You trust she'll see reason (Ending #7: Tschau, Ciao)

You remembered back to all of the times Tschau had acted like a pouting young lady, still needing the guidance not just of a handler, but of a friend. Among CEDIT and even within the Goodbye Girls, she'd isolated herself, closing off her heart and her words to everyone; she only trusted herself. You thought you'd made a lot of progress towards fixing that attitude in your time together with her and even now, you could see that facade of her narrow-minded pursuit of justice slipping away, as she considered your words and hesitated to advance with her blade. There had to be something you could say that would bring her back to her senses.

Gritting your teeth, you reminded her: together, you and Despedida had worked together to stop Ivan Bortnik, her most hated enemy. Further to that point, CEDIT had crippled both Adder and the Deliverers, enemies with the worst intentions in mind for the world at large. How could she hate all of CEDIT-- and you-- when you'd accomplished so much together? Somebody, maybe Promethia, had clearly poisoned her mind with some dubious information.

Tschau gripped one hand to her head and closed one eye as she continued pacing the floor opposite from you. "My mind...? Don't... Don't act like you understand everything that goes on inside my mind, Ciao! You're always talking too much. You're too bossy..." the ninja complained, shaking her head in irritation. "Don't you ever consider that other people know better than you do? I'm not wrong about this! If need be, I'll destroy the Deliverers after the fact, but first, I have to destroy CEDIT! That means you, Goodbye, Despedida, Au Revoir, Vaarvel... anyone who's part of their corruption!" she shouted, raising her voice to an angry pitch.

You raised your own voice to match hers, shouting for her to listen! What separates terrorists like the Deliverers from people like the Goodbye Girls? Both wield terrible power and abilities that ordinary civilians can't possibly conceive or match. Both operate in the shadows and wield fear as weapons. The only difference between the two is who they choose to serve. CEDIT is a world task force that stops the machinations of terrorists who want to kill innocent people. Had she ever seen any of the Goodbye Girls-- or you-- kill an innocent person? In your time here, all you'd ever done was serve world peace. Wasn't she the same way?

"... It's the things I can't see that make the difference. Are you really saying you're innocent, Ciao?" Tschau drilled you, while the hands on her blade began to tremble.

Here, you shook your head. Nobody's innocent. You'd tricked all of your allies this whole time for the sake of your mission and invaded their privacy, after all. You'd done some morally gray things in the name of surveillance and interrogation during your time as a CEDIT agent, even before your handler mission. That said, the judgment of death should be reserved only for the most stained individuals, the ones who threaten people. She had her own code of justice; she ought to be able to ask herself if you really deserved to die by her blade.

"... Y-You don't... Deserve that," she admitted, casting her eyes downward and allowing her sword to fall, without releasing her grip on it. The blade clacked against the laboratory floor.

The fact that she'd finally seen reason was a huge relief. Framing it in terms of her code of justice seemed to do the trick; there was nothing she was more serious about than upholding that code. To show your trust in her, you approached, keeping your hands up and off your holstered weapon.

"Don't come near me..." the small woman grumbled, placing one wrist over the other, but failing to back up away from you. You thought that she trusted you; looking at her expression, you expected she may even want your embrace, to soothe her troubled emotions.

You thought that would be good for you too. You wanted to calm her and tell her that even after this, things would be okay. CEDIT was a clandestine organization; things can be kept under wraps if they need to be. Tschau was still a servant of justice and a friend-- after your message about the goodness in people, you thought she deserved another chance, too. When you reached her, you placed one hand on her shoulder with a warm gesture, watching as her eyes turned up towards you.

Those weren't the eyes of Tschau. In the place of her sparkling, girlish pink eyes, you saw what appeared to be a bright orange color. One hand reached up to pull down her mask, revealing her pink lips, but, more alarmingly, a wide grin spread across her face.

"Engineering these kinds of situations really is the best! I love to watch the fallout. You ought to see your face right now, Nathaniel!" a voice came from... seemingly, inside the ninja's head. Her mouth wasn't moving along with the words; it was as though a mechanical speaker inside her head was projecting the noise instead. "If this was the kind of situation you could get through just by talking sweet, I think you'd have passed with flying colors. Unfortunately, for me, this one's more interesting if you take the loss right now."

You struggled to push away, but found Tschau's mechanical fingers gripped tightly at your back, digging painfully into your spine and holding you in place. There was no way to escape this situation.

"No need to worry, though. Tschau won't remember any of this. I'll be nice to her... I'll tell her Promethia killed you! That works better for everyone, I think. Now, tilt your chin up like you're getting a shave... The cut will be a lot less messy if you do," the familiar but unidentifiable voice of Namaste advised you. "Handler #4 falls into my collection. I wonder how I should do the next one?"

Knowing you were at the end, you struggled regardless. Nothing would reach the madman-- or mad-woman-- behind Namaste, so you appealed to Tschau again instead, shaking her narrow shoulders with your hands. She had to wake up! She had to serve justice! The two of you had fallen into some kind of trap with only a small chance to escape! The real Tschau was still in there!

"And there's your problem. The chances here are 'zero,' Nathaniel, and they always have been. You were marked for death the moment you walked into the door on your first day-- that's just because you're the prey I love the most. If it gives you any consolation, you're definitely my favorite handler that's been killed so far. So... how should we end this off?" the voice rang from inside Tschau, as the puppet-like ninja tilted her head and smiled cutely at you. "How about... 'Namaste,' Ciao?"

Your attempts at resistance were futile; you could see that now. You weren't sure what it would do to Tschau, but you had to try your Discrete EMP. It was right there in your pocket if you could just... move... your arms!

Shlick

Your hands tensed, then fell, and your vision went black, as a blade crossed your throat in one casual stroke. The last thing you saw was a spray of your own blood coating the ninja's smiling face.