Log:A Breach in the Case, Scene 5

A Breach in the Case 2015/11/02 Siege Indira Nexus Quiet Rick 5

Nexus is impressed by Quiet's efficiency, and somewhat tempted to let her and Griffin take out what remains of the guards. On the other hand, he _does_ have this shotgun, and he's kind of curious what it does, so the temptation to fire it at the heavy is not small. Ultimately he refrains, unsure how fatal it would be, and settles for manifesting his semitangible fist inside the remaining heavy's body.

The male heavy is just starting to regain his feet when Nexus' fist disappears again. It immediately reappears, semi-solid, somewhere deep inside of the male heavy. His expression is one of shock and horror, his pallor that of death warmed over as Nexus' fist does its duty on the heavy's internal organs.

When the effect ends, the heavy offers a groaning release of a breath long held. He toddles forward a half-step and promptly collapses over and across the already fallen female heavy. Apparently they just don't make agents that can survive hits like that anymore. Someone should write a letter to HenchCo and demand more rigorous training for all agents intending to guard mysterious underground scienceprison installations.

Nexus' hand reappears at the end of his arm while the remaining heavy collapses. He blows on it like he saw someone do in a movie once.

Griffin casually walks up to one of the blinded henchmen and gives him a good solid chop to the back of the head.

He leaves the other one for restraining and 'questioning.'

Somehow the electronic voice distortion on those helmets makes the pained groan of the security agent sound weird - weirder even than a normal pained groan sounds - even with Griffin being directly behind the guard. The impact of Griffin's hand with the man's neck is solid and jarring, sending the blinded, deafened agent staggering forward a number of steps before he recovers. Recovery, however, doesn't mean the man isn't even more dazed and confused than he was mere seconds before.

Quiet does not want to give them a chance to recover. She traverses her weapon to the other standing blinded soldier. Her weapon alters again before launching a charged dart at the one.

The dart lodges itself in the blinded guard's armored vest. It discharges its payload with pizzazz, but very little effect. Standing stock still for several seconds, the paramilitary operator shudders and curses in what might be Gaelic for a few moments as he flexes and shudders at the weakened stun charge still trying to work on his system.

Griffin smirks. "Alright bub- dud's aside- the gig's up. You can either put your hands in the air or we can pummel- and possibly maim you." Griffin offers as he levels his weapon at the last man standing.

"Huh?!"

Both armed gunmen look around wildly, trying to figure out where that muddy, vaguely voice-like noise came from. Neither gunman is actually looking at Griffin, however. Griffin may also question whether or not he actually said anything other than gruntgruntbrawrgrawrgragglefwargh angreshteim hebblermansteingwar!

Flashbangs: The Quicker Way to Screw Negotiations.

Griffin can't help but chuckle at the men being completely helpless and completely incapable of doing much- but the do need to be K.O.'d then tied up or knocked out at the very least so they can't get backup.

He'll do it but he knows Indira likes things done with the elast amount of violence possible. He looks behind him to the others.

Indira may have a solution for non-violent restraint. She reaches an open hand out towards one of the blind gunman, then closes her hand and pulls it back. As she makes the gesture, somehow, vines break through the high tech ground to try and wrap around one of them.

The security technician that Quiet hit with a dart offers a horrible sounding, "GLRRRRRK," as he's ensnared in vines and roots. He topples over sideways and lands on the ground in a heap of plant and human matter, his gun enveloped in a mess of roots and possibly poison ivy.

Quiet leaves the one to Griffin. He can handle one. She turns her attention to the two behind the field, he weapon altering again. The barrel extends to over a meter while the bore narrows. She lifts and braces the weapon, aiming it towards the pair. She then looses a sabot-carried, finned Questionite penetrator the size of a pencil that is rapidly accelerated to hypersonic speeds. Her target: the clipboard on the opposite side.

Quiet takes her left from the weapon momentarily to tap a control pad on her right forearm. A holographic display appears, bearing a recorded image of Rick along with text. LOCATION AND STATUS OF THIS INDIVIDUAL.

Her weapon is then braced again and traverses to whom she judges to be the more senior of the pair.

For an instant - just the one instant - Quiet may wonder if her penetrator round will actually pass through the forcefield. The transparent "window wall" seems to resist the Questionite slug, bowing inward along the round's trajectory in a fashion that would normally suggest that her attack is a failure. It promptly ruptures, sending a rainbow of pixellating shards of something spraying into the medical laboratory.

Her slug subsequently punches a hole straight through the middle of the clipboard and its paper. The paper on the clipboard smolders from the intense heat of friction built up on the Questionite.

The Labcoat on the left, who is not armed with a clipboard gulps as Quiet takes aim on him. He looks nervously from Quiet to his associate - let's call him Dr. Wizard, Jr. - and then back again to Quiet and her terrifying, transforming rifle. Carefully, Dr. Wizard Senior lifts one shaky hand and points toward the same power generator room that Indira previously indicated had a sixth "flickering" mind inside of it. Nexus would be perfectly justified in not understanding how he could scry that room so many times and still miss Rick "Breach of Etiquette" Mason in there. It's not like there's much in that damn room.

Caleb takes out the last guard while Quiet interrogates the cowards.

The last of the security guards drops his handgun as pain blossoms inside of his torso. Dropping to his knees, the man clutches at his diaphragm as Nexus' hand rummages around in his innards. Somehow - SOMEHOW! - the guy does not lose consciousness. He offers a strangled noise of pain, clutching at himself through his armored vest as tears of pain start to creep below the line of his helmet's mirrored blue visor.

Quiet has the information she requires. This is the second time in far too soon that she's running through a segmented metal can to get someone out. She'll be damned if she's going to fail. She gestures back out the door, towards the power core previously described and begins to head that way, her weapon compacting into something more practical for quick and close combat as she moves briskly.

Griffin doesn't say anything but looks down on the man on his knees.

"I can't imagine we need any more intel than that." He says as he hits the man again- this time on the side of his head. Maybe the boys will nickname him lumpy after today.

There is a sharp CRACKing report as Griffin's fist slams into the side of the kneeling guard's helmet. He crumples sideways into a messy heap on the ground, the side of his helmet split wide open. Pulled punch or not, Griffin seems to have found the breaking point of that particular helmet design.

And, you know, the consciousness/pain threshhold of that particular security specialist.

Quiet, in the meantime, leads the way across the computer lab toward the door on the far wall of the room that leads to the power generator room where Rick is apparently being held.

With the guards dealt with, Nexus turns his attention to the question of Rick's location. Given what they've already seen, he figures there's some kind of dimensional nonsense going on... he's rather more familiar with the category than he'd like. He starts to discern the nature of the anomaly, but in the meantime, sometimes the old ways are the best... he follows Quiet into the other room. (Detect Dimensional Anomalies discrim analyze tracking but it takes a turn to give results, so no hurry.)

Indira flinches throughout the fight at various points, especially when pain is inflicted. But she knows that the others are trained heroes and soldiers. But she can't help but think these mercenaries are just like Rick, but with different employers. There's a terrible comparison drawn in her head. What these specialists went through for their employer. What her employees are going through for her. But...she sees them as more than just employees.

"I'm sorry," she whispers quietly to the unconscious mercenaries, seeming remorseful. But when Indira sees Quiet dash out the room on a lead, she's quick to follow. Rick could be hurt or in danger.

Griffin notes Quiet's quick movements as well, he follows up behind Indira as she exits the area. "Well let's go save our Grouch!" He says with a beaming smile.

Indira casts a smile back towards Griffin, sharing the sentiment. She looks back further searching for Nexus.

Quiet is not an expert on dimensional anomalies. She likely wouldn't know one if she saw it, and might just shoot it. She scans for more mundane threats as well as Rick.

Nexus says, "Weird... this whole area has some kind of dimensional craziness going on. Whoever these guys are, they're up to more than shows on the surface."

Nexus says, "I don't think it's dangerous, though." He doesn't seem entirely certain of that, and extends a hand towards Indira. "Are you OK?"

Indira reaches back as she runs and clasps Nexus' hand. "I'm...fine. Or will be. I'm just worried about Rick," she explains as she sprints. She's much slower than the trained heroes, though she's trying her best.

The doorway from the open elliptical disc of the lab leads into a tight, round corridor that passes between nodes. At the end of the faux hallway is another of those vault-like doors from earlier, which automatically opens to permit entry into the facility's main(?) power plant.

Entering the power plant is cinematic, even from our intrepid heroes' point of view. The room is roughly spherical and almost uniformly 15m in diameter with polished steel walls that dramatically reflect the pale blue light of electricity arcing over the surface of a massive dynamo-like device in the center of the room. Aside from the generous, if pale, luminescence of arcing electricity, there are only a handful of recessed LED lights in strategic positions around the room at "floor" and "ceiling" level that makes the room dark and light in an exceptionally eerie, paranatural fashion.

A non-conductive catwalk is the only way to move around the spherical room, greeting our heroes' feet as soon as they cross the threshhold from the umbillicus. Unlike every other floor in this place, the catwalk transmits sound very well, allowing for satisfyingly impactful footfalls as the team surges inside. Fanning out across the room is difficult because of the catwalk network. Blessedly, that's not a necessary tactic in here.

Rick, you see, is in some sort of heavy metal chamber currently affixed to the face of the dynamo(?) at the center of the room. Electricity arcs over the large, roughly sarcophogus-shaped chamber's surface in regular bursts of light and power that the observant might notice causes Rick's hair to stand on end. Of interest is the fact that Rick's hair is noticeably longer than it was when last anyone saw him at the Main Street Tavern just a day or so ago. It almost looks like he's been here for a month, given the length of his red hair - and straight up Chuck Norris beard - through the viewing window on the front of the chamber.

Nexus says, "Oh, that's not good."

Nexus says, "So is anyone here enough of a scientist to have a better plan than smashing that thing and porting the hell out of here?"

"That sounds like an absolutely SMASHING plan." Griffin admits prepearing to hurl himself at the sarcophogus.

Nexus says, "For what it's worth, this room is calmer than the rest of the facility, dimensionally speaking. It's like the power plant is generating an interference pattern along the interdimensional barrier... kind of screwing everything up." He thinks a bit. "Maybe we can shut down the generator first?" He shrugs, uncertainly. The tech stuff was always Alex's domain. "I dunno."

Nexus looks around the room more carefully through a remote viewing portal, now that they're past whatever was distorting his perceptions.

Quiet stops to... stare. If she could spare time to holo out three letters, they would be W, T, and F. Marching into electrical arcs doesn't seem smart to her. While not an engineer, she can fly and operate a range of devices. There have to be controls somewhere.

Quiet starts looking.

Griffin moves down the catwalk a bit further and begins looking around. He is compeltely unconcerned by the arcs of energy- so he goes to look the things nearest the areas the others probably shouldn't go.

Indira slows as she reaches the catwalk section in front of Rick. She gently puts her hand on the railing and leans forward to study Rick's condition, checking him for injuries. He looks so...different. What's happened to his plumage? "Rick...?" she calls out worriedly, reaching out with her mind as well.

Rick's mind continues to be elusive. The way it "flickers" in Indira's mind's eye is passingly reminiscent of psionic interference, as if some other psychic were using mind powers on Rick's brain and thereby stymying her own efforts to establish contact.

There isn't a control panel in the immediate vicinity of the chamber. The chamber also does not appear to be mounted to the power plant itself, but rather to some kind of vertical plane system. It's like some kind of starship elevator system, but open air. Wherever could this lift go?

Indira puts a hand to her head, feeling some sort of mental interference. She can't touch Rick's mind. "You said dimensional energies?" she asks Nexus as she gazes up above the chamber, then down below. "What is this?"

Griffin is feeling positiviely charged by his searching- and even better his battery-topping scouting has presented results.

When he was searching nearest the free-flowing energy he saw a couple of control panels underneath the catwalks at weird locations.

Griffin's teeth chatter as the energy dances over his shield.

He heads back towards the others when his scouting is compelte and he actually feels full for the first time in ages.

"Hey guys- from over there" He points. "there is a track- like a railway system that leads between the nodes, and there are also control panels UNDER the catwalk." He elaborates by pointing down to the catwalk.

Quiet moves along the catwalk in search of recognizable controls. Given the three-dimensional orientation of the room, she also looks up and down. Griffin confirms this is wise when he points out the controls beneath.

She activates her gravitic tractors in her boots and steps over the side and walks under the catwalk, inverted. This gives her an entirely new vantage path tto walk. Quiet gets a bettter idea of Rick's ...pod and its attachement to the structure. Not to mention the back side of the thing... and more controls...

Nexus nods. "Yeah, dimensional energies up the yin-yang. I don't really get what they're _for_, though."

Nexus drifts into the air, lowers himself to get a vantage point under the catwalks at Griffin's suggestion. Not that he really expects the control panels to make much sense to him, but he peers through their casings to see if he can learn anything interesting from what they're connected to. "Hey, I just thought -- maybe those scientists back there know how this all works? Indie, you think you could convince them to help us out?"

Indira looks mystified at Nexus' explanation. "I don't understand," she says as she clasps her hands worriedly. "This facility was hidden. And they rook Rick here. But why would they need to trap him in that prison?" At Nexus suggestion, Indira nods quickly. "I can be very convincing. Maybe not as much as Quiet can be," she gazes below towards Quiet as she references the clipboard shot. "But they may be less scared and more helpful."

Nexus nods. "Yeah, I don't really get it either. Then again, I don't really know Rick. Is he some kind of meta, maybe they're using him like a power source or control rod or something?"

Quiet might be able to convince them, but thinks that may be unnecessary. She also thinks this loudly, in Indira's direction. To make a more conspicuous statement, she reaches out with a pair of tractor beams. One is to Rick. The other to press or pull the controls on the panel behind the unit to release him. PRISONERRELEASE seems fairly self-explanatory

Nexus huhs. "So, if I'm tracing these wires right, this power supply doesn't actually _power_ anything... it just connects to the other two power plants, and that shielded room under the lab. Hrm." He frowns and stares and adds "I think the control panels are being powered wirelessly, for whatever that's worth." This stuff is over his head, but he's hoping someone else on teh team can make sense of it."

Indira doesn't seem to understand the science behind it. "Is there anyone else imprisoned in this place?" It's something she can understand at least.

Nexus notices the PRISONERRELEASE panel Quiet is pointing out, and his patience finally gives out. "Well, one way to find out." His hand appears by the indicated panel and activates it.

Griffin draws his weapon- because the last Rick they found blew up in their faces. Now- he's expecting something much worse.

Technically, Quiet bops the control labelled PATIENT RELEASE.

An obnoxiously loud klaxxon goes off and the recessed LEDs in the walls go a brilliant, flashing scarlet. The power plant changes its pitch and the omnipresent crackle of electricity sizzles out for the moment as the sarcophogus starts to creak and slowly lower about three feet. In the process of the chamber lowering itself along its track, the railing between the sarcophogus and the catwalk breaks itself away from the rest of the railing and forms a new section of catwalk to catch the sarcophogus and keep it from continuing down the track.

Electricity finally POPs out of being on the casing of the sarcophogus as it comes to a landing on the new section of catwalk. There is a long moment of relative silence in the chamber before the sarcophogus splits down the middle with an extremely high pressure pneumatic hiss. It promptly flips up the head section to release Rick's head first. Following that, the crease down the middle of the sarcophogus vents horrible white gas/steam onto the catwalk in front of it before panels peel backward from either side of the chamber like pieces of a magician's zig-zag box.

Rick Mason promptly and stiffly falls out of the chamber and into Quiet's waiting gravitational field. He floats, still and quiet, about three feet off of the ground and fully outside of the chamber. For unclear reasons, he is wearing what Griffin will immediately recognize as Army force recon BDUs circa 2014.

Fun fact: It now smells like cold and decay in Rick's immediate vicinity.

Nexus grows more confused with every passing minute. "Um... is he dead?"

"What the hell is going on?" Griffin says at seeing Rick's attire

That is until he has to take a step backwards when he gets a whiff of Rick. "I thought we smelled bad." He says to Indira.

"Kaldri bosh," Indira murmurs, covering the lower half of her face with both hands. Her eyes flit to Nexus and Griffin, eyes welling up with excess water before she looks back to Rick. Despite the smell, she takes a hesitant step forward. "This smells like death..."

Quiet brings Rick closer and sets him gently on the catwalk. Her suit is hermetically sealed, so any smells are for others to deal with.

Quiet brings Rick closer and sets him gently on the catwalk. Her suit is hermetically sealed, so any smells are for others to deal with. Rick's condition, however, is something she might be able to deal with. She moves to him, rolling him to his back if necessary, to examine him.

Nexus drifts behind Indira and places a supportive hand on her shoulder.

Griffin groans as he too steps forward to check his pal out- and to make sure Rick is wearing what he think's he's wearing.

Indira slides one hand from her mouth and rests it on Nexus' hand while letting the combat medics do their work. She doesn't understand enough about human biology to be of any use.

Quiet gives Rick a thorough summary examination. It is enough to determine that he is still alive, though in worse a condition than she'd expect. While Griffin inspects the uniform, she starts destroying it, tearing strips for field expedient dressings for the worst of the bullet wounds. Maybe he won't need them, but they can't hurt. She looks to Griffin after getting one cinched and twirls an upward-pointed finger. They got what they came for. It's time to mount up and move out.

Indira is aware that Rick was, at one point, a member of the U.S. Army. He was apparently K.I.A. in Earth year 2015 and reappeared in February 2064, climbing naked out of a hole in a Nebraska corn field. Rick has since been involved in a costly legal battle with the United States government about whether he is the same Rick Mason that died, whether he is, in fact, entitled to his military benefits, whether he is entitled to the same constitutional rights he had before his apparent service-related death, and sundry. Indira's preliminary investigations have led her to understand that certain unnamed parties in or around the government have some kind of interest in Rick, though she has not yet learned what that interest is nor why he is specifically important to their plans.

He has mentioned taking a sniper's bullet to the chest. Indira is taken to understand this hit him in what hyoomons call their "heart". There are a couple of bullet wounds to his chest - he has a /LOT/ of bullet wounds at the moment - though none immediately strike chords of memory in Indira's mind. She could always ask him when he wakes up, she can sense his mind more clearly now that he's out of the chamber.

Nexus says, "I can port us all out of here if you want."

Nexus picks out a reasonably safe-looking spot about a kilometer away and ports folks there unless someone indicates otherwise.

Indira feels like something may be wrong. She can't place what. "Are those injuries...are any by a heart?" How many hearts do humans have? Two? Five? She looks to Nexus. "Can you get him to a medical facility quickly?"

Nexus nods. "Yeah." He uses his PDA to select a hospital with a good trauma center, and either ports the entire team there (if within a kilometer) or just ports there with Rick (anywhere on the planet. Or, I guess, the moon.)

...and shuttles the team there once Rick's being processed, if folks want.

Griffin is absolutely stunned by Rick's wounds not healing right away. So far- this was just an average day in the future... but now...

Griffin focuses his mind on saving Rick's life and performing general triage until real professionals can show up. He drops to his knees and looks to Quiet for her assessment.

Nexus & Co. ripple out of existence in the depths of the underground facility.

Everyone rematerializes on a rooftop on the other end of the industrial park. While Nexus consults his PDA for Yelp ratings on local trauma centers, Griffin and Quiet take the chance to continue advanced battlefield triage. Bandages are continued to be applied, made from the utterly ruined BDUs that Rick was wearing until his friends got at them. Indira senses Rick's brain starting to stir from coma to deep sleep to light sleep to semi-consciousness. Flashes of incoherent visual information scream into her brain every so often as she continues to try reading Rick's mind.

Abruptly, Rick's eyes snap open, pupils dilated to pinpoints with the whites of his eyes practically glowing red from how bloodshot they are. He snaps bolt upright - or tries to, Griffin and Quiet can probably wrangle an unruly patient like Rick Mason back onto the roofing tar - and reaches out toward Indira with one hand for a few seconds. It's like he's trying to catch someone else, someone who should be right where Indira is.

Gasping raggedly, Rick's tense muscles start to loosen and his pupils start to dilate again as he comes back to the land of the fully conscious. Looking left and right, Rick breathlessly inquires, "What... What happened?"

While Rick is reaching out toward Indira, Indira can tell he is actually reaching out for a woman named Lucy. She can see the tall, redheaded human woman very clearly. The word (or is it a name?) 'Lucy' dances through Indira's head in a longing, but haunted whisper/scream. Indira suspects, but cannot prove, that is the last thing Rick remembers before he died in 2015.

Nexus relaxes a bit when Rick seems not to be dying. He still memorizes a trauma center location though.

While the others triage, all Indira can do to help is to mental coax and reassure Rick that he'll be alright. Her eyes are unfocused on Rick, and she winces occasionally as incoherent information screams in her head so loud that it hurts. Suddenly her eyes snap back into focus, going wide just as Rick reaches for her, but it's not out of surprise. She gets caught up in a flash of Rick's memory, then comes to her senses and stumbles back a few steps from his reach, holding her head for a moment. "You're...you're hurt, Mr. Mason," she manages to say in a shakey voice.

Quiet puts a hand on Rick's chest, more firm than forceful and more placation than restraint. After checking for any other continuing serious wounds, she releases her hand from him and helps him in sitting up. Her shoulders roll, and then she activates her holo display. AT A GUESS, I'D SAY SOME PEOPLE EITHER REALLY HATE YOU OR REALLY LIKE YOU.

Griffin chuckles, "Knowing your rosy demeanor- I bet it was the first one." He says as he too helps him sit up.

Nexus remains really confused about what was going on back there, but it seems churlish to try and interrogate the trauma victim. So mostly he just stands there, holding Indira's hand when that seems appropriate, and from time to time peering over his shoulder at the distant whatever-the-heck-that-was complex curiously.

Rick breaks out into a cold sweat as Quiet places her hand on his chest. His brown eyes track down, uncomprehending, to the hand and then follow the bodysuited arm back to Quiet's body. It takes him a few seconds to really come around - maybe he needs his morning coffee? - and recognize Quiet as a human being, not a natural force holding him down.

Indira's voice snaps Rick out of his daze and his brown eyes scan toward her and, by extension, Nexus. He blinks owlishly as he regards both of them for a few long, quiet seconds. There's something weird about his expression - sad, maybe? - as he stares at the duo.

"I'll heal. Are you alright, Ambassador? Did they hurt you?"

This is precisely the moment his body decides to be horrible to him. Rick is clearly about to say something else when he starts to violently cough. It's the kind of racking, full body cough that any human should associate with someone who is about to die of Spanish flu or The Plague or SARS or Ebola. Who knows what Indira thinks it is.

After about thirty seconds, Rick functionally vomits three large caliber bullets. One of them actually looks partially digested.

Rick immediately looks at Griffin and inquires, "Was that from the scotch or the whiskey?"

Nexus says, "That... does not sound good."

Quiet looks at the slugs vomitted out. BETTER OUT THAN IN. Mr. Mason's body is doing more to heal itself now than she ever could, so she lets it do its thing.

"Oh that was something entirely different old man." Griffin says. He laughs at Quiet's joke. He too had given up on providing Rick medical care a while ago.

"We were hoping you knew what that place was..." He says to Rick.

Indira steps back further as Rick vomicts up the bullets. She hasn't seen humans do that before. "I'm fine, Rick. And I hope you will be, too. That looks painful." That cough sounds like a liquifying airborn agent she and her crewmates were introduced to on Epsicor IV. It sounds terrible, even to her. "Did who hurt me? You are the one who is hurt!" She's almost scolding him for being worried about her of all people, given his condition.

Rick knits his eyebrows together and looks around at the faces (and helmet) around him. His lost, utterly puzzled expression grows deeper as Indira starts scolding him from afar. Pursing his lips for a few seconds, Rick struggles to get up to his feet.

"What are you... Talking... About... ?"

Very helpfully, Rick notices his beard and shaggy hair. He drops back on his butt and looks around again. Eyebrows arched, Rick inquires, "Was I... Dead again?"

Indira looks very worried as asks that question. She finally draws near now that it's safe, and crouches down so that she's eye level with him. "Rick..." she says softly, dropping formalities. "I hope not. We do not know what happened to you. You disappeared, the day we were out drinking. We went on a seek to find you." She looks over this torn clothing. "This is not what you were wearing the night you disappeared..."

"Yeah- you were M.I.A." Griffin says, "Indira here sniffed you out."

He smiles looking Rick over he says, "You're gonna wish that was a hangover." He laughs.

"It's... We're not on the roof of the bar?"

Rick looks and sounds confused, lost even. He looks from Indira to Griffin and then back at Indira. There is a long, pregnant silence from Rick as he stares Indira in the eyes. Who knows what he sees when he looks in her face. For a moment, Rick bites his lip as he tries to resist the urge to look down at what he's wearing. Instead, Rick focuses on something else.

"Thank you, Indira. I don't know... I mean."

The Undead Soldier casts a look over Indira toward Nexus and then a sidelong look at Quiet. He bites his lip and fixes his gaze on Indira again.

"Thank you, Indira. I appreciate it. I appreciate everything you've done for me."

Indira can sense Rick's appreciation. Including her attempt at making him feel better with alien drugs. He still feels a little hurt that she didn't ask first, but he genuinely appreciates the thought behind it.

It's also worth noting that Rick was originally going to say, "I don't know what I'd do without you." He seems to consider that inappropriate in present company for some hyoomon reason that doesn't mentally translate to plantinese.

Indira's expression is sympathetic and sad at Rick's confusion. He's not sure what he sees when he looks at her, but perhaps it has to do with that strange name that came to mind. "You do not need to thank me, Rick. The others were more helpful. I just helped them find you," she smiles softly and reaches out to rest a hand on his shoulder. It's a human gesture she keeps seeing and has picked up on. She looks a little concerned as she picks up on some more thoughts. "I did not share nectar with you, Rick. I promised I would not after the first time. Never without your permission," she says caringly.

"You never have to thank me." Griffin says, "I know you'd do the same for me."

Being a bro he doesn't share a longing intense look with Rick. Instead he looks around and tries to figure out just where in the hell they've been teleported to.

Rick rubs the back of his head with the hand not holding three large caliber bullets. He offers his bullet-holding hand to Griffin for Army Bro daps. This may be a ploy to buy time to think past the fog hanging heavy in his head. Brown eyes scan around the rooftop for a few moments before falling back on Indira's eyes as she mentions the nectar.

"No. I... I know. It was intense," remarks Rick in a quiet, apologetic voice. His gaze slowly slides away from Indira's as he talks, focusing on a fascinating point over thattaway. Very interesting pigeons over there, am I right?

Griffin uses a combination of GPS and Ranger training to dead reckon his position. They are a little under a kilometer, as the crow flies, from where they were underground. Even so, they're still in the industrial park district, on top of a medical professional building. What a convenient locale to bring an Unkillable Man filled with bullets and electricity.

Indira gets the feeling that first/only time she "shared nectar" with Rick was hanging heavy in his mind while he was unconscious. That may be why he seems so apologetic for his reaction to her with regard to finding out he was dosed. Or maybe he had a dream about being high on nectar again. Who knows with these screwy hyoomons?

Indira looks to Griffin with a meaningful look for assistance, then moves to crouch by Rick's side. "Do not worry, Rick. We have you. You are safe," she says as she slides an arm around him to support him, as if preparing to help move him. Her gaze lifts back to Griffin. "Mr. Freeman, I think that Rick may be suffering from medicine from that science facility."

Indira then looks back at Rick, looking over his condition again. "Are you in pain...?" she asks tenderly. He may be unkillable, but that doesn't mean he's comfortable in his current state.

Griffin drops low and puts Rick's other arm over his shoulder to help him up. "Take it easy, man." He says, "You still probably need to be seen by a doctor... or someone who knows what they're talking about. You're well out of my medical expertise."

"And what happened to your...foliage? Plumage?" Indira's brow furrows and she looks to Griffin for assistance in the word she's looking for. She gives a nod towards the longer hair and the beard.

Griffin chuckles, "Your beard. You look like Rip Van Winkle."

"Science facility?"

Rick looks perplexed by this assertion. He knits his brows together and half-smirks, half-scowls as he laughingly remarks, "Boss, don't be ridiculous. No chemicals on God's green Earth really affect me anymore."

This does not stop Rick from accepting Indira's offer of help. He is propped up to his feet and looks back and forth at Griffin and Indira as though they're the ones that are crazy. Letting out a long suffering sigh, Rick just hangs his head and comments, "Fine. If it'll make you guys stop worrying, let's go to the university hospital. They've got plenty of metadocs there."

Indira's question about his hair and beard catches him off-guard. He shrugs and comments, "Dunno. Guess I must've been M.I.A. for a long time if I grew in this much beard and hair. Least a month. I'll hit a barber shop after the docs tell you I'm fine."

"Rick," Indira breathes out softly, afraid how how to put this delicately. "You've only been missing for a few days. What was your last memory before waking up?" She suddenly starts to pay close attention to Rick's scent, risking being hit by any decay again. She tries to smell anything familiar. "...and I still do not know what happened to your clothes..."

"I think it looks pretty bitchin'." Griffin jests. "So anyone got a plan to get down from here or am I playing elevator?" The question is obviously retorical as he then looks to Rick and says, "It really only has been days. That ZZ Topper doesn't match."

"I don't know... Bottle of whiskey down the hatch, you and Lien doing body shots, some guy hitting on you."

Rick looks perplexed by the question. He looks even more confused when Indira starts sniffing at him. Automatically, Rick looks the other way at Griffin to silently inquire, 'This is weird right? My boss, the plant-lady, is sniffing me like a bloodhound. This is weird, right?'

"No, c'mon. I know for a fact this is a solid month of not shaving."

That guy hitting on her happens to be standing nearby in wait, unbeknownst to Rick. "Yes, that was only two days ago. We would not leave you missing for a month, Rick," Indira offers a soft, sad smile. "Nexus said there were strange 'dimensional energies' at that lab. Maybe...it was a month for you? Space-Time can be strange with energy like that." Indira suddenly looks terribly disappointed. "Maybe we were still too late."