Chapter 7 - After Hours Cleaning
Arc walks down the corridor as he pushes the janitor’s cart. Cherry calls out to him.
“This was certainly a surprise.”
“Which part?”
Cherry giggles. “I never thought you’d look so cute in that outfit!”
Arc rolls his eyes. “Ha, ha.”
He leans forward and peeks into the attached waste bin.
“You okay in there, Auriel?”
Auriel looks up and nods at him. “I am. But admittedly it is a bit cramped in here.”
“Sorry about that. Frankly I’m surprised you fit in there at all.”
Auriel shifts to make herself more comfortable. “Me too.”
Cherry sighs. “You could’ve helped by shrinking her down a bit, Arc.”
“I thought of that, but was afraid of… I don’t know. Magical… sensors, or something.”
Auriel frowns. “Is that a real thing?”
Arc shrugs. “Mio does it.”
Cherry groans. “Good point.”
Auriel grunts. “Do we actually know which room the base commander’s office is?”
Arc nods. “Yes. We should be there in a few minutes. Why do you ask?”
“I, um… kinda have to go to the bathroom.”
“Oh boy…”
A short time later Arc arrives at a slightly more ornate door. He scans the card Hammer gave him and a small click rings out. Opening the door he steps inside a well-furnished office and turns on the lights.
“All clear. Let me help you out of there, Auriel.”
Reaching down, Arc wraps his hands around Auriel’s and pulls her out of the bin.
“That looks like a private bathroom.”
“Not a moment too soon!”
Hobbling toward the bathroom she stumbles through and closes the door. Arc and Cherry giggle.
“I think she’s a bit nervous, Arc.”
“Well, all things considered, she’s really doing well.”
“Auriel may seem timid, but she’s very brave when she needs to be.”
Arc sighs. “True. I’m hoping she can hold out long enough for us to get this job done and get out of here.”
“Lucky for us Hammer provided transportation home, eh?”
“That was nice, yes. We can use it along with this badge to come back too.”
A short time later Auriel steps out of the bathroom. Her expression changes from one of relief to confusion as she spies her friend vacuuming.
“Um… Arc? What are you doing?”
Arc shrugs. “Hammer said to clean the office, so I’m cleaning the office.”
“But why?”
“I dunno.”
“Should I… help?”
Arc grins as he shuts off the vacuum. “Actually, yes. Can you stand at the door and listen for trouble?”
Auriel nods. “That I can do.”
She takes her place at the door as Arc looks around the office. Cherry calls out to him.
“Look over on that table, Arc.”
“Huh?”
“That decanter over there.”
Arc frowns. “That’s just… wait a minute!”
He walks over and pulls out the stopper. Raising it to his nose he inhales.
“That’s odd. I just wrote this off as alcohol since it was sitting next to shot glasses. But it’s not.”
Cherry calls out. “Oh?”
“I need a sample.”
Auriel raises an eyebrow. “From a beverage?”
“This doesn’t strike me as just a simple after work drink. I can’t really explain it, but it’s… it feels powerful.”
Cherry sighs. “That doesn’t make sense.
“It may be nothing. But let’s get a bit analyzed.”
Pulling a small jar from his ring Arc pours a few milliliters into it before putting the decanter back where he found it. Cherry clears her throat.
“What now?”
Arc looks around. “How about the desk?”
Cherry giggles. “Worth a try.”
Arc tries the drawers one at a time but finds them locked.
“That’s disheartening.”
He looks at the desk again.
“Interesting.”
“What is it?”
“This desk.”
Auriel turns her head. “It looks very nice.”
“That’s just it. The military wouldn’t normally spend the money on a desk this nice.”
Cherry chuckles. “Not even for a general?”
“Maybe for a REALLY important one, yes. But a run of the mill desk officer, probably not.”
Auriel frowns. “Could General Mustang be that important?”
“If he is, his talents are wasted running a research base and chasing his staff.”
Arc looks out the window.
“This general must be a real weirdo.”
Auriel appears confused. “What makes you say that?”
“Look. His office overlooks the research floor.”
Cherry sounds confused. “Wouldn’t that be normal? After all, he has to keep an eye on his people.”
“Normally, yes. But it would creep any ordinary person out to see all the Shards in their tubes.”
Auriel shudders. “Point taken. Do you think I could look over the layout down there?”
“I don’t see why not. You might be able to find something I overlooked last time I was here.”
Cherry sighs. “We should probably…”
Auriel’s eyes grow wide.
“S-someone’s coming!”
Arc grits his teeth. “Uh oh!”
Cherry gasps. “What do we do?!”
Arc looks to Auriel. “You’ll have to take this one!
“ME?!”
Cherry sounds frantic. “Try to convince them you’re Diva! It’s our only chance!”
Arc looks to her as he ducks into the bathroom. “Right!”
The door opens and an officer enters carrying several folders. He looks at Auriel.
“Good evening, my dear.”
“G-good evening…”
She glances at his badge.
“…General Mustang.”
“You’re working late.”
“Y-yes sir.”
“Did you need something?”
“Huh?”
Mustang smiles at her. “Well, you ARE in my office.”
“Oh! Um… I was just… wondering if you needed anything from me, sir.”
Mustang chuckles. “You’re very pretty when you play these games, my dear.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He looks her in the eye steadily before handing her the stack of folders.
“Well, if you really want to help out, you can file these.”
Auriel nods as she takes the files.
“Yes sir. I’ll take care of it.”
She walks over to the desk and sets them down as the general follows her.
“Diva?”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say that you’re doing a wonderful job as my aide. Inside your official role as well as out.”
“Th-thank you, sir.”
Mustang puts a hand under her chin and raises her head to look him in the eye.
“You’re beautiful when you work.”
Auriel blushes heavily as she responds in nearly a whisper. “Yes sir. I mean…!”
She is cut off as the general pulls her in close and locks lips with her. Auriel’s eyes grow wide but she does not resist. A few moments later Mustang pulls back and smiles at her.
“Keep up the good work.”
Auriel wordlessly nods as he steps away from her and heads for the door. Passing the open bathroom door Mustang pokes his head inside.
“Do try not to be so sloppy in the future, soldier.”
Arc nods as he salutes. “Yes sir.”
Mustang leaves the office and heads down the corridor as he muses to himself.
“Interesting plan you have there, Arc. Bringing your little friend with you this time. Risky, but I understand your reasoning.”
He chuckles as he continues on his way.
“Certainly a change from the real Diva. She’d certainly never let me kiss her with someone else in the office. That and Arc’s friend is better at it too.”
A man quickly approaches the general and salutes. Returning the salute, General Mustang addresses him.
“Good evening, Colonel Langrisser.”
“Sir, the guards at the gate reported to me seeing Colonel Diva enter the base with an unknown male.”
Mustang chuckles. “Oh?”
Langrisser nods. “Yes, sir. He was to meet Sergeant Hammer regarding maintenance. However, she’s since left for the day. That and there was no record of Diva leaving the base before she returned. I believe we may have an imposter on our hands.”
“Not to worry, colonel. Diva was on a secret mission from me at the time. She left the base some time ago. And I’m aware of the new… assistant’s presence.”
“Sir, with all due respect, as head of security things like new personnel should go through me for the proper security checks.”
Mustang smiles. “You’re right, colonel. However, this was a… shall we say, last minute arrangement. I’ll try to keep you appraised of changes in the future.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The general looks down at a lump in Colonel Langrisser’s jacket pocket.
“Going to check on our specimen?”
“Oh, uh… yes sir.”
Mustang chuckles. “I thought Doctor Rieper was in charge of her caloric intake.”
Langrisser nods. “He’s supposed to be. But the specimen appears to be languishing. I can’t help but wonder if he’s doing it on purpose.”
“The doctor is the brains behind the project. We would all do well to trust his judgement.”
“Yes sir.”
Mustang shrugs. “But I’ll certainly look the other way to your… after-hours feedings. In any case, carry on.”
The colonel salutes and hurries away as Mustang does the same in the opposite direction. The general shakes his head and sighs as he muses to himself.
“The means by which you came here was reckless and sloppy, Arc. I do hope your methods will be more tactful in the future.”
Meanwhile, Arc emerges from the bathroom with a toilet brush. He puts it back on his janitor’s cart before turning his attention to Auriel.
“Good job! I thought we were… um… you okay?”
Auriel does not move, but stares straight at the door. Arc waves a hand in front of her face.
“Auriel? Hello? Can you hear me?”
Cherry gasps. “I think she’s in shock!”
Arc puts his hands on Auriel’s shoulders and shakes her gently.
“Snap out of it! We have work to do!”
Auriel shakes her head in an effort to clear it. She appears rattled.
“Arc? What… what happened?”
“I don’t know. Truthfully I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I’m not fully sure. Things… just happened so fast! One minute the general was complimenting me. The next he was… um…”
Auriel shifts uneasily on her feet before continuing.
“…kissing me.”
Cherry gasps. “What?!”
Arc frowns. “Wait! He what?!”
“He kissed me.”
“Did he believe you were Diva?”
“Oh, yes. Completely.”
Cherry sighs. “So he and Diva ARE an item!”
Arc puts a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “It looks like that’s true, yes. But that’s not exactly proper.”
Cherry sounds confused. “Why not?”
“A commanding officer shouldn’t be involved like that with troops under his command.”
Auriel blushes. “It felt like that was a normal event for him.”
“Sorry for what happened, Auriel.”
Auriel smiles. “It’s okay, I suppose. But I have to admit… it did feel… strange.”
“How so?”
“When our lips met, I felt… odd. Like I actually wanted it.”
Arc frowns. “But you don’t even know him.”
“Yes, that’s true. Something about him just put my mind completely at ease though. It was… like I was… I…”
Auriel?”
“It’s nothing. We should… press on.”
Arc sighs. “Yeah. We can talk about this later.”
He looks to the stack of files on the desk.
“In any case, the general may have inadvertently given us a clue.”
Cherry giggles. “A commander’s files are certainly quite a find!”
Arc nods. “Let’s not squander it.”
The pair each open a folder. Arc frowns.
“Doctor Rieper.”
Cherry calls out. “What the…?”
“These are some of the results of various tests he’s running on the Shard’s they kidnapped!”
Auriel looks over. “Are you sure it’s the same person?”
“Rieper isn’t a common last name. That and there’s this…”
He pulls out a photo that is paper clipped to one of the pages. It depicts Rieper. Auriel appears confused.
“Why is that in with his reports?”
“Because this is his personnel file. The test results were on top of them.”
Cherry calls out. “Is that normal?”
Arc shrugs. “Which part?”
“To mix personnel records with test results.”
“Maybe the general just wanted to go over both.”
Auriel takes the folder and looks it over herself. “Or perhaps he views them as equally important?”
Cherry gasps. “That’s certainly possible!”
“I suppose. What’s in your folder, Auriel?”
Auriel frowns as her eyes look over the pages. “That’s strange. These appear to be research notes.”
“On what?”
“Various animals mostly.”
Cherry sighs. “That doesn’t make much sense.”
Arc frowns. “Could they be trying to use that to strengthen humans?”
Auriel looks up. “Huh?”
Cherry gasps. “You mean like what happened to Bloodletter?!”
“A frightening thought, but yes. Anything else in there, Auriel?”
“More technical notes, but not of much use as it is.”
Arc looks around. “I don’t think there’s much more to find here. At least not without breaking into the desk.”
Cherry calls out. “That might actually be a good idea, Arc. If the general went so far as to lock the drawers they must contain something of vital importance.”
“Maybe next time. Today I want to keep things at a stealthy level.”
Auriel looks out the window. “Shall we go?”
“Yeah. Oh wait! One last thing I gotta do.”
Cherry sounds surprised. “What is it?”
.Arc walks over to the janitor’s cart and picks up a rag and spray bottle.
“Forgot to clean the windows.”
Auriel frowns. “Do we really have time for that though.”
Cherry sighs. “We really don’t. But Arc needs to maintain his cover.”
Arc chuckles as he gets to work. “Right. If we don’t do our part, the general might get suspicious.”
Auriel shrugs. “I suppose.”
“Lend a hand?”
“If it helps get out of here faster, I will.”
Auriel grabs a rag from the cart. A short time later they step back to admire their work. Cherry giggles.
“It looks very nice.”
Arc looks around. “I’ll say. Well, the office looks okay to me. Shall we go?”
Auriel nods. “Yes. Let’s.”
“Can I give you a lift, Colonel Diva?”
Auriel giggles. “Thank you, kind sir.”
Arc helps her back into the waste bin on the cart before leaving the office. Cherry calls out to him as they return to the corridor.
“Which way now?”
“This corridor will bring us to the lab.”
Following the hall they come to a clear glass door with a card reader next to it. Arc scans the badge from Hammer as Auriel climbs out of the waste bin. However a red light on the card reader blinks. Cherry groans.
“Nothing?”
Arc shakes his head as he looks at the card. “No. Hammer did say this badge opened the base commander’s office. Not every door in this place.”
Auriel sighs. “So there’s no way in?”
“Not unless we want to smash our way through.”
“I admit, it’s very important to gain access. But at the same time it’s not worth us getting caught.”
Cherry gasps. “What about Auriel’s card?”
“My mother’s ID?”
Arc shakes his head. “I doubt they’d have let the card of a missing researcher stay active. Still, can’t hurt to try.”
He helps Auriel out of the waste bin. She walks over to the card reader, takes a deep breath, and swipes her badge. The light flashes and a small click is heard as Auriel steps back, surprised.
“I… I think it worked!”
Arc grins. “Give the door a push.”
Auriel does so. The door swings open as Arc turns to her.
“This is a lucky break.”
Auriel nods. “Yes, it is. But this also confirms that my mother did indeed work her.”
“Let’s take a look around. Maybe we can figure out what she was working on.”
Auriel sighs. “That’s a long shot.”
“We have to try.”
Cherry calls out to Auriel. “Right. Maybe we can find some clues as to what happened to her.”
They enter the darkened lab. Arc turns on the lights as Auriel whirls around to face him.
“What are you…?!”
Shrugging, Arc grabs his broom and dustpan. “I have to be able to see if I’m going to clean up.”
Cherry giggles. “Maintaining your cover?”
Arc nods as he sweeps. “Right. Auriel, you look around.”
“Me?”
“Yes. If someone does walk by all they’ll see is me cleaning and the base commanders right-hand ‘working’.”
Cherry giggles. “It’s not likely they’ll stop to ask questions.”
Arc chuckles as he works. “Exactly.”
Auriel nods soberly. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
She heads over to a filing cabinet and opens it. Arc glances over as he works.
“Auriel? I thought you wanted to look at the experiments.”
“I do! But I have to know something!”
“What your mother was working on?”
“Yes!”
Looking through the cabinet for a few minutes, she frowns before turning back to Arc.
“It’s… there’s nothing here.”
Arc frowns. “No file on her?”
Auriel shakes her head as she sadly closes the filing cabinet drawer.
“I was so close too.”
Arc walks over and puts a hand on her shoulder.
“You tried.”
“And failed.”
“Trust me. Your mom would be proud of you for getting this far.”
Auriel nods but says nothing. Arc glances down at the filing cabinet door, a strange look on his face.
“Um… Auriel?”
“What is it?”
“Did you look under ‘M’?”
Auriel nods. “Yes. For ‘Maria’.”
“On Earth we typically sort by last name.”
Auriel raises an eyebrow. “Last… what now?”
“Let me see your mom’s ID.”
Auriel hands it over. Arc looks the badge over a moment before turning to another drawer.
“Looks like your mother’s full name is ‘Maria Knowles’. So let’s take a look under ‘K’.”
Opening the drawer he finds a bulging folder.
“Here we are.”
Arc turns to Auriel with the file and hands it to her.
“I don’t think we have time to go through this whole thing.”
Auriel appears determined. “But I have to know!”
Cherry sighs. “That would take all night, Auriel.”
“I’m not tired!”
Arc smiles. “Don’t worry. I’ll step into a cubical and scan every paper in here before we put it back.”
Auriel looks to Arc soberly as she shakes her head.
“No. We have to take it with us.”
Cherry gasps. “But… but we can’t DO that!”
“These are my mother’s personal notes! I want… no… I NEED to have them!”
Arc sighs. “Fine. Let’s just hope they aren’t referenced too often by someone around here.”
He puts the folder into his ring and looks toward the tubes.
“Could you look at the readouts over there? I want to be sure these guys are still alive.”
Auriel nods. “They are.”
Cherry gasps. “How can you be so sure?”
“I looked them over as we passed. They’re in a state of suspended animation.”
Arc frowns. “How?”
“That green liquid is contributing to their condition somehow.”
Cherry grimaces. “In addition to providing them nutrients?”
“Yes.”
She walks over to one of the tubes. Looking down she spots an access panel which she opens and begins examining its circuitry.
“It’s a fairly simple design. Just a pump to move the fluid around, a heating element to keep the fluid warm, a filter to remove impurities, and a small tank to store the waste biproduct.”
Arc steps back. “Um… by waste do you mean…?”
Auriel nods. “Yes.”
Arc frowns. “Can we get them out of there?”
“Not at the moment, no. We’d need a special keycard to do that safely.”
Cherry calls out. “Where do you suppose it’d be?”
Arc sighs. “Probably in either Diva or Mustang’s pocket.”
Auriel nods soberly. “Either way, we should probably leave them here for now.”
“Agreed. I’ll get them out when I save Princess Celestia.”
Cherry groans. “But how? After all, you can’t be in two places at once.”
“I’m still working on that plan. But don’t you worry about a thing. Once I’ve got it figured out even Ember will approve of it.”
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The General is definitely looking to be Artemis class, keeping things apparently totally irrelivent spinning so he can see how the lab rats react?
The General is likely a fan of fly fishing?
that's one tall order ark xD
this is like a game to the general, what is going on here Oo
10884717
Arc knows there's a lot riding on this mission. He can't leave things to chance once they get underway.
10883446
That and why did he cover for Arc to Colonel Langrisser?