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With everyone seeming to be jumping on the “We’re so ~/~” train, Lykas had little else to say for the moment, simply listening and waiting for Arcus to come back from his venture through the air ducts. He’d find just that not too long afterward.

~~~

Arcus watched Ulla from the vent as she looked around the room for a while, trying to stay hidden and look from his iding place for any signs of the sickle he was sent to find. Ulla would, eventually, find it and seemed to recover it without too much trouble. With the girl attempting to avoid being spotted, successfully, it would seem, as her white Zorua hopped into a damaged vent nearby. Arcus back tracked a bit to find where the vent branched around the room and quickly made his way to the Zorua, retrieving Wraith Harvest at last.

“Cas cast forcas!” He thanked, quickly grabbing the mid-sized blade with his nubs and floating off back toward the STR. It would only take a few minutes to find his way back the way he’d come, gaining Lykas’ attention relatively easily. “For form!” He called out, waving the Artifact about from within the vent.

“He found it!” The hybrid practically shouted at that point, rushing over to the wall and trying to figure out how to prise the vent cover off. Unfortunately, with the suppression collar on, he was physically weaker than normal and he wasn’t exactly a hybrid known for physical strength to begin with. “Deo!” He called out to the local oversize catboy. “Think you can pull this vent cover off?” He’d ask of the Luxray hybrid, pointing to the vent Nacrearcus was sitting on the other side of.

~~~

With he only peron who seemed to have any interest in their offer of passing the time, Clare made a decision. They were the least dangerous hybrid in the team and as as result, the least useful to the team as a whole. “Spectra… If this goes horribly wong, Sub will make sure someone takes care of you for me.” They told the Glimmet floating before them. “I want you to practice using Acid Spray a bit. I need you to focus the spray as narrowly as possible because you’re going to try getting this thing off me.” They told the Poison-type, pointing to the collar around their neck.

‘Glim glim?” The stone flower chimed out, confused. What could go wrong with removing a collar? Regrdless, she found a spot nearby where no one was going to be at risk of being struck and did as told, practicing firing her highly corrosive acid in a fine mist that she proceeded to practice narrowing the stream of over and over again, trying to get the stream focused thin enough to hit only the collar she’d been shown.

“If they decide to execute someone for this, I’ll be missed the least, I think. But the others will know if they’re serious about these things being able to kill and if they aren’t, maybe we can do something about trying to get out of this mess? It’s extremely doubtful they’d take us all out at once for a single infraction. They’ll want to prove a point and make an example of the troublemaker, I’m sure, if they are.” Clare decided to themself aloud, though they were speaking quietly so whether anyone caught onto their intention or not was up for debate. Spectra was focused on the training she’d been assigned and certainly didn’t catch the commentary.

Noting that he had dodged the question, Aile sighed and stood up, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Fine. You. in the Expansion Suit.” She’d point to Essentia as she got to the door. “Do you know if they got rid of the Hypnosis protocol on that thing? I’m just curious about what would happen if you might go out of line for what your superiors expect. Enjoy being le cul d'Interpol, though.” With that, she would take her leave, mentally cursing in two different languages. Between whatever they were trying to find and now about to lose Regirock(not like she could grab it anyways right now), she really felt like in a no win situation. “Arceus, just smite us all and get it over with,” she growled quietly, running her right hand through her hair.

Reno would take a moment to consider. Geological maps? Topological maps and seismic data? They were trying to track something underground, something that it seemed like had survived from Cipher given the location. And something that warranted a powerhouse but not a mob of powerful people. But it still wasn't enough to draw a complete conclusion, even if there were a few ideas he had. "Eh, it might be even easier to connect that sort of stuff if it is thin metal strands. Make it easier to weave it in and have it hold there." Reno said, giving a small nod. Taking a moment before he went to the slightly more pointed subject, he added, "I can get that. Especially when what substituted for it doesn't fully match what you remember it being like before." Giving a small flex with his prosthetic hand, his expression would suddenly drop. "Ah man. Looks like its my turn. I'll see if I can scam my way back in, try and give you some more company. Be back soon."

He didn't have time to linger for an answer, the shove from Type: Null making sure that Reno was speedy in his ejection from Crystal's mind. Giving a pat on Harleen's head as she kept her position on his shoulder, he would fall into line behind the strange entity that he only knew as WHITE.

Sliding into the seat opposite Sub's desk, he would offer a smile to Looker. "While I'm sure you have it noted down in your notebook there if you know all that about my history, I joined shortly before the parade incident with Io. But, as you said, could rightfully be called a member from my youth due to my interactions with Sub." Giving a pause as he examined the quartet of people in the room, Reno's eyebrow would raise in response. "I will say, your team here is just as interesting. One former Cipher administrator, the last vestiges of Lysandre's research, that unique specimen over there you call WHITE, and the foremost investigator of Interpol. What could bring an equally unique group of individuals together?"

As much as he wanted to bite and go into more detail, Reno couldn't. He needed to keep himself in the investigative mindset for this one. And that also meant that, even though he had Harleen openly out, he wouldn't be using his telepathy for this yet. Especially not when they likely had some of their own countermeasures. But he was keeping an eye on the lights, seeing where the shadows might land.

Lu gave a nod when Clare asked if she wanted to do a bit of training. "My trainer asked me to help you train," she said. "And I do not like sitting with nothing to do, so this will be good practice." Much like Brian, she wanted to help out where she could. She looked at Spectra and took a ready stance across from the Glimmet, ready to dodge and aid with the training.

Sol was quiet as Aile was called out for interrogation, listening and watching the others up to Lykas' snapping after the defeatist remarks from Deo. "I agree that you're giving up the ghost much too quickly, even given this situation," he chimed in as he looked towards the two. "But... I'll also add these collars are suppressing us in a way that's surely customized to the wearer. The payload in mine's been giving a cooled feeling ever since it was put on, as if water's on the verge of flooding my very being. I'd imagine there's different feelings in the others', but the overall effect and intent is the same. I know a lot of you want to find some way out, get the collars off, maybe even pull some daring escape."

He'd look down after that, knowing what he said next wouldn't be the answer no one still in the STR wanted to hear. "It'd take all of a couple seconds for the payloads to be discharged as soon as they grew wise of our actions, and that's if they aren't already designed to as an anti-tamper mechanism. So I'd heavily advise against giving them reasons to employ it."

The flash of pink in the corner of her eye would be the first thing to throw her off, Crystal whipping her head around to see the mist. The winds in her mind would immediately pick up, throwing her braid around as every part of her wanted to run. Reno? He was a friend, she didn't mind. How easily he got in was a concern, but he was at least friendly. This, though... She recalled the World Tournament, and well... what happened there to lose her first body. Seeing this pink mist, she felt, did note bode well.

It just stayed there, though. It didn't get aggressive toward her, just... lingered. The winds would begin to die down somewhat, and that's when she heard.. something. It was muffled, like someone had put a pillow or some sort of heavy cloth over them. But something was trying to be said. The hybrid sighed heavily, bouncing back and forth between what to do. The more it stayed, the less she felt like this might be tied to the Ziton. She still couldn't be certain, but at least the idea didn't feel as strong as when she first saw it. Finally, the curiosity would win out as she began thinking of ways to make the message clearer. "... Would that work? This is supposed to be... Eh, let's see how this goes."

Taking a deep breath, the compass rose on her forehead would begin to glow gently as her attention would be focused on the mist. She wanted some sort of face to talk to, and maybe having the components to allow normal speech, that might help? So, she was trying to form it into some sort of head. She'd allow for some control of the features to this new invader, but overall, there was going to be a head. With eyes. And a mouth for speaking. She wasn't just going to look at a talking mouth, she didn't want to go more insane than she possibly already was.

Reno would blink a few times as his jaw slackened, attempting to catch up on the questions he had been asked. Was....this their best play? "I thought you were supposed to hit me with some biting question after your swerve reveal of knowing my history. Not just...ask did I know a dead woman. Are you sure this is pulling out all the stops?" Letting the incredulous statement hang in the air for a moment, Reno decided that now was his opportunity to at least try taking a look. He wouldn't dare try to look into Looker's mind, one less than Stellar inquiry did not a weak mind make. Essentia was off the table of that suit had half the technology Reno assumed it to. Kess would be liable to have her own mental defenses. All that left was Mister WHITE. So, as he continued speaking, the slow effort to try and get a small read on the entity's mind would begin.

"For an actual answer, we captured Io for a time. She escaped. Next time we saw her, the Stone Society was using her corpse as a literal puppet. Although, she possibly made an appearance in the Viridian City Gym after that, but that was most likely an imposter." Okay, he had let slightly more slip than intended buy this was still well on track. "As for the Deoxys...all I know is that it was stopped and was at least temporarily imprisoned. Where it is now, I have no concrete idea." He said, giving a small shrug. He coupons let them keep this conversation fully in their court though. He had to try and keep this at least feeling like a decent back-and-forth. "So why did Snagem warrant the most attention out of all of this? We're officially sanctioned by the Indigo Alliance for our work. I thought a team of this calibre would be more focused on the proven bad like whoever it is that managed to smuggle Cipher equipment into Paldea? Or at the very least someone without as easily determined a moral compass like S-22?"

---

The mist would take a minute to respond to Crystal's will, slowly beginning to coalesce into the general shape of a head. While the eyes and mouth would be quick to form, the head seemed to be resistant to gaining any more distinct features and was only slowly trying to gain any semblance of personhood. However, this didn't stop the mouth from starting to work. "...so you do your best to use similar symbology for any weaknesses unique to the guardians? Interesting. And then...oh. Hello there, miss. May I ask where exactly I am? While I might be a little fuzzy on where I just was, I do know that it was not beachfront property." The head said, the voice seeming to be trying to find itself just as much as the facial features in this situation.