Further into the enemy headquarters

After Tommy sat down in the chair and everyone had a sip of the muddy water in their cups they all looked at him expectantly. They were asking with their eyes whether or not he was there to drag them back to work for a guess.

Though it was somewhat hard to read their eyes. The only reason I noticed that they were expecting something from Tommy was the fact that they were looking at him. Their eyes still looked like they belonged to a dead fish and only the deepest depths of their eyes betrayed any emotion, likely reluctance.

"I'm here for Matty" spoke Tommy at last and most of the people on the chairs let out sighs of relief and went back to sipping their muddy water as though this conversation had nothing to do with them. Well some of them instantly relaxed and almost looked like they were falling asleep but that's a similar reaction.

The man who guided us into the room however looked just as tense as before as he asked "So what do you need from me?" From that response we got the impression this man was Matty. So the random guy we picked from the list of employees was actually the first guy to welcome us into the room. I guess that's fortunate. It means we probably picked someone in a higher position.

"Ah so you ARE Matty." Squealed Tommy excitedly something that apparently not a single person in the room was expecting. We weren't told of Tommy's plan in advance and in all fairness with stuff like this it would be very difficult to plan in advance given how little information we have about the situation going in.

The man who we now know is called Matty nodded his whiskers bouncing up and down alongside him a bit like strings attached to the side of his face. It was kinda weird, kinda adorable in a weird way. Though the dead-fish eyes certainly don't help with the adorable impression.

"There aren't many who call me Matty but to the best of my knowledge that is one way to refer to me." He replied in a rather strange manner. Guess the guy's real name is Matthew or something. Now that I think about it Tommy probably came up with that nickname on the spot so it's no wonder he doesn't recognize it. We had to act like we knew him after all.

"Excellent. A friend of a friend suggested we invite you to a certain festivity we have going on at the moment and we of the Abendroth household would love for you to come and join us." Explained Tommy with an arrogant smile despite his seemingly ingratiating language.

Then I heard him whisper to himself "Scan target directly in front of me." In a voice so quiet only myself and Marianne could hear. Nothing appeared to happen but we already figured out how the stealth suits worked a little while ago and we knew that it had started thanks to the flashing red light on the vest Tommy was wearing.

The stealth suits can apparently mimic anything they scan which I suppose is the reason we are using them like this. Which means to use them in this mission without anyone finding out all we have to do is replace one piece of our clothing with the stealth suit.

Tommy chose his vest and it was now scanning this 'Matty' in front of us and mimicking his bone structure, his appearance everything about him that makes him unique. It can even perfectly replicate someone's fingerprints once a full scan has been completed. All we had to do now was wait for the light to start flashing green instead of red.

"Why would you want me in some party?" Scoffed Matty apparently not believing us one bit. Perhaps he mistook us for scammers. Sure we are actually lying to him but it's not like we're trying to take his money.

"Why I've heard about your work." Exclaimed Tommy with a smile. Myself and Marianne were confused by this. We wondered if Tommy was actually talking about some sort of work that Mainframe uncovered or if he was making this up on the spot. If he was making this up it could be seriously difficult to get him to stay in place for long enough to scan him.

"Work?" Asked Matty confused and annoyed. Apparently he didn't know what Tommy was talking about either. This was good he would stay in place for a little longer with this. As good as the stealth suit was, we could get away with it if he made slight movements but if he moved too much it would stop the scan and we'd have to start over again.

"Yes indeed" Said Tommy slowly sounding like he was exaggerating but really he was just buying time. Once Matty started staring at him with a 'get on with it' expression Tommy continued explaining.

"We heard you were one of the best DJs this side of the galaxy. Why I loved your performance on the planet Carazone in this very solar system. It was truly a shame you were performing for such peasants I would prefer you play for a more refined audience and I have just the opportunity." Explained Tommy fervently as though he truly believed that Matty was wasting his talents.

The man in question however clearly had no idea what he was talking about. If the look on his face was anything to go by he was just as confused at Tommy's actions as we were. So he isn't actually a DJ? What exactly is Tommy doing with this one? If he just clears up the misunderstanding he's just going to leave and we won't be able to continue the scan.

In fact when Tommy was about to drone on his face turned from confusion to suspicion and quickly afterward to anger. Then he tried to slam his fist on the table but didn't realize the table was a bit too low for that and ended up hitting the empty air.

This meant that he lost his balance from the force of his fist and nearly tumbled out of his chair. Luckily for him he stood up and only staggered a few paces before righting himself. Unluckily for us however…

"Scan failed. Please re-enter scanning range." Came a mechanical voice in all our ears that was different to Mainframe's but only in the sense that it had an accent. It's accent was the one we were all used to from text to speech. The one from the place that invented the incredibly life-like text to speech synthesiser the galaxy of saint Kyle.

So this is just a standard text to speech then? Guess there's no determining where Mainframe's from by the text to speech from her products. Though now that I think about it this was supplied by Emily and her company so really it wouldn't matter either way.

Still now we have an issue. The target moved, the scan wasn't complete and now it's failed. How is Tommy going to get the man to stay still. Before Tommy can even speak however Matty started going off on a tyrade.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?!" He roared. Gone was the dead-fish eyes and now he was staring at us with daggers in his eyes. I did not expect this kind of energy from someone seemingly so tired. Apparently his companions thought the same as they all stared at him in wonderment.

Tommy meanwhile was not surprised and simply whispered to himself. "Restart scan." as calm as a cucumber. Ok you can't just keep scanning him until things go right eventually he'll realize we're just stalling and kick us out. Plus your excuse won't let us stay long.

I looked at Tommy with a mix of dubiousness and concern but he either didn't notice or didn't care as he continued to look at Matty while he continued his little tantrum. "You have so many things wrong in your approach I don't know where to start!" He shouted once more and this time he started listing off things we did wrong like a lecturer evaluating a troublesome student.

"I'm not a DJ and I've never been interested in following that career path. If you're going to scam me at least try and run a con that actually makes sense. Gather information on your mark and then give them a glimpse of what they want. That's how cons work and you forgot the most basic step." He continued to lecture Tommy like a dam had broke.

Tommy also seemed a little surprised at the direction the lecture was going but nodded along emphatically after seemingly entering a moment of thought. I wasn't sure what he was thinking about or if he was just playing it up but whatever the case he appeared to be listening to Matty's shpeal so we stayed silent.

"Also your attempt at pretending to be someone of high status was actually pretty good. Well done with the apparel and the attitude but you forgot one thing." He said holding up a finger and once again acting like he was teaching us something.

Seriously what is going on here? I was so confused as to why he was lecturing us like this that I just stood there bewildered and let things happen. "The Abendroths are fairly famous especially in this city. Actually make that this planet." he suddenly corrected himself before continuing.

"The Abendroths are the rulers of a planet. They wouldn't have any interest in a DJ. Maybe they'd have interest in one if they were hosting a party but if they were it would be spread all around the planet by now. You just chose the wrong person to impersonate for this kind of con." He took a breath before continuing to lecture Tommy.

"You should have impersonated a music company or maybe even created one. It might be a lot harder to just create a company nowadays than it used to be but it's certainly not impossible and it would be far more believable. Honestly you're acting like amateurs but I know you're not because of how well you're acting out the rich girl role." He said with a bit of sigh towards the end apparently losing some of his steam by this point.

"But that only makes this worse. You are a professional and you should be treating this job like a professional. So why come up with such an idiotic con? Have your talents got you out of your stupid plans this entire time or something? Maybe you've just been really lucky with your easy marks?" Suddenly instead of lecturing us he was now debating our situation.

Seriously what's with this guy? I wondered to myself as Tommy spoke up. "Yeah my talents might have something to do with why we got away with it but did you really think I'd be able to just get by with that alone. Think about why someone would be good at playing the rich girl role."

Matty fell into thought for a moment before an idea seemed to occur to him as he took in Tommy and his eyes went wide. "You mean you're…" He trailed off into silence staring at Tommy in utter bewilderment. I copied that action but only because I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Tommy meanwhile just nodded. "Yeah. I needed someone with your expertise. Why don't you think about becoming the inside man." Asked Tommy with clear sincerity in his voice. It was no longer screechy like before but it also wasn't his usual voice. It was a little higher pitched but still fairly close to normal.

I was a little concerned he was giving himself away but things seemed to be working out so I just watched on utterly confused as Tommy stared straight into Matty's eyes and the man stared back. They continued this impromptu staring contest for a little while.

Some ways into the staring contest my eyes wandered over to Tommy's vest and noticed that the light was green. In fact it was scanning the next person and was partially done already. Having two disguises would be better than one I guess.

Finally the staring contest between the two was broken by Matty as he turned his eyes away. Seeing that Tommy gave a sad smile and said "I see. Well I'll give you some time to think about it. If you change your mind you're free to come and find me." Seriously what is going on?

As I'm wondering that Tommy continues to sit there for a few moments staring at Matty with that sad smile and Matty continues to avert his eyes before the part of Tommy's vest lights up green once more. Meaning that we have two different disguises registered.

"Well I will take my leave then." Said Tommy somberly in that same higher pitched voice than usual and started to walk out of the room. Myself and Marianne followed behind him. My face was a mask of calm but inside I was bursting at the seams to ask Tommy what on Machina just happened.

Once we reached that same door Tommy turned back once more with that sad smile aimed at Matty and we all left the room and continued on through the corridors. We walked in silence until we were a far enough distance away that we couldn't be heard. Walking silently through these utterly boring corridors was a rather harrowing experience so I finally raised my doubts.

"What was that about?" I asked Tommy turning towards him with an almost extreme level of doubt in my eyes. I just couldn't understand that exchange.

"Ah that." Said Tommy carefree as ever apparently not seeing this as anything worth noting to the rest of us until I brought it up.

"Before I met the man I planned to con him into getting angry at me for trying to scam him so that he would stay still and shout at us. Sure he would be volatile and might move around a little too much but he didn't seem like he had the energy to be aggressive. I figured things would work out just fine." Explained Tommy with near silence as his background noise, making his point seem even more poignant.

I nodded. "Yeah that I can understand. Not the approach I would've taken and not one I saw at the time but looking back on it that would make sense but…" I said trailing off as I look at him questioningly once more.

"You want to know what I was talking about when I offered him to be our inside man?" Asked Tommy finishing my question for me. I nod at his question and he nods back before beginning to explain his side of the story.

"His lecture about all the basics of the con was correct and I figured out from the way he was speaking that he had an interest in running a crew of his own. Or at the very least it seemed like he was passionate about the idea of cons themselves. Probably got it from a movie or something." Said Tommy before laughing to himself a little. Once he was done he continued explaining.

"Anyway since he was interested I decided to give him what he wanted." That was all Tommy said before he stopped talking on the subject. The silence hung in the air for a moment. I was waiting for a proper answer or an explanation but nothing came. I guess Tommy isn't going to speak any further on this then?

But seriously you offered him to be an inside man because that was what he wanted? But didn't he refuse? So if he wanted it so much why did he refuse? For that matter why did you know he was going to refuse if you thought he wanted it that much? I mean Tommy wouldn't actually want him to be an inside man for us considering we're about to make off with their servers internal data.

"Weird." I mumble to myself as we continue our way down the corridors and finally come upon another door to the stairs. Apparently we weren't going to be taking the elevator or grav-tube this time either. I let out a sigh before we walked up to the door and Tommy started having his stealth suit expand over the top of his clothes.