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Grian hid his nerves as he stepped inside yet another HEP lab, looking around it. After hearing they took over part of an already existing lab, he shouldn’t be surprised when he sees that it’s a normal-looking lobby. It’s mostly empty, however. He’s heard of the new precautions HEP made to ensure no outbreak happens here, and he really doesn’t want to experience that. He’s also not too thrilled to be here alone
You’re not alone, Scar counters.
Alone in person, Grian corrects internally.
“Grian, you’re here!” He turns to see Cub walking towards him, coming from a nearby elevator.
He gives the other man a smile, “Hello Cub.” He can feel Scar immediately perk up, reminding Grian how close they were and how Scar hasn’t seen him since the election.
“Here alone?
He nods, “Mumbo had a meeting he can’t miss, so I’ll fill him in later.”
“Alright, follow me,” Cub turns around to go back to the elevator. Grian quickly follows him, silently observing him. It’s hard to get a good read on his emotions though. When they enter the elevator, Cub inserts a key by the buttons, turning it before pressing the button to the top floor.
Only those who have a key can enter,Grian notes, there can’t be many people with access to that. Of course that is fair, but it makes Grian’s job harder.
He refocuses when Cub starts speaking again, “as I told you in the message we sent, we discovered something very interesting. It won’t help with a cure, but if this is true, it changes our entire view on all of this.”
Grian tilts his head, intrigued, “go on.”
“I have all the notes for it upstairs, but, as I’m sure you’re aware, we captured some of those that got turned.”
Grian nods, he’s vividly aware of them being captured, felt them being captured.
“Well, they don’t act the same. Some can’t even speak, while others will respond to us. If just a little,” Cub explains, stepping out of the elevator when it arrives on the top floor. “The more we look into it, the more we learn.”
“What’s your theory on that?”
Cub opens his mouth to respond, but a new voice speaks, rushing up to them, “Grian!”
Before he can react, Grian is getting tackled by someone. He staggers before realizing who she is, “Pearl!”
She pulls back from him, “it’s been so long since I’ve seen you in person.”
Grian smiles back, “it has. I wish it was under a better circumstance.” He immediately retracts that statement, it’s actually rather good for her to be here. After all, it makes it easier for her to join them. Getting Jimmy to come here will be harder though.
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate.” She lightly hits him, “you need to visit us more often.”
Grian laughs, “alright, alright.”
Cub clears his throat, getting their attention. Pearl nods, looking more serious, “right. How much did you tell him?”
“I was just about to tell him,” he replies. She tilts her head, signaling him to continue. “As I was saying, it seems those we captured all have different levels of free will. Those with the most don’t have much, but it’s definitely a big difference to those without.”
“You think there’s a reason?”
He nods, “we’re thinking it has to do with how willing they were to be turned. Reports from those who saw others infected in addition to Father Spore support that.”
Grian forces his shock into something more intrigued, how did he get it so right?“Really?” He asks instead.
Pearl nods, “we need to test this more, but it seems really possible.”
“What do you think this means?” Grian asks, trying to tread carefully.
“It explains why people report Father Spore trying to convince people before turning them, willing or not. So they’re not complete drones.”
“I suppose having people completely loyal with free will will help a lot more then those without,” Grian replies, trying not to reveal too much. Especially because it’s true, having their sporelings be able to act on their own, but for Grian and Scar, is a lot more useful. And, well, Grian wouldn’t be able to be a spy if it wasn’t true.
I should have expected Cub to figure this out, Scar comments, attention clearly laser focused on what’s happening.
Yeah?
“That unfortunately means that means things can get harder for us if people willingly join,” Pearl adds.
Mhm, he hums, he’s always been really smart.
“Well, with Sc- Father Spore’s silver tongue, it’s bound to happen,” Grian replies, internally cursing at his slip up.
Cub snaps his head to look at Grian, eyes slightly narrowed as he studies the other, “indeed.”
No one refers to Scar as Scar anymore, even Cub has stopped. Even he had stopped. After they all declared Scar a lost cause in helping him, they all stopped seeing Father Spore as Scar. Grian has always hated it, he thinks Cub does too, but he couldn’t be the only one who didn’t. He hated the idea that Scar was lost, most of all, really.
Grian was grateful to learn that Scar isn’t lost, he just found something a lot better. Now if only they can show the others that. Them accepting this theory as the truth will definitely help.
He meets Cub’s eyes, trying to figure out what the other is thinking. Eventually he turns back to Pearl, “let’s show him our notes.”
Grian lets out an internal sigh of relief, thankful that Cub won’t push. He follows after the pair, curious of what they specifically learned. He’s not worried that they’ll discover anything him and Scar don’t want them to know, their sporelings would never after all.