[FIN] Bit by Bit, You Will Be Replaced

[Blood_Goddess]

This felt like a familiar situation, prepping her equipment for a procedure that would wholly and completely invade a person's being a alter their free will. From the lab that she had began to set up her equipment in, standing over the chip placed in the secured stand, along with a mechanical eye spayed carefully on a table next to it. so the scientists that worked with her on the project, accommodating the organic side of this project to her work.

The room was set up for a surgery, everything was crisp and pristine, Pokemon that were not helping with the operation were put away, leaving the room to be occupied only with the three surgeons, and two Agent ranked scientists. One of whom was the female engineer standing almost guard like beside the tech equipment brought in from the lab she lead.
Her uniform pressed, her posture straight, and her hair pulled back as to keep from getting in her face.
"Watch has begun its transfer, It should be complete before you complete your own preparations on the prisoner."
Faleen lifted her hazel eyes from the tablet she had been manning, addressing the other scientist in the room, Who with a nod of his brunette covered head glanced over to his watch "The prisoner should be brought in soon. Hopefully this goes as smoothly as you say it will."

"I can assure you it will on my end, Though I cannot make that promise for the human element of this project." Faleen replied, lowering her hands onto the table that her hark worked tech sat.

She had felt this way before once, and even then remembered wondering the same thing. Was it right for her to feel nothing?  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Having been left alone for so long in the darkness and silence of the brig had taken its toll on the informant. With nothing but Executive Ben's words to go on, he had heard no more until at last he was summoned from his cell. There were dark bags under his eyes and the skinny man was looking even skinnier than usual; bony and malnourished, as if he hadn't been able to stomach much of the food he'd been given. His knuckles had been cleaned of blood, but traces of the wounds he'd inflicted on them still remained.

Crimson eyes seemed dull and lifeless as he was escorted to the surgery room. When he entered, though, his gaze quickened and darted about to take in his surroundings. The prisoner took note of the five humans, the chip in its stand, and the mechanical eye. His brows knitted slightly as he lingered longest on the last subject, mind running through guesses as to what it could have meant. When he raised his head at last, though, he found hazel eyes and smiled.

"Long time no see, Faleen-chan."  

[Blood_Goddess]

No smile met Izaya's, if anything a slight tightening at the corners of her lips followed the prisoner speaking her name.
The Agent did not reply to his words right away, though her gaze lingered on him, looking over his state as he was escorted securely into the room, While it seemed she wasn't particularly surprised to see him, it was clear enough by her stares that she had not been informed before hand that her former partner was the subject she had been told about.
The red eye for the mechanical replacement might have been the biggest hint, she had spent enough time making eye contact with that color to know more of less who it might have originated from. She just had to assume that the higher ups would assume she would figure it out from there, making telling her redundant and pointless.

As he had said, It had been a long time since she had seen him, that being the day she had declared him a threat to Team Rocket. This wasn't the first time she had seen the affects of time spend in the holding cells had, and it was with a sick twisting in her gut that she came to the conclusion that this was to be the fate of those she had once cared for, and betray her.
This was followed with a moment of even sicker defiant pride... one short lived, replaced with something more unpleasant, making her miss the nothing she had a moment before.

"Izaya" Faleen greeted with no real feeling behind her words, moving back to her own work as the others approached him to prep him.

The other Agent, shooting a quick glance between the two with arched eyebrows approached the table and pointed for the escorts to get him strapped down.
"So you're prisoner Izaya Orihara then? I've heard stories about you. Lets get started prepping you for your procedure, You're going to behave yourself today right?" As he spoke he pulled on a pare surgical gloves.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Though he didn't receive a smile in return, the man didn't seem to mind. His own smile was obviously a sham; the lifted corners of his mouth piercing into his cheeks as if pinning it there despite the pain. Once he noticed the agent hadn't appeared to be expecting him in particular, though, Izaya's thoughts shifted to a certain Executive. That man really was a sadist after all.

"Heheh...I suppose this is a surprise to both of us, then," he murmured quietly, looking back to the mechanical eye. "That Ben fellow sure seems to have a funny sense of humor, wouldn't you agree?"

Continuing to smile as if they were simply old friends, it was no longer an exaggerated grin of suppressed agony, but something softer - a simple upturn of his lips that still appeared to hurt. He hardly took his eyes off of Faleen even when the escorts prepared to strap him down, nor when the other Rocket Agent spoke to him and he split his strained smile to formulate a reply.

"I'm sure you have. But who doesn't have stories about them floating around?" he asked in a mock cheerful manner. It was only when the unfamiliar brunet asked a question that he finally shifted his gaze to meet his eyes instead.

He gave no verbal answer to the question asked of him. All that changed was that his tight-lipped smirk broadened slightly as he regarded the agent with a cool demeanor. Izaya continued to drink in the other man's every detail, scent, and sound, watching and listening and never looking away even while submitting to the preparation being imposed upon him.  

[Suudonym]

The small number of grunts and agents standing on the other side of the operating room's observation window - come to witness the procedure since it was the first of its exact kind - shuffled nervously to a side when they were joined by a man in a white uniform with hair the same shade. Ben, as if summoned by the mention of his name, knocked gently on the glass and gave a cheerful smile and wave.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"It doesn't matter." Faleen reassured in a matter of fact tone to Izaya's first comment, refraining from looking up from her work until she heard the knock on the glass.
Glancing up, the Agent quickly recognized the Executive who had paid a visit to the Robotics lab to check up on the project's progress, he certainly had an odd way of checking in, she had to admit. But all the same she stood at attention and greeted the higher ranking officer with a solute.

"He most certainly will." At Izaya's silence to the other Agent's question Faleen turned to look at the others, eyeing Izaya and the familiar look on his face as he stared down the now frowning Agent.
Izaya knew what position he was in, he wasn't going to end it here.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The experiment subject, who gave no indication of having noticed the observation window since he was brought to the room, continued to act as if it didn't exist. He was not about to give Executive Ben the satisfaction of meeting his eyes nor directly reading whatever facial expressions he was or wasn't intentionally portraying. It was enough that he and Faleen hadn't had prior warning as to who they would be seeing, let alone having to proceed with this knowledge. One good thing about being considered a traitor - he didn't have to pay his Rocket superiors the respect their rank demanded.

Besides, Izaya thought bitterly. You're barking up the wrong tree, Exec. You weren't there when Faleen shot down Lance. He was already dead to her by then. I'm probably the same, having been considered a traitor. Faleen's reply to him only seemed to confirm his assumption as his eyes glazed over and he stared ahead of him blankly. This won't cause her to bat an eye. And me? Well...it's not as if I ever had much of an affinity for her or anything... Vague shapes moved about before him as he continued to ponder to himself. ...But then why...do I feel...so sad?

It was the procedure, he told himself. His lack of an appetite. Lack of sleep. His extended period of time away from other people. No matter what he tried to blame it on, though, he couldn't manage to convince himself it was any of those. They were just excuses and he knew it. But he didn't dare admit that to himself now. Not now. This was the wrong time for this. Especially not with that man watching.

His vision came back into focus when he heard his ex-partner answer the question directed at him and he realized with a start that Faleen was giving him a frown. He had expected her to avoid looking at him as much as possible, so this was a surprise. In a second, though, he realized why she was staring so intently and tried to put up his palms with another helpless smile.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I have no reason not to behave," he assured her. "It's this or death, isn't it?" Something wet streaked down his cheek and he froze in his smile. Crap. Was Ben watching? He fought the urge to turn to look. "Ah...could I have a tissue or something, please? I think I got something in my eye and it's causing it to water..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

The Grunts that working in the Room with the agents made sure that Izaya was securly bound and laid on the operations table, they said nothing and made no motion to help or answer him.
It was the other Agent who spoke as he got the anesthesia ready for use.
"Once we're done here you won't have to worry about that anyone." He gave a pointed glance toward the robotic eye sitting in its protective sterile casing.

Faleen saw the tear, but didn't make any mention of it, if anything she just looked away, tapping a few commands onto the tablet she was working on before looking over at the other Agent, "Watch has completed its transfer, Everything is ready on my end."

The agent nodded at her word, the two Agents looking up to the glass were the executive stood watching.
"Sir we're ready to begin the procedure."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh, well, that's a relief," Izaya answered. He used such a tone that it was difficult to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. The man took slow, deep breaths, but his heart was pumping blood as hard as it ever had. He closed his eyes for a while to avoid fixating on any of the anxiety-inducing sights around him.

Of course, that didn't keep him from hearing things. Damn it, he hated being helpless. "So, how is this happening?" he ventured to ask after a while, forcing his words to sound indifferent. "Am I going to be put to sleep or given an aesthetic or...just worked on as-is?" All the while he couldn't help wondering why the hell the operating room had an observation window. Evidently, Rocket surgeons weren't the sort that got nervous from others watching them work.

"As masochistic as I am, I really don't think you want me to be able to run mouth during any procedure requiring delicate precision."  

[Suudonym]

Ben gave a pouting frown to find his presence ignored, and when addressed, he responded with smile and a thumbs up of approval.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Hey-" The Agent that was clearly there to do the surgery snapped at Izaya as he placed his gloves on his hands. "I don't know who you think you are, but we don't have to tell you anything. So shut it with the questions."
Clearly annoyed by the ex- Rocket, he scowled lightly, and nodded to the Grunt standing next to Izaya.
With the okay from the Agent, The Grunt reached over and placed a mask over Izaya's nose and mouth.
"Take deep breaths, and count down from ten..."

Tucking the tablet under her arm, Faleen tilted her chin up lightly, watching them administer the use of the anesthetic to knock Izaya out for the procedure. Though she only remained for a moment before she turned to take her leave during the surgery. This was not her field, her job would continue once he was awake.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Well excuse me for being curious about this life-changing experience," the prisoner retorted with a roll of his eyes. "So much for the saying, 'it doesn't hurt to ask'. But you see what I mean about me running my mouth? It's not just my questions that annoy people, either."

Though he couldn't help feeling some small satisfaction at giving this unfamiliar agent a dose of what he was all about, Izaya was glad for the anesthetic. He did as he was told, content that he would not be awake while they were cutting him open and doing who knew what else to him. Recalling the fate of the last living human he knew they experimented on, however, he didn't dare to hope beyond that.

Just before he slipped into unconsciousness, however, he caught sight of Faleen watching him again. He watched her watching him, as if maybe he could confirm his assumptions about her thoughts by reading the look in her gaze. No such luck.

Figures, he thought with a tiny smile to himself. Closing his eyes, the informant reluctantly succumbed to the mystery of Faleen, the future, and all those secrets it held which remained unknown to him.  

[Blood_Goddess]

It wouldn't take very long before the anesthetic started to take affect, and Izaya would be unconscious.
The operation portion was delicate, and took up several hours of the day. Faleen removed herself from the operation room while the surgeons worked to be out of the way, watching from the back glass room with her hands folded behind her back making herself available for when it was time for the hardware instillation.

Everything went smoothly, there had been nothing unexpected, and with the held of her Micro bots the eye was installed perfectly, though if it was going to work when it was turned on was the question.

Izaya was moved to a recovery room after being taken off anesthetics. Faleen having to wait until Izaya was awake to check the eye, spent the time checking on the Porygon and beginning the process to link it to the Metagross code named Warden.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Nngh...are they done?

Izaya opened his eyes and he seemed to be in a different room than the one they'd put him to sleep in. However...something was off. Though both eyes were open, he had no sense of depth perception. Well, after having seen that robotic eye, he supposed he should have been prepared to be something like a cyborg, but even cyborgs could see out of both eyes, right? From the movies he'd watched, they supposedly had even better vision in the artificial one than the real one.

But nope. raising a hand to wave it in front of his face, he realized this was not the case for him. Maybe they had to turn it on or something. Not like he had any say in the matter. But was his eye really all they changed? As far as he could tell, he was still in control of all his body movements and thoughts... How odd. Did that mean they were finished with him...? Not likely.

"Um...hello?" Someone was on a computer. Was that Faleen? "...Are you here to check on me? Looks like I survived, will and all intact. Was that what you intended?" Hopefully that other agent wasn't still around to bite his head off again for asking questions and generally being a smart-a**.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The person at the computer didn't respond vocally when Izaya poke, though with a straightened back, she turned to cast a glance back toward the awoken man, acknowledging that the anesthetics had warn off, and she could start her work again.

A few Rocket nurses were standing by on the side of Izaya, seeming to monitor his vitals and health condition, though they too did not speak to him once he was awake.

"Subject is awake, confirming link to Warden." Faleen's voice spoke as she turned back to the computer, the rapid clicking of keys being pressed followed her words, only to pause a moment later. "Connection is established... and stable."
This was actually pretty exciting, the situation set aside, everything had gone smoothly, and she was seeing her work in action, as it was intended to be. There was just one other thing to check on.

slipping away from the computer, Faleen made her way toward Izaya, looking at him, though it would be clear that her focus would be on the eye that he could no longer see it. She held a hand out, and a small collection of tiny machines flew out of a small metal cuff around her wrist, and directly to his eye. "Hold you're head still." she told him, holding one of her fingers up once the machines were cleared from her hand "Follow my finger with just you're eye."