Alchemilla took on an eerie quality at night. The day staff were at home, with only the night nurses and security patrolling the halls. There was an inviolate element to the silence- if one stood and listened, the quiet was a little too complete for little too long.
Thomas was post head today, dutifully consulting her task code with his reader. "It's a green light. Anything metal on you, doc?"
Doctor Lafayette placed her phone and earrings in the check-in box. One of the security team briefly waved her up and down with a hand scanner, everything by the book.
"You're clear doctor," The lead said.
"Thank you, Tom. Have a good night." When the elevator eventually opened, the cheery chime sounded out of place.
Doctor Lafayette waited for the doors to close, then, instead of pushing one of the buttons on the board, she pulled out her staff ID on its lanyard, and slid it into a reader above the buttons.
A buzzer sounded overhead, and she lifted her head to stare directly into the camera dome above the elevator doors.
"Specialty containment please, Jaime. Today's entry code is red, star, streamer, grey, nineteen."
The buzz sounded again, and the elevator started to move.
Doctor Lafayette did not speak, she remained standing in the corner, back straight. Her face was calm, but one hand remained tense on the spine of the folder in her hands.
The elevator stopped once, adjoining another elevator midway. Doctor Lafayette moved in the second elevator and continued her descent.
When this second elevator opened she shook herself, breathing in deep, steadying herself before she stepped out into a broad, well-lit hallway. Here the floor, walls, and ceiling were sterile white, and an alarm-red border ran along the floor. A sign on the wall read 'Special Containment 2' and was flanked by a large orange hazard sign- WARNING: You are entering a restricted area, parahuman abilities may be in use, personal safety cannot be ensured.
This was a different part of Alchemilla. One not open to the public.
Foam nozzles and camera domes alternated every other tile on the ceiling. Doctor Lafayette glanced at them before taking a deep breath and stepping forward.
It was quiet enough that every step clicked sharply on the floor and echoed hollowly. She passed a heavy door, solid metal and thick hinges, round. Like a bank vault or airlock, a tiny window in the very center. There was a second, wider window set deep into the wall beside it, behind a cage of two-inch metal bars. Doctor Lafayette caught movement out of the corner of her eye on the other side, a silhouette moved suddenly, but when she looked it was gone. In the room, on the opposite wall- large, garish words were scrawled in red, green, and orange and underscored with a grinning skull. 'You look WONDERFUL today.'
Mr. Wonderful.
Lafeyette passed more heavy doors and barred windows, some shuttered, some not. Each pair of windows and doors were flanked on either side by additional posted warning signs. Doctor Lafayette shivered. Distantly, faintly through her feet, the vibration of an impact. Was it her imagination, or had the shutters moved slightly?
Hatchetface. Catskin.
The windows were completely soundproof, but she swore she could hear distant singing. Haunting, distorted sound without a source, fading in and out. Humming and then singing, she could almost hear...
The distant humming and singing was growing louder.
Pretty Sammy. Lazaretto. White Noise.
She picked up the pace, and didn't slow until she reached the end of the hall, and another door. Doctor Lafayette keyed this one open as well.
On the other side of the door, Doctor Lafayette resumed walking, this time through a room. It was an octagon, with four walls an intersection of four doors, and caged windows set between. The middle of the room was a solid black monolith of one-way glass. This was the security booth, completely sealed and only accessible from the levels above. She turned left and passed one of the windows. It was unshuttered and a man with dark skin stood on the other side. Bare-chested, heavily muscled and huge, mouth open as he screamed- but no sound reached her through the soundproofing. He raised a fist and punched the glass. The vibration of an impact shuddered through her feet again. Another window was filled with a flurry of movement. A pale blur skittered across the glass, long-limbed fingers settled before they again jerked away.
The Horde. Wendigo.
Doctor Lafayette breathed deeply and evenly, and tried not to look as she walked across the lobby. She keyed open the door on her left, labeled 'Access, Obvtn A-B', and walked into the observation room.
And found her greeting party waiting for her.
The light was muted, primarily filtering in from the picture window, currently opaque and fogged. A monitoring pit was positioned in the center of the floor, surrounded by a cloud of suspended screens with two nurses currently working the stations. Closer to the windows, Doctor Lafayette caught a glimpse of Grudge and Kudzu seated by the coffee machine.
Lafayette greeted the nurses first. "Gabby. Kenneth."
"Good evening Doctor!" Gabby said. Ken looked up briefly, and tossed a quick wave her way.
Gabby hopped up and held out a clipboard with a folded piece of paper on it. "Here's your checklist. Don't forget today's call words and M/S protocol." Gabby said. Over Gabby's shoulder, Doctor Lafayette caught sight of one of the monitors displaying a workshop. Two men working at tables strewn with wires and electronics. A shadow passed across the camera's line of sight and Doctor Lafayette looked away quickly.
"How are we looking?" She asked.
"Primary reservoir is full and sprayers are green. Secondary and tertiary too. Cameras are all green, except for number eight, but that was from last month. We have the go-ahead on that. Ken is giving the gas, ultrasonic, and infrared array a quick look over, but that's fine so far." Gabby said.
Good... That was good. The pamphlet on the clipboard was labeled 'Lafayette - 72114 - Eyes Only' and the date. Lafayette started reading the security and hazard summary, worked her way through the list of safety features that would save her life if things went wrong. The armored shutter that would slam down over the windows, the foam dump that could flood the room in five seconds. Blast doors. A 'Panic Box', a tiny booth that would seal itself the moment more than ten pounds landed on a pressure plate. If Kenneth wanted to, he could seal off the patient room itself, it even had its own air supply... The list was long. It didn't ease the sense of underlying hind-brain disquiet that visiting Special Containment elicited in her.
Gabrielle Daniels and Kenneth Donnelly were two of the best and brightest they had, both had been working down in special containment for months. Doctor Lafayette didn't know how they did it.
Lafayette took another deep, cleansing breath and steadied her hand on the pamphlet. This one wasn't dangerous. He'd been here for years. He was cooperative. And his hazard rating was low because of that.
She smudged her finger across the box labeled 'Daycode' on the final page, in moments a chemical reactant on the paper and the oil on her hands darkened, revealing her Master/Stranger pass code. She committed it to memory, ten seconds later, the code faded away, leaving only the blank page behind.
She closed the procedure pamphlet.
"That's all of it," Doctor Lafayette handed the clipboard back to Gabby. "Anything from the Thinkers?"
"Nothing, all protocol checks are green. He's just... working."
Doctor Lafayette nodded, "Give me the green light when you're done with redundancies." she cleared her throat, mouth dry. "...I'm going to need some water."
(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ
"Unlocking outer doors. Stand by, Doctor."
The airlock seal broke with a hiss of negative pressure, followed by a meaty thud as the heavy plates rolled to the side. Doctor Lafayette swallowed once and glanced to the side, at Grudge and the Kudzu clones where they waited. Slowly, Grudge returned her glance with a nod.
She stepped through the first airlock. Behind her, the airlock closed, and an eerie silence descended. A distant thunk as the mechanical lock was engaged behind her. A full sensor suite dominated the ceiling with short, blocky antenna. The room was circular, allowing three tiny cameras to track her at all times from multiple angles. Under the floor tiles were pressure plates and heat sensors, and more exotic sensors like electromagnetic tripwires and seismographs. Every sound and heartbeat was recorded inside this room.
The second airlock disengaged without a sound, this time simply a vibration she felt through the soles of her feet, and the armored plate rolled aside.
On the other side a long, narrow room stretched about thirty feet with a wide window taking up the entire length of the wall. Like the larger windows outside, it was fogged and opaque at the moment. The room was nearly entirely bare, with only a single chair, a padded easy chair that allowed staff to converse with the patient, and a single small table.
She walked to that chair and sat down, taking several deep breaths, and set her bottle of water on the table.
"All right, I'm turning it on."
"Roger, Doctor." Grudge replied over the intercom, "Testing panic button, two clicks?"
Doctor Lafayette dutifully clicked the discreet button on the bracelet, set against the inside of her wrist, "Two clicks."
"You're green, go ahead Doctor."
Doctor Lafayette nodded, closed her eyes, and took another calming breath.
A shape passed behind the glass. Tall and hulking, hunched. Alien. Unlike any human shape. After a moment, it moved away from the glass, growing indistinct until it dissipated entirely.
He had a moniker long before he was committed, though one not widely or famously known now, except in certain circles. Many years before, he had been one of the very first Tinkers.
Now... He was patient seven-two-one-one-four.
He possessed another name in the paperwork associated with his admitting to Alchemilla; Splice- his new moniker. Weak on paper, his power primarily dealt with composite solids.
She hesitated to call him by either name; she hesitated to call what lived in that room human.
"Good evening, Doctor. Procrastinating my company?" A voice intruded, clear and completely unhindered by the barrier between them.
Lafayette opened her mouth, her voice remained even. "Not quite, Professor Haywire." No more dallying. She reached for the remote set on the chair's armrest. At the press of the button the glass cleared, and she could see the cell beyond.
Haywire's holding cell was much larger than was typical, even in the case of patients permanently ensconced in the Isolation Ward. The scale reminded Doctor Lafayette of lecture halls back in college.
It was eighty feet from the observation room window to the back wall, and the ceiling thirty feet high. Haywire's workshop.
The walls were seamless metal plates, the ceiling lights were recessed and sealed off from the room itself. Tables and and workbenches crowded the room, and scaffolding supporting a network of wires hung from the ceiling until the room resembled an electronic jungle. The walls and lights were mostly obscured by aisles of shelving stocked with wire, disassembled electronics, nuts and bolts, boxes and boxes of equipment across much of the back wall. The lights threw sharp and deep shadows in jagged patterns over the walls and across the shelves.
An elaborate chemistry assembly and several gallon tanks filled with liquid took up one corner. All around the tanks a complex superstructure arrangement of plumbing and scaffolding radiated out and connected to a pump assembly. Bundles of wires connected to a computer, and an array of several screens. Something that resembled a gigantic magnifier on an articulated arm suspended over a table. Almost hidden behind that was a tank with a silvery, metallic spider pacing inside. Another desk was occupied by multiple towering piles of folders and books. Whiteboards on wheels divided the work space in an uneven line. One covered with line upon line of tiny, neat handwriting. The other in mathematical equations.
From were Lafayette sat, she could see multiple camera domes on the ceiling; but Haywire was nowhere to be seen.
"Please come out, no games."
Haywire's first head emerged from over the window. White porcelain like a mannequin head at the end of a long, white segmented arm. There were too many segments and it didn't move like a limb or a neck. The head was gripped in an articulated claw with three fingers.
The arm was followed by too many grasping hands and back-jointed limbs, and finally Haywire's body, a mass of segmented porcelain shell and shifting black artificial muscle. Three heads swiveled to look at Doctor Lafayette. The middle one- held more closely to the abomination's chest -was the source of the voice.
"Doctor Lafayette, my guest once more." The voice was crisp and clear as if he shared the room with her, unimpeded by the wall of glass- but the head's mouth did not move.
"It has been some time. How are you?" Doctor Lafayette asked.
"Well enough." Haywire settled, limbs unfurling to grasp the observation window, hanging off it and filling it. Doctor Lafayette had to force herself not to lean away as it blotted out the light. The other two heads wandered back and forth on their respective arms, eyeing her from new angles.
"Haywire, we were hoping to talk with you about a technical concern."
A man stepped to the window, around the abomination- Doctor Lafayette jumped. He didn't wear scrubs, instead a pale blue shirt and brown slacks, untucked and rumpled respectively, and a long white lab coat.
She had a good look at his face, sallow, pale, with an unhealthy grey cast. His eyes were deeply sunken in his face, and lowered to a tangle of wires and what looked a lot like a soldering iron in one hand, and a circuit board in the other.
"Doctor, I am ever at your disposal." The man said (the head held in the claw said), "But my time is limited. I only have so many hands." A finger tapped the glass, one of the three-fingered claws.
"Haywire. Please."
It paused, then the creature he had become drew back. "...Very well." His claws adhered to the sheer glass, back up onto the ceiling and back over the workshop, climbing up and down the scaffolding. Like a spider, its many limbs carried it over desks, beakers, electronics; skittering and scrabbling over tables and desks with deceptive delicacy.
On the far side of the whiteboards, a second thin spindly man with wild grey hair appeared, bent over a notebook, busily transcribing notes to the boards. This one also wore a lab coat, but under it he had red scrubs on. He didn't look up from his notes, and moments later he passed behind the board again without looking up.
Clicking on the floor, the construct pushed past the whiteboards, melting back into the jagged shadows of the shelves and machinery.
"There, Doctor." The man, or what looked like a man, remained. The one in slacks and shirt. On the other side of the glass, Haywire hmmed thoughtfully, pulling up one of his desk chairs and taking a seat. "I apologize. I know you don't like it when I loom."
"Thank you." Doctor Lafayette said, and finally her voice wavered.
(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ
Imagine, the dawn of parahumans. It is 1984, and an unnatural meteor shower impacts and scars many earths. The first manifestation of powers, still not widely known, and the divergence of worlds. Earth Bet, Earth Aleph, and Earth Gimel; each similar, each different. On each of these three worlds were people, some more similar than others. But in each case, there was Doctor Samuel Hayden. And back then, so close to the divergence, he had the same life three times over.
Twins often developed powers in pairs. Duplicates, or two different powers closely aligned in some way.
It was rare- vanishingly rare, for people in multiple dimensions to develop powers that were linked in this way. But Doctor Samuel Hayden had, and in doing so had become Professor Haywire.
In Professor Haywire's case, he had developed powers three times, each case slightly different, and in each case they were linked, sharing the same mind -a facet of his powers' focus, the thresholds between dimensions.
He had broken down the barriers between Earth Bet and Earth Aleph, and his bodies had come together, joining forces. He had found a way to link more variations of himself to the collective. What had happened in the course of those experiments was unclear, Haywire's explanations elusive, but he had sought asylum at Alchemilla after the experiment that had created his... Counterpart.
The thing was comprised of his other selves, dissected, cut apart and put back together. It was anyone's guess how many minds had been appended to the man sitting across from her.
Professor Haywire was not a patient- he was, technically, a voluntary resident; knowledge of the nature of his agreement with the PRT was heavily restricted, but one of the conditions was that his creation accompany him.
His inclusion on and consultation in several other key projects made his case an odd one in the Board. His willing cooperation was something he could leverage if he decided to, and the Board was often hesitant to jeopardize it.
Doctor Lafayette watched as limbs snaked out from under and over a desk, manipulating circuit boards, constructing something Lafayette couldn't name. It resembled a computer's central processor or a mainframe- with multiple layers of circuits inside a black metal box the size of a small refrigerator. The entire assembly sat surrounded by braids of colorful wires. Haywire wandered over to examine the work, and add his own circuitboard to the collection.
"It is ugly, isn't it?" Haywire sighed, Lafayette's attention snapped to the new Haywire- sitting down in the chair across from her, the one with red scrubs and a lab coat. His face was nearly identical to the second Haywire's. Also sallow, pale, also with an unhealthy grey color. "Please don't lie, I know it is."
Doctor Lafayette took a sip of water. "It... looks much better than it did." Lafayette said diplomatically.
A mass of organs, electronics, limbs, and three of Haywire's heads; yes, after a fashion it looked much better. When Professor Haywire had arrived, his creation had given her nightmares that drove her, and many others, to sleepless nights.
"Prototypes are always messy things. I was... in something of a bad place after that." Professor Haywire said, the huge, hunched shape moving behind him. "Is this Armstrong attempting to feel out my intentions? Wondering, perhaps, why I haven't run?" He raised an eyebrow.
"It has been a trying year. Upheaval and disruptions in the staff, and patients." Doctor Lafayette said, "There are a lot of eyes on us right now. The Board are worried about the stability of the facility."
Which didn't answer the question, but allowed him to form his own conclusions.
"As well they should be." Haywire said, with that amused, thin-lipped smile, "Tell me about this project."
"Armstrong is looking to consult on new security." Doctor Lafayette said, "He is looking to overhaul the system."
He looked intrigued at that. "Metal and concrete are effective enough. Simple, reliable, but also one-dimensional. If I designed the security here, I would implement planal separation barriers proof against a wider range of exotic effects. A millimeter separation into which no force from two disparate dimensions can cross. It might be more practical reserved for specific cases, however. Cases that call for it. Facility-wide implementation would... It would not be cheap."
"Would that prevent Labyrinth's worlds from manifesting through them?"
"Hmm. Good question." Haywire said, "In my work with little Labyrinth... The girl creates what she dreams in empty worlds, her power then brings what she creates to what plane she occupies and it imposes those worlds upon others... I suspect it would be the same with any altered space I create. The best I might do without deeper investigation is create a dimensional pocket segregated from her- but preventing her influence from overwriting... Hmmm..." He mused, "I might be able to devise a solution to Labyrinth's problem, but I would need access to her."
It was unclear which direction the Board would fall on that. Giving patients, or un-diagnosed residents, in this case, more autonomy in any capacity was always regarded with skepticism, Haywire in particular. Let alone interaction with someone as powerful as Labyrinth. The Board was never comfortable with Professor Haywire. If he was quiet, they wondered what he was planning. If he became erratic they anticipated an attempt to escape, or another of his mercurial moods.
There were members of the PRT Director's board that believed he was dangerous, and that Alchemilla could not contain him in the event he seriously attempted escape.
That was ridiculous, of course. It wasn't even a question, if Professor Haywire wanted to escape they wouldn't be able to contain him. Doctor Lafayette doubted that even the Birdcage would stymie him for long. There were some on the Board who wondered occasionally who was more powerful. Professor Haywire, or Hero himself.
Doctor Lafayette allowed the silence to linger too long.
"...I could draw up plans for upgrades." Haywire continued, "An extensive project like this would occupy a fraction of my attention. A little less tedium and boredom... I will not do this for free." He said.
"What do you want?"
"I want the files for patients 102-12-11, 005-02-09, and 020-10-99." Professor Haywire said, "Whole, and unredacted."
Doctor Lafayette bought herself a second with another sip of water, glanced at the piles of files on one of Haywire's desks. And wondered, fervently, where he had found those file numbers. "May I ask why you want those three?"
"Scientific curiosity."
Doctor Lafayette wanted to say no, but the Board had a history of giving Haywire clearance. It had served as the foundation of the the data drawn on for development of his power suppressant. There was real precedent. The Board liked the technology Haywire produced; and, from the board's perspective, there was little risk and little ethical complication in granting a researcher files when that researcher had consistently delivered what they wanted.
Even if that researcher was Haywire.
"I will pass your recommendations along to Armstrong." Doctor Lafayette said, hedging, "But he is going to want outside consultation."
Far from disappointed, Haywire's face lit up. "Young Dragon, and Armsmaster too, I hope. Maybe even Hero himself!" Professor Haywire leaned in eagerly, "I love to see their take on my work. I was thinking of a siphon drawing on planal entropy as a power source. I've only managed a device the size of a car, if Dragon and Armsmaster could reduce the size...Or Hero..." Haywire drifted away from the window, towards the desk with the screens. He sat down at the keyboard.
"Ah, but you aren't interested in the technical details." Doctor Lafayette shrank back as spindely arms lowered Haywire's hunched body from the ceiling once more. Two of his heads remained focused on a collection of beakers juggled between four arms, like a mass of snakes. The third head stared at her, unblinking.
"Not my field of expertise." She admitted a little breathlessly. Which was a problem. Haywire liked nothing more than to talk about his ideas, and he became bored when he had to explain them out to his therapists. She suspected that had she been an engineer it might have been easier to talk to him.
His creation passed in front of the lights, a flash of shadow across her, limbs darting to replace the beakers in the chemistry assembly, selecting a new set of capsules. "I apologize for my appearance. My other projects are proceeding ahead of schedule but this form remains a point of frustration. The sticking point remains tissue suspension. Pure biology has always been finicky for me."
"I-I understand that is a common complaint for Tinkers."
"Hmm. My power was more rigid, before my... Ah, 'accident'. Feeling out my new limits has been..." He trailed off.
"Is it helping you feel more centered? More grounded?"
He hesitated, "Perhaps." The head swung back and forth on its arm. Not like any human gesture she could place, "Thank you for your concern Doctor, but it really isn't necessary."
The creature crawled off across the ceiling once more. Then Haywire was back, the one with the blue shirt and slacks, "I wonder, who will our new Director be, now that Foster has left us?"
That brought her up short, Doctor Lafayette frowned, "I don't know yet. Director Foster left us very suddenly. How did you find out?"
"Oh, word gets around Doctor. And I get so very bored sometimes while I wait for the fabricator." He leaned back, smiling guilelessly.
Doctor Lafayette took a deep breath, "If you would like, we could try introducing some new activities." Her fingers shifted on the folder.
"I am content with the current arrangement." Haywire said, his tone flat.
She opened the folder and briefly glanced at it, "The last time you took a social call was nearly three years ago. We do have a pen pals program. There are several Tinker volunteers you might be interested in talking to."
Haywire sighed, a strange sound without the accompanying body language. "Doctor Lafayette. Would you like a little friendly advice, on some new activities? If you intend to take up dating again, I would suggest you reinvent yourself, add something new to your wardrobe... You wear the same clothes to work, honestly."
The back of Doctor Lafayette's neck prickled, and the hairs on the back of her arms stood up.
"I understand you've been out of the game a while, but the kids are all gone to college now." Haywire said, "Get a nice car. Consider losing the minivan. You aren't going to get a date driving one of those."
Doctor Lafayette took a deep breath and counted to ten. She tried to to imagine how he knew, and maybe he didn't, just more games. Tried not to imagine him knowing her son and daughter, their faces. Tried not to imagine something unseen watching while she slept, while she showered. She felt dirty, greasy, her skin crawled.
"I take it you don't want me to follow that line of questioning further?"
Haywire smiled thinly, "If you don't mind. I am not your patient." Haywire said, he gave her a knowing look, "Where were we?"
Doctor Lafayette pasted a smile on, trying very hard. "One more thing I wanted to cover. Have... Any of your materials gone missing since Labyrinth's world manifested?"
"Oh? No, nothing of note. Should I run an inventory?"
She hesitated, "Probably."
His attention remained sharp, "Did you find something interesting? What was it?"
"Some kind of module pad. We... showed it to some Tinker consultants, and they are saying it might be a teleportation pad with dimensional tethers. Whatever that means."
"I could look at it, see what I can." Haywire offered, eyes bright, "It sounds fascinating."
Doctor Lafayette studied his face a moment before shrugging, "I'll pass it along to Doctor Sanchez."
"Of course, of course." Professor Haywire said, "Before you go, how is my counterpart, my opposite?"
"You know I cannot talk about other patients with you, Haywire." Doctor Lafayette said, automatically. That much she could say, even if he had the file.
"Oh, I do. Hmm... Our powers are so very, very similar. And yet, so different, he inspires me to such heights." A flicker of annoyance, then a sigh, "Do send my regards to dear Kevin."
"We cannot take messages to The Horde. You know this, Haywire."
A shadow moved across the window, the hunched shape of his creation scuttled across the ceiling. It crossed in front of the lights, silhouetted against the light, before it slipped back behind the scaffolding and the shelves. Clicking and scraping, the three heads watching her with empty eyes."I have to get back to work. Will that be all, Doctor?" it said.
"I think we're done," she said, trying to smile.
(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ
Observation room B could be reached through a short access hallway at the back of Observation A, each could be isolated from the other for security purposes. The second observation room was smaller, more tightly contained. It lacked the full command center in room A. Instead it had a long conference table with two laptops set out on it, the screen cast a dim light across the room towards the shuttered window.
There was a projector on the ceiling. A whiteboard on one wall. A pair of chairs, a pot of coffee and mugs. And it was here that she found Director Armstrong waiting for her, standing in front of the wide window overlooking Haywire's cell.
Doctor Lafayette gathered herself, "Director Armstrong, good evening."
The Director was a tall, slender man in his forties. Well-built and broad shouldered, a sharp jawline, and just a hint of grey starting to creep in on his temples. He had that characteristic straight-backed posture that spoke of military experience. He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it 'good morning' now?"
Doctor Lafayette glanced at her watch, "Technically."
Two burly PRT troopers flanked the Director, safely screened between them. Pinpoint stood beside them, positioning himself beside the table.
"Are you all right, Felicity?" Director Armstrong asked.
"I will be," She replied, faintly, "It's his usual mind games. It was a good day, for him."
The Director turned slightly to address the laptops on the conference table. The first showed a narrow-faced man with black hair, and a neatly trimmed beard and goatee.
"This is Doctor Judas Saybrooke. He's a senior psychiatrist from Santa Rosa, he's been tapped for the position of Director at Alchemilla. With some luck, he will be arriving next month to familiarize himself with Alchemilla."
The man nodded tightly, "It's a pleasure."
"I must have missed the memo," Doctor Lafayette hedged. She needed to check her email more often.
Santa Rosa was on the west coast. Lafayette frowned, Gerald Selmy had been at Alchemilla longer than even Director Foster. She had been at Alchemilla herself for several years. Why bring in an out of house psychologist, someone unfamiliar with the patients and problems of Alchemilla when their own administrative staff were perfectly qualified?
She frowned, more Board meddling...
"And you've met Dragon." He said, and tilted his head, the screen displayed a section of desk and the back of a chair. Most of the room itself was hidden in the dark, except for a few blinking lights in the background. "We were just discussing your interview with Haywire. What do you think of our problem, Dragon?"
"It was a good day, for Haywire, and that's what worries me. If he lost some equipment, and we found it, he should be reacting to that and he isn't. Why?" As Doctor Lafayette watched, a young woman stepped into view, carrying a coffee mug with a dinosaur on it, wearing a green mechanics jumpsuit, a massive tool belt, and sporting an impressive pair of orange headphones.
She was pretty enough, brown hair and eyes. She looked maybe twenty-five, average build. But, try as she might, Lafayette couldn't place her ethnicity. Her most remarkable feature was how average she was. Doctor Lafayette had been slightly disappointed when she had first met Dragon. She had always thought one of the most powerful Tinkers in the world would look more striking.
Armstrong inclined his head to Doctor Lafayette, "Your thoughts, Doctor?" Director Armstrong asked.
Lafayette hesitated, glancing towards the laptops, and Dragon. "Are we...?"
"There are eavesdropping protections built into that laptop, the best I have." Dragon said, "If we aren't in the clear then he can listen in anywhere." Which wasn't a yes, but they had to assume he had some limits. That his power was not omnipresent.
Armstrong turned, and Doctor Lafayette stepped up to the window beside him. Director Armstrong took a seat. To delay the inevitable, she filled two mugs with coffee. Dragon had the right idea.
"Coffee?" She offered.
"Thank you, Doctor." Armstrong accepted the mug, and she sat down beside him.
Lafayette lifted her mug to her lips and the heat filled her stomach and moved out into the rest of her. She felt better immediately.
"This is a bad time to do this, Charles." Doctor Lafayette continued, less hoarse, "He knows we're short staffed and overwhelmed."
"Which is why I'm bringing our guest some interesting problems to keep him busy." Director Armstrong replied, "Open it."
Pinpoint stepped to the side, thumbing a button beside the window. Doctor Lafayette took a deep breath as the shutters parted and Haywire's laboratory was laid out in front of her again. Haywire was working at the computer, the one in blue and brown. The red one was moving back in the shelves. The twisted mass of flesh and ceramic white was nowhere to be seen. The glass was one-way, reinforced and sensor-dampened, neither of them looked up, but part of Doctor Lafayette always wondered if the creature could actually see through it. On the table, Doctor Saybrooke leaned forward.
"Doctor?"
Lafayette gathered her thoughts, her hesitation hidden behind a long swallow from her mug.
"The teleporter might be his."
"But he lied about it."
"But he lied about it, yes." Doctor Lafayette said, "If it was his."
Armstrong paced slowly in front of the window. Behind him, on the laptop, Saybrooke frowned.
"Dragon. You mentioned behavioral algorithms last time Haywire came up. Has there been any progress?" Armstrong asked, gesturing with his mug to Haywire at work.
"No luck." Dragon replied, "It might be his power simply introduces too many variables."
"Could it be intentional?" Director Armstrong asked.
Dragon hesitated, then shrugged, "Maybe. It's hard to say. I'm still running tests. The teleporter might have been an escape attempt, but if it is, it would be the first. The Think Tank believes it was an insurance policy, if we ever decided to pull the plug on his pet projects." She sighed, "We're making guesses right now."
Director Armstrong grunted, "We pull the plug and he simply hops to another dimension like our security never even mattered... can you be sure, either way?"
"I can't."
"Doctor?"
Lafayette shook her head helplessly, "I was hoping he'd give me a tell after I told him what we thought it was, take a moment to decide how to react, make up a story, hesitate. Something. But... he's too difficult to read. Sometimes it's almost like his human bodies go through the motions. But it's fake. Its like he's aping how he remembers acting. And sometimes I think it's almost genuine. But I just don't know where sincerity ends and acting begins."
"Actually..." They both turned to look at Dragon's laptop, "There's a theory making the rounds in the 'Tank. Hunch has suggested he might be encouraging additional security precautions. That might explain some things... his antagonizing of the staff among them."
Doctor Saybrooke blinked, looking off screen, though Lafayette guessed he was looking directly at his feed from Dragon, "Why ever would he do that?"
"Well, security goes both ways. It might be that he's worried about another patient, or something else." Dragon said.
Doctor Lafayette and Director Armstrong paused at that. Haywire was a top-tier parahuman, certainly one of the most powerful Tinkers alive. He stood, head and shoulders above the other patients at Alchemilla- the strongest by a wide margin. What could drive him to voluntary imprisonment?
"He did turn himself in." Doctor Lafayette said slowly, and looked to the Director, but Armstrong remained pensive, staring down into his mug.
Saybrooke shook his head, "What does it mean, to be a willing prisoner in a metal box, in almost complete isolation for the better part of two decades?"
"Our Thinker division is having trouble with his protections." Pinpoint grunted. "He gets harder and harder to track every year. If he gets loose I don't know if we'll be able to follow him, even assuming he decides to stay on Earth Bet." It was hard to tell what he was thinking, what with the scars on Pinpoint's face frozen in a perpetual snarl, but Doctor Lafayette thought his scowl was even more severe and sour than usual.
"I have similar reports from the Think Tank." Dragon said, "I have no idea how, but he's becoming a blind spot."
Armstrong was silent, frowning pensively, "I'll have our systems reviewed." He said at last, "Run this by the Think Tank. Without a concrete threat to plan against, there isn't much we can do on this end."
Armstrong looked up, "Moving on, system changes."
"He did agree to consult on the new security system, with conditions." Lafayette said, "We are ready to receive your specs, but he had a few ideas... He asked for record transcripts again, three of them."
Armstrong narrowed his eyes, "That makes twelve. Is there a common thread?" he asked.
"I'll vet his requests, but it's anyone's guess." Doctor Lafayette said, remembering the tank in his workshop, and the silvery spider inside the specimen case. The last thing he asked for was a drone from the Machine Army. His requests were eclectic, and varied. Exotic materials. Samples of Tinkertech with particular qualities.
But patient records were the most common currency. The one that he came back to the most. But there was no commonality. Some where patients at Alchemilla, some were active parahumans.
Speaking of patients...
"He implied that he speaks to The Horde again."
"Yes." Armstrong replied, "Are you certain they have never met?"
"He's talked about The Horde's power, he knows it and its mechanics; and he knew even before he saw The Horde's file." Doctor Lafayette said slowly, "But we have no record of them meeting. The Horde isn't cooperative when we ask him either. But then, he's never cooperative."
Director Armstrong nodded, and stood. He considered his coffee. "I want a list of every patient and member of staff that has ever had contact with either Haywire or The Horde... Or both. It could be mind games...But if it isn't..." Armstrong shot her a look, "Your professional opinion?"
That was a tricky question, Haywire was... erratic. Intelligent. Cunning. But also easily distracted. Particularly when presented with a new or interesting problem. Was he capable of that kind of elaborate manipulation? Yes, probably. Was it something he would do... Or, did he have anything to gain? 'Willing patient', when speaking of a parahuman, didn't carry the same connotations it might with most people. And Haywire was a model patient, apparently content to simply bide his time, year in and year out, waiting- but for what?
"I don't know. It could fall either way."
Director Armstrong frowned silently. On the laptop screen, Dragon sipped her coffee, occasionally glancing off-screen, her hands moving as she worked on some project or another. Lafayette caught sight of what looked like a soldering iron. For a moment, she was struck by a similarity between the two Tinkers, between Dragon and Haywire.
Doctor Lafayette sighed, and glanced away, at the cell, where Haywire still worked.
"Director, if I could speak freely?"
Armstrong nodded, "Of course."
Doctor Lafayette pressed on. "Director, with all due respect, there is a simple solution. It has worked in the past for similar cases in Tinkers and Thinkers who skirt the rules, and that is to remove the patient's resources. Transplant the patient to a new room, remove or discard all possessions. It is an effective deterrent to future attempts to flaunt the rules and removes the danger, all in one action."
Lafayette paused. She drank from her coffee. The silent tableau of Haywire working on the other side of the one-way glass continued. The only sound in the room was one of the silent PRT troopers shifting his feet.
She took a deep breath and made the plunge. "If that pad was indeed his insurance policy against leverage of that kind, now is the best time to act, and the window is closing. I've never been comfortable with this arrangement, I don't think any of the staff here ever were."
Power use therapy was one thing; but Haywire's access to resources and information was unprecedented, even among voluntary residents. Unprecedented, and dangerous when he kept toeing the line of what was acceptable behavior. Director Armstrong knew this. Lafayette glanced at Saybrooke.
"I was curious as well," Saybrooke murmured.
Dragon sat, silently watching from behind her coffee mug. Technically, she wasn't attached to the PRT command structure. This exchange did not concern her.
"Haywire's arrangement is the Chief Director's project. Everything surrounding him is classified to hell and back, and it all moves through Costa-Brown's office." Director Armstrong said, "My department only handles post-processing, and reverse engineering his technology is a high priority. We need his cooperation, and participation."
"And that's all?" Saybrooke replied, incredulous.
"You can fight the Chief Director's office, but Costa-Brown likes her projects to run smooth and quiet." Armstrong said, "And Haywire does bring in a significant portion of Alchemilla's funding. I wouldn't recommend it."
Doctor Saybrooke looked like he'd bitten a lemon.
Lafayette could imagine. It was disappointing but not unsurprising. Haywire's contributions to the understanding of powers could not be overstated. It was because of his insights that Alchemilla had access to power dampening pharmaceuticals, even if they were prohibitively expensive. Doctor Lafayette had even heard rumors of an integrated power dampening system for PRT facilities. His work was important. Director Hearthrow was especially vocal in this regard, but Costa-Brown was the silent impetus behind his projects, and she never gave ground.
Director Armstrong looked tired. His shoulders slumped, "Our mission is to contain a dangerous Tinker- and also hopefully rehabilitate him and induct him into the Protectorate. Haywire is strong enough it would be like having another of you..." Armstrong said, directing a nod to Dragon, "Instead of a controlled environment, we give him everything he asks for. It hamstrings you, Doctor, and undermines me."
Doctor Saybrooke leaned back passively observing. Doctor Lafayette wondered what he was thinking, perhaps he was wondering what he was walking into. Maybe he was reconsidering accepting the job?
"There isn't much for me to add. I'll email you a full debrief, but if we can't take away his toys there isn't much more we can do on this end." He paused. "I can authorize an extended lease on the staff we're contributing." Director Armstrong continued. "Until we can make more permanent transfers. You need the extra parahumans as it is."
Doctor Lafayette glanced towards Pinpoint, were he stood, "Thank you, sir."
"I will forward your recommendations to Director Costa-Brown. With some luck, we may already have what we need from Haywire. With more luck, you'll be able to pull the plug."
He set his mug down on the table. Both Doctor Lafayette and Director Armstrong stood. Doctor Lafayette turned back to the one-way glass, and looked out over Haywire's cell. The men inside continued working. She thought she caught a hint of movement over by the shelves out of the corner of her eye. But, when she looked, there was nothing there.
"Thank you for joining us Dragon, I appreciate your input." Director Armstrong said.
"It was a pleasure."
"Doctor Saybrooke, thank you."
"Of course."
Pinpoint stepped towards the table, and was about to collect Dragon's laptop, when she sat up straight, "One moment!" Dragon said, hands flying to her headset.
Doctor Lafayette blinked, turning back to the laptop. The troopers shuffled awkwardly, and Pinpoint scowled. On his laptop, Saybrooke had been about to stand. He slowly sat back down, looking mildly intrigued.
"Director, it's a code two. I have secondary confirmation coming in from the Guild and Suits." Dragon hesitated, "Earlybird system is triangulating the target, it looks like it'll hit somewhere in South Asia." She blinked, "Correction, it's Australia. Most likely Canberra. God, it's the Canberra Research Center."
Armstrong turned on his heel, stepping to the table, looming over Dragon's laptop and blocking Doctor Lafayette's view of Dragon. On the other feed, Saybrooke's mouth was a grim line.
A code two.
"Which one?" Director Armstrong demanded. "Is it one we know?"
Lafayette stepped up beside Armstrong just in time to catch Dragon's response.
"It's the Simurgh."
The Simurgh was attacking Canberra.