Viper is stitting on the edge of her bed. There are clothes all over the floor with empty water bottles sitting on her dresser she looks at the business card in her hand. While debating on calling it, she idly kicks away a sock on her floor, then pulls her cellphone out and calls the number with a curious expression.
It rings for a few moments before someone picks up. Viper will remember this voice belonging to ADMIN Lyra, the professional businesswoman they spoke to outside of the arcade. Her voice sounds nearly the same, though a tired quality seems to come through, “ADMIN Lyra speaking, how may I help you?”
Viper straightens her posture as she clears her throat and responds, "This is Viper, i was calling to see if you still needed a chemists help."
She hears some glass breaking in the background and a defeated sigh from Lyra, "Viper huh? Well seeing how my most recent recruit just... broke all of my test tubes, perhaps we might be able to work together. What are your qualifications, Ms. Stryker?"
Viper holds back a snicker as she sighs, "I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Arizona State University."
Lyra pauses in thought as Viper hears a somewhat panicked typing on a keyboard. She goes 'hmm and huh and huh?' and similar while someone in the background seems to be sweeping up some glass, "Huh. Interesting. Interesting... okay so you have experience, you have knowledge, very interesting." Her tone seems to lose some of its professional quality and a more casual tone follows, "so what's your specialty. Do you prefer working with synthetic or organic chemicals? Or if both, that’s fine!"
Viper seems to think for a moment then shrugs as she crosses her legs, "I'd be fine with either way, my expertise is in synthetic chemicals though"
Viper hears in the background muffled talking as if Lyra had put her hand over the speaker. The muffled sounds of shuffling footsteps, shouting, and then someone slamming the door shut is barely audible. A few moments later, Lyra returns to the phone in her previously professional tone, but the passion and excitement is retained, "Oh that is wonderful to hear. We do have a vacancy for a new chemical technician. Would you like to come by sometime soon to see what we have to offer? Perhaps we can strike up a deal together."
Viper blinks for a couple moments as she listens to the muffled shouting then responds, "Sure, what day would you be open for me to stop by?"
Lyra seems to calm down significantly, "Anyday you'd like. What works best for you?"
Viper thinks for a moment as she mentions, "Let me check my calender" she pauses for several moments and pretends to be checking her calendar then hums as she mentions, "Next weekend perhaps?"
She hears the sound of Lyra scribbling something down, "Sounds wonderful. When you arrive at Supernova, please let the bouncer at the door you're here to see an ADMIN Lyra. I'll be right out afterwards. It was a pleasure speaking to you, and I hope our partnership can continue from there. Do you have any other questions for me before I go clean up his mess?"
Viper seems surpised as she listens then nods as she responds, "Nope, i'll see you then"
"Have a good day."
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A week later, Supernova Arcade is looking way more calm than the last time Viper saw it. It's still got its animated logo with all of the space theming, the parking lot is lot less crowded though cars are still coming in and out. People are standing outside of the place in line waiting to get inside while two large burly bouncers wearing black suits and sunglasses are keeping order. Many of the patrons are wearing alt or gothic inspired clothing, lots of black, red, and neons, with very dark makeup. Wild colors of all kinds to show off their individuality and their non-conforming attitudes.
Piped outside is what sounds like a mix of My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, and similar punk-alt songs. They're all songs Viper might recognize mixed with a couple that she probably won't due to the house band, The Lunartics, not being from this World. In a sense, Supernova Arcade and its Guild is the very epitome of early 2000s "It's not a phase mom" attitude.
Viper rolls her eyes as she adjusts her business suit and tie, slightly worried that her plan might completely fail as she walks to the back of the line and waits.
The line isn't moving. A few of the patrons look over at her in confusion and one speaks up, a woman with black and red hair and piercings, "whoa, a normie in our midst. I think you might be better off leaving or else you might be terrified!" The woman giggles in a faux-threatening manner, though it seem to be for jokes instead of actual threat.
Viper slightly raises her eyebrows and sighs, "I'm not here for the club, has this line even moved in the past hour?"
The woman sighs, "my bad. No, the line hasn't moved in the past two hours. We just wanna get in there and have some fun, but no, the fucking sun has to be out and frankly I fuckin hate it! Could you talk to the bouncers and see what's the hold up? Sorry for calling ya a Normie." Viper can tell that a LOT of the people in line here are seemingly getting restless and some are overheated due to their black clothes, makeup, and general costuming not being exactly suitable for being in the sun. Many of them have pale skin which also seem to suggest that they don't get a lot of sun regularly.
Viper nods as she responds, "I'll go check with the bouncers, hopefully I can get the line moving" she quickly leaves the line and starts briskly walking up to the bouncers.
One of the bouncers, a very heavyset 6'5" bald male with an earpiece and pitch black FBI-style sunglasses, looks down on Viper. Similar to that of a royal guard, he does not smile or even show emotion as he says, "can I help you Madam?"
Viper stares up at the man as she folds her arms, "Why isn't the line moving at all? Some of these people have been standing here for 2 hours" she shows the same emotionless stare, as if she's dealing with someone below her.
The man continues in the same emotionless voice, "We are waiting for someone to arrive. According to our ADMIN Lyra, they have first priority. Do you know of a Viper Stryker?"
The crowd is getting angry. Viper hears people yelling and screaming lines like "LET US IN FUCKFACE!” and “CONFORMIST PRICK!” and also “CUEBALL CUNT!" and others. As the yelling goes on. It only gets more and more slurry from there.
Viper raises her eyebrows and sounds incredibly annoyed, "I'm sorry you've been making people wait just for my arrival? Good fucking god!" She pulls out her state ID and shows it to the bouncer.
The bouncer glances at it and speaks into his Nova Heart insignia pin. The doors open as the two bouncers step in front. The skinnier, shorter, and seemingly military-trained man with a brown buzz cut acknowledges her, "Welcome to Nova Heart, Ms. Stryker," as the two open the door simultaneously.
Upon opening, instead of a vibrant arcade, a swirling mass of blues and blacks is seen. The skinnier man mentions, "please step into the portal. You will be taken directly to Lyra." Viper takes a breath and enters the portal with a hint of nervousness
Viper doesn't even realize anything happened because the moment she stepped into the murky black and blue swirl, she finds herself in a waiting room where "Admin Lyra" makes her office. A few rather basic chairs are aligned against the wall and a TV showing some facts about Nova Heart are playing on loop. The receptionist, an older looking woman maybe in her 60s calls out to Viper, "are you here for Lyra's appointment?"
Viper looks around and glares at the TV then looks over at the receptionist and nods.
The receptionist nods back with a pleasant smile, "She'll be out shortly. It's always nice to see new faces in these parts." Then the window is closed.
The TV has some general facts that Viper's probably heard before like how Nova is the culmination of both the Sun and the Moon's years apart, how Nova is now one of the biggest corporations in the world, and its business goal for their family to help other families coexist. Then the video loops, showing something rather odd. It shows the globe, which looks just like a normal Earth, but then it zooms in. As the planet's terrain becomes more clear, Viper notices a distinct lack of continents. No Americas, no Europe, Africa, Asia, or even the Poles. The video shows a single ocean surrounded massive land mass with an incredibly dense forest surrounding a single city. As it continues to zoom in, the features of the city become more clear and especially the tall skyscraper that Nova Heart is apparently housed in.
While the opening parts play, an AI-generated voiceover begins to speak, one that is reminiscent of tiktok videos. “The Magickas, our world. One corporation for everyone, designed from the bottom up to help everyone and everything. Our name? Nova Heart Incorporated! Our destiny? Our family. Family helping family, everyone working together! At NOVA HEART, We--”
ADMIN Lyra peeks her head out the door and then smiles towards Viper, "Ah miss Stryker. Welcome to Nova, are you ready to talk business?"
Viper takes note of the facts being displayed on the TV then looks over at Lyra as she nods, "I came dressed to talk business" she smiles as she starts walking over to the door.
Lyra holds the door open to her office, "So you have. Please come in and make yourself at home. Can I get you some coffee, soda, or water?"
Viper notices that her office is pretty ordinary. It’s a medium sized room with a computer system, a rather basic desk, two comfortable looking chairs in front and some soft-sounding jazz coming from the speakers. Behind the desk is a door to another room that has the words "Nova Heart Labs" on a plaque. Over in another corner, a coffee maker and a mini-fridge with cans of beverages are easily found. There aren't any photos of anyone on the desk or on the walls, but some kind of official certificate can be seen.
Viper smiles as she responds, "Water is fine" she glances around the office, subtly grimacing at the Nova Heart labs plaque then tries to get a peek at the official certificate as curiosity fills her face. While Lyra has her back turned, Viper can easily see it's a masters degree in Biochemistry from Case Western University. Strange, considering what Viper learned only moments ago. Lyra returns to her desk and hands Viper a glass of water. "So what would you like to know?" Lyra asks while sitting in her own chair behind the desk.
Viper notes the masters degree as she glances back at Lyra with a smile, "What kind of chemicals would I be working with? Ya'know just so I know what I'm getting into?"
Lyra takes a breath and begins to explain Viper's task, "It's nothing too difficult, but our current task from our higher ups is to continue the creation of Stardust, a chemical mixture of various ingredients you'll see when you head inside the lab. It's genuinely a very easy task, but it does require some care. We're doing some experiments on some subjects currently in other departments, and Leader Antares wishes to see how they react to the Dust themselves. It may be nothing more than a soporific to most, and to some, a party drug, but to some subjects, they react rather strangely. We want to solve why this is. The chemicals you will be working with, if you so choose to continue, are all synthetic, ones we've created here in The Magickas. "
Her tone becomes a LOT more casual at this point, and Viper can see some excitement in Lyra's eyes, uncommon though striking, "Complete this task in a timely manner and you may be able to rank up and see what else we have going on here. We have lots of different departments all designed to solve the mysteries we have here.”
Viper listens intently as she nods, "I can start working on it right away. I'm assuming you'll be providing the needed ingredients to make it?" If she wasn't sitting in front of Lyra right now she'd be grinning ear to ear from being given a chance to reverse engineer their product.
Lyra nods, "You are correct. All of the ingredients and their required measurements are in the lab. In a sense, all you have to do is follow the recipe, but just be aware that a lot of the measurements need to be exact or nearly exact, otherwise you might uh. Have some problems on your hands, if you catch my drift." She then gets up, hands Viper a labcoat with Nova's insignia on it, puts one on herself, and heads to the door, "please, allow me to show you around. Our laboratory is right over here." She then walks inside.
Viper puts on the lab coat over top her business suit, "I'd like to have some idea of what could happen if the measurements are off, just in case" she adjusts the lab coat slightly
"I'll show you." The pair walk into the laboratory where a ton of chemicals one could want to try mixing together are available. Cameras watch over the lab intently. "Right, you asked what happens when you mess up. Allow me to show you, it's pretty foolproof."
She shows Viper a recipe for Stardust on one of the computer monitors. The recipe seems easy enough, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, heat some of Ingredient X, process some of Y. Measure some amount of Z and mix it in carefully. With her chemist mind, Viper notices a LOT of the ingredients are familiar, some contained in common cleaning products and the like. What isn't familiar is the machine. It's like if a centrifuge and a bunsen burner had a baby with a vacuum cleaner. So many hoses and noises come out of it.
Lyra shows Viper the instructions but decides to put a bit more of a couple ingredients into the centrifuge machine. "Right, so this is what happens if you mess up the directions." After a couple moments and a ding from the strange machine, a tray pops out and a black sooty matter is created instead. It smells familiar to Viper. "Yeah that's gross. If that happens, and don't worry if it does; it's not my money you're wasting, just toss it into the bin over there."
Viper takes note of the directions closely and raises an eyebrow at the ingredients and keeps it raised at the black soot as she leans her head slightly closer to sniff it, "Mhm..." curious as to why it smells so familiar to her (edited)
It smells like the original flavor of Monster energy. It probably doesn't smell bad to Viper but to Lyra, she's covering up her nose. Lyra mutters, "ugh i hate that smell," and dumps the soot into the clearly marked biohazard bin.
"So yeah, that's your task. Shouldn't be too hard, right?" She shows Viper the directions again and this time, the shiny gold cotton candy scented sprinkles pop out. "And that's Stardust."
Viper shrugs as she mutters, "Doesn't smell bad to me" she then looks over at the directions and nods as she looks at the sprinkles "Got it, it doesn't seem that hard"
"Okay, I'll leave you to it then. If you have any questions, please feel free to knock on my door. And when you're done with your shift, let me know and I'll send you back as well."
Viper sees three doors leading to other rooms connected to the lab. One is Admin Lyra, another is Storage, and the other one has a plaque that's been crossed out so many times that it's nearly impossible to read. Lyra heads back.
Viper waits for Lyra to head out of the room then decides to head over to the plaque that's been crossed out and see if there's anyway to recover it. Upon further inspection, Viper notices it's a metal plaque with letters embossed into it. She could potentially trace out the letters with a finger, or she could find some kind of solvent to clean off the sharpie. The security cameras in the room continue to survey and watch.
Viper eyes the cameras and decides to try her best to face away from them and trace out the letters with her finger. The cameras aren't following her movements, so she's able to get into a blindspot pretty easily. While tracing the letters, she reads the following phrase, "S o u l - R e s e a r c h". She raises an eyebrow at it then puts the plaque back and to avoid further suspicion she starts working on making the stardust, taking note of each chemical that's used in order to make an antidote. While trying to figure out the antidote, Viper begins to realize that the Stardust is basically a very strong sedative; one that can cause certain people to sleep by just inhaling it. Oddly even though Viper's nearby it, she's not affected by it at all. It just smells overwhelmingly sweet. Perhaps a different kind of scent could counterract it? She remembers the black soot smelling like Monster and as she knows all too well, Monster is heavy with caffeine.
Viper smiles as she realizes the antidote, continuing to work and make Stardust to avoid any suspicion. She makes quite a bit without any issues. It's a very simple process, one that even someone completely uneducated in chemistry could do without fail. In terms of work, this is akin to a McDonalds job. Yes you have to do some work to put the burgers together, but they portion control nearly everything perfectly so that even the stupidest person ever can perform their tasks.
After about an hour of this job, someone knocks on the door leading from the old Soul Research lab and calls out, "Anyone there? Oh! Uh hi." Viper might recognize her as the lead singer of the Lunartics, Ashley Andromeda. She wears a very business casual vest and sweater combo, dark brown slacks, and brown shoes. On her ears, a strange pair of earrings that look like small gold-plated lilypads can be seen. She walks over to Viper and watches her cook, "Are you the new hire?"
Viper sighs as she works, realizing how unchallenging this work is then looks over at Ashley and nods, "I am, is there something you need help with?"
Ashley smiles gently and speaks, "No, but I did want to thank you for accepting this job. You'd be shocked to know how hard it is to find someone who's immune to the effects of the Dust. We had to find someone from the non-Magical community. Even as I stand over here watching, I feel myself becoming woozy.. so uh I'm gonna let you continue. Do you have any questions for me before I go? I recognize the existence of other worlds could be startling." Ashley puts on a respirator.
Viper thinks for a moment then asks, "Is there a reason why they are making this? Aside from any food reasons of course" she notes the respirator
Ashley nods and Viper sees a wildly passionate side to the otherwise quiet and nerdy woman, "Yes there is. We've been trying to understand more about Creatures of Legend, which are mythical monsters that align to concepts, like weather and dreams and more! One of our current experiments is the effects sleep has on them. You see, very few CoLs sleep. Many automatically regenerate their mana, i.e. their life force and energy, through activity alone. So we want to see how they act while asleep. Our research has been rather fruitful. Those who are affected by our Stardust in a certain way may be connected to the Creatures. If they lose their memory, 9 times out of 10, they’re either a Shard holder from Magickas or a CoL themselves!!"
Viper nods but still seems curious as she asks, "Why do you need so much of it though? It seems kinda potent as it is, and i'm sure if this fell into the wrong hands it could cause some serious damage" she gestures at the gas mask
Ashley seems to calm down greatly and blushes out of embarrassment, "wha-- uhm. That's not a question for me unfortunately. I agree with your assessment, that perhaps this much is too much. That is a question for our leaders, Sirius and Antares. This was at their request. As for the gas mask, I am affected by the Dust myself. It is due to both my soul from this World and my relation to the Creatures."
Viper narrows her eyes as she asks, "And I'm assuming none of the admins are informed of why it's being made in such quantity and potency?" her curiosity turns into suspicion.
Ashley winces a bit from the narrowing, "uh, there might be one that could answer that. If my knowledge is correct, you've already spoken to them. Lyra should know why, as she is the ADMIN of Laboratory Research, but I doubt she'll just tell a Grunt, i.e. what they call the non-admin, non-leader, non-cultists."
Viper nods as she relaxes her eyes, "Better to ask than not ask at all" she shrugs as she smiles at Ashley, there's a hint malicious intent behind her smile
Ashley smiles back, "Good luck. I better get back to my band, we're practicing for something coming up in the next few weeks." She then walks back out through the door she entered.
Viper continues to work for a couple more minutes then diverts from making the stardust into making a batch of solvent. She's able to do that no problem. There's enough random chemicals in the laboratory to do so. The cameras continue to watch the room. Viper now has SOLVENT!
Viper takes the solvent as she starts making her way back to Lyra's office, her stride looks calm. Upon re-entering, Lyra who's lounging around with her shoes atop her desk and reading her newspaper, looks over. "Oh hey, how was your first day?" Viper closes the door behind her as she stares into Lyra's eyes with the solvent in her hand, "It was good, i just have a couple questions" she steps close to Lyra's desk to make sure she could splash the solvent on her if needed, "Why do we need so much Stardust? And why is it so potent?"
Lyra stares back and sniffs the air, ignoring the question, "What do you got there Miss Stryker? Smells... ugh, I hate that smell." Viper notices a camera is blinking red and is pointed directly at her, almost as if it were recording her and her actions.
Viper continues staring into Lyra's eyes as she responds, "Solvent! Answer my questions or you won't have functioning eyes for very long" her stare has turned into a glare.
Lyra audibly gulps and the fumes coming from the cup of solvent are making her dizzy, "uhm.. don't do anything drastic. Uhh i was told to make a huge batch for something coming up by Leader Sirius.. it's uh. Meant to be for a.... Biological weapon." She's beginning to hyperventilate from stress alone, the solvent is only making things worse. "I don't have all of the details I just know it's a weapon to target certain CoLs."
Viper continues staring as she asks, "Do you know which specific CoLs? And if you don't, do you know of any plans to use the weapon for anything else? Remember, your vision is on the line" she doesn't seem shaken by the fumes of the solvent, either because she's been exposed to it enough or because she's masking it
Lyra looks back. Her eyes are tearing up and are wide, "uh.. I do. Numbers 69 and 44. I don't know the identities of them. I just know it's like a chemical weapon. I don't have details on anything past this." Lyra looks completely broken from stress, fumes, and genuine fear.
Viper lessens her glare, "That's exactly what i wanted to know" she then points at the camera, "I'm going to assume you have access to that camera, you are going to erase that footage and show me that you did or," she swirls the solvent around in the measuring cup, producing more fumes, "you'll get to know all about my degree in chemistry!"
Her voice sounds completely broken, "...fine." Lyra spins her monitor around to show the security footage of Viper entering Supernova, entering the lab, and threatening, and deletes it all. There is a flashing red button that Viper can see under her desk, but to save her eyes, she does not press it. "Are you happy? Go!"
Viper smiles with malicious intent, "Very" she leaves the room with the solvent and starts looking for an exit
Viper leaves her office and back into reception. The older woman receptionist notices Viper and smiles warmly, "oh hello madam, are you leaving us so soon?"
Viper looks over at the receptionist as she nods, "Unfortunately, though I wouldn't worry...I'll be back eventually" she smiles and heads through the door. With the events behind her, Viper exits through the front door of the arcade much to the confusion to some of the guests also heading in and out, "Whoa where did she come from?"
The bouncers nod towards Viper and the skinnier one from before asks, "did you have a pleasant time?" The beefier one looks at the cup she's holding, "And what is this?”
Viper smiles at the two of them, "I had a wonderful time, and you could say I got to take home a souvenir" she starts walking away from the arcade with a large smile as she pulls out her phone. They just look at each other in confusion. Viper continues walking then drops the measuring cup directly into the street and keeps walking while muttering "Morons."