ic What Happens In The Shadows

[Exaccus]

Venomax was having none of it and simply tapped his communicator to hook up to the lady in the rat copter.

 

"We have a suspect on the move from the 5th floor office and a possible accomplice here whos sweating like he just had a whole bottle of ghost pepper suppositories at once; name of rojero"

[EternalPhoenix]

Rojero opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off. “A word of caution, Mister Rojero.” The exec’s gaze was level at Rojero, then he returned it to the Rat. “Apologies. There are items which I cannot permit Mister Rojero to speak of with…shall we say, outside elements. So then. Mister Rojero. You may answer the woman’s question, but without any specifics.”

 

Rojero was now absolutely sweating bullets. He did not have a shining future in espionage, noooooo. “Yes…I…my current employer…has left me dissatisfied.” He shot a glance at the exec, who studied his nails. “I wished to…return…to my previous employer. My…benefits package…is not to my liking.” Another look at the bored exec, and Rojero went on. “This man was kind enough to arrange a…severance package for me. And-“

 

The exec cut in. “That will be quite enough.” Rojero shut up, trembling slightly. “Arrange is an exaggeration. Mister Rojero did not mention that he was underperforming compared with expectations. While many of my executive colleagues prefer full termination, I view that as a waste of potential resources. I may have been…indiscreet…with those two pieces of information. I do believe that is all you need to know.”

 

*************************************

 

Whatever had put acid and stairs together was no longer there. There were no splash patterns or droplets, either. It was as if the acid sprang into being right where it has been. And up close it was even more obvious that putting any significant weight on the would cause a collapse. But that was not all. The doorway leading into the basement was not visible, but the sound coming out of it was wrong. Or rather, the lack of sound. It was an R&D lab. There should be some kind of sound. People talking. Machinery’s low hum. There was nothing.

 

**************************************

 

Three people joined the two men in the coffee bar. Apparently from the basement. An average sized guy, a woman whose arms were somehow giving off light radio signals, and a short, broad woman sized like the man already inside. The other man (the tall, thin one) started making more coffee, and the short woman headed into the ladies’ room. The conversation, after initial greetings, shifted to American basketball. They were not all fans of the same team, and thus another spirited debate broke out.

[Supercape]

The Red Rat

 

Who was master to who? thought the Rat, wondering what a cobweb had been woven between the various players. 

 

It seemed it was the exec who was the master. But what was Rojero up to?

 

Termination? that was a loaded term, too. 

 

Rojero....any hits? Asked the Rat via her comm system to Akhona. It was a long shot, but you never knew. Akhona seemed a smart one. 

 

"You sound scared, Rojero. Very scared. I wonder why that is? I wonder who you are scared of?" she asked, more gently, looking at the executive. "Maybe someone has a knife to your throat?"

 

She half wished she had a knife herself, right now. She would throw it at that creey executive. 

 

"Do you need protection?" she asked, oiling her words with more kindness.

[Tarrakhash]

Akhona was fine just scouting and she continued to do so.

 

Black Mamba was starting to think that they had been dealt a red herring as he stepped down further into the R&D department, scanning as he got past the radio waving blocking walls to see what was going on and what had occurred. He moved deeper and deeper into the R&D department till he encountered someone or something made him investigate further.

[Exaccus]

Alright, seemed like it was time to play bad cop. He silently strode forward and grasping at his heavy overcoat let a few streams of acid pour from his fingertips, shredding away the fabric as he tore it from himself and flung the tattered remains away without a care, rolling his shoulders a little to loosen up the armoured pipes that ran from his resivoire tank to his applicator gauntlets as he leaned forward and onto the desk.

 

"Hey Roj, you wanna see something cool?" He offered menacingly as he let a clear droplet form on one of his fingertips quickly pinching it between his middle finger and thumb and sealing it in a thin film of polymer, placing a clear plastic pill on the desk Infront of him.

 

"A little something I concocted for my line of work, I'm not much of a people person you see...but i need to be able to get information out of folks you know?" He explained as he patted him on the shoulder with the hand he"d formed it with.

 

"Oderless, colourless, tasteless with a chemical half-life to stop it from going to far..I want them to be lucid and able to answer me you see?" He explained.

 

"What does it do? A mix of things really, indescribable pain for the most part...heightened panic response... Raised body temperature but my absolute favourite is that now and again the suspect feels their heart beat with no blood in it." He smiled "washes out through the sweat glands leaving no trace....some people feel strongly about that kinda thing you know?" He laughed a little.

 

"Oh this is it as a liquid...I can make it a gas too...carried on my breath...another reason to not talk much....but I think you're more talkative than me so you really should go ahead and talk to my friend here, any more with me and we might move into antidotes or something silly like that."