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Dr. Mercer, by now, was getting the hang of this time loop situation. He'd wake up at home, go about his business until Alex burst out of the test tube, and then Alex would get an idea in his head and drag him along, away from work. It was becoming a routine, and there was little he liked more than routine.
This morning, rather than the muted warmth of his own bed covers, he woke up to the feeling of something cold and smooth on all sides. Odd. He tried to open his eyes to investigate, only to come to a horrifying conclusion; he no longer had eyes to open. Or for that matter, any of his usual appendages or structures. He was simply missing everything he'd need to move or function. Dr. Mercer, for the first time in quite some years, felt raw fear. What had happened?
He tried to move, just throwing his body in one direction,and was rewarded. Motion was difficult and the sensory input was stranger. He was inside something narrowly curved and -smooth, and quite cold. Was he… In a test tube? Dr. Mercer slumped down, and tried to listen. He could hear himself impact the possible glass, so it seemed his senses were possibly reduced to touch and hearing, somehow.
Most sounds came to him as too loud shudders and high pitched vibrations against the glass. So he had sensitive hearing- but quite limited range. He'd just have to hope someone came close enough to explain to him what the hell was going on. He found being a pile of goop quite unsatisfying, but he could hardly change that- he barely knew how to move.
Luckily, Dr. Mercer wasn't alone. The sound of footsteps-or something that could be equated to that-drew near, a pair of people, one closer to the test tube than the other. For someone with the eyes to see, it was a pair of Gentek employees, holding a casual conversation next to their sample. While the person standing farther away was more muffled, the closer one was almost painfully clear.
"Hey, have you heard anything from Alex? He normally calls when he's running late."
"No, actually. Maybe he forgot to charge his phone, though."
"Maybe." A small laugh. "Poor guy would forget his head if it wasn't attached to him."
Dr. Mercer felt confusion ripple through him, quite literally much to his alarm. Those voices, though hard to distinguish, were his employees. Expecting him to show up to work- although their descriptions of him made him bristle with annoyance. He was right here- surely one of them had put him in the test tube- they should acknowledge him, damn it.
There was a brief pause, before the second one spoke up again, briefly shifting the topic. "Not sure how much longer Blacklight's gonna wait for him to show up, regardless. Anyone fed it today?"
"No, only because Alex normally does it." With a careful and precise grip, the test tube was plucked up from the rack, carefully examined by the tech holding it. "It's really tense today, though. It's normally more fluid than this. Has the temperature in here changed much?"
Dr. Mercer froze, hearing them refer to him as Blacklight, and an 'it' no less. Was this a side effect of the massive radiation levels? Infection from Alex? How the hell did he come to be the virus he himself had created? At least that answered why he couldn't see- Blacklight in its raw form never demonstrated light sensitivity, only heat sensitivity.
He forced himself to stop looking like a liquid hedgehog, and settled at the bottom of the test tube, half sulking despite his inexpressive body. He could hardly go help talk to Cross like this, and the employees would never recognise him. So now he was hungry, cold, and a tiny limbless blind blob. Perhaps Alex would show up and help him- he had no idea how to do the tendrils trick the virus used every day to escape.
"Ah, there it goes," the lab tech remarked, before setting the test tube back on the rack. Not even a minute later, the door to the lab was flung open, and the employees hardly had time to react before Alex Mercer was stumbling into the table they leaned against. He fumbled blindly with its surface, gulping for air like someone who'd just sprinted a marathon until the two employees frantically pulled him away from the sample.
"Jesus-Alex?! What the hell happened?!" Instead of responding, the "scientist" let out a few desperate wheezes, grappling the tech and intern for dear life as they carefully lowered him to the ground. The two employees exchanged a worried glance. "Easy, Alex. Deep breaths, okay? Just-"
"D…" A familiar voice wheezed out, fumbling against the two employees trying to help calm him down, "Doc…tor, M-"
"Don't waste your breath, okay? Just focus on breathing." The intern murmured, making sure her boss was stable on the ground before standing up. All the lab tech could offer was a confused shrug.
That- that was definitely Alex who'd rocked the table and spoken with his voice. What the hell happened to him? He was practically invulnerable- did he run in the rain or something? Dr. Mercer resolved to get closer, somehow, and set to trying to escape. Motion was difficult, but he managed to slither up the glass sides and cling to the rubber stopper, swaying with a gap beneath him as he tried to get out. This whole situation felt weird, but he could not for the life of him dislodge the seal. All he succeeded in doing was making a series of soft clinks as the more solid, metallic, parts of his biomass bumped against the glass. At least it wasn't hard to hold on, strangely enough.
Despite the advice to stay still and "catch his breath" (what did that even mean?), Alex pushed against the employees so he could get back to his feet. He could breathe, now, kind of. Close enough. He squinted, trying to make sense of his surroundings. It was like when he'd woken up in the morgue. He could barely stand, his legs shaking and threatening to give out beneath him-he could only hope he was in the right place, with his senses of hearing and smell seemingly muted. Not to mention, he couldn't fucking see. No, it wasn't like the morgue, it was like the parasite. He felt weak, like he hadn't consumed anything in months. He grasped the table they'd put him up against, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid the headache trying to see was giving him.
"There you go. Take it easy." He shrugged off a hand that was set on his shoulder, unable to recognize who it might've been based on the voice alone. He couldn't smell them, hear the way they moved, and it bothered the shit out of him. Still, the tech continued. "What happened? You look like hell, not to mention the fact it's pouring down rain out there."
"I-..." He took a deep, wheezy breath, shifting his feet and rolling his shoulders when the ripple he tried to send across his body did nothing. "I-fuck-I ran, I ran here, but… couldn't build speed-"
"You ran here." A blink. Two. "Alex, no offense, but I don't think I've ever seen you run anywhere."
"No-it's-" He shook his head in frustration, but gave up on trying to explain himself. Pushing past them, he began fumbling at the table with the test tube again. After a moment of struggle, his fingers brushed by something he vaguely recognized as glass. And with the grace of a bull in a china shop, he pushed the entire test tube rack onto the floor, only subverted from sticking his hands in the mess of glass and virus by some panicked screams and scientists tugging him away.
Dr. Mercer had the disorienting feeling of falling within the container- then his vial smashed onto the floor and everything got very loud, very fast- not to mention the stomach churning feeling of tasting every bit of lint fluff, every speck of soil, every shed hair or scratched off skin cell he came across. Panicking, he tried to find some of the glass by spreading out, distracted by the warm masses he could feel mere feet from him. Thankfully, there was a decent sized shard near where most of him was and he perched atop the island of plain, tasteless, smooth material, a quivering black orb of overstimulation.
Alex tried to struggle against the scientists holding him back, but after the sprint here, he could barely move. Once they decided he wasn't going to run face first into the pile of bioweapon and glass, they pulled Alex away, putting a good distance between him and what had to be Blacklight. They didn't understand-that was his, he needed the biomass, he was so weak and-
"Maybe we should call his sister?" The lab tech asked, glancing between his disheveled boss and the blob of death way too close for comfort. "And... get someone to clean that up before it eats someone."
Eat someone. Alex turned his attention to the nearest scientist, a look of desperation in his eyes. He staggered to his feet, before throwing his arms around the intern, pulling her tightly to his chest and furrowing his brow as he willed his tendrils to emerge. He didn't want to consume someone who hadn't done anything, but he was too busy freaking the fuck out to care. But even as he stood there, as close of proximity as he could manage, his body didn't react. He couldn't consume?! The thought was more than enough to leave him staggering back, panicking welling in his chest as he pressed himself against the wall.
The intern, both thoroughly confused and concerned for her boss, mumbled to the lab tech to "do something about Blacklight." As he headed out, the intern kept an uneasy eye on Alex as she dialed his sister's number.
"Hey, Dana? Sorry if you're busy. Your brothers kind of freaking out, could you come talk to him?"
There was a small, exasperated sigh from the other side of the line. "For fuck's… is he sober?"
"What? Of course- at least, I think so..? He said he ran all the way here and then he knocked Blacklight out of the rack, and now he's-" She paused looking up at Alex. "-having a panic attack by the window. Could you just come here, please? He always listens to you."
There was a long pause, finally ended with a soft, "Shit." From the phone, it was obvious that Dana was heading out the door. "Alright, just-try to get him to walk around, or something. Moving around calms him down. I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, she hung up.
Emma looked at the dead phone for a long moment, then up at Alex who was still too in his own head to listen. She didn't exactly want to get hug tackled again. "Hey, big guy. Reckon you're up for some walking till your sis gets here?"
It took Alex a moment to respond, busy as he was kicking the ground and hitting his hands against the wall behind him in a frantic attempt to calm. Dana-Dana was coming. That was good. Dana would know what to do. After a moment, he managed a weak nod; he pried himself off the wall he'd been practically trying to glue himself to, and followed after the intern without complaint.
Meanwhile, the lab tech-Marshall-stepped back into the room, donning a hazmat suit and fidgeting uneasily as he approached the blob of viral mass. It didn't seem to like the ground-which was good, considering the fact they might have all been eaten or infected by it otherwise. He grabbed a fresh test tube from one of the nearby tables, swallowed hard, and knelt down next to the sample. He picked up the piece of glass Blacklight had taken to like a life raft and set it against the test tube, doing his best to nudge the virus back where it belonged.
"Easy, there, right? Back in the tube you go…" He mumbled, more so to himself than anything.
Into the tube? No. Hell no. Dr. Mercer flattened himself out, clinging to the glass, and managed to reassemble himself on the other side of the shard (he was getting the hang of motion, good)- with a warm, plastic covered something that tasted like bleach. Probably the finger of a hazmat suit- just how small was he? He wrapped around it like a liquid snake, refusing to budge despite the horrible sensation which had him forming jagged metallic spikes all over. Maybe he could consume this person…? But as soon as the thought crossed his mind he knew he had no concept of how to do it.
"Oh no, ohhh no no no-" Marshall let out an assortment of panicked squeaks as the extremely deadly bioweapon elected to wrap around his finger, because hazmat suit or not, this was Blacklight. How did he get talked into this. Why did he let himself get talked into this. Biting his lip to try and keep himself from panicking, he shakily moved his hand toward the vial, trying to nudge Blacklight into it without getting stabbed by the various spikes popping up around it. "N-Not there, bad virus! Just-please go into the tube-"
Nope, nope, nope, nope. He was free and he intended to stay that way. He moved up the gloved hand, wrapping around the wrist like a thin bracelet of dark goop. Try dislodging him now, Marshall. Keep thinking he's just some stupid virus and maybe he would try to figure out consuming- just out of spite. He mostly didn't want to be trapped, even though he knew it would be safer and that yeah, he would try the same thing in the kid's situation. He was running on fear and spite at this point.
And now it's on his wrist. Closer to his face. This was fine. Not like this thing could wipe out an entire city if released! Marshall bit back a scream, but didn't cease at his efforts to nudge Blacklight into the test tube. This was it. This was how he died. Blacklight was going to do something fucked up, like launch itself at his face, and he would be screwed. All because it wouldn't go into the test tube-it wasn't even a wet test tube! He wasn't that stupid! As he held Blacklight up against the vial again, he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the worst.
Instead of his predicted death, however, someone else stepped into the room. She walked right behind Marshall, as though he wasn't holding one of the most deadly bioweapons ever made, and sighed-stopping long enough to rub her eyes.
"Doc, get off him." Dana remarked, glancing behind her to where a still squinting Alex was lingering in the doorway. "You can handle five seconds in the vial, then we'll put you somewhere else. I'm pretty sure your buddy here is about to have a fucking heart attack."
He perked up at his sister's voice, raising up and stretching in her direction- then she scolded him about the test tube. He sunk back to his perch, considering the request mulishly. Maybe it was how hungry he was, or how cold the lab felt that was making him so petty- or perhaps just the completely alien experience he'd been having thus far. Reluctantly, he moved to the vial and pooled in the bottom. He had an idea of how to make the spikes now, so he felt more confident he could escape if he wanted to this time. She'd better not be tricking him, but Dana was one of the few people he trusted at all- so he'd let her direct him for now. At least she had eyes.
That worked. Before Marshall could even be relieved, Dana plucked the vial from his hand. After a moment of scouring the room, she set eyes on a medium sized and clean (though not wet) beaker. Way too big for a sample this small, but at least he wouldn't get claustrophobic. Leaving the beaker on the table, she set the lip of the test tube against it, waiting for her blobified brother to take the hint. She had questions-a lot of fucking questions. But it wasn't the time or the place.
He wasn't expecting to be tipped over, so initially he clung to the test tube, before shaking off the silly fear. He didn't even have bones to break, why was he freaking out over some angling? He let himself fall, landing inside something smooth and glass, big enough for him to stretch out fully with room to spare. Weird. Maybe she'd found a glass cooking bowl for him or something? He 'looked' in the vague direction of Dana shaped warmth, not sure where to go from here.
She watched the small blob flop into the beaker with a small sigh of relief, even if it was… really hard to consider this one Doc. Alex would have made sense, but Alex wasn't this small, even when in a form like this. She picked up the beaker as carefully as she could, avoiding moving it around too much as she headed toward the door. On the bright side, Alex seemed to have calmed down-must have put the pieces together when she was talking to Doc, though he hardly looked happy with the situation. Shit, she'd need to find something sturdy to cover Doc if she was going outside. Rain wasn't good.
Marshall scrambled to his feet, rushing to block the door as nervous words fell from his lips. "I'm grateful for your help miss Dana, but you can't take that out of here! It's- It's really dangerous- it could kill you if it touches you!"
Alex scowled a little from behind Marshall, but Dana only greeted him with a slight raise of her brow and a glance to Doc. "Yeah, I got that. Pretty sure it's getting taken out of here eventually, though, and I have Alex with me." She tilted her head towards him, though the thought of Alex running the Blacklight project was even more surreal than her tiny, viral older brother. "Do you really want Blacklight back right now? I mean, he looked ready to eat your face."
"You're carrying it in an unsecured beaker without a lid!" His voice rose to a panicked squeak, and he gesticulated frantically. "You tilt it wrong and it could just hop out! Please reconsider how, even if Alex is allowing this!"
"I needed a lid anyway, don't worry. It's raining." She fought the urge to roll her eyes, settling instead on huffing through her nose. "They have covers for beakers, right? Something like that is all I need." Rather than waiting on Marshall to fetch it, she turned back to the lab, skimming the cabinets for something to shield her brother with until grabbing something that look like a glass plate. Plopping it on top the beaker and holding it in place with her free hand, she pushed past Marshall and headed down the hallway, with Alex soon in tow.
Her trip went well, Alex walking alongside her and shooting strange glances at the beaker containing Dr. Mercer, right up until they reached the door. She made sure to keep the beaker thoroughly covered, but soon realised someone else was missing. Alex lingered at the doorway, very reluctant to exit. "It won't hurt you Alex, you're human now- remember?"
Oh, he remembered. It wasn't exactly easy to forget the fact all of his muscles-actual muscles, not biomass-still burned from the sprint to Gentek, or the dryness of his mouth, or the fact Dana was essentially just a blob of familiar colors due to his vision being fucked up. All the little things that, apparently, made up a human being. He glared at the rain falling outside, as though that would somehow stop it, before muttering under his breath and following after Dana. She'd know, he trusted her to know-not that it stopped him from grimacing and shuddering as the rain came into contact with him.
Now, where was the best place to take not one, but two hydrophobic brothers in the middle of a rainstorm. Probably somewhere close- Ragland's hospital wasn't too far, if she remembered right. She set off for it, keeping a close eye on both brothers as the group moved through the crowded New York streets.
Alex didn't even realize where they were, though on a normal day, he'd recognize the scent in an instant as they stepped into a hospital hallway. It wasn't entirely his vision, either-not with how intently focused he was on the beaker in Dana's hands, nearly stumbling into things as a result. But that was Dr. Mercer, and from what he could make out, he was… tiny. He barely had any biomass at all. They needed to feed him something, though Alex wasn't sure how well he could convince his sister to go throw Dr. Mercer at a cop. At least not while it was raining. He wouldn't wish that hell on anyone, except maybe Randall.
Dana opened a door, and even with his dulled senses, he could smell what had to be food. Perfect. Pulling the beaker out of Dana's hands (she didn't fight him over it; he'd know about virus shit better than anyone else), he grabbed a piece of food off Dr. Ragland's desk and sat on the floor. Off came the lid of the beaker, and without any concern for infection, he carefully set the piece of chicken (that was what this was, right?) in the beaker. It wasn't as fresh or as much as a person, but it was much more than whatever Dr. Mercer had now.
...Wait. Why was Ragland here? He turned sharply, squinting anxiously at the mess of blurry colors behind him. How humans managed to function with virtually no eyesight was beyond him.
Ragland, though well used to Alex's antics, had to think to himself that barging in without a greeting and stealing some of his dinner to feed to what resembled some sort of slug, was a new level of strange. He looked incredulously between Alex, who was perched on the floor watching the creature in the beaker intently, and Dana, leaned casually on his doorframe. "Good afternoon to you too, Alex. And Dana- what exactly brings you both here?" He gestured to Alex, "And could I get a reason why he stole my chicken breast?"
Alex glanced up long enough to murmur a small, characteristically quiet greeting, while Dana waved. She did have to take a moment to figure out why he would have stolen Ragland's food, though it was easy to come to a conclusion.
"He's feeding the virus," she remarked, though grimaced a little at calling her brother "the virus". Yeah, not doing that again. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't have enough of a concept of stealing to apologize, though. Sorry for the break-in, it's raining like hell out there."
"Feeding the virus." Ragland repeated, somewhat incredulous, looking at the beaker on his office floor with a full sized chicken breast folded inside, and the black blob within pressed on the other side to it. "I- see."
Feeding was a generous term, considering Dr. Mercer had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. When the still warm slab of chicken was dropped into the beaker he initially pressed himself flat against the other side, feeling mildly betrayed by the fact he just nearly got crushed by some giant item without warning.
Hesitant tendrils investigated, and after identifying it as chicken he realised he was supposed to eat it- probably. But how? He approached it, contemplative. It was bigger than his whole 'body', but Alex never had trouble with that so he probably shouldn't assume that made any difference. How did it look when Alex consumed things? He stabbed them and something happened, then he took the food into his general biomass.
So… first step would be stabbing. He sent out a long tendril, willed some feeble spikes onto it and jabbed- only for it to glance off the chicken's crispy skin. Not for the first time today, he greatly desired the ability to scream his frustrations to the heavens. He readied another tendril, then two- then, realising he didn't have to limit himself like that- he just became a angry pile of spiky whips and attacked the chicken, shredding it even though it took most of his energy. Carefully, he took some of the more 'bite sized' chicken, and after some puzzling out, he figured out the trick to consuming. It was definitely easier to do it with the small pieces he'd made, but once he was done he noticed something- he'd increased in size- though not much. Convenient.
Alex watched the entire scene, shivering some to try and dispel some of his nervous energy. Even if it took some trying, Dr. Mercer seemed to figure consuming out-a fact that made him visibly relieved. Consuming was vital, as far as he was concerned, so at least they didn't have that to worry about. All they needed to do now was find someone Alex would be alright with Dr. Mercer consuming. He leaned back a bit, wiping irritably at his dry mouth. That tendril frenzy was actually a pretty good idea. He made a mental note to use that, when the chance came up.
In the meantime-the more biomass, the better. He narrowed his eyes in the vague direction of Dr. Ragland, brow furrowed. "Do you have more? He's tiny. It's not normal. More food should help with that."
"You want me to help grow your pet bioweapon?" Ragland shook his head, "The cafeteria's still open, I'm sure you could buy lots of meat for it there. I'm interested, but you did steal the last part of my salad-" He paused, and looked Alex over, something on his mind, and when he resumed speaking it was with a fond, exasperated tone. "Nevermind that, you forgot your glasses again. You're a mess, Alex."
Dana recognized the look of confusion on Alex's face, but he beat her to the punch, talking before she could even try convincing him not to. "I don't know what that is." He narrowed his eyes, looking over the Ragland blur with a slight frown. "We need meat, though. Something bigger than chicken." Dana dragged a hand down her face, but repressed her frustration for Alex's sake-he didn't exactly ask for this.
"I assure you, the Cafeteria has plenty of meat. But-" His face was genuinely puzzled, "You don't know what what is?"
"Glasses." His expression and tone didn't shift in the slightest, even as he stood, uncovered beaker in his hands. "...Sorry. I don't know much. I haven't been able to ki-"
Dana all but threw herself across the room, cutting Alex off with a harsh whisper of, "Jesus fucking Christ, Alex," which made him avert his eyes and awkwardly back away. She faced Ragland, sighing through her teeth. "A mess is a goddamn understatement, believe me. Sorry about the chicken."
Ragland looked between the two siblings, fairly certain he knew what Alex was going to say- despite how out of character that would be. He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, I'll take you two to the cafeteria. We can talk about why you decided to take that on a field trip. Just don't finish that sentence- even as a joke." He stepped out into the hall, motioned for them to follow him, and set off. Both Dana and Alex were quick to follow, even if Alex was shuffling behind them with a couple muttered apologies.
It was a quick trip to the cafeteria, during which Dana did her best to explain the day to Ragland in a way that didn't make her sound completely out of it-Alex's panic, the virus' behavior, leaving out all the parts about the universe completely fucking up. The second Alex could smell the food, however, he was drawn ahead of them like a moth to a flame. Thank fucking God no one told him about the cafeteria when he was the virus, Dana thought, catching up with him long enough to pull his wallet out of his coat pocket and offered him his credit card. Er… her brother's card? Whatever.
"Go grab whatever you want, for both of you. You're probably loaded as shit, working for Gentek, so the price shouldn't be a problem." A pause. "...Don't steal anything. Just give the people at the cash register the card." She hoped he got the point, with how obviously distracted he was as he headed off to find food-she ended up having to slip the card back into his pocket before he left.
Dr. Mercer, though he stayed placid inside the beaker, was pretty excited at the thought of food- which was honestly not something true for him very often. He knew the capabilities of Blacklight, and once Alex joined the queue he leapt out of the beaker, taking a second to steady himself when he hit the rail for food trays, before sliding along them to .
It was easy to follow his new strange senses to the heated food trays, and he made quick work of them, sliding over the surface and leaving no food item behind, looking like a shadow of destruction that disappeared as soon as you noticed him. He kept going, ignoring the shouts of surprise, until he ran 'face' first into a wall, and slipped down into a slim gap between the countertop and the wall, folding his much larger mass in to hide. That was much too fun, for what it was. He had an idea now- but he'd have to try it when he wasn't surrounded by people.
Alex let Dr. Mercer go about his chaos without a word-half because he was just eating food, not people, and half because a sudden wave of nausea and dizziness nearly knocked him off his feet. He leaned against the rail for the trays, pushing down the pain in his stomach and general inability to stand up straight. Kind of hard to be hungry when you couldn't consume anything. He followed after Dr. Mercer, ignoring the confused and panicked voices both in front of and behind him (particularly the people in front of him, considering he was just walking past them). Speaking of, where the fuck did Mercer go? He tried squinting, but for the life of him he couldn't make out any sign of him. Well, shit. Hopefully he didn't just accidentally cause a second apocalypse.
Seeing as he couldn't find Dr. Mercer or… figure out where he was going, exactly, he ended up leaning against the nearest wall, rubbing his eyes with a small huff through his nose. His eyes hurt, his head hurt, his limbs hurt, his stomach hurt and his throat hurt-he didn't ask Dana where she was going with Ragland, either. He swore under his breath.
Relief came in the form of a distinctly Dana-colored blur, stepping toward him and giving him what he assumed to be a very confused look. "Why'd you leave the queue? You're supposed to-"
Her words died off as she stared at the empty beaker, currently held against the former virus' chest like a child might hold a plush toy. "...Alex. Where's Doc." This was probably the worst absolute time for him to give her that vague shrug of his. She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper, "You lost the fucking bioweapon in the middle of a cafeteria?"
At the very least, Alex got the hint-even if he didn't, he was naturally quiet. "I told him not to eat anyone." A pause. "Anyone except cops."
Dr. Mercer carefully reached a tendril out, and tapped what he guessed was Dana's or Alex's leg, before retreating mostly back- leaving just enough outside the hiding spot that those two could spot him. Hopefully she wouldn't be too mad- he was just hungry.
The feeling of something against her leg was more than enough to get Dana's attention, and sure enough, there was the missing brother. She knelt down as he peeked out from the hole he'd apparently decided to shove himself into-and at this point, she was more exhausted than she was angry.
"We were going to get you food." She mumbled, shaking her head like a disappointed parent. She sure as hell felt like one. "You're both a couple of fucking disasters, you know that? Doc, see if you can get back to Ragland's office. Subtly. There's too many damn people here. I'll get something for Alex and meet you there."
He couldn't talk, but he made a vague approximation of a hand to nod with, before slipping out of the disgusting crevice onto the worse floor like an oilslick, and in a moment he was off, racing along the edges of walls, blindly trying to find the exit. Eventually, after many near misses where he almost got stepped on, he did, and immediately realised he had no idea how to navigate the halls to his destination. Shit.
On the one hand: he could go very fast and attack things very effectively, as well as easily locate the hotspots in the room. On the other- he was blind and mute, nearly deaf, and he could taste every surface he came into contact with. He couldn't sense anyone very close, so he decided to take his chances and slid up to the top of the door, clinging to the thin wood frame overtop despite the ominous crick noises it gave in protest. He'd wait till he… Smelt Dana come by, since that seemed to be one of his main senses. Her distinctive perfume hopefully wouldn't be shared by anyone else.
Well, that was one problem solved, as far as Dana knew. The line for food had begun to clear, given the fact virtually none of the food remained after Doc's feeding frenzy. Good and bad; they wouldn't have to wait long, but Alex looked like he was seconds from blacking out. The drinks and pre-made sandwiches remained untouched, much to her relief-she grabbed a couple at random, as well as some juice, knowing very well Alex would refuse water if she tried. Slipping out his credit card again, she had the food paid for and led him out towards the tables. She couldn't tell if he was confused or annoyed, at this point-maybe a cluster of both. Either way, if he was still his normal self, he probably would have broken something.
She moved a few paces ahead of Alex, just long enough to dump what she'd bought for him on the unoccupied half of Ragland's table. Not like she exactly had much time. A frustrated Alex was soon in tow, though her attention was on the pathologist as she spoke in a quick whisper.
"Keep an eye on him-see if you can get some food in him, maybe, he'll probably only want the meat. I'll be back." She didn't give Ragland the chance to object, making her way back into the cafeteria and towards the hallway as quickly as she could.
The instant she stepped out the main exit to the hallway, the door behind her crumbled, leaving a certain dark blob in the middle of a pile of splinters, sort of frozen- as if he knew exactly what had happened but didn't want to admit it.
She barely kept herself from crying out in alarm at the sudden crashing noise, holding both hands over her mouth as she turned to face… a very familiar, notably large blob.
"For fuck's sake, Doc," she mumbled past her hands, before letting both drop back to her sides. Now, how to get a blob with no eyes, no ears and no mouth to follow her. He seemed to figure out where her and Alex were pretty well earlier, so she started walking, only avoiding an all-out run so she didn't leave him behind if he couldn't follow.
He didn't expect it to break under him, but it made sense. Then Dana started walking off, clearly expecting him to follow, so he did, staying tight to the walls and following the soundfeeling of her footsteps, matched with the strong (to him) smell of her apple perfume. Hopefully she'd correct him if he took a wrong turn, he had no idea what he was doing.
She made sure the distance between them didn't get too great-all while silently hoping they could get the office without some fuckhead running into them in the hall. A few turns and stops to make sure Doc was headed the right way later, the welcome sight of Dr. Ragland's office came into view. Dana sped up enough to pull the door open, hoping the fading scent of chicken would be enough to guide Doc in the right direction. The kind of shit she got into nowadays.
He slipped inside, feeling pretty self conscious from the near silent walk, and bundled up into himself in the corner, trying to plan out how the hell he was going to go about this. Would he make legs first- or a head? Or should he go for the torso and add the rest- but what if he didn't have enough biomass to do human shape yet? He flattened with frustration, unable to express himself any other way.
Dana pulled the door closed behind herself, and after a moment, slumped to the ground in front of it with a groan. She was used to plans being thrown off (she'd been stuck in a time loop for, what, six days with her dead brother and the virus he made?), but this was a whole new level of bullshit. She watched the now flattened blob from where she sat, though he had no way to see the both tired and concerned look on her face. If she was honest, that was probably a good thing.
"What's it with you and getting the short end of the stick?" It was an attempt at humor, but she gave up as soon as she tried, falling silent for a moment. "So much for having a plan. Maybe we can get Ragland into the loop, at the least. Nice enough guy, knows his shit and all."
Dr. Mercer's desire to speak- to explain exactly why he didn't want to bring his one good moral compass friend into this loop- only made him more irritated. He simply didn't have the facilities for speech- but, maybe… He curled tight to himself, trying to focus on redistributing it into a rough 'Alex Mercer' shape, before letting himself spread upwards. For one dizzying moment he forgot how to stand- and nearly dropped his shape when he stumbled. He couldn't see still- and touching one hand to his face, carefully padding over it, revealed why. He didn't have eyes, nor a nose, nor a proper mouth- just vague bumps under the hood shape that implied those features, Great. He offered a careful, 'lips' closed smile in Dana's direction. Hopefully this looked less horrifying than he imagined it did, he just wanted to communicate with her. This was probably going to go badly, somehow.
After seeing Alex reform from nothing into a human form, watching Doc do the same wasn't as unnerving as it could be-excluding the uncanny, sleep paralysis demon appearance he'd gone for. It was a hell of a lot easier to communicate with than a blob, though, so she offered an awkward smile and wave in return. She glanced him over for a moment, then ultimately decided it wasn't worth dwelling on. Not unless she wanted some vaguely Alex shaped nightmares or something.
"Better than nothing." Definitely a more considerate description than "you look like something out of a kid's nightmares." She crossed her arms, thinking for a moment. "Getting you back to my apartment is going to be a pain in the ass. You're not exactly carry size anymore, and the ground's still gonna be wet from the rain." A small shrug. "Any ideas? I'm pretty good at charades."
The simple body language was lost on him, but he was glad she suggested Charades. He definitely had no idea what to communicate first- usually he'd just rattle his thoughts off until he ran out. He'd have to choose carefully how to do this. After a long moment of thinking, ripples down his body betraying how concentrated he was, he made a zip motion in front of his mouth, then crossed his hands in front of his 'eyes'. That'd make sure she understood the limitations of a Blacklight which hadn't consumed people. The main issue out of the way, he had to convey how to get himself to 'home'- which at this point was just any place not public.
He pointed to himself, made a round shape with his hands- resisting the idea to just make the shape from his biomass like demented play dough- and then mimed wrapping something up and putting it into a bag. Hopefully that should be clear enough. He let his hands fall to his side, and tried to face more properly where her voice and general warmth was located- though he ended up just looking to the left of her, it was the thought that counted.
Dana watched his motions as carefully as she could, happy she hadn't been bullshitting when she said charades was a talent of hers. Blind and mute-yeah, that made sense. Not like he had the… whatever means Alex used to copy shit like that. The concept of carrying him around like that seemed a pretty fair one, too, except for one major flaw that had her frowning.
"I don't think I'm strong enough to haul you around, though." The broken doorframe was still fresh on her mind, and would probably be the equivalent of her back if she tried to haul god knows how much biomass. "Once we've got that figured out, then we should be good to go, right?"
He gave a small shoulder shrug in response, trying not to move too much. Doing the charades without just slipping out of the human shape he was trying so hard to hold onto taxed him alot more than he'd usually care to admit. Hopefully, this was a situation which didn't repeat itself often. If time moved forwards and he was stuck like this- it'd be an all around horrific experience. As for what to do… Maybe he should try to go back to the cafeteria- Alex would know more than he did. Carefully, trying not to be too obvious, he moved his hand in the air trying to find the desk he knew should be there to orient himself.
Well, that was just about as much as she could ask for. Still watching him for any more charades, though, it was hard to miss Doc trying to orient himself. She knew how much of a stubborn bastard her brother was, though, so if she was going to help, she couldn't be obvious. Not without risking getting her damn head bitten off when he was back to normal. Dana stepped closer to the nearest object-Ragland's desk-and leaned against it, her arms crossed.
"We can either try that shit again," a small motion to the hallway, "or I can give Ragland a call, tell him to get back here if he's got the chance. You know his number?"
Did he know his number? Absolutely. Did he have any way to share that information? Not really. He'd get distracted by the damn taste of everything he was touching, or by some noise, and lose count if he tried to show it via fingers or tapping. There was a reason he always scribbled his thoughts down- his short term memory could be likened to a squirrel's much to his ire- especially when multiple things were happening. And this definitely counted.
Dana was leaning against the desk now, by the way the main part of her heat had shifted down a little. The desk? He took one very unsteady step towards it, and practically melted with relief he'd guessed right. No need to ask for help- wait. His perspective had shifted when he hit the table, but it took him a second to realise just why. Although he'd been 'seeing' from the rough centre of his biomass, he was still taller than this. Yeah, he definitely didn't have the headspace to handle multiple anythings today if he couldn't even keep himself looking like himself. He coiled his strange black mass close to him, wondering briefly if he could 'eat' the table he rested on, and just resolved to let today go by like a fever dream at this point. He'd lost any control the moment he woke up in a test tube.
...And there went Doc. She watched as he reduced back into a puddle of biomass, giving the quietest of sighs. Bastard or not, he was probably having a god awful time. She stepped closer to him after a moment's hesitation, dropping into a crouch to better face him. There weren't exactly many ways you could comfort a bioweapon, but fuck, she might as well try, right? He was her brother and he obviously felt like shit.
"Hey, once midnight hits, everything should be back to normal. Fucking Cinderella style shit and all that." She chuckled a little, if stiffly, crossing her arms and glancing around the office. "Means we can take as many rest days as we want, though. If I can talk Alex out of harassing you, you can just fucking nap all day tomorrow. That sounds pretty nice right now."
While normally he would agree, he was beginning to tire of sleeping all day- the sense of purposelessness was beginning to seep into him. He would usually work on some additions to Blacklight, or test its responses, but the completed project had thrust itself upon him, and now he himself was in Alex's shoes- and he didn't have anything to occupy his mind with as much as he tried to ignore it.
Deciding to try a different tact, he raised himself up, trying to get a feel for what was surrounding him, but his range was pretty limited. He slumped to the desk surface, irritated, only to notice something odd. Repeating thuds, slowly getting louder, just barely shaking the table- not even enough to move it. He was feeling foot steps- which were getting closer. Well- shit. He hoped he guessed the door side right, and threw himself off the desk, slipping under and spreading himself paper thin into the dark flat space, holding the underside of the desk like a living shadow.
From Dana's perspective, Doc had just hit the ground and hid for no reason-and just as she moved to check on the poor bastard, the door swung open. Luckily, it was only Ragland and Alex. She offered a small wave, still crouched next to Ragland's desk… even if an expression of confusion came around the second she realized Alex's face was covered in sandwich components. Okay. Well, that was one way to make him eat it. She stood, raising a brow as she looked them both over.
"Sorry for running off on you, Ragland." A small motion to him as she spoke. "So, uh… how was lunch?"
Ragland's lips were pursed, his brows furrowed, and his posture very, very, tense. "Considering your brother somehow forgot how to eat food like a normal person- quite the ordeal." He pulled out a plastic wrapped, quite squished sandwich- evidence of the trials.
Beside him, Alex leaned against the doorframe, squinting around at the office (and briefly scowling at the plastic wrapped sandwich). "I told him I couldn't," he muttered, sulking into his hood a little. Dana blinked a few times, but ultimately just sighed-Christ, how many fucking times was she going to sigh today? Whatever.
"It's a long story-thanks for trying, anyway." Most she could ask for when it came to someone who had no idea what was going on-well, less of an idea than anyone else here. "Alex, we're planning on leaving soon. Any ideas on how to get…" A pause, followed by a vague gesture she hoped he could understand, "out of here?"
Even delirious from hunger and thirst, Alex seemed to get the hint-if Dana had to guess, he just wanted the day to end. "Same thing I use to glide," he commented rather casually, though maybe he was just tired. He was really, really tired. No wonder people slept so much. "He can make himself lighter without spreading his biomass if he puts his mind to it. Then we can move him easily. I don't know how to explain how to do that." A furrow of his brow and a frown. "It'd be easier if he just consumed someone."
"Yeah, no, we're not letting him do that. Why is that your go-to for everything?"
"I'm sorry- what do you mean if 'he' consumed someone?" Ragland looked visibly unsettled, and seemed to be trying to distance himself subtly from the very different to what he remembered Alex Mercer. He might have continued talking, if it wasn't for the heavy thud of something falling from his desk, and some strange oil like substance pooling out from underneath to rest by Alex's feet. The strange sight sent chills down his spine more than any gore or wound every could.
Alex, on the other hand, seemed to perk up at the sight of the substance by his feet. He was quick to take a seat on the ground in front of Doc, shuddering a little without any apparent reason. "There you are. Do you know how manipulating density works yet? It's important. Not as important as consuming, though."
"He's talking about Blacklight, which won't be consuming anyone." She gave Alex a pointed look, though he seemed too busy mumbling about virus properties to notice. He sounded like Doc. "They had too much freedom in the cafeteria, that's all this is. We're leaving pretty quick-god knows we've caused enough problems here for one day, hah."
Dr. Mercer was pretty unsettled by the concept of consuming people, if he was honest. While he didn't mind letting people die, or encouraging murder, even- his mental stomach twisted in knots at the thought of doing it himself. He had a vague idea of the concept Alex was going for with the way the mumblings had started (before he started a quiet murder tutorial), but putting it into practice could prove difficult. He focused on his biomass, contemplative. Rippling was the main way he moved, and stretching was just applied ripples. Carefully, he tried it- only to stop immediately, body spiking up in shock, as a loud rumbling sound interrupted his focus. It died as quickly as he stopped.
Alex was just about to explain the important difference between a stealth attack and a direct one (both could be used any other circumstance, if you knew what you were doing), when a familiar rumble made him pause. And while Dr. Mercer couldn't see it, he smiled, even if it was the kind of smile that someone contemplating murder had. He mimicked the sound with a soft hum, nodding a bit as though agreeing.
"I'm happy to see you too," he remarked, though the emotion he described was hardly conveyed in his tone. Either way, Doc was tense now? He was getting some very mixed signals. "It's either working out your biomass or consuming. Choice wise. Consuming is easiest." And the right answer, he wanted to add, but he decided now wasn't the time.
Dr. Mercer did not quite get the statement Alex chose- and his mind was still churning over it while Alex moved on and the reassuring hum (how the fuck could a hum be reassuring) didn't help matters. Had he just- made that sound? And Alex returned it like second nature- oh god. The Blacklight virus had the beginnings of social vocalisations- which honestly made sense. He had been trying to mix in some degree of animal traits- so that sort of thing would slip by. He'd just never observed it before since Blacklight was usually the only one of its kind in existence. Mystery solved, he gave a quick hesitant rumble of thanks, and busied himself focusing on the biomass, slowly reducing in size with a fine red mist escaping from his edges.
The second rumble only seemed to make him perk up further, not unlike a kid in a candy store. It was weird, communicating and being responded to in the same way you usually communicated. Like hell if Alex was complaining, though-it was probably the most comforting thing that had happened all day. He watched Dr. Mercer work, nodding in silent approval at the sight of the familiar mist. Good, he was getting the hang of it. He learned it a lot quicker than Alex had, though.
"Now we need to get you off the ground." Something he himself normally did by leaping off buildings, but Doc didn't exactly have the limbs to do that. Maybe he could throw him out the window? Probably should ask first. "You're light enough to be carried like this, though, or to glide. Gliding is quicker."
He thought about it, and decided pretty damn quickly he didn't intend to rocket around NYC in his current state. Quickly, he darted up Alex until he felt the jacket's pockets, and slipped inside like a particularly heavy piece of putty. This would do.
That wasn't what Alex would have picked, but it worked. He stood, a little unbalanced by the heavy weight in his pocket (but less heavy than it could have been). Dana raised a brow, but the way he patted his jacket pocket a couple times said plenty. That was one problem solved. And with the completely lost look on Dr. Ragland's face, it was about time they gave the poor bastard a break. Dana took the sandwich he was holding out, offering a stiff smile as she motioned Alex towards the door.
"...Thanks for the, y'know, hospitality. But we should probably stop crowding your office."
Ragland, who had for now been observing the chaos with tired, confused eyes, was beginning to deeply regret his decision to come in to do paperwork that morning. "Alright- I'm just…" He trailed off, looking for words, but gave up. "Well, you lot don't seem to be doing harm- despite your chaotic natures. Could you come back tomorrow and give me a proper explanation, though?"
"Sure thing. Trust me, it'd be a fucking relief to explain this whole thing to someone else." Yeah, that was utter bullshit. But what else was she supposed to say? That tomorrow wouldn't come? No thanks. Alex waved at Ragland before heading out the door, and Dana was quick to follow, exhaling slowly. A quick glance at the clock as she left said it was only three o'clock. How the fuck.
"Hey-Alex, wait up." She picked up the pace to keep up with her very focused, if very drained brother, of whom kept patting his pocket and… humming? Well, he seemed happy, so that was what mattered. Dana took the lead, mentally crossing her fingers. Let this be the last of the bullshit today. Let this be the last of the bullshit today…
"What now?"
It was a simple question as she stepped out from her bedroom, regarding both of her brothers with a small frown. Alex was uncharacteristically still, sprawled face-first on her sofa and only shown to be awake by his occasional mumbling to Doc. Who was… climbing something? Who the hell knew. Alex lifted his head enough to look at her, squinting as he tried to see her. Considering Doc's shit eyesight, she could understand him needing glasses-didn't make her feel any less bad for him, though. Probably had stupid good senses on any other day. Enough so that he didn't even know what glasses were. She made a mental note to drop by his apartment and grab them.
Dr. Mercer, aside from the occasional returned hum, had stayed pretty quiet and still on the journey to what he guessed was Dana's apartment- but as soon as he knew it was safe he was out of his little travel sized cave and exploring, trying to get a feel for the room- he'd not spent much time there while he had eyes so he had very little clue how things were arranged. Which lead to his current position, halfway up the back of the couch, when Dana questioned what to do. Doc had his priority of mapping out the room, which was good considering his current body refused to rest or acknowledge what time of day it might be. He gave a lower pitched rumble and a ripple in response- the closest thing he could manage to 'hell if I know'.
"Same here," Alex mumbled in response without missing a beat. A confused look from Dana spurred him to sit up some, and better explain. "He said he doesn't know."
Well, if anyone could understand the blob of viral mass, it was the former blob of viral mass. Not that the translation was ultimately more helpful than the response. "Got anything better than that?"
"No." Back to burying his face in the arm of the sofa, even as Dana groaned in exasperation. So much for that. She moved further into the living room, glancing out the window for a moment before facing the very odd pair. At least this wasn't her first time having to figure everything out, simply because her brothers wouldn't.
"I doubt that either of you feel like going outside. So, that leaves us with some pretty limited options here." She leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a single brow raised. "Any ideas about the whole Cross situation? About the weather? Anything? Might as well do something with all the damn daylight we have left."
"No," Alex repeated, his voice muffled by the sofa but audibly frustrated.
Dr. Mercer definitely didn't want to go outside again- being as he was was a huge pain. It was weird, going to take a step or open his eyes only to realise oh yeah he didn't fucking have the ways to do that because he was like an overgrown amoeba today for some reason. He continued his careful climb, discovering with some surprise the top of the couch. He wanted to plan out what to do for tomorrow- if he was still like this, if he wasn't, if something worse happened, if time moved forwards properly- but he had no words to convey his intents. Only the weird rumbling sound he could produce, which apparently Alex could understand somehow. Ill at ease, now on what he guessed was the arm of the sofa near Alec's warm head, he made a discontented grumble- like he might if he was annoyed as himself- and carefully edged over, wondering if he should jump or if he might break the floor.
Alex turned his head from his face-down position, facing Doc and glancing him over with an exhausted look in his eyes. "He's frustrated," he updated Dana, but his focus remained glued on Dr. Mercer. He wanted to note that this would be much easier if he consumed someone, again, but he held his tongue. How the bastard's insides weren't threatening to shred him from the urge to consume was beyond him, really-even with the amount of food he'd eaten, it didn't feel like enough, not to Alex. Maybe he was just better at fighting it off, and it was there, somewhere. Humans had something akin to it, if the cramping of his stomach and the way his mind kept drifting to consuming said anything. Entire Blackwatch bases slaughtered, the thousands dead who once lingered about in his mind. The aftermath was always bad, but in the moment, it felt so right.
More pain in his stomach, making him grimace for half a second. He needed to stop thinking about food.
"Well," Dana broke the stiff silence, her expression contemplative, "worst case scenario, shit doesn't reset tomorrow, and you're both stuck like this. We spend it sorting things out for both of you, make sure you know what the hell you're doing-and everything is slightly less chaotic than today. Alex, you helping Doc with virus shit, me helping you with human shit." An irritated mumble from the couch, but she continued. "Best case scenario, you two are back to normal, and time stops looping. Between both of those is this," a vague motion to them both, "getting fixed, but not time."
"If that's the one, we'll work on our Cross plan. Given all the fucked up shit Blackwatch gets into, he'll probably know a hell of a lot more than we do. Any thoughts? Speak now, assholes, or forever hold your piece."
Ok, Dana definitely wasn't as foolish as he remembered her being when he left his past behind, especially not if she could assess the possibilities in a way so similar to him. Admittedly, he was still feeling that ridiculous endless hunger but he was used to suppressing the general pains of existence enough that he could ignore it. Or, he could move around like a sentient wash cloth and sate himself with all the odd shit found in a living room. Honestly, once he got over the sheer overload of tasting everything unless he consumed it, it wasn't that bad. His musings were cut off when he fell off the sofa edge, spreading himself out like a pancake in a last minute bid to not fall through- landing instead with the thunk of several textbooks worth of weight. That was enough idle movement for now, he thought with a shiver as he coiled back into the vague sphere shape which made most sense to him.
Alex was perfectly content to leave the planning to Dana, nodding along to her words with only the occasional muttered complaint-only to get the living shit scared out of him by a heavy, loud thud. He was on his feet in seconds, fists clenched tightly enough to whiten his knuckles as he peered around the couch. Oh. It was just Doc. Right. And now everything hurt again. Ignoring the concerned look Dana was giving him, he sat back on the couch with a quiet huff. If one didn't know better, they could almost guess that he was trying to mimic Doc as he curled up on the couch, once again burying his face in one of the cushions. Dana frowned, and with a quick glance to Doc to make sure he wasn't going to roll away or something, she took a seat next to Alex.
"Hey, it's okay." Her tone lost all of its former sternness, replaced with a tired sort of concern. She tried to set a hand on him, but the way he jolted and shivered the second she brushed by him had her pulling away. Shit. Careful not to move him too much, she glanced past him to the resident orb of biomass. "If you've got any calming down tips, that'd be pretty fucking great right now," she mumbled, careful with the volume of her voice.
Calming down tips, huh. He didn't exactly have any of his usual habits available to him- not that he'd be willing to let her find out about that part of himself anytime soon. The two were a vivid beacon of warmth, and Alex's imprint on the sofa gave him an almost sight like perspective. Alex himself was curled up tight- all his limbs pressed into him and his hushed, quiet, panicked breaths gave him away. Shit. Did falling off really spook him that much? Maybe he was just a kid after all.
He remained still, trying to think of something he could actually do. Most options were off limits- but one idea, so hopelessly specific to Alex it would work on nearly no one else- stuck out to him. Carefully, he stretched up and pulled himself back onto the sofa, nestling like a bowling ball into the space near Alex, careful not to touch him, and resigned himself to be mocked forever for this. Alex was damn lucky he cared. A soft, low rumble started up, and even though it sounded more like a motorcycle engine down the street, it managed to convey the comforting intent.
Despite Dana's visible confusion, Alex seemed to relax almost immediately-at least somewhat. He wouldn't get used to hearing the sound from anyone else, hell no, but that didn't make it any less helpful. He didn't even know why he was so high strung today. Well, he was always high strung because he needed to be or someone would die or get kidnapped, but aside from that. It didn't matter now. He offered a quiet "thanks" in Doc's direction, even if he didn't shift from his curled up position for the time being. Dana looked away entirely, doing her best to hide the smile (if a confused one) that had automatically formed on her face. Whatever the hell Doc was doing, it seemed to work.
A thought came to her, suddenly and sharply-she hadn't eaten since this morning. All the shit she'd been given Alex, and she didn't eat any fucking lunch. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, offering them both a genuine smile despite knowing neither of them could actually see her face.
"How's pizza sound? I know a place that's got the best around, and for a pretty damn good price." Granted, she'd probably have to order five pizzas to please the blob over there, but still. "They've got meat lover's."
Alex glanced up at the mention of meat. "What's pizza." Doc's rumbling briefly changed to a higher pitch before forced himself to stop, excitement coming out through his ripples instead. The idea of food even if Alex didn't quite get it made him quite happy- he was still hungry after all. Now, hopefully she'd ask him what he wanted and not stick him with some bland mess.
"What's pizza? The best fucking thing on the goddamn planet." Dana grinned, and she couldn't help a light little laugh at Doc's obvious excitement-it was probably the most happy she'd seen him in years, after all. "So that's either a meat lover's for me, or a barbeque-god, I haven't had one of those in forever. Now, for you two-probably meat lover's for Alex. Doc?"
Some charades and translations from Alex later, Dana was standing at the window, phone at her ear as it rang. On one hand, she was looking forward to some pizza. It'd be a good way to finish the day off. On the other… she glanced to her brothers, doing her best to not make any of her feelings visible.
After all, who the fuck puts those kinds of things on a pizza? It felt like she was committing some horrible crime against pizzakind, just thinking about Doc and Alex's orders.