Part 79: Day 35 - Supplemental

Day 35: Supplemental

Facility X-394, Manager's Office



You… hit me.

Yeah. You're damn right I did.

Yeah but… you... hit me.

You tried to kill me.

I saw you die.

Did you really think that killing me would be enough to make me die?

…Yes? Obviously?

Well, it wasn't. Sorry, boss.

So then, this is where you kill me?

What? No.



...you didn't bring any weapons.

Yeah, I just wanted to punch you. I don't kill people without a reason.

...I tried to kill you.

That's because you're an idiot. I didn't kill Delta3, or anyone.

But… then… why aren't you dead now?

If I tell you, will you finally believe me?

I'll think about it.

...Fine.


About two weeks ago, a source of mine tipped me off. Said I was going to die. Wasn't clear on how. So, I was on edge. Didn't take long to figure out that nobody around the facility was going to die from any conventional Abnormality.

Because I'm an amazing manager, yes.

Because you're a softie who rewinds time for any deaths. We've died plenty of times, haven't we?

How do you-

You should already know the answer to that.


I as good as told you. Right. Sorry, it's been busy.

Don't worry about it. Not everyone can keep track of things as well as I can. Anyways, my source told me that that wasn't what was going to kill me, so I kept looking. Obviously there was a chance of an Abnormality killing me, but-as we've established-you'd rewind those away.

So you figured it had to be me?

I was hoping it wasn't, but something I saw while we were dealing with Malkuth meant the possibility was there.


There on the list of bullets, 'Execution.' It was obvious that you could kill me, but that was all I knew. I needed to find out what they did.

So you hacked our files?

Didn't need to. I just brought it up while I was bringing Malkuth some flowers one morning.


Wait… you gave her flowers?

She works hard!

P-pfftahahahaha!!

I will hit you again.

Right, right, sorry.


Malkuth showed me the specs. Pretty brilliant. It's not really a 'bullet' the turret fires so much as a transmitter for a kill command that turns our own equipment against us. Brutal, but this place needs it to avoid letting things like that Bird out.

Lobotomy Corporation isn't a forgiving company, true. I still don't see how that let you survive getting shot by it.

That's because you can only see what happens on the cameras.


Our records showed some old projects from Chesed's department, designed to take the place of humans in working with the Abnormalities.

Oh yeah… I heard about those.

Yeah. He called it the BULLFROG.

Bullfrog?

Supposedly it stands for Bioengineered Unilaterally Learning Laboratory Failsafe Replica Organic Genotype… but I think he just likes frogs.

Uh...huh. What does that have to do with anything?


Chesed apparently took things pretty far before Angela shut him down-there was a working prototype in storage. I just had to do some basic cosmetic stuff and your perception filter would take care of the rest.


But that would mean...

You activated the kill command on a half-finished robot in my E.G.O gear? Yeah, that's the gist of it.

...so then I found you in that side room…

So that Malkuth and the others wouldn't notice the obvious fake. As far as your monitor knew, there was a thing there that looked like me wearing my armband and E.G.O-the perception filter filled in the rest for me. Meanwhile I was waiting here, for the day to end.

Why wait?

So that if you rewound, you'd get another punch in the face for your trouble. I couldn't say for sure you wouldn't just find another way to kill me if I was impatient.

But… we talked.

I kept the headset. It's not E.G.O and it doesn't track my location, so there wasn't any reason not to.

So… I completely lost… And to an agent. Then, what… What do I do now?

Now? I'd think that was obvious.



You believe me, and we both get back to figuring out where dad went, like before.

...People lie. All the time. Hell, you're amazing at it-maneuvering around when the lights are off and doing all this? How can I believe you?

They call it faith, boss. You could really use a little.

So… you never lied to me?

Okay, full disclosure, I did cut the cameras. I didn't think it was a big deal.



...I am taking it out of your pay.

Fair enough.

That does leave a second question. If you didn't kill Delta3, then who did?

Actually, I have a theory about that, too. If you think about it, the most likely suspect is…



Manager, I received notice of an unauthorized person in your office.

Wait, my office has an alarm?

...Bishop? What are you doing here? I was under the impression you had been executed earlier today.

Ah… that was a-uh... miscommunication. Yes. It's been rectified.

Has it?

Yeah. We're all set over here.

Very good, then. You should return to your station and rest pending tomorrow's workday.

I'll do that, thanks. Goodnight, boss.

Night.

Pleasant evening. In the future, please remember that no personnel are allowed in the manager's office after hours.

I'll keep it in mind.