I tried to get through to you

[archboxer]

[You know what that was? A fiasco. That was an utter fiasco. Three more people gone on a chance that may not happen! This is horrible. Even if some people dislike her, Rhea... is up to the challenge once more. This time she does it nearly herself: writing out the invitations, ordering the food and telling everyone to meet at the bar. In Ema's honor, of course.

She hands out the invitations herself and if she can't find you, she'll slide yours under your door.]

Comments

[fivestagegod]

The labs were destroyed a couple of months ago. Industrial accident; some kind of explosion. I can't imagine they dared too well, since the compound was landlocked.

[ladygeryon]

[Wow, that gets a raised eyebrow.] ...okay, I wasn't expecting that. The whole thing got taken down by one accident?

[fivestagegod]

Yeah. It was pretty major; it contaminated the whole area. What wasn't destroyed in the blast is due to be dealt with soon, but I don't really know how that's going to be handled.

[He has an idea; being so high up in the Corporation's ranks, of course he does. But it's not precisely polite-company talk.]

[ladygeryon]

Huh, wouldn't you just-right, no Pokemon. You don't have trained animals that are immune to that kind of contamination?

[fivestagegod]

It wouldn't matter how well-trained they are, the virus that's contaminating the area is capable of affecting...well, pretty much anything. Animals, plants. People. Sending anything in there is a bad idea.

[ladygeryon]

[BIG YIKES.]

So I'm guessing the plan's something similar to..."nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure"? Especially since you probably couldn't evacuate all the animals and plants that just happened to be there...

[fivestagegod]

Probably. I'm not in control of what happens there anymore, that's entirely out of my hands. But if I had to guess, they're going to sanitize it, yeah.

[ladygeryon]

Yeah, not like there's anything you could do from here, after all. [A pause.] Are there any obvious signs of the infection? In case something affected ends up in that vending machine, it's probably good to know.

[fivestagegod]

...I've asked Angel about stuff like that. They wouldn't let anything be put in the machine that's going to straight-up kill us like that - the Professor wants us to do it, more or less of our own free will. Coercion is okay, viral contamination not so much.

I asked about myself, too, just to verify. Apparently I was clean when they got me and they didn't have to fix anything like that. So it's not like I have anything dormant that we'd need to worry about.

[ladygeryon]

Okay, that's a relief. [She leans agains the door, watching him watch the sharks a bit more.] You think they could have fixed it, if they'd had to?

[fivestagegod]

Depends on what I was infected with.

[It's kind of the verbal equivalent of a shrug. Still not making too much eye contact, though.]

The stuff I was concerned about? Probably not.

[ladygeryon]

Hm. Well, I'm really glad we won't have to worry about that when we get out. And...your family's fine too, right? [Did that explosion happen on Take Your Daughter To Work Day with the worst timing ever don't tell her it did.]

[fivestagegod]

...They're not infected with anything, at least. I'm concerned about my wife, but that's for other reasons.

[ladygeryon]

The "being stuck in an underwater facility with no way to contact her" reason? Or something that happened before that?

[fivestagegod]

...Some people broke into my lab to try to kill me. That's the last thing I remember happening before I woke up here.

[He shrugs a bit; he's keeping his eyes on the sharks.]

Annette was in the next room over. I don't know if they're just after me, or both of us, or what.

[ladygeryon]

[...ah.] Right, that's definitely worrying to think about, especially if you just disappeared in front of them which might freak them out even more... Did she have a way out of that other room?

[fivestagegod]

Not without going through the people that were there to mess me up, no.

[ladygeryon]

[Well, fuck.]

...fuck. Wish there was something I could do to help other than say I hope she's alright.