[FIN] Bit by Bit, You Will Be Replaced

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Alright then, don't talk to me..." he murmured. Observing the actions and exchanges between those in the room, he wondered who Warden was. A Rocket codename, maybe? Or was it perhaps a computer program? He didn't think he'd heard that name before, but he had been stuck in the brig for quite some time.

Izaya was staring off into the distance, trying to get his thoughts in order within his groggy mind, when he noticed Faleen come up to him. She was staring at him...no. The eye he couldn't see from, now. Probably her creation. Heh, she probably has more interest in that thing than me, he mused silently. It reminded him slightly of someone else he knew who was obsessed with a piece of a person and that piece only instead of its owner.

The motion of her hand and the tiny machines from it startled him and he jerked slightly, but he tried to do as she said once she spoke. Wow...this was weird.

"Are you talking to me, or your new toy?" he asked her, though his tone was rather calm and indifferent; not teasing, sarcastic, or contemptuous. Just the same, he followed her finger with his gaze using the eye he could still see from.  

[Blood_Goddess]

A brief moment of silence, and Faleen's gaze shifted slightly so that she was looking into Izaya's real eye now, though her expression did not change in the slightest.
"The eye is linked like you're other eye, when you move you're real eye, the robotic eye will move exactly as it does, it has every function of a real eye, it even looks like a real eye, though as you might have guessed by now, you cannot see from it."

to show emphasis she held her finger up again, moving it to one side "Follow my finger with you're eye." she repeated.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"'Every function', then, except the main one," he stated. Again, his voice was neutral. As he followed her finger once more, he asked, "So I don't appear any different than I did before?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her focus had returned to the mechanical eye, watching how it worked, while the microbots flitted over its surface, checking its systems and doing last minute adjustments. Izaya wouldn't feel much of anything from their movements, even as they crawled under his eye sockets as the aria would still be mostly numb.
"You do not." She confirmed once she seemed satisfied with the eye, opening her hand back up as the microbots gathered and returned to the cuff on her wrist.
closing her gloved hand she strengthened herself back up, making her way tot the monitor, that with a tap of a button popped up a display that showed just what Izaya's new eye was showing.
Faleen pressed another button on the keyboard "Eye functions are up and optimal."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Knowing and hearing the little bots were there but not feeling or seeing them while they were so close continued to give Izaya a strange sensation and he shuddered involuntarily. He watched as the microbots returned to Faleen's cuff before Faleen herself returned to her computer.

"Good to know," he said. "Am I allowed to know what those are, exactly...? Aside from what you told me about it functioning like a normal eye sans sight."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Seeming to be satisfied with how smoothly things were working out, Faleen then glanced back over to Izaya at his question. pausing for a moment more with a slight inclined of her head before turning to fully face him.
"No." She replied "You are not allowed to know anything about the details of what has happened to you."
She slid her arms to her side "All you are required to know, and will be permitted to know, is that you are now a walking bomb. You get to know that if you go against any order given to you by any ranking officer, it will result in you're termination. If you attempt to communicate with anyone out side of Team Rocket about Team Rocket, you will be terminated, If you communicate to anyone about this project aside from the Agents, Elites and any Executives involved with the project, you will be terminated. If any person, pokemon, or yourself attempt to learn more about whats happened to you, by you're benefit, you will be terminated."
She paused to make sure that what she had done sinks in. "You're pokemon's actions are an extension of you're actions. If you feel like you will have a problem with you're pokemon obeying you, or sabotaging you, either focus on training them better, or get rid of them for compatible pokemon. Again, their actions will be considered an extension of you're actions."

"You will be allowed freedom, under the strict understanding that you're movements outside the base will have prior permission, and the correct sign out procedures."
She paused, watching him "Is all of that clear?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"...I see." A walking bomb, huh? There had to be more to it than that, he suspected, or Faleen wouldn't have been so invested in this little project/experiment or whatever it was. Just a simple bomb would have been too easy; too mundane for a tinkerer like her.

But his curiosity was probably also why he was warned against trying to find out whatever else it was that had been done to him. "Wouldn't it be dangerous for other Rockets for me to be around them, especially at the base? Unless this wouldn't be the exploding kind of bomb."

"So basically, making one wrong move or allow any of my pokemon to do so will result in termination. And...act as if this surgery never happened." He would certainly have to crack down on his pokemon training and there was at least one he wanted to be rid of.

Freedom? What? Outside the base? He would be allowed to go outside? That was hardly more than he dared hope for. Izaya cast the agent a tentative look. "...What kinds of movements and what permission?" Just what kind of allowance was he being given? Was this some sort of test to see what he would do? Would he be used to blow something or someone up like a suicide bomber?  

[Blood_Goddess]

for a moment Faleen's eyebrows dropped a little, giving what might have been something of an exasperated expression, though just as quickly it shifted to a slight tilt of her head, "You don't need to concern yourself with that." was all she said to his comment about him being dangerous.
Of course he wasn't, She knew for a fact he didn't have anything as dangerous as a bomb, though the affects on him alone would be just as effective as if they had a bomb in him.

"Correct" Faleen confirmed for his summery, before moving on to his last batch of questions. "As long as you make sure you're movements are permitted by a ranking officer and do not infringe on you're regular duties, you are allowed to go, and do whatever you please, bearing in mind the previous conditions."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"I do if I'm concerning myself with other Rockets," he said quietly, averting his eyes. But then he seemed to realize something and corrected his words. "Other human beings. But I trust you wouldn't risk putting them in harm's way." Maybe she was bluffing about the bomb. Maybe it really was all part of some test. But whatever the case, she seemed reluctant to elaborate more on the matter, so he chose not to push the subject.

"Were there any other conditions I need be aware of...?" He paused. "What about here at base? Surely other Rockets will know I was branded a traitor...won't they? What if they ask why I'm not dead?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Again she didn't reply to this, she just watched him quietly as he spoke, not inclined at all to give him any information as to what they had done to him. The less he knew the better, it would minimalize any attempt at trying to reverse what happened, or to find a way to combat it. not that she felt like he had a good chance at that, but still, better safe than sorry.
He was a test subject, a traitor. He wasn't required to know anything.
Her pointed silence made it very clear that he wasn't going to get a response from her on the subject.

Faleen lifted her shoulders slightly at his next comment, but at least replied to this comment.
"Uninvolved parties are not required to have an opinion on the matter, properly trained Rockets are smart enough to know that situations here are dealt with." Faleen replied pointedly "As I have said, any discussion about this project with anyone aside from involved Agents, Elite and any Executives will result in termination."

She personally didn't care what others would think, it wasn't their place to question, and anyone who wanted to push would get reprimanded.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Then what do I say?" he asked, still not sure what he was to do in such a situation. "Can I tell them I don't know? Or that I'm not allowed to say anything? Or am I supposed to just not answer them and carry on in silence?" He didn't bother asking how anyone else would know if he leaked information. After all, he'd just had his eyeball replaced and whatever else done to him.

Despite the threat of death, Izaya wasn't under the impression that would have been enough for the Rockets to feel comfortable allowing him to do this much because he technically was already supposed to be dead. He'd already been given a 'last chance', so why should they think he wouldn't screw up again, whether intentionally or not? They wouldn't have been giving him such a graciously long leash if they didn't have some security.

That combined with not being allowed to know what had been done to him, Faleen telling him he was now essentially a bomb, and a certain Executive Ben in the mix all spelled danger in metaphorically large, capital, neon-sign letters. He really couldn't afford to let even a toe step out of line this time. Izaya may not have known exactly what they'd done to him, but perhaps it was best that way. Maybe he wouldn't have liked knowing the answer.

"Am I...just supposed to pretend I'm another Rocket again, then?" The memory of a red-headed trainee doing chores while wearing a blank stare came to mind.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I've told you the conditions Izaya, If you want to scrutinize over details about theoretical situations then that's completely up to you."
She didn't seem to be at all in the mood to nit pick about unimportant details like Izaya always seemed to want to do.
Turning away from him, she typed a few more things on the computer to activate its shut down, picks up her tablet from her desk.
"Start using common sense or you won't last long." she advised him almost dryly.

Casting one more look over to him, the Agent frowned slightly. "You are not a Rocket." The Agent said in a very pointed manner "Just do what you're told, for once."
With that she started toward the room's exit.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

He frowned. "Oh, no you don't," Izaya said, holding up his index finger pointedly. "This time I need the information. You acted like this over the Mega Stones, too, but this time, I'm going to make sure we clarify things. What may be considered common sense to you may not be as common as you think. I learned that lesson myself when I realized you don't have a lot of what I considered common sense."

He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes with a sigh. "Please, just tell me what I should do or say. I can't 'do what I'm told' if I I'm not told what to do, can I? This is the last question I will ask on the matter. Please, Faleen, I'm begging you - just answer it." Izaya watched his ex-partner's back with a pleading look as she prepared to leave.  

[Blood_Goddess]

It was with a much more clear show of exasperation that Faleen turned back to him, the pause of her boot falls toward the door shifted against the cold floor, and hazel eyes returned to the eye of the man she knew was real.

"One, If you go against any order given to you by any ranking officer, it will result in termination." She started, in an almost forced repeating of what she had said to him prior.
"Two, if you attempt to communicate with anyone outside of Team Rocket about Team Rocket, it will result in termination.
Three, if you communicate to anyone about this project aside from Agent, Elite and any Executive involved with the project, it will result in termination.
Four, if any person, pokemon, or yourself attempts to learn more about whats happened to you, by you're benefit, it will result in termination.
Five, You're pokemon's actions are considered and extension of you're actions.
Six, any movement outside the base will be granted only by prior permission and the correct signing procedures upon permission granted."

By the time she was finished talking her face was flushed red, one fist clenching at her side, while the other held firm to her tablet under the crook of her arm.
"If you cannot understand, or follow those simple instructions, then you deserve to die." she added, her tone though level added a bit of venom to her professional edge.
"I am not responsible for holding your hand, and telling you what words you're allowed to say and how often you can breath. If it goes against the conditions, you're dead. Follow the conditions and you don't die. Its simple Izaya, stop making everything so complicated all the time."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya was quiet after Faleen's tirade was finished. He tried to keep a blank face, but it threatened to crumple for an instant and he had to look away again.

"Maybe you should stop trying to simplify everything all the time," the man said quietly. "People aren't just good or evil. There isn't just life or death. There many Rockets considered to be criminals in the eyes of society but could easily make friends with anyone who took the time to get to know them as people. As far as living, there are fates worse than death. A person could be breathing but never really feel alive."

He exhaled and spoke softer. "Someone could say something and mean something entirely different. But if you refuse to look past the most simple explanation or meaning or appearance and take everything at its face value, you'll never get the whole message." Izaya lay back down in bed and turned on his side with his back against Faleen. "But maybe that's what you want. Life is easier to take when you make yourself see everything in just black or white."