doggone

[repeatedprayer]

[In the time following his departure from Tabito and Manabu's company, the alias "Grey" has wound up sticking.

Not that everyone calls him that, he's used a few other aliases since then, but it's what he's wound up thinking of himself as. If Grey had taken the time to think about it a bit more he might have picked something with a little less connection to Rezo's name, but it's still leagues better than thinking of himself as "Rez- wait, no, just a copy." And maybe that's why he's felt significantly calmer since he left Sairaag.

By his own standards, Grey has been laudably well-behaved; sure, he's been mostly doing under-the-table psychic work, often on behalf of criminals, but! He's been trying to keep a low profile so it's usually things like clairvoyant spying rather than anything violent, and he's been making a point of not doing anything that directly impacts the galaxy railways.

It would be extremely awkward if Manabu Yuuki had to try and arrest him, after all.

He's found himself frequently thinking about Manabu, much to his annoyance. He has no serious expectations of ever seeing Manabu again, so it's simply a waste of mental bandwidth to find himself wondering what Manabu is doing right now or where he is, or to reminisince over their incredibly brief acquaintanceship. Grey can only suppose that because Manabu was the first reasonably normal person he got to know after leaving Sairaag that Manabu is going to stick out in his mind for a while.

And it's probably because of the real estate that Manabu is hogging in Grey's mind that he's been very aware of every mention of the SDF that crosses his path. He hasn't exactly been tracking the SDF's activities deliberately, but he does pay attention to the news and the SDF frequently winds up in there, even if Manabu's name in particular isn't normally dropped.

Until the day it does.

SDF Officer Taken Hostage By Pirates]

* * *

[It's taken several weeks of investigating, but Grey has been able to track down The Huntress's client, a Dr. Parish and associates. It must be a small galaxy, because Dr. Parish is someone Grey knows. Sort of.

Rather, Dr. Parish was a colleague of Rezo's who collaborated with the man on chimera research (and other unsavory things) in the past. Not only that, the man was an ardent admirer of Rezo's superior psychic prowess, and desperate to improve his own meager abilities.

He'd had quite a shock when Grey approached him in town, but after the initial surprise it had been sickeningly easy to convince Dr. Parish that he was the real Rezo. Grey can only surmise that the man wants to believe too badly to let himself be properly suspicious. It had only taken a day for Grey to be invited to tour Parish's laboratory.

The lab's located on the grounds of a former Marquess's estate, a ways out of town and secluded by trees, a high wall, and a long drive. Grey's done a little recon before, but actually being here is different, especially since he has to navigate by cane at the moment. Grey is doing his best to politely nod and smile as Parish guides him from room to room, explaining their work and occasionally handing him things to examine himself.

But evidently Parish realizes that "Rezo" isn't entirely interested, because he stops partway through an explanation of some stem cell experiments he and a few others have been working on to say "Of course, the really interesting specimens are kept in the basement floor."

Grey already knows this. He hopes his expression seems the right sort of eager.]

Interesting?

["Something along the lines of what we did in the past. Would you like to see them?"]

Nothing would please me more.

[Grey can practically hear Parish's delighted grin. To soothe the surge of irritation, Grey reminds himself that he's going to kill this man before the end of the day and allows Parish to guide him out into the hall and to the basement entrance at the back of the building.]

Comments

[siriusly]

[Manabu nods, scooting back a bit just to further give him space anyway, still watching him curiously. superpowers are still pretty damn novel to him...and bloodless ones even moreso. how does this even work...?]

[repeatedprayer]

[Honestly, from the outside, it's not going to be that exciting. Grey moves onto the bed properly, propping himself up against the pillow at the head of the bed. He gives Manabu one last glance, closes his eyes, and then... he's gone.

Kind of. He's still here and breathing, and if Manabu waits a while he might notice small twitches every now and then- but otherwise Grey's totally unresponsive.]

[siriusly]

...

[no glow? no humming sound? not even any static electricity? Manabu's very confused and curious...but he does at least wait a good ten minutes before waving his hand in front of Grey's face, just to see if he's still here.]

Grey? [helloooooo? anyone in there?]

...

[guess not.

...

well then.

what now? more research? he can try...but man, it's hard when there's no one he can bounce his thoughts off of! how else is he supposed to be engaged?]

...

[he should've gone to the bathroom before Grey went and did this. more practice walking on his own, then! very carefully.

Manabu exhausts most engaging activity he has at his disposal within the first hour and a half, so he's left to stare and contemplate what Grey might be seeing before he gets exhausted of sitting in one place. he lays down on the remaining space on the bed and dozes restlessly, his own tail waking him up here and there.]

[repeatedprayer]

[The hardest part is simply finding the place. What would be a twenty minute drive would be a much longer walk, and it's not a route Grey is familiar with. He'd had to keep his eyes shut on the way there, and on the way back it was dark, and he was in the air... Still, he knows the general direction it's in, and he doesn't actually have to mentally "walk" the full distance. Grey's consciousness jumps from spot to spot in town and on the outskirts, as he does his best to sharpen his focus on the impressions of the laboratory that he has.

Outside of Saint Simona. A long driveway across a park surrounded by high walls. Tall windows, stone walls...

When he finds the place, it's busy, although not as busy as it was the night he invaded. There are a few trucks parked outside the front of the building, and various muscley types moving equipment out of the building while a man that Grey suspects is one of the scientists working at the lab fusses at them.

Grey watches the equipment being moved for a while and listens to the back and forth of the men. It turns out they're moving surgical equipment. Getting rid of the equipment for the chimera experiments that Grey didn't destroy, perhaps?

Grey takes a look at the license plates, and Manabu may catch Grey quietly reciting them to himself.]

A, N, D, nine, five, zero, X, F, R, five, seven, five...

[He glances at the men's clothes and looks inside the trucks, but he sees no name tags or drivers' licenses on display to provide him with names. Damn it.

He spends the next while going over the building, refreshing his memory of the layout. All the blood and bodies have been cleaned up, as well as any broken glass or bits of wall, but the locations of the doors and window he blew up are either left gaping or, in the window's case, already boarded over.

Grey finds the control room easily enough, since it's rather busy with guards in a state of anxious boredom. That's going to be important- if they're lucky, there'll still be incriminating footage of a drugged Manabu on the laboratory grounds. Maybe not in the computers here, but somewhere...

None of the actual experiments and scientific equipment are in use right now, and the stuff that's not being carted out is fairly innocuous. Grey makes mental notes of the specific equipment he recognizes but it doesn't really tell him anything new, just that a variety of biomedical research is going on here.

It takes a few hours before he's done going through the building and can come back to himself. When he does, it's with a physical jolt akin to the hypnic jerk that one sometimes gets when falling asleep.]

[siriusly]

-?! Huh?

[Grey's muttering stirs Manabu out of his bored stupor.] What? What's wrong?

[he sits up, leaning in to listen to him, worried he's missed something pivotal. he's hesitant to shake and stir him out of focus unnecessarily, but the more he idles, the more he misses!

he scrambles for the tablet and opens up a notepad app to type down those sequences of letters and numbers, doing his damndest to stay up and stay focused for any further utterances that...don't come.

this is now a stakeout, and Manabu isn't moving until it's over. when it does--]

Gh-!! [Manabu jolts too, himself nearly falling asleep sitting up, a headache throbbing from the effort to stay focused while increasingly hungry and tired.] What, what now? Grey?

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey hears Manabu startle before he opens his eyes, and it's oddly reassuring. Before properly responding he straightens and stretches, stiff from having stayed in more or less one position all this time. Then he finally looks over at Manabu properly.]

I'm back. Did anything happen while I was gone?

[He's guessing that's a no, but hey.]

[siriusly]

[Manabu's half-sat on his legs, flopped a little onto one side from the startle, propped up by one hand while the other holds the tablet.

he blinks a few times, eyebrows lifting.]

Uoh--you're back! [no shit he just said that. tail wags anyway.] A--no, nothing. I heard you mumbling something, so I tried to get as much as I could of it down...

[he holds out the tablet.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey finds himself staring. Something about seeing Manabu's face, the startled posture and the way his tail wags, after everything- It's just. Very nice in a way Grey can't articulate to himself.

The tablet finally distracts him. Grey takes it and squints at the note app that's open.]

I said something?

[Ah-ha. Grey's eyebrows raise.]

So I did. It certainly felt as though I was talking to myself, but I couldn't hear my own voice.

[He makes a correction to the first of the license numbers, spaces the four different numbers apart, then hands the tablet back to Manabu.]

Those are license plate numbers. There were a few moving trucks outside of the building when I found it, and people were moving medical equipment onto them. I think they were relocating the equipment from the chimera experiments that would still be usable.

[Grey goes on to relate the rest of what he learned.]

[siriusly]

Ehh? [license plates...

Manabu's eyes brighten.]

Grey, that's awesome! [wag wag wag.] We can trace those plates and find out where they're moving things!

[repeatedprayer]

Precisely!

[Grey grins, basking in Manabu's enthusiasm.]

I believe that, and tracking down the security footage, if they haven't discarded it, are our two best leads for evidence.

[As well as that...]

What about you? Did you have any luck looking up private research facilities in the region?

[siriusly]

Me? [wagging ceases.] A--er, well. If you tab over to the other pages, you can see...

[lots of city maps, results for private and public practices of medicine, some stuff about the local college and medical internship programs and such.]

[repeatedprayer]

Hm...

[It's all a little more general than perhaps would be ideal but Grey's in too much of a good mood from Manabu's praise to really give him crap for it.]

This one definitely isn't it, the research isn't quite the right sort... This name might be a possibility... Oh, a map?

[Grey begins thumbing around the map, seeing if he can find any buildings listed just outside of the city.]

[siriusly]

Well, no, see--

[he scoots in to lean in and peer at what Grey's seeing, albeit upside down.] Go back one. Look - those are all potential relocation sites if they were to continue operations, know what I mean?

[repeatedprayer]

Oh! Yes, I see.

[Grey shifts to let Manabu get a better look, wordlessly inviting him to sit next to him as he examines the page Manabu pointed out. Potential relocation sites... If he were the one running this operation, what would he pick?]

Their previous location had a lot going for it... It's near enough to where people live that it's easy to get personnel and equipment out there, but it's just far away enough from where any civilians are that nobody's likely to notice it, and any escapees will have a bit more trouble getting away.

[Though only a bit. If Manabu had escaped the building on his own he might have made it to the highway and been able to hitch-hike to safety.]

Isolation is a double-edged sword for these kinds of operations.

[siriusly]

They may not try to get to work right away, though...just divvy up the materials to enough disparate locations as to make it hard to trace. [he withdraws his hand to rub at his face.] Or sell them off on the black market to make enough money to get off-planet and start over.

[repeatedprayer]

It definitely looked like they were putting their operations on pause.

[And while multiple trucks might just be because they had a lot to move, they also might be headed for different directions!

The mention of the black market gets a hum.]

I'll have to speak to some of my contacts, then... I'm not well versed in the current market, but I know a few people.

[siriusly]

...

[his many...contacts...]

People already here?

[repeatedprayer]

I know a dealer who skims a little off the top of the arms manufacturing industry on Ruvinagald. He's how I arranged transportation here.

[Grey gives Manabu a speaking glance.]

I'd prefer it if you didn't arrest him. He's been useful and I have no desire to make an enemy of him.

[siriusly]

[he tilts his head slightly away to shoot a sidelong smirk.]

Arrest him with what badge and cuffs? I'm not an officer right now, remember.

[but the officer might have to come back some day.]

[repeatedprayer]

Hmph. I wouldn't put it past you to try anyway.

[But despite saying such, Grey does relax and smirk a little himself.

For the next while Grey browses the research Manabu's done alongside him, adding several more tabs for good measure, until they've managed to curate a list of locations and organizations that seem worth checking out.

Grey stares down at the list, drumming idle fingers against his knee.]

...I've got quite a few clairvoyant forays ahead of me, don't I.

[siriusly]

Sorry...for all the extra work. [Manabu does look genuinely troubled to be putting so much of a burden on him, powers or no power.

he looks down at his own hands on his knee.] I promise I'll work doubly hard, once I can.

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey looks over at Manabu and, seeing how the other man is looking down, reaches over and taps the underside of Manabu's chin to make him look up.]

You can start by working doubly hard on your physical therapy. You still have two more of those sessions to go today.

[Of course, as he says this, Grey feels his stomach give a little twist and grumble. Psychic work drains calories pretty quickly!]

...Once we've both had something to eat, of course.

[siriusly]

[Manabu recoils from the gesture a beat too late to be meaningful, surprised by it.

he gulps, blushing, and clears his throat.]

R-right! I'm hungry, too. [not hungry for cereal, but again: he won't complain.]

[repeatedprayer]

[If it's any consolation to Manabu, there isn't solely cereal available. There's also more instant noodle cups. And some granola bars. There is also instant coffee, if Manabu doesn't feel like just having water.

Aaaand that is entirely the extent of what's available. Grey realizes he really needs to go goddamn grocery shopping. Or order food, if he weren't trying to keep their location/Manabu as secret as possible.

Out of all the options, Grey opts to make noodles for him and Manabu and put the box of granola bars within Manabu's reach.]

So. [Grey stirs his cup of noodles.] When I buy more food, is there anything in particular I should look for?

[siriusly]

[Manabu makes a noise through his nose, mid-slurp. give him a moment.

what in particular?

man, he misses toriniku...

he gulps that mouthful down.]

I'm not picky. Is there any stuff in this place we can use to cook with? That'll open up options.