Despite Hadai's assurance that it would only be a few minutes to run the tests, it was slightly over two hours later that Fujin and Taiga returned up the lift. By now there was a nearly-constant bustle of interns on the second floor, most of them paying little or not attention to the group of guests in the lobby.
Taiga was adjusting and re-adjusting a set of robes--he looked decidedly uncomfortable. Fujin was holding what looked to be a report on official letterhead. Squall was still sitting in the computer lab--whether he was browsing scientific journals, hacking into the Estharan Defense Oversight Commission, or simply dead was anybody's guess.
"How did it go?" Lu asked.
Taiga glanced up, smiling thinly. "I have a headache to end all--ah. ...Hadai had me talking forever. She thinks she has a shot at publication in some journal and some award, and--well. We have the proof, signed and official. ...I need water. Water and something to eat. I feel Hyne-horrid. ...she said we can go see Ralo at any time. Sooner the better."
Taiga collapsed down onto the couch, one hand on his forehead, and groaned. Lu shook her head incredulously. "Hyne, Taiga! What did she do to you?"
"ICI analysis host," Taiga muttered. "Some of that equipment looks really scary, you know? Kept telling... it wasn't a threat. ...water?"
Lu cast a concerned glance at Fujin--whose expression was unreadable. Taiga's arm jerked, and he groaned again. "Disregard."
Lu hurriedly stepped off in pursuit of water.
Nida packed up the card deck, glancing over at the document Fujin was still holding. "So, I guess this means that we head over to Ralo?"
Fujin stared at him for a moment, as if trying to divine whether or not he had a hidden agenda. Then, decisively, she nodded. "YES."
"This is all going a lot faster than I thought it would," Nida admitted.
"Esthar tech," Taiga responded, as if that should explain everything.
Nida stood up. "I guess I should tell Squall that we'll be leaving soon," he said.
"Or we could leave him here," Seifer suggested.
Nida blinked at him, and decided to ignore the comment.
Lu returned as Nida walked out, carrying two glasses of water. She set them down in front of Taiga--who, without preamble or hesitation, took both and downed them as quickly as he could. Lu watched him, making no effort to hide her concern. "...Taiga? Are you all right?"
Taiga waved it off. "...I'll make it," he said. "Just... a bit tired. ICI will wear you out. ...'m hungry. Sometime, I should eat. Something."
"Taiga?" Lu asked. Taiga glanced up, raising both eyebrows in inquiry. "...what, exactly are we going to ask Ralo?"
Taiga paused. "To do... whatever she can," he finally said.
"And what do we expect that she can do?"
Taiag watched her. "At the very least? ...I don't know." He closed his eyes, leaning back. "It'll work out sooner or later, Lu. Hadai said that there was no question about my being requisitioned away from the army--for Science, of course. And if I can just--"
He trailed off. Lu sighed. "...would you like more water?"
"Water here tastes different than the water at Home Base," Taiga noted. "Why do you suppose that is?"
"Different aquifers, differences in filtration--Taiga. You started a sentence and you didn't finish it."
"The ICI is malfunctioning, and it's going pretty badly," Taiga explained. "Don't know when it happened. Maybe it's just deteriorating. I find it's... hard to concentrate. Been a rough day." He smiled. "Sorry."
Lu sat down heavily. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Bring it up to Ralo. We'll just see what she can do, in any case."
Nida and Squall chose that moment to re-enter the lobby, Squall looking all too ready to leave. "Are we ready?" he asked.
Lu glanced over. "If Taiga is," she said.
Taiga stood up, grimacing. "The spirit is willing," he said. "And the sooner we walk, the sooner we can sit."
"Good, then," Nida broke in. "I trust one of us knows where the Institute is?"
There was an awkward silence.
"Ah," Lu said. "I've... seen it, before. I might be able to find it."
Squall exhaled, exasperated. "Does the Institute contain Odine's Lab?"
"Yes--Odine's, Guissen's, and Ralo's, as well as the ESOC Council office--"
"I know where it is," Squall said--eliciting confused glances from almost everyone. "Let's go."
The Esthar streets were fairly crowded at midday, as people moved back-and-forth on whatever errands they had to run.They attracted any number of glances--mostly from civilians, staring at the decidedly foreign styles of clothing that everyone except Taiga and Lu were sporting.
What they eventually decided wasn't certain--but since both Taiga and Lu were wearing ESOC robes, the general consensus seemed to be that they were in the city for some kind of scientific affair--and the fact that everyone aside from the two apparent EMOC officials was rather young and rather armed was only a minor sticking point. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Dr. Odine had gotten it into his head to do something that made no sense to anyone, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
And if anyone noticed Taiga's random mutters--and if anyone listened closely enough to hear that they were mostly about analyzing and disregarding--they chalked it up to the absent-mindedness and general minor psychoses that often began to afflict Odine's assistants after any sort of prolonged exposure to the man.
The crowds began to thin out as the approached the Palace, and they began to see guards placed at strategic intervals. Traffic through this part of the city wasn't restricted--but it was usually only composed of people with official business.
Taiga began to fidget as they moved through the district, casting nervous glances at the guards and shying away from them almost unconsciously. Fujin had fallen into a flanking position, one hand placed discreetly on his elbow.
None of the guards seemed to notice or mind--which was lucky. The mood of the group was getting tenser, stemming from Taiga's inability to relax and only amplified by the fact that, if a guard stopped them, they would be hard-pressed to explain what they were doing.
Unfortunately, that issue was about to make itself a moot point.
As they passed the Presidential Palace Taiga stopped suddenly, head snapping around to stare in turn at each of the Palace guards. His eyes unfocused, and he swayed dangerously.
Fujin was instantly attentive. "What?" she demanded in a tense whisper, steadying him as well as she could. Taiga shook his head, still staring blankly.
"I--I--" he began, choking off the syllable before it really had time to develop. "...analyze. Analyze."
"It's the ICI," Lu said, stating the obvious. "Taiga. Tell it to disregard."
Taiga looked at and through her. "Analyze," he repeated.
Lu shook her head, moving forward to take Taiga's shoulders. "Listen--" she began.
Taiga bolted.
Pulling away from both Fujin and Lu, he turned and darted back down the street and up the road to the Presidential Palace, charging at the guards. Fujin was after him almost immediately, and after a moment of shock had passed the rest of the group followed.
One of the guards stepped forward and raised his shotel; before he had a chance to use it, Fujin's shuriken had knocked it out of his hand. Taiga dodged the other guard, slipping onto the elevator behind them and activating it with inhuman speed.
The guard Fujin had attacked was on his feet in a matter of moments, pointing the gun base of his weapon at her, ready to repel an attack. Fujin had her Shuriken up into a ready position in as little time, and it was only Lu's quick intervention that prevented the problems they already had from escalating.
"Field Officer Hali Lu, fifth level biomechanics," she identified herself. "I don't know if you could tell, but that man was a cyborg. We're having problems with his interface; we need to get him to Dr. Ralo as soon as we can. Could you let us through, please?"
The soldier straightened up, a bit taken aback. "If he's a cyborg," he stated, "he'll be taken care of by the guards inside. You don't have clearance."
"Uh," the second guard said, pulling a datapad out of his armor and keying something in. Calling the other man over, he gestured to something on the screen. Both of them turned to look at Squall.
The first guard straightened again, and saluted. "My apologies!" he said. "You're to be admitted to see the President. Go right ahead."
Lu looked at Squall incredulously, though he seemed to be as confused as she was. She was about to say something, but Fujin preempted them by pelting past the guards and punching the elevator callbutton almost hard enough to break it. Without bothering to question the guards on the whys or hows, the rest of the team followed her.
It took far, far too long for the elevator to arrive.
Once it was there, it took far too long to take them up and into the palace.
And once they had gotten there, Taiga was gone.