mitochondriaaya | Day 2: Press Release and Beyond

Day 2: Press Release and Beyond

Aya was...not always her best after a night of no sleep, heavy action, a crazy woman's apartment, and worry. A great deal of worry. Having to be bright and brilliant at a press conference at seven in the morning? Well, that just didn't help. She was standing in the line of officers behind the Chief, vaguely wishing she had coffee as he told them the eco-terrorist story.

She was suppose to stay there, just a reassuring face against the wall. She hadn't expected for reporters to direct questions at her, and for the Chief to wave her forward. That meant she wasn't exactly thinking over her responses. "...she said our cells were communicating..."

Fuck. Yeah. She had to step back and stop talking again.

Thankfully that quote made Melissa sound crazy?

Danny drove her to Dilan's lab, both of them hoping there was some kind of answer there because the apartment hadn't yielded much. "Buzz us in?" Aya asked through the intercom, as the place was as empty as Dilan had promised.

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Dilan hit the buzzer, but by the time Aya and Danny got up to him he was back in science!!!! mode. The samples were in a hazardous materials container and he was manipulating them through heavy gloves, "Wash hands exposed skin thoroughly and suit up before coming in. I don't like any contaminants in this lab."

"That's my cue for staying out here." Danny sighed and stretched. "I'll find the coffee machine. You make sure to fill me in."

Aya nodded and scrubbed down then...followed the nice, laminated signs about suiting up. She'd never worn a spacesuit before It was...disconcerting, a little. Like walking around in a ziplock. "Babe...tell me isn't not something we can't handle?"

There was a long, long silence.

"I'm almost tempted to suggest bombing the city." he finally said, about as grimly as it was possible to say.

And then? Then Aya got closer, and the samples started being more active. This caused a spate of cursing in Katzu along with a half-snarl telling her to get out now.

"Not yet, we can't call in a bomb on su..." Oh. Shit. He was snarling and waving her off and SHEW AS GETTING OUT AS QUICKLY AS THE LOCK CYCLES ON THE DOOR WOULD ALLOW!

OUT. She was out and under the chemical shower. Better? Please let it be better!

Dilan took every single possible precaution before he backed out and did his own shower-down, even more obsessively than usual. A good half-hour later he strides out, "I have no idea why that happened, but Aya? Some of those cells were glowing, and that glow got more intense when you came in. They were dying, but they tried to come back when you were there."

He's quiet, for a moment, "I don't know what she is, but I think she might not be as crazy as we want her to be."

She had been sitting down in the nearest little chair as she waited for him. She didn't want to go find her partner until she wouldn't be flailing at him and...yeah, flailing. "That...that's not good. In fact, that's bad. The anti-rejection drugs were for a kidney. We're trying to track down her doctor. And I...have no idea. I flubbed the press release." BABBLE!

"I'm sorry."

"I don't like you being here." It was said grimly, but not in a you need to leave the city kind of way. "Whatever is going on, it reacts to you. I don't know if that's good or bad. I don't know if I have all the resources that I need here, but I'm going to have to make due until additional supplies can be air-dropped to me. I think I'll be living at the lab for the foreseeable future."

She hung her head and sighed, trying to just...think for a bit. "Great, Which can mean she will go berserk if I'm not around to toy with, or she'll go berserk to prod at me. Best case scenario, well, she'd calm down if I left but two out of three scenarios are bad for the city." Very bad if Dilan's reactions were anything to go by.

"Bend Ansem's ear if you can, see if we can start getting the island at least evacuated. I don't like this, and I'd rather get chewed out later if it was unnecessary..." And she really wanted a kiss right now, or better, a hug, but she was kind of afraid to move.

"Planning on it." Dilan dropped to the ground in front of her chair and tugged her in close, "Do not get yourself killed. Do you understand? Do whatever you have to do in order to survive. Do not get killed."

She wrapped her hands around his neck and...shivered for a bit. He was just as freaked, perhaps more, than her. That was not comforting. Being able to sit in his lap for a bit? That was comforting. "Can't promise love. If it's a choice between me and someone else she's targeting you know...it's my job." She wasn't going to lie to him about that.

She couldn't.

"Anything else though, and I will do my damndest."

"Survive." he said again, not exactly able to parse it's my job right now. "Survive. Come back here if you can, to rest, but survive."

"I'll come when I can," She could promise that! "If we track the doctor down will you come with us? You know better medical questions to ask. We may need to know." And she had the feeling she was missing something now. Something, something...something recently. It always happened like that, clue and hints and bits of information nudging around in her brain until it was coherent.

Gah.

"Have you eaten love?"

"Of course I will." It was simple, "You really wouldn't know what to ask, babe. Um. ...No."

"I ask now so you know what I mean when I call and only manage to give you a location or something." She was laying the groundwork for the possibility she'd gibber later? "And you need to eat. We need to eat. We can't afford to burn out with this."

"...There are sandwiches in the break room." There are always sandwiches in the break room.

"Danny is also in the breakroom by this point, making coffee like an awesome partner." She nuzzled his neck. "We should go there. Now."

"...You left Danny with my coffee machine?!" That's not okay! Danny is a cop! He makes cop coffee! Dilan's machine is a delicate creature! "Yes, yes we should go rescue my coffee machine!"

See how well it gets him away from SCIENCE WORRIES? So very easily!

"If you go bolting in there screaming Danny may accidentally break something. He's a little wound right now." She slid out of his lap anyway though and wavered to her feet. "I recommend a calm approach."

Dilan gave her a look like calm?! CALM?! and hustled to the breakroom to check on his coffee machine.

...At least Danny was still at the how does this work? stage?

Danny was perhaps a little intimidated by a machine that weighed in at more than he did? Or the buttons. Or where to put the coffee.

He looked up at Dilan mildly, bags under his eyes, and shook a finger. "You're a cruel man, Dilan, having something like this when we just need coffee."

"Oh, hush." Dilan said, snorting and poking buttons. When the espresso started coming out (into a full coffee pot, not espresso cups) he stuck a mug under it in order to fill it and pass it to Danny. "My coffee is totally worth it."

"Yes, but it requires you to operate." Danny snorted, then cradled his mug protectively. "Which makes it rare and ultimately unreliable."

Aya, well, she laughed ta that and snagged an empty cup fro Dilan to fill for her!

"I swear, I'm going to get Ben one." Dilan threatens cheerfully, "See how you like that, mocking my reliability."

He gave Aya a cup, then filled a third for himself and sobered.

"As his parent I could not endorse him operating heavy machinery until he was at least eighteen." Danny said simply. HAH!

Aya settled in one of the break chairs and sipped her espresso, savored a moment, then nearly jumped out of her skin as her pager went off. "Gah..." Cue hacking as she tried to breath coffee!

"This is not heavy machinery. The one in Braig's lab is heavy machinery, but it operates as much out of magic as out of science." This is not a joke. Dilan is on the waiting list for one.

Dilan held his hand up for a moment, "This is important, Aya, answer that in a moment. The cells that I had were mutating, even while they were dying. I'm not entirely certain what the energy they were using is, but it's not magic and it's nothing I've seen before un-magical either. Most of the cells were dead, but not all of them. The ones still living were cannibalising the dead cells around them...and Aya, when you walked into the room it was like they got another jolt of energy.

"I'm hypothesising here, but it might be related to your otherwise idiosyncratic reaction to magic. I would be interested in finding that woman's files and seeing if any note on her magic resistances or reactions is written down. In fact, I need her medical files as soon as possible." his voice gentles, just a bit, "I'm afraid I'm actually going to have to make that an official demand, too. I'll be sending it to your boss as soon as the two of you leave." Because...they aren't really up to handling his clearance on a professional level.

"I need samples of anything else that you run into. I need you to keep notes on what things do under the influence. I need you to understand that I do not understand why things are mutating, or how, or how to stop them. You are both in danger. Everyone, every living thing in this city is in danger.

"I just don't know how much danger."

Aya set her coffee mug carefully down on the table and...tried to finish coughing as quietly as she could? And yes, her face was getting less and less happy (not that it started happy) as he spoke.

Danny just looked...older. More tired. Ragged. "We already have requests in for her medical records, but you know how coordinating hospitals can be. As soon as we have them, you'll have them, unless you can get a hold of them sooner." Danny knew that his partner's boyfriend was...much better connected than two NY city cops could ever be. Even if they were detectives.

"Bleh," She was finally able to talk? "Merry Christmas. Mutating cells and I woke them up? Great." Just...great. Really. "Sewers. She escaped into the sewers. There's a lot of avenues for this to spread down there, provided it's that kind of contagious and not some kind of 'it mutates then dies' thing." Please let the things die. Please oh please oh please?

"I can." Dilan said simply, "I'll give the chief my authorizations and he can get the files where they need to be. Since I'm alone here I've had limited tests regarding reactions to living things that I can do...and really, we don't have the time, with as quickly and violently as that rat mutated."

"Right, the Chief can swing a lot of weight too, and if you're that worried, it lends credence. It's not just the PD overreacting." Aya sighed and ran fingers up through her hair. "This is going to get...nasty."

Understatement.

"Finish your coffee kid." Danny nudged her cup. "We've got a lot to do today."

"Yes, Aya, it is." Dilan agreed, "Get me additional samples as soon as you can. Also? Volunteers from Olia and Humans both. Hazmat suits and the like will be provided, but I'm going to need to see if it's just you, or if other people also cause the cells to react. Everyone else..."

he blew out a huge breath, "Aya, Danny, I'm going to be calling for a biohazard evacuation of the city."

"Samples and volunteers. Check." Aya nodded and tipped back a good portion of her cup in one go. Shameful waste of good coffee but...it wasn't a savoring kind of day. "We'll grab from among the rookies."

At the mention of the biohazard evacuation though...they both just stared at him. Yes, their gut said 'Great Idea!' but...people panicked more when the word 'biohazard' was tacked onto things. "It'll take a while to get that moving. Priority targets first to avoid jamming the streets. Hospitals, schools, we're talking at least a few days until just Manhattan in clear." Much less New York. And...where did they put the evacuees? Hell. Not her problem. "That means we have to buy you guys a few days. We'll track her, we'll dog her, get her to not set the world on fire if we can..."

"Do it however you need to do it to get the maximum number of people out with the least fuss." Dilan said, simply, "But do it."

"Dilan..." Aya said quietly, "You won't be coordinating with us on that. In an evacuation this large, PD's role is removing tenants by force if necessary, guarding already cleared areas to prevent looters and returning people. Anyone we can spare from that is going to be helping you here in the lab or helping Danny and I track Melissa."

Danny nodded grimly. "You'll be dealing with national guard and military most likely. They're the only ones with the resources for such a coordinated effort. PD, FD, and EMTs are going to be some of the last out, but it won't be our show."

There's a moment of blankness as he said in the far-too-reasonable tone that is his OCD speaking, "But I can trust you." before he's able to kick his brain back into functioning, "Right. I need to start making calls."

He leaned down to kiss Aya; short but fierce and possessive, before heading towards his office.

"Yes, but in the grand scheme of things we're not heavy hitters love. We're just peons." She kissed him back, heat in the kiss and in her skin, then thunked her head down on the table. Dahlmer...

Oh, yeah, pager.

"ADAMS! DILAN WE GOT A LEAD ON HER DOCTOR WE HAVE TO GO!"

Dilan grunted an acknowledgement and continued on. Calls to make, experiments to plan, guidelines to write up so that cops didn't get themselves melted on his watch...

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Day 2: Press Release and Beyond

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