Quoted By:
"Though, not the first time an anomaly has teleported me around."
"Noted." Ashley stops by one of the many crates in the cargo room. The two of you begin to scavenge through the various crates in mutual silence. Neither of you really wants to address the elephant in the room. It doesn't take long to find a lot of really neat trinkets through the crates however.
Lex gets shunted into the cargo room with a dazed, confused expression upon arrival. "Fuck, okay, thanks Admiral." He places a heavy book onto the ground and proceeds to lean against one of the many boxes in the cargo room.
The three of you pile together your loot to see what you found on the Admiral's ship...
LOOT ACQUIRED!
>S-CORP LEDGER (A commercial ledger filled to the brim with various classified transactions between S-Corp, L-Corp, P-Corp, and R-Corp. Will take some time to read through, you'll read it over on the way back to the City.)
>PULSATING GEAR (From some sort of machinery you don't recognize. Feels oddly lonely. Seems to spin randomly before stopping. You'll figure out a pattern soon.)
>C-EXTRACT? x3 (Very useful as a bribe and shop resource in the City. Compared to the cherry red of normal C-Extract, it's a dark crimson red. More natural, maybe?)
>RED ROTARY PHONE (Made out of a burnt and tarnished red metal. Old blood stains coat the rotary dial. Scratched onto the side is "ЗBOHИTE, КOГДA BAM HУЖHA ПOMOЩЬ. TPEБУETCЯ OTBETИTЬ TOЛЬКO HA ДBA ЗBOHКA." Has two uses, may be used to call for help regardless of time or place.)
>P-CORP ENERGY COUNTER (Coated in salt and constantly ticking. Once you're in a less anomalously statured area, it gives you a forewarning if something anomalous is nearby or approaching you.)
>VICTORIAN HANDBELL ("I don't fucking know where I got this." Lex tells you. An odd, electric buzz surrounds it. This is what you will give to the Handler for the artifact reward.)
>STRIP OF THE ADMIRAL'S OVERCOAT. ("All I know is that 'this is all I can offer' was whispered into my ear." Lex nervously hisses. A memento?)
As you look over everything that you got from the Admiral's ship, Ashley pulls out her guitar and begins to strum seemingly random notes. You were about to leave to search for something to blow up but...it's probably best to address the elephant in the room.
"So-"
"Look. I know what you're going to say and I really, REALLY don't want to dwell on it. I feel like it's best if we don't, okay?" Ashley bites back with a shocking amount of venom. She realizes she went too far and reels it back almost immediately. "Look. The last few hours have been REAL tough and I just saw you enter a god damn maniac state before nearly dying-
"She's just trying to clear the air. To apologize for that happening, you know?" Lex may be book dumb but he's already piecing together what's going on here. "That shit rattled me too-"
"Oh! That shit just 'rattled' you, huh?" Ashley drops her guitar.
