Truthfully, Dirk isn't sure how he feels about the fact that Akane did recognise him without his shades--and with a fake beard, Santa hat, and full-sleeved robe on to boot. 'Surprised' isn't really the word, although he is that. 'Uncomfortable,' maybe. He'll just unpack that later. He has work to do.

It does not occur to him that his voice might have tipped her off.

"Yeah, I can see that," he deadpans.

He didn't have a hard time finding Akane because she wasn't even trying to battle. Native Trainers and civilians don't resort to real fisticuffs, and of the offworld Players that do... well, very few of them do so with the gusto and tenacity of Akane Tendo. In fact, the only guy he can really think of as her peer in that regard is Ford Pines.

Which would be fine--he doesn't care a whit about the poor non-player Grunts she's laying out--but there's a conflict of interests here.

"It's kind of my job to make sure this goes off, though. Which means I gotta ask you to stop. Or at least slow it down, can you do that?"