The crunch of the snow beneath boots was the only sound audible for the time being. Alongside, a slither crunching similarly, but not enough to make the same amount of noise. Diana mumbled quietly as they moved across the snow-ridden paths- slightly outside of the city itself and more along the edge of the Wintervale island. She wasn't fond of being so close to the border, but joining the Ethos call meant she had to develop a conscience and some morality in order to gain their trust. The things she could get from them if they did-- she couldn't wait. For now, though, it meant that she had to walk- in the dark and in the cold- and find this so-called group of criminals that supposedly were causing some trouble.

Far be it for her to complain too much about being given freedom in how to handle this at least. And she was getting paid for it- even if it wasn't much compared to her own funds already. Her Seviper, Vewil, was by her side as he slithered along the path with her, watching her surroundings while she mused. She could trust him with her life- so she allowed herself these moments of pondering.

There hadn't been much information given about the criminals. Just that there had been word spread that they were trying to do something to the beacons around the city's perimeter-- the ones holding the blasted city up in the air. Why someone would do that, she couldn't even think of any logical reasoning. Would it cause chaos? Sure. Would people die? Absolutely. But surely that wasn't just... _it_. That would be stupid. Extremely so. The immaturity of the thought irked her and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Can you believe that, Vewil?"

She started, shaking her head in her own disbelief.

"See, a logical person wouldn't go for what's holding the bloody land up. It'll just all come crashing down, and for what. There's no money to be made there. Nothing to steal. Illogical."

The Seviper spoke its name, almost in agreement with her. Diana's mind reorganized and she pulled her thoughts away from the reasoning as they got closer to the location of the first beacon. Looking at the ground here and there-- yea. There had been some traffic. Pokemon, human-- both. It made her wary and her Seviper caught the change in demeanor from its owner- slithering on just a bit further ahead. The sound of the propulsion system grew louder and louder the closer they got until they reached a small building close to it. The engine and the workings must be inside, Diana thought, reaching in her pocket for a keycard she had been given.

Ethos authorization would allow her access inside the small building and examine if there had been any tampering. Once close to the building, she pulled out the keycard and slid it against the lit lock- watching the light anxiously as it went from red to green in a slower fashion than she'd liked. The door slid open and she stepped back to let Vewil through, first.

Inside, she watched as the lights all flickered on revealing several racks of computers and servers, wires going across from practically every angle. Old school maintenance. Would keep it protected against the more modern ways of hacking, she supposed. Not like a hacking software is going to be able to plug itself into the protected system. Still. She knew jack shit about this.

Another click of her tongue, jerking her head to signal Vewil to look around while she pulled off a glove, pushing back her sleeve and enabling a voice call to her technician.

A ring. Two. And then a click.

"Nori."

"Ma'am."

The man greeted her, though he sounded a little strained as he did. She paid it no mind. Her TD on her temple flashed as she was in conversation with the hacker. She hired him on occassion, always promised and proved to be worth his time. It seemed this time she interrupted him in something, but he let it slide. He knew the pay was good.

"Old technology. Familiar?"

"Couldn't call myself a runner if I wasn't."

"Brilliant. I need to run a software check. Make sure everything is as it is supposed to be."

He sighed into the microphone and started to run through a list of things to do. Without missing much of a beat, Diana followed the instructions. She found the point of operation, grabbing the wires and checking into the system.