Back to the Lab (ID)

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Actually, I think he does, Dad. This is the closest I've ever gotten to you actually listening to me," Lydia muttered, slouching in her seat with her arms folded. Frustrated as she was with her father, she had to concede that she saw it coming. What mattered most was that the pod and all its critical systems were safe. His project still had its most vital pieces intact. The fact that she was still alive in there was just a bonus.

She quickly sat back up, however, when William mentioned seeing a dead body upon waking up. One of the technicians actually died injecting the pod into him? How? Why? What sort of emergency could've forced this unplanned injection at the risk of someone's life? Goodness, she wasn't necessarily fond of most of the people here, but that sort of sacrifice really caught her off guard.

And then her dad dropped a name...

"J... Jack?"

Bile rose up in Lydia's throat. She fell back in her chair and grabbed her head. The subtle movements of William's walk felt more like an earthquake violently tossing the pod.

Jack... Jack was... He injected Lydia into William? He injected her into some stranger's body to protect her from this unknown threat? He...? And he...? He was d...?

"HRK-!!! Oh f*ck...! OH F*CK...!" For the sake of courtesy to both her host and Proteus II's tiny cabin space, it was taking everything in Lydia's power not to vomit. Jack was gone. Just like everyone else she cared about.

"Ohhhhh..." And the moment William stepped into the lab's main facility, she started to understand why. The clutter, the broken machines, the general disorder... Clearly something had run amok in here. "Oh f*ck..."

Many of her questions had been answered –the lack of radio contact, the spontaneous change in host, the cause behind Jack's death– but so many more had been raised.

[ColArana]

Ryan offered an appreciative, if stifled snicker at Lydia's snark at her father. It felt a bit like she was venting his own confusion and frustration, but otherwise held his tongue. Well, until Will mentioned a dead person, causing Ryan to snap his head toward him. "A dead person!? What!?"

And it seemed Lydia's dad was familiar with the person too. Ryan might have asked about that, had they not seen the lab immediately after. "What... happened here? Did a bomb go off?" He asked, in a staggered tone, looking around as he walked through the room. "....Then..." At the comment about security being the issue rather than incompetence on the part of the technicians... "Damn. This was sabotage. Someone broke in here...." Ryan concluded. "Someone came after all of you, and since Lydia got injected into someone else, that means they were after...." He paused, a cold thought running through him, that might have sent a shiver up his spine, if he still had proper nerves there. He did not.

"Doctor, where are they now?" He asked. This felt wrong. Why wasn't anyone here? Was it a single saboteur? That didn't seem likely, if they'd managed to chase after this "Jack". Ryan was naive, yes, and inexperienced, also yes. He wasn't stupid. No... if I was them, and I'd lost the trail.... I'd want to keep an eye on the doctor here to make sure he didn't send out a message after Lydia. She doesn't seem to have any idea of what's going on either, from what Will's been saying... If the doctor couldn't get a message out to Lydia about it, then the first thing she'd do after making contact with her new host would be to come back here....

This conclusion filled Ryan with dread-- too much in fact, to immediately voice it, but he cast a very wary eye around the room. Should he activate his recording function to try and track the people in the room? He wondered. Would it be picked up?

[DanteMGalileo]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I dunno what's going on in there, but please, don't throw up while you're IN me! That's probably gonna be a big health hazard for both of us right there!!"

William flailed his arms with a panicked expression, hearing Lydia's nauseated tone. His wild flailing settled down as he took in the destruction. "... By Set's wilted testicle... What the hell happened?!" Cripes, Purgatorio was kinda a shithole, but at least this kind of destruction was reserved for things like bandit attacks! "Who attacked? I'm gonna guess this wasn't just some freak accident, either..."

He glanced at Ryan, nodding at the cyborg's question. "That is a REALLY good question. Where'd your attackers go? Somehow, I doubt most would settle for this alone..."

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Excellent observation," Dr. Pendleton muttered as he led William and Ryan to the break room, holding the door open for the duo. "Have a seat."

Once everyone was inside, Dr. Pendleton quickly checked around the corner, then closed the door. He scanned the room in its entirety, then he turned to briefly look out the window separating the break room from the lab, watching his technicians as they diligently cleaned, repaired and replaced their computers. His eyes were narrow with scrutiny, more so than usual.

With a deep breath, he turned back to the boys. "The intruders left after they destroyed most of our equipment and Jack escaped with Lydia and the pod. Couldn't get a headcount on how many were in the group, but if any of them have decided to stick around and keep an eye on us, we haven't found them yet. As for who they were..." He scowled at the wall. "I have a theory. Heard the name 'Stone' while they were trying to stop Jack. If memory serves correctly, that's the name of a pet project created by an old college rival of mine."

Hands in his pockets, eyes on the floor, Dr. Pendleton began a slow pace. "Regardless of where any of them are now, I seriously doubt they've given up on finding the pod. Problem is, we can't retrieve it either so long as our reenlargement system is inoperable."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Ughhh... Yeah, of COURSE it is..." Lydia groaned, annoyed if not particularly surprised. Considering the sorry state the intruders had left the lab in, it was a wonder if anything still worked. "Nice to know your extreme fetish for secrecy proved absolutely pointless in the end. So what, am I just supposed to stay in here until you fix the machine and cover your tracks?!"

[ColArana]

Ryan sighed. "Can you be sure that nobody stuck around as a backup sleeper agent in case Lydia came back? Under the circumstances that seems like the most likely thing she'd do, and they probably know that as well." He commented. "And considering it's exactly what we've done..." He gulped, glancing around again.

"Stone? College rival?" Ryan blinked once. "What do you know about that project. And the rival?" He inquired. At the added notion of the issues with re-enlargement. "So what do you need for the re-enlargement system? Like specific parts, or....?" He began, considering. "If you've got your hands full here, maybe we could gather some of them?" He offered.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Cripes, you two need family consoling..."

William sighed, taking in this new information. "... Okay. Figured this wouldn't be easy. Seems like nothing gets resolved easily." Leaning forward, the blonde placed his head in his hands, cushioning the new headache, though leaving a gap between his fingers for Lydia to continue observing. "... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say whoever attacked your lab also stole whatever you need?" He glanced at Ryan again. "He's got a point, y'know. Were you compromised from within? This place seems pretty secure..."

Muttering so only Lydia could hear him, William made his opinions clear. "Please tell me he's only like this due to the situation."

---

The tightest security systems were useless against a shadow unless you included specific anti-shadow measures.

Mara slipped alongside the walls, entering a grate, retaining her shadowy form. She heard something, and slid next to another grate...

Reenlargement, hm? Could be useful to me...

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Why do you think I brought you two in here?" Dr. Pendleton whispered sharply, casting another quick, anxious glance at the window and the laboratory beyond. "I don't know how Cora could've learned about the miniaturization project. I don't know if any of her rats are still on the premises or, worse, if one of them is actually under my employment. But Lydia leading you back here was a given, I agree, and it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to catch up with her here. And this time, we'll know they're coming."

The doctor took a seat on a nearby stool, scowling at nothing in particular. After taking a few deep breaths, he broke off into a brief tangent to answer one of Ryan's questions. "In regards to Mr. Stone... Well, Cora's company mainly specializes in cybernetic implants and bioengineering, and he's one of the more... extreme results of their work. I can only imagine how she would incorporate the miniaturization technology into what she already has."

He then took a few seconds to ponder something, eventually looking back up at the boys. "But you two don't need to worry about any of that. We have this covered. The primary chamber is still intact, so we just have to replace our computers and reinstall the enlargement program. That much shouldn't take more than a day. What matters most is that we keep the pod safe until we're up and running again."

Dr. Pendleton's eyes narrowed as he stared directly into William's eyes. "So please try to be patient with us, Lydia. Don't give this kid any dumb ideas. I assure you we're working as fast as we can. We'll get you out of there soon enough."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't completely blown up on us," Lydia mumbled, head in her hand, eyes trained on her screen in a deadpan frown. "On a normal day, this could be considered a good mood for him."

Well... the lab was under repairs, some rival corporation was after the pod, and until either of those came to fruition, she was stuck inside Will. All in all, Lydia was pretty agitated with her situation. It wouldn't have been so bad if the lab equipment had simply broken down and she just had to wait for that to be resolved, but knowing that there was a looming threat that was willing to kill anyone around her to get to Proteus II just made her feel that much smaller and more helpless. And the fact that her father was acting like he was just going to roll with the punches on the matter of her pursuers wasn't any more comforting.

So when Dr. Pendleton directly addressed her through William, promising to get her out soon, promising to fix this mess he'd gotten her into, all Lydia could do was offer her monitor a smarmy grin and sweetly reply, "You better, you two-faced son of a b*tch~"

[ColArana]

Ryan frowned. "I see...." He murmured in concern. So this was a measure against spies, was it? Prudent, but was it enough? His frown deepened. And then the doctor said Ryan's trigger word.

"C-Cybernetics!?" Ryan exclaimed, with wide eyes. Then seemed to sit back, trying to push his outburst away. "I err... yeah. That could be bad." He admitted. "So if all we need to do is keep her safe, what do you propose we do in the meantime?"

[DanteMGalileo]

"... Okay, doc. You try and see what you can do. I'm just gonna... see if I can't find my friend..."

William nodded at Dr. Pendleton, slightly wary. "I'll just... check back tomorrow, I guess? Hope you found a way to get her outta me by then? Because things could get awkward..." He felt like he was... being watched? Or was he just paranoid?

"Oh, yeah, doc." He looked at the slightly shorter man. "... Lydia says, and I quote, 'you better, you two-faced son of a bitch.' ... Seriously, once this shit's over, you two should take family counseling..."

[ThePopcornFairy]

Dr. Pendleton hardly looked fazed by the insult William had relayed for Lydia. If anything, he just seemed to begrudgingly accept it. His daughter had called him much worse in the past, after all. Moving right along...

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Mr. Lowe." His tone barely had any more emotion than it usually did, but to his credit, Dr. Pendleton seemed to be addressing William gently and politely, if only to avoid sounding threatening. "I can't risk the pod falling into enemy hands while you're out in the open. I need to keep you under surveillance, and until I know for sure that everyone in this laboratory is clean, I can't trust anyone to look after you except myself. But I need to be here to oversee the repairs, so for the sake of the pod, Lydia, and your safety, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here with me until we're operational again. Or at the very least..."

He was cut off when the break room door slid open. A technician meekly poked his head inside. "Uh, Dr. Pendleton? Wendell needs your help on the compressor."

Dr. Pendleton groaned and rolled his eyes. "Of course he does."

He stood up and prepared to follow the technician into the lab, stopping halfway to look back at William and Ryan. It was hard to tell, but it almost looked like there was the tiniest bit of sadness in his eyebrows. "Look, we can negotiate something, alright? I don't want any of you to feel trapped. Just... stay here. I'll be right back." Then he turned back around and stepped out of the room, leaving the door cracked behind him.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Hospitable as ever, Dad..." Lydia grumbled, frowning at his back as he left the room. His measly attempts at encouragement were too little too late. She already felt trapped.

She didn't let that bother her, though. She simply tapped her chin and mulled something else over...

At the very least, she understood what her dad was getting at. They had no idea where these spies were. Mexus had the pod back, so of course they would want to keep it under their watchful eye. That way if the spies caught up to them, they would know. Logically, it sounded better than letting William wander around, running the risk of capture while they still had no means of communicating with him or the pod. Spending one night in the lab, waiting one day for them to fix the machine... it seemed simple enough.

But Lydia could tell, in typical fashion, that her father wasn't telling her the whole story.

[ColArana]

Ryan felt uncomfortable when Dr. Pendleton left the room. With the discussion that it might be a trap-- that someone might be lying in wait for the group, he was extremely nervous, both for them and for the doctor himself. Technically speaking Pendleton may have exhausted his usefulness. Ryan tried to quiet these thoughts-- tried telling himself that his mind was exaggerating the issues, but it did not stay quiet. When the doctor left the room, he found himself looking over at William.

"Fuck dude. What are we supposed to do now?" He asked.

Something then occurred to him. "Oh, and.... umm.... Lydia was it? I'm sorry about the bacterium comment earlier..." He apologized, quickly.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Well."

William took a seat down, removing his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. "... So... what do we do now? Sit and twiddle our thumbs until this is fixed? By Set's wilted testicle... some vacation this is turning out to be..."

---

Oh? Sabotage? By someone who wasn't me?

As Dr. Pendleton left the room, Mara followed from her spot in the grate system, silent. From this new grate, she kept her shadowy gaze on this doctor and his team. Just in case something important came up that wasn't already discussed.