Day 2: Press Release and Beyond

[mitochondriaaya]

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.

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

"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.

[mitochondriaaya]

"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!

[sliceitwithwind]

"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."

[mitochondriaaya]

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?

[sliceitwithwind]

"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."

[mitochondriaaya]

"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."

[sliceitwithwind]

"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."

[mitochondriaaya]

"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..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"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."

[mitochondriaaya]

"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."

[sliceitwithwind]

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.

[mitochondriaaya]

"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!"

[sliceitwithwind]

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...