"Even if it's too late to do what I wished for… I would rather not cause things to fall apart for you." Benjamin said. "The great design which moves the wheel of suffering that is this facility… I'm afraid I could not understand it in full, and I might not be able to, in the end. What I do know, however, means that I ought to be careful with what I share, or else this… moment, will be crushed under the wheel."
"I understand, it's not as though I'm unaware that there's… an architect behind all of this that wants things to gojustso." Alphonse shook his head. "Nothing would make sense otherwise. There's a specific way this is meant to go."
"Remarkable. I guess I should have expected you to figure as much." Benjamin said with a sigh. "But..."
He seemed to hesitate, unsure of what to say.
"Perhaps… it might be best to play it close to the chest, as it were. To only say what I meant to tell you, when I first started this call." The man eventually settled on his words. "But I think you might still be able to glean a lot out of it. I may not know the exact particulars, but I know that as long as it isyouwho connects the dots, the rest will follow."
"So the conditions of the timeloop are connected to what I know, or at least it is something that could influence it and send us back to square one?" Alphonse hazarded a guess.
"I expect the conditions to be stringent while also leaving room for error." Benjamin said. "Just the right amount of it for unexpected situations, while also not enough for a different result than what it seeks. If the information you gain is one you could have realistically made sense of and acquired by going along with the plan, then it only follows that it is within expectations."
It made sense, to an extent, but he wondered if the legroom could have possibly accounted for something as unexpected as his situation.
"Regardless, as for what I wished to tell you… it mostly begins with a question." Benjamin continued after a moment. "Why are you the manager? Of all people, why did the company hire you?"
"It's hard to say for sure. It definitely isn't because of some arbitrary measure of how capable I am at the job though." Alphonse said, crossing his arms. "I've had this discussion with my employees before; the position itself is rather redundant, to the point that if the personnel is sufficiently capable, the department heads might as well take over. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that there's facilities running without a manager."
"I couldn't tell you if the last part is true, but you are correct, our 'managers' are exploited by the company just as much as any other employee." Benjamin answered, sounding dejected. "The job of the managers in other branches is… to be scapegoats, I suppose. Someone to put all evils upon, should the worst come to pass. That isn't to say that the rest of the employees are free of retribution, but when it comes time to explain who is to blame to one's investors and business partners…"
"It's easiest to put the blame on this one, singular person, rather than Lobotomy Corporation as a whole." Alphonse concluded quickly enough. "And so you deal with them, hire a more 'competent' manager, and we go back to business as usual."
"Business as usual, yes. That is what this is in the City. It's not that strange for this or any other company to pull the wool over people's eyes, fill their ears with lies and say that they are remarkable and resourceful." Benjamin bitterly remarked. "On our end, it's not unusual for the hiring requirements of managers to be lower than those of other employees."
"That's messed up, but I understand. I'm disappointed, but hardly surprised the truth is something so goddamn cutthroat." Alphonse remarked. "But what evenarethe requirements to be hired by Lobotomy Corporation?"
"Now that, I don't know if I can share, but it's all in the company's interests." Benjamin replied. "Everyone is desperate to join a Wing, and every Wing is more than it appears to be, but… the proverbial rabbit hole of this company runs much deeper than one might expect. You in particular were not hired because you were a 'remarkable person'."
"But all the same, I was 'hired' for a reason, wasn't I?" Alphonse asked, though it was more to probe than to find anything. "It's not because of any arbitrary measure of my aptitude, but because of who 'the manager of Lobotomy Corporation's headquarters' is supposed to be. And whoever they are…they've got history with Lobotomy Corporation, and with you."
Benjamin didn't respond to that, though it didn't surprise Alphonse. It wasn't hard to guess that there was something there, there was a certain warmth to the man that didn't quite seem like the sort you'd give a perfect stranger. People could be courteous and friendly, but if one approached someone they didn't know in a way like Benjamin did to him, that would likely draw more suspicion than anything.
"That is perhaps the crux of this matter. Our history. Our sins." Benjamin spoke mournfully. "There was a time everyone worked together to reach one perfect, singular goal. It wasn't that long ago, and yet it feels like it was a lifetime ago. Back then…" The man stopped to take a breath, and his voice was full of remorse. "Those were the brightest moments of my life, but they couldn't last forever. We broke apart, we lost our integrity along the way and then things… things just went downhill from there."
Benjamin took a moment to breathe, and Alphonse did the same. It took him a bit to realize his unharmed hand was over his chest. Something just felt…gone. There was a hollow inside him, and he didn't know where that feeling was coming from.
And yet…
"I'm not… him, Benjamin." Alphonse said, even as he felt that unbearable sense of familiarity and kinship. "I've never been him. I'll never be him."
"I know."
Alphonse blinked. That…
"That's always been part of it all." Benjamin, having taken a moment, continued, "The… architect of this plan, he knew that the person you once were would never be able to achieve this, not as he was, a blank canvas was better than painting that was rescued from a fire with countless imperfections marring its surface."
"Then… why?" He couldn't stop himself from asking. Alphonse was rather baffled, enough that he couldn't even really correct the misunderstanding about what hetrulymeant when he said he wasn't him
"I've… always known that I couldn't have him back. He's gone. But that didn't mean that I couldn't at least right some of the wrongs I committed." Benjamin answered. "That I couldn't at least try to make up for my cowardice. I should have… I should have done so many things other than what I did; but we are past the point of no return, all that's left now…"
The man took a moment to himself.
"It… it feels silly to say it out loud, when I don't even know how long this has been going on for." Benjamin said. "But the only thing I can do is hope that this is 'it'. That this time, finally, you will be able to put an end to this cycle, however long it may have taken us to get here."
"Do you think I can do that as I am?" Alphonse asked.
He'd already made a bunch of mistakes. He wasn't perfect and he wasn't… bad in the sort of ways that he was expected to be, either. Frankly he had little faith in himself, and the one advantage he had over the original manager could easily crush him under countless failures that would surely come and haunt him.
"I think… at this point, the only thing I can do is have faith in you." Benjamin replied. "This was not what I wanted for you, or for me, or for any of us… but in the end, I think it couldn't have gone any other way."
Benjamin took a deep breath.
"Yes. I think you will manage it. No matter how impossible it may seem, I know you will not waver, and I know you will make it to the end, no matter what. No matter how foolish or unlikely anyone may think it is. Including you." Benjamin spoke with high-absolute conviction. "'Ālea iacta est'. We have crossed the Rubicon already. If we cannot stop… then we can only move forward."
Those words were meant for someone else entirely. Not for him, who had dragged his feet in such a way and was still in the muck of it all. In spite of all that though, the words felt galvanizing, like a call to action, they made him feel as though, in spite of it all… maybe Benjamin had the right idea, maybe hecouldsee the end of it all, and possibly sock whoever made this hell in the face.
Yet at the same time, there was a detail that he found distracting. An unimportant, little thing that didn't matter to their conversation. A speck in the grand scheme of things but still something that would start to dig into him if he didn't go without addressing.
"And so, Sisyphus puts his hands, calloused and worn down, upon the boulder." Alphonse narrated, quoting nothing in particular, but knowing the myth well enough. "And thus, he continues to push the boulder up the hill, ever onward."
"Perhaps he is…" Benjamin remarked, slightly sad. "Yet I'm sure, given time the boulder and the hill both may yet be conquered, and he will not see it roll back down, ever again."
He understood what he meant. He knew the myth of Sisyphus, he used an idiom that was just too specific, crossing the Rubicon was intrinsically linked to Julius Caesar doing so. So surely-
"I have to go now." Benjamin said. "Angela may already know, but it is still best not to have this conversation drag on for too long."
"No, wait, there's still…" He tried to stop him, but Alphonse just got the feeling that it was useless to argue at this point. Instead, he just asked. "Will we get to talk again?"
"Surely. There is still… at least one more thing I have to say, even if I cannot go through with my plan." The man replied. "Until then… my friend."
Somehow the word felt like a gut punch, but even still, Alphonse replied.
"Until then, Benjamin."
The transmission ended, and Alphonse was left alone.
Angela did not return to the office that day. Alphonse wasn't about to wait for her when they had work to get done and so, he ended up throwing himself right into it.
"Yesod, I don't care if itlookssafe, take every precaution with the new Abnormality."
"You speak as though we don't already do so." The Sephirah of the Information Team retorted scathingly.
"Yesod, I don't see the clerks you're sending in with full biohazard gear or atleasta respirator mask." Alphonse retorted. "Normal fungi are already on somesh*t, I'm not taking my chances on a mushroomAbnormality."
That was the new Abnormality he'd received for the day, O-04-66. He really couldn't describe it in any way other than a creepy, huge-ass, purple and blue mushroom that took up most of the space on the containment unit.
After a little back and forth, getting nowhere, Alphonse just moved on, continuing to manage the rest of the facility to… little issue, if he had to be honest.
It was somewhat scary how in control things seemed. Compared to the early days, at least. His employees had been getting better and better. Yum-Yum had the Control Team on lock, with the other agents there being more than capable of handling their Abnormalities and the Ordeals quickly. Information was dicey thanks to the Funeral and the Meat Lantern, but Arang could handle those on his own and, in spite of the constant deaths they faced earlier, the current batch of employees was catching up with their Captain's capabilities.
Training was doing good. They had a tool, Matchstick and Crayola to deal with and, now that he had better armed employees and knew how they ticked? He had it handled. The biggest problem was to try and keep employees alive during Ordeals; the department honestly had it relatively easy, all things considered. As for Safety… he had hisissueswith Netzach, but at least his agents were being careful, especially since Isabel was there and herding them. The rest of the department was a goddamn mess, though, with at least two to three clerks dyingdaily.
There was very little he could do there at the time…
As the day kept rolling on, Yesod finally spoke up.
"We have concluded our initial analysis of the giant mushroom chunk."
Alphonse raised a brow, biting down on the urge to make a tongue in cheek comment about how they might as well call it 'The big-ass shroom'. It wasn't time for that and besides, the man seemed quite irate too. Instead he just said, "Good to know. What's the stitch?"
"To begin with, it is difficult to categorize the Abnormality's Risk Level as it has been tame overall, but if we went purely off of energy produced, we could classify it as WAW." Yesod explained, "There does not seem to be any sort of respiratory problems after being in contact with the Abnormality, nor do our employees seem to have any particular stigmata otherwise."
Alphonse was equal parts horrified and flabbergasted.Thatwas a WAW Abnormality? The second to last category of Abnormalities? The fetus had given himway more grief,and that was a HE.
After a moment he took a breath. No, he had to stay vigilant and not even for a second think that the mushroom wouldn't f*ck him over in some way.
A thought did cross his mind though. Maybe he should try sending more people to work with it regardless of the potential risk? After all, WAW E.G.O gear would be a cut above from everything he had at the moment, getting more just meant his best agents would be able to work with and Suppress Abnormalities in a safer, faster fashion.
He had to weigh his options for a while before speaking up again. "Alright. Yesod, continue observation of the mushroom and the employees who worked with it. We'll work on it in brief bursts and rotating employees."
It might be worth the risk, but he first had to know what the risk was. If the Abnormality wiped the whole department as a result of prodding it too much, then it wasn't something he'd just jump right into. Caution above all else was what he needed right now.
After 15 minutes, Isabel waved at the cameras to open comms.
"What's up, Isabel?" He asked.
"Say, boss, when am I going to work on the mushroom again?" She asked. "It's been a hot minute now and I'm getting a little bit antsy about it."
Alphonseimmediatelyfelt leery upon seeing her reaction, asking "Antsy how? Have you been wanting to work on it more and more?"
"I mean, yeah, why wouldn't I?" Isabel asked. "It's honestly pretty relaxing to be in the containment unit. Can I go back there after the next guy?"
"Have you been wearing a mask in the containment unit?" Alphonse asked
"Nooooo… should I?" She asked, dubious of him. "I mean it smells pretty good in there, it reminds me of…well its difficult to explain it. Words kind of fall short, but it's beautiful."
"Isabel, I need you to listen to me right now." Alphonse said with a clipped tone. "I need you to get to Information and talk with Yesod, alright?"
As Isabel argued against it, Alphonse quickly put Yesod on comms.
"Yesod, what symptoms have you been looking for in the employees?" The man asked. "Have you been checking emotional responses? Asking if they felt a heightened desire to work on the mushroom?"
"We have been doing our job if that is what you are asking,manager." Yesod retorted bitingly.
"Answer the damn question, Yesod." Alphonse shot back. "Did nothing of the sort stand out to you?"
"Some employees have expressed a desire to work on O-04-66 instead of other Abnormalities, but this can easily be attributed to the fact that it has not caused any problems and is relatively easy to work with." Yesod responded with annoyance.
"Check again. I am sending Isabel to-"
An alarm quickly blared, and Alphonse saw as something began to happen to the mushroom, with several pustules on its cap beginning to glow a gentle blue. Seeing Isabel turn away from the hallway of the Information Team and start heading back to Safety, he quickly contacted her
"Isabel, what are you doing?" Alphonse asked, quickly looking over the facility and seeing a few other employees start to head in the same direction.
"...calling." She said quietly. "He's calling, there's something he wants to show me."
"Isabel, whoever he is, don't listen to him!" Alphonse warned. "You're being used, don't go to the big ass mushroom!"
"Don't you dare call him that!" Isabel shot back, clutching her head as the other employees kept going towards the containment unit. "He… he's beautiful. He's not difficult to deal with like the other Abnormalities, he's not a pain in the ass, and I know he's-
"Isabel! Cut it out!"He screamed
The agent finally seemed to come to her senses, shaking her head and muttering.
As for the rest of the employees, it was too late, two of them were at the entrance of the hallway as the third came face to face with the Abnormality.
Spores blocked out the sight, but he heard disgusting squelching, squirming noises, wet sounds as something took place.
The other two employees immediately lost their minds. One was a clerk, who put his gun under his chin and fired the other an Agent who ran screaming and swinging his weapon with wild abandon.
A monstrous blue creature came out of the containment unit.
Messy. That was the only way Alphonse could describe the Suppression. There were far less losses than one could expect, with only 6 dead clerks and 3 agents, but everyone was left stressed out in the end. The... transformed employee was very hardy, and they weren't able to kill it quickly while it kill them in an instant. They had to take it slow, starting a battle of attrition that they only won because the creature wouldn't drift far from the containment unit of the mushroom.
When it was done, he took a deep breath. They were not out of the woods yet, as far as he was concerned.
"Netzach, prepare a hazmat suit for Hannah." He ordered, and when he started to hear the beginnings of a groggy sigh, he immediately capitulated and added, "do it or so help me God, I'm pouring all your beer and vodka down the same drain I sent the Enkephalin last time."
"Fine." Netzach said, grousing all the while.
Switching comms to the employee in question, he had special orders for him: being the one who had Matchstick's weapon, he had to slowly sterilize the hallway. By which Alphonse meant razing it to the ground and making sure no leftover spores could do anything to other employees. Hannah would be excused from other work for the day because of it and he said it would be downright therapeutic.
As for Isabel…
"Can I take the rest of the day off?" She asked. Her tone was a lot more drained than usual and it wasn't hard to guess why.
"I'm sending you to get checked up, but otherwise, you're free." He replied, then sighed. "We're close to meeting our quota. I'll only call if we've got an emergency."
Isabel began to depart and as she did, he just sighed and ran some quick maths on how many works he'd need to order and on which Abnormalities to get the Enkephalin he needed. More than a few, but they could handle it.
"f*cking mushroom."
That was the only thing he could really say about it and, come the end of the day, the incident would stick in his mind for a while longer
The trouble that the Abnormality, now christened 'The Little Prince' was not something he'd easily forget.
