Heart Pangs

Chapter 27 - Kleptoparasite

By the time Lux makes it to work that night, he's already exhausted. Drawing up plans with Benji had been tedious. There'd been a lot of arguing, a lot of tension. Lux had been right. Benji very much did not like his plan. But, by the end of it, Lux's plan had been the one they went with. It had really been the only one they could go with. Benji doesn't know enough about the inner workings of the Facility to come up with anything better, and Lux knows there's really only one way out of the Facility.

Lux had been surprised, though. He had thought that getting Benji to trust him would be the largest hurdle. He had arguments planned for why he could be trusted, how Benji shouldn't have to fear him, but that never seemed to be the issue. Benji's main concern had been making sure Camille wouldn't have to go through anymore unnecessary pain or trauma. Under normal circumstances, Lux would agree. But these are not normal circumstances.

In the Facility, Camille had most likely been through enough pain and trauma to last a lifetime. At this point, Lux sparing her from any more wouldn't mean much. Of course, all their planning is reliant on the fact that Camille is still in the Facility and hasn't been disposed of yet. This is a detail that Lux glosses over, but one he's sure Benji has already considered ad nauseam.

Lux heads into work with the usual polite nods and courteous smiles. He greets the people he recognizes and acts friendly towards the ones he doesn't. It's all force of habit. Everyone at the Facility knows him, most of them look up to him. He usually tries to take time to get to know anyone he doesn't already know, but today is different. Today he slides past everyone he sees and heads straight for his office. Once there, he locks the door behind him and boots up his computer.

As he pulls up the Facility's records, Lux thinks of how this is the moment of truth. He scrolls through, his heart racing, until he stops on the record of "Marotta, Camille." He opens it and lets out a long breath. She's still alive.

Past his initial fear, Lux reads on. She's given four supposed confessions on important matters related to Epomis, but they've all led to dead ends. It is unclear whether she knew the information was useless or not. He reads through all the information she's given and is relieved to find none of it pertains to Benji or Camille's past connections to Lux himself. It's all minor things like meeting places or other possible members. Lux wonders why she hasn't been disposed of yet. It's clear she has nothing of importance to offer.

Lux checks on who her extractor is and grimaces. Of course. Cecil Scarberry.

Cecil's work is... sloppy to say the least. It's brutal but has absolutely no tact. Lux suspects he cares more about tormenting and consuming prey than actually getting information out of them. Lux has tried several times to teach Cecil otherwise, but as much as the man admires Lux's own work, he has no patience to imitate it.

Lux wonders how it is that Cecil hasn't lost patience with Camille yet and recommended her disposal, especially since she's exactly the type of prey he'd love to consume. Lux's best guess is that he's enjoying playing with her too much and isn't ready to give her up quite yet.

Well, Lux thinks to himself, that will have to end today.

He shuts down the computer and heads out into the long, winding halls of the Facility proper. It takes some searching and asking around, but Lux eventually tracks down the man he needs.

"Supervisor Bakula," Lux says as he approaches.

"Lux!" The Supervisor's face lights up when he lays eyes on him. Bakula is always happy to see him, and Lux is always careful to stay on Bakula's good side. It isn't difficult. The Supervisor loves it when he does good work, and Lux always does good work. "What is it I can help you with?"