Chapter Text
“Veritas-”
“Doctor. Refer to me with my proper title or refrain from referring to me at all, if you-”
“Doctor Ratio. The Intelligentsia Guild has been given a proposition that you may deem appealing.”
Ratio looked away from his documents at that, interest spiking unnaturally from the potential new material he would be receiving. His gaze met that of his secretary, Margaret. She looked troubled, he noted offhandedly, more than her usual.
“The IPC has, unfortunately, given us minimal information on the project, but it drabbles in the potential biological alterations exhibited on an already developed organism.” She spoke clearly, her typically visual hands placed securely under a large stack of folders and loose papers. He frowned openly towards the stack, filing off a reminder to reprimand the other staff for throwing work onto his personal secretary
“..Altering a person's genetic code after it has already been written? What place would I stand in if I were to agree in my participation?” His gaze lifted back to her face, distrust painted clearly over the previous frustration. Either position could go wrong, experiment, or experimenter
“..On the side of the altered, unfortunately, but it may prove itself to be an irrefutable leap in knowledge and understanding, if the little information they gave us is anything to go off of.” Her eyes fell to the top paper in the stack, brows furrowing slightly in confusion as it clearly showed to not be what she had been looking for “I believe I have the full form of details in my office, but it is quite unsatisfactory, nowhere near your base standards, I’m afraid”
The young doctor clasped his hands together, placing his chin across the linked fingers in heavy pondering. His legs swung lazily under his desk, an idle action, an assist for his thoughts to go straight. “What would I gain from it, other than experience?” He finally questioned, slightly hushed.
“According to what I was sent, near infinite funding for any projects you pursue after the experiment has concluded. The limit number they scribed is.. Well, impossible to achieve otherwise. You will never run your funds dry so long as you live.” She choked out a laugh, face morphing into a pained expression at the mere thought of the credit amount
“How long will this last?” He retorted, nerves near buzzing from giddiness at the exchange, finally, a conversation worth thinking for- a verbal sparring from an intelligent party-
“Anywhere from a single year to a decade.” Margaret blurted, a slight warble to her tone
His eyebrows furrowed. A decade could be lost to this, unlike *some people* (How jealous he had once felt towards the vidyadhara, with their infinite lives, an unobtainable amount of time to dedicate to research that he would never be able to experience so long as he was stuck in a mortal body-) he did not have an infinitesimal amount of time to waste on a potentially useless endeavour of false science
He rose from the desk and walked to his office window, staring out into the darkened sky thoughtfully. The pros could outweigh the cons, it could be *perfect* , if everything played out correctly this could be *the perfect experiment* , and he would be participating in it! A priceless experience, further rewarded by future funding for *anything* he could dream of, any project, no matter how insignificant the IPC deemed it. The IPC’s clear extreme secrecy about the project also meant little to no news coverage would be done on this experiment; He would be left to his own devices during the entirety of his participation, no ignorant fools from the galactic news near *breaking down his door to get in and speak to him about-*
Veritas began pacing, weighing the options in his mind
Participate, gain unlimited funding, but vanish off the face of the Universe for upwards of an entire decade.
Don't participate, receive no funding, lose out on very precariously hidden knowledge he would have otherwise never even known about had the invitation never been handed over to him, proving just how close lipped this was, and would likely forever be.
Lose out on whatever genetic alterations this could give him
..That would count as both a pro, and a con, he decided.
He sighed, placing himself back on the purple office chair he had been gifted years prior, the first spectacle of his school office. “Margaret.. Inform the Interastral Peace Cooperation to expect my participation, given they meet with me beforehand to negotiate the details of this project personally. I also expect a printed letter detailing all points of interest retained in this deal, plus a digital paper of the same contents.”
Margaret nodded slowly, shifting the stack of folders in her arms slightly, pushing them further against her chest than necessary “Of course, it will be done in due time Doctor. Will you be assigning a time limit for their response?” She smiled, standing stock still across from his position at the mahogany desk. Ratio hummed in response, hand lifting to his chin in feigned thought “..Two days. I see no point in extending a participating hand if they are unable to formulate a proper set of negotiable assets in a respectable amount of time.” He closed his eyes, thinking intently over hsi instructions
Margaret, ever the doting secretary, watches as an apple falls from seemingly nowhere and hits the good Doctor dead on, flinching for a fraction of a second before remembering just how often this seemed to happen. “Ah.. in… simpler terms, perhaps Doctor? The IPC may not want such grandiose vocabulary in this circumstance.” She places her stack of papers on the edge of the doctor's desk, one hand held securely on the stack while the other retrieves an ice pack from her pocket. Her hand extends towards the young doctor once it clasped over the familiar object, a routine between the pair.
“Of course, I should not expect those imbeciles to understand or appreciate my use of refined words. Tell them… ‘If.. negotiations are not brought to Doctor Veritas Ratios Secretary, Margaret, in the time span of two days from the day this message is received, then willing participation of the previously mentioned party is to be rescinded.’, full stop. Better?” He reaches towards the offered ice pack, cracking the coin inside it to activate the device, then places it gently over where the apple had struck him. Margaret smiles in response, nodding curtly before gathering her files back into strong arms “Consider your notice sent already, Doctor. And- once I finish delivering these papers to their respective boxes, I will return here with the original form I was given by the IPC, is that agreeable?”
“Quite” Veritas smiled, gaze falling from his secretary and back to the documents he had been analyzing previously “Before you are fully dismissed, ensure that in the future you remind the other employees of the Intelligentsia guild you are not their secretary, if they wish to have a personal assistant, they are free to send a request form to Madam Yabuli instead of unearthing their heaps of paperwork unto my most beloved secretary.” He grated, sight shifting momentarily back to Margaret “End quote, understood?”
“Received and noted, Doctor Ratio. I will begin to inform other members that I am not their personal file delivery person.” She smiled, turning elegantly and beginning a practiced stride towards the door of the office, the heap of papers and files held protectively in her arms.
It’s barely passed a full twenty-four hours when Margaret came knocking at his office door again, a classified-marred folder held tightly against her chest behind one arm, and a coffee mug held gently in her other, an affectionate smile painted clearly for any fortunate soul to see.
“Doctor, I have brought a.. Gift, from the Interasteral Peace Cooperation. A printed document highlighting all ‘points of interest’ inlaid within your potential dealings with them from participation within the..” she eases her press of the folder to her chest to stare at the labelling across the front of the folder “Halovian project.”
Margaret stands opposite of his slumbering form, separated by the mahogany desk. She sighs affectionately, her young doctor is such an irresponsible altruist, neglecting sleep for the sake of research. The decorated mug in her hands is placed gently atop the desk, close enough for its compelling smell to reach the doctor's senses, easing him out of his rest.
Sunset eyes flutter open, a low groan near purring from Ratios throat as his body finally caught up with the awake-ness of his brain. For a few hushed moments, he simply exists in a bubble, different parts finally waking and connecting with other parts, body coming together into a single functioning system of muscles and nerves, a machine built from flesh and misguided love
“Mmgh… Margaret..?” He groaned, forcing his head up with a hand. He tips forwards for a moment, only to catch himself and force his body into a proper sit, straight back, perfect posture, only to fall once he spots the coffee on his desk. Margaret smiles down to him, nodding in silent understanding. Ratio grabs the mug and takes a tentative sip from it, near moaning from the *perfect* taste flooding his senses. Despite how much he preached health, he could never abandon the near liquid sugar mess of ‘coffee’ he so often found himself drinking, despite how unfairly detrimental it was for health. “..perfect, as always. Thank you Margaret.”
“Of course, Doctor. I have the files you requested from the IPC here, whenever you are well prepared to read them they will be here on your desk.” Her hands returned to their practiced place, folded properly in front of her hips
Ratio hummed in acknowledgment, eyes fixating on the unassuming folder on his desk. Briefly he pondered if, in the improbable case the file became sentient, would it understand how much weight its contents held? Would it know that whatever scribes of legislation had been printed on its contents would lay down the path of his future, for better or worse?
He giggled internally, taking another sip from the ‘coffee’ in his hands. Such foolish thoughts had no place in the temple of his mind, seeming almost like abstract art in a church of renaissance, improperly displayed and non-confirming, an eyesore. “Describe in detail how this file made its way into your hands” he grumbled, swigging down more of the liquid sugar in the mug. An obvious ploy to give himself more time to truly wake up from his unprecedented nap.
“Well, It was quite odd. A man named.. I believe his name was Aventurine. That Stoneheart, the brunette man, or maybe he has green hair.. How unfortunate, Jeune had the staff rooms lights tinted so I couldn’t truly tell you what he looked like, other than just how slimy he came off as. He cornered me, I almost had to use that.. Gift of yours, to harm him, if not for Xiofei I would have, fortunately she had been sat at a nearby table and watched that sleaze. But he cornered me by the vending machine and whispered that if he found out I so much as opened this envelope before it made it into ‘That Childs' hands he would ensure my demise would be a never-ending cacophony of agony. Quite the interaction to be had in a staff office.” She mused, watching the young doctor take another long drink from the blue mug “If ever I was given the opportunity to receive classified documentation from a Stoneheart again, I would much rather choose that Intelleron, Opal I believe, or even Obsidian. Any one of them but that filthy sleazeball.”
Ratio nodded his head, brows furrowing as his thoughts finally began to run at an acceptable pace. How easy would it be to file a recognition-worthy report to diamond about the inappropriate actions done by a Stoneheart? Not easy, he assumed, worth his time by leaps and bounds, but so egregious and deplorably time consuming that by the time he filed it it would be obsolete.
“Did you open the file before I received it?” He remarked, placing down the now empty mug in favour of folding his hands and using them as a perfectly placed head rest. His eyes found Margaret's, unspoken words clearly spoken through his gaze
*Do you want me to report this?*
She smiled wider in response, eyes crinkling at the edges
*Do not waste your time on such trivialities.*
“Of course not, I may not be some genius like you, but I am no fool. That document had not been gazed upon by any eyes of the Intelligentsia Guild yet, not until you open it.” Margaret slides the file across the desk, bright red lettering reading [CLASSIFIED; HALOVIAN PROJECT] forcing the young doctor to squint in distaste from the sheer presumptuousness of it
Ratio hums, eyes flickering back and forth from his secretary down to the document now laid under the arch of his hands, until finally locking onto the file. “I presume if you witness the contents of this file at all your life will be compromised. Do close the door on your exit, Margaret.” He breathed, blood pounding behind his ears from the near adrenaline high he was being hit with from the stress of this unassuming folder
“Of course, and when am I to return?”
“..I will call for you. Return home until then, you need not remain here today.” Ratio sighs, trying to calm his racing heart. This file did not deserve to elicit such an intense reaction from him, fear, anticipation, all completely undeserving of such a simple item.
Margaret nods, a knowing look hidden in her expression. A fondness reserved for the young doctor she near parents alone. “Then I will be waiting for your call, Doctor.”
Ratio lets out a much needed breath once the doors automatic locking mechanism activated, securing him in the room, protecting any unknowing Guild lurkers from risking their lives by entering his office and laying eyes on this document. His hands shake with an unfamiliar sense of foreboding fear, a feeling near flooding any sense he has. This- idiodic, insignificant file will determine everything-
(Foolishly, he hopes that if the file did become sentient, it would be as scared as he was)
Finally, flesh meets paper, and the document is opened, his eyes scan over its contents hurriedly, filing down every conceivable underlying message or loopholes the IPC may try to wring out of him.
- PROJECT; HALOVIAN
* Veritas Ratio, in accordance with the parties demands, is to receive a credit amount of 1, 872, 596, 359, 186, 785 credits upon completion of participation within the PROJECT; HALOVIAN
* Veritas Ratio will sign all personal autonomous rights to the IPC to ensure complete cooperation with affiliated doctors during the activity period of the Project
* Resistance during the projects activity period in punishable
* Discussion of Project; Halovian to non-affiliated staff is punishable by death
He reads further down, noting the glittering over-explanation of *what an NDA was*, before finally sighing and leaning back in his chair
..How terribly underwhelming.
Ratio felt a laugh bubble up from his throat. All of that worry, just for the most simplified, idiot-safe document ever procured. How foolish did the Cooperation truly think he was to require such a simplistic file of information. Hah.
Hah ha.
*Discussion of Project; Halovian to non-affiliated staff is punishable by death
How truly foolish he had been, to not expect a company as ruthless as the Interastral Peace Cooperation to use such an underhanded tactic to force his hand into their favour. Refusing participation would result in his death, and therefore the death of any future potential geniuses brought on by his teachings. Refusing to participate would mean the disease of idiocy would run rampant without any hope of possibly curing it, any hope of greatness forming in masses across the Universe. None of this mattered, this document didn't matter, his thoughts on the project didn’t matter, so long as the IPC wanted him to participate, he would.
He *had* to.
Ratio had never felt so tired, the prospect of the Universe's future resting on his shoulders, a weight so overwhelming he hadn’t realized how much time had passed until his eyes shot open from misplaced panic, locking onto the analogue clock onto his desk that reminded him of just how late it had gotten, when had that happened?
He sits up in his chair, ignoring the pile of apples that has mysteriously appeared around him in favour of calling his secretary before his body decided to shut down for some undeserved sleep
The phone rings once, twice, three times, his eyes flutter shut for a moment, a tidal wave of sleep mulling over him, four-
“Margaret” he mumbles into the phone speaker, head lolling forwards with every wave of sleepiness that near floods him. He prays to Nous she answered the phone, he needs her to do her job as his secretary and help- “Marga- hhah.. Margaret, inform the Inter..asteral Peace Cooperation, that, I need to schedule a meeting with, whoever is in charge of that project. Their terms are fair, and-” Ratios words cut off with a loud yawn, the sound of his hand falling onto the desk coming through clearly on the phone
“..Consider it done, young Doctor, if I may offer some advice as your senior and secretary, please do consider transferring yourself to the couch in your office instead of your chair. While I would, and I am sure Madam Yabuli agrees with me on this, entirely prefer for you to return to your residence and sleep there, sleeping on your office couch is far better than that chair.” Margaret teases, worry evident in her tone. No matter how much the senior staff chastises her foolish ‘boss’, that boy never listens.
A groan comes as a response to her words, lethargic shuffling being her only clue that the doctor had even heard her words at all. After an uncomfortably long period of silence broken by shuffling, Ratio mumbles a goodnight into the phones speaker, before unceremoniously dropping said phone onto the ground
Margaret laughs softly, wishing the boy a good sleep before hanging up the phone.
(The meeting goes off without a hitch the next day, he glares at the sleaze laid over the couch across from him unashamedly. Aventurine, a clearly green haired slime of a man. Ratio sneers, no amount of teaching could save this excuse of a man from being a fumbling idiot, an irredeemable filth in society. That man informs him of nothing.)
(Ratio near growls at Aventurine, had his fate not been sealed by that damned envelope, he would never have considered further participation in this project.)
(The Stoneheart simply laughs at him, ‘a foolish child’ he mocks ‘If only you read the fine print! No wonder such a pitiful thing as you was denied by that genius society’)
Margaret enters his office unceremoniously, none of her usual smiles and charms entering with her. Ratio tilts his head slightly at the uncharacteristic entrance of his secretary, pausing his reading over the paperwork sent to him by the IPC to just, watch her. Watch how she near stumbled over her own feet while approaching him, watch how her usual smile had been replaced by a rare frown, a downwards tilt at the corners of her lips that *truly had no place being there at all*
“Margaret, I do not remember calling for you.” He voices, brows furrowing.
*What happened? What is wrong?*
“Madam Yabuli has informed me that I am to be transferred soon, I will no longer be your secretary after tomorrow.” She chokes out, hands shaking against each other in their typical, formal place hovering in front of his hips “Due to the project, it has no longer been deemed a requirement for you to have a secretary at all, and while it makes sense, considering you will no longer be present at the guild for the foreseeable future, it it still, somehow, a shock to me.”
*I am sorry*
Ratio stiffens, back straightening even more despite his near impeccable posture. He didn’t realize- an act of true idiocy on his part, to forget that key detail- that he would lose his most beloved secretary as a prerequisite for participation in the IPC’s project. He would lose his morning ‘coffee’, a kind hand reminding him to practice what he preaches and take care of himself, despite how much he longs to continue his research
“Ah- An, uhm..” He fumbles, hands wringing together atop his desk, he glared at his fingers, as if demanding for them to stop their damned fidgeting, stop making it so obvious he was hurt, stop- “An oversight, on my part, my deepest apologies Margaret. I do pray that Nous blesses you with a most respectable new paragon for you to preside over.” He mumbles, eyes never leaving his idiodic hands, why hadn’t-
“I hope this project is worth it, Veritas” Margaret whispers, her left hand lifting to ruffle the boy's hair, her usual affectionate smile returning to her features, just as it was meant to. He leans into her hand desperately, mind racing as fast as it could to memorize the feeling of her hand in his hair, how warm she was, how her nails felt scratching affectionately at his scalp, how-
She drops her hand, folding it over the other at her hips, gives him a short bow, and turns to leave. “When all is said and done, I do ask that you come and report your findings from this project to me, given neither of us will be killed from the sharing of information. It would be quite the pleasure to hear the good Doctor explain his personal findings.” Margaret smiles, exiting the office just as she had hundreds of times before.
His face falls, a burning building in the corners of his eyes in a pathetic display of weakness unbefitting for the teenager. How much of a fool I have been, to open that damned file-
A tear falls to the desk splashing out from the force of hitting the mahogany. The sight of the single drop of splashed out water tips of whatever bottle had been holding all the emotions he had built up a resistance to feeling. Unfamiliar pain overwhelmed him, forcing more tears to fall onto the wood, floodwater fueled by extreme loss breaking down every barrier he had built up since childhood
(Hours later, after the ever present exhaustion that should have been chased away with a poor excuse for coffee finally hits him after his cry-fest, Ratio finds the strength to move to his couch. Margaret will scold him if she finds him sleeping at his desk again-)
(He curls into himself, facing the back of the couch, and falls into an unpleasant slumber)
A knock at his office door rouses him from his sleep. Forcing his head to lift from the uncomfortable arm rest of his couch in response to the unfamiliar knocking. None of his students knocked in that pattern, opting for the typical ‘shave and a haircut’-’two bits’ as their divulgence into mediocrity and conformity. Madam Yabuli wouldn’t even consider knocking, as she only visited him for urgent matters-
“Veritas Ratio. The Interastral Peace Cooperation is here to retrieve you for the Project.” an uncomfortably familiar voice called out from behind the barrier. Ratio groans in response, clamouring over to his desk to unlock his office door remotely. The ‘guard’ strode in, an aura of belonging and superiority around them, despite their general appearance being the same as that of a regular grunt.
The door locks quickly behind them, Veritas’s harsh glare never letting up from the guard, even as they stood face to face. He recognizes that voice, that filthy, sleazy-
“Veritas Ratio, are you sufficiently prepared to participate in Project; Halovian?” Aventurine teases, hand reaching out to grab onto the scholar's arm. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. You have no choice but to come, so-”
“One moment, am I to bring anything with me?” He pulled away from the man, hatred blazing in his gut. Despite the mask covering that filths face he can tell the older man's expression is one of infuriating pity and taunting.
“No, you are to make your way to the designated transfer vehicle without fuss, or I am instructed to taser you into submission, which I am not opposed to, at all. I would much rather be able to taze such an insufferable child such as yourself.” Aventurine mocks, placing his hand across Ratios shoulder blades
Ratio grumbles in response, stepping around his desk to follow Aventurine, before hesitating, eyes catching on his mug, an object revered with nothing but love and care and gifted to him by an angel of a woman and-
Silently, when Aventurine begins to stalk towards the door, back turned to the young doctor, Veritas slides the mug under his sweater vest, ensuring it was hidden by the oversized clothing. He hugged his arms around himself, seemingly an act of self-soothing (He could feel the victory in that mans face, kicking the young doctor while he was already down), protecting that mug and making absolute sure it didn’t fall and shatter
For a single moment, he prayed to Nous that if he held onto the mug with enough thought and love he could be brought back in time to right before he had opened that damned file, forced himself to agree to participate in fear of being rendered incapable of curing idiocy. Before he had agreed to lose the only helping he had in life other than Madam Yabuli and the late Professor Rond
With that thought, he curls his arms around his middle a little tighter, a little more desperately, as he had just lost Yabuli as well.
Ratio follows the disguised Aventurine through the halls silently, categorizing everything he saw to look back on later, watching for any hint of what was to come from Aventurine. As always, the green haired Stoneheart gave off no hints towards what was happening
“..I am unsure if you specifically were informed” Ratio begins once they exit the Intelligentsia Guilds main headquarters lobby and walk towards the car park “But Margaret was meant to inform the heads of the project that my participation is to be waived if young children were included in the experiment with me, as it would be highly unethical, more so even if the child was unknowingly forced into participation by their parent or legal guardian.” He blurted out, arms remaining curled protectively over the hidden mug.
Aventurine stared at his hunched over figure once they reached the supposed transfer car, offering him a hand into the back of the vehicle. Ratio glared in response to the offered hand and stumbled his way into the van's back, seating himself comfortably in the bench-like chair.
“Furthermore, the participation of a young child is a quintessential example of abuse of authority, forcing somebody who cannot fathom the weight of genetic experimentation to participate is so undeniably not peaceful and almost inhumane it should be outside of the IPC’s realm of possibilities-” Ratio stated matter-of-factly, staring down at the slight bulge of the mug against his vest
“Yeah yeah kid, sure, no children will participate under those circumstances” Aventurine groans, muscular legs becoming visible in Ratios vision. He hears something glass get tapped, and stares worriedly at the hidden mug, worried that somehow it had tapped against his metal clips and now Aventurine knew and would take it away and-
“..Under-” His head whips up, nearly giving himself whiplash as the weight of the Stonehearts words register in his head
A few things happen at once
Veritas stands up in a rush, fear evident so painfully clearly on his face, his arms loosening from around the mug as he tried to take a defensive stance from the Stoneheart. Aventurines hand holding a syringe swings out and jams into his arm and holy high Nous does that hurt that's not how you’re supposed to insert a needle- he almost cries out but the overwhelming, agonizing wave of pain slams into him before he can even think of opening his mouth
He sobs in agony, a gurgling noise erupting from his throat as he stumbles forwards, body beginning to shut down in response to whatever drug that sleaze had injected into him. He falls into the Stonehearts chest, babbling pleads to please make it stop, it hurts, why does it hurt-
Veritas Ratio wakes up to the feeling of tiny hands prodding at his side, doing their absolute damndest to turn him over onto his side from however he’s currently positioned (on his stomach, he notes belatedly, he feels wood under his stomach). A migraine runs wild in his head, making him feel as though by some truly miraculous stroke of luck AHA THEMSELVES had decided it would be the funniest thing ever to fill his head with as many confetti poppers as in-humanly possible, made only worse as a deep voice suddenly calls out from nearby
“You little- Lan above kid, leave the guy be! He needs rest, for- Aeons above, I don’t even know why I try to speak to you, it’s not like you can even understand a hint of what I’m saying. It is truly unfortunate that some planets still do not have access to synesthesia beacons after all this time.”
Veritas groans in response, the pounding in his head only growing the longer the other man talked. He lifted a hand to massage his temples, shuddering when a sudden wave of nausea and pain overtakes his senses, forcing a pathetic cry from his throat
See? Damned Cloud Toad, look at what you did. The kids gone and woken up because of you, and he’s in pain. You have to apologize, Cloud Toad.” Another pair of significantly larger, more calloused and firmer hands join the pair prodding at his side, sliding under his stomach and lifting him up from the nice, cold wooden floors that were helping ever so slightly with the pounding headache-
The man holding Ratio turns him over gently so he can face upwards, and the scholar risks opening his eyes for just a fraction of a second, pleasantly surprised to be met with dimmed lights instead of the blindingly white ones he had expected. His headache softened slightly, allowing him to just barely scrape away at the first thought that comes to mind
“Whhuh-”
“Can you understand me?” The man responds, an arm held firmly around Ratios back
“..What in Nous’s name did that sleaze put in me” Ratio groaned, shutting his eyes firmly shut once more as his migraine worsened, pain coming in near debilitating waves.
He thinks he hears the other man respond, but his mind is swimming so agonizingly and he just wants to go back to his office, to his lab, to-
Ratio blacks out, returning to his blissful unawareness.