or hadn't been expecting to engage in it.

Helena stood halfway up the stairs, arms crossed, wondering how Ingrid was going to handle the situation. It wasn't that she thought Ingrid was incapable of torturing someone, but rather, that she had never done so before. She was intrigued when Ingrid removed the agent's blindfold and gag.

"Mr. Stephens, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked, clearly disappointed by the situation the agent had gotten himself in. "Ms. Masters? What the hell is going on?" The agent was still on edge, but seeing the familiar face seemed to calm him. Ingrid sighed, "Considering you're the one who was trespassing on my property, I would expect you to tell me." Stephens looked down at the floor, clearly regretting his initial decision. "I have nothing to say." He exclaimed, in a shaky voice. Ingrid paced around the agent a little, "Are you sure? Because I would hate it if it turned out you were lying, I would have no other choice than to bring over my chief interrogator. I believe you know her already?" The agent tensed up, dreading the possibility. "Wait, WAIT! Please, I'll tell you everything. Just, keep her away from me." Ingrid stopped, and smiled. "Good. Then let's get on with it."

"I, I knew something was off. About the records. Usually, they're completely blacked out, but in this case, they weren't." Ingrid shot a look at Helena, in a "I told you so" manner. "What else? Why are you here?" Ingrid asked. "I... I knew I could never get clearance from command, so I decided to look into things myself." "And you thought that would be a good idea?" Ingrid asked. The agent remained embarrassed, "I... I thought it would be a simple in and out case." Ingrid crossed her arms, looking on at the agent in disdain.

"Well, I hope you're happy with the mess you found yourself in. Now we have to decide what we're going to do with you." Ingrid turned away from Stephens, trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't result in more problems for themselves later on. "I have an idea." Helena said, from the stairway. Ingrid sighed, and turned to her, "No, we can't do that. Every time you ask, and every time I have to tell you, the answer is 'no'." Helena stepped down, rolling her eyes. "I didn't mean that. I was going to say we should simply return Mr. Stephens to his handlers. After all, I'm sure they're wondering where he's been these past few hours."

Ingrid was surprised by the relatively benign suggestion, but still felt there would be problems. "A word, Helena." They went into the kitchen, and Ingrid made sure to speak quietly. "You do realize the MOF is going to still ask questions, right?" Helena went over to a cupboard, and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. "Considering he essentially went AWOL _and_broke the law, I doubt they'll pay attention to anything he says." Ingrid relaxed a little, but was still unconvinced. "Still, even a brief investigation will lead to more trouble. It would be better to go for the head." "Execution?" Helena asked, eyebrows raised. "No. Blackmail. It will take more effort, but at least we know It'll work." Helena sighed, and put away the alcohol. "I guess. But you never let me have any fun anymore." "I'll do all the hard work then. And in the meantime, you can go ahead and read your little old books. Sound good?" Helena didn't respond, simply flipping her hair back and going up to her room.

"Hey, where are you going? Hey! Where's she going?" Stephens shouted as Ingrid returned to the living room. She ignored his requests, and simply explained to him the plan. "Looks like you're in luck. We'll have to keep you here for now, but if you decide to be a good little kitty, then everything should be fine, and we can all get back to our lives." Stephens tried to protest, but Ingrid simply replaced the gag, and headed upstairs. "Nighty night, don't let any potential burglars bite." She turned off the lights on her way, with the muffled screams of the agent in the background.

*****

It hadn't been too difficult to find something on the MOF director that was Stephens overseer. Although east coast organizations typically were less corrupt than west coast ones, it had been unusually easy to find information. After all, Director Lionhart was a member of the Lionhart family, the only family of lions present in the NAC, who all more or less worked for the government. Nevertheless, all that was left to do was confront the director.

It had been relatively easy enough to secure a flight to the city without attracting to much attention. It was a different matter entirely to get a private meeting in a secluded location. Fortunately for Ingrid, Helena managed to pull some strings, though she never elaborated as to how. They were to meet in Boston, at an abandoned shipping yard, far from any prying eyes. The equipment was several decades old, heavy rust rendering it unrecognizable. A few ship hulls littered the place, along with several badly decomposing shipping crates.

"Director on approach, northwest. Two bodyguards, moderately armed." Helena said, over the radio. She had chosen an old crane as a vantage point, despite Ingrid's protests. "I thought you said he was coming alone?" Ingrid responded, only slightly nervous. "Guess he didn't trust me. I wonder why." Ingrid heard an audible metallic _click_from the comms, and sighed. "Doesn't matter. As long as this goes smoothly, we won't have anything to worry about."

The director approached calmly, and motioned for his security to stay back a ways. He stopped a few feet away from Ingrid. "Ah, Ms. Masters, I should of known. After all, who else but the most beloved Governor of California could have pulled off such a feat." He was a male lion, his huge mane well kept, and black suit pressed. He stood quite tall, at least seven feet high. He was also very well built, and Ingrid knew full well even in an uneven fight, he would most certainly win.

"You know, for director of the Ministry of Finance, you seem _very_overdressed." The director was clearly annoyed, "Yes well, I have important work to do. Speaking of which, I don't have a lot of time or patience, Ms. Masters." "Yeah, I got the hint." Ingrid replied, and thrust forward a tied up agent Stephens. "So, you make the records disappear, and you get your agent back and the evidence of your agents' corruption disappears. Are we clear?" The lion grabbed the cowardly panther roughly; no doubt the agent was going to be getting an earful. "Fine. Just don't let something like this happen again, or things won't end so well next time." "Is that a threat?" Ingrid asked, cheekily. "No, Ms. Mantissa, that was a promise." He took the agent and called to his guards, promptly leaving the shipyard.

"Did he just-" "Yes. Yes he did." Ingrid said to Helena. She was still stunned, but knew there was no way of tying up the loose ends. "Want me to-" "No. Just... let's just get the hell out of here."

*****

After arriving back at the house, Ingrid had gone straight for Helena's whiskey stash. She had intended to double check her notes, but first she needed to calm down. Helena simply strolled in calmly behind her. "This could of all been avoided if you'd simply let me take care of things." Ingrid took a swig, the burn almost causing her to spit it out. "I have a feeling he's already known about us for a long time. What disturbs me is why he hasn't told anyone." She took another drink, hoping to forget the whole thing. "Seriously? I think it's pretty obvious." Helena said, mystically. When Ingrid gave her a look, she clarified. "It's like what you said; blackmail. He probably figured we're more valuable to him alive than dead." "That doesn't make me feel any better." Ingrid replied, a buzz setting in. "Never said it was supposed to." Helena said, cleaning her claws. Ingrid stared for a few seconds, astounded at how calm she was being about the whole situation. Then again, Helena wasn't the one everyone in the whole nation was going to focus on if they got exposed.

"So, where do we go from here?" Ingrid asked, rhetorically. She was surprised to get an actual answer. "Considering we're in a stalemate of mutual destruction, I think we should focus on this little project of Parthenon's. Well, that, and you may want to tell Fox about how you screwed up." Ingrid threw the bottle at Helena's head, but Helena simply caught it gracefully. "Thanks." She said, and took a swig straight from the bottle. Ingrid stormed off upstairs. Sometimes she wondered why she had bothered saving Helena that one time. After all, it wasn't like her list of responsibilities was getting shorter, and it wasn't like Helena had done much in return. Well, not recently.

She didn't bother changing, and simply plopped onto the bed. She still had work to do in the morning, as well as any work Fox needed. She closed her eyes, and felt a warmness over her. It was a few minutes before she realized Helena must of put the sheets over her. She guessed Helena did care, in her own weird way. Even if the main reason she stuck around was for the action, she was at least loyal. Ingrid giggled to herself, before drifting off to sleep, another ordinary day of work ahead of her.