Six months. After six months of excruciating work and countless  caffeine-fueled nights, Alexei finally saw the two words that he and his team were waiting for: Simulation successful. Still, as it was currently long past midnight, Alexei knew better than to rejoice immediately, and set out to wake his assistant to double check the results. As he stood up, he instinctively grabbed his mug, by now long empty, and went to the break room where his assistant slept. While the laboratory's lights could be manually turned off, letting the central holographic projector and the various surrounding screens provide a dim lighting, the corridor's bright automatic lights temporarily blinded the scientist. This didn't faze Alexei, though, who kept walking through the deserted corridor while his eyes adjusted to the brightness. After reaching the break room and turning on the lights there, Alexei found his assistant lying on one of the room's sofas.

"Leo, wake up, we've got work to do." 

In response, Leo simply moaned a meagre five more minutes from under his blanket. Clicking his tongue, Alexei instead opted to refill his mug with fresh coffee, the sound of the coffee machine being surely more effective than his own voice to wake his assistant. He couldn't blame him, of course, they were working overtime, after all. One would think that, after working for a respectable company like Ratchet Star Industries for the past twelve years, one would be above such things. Sadly, life doesn't always go that way.

"Nnnhh... make me one too... I think I'll need it..." 

"Oh, you sure will, Leo, our simulation was successful." 

"I'm sure it was, doctor, at least as well as the other three hundred times." 

"No, I think this time's the charm." 

As Alexei finished his sentence with a sip of his mug, Leo seemingly realised the implications and suddenly jumped out of the sofa he was previously laid on. His short brown hair was a mess, and his bloodshot eyes did little to hide his sleep deprivation. Admittedly, Alexei was probably in no better shape himself. As he handed his assistant a cup of coffee, the duo headed back into their laboratory. 

"Check the results on your end. I hope we're right, but I don't want any surprises when we turn it on." 

"Of course, doctor, right away." 

After what seemed like an eternity, both men came to the conclusion that their simulation really was completed successfully. The next step was now to test their theory on the real thing.  

"Alright, we'll start the experiment with everyone at 9, I'll call the control room to get the capacitors charged in time. Can you go down there and start preparing everything else please? I'll join you when I'm done here." 

 "No problem, I'll meet you there."

Leo swiftly gathered his equipment and left the laboratory, while Alexei put on his headset and called the facility's control room. Despite the fact that it was now nearly two in the morning, RSI's facility relied on its own power plant, among other things, meaning that there would always be someone to monitor the situation. Or at least, there should have been someone. As Alexei's calls remained unanswered, his patience quickly wore out. After a couple more unfruitful attempts, Alexei eventually gave in, and decided to head for the control room himself.

Ratchet Star Industries’ facilities in Selach Peak were top-of-the-line, complete with their own launchpad, power plant, telescope and all the security measures they called for. This translated into an annoyingly high number of locked doors and automated security checkpoints between each building, and even within the buildings themselves. Even though it was just a matter of scanning his badge and sometimes his retina, the sheer amount of time lost was one of the reasons Alexei spent most of his time cloistered in his lab. Other reasons included the freezing temperatures outside of the buildings and the distance between them, prompting him to use his car whenever he had to get out. Alexei eventually reached his car in the underground garage, and sent a quick message to his assistant before getting in the driver's seat.

They're not answering the phone, I'm going there myself.

I'm sure they didn't, I'll do my best to finish down here before you come back.

Upon reading Leo's response, Alexei clicked his tongue in annoyance. While his assistant was often too bold and impudent for his taste, he was among the only ones who could keep up with him, both in terms of skill and professional implication. Perhaps too much so, for such a young man. Sighing at both of their fates, Alexei drove off towards the main RSI building. Located only a few hundred meters away from his lab, the building remained hidden within the foggy night. This didn't deter the scientist in any way, and he reached his destination a few minutes later, hastily parking his car in front of the building's main entrance. Detecting his arrival, the building's lights automatically turned on, revealing the empty reception hall and corridors. Unfazed, Alexei continued towards the control room, a path he had taken multiple times throughout his stay here. As he reached the main door separating the corridor from the control room, however, an unusual sight occurred in front of him:

Access denied.

Unconvinced by the bold red text displayed in front of him, Alexei swiped his badge once more.

Access denied.

Sighing at this new inconvenience, Alexei instead used his personal code, initiating a three-step procedure to override the security lock. His admin privileges, earned along with his position of project lead, were to be used only when necessary, and thus weren't imprinted on his badge. More often than not, each time Alexei forced the control room's lockdown at this hour, it was only due to the night staff's tendencies to use the room's equipment for... unprofessional uses. With a soft beep, the small screen reverted to its original blue shade, now displaying a new message.

Administrator override accepted. (1/3)

Initiate retinal scan? (Y/N)

Alexei pressed the button when prompted, and placed his eye in front of the scanner. The last step would be a vocal command, and so Alexei moved back in front of the door. Instead of another soft beep, however, the door unlocked by itself, rapidly opening as if nothing happened. The next thing Alexei saw was a black mass, accentuated by the control room's dim lighting, rapidly approaching his face, and then nothing.

Alexei felt himself getting dragged away and strapped to a chair, but couldn't hear anything. Except for the intense pain in his head and the numbness in his limbs, his body refused to move or provide him with any information for a few more seconds. As his senses slowly returned to him, Alexei realized that he was now within the control room. He tried to talk, asking for explanations as to why the night staff decided to knock him on his ass, but the only sounds that came out of his mouth were garbled sounds, unrecognizable to anyone who'd listen to him. Have they drugged him, too? Or was it the sleep deprivation? Whatever it was, Alexei tried to regain his posture, shaking his head to try and recover all of his senses. His eyes finally adapted to the room's dim lighting, emanating from the few screens displaying various reports and dashboards. The control room's night shift, responsible for monitoring the entirety of RSI's Research & Development facility from these various terminals, typically consisted of three technicians. Instead, Alexei found himself being held at gunpoint by five masked assailants.

Or rather, to be more accurate, he was simply surrounded by those five armed individuals, whose features were hidden beneath dark clothes and masks, and who had yet to ask him anything. In fact, they hadn't spoken at all since they found him a few minutes ago. Three of them were rummaging through all the terminals within the room while the other two surveilled the area, occasionally checking that he was still in his chair. While the eerie silence, occasionally interrupted by the sound of keyboards, was already discomforting, the sight of the three dead technicians deterred Alexei from saying a word. As his gaze constantly shifted between his captors, the control room's main door opened, and two more figures entered the room. Alexei tensed up when they looked at him, and subconsciously tried to walk away as they approached him.

"So, who do we have here, exactly?"

"His HR files identify him as Dr. Alexei Perezenko, a nuclear physicist. He's apparently the project lead of..."

"Yes, I... I'm... I'm just a scientist, I won't do anything, please!"

Both voices were feminine, intriguing the doctor slightly, but the weapons they carried was more than enough of a reminder of his position. As he finished his sentence, the two figures eyed each other for a short moment, before one of them pulled up a chair and sat in front of him, removing her headgear in the process. Her most striking feature were her eyes, a gentle heterochromia of green and yellow. After a few seconds, Alexei realized that her amber eye was an implant, something regular pirates and outlaws would almost never be able to get, as they can be easily traced and are ludicrously expensive.

"Who... what... I..."

"You can relax, doctor, my colleagues and I are not fond of gratuitous violence. I'm afraid, however, that we cannot tell you much, so why don't you let me asks the questions, mmh?"

"I... of course, yes, yes, just, please, don't hurt me."

The woman smiled gently and then turned back to her associate, who was still standing behind them.

"Lucy, can you untie this man, please? Thank you, dear."

"As you wish, madam."

Lucy promptly freed Alexei of his binding, her cold touch and rough handling doing little to reassure him.

"Well, then, Dr. Perezenko, let us continue our little discussion. Have you heard of the Janus project?"

"Janus? Yes, that's... that's Dr. Yukimuro's work, I think. Well, it was, at least. I... I don't work there, I'm working on..."

"Yes, we know that you weren't part of Dr. Yukimuro's team. Do you know, by any chance, where we could find him or his research material?"

"I... no, he left the company three weeks ago and..."

"Madam." interrupted Lucy, still standing menacingly behind him. "The shipping registry indicates an unmarked cargo that left the facility two days ago by truck. Interrogating Mr. Perezenko will get us nowhere, and our window is closing."

"I see, so we're late... I apologize, Alexei, but we'll have to cut our conversation short."

"Wait, if you're leaving, am I free to go?"

"Not quite. It pains me to say this, but we have a policy to suppress all witnesses. At least we'll give you the solace of a painless end."

As the unnamed woman ended her sentence, Alexei felt a sharp pain in his neck and turned around. Lucy stood next to him with an empty injector, and he slowly felt his limbs losing strength. As he collapsed on the ground, his previous interlocutor knelt beside him. Her short blond hair and heterochromatic eyes felt almost angelic to him, and as his vision turned to black, he heard her soothing voice one last time.

"I'm sorry. I wish we met under other circumstances, or not at all. May you find peace in the afterlife."