Not Your Average Doctor's Visit

"I'd like to a get a blood sample from you."

I wish I had cat ears or something so I could do that little 'perk up' move when I hear something out of the ordinary like that. I just feel like raising my eyebrows and shit just isn't enough, you know? Like, I need additional body parts to display my general confusion and displeasure with this scenario. Because you have got to be fucking kidding me.

But no, I'm standing in the middle of a sterile lab environment being shown this and that because I asked Third about the big locked rooms or whatever, so I'm touring around one and suddenly "Hey, I'd like some of your blood." Because that doesn't sound suspicious or anything.

I remember just staring at him for a little while like he was crazy and him staring back at me like "What?", like I was the weirdo asking for bodily fluids. Finally, I just spit out, "Swan warned me about this kind of shit you know? I mean, what, did you think I haven't noticed the cameras all over this place? You're not using them to keep an eye on yourself, that's for damned sure."

"It's standard security measures, I'm not using them specifically to spy on you." he replied, looking more tired than annoyed by our exchange, "Don't act like you're so important that I'd set all this up just for you. I have much more important matters to worry about. Now then... all I'm asking for is a blood sample. It's completely voluntary. I'm not going to strap you to a table and take it by force." He smiles, "Though I might wait and take one while you're sleeping... depends on whether the mood strikes me."

I'm taking that last bit as sarcasm, but I threw my arms up regardless and just dropped myself into a damned chair. "God, just fucking take it. I don't care."

"Much appreciated." Third practically sung the words as he turned and began gathering supplies from around the room. I watched him prepare for a bit, examining the room a bit further before speaking up again.

"So what's it for?"

He looked a bit confused, "What's what for?"

"The blood sample."

"Oh. Standard procedure really, I want to run some tests and see how heavily contaminated you are. You've kept your distance for a few months, so I'm hoping the infection has subsided a bit. I need to know if I should strengthen the barrier or not. A few of the more extreme cases have caused.... Problems, in the past." He explained while bringing over a small tray of medical tools and setting it down next to me. "Roll up your sleeve will you?"

"...." Minor hesitation, then I complied, shoving my shirt sleeve up over my shoulder and hanging it there. He went to wrap some rubber strap thing around my upper arm when he stopped. I wasn't looking at him. Took one glance long enough to catch his expression. I think that's the first time I've seen a legitimately confused look on his face. Bit of curiosity and surprise, I guess.

"Hm... what's all this then?" he asked, still hovering in place with his little rubber band.

"Nothing."

"Hardly seems like nothing." He jabbed my shoulder with a digit, seemingly just to get my attention. "Ahh... that one. Now I get it. Not sure I follow the rest though. What's the significance?"

"It's none of your business, now leave it alone."

"Very well, I'll ask again when you're feeling more cooperative. Hold still now." Without much ceremony, he went back to his work and a few seconds later I'm trying to ignore the fact that there's a fucking needle thing in me. I'd have continued small talk, but I was trying to just maintain normal breathing for a little while until it was over. The words "just one more" and "there we go" couldn't come soon enough. "No, don't bend it, keep your arm straight and hold it on there. It'll bruise if you bend it."

"I didn't realize you cared..." sarcasm

"Eh, habit. Don't take it personal." That I'm pretty sure was not sarcasm though...

So now that he's got his vials of red stuff and I'm watching him go back to dancing around the room fiddling with gizmos and whats-its that I couldn't even begin to tell you what were. Seemed as good a time as any for my next question. "You've got an awful lot of nice things around this place. Pretty expensive I'd imagine. How exactly does someone like you get the money for all of this?"

"Hmm... well, I've had a number of dealings with certain... Individuals... who have been more than willing to pay for my assistance in their little... Projects. Knowledge is quite the valuable commodity in this business and I'm holding a lot of rare cards. Comes in handy when you're in need of cash."

"....Moriarty?"

There was a pause. "You're connecting the dots between what I told you earlier and the cure your Proxy 'friends' have been mentioning lately... I won't deny involvement. I've been on Goldstien's payroll before and I did provide him with a wealth of research, but his cure and mine are not quite one and the same. We have something of a difference in opinion in regards to how we operate... I felt it best to cut ties before things went south. Personal interest takes precedence."

"Working for rich bastards and Fears isn't the only way to make money while on the run though." he continued, "I've learned you can make quite the killing with the right investments. You just need to have a little insider information." I remember him tapping the side of his head as he said that. "Any stock owned and operated by Highers within the Proxy structure is sure to increase in value over time. They have a way of keeping their numbers up, if you know what I mean. And in a pinch, you can usually count on options run by the upper ranks of alternative servants. Pharmaceuticals run by those... mad doctors or whatever... Oathbreakers? Yes, that's it. Oh, and almost anything the Wooden Girl has her hands in... She has the most charming way of pulling strings from behind the scenes. Hee, heee~"

"Great... why am I not surprised?"

"Well, it's not that hard to figure out if you think about it." Third replied, "Once you know they have such a massive bureaucracy in place, it doesn't take much to start connecting the dots back to where they're getting their money from. Though if you're really clueless, all it takes is a bit of investigation into general public records. They have a habit of keeping paperwork on Everything after all. The money trail isn't very hard to track if you know what to look for. With all the records they keep, if it weren't for their lawyers and assassins, then their whole operation would have exploded into the public eye ages ago. Isn't that funny?"

"Hilarious."

"Oh, you're no fun." He starts waving at me in a 'Shoo, shoo' fashion. "Why don't you find something else to entertain yourself with for a while. I'll need some time to concentrate on this. I can answer more of your questions later."

"Right... you just... have fun playing with my blood then." I got up and took my leave. He stopped by sometime later to tell me "He's seen worse" and then just turned and left without bothering to explain what that was supposed to mean at all. Didn't see him for the rest of the day.

Passing Time with Questions

Okay, looks like a couple similar inquires are coming in recently, so I figured I'd do what I could to answer them real quick while I'm not particularly busy. If you've got an easy question I didn't answer here, throw it into the comments and I'll try to edit this before I go back into the field tomorrow...


Where are you staying? Where are you finding Shelter?
Rooftops...

Can you be more specfic?
High Rooftops

....
Okay okay, uhh... typically hotels or parking garages (these are totally the best, btw), but really anything that's a good 10-20 stories or taller is good in my book. Higher the better obviously. Getting to the roof is the tricky bit...

Step one, I just follow Doctor Who principles... Walk around like you own the place. Like it's a perfectly natural thing for you to be where ever you are. People don't pay a lot of attention to their surroundings most of the time anyways. So unless you're dressing like a hobo or a character straight out of an anime then odds are they're not going to notice "random guy number 69" and more than they noticed "random guy number 7". So just go about your business and odds are no one will bother you. And if they do? Liiiiie to them. If you can't come up with a good excuse for being there, tell them you're lost and ask them for directions, then calmly leave and find someplace else to infiltrate.

Most places of this nature have roof access, though generally only for maintenance, so it's just a matter of climbing the stairs to the top and then finding that entrance. You'll probably have to use your pocket knife to... and if you don't have a pocket knife, for fucks sake, get yourself a pocket knife... this is survivalist training 101. Anyways, there's typically going to be either some panel to unscrew first or a card reader to bypass, basically just something you're doing to have to disable or remove to ensure you don't set off an emergency/fire alarm. You can do that easily enough with a simple knife. Once that's done, you're in and on the roof. Close the door behind you, hide the evidence. Your tampering will be discovered eventually, so you typically don't want to stay in the same place for multiple nights... unless you're replacing the stuff you tampered with every time you leave or something... but honestly, I'd recommend relocating nightly. I'm pretty sure that's how The Rules are supposed to work.

Parking Garages are a lot simpler since you just walk to the top, hide behind some cars and ...well, there you go. No extra work. You are a bit more vulnerable in these spots though, since they don't have the same infiltration challenges as a rooftop. So... be weary of that bit.


Where are you getting your money?
Well, I've explained the credit card fraud trick already, but that was for when I was in the bunker. I don't have physical cards like that and even if I did, I wouldn't want to be using them in personal face to face senarios. (God I still need to find a way to pay those things off too..)

But I've kind of got a bank account... I just couldn't access that from the bunker. Well, not without doing it online and signing up for a bunch of shit and... I didn't want any transactions traced back to my location or for it to get hacked or something. Typical paranoia. So I didn't touch it. Now that I'm out though, I can hit an atm on the fly and be on my way. I don't exactly have a lot saved up, but it's enough for what I need to get by if I stick to the cheapest resources I can find. I'm hoping to have Plan B worked out before I start running out, but... yeah, story for another time.

My "experiment" materials have mostly been pretty cheap too. I mean, I got that super soaker off the clearance isle. Most expensive thing I've paid for was a hotel room that week that all the storms were going around.


What the fuck are you thinking with this ponies bullshit, have you lost your fucking mind?
Yes. Yes I have. Now shut up and let me handle this bullshit that no one else seems to have the balls to do so that it'll be done and no one else will have to risk their asses trying it.

And hey, you got ideas for better experiments?
GO DO THEM!!

One or two "zany researcher types" every blue moon isn't going to be enough for us to ever truly figure this thing out. It'll help, sure, but until we all get in on this together, we're never going to get anywhere.

Now if you're excuse me, I've got fucking ponies to attend to.