While in her bedroom somewhere in Fairview, Viper stares at Lyra's business card with a smirk plastered onto her face as she dials the number and calls. She has an idea that'll surely let her gain more information that'll forward the process of her investigation. The phone rings a few times before Lyra picks up, her voice maintains her usual very professional quality, "Hello, this is Admin Lyra, how can I help you?"
Viper smiles as she speaks "This is Viper, I was wondering if I could come in for a buisness conversation"
Lyra seems a little nervous upon realizing who she's speaking to. Regardless, she answers with the most slight quiver in her voice, "If you wish. Just come to Supernova Arcade and tell one of the bouncers you're here to see Admin Lyra. They'll let you in."
Viper nods and answers, "I'll see you soon." She then hangs up and starts getting ready to head to the arcade, throwing on a pair of platform boots and applying some of her signature pomegranate lipstick.
Walking into the city, Viper finds the usual arcade location with its line of people waiting to get inside. Outside, the arcade has adopted a more Seasonal decor with lights, wreathes and lit-up trees all around. The animated logo is about the same, but now included is a blurb about something called The Arrival of the Wish Giver to Fairview!!! coming soon on Christmas day. Alongside the announcement is a black silhouette vaguely in the shape of Santa Claus. Two black tuxedo-wearing bouncers, the tall muscular one and the smaller squat chubby one Viper remember from before, are standing guard and keeping an eye on the line of people.
It seems like something special is happening today considering the holiday themed outfits most everyone is wearing. An announcement is heard on the loudspeakers: "The Nova Heart Christmas Connection is beginning soon! Please have your tickets on your phone ready to scan." Cheers and raucous applause are heard from the guests waiting to enter.
Viper raises her eyebrows at all of the holiday stuff and sighs as she approaches the bouncers with a smug smile and says "I'm here to see Admin Lyra."
The shorter one stares at Viper for a moment before speaking into his earpiece. A couple minutes later, they both nod and open the door. Much like before, a swirling portal stands before Viper as the taller one says, "Please step inside. ADMIN Lyra is ready."
Viper nods while keeping her smug smile as she steps into the portal, much more prepared for the transition this time.
Upon stepping through, she finds herself in the same receptionist area as before. The waiting room is just the same as before. Comfortable chairs in a smaller room with an older white-haired woman typing away at a computer behind a frosted glass pane. Upon seeing Viper's entrance, she opens the pane and smiles, "Ah you're Lyra's 1pm. Welcome back Miss erm-- Viper was it?" Her name plate calls her Mrs. Gertrude Smith.
Viper nods as her smug smile relaxes to a more normal one, "Correct, should I just head to her office?"
Mrs. Smith nods, "Correct. ADMIN Lyra is waiting for you now." The door leading to her office is open.
Viper nods as she heads to Lyra's office and stands outside for a moment, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for what she's about to do. Then she enters. On entry, she sees Lyra attempting and seemingly struggling to relax at one of the lab tables, especially considering her next appointment was someone who threatened her. Upon seeing Viper, she takes a deep breath and begins, "What can I do for you today, Viper?" Her looks have changed slightly since the last time Viper's seen her. Instead of her previous naturally brown hair, her hair's now dyed jet black with cherry-red lipstick and light pink blush. A black suit and tie and her usual clean white labcoat complete her ensemble.
Viper adjusts her sleeves as she smirks, "Something tells me you aren't happy to see me again," she pauses then continues, "I need more information. I’ve squeezed as much out of you as possible, so I’m going to ask very nicely that you make me your second in command then retire.” A long dramatic breath is taken and her hands clasp together before looking at Lyra in the eyes, “As much as I’d love for you to be caught in the crossfire, my morals say I have to give you a chance to get away.”
Lyra has an extremely bored look on her face, the kind of look that says, 'are you serious right now?' but after a few moments of thinking things over she smirks slightly responding, "are you sure? Nova Heart isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Don't tell anyone this," she snaps her fingers which causes the sole security camera in the room to be disabled, "but I fucking hate it here! This job sucks. I got hired in as a chemical technician, and all they have me do is make drugs for them ala Breaking Bad. If you want my job, fine, please take it. If anything, this is an excuse for me to get the hell out of here. I'll do as you say." Lyra then smiles.
After listening to Lyra’s explanation, Viper shakes her head with a grin, "I don't plan on staying in your position for very long, I plan on climbing the ladder and getting as much information on these fucks as I can." She unclasps her hands and gestures, "go ahead and retire, just don't leak any information to the public that would be horrible…"
Lyra raises an eyebrow at Viper's intended plans and explains, "Ladder? For your information, Viper, we don't really have one of those here. ADMIN is the step right below LEADER except there's no way to rise up. If anything, what we have is 'trusted ADMIN' which means they get to work directly with Sirius and Antares, but an overthrow or even a method of becoming a LEADER is impossible. I'm prepared to retire and will do so with a smile on my face, but do note that this entire plan hinges on Sirius or Antares accepting your role as my subordinate." She pulls out her computer and begins to type up a rather formal email. "Until I have this task complete, please look around if you wish. If you have questions, I'll answer what I can."
The machine is still in the area, as is the other door with the plaque. Other doors that lead into the hallway are also seen, some lead to other rooms in the laboratory. Viper sighs defeatedly, but nods all the same, “Ah figures, but I’ll see what I can do.” She walks over to the machine and purposefully makes Stardust incorrectly. The machine screams with zany wacky sounds and with a bell ring, a tray of the black sooty useless byproduct is made. While the machine does its job, Viper realizes something strange about this machine. There are two hoses connected to this thing. One leads the input material into the wall, the other brings the output back. Oddly, none of these hoses are seemingly connected to the machine at all.
After collecting, Viper takes a whiff of the soot and it smells oddly of what a generic energy soda would taste like. It has that oddly bitter chemical tang to it. Lyra watches her and tilts her head, asking, “Ah, you’re making the Stardust antidote?” With a test tube of the stuff collected Viper responds confusedly, “wait, you knew this was the antidote this entire time?”
Lyra takes a deep breath before explaining. Her fingers do not stop click-clacking on her laptop's keyboard while speaking, "Well yeah. Fun fact, I created Stardust on complete accident. I was originally hired in to investigate chemical compounds only found in The Magickas, but when I placed the chemical mixture I showed you into that machine over there, it came out all gold and sparkly. It has a slightly sweet flavor, is actually pretty tasty on food, and causes instant drowsiness for Magical Souls. This drowsiness includes even those who don't or can’t sleep! Antares, that’s Spark, was so impressed with what I accidentally created that he had me only make Stardust. Thus why I’m perfectly content to leave and allow you to take my place. Just be forewarned that Stardust is highly addictive and can cause memory loss, among other issues, especially if your soul comes from The Magickas. If not, you’ll probably be okay? That
black stuff is what happens when you add a little too much of one or more ingredients; it’s also the antidote to the sparkly stuff because, of course, the way to combat an addictive illicit sleeping drug is to give people straight shots of caffeine. I swear The Magickas are a joke sometimes.” Lyra shakes her head in disapproval before looking over, “Alright, email sent. Hopefully Sirius understands where I’m coming from. I specified needing to take a break from Nova to take care of some business back home in Ohio, and to give my suboridinate - that’s you Viper - my Admin job temporarily, if not permanently. Thankfully, Sirius is the Leader that’s super kind to me. Antares is a cunt.”
Viper blinks several times at the machine then looks over at Lyra as she nods again, "Hopefully they understand and if they don't, then i'll come up with a different plan" then she gestures at the machine "From what I understand this machine only makes the bells and whistles, we aren't actually making anything."
Lyra stands up and goes over to where Viper's standing, "Eh? N-No, Antares told me this is where the magic happens. Literally. The chemicals we use to make Stardust are literal poison otherwise. I-- I don't understand." Viper demonstrates by making the Stardust while Lyra watches the specific process. Sure enough, the machine doesn’t seem to even do anything aside from the weird noises. "Wha-- what the hell? That's-- where the hell does it go? Hang on a second, I have a floor plan on my phone," Lyra replies with total confusion.
After a couple minutes of studying the floorplan of the part of Nova Tower they're in, she answers, "Uhm... that's-- the room leading into the wall is crossed out with a big red X. I don't even a see a door leading that way."
Viper looks over at the floor plan and raises an eyebrow as she summarizes, "So not only are we not producing the stardust but dangerous chemicals are being sent off to a room that's not on the floor plan" she looks at Lyra and shrugs "I could always go investigate that room while we wait for that email to come through"
"I mean if you can find a way in there, be my guest."
Viper thinks for a moment as she shrugs, studying the floorplan, "I mean there has to be a way in there, if there's some kind of machine in there it needs maintaining" she attempts to look around to see if she can spot where the tubes are going to see where the room is. Upon looking at the tubes, she notices they’re completely clear. Despite this, even looking through them carefully, Viper is unable to see any machines in the next room over. In fact, she doesn’t see anything other than a wooden door with a knob and what looks like something flying about obstructing her view.
Lyra gets a notification and returns to her laptop, "wow that was fast."
Viper smirks at the room then looks over at Lyra and asks, "Did you already get a response? What did they say?"
Lyra clears her throat and reads aloud, summarizing, "okay so it's from Sirius as expected, and it says-- one sec... Ah! Good news Viper, they're done with the Stardust pre-production phase. Considering I've spent the past two or three months making it, that makes sense. Annnnnnnd ah, okay, so they're okay with my role being relieved and moved onto my second in command which is you. They just want to speak to you personally before we move forward, if you're okay with that."
Viper listens to Lyra speak then thinks for a moment as she nods, "I'm good with speaking with them personally. I've done interviews before so it can't be that hard." She takes out her phone and realizes that she has incredible reception. A message is sent to #the-hangout-spot stating that information will be shared soon. "I'm assuming they wanna see me now?"
Lyra nods after typing her response, "Sirius be here momentarily, just hang tight."
After a few moments of waiting around, a firm double knock is heard at the door before a man dressed mostly in black enters the room. With pointed elflike ears, a black suit with a red tie, facial piercings all over him, and some easily seen tattoos on his left hand, SIrius has entered. His face looks a little strange though as if parts of his skin seem to not be fully connected to his face. It's weird, but he doesn't seem to notice or care in any case. With a somewhat raspy baritone voice, he speaks, "Ah you're this Viper woman Lyra has been telling me about, welcome to Nova Heart Incorporated. My name is Sirius, but others know me as Chandra or Alexander. You may call me either of those if you wish," He holds out a gloved hand to shake. In his other hand, a book of some sort is held.
Viper looks him up and down and listens as he introduces himself, she looks curious at the book he's holding then extends her hand and shakes his hand with a firm grip "Yes, I'm Viper, it's a pleasure to meet you"
"Likewise. So you wish to take over for Lyra here? It's fine by me, but we need to do a bit of housekeeping before we can finalize. Official work, otherwise Antares will throw a fit." He rolls his eyes while speaking of Antares. "Do you have an ADMIN name you would like to go by. Currently, as Nova Heart, our ADMINs are the names of constellations or specific stars. Do you have a favorite?" Despite his edgy looks, he is very polite in his demeanor.
He places the book on the lab table. It appears to be a novel, "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
Viper nods and snickers quietly at the mention of Antares throwing a fit, hearing that she'll need to pick a new admin name that goes with a constellation she thinks for a moment then answers, "Rasalhague" with a smile.
Chandra smile widens at Viper's choice, and with that, his passion for astronomy is shown, "Very interesting choice. 58th brightest star in the sky, name means "Head of the Snake Charmer", connected to the Greek God of health, Asclepius. I respect that a lot. Very fitting as well. Right, allow me to see here, ADMIN Rasalhague... would you like a tour of our facilities? Or would you like to be left alone and get to work. I do have a task for you."
Viper thinks for a moment as she smiles, "A tour would be nice" then asks "What task do you have for me to complete? Just so I know what to do at the end of the tour"
"Simply put, you're going to be working on something with a team of ADMINs for something we're doing early next year. We're in the middle of finalizing plans for this. I believe with your expertise in chemicals, you will be well-suited. For now, however, please follow me Viper." He stands up and holds the door open for Viper. It's another swirling blue and black portal.
Viper nods and heads through the portal, confidence in her stride. Upon stepping into the Portal, Viper finds herself in an elevator at the very base of Nova Tower. Considering the sheer amount of buttons for the floors in this place, it must be an extremely tall tower. Sirius presses the button for floor 20 as he speaks. The elevator rises up rather quickly though the gravitational force felt is gentle. "Welcome to Nova Heart. This is our headquarters for our Multiveilar corporation, one with plenty of variety for our many goals. Our biggest goal in this is to solve the many mysteries of our own World, while also working with our citizens and partners in other Worlds to assist in their tasks. At Nova Heart, we're family." And then under his breath but clear to Viper, "or at least that's what Spark keeps saying." Upon reaching the 20th floor, Viper sees one large office filled with people working on computers and talking with headsets. It's a rather plain room with cubicles much like one you'd see in The Office or similar. "This is our secretarial floor. It is a paradise for scribes and secretaries who process our information and speak to our partners. They are our front lines which gets information sent through the arteries to the different departments, simple and succinct."
Then he presses another button and the elevator goes up some more. A few floors higher and they arrive at what looks like a greenhouse. "This is our Agricultural center main branch. This where we do our main experimentation on plantlife on how to better grow crops so we can continue to live, please follow me."
Viper listens to him talk, absorbing as much information as humanly possible then nods as she waits for him to take the lead, she clearly wants to ask something but is waiting until the end of the tour
He is watching Viper's reactions while speaking. On realizing she's got something to ask, he asks, "did you have a question?" The tour continues to other parts of Nova. Stopping at many other floors to show Viper that Nova means business when it comes to actual business.
Viper nods as she asks "I noticed some tubes coming out of the stardust machine, where do they go?" hoping that he'll give her a straight answer
For the first time all tour, Chandra looks visibly nervous. "Ah, that. Right, allow me to show you. This is one of our newest projects." He presses a button to go to the 52nd floor. When the door opens, he leads Viper to a plain wooden door and opens it up. He exhales and faces Viper, a serious tone and stance shown, "I am only showing you this because you worked directly with our transmutation machine. If I find you've leaked our project, there will be problems. Do I make myself clear?"
Viper nods as she sounds serious "I would never leak something to the public, that's dangerous"
"This is one of our current experiments, one we've designed in house." He then steps aside. Upon walking in, Viper sees nothing but a glass wall with something imprisoned within it. It is a whirlwind made of some kind of dusty material. Somehow, the wind seems to take on a vaguely humanoid feminine shape that only Viper is able to see with golden eyes looking at her with an almost imperceptible sadness. "This here is one of our projects. It is our Transmutation Source, a rare type of Magical Ability that allows materials to transform into other materials."
The creature seems to stare at Viper as if trying to understand something about her. It otherwise does not move nor does it seem to be able to talk. As time passes, the humanoid shape dissipates as it returns to its whirlwind shape blasting its dust and sand against the wall.
"As I stated, you are not to leak this information. There will be consequences if you do so, understand?"
Viper looks slightly confused as the creature stares at her then looks back at him and nods "Of course, my lips are sealed"
He stares at Viper for a few moments before returning to the elevator. "With that, this ends the tour. I'm willing to place my trust in you here. If you show me I can trust you, I may be able to grant you more perks. Do you have any other questions for me Viper?"
Viper shakes her head, "I have no questions for you" she then smiles at him "I'll prove that you can trust me, i'm very loyal"
Chandra nods, "Right. Let's head back to the lab. I think this will be all for tonight." He seems rather tired. He opens a portal back to the laboratory where Lyra continues to sit after removing all of her personal effects. With a small smile, she waves, “Ah welcome back you two. Did you have a nice time?” Chandra nods, “yes, Rasalhague here will work quite well.”
Viper nods as she smiles "I wish you luck in your ventures, you were a good boss"
Lyra smiles, "thank you, and you were an incredible assistant. You can call me anytime if you ever need to chat, my number is the same as before. It was nice meeting you Viper and best of luck in your endeavors." She then bows gently and walks out the door.
"Right, as you are now employed by us, here you go." He hands Viper a keycard for Nova Heart. "If you head to the back of the arcade, there will be an employee's entrance. Just swipe the card when you go back there into the card slot and it'll open a portal to your destination. You may begin your work whenever you wish. Perks are largely the same as your previous position, though salary is a bit higher to compensate for the more challenging work. If you ever have questions, please feel free to contact me. My number is on the back of the card. I am your supervisor after all." Again under his breath he says, "because Spark sure as fuck won't."
Viper pockets the keycard and nods then asks under her breath "Spark doesn't seem to be your favorite person?"
Sirius smirks and chuckles, "Am I really that transparent?" Sirius then sighs and sits in a chair, looking down and seeming tired, "Spark came to me asking to lead this with him and his daughter. His daughter ran away when they found out it was going to be another cult and asked my sister for help to fight against us, and now... even I'm starting to see why. I still hate my sister, but even I can see why she does the things she does. I feel we're doing something good, but the way he runs this place..” He turns his head to the side to breathe a heavy sigh, “It’s a goddamn waste of our time for the sake of power."
Viper nods as she asks "You're one of the leaders aren't you? Couldn't you raise hell about him? He can't get anything done if his workers aren't working"
Sirius exhales and nods, his voice rather growly from anger alone, "I wish. Raise hell would only cause us problems. He overpowers me in Magical Ability alone, and I doubt if I had to fight him I would survive. With my death, there will be no way to stop him. In a genuinely fucked-up sense, my existence is the reason why Capital City largely still has free-will. That is why I am a leader, to provide the most miniscule amount of checks and balances and to hope to salvage what I can of Nova Heart. Understand?"
Viper listens and sighs as she nods "Right, i'll do my best to make your job as easy as I can"
"Thank you. I had better get back to work. I hope you have a pleasant evening Rasalhague." Chandra then walks out of the lab.
Viper smiles at him then walks through the newly opened portal to leave. She finds herself behind the arcade right by the employee’s entrance. Just as was described by Sirius, a card reader is indeed where he said it would be. Viper takes note of the area so she can return to it, she quickly heads back home to report the news.