Carlos looked to her, a little big concerned. “Uh… do you need to?” he asked her. “Are you okay?”
“Two balls for entirely different occasions, four different peace treaty negotiations that can’t be put off, and the werewolves are on the verge of an international catastrophe thanks to some idiot with a….bright phone?…and some poor pup in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She shook her head again before running a hand through her hair and looking at her friend. “Don’t suppose you could be put upon to sit the children again?“
“I absolutely can,” Carlos said. “I was able to come up with activities the last time they were around, so I know what to do now.” He smiled at her. “They’ll be in good hands with me.”
“Oh, fantastic!” Mia visibly perked up at the agreement. “I can bring them over as soon as they wake up. …Would you be against one additional charge for your sitting? I think perhaps it would be best for the young princess to not be present around some of the guests I have to be hosting.”
Carlos blinked at her. “Uh, the ‘princess’?” he asked. “How old are we talking? And… am I allowed to babysit her?”
Carlos looked to her, a little big concerned. “Uh… do you need to?” he asked her. “Are you okay?”
“Drake’s taking a nap for me right now, but it’s not the same as actually sleeping yourself, you know?” Mia sighed, accompanying the sound with a shake of her head. “Got too much to do, and not enough hours in even the Alshondi day to do it.”
“What’s going on?” Carlos asked her. “Is… is there anything I can do to help?” He had no idea what sort of things someone like Mia had to do – obviously important queen/mom/space stuff – but if he could help in any way he could…
“Two balls for entirely different occasions, four different peace treaty negotiations that can’t be put off, and the werewolves are on the verge of an international catastrophe thanks to some idiot with a….bright phone?…and some poor pup in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She shook her head again before running a hand through her hair and looking at her friend. “Don’t suppose you could be put upon to sit the children again?“
“I absolutely can,” Carlos said. “I was able to come up with activities the last time they were around, so I know what to do now.” He smiled at her. “They’ll be in good hands with me.”
Carlos looked to her, a little big concerned. “Uh… do you need to?” he asked her. “Are you okay?”
“Drake’s taking a nap for me right now, but it’s not the same as actually sleeping yourself, you know?” Mia sighed, accompanying the sound with a shake of her head. “Got too much to do, and not enough hours in even the Alshondi day to do it.”
“What’s going on?” Carlos asked her. “Is… is there anything I can do to help?” He had no idea what sort of things someone like Mia had to do – obviously important queen/mom/space stuff – but if he could help in any way he could…
Carlos glanced at Hancock. Was the flirting serious? Well, Carlos wasn’t exactly discouraging him with the ‘ring’ joke (alluding to a proposition of marriage – he was being completely silly regarding that).
“You should see my dad – he’s the real cute one of the family,” Carlos told him with a grin.
It was mostly serious, Hancock was one to speak his mind when it came to how attractive he found his friends, but the redhead hardly expected anything to come of it.
“He a real silver fox then? And ya said he could cook, right? I s’pose that makes him the whole package, huh?”
Carlos nodded to Hancock, smiling. “Oh yeah – he’s absolutely great at cooking,” he told Hancock. “He worked as a chef in his day. But he’s also a dad, so beware of Dad Jokes. Heheh!”
What? What was he talking about? This man seemed high-strung
about something and he was talking about life and getting killed.
“Uh – buh, what?” Carlos asked intelligently. But he quickly
took on a more alert manner. “No, no, wait, what?”
What the hell did he mean by ‘making you doubt things’? And
what place did he mean – the hotel? And Carlos didn’t remember seeing him at
all. He was meeting with some technicians and he was asking a nurse for
directions… Was he on drugs? Was Carlos
on drugs? He didn’t remember taking anything that would cause psychosis.
Something was obviously very wrong.
When asked about it Carlos immediately got up to his feet –
not just to show this other man that he could stand, but he was taking a
defensive stance. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why did you bring me into a
broken building? What – who are you?”
Was this man a danger? Something had him rattled, clearly, and Carlos wondered
if it was because something was happening or if this man was disturbed in some
way.
Joseph had seen this reaction before during interrogations. The more he talked, the angrier the suspect became; denial came first, offence followed, before rage took over their willingness to answer questions. All the detective could do was remain calm and wait whilst the suspect either tired themselves out, or were forcefully restrained. Joseph certainly wasn’t going to do the latter with this gentleman, despite him throwing accusations towards him and adopting a defensive demeanour. He needed a reason to do so, and he couldn’t blame the gentleman for becoming suspicious; he didn’t know who Joseph was, and yet he was being told to move. In retrospect, the detective realised how bold he was to assume that the other man would follow his commands in such an unfamiliar place. He could be anyone.
“I...didn’t bring you here,” Joseph answered that first, releasing a light sigh. Of course the man would think he brought him here, considering he was the first person he saw upon waking up. It’d be no surprise if he thought that Joseph had kidnapped him. “I wish I had all the answers, but…unfortunately, I’m just as clueless as you are about this place. All I know is that we were entered, unwillingly, into an experiment that was designed to connect individual’s consciousness to create this world. As you can see-” here, another tremor passed, causing ceiling dust to shower over them, “-it’s completely unstable.” Brushing off the white powder, Joseph was anxious to keep on moving. He didn’t want to be in this hotel for a second longer.
“One thing I know, so far, is that the process has the ability to…erode our memories.” He was beginning to forget things – simple things, such as the exact location of where he grew up. Every time he tried, his mind became blank. “It explains why you couldn’t remember ending up here. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.” His tone was sincere, letting the gentleman take the information in. It was difficult to comprehend. Joseph certainly hadn’t accepted it fully yet. Still, the least he could do was let the man know his name. With his hand out-stretched, he offered a light smile, “I’m…Detective Joseph Oda. I work for KCPD. Or, at least – I did in the real world.”
Carlos didn’t understand what he was saying. Actually, to be
more accurate, Carlos didn’t want to
believe him. Because really – an experiment?
With the two of them being forced into some kind of Matrix-like machine linking
their brains to create some kind of virtual reality?
No, Carlos didn’t believe him at all. The building was
obviously collapsing and they needed to get out, but it didn’t seem to Carlos
to be the only thing unstable around here. This ex-cop was definitely someone
Carlos should be wary of.
But Carlos wasn’t looking for a fight – and if he went along
with this guy, at least for a bit, then maybe he could find out exactly what
the hell was going on and get some help.
Carlos took the other’s hand gently and shook it. “Nice to
meet you,” he said, though his tone was even. He took a breath. “Let’s get
going before we get caught up in an aftershock.” He had no idea Krimson City
was in an earthquake zone, but it would of course explain how he hit his head; falling debris or something probably got him.
Send in ‘✿’ for starter where your muse finds out that mine has Hanahaki Disease
Carlos had thought for a while that he needed to get another voice transplant when he started coughing up red.
But it was when he was getting his coffee that he spat out something. Cecil was there with him when Carlos realized that it was a flower petal.
Carlos’ heart clenched. He looked at Cecil and… Cecil had seen it too. Carlos only barely felt his stomach drop before he went into another coughing fit and spat more petals into his coffee mug.
How? How could Cecil… what happened? What happened to them?
Carlos shook his head. “Not yet, but almost,” he said. He showed Hancock the drive. “Some of the soldering in the connections are eroded,” Carlos explained, pointing to a couple spots on the attached board. “If you hear a zapping or a sort of almost grinding, clicking noise when trying to run a holotape, then that means that the electricity is actually jumping to connect.”
“Oh…. hmm…. “ The ghoul frowned as he looked down at the piece in question, debating whether or not he wanted to get rid of the part. “Is there anything you can do to fix it? Or is it too far gone? I’d rather not have that shit set everything else on fire, y’know?”
Carlos looked at it. “Well… there’s two options,” he said. I can solder it back in place and the connections will work as good as new. But I’d have to be creative with how to apply that since I doubt you have a soldering gun lying around… or spare solder.” Carlos set the piece down. “The other option is to wait until we can get a replacement for it. It still has some use… but in the state, it is a little dangerous and risks burning out more of the parts inside and shorting out.”
Tony
smiled softly hearing the question. He was always happy to give a
review and he nodded a little hearing the want for advice. He tilted his
head a little as he looked over to the other.
“Well, you need a new suit, as soon as you can afford it. I might
have you a tailored suit for events if we end up hiring you. All my
staff need to be able to attend at least one event a year with me.” He
smiled playfully and chuckled lightly. “You were great, you were smart,
showed your understanding very quickly and I’ll be honest, you seemed
awesome like this, I wouldn’t mind maybe seeing a little more
confidence. You know it so don’t worry, just talk through it and you’ll
be good.”
Carlos looked down at his sleeve a little sheepishly. Of course the suit… he outta start saving up money for it then, he supposed. Man, he was probably going to be cringing at the fact he wore it to a Stark Industries interview for years to come. And he of course had trouble owning it because, like Stark pointed out, he needed to be more confident. But it was definitely a little hard when someone had something like “Hammer Industries” on their resume.
“I hear you, Mr Stark,” Carlos said. “Thank you so much. Honestly, I feel like this interview was one of the best one’s I’d ever had. So I feel like it’ll help boost up my confidence for a little while.” He smiled at Mr Stark. He glanced at Ms Potts, wondering if she had anything to add.
Pepper finished making her notes and looked to the young man with a smile. “Alright, well I agree with that, but also maybe just think about what you plan. Maybe come in with an idea in your mind before as well, ask us lots of questions about the company that you can because it shows your interest in them and then you have a better chance at getting a job. We like people who think outside the box.”
Tony nodded in agreement and looked over her notes quickly with a smile. He liked the guy and wanted him to work for them. He was wasted in Hammer Tech. “Oh also, Hammer Tech didn’t make you who you are, feel free to talk about whatever you want to for there, because you did work there and yes it was bad now but it hadn’t been then.”
Carlos nodded. “Right… okay. Thank you very much. I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Potts.” He then chuckled softly. “I, uh… I could probably write books about what happened inside of Hammer. But I wouldn’t literally do that, I don’t think. That’s, uh… that’s attention I’d rather not have. I’m just eager to get back in the lab and actually make things for people again.”
He thought he was sensing the end of the interview. He had already been there for a while.
Tony
smiled softly hearing the question. He was always happy to give a
review and he nodded a little hearing the want for advice. He tilted his
head a little as he looked over to the other.
“Well, you need a new suit, as soon as you can afford it. I might
have you a tailored suit for events if we end up hiring you. All my
staff need to be able to attend at least one event a year with me.” He
smiled playfully and chuckled lightly. “You were great, you were smart,
showed your understanding very quickly and I’ll be honest, you seemed
awesome like this, I wouldn’t mind maybe seeing a little more
confidence. You know it so don’t worry, just talk through it and you’ll
be good.”
Carlos looked down at his sleeve a little sheepishly. Of course the suit… he outta start saving up money for it then, he supposed. Man, he was probably going to be cringing at the fact he wore it to a Stark Industries interview for years to come. And he of course had trouble owning it because, like Stark pointed out, he needed to be more confident. But it was definitely a little hard when someone had something like “Hammer Industries” on their resume.
“I hear you, Mr Stark,” Carlos said. “Thank you so much. Honestly, I feel like this interview was one of the best one’s I’d ever had. So I feel like it’ll help boost up my confidence for a little while.” He smiled at Mr Stark. He glanced at Ms Potts, wondering if she had anything to add.
“Why not you?” He tilted his head a little with a soft frown.
“It’s
more just a social gathering of us business owners, you know name
sharing, business building, connection strengthening.” He smiled softly
and waved it off as if it was nothing. “It will be fun, drinks and food
are all sorted, have as much as you want drink wise and food is a menu
you can pick from but don’t worry about any cost.”
“Ah, a sort of networking thing,” Carlos said with a nod. Okay – for some reason that put him a little more at ease. Since this wasn’t a charity event or something he felt better about being the plus one.
“I’m certainly not planning on going crazy with the food though,” Carlos then told Mr Stark. “I’m pretty boring when I drink, heh.”
Tony rolled his eyes and sighed softly hearing Carlos’ words. “You go as crazy as you want with the food, you want to try something then you can try it, just go for it.” He replied before looking through his phone quickly.
“You’ll be fine there, I know you will, you’re damn smart kiddo so I don’t expect you to do anything. You know a lot about SI too so you can promote me if you want.”
Promote Mr Stark? Carlos could certainly do that. But him calling Carlos ‘kid’ still threw him … Carlos was 35. Stark was older, yeah, but… 35 wasn’t a kid, in Carlos’ opinion.
When Carlos reached his locker he pressed his hand to the thermal detector screen on the front and waited for the release. Once the locker was opened he quickly pulled off his labcoat and goggles to stow them inside.
“I don’t think I’ve been to one of these sort of events,” Carlos commented. “At least, not in this scale. Is there a level of decorum that I need to know about?”
The Perfect Scientist 