The Restoration Protocol

16 || the inventor's lab

Abe's determination is nothing if not admirable. It would appear the news of Soleil's safety ignited a spark of sorts in his own system, breathing a newfound sense of life and purpose into a motherboard of idle circuitry. As though he's been waiting for someone like Mariko to stroll right through that door with a ray of hope in their hands, the answers to questions he may not have even realized he possessed.

He has an immediate plan. They must go to the lab, he tells Mariko and Boey, one of many underground labs his and Soleil's creator, Claude Chevalier, had set up throughout Paracosia unbeknownst to even the members of his research team. That said, one sits just near this very plaza. Beneath the guard station and the cloud salamanders' outdoor enclosure — the entrance to the lab being through that same station. Abe briefly explains that by way of his 'handy-dandy official Doctor Chevalier-approved identification card', they will receive access to the elevator which will then take them to their destination. Simple as that.

What's a little less simple, however, is the act of transporting Soleil there inconspicuously. There are soldiers here. Angelic soldiers, no doubt on the lookout for suspicious persons, suspicious behavior, the likes of which an unconscious girl with her face and head covered lying in someone's arms would be considered, perhaps, just the tiniest bit that. Now in most normal video games, this is precisely where Mariko would save her game in the event that something were to go wrong, and Soleil's identity were discovered. The angels here seem more prepared to actually put use to their weapons than the officers who took Mariko and the others in back at New Floravale. Those spears of theirs certainly aren't props, she can tell that much.

As it turns out, Abe has a solution for them as well. He volunteers himself as the distraction. Collapsing in the middle of the plaza and drawing all the attention he possibly can of both the soldiers and passersby, just to provide a large enough window of time that Sebastian can safely carry Soleil from point A to point B. Mariko lingers behind long enough to watch it unfold. Quite an actor, that Abe Sadat, to have successfully convinced the public that he, an android, was suddenly experiencing an intense, visceral attack in body right before their eyes. Alas, he soon cries, for it was merely a false alarm. The soldiers stationed here must know him, Mariko gathers. They don't seem terribly shocked by the news.

Abe joins her and the others soon. By this point, Sebastian has been waiting with Soleil and Boey at the end of the short hallway immediately to the right of the station's entrance. The elevator sits at the end of it. Unused. Unoccupied. Despite its peculiar location in a public setting, it isn't meant for the public. But if Claude Chevalier is as big a deal as Abe claims he is even outside of Wynsmith, it would make sense why the employees here haven't taken action to remove it from their property.

Being the co-creator of one of Paracosia's honored Keyholders must make for quite a resume.

That word gives Mariko pause for a second. That's right, he did say 'co'-creator, she recalls. Soleil never mentioned anything about a co-creator. Only ever has she referred to her one creator, whom she fondly refers to as her father. Perhaps the co-inventor wasn't worth mentioning to her — having so slight a contribution that they just scarcely squeezed onto the official paperwork. Or does she not know...?

It could be nothing significant. Abe certainly did gloss over it as though that were the case. Even if it weren't, Mariko isn't sure it's her place to say anything. To risk disturbing a delicate web, when Soleil is having a hard enough time already with this great undertaking of hers. Whatever it may be, it could wait for now. The most important thing is getting Soleil back on her feet.

Thankfully Abe is just as eager to do so as she is. Speeding down the hall just moments after Mariko has rejoined at Boey's side, he appears with his arm already outstretched, waving his ID ecstatically in the air while wearing a toothy smile. It falters in a moment. As he comes to the end of the hallway, his gaze trails the body lying limp in Sebastian's arms. Mixed emotions that seem intent on converging into something more unified, but failing in their efforts. Relief — that's the one thing Mariko can single out. He's relieved, perhaps just to see her at all, even if she is in need of some repairs right now. That's what he's here for, after all.