Intermission 1

Several blocks away from the New York cell's apartment, Dr. Richard Yun and Dr. Ozmand Brinner boarded an elevator and began to ascend. Yun, a clean shaven man in his late 20s with short black hair, glanced at his silver wrist watch absently midst the awkward silence. Oz, an older gentleman in his late 40s, with brown-grey hair, a modest beard, and thick circular spectacles, didn't look him in the eye when he finally spoke.

"So... how was Disneyland?" He grinned.

"Pretty nice actually." Yun replied. "At least until my passport and accounts got revoked to come back." Yun shot Oz a dirty look. "You know, it's called a Burn NOTICE because someone tells you when it happens."

"Well, not much to be done about that now." Oz was still smiling sarcastically. Yun glared at him... he could tell Ozmand had been involved in the decision to cut him off and leave him stranded in France. And he enjoyed it.

"The real question is... why did the company change their mind and bring me back?" Yun questioned as the elevator ground to a stop at one of the uppermost levels of Skaianet's skyscraper.

"1.5." Oz told him as he led him out of the elevator.

A short ways down the hallway, Oz led him into a conference room. Ozmand gently pushed him inside the dark room, and then stood framed in the doorway, blocking the only source of light from the hall. As his eyes adjusted, he realized that it wasn't the only light... five dim monitors lined the wall of the room. He could make out figures there, but they were only silhouettes. Dark room, with shadow figures on dim monitors. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the cliché. He remembered how AH-4 had given the trolls an absurd quirk of giving long and elaborate names to movies. If he was to apply that here, he would call them "The Council of Vague Omnipotence Who Sit In Poorly Lit Rooms While Planning To Take Over The World". If he was a braver man, he would have called them that to their non-faces. He was not a brave man. He remained silent as a very different sort of conference call played out, with people who he did not know, but who could either make his fortune or make him disappear... depending on if he made them happy.

"Richard Yun." The first of the voices, an older sounding man, addressed him. "The unfortunate outcome of Phase 1 under your leadership has had and will continue to have disastrous implications for the entire program." He shamed him.

"However, due to complications arising in Phase 2, as a result of this clusterfuck..." Another told him, this one a stern female voice. "We are amending the plan, and require your expertise and cooperation. You are receiving an UNDESERVED second chance." She emphasized. "Do not disappoint us." Yun nodded grimly.

"So." Yun spoke after a few seconds of silence, when he was confident none of the monitors were about to begin speaking. "What is Phase 1.5?"

"Based on data accumulated in Phase 1, we have developed AH-5, purging it of the flaws that allowed it to go rogue on your watch. While it is not as... creative... it can still perform the necessary functions to replicate the original experiment."

"Why re-do the Phase 1 experiments? Was the data bad or something?" Yun inquired.

"On the 41st floor, you'll find the 1.5 lab." One of the monitors told him, disregarding his question. "We have acquired 12 additional subjects for this project. All the hardware and software required is already in place. Unlike the last time, where AH-4 was left to make it's own decisions, you will be guiding AH-5 with very specific instructions."

"But why?" Yun asked. "Tell me that or I won't be able to do this right this time."

"Your original subjects." Ozmand spoke to him from the door frame. "When AH-4 performed his exodus, they all escaped. They're out here, in the world, and we're pretty sure AH-4 set them against us on the way out the door. They are an unknown variable, and if they act against us the whole Sburb project is threatened."

"So to take them down..." A fourth voice, this one female, but younger, came from another monitor. "We're going to play AH-4's own card against him. You will be using the MMS to create new subjects. To hunt them down." Yun understood. AH-4 had made these kids smart, tough, and tenacious. They wanted him to do the same thing, but without the free will. The Council of Vague Omnipotence wanted assassin's to take out the Phase 1 subjects. And he was to create them.

"We launch in four months Yun." The final council member spoke. "And by launch day, I want all of AH-4's subjects dead. Or you are burned again... and this time to someplace far less comfortable than Paris..."

Karkat: Wake Up.