Devon didn't take the time to unpack anything, and she doubted she ever would. This place would only be temporary after all, and once this internship was over, she'd be back in her old apartment or, with any luck, somewhere a bit nicer. Maybe even a fortress of her own.
So, after a bit of curious poking around, she finally decided it was time to find out just what she would be learning from Vector. She made her way back down the hallway, watching Phish swimming dauntingly beneath her in the same direction she was headed. They both liked vicious animals; at least they had that much in common.
She spotted the top of Vector's head from over the long, wraparound couch; he had apparently gone back to his video game. She also happened to glance over at the coffee table to see a Nintendo Wii sitting atop it, the tiny light at the top suggesting that it was turned on.
"How are you playing Bioshock on a Wii?"
She noticed Vector jump slightly at the sound of her voice, and he jerked his head in her direction with a look of surprise, then irritation at being surprised as she entered the living room. It was obvious that he wasn't used to having other people roaming about the fortress.
"Easy!" he replied as he continued fighting off the enemy splicers he had been dealing with, "it only takes a bit of simple reprogramming. This thing can play anything that's in a disk format," he quickly paused the game, saved it, and turned off the console.
"I suppose we should get started then," he said, standing and popping his back loudly, "There's a lot I need to get done for the next gig, and we don't have much time to do it."
Devon followed behind him as he headed toward what looked like an empty wall, "What is the "next gig", if you don't mind my asking?"
"Just some unfinished business," he pressed a few buttons on one of the glowing interfaces on the wall, which opened what seemed to be a cylindrical elevator, "Some like to bide their time, but trust me, the quicker the counterattack, the better. Especially when you're capable of working as quickly and efficiently as I am."
"Hero problems?"
Vector chuckled, "Heroes are easy to deal with," he stepped into the elevator, "the real challenge is other villains trying to steal your title."
Their conversation was cut off by the sound of nasally, heavy breathing and claws against the glassy floor as Petunia came bounding down the hallway to sit at Devon's feet.
"Should she be coming with us?" she asked.
Vector shrugged, glancing at the fat, furball with slight unease, "I…don't suppose there's anything she could get into."
He pressed a series of buttons, and the door closed. The elevator began to descend into a transparent tube surrounded by the water in the shark tank. The tank was much bigger than Devon had first perceived. MUCH bigger. It must have gone down at least a mile, though they were traveling extremely fast, so the length of time it took to get to the bottom wasn't really an indicator.
"This tank is made of a reinforced alloy of my own invention," Vector boasted, "It can withstand millions of tons of pressure. It may look like glass, but it's actually more of a transparent metal."
"Hm…" Devon nodded, "interesting…" And it really was interesting, but she honestly didn't have anything else to say about the matter.
For a few moments, there was silence aside from the sound of the descending elevator and Petunia's loud panting. Finally, however, the elevator settled into the large laboratory below, and the door opened once more.
As expected, it was just as white and orange here as it was in the rest of the fortress. There were several seats made of the same orange pleather as the couch, most of which were shaped like Vs. There were also several, different sized cases surrounding the enormous space, some transparent and some opaque, that had everything from weapons to live anglerfish. She was slowly starting to notice Vector's affinity for ocean life.
"Welcome to the most technologically advanced lab in the entire world," he stepped into the room and the lights turned on automatically, "This is where all the magic happens. Some of the world's most advanced machinery—the MAJORITY of it, actually—was made right in this room."
"Hm…" Devon nodded, "…impressive…"
"Exactly. Now, I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with details the first day on the job, so instead of showing you everything at once, we'll start small."
He pressed a button on a controller Devon hadn't noticed he had before and one of the cases was lifted and set upon a small table that rose from the floor.
"You'll need these," Vector handed her a pair of oversized, orange goggles after putting on a pair of his own along with a pair of rubbery, orange gloves.
"Normally I prefer working with machinery," he tapped a button on the side of the capsule and it opened to reveal something round and yellow, "but I like to dabble a bit in biology myself, something you're apparently somewhat familiar with."
Devon made no remark to this.
"So," he continued, "I'll assume you aren't squeamish."
He pressed yet another button on the remote he held and a tray of surgical tools plus an electronic device that was clearly an invention of his was lowered from the ceiling.
"Forceps, surgical scissors, bone cutters, scalpel, control chip," he pointed to each of the instruments as he named them off, "Think you can remember that?"
"Yes," she replied shortly.
He reached into the capsule and pulled out a small yellow creature with a single, closed eye. The little creature seemed to be napping quite peacefully, clearly unaware of its situation.
"Lucky for us, this little guy doesn't have any bones, so you don't need to worry about the bone cutters at the moment."
"What IS it?"
"From what I could gather, it's made up of some kind of mutated DNA, fatty acids, and approximately two and a half cups of bananas…give or take a bit."
"Oh…"
"I was lucky to find him. With some mind alteration, he'll be the PERFECT tool for my plan."
"And…what IS that plan?"
"Ah-ah! Patience, Dev, patience. It's a surprise."
She sighed.
"Now…scalpel," Vector held his hand out for her to hand the tool to him.
She handed him the scalpel begrudgingly. Well...at least she was getting paid for this…