Face the Facts (ID)

[ParamountKeymaster]

The atmosphere up north was definitely colder than that in the city, enough to give those without a coat a good case of the shivers. Thankfully, though, the team's destination was not buried in the snow that covered a good portion of the alpine landscape. Rather, the laboratory rested just outside a small district at the base of the mountains, which was either presently experiencing a warm spell or was rarely touched by snow at all.

Upon their arrival, Max led the boys on a relatively short walk from the train station until they came upon the facility. There they found a fenced-in, 150-acre compound, with the relatively small, three-story building sporting LunArc's company logo, surrounded by wide stretches of pavement. Various signal towers and one cooling tower billowing with steam rose from the otherwise unassuming building, and off in the distance on what seemed to be an outdoor testing ground, several engineers were busy with some unknown collection of devices.

Max circled around the fence, unfazed by the scenery, until she finally came upon a guard booth. Wired into the fence next to said booth were a locked door to keep people out and a locked gate to keep cars out. The guard on duty looked up at the approaching figures, though Max was the first to speak up. "Good morning, sir!"

"Morning," the guard grunted with a firm but polite nod. "State your business."

"Maxine Niles." She promptly flashed the lanyard ID she had donned on the train. "Lacuna Chronicle. My crew and I are here for a ten-thirty interview."

The guard paused for a few seconds to check his schedule, eventually nodding again with approval. "Very good." He then pressed a button on his keyboard, at which point the fence door gradually slid open. "First door on the right, straight ahead. Go in and have a seat. I'll alert Andrew that you've arrived."

"Thank you." Max beamed at the guard, then marched through the open door with an air of confidence, gesturing for the trio accompanying her to follow.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"I can't tell if this place's security is just really low-key for the sake of inconspicuousness or actual sh*t," Lydia muttered as the guard let the crew inside without incident or escort. "Either way, airport TSA they ain't."

Proteus II sat comfortably atop one of Will's adrenal glands –specifically the one that still had a kidney to perch on– with a few bits and pieces of the pod lightly hardwired into the hormone-pumping organ. Lydia had a plan, and her own adrenaline was heating up in anticipation for the moment she set it in motion. For now, though, all she could do was watch the monitor and try to get a bearing on their surroundings.

The LunArc logo on the side of the building caught her attention. The text was a plain, serif font, with Lun- colored a shiny platinum white and -Arc a sort of greyish burgundy. The prefix and suffix were divided by a crescent shape the same platinum white, within which the A was held. Lydia was no graphic designer, so she had no opinion on the aesthetic itself, but the crescent in the center of it drew her eye. "More evidence towards my theory..."

Eventually, the team made it to the building's front door. Inside was a small, cozy, if unremarkable lobby, with several identical chairs like the kind one would find in a doctor's office waiting room, a couple empty side tables, a plastic potted plant, and several framed images of LunArc's upper staff and noteworthy inventions along the walls. There were five other doors in the room, two for the restrooms, three for various departments. A desk sat in the center of the room, separating the waiting area from the doors to the rest of the building.

A secretary sitting behind this desk looked up from her computer with a remarkably forced smile. "Good morning! You four must be with Lacuna, yes?"

"Will... look around slowly," Lydia instructed. "See if there are any security cameras in here."

[DanteMGalileo]

Will looked around slowly, pretending to take in the lobby. He wasn't sure what a security camera was, but he saw several black boxes with some kind of cone attached to them. Eh, probably inferior to Thief Traps anyway. "Nice place," he said. "... Nice logo." Totally something people who aren't here to commit corporate espionage say, right?

Will felt something moving in his torso. Whatever it was, he had a bad feeling about it. And he was sure it wasn't his half-eaten breakfast. Please tell me we're going to have a nice, sane investigation with no horror. Please.

"Max?" Percy motioned to her, eye slightly twitching. He was accustomed to being barefoot, so his feet being jammed into shoes was uncomfortable to him. He wasn't sure how people put up with this. As their train got close, he pulled most of his hair in the back into a messy bun of sorts, including the two long strands, leaving just enough to hide his ears. Now he looked like a normal guy with long hair. "You're the pro at this. We're just your shadows." Hopefully the eggheads here passed his discomfort in shoes off as whatever normal people did in these situations.

"Hey, Felix." Will placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, as if trying to calm down the brunette. "It's just a shadow thing. Don't get too jittery, people will think you're up to something."

"That's rich, coming from you, Levin." Percy scoffed. Might as well use the fake names. "You're usually the antsy one."

[ColArana]

Ryan marched along with the troupe, seemingly unbothered by the cold. His body had been constructed to resist extreme temperature shifts, and while there were still limits, as long as his outer coverings were intact he'd be fine. Despite still wearing the green polo shirt, he seemed more or less unaffected, without so much as shivering. Ryan clutched a notepad and pencil in his hand to add to his guise of being a reporter alongside Maxine. Overall though, he planned to let Maxine do most of the talking. He was just going to dig for information regarding Lydia. He was taking a careful account of their surroundings, in case they needed to make a quick escape in the near future as well. The mountains were surprisingly well suited for someone like him. Sure the wear and tear wasn't particularly great, but his cable launcher and enhanced physical abilities would be useful for traversing difficult terrain.

As they approached the guard though, Ryan started getting nervous. As he had planned, Maxine was doing the talking, and he was simply standing with her innocently. Max moved through the conversation easily enough and the group was admitted. Ryan stayed close. He looked at the logo as they passed beneath it, and then began searching for other surveillance equipment. Cameras, alarms, the like.

"It is a nice place." He answered Will as he kept pace with Max. "You doing alright P--Felix?" He asked, remembering Percy's fake name at the last moment. Hopefully this would go smoothly today. Hopefully nothing out of the ordinary would happen, and they'd find a major clue they needed. Ryan looked at Will for a long moment. Where was Lydia now? He wondered. He wanted to ask Max some tips on what he could and should do, but they were inside now, and past the point that could be done. He guessed aside from the cameras, there were probably going to be sound recordings as well. They'd have to be careful for sure. They were in the enemy's lair, and would have to watch their every step.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Yep! Maxine Niles," Max cheerfully responded, once again holding up her badge.

"Go ahead and have a seat," the secretary offered. "Andrew should be with you shortly."

"Thanks." After responding with a grateful nod, Max settled into one of the chairs, taking the opportunity to go over her notes one more time. She would have to walk a fine line between maintaining the ruse and keeping an eye and ear out for the information they actually needed, but at least she could focus more on the former while the boys took care of the latter. All she really had to do was act like this was an ordinary interview.

She had to wonder, though... what kind of evidence on Lydia's whereabouts were these people likely to just leave lying around? And what about this microchip that was apparently so important? Would it be here? How would they know if it was? How far could they actually get with this investigation on such little clearance?

The creak of a door pulled Max's attention away from her notebook. A tall young man in a lab coat and his blond hair in a short ponytail entered the room from one of the inner doors, a warm, charismatic smile spread across his face and then some. "Well, well! Look who finally decided to visit again!"

"Hi, Andrew," Max hummed in a sort of playful exasperation, standing up to meet him partway. "Thanks for setting this up for us on such short notice."

"Oh, it's my pleasure, Miss Niles," Andrew mused, taking Max's outstretched arm and forgoing the standard shake for a kiss on the back of the hand. "Of all the people I'd gladly brag about our achievements to, you are easily in the top five."

"Uh-huh..." Max offered him a flat smirk and politely slipped her hand out of his grip. Clearly she was familiar with this behavior but was trying not to be annoyed for the sake of professionalism. Someone had to display it, after all. After a slight cough, she gestured to Will, Percy and Ryan and continued, "Uh, Andrew, this is Levin, Felix and Victor."

"Pleasure to meet you gents! Lucky you, getting saddled with this mistress of the written word. You'll learn well today."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Yeah, thought so..." Lydia muttered, easily spotting the cameras hanging from the ceiling. "Hope the range on this thing is wide enough to scramble all of 'em..."

She waited until the man conducting their interview arrived, then she switched on her electromagnetic boosters, cranking up the frequency in an effort to mess up the cameras, not to mention any devices on the secretary's desk. While the booster did its work, she looked to the monitor, studying this Andrew fellow keenly, scrutinizing every detail of his appearance. He looked just like the picture Max had shown them last night. Exactly what she was hoping for.

And then... he started talking.

Almost immediately, Lydia's eye starting twitching. Just the way he carried himself and the suave, smarmy tone he used was enough to get her blood boiling. But the fact that he was directing that attitude towards Max, the fact that he was being so transparently flirty, the fact that oh you sick bastard did you just kiss her hand? What kind of scientist are you?!

Lydia's finger shook a little as she slowly raised a switch. The pod started sending out subtle electrical pulses, stimulating the adrenal gland it stood upon...

[DanteMGalileo]

Okay okay what the fuck. Will was no scientist, but he was certain that this wasn't normal behaviour. Max's discomfort confirmed it. Yeah, creep of the week, in the running with the girl that kept staring through his window while he was changing most mornings and nights! Ugh...

Will felt himself clench a fist and his eyes narrow slightly. For once, he was glad to need glasses.

"I, uh, thanks," Percy added with an awkward chuckle. "She's... really good. This'll be great for my resume, right? And maybe I'll actually get a job when I'm outta college?" He shot a glance at Will, patting the taller man on the arm. "Easy, Levin. Nerves."

Will released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Sorry, Doctor Kent. Stomachache, nerves, you know? Hopefully it doesn't kick in at the worst moment..."

I really want to kick you in the face now.

[ColArana]

Ryan took a seat and patiently waited, running his cover story over in his head. It's fine. You're just Victor Stone, a college student on a practicum, to pick up lessons. You won't even have to talk much. Just take notes and observe. Both of which are exactly what I need to do anyways. He tried reminding himself, as they waited. He looked around the room. Was there any surveillance equipment in here? Probably, he mused. So activating his radar wouldn't be a wise choice here. I have all the tools I need, but how the hell am I supposed to use them without alerting everyone in this facility to what I'm doing!? Not to mention, letting the group he was with know exactly what he was.

And then Andrew showed up and well.... Ryan's eyes also narrowed a little, but he tried to quickly hide this. Right up until something else happened. A sudden blinding pain in his head. "Ow..." He murmured quietly, putting his forehead in his hand. Something was messing around with the signals running through his body. It wasn't a full blown EMP system-- (which was good. Having what would essentially be a heart attack in the middle of the room wouldn't be particularly good), but it was giving him a splitting migraine. "Ah... hello, Doctor Kent. Max has been an amazing teacher so far. I've learned a lot from her. Please excuse me if I'm a little quiet, I've been dealing with a killer headache today." He explained quickly, before wondering what the hell was causing this. He... Ryan... didn't get headaches. Not with everything that was regulating and controlling his physical condition nowadays. Something nearby was absolutely screwing with him. Was it LunArc? Was their cover already blown?!

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Oh no, please, no need to apologize," Andrew cheerfully insisted, hardly fazed by the discomfort the three young men were displaying. "I understand that it can be quite intimidating, being in the presence of a technological giant like LunArc. I promise I'll go easy on ya. Not that I expect Max here to do the same for me, always asking the hard-hitting questions."

The secretary sat straight up in her seat, casting a confused expression at her computer. She hit a few buttons on her keyboard, visibly growing more aggravated by the second.

"Yes, well..." Max chuckled uncomfortably, eager to get down to business. "We'll try not to waste too much of your time. I'd just like to start by-"

"Max, dear, you're not wasting my time at all," Andrew insisted, cutting her off. "I was in for a boring day today before I got your call. I see no reason why we can't make the most of the next couple hours."

Max gritted her teeth and forced a grin. Andrew hadn't changed a bit. She saw these obvious advances coming a mile away. That didn't make his attitude any less annoying. "I agree. The more details, the more cohesive the story. So I was thinking we could check out-"

"How's that girl of yours doing? Uh, Linda?"

And there went the smile. The tour couldn't begin soon enough. "Lydia. We split up a while ago."

"O-Oh!" Andrew wore the awkward smirk of someone trying to hide their smug satisfaction in favor of empathy, and failing miserably at that. "That- That's too bad. Sorry to hear that."

"I'm not here to discuss my love life, Andrew," Max grunted, giving up on trying to hide her displeasure. "I'm here to talk about this mech suit you've been working on. Now can we please just trim the fat and get to the real story?"

The secretary tried using her desk phone, only to pull it away from her ear in response to some unpleasant noise. After hanging up, she simply stood up and walked away, disappearing through one of the back doors.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Oh, you mother..."

Lydia was nothing short of seething by that point. Every time Andrew cut Max off, she wanted to cut him off, preferably by forcing his own teeth down his throat. The dude was already ticking Lydia off, but seeing just how irritated he was making Max made it that much worse, and him bringing up their recent breakup was just salt in an already gangrenous wound.

Of course, all she could do from her position was strengthen the pod's electrical output, getting Will's adrenaline pumping more and more.

In the corner of the monitor, Lydia noticed the secretary getting up and leaving the room. "Yeah, that's right, get outta here. Find the I.T. guy, for all he's worth. He cannot help you now."

[DanteMGalileo]

Percy shot an awkward, apologetic look at Max. Wow, he really did not envy her position right now. For once in his life, the pointy-eared freak with a demon in his head might not have been the most-socially-awkward person in the room! "Uh, Doctor Kent, right? I'm not sure if Miss Niles appreciates your, ah... affections?" Let's not look too casual, shall we, remember, we're pretending to be someone a little older than a teenager. But oh, what he wouldn't give for a chance to tell this guy off.

Punch him in the dick!

Oh, you have no idea how tempting that is, Imago, but we're on a strict disguise routine here! Percy placed a hand on Will's arm again. "I told you that was a bad idea, Levin."

Will didn't respond to that, causing Percy to turn his attention to Ryan. He felt a sudden urge to kick this so-called doctor in the face or balls, or anywhere for that matter. Fortunately, the asshole in question seemed to believe that it was just nerves. Good, they didn't pick up on Lydia. Wanting to look anywhere than at Doctor Kent, Will noted that the secretary was leaving. I just hope we haven't been caught already.

"Easy, Victor." Percy placed a hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Just... deep breaths, right? You can do it, I mean, you barely get headaches, right?"

[ColArana]

Ryan could barely concentrate on what was going on between Max and Doctor Kent. The Doctor could quite literally have been announcing LunArc's evil plans to steal the chip, exactly where it was and everything that had happened, and Ryan wouldn't have been able to focus on it. The headache was becoming blinding. You know that old screech you used to get with dial-up internet, when you tried to use the phone? Imagine that, except the source of the sound was inside your head. And turn the volume up to 11. Granted, nobody but Ryan could likely hear it, but it was deafening to him. His grip on his forehead tightened.

Fortunately it looked like Doctor Kent was far too enthralled in Max to really pay much mind to her colleague with the headache. Percy, fortunately, wasn't, and he felt Percy's hand on his shoulder. "You're right. I don't get headaches..." He whispered to Percy. "Something is seriously up..." He was starting to experience minor vertigo. He really, really didn't want to collapse. They were way too far in for him to screw everything up now! No way! No way!

I'm not allowed to fall dammit! I am not allowed to fall!

[ParamountKeymaster]

Andrew turned to the boys with a warm chuckle, rubbing the back of his head in what seemed to be an attempt at bashfulness. "Attempt" being the operative word. "Yes, of course. Please excuse me, gentlemen. Max and I go way, way back."

"Not that far back," Max muttered under her breath.

"Can't exactly blame me for wanting to play catch-up with a dear friend, now can we?"

"No, I suppose not." Max gritted her teeth and strained to smile again, opting not to address the loose definition of "friend" being used in this scenario. "But maybe for time and convenience's sake, we oughta walk and talk? I'm sure this new project of yours is far more interesting than anything I have to say."

"I'm all for walking and talking," Andrew agreed, turning away slightly in preparation. He then smirked at Max and gently tapped the underside of her chin with his knuckle. "Didn't have to demean yourself to convince me, sugar."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"OH, DUKE THE SON OF A B*TCH!!!!!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"Uh, sugar? Isn't that the thing I'm not allowed to have anymore?" Percy tilted his head to the side in confusion, causing the messy bun to loosen slightly. "I don't get it. Granted, I don't really get much, but still..."

As Percy continued his little prattle at decreasing volume, Will clenched a fist again, pulling it back. He felt the adrenaline pumping, and even if Lydia wasn't messing around with his insides, this creep was enough to merit a punch by himself. He inhaled...

"Hey, asshole." When the creepy doctor's sight was on him, Will exhaled...

WHAM!!!!!

Percy jumped back at the force behind that punch.

Seeing the results of his work, Will rubbed his hand. "... Huh. Maybe I should take up boxing."