Deal With a Devil

-Not long after Blurr has left Panacea's hab suite, -someone- else comes looking for her. Someone will have noticed that she'd taken some of that strange substance from one of the tubes the racer had been carrying. He'd warned her to run, but if she hasn't yet, she'll find she has yet another visitor at her door...

-Panacea answers the door. She hates violence, but she's not a coward either. Besides, it could be someone in need, and she doesn't believe in turning anyone away.

-But perhaps it will not come to violence. After all, they hadn't knocked the door down and stormed in. At the door she finds a deep indigo-colored flight form mech, smiling politely enough when she opens the door. "Greetings, you must be Panacea."

-"That's me," Panacea says with a faint smile. "How can I help you?" Instinctively she looks him over for injuries; it's the medic thing to do.

-"Excellent. My name is Cipher. I believe you spoke with Blurr, earlier. Is that correct?" he asks. He doesn't appear to be injured at all. "Er...may I come in? If that's all right with you."

-Panacea steps back a pace and gestures that the mech is free to enter. "It's not much, but no one expects much in Kaon for the most part," she says with a shrug of her shoulders. She gives him a rather intent stare for a moment then nods her head, "Yes, I've spoken to him on several occassions."

-"Ah, I see. You saw him earlier, didn't you? I must thank you for tending to him when he needed it most. I would like to...share with you a bit. You might have been alarmed by his condition, which is completely justified. You see, he is a very special mech, as you might know, although he is very young. And he is in a very unique situation. Thus he requires some ...special treatment. You must be wondering about that sample you took, I take it?"

-Panacea purses her lips together. "Well, I wouldn't have gotten involved at all if he hadn't passed out on my floor," she says. "He seems to have this weird thing about medics." Her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "Special or not, I wasn't going to let him just lie there." She smiles faintly. "I don't know the name of that compound, but I can tell it's not exactly safe stuff," she states.

-"Oh, perfectly understandable." Cipher says with a nod, still smiling politely. "After all, you are a medic, and that is a medic's job." he chuckles. "And of course you didn't know the name, because -I- only recently synthesized it myself. You see, according to normal regulations, Blurr shouldn't even be in the security forces--he's far too young. But an exception was made for him, because of his unique abilities. Therefore I found it necessary to ensure that he remains as emotionally stable as possible; as you know in that line of work, emotions can cloud judgment and cause disillusionment, which may lead to dire consequences, even the loss of life." he sighs. "Unfortunately this has been much more difficult than I originally imagined. His systems often respond very differently to treatment than the average mech. Hence, the poor condition he was in when you saw him."

-Panacea ahhhhhs softly. "That would explain a few things. I'd never really asked him his age; he seemed active enough I assumed he'd be old enough." She shrugs her shoulders; it's not her place to judge. "But since he's so...unique...why isn't he being taken better care of?" she asks. "And does this make you a chemist by trade then?"

-"Well no, I am a neurologist by trade, actually. But I have dabbled in many different fields of science." Cipher explains. Then he nods, and sighs again at Pan's question. "I am trying to do that, Panacea. But what I am attempting to do is something that no one has ever really attempted before. And quite honestly while I do have some background in almost all physical sciences, I can't know -everything-. I need someone with more medical expertise to help me perfect something that won't be so detrimental to Blurr's health."

-Panacea listens to this with a fair degree of interest. Blurr was in a complete panic when he had come too and said people would be after here. This wasn't what she expected, but instead of being at ease she's rather wary. Still, she's not here to make trouble and hurling accusations won't get her very far. "Sounds like a tough situation," she says. "Blurr seems nice enough, but yes, he seems a bit unstable. But I guess being able to be so fast it would be cruel to keep him confined." She shrugs her shoulders and leans forward. "Is he really the fastest runner on the planet?" she is curious to know.

-Cipher nods. "Yes, he is. And yes, it would be cruel to keep him confined. He already dealt with that for the first few meta-cycles of his life, sadly enough. You see, his creators designed every aspect of his body and mind to be capable of moving at incredible speeds. After all if you can't process information fast enough in order to perceive obstacles, you wouldn't be able to avoid crashing into them even if you -could- move that fast physically. Which makes him very unique on many levels. And that, Panacea, is why I gave him CT-009. It keeps him from having a nervous breakdown; the work he does in security is very distressing these cycles. It requires a level of maturity that he does not have. Unfortunately I have been finding that it has some serious side effects."

-"He was looking rather grey around the edges," Panacea says. "I had encountered him in a bar and wanted to talk to him about it, but something came up to distract us and I didn't think about it again until he came to see me with some information he offered to get for me." She sighs deeply over the memory and her shoulders droop visibly. "He doesn't take his health seriously enough; I've seen him have wounds that go untended for cycles at a time. One time he had gotten badly wounded and a femme that was with him called for my help, but right when I was going to fix him, he insisted that only certain people could fix him and he ran off." She shakes her head.

-"Yes, yes." Cipher sighs, shaking his head. "Of course, the IAA doesn't want just anyone poking around him in because he's so unique as I said. I suppose they're afraid someone who doesn't intimately know his anatomy might inadvertantly cause further damage. And of course he doesn't take it seriously enough. He's only about fifteen meta-cycles old. Heh. I didn't take -my- health seriously enough when I was that young, either." He pauses, then gives Panacea a more pointed look.

  "Ahem...look, Panacea. You didn't tell anyone else about what you saw, did you? The IAA is rather secretive about anything surrounding Blurr, most of the time. I wouldn't want you to get on the Board's bad side. But as I said, I need someone with medical expertise to help me improve this compound so that its detrimental effects to Blurr's health are at least minimized if not done away with. You'd be given access to a lab at the research division in Ibex, and perhaps to an auxiliary lab at Deltaran where some of the tests are being run."

-Panacea's optics flash and she looks indignant. "Of course I didn't tell anyone! What kind of medic would I be if I went around blabbing medical secrets to people?" she says, actually sounding a bit offended. "I take my work very seriously. My patients have to be able to /trust/ me." Then she makes herself calm down a bit. "I'm not sure I would necessarily be the best person for the job; most of my experience has been with miners, which typically have a sturdier, bulkier build and so they have different needs. Not," she hastily adds, "that I can't deal with almost every body type."

-Cipher chuckles, holding his hands up defensively. "All right all right. I'm sorry for the offense, I only just met you, after all."

  He nods at her concerns, but sort of brushes them off. "Understandable enough, but you know Blurr already, and thus it may be easier for you to work with him. Besides, I'm sure you've already run tests on that sample you took. So you already have an idea of what you'll be working with, right? And I'm sure you'd like to expand your medical experience."

-"All of that is quite true," Panacea says. "Though I do have to ask you something. If you can't answer, or think I'm being too forward, go ahead and say so," she notes with a faintly impish look. "Everyone says that war is coming up; what is your stance on it...as a company?"

-Cipher raises an optic ridge at her. Interesting that she should ask him that question right now. "War? Well...I'm not sure what our company's 'official' stance is, if we even have one. But I for one hope it will never come to that. It is quite a terrible thing--many innocents are killed. Ideally, our differences can be solved peacefully. Why do you ask?"

-"Because I am determined to stay out of it," Panacea says firmly. "I'm not going anywhere or doing anything with anyone that brings me into the war. I'm here to fix people, not break them." She folds her arms across her chest. "But if what you say is the case, then I have no objections to make."

-Cipher sighs. "Unfortunately if a war does break out, I doubt the IAA will have a place in it. If everyone is busy staying alive, they're not going to have time for entertainment." he says sadly. "So if it does come to that, I'm afraid you'll be on your own. But until then, we will pay you well, I promise you."

-Panacea nods her head. "Alright," she says. Part of her feels bad for leaving the miners behind, but another part of her realizes that, after the news Blurr brought her, it might be too painful to work with them. Racers won't have the same frames or the same injuries and a change of location might do her good. Still, she sighs deeply. There's still the matter of Blurr's fear; he didn't seem like the type to scare easily. So far she hadn't been threatened, but so far she hadn't been difficult either. While she isn't a coward, she doesn't want to die, and people will need fixing there just as much as they do anywhere.

-"Excellent. I will set you up with an office in Ibex, then. Oh," he hands her a datapad with a series of documents on it. "You'll just need to sign these for the official employment contract." Cipher smiles. "There are a few recommendations for residential complexes there, as well. Not exactly cheap to live there, but we're willing to subsidize your housing. It's all outlined in the contract, of course." Among the documents are a confidentiality agreement, forms for her to fill out her own personal information, as well as the contract itself.

-Panacea will read those very carefully; if she's going to sign away her life, she wants to know the particulars of it. "I'm sure I can find something that will work out," she says, already thinking that she'll probably look for something as inexpensive as possible, not wanting to rely too heavily on subsidization. At least, this way, Blurr won't have to worry so much if he sees that she's safe.

-Panacea will find that with the contract in front of her, she would be significantly richer than she is now. Not filthy rich but at least average. Cipher nods, and stands, extending a hand for her to shake. "Welcome aboard, Panacea. I'm very much looking forward to working with you."

-Again, this wasn't what she expected. Unsure if this will be a 'deal with the devil' or not, she's made her choice and it probably beats being caught unawares in an alley somewhere. She doesn't know if that was even a possibility in the first place, but by seeking that information she might have ended up with only one option. And it won't hurt to have a few more Shanix to kick around. And, unless there's something in her contract stating she can only practice medicine for the racers, well, she can always keep helping people wherever she is...right?

"Well, I hope I don't disappoint you then," she says with a wink.

-"Oh I'm sure you won't, at least not too severely." Cipher laughs. "But no one is perfect, I'm sure I'll let you down a few times myself." He turns to leave. "Well, until we meet again."

-"Oh, one more thing," Panacea says. She takes a moment to dig out the samples she took...both of them. With a smile she hands them over as well as the notes she took on the substance. "I figured you might like these since you went to such trouble to come all the way down here." After all, Kaon is NOT a pleasant place.

-Cipher turns back momentarily to take the samples and notes. "Ah, thank you. I'm sure these will help. You'll have plenty more opportunity to study it further, of course." He smiles. "Well I'd better get back to it. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me. I will be seeing you soon." Then he's out the door.