Of course, who would show up here and now at Lustre's office but Eric Mann, director of the Zarethian Hand and candidate for the senate, opponent of Lustre? Mann found himself outside the building which housed Mr. Lustre's very campaign, a very nervous look upon his face. He had gotten a few people on his walk over which stopped and stared. He was going to be quite used to the phrase, "Is that Eric Mann!?" by the time this election was over. The candidates had only been announced within the last month or so.
Mann usually wore darker clothing when he went out on the city, especially these days, as to give himself a more conspicuous presence upon the capital city. He still did manage to get all the way across the city to Lustre's office with only a few sightings, of course. He was the director of a government intelligence agency, after all. He'd only had to stop for the media once on the trip over. Now he knew why his campaign manager had insisted on his riding in transport ships and hover limos across the city during the campaign.
He had not insisted that today, though. He had somehow sold Eric Mann on the idea of walking to Lustre's office. Okay, he'd somewhat sold Mann. Now, Eric was starting to feel that it had been a bad idea to walk all the way across town. A little exercise was good for him, though.
His campaign manager was right, too. This would be great for the media. Seeing Eric Mann walk into the office of his opponent just a day or two after arresting him? There were only a few things the media would conclude Mann was at Lustre's office for. Rekindling their relationship would be high on the list of assumptions, and everyone knew that the media loved making assumptions.
"We'll have it on the newspapers by tomorrow!" his campaign manager had tried to convince Mann.
Somehow, Eric had convinced his Campaign Manager to hold off on that -- just in case this didn't go as planned. Okay, so, Eric didn't really have much of any plan. He didn't need one. How hard would it be to talk to this guy? Eric didn't really know the answer to that one.
He pushed open the glass doors to the building, tipping his hat to the various campaign workers under Lustre. He kept his hat off (a manner of courtesy, after all, which was something a senatorial candidate needed to have a strong sense of, in Eric's opinion) and smiled at the glares of all the various campaign workers. He went through security, which seemed to take longer than it should. What, did they think he was trying to launch a firefight? Of course, the fact that he had three weapons on him didn't help manners. The security guard grudgingly let him pass with them anyway when he showed the guard his certified government issue to carry weapons in public locations.
He made his way to the elevator of the building, and began to ascend through the floors, tapping his foot to the elevator music. He never did like elevator music too much. In fact, the elevators in the Hand's headquarters no longer had elevator music. That was the doing of a certain forward to all technicians from a certain Assistant Director Hermitage which informed them all of Mann's distaste for it. Mann realized on the ride up that he never properly thanked Hermitage for that.
Of course, elevator music wasn't really too heavy of a thought upon the mind of Eric Mann at that moment. He was a bit distracted planning his brave adventure into the office of Lustre. He had thought of what he was going to say during the walk across town, but now that he was here, the words in his mind were starting to garble. He had to take a moment to tell himself earnestly that he wasn't about to give a speech to the nation or even to the city, but he was about to face an opponent in a major upcoming election. Finally, a "ding" of the elevator indicated that he had arrived at the floor which Lustre's office was located upon.
A few moments later, all those present in the transport vehicle could hear Mann's flustered voice from outside the door.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't care if he's in a meeting. I've walked all the way across the city. I'm speaking to Mr. Lustre."
Eric Mann busted into the transport, nodding his head to the lawyer and Lustre.
"Good afternoon. Quite sorry to interrupt."
