A quiet table in the Navi Shop

Given how fiercely she had responded at first, Rogan wasn't surprised at all to hear that it wasn't a matter she was willing to discuss. What did come as more of a surprise to him was Leslie's reaction itself. It wasn't until she grew reserved and defensive that he realised he'd been rather more expecting a gruff or standoffish rebuff instead. A second surprise, at himself now, as the look of soft concern that schooled his face and tugged in his eyes was, for once, almost entirely genuine and unconscious, rather than constructed. He nodded and drew back again, raising one hand palm out in reassurance.

"Of course. It's quite alright; it's not my place to pry. I won't raise it again, I promise." He offered a small incline of his head and turned his gaze away again, giving his companion a moment to recompose herself if she wished, and took the opportunity to quickly pull out his chip clip-fold and transfer the new chip, tucking the small holder back into his breast coat pocket in a smooth motion. The ever-examining corner of his mind nudged at the edges of her secret, but for a rarity, Rogan quietly closed the door on it in his mind and let it be. It was enough to know that there was something potently negative weighing on the young lady, and he would keep his promise not to pry further. Her recovery was only slightly shadowed, and he played along for her benefit, grinning back softly as he looked up again.

"As for what they're up to, Well, I did say I oughtn't talk about it, but I'll tell you what I can. Normally, I'd not say anything at all; I'm quite reserved with who I trust with these things, but I did say more than I should have already and something tells me I can trust you, miss Leslie." He winked at her. And if he had 'let slip' enough details to get the right questions apurpose, it was still no lie. He sat up again, letting his eyebrows drawn down, and seeming to consider her carefully, before nodding to himself. As he continued, he let the tone of speaking in confidence slip gradually into his voice. In truth he really was, at that, if not for the same reasons as those he implied; he was trusting her to keep what he said private, after all, so maybe his act was, well, less of an act than he intended. No matter.

"I admit, I've never paid very much attention to the interior net-scapes while I work. I trust that Lyntael will traverse as she needs to for the work she helps me with, and I usually work more on the physical level, myself, but in this case..." He looked at Lyntael's screen more closely for a moment, and matched her position relative to his own net dive, checking the integrity of the masking as he did. "They're headed into some areas of the SciLabs nets that aren't commonly explored by visitors and non-staff members, but nothing we'll get into trouble for if someone complains." He picked his words with care, putting the right angle on it to suit his companion.

"Just recently, I mentioned I came across some less than forthright business practice? Well, sparing you the details, it was a small company, home-brew as it were, that I noticed were actually taking on, and putting out, some exceptionally high-end contract work, far outside the means of such a tiny enterprise. I consider it an important part of my job to investigate anomalies like that, you see, and I found a connection that leads here." His voice had dropped to a slightly lower murmur as he spoke. It was a tone he'd perfected after several years in his line of work; low enough to be hard to overhear, but still casual enough that it wouldn't draw attention as being furtive or whispered.

"I've reasoned that the small business is fronting for a larger enterprise seeking to remain hidden or off record, or else it's laundering tech sales and exchanges. The real reason I came here today was to do a little more digging." Well... it had been on his mind, at least. He'd had no intention of stopping to work it now, of course, but fortune seldom called for long and it was always better to take a dance when the hand was offered freely. It was quite amusing how reputable he could make his work sound, with the right choice of phrasing.

"So, Lyntael is in the upper nets, ostensibly doing some casual busting practice with a companion, and maybe they've wandered off the beaten track a little bit... However, I'm performing a much deeper net dive, trying to track down the information and evidence I need. Alone, I'd have to do some rather obvious bypassing, and SciLabs would probably not be happy with me, even if I am digging out someone working the facilities here, who, from what I can tell... rightly shouldn't be. Alas, my work is usually thankless." He shrugged and grinned, ducking his head slightly. "With Lyntael on the inside, however, jacked in, I can have her 'hide' what I'm doing, within her own data signature." He winced slightly and made an off-handed gesture. "It's a little more complicated than that, really, but the principle is that SciLab systems will see her, but not me as long as she maintains the mask, and I don't search in locations too desynchronised from her relative location in the network." Again he stopped himself... Leslie seemed like an astute enough person, but she'd already made it clear that technology wasn't her forte. Instead, he picked up his PET and tapped one finger on the probe, still extended and waiting patiently for his next command.

"You recall, I called this a signal booster? It is, but it's a very specific sort of tool, that, at the moment, is what's allowing me to piggy-back and hide my dive on Lyntael's jack-in link. So, while I've been following the breadcrumb trail towards the proof I need of this person's deception, both here at SciLabs and with his activities elsewhere, Lyntael has been trying to keep apace of where I search. They're actually not too far from allowing me to check what I suspect is a database this person has been using for whatever it is he's developing here. It doesn't appear on this particular net's registry of storage, and while that's not terribly unusual for SciLab nets, really, there have been other signs." He offered another small smile, raising his eyebrows and scrubbing one hand through his hair. The action reminded him that he'd need to re-dye it this week, otherwise his horrendously identifiable red would begin showing through again. Going over how he'd painted the picture to her in his mind, he realised he'd almost made himself sound like some sort of secret law enforcement. Now there was irony. What had he told her at the start of their conversation... that he dealt in information? The richness of it lent his grin to her a very genuine twinkle.

"I should thank you for coming to speak with me as you did. Of necessity I work alone most often, but in this case, busting with a friend over drinks really does draw far less attention than doing so alone." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders again. "As much as I'm doing the good people of SciLabs a service here, they won't see it that way if they find me at it. The red tape would be horrendous, and chances are, the one I'm after would slip away and cover his tracks in the meantime. You understand why I hesitate to speak with others about it?"

He settled back again, adopting a more measured, thoughtful expression as he let the serious intensity fade form his voice. It was a risk, telling her so much, he knew. There was every possibility that Varda, or the people she represented, would be keeping a tab on him now, and she'd made it clear she didn't want him snooping any more than they employed him to... but Leslie could look after herself, he was sure, and if she accepted his confidence here, then he was certain that she would not divulge it easily to anyone else. It still surprised him to be rolling the dice so casually, though. It seemed to be a day of surprises.

"It's fine, it's not like you knew. It's just...something that kinda gnaws on me a bit." ...'Gnaws on her a bit'. She just took the single most tragic, traumatic event in her life, the incident that completely shattered her childhood and stomped it into tiny pieces, and somehow she made it sound like she forgot to return a borrowed shovel. Leslie couldn't help but feel like she died just a tiny bit inside.

Without another word, she leaned in and listened to Rogan's tale of questionable Net searching, and reasons for such. She certainly had to admit that the whole thing sounded fishy. "So, you think someone's doing some shady business practices, and want to find out what they're up to?" The martial artist smirked, as her inner fire finally roared back to life. "Because if you are, I'm totally in! It sounds like it's right up my and Martia's alleys!" Not that she was letting him anywhere near her own alley. Martia wouldn't object to a nice guy hanging out in her alley, though...wait, how did she manage to go from self-promotion to sex that fast? That was almost concerning...

ANYWAY, there was officially no way that Leslie would even consider leaving now. Helping the man's inept Navi was pretty important in itself, based on what she'd seen, but now that he was investigating something suspicious...now she couldn't rest until they got proof, at least assuming that there was actually something seedy going on. "And don't worry, I get that I can't go around blabbing this to anyone, so this stays between us and our Navis. I won't even tell Father about it! Actually, I should probably just stop talking now..." Or, at least, stop talking about anything even remotely related to it. "So, nice weather we're having, isn't it?" A wink made it clear that she was moving on before she actually did do something stupid.

Rogan grinned back at her and gave a polite incline of his head in thanks.
"Indeed, and thankyou." He glanced down to his screen again, and then back. "It does seem to be a day of interesting coincidences, at any rate. It was only very recently that my brother was telling me I needed to get out and be more social, meet a pretty girl, that sort of thing." Here he chuckled, taking a moment to stretch. "I wonder if he'll be pleased, or annoyed if I tell him I had a wonderful day on the job, where I made good friends with a beautiful lady... who has no interest in men whatsoever." His smile was broad and amused, showing off his teeth, and his eyes danced at the joke.

Internally he was just as satisfied that Leslie seemed to have accepted his spin on events more or less hook and all. It was clear that whatever event she was uncomfortable about in her past, it was a brutally potent one, and if it had to do with honesty and trust in any respect, then having her accept his word was a deep relief in more ways than one. He didn't fancy having to operate out of a hospital if she found out he was being far less noble than he pretended. Deceiving her more directly would only make matters worse... maybe even lethally worse, judging from her temper... if she ever found out, but for now, it was a form of safety that should stop her asking any more questions even if something piqued her interest. Maybe.

"Ah, moving on it seems. Excellent." On the surface, of course, they might just be talking about the navis and their busting, but what it meant for Rogan was finally being able to begin scanning and transferring the data he was after in the archive that seemed the most promising. He was almost certain that this was where his target was working from, or at least where some of his data collation was occurring. "I often wonder at the level of virus activity that's still found in places as well ordered and controlled as here. I can't help but think that some of it must be at least partially deliberate. Honestly, I'd have thought that in a place like SciLabs, a navi ought to be able to traverse the network without having to worry about fighting for its continued existence, don't you think?"

"Hey, if you ask me, you're three for three. It's your brother's fault for not being more specific about the girl!" Leslie, on the other hand, went out, was being social, and met a guy. Two for three, still not bad. Once Rogan noted the Navis were moving on, Leslie looked down at her PET, and watched the girls walk along. At least this time she was actually focused on the movement in general, and not certain swaying from her Navi. "Wonder what those walls are for? Or are they just there to be there? Programmers can be pricks sometimes..." And so could viruses, as some popped up right there and then. Crap. Well, time for action!

And there, enough of a lull that she could take a breather. Operating was hard work. "You know, I just thought of something. Virus busting class always said that every fifth battle or so always had a weird knack for something different. Like, not just regular viruses, but going up against Navis, or just some weird thing walking around. After this, we'd be at the 5th battle...makes me wonder what we'll find. I've never actually been in one, so I dunno what to expect..." As a martial artist, that really burned her, since any knowledge you could get on your opponent ahead of time was a huge boost. But going in blind didn't give you an edge at all...in fact, just the opposite could happen. Well, if any potential opponents were watching this battle, hopefully they'd be too busy looking at Martia's assets to pay attention to exactly what she was doing...

A small nod of acknowledgement was most of the response Rogan offered at first, focused for the time being on searching, copying and retrieving, and then removing the hallmarks of the archive having been accessed at all. It was careful work, especially when working under an integration mask, though he did spare a moment to flick his eyes up to her as well and grin. Opposite him, Leslie seemed to have gotten herself engrossed in the task of playing with her Navi again, since more viruses had shown up, but Lyntael was close enough for him to set a few separate download tasks safely. He monitored them for a moment or two, then, satisfied, looked up again and flicked through what else Leslie had said in his mind.

"Mm, I have heard such things before, though to be honest I'd more or less put it down to chance and exaggeration. Of course, it makes sense that if you wander the net long enough you're sure to find something unusual and unfriendly, I suppose, but..." He trailed off and shrugged slightly, making an uncertain gesture. "Perhaps I've not much experience on the internal side of affairs, really, but it seems a bit far fetched for something like that to be quite so predictably regular. It would take a great deal of fate and luck, or else a controlling hand." Here he did chuckle softly and winked at his companion. "I know I tend to be more cynical than most, but I think even I would hesitate at the thought of some all-orchestrating force tangling the fates of random net battlers everywhere." His gentle laugh smoothed the remark more into a commentary on how odd reality could be, rather than a dig, and he shrugged again, taking a moment to glance at the screen where the navis fought.

"Still, I suppose we'll find out soon enough, no?" His brows knit for a moment after he spoke. Lyntael's vitals showed what he'd come to recognise as her emulation of fear again, and as pointedly as ever. Perhaps she continued to do it because it had never really gotten her damaged to any extent. He considered speaking to her again, but decided against it. Perhaps if it did lead to her taking some level of damage, she might learn to stop such frivolities.

For once, Rogan's shooting down of Net conventions was met with a nod from Leslie, instead of the usual odd look. "Well, it's what the teacher always told us, but even I've gotta question that one. The internet doesn't act at all like the real world, for sure, but every fifth battle, something weird happens? I dunno about that...but then again, I had a really good teacher for that class, and everything else he said's been true so far, so you never know..." Hmm, maybe after four battles of viruses, their karma was sufficiently bad that something had to happen to offset it? It was weird and oddly specific, but as the saying went, karma was a total bitch on wheels.

"But yeah, no point worrying about it, since we'll know for sure pretty soon anyway!" Of more worry to her at the moment was that rather big bomb that the Handy had set before being eliminated. Sure, they could destroy it without much problem, but on the off chance they messed up...no attack took that long without being worth the time and effort. Made her wonder just how bad the explosion would be if they let it happen..."Oh, don't worry about that, uh...I'm guessing it's some kind of time bomb over by the Navis, I'll have Martia handle it in a sec. ...You really gotta wonder just how powerful that thing is if a virus is willing to wait that long to attack a Navi, you know? But I'm not letting either of them take what might be a huge blast just to satisfy my curiosity! That'd just be needlessly cold..." And one thing Martia was probably sick of by now was temperature changes...

Needlessly cold, hmm? If Rogan didn't know better, he'd almost guess that Leslie might be implying something, in her own way. Chances were that the young Ms Battle was both far too blunt, and far too good-natured to try her hand at such a back-handed implication, though, and she seemed not to notice how it might be taken, herself. Ah well. He grinned for her and nodded, flicking his eyes to the combat screen long enough to check it. Hmm, so he had been right after all. Lyntael seemed to have taken some minor damage, and was now actively fighting back without any more of the cowering fear foolishness. He found himself nodding and flicked the screen back to the more important information.

This screen was less satisfying. As he let his eyes scan over the documents and other data files his probe was collating from the database, more apparent came the picture of what it was not finding. Everything pointed here, and this little database was hidden well enough to begin with... so where were they? It even looked like there were references to the files that ought to contain the most important piece of what he needed, and yet, they just looked to point right back here, as far as he could see. That was frustrating.

Though he wasn't away of it himself, his features had grown serious and concerned, eyebrows knit and his smile gone for the moment as he searched, to no avail. Leslie might be forgiven for thinking, at first anyhow, that his concern might be for the situation with their navis, but his vexation was clearly more serious and lasting longer than any immediate plight they might be in, and it was probably a stretch to suppose he'd show that level of worry for Lyntael anyway, no matter her situation. It was a mark of his concentration on his own problem that even hearing Leslie's half of the borderline indecent anecdote involving power generators and intimate apparel didn't manage to draw the wry comment from him that such might normally have warranted.

In the back of his mind, Rogan was glad that Leslie, at least, was focused more directly on the progress of the navis... or at least, that she seemed to be, most of the time. When not discussing her underwear. So maybe he had been listening after all... A glance at the screen before had told him that, had Lyntael been on her own, she'd almost certain have had to flee the area by now, and that would have made the searching very difficult. As it was, he needed to find whatever it was he was missing. There was a trick he hadn't caught yet, somewhere in all this. His mind continued to work the problem over as he read line after line of fast-moving code, scrolling quickly up the small screen. It might be hidden cross-hash style in the other documents themselves, perhaps. But he really didn't want to leave without being certain. He looked up to Leslie again, and ducked his head, offering a quiet apology for how engrossed he'd become.

"Apologies again, Leslie... this must occupy my attention again for a moment. Thankyou, though, for concentrating so closely on what the navis are doing... it's very important that Lyntael hold position for me, and without your help, and your navi's, I'm quite sure she'd not have been able to."

It happened to be at that particularly delicate moment that the coffee shop's one table server took a cue from the barrista and glided over to them, order tablet in one hand to enquire if either of them would like any further drinks, or perhaps something from there wide selection of cakes, slices and assorted other pastries? In the time they'd been there a few more of the tables had filled up with both visitors and scientists alike, and though the place wasn't exactly bustling yet, signs pointed that it might become so, and they probably wanted their tables occupied with people spending, rather than sitting. Regardless, Rogan shook his head without looking up, making a small gesture with one hand, brushing the request off. As though the though only occurred to him afterwards, he glanced up again to Leslie for a brief moment, just barely long enough to catch her eyes.

"Hm, don't want to annoy them... Go ahead if you'd like, still my cover." He was already focused on his work again before he finished speaking.

In truth, Leslie meant absolutely nothing with her 'needlessly cold' comment, as evidenced by her complete dropping of the subject upon the TimeBomb being successfully 'percussively defused'. After sending over one more chip, she sat back and chilled for a bit, reasonably confident that all she had to do was wait for Martia to kick the living crap out of remaining viruses. She kept an eye on things, of course, but her participation was probably over. Probably.

Either way, she was still keeping a closer eye on things than Rogan, by virtue of the fact she was actually looking at the battle. It still came across as weird to her just how completely uninterested he seemed in focusing on it. In her world, that'd get you killed in 5 seconds flat. Hell, if wasn't for her and Martia, there was no way his Navi could've even gotten this far on her own. In terms of the actual fighting, they weren't really doing much besides slowing them down. But training was always more fun with a partner, so who knew if they'd even still be at it now if it wasn't for them? Probably not. She'd be home, supper eaten, and getting ready to do some evening training. Come to think of it, it was sort of amazing that her father hadn't called again yet. He was probably in agony, just resisting the urge to pick up his PET and ask where she was. She should probably check in after this fight was over, just so he wouldn't have a heart attack.

But going back to the earlier thought about it being impossible for Lyn to complete four battles without any help, it seemed that her operator was aware of this, and thanked her for it. "Don't mention it! Besides, you don't look very happy, so I'm guessing there's still more work to do after this, so maybe you shouldn't thank me just yet..." Especially after one of the staff tried to give them the slight hint that they should get something else. Leslie looked over at the counter, seeing if there was anything intriguing...but it was all sweets, and that wasn't her thing. She was more of a meat kind of girl, and she didn't see anything of that variety, not even any of those tiny sandwiches they served with tea in Netopia and Creamland, whatever they were called. That would've really hit the spot, but alas, nope. "Uh, I guess I'll have another tea refill..." She wasn't really thirsty, but this time, she actually got the hint, so she needed to get something...

The server nodded graciously to Leslie, though as he turned away he still managed to cast a vaguely displeased eye at Rogan. Still, he had an order and glided away again to see to it. Once he was away, Rogan looked up and met her eyes, then nodded softly.

"Yes, it's a bit of frustration that I have to solve, alas. I've found what I'm looking for, or rather, I've found the repository in the network where I know that it is, only, it's not here." His eyes flicked down to his PET again, and the screen that was showing his net dive along with a sundry of other information, then back up to Leslie. "How to put it... there's a database of information here, that was well hidden to begin with, tucked away in a file path loop, so that you'd only find it if you knew it was there already. I know that there's more information here, important information. Except, a search of the database itself isn't revealing it. It's hidden, and it's hidden right here... but I've got to work out how, so I can find the right trick to bring it to the surface." As he spoke, his eyes had dropped to the screen again as his fingers moved, concentration deep on his features.

In away, though, it was quite pleasant to put to words the problem. It didn't really help, as he'd heard others claim it did, but even so, there was something reassuring about it. He would find it and get the answers he sought, certainly, but somehow telling Leslie so seemed to reaffirm that in his mind. After all, he'd have to, now that he'd said so.

A blinking light made his eyebrows arch for a moment and he flicked the screen over to see that the current conflict the navis had been involved in was over, and he accepted the transfer of data with a small nod before flipping the screen back. Lyntael's vitals had been showing readings he took for her displays of fear, panic and pain, but he disregarded them; her core vital signs were stable and more or less as undamaged as when he'd last checked, plus the fight itself was over now, and there was nothing amiss, according to the numbers. Rather than tell her off again, he decided just to ignore it for now; this time it hardly even seemed appropriate for the conclusion of a conflict. Instead he turned his mind back to the problem at hand; the missing files.

As he worked, probing gently in different ways and beginning to run through the various methods he knew for hiding data in plain sight, Leslie's fresh tea arrived and Rogan glanced up at the server, and offered him a small smile of thanks. Once he was gone again, he looked back to his companion.

"None of the food take your fancy then? No matter, though I suppose I should have guessed as much, really." He chuckled softly and winked. "After all, the disciplined life is scarce of honey." His grin remained for a few moments after he returned to his work, and he found himself speaking again even as he continued, though this time his eyes remained on the screen even if his tone was warmly conversational.

"Truth be told, I seldom indulge in anything like that myself,though not from concern for diet, certainly." The mirth in his voice was apparent, and he shrugged. "I fear Lyntael would tell you that she thinks I don't look after myself nearly well enough, neither in eating, or sleeping, but she does seem to have a rather... lenient definition on what should be counted as necessary amounts of food and rest. Hmmm... speaking of..." Better to make sure she didn't wander off now that he was focused on one location.

"Lyntael. I need you to hold position where you are until further notice. Report if anything changes on your end." He hesitated for a moment, and then another one as her normal responses didn't come. Odd. After waiting another second or two, he spoke again.
"Lyntael, did you hear me clearly?" His brows knit as he waited for her, then relaxed again as her soft affirmative came through. Good. Erratic behaviour or not, he couldn't have her compromise things now, not when he was right on top of the answers he was after. Shaking his head he looked up to Leslie again.

"I know it's mostly about the virus busting for you and Martia, so, I hope you don't mind if the navis stay still for a moment. I'm sure I'll have this cracked and sorted in just a minute." He grinned and ducked his head to her in an apologetic fashion. It really was a pity she preferred women... under more favourable circumstances, there was no end to what he could get away with on the power of a properly disarming smile. A true pity.

One good bit of news for Rogan was that, despite his explanation, Leslie still didn't entirely get what he was talking about. She...sorta got it, but at the same time, she sorta didn't...but she didn't want to risk looking stupid in case it was actually really simple, so she just bit her tongue on the matter, and took to sipping her newly arrived tea. Ahh, still hot, too.

Which immediately proved to be a problem, as she nearly spilt it on herself trying to stifle a laugh from her acquaintence's theory on why she passed on the food. After taking a moment to compose herself, swallow what was in her mouth, and set her drink down, she decided to explain. "Actually, it's just the opposite. It's good for teaching discipline and everything, but a hungry martial artist is a crappy martial artist!" It certainly explained why she wasn't following any sort of reasonable training regimen lately. "I just passed because I never had much of a sweet tooth. Which is weird, because both of my parents never could get enough sugar...I mean, you don't want to go overboard, of course, since no one wants to train with a fatass, but it takes a lot of energy to practice for a living, so you can get away with eating stuff like that more easily than most other people." Actually, speaking of that, she really did need to make that call. The Navis were done fighting, and while she wasn't listening particularly closely, it sounded like the kind of thing where she needed to keep her mouth firmly shut.

"Don't worry, it's not a problem at all. Won't be the first time I'll have a cold supper!" Cold, flavorless noodles. Yummy. It almost made her want to actually get something to eat here, even if it all wasn't really stuff she liked all that much. "Oh, speaking of which, gotta call Father. He's a worrier. It's...kinda pathetic, really..." Really, the only reason she didn't just tell him to man up was because she knew exactly WHY he was that way, and in that sense, she couldn't blame him one bit. All right, phone call, address book...Father...and ringing.

"On your way home yet?"

"Nope, still here. I'll probably still be a while, so eat without me if you haven't already."

"If it's the same to you, I'll wait."

"Have it your way...I just wanted you to know I'm not bleeding to death in some ditch somewhere." Almost immediately, Leslie flinched as she noticed what she'd said. Anyone looking at her PET's screen would notice that the man on the other end of the call did the same.

"...Right...you're safe. Got it."

"Um, yeah...just...wanted to let you know. Bye." With a click, the call was ended, and the martial artist felt like banging her head against something. She didn't, of course, she just really wanted to...and worst of all, there wasn't really anything to distract her. Martia looked like she was having some sort of heart to heart with the other Navi, and it'd be both awkward and kinda rude to listen to that, and Rogan was busy with his own thing. Not much to do at the moment besides try and banish certain thoughts from her consciousness...

The flinch at her own indelicate word choice was hard to miss, but Rogan averted his eyes, in favour of turning them back to his screen. The uncomfortable exchange between the father and daughter was reminiscent of things he had no intention of thinking about, and he was familiar enough already with awkward parent — sibling relationships to know that everyone would be happier if it went unnoticed. He waited a tactful few moments longer before glancing up again.

"Well, I would apologise for occupying so much of your time, like this, especially if it's keeping you from food you would prefer to anything around here... but I get the impression that whatever awaits you there is not truly tickling your fancy either." It was only a slight guess, really; She hadn't said anything directly, of course, but, to a man who spent most of his professional life saying one thing, meaning another, thinking a third and looking like he was meaning and thinking something else altogether, Leslie had, by all accounts, a charmingly readable face. He made a helpless gesture with his hands, shrugging his shoulders a little and spreading his arms a touch.

"Truthfully, as a man of conscience, I feel like the least I should do is offer you the meal you've missed by staying here and assisting me. Perhaps when I finally unthread this problem," strands of irritation crept into his voice as he referenced the as yet unyielding database, but he banished them again and moved on. "And once I've got the evidence I need, you might permit me to help you find something much more to your tastes?" His smile was just good natured and innocent, but before he could stop himself his right eye flickered in the hint of a wink as well. Old habits. Ah well...

In the back of his mind, he found himself thinking that Lyntael would probably make a great show of appearing incredulous at his offer, given how much she berated him over barely feeding himself much of the time. What she never seemed to understand, though, was that the reason he was so thrifty with his own needs and essentials most of the time was precisely so that he could make offers like this, when it suited him to do so. It wasn't like he was suggesting a night on the town and hired company, or anything like that. He looked down again and restarted some of his probes with different keys and some with new authentications. At least... he'd make good on the offer provided he found the right way into this surprisingly resilient little pillbox before it grew dark outside...

"Nah, it'll be there when I get home. It'll just be cold, that's all. And I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to head back too late and find my father's had a stroke from worrying." ...On a scale of 1-10, how bad was it that she wasn't completely exaggerating that? Doubly so if it meant some of her last words to him were, even unwittingly, about...well, THAT. On the bright side, that was probably the gentlest she'd been able to turn down a dinner date with a guy in some time.

And with her declining, Leslie was in the awkward situation of having nothing to do. Martia and Lyn were still talking, and Rogan was doing his thing...all she could really do was sit and drink her tea, and hope that no one noticed that a corner of her chair was mysteriously on the floor. It was weird, though...generally, unless she was asleep, she rarely stayed put like this for this long without doing anything. Well, virus busting was hardly not doing anything, but it was more mental, and not physical. It was almost like school all over again, where she had to will herself to not leap up and run around the campus just to burn some extra energy. Ugh, that sucked.

But for now, there wasn't much she could do, besides sit and wait for something to happen. One of her least favorite things to do.

The silence stretched between them for a few minutes as Rogan worked and Leslie... looked progressively more agitated at staying still with nothing to do. With nothing to do besides sipping her tea while the navis chatted in safety, the hum and chatter of the coffee shop was poor company.

"Gotcha..." Rogan's sudden voice had a cold razor's edge to it this time, something like a hunter springing on his prey, or a fighter out-moving his opponent and scoring a decisive strike. He hadn't looked up from his PET, but there was a very wolfish grin on his features now, showing a side of white teeth and an excited sparkle in his eyes. A few more taps at the keypad and he looked up to Leslie. As much as he tried to soften his features to something more relaxed and amiable, the look of predatory victory was hard to cover completely. The problem had been a tricky one, and infuriating, after all.

"You look discomfited... I imagine just sitting still doesn't agree with one of your lifestyle no? Don't worry, I've unravelled what should be the last thing in the way now, and I'm retrieving what ought to be the documents I need. Or, I will be in just a moment." He nodded to her with a small, apologetic duck of his head for all the waiting, then turned his attention back to his PET.

"Lyntael. You're receiving some updated and modified access idents now. Something ought to have changed in your immediate surroundings, by my guess. Follow it and maintain the mask. Should only be a few more minutes at most." He nodded his head to her quiet affirmative, but didn't respond directly, instead inputting a few more commands and returning his attention to Leslie.
"He certainly knew what he was doing, covering this up, I'll give him that much. Still, won't be long now." With a small grin he looked up long enough to catch the server's eyes. When he approached, Rogan nodded to him. "A shot of North Netopia Mist, if you keep it please, clean but rocky." At the other man's assuring nod, Rogan let his glance fall back to Leslie and he winked. "No harm in a small celebration for beating that one without any prep, I think, wouldn't you say?"

The drink took only a few moments, being both alcoholic and simple in nature, arriving in a neat glass, the shot of rich, deep amber amongst a couple of ice-cubes. Rogan raised the glass to Leslie with a small tip of his head, then knocked it back at once. There was the sound of crunching as he shattered the ice into fragments between his teeth, then swallowed, letting out a harsh breath that sounded almost vaguely like a growl.
"Uisce beatha! Nothing like it." Still grinning, he waved his eyebrows at her and upended the empty glass on the table with a click. It occurred to him later that such an outward display of his heritage would normally have made him leery, in so public a place, but he was growing used to feeling comfortable around Leslie, a woman he could be absolutely sure was not planning or plotting anything. He should do this more often.

Even Leslie couldn't help but be a little startled at how Rogan suddenly went from dead quiet, to sporting a grin that a shark would be proud of, to trying as hard as he could to stifle said grin. That was...kinda weird. "Eh, I'll be fine! I just haven't had to wait like that in a while." Her life was nothing, if not constantly booked. And even when it wasn't, it found a way to keep her occupied. Oh, how it found ways...

She proceeded to raise an eyebrow as the Netopian man sitting across from her ordered a drink...and downed it in one gulp. But that wasn't quite why she wasn't condoning it..."Actually, yeah, there is. That moment where you think it's over...that's when you're most vulnerable. You need to KNOW it's over before you can relax, or your opponent can use that against you. ...Granted, it looks like the opponent right now is just a big empty hole, but what if there's someone, or something, inside there? You can't let up just because it looks like it's about over!" Luckily, this particular bit, while maybe a tad harsh, wasn't tied to certain past traumatic incidents. It was just something drilled into her ever since she was little.

"But, since I'm here, go ahead and have your victory celebration early, I guess. I'll just stay vigilant enough for the both of us!" With that, Leslie's gaze returned to her PET screen, and began watching it like a hawk. If anyone or anything so much as twitched while in or around that hole, she'd notice.

A simple, sensible reaction, straightforward and thoughtful. There was something quite endearing about it, though Rogan suspect that if he said so aloud it might well be taken for insult. His chuckle was quiet this time, and soft, though his eyes still twinkled as he watched her.

"Ah, but you forget my aims in the face of more overt and immediate actions, miss Leslie. It was a wise man said the most efficient field is one you're already ploughing, before anyone else knows you're even buying. A wiser, and probably much more famous, man said something similar; that the most beautiful battles are the ones that are won before your opponent knows he is engaged. Of course, I'd have to amend that one to except present company..." He winked at her here, the flash of his grin showing one side of teeth again.

"At any rate, my battle today is not net exploration or virus busting, but data retrieval, and that contest has now been won, with no alerts or warnings cried. It truly doesn't matter what happens with the navis now; there is no possible outcome where I do not have the information I needed to recover." He rolled his shoulders slightly and relaxed back into his seat. Actually performing the retrieval and making sure he got everything would still take a little while, of course, but nothing short of someone dead-cutting the power to the entire Sci-Lab net could actually stop him from completing the transfer at this point. Not really a possibility unless what he was looking at was world-threateningly important... and if it were, it would have been more securely guarded than someone of his limited hacking skills could bypass.

"Even in the very worst case scenario at this point, let's see... Hm... worst case would see the mask destroyed in the next few seconds and Lyntael removed from the network so it can't be replaced, and that, at that moment, my work be discovered both by the man I'm seeking, and by Sci-Lab security, and both raise alarm at once and the one flees while the other comes to apprehend us.... I have to spend entirely too long talking to them and sorting the mess out, you're delayed further, and the man I'm after knows I'm following him, and that I have at least this level of skill, and knows that I know the contents of these databases." He shrugged. "That is still a victory as far as I'm concerned, even should that very worst possible outcome occur, simply because I will have the proof I require." Continuing to carefully select filter and transfer information, Rogan offered her a more reassuring smile.

"Of course, I would rather avoid that very worst of scenarios, so, for the time being I will continue to make the capture and transfer as delicately as I can, to cause as few ripples in the masking as I can, while Lyntael will, of course, continue to maintain it on her end. In a few minutes time, it will be complete, and I'll be able to draw this imposition on your time to a close, with no-one here any the wiser that we were doing anything more than busting together." He spread one hand to the side, open-palmed and watched her with a grin.

"There are many other possibilities between those best and worst case occurrences, as well, but the one unifying feature between them all is that ultimately," and here he winked again. "I get exactly what I want." After only moment's more of predatory intensity, Rogan's features softened again and his free hand became something more of a slightly soothing gesture.

"Don't worry, Leslie. I can promise you with all assurance that I never relax until an outcome completed, or else is beyond certain... and here it has now become so, no matter what the navis contend with in the upper levels. Thank you again for assisting me with this."

"That only works when your opponent is an idiot." In one sentence, Leslie (unintentionally) managed to turn what Rogan said into a stealth insult to her. "Surprise can get you pretty far, but...only if the surprisee lets it. And you know what MY worst case scenario is? Exactly what you said...except for the part where it damages my family's reputation because I was part of a criminal investigation, because even if I'm cleared, that sort of thing doesn't look really good. Then there's whisperings that we've completely lost it, we lose what few students we still have, and we have to shut down the dojo we've run for centuries. All because you didn't give it your total focus until the end. And if that happens, then I assure you that you will have one INCREDIBLY pissed off martial artist with absolutely nothing to lose gunning for you." It wasn't clear which was more impressive: that she didn't raise her voice once, or that she didn't shift her gaze from her PET's screen.

"...I'm pretty sure that won't happen. Just sayin'. The REAL worst case scenario is the one you can't think of ahead of time!" The martial artist looked up and smiled, in what could only be described as a slight mood swing. "Because that's the one you can't plan for, you know?" She looked back at her PET, and noticed that Martia was getting defensive about something. Her Navi had good instincts, so something was about to go down. Actually, there was something...unsettling about the area the Navis were in. And if Martia had good instincts, her intuition could border on psychic at times. "Yeah, I think there's one more thing our Navis have to have to deal with...I can sense it."

Rogan's calm self-assurance flickered for a moment as his companion railed at him. Not so much for the point she was trying to make, but more as she spelled out the consequences of her own life getting harder, if it did. Using people was one thing, certainly, but he still liked to think that he was a decent person where he could be, and he certainly didn't wish any ill on this young lady. It caused him a few troubling thoughts that he pushed to the back of his mind before smiling softly to her again.

"Please be calm, Leslie, surely you know by I now that I wouldn't endanger anything of importance without cause. I wasn't speaking of surprise, so much as misdirection." A glance down at his screen confirmed his next words as he spoke them. "My trace and gather is done; My aims are successful, and unobserved." Changing the view he looked to the Navis and their new situation. "Fate being what it is, it seems you were right: the navis have something... unusual, and potentially related, but this is what I was saying; their situation was never my goal in the first place, and if anything at all was watching them as they are now engaged, then it certainly was not watching me, which is what I needed."

He sighed softly, looking at the screen again, quite sure that that alone probably wouldn't really placate the woman across from him. His brow furrowed as he read the information there and scanned over what the screen was showing. Lyntael's attributes and other minor statistics had changed for some reason. How had that happened?

"Anyway, I'm now in the process of extracting my own probe from the network, and will begin disengaging it from Lyntael's masking in a few moments. I promise you, you and I are very definitely in no danger at all any more, no matter what happens with this... ah, unusual event." Looking again he tilted his head a little, and tweaked the gamma settings on his screen up further tyring to get a properly detailed look at the...virus? Program? Creature...? It was a strange one.

"I must say, though... whatever that is, it looks like whoever coded it must have had to—"

"Rogan, Sir, this is important!" For whatever reason, Lyntael's voice playback was more audible than normal, perhaps related to her changing the levels to stay quiet where she was. It was certainly loud enough to Leslie to hear as well, if not anyone else.
"Just deal with it, Lyntael; we're almost done here. I expect you should—"

"Oh, would you just listen for a moment!" At the sound of his navi cutting him off so abruptly, Rogan blinked, silenced by his own surprise. She continued before he could recover. "I can't talk to Martia directly without getting caught, and I think I should stay hidden for now, but, I've learned something, and I need to tell her. Please, sir. Just can you tell miss Leslie that the log calls this navi 'SIX', and that the experiments were all about speed and offence, but it struggles with targeting... ask her to tell Martia that if it does attack her, she needs to stay mobile and keep moving."

In an effort to regain his sense of control, Rogan glanced up to Leslie instead, arching one eyebrow at her to confirm that she had, indeed, heard his wayward navi's message, before looking back to his screen. They seemed to be trying to placate the creature, rather than purge it. Strange activity, all things considered. He'd call it silly, but stupidity was never the fault of an AI, merely its designer. There was little point in 'calming' a creature like that, and he promptly tried to explain this to Lyntael, but her new found stubbornness was very irksome. He'd have to look into that when they had a moment. By the time their exchanged reached the end, his voice had grown into a very sever and quite forceful reprimand, and he paused, taking a breath and calming himself. He did care about letting something like that free. Of course he did... working the system required a system that worked, for one thing. He shook his head and turned his attention away, back to Leslie. Hopefully she wouldn't think ill of him for speaking severely to Lyntael.

"What do you make of it? It would be a moral dilemma if we were dealing with real individuals, of course... but we aren't. Just spliced code." He shook his head, setting his PET down on the table as though the whole matter was vexing him.

Though a bit annoyed, Leslie wisely chose to drop the subject with a slightly exasperated sigh. It helped that Rogan had said that he was getting his probe whatever out of there, since she didn't have much reason to get mad if there was no way she could get into trouble. He started to say something else, but was interrupted by his Navi, surprisingly enough. It was plenty loud enough for her to hear herself, and so she passed it onto Martia as asked. She still listened to the conversation between the other operator and Navi, in part because it was loud enough that it was sorta hard not to. Afterward, the former seemed a bit confused, and almost acted like she was supposed to back him up on this. Oh, how wrong he was.

"Do you REALLY think we're just going to let it roam the Net like you said? We're martial artists, not idiots. If Martia can get through to it, I want to send it to SciLab proper, since they'll have the facilities that can contain it. Then, they can research it, and with any luck, find a way to undo the combining, and restore everything back to its original state. You probably didn't see it earlier, but I read some of the stuff the Navis were checking out, and it said that they used the cores of Navis to make those things. As long as they can salvage that, they should be able to reconstruct the Navi. That said...Martia knows what needs to be done. If it's obvious we can't save it, if its soul is completely gone...we'll fight, and protect the Net from it. But not before."

Leslie crossed her arms, fairly proud at herself for what she said. And she wasn't even done. "Besides, who made you in charge of who lives and dies? Just because it looks like a hideous monster doesn't necessarily mean that it actually IS a hideous monster. For all we know, it's harmless. I mean, it hasn't attacked Martia yet, even though it knows she's there, right? Now, if it starts attacking her without mercy, then we'll talk deleting it. But as long as the chance that there's still a soul somewhere inside that thing exists, I'm not going to just wipe it off the face of the cyberworld."

"I saw, and am aware of what components apparently went into this project, though it changes nothing in reality. That the navis will do what must be done is precisely what I'm trying to say. As I said to Lyntael, no matter the outcome, they cannot let it loose; that possibility is not an option." As he spoke Rogan held her eyes with his, his features calm but still serious. His eyebrows were still drawn, lending some hardness to the look, but not enough to make him smooth it.

"I'm doing my best to be sensitive to your personal beliefs on the matter, so, rather than bring up our disagreement over the person-hood of compiled splicings of code, please let me put the matter in a different light..." Sitting forward in his chair again, Rogan continued to hold his companion's eyes as he continued. Truthfully, Leslie had manoeuvred herself to this point over the course of their conversation, with very little help from him; he was just illustrating the end results of it. As he continued his voice took on the sense of intensity he'd been remarked for in the past, that rarely seemed to brook interruption. His words were quick, but clear and firm all the same.

"Release, we have established is not an option, no matter how much this creature may calm down or seem relaxed, what we know and have seen of it already and its ability to disrupt and destroy quarantining procedures, cannot be ignored. So, then, the remaining apparent choices are these:" Holding one hand to the side slightly, palm towards Leslie, he curled his fingers until only one was extended, counting. "Either to expunge it completely, or else render the remaining data non-functional. Alright, you'd rather not do that. I'd rather not as well. I abhor wastefulness of any sort." He certainly wasn't lying about that. He extended a second finger.

"Or, it gets subdued and quarantined in some fashion, until, as you suggested yourself, we make it someone else's problem... you have noble intentions for the program in question, of course, but that is what it remains; passing the problem." He took a breath and folded his arms, turning his head slightly though he continued to watch his friend's eyes.

"So let's look at that option, shall we? You want to calm it to the point that you can have the navis hand it over to SciLab. Where exactly do you think we are, Miss Battle? Who exactly, do you think did this in the first place? Upon whose nets did we find it forgotten about and locked away, to linger, abandoned and derelict until our navis happened to stumble upon it? Under whose license was this experimenting originally conducted? The navis are in a secluded part of their private nets currently, and while my target may have been using said forgotten archives for his own ends, he certainly didn't create or install them. This project is old, and it has the theoretics and logging practices of SciLab written all over it. I may not have prowled within their private nets often, but I've seen enough of their formalised research work in the past." Taking a breath, he made a small cutting action with his hand, both that he was finished counting, and that he was moving on.

"I'm not saying that they condone it, but someone, at some point in the past, got approval from them to do exactly this. Let's give SciLabs as an entity the benefit the doubt and assume that the petitioning research team... do note that, Leslie, not an individual but a team of scientists; the log file spoke in the plural... let's assume they were remiss in specifying how they acquired their materials... even then, the project was permitted and conducted, here." He shook his head, letting his eyes close for a moment.

"Tell me, Leslie... you speak of souls and the person-hood of navis... We might disagree about that, but are you telling me that you would willingly consign a tortured and tormented individual to the 'care' of the very organisation that tortured it in the first place, simply on the hope and whim that they might undo what has already been wrought? I would not do a thing like that." He paused for a moment, then continued; his stance was not arbitrary or vindictive... just the only practical course of action, once you considered all of the factors involved. Something highly emotional people like his new friend often didn't do until it was spelled out for them.

"The log appears to indicate that the experimenting came to a violent and destructive end, in some sense. Whether that violence and destruction extended only to the navis of the experimenting scientists, or something worse we may not know, but one way or the other, it was not simply shut down neatly. What was the result that we find, however? One of these projects locked away in a forgotten quarantine, and the project buried. SciLab did find out all the details of this experiment, patently, and this was their response to it. Not to restore or care for the programs affected, but to simply isolate them and forget about them. And supposedly, we are to dredge this up again and wave it under their noses. What do you think the result will be of doing that?" He waved his hand, as though dismissing the rhetorical question; the answer would not have been anything good... and continued.

"There's more to consider." He kept his gaze locked on hers, aware that the slightly hard expression had once again taken over the majority of his features. "You've only just finished telling me about the very unpleasant repercussions you might face if anything... official has to be gone through. The fact that there would ultimately be no legal consequences doesn't help you, because you are talking about the importance of your personal reputation, I understand that. If I had known your own straits were so potentially dire in the first place I would not have risked involving you in my work here today, just for the sake of having better cover for myself. I know full well that the general populace rarely distinguish which side of the law a covert investigation really is, and that it ends up looking bad for those involved regardless. That's the other reason why I'm saying that that this cannot afford to be handled with an official channel any more; I have no desire to get you into trouble over this... nor even something that may only look like trouble, when it isn't. I do understand that, Leslie, believe me I do." He sighed, dropping his eyes at last and letting the intensity fade from his voice. When he spoke again it was softer.

"Suppose the navis are successful, and the program calms to the point of coming peacefully. We haven't the means to contain or quarantine it ourselves. However, if we take it to SciLab's own researchers there will, unavoidably, be questions asked. Where was it found, how, why our navis were there in the first place and what they were doing. For myself, I wished to avoid that just for the sake of red tape, but for you, it's something that we now absolutely must avoid." He shook his head and looked up to her again, letting concern rule his features now.

"As much as I might disagree, I can still understand that you wish to do the right thing by this program... but what, when the thing you feel is right by this program will mean consequences for you, your life, your livelihood, your heritage, and you own family, personally... consequences that you simply can't afford. When what you feel is the right thing by one, conflicts what you know is the right thing by another, what then? If you had to make a choice between doing the right thing by this program, or by, say, your own father, I don't imagine it would be easy to do, but surely it would be clear. Choices are rarely black and white... it would be nice if they were. Think on this, though... If you truly believe that there's something within that program that can suffer, then you can't deny that it is doing so. If the care that any outside force is likely to give would be to simply seal it away again, to prolong that tortured existence and continue like that indefinitely, would giving it to their 'care' really be the right thing to do by it?" Sitting back, he sighed softly, letting a careworn note enter his voice.

"It isn't that I want to delete it any more than you do; it's just the only practical option there is. There are many different forms of benevolence in the world, and it isn't alwa—"

His voice was cut off by the sound of an agonised shriek playing from his PET. Amidst everything else, Lyntael had, clearly, left the channel open without realising, and while the sounds of destruction and explosions may have drowned out her cries on the net side, there were no exploding consoles to muffle her cry in the cafe. Rogan's eyes flicked down to the screen immediately and he reached out to pick it up and take a better look. The sound of another gasp of pain, followed by more muted crying, coughing and whimpers made for an uncomfortable end to his dialogue, but for once there was no reprimand about affectations on his tongue. His focus was completely on the screen now as he assessed Lyntael's condition in silence while the soft sounds of his navi's suffering continued to filter through quietly. He spared a moment to cut his eyes back up to Leslie, almost daring her to keep pressing for 'talking it down', then flicked them back to his screen.

"Are you content that we can rule out "harmless" now?" He didn't look up as he spoke, and there was a slightly bitter edge to the words.

All right, let's hear Rogan out. Releasing it into the wilds of SciLab was definitely not a plan. She was a little surprised to hear that he'd rather not delete it, but so far, they were on the same page. As for passing the problem...well, she hadn't quite thought of it that way, but it was hard to believe that SciLab wouldn't be okay with housing a monstrous being to research how to restore it to its original state.

...Wait, did he really just start suspecting SciLab? Even if she was blindfolded and knew nothing of his nationality, Leslie would've known at that instant that he wasn't a native of Electopia. She let him get everything off his chest, but, well, he'd already lost her early on, so it was mostly a waste of time if he was trying to actually convince her of anything. And-

Lyn's scream made the martial artist flinch, mainly because it was so loud and unexpected. She flipped the virtual camera over to the other Navi, and it...wasn't pretty. "Er, okay, so it's not harmless..." Granted, she'd only said that theoretically, but this didn't seem like the proper time for that. Afterward, and with a little bit of prodding from her Navi, she slammed in her single healing chip, for use on the Navi that really needed it. All right, she had to give Rogan her response, even though after that it probably looked bad if she still disagreed...but she could see that Martia was trying to fight for both Lyn and the monster. The least she could do was fight for her.

"First off, I don't think this was actually a SciLab thing. Just because it's their part of the Net doesn't mean they're automatically the ones responsible. SciLab's existed for over 50 years, and their record is spotless. And it's been checked time and again by the government, reporters, random people that didn't believe anything could be that squeaky clean...even conspiracy nutjobs usually admit it's exactly as it advertises itself. That's why it's a lot more likely that a small group of psychos got together to do what they generously called science on SciLab turf. After all, there was tight security blocking access to the area. But who says the guy you're getting info on did it? Who said he didn't know about it already, and just used it for his...whatever? So, yeah, really unlikely SciLab even knows about this, much less sponsored it."

"Also, this is a lot different than what just happened. What you were doing...that was vague. I don't know everything about what you were doing, but I helped anyway, since you're a friend. But this...this is nice and simple. There's a monster thing that ended up that way through no fault of its own, and Martia's trying to help it. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. And for me, that's more important than anything...even the family reputation. If you want to get your Navi out of there, go for it, I'm pretty sure there isn't any jack out barrier or anything like that. But we're staying, and we're fighting. With our hearts, and with our fists, if we have to. One way or another, we're seeing this through to the end."

With that, Leslie finally stopped talking. One thing she'd noticed was that Rogan had spent most of the time looking down at his own PET...and wasn't doing anything like he had been doing this time. His Navi had just taken a brutal hit, but he was the one that insisted that Navis were just data, and had no real feelings or anything. Yet, it almost seemed like he was caring for Lyn while she was in such a state, even if only a little. She opened her mouth to start to point that out...but thought better of it and stopped. Some things had to be learned on their own, and couldn't just be told.