Log 3: N. Duction

Nathan looked from the dingy stone walls of the castle to the room behind the door that N. Gin had just opened, and wondered if some sort of time twister machine had malfunctioned.

The castle's halls were much more in line with older structures: stone walls, hard floors, with only dusty rugs to soften the footsteps of either humans or Lab Assistants. It was technically an abandoned structure that they were squatting in, after all. The only anachronisms in the hallway were the dim lighting and large speakers coming from the clumsily wired ceiling, the sparks emanating from behind closed lab doors, and the persistent stench of gasoline.

Nathan's room, while also faintly smelling like petroleum, wouldn't have looked too out of the ordinary in a college dorm: if every resident on the floor decided to put all of their boxes and other scattered belongings into one room.

N. Gin wheezed as he struggled to push the door in.

"Ugh, sorry. They assigned pretty much every new hire to this room. Some stuck around long enough to unpack, but they all take off in a hurry. They leave a lot behind. I can help you sort this out later, if you need."

But as Nathan stepped through the cracked door after N. Gin, he couldn't help but grin widely. His mind was already brimming with excitement and ideas.

Like islands in the sea of all the debris, there were the usual creature comforts of a bedroom: a small bed snugly tucked into a corner, a small chest of drawers, a mirror, a couple of wall shelves.

But then there were the walls.

While a similar stark eggshell color to the maze of basement hallways, a quick drag of his finger down the wall made him realize that all the walls were whiteboard. At various points, almost like colorful accents and dividers, there were large expanses of corkboard with some old sketches and notes already pinned to it. Command hooks pockmarked various areas of the walls, conveniently placed for utility.

He would've thrown down his suitcases and messenger bag and immediately started setting up his preferred notes layout on the walls, had it not been for the stacks of boxes. It seemed an almost more surefire way to break his neck than the goddamn mountain.

"It used to be worse. We only recently started boxing up the left behind stuff. We had run out of floor space."

Nathan considered the boxes and sighed. "No way out, but to just get through it. Maybe I'll find buried treasure."

He flashed a smile at N. Gin. "Or at least something I'd like. Not like a grad student salary bought many luxuries, right?"

N. Gin snorted. "Oh, don't remind me of those days, please. Too many ramen meals don't do anyone good. Though this is a lost-and-found collection of at least a dozen people. So take what you want and feel free to throw the rest out the window or something. And if you find anything you think might stabilize a viridian power crystal, go down the stairs at the end of the hall, and bring it to my lab."

He took one last look at the pile. "I'd love to go through this with you, but I'm afraid Dr. Cortex might throw me out the window if I dawdle here too long. So I'll see you at two."

He tripped and swore loudly, catching himself on the wall, before stumbling out and closing the wall behind him. Nathan chuckled, rolled his eyes, and rolled up his sleeves.

As luck would have it, during the hours of this monumental archaeological dig, Nathan wouldn't find anything he thought would aid N. Gin's search. However, he did find some stationary, some assorted knickknacks, some books, some (mercifully, clean) bedding, and several packs of dry erase markers. He pumped his fist when he discovered that one pack was only half dried out, and thus usable.

He leaned over to the nearest wall, gingerly balancing himself over the boxes, and jotted down a tentative shopping list. As he added "more markers" to the list, he winced, realizing that he'd need to wait on purchasing anything until he could finally safely travel down the mountain and to a store.

As Nathan half-heartedly wondered if online retailers would deliver to the castle by drone, he roared in agony and covered his ears. A loud whine emanated from the speakers that periodically littered the hallway, piercing even through his room's closed door.

"Attention Minions! Daily huddle is in fifteen minutes. No lateness. No exceptions."

Nathan grumbled as he shook his head, praying that his hearing was still intact. As he stood and stretched his back, he briefly considered opening his suitcase, but decided to just head back to Cortex's atrium. He wanted to be sure he knew the layout well enough to get back on his own. And if Cortex truly meant no exceptions, he didn't want to find out the penalty for tardiness.

He picked up his messenger bag, tiptoed between garbage to the door, looked down the hallway. He noticed a few Lab Assistants idling around nearby. N. Gin had been particularly animated when telling Nathan about them, when they had walked up to his room.

"They're androids. Smart, strong and obedient, but most importantly, adaptable! They do a lot of the legwork. Mostly the manual stuff, the actual construction of our devices, and they know the basics on how to face the bandicoot. But they also help in the Med Bay, we've had a couple used in intelligence work, and they're really easy to program to do other stuff. I've wanted to dabble in that for a while, but Cortex has told me that it's not a priority."

Nathan waved to one of the Lab Assistants. "Uh, hey, I don't know if I'm allowed to ask, but can you do something for me?"

The Lab Assistant didn't verbally answer, but it did walk over. As it got closer, Nathan noted that it looked surprisingly realistic, save for a couple of visible "seams" in the legs and the uncanny eyes.

"Hey, so, there's a whole lot of boxes in my room. I looked through them all. I don't want anything else from them. Can you just get rid of the debris? Gin said you could throw them out the window if you… want…? I don't know what you want, or if you can want, but can you just get them out?"

The Assistant nodded and walked past him into the room. Nathan stuck around for a couple of seconds, but turned away and walked down the hall, accidentally smacking another Lab Assistant with his bag as he rounded the corner.

After a few minutes, he exhaled in relief, knowing that he had a good sense of the castle's layout. Well, at least, the part from Cortex Castle's main atrium to his bedroom. Granted, he did wind up sneezing from the dust of the antique wall decorations and he had to ask two different Lab Assistants to point him in the right direction. What mattered most, however, was that he did eventually stumble into the main hall.

Cortex was waiting by the entrance, holding up a microphone, inhaling a deep breath. As he spotted Nathan, he let out the breath softly and grinned.

"N. Dustrielle, glad you could join. I was about to make another announcement, just in case you forgot."

Nathan felt his ears buzz, the echo of Cortex's first announcement still ricocheting in his mind.

"Oh, no, you certainly have a way of making those things… stick."

Cortex nodded. "I pride myself on my motivation tactics. Go on and sit down at the table. We'll start the meeting."

He gestured inside, and Nathan noticed that a small round table was tucked back near a far corner, with four wooden chairs and a folding chair bunched around it.

N. Gin was sitting, hunched over, in one of the wooden chairs, nodding as a bald man, with what looked like two screws in his head, spoke to him. The man's eyebrows were bushy, his face was ashen, and as he laughed at something Gin said, Nathan noticed he also had misaligned teeth. While not as immediately shocking as N. Gin, there was still an air of inhumanity to the man, as if he had fused with some sort of horror movie creature. Nathan also noticed that the man's lab coat was a bright green, a sharp contrast to the white lab coats Gin and Cortex wore. He briefly wondered why this man got to wear a colored coat.

And then there was the other man at the table. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation going on next to him. Instead, he stared at the table, as if deep in thought. If Nathan thought Gin and the bald man looked a bit uncanny, they were nothing compared to this guy. Nathan legitimately wondered if he was human, since blue wasn't exactly a commonplace skin tone. His face was also bony, his eyes practically glowing, and he had two chunks of hair coming down from his chin, as if he perpetually forgot to shave them every morning.

Unlike the others, he didn't wear a lab coat. Instead, it looked as though he was wearing armor, with a clock face in the front of his chest piece, another on the gauntlet on his left arm, and another on his incredibly tall and magnificent looking hat.

Nathan realized that this was probably the colleague Cortex had been badmouthing during the interview. Nathan would've recommended a doctor, a dermatologist, and a better beard style, if he wasn't trying to make a good first impression.

As he approached the table, N. Gin noticed him and waved, smiling. The bald man held up his hand and moved his fingers, but seemed more focused on Nathan's face. His line of sight, and the intensity of the scrutiny made Nathan feel like a lab specimen, and he felt his fingers twitch involuntarily. The blue man didn't look up or acknowledge him.

Nathan decided to sit in the folding chair, since something in his gut told him that Cortex might be opposed to sitting in it. And that Cortex might have some strong words about that. With the microphone.

Gin nudged Nathan softly, as he slid into the folding seat. "You didn't happen to find anything to stabilize -"

"No I didn't."

"Figured, but didn't assume."

As Nathan set his bag on the floor next to him, Cortex strode over, clapped his hands together and grinning widely as he sat down.

"Gentlemen, before we start for the day: I'm sure some of you hadn't noticed this, but we have a new team member. Specially sourced by me, this is Dr. N. Dustrielle. He's our new chemist, and his skills will be flexible enough to be an effective go-between for the rest of the team's efforts. N. Dustrielle, you've met N. Gin, of course, but this…"

Cortex gestured to the blue man and the bald man, respectively.

"This is Dr. N Tropy and Dr. N. Brio. N. Tropy is our quantum physics and time specialist, and N. Brio primarily works with mutation and other biochemical efforts."

Nathan waved, a small, tentative motion. "Hey guys."

N. Brio nodded at him, squinting slightly.

"Ch-Charmed." He turned to Cortex, pointing at Nathan. "He's qualified? He has a d-d-doctorate? How old even is th-this child -?"

Nathan gave Brio time to finish asking the question, and raised his finger. "I'm 31."

"31?" Brio's eyes went wide, and he turned, staring into the distance, seemingly at nothing. "Are people just looking younger, or are we just getting older?"

N. Tropy finally looked up and chuckled. "The answer is yes, Brio. But more to the point on qualification…"

As N. Tropy stared at him, Nathan felt a shudder slowly worm and work its way down every single vertebra in his back. Tropy's facial expression implied casualness, but he radiated pure windchill.

"...where did you buy your Ph.D anyway?"

Nathan looked to Cortex, then back to Tropy. "I'm sorry?"

"How much did it cost? Surely not more than what Cortex paid for his. I take you to at least be a smarter personal finance analyst than he is. Maybe you even had to take a multiple-choice quiz to actually get the diploma? Go on, walk me through your grad school experience. All two hours of it."

Every individual word, emphatically pronounced, with long pauses between each question, dripped with condescension, patronization, and withering scorn.

Nathan felt himself flush deeply and his mouth went dry. He knew exactly what Tropy was implying, and he felt his heart pump faster and harder. If the two weren't, supposedly, colleagues, he'd be all too happy to show Tropy all about the things he worked on to acquire his PhD. He could start with superacids, and maybe then move on to high energy nitrogen compounds. If Tropy still wanted to learn more, there was always good old-fashioned chlorine gas.

As Nathan opened his mouth, ready to invite Tropy to a live demonstration, Cortex put his hand in front of Nathan's face and pointed the other at Tropy.

"Enough, Nefarious. That's an order."

Tropy raised his eyebrow, looked to Cortex, then back to Nathan. He folded his hands on the table and his mouth twisted into a wide, snide, smirk.

"If I must, Dr. Cortex. Though you must forgive me for my skepticism. Our track record on your new hires is… middling. I simply can't help but look at yet another underling and silently bet on when they'll leave. No offense, What's-Your-Name."

Nathan tilted his chin slightly back, mirroring Tropy's gaze with a carefully brewed and tested cocky grin.

"I wouldn't dream of being offended by you, What's-Your-Name."

Tropy narrowed his eyes, though Nathan wasn't sure if it was in anger. He tried to read Tropy's expression deeper, but was interrupted by Cortex sighing heavily.

"Ladies please, neither of you are pretty. Settle down. Rest of the business today is the usual: team updates. N. Brio?"

Brio seemed to snap out of the trance he had been in since learning Nathan's age.

"I believe my solution is optimized, though I can show you in p-person later, if needed. I'll just need to g-get a large amount of it pr-produced."

Cortex nodded. "I'll come by in a bit, and it'd better work as promised. Maybe N. Dustrielle can help with that manufacturing, if we can spare him. N. Gin?"

Gin straightened up in his chair. "We fitted the anchors yesterday, and today's primary objective is testing them, both shock and friction trials."

Cortex pointed at him, furrowing his brow deeply. "Remember what happened with Doom Mech 5? Make sure you're taking the load weight into account-"

"Of course I am!"

Cortex massaged his temples. "I just need to be sure. I swear, if we have to sweep up 5,000 broken screws again…ugh. N. Tropy?"

Tropy rolled his eyes, yawning. He stretched out his shoulders and put his right elbow on the table, resting his chin in the crook of his hand.

"The temporal manipulation field still needs some tinkering. So far, it appears that we can distort time either around something the size of a baseball or around this entire planet. Seeing as we need to stop, oh you know, somewhere in the middle, I'm seeing if I can reverse engineer the quantum-scramble component from the Time Twister on a microscale. Won't be quick, but we should know if the idea is viable within a week."

Cortex sighed. "It's sad that I'm obligated to trust you on that matter." He opened his mouth, as if to say something else to N. Tropy, but shook his head slightly and stood up.

"Alright, everyone, provide your end day reports by 8. N. Dustrielle, your assignment is to start coming up with a catalyst for N. Brio's solution. Needs to get the compound to work faster and sustain the reaction longer. Making the process self-sustaining would be a huge plus. N. Brio, make sure you meet with him after this -"

Tropy raised his hand, lackadaisically. Cortex narrowed his eyes.

"Any additional business, N. Tropy?" He asked, through grit teeth.

Tropy briefly eyed Nathan, and looked back to Cortex.

"We value team players here, right? Well, I'm not sure, Cortex, if you're being enough of one. You seem too hasty to leave, when we have a brand new member here. It's not as though we're executing the plans tomorrow, so I don't understand why you're rushing. Is there a beach trip I don't know about?"

Cortex's eyes narrowed, his face quickly morphing from yellow to crimson, and he seemed on the edge of combustion.

N. Tropy held up his finger, as if Cortex had already started yelling, and kept speaking. "I don't suppose this new minion has enough context on the plan to work effectively. I'd be happy to fill him in, if you don't wish to waste your breath."

Cortex grit his teeth, balling and releasing his fists repeatedly, his exhale coming out of his nostrils like the steam from a teapot.

"Fine then. But on your own time, I've got other things to do. Meeting adjourned."

He waved his hands dismissively, put them into his pockets, and bolted into a nearby room. Nathan heard a loud thud come from it, three seconds later.

Tropy watched the door, smirking, and chuckled. "I love to see him go, and I'm happy to watch him leave." He turned back to Nathan .

"In short, we're looking to hold the world hostage. N. Brio synthesized a toxin that essentially would force vegetation into a hibernation state. Not dead, but not useful for the critical role that these various plants play. We also have a way to reverse the process, should our demands be met. Or if this fiasco gives us enough time to launch the Super Cortex Vortex again. That's really the goal. We're just using this 'hostage' thing as a distraction, just so we can activate the Vortex without interference."

Tropy noticed Nathan's raised eyebrow, and pointed out the window, towards the sky.

"We've got a base up in orbit. That's where the Super Vortex is. Once the plan's ready to go, we'll transfer operations there. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. For the initial stages: N. Gin's building the device we're going to use to spread the toxin. I'm coming up with a quantum lock, keeping the device unable to be tampered with, because the mechanisms will be one second outside of our time stream. Don't question it, I can hold a lecture later. You need to come up with the catalyst for the toxin, and then make a lot of it. Sound manageable?"

Nathan's head was spinning as he listened to the plan. A two-pronged approach, with most of the work going into the ruse, seemed inefficient. But Cortex had mentioned the Vortex in the job posting's description, so it must have been well tested and promising. The rewards reaped, should these insane efforts be successful, would be beyond Nathan's wildest dreams. And they were facing a tactical genius in that bandicoot, so a distraction would need to be elaborate.

But most importantly to him…

"Yes, that's manageable. Extremely so. I'll need Brio to let me have a look at that compound, but I might already have some ideas."

Tropy looked at Brio, shooting him a look, with both eyebrows raised and his lips pulled back in a tight, neutral, expression. Brio tilted his head, seeming to understand. Nathan could only wildly speculate on what Tropy was silently communicating.

Brio rose to his feet and gestured to Nathan. "Alright then, follow me, we'll get a g-g-good look at it, then."

Nathan rose to his feet and grabbed his messenger bag. He gave a slight nod to Tropy.

"Much obliged…Dr. N. Tropy."

As he and Brio walked toward the exit, Nathan briefly looked back towards Tropy, and noticed that Tropy hadn't stopped watching him. His eyes were narrowed, his head tilted, his body leaned back slightly, and he had started stroking his so-called beard.

Brio's steps were quick and almost snake-like in their movements. Nathan didn't need to slow down, the way he did with N. Gin before. He sighed and relaxed, not needing to consciously monitor his speed.

Brio looked over at Nathan and smiled.

"So then, what was your specialty at…at your university?"

Nathan whistled softly. "Exothermic reactions. Lots of heat. Lots of light. An occasional explosion. Why?"

Brio seemed to consider this, pausing for a few seconds. "Just curious. I think everyone's pr-preferred discipline says something about them."

"So what does that say about me?"

Brio shrugged. "I'm not a psychologist, so t-take this with a grain of sodium chloride…"

Nathan chuckled and Brio grinned wider.

"I'm glad you liked that. But anyway, I'd wager a guess that you like bright colors. You like watching…watching things break down, decompose, even if not violently or grossly. And your favorite f-food is pizza."

Nathan smirked. "Two out of three. Pizza is not my favorite food though."

Brio shook his head, laughing. "Of course not! I just picked the most likely answer for that. I don't think your studies impact your culinary tastes. But wouldn't I have looked like a b-b-badass if I was right?"

Nathan clicked his tongue. "Yeah, I think so. Alright then, what does biochemistry say about you?"

Brio narrowed his eyes and shook his head, smirking back. "A psychic doesn't share his secrets."

"Oh, you bastard-"

Nathan clammed his mouth shut, feeling the color drain from his face and his eyes go wide. Brio laughed and put his hand up.

"Don't worry about that. I assume it was in jest. And Cortex has called me f-far worse, regardless. Really, you only have to tread lightly around him. And even then, only for a little while. Everyone else…well, let's just say that there's s-s-solidarity amongst the underlings."

Nathan winced, almost asking if N. Tropy was actually someone he could be casual with. He decided to hold off on that question, at least for now.

Brio opened a door, and the stark modern equipment, as well as the wide variety of plants scattered across different shelves and work benches, clashed with the barren and dimly lit hallways. Even more so than Nathan's room had.

"You have no idea how much of a pain it was to get this place set up. It took years, and effort, and money. And several Lab Assistants with the s–sp-specialties of general contractors."

Brio pointed to the far side of the room. "Your lab is connected to mine through that door. So if I come running into your lab, don't be too surprised. I'll try to r-remember to knock."

He beckoned to Nathan to follow him to a desk, where a large computer monitor had fifteen different tabs open. From what Nathan briefly caught a glimpse of, these ranged from lab notes to scanned encyclopedia pages to cat videos.

Brio sat down in the desk chair and clicked on one of the tabs. A picture of a chemical structure popped up. It was coiled and complicated, but all the individual components were clear enough for Nathan to understand what factors he'd need to take into account for the catalyzing agent.

He pulled out his notebook and began to jot down the structure of the chemical.

"Alright, I can work with this. How did you manage to come up with this compound, anyway?"

N. Brio chuckled.

"Ironically enough, I actually got the idea from extremophiles. Tardigrades are little creatures that can s-s-survive basically anywhere for a substantial period of time. Including space. Their proteins are interesting, lets them survive such harsh conditions. Though, these conditions often force them into shriveled h-hibernation. I tinkered around with the proteins, and came up with a chemical that could basically do the same thing, but to plants."

Nathan jotted this down, making a note to see if he could look up anything else about tardigrade biochemistry that might help.

"What about animals? Are they affected?"

Brio shook his head. "Chemical traces are too small to affect large creatures. Even if in-ingested."

Nathan started to write that down as well, but stopped when Brio put a hand on his shoulder.

"How long have you had that b-book?"

Nathan blinked. "Sorry?"

"It's just that it seems almost full."

Nathan narrowed his eyes. He still had nearly a quarter of the pages empty. "Nope, still plenty of room."

Brio frowned, seemingly deep in thought. Then he deeply exhaled, into a sigh. "No other way to say it…I think you m-might want to keep your notes extremely c-concise and limited."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. It was highly unusual for a scientist to not take comprehensive notes. "...really? Why?"

Brio shrugged. "You seem to be very concerned with taking down absolutely everything you hear and see. I ap-applaud your enthusiasm, or maybe it's nerves, but you'll be wasting your t-time."

"I need to make sure I know exactly what's-"

"Well, for starters, you know much more than you think you d-do. That applies to all of us.. But the bigger issue is that Cortex likes to change plans on the fly. Even if not the entire initiative, or something even remotely r-r-r-related to our work, he likes to keep us on our toes. I'd hate to see a substantial waste of paper. Or a ruined notebook. You kn-know how they get when too many pages…pages come out, all frayed and stuff?"

Nathan considered this and remembered how evasive Cortex was, even with simple questions. He wouldn't put other impulsive or unreasonable behavior behind Cortex. He sighed, gently closed the notebook, and placed it back in his bag.

Brio nodded. "If there's anything absolutely vital that you missed, I can send a brief summary in a m-message. Just let me know."

Nathan turned back to N. Brio and asked something he'd been meaning to ask since the huddle.

"Why is your lab coat green?"

N. Brio raised his eyebrows and put his hand to his chin, eyeing the floor for a second.

"I…just prefer green. I find white washes me out. But there's also something to be s-said for your lab coat matching your m…mood. Or your aura. Or your weapon. Or-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Nathan and Brio both turned to the door to see Cortex leaning against the frame. Nathan shook his head, and Brio stood up, smirking slightly.

"Not at all, Doctor Cortex. We were j-just finishing up briefing him on the toxin, and N. Dustrielle happened to a-a-ask about my lab coat."

Cortex rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, N. Dustrielle, I just dropped off your lab coats to your room. Wrap things up, N. Brio. You're going to show me that your little miracle drug works. N. Dustrielle, you should probably go start working on the…oh wait."

Cortex suddenly grinned. "Were you two talking about colors? Did you want a colored lab coat too, N. Dustrielle?"

Nathan inhaled deeply and shrugged, trying not to show open excitement. "Yes, actually, I think that would be great-"

"Well then, go get one on your own time."

Of fucking course…

Nathan sighed softly. Brio shook his head, muttering in Nathan's ear. "I have some dyes. Just tell me what color you want. If I have it, I'll leave it in your lab tomorrow."

"N. Brio!"

"Yes, yes, follow me, Dr. Cortex."

N. Brio looked at Nathan and cocked his head towards the door connecting their labs, signaling for Nathan to leave. He nodded, picked up his bag, and headed through the door.

Nathan's lab wasn't much different from Brio's, save for a couple of different machines, and there being no plants. While he was tempted to explore and tinker with absolutely everything, he knew that he needed to do some planning before even remotely attempting to create his solution.

Before he left the lab to start scribbling out initial ideas on his whiteboard walls, he took out his notebook and tore out two pages. The first was the page where he had sketched out the structure of Brio's toxin. He was going to pin it on his bedroom's corkboard, for easy reference. Then he tore out a blank one, took out his pen and wrote a single word on it, in very large letters.

He walked over to the door connecting his lab to Brio's and slid the paper underneath it, for Brio to find whenever he was finished working with Cortex.

"Red"