"Thought there was no eating allowed in labs."
Maxie glanced up from his book. "Counter argument: pretzels are delicious."
"That's true." Archie dragged a chair over and plopped himself down. He dug into the bag that was offered to him.
"Came down here for my snacks?"
"Nah, I have a few hours before my shift and I'm not tired enough to sleep. Figured I'd watch you guys sweat it out." He looked around at the glistening equipment, and the few interns who waited impatiently for any sign the tests were finished. "Wow. You do have a ton of time waiting on those machines..."
"It's incredible, isn't it?" He flipped a page. "And this is just a preliminary test on the sample. At the end of the day, it's not going to amount to much. But this." Maxie moved the book to show an illustration. "This is fascinating."
Archie raised an eyebrow at the Pokemon drawn on what seemed to be a cave wall. "What are those?"
"Groudon and Kyogre." He pointed to each in turn and smirked down at the book. "Legend says they created the land and water in a huge battle before they were both put to sleep."
"How'd that happen? They wear themselves out?"
"I don't know yet," he said as he pulled his book back. "It says 'an incredible force' caused it, but I'm not sure if it's a Pokemon, or an item, or something physical at all." He scribbled another factoid onto his notepad. "Of course it's a legend. Who knows if these Pokemon could ever be found again, even if they were real"
"Who knows." He dug into the bag again. "Trying to find something to fix your math?"
"No, the math is decisive," he said, firmly. "I couldn't change it even if I wanted to, and frankly I'm none to interested at this point to force it for people who can't listen." He clicked his pen shut. "This is just for my own information right now."
He leaned back to read over Maxie's shoulder. "You need to quiet down talk like that, bro. There are ears everywhere."
"Nothing I haven't said before."
They looked up with a start as an alarm screamed through the laboratory.
"Is that the trainer?"
"Worse, I think." His teeth gritted. "That sound means a raid, doesn't it?"
"I have to get to the men," Archie said as he stood up. "You guys have procedures and all, right?"
"Well rehearsed ones." He reached over and put a stop to the test. "We need 20 minutes to get everything we need out of here. Can you give us that?"
"Yeah." He ran out of the room only to look back in. "Don't die, alright?"
"You either."
It'd be best to kill Archie with a blunt instrument, Maxie decided. It'd take longer, which would be a fitting punishment. He'd been put on guard out the window for any sign of the guards, trainers, or anything else. Other than a stray Taillow, there'd been nothing since they'd arrived which left him plenty of time to figure out what exactly should be used.
From what little information had leaked to the research team, the main thorn was a young trainer named Stephen who had evidently made it a personal mission in life to ruin their plans. Even the non-idealists had every right, in their minds, to be bitter seeing as he was affecting their job stability. Whatever their reason, when it came time to protect their work nobody thought twice about any gripes. Maxie's underlings and he had a textbook evacuation, everything of value was loaded neatly into cases and smuggled out to the designated hiding place. Just enough was to be left behind to make any intruders think they'd find something of real value, which would buy them plenty of time to set up shop someplace else. The only thing left was to sit in the safe house and wait to be picked up, however long it took until the guards deemed it safe.
At the five hour mark, the mood in the small cabin they were crammed into had shifted from nervous to increasingly bored. After they decided that they would indeed stay as long as it took, card games broke out and conversation moved from hushed whispers to irrelevance and humor. After the fourth time he'd checked to make sure they'd taken absolutely everything they'd been supposed to, Maxie took a fellow researcher up on a spare cigarette. He nursed and focused on it, strongly as he could, to block out the shake in his leg and the urge to erupt at coworkers who didn't seem to understand the gravity of what could still be coming. If they were smart, at that point, his Numel would have started to torch every bit of paperwork they had. But they weren't, and so they just continued to sit.
They hadn't been so much as contacted by an Administrator, which Maxie felt was quite rude. They couldn't expect the utmost loyalty out of their team if they couldn't even bother to check up on them and make sure that everything and everyone had come out alright. If he were in charge, the whole thing would be run with far more professionalism and courtesy. After all, these were people that you at least hoped believed in the cause as much as the leader at its head did. The least that should be offered is a peek in to see if anyone was dead.
It was easier to stew over that than to focus on the fact there hadn't been hide nor hair of the guards since they'd left the base. Many of the young ones were simply seen as canon fodder and not expected to make it out of any real problem. Maxie wondered if they were ever informed of that, and for that matter how high up did someone have to be before they fully understood their expendability. How far into the foodchain did one have to go before the Administrators worried about them? And was he, as a sub-administering researcher, just as replaceable?
He did all he could not to settle on the idea that he'd simply ask Archie later, because that brought with it the point that there'd been no word from him since he'd ordered Maxie not to die. They really should have kissed, then. They should have done a lot more before, and his foot only shook harder as he fought the idea that he might never get a chance to fix that.
He extinguished the cigarette as the conversation moved from crude gambling to again pondering whether they should move on or at the least get something to eat. As should have been expected, just as they'd figured out how to get food to them without any risk of capture the back door flew open.
"Kay, nerds, let's get a move-on." He guard hitched a thumb to the door. The grumbling and insistence on an explanation was ignored as the research was loaded rather roughly into a truck.
When Maxie filed out of the cabin, it seemed all Archie could do to keep from running over.
"Looks like you made it."
"You too. Now I just need something hard to hit you with for keeping us waiting that long." He added in a mutter "Without any notice."
He smiled apologetically, which was about all he could offer right then. "Sure there's something at the next place. Plus I hear they already have plenty of food over there."
His stomach growled, fiercely, as he was ushered into the waiting van. "I guess I can put it off for a bit more."
Archie climbed in after him. "How about I throw in my serving of that nasty pudding you like?"
"You think that equals making me think you were dead for hours?"
"Pretty well, yeah."
Maxie gave him a firm elbow as the doors were slammed and locked. "Don't do that again."
He smirked and nudged back with his shoulder. "Promise."
The van ride was hot, cramped, and dark. Maxie couldn't find any reason to complain, really. With their fingers laced he rubbed Archie's thumb, surreptitiously, with his own as they rumbled on to their new home.