Lyla had grown somewhat less irate by the time they had reached the office. Reno had eased up on his hovering, only offering a jibe now and then instead of the constant crowding he had forced her to suffer much of the afternoon. She was the first through the door when they returned, and paused to hold it open just long enough for Rude to pass through, releasing the handle when Reno approached and smiling just the tiniest bit when she heard a resounding "OW" immediately afterwards.
Professor Ingram looked up from his desk, where it appeared he had been involved in conversation, a pen in his right hand as it hovered over the notes he had been taking. President Shinra, Lyla noted, was nowhere to be seen.
"Well. How did it go?" Ingram asked pleasantly.
"Well, for the most part. All of the information you requested has been retrieved from the computer. ... there may have been a live sample that got away from us," she added.
"I thought we cleaned those out last week."
"So did I. This one disappeared once Reno gave him the bright idea to."
The conversation floated somewhere just outside of Rude's field of interest. It was, however unfortunately, otherwise occupied with the man in red sitting across the desk from the professor. He blinked slowly, though behind the glasses it was near impossible to tell.
Vincent Valentine blinked back, his icily collected manner without the decency to twitch in the face of the larger man.
"Live sample." He repeated with the faintest note of curiosity.
"That is to say, a person," Lyla went on to explain conversationally, crossing the room to hand Ingram a flash drive and an unlabelled folder, the contents of which looked to be sparse. "As far as I could tell. Quite literally, he disappeared into thin air. Whether he teleported or shape-shifted, I'm not sure. There was no sign of him afterwards." Her back was to the door when it opened again, Reno rubbing the bridge of his nose and wincing as he entered, limping towards Rude in what he hoped was not too pitiful a manner.
"Mr. Valentine, this is my assistant, Miss Caraway," Ingram said absently as he began to leaf through the contents of the folder. "Thank you, Lyla. Judging by what we found there last week, this new data should be very helpful."
Reno stopped short when he heard the name, looking up and suddenly appearing to be in fine shape. "Hey. What's the spook doing here?"
Vincent, for his own part, offered the arriving redhead a long, cool look. "Your job, perhaps." He said evenly, sparing Lyla a turn of his head. If he was frowning behind the mouth-piece, it was difficult to tell. His calm stare took her apart clinically before returning to Ingram. "If I understand the offer correctly."
Ingram nodded in confirmation, gesturing to the room at large as he spoke. "There may come a time in the near future when it will take more than just two or three of you to handle what you come across. I think your personal interest in the matter, Mr. Valentine, means that you are already aware of the monstrosities Professor Hojo may have locked away." Lyla offered the man in red a polite smile by way of a greeting as the professor spoke, though as he appeared to study her, she could not help growing uncomfortable. She turned her attention to her organizer instead, lightly tapping at the screen with her index finger.
"That new data may have locations of other facilities Hojo used," she suggested.
Rude watched the former AVALANCHE member as he rose to his feet, still as a statue though any other man might have shifted. Either away or closer, ready to fight. The ex-terrorist, however, paid him no mind.
"When do we begin." He said more than asked, and something in his tone suggested that he felt 'we' was entirely unnecessary.
"We'll need some time to review this new information first. Tonight should be enough. I can have the location of the next target for you by morning, I'm sure," Ingram mused aloud. "As I offered earlier, I will pay for your room and board during this project. All a part of the contract. Perhaps if you have any more questions about our work, Miss Caraway can assist you."
"Don't you need me to-" Lyla began, before Ingram held a hand up to silence her.
"You have done more than enough for today, take the evening off. I can review the data myself. Trust me; I will call you if I need your assistance."
Reno let out a low whistle from across the room.
"And your escapee." The question came at the heel of the whistle, though Vincent spared no one another glance, eyes fixed on the professor without a note of curiosity.
Rude coughed into his sleeve. Though it sounded suspiciously like a single bark of laughter.
"The files here should have record of every live sample in that facility. I already have a list of those we neutralized, the list of those that were not present is much shorter. I hate to think that one escaped our notice, but it seems this is a matter that requires some attention. I will work with what I have," Ingram said reasonably.
"He may still be there," Lyla pointed out. "I'm not sure whether he actually teleported elsewhere or not. There should be photos of a number of the subjects in that file, Professor. Tall, very pale. Black hair. No identification and seemingly no knowledge of Shinra; he may be a long-term project."
Reno feigned a yawn. "Can I go? Because I'm pretty sure I'm done. And the prez gets cranky if he's out too late."
Rude grunted in what was likely agreement, though his suspicious glare was still leveled on Mr. Valentine.
The Galian beast frowned at them- presumably- but nodded, turning on his heel. "In the morning, then." He said, flipping the cape out of his way with the wide gesture of one hand. "Early."
Lyla glanced up from the device in her hands, watching the man curiously as he stood and turned to leave. Reno snorted lightly, unimpressed. "Still at the Count Dracula act, I see," he remarked.
Rude smirked, glancing down at his watch.
How early was early, in vampire time?
Reno grinned at his partner, their wordless exchange crystalline clear. "I'm thinking nine pm or so?"
"...Enough time for a drink." The large man said, dropping his arm. He glanced over his shoulder, searching the room for their missing president. So long as he hadn't seen fit to invent any pressing matters for them to attend, maybe Reno's afternoon off was close at hand. He, himself, was off in another hour. Or thereabouts.
Reno strode across the office to pull one of the glass doors open, sticking his upper half through it to search the room on the other side. "Prez, you in here? ... that is an angry look, sir."
Lyla glanced at the professor as she slipped her coat off, carefully hanging it on a rack in the corner by his desk. "You said Mr. Valentine is personally involved. How?"
"A victim of Professor Hojo's," Ingram explained without looking up. "Beneficial to our cause, but likely dangerous. Do contact me if anything gets out of hand?" He paused, glancing towards the suited men on the other side of the room. "With any of them, Miss Caraway."
Rude took another look at the dirty blond before closing the distance between himself and his friend. Odds were fairly in Rufus Shinra's favor that Reno might momentarily require backup.
Outside, Vincent gave the pristine, almost soulless building a parting glance. This was the start of another round of nonsense. He could feel it in his bones.
Well. What of them remained.