[color=gray] Rhiannon gave a fake business smile to the group of external supervisors. The part about [i]just with more people[/i] didn't sit right with her. But she knew that if they were here, they got clearance. She knew that if they were unannounced, they hadn't simply been able to walk in. So she reckoned that someone had missed informing her about the exact number of externs running around their lab. [color=efd7ad]"Thank you for indulging me. Please, go ahead. I'd like to know every detail. I'm feeling very... protocol...today."[/color] [i]Protocol? Really?[/i] Whatever nonsense just slipped through her lips, the following minutes were spent with one of the regular government supervisors explaining and listing to Rhiannon all the tests they'd run and how their equipment worked. She could tell he was trying to keep her in a good mood. Either because he didn't feel like messing with a moody Dr. Windsor today or because he had some other reason. [i][color=efd7ad]One of my many outfits must have convinced him that me in a good mood is a better thing to have.[/color][/i] The thought crossed her half-jokingly. As the man went on and patiently answered all of Rhiannon's unnecessary questions as she technically knew what they were doing, Rhia's thoughts were still with the information her wife had dropped on her like a bomb. Just as was watching some of the new interns more closely, still hearing the soft explanations about radioactivity measurements in her ear, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her comms. She jumped as her wife addressed her. She looked at the inspector who had stopped talking and seemed scared she'd ask him to start from the top. [color=efd7ad]"Uhm.. if you'd excuse me for just a minute."[/color] She turned on her heels and moved a couple of steps away towards a more unoccupied spot in the lab. Her eyes stayed on the interns, watching them curiously, as they scattered about the machine and the technology. Her finger pressed on the button to allow her comms to reply back to Lisa. [color=efd7ad]"I'm sorry. I don't understand what you mean. The team [i]is[/i] over here with the machine. All ten of them. Including the inspection team leader who is being a real thrill today. What would they want with the generator?"[/color] But just as she said it her eyes grew wider. [color=efd7ad]"Lisa"[/color], her tone had hit seriousness in a way that didn't leave room for discussion. [color=efd7ad]"I want you to get out of there. I have no idea who those people are and how they got in. But the lead inspector and his entire team are with me."[/color] Rhiannon wasn't sure what else to say. She didn't really believe that something bad would happen. How could it? But her heart began pounding just a little faster and she noticed how her eyes took in the details more efficiently. Nobody would hurt Lisa in this building, right? A small echo in her mind, sounding much like a reporter, played a tune of words for her. [i]An unfortunate accident accounts for Dr. Lisa Johnson's unexpected death. Just shy of completing her and her wife Dr. Rhiannon Windsor's lifelong project -"[/i] Of course it would not actually be in the news anywhere. Way too top secret. They would tell her it was an accident. They would tell Rhiannon to take a few weeks, then a few more. They'd tell her she could return if she liked but then she'd never get the chance. [color=efd7ad][i]Lisa is making me paranoid...[/i][/color] But even if so, Rhiannon believed her. She didn't want to. But in her gut and in her heart she did. And that meant that Lisa might very well be in danger. Her eyes darted to the machine - her baby, her heart's project. And then she turned and left the experiment chamber with long strides, heading straight for engineering. [/color]