frostythehitman

He opens his mouth to reply but then pauses. He hadn't even considered that angle. But at the same time...

"There wasn't even anything else in there when I did it! And after I closed it, it disappeared anyway! It's not like it was unsafe." He huffs and throws himself against the back of the seat.

"Right. Because we can't see where it's going, it's gone forever. Just like the whole Retrospec building now. Out of sight, out of mind." Togusa is still distinctly unimpressed.

"I realize that we are in a crappy situation and people are going to lash back however they can. Because none of us have any control over this. But how did you expect people to react to that?" James gets another brief disbelieving look.

He does not yield to Togusa's look or tone. He is still firmly defensive. "Do you think I care about how people react? I didn't do it for a reaction. Retrospec just deserves a taste of their own medicine."

“You did it to get a reaction out of them. And, intentions or not, once you do something, you lose control over the consequences.” The frustration is intense, because Togusa believes that James is smarter than this. Just angry. Very justifiably angry.

“So what do I do? Another calculated lie to your dad? Toss you in lockup for a day? No threat I can throw at you is gonna stick, and I know it.” He shakes his head. Togusa takes a very long breath out, trying to calm himself back down.

“I thought better of you than this.” Which is really, actually, the core of the problem.

Now that's what stings possibly more than anything. The sense that he's a disappointment. That even when he's trying his best, he's still just a failure. And prior to this, Togusa had always been in his corner--someone he was able to rely on to back him up. But what is he supposed to do?Just sit there and take whatever Retrospec dishes out? Act like he's okay with it? It feels like he's being backed into a corner--everyone wants him to just be okay with everything that's happening to him and stop making a fuss. Like he's the problem here.

James looks away, out the car window, hunched and stiff in his seat. His tone is quieter now but even more bitter.

"What are they gonna do? What are you gonna do? Rip my arm off?" Because as far as he's concerned, the worst case scenario has already happened. What more could they possibly do to hurt him now?

Togusa's tone finally relents, the sign that he got through to him is what he really needed. "I am going to keep driving this car and talk until we work this out. Not because I don't have any other option, but it's how I want to solve this."

He turns the car, picking a side road they can just go down without bothering people. "But I don't know what Retrospec is going to do. None of us do. But they can find a way to make it worse. Every time we think it's the worst, they do something we couldn't have imagined."

The car stops, so that Togusa can finally look at James again, even if he doesn't look back. "And the real reason I'm here is that I'm scared. That they'd decide to test it out on you first." Small secret of growing up, James, when adults get angry, it's usually because they're actually scared, of something or another.

James knows he's right. Retrospec can do anything they damn well please to him, even beyond the limits of physics. They could do things to him that he can't even imagine. The amount of sheer unknowable power they have over him is oppressive, like a physical force pushing down on his shoulders, and he thinks, for a moment, he can't breathe. In the end, he forces himself to choke the words out.

"So what am I supposed to do then, huh? I can't just sit here and--take it--!" In a fit of frustration, James punches the glove compartment. The mere idea of it makes him furious. Sure, he moped about for a few weeks but now the idea of being a passive victim in his own life is unbearable--a non-option.

That poor glove compartment has suffered far worse than James can put out. Over this exact same issue, no less. What was it? Six weeks ago? Less? That Togusa was right here? Togusa briefly has to look away from the feeling of looking into a mirror.

Because what James is getting at is the key question, isn't it? "We keep doing the rest of what you've been doing, but with less fire. Hiding the building, giving out items through a less personal manner, we made them do this. We found the digital codes they're using on the city early. We're having an effect, and they're having to retreat. It's not the big explosion we all want. Yet."

"But don't blow yourself up with them."

"What, so I keep screaming at them on the app?" He snorts. "Yeah, that'll show 'em what's what. I'm sure my capslock has them shaking in their boots, wherever the hell they are now. At least I could do something to them for once with that arm!"

"Sending it to you in the first place didn't get Maurice quitting, I doubt getting it back is going to do much to him." Togusa frowns. He still doesn't get it, he needs a straight answer out of the Retrospec employees for why they won't just stop.

"We know where they are, they're still underneath and around the city. We lost one way in, but there are others." Pause. "Speaking of, that was you at the Waffle House, wasn't it? Take it you didn't find anything, if this was your next move?"

He's silent a moment. James didn't bring up anything about his little waffle house excursion, but it was probably only a matter of time until Togusa figured it out anyway.

"Yeah. I figured they still had to be somewhere around there--a back room, a basement, somewhere. But go figure, we couldn't find anything." But hang on, what was that Togusa just mentioned? He actually turns to face him now.

"...You know ways into Retrospec? You know where they are, how to get in there? Since when?" Because if you've been keeping secrets about Retrospec from him, Togusa, he's gonna be pissed.

Togusa wont give away James’ tell. The fake arm doesn’t move on its own. It’s an arm, but if you know what you’re looking for, it stands out too much. ~~Good thing James is about to lose that?~~ Togusa holds up a defensive hand. “I know they exist, one of them is gonna be like-“ stops himself, chooses a much less vulgar expression to describe it, “the scenic route, and not in a good way.”

“Last month, when we checked out the building, it sent us all the way across town, these tunnels that eventually spat us out all the way in the woods.” Give that a second to sink in, the distance they ended up covering. “In addition, the blueprints people found in August? The assumption is that all the entry points all the teams got led to, the basement, forest bunker, university, subway? They’re are connected. They’re all a part of the complex. Maybe. But we haven’t tried them again in a few months.”

Now this. This is what James has been wanting to hear. This is what he wants to do.

"So then we can just go back into them, right? I mean, I tried getting into the subway a few months ago and they were all blocked off, but--if you got dumped in the woods, that means the bunker there has to be how you got there! So that's where we need to go." He has no idea where this bunker is, exactly, but he is already making plans to go find it.

“I’d recommend trying the others again, first,” Togusa’s tone darkens. “Whatever shielding Retrospec has to keep them safe? Didn’t apply to that bunker or the path from the building. It was all the fog monsters, trapped to hell and back. I only made it through there because I had the most powerful person in the city with me.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea, and it makes you a target. I am still scared for you, but I dont think that’s going to go away.” Softer, letting some of his real fear for James soak in, before he sighs deeply.

Togusa finally points at James. “If you try this, for the love of whatever is important to you, don’t run off without preparing, have a plan to get back, and no more setting fire to things.” It’s ridiculous that he has to say that. “That really has to be where I draw the line. You really cant control how much damage a fire does. Please. No more burning shit?”

"I'm already a target whether I do anything or not." But, after a few moments of silence, he relents.

"Fine. Fine. I'll have a backup and everything. And I'll only set stuff on fire if it really, actually deserves it."

There's still regret in Togusa's eyes. He can't flat-out tell James not to do this. That'll send him running straight at Retrospec faster than anything. As much as Togusa wants answers, there's a part of him that hopes the attempt is impossible, just to not put James through what Togusa saw in those tunnels.

"Where am I dropping you off?" He finally pulls away from the curb again.

"Back home. You can just drop me off at the checkpoint." He was heading home anyway, and there's no need to make Togusa go through the whole security rigmarole when he can just easily enter himself and walk the rest of the way home.

"But wait, first--who has those blueprints now?" He's not about to just let this conversation end without getting some more information first, not when Togusa just dropped all this on him.

Togusa nods and starts to turn the car around. After the last impression he left on George, this is for the best.

"Check with Dante," is the response. "Or, ah, Mohammed Hefaz. He and I were trying to figure out the old subway map before, too. I know it was Dante's group that found the thing, but I don't know what they were able to bring back. I think there were some efforts to duplicate what they saw, though." It's one of the parts of this that Togusa doesn't have his finger on the pulse of.

Dante? Oooh, that's gonna be awkward. James shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He knows that what happened was a dream (nightmare, whatever) but he's still uncomfortable with it. Fine, whatever. He'll deal with it. Confronting Retrospec will be worth the awkwardness.

"Alright, I'll talk to them."

The rest of the drive to the base's gates is in a not uncomfortable silence. Togusa has made his point, he's not going to belabor it. The idea of pointing an officer in a direction where all their righteous energy can do some good is familiar, but that's for an officer, not a teenager.

When they make it to the base, Togusa finally pulls over. He nods lightly at James, a sign that he's free to go and not in any lasting trouble. "Thank you. For listening at all."

"You trapped me in a car, I didn't exactly have a choice," he mumbles, but it's with no venom. Unlike most people, at least Togusa's not telling James to just put up with Retrospec and not do anything. "Thanks for the info."

He opens the car door and steps out to make the rest of the way home.

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