Serious: It's broken; Fix it

"We have... a big problem."

Marine admiral Ran slammed a stack of papers onto her desk. She picked one of them up, and turned it at Zero, the leader of the Grey Code. "This line represents a loss of well over a billion beli... into an apparent void." She looked out of the window into the courtyard of the fortress-like building. "Oh how I wish we knew where they disappeared, but we do not. Marine financial affairs are an industry to themselves. Just in this building, there are about 30 people who could've done this." She turned back to Zero. "And a machine like this can't keep a secret. Not within its own walls. Things will leak through, and whoever did it can cover their tracks."

"But we're outside the system." Zero noted. "We're not known here." The admiral nodded. "Yes. And I can authorize you to do whatever you want in financial affairs. I can't use my normal investigators. They are too well known, and Lion Derelict can't keep his mouth shut to his employees. No-one in finances is to know." Ran finished. "As per usual, good admiral. I assume no-one in finances has recently left the fortress?" Zero asked. "No. They have all been here for the past month. Good. We will get to work then, admiral.

Zero rose from his chair and left the admiral's office, making his way to the quarters his crew was staying in. "We have a mission."

The old Chichi Tsubabsa was in the middle of one of her daily power naps. She was sitting in her seat, her old legs crossed on the seat and off the floor, he body as stiff as a plank. Even though it wasn't that late, as an old lady, Chichi could muster not so many hours of sleep a night and she was up before the sun shined.

When Zero stepped into the quarters, Chichi's eyes opened, revealing her pupils through a thin slit. 'It's nice to see you too...' she thought to herself, she didn't like to be woken up, but her code of honor didn't allow her to smart mouth her own captain, at least in the morning. "Is it anything serious?" Chichi asked with a drowsy voice, she didn't dare to move her body yet, she will need to stretch her old bones before that.

"Yes. Quite. Zero answered dryly. Over a billion beli has disappeared from the government coffers at some point in financial affairs. Anyone in that wing could be guilty, and there are about 30 people there. What's more, no-one from the team has left the island in over a month, and we all know how good this place is for recreational pursuits, so this money is probably being funneled into some other purpose. A billion beli is a lot of money, and could be used to cause us quite a bit of trouble." Zero sighed. "And utmost secrecy is required. If one person in finances knows, everyone there knows. And then the culprit knows. That would doom the whole mission, so we will have to be careful."

To tell the truth, being transferred to Grey Code had made Nathaniel a bit nervous. She didn't know much of that crew, and that alone was reason to worry. It was her job to know things, and if there was something she didn't know all about on her own side, then that was more than enough reason to get worried. Still, from what she gathered, from looking at the members and asking her gran... her superior as well as various other contacts, this seemed to be a group of fighters. What they would want with an informant such as herself was beyond her, but she wasn't about to complain. Every step forward was one step closer to her goal.

At the moment, the tall woman was keeping away from the others, out of habit and out of carefullness, watching the small scene unfolding, and keeping her thoughts to herself. As part of a team, she had never been much good.
Insteresting to her right now were the two persons talking. One, she knew as Chichi "Granny" Tsubasa, the other only as Sir Zero. He appeared to be their leader, though he was younger than her and much younger than Tsubasa. No matter how much she had poked around, information remained scarce... Worrying. Better keep an eye on that one.

Before Zero's entrance, Katelyn Ceres had been very much living up to her title as the "living doll", her delicate features completely still and her body as unmoving as a statue's where she sat. With her legs crossed daintily beneath a frilly dress and her pink parasol resting on her shoulder along with prim gold ringlets, she looked like nothing more than an overgrown child's doll.
It was her means of conserving energy; there was no point in engaging in meagre small-talk as far as she was concerned.

"We have a mission."

The young woman's eyes opened and swivelled over to Grey Code's leader, her state of torpor suddenly ended with the news of some long-awaited action.
She listened to his exchange with Chichi Tsubasa and gave a faint, rather eerie smirk at the old woman's irritable attitude towards being woken up.

"A billion beli?" Katelyn remarked, her voice clear as a bell but in a complete monotone. "Hmmm, that is fairly serious. If I understand the situation correctly, it seems paramount to me that the culprit is found as soon as possible. The longer he or she walks free, the more beli that can be slowly siphoned off into this "other recreational purpose"..."

She lightly hopped down to her feet, twirling her parasol and let her eyes slide briefly sideways to the human, fishwoman hybrid standing nearby. She seemed, as Katelyn was, a woman of few words and the younger of the two had decided not to make any snap judgements regarding her just yet. As for the others, the old woman seemed sparky and snappy for her age while their leader seemed polite on a surface level...though he did have a kind of coldness about him.
Though Katelyn, otherwise known as Dame Seven, didn't plan into reading into the intricate psyches of her teammates anytime soon.
"Have you any particular preferences in how you wish for this mission to be approached, Sir Zero?"

After hearing Zero's briefing, Chichi's slanted eyes shot open for the slightest of moment, before her old age closed them back. 'A billion beli... that must be the largest amount of money I have ever heard of... no, wait, there was this time when the ruler of Janya tried...' Chichi thgouht, and like that, she drifted into memories of her long life, battling old age to try and remember as much as she could.

The sounds of her subordinates speak threw her out of her thoughts. She didn't know any of them that well since she was transferred into the Grey Code not too long ago after short time serving in the CP9. She might have been here for more than she could remember, but that didn't change the fact that she could barely remember the names of her unit members.

With a cracking sound of bones falling into place, Chichi stretched her legs before reaching for her wooden cane. "You're right" She opened, with a voice that was rusty form old age, avoiding the Katelyn's name since she wasn't sure what it was. "This problem must be solved as fast as possible. If we won't, whoever is in charge will have a chance to scam the government for more money, or even worse: disappear." She said. She then stretched her back to try and get rid of the pain she felt from the moment she woke up, without success. She then waited for Zero to continue his briefing.

"Indeed." Zero said. "We have no real leads right now, but we should attempt to find out who has the most outside contact. Any such people are prime suspects. We will have to shadow them, and report back to the admiral. Since there have been no reported absences, we can only assume that the money is being funneled to someone else. Most likely, a billion isn't enough for them, or everyone involved would be long gone by now. That is our chance." Zero continued. "We should shadow the employees on their time off. That is the only time they will be able to deal with this. And because we have limited time, ignore larger cliques within the employees for now. It is unlikely that any significant portion of the wing is in on this. He finished. "We have a lot of work to do.

During the course of the conversation, it had become ore and more clear that her being here could not be a coincidence. Information gathering? Shadowing suspects? Detective work? This was so incredibly up her alley, too much for any of this to not have been planned.... Then again, how should it have been? Maybe she was thinking too much into this, and her being here had just been luck. It was closely related to her namesake, after all...

"Sir..."
She stepped forward, though just a bit. It became apparent that she, if she wanted to do her career good, should not keep her abilities to herself.
"I have been transferred here recently. My name is..."
Nathaniel stopped herself before she could actually reveal her identity. Though she was not sure about the Grey Codes rules regarding this, she would rather go by her codename, just to be sure.
"I'm Dame Eight... I am a specialist when it comes to such things as information gathering or... what some would call detective work, qualities that, it appears, this situation would call for, and which I would be glad to offer..."
She wondered if this was the right way to introduce herself, or if that had been too much information... Inside, she was a bit nervous. But outside, she remained as calm as she had ever been.

Chichi released a long sigh after hearing their mission briefing. Information gathering wasn't her best quality, she was better at battle tactics, or any kind of battle-related subjects, but not espionage, she left that for others to handle. Still, she'll have to take part in this mission, to show that her transfer was the right choice. "OK..." She said. She placed her feet on the cold floor and with the help of her cane, stood up. This task seemed to be impossible for such an old lady, but Chichi was capable of that, and much more.

"Do we know when's the employees next break? When do they get off work?" She asked. Getting a good understanding of what information was already available was the first step for a successful espionage operation, that's at least what she remembered from her basic training more than a hundred years ago.

In the run of Zero's briefing Katelyn had already begun to profile their unknown subject. She tilted her head, very slightly raising her eyebrows as she folded down her parasol and placed the tip on the ground- every action swift and deliberate as she spoke. "So we're looking for an employee who avoids the larger cliques and gangs, has heavy contact with the outside or at least seeks to have this contact and also has access to the finances department?" She smirked faintly, her posture always as straight-backed as a ballerina's despite her display of mirth. "A game of cat and mouse. Delightful."

The Living Doll looked to the previously silent woman as she stepped forward and introduced herself as not only "Dame Eight" but as a trained detective.
Interesting information, Katelyn decided. Useful too.
She looked to Nathaniel, remembering the pleasantries that had been practically hammered into her as a child when it came to meeting strangers.
"It's nice to meet you, Dame Eight," she said, rather tonelessly, her lips curving in small smile but her eyes remaining emotionless. "I am Dame Seven...or if you'd rather address me informally, call me Kay."
Katelyn switched her gaze to Zero. "I'm afraid, I'm no professional snooper, sir...but I can obtain any information from whomsoever I please without much difficulty..." Her eerie smile remained. "And I'm good at blending in."

Privately, Katelyn admired the older one's questioning for specific details. This one was no-nonsense and to the point- just how the young woman liked to be, herself. She nodded briefly to Chichi. "I suppose lunch-break would be a good place to begin. Plenty of lower mortal prattle, incriminating rumours and brays of gossip rolling off the employees' tongues..." She looked to Zero. "Another question, sir, would be how are we to approach this? Are we to work in partners, in a pas de deux or to simply work alone and go among the employees, solo?"

"So... Dames Two, Seven and Eight." Zero started after the influx of introductions and questions. "They will be having a break in about an hour, except for the secretary, who has a break later during the day, in about 2 hours. However, the manager, Lion Derelict often stays in during the breaks." After giving that bit of exposition, Zero changes the focus of his explanation. "As for us.. we should go there first and see how the accountants arrange themselves. Then we'll decide who shadows whom."

(OOC: My next post shall probably be a timeskip. Everyone in favor?)

Katelyn nodded, draping the handle of her parasol over her arm as she listened to Zero. "Very well."

(OOC: Yep. Sounds fine by me! )

Chichi nodded at her commander. It seemed like she was going to have to use her special art today, and that meant that it was going to be a tiring day. "Let us head out" She said.

((TIMESKIP AWAY))

After her little introduction, Nathaniel stepped back behind the others again.
She wasn't exactly sure whether or not government agents saluted, so she didn't, and nodded instead.
"Yes sir."

(Let's get going)

Break time.

Zero had previously memorized the faces of the finances wing employees, and was now observing the entrance from the roof of the next building. His group was behind him, as was customary in the start of a mission. The employees streamed out of the main entrance, the thirty quickly dividing. A group of nine separated, walking right from the entrance. Then, there were two groups of four, which both made their way in the opposite direction, though clearly separated from each other.

A group of five lingered around the entrance, but slowly slithered their their way out of the entrance. Then there was a group of three that simply made its way straight forth, not turning either way. A pair of people turned left, leaving two.

Wait.. two? Zero took a closer look at the other. It wasn't Derelict. It wasn't even a man. She wasn't an employee. She walked inside the building, while the last employee left on his own, turning right. Zero pondered for a moment. Then he spoke, hushed. "Eight. You go inside. Figure out who that woman is and what she is doing in the building during breaktime. Make sure no-one sees you. Seven. Shadow those two who just left as a pair, Iles Ellen and Milhand Crove. Then, Two. Follow the group of three. The names are Ramhead Troy, Miles Karie and Sails Jonas. I will take follow the one who left alone, Michaels Darren. You all have snails, contact me if you find any of them doing anything suspicious. He stopped for a second before shifting to the edge of the roof. "Lets go."

Zero dropped down, activating the breath dials in his boots as he fell in the alley to counter the speed of the fall. Then he started walking like any businessman in a crowd, following the lone accountant.

"Roger that Zero sir" Chichi, who was also known by her code name: Dame Two, whispered. The journey onto the roof was exhausting for the old woman in her current form, she had to find a better way to follow her targets.

'Let's see...' She thought to herself. '35 is too bulky to walk around unnoticed. 50 is too heavy to even walk around, not to mention sneak around... 8 will atract too much attention: An eight years old girl shouldn't wander in Marineford... and Small is out of the question. I guess I'll have to stick with the usual...' She thought, finally reaching the more than obvious conclusion.

"Life Reverse: Mid Point" She muttered to herself and took a deep breath. Right after she did so, her body began changing. Every link of her spine stretched and straightened in a sickening sound, making her 1 feet taller than before and no longer hunched forward. Her faded pink hair has achieved a new tone of pink, a bright and powerful one. The hair freed itself from it's bangs and turned into a long ponytail, reaching her waists. Her old figure suddenly turned into an attractive and slim figure o a 25 year-old woman, with modest curves and zero wrinkles, compared to the two thousand that were there only a few seconds ago. Her face became younger, every part of her body became younger, that power of the Life Reverse technique was amazing.

"Fhew... That wasn't nice for the old bones..." The young Chichi whispered to herself, in a new rejuvenated voice. She was completely unknown in her current form, and it was better suited for moving around. Unfortunately, Chichi could only maintain this form for two hours, she'll have to act fast.

She then aimed herself into a nearby ally, and dropped down from the roof. As she closed in on the ground, she turned her feet down and seemingly skipped on the air itself, allowing her to perform a harmless and silent landing. She then left the ally into the main way that was leading out of the entrance, arriving just behind the group of three she was supposed to follow. She advanced slowly but surely, trying to maintain a safe distance from the group, to not create any suspicions, but still stay in hearing range, to listen to the groups conversation.

Dame Two was on her way.

Upon getting her orders, Clovers nodded, and, upon second thought, added a lowkey: "Yes sir." before heading to the side of the building, where she estimated the fire escape to be. As dynamic as her coworkers way to exit the building was, she still preferred the stairs, especially since they offered a good look into the building, so chances she'd lose track of her target subject was unlikely...
She still made haste, though, jumping down the stairs like a cat, and, as soon as she was on the ground, checking her clothes shortly ( she got rid ot the hat, which was too out of place her, and instead tied her hair into a bun) and heading into the building her target subject was in right now.
While her appearance was still a little out of place, she had a lot of experience of blending in, as well as the advantage of being unknown due to being new to the grey code. Though this, she knew, could just as easily be a disadvantage, as new faces automatically attracted attention... Then again, it wasn't like the woman she was looking for appeared to know the workers that well.
It didn't take Nathaniel long to find her, but instead of obviously following her, she passed her and went into one of the offices (which were thankfully unlocked). She made sure to leave the door open so she could hear any and all conversations or sounds that would lead to the motive and identity of her target, including that of her footsteps, so she knew when it would be safe to follow.

"Will do, sir."
Katelyn pulled a long pink, silk ribbon from her frilly sleeve and gathered her curls back into a ponytail. One shouldn't have to worry about trivial things such as hair when dealing with the elements of espionage.
Her eyes swivelled down to her targets from the roof.
After a few brief moments of consideration, Dame Seven decided to adopt a shadowing approach to begin with...before interacting with either of her targets. Her skills in actually eliciting information through conversation were much better (and in her opinion, more efficient) than her skills in simple eavesdropping. However, in order to know which persona to adopt when addressing the two of them- in order to know which personality would put them both at ease.

She gracefully leapt from the roof, unsheathing and opening her parasol at the last moment to lighten her fall and then tucked it swiftly away beneath her business-woman's trench coat. Katelyn couldn't afford to stand out just yet.
She followed the pair silently as they left, each step carefully calculated and soundless. She kept her eyes idle and looking around, as if simply admiring her surroundings as she headed back to work- but her ears were sharp and concentrated on listening for any hushed conversations going on in front of her.

Sir. Zero
The man moved quickly, but not for long. Apparently, he lived very near to the financial affairs wing. Michaels walked to one of the small houses lining the street, and walked to the door. He turned the key and walked in. Zero could immediately see that the place was empty, and it wasn't really big enough to obscure much of its inner workings from the outside, but Zero had to be sure no-one would come to him afterwards. He looked around, noticing a bar on the opposite side of the street. He walked in and positioned himself by the window, observing the door to the man's house.

Dame. Two
The three made very slow progress along the street, holding discussion along the way. They didn't seem very happy.
- "Remind me again why we got out here." Miles Karie, the only woman among the three dryly noted.
- "Her." Ramhead Troy said, in equally exasperated voice.
- "Why does Derelict tolerate that anyway?" The third, Sails Jonas grumbled.
- "He's whipped." Troy spoke.
- "I don't think so. I think they're doing something else there." Karie piped up again.
- "Oh come on! We all know dear old boss wouldn't have the guts for that." Jonas spoke again.
- "You never know." Troy interjected.
- "Well, I hope not." Jonas grumbled again.
- "Ah well. Come on boys. If were out here, we might as well make the best of it." Karie spoke again, causing the whole group to pick up speed.

Dame. Seven
The two appeared, oddly enough, to be chess enthusiasts. At least, that is what their conversation indicated, since it was mostly about chess tactics. Where their walk was taking them was rather unclear, as they casually made their way from the busier part of town to the less hasty and more sleepy parts, eventually reaching a park, they walked around for a short while before settling on the grass, taking out a folded chess board and the requisite pieces. Then they started playing.

Dame. Eight
The woman passed the office you had stepped into and started hollering at someone. "Derry, darling! Are you here?" The woman's voice was going further away, indicating that it was safe to follow. She then turned into one of the offices, where she apparently found her "Derry".
- "Ah. Here you are." The woman said.
- "Must you insist on coming here, darling? I'm trying to get some work done." The man, likely Lion Derelict, said.
- "On break?" The woman questioned.
- "Yes. Work never ends here." He said.
- "It can't be that bad." She replied.
- "We've been through this, darling." The man said, trying to adopt a more persuasive tone.
There was a shuffling of papers. The man sighed.

The information Chichi picked up from her targets' conversation was a big blur of words. It was up to the woman's inferring abilities to try and turn it into a valuable resource. The three seemed unhappy, as if they were given another chore instead of their long awaited break. And it seemed to be the fault of some unnamed lady that Derelict, the boss, had to put up with. 'Why would the boss have to tolerate anything from an under-ranked employee? Maybe that 'Her' isn't an employee...' Chichi thought as she kept listening.

The next sentence the girl said made Chichi wonder. 'Maybe the boss and that woman have more than work between them, maybe she is his wife, or his lover, or his relative' any of the above can be hard to tolerate...' Chichi inferred. Another sentence threw Chichi in another direction. 'Maybe the girl is forcing the Derelict to steal some of the budget, or maybe they refer to Derelict's lack of courage to have an affair?' Chichi wondered.

The group then sped up. Keeping up with the group's speed would be too suspicious, Chichi will have to find a better way to eavesdrop them. She took a right into an ally, and after making sure she couldn't be seen, she turned to her Rokushiki once again. She used Geppo to perform two jumps and land softly on the top of a nearby building. Hearing the conversation from there would be harder, but it was safe. She jumped from roof to roof with the help of her Rokushiki, keeping up with the group.She made sure she wasn't seen in her jumps. Even though Rokushiki wasn't a rarity in Marineford, it was best if she remained hidden.

Katelyn slowly cocked eyebrow at the conversation revolving around chess strategy. Hardly an exotic, scandalous or even remotely interesting topic as far as she was concerned, but all the same, she kept within earshot.
Intelligent people, she recalled, were only too capable of devising a secret language or front when talking in public. Perhaps the chess-speak was all code for something else?
She didn't knock this theory, even after the two of them made their way to a public park and began to play, comfortably settled on the grass.
Another notable fact was that people often used topics that held familiarity or interest to them, (in this case chess), when devising their metaphor and euphimism-ridden coded speech so even if their activties seemed mundane and ordinary, they were still contributing to a potential profile.

"Chess-players are often smart...and calculative..." Dame Seven reminded herself as she slipped out of the scattered crowd, making her way to a shady tree and stopping as if to check her purse and pockets for a lost object- a suitably puzzled expression on her face. Despite her wonderful facade of a ditzy, lost looking girl, Seven's mind was hard at work. "It's always the quiet ones that one must pay attention to, too. A strategic mind would be more than capable of devising a scheme to drain money from the finance department...suppose that I am dealing with partners in crime?"

She continued to look for her imaginary missing article for another few minutes, watching the men as they played at every opportunity but carefully doing nothing to appear out of the ordinary.
Perhaps now would be a suitable time to engage in conversation with the subjects? After all, it didn't look like they'd be moving anytime soon and even if they were up to nothing but good, she couldn't defy Zero's orders and ignore them.
"I might as well make the most of what I have," Katelyn sighed to herself, pretending to look around in the grass for the mythical object and wandering over closer to Ellen and Crove. Silently, she cursed the sunny weather; she could feel the heat already starting to rouge her delicate, pale porcelain skin.

"Excuse me,. I'm t-terribly sorry to interupt your game" she said quietly, adopting the persona of a nervous, awkward young girl. "I'm afraid I've lost my house-keys...would either of you happen to have seen them?" She arched her brows, looking worried and upset.

As soon as the woman had passed her, Nathaniel scooped up some random papers from the desk, trying to make it look like she actually had a reson to be here, and, after some extra though, took a pencil with her as well. Quickly, she checked her clothing, especially her sunglasses, the last thing she wanted was someone staring at her because of her eyes.
After that, she got out of the office and slowly walked down the hallway into the direction the woman had gone into, listening to her talk...
A romance with Derelict? Possibly even his wife, though something told Nathaniel that Zero would have known about that...
She tipped the penil agaisnt her lips, something that always helped her think, and got closer to the wall so that the two of them would not be able to spot her. It was entirely possible that the couple was "laying some money aside" for later... Or that the woman was manipulating data herself, after all, Derelict supposedly trusted her.... And through what had they been before? Possibly Derelit trying to keep his accomplice from coming to the scene of the crime...
This all had a lot of potential...
she heard the shuffling of papers. Nothing out of the ordinary in an office, but this whole situation reeked of secrecy.... She had to get a short look at those papers....
Only for a short moment, she peeked around the corner and into the office, then quickly retreated and quietly got a bit of space between herself and the open door. Someone standing right next to the door was just a bit too convenient... As soon as she was about three meters away from it, she leaned against the wall quietly, seemingly going through the papers in her hand. She wondered if she should message Zero about all this. It hardly seemed like enough evidence to draw any kind of conclusion yet, so finally, she decided to see if she could gather some more first.
Into the corner of the paper, she sribbled "D.: possibly appointment with M?", which was naturally "Derelict possibly married to mystery woman", but didn't look as much like she was investigating.

Dame. Two
Having done their share of complaining, you hear them start talking of far less interesting things. For example, Troy's aunt. Apparently, they have a lot to say about Troy's aunt. None of it very flattering to anyone involved.

Dame. Seven
"Oh, hello there miss." Crove turned from the game. He looked thoughtful for a few second. "No, I don't think I have." He finally said. Then he turned a quizzical eye to Ellen. "What about you?" She brought one finger to her chin, but also said "No, sorry miss." Then she turned back to the board momentarily. "Knight to C4" she said, moving the chess piece.

Dame. Eight
The man, Lion Derelict was sitting, slumped in his chair, while the woman took a piece of paper from her coat pocket. She grabbed a pen from the desk and began scribbling something while holding the conversation. "Must you do this now?" Derelict asked in an exasperated tone. "Of course. When else?" The mystery woman answered, seemingly without a care in the world. "Look, honey. I trust you, but it's a bit suspicious to do this. There rarely is a legal reason to." The man tried again to persuade the lady out of.. something. "But it isn't illegal, is it?" She asked. "No, but it won't do me any favors.." He started, only to be interrupted. "No-one's going to know, Derry. Even the secretary is using this as nap-time." She responded, continuing her scribbling. "But what about when you publish that thing?" Derelict asked. "Don't worry, no-one'll know it was us." She said, this time in a much more reassuring tone. "I hope you're right." He said resignedly.

Well, that wasn't suspicious at aaaall.
This conversation alone would probably be enough to have the two of them be prime subjects, no, half convicts already.
But half just wasn't enough!
While Nathaniels hand twitched towards the baby den den mushi, she kept herself fro actually calling Zero just yet. It was simply to early, and he didn't seem like the kind of person to excuse such hasty decisions.
Plus, calling him now meant leaving the two of them to theirselves, and miss the rest of their conversation, which seemed to go on. And she wanted to get a word in with ister Derelict as well, though that would most likely be hard, considering he was supposed to know she wasn't an employee of his....
No, what if her not keeping her boss up to date in this affair was the real mistake here?
Nathaniel had, up until now, always worked on her own, this teamwork was new to her, at least in her function as detective.
But maybe there was another way...
The hybrid slipped into the office next to Derelicts, hoping that there would be a glass of some kind around. The walls were slightly too think to eavesdrop without such helps.... Ah!
There was a glass on the abandoned desk, a bit of water still in it, which she quickly poured on the one plant in the room before closing the door. she didn't want the two next door to listen in on her, after all.
After that was done, she took the chair and pulled it closer to the wall, not to sit on it, but to place her baby den den mushi on it carefully. She'd need both hands to do this, after all.
With one hand, she held the glass to the wall and put her ear on it, listening for any faint sound of conversation. With the other, she dialed the number of her new bosses den den mushi, hoping that the information she had to offer wouldn't turn out to be useless.

'I guess that's it...' Chichi wondered as the conversation drifted to aunts, and even to cupcakes at some point. She stopped in her tracks, there was no reason to spy after the group anymore, unless she wanted to know the name of the best steak house around. She took shelter in a boiler room on the roof of one of the buildings before pulling out her assigned baby Den Den Mushi. But then, she got dumbstrucked. "What was the number?" She wondered, trying to access the memory that was hidden in her rusty mind. "Zero's number was..." She wondered, but then her snail erupted. "Contacting Sir Zero" It announced in a pre-recorded voice. Apparently, the suppliers were aware of Chichi's old age and supplied her a memorizing Den Den Mushi.

"Someone did his job right..." Chichi noted with a sigh of relief as she listened to the dialing sound of her snail. The snail announced a successful connection, and Chichi could hear faint voices on the other end. She was now linked to a group conversation, since Nethaniel was trying to get a hold of Zero as well. "Hello? Is this thing working?" She asked with her temporarily young voice. She whispered, to not disturb any of the others' assignments.