Page 404
October 19th, 2012

Page 404

“Frankly I don’t see why you’re making this so difficult.”

^ 17 Comments...

  1. Johnny Whoa

    “I know how much you like dodging knives, anyway.”

  2. grayfoxpianist

    AAAAAAAAADRIAAAAAAAANNNNNN

  3. Anon

    Yo Adrian!

    Present day says you’re toast.

  4. Seros Senric

    Were there any readers that didn’t expect this to happen?

    I wonder what Tom’s up to while this page is happening.

  5. Ludo

    Oh hey, the elusive page 404. Lily’s a bit slow today.

  6. Zero_Starlight

    Adrian: “You know this is how it what happens, you read the ENTIRE FREAKING CONTRACT.”

    Lily: “…”

    Adrian: “You did read it all, right?”

    Lily: “I may have… Skimmed a little…”

    Tom: “Mm-mm.”

    #Scottpilgrim

    – Zero

  7. Flaming Squirrel

    Huh, the way Adrian’s hood was covering his left eye, I thought it was blind. Like, pure white, no pupil kinda thing. Gotta say, he seems more “human” having both eyes. Having one eye kinda gave him a Nick Fury kinda look, you know what I mean?

  8. The Knowing

    I squee with joy when ever you update this. 🙂

  9. OhMarioWV

    Someone yelled Adrian Rocky-style. I hope they pick up that phone, because I freaking called it!!!

  10. The Aussie Bloke

    Saw this coming the moment she mentioned her “extraction”.

    An assassin who has failed her mission is obviously losing her edge, and is therefore a liability. Doesn’t matter if she actually *is* losing her edge or not, that’s how her employers see it.

  11. Reynard-Miri

    I don’t even know how to make sense of what Adrian is saying. I can’t see any situation where it’s advantageous to break into an enemy base to kill an associate when you could just as easily save them. If they’re working for the enemy now, then there’s better times to do it. If they’re still loyal, then it’s a waste of a valuable resource. There’s other scenarios than those two extremes, but I’m having trouble fathoming one where this is a good idea.

  12. Draconia Crystalis

    Plain and simple, Reynard, spies/assassins can be tortured for information, like about who they work for. Plus, there’s the whole possibility you mentioned of changing sides, which any decent agency would put a stop to at any cost, but more than anything, the information the agent holds is the key thing. If she had just failed and gotten away, that would have been something else, but being captured means she can be a liability. An assassin obviously has info an employer or agency NEVER wants known.

  13. Reynard-Miri

    “Tortured for information” was one of the scenarios I went thru, and it seemed plausible until I realized that if you can kill them in person, then you can extract them in person as well. In either scenario, you risk throwing good money after bad, but only in the latter is there a possibility of recovering resources.

    I meant to indicate earlier that if they have switched sides, this is the situation where it would be hardest to kill them. While surrounded by many new allies.

    Anyway, the best reason I’ve come up with so far is fear of brainwashing. Which would certainly fit the definition of compromised. XD

  14. mrtt

    Its a pretty silly policy. It assumes the assassin has become bad instead of just facing superior foes or bad luck which could have defeated any of their members. And it further assumes it will be easier to fight and kill said assassin when surrounded by people who want them alive and talking.
    And if you fail then you just gave said assassin an incentive to cooperate with their captors and maybe hunt you down for revenge.

    It would have been far more sensible to send someone in with the orders to extract BUT kill if it becomes NECESSARY (at their discretion, make sure you send someone with good judgement too)

  15. mrtt

    And as far as “she could leak information” thing… she is more likely to if she survives this assassination. And if she doesn’t then you never find out if she did already.
    If you questioned the captured assassin first you could then free them and work together to destroy any evidence they might have provided their captors.

  16. Raiser

    Honestly, it’s a pretty shoddy way to do things.

    Would’ve been wiser to lead her into thinking that he was getting her out, then bump her off when they were NOT IN A BUILDING FULL OF PEOPLE THAT WANT TO DEFEAT AND/OR KILL HIM.

    But that kind of foresight isn’t as common as you’d expect.

  17. mrtt

    @Raiser: that one actually makes sense because he is clearly emotionally distraught about having to kill his friend. He is still going to do it but he is telling her things he shouldn’t and actually DISCUSSING the whole assassination thing with her AND he is APOLOGIZING for HAVING to kill her.

    Which is just more strike against the people in charge that they sent HIM to kill her.

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