Join Despedida in inspecting the drone and hear her thoughts on Au Revoir...

You figured Au Revoir was off to handle the super weapon... You'd leave that to her. If nothing else, she'd probably just smash the thing with blunt force until it became inoperable. For now, you wanted to focus on Despedida... She must be feeling pretty down, after her gadgets had inadvertently led to the enemy escaping. Indeed, as you crouched by her side, she didn't seem to be her usual chipper self.

"Yo, New Ciao... Or maybe I should start calling you Ciao? You survived your first mission, after all. Tutorial's over, heh..."

You told her that would be preferable. {if Tech Skill = 1}Even with your considerable knowledge in the field of CEDIT tech, you found the internal workings of the drone she was busily disassembling to be like looking at something from science fiction. Still, you offered to help. She shook her head, then glumly stared at the floor.{endif}

"You've come in at a bad time, seems like, New Ciao. I'm not so dumb I think the third handler we've gotten after two others died is the one who's behind sabotaging us. Besides, I've hacked in and seen your track record... You're as straight-laced as agents come."

You wanted to tell her you could be a bit of a bad boy, but this seemed like an inappropriate time. Instead, you were happy to see that she had a reason to trust you... it would be difficult to keep your mission up, if you were constantly worrying about this tech-head surveying your movements. With a serious expression, you asked Despedida who was behind this? Was there anyone with beef against the Goodbye Girls who might have the technological background and the motivation to appear as Namaste?

"Ha ha... I'm the only one with tech skills sufficient to do this and I didn't do it. It's a real pickle..." The girl pushed her curly black locks away from her face, then turned one eye towards you, barely visible beneath the bill of her cap. "There's a lot of suspicious girls in the Goodbye Girls. I know you don't have many reasons to trust me yet. But if you want my opinion... Au Revoir's the suspicious one."

You asked how that could be possible... After all, Au Revoir seemed to be so bad with technology, it was worrisome to remember she'd driven the spy van to this location.

"She may have had help or she may be a better hacker than she lets on. Here's the facts... before she was a Goodbye Girl, Au Revoir was a member of Adder, the underground weapons dealers that sell to all of our worst enemies. That makes them maybe the worst of our worst enemies. At some point, Vaarvel got her to switch sides and come on board... I always trusted that's what happened, because Au Revoir's such a dumb goof. But you know... If you were planning some spy game, wouldn't it make sense to make the bad guy the one person that nobody would suspect, the one too stupid to be behind it all? I'm sorry, but with that background of hers... She's the one with the most to gain from sabotaging me. She's also the only one who's had access to my technology as of late..."

You reminded her that she wasn't above suspicion either.

Despedida smirked a bemused smile. "Good point, Ciao. But like I said... you're going to have to take my word on it. I know I didn't do it, it's just frustrating I have no way to make you know." With a hint of agitation, she planted a screwdriver in the back panel of another spherical drone and began prying it loose. "Now you're caught up in something even more dangerous than our usual adventures. Still... I gotta admit. If you're gonna be stuck in it, I'm glad to have seen that you can pull your own weight. When I play a battle royale with strangers, it makes me feel just a little bit safer when the other guy turns on team speak and tells me they have my back. So, you know... I guess I'm happy you came to talk to me. Let's try to talk some more some time, maybe back at base?" That seemed to be her way of dismissing you; she pulled her cap back down over her eyes as she refocused herself on the drone.

You were glad that Despedida seemed to trust you... but you couldn't help worrying about Au Revoir. She really was one of the most dangerous of the group, just from her sheer combat prowess. If she was that strong and secretly had the mind- or the help- of a genius hacker, intent on acting against CEDIT... your mission was going to be even dicier than it first appeared.