David wore a simple black suit and tie as he studied the gardens, walking along the quiet paths. After the battle with Scorpio, seeing the group in action, he needed to put everything into perspective. Simply put, they were all amateurs. Oh sure, there was talent in each of them, but they didn't know anything about how to coordinate their efforts.

War wasn't simply about shooting guns, throwing punches, or snazzy technology. War was about the interplay of politics and violence, how each was leveraged to support the other. Unfortunately, even in the best examples of coordinated strategy and politics, they were more the result of blind luck and half-assed, mismanaged measures still adding up to something beyond the sum of the individual parts.

What they needed, David thought, was the political and the military to come together with the resistance. There was no other way to handle it.

Occasionally seeing a face he recognized on the nightly news, the young man considered the chances of even opening a dialogue. He knew how his reputation would be seen in Japan, as more of the enemy than an ally. Really, Sophia should have been the one reaching out. She was better skilled at these conversations. Sighing, he nearly ignored the politician standing in front of the last blooming cherry blossoms in the mainland.

A pair of black suited men watched David with the wariness of the vigilant guardsmen. They were the infamous 'men in black' that kept the President safe when he was out and about. A necessity in this day and age, they simply stood by whilst the President was having one of his musings. It was here, most often, that people saw the President after his days at the offices and about doing his duties. He was known to meet and talk with people informally.

"It is a lovely sight isn't it?" The President muses out loud when David was close enough to be in earshot The politician had seen the lost looking young man out of the corner of his eye, and when he was judged to be close enough he decided to speak loudly enough to be heard.

"Every day we work towards a solution to the climate problem, any day now there will be a breakthrough that will point us on the right path, and when that route opens we will pursue it relentlessly until the trees bloom in the countryside once again."

"Your solution better involve taking the fight to the Covenant," David grumbled, turning to face the man. "Or this... all this... It'll be gone, just...gone..." Yinko's eyes glinted a hazy blue, then turned back to the tree. "At least tell me you've considered getting Misawa on the horn."

He thought he saw the bodyguards start moving towards him, positioning their hands, pushing the sides of their jackets clear. If they had any decent training, David was easily a dead man. Of course, he had been dead before. He made no moves, no hostile gestures, and kept focused on the tree.

"But you would have to have intelligence on the enemy..." Yinko grumbled. "Which... of course, I have..."

"Taking the fight to the Covenant is far easier said than done. And failure results in the loss of precious lives. It would be one thing if we fully understood our enemy and had a perfect counter to their...unique capabilities...but as we stand, to attack them needlessly would result in unneeded deaths. I will not ask families to sacrifice their family members to fulfill some arbitrary idea of retaliation." he says, then shaking his head when asked about Misawa.

"As you may know, when the Covenant War, as the Americans call it, broke loose, they relocated much of their materiel such as their aircraft onto carriers and transports to use to try to take back what they can from the initial assault. Currently only Japanese forces are stationed there and we use Misawa's assets to contain the Covenant to Sapporo and keeping them from approaching the mainland. I apologize if this isn't satisfactory to you Mr..." he starts, looking at the young man before him. American, blue eyes, a refugee most likely.

Meanwhile, the men in black indeed took a step toward David as if to remove him from the presence of the President: his hostile and overly aggressive sounding methods for a moment seemed like a potential threat, but at one point the President raises his hand.

"Hold." he says, then taking a couple of steps towards David, a brow raised.

"What intelligence do you believe you have? You will excuse me if I admit I am skeptical, but many a time I've had people who would fancy themselves 'amateur covenant experts' make wild theories that are quite simply ideas that need to be dispelled to keep things in perspective." he says, not likely taking David entirely seriously: how could he? Before him was what appeared to be a young man whom had likely seen some things happen in America before coming to Japan.

"The Covenant gave me this when they sent me to the Camps," David started. He held out his forearm, showing the serial number, the Covenant hieroglyphs emblazoned on his skin. "I gave them back as many of their dead soldiers as I could afford to shoot on my way out." Of course, though, the president would ask for his name. "You would know me better as Yinko, the Wraith of Barton... though my instructors would know me as Cadet Rhodes, Marine NROTC..."

He'd let his reputation talk for him at this point. Anyone with access to what HUMINT and SIGINT was coming out of the West Coast would know of Yinko. Whether or not what he had done so far in Japan had gotten out, that he didn't know and he hoped it hadn't spread.

"As for what I know about them, what I can do about them, make your inquiries to your intelligence directorate. Fighting the lower-level punks isn't that hard. You shoot them, and they die. Better still, you use them as bait or get around their artillery envelope to encircle their ground forces, then you kill a whole lot more."

As Adoji's eyes narrow to look at the serial number and the symbols on the skin, he recognized the same thing he had seen in photos hundreds of time before of survivors who against all odds manage to escape camps or be otherwise liberated by an attacking force. Possibly a victim of post-traumatic stress. The name Yinko, the Wraith of Barton didn't strike a chord with him: how could any world leader be expected to remember figures from a battle overseas when he is busy administrating his own nation.

One of the men in black then appears more on guard and grips his pistol more tightly, perhaps this one had a better idea? He maintained his eyes on Yinko while speaking to his protectee.

"Sir, I've heard of the name Wraith of Barton, real nasty guy, responsible for a lot of dead bodies, both Covenant and non." he states heightening the sense of caution. Adoji just closed his eyes with a slight, disarming smile while listening to the rest that David would say.

"So, assemble a bait for a trap in which to overwhelm the enemy with greater force? I believe General Masuou would be quite inept if he hadn't considered such a strategy already. The problem with that is that generally the Covenant don't seek anything from us other than our destruction and submission. As it is, our forces, along with every other military active in the campaign to defend themselves poorly defend against supernatural abilities and it is quite demoralizing when one of the huge ones can throw an armored vehicle. Tell me Mr. Yinko, even if those basic tactics were to work against a smaller unit, how would you handle the Citadel in the American Landmass? So long as the base of the enemy remains, they will keep this world in danger. How could we possibly remove the problem altogether with the resources we have? We don't have an infinite number of soldiers to waste by using the tactics and technology that have failed to this point." he says, carefully laying out just the beginning of the fundamental issues of the very basic strategy that Yinko had suggested for warfare against the Covenant. At this point, Adoji didn't believe that this was anymore than a scared kid who would just recite something they heard in the news or read in a book.

Yinko sighed, and closing his eyes, the blue irises still burned through the skin. Perhaps he needed to work on his control, as Hino suggested. Latent psychic powers were not the sort of thing to bring to a political debate.

"The Citadels don't matter," David explained. "They can have whatever command and control they want. You're not fighting a conventional joint operation like the Gulf, or patrolling the no-fly zones in Iraq. The Covenant goons can polish their boots, talk tactics, and do whatever they want in their Citadels, but it's their effectiveness on the ground away from CIC that matters."

Finding a stick on the ground, Yinko knelt, drawing in the dirt a simple diagram. "Lure them out far beyond their supply lines, envelop them, and cut them off. When they attempt to engage, you retreat, and pull them further out, whittling them down. When they retreat, or they try to establish military control over a human settlement, you do everything you can to smash their defenses, cut off their communications, and wipe out their officers to prevent effective leadership. As for the more... mystical elite of the Covenant... there are certain parties out there capable of dealing with them, if you're willing to extend a hand of friendship."

Ito listened to his remarks about his belief that the Citadels don't matter. Well he was saying to focus on the ground forces which quite frankly seemed to be inexhaustible. He frowns, but allows Yinko to continue his strategization by drawing with a stick on the ground. The man turned and looked at his watch for a moment while Yinko wasn't looking, but at the end of it, he took a contemplative expression, maintained silence for a few minutes, and only after collecting his thoughts spoke again.

"We are well aware that the Covenant have a 'range' of sorts, that past a certain distance from those towers the lose their supernatural advantage to some extent. Of course, this doesn't take into account the fact that the Class IV or Zodiac types that can operate at effectively unlimited range, as I understand it from the intelligence reports." he says calmly as he stands and faces the tree again.

"That is why we keep our Naval blockade of the northern island at a certain, precise range that optimizes their weakest point with our own military power to keep them in check. So far, it has kept the nation safe." he says calmly, then thinking for a second in silence.

"Mr. Yinko, tell me, let us say that we can indeed inflict large amounts of damage with minimal losses. And while we might be able to push them to back off from offensive campaigns, how does that help us from eliminating the threat altogether? The actions in the past eight years have only shown a clear and absolute intent to subjugate humanity. At what point do we decide to attack their structures, and end this conflict? They are not a group that can be left to their own devices, and we still believe that those structures are at least partially responsible for the climate change." he says, but pauses in contemplation for a moment about Yinko's remark about a party that can handle the mystical types.

"...But my curiosity is piqued. What party are you suggesting has some kind of capability to intervene in this conflict, to handle the 'mystical' types?" Ito says, assuming it was possibly a group of Shinto priests or mikos that thought they could drive away spirits, far and away not certain how to move forward with the monsters that have been known to manifest.

"Structures don't matter, not until the Covenant's army is defeated," he explained. "It's like nuclear war. The MIRVs themselves may cause a lot of initial damage, but most are set to airburst instead of hitting the ground, and with Oxygen isotopes having a half-life of 7 seconds, the only long-lasting, horrible fallout are from ground strikes. Such a war is survivable, and in fact, a mobile infantry capable of maneuver warfare can still fight regardless of these 'doomsday weapons.'"

He didn't know if he had to explain any more, or if that was suitable enough. The point was, they could take out the structures all day, but it was the manpower that mattered. The Covenant killing civilians unwilling to fight didn't make a difference, though it gave soldiers and militia a reason to fight. It was eliminating the Covenant's ability to make war that mattered.

"As for those who can defeat the Zodiac, I have my contacts," David answered. "If you and your top field commanders, not your administrative generals or chiefs of staff, but your leaders doing the ground pounding will meet with me again as a gesture of good faith, I can reveal more."

"Perhaps your assessment regarding WMDS is correct, but scientific theory postulates that the spires may have the ability to regenerate or even resurrect fallen Covenant units. This creates a problem since both parts of the equation protect one another. The only solution would be to eliminate both at once, but we haven't created a weapon powerful enough to destroy the structures: even when the Americans tried to drop a nuclear weapon on the Citadel of Nihilim, the result was almost zero damage." Adoji says, trying to get a feel for what this young man's angle was. The two men in black seemed to be a little more twitchy as the conversation went on.

"Of course, that also creates a problem that trying to pull their forces away usually result in great losses on the human side of the battle. You can't plan for a giant bursting out of the ground on your retreat path, as the American Battle of Los Angeles of 2014 showed when a retreating platoon found it's path of retreat cut off by large, powerful enemies whom appeared form the ground in front of them resulting in a pincer attack that resulted in that platoon being wiped out." he says as he pauses, listening to the young man claim to have contacts that can defeat the Zodiac.

"You do understand that even if what you say is true, I have a number of very reasonable objections and concerns to meeting with a shady young man on his terms somewhere." he says, closing his eyes and tilting his glasses a little, rubbing a small spot that had gotten on the lens that had been bugging him.

"I am a little too grounded in reality to take such words as a promise of some miracle that can miraculously cure the problem of the Covenant menace." he says calmly, his sharply colored eyes fixating on Yinko.

David sighed. He wouldn't be able to convince this man. In fact, he had nothing he could offer more than his word, than ideas that had no physical representation. Oh sure, he could use his techniques on the two hired goons, turning their brains to mush, but what would that accomplish?

"That's just it, though," Yinko grumbled. "A platoon of soldiers were wiped out. They were easy to spot, easy to ambush, and follow a set of procedures common in most industrialized military forces." He turned back to the tree, watching a few petals fall to the ground. "Maybe that's why I never linked back up with the Marines after escaping. As forward thinking as they are about ground tactics, we can't fight the Covenant on equal terms. We have to play dirty, sneaky, and make things... complicated for them."

"As for proof," David grumbled, "I can't give you that, not yet. If I did, your military would be the first to try and grab the contacts I had as enemy combatants, or some other such political nonsense. What I'd need to address your questions is a show of faith."

"Yes, there may be some degree of truth that conventional tactics will not be as effective against this particular enemy, but to date our policy of containment has kept them within control and away from our cities and people." he says, sticking to the lack of public knowledge about the other attacks within the city as of late. There was no need for people to know that kind of thing after all.

All the same, Adoji's face scrunched up in apprehension. There was a small part of him that felt like there was more to this boy than met the eye, but what exactly he wasn't sure. When he asked for something known as a 'show of faith', his eyes sharpened to extremely cold slits. While there was the warm, popular politician that everyone accepted and somewhat liked, in a situation like this, a more practical, skeptic side comes out.

"You still haven't persuaded me of anything, so I still do not readily accept what you say. What show of faith are you asking for exactly? You keep dancing and playing around with words and empty promises but all you must be is a young man desperately seeking to make a difference, and while I admire the effort I think you don't fully understand the reality. I believe that there is nothing more to be gained from here. Best of luck to you in your life in Japan." he says as he turns to the exit and begins to walk away. The two men in black take positions between Adoji and David, wary of the young man. It was clear that Adoji's patience was running out for this approach.

David frowned. This was getting him absolutely nowhere, and this man was as greedy for intelligence as his other attempts to establish an "in" with other intelligence services. Yinko realized he would have to take action, or lose this asset forever.

"Control?" David barked. "What control and containment? I got jumped by the same Class 5 twice in a week, the first right in the heart of Juuban, and you're following the same intelligence whitewash as your worthless Self Defense Forces?" He hoped that would catch the interest, at least enough to spar with him a little more. "The next time, in Shibuya, your goon squad waited while my comrades killed said Zodiac threat, and then... then your stormtroopers come in to mop up the civilian presence with M-16's?"

He waited, watching the black-suited bodyguards flinch.

"Gee, I'd hope this information doesn't get leaked to JSOC's operatives in Misawa or Okinawa," David continued, his tone harsh, his voice hissing like a serpent. "It would be... unfortunate to see the US military's presence in the South China Sea and SINCPAC retreat from this side of the Pacific. I know if I were the Covenant, I'd take such a retreat as a chance to ally with China or North Korea... or skip the formalities and just grab their nuclear assets. What's a tiny, backwards nation dependent on the Western world for its food supply to the Nihil, really, when Manchuria or America's resources are ripe for the taking?"

While David talked, Adoji didn't so much as twitch: it was the politician's skill and requirement to not react in any way to words said by another. Certainly, Adoji knew it was true, but he knew that if this man were to try to go to the media or any organization, they would see him as an extremist or general purpose whackjob. He had no credibility and no proof, ergo there was no way to make a substantial ripple in the scene. The fact that he knew about it meant he was one of the vigilantes, and someone who should be observed and learned about at the least.

As David then made more threats about the US Presence and SINPAC, Adoji paused, closed his eyes, chuckled under his breath, then turned to look at David with a calm smile.

"The United States and Japan have an understanding and friendship along with respect for each other's national integrity. Further, the United States has been beleaguered by their own troubles at home. Lastly, I recognize you are new to Japan, but when the Covenant rose and the climate changed, Japan took every step to preserve our well being and sanctity. The Biodomes handle our food supplies along with a national initiative to promote conservation. While we do import some other foods, the fact of the matter is Japan has become the most secure nation in the world due to our careful management of resources. We have allowed refugees of all nationalities to seek a life here, and we do everything in our power to maintain a somewhat normal life for all here." he says, then his expression hardening just a little.

"North Korea was wiped out by the initial year of conflict, and China has been battered nonstop since the Covenant Conflict began. Plus the simple fact is the Covenant does not have clear motives to us. They have never sought to ally with a rogue state, but only subvert and control humanity." he says pausing and then frowning at David.

"What angle are you trying to achieve? You are all over the place." he says, taking David's face and features in with cold, calculating eyes. "I mean it would be one thing if you simply wanted too much to help as a sign of national patriotism or anti-covenant beliefs, but you go from that to basically belittling Japan, it doesn't make you appealing as the comrade you initially portrayed yourself to be." he says with a shrug, looking to the Cherry Blossom tree.

"While I wish more than anything to restore balance to the world somehow, hoping that a new breakthrough will emerge, I believe also in the preservation of life and prosperity for my people. When the time is right, a balance will be attained and we will set things right. But not a moment sooner, and especially not at the urgings of a young individual who's mental stability is questionable at best." he says with a slight frown.

"Tokyo offers a number of free mental health clinics. Your time while captured has undoubtedly scarred you, and the state will do what we can to improve your quality of life." he says calmly, then turning again and making as if to leave unless David stopped him with a sufficiently powerful remark or otherwise.

Meanwhile the men in suits have kept their eyes on David and their hands on their weapons, ready to draw at the first moment of hostility. Should David try to attack, he will end up being fired upon by the two bodyguards.

David stared for the longest time, thinking how easy it would be to destroy those two bodyguards. The more this politician talked, the more infuriated Yinko became. This man was so content to sit on his butt and wait until the world collapsed, thinking their defensive stance would prevent their submission. It would have brought the warlord a sickening pleasure, cutting him down, and letting the other two watch, moreso than using the president's men as a demonstration.

Still, he would have to listen, eventually.

Walking away, Yinko focused his mind, seeking out the calmest of the two suited goons. "Synapse Shadow," he whispered. It wouldn't hurt to make the toughest of the trio wet themselves, would it?