route_1065 | The Queen.

Entry tags:

The Queen.

Who: Gorthan (

neurotoxined).
Where: The Rocket laboratories in the Goldenrod base.
When: Dated shortly after Gorthan's return to Goldenrod.
Summary: Gorthan meets the mysterious "Caroline" face to face.
Rating: PG for mad science and a certain metaphor.
Log:

After a few hours of sleep to recover from the recent traveling, Gorthan was ready. It was Evron all over again. He had done something unusual, something he was not supposed to do. An act of compassion, dictated by his conscience. And now, silent suspicion besieged him within the Team's ranks.

He would fend it off the only way he knew - by working tirelessly where others could see him. By being industrious. Efficient. Flawless. The model Team Rocket scientist.

He smiled at what he saw on his computer screen. The project he had been working on before traveling to Ecruteak (and, secretly, even during his stay in the ancient city) was coming together quite nicely. Soon, the Team would have a tangible proof of his loyalty.

... Ah, yet another parallel with Kravenn. But Gorthan was the Huntsman this time, and the Queen would receive the real thing.

Speaking of a Queen. Caroline truly seemed to be the sort who spent a lot of her time at the laboratory, didn't she? It was only a matter of time before she came in and Gorthan could finally meet her face to face. Maybe they were already in the same room and Gorthan simply hadn't noticed her, absorbed as he was in his work.

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While it's true that she spent as long as she could in the lab, there were other things that dictated GLaDOS' time - for example, outings with Wheatley had become a weekly occurrence, something that they did whenever Wheatley was bored and she...well, had an arm free to be grabbed and used as leverage to pull her outside; more pressing, however, was the fact that she still wasn't entirely used to the limitations of a normal human body. In some ways, she blamed Chell - that girl had not been normal at all and had given her unrealistic expectations - but for the most part, it was pretty much a matter of GLaDOS not wanting to accept that things such as eating and sleeping weren't optional.

She had been human for almost a month now; she hadn't settled into any sort of regular pattern, preferring instead to simply eat when she felt like it and sleep when she felt particularly tired. It wasn't a set routine, and she knew that should bother her - it would have bothered her back in Aperture, after all - but in some ways defying convention felt...almost nice. A sort of small, stupid, personal victory over the human lifestyle - admittedly, it was one that didn't matter to anyone but her, but dammit, it was something.

As such, she was certainly getting a bit of a late start this afternoon, having pulled an all-nighter and then some while finding new and interesting ways to terrify Test Subject Number One; the Raticate in question was currently hiding from her under the bed, and as such she had Number Three out with her today - that would be the Rotom hovering over her right shoulder, crackling once in a while and causing strands of her hair to jolt up a bit at the static before falling to lie...mostly flat again, at least.

GLaDOS had already staked out a room toward the back of the lab for herself. There were always people in here, coming and going and coming and going but eventually always going in the end, often well before she did; as such, she had very little reason to pay much attention to anyone within the lab itself. Of course, she offered few people the same luxury; she still wasn't terribly coordinated when it came to her strength and how much to exert when doing simple things like opening doors, and as such the door did as it usually did to signal that she'd entered the room - namely, whacking back against the adjacent wall as she swung it open with a bit too much force.

She didn't seem to mind - if anything, this was clearly such a common occurrence that she didn't seem to even notice she'd done it. After all, she had more important things to be paying attention to; science to do and all that.

It was... quite unfortunate that Gorthan had his back to the door. The sound of the door slamming open made the Ditto perched on Gorthan's desk cringe in fear, its pink body shrinking a bit.

As for Gorthan, he spun his chair back, ready to fire off a sarcastic comment about how they still kind of needed the laboratory to remain in one piece, thank you (come to think of it, perhaps Kato needed a similar reminder)... but when he did see who had just come in... huh.

His eyes and face brightened with recognition.

"Caroline." He stood to greet her. "I was just wondering when I would see you."

But... something halted Gorthan's step when he was still a good distance from the woman. For one, he found he couldn't hold her gaze, for whatever reason. Like a low-ranking Evronian soldier, who does not dare look his superiors in the eyes. Like Gorthan himself, when he was before the Emperor.

Did Caroline's presence have that effect on everyone?

If it didn't, then as far as she was concerned, it should; she was rather used to being the closest thing Aperture had to an absolute authority, after all. Really, it was to a point where no one referred to her by name within the labs themselves - not "GLaDOS," and certainly not "Caroline," no one called her "Caroline" anymore; those who referred to her in those places where they thought she couldn't hear simply mentioned She, or Her. Capital letters absolutely necessary.

Either way, she smirked a bit when she saw him, the expression casual; her gaze was bright behind those glasses of hers, however.

"Oh. Hello." Her voice is calm, a bit of a detached edge behind it that never really leaves entirely; her speech is a bit stilted-sounding, even now that she's not speaking into the 'Gear. Nothing terribly off-putting, but the cadence is a bit unnatural, almost sarcastic-sounding despite her words being nothing of the sort; either she's not used to talking to people on the same station as she is, or she's got the driest sense of humor on the planet. "You're Gorthan, aren't you? Been back long?"

"Not long at all. Merely a few hours." Gorthan's gaze wanders to the side, seeking the radiators - why does it suddenly feel very hot in here?

"And yes, I am Gorthan, indeed. And I..."

... And now his knees, of all things, feel weak. And his pulse is racing beyond his control. All of a sudden, he looks very uncomfortable, as if there was something he was supposed to do, but he didn't even know what that something was.

Maybe he's just coming down with a bad cold. He briefly brushes the back of his hand over the circular markings on his forehead, only to find that he's perspiring lightly.

"... I am not in top form today. My apologies." He dips his head, perhaps a little lower than he intended.

"Well, you might want to fix that." She isn't being particularly malicious when she says it, however; that dry tone still hasn't left her voice any, but judging by how that odd smirking expression hasn't left, either, it's more of a comment and less of a criticism. "I don't think it's going to reflect very well on you if you come back from leave only to start slipping up now."

He closes his eyes for a moment, determined to regain composure. Whatever this sensation is, there is no way he wants to look like the proverbial deer in the headlights here.

When his eyes open again and he raises his head, there's a smirk matching hers. "Whoever said I was on leave? Perhaps my work was in a delicate phase, and I just wanted a quieter, more inspiring environment. But please sit, Caroline."

He moves a swivel chair close to her.

The smirk deepens a bit at that. "Most people don't put on performances on company time. They know that if they do it enough...well. Before long, they won't be doing anything on company time. Unless things are run really differently here."

She glances toward the chair she's being offered; she really should be working, but at the same time...she can't say she's entirely opposed to doing things that don't involve standing - her balance is still, to be blunt, really terrible.

And besides, Gorthan has seniority in the lab. Surely it can't hurt to talk to the man. If she decides she's too annoyed...well. She's disposed of scientists before. Funny how, for all the science they do, no one has found a way to render themselves immune to deadly neurotoxin yet.

Maybe it's just not something they think about.

Either way, she'll be sitting down, waving her hand dismissively at the Rotom that's been hovering just behind her during this little encounter; the thing makes an odd little buzzing noise before zooming off in the general direction of the section of the lab she frequents most often. Once Number Three is gone, she tilts her head slightly, looking at Gorthan expectantly.

Hopefully he has some sort of relevant topic in mind; she's not really one for chatting too much.

"Ah, you saw the play?" Gorthan's smirk gains a genuinely amused edge. So the suspicion extends to even her... It doesn't worry him too much, however. He's dealt with this before. On Evron, that charge of Anti-Evronian Conduct is still on his record. "I do hope you enjoyed it. I believe we did well, for a group of amateurs."

He watches how she signals the Rotom to leave. A queen, indeed.

"But enough of that. There is something I wish to show you."

He fetches a small, rectangular cardboard box from his desk and offers it to Caroline.

"This just came in. You are the first person to see it completed, besides myself and, well, the manufacturers."

And under the lid is a small, disc-shaped electronic device.

"What do you think?"

She takes the box from him, momentarily pleased with the fact that she doesn't drop the thing (a couple of weeks ago, she probably would have, and then where would they be); even so, she accepts it with both hands, setting it in her lap as though to ensure it doesn't fall or otherwise go anywhere - she's handling it a bit like a child would handle something they've been told not to break, really.

The lid is something easily manipulated without any problems; she's been getting a lot of practice in with manual dexterity, working on the Aerial Faith Plates and all. (...those are still a horrendous failure, by the way, and we don't really discuss horrendous failures.) Once she sees what's inside, it doesn't take long for her gaze to shoot back to Gorthan, the look in her eyes skeptical.

"Well? What does it do? I can't really say what I think unless I know what it does; it could be anything."

She pauses.

"Unless you want me to tell you that the design is nice or something like that. In which case, the design is nice."

Why is there something fascinating, sometimes even endearing about her every movement? Power, beauty and intelligence together should not form a sight this mesmerizing, Gorthan realizes.

And while he's staring a bit, he's quick to avert her eyes. Again, why that is is completely beyond him.

"Ah, even that is a splendid compliment, coming from you. Thank you."

At which he attempts to smile at her and finally lock their gazes together. This effort... actually doesn't go any better than the others. It's not her eyes themselves, though they're very unusual. It's what he sees in them... which again doesn't quite have a name. He'll probably find one later. Charisma is probably part of it.

"Before I answer your question. Are you familiar with the work our group has done concerning the effects of radio waves on Pokémon?"

She isn't one to shy away from eye contact at all; she's never really seen a reason to. Even when plugged into the mainframe, she'd utilized whatever range of motion was built in to keep almost aggressive eye contact at all times.

...all right, most of the time there was no "almost" about it. Details, really.

"I'm not. It isn't something that was really discussed after I got here. Although it probably would explain our location. Under a radio tower, isn't it?"

Gorthan's reaction is immediate. "Really? Nobody has informed you on something that ties into our next project? That should have happened some time ago. Allow me to apologize on behalf of the whole Division. I will now make up for that. Feel free to let me know when the details bore you."

... At which point he realizes that he's actually looking at her face. Huh. Maybe if he just stops overthinking everything, he will be alright. In any case, what follows will feature Gorthan avoiding eye contact a lot, as he seems to think that the correct accompaniment to his explanation is slowly pacing back and forth in front of Caroline and showing his back to her a lot as he gets distracted by computer monitors, his Ditto, his own thoughts and countless other things. Really, the only times he will be looking at her is when he turns, always abruptly, always with his dreadlocks whipping the air violently in the movement, to check if she's following.

He spends the longest amount of time recounting the details of the operation at the Lake of Rage. His explanation of how radio waves can trigger evolution often enters the highly specific territory of genes and pathways, but he somehow manages to keep it simple enough. He only needs this as a premise, after all.

To her credit, GLaDOS doesn't bore too easily; not if the details are relevant, anyway. If it were a lot of irrelevant wibbly-wobbly, then she would be rather annoyed; as it stands, she'll listen, though she does seem to be getting mildly impatient as time goes on.

She's following. Get to the point.

"So I'm guessing this is supposed to do something like all of that."

The smile Gorthan gives her in reply is a smug one.

"It's better."

He brings images of Pokémon up on one monitor in front of Caroline. Grimer, Trubbish, Muk, Garbodor.

"These Pokémon species can spontaneously originate from human and industrial waste. And just like evolution, this is a process that can be triggered and accelerated via specifically targeted radio waves."

He then walks closer to her to better inspect her reaction, again, assuming nothing goes wrong.

"Life from decaying, acid matter. From poison. From death. What do you think?"

She tilts her head again at that; it's clear that she's still following what Gorthan is saying, as she doesn't look lost at all, but that skeptical look is still in her eyes.

"You know, if that's what you meant by creating life, you could have just said so."

Another pause follows that, longer than the previous ones; she's mulling over what's been said, obviously, though she doesn't seem to be terribly impressed.

"It's interesting, but I just don't see the point, since the purpose of poison is death and all. Making life from it is a little counterproductive.

"Unless the life you're creating is supposed to cause more death. Then you might be onto something."

"Yes. You took offense when I..." Gorthan lowers his head and closes his eyes gravely. "I hope you were able to forgive me."

A somewhat amused smile appears on his lips as he prepares to dispel Caroline's doubt. "So the dance of death and destruction interests and excites you more than the intricate mechanisms of life... I would like to say that I am the same way. But the truth is that I adore both equally. Allow me to illustrate the destructive side of the plan, then."

He moves closer to Caroline's chair, now standing at her side. But first, he looks at her to see if she has any objection.

"These creatures, born from pollution and poison, constantly generate pollution and poison themselves. Which include a variety of toxic sludges, liquids and gases. The evolved ones in particular are especially... prolific under that point of view. As more and more waste material becomes available, the trigger signal continues, resulting in almost perfectly exponential multiplication of the Pokémon. Now imagine the chaos this would cause in a large and populated city, where waste is present in concentrated amounts to begin with."

GLaDOS doesn't make any move to shoo him away or indicate that she's bothered by his presence; she isn't intimidated by him any. She sees no reason to be, really, given how deferential he's been regarding eye contact and apologies; it's all pretty much as it should be.

And just think, she hasn't even had to yell at this one.

However, that is neither here nor there, really - the important part is what he's actually telling her. And oh, it's incredibly obvious that she's pleased by that; any skepticism in her expression is replaced by a smile that's somewhere between satisfied and vaguely sadistic.

"Let's say that I approve of your message."

Ah... he's made her smile, somehow. And that can only make him smile in turn.

"I am very glad to hear that, Caroline."

He extends his hand, silently asking to have the device back, if she's done examining it.

"Operations pertaining to the project should begin soon. Can I count on your participation?"

She passes the device back to him without complaint, again using both hands as though to hold it steady; it's more to make her feel personally secure than anything that's entirely necessary, but she wouldn't admit to anything like that in a million years, thank you very much.

The question, however, just sees that smile shift back into another smirk. "You really need to work on that. Do you always commit to things without knowing what they are yourself? Because I don't know why you expect everyone else to do it. What's required?"

"You're no easy prey to enthusiasm, I see. Good, good. As to why I expect everyone else to do it, it's because I know for a fact that orders concerning it will come from above."

Gorthan smiles as he places the device under lock and key in a drawer. He wonders how Caroline must feel, knowing she will have a much higher authority than Gorthan to answer to.

"Our superiors will disclose the full details of the operation in a few days. But in a way, there are parallels with the way one farms a field, I suppose. First, the soil must be prepared strategically, ensuring that our poisonous crop has everything it needs to grow, where we want it to grow. Then, we plant the seeds... the devices, in this case. As the waves they generate are quite powerful, I believe one per city should suffice. And then... let's say that, once the devices are activated, the crop in question is an especially fast-growing one."

He checks on Caroline again, aware that his metaphors can get a little hard to navigate sometimes.

Well, she found that perfectly straightforward, really; it's fairly obvious what he's talking about, though she chooses to ignore the metaphor for now in favor of addressing that first part. The second, after all, told her nothing that she didn't already know.

"The difference there is that our superiors will actually tell us what the details are before expecting us to agree to it. If they expect us to do anything else, then they're really lousy superiors. Either that or they're used to dealing with idiots. Either way, I'm not an idiot."

That smirk is still there, however; it's clear that it's just a statement, not that she necessarily thinks that was the intended implication.

"What's the point of all this, anyway? Is there one?"

"Worry not. I doubt you will ever have to complain about anybody in Team Rocket. Except for myself, I fear."

His initial anxiety now mostly gone, he briefly examines Caroline's face, looking for clues of whether she enjoys his company at all or not.

"As for the purpose, unless there is something else I have not been informed about, it seems quite evident. Chaos and fear."

He says "chaos and fear" quickly and indifferently, as if they were a pair of everyday objects that always go together. Spoon and fork. Toothpaste and toothbrush. Pen and pencil. Chaos and fear.

He's realized some time ago that there really is no difference between his work here and his work on Evron.

"Caroline. May I see what you have been working on since your arrival here?"

He smiles at her, now unafraid of her eyes. He's expecting great things.

She doesn't seem fazed by that answer at all; she'd already expected that. In equally shocking news, the sky is blue, the Pope is Catholic, the Combine has taken over, and scared little girls really like cake.

As for...whatever he's looking for, her expression hasn't flickered any; it's pretty casual, really. A bit detached, as always, but generally neither pleased nor displeased. Whether he's expecting great things or not, he's likely not going to get them today.

"You'll see what I'm working on soon enough. I don't show people my...incomplete projects."

He tips his head slightly to the side, though his smile remains pleasant. "Not a team player, are you? Very well. But keep in mind that, should you ever need help, or even merely advice, I would be absolutely honored to provide them. Granted, living things are my specialty. But where I am from, the distinction between life and machine is a blurred one. Even more so than in this world."

Ah, he was really curious to see her project. But he'll wait for her reaction to his proposal to see if he has any room to insist.

Her eyes widen at that; she isn't exactly used to having a full range of expressions, so it isn't something she can control, exactly. It isn't a look of fear, though, just surprise; it passes before too long, that smirk returning eventually.

"Is that so? What makes you say that, I wonder - is it the creatures in this world, or the people?"

Her tone comes down heavily on that last word, lending a sort of weight to it that's different than the usual oddly-placed emphasis. She's aware of both herself and Wheatley, and the changes they've undergone; it wouldn't surprise her if there are others.

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