"Fair enough. I think it's been about a minute so I'll be going now." She starts walking slowly enough that they can ask her to stop if she's wrong. Once she turns a corner she swaps to unimportant. Are those loud noises continuing?

There haven't been any more sudden sharp noises. The lobby music might be a bit grating, though, it's an annoyingly catchy and cheerful tinny tune.

There are a few people scattered in the cubicle area beyond, all normal-human-looking and as stressed and non-uniform as the other three she's seen. There's a big frosted glass window with cracks scattered across it and a sturdy-looking door at the back. Two people have guns pointed at it from behind a row of desks. And one person is guarding the way back towards the entrance, who glances at her and then turns right back to her watch.

Hmm, these seem like they're on the side she's trying to work with. She'll walk back out of the view of the person who looked away from her drop her unimportance and add just a tad of trustworthiness and go back into view. "Hi, I'm Alicia."

The guard double-takes. "Oh fuck that's weird, wow, hi. Okay, I believe you've got a shot at talkin' em down. Hi, so uh I think you should talk to Kevin over there."

"Welcome to the March Days," says presumably-Kevin. "It's March First, so March Day I guess. We're hoping it'll, uh, last. And hopefully we can de-escalate a bit here. How much context do you want, you familiar with Persephone and H-I? And it's Alicia, right?"

"I teleported into a room where a woman was pulling cables out of computers not that long ago now. Heard you were rebelling against a government that makes telling certain kinds of stories illegal and decided you were probably the side to back. I don't even speak your language, translation magic is handling that for me."

"-Now, you're saying 'magic' and you sure do have a lot of strange capabilities but magic isn't a thing, and weird niche tech dressed up as magic sure is. So I'm thinking 'did somebody figure out personal wormholes AND whatever perceptery or phereomone thing this is, who's backing her and what do they gain by confusing us while revealing these unprecedented breakthroughs'. I'm having a little difficulty here, sorry."

"Call it what you like, the circumstances remain the same." She carefully doesn't mention that she has pretended to teleport using her perception magic in the past. "We can debate the nature of reality when things are less time sensitive."

"Yeah, uh, I don't actually think that's the case? I'd rather not be gaslit, thanks, had enough of that already."

"If you think it's a good use of our time I can answer any questions you have. I'm also willing to lie and say you're correct if that would make you more comfortable though given that I lack context I don't know that I could do it convincingly."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't believe you. It's whether you're more useful than untrustworthy at this point, and that's not reaaaaally my call to make. Especially with, you know."

"With you being near me given that I can influence people near me?"

"Yep! It's more effective than parasocial techniques as far as I can tell even when you totally know it's happening! So uh, Hermes-Ishtar, ring a bell?"

"It's a name... even if I try to force it I get another two names."

"The Chartered Corporation that owns the planet and most everything on it. In spirit, if not in letter. Peddlers of abuses petty and grand, traders of lives like currency here on the frontier, far from even the corrupt justice of the Compact... We're rebelling, taking this planet back, for better or worse. This has been building for a long time, all the anger and paranoia... And maybe it'll actually work. ...If you're playing dumb, you're doing a really good job of it, hmm."

"They sound like some pretty bad people in a really bad system. Hopefully we win."

"We. Arright, so this is uh, the Hermes-Ishtar main datacenter for the whole planet and we've got maybe five minutes 'fore the police show up. So having loyalist guards still in a control room, even with it physically cut off, is no bueno. Though, honestly, kind of worried you're scouting us out here and gonna pop out to tell them what's up, how could we tell given what you know how to do, what do you have to say to that?"

"I don't think there's any perfect reassurance I can offer. I will say that I'm very good at going unnoticed so I don't think I would be talking to you if I was doing that. On a more practical note, do you think the people in the control room could hear me if I speak loudly? If they can that seems like the obvious thing for me to do."

Shrug. "Anyway, if we seem less than maximally cooperative that's why. And yeah, they can hear us. If you get a bit closer, anyway."

"Well, I think the best thing I can do to prove I'm on your side is do things that will help you. Do they have a way to see what's happening in this room?"

"I think we killed most of the cameras? Can't be sure of that though, so maybe. Probably. Eighty percent?"

"Alright, my first thought would be to convincingly claim to be some sort of especially skilled individual loyal to Hermes-Ishtar claim I removed all of you and either invite them out or ask them to allow me in."

"Could work, could work. Uhhhh. Probably don't claim to be their boss or a high-level manager, but someone good but secret... Lemme ask for advice-

-Okay, so actually they definitely have eyes on us here, you'd have to bluff your way in and then distract or disable them somehow. Maybe you bluffed us and lied about having the encryption keys."

"You'll have to say more. You're suggesting I tell them that I convinced you I'm on your side while convincing them I'm on their side so they let me in. What's that about encryption keys though. Do they need them for something?"

"I can't tell you about that," he says sharply and winces. "I don't know, I'm not a crisis negotiator, I'm an advertising analyst, Christ. The other tack to try is just to very convincingly promise we won't hurt them if they surrender and fighting would be pointless and risky."

"Alright, would you and the others be willing to walk out of the room? I think the easiest thing would be to claim I bribed you and then ask them to open up."