A Complicated Web

Chapter Sixty One: All A Lie?

The room Hiro, Loki and Kally had entered looked like a cross between a futuristic engine room from a star ship and a command deck. There were a lot of computers around a central area with a giant blue cylinder that seemed to pulse like a heart sticking up from a platform in the middle. That platform was surrounded by a railing to keep anyone from falling in the gap between the platform and the rest of the room. Even Hiro could feel the energy from where he sat.

Before anyone could get too comfortable, however, a tech stepped out from behind a computer station and paused upon seeing the three intruders. He reached up to activate a comm. link on his head but was silenced before he could activate it as Kally knocked him upside the head with one of her metal rods. Two more techs appeared at the sound and met the same fate.

"Probably better make sure there aren't any more in here before you do anything," she reasoned. she glanced back at Hiro and Loki, who hadn't yet moved from just inside the closed doorway. When she didn't get any kind of response from either, she headed out to check out the rest of the vast room.

As soon as Kally was out of sight, Hiro looked back at Loki. "I noticed you didn't take out Ms. Kendrick with your gun," he stated. "You could have, you know, at least incapacitated her. Why didn't you?" It wasn't that he'd wanted Loki to kill her. That went against everything he stood for, but the notion that he could have and didn't was a curious one.

Loki stared forward. "Guns are such a primitive a weapon," he answered. "They lack finesse. That and they're not my style. But if you want to know the real reason, it's because it would have caused more problems than it solved. Until they decide something is amiss, I believe it best to keep as low a profile as possible."

Hiro had to admit it made sense, though the panic attack he'd practically experienced still didn't like it. He could still feel the edge of anxiety at the back of his neck, wondering if she'd gone and checked up on their "orders" yet and if she'd figured they were fake or not. Part of him also couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Dr. Bosch. Kally hadn't confirmed or denied the hinted betrayal and he wasn't sure he liked that. "And what about Dr. Bosch?"

This time Loki came around so he could look Hiro in the eye, leaning forward as his hands held onto the armrests. "Are you sure you really want to know?" He scrutinized the teen's face, almost as if he were looking for something and wasn't sure if he'd find it or not. That or he was gauging Hiro's reaction to the question.

Loki's inquiry seemed to make something heavy settle in Hiro's stomach, though he wasn't sure what or why. "Yes," he rasped after a moment's hesitation. He winced at the sound of dull thuds coming from further in, knowing Kally had found a few more people to incapacitate.

"If you're sure," Loki asked one last time before deciding Hiro was in complete earnest. He kept a close eye on him though, knowing it had the huge possibility of upsetting him, something they didn't need at the moment. "What I told Kally about overhearing a meeting between Dr. Bosch and Ms. Kendrick was the truth, but there were certain things I omitted from my explanation, from the both of you. If you weren't already sitting, I'd advise you to do so now."

Hiro couldn't help but gulp at that, his skin crawling. What could be so bad that Loki would edit it from his initial story?

"It would seem that the good doctor is not so much good as he is conniving," Loki continued. "After your initial incident due to your refusal to eat the sludge they served for food, they both decided it would be wise to let you think you had an ally. As things stood, he did strongly recommend wearing kid gloves around you as you were in a highly fragile state. But it was after your one episode that completely incapacitated you that they decided to really up the act."