Back to the Lab (ID)

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Eh, tell him not to worry about it..." Lydia sighed. "I'm about that size anyway."

After another deep breath, she went back to addressing her host directly. "Will, let me tell you something about my dad. He always has something to hide, even if not ESPECIALLY from me. You know the old phrase 'can't trust him as far as you can throw him'? Well, my dad would sooner eat dog sh*t than he would let another human being touch him, let alone throw him. ...Go over to the window. Can you see where he went?"

[ColArana]

Ryan stood up and walked around the room. Pacing impatiently. "Well. Whatever it is, I kinda want to get out of here. We're too close to ground zero. I kind of want to see if we can't just find a place to lay low for awhile." He paused and looked back at William. "You and Percy have any place to hide out besides your hotel room?" He asked.

A hotel room would be too easy. "Cause these guys.... They killed someone to get to you two..." Ryan swallowed. What had he gotten himself into? Frick! "I kind of want to avoid having to confront them directly if I can avoid it, right? Tell me I'm not crazy for thinking that." He kept pacing anxiously. "I hope Lydia's dad has a game plan, when he gets back..."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Well... there's the option of going back to our world, but I'm sure Percy's foster dad would give us a lecture and probably tear our ears off if who slash whatever got there..." William pushed his glasses back up. "I'd rather deal with whatever's lurking here than deal with Percy's foster dad, and if you knew him, you'd agree with me..."

The blonde shrugged at Lydia's comment about her dad. "Come to think of it, Percy's foster dad- Mort Isaac... your dad reminds me of him, including the would rather eat dog shit before allowing another human being to touch him part." He walked over to the window as Lydia had suggested, trying to examine Dr. Pendleton... "Hey, question... are sciency types supposed to keep distance from each other when they're trying to fix the same thing?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Well, considering pretty much everything needs fixing in that lab, I'm not gonna press judgment there."

The moment Lydia could see her dad in the monitor, she got to work adjusting the settings on her radio. "Okay, look directly at them. Don't turn your head. I'm gonna see if I can bump up the reception."

She turned a few dials and flipped a few switches, boosting the volume, the input level, the sensitivity, hoping all the while that William's eardrum would be able to-

"I've been trying to tell you guys..."

"GAH-!!!" Lydia hastily dropped the volume, finally settling on just the right setting for William's ear to pick up everything she needed. The ducts and the overhanging lights were humming slightly louder than usual now, but more importantly, the discussion going on behind the glass sounded as crisp and clear as it would if the technicians were speaking directly to William.

"...there was no way we could be the only ones working towards miniaturization."

"Well, obviously, Wendell. It's doubtful we're the first ones in the multiverse to pull it off."

"Yeah, but without supernatural influence? Using purely technological means? On THIS island?"

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Hell, never mind the miniaturization part," one technician piped up. "Considering our resources, I say it's a miracle we managed to figure out the reenlargement process."

"Yeah, well, a lot of good that knowledge will do us now," Dr. Pendleton grumbled as he hunched over a slightly dented generator-looking device attached to the miniaturization chamber, blindly holding his hand out to his team. "Allen."

After retrieving the doctor's requested wrench, the technician offering it to him meekly asked, "So, uh, sir... who are the two kids in the back?"

"Jack injected the pod into the blond one," Dr. Pendleton answered immediately.

"...Oh. O-OH! Well, good! We have one of the missing chips back then!"

"And the other one's been stolen! Did you not hear the part about us not being able to reenlarge the pod without the second chip?!"

"Wait, you mean we never made duplicates?" another technician awkwardly questioned.

"We're still technically in the prototypical stage, Wendell. Besides, just making one of those chips costs a fortune." Dr. Pendleton had a hard, calculated scowl on his face as he operated on the inner workings of the compressor. The scowl of a man who not only knew exactly what he was doing by sharing this information, but how risky doing it would be. "We have the necessary documents to make new ones, yes, but there's no way we could have the duplicates ready by four o'clock tomorrow."

"Four o'clock?" Wendell clenched up. "Is that really all the time she has?"

"The pod was only intended to be inside a host for a day and a half, tops. It doesn't need a lunar landing's worth of oxygen to do its job."

The technicians gathered around him were undeniably nerve-wracked. "So what do we do, sir?"

"We wait."

"...Huh?"

Dr. Pendleton cast his stern glare on the crew. "The stolen chip is useless without the one in the pod. So long as we have the pod here, it's only a matter of time before the thieves come running back to us to get their hands on it. And when they do, we'll be ready for them."

There were a lot of uh's, gulps and uncomfortable mumbles from the technicians, none of whom were looking forward to round two with those brutes.

"Oh, stop it. Once we've brought them to justice and built our duplicates, we'll be back in business."

"B-But what about Lydia, sir...?"

Dr. Pendleton slowly looked away, head low, shoulders tense. "Even if we can get this place up and running again before her oxygen supply runs out, these thieves aren't stupid enough to bring the chip back to us when they come looking for her."

"So... there's... nothing we can do to save her?"

"......No. But... for the time being, we need to keep her here. Her presence will increase our chances of bringing the perpetrators out into the open. And... maybe... maybe I can..."

Dr. Pendleton trailed off, his face impossible to see from where William stood behind the window. Then he got back to work on the compressor without another word.

[ColArana]

Ryan had many advantages as a result of his cybernetic body. Augmented hearing was not one of them, and as such he was not privvy to either the discussion between Lydia and William, nor the talk going on outside. And beside that... They were a little slim on options, weren't they?

"Damnit." He growled, looking at the view and briefly wishing he'd learned how to lip read. "Will, any idea what they're saying out there?" He asked. "I feel like we shouldn't be hanging around here. Regardless of what the doctor's saying, we need to find some shelter. Even if you don't have it. My place is no good.... I'm sorry, but I don't want to bring this problem onto my family here, you know?"

"Do you think we should maybe just head out of the city for a bit?" He asked, not realizing exactly how serious the situation had become just yet.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow...!!"

William winced at the sudden loudness, still cringing slightly when the volume lowered to a more reasonable level. "By the severed ballsack of Uranus... That freakin' hurt..."

And then, the words...

...

...

...

William felt his heart sink into his stomach, and he fell to one knee. "Oh old gods... Your father's willing to sacrifice you for this...?! He's willing to let his own daughter die inside a stranger?!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"..............."

For a while, Lydia simply stared at the screen, unable to fully absorb what she was hearing. Her muscles had already locked up the moment the technicians brought up her oxygen supply, but between that, the stolen microchip, and the general disarray of the lab all inhibiting her extraction and reenlargement, the very real possibility of death was finally, slowly starting to sink in. That wasn't what had frozen her in place, though. There were always dangers involved in her line of work as both a normal and a microscopic pilot. She had risked her life plenty of times before.

No, the thing that had left her petrified with mortification was her father. Her father who had always cared more about his work than anyone or anything else in his life. Her father who had always ignored the emotions of others so long the ends justified the means. Her father who had brought her into this world, dragged her into this insane project, and was now willing to sit back and let her fall to the wayside if it meant he could salvage what actually mattered to him.

Almost unconsciously, Lydia switched the radio back to its normal settings, prompting the rest of her body to relax and slump back in her seat. Still, she couldn't speak. She couldn't even figure out what to do now. She was so overcome with emotion that the logic and decision-making parts of her brain were too overwhelmed to process. It almost felt like she was rapidly going through the stages of grief. Grief for her own life, if nothing else. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression... acceptance never came, though. All she felt was more denial and especially more anger. How could he do this to her? Why did she let this happen? This wasn't supposed to happen. Not to Jack, not to William, not to her. This was unacceptable. She wasn't going to die like this.

"Will?" When Lydia found her voice again, it was like she never lost it in the first place. "Go to the lockers at the back of the room. The top one second to the right is mine. Grab my keys outta there."

[ColArana]

Ryan's head snapped like a horror movie monster's at what Will said next. "What....? What did you say!? Will what the hell did you just hear!?" He exclaimed. He assumed Will either had some weird superpower or Lydia had just told him something. Either way, what he'd said....

"What the hell.... You can't be serious... No way..." Ryan looked from Will to the door and back to Will. "We're getting out of here. Nobody's gonna die. I... well.... Now I guess I know what we're going to do aren't we?" He said to Will as he followed him. Could he bust out of here, even if they tried to stop the group? Ryan thought about it as he walked over. ...Yes. Yes. He could. And would. "Lydia? What's our move?" He asked, gently, realizing how horrible it sounded, all of a sudden.

[DanteMGalileo]

"... I'm not sure where this is going, but I suppose this can't get any worse..."

After taking a few breaths to steady himself, William walked over to where Lydia told him to. "No lock, eh? Isn't that unsafe?" Clink clink. Open the locker. "I'm gonna assume these are the keys? Guessing house key, and I dunno what the rest are..."

---

My, aren't we the father of the year?

Still in her safe spot, Mara listened in as this doctor displayed a willingness to sacrifice his own daughter for the sake of a project. How disgustingly not-noble, she thought. Oh, how much fun this shall be!

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"I never got around to it, gimme a break!" Lydia groaned. "Just grab 'em and go out that door next to you. My car's parked out back."

[ColArana]

Ryan followed William in moderate confusion but kept pace. Seemed that there was a game plan afterall, but, being not privvy to the discussion between Lydia and Will, he had no idea what it was. "Will? What's the plan here then? What's she telling you?"

[DanteMGalileo]

"I, uh, can do half of that..."

Exiting out of the door Lydia indicated, William found himself... staring at several metallic buggies, at least from his point of view. The blonde scratched the back of his head. "Hey, uh, Lydia, Ryan, what's a car? What am I supposed to be looking for?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"You... can't drive..." Lydia ran a hand through her hair in exasperation. Again, she probably shouldn't have been surprised by that, considering William was from another universe, but still, one inconvenience after another. "Okay, can Ryan drive a car?"

[ColArana]

Ryan froze in place. "....You don't know what a car is?" This was a new one. "Well it's... err... Hmm...." Ryan paused a moment. How to describe a car to someone who didn't know anything about them? "A car is a personal vehicle. People use them to travel around faster than they can normally walk, and they can be used to transport things more easily, or other passengers." He told him, somewhat lamely. How else could he describe a car to someone with no concept of one.

"Anyways. They're manually operated, so..." Ryan began looking around the lot. "Why are we looking for one?"