Hidden: In the Dark

The Exploratorium

Inside they get their tickets and join a random tour. The first floor is split up into three rooms, right, left, and center. They make their way through the left one first. Attached to the ceiling is a big net full of balloons, Steve can't make out what it is from below, maybe if they head up to the second floor.

Emmy gives a quick salute and the girls stay in the Ocher West gallery. Steve does a quick nod and him and Remedy head towards the middle, the Bechtal Central. Ahead of them is a girl with a duck hat looking perplexed at a huge magnifying glass. It makes sense that they would be teamed up, Steve and Remedy are closest in age.

They barely pay attention to the tour, that's not what they're here for. The floor is lit up with various colors representing the rainbow. "Can someone tell me what it's called when the light goes through a prism and splits into all the different colors?" "Refraction." Remedy responds. "Yes, refraction-" She then starts going on a tangent about the specifics. "Come on." Remedy leads Steve away since it seems as though the tour guide is busy enough to not notice.

 They head towards a big black dome with a sign with two pedestrians saying 'The Science of Sharing'. "Have you ever been here?" Steve asks as a kid runs in between them. "On a school field trip, wasn't aware of Nexite back then though." 

Remedy pulls out her phone. "It's my mom calling." She seems surprised but Steve seems relieved, this whole operation can seem tense, no extravagant puzzles though. "She's supposed to come visit me!" She says excitedly. He gets the feeling that she doesn't see her very often. "Hello?" She answers. Steve kind of tries to mind his own business, looking around for the Nexite. "I can't wait for you to be here-Yeah-Ok..." She holds out her phone towards Steve, catching him by surprise. "She wants to talk to you, act like your one of the bodyguards." She whispers as Steve takes the phone.

"Hello?" "How's she doing?" He's not sure how to respond so he just replies, "Good." hoping she will fill in the blanks. "Well, as long as there's progress."

He quickly realizes her parents don't know that she left.

"I need you to break the news to her that I'm not coming. Just tell her something came up, like a business trip." He looks over at Remedy to see she's not paying attention. "She's excited for you to come see her." Hoping to change her mind. "I don't want to get her hopes up that she's coming with me." She never wanted her to leave in the first place. "Why didn't you tell her?" "Were you listening? Break it to her slowly." He gets the hint. She doesn't want Remedy to think ill of her. Steve's hand starts shaking. This is why she was alone in that alleyway, why she never went home.

"When do you plan to take her back then?" He grips the phone tightly, turning away from Remedy.  "When that rock and those powers are gone." She was there to remove the Nexite? And they never did...He takes a deep breath. "There's not a problem is there? Oh?-" Her attention is taken off guard by something else. "I have to go-" He doesn't let her finish and just hangs up. Anger and worry boils in his mind. How should he tell her? Should he wait until they leave? Would she be mad if he did? Could he even hold it in without her noticing?

"Hey, listen..." He hands back her phone. "I'm so excited, I haven't seen her in so long, she's always so busy and-" Steve drowns it out, he can't, he's been burned by it before, he doesn't want to let that happen to her too. "She said she's not coming." He says outright. She stops dead in her tracks but doesn't seem surprised. She looks to the side; Steve expects her to cry but she looks more disappointed than sad. "She told you to tell me, so she didn't have to, didn't she?" He just nods. She finally looks up at him. "I didn't mind the facility, I had friends, but friends leave." She would walk down the empty hallways, lights beaming down above her, hide in the stairwells at night to sneak candy. She was fine with everything there but it seemed like everyone she knew was leaving and she was the only one left and her mother never took her out, bliss ignorance, perhaps even a distraction.