It's bright and almost silent when Josine comes to, eyes flickering open as he realises he’s waking in a soft bed for nearly the first time he can remember. Standing around him, half of them looking like they’re still in shock at what’s happened, half of them looking pleased with themselves, is the team that he started putting together seventeen years ago, the ones who busted him out of the Technocracy convoy the day before. The doc's standing not far from him, but they aren't wired together any more and Josine can feel the lingering effects of anaesthetic leaving his body; he's been in surgery, he surmises, and now he's untraceable and holed up in a safe house somewhere. Thanks to these old friends. A smile comes to his lips and the scarred and damaged skin at the corner of his eyes creases in an expression that’s more obviously warm than what they’re used to seeing from him, but his voice is just as soft as it ever was. “It is so good to see all of you.” The words are close to the ones that the biodroid in Lagos used, but they all know this is no imitation and Yoshi places a hand on Josine’s shoulder with a smile to match the spymaster's. Holding up her tablet with a flair, Emily orders the group to smile and snaps a quick photo that'll be all round her network before she's even left the room.
Looking around at the people here, putting the pieces together from the failsafe plans he made over a decade ago, Josine's quick to figure out what's going on and what that means, and there's one question he has to ask, though he suspects he knows the answer. "Where's Alpha?" There's some shifting gazes, but Utseo's already checked with his contacts and he doesn't hold back on giving the report even though the news isn’t all good. Nanotech have her, he confirms, and they can't be certain what state she's in. According to his people and Beta’s calculations, Nanotech's operation at the St Petersburg arcology lasted long enough that they would have had time to dump Alpha to flat storage, but only if they knew exactly where the signal receiver was located and didn’t have to search for it. They’re pretty sure Nanotech’s intel wasn’t that good so they're hopeful that Alpha’s been downloaded into either a human or a biodroid, but plenty of both exited the arcology and it’s impossible to know which she might have been in. Utseo and Qamar between them explain the choice they had to make between saving Josine and rescuing Alpha and how they tried to bait Nanotech into downloading Alpha to a blank biodroid, and the doc gives him a quick technical rundown of what exactly a biodroid is. Josine considers all of this in silence, then gives a slow nod. Their plan to keep Alpha alive seems solid, and as long as she's still active then they have an advantage – Alpha wants to get back to them.
The team is able to reunite Josine with Beta, and when Utseo admits that it's Alex who found the main drive a light of understanding fills Josine's eyes and he looks across to the master burglar, who doesn't give him the chance to speak. "We're even now, old man," he says, then turns to leave, and Josine has to raise his voice slightly to make sure he's heard when he tells Alex that he's glad he's alive, and that he need only call if Josine could ever help him out with anything. As the door closes behind Alex’s unresponsive back, Josine turns his attention to the huge hard drive on the table next to his bed, and Emily offers him an uplink that he takes gladly. Exploratory fingers find his dataport as Qamar assures him it's functional and not tapped, and he nods in gratitude and hesitantly plugs himself in. His eyes cloud for a long moment, and then with a slow blink and a shake of his head he refocuses on the room around him. The huge download of information is going to take him a long while to parse and he owes these people more than contemplative silence after all these years, so he allows his features to resettle into his understated smile and asks them how they've been.
"Busy," Emily tells him with a coy expression, inviting Josine to ask more, and his smile widens a fraction: he certainly expected no less, and he has plenty of questions indeed.
"Lost," admits Yoshi, his voice quiet and sombre, and Josine's brow furrows slightly with sympathy. In truth, he expected that as well, though confronting the loyal friend he abandoned is no easier than rationalising the decision to do it was, all those years ago. He knows an apology would be futile because he still stands by the choice he made, and because he’s never been one to dwell on the past once its lessons have been learned, so it’s time to move on and fashion a new beginning, one that will make them glad they didn’t give up on the mission he gave them all those years ago.
Closing his eyes, Josine inclines his head in a gesture of respect and admiration for all of these remarkable, devoted individuals, and says with all the sincerity he can bring himself to display, "Thank you. For rescuing me." Each of them accepts those thanks with their own achingly familiar smiles, and relief washes over Josine as he lets himself smile back. He has missed these people immensely, though such an admission is difficult to make after ten years of concealing his thoughts at all times. "We have a lot to prepare for," he says simply, looking around at them and meeting each oId friend's eye with a sparkle in his own, “but first I would like to know what I've missed while I've been away."
