#maliciousmauvematron

[medicmariuslang-blog]

"Damn." Marius looks on through the surveillance monitors, shaking his head slowly, ice-colored eyes flat and dead. Switching the feed off, he turns, picking a telephone up before dialing. "Helen? It's Marius. We're going to have to dispatch personnel to retrieve our targets."

[petridishartemis]

Waking

Yvonne stopped and stared at her supplies arrayed neatly in her locker.  She was just pulling her hand back from setting her slouch hat inside, and was utterly mystified as to what she was doing there.

She'd been intent on fulfilling her promise to Hanna and gutting the flabby, bug-eyed man like a fish.  Instead of spilling his entrails all over the snow, however, she'd changed her mind.

It seemed like the most natural thing in the world.  The anger churning and knotting up her insides had dissolved, leaving peace in its absence as well as a strong impulse to carry out this other task which was suddenly important above all other things.

Had she lost so much to her lack of sleep?

Her brow furrows at that.

No...no, it couldn't be that.  She'd been tired before, but this wasn't sleep walking or blacking out - Yiv could remember every step she'd taken and even changing her mind about killing William.

Bewildered, she slumps against a wall and holds her head.

What on Earth had that all been about?

Somewhat dazed, Yvonne straightens and walks, her face a mask of confusion, from the supply room into the base proper.

[dinosaursaresocool]

maliciousmauvematron started following you

"Um. Hello. How're you, Ma'am?"

[medicmariuslang-blog]

Feed My Frankenstein

Marius comes to The Administrator’s office when summoned, tapping politely on the door before entering, standing just within the room.

"You wished to see me, Helen?"

"Yes. Come in, come closer."

Her long, thin fingers drum on the desk. Talon-like violet fingernails click rhythmically. The other hand has the everpresent cigarette held between two fingers.

"I want a status report, Dr. Lang. Because from the rumors I’m getting wind of, this little project of yours is getting a touch out of hand."

Cigarette is raised to lips adorned with violet lipstick. Drug on, a cloud of smoke exhaled.

"I hear things about runaways, for one. And… possible leakage of classified information to a sensitive party, and I’m sure you know what I mean by that."

The severe, imposing woman leans forward, her eyes narrowing.

"What is going on, Dr. Lang? This pet project of yours hasn’t… outlived its usefulness, has it?"

He'd been hoping that something could have been done to avoid this.  Even now he wondered if it was possible to divert the inevitable conclusion of this meeting.  

He did not blame Joe for what was happening, but the actions of the Soldier had made things so much more difficult.  Had he stayed away from Yvonne after Nucleus, things would likely have been fine.  While there was damage, it was manageable.  Unfortunately, when the Administrator had killed Duncan as punishment for Joe's insubordination, she had removed the only person who could have kept the Soldier in line.  The stress coupled with the inherent instability of Dr. Lang's 'son' had resulted in his flight from Mann Co.'s facilities.  By the time Marius had found his charge, it was too late - he was already with Yvonne and made it remarkably difficult to extract him.  There was no way of having him just disappear - the Sniper would have hunted until she found him and started asking all kinds of uncomfortable questions.

Had Joe's reaction to his accidental disclosure not been so violent, things still might have been salvageable.  It could easily have just been taken as a slip of the tongue and things would have proceeded from there.  His fit, however, only brought what he had said into sharper relief; shined a veritable spot light on it.  

How long would her memories stay suppressed?  From what he could observe, Yvonne was already having lapses and flash backs in the form of dreams.  The programming had been stricken at a keystone and now the rest of the structure was beginning to collapse.  Marius had seem this before, and its progressive nature was incredibly aggressive.  What time was there for her?  A month?  A week?  Perhaps less?  The questions she was asking would only speed the collapse - Yvonne was destroying her life as she knew it with every inquiry and didn't even realize it.

"Unfortunately, Joe did escape the facilities and find his way to Coldfront.  By the time I knew what was happening, he'd already contacted Yvonne and she helped to take him in.  He's been running missions there with RED ever since.  Reining him in with Duncan is, of course, no longer an option, however Yvonne appears to have a stabilizing effect upon him that is quite similar to our dearly departed Demoman.  Because of Joe's inherent instabilities, the voice command issued do not always work - before we always had Duncan to help fill in the gaps where they did not meet our needs.  Therefore, I've been at a loss as to how to extract him without causing undue attention.  Joe has...let slip his relationship to Yvonne."

He swallows around a lump in his throat.

"I believe that the experiment has rendered satisfactory results and answered the questions we first set forth.  Of the engineered mercenaries, the ones reared outside of the facility with a designate caregiver have produced the most stable and wholly realized units.  Yvonne is a fully developed and functional Sniper and her sessions in the Theatre have created memories which have melded seamlessly with what she experienced after Hiram took her from us to rear.  Until Joe's arrival at Coldfront, she had no reason to doubt them.  While I have not been able to isolate the problem with Joe and identify its origin, I believe the accelerated maturation process yields unstable results and should be used sparingly, if at all.  Joe still has useful battlefield applications, of course, and is invaluable as a Soldier, but I do not know if he could exist in the outside world without significant oversight and care management.

"I believe that our studies with Yvonne can continue, however there will be a necessity for further Theatre sessions should this be the case."

Who was he trying to kid?  The Administrator would never agree to that.  Helen was about effectiveness and simplicity.  Whatever met the bottom line was what she was interested in.  There were too many loose ends to deal with here - too many variables.  With a growing dread he does not outwardly express, the Medic awaits the inevitable verdict - time for all the little lambs to be gathered up and brought back into the fold.