The 'Research'

On the other side of the portal, Junior finds himself in what appears to be a clean, if a bit darkened, hallway. It has a single door at the far end... the end he's at has nothing-- it's a dead-end hallway, completely bare. Junior also finds that his communications with his PET have been cut; no way of calling for help now...

Drakkas steps through the portal mere moments after Junior finishes getting his bearings, the portal he got here through closing behind him. Drakkas 'gently' nudges Junior towards the door with the butt-end of his scythe, and utters a simple command. "Move."

"And suddenly you're not very talkative again... though that may be a good thing." He approaced the door and nudged it open, bracing himself for whatever he might find. Chances are, his next course of action would be determined by what he found.

Junior comes upon what appears to be a hallway full of research specimens, mangled and sometimes altered navis and viruses contained in stasis fields lining the entire corridor. He could almost swear that some of them were looking at him... even though they don't move an inch the entire time he's in the hall. Junior's prodded multiple times to move by Drakkas, who lets off a low growl and pulls something out of his ear, throwing it to the ground and crushing it with a stomp. "Move."

Junior looked around nervously. He turned his head a moment, saying, "Say, I know you said I was wanted functioning but any chance if you know whether he'll keep me functioning?" He heard Drakkas flick something to the ground and saw he stomp on it behind him, but couldn't tell what or where it came from. He continued on with much discomfort. He really wished he had a Countbomb so he could plant it and set it off to put these navis out of their misery. Perhaps he could come up with something if he needed to escape. Explosions were always good cover. As he walked, he continued to wonder what he was needed for and how longer the hallway would be.

The corridor ends abruptly about 100 feet ahead of where it started, opening up into what appears to be a dimly-lit lab, an ominous-looking, spotlighted research table with restraints built-in being the centerpiece. Drakkas calls out a bit too loudly from just behind Junior, his voice a mixture of annoyance and anger. "Oy! I brought your stupid test subject, now where are you?!" Drakkas' question doesn't go unanswered for long; a robotic, featureless husk of a navi draped in a labcoat steps out of the shadows behind the spotlighted table, and points to it. Junior finds himself restrained on the table moments later, Drakkas having picked him up and put him there.

The researcher takes a long, sideways glance at Junior, then nods. "Yes, this is the one I requested. Here you are." The researcher hands Drakkas a small box that he clutches to his chest, clearly unamused. "I'll be waiting outside." Junior watches with no small amount of interest as Drakkas walks out of Junior's field of vision down the dimly-lit corridor, leaving him alone with this researcher...

Junior attempted not to panic. Drakkas said he'd be waiting outside, so he went over the possible reasons for him not simply leaving. First, he could be there to make sure Junior didn't try anything. Second, the experiment held some sort of meaning and relivance to Drakkas. Third, he was waiting so that he could return Junior after the experiment was finished. Fourth, none of the above. As Junior went over these options, he remembered some wise advise: When in doubt, go with C. That seemed reasonable... right? He cautiously ventured to speak, "So... am I allowed to talk or will you mute or maim me if I say anything furthur?" Looked like he was stuck, so there was no use in getting his voicebox data ripped out because he foolishly thread where he shouldn't have.

"You may speak..." The researcher paused, as if remembering something, and then held up his right hand. He pressed a few specific, unmarked spots on the limb, and the featureless metal look faded away, revealing a flat-chested blond woman in the labcoat. She wore her hair up in a bun, and had a pair of glasses upon her face. Her eyes also had this piercing stare, Junior noticed... almost as if it was dangerous to look her directly in the eye. She smirked. "You might wonder why you're here... It's because something you said caught my attention the other day, when you met that... charming agent of ours known as Drakkas. I'll allow you four questions before I get down to what exactly that was... start talking."

"I... see." Junior said. He was kind of surprised that the researcher was a girl. The clunky bot she had first looked like screamed genderless or male if someone wanted to be a bit more polite. Was the suit some sort of armor? Perhaps it was used to get close to dangerous, unstable data. Or maybe she had worn it just in case he went in firing. If that was the case, his bonds would have to be pretty secure for her to suddenly let her guard down. Of course, he wasn't going to struggle until he found a reason to escape. Now to ponder her offer. Junior thought for a moment. Four questions? He wondered if he could save a few for later, but if he asked that, he'd be down one of them before he even started. He needed to come up with them all now. He paused as he thought some up, "Okay then. First, what specifically do you want to find out? Second, what are the odds of me making it out alive and in one piece if I don't do anything rash? Third, is such brutality really necessary? Half deleted navis and securring me down really seem like a bit much." That was all he had at a moment, but he still had a question left. Perhaps something trivial, "And fourth, what name do you go by?"

"The first one I can't tell you, the second one," She ran her finger in circles on Junior's chest, and whispered in his ear, "Depends on how well you cooperate..." She pulled back abruptly, chuckling, "The third one... those are the results of my failed experiments in the past. As for the fourth..." She smiled maliciously and spoke in her best seductive voice, "You may call me 'Mistress.'"

She stepped back and unbuttoned the labcoat, shrugging it off to reveal that she wasn't completely flat-chested; the labcoat merely made it appear as such.

...The form-hugging jumpsuit that cut off at her hips and shoulders, leaving her arms and legs bare, however...

Junior's face got red. WHat kind of an experiment was this? As he noticed her shapely figure, he began to panic. This seemed to be taking an odd direction, one he wasn't sure he was quite comfortable with. He needed to quell his excitement, but how? He looked around the room. Seemed all the corpse navis were left outside. He'd have to rely on imagination on this one. He closed his eyes and tried to think of the horrible things lying outside the door. As he thought, disgust overwhelmed any inappropriate thoughts he may have. Great, now he wasn't turned on, he was ready to throw up. He opened his eyes and sighed, almost gagging, "Sorry. The images from on the way in here kind of upset my stomach. Now what did you need me to do, Mistress-san?"

Her seductive smirk turned into a frown as she noticed his excitement growing... before he squelched it. "I want you... because you have something I want. You have the ability to reproduce." At Junior's shocked gaze, she chuckled. "I have, for many long years, wished for something that I once thought was restricted to humans... The ability to have a child. Not some navi that I programmed, but to actually bear a child. I succeeded in the female portion of the equation..." She slipped the bottom half of her bodysuit down enough for Junior's eyes to catch her drift, before she slid it back up.

"Quite frankly, if what you said was true... you should have the ability to reproduce. If you don't, and you were lying about coming from that sort of reproduction..." Her frown turned into a hateful glare. "Then you will find yourself in one of those stasis tubes after a series of painful experiments involving reproduction."

She walked over to a console, and a threatening, pointy device attached to a mechanical arm lowered towards Junior's crotch, growing dangerously close... before opening up and scanning him. It actually kind of tickled! "I'll have the results back in a minute." She walked towards and through the corridor Junior had entered through, and Junior could hear the door at the end open and then shut.

Junior shivered as the device scanned his... body. He was relieved when she left the room, though. So this wasn't an experiment? She just wanted to have his kid and this was the most direct way to get it? He had just recently promised to be faithful to Daisy and now this. He needed to find an alternate solution. Perhaps he could do one of those sperm donation things. Since whoever had programmed his father had designed his navi reproduction program to work the same way as it did in humans, that seemed like a plausible solution. He could also offer to have his grandfater produce another copy of the program and distribute it to whatever navi she would find more suitable. There were plenty of options, so he just needed to stay cool and wait. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his nerves.

'Mistress' walked back into the room and stepped over to the console, licking her lips at the results. "Mm... you weren't lying... that's good." She pressed a button and the sharp, pointy device quickly receded into the ceiling. She walked over to Junior and spoke, her voice reassuming that seductive tone. "Now, we can do this the easy way... or we can do this the fun way. The fun way won't be fun for you. Which will it be, loverboy?"

So, either rape or loins harvesting. This wasn't exactly a good choice. Perhaps he could suggest an alternative, "Uh... can't you take like a sperm donation or something? Maybe I could even get my grandfather to make a copy of the program and you could find a mre suitable partner... This match up seems a bit random."

'Mistress' paused, seeming to consider it for a moment... then turned her gaze back towards Junior. "No. I think you're cute, anyway." She quickly scrabbled up on the table, and reached for the lower half of her jumpsuit...

...Only to have the blade of Drakkas' scythe pierce her lower back and come out her stomach, stained in blood even as it swung her past Junior and pinned her face-first against a wall. "Drakkas!" She cried, her voice a rasping, roaring rage of a thing, "We had a deal!"

The aforementioned navi stepped out of the relative shadows and into the spotlight covering the table, his face contorted into a frown, and his eyes a cold glare. "The deal..." he began, his arm beginning to raise, "...Is off." He shot a blast of energy-- some sort of powerful chip, Junior wagered-- out of the palm of his hand, incinerating her in an instant, but leaving the Faux De Sang untouched. Drakkas reached out and grabbed the large weapon with one hand, ripping it out of the wall. He turned towards Junior.

"As for you..." Drakkas raised that same hand he used to kill 'Mistress', glowing with energy, towards Junior. "I think it's time you leave." Drakkas fired off a ball of energy at Junior that completely encased him... before in a brilliant flash of light, Junior was gone.

Drakkas let out a heavy sigh. "So much for that out. Now what am I going to use to keep that damned beast under control...?" He turned away from the table and ripped open a portal. He took one last long, sideways glance at where he had killed the one navi who had a way to keep the beast under control... and then tore his gaze away and stepped through.