Back to the Lab (ID)

[DanteMGalileo]

"Whoa, whoa, you can put your guns down..."

William slowly raised his hands up, but did not go down on his knees. "... Listen. Lydia Pendleton sent me. (If this goes poorly, I blame you.) ... Uh, hi, Joe? ... What're those faces for?"

Several years of dealing with Seeker and Val made you pretty nonchalant about guns pointed at you.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Lydia Pendleton..." Joe approached the gate, keeping his gun trained on the intruders. The closer he got, the more Ryan, William, and by extension Lydia could see that he had a prominent bruise on his forehead. "How do you know Lydia Pendleton? What did she send you here for?"

"Tell him everything. Then ask for David."

[ColArana]

"Huh? Will? What are you--" But it seemed that the name had struck a chord.

Ryan's brow furrowed. "Shit dude. The voice in your head.... It's actually real. Damn." He commented in astonishment, looking between the two. "Uhhh... Shoot. You should probably take over, since Lydia seems to only be able to be heard by you."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Alright, alright..." William seemed to say to both the guard and to Lydia. "Now we're gettin' somewhere..."

Taking a moment to clear his throat, the blonde began to explain. "Look. Lydia says she got injected into the wrong guy, and from what I can tell, I'm the only one that can make contact with her. Neither one of us wants to be in this situation, so she directed us here to get her outta me. Is... is David here?"

[ThePopcornFairy]

Joe briefly glanced at Ryan, then stared back at William. Slowly but surely, he lowered his gun, nodding at the young man, his expression still serious despite the bafflement evident beneath the surface. After pondering what he had been told for a moment, Joe grabbed the walkie-talkie on his belt and held it to his mouth. "Dr. Pendleton?"

---------------------------

Barely two minutes later, the alarms had been turned off, the security guards were no longer aiming to shoot, and someone else was stepping out of the building. He was a somewhat older gentleman. Tall, with tan skin and short black hair, dressed in the kind of glasses and lab coat one would expect from a scientist. He approached the fence briskly, his expression stern and somewhat austere, too agitated to be concerned.

He stopped about five feet in front of the intruders, still separated by the fence, scrutinizing the two young men. "Which one of you has her?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

There was a long sigh from Lydia. "Hi, Dad..."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Why, what a friendly dad you've got there..." William muttered to himself.

Back at regular volume, William glanced at the slightly shorter man. "That'd be me. I'm gonna assume you're David Pendleton, yeah?" He stretched his arms a bit behind his back. "I'm William Lowe, and I'm the one who's got her. Lydia says hi in what I'm going to assume is a very annoyed tone, by the way."

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Hm." Dr. Pendleton shot a hard frown at William. Sure, he might not have appreciated the young man's tone, but he had to concede that William's knowledge and translation of Lydia's mannerisms matched up. Of course, after the morning he just had, he wasn't about to let his guard down so easily.

"Lydia, if you can hear me, when is your mother and my anniversary?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"July 1st, 1987. Ya started dating on Sweetest's Day some six or seven years earlier. Great job bringing Mom up, by the way! Haven't heard you mention her in literal months, like she's just gone from your existence all of a sudden!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"July 1st, 1987. I'm gonna assume that's before things start going to hell and humanity is still one type instead of being divided into immobile blobs and mobile elite..."

William just resigned to his fate, glad that Imago wasn't present at the moment. "Lydia also says thanks for bringing her mom up after not mentioning her mom for months."

By Set's wilted testicle, he's... about on par with Mort as fathers go.

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Ughhh..." Dr. Pendleton pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course that would be her response. Infuriating... but at least predictable.

"Okay." He hooked a finger into one of the fence's chain links, effortlessly sliding open the unlocked gate. "Follow me."

Then Dr. Pendleton turned around, making his way across the parking lot and back towards the front entrance of the lab, letting William and Ryan trail behind him. Upon stepping inside the building's main lobby, he delved right into the questions. "How long ago was she injected into you? How many people know about her?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Why yes, Dad, I'm completely unharmed. Thanks for asking."

[ColArana]

Ryan let Will carry on the conversation, uncertain how to proceed himself. Will was the one with a science project in his head afterall! Really? Is he actually the only one with a science project in his head? Ryan suddenly thought, considering the microchips and steel holding his skull together, along with his bionic eye. ”Agh....” He grumbled as Dr. Pendleton let the group inside.

The doc seemed pretty interested in knowing about how many people knew about this. ”Well Will does obviously, and I guess I sort of do....” Should he mention Percy? He didn’t want to get Perce into trouble! ”How did that happen though? How does a project here end up inside William?” Ryan asked, puzzled. ”Was there a glitch or something? If it’s this important I can’t imagine you’d hire a tech with butterfingers, who’d hit the wrong key by accident, would you?” Something was nagging in the back of Ryan’s mind, possibly coupled with what Imago has said earlier.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Lydia says she's completely unharmed and thanks for your concern, doc."

William cringed slightly at relaying this message. "I dunno how long exactly she's been inside me (oh gods that came out weird), but I've only been up for a few hours myself- woke up in a tub of water in a back alleyway with a hangover, please don't ask..." He continued to follow Dr. Pendleton, frowning a bit at the sterile atmosphere of the lab. "As for who else knows? Ryan here found out, and my buddy Percy- who is currently being possessed by the demon that lives in his head and probably a few blocks away- also knows. I doubt he cares, though..."

By Set's wilted testicle, I am going to get cut open for this.

"Oh, and..." The blonde paused, his face turning serious. "... When I came to, there was a dead man in the alleyway... He wore a white coat, but that's about all I could make out in that state... Shit, I need to get a shovel and give the poor bastard a proper burial..."

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Yes, thank you, you don't have to repeat everything my daughter tells you," Dr. Pendleton grunted in annoyance as he led the boys down the hall. "If you could restrain from communicating today's events to anyone else, that would be highly appreciated. If this project went public, we'd be at even greater risk than we evidently already are."

He stopped in front of a pair of double doors and waved his ID in front of the badge reader next to them, generating an audible click. After partially opening one of the unlocked doors, Dr. Pendleton looked back at William with a raised eyebrow and a slight look of apprehension. This was likely the closest thing to sympathy they were going to get from him. "Dead?" He pondered this for a moment, then cast a solemn glare at the door. "Well... he got Lydia to safety. I guess I should be thankful for that. ...Didn't know Jack had that kind of gumption in him. What a waste."

He then pushed the door open all the way, leading the boys into the lab's main facility...

The place was an utter mess, more so than one would expect from a bustling laboratory. Papers, tools and miscellaneous pieces of equipment were scattered about haphazardly. Nearly every computer tower and monitor was smashed to smithereens, littering the floors and desks with fractured pieces of plastic, metal and liquid crystal. Lab technicians were scrambling to repair the damages, many of them bandaged up in one place or another, most of them weary both physically and mentally.

"To answer your question..." Dr. Pendleton said to Ryan as he guided them through the chaos. "...it wasn't an error on our part. We just happened to be surrounded by lazy jack*sses who don't know squat about security."