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Jul 19, 2016 15:39:30 GMT
Post by Azrael on Jul 19, 2016 15:39:30 GMT
He remembered the professor when he was younger. He was fourteen when he moved over to the United States to study biotechnology under one of the most renowned professors in that particular field. That was thirteen years ago, and no doubt, Dr Maddison looked worse for wear nowadays than he did before.
The bar was a small korean pub that sold soju over standard beer. It did of course have beer, of the Japanese import variety, cheaply sold and with few customers and relative unknown nature, it was an excellent meeting spot. Azrael wondered if it was a front, but then again, he tried not to pry into things that weren't relative on par to his course right now. He was already up to his eyeballs in metaphorical shit.
And when the good professor finally did show up, Azrael did not notice, at least at first. It was only after a while that he realized the messily groomed hair and the unshaved man in front of him was the premier scientist and head of medical research in the Initiative. Savants really do know how to pick their appearances. "Professor." He said, his voice was al ittle deeper than before, but it didn't hide the tonality of it, maybe just a little less smug.
Azrael was wearing a crappy 2015 LA Lakers basketball cap and in baggie jeans and a hoodie that made him look like a vertiable homeless person, or a trucker who decided to buy second hand clothing from a man larger than his size, which was difficult given that Azrael was 6'4''. "Long time no see, you look horrible, how've you been these last... decade, or so?"
Dr. Maddison
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Post by Dr. Maddison on Jul 20, 2016 5:21:41 GMT
[attr="class","dtit"]THE DOCTOR IS IN |
[attr="class","hotdcon"]
If there was one thing in life Reuben despised above all else, it was, without a doubt, a bar that was not handicap accessible. The little Korean place had a ramp, thank God, and the threshold was a little bump he got over with some pushing, but if he wanted to sit at the bar, he’d need an extra pair of hands and a slightly lower counter. After a bit of internal cursing on his end, he shoved a chair away from a table, and pulled up in its place.
This was dumb. He didn’t know what a place like this served, he didn’t know who was watching him, and he didn’t even know if it was the kid. Last he heard, he was still a wanted man after triggering one of the worst disasters in human history. Supposedly, at least--he knew the guy too well to even imagine that he’d fuck up on that scale, but the results of the disaster outweighed his intuition, and the manhunt continued. This was the first time he managed some kind of contact with John in over a decade, and the boy didn’t even bother to give him a time!
There he sat, leaning against the worn backrest of his wheelchair. Roughly thirty minutes passed. In that time, he got the closest thing to a cheap American beer he could, sent out three emails, and completed two levels of Candy Crush. The scruffy doctor double-checked the address in his messages. He was in the right place, right after work.
”Professor.”
Reuben looked up, and his hardened gaze widened in surprise. That was definitely his first and only student/international fugitive, in the flesh. He continued to stare dumbly as the boy--no, the young man--continued, berating him as casually as Dr. Maddison himself had all those years ago.
”Get down here so I can hug you, dammit.” The doctor tugged on the vigilante’s arm to get him to bend over, and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. He was alive, in one piece, and safe enough that he didn’t have to hide his face. ”Thank God you’re alright, John,” he whispered into the baggy fabric.
He wasn’t about to admit how he worried about his former student. He released John, giving him a good smack on the back and gesturing to the empty seat. ”To answer your question,” he began, speaking with a much steadier voice and wearing a casual grin, ”Wife left, currently dealing with two teenagers making a disaster of my apartment til the summer ends, and I punched an ass-faced executive in the face a few months ago--so life has been good, all things considered.” He laughed at his own joke and took a drink. ”You know what I do now, right? And how I could be fired and possibly arrested for even talking to you?”
He reached into his pocket for the box of cigarettes, remembered they were indoors, and sighed. He played it off by slipping his phone from the pocket of his jeans to the lapel pocket on his doctor’s coat. He forgot to take it off before leaving work, again.
”It’s pretty exciting, but nothing compared to what you’ve been up to.”
 | [attr="class","hotdtag"] Azrael || xxx words [attr="class","hotdnote"]note |
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Post by Azrael on Jul 21, 2016 3:22:36 GMT
He hadn't had a hug from a man in a while. Actually, very few times since he parents had died, and even then his father was not the most compassionate of individuals. Regardless, it took him by surprise, but he responed by ppatting his former professor on the back for a moment, "You smell like cigarettes and bad decisions professor." He replied, "But I'm happy to see you. Did I keep you waiting?" After being slapped on the back, he seated himself beside the much raggedier man who once taught him almost everything he knew about biology and medicine. "Excuse me!" He called out to the barkeeper, "Two sojus, with ice." Soju being what it was, filtering it down with some water was needed in order for people to function normally.
As the professor talked about his work, his life conditions currently and the rather unfortunate event of typical asshole CEO, he realized that, whether or not the doctor knew it, he was heading into a downwards spiral, and John wasn't sure he would be able to help the guy. "Well, I'm glad I don't have kids yet, I suppose. Though it must be rough not being able to have someone else support the two of them now. Any issues? Your boy doing drugs or your girl associating with some troublesome boyfriend?" He could help with those, though he imagined that if that was the only problem, Reuben had plenty of superheroes to help resolve the issue.
John nodded in response to his question, "Yes, thank you for coming all the same." A small tinge of guilt hit him, had he not been backed against the wall like this, he would not have asked for his help. "If it makes it any better, the reason why I'm late is because I had to make sure we weren't spotted." He downed the shot from his glass, alcohol was negligible, but he allowed it for the moment to affect his systems, he could always just remove it entirely if things went south.
John nodded in response to Dr. Maddison's remark on his actions recently, "Yeah I've had a few hiccups, not exactly within the bounds of law now and I don't think I can make progress without it. I met Sigma, and uhh... some other superheroes in a bank, not exactly my brightest move, but I had to trace contact algorithms in the phones to get in contact with you, without setting off any alarms of course. I met Sigma too, nice guy." But even though they had come to catch up, Azrael till needed the Doctor's help. ""Here's what I also found... I may have entered the Initiative under disguise a little as well." He pulled out several sheets of paper, neatly folded, from his pocket.
"I've been running around this town trying to search for answers to the people who want me dead or captured, and I've never been able to get a solid trace to them. But once I managed to get into the initiative records, I found a whole lot more than I think anyone was supposed to." The papers showed information on the Nephalus Event, and potential suspects as well as causes. They showed nothing decisive, but it proved a hunch that Azrael has had. "I believe... there is some central hub of information, somewhere in this world, that can rapidly finance and alter records in almost all major governments in the world, and that someone is using it to target me specifically."
While the Initiative did not possess a world series judicial court system, its databanks were the safest in the world, being protected by supergeniuses and superhumans alike, as well as being the centre of activity whenever trouble was hanging in the air. The Initiative's files were kept with pristine accuracy in regards to aberrations of unnatural activity, including the Nephalus Event that caused Azrael's fall from grace.
"Here." He said, pulling out a single sheet of paper, "The Initiative has suspected sabotage before, and have show npotential suspects. I've found most of them, itnerrogated them, but... they weren't the culprits. But all of them had one thing in common, they often received anonymous calls from untraceable numbers, and were rewarded heavily for either helping or punished harshly for their actions. So whatever this is, based on my past experience, it can contact almost anyone, hack accounts, alter information, recreate human history at a single whim, and possesses immense assets in its arsenal that it can liquidate and utilize at a moment's notice... But I don't have clearance into the higher levels of the Initative's Data Systems."
He looked towards his professor, he knew that what he was asking was immensely dangerous to him, and potentially to the rest of the world. "I don't need you to do anything specifically... I just need to accompany you into your office, invisible."
Dr. Maddison | I am so sorry about the wall, also it's not a very good wall. Send Donald Trump pls
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Jul 25, 2016 19:48:03 GMT
Post by Dr. Maddison on Jul 25, 2016 19:48:03 GMT
[attr="class","dtit"]THE DOCTOR IS IN |
[attr="class","hotdcon"]
Cigarettes and bad decisions. He laughed at that, letting the humor numb how painfully accurate that was. ”You kept me waiting a bit too long,” he replied, ”Send a postcard next time you disappear for that long, alright? Or at the very least, give me a time I should show up to a seedy bar like this.” The latter would be most appreciated, so he didn’t spend time wasting valuable data on his phone.
The doctor ignored the foreign drink, for the time being, and stuck with his own, tilting it back and forth as he listened. ”No, no, they’re fine.” Reuben chuckled softly at the image of his kids getting involved in trouble. ”They’re good kids. Gabe spends too much time inside to know what a drug is, and I’m pretty sure Ellie doesn’t even swing that way.” He wasn’t 100% sure, though. Maybe they’d have to have a talk later this week.
Pleasantries out of the way, it was time to get down to business. Reuben withheld a sigh at the reason why his former protege was late, and lifted the drink to his lips. Over the glass, he raised an eyebrow at John’s misadventures. “You met that slab of muscle?” And lived? And then snuck into the Initiative?
From there, it was a torrent of information. Throughout, brows raised, he paid close attention. He set the glass on the table and took the paper that was offered to him, quickly scanning it. The Initiative higher-ups knew there was something fishy going on with the world’s databases, and this was the first he heard of it. Of course. Anything they saw as irrelevant to his job was behind another damn security clearance.
”And once there, exactly what would you do? Get me fired for hacking into one of the most secure systems on the planet, so you can maybe find this shadowy information rearranger?” He frowned, and tossed the document back at Azrael. ”Let’s say you do find a lead. What then? You expose them, and then get arrested anyway for everything else you’ve done?”
Reuben let out a long sigh, massaging his temples. ”John… you’re smart. I can’t deny that. But I don’t know if you realize how many risks you’re taking with this.”
| [attr="class","hotdtag"] Azrael || xxx words [attr="class","hotdnote"]note |
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