TRANSCRIPT 4: Protocol

[Jayce and Viktor are sitting in the car, eating lunch] VIKTOR: I truly cannot believe they selected Salo… surely there are others with greater seniority and qualifications? JAYCE: I hate to admit it, but it makes certain amount of sense. He only does Fae related things, he's the only one in the department that won't walk off and dissappear on a mission like... VIKTOR: …do you think Salo is familiar with the protocol for determining what happened to Heimerdinger…? He is on Fae team rotation… JAYCE: It’s... not something I would be overly familiar with, I never thought to pursue any kind of supervisor role. JAYCE: If I wanted to know, I'd first think to ask Heimerdinger. JAYCE: I didn't stop to think what I'd do if he wasn't here... VIKTOR: [Softly] How are you holding up with his absence? [Jayce runs his hands over his face and collapses into them, slumping down with his forehead against the steering wheel] JAYCE: I don't know how long I can keep up with this cool and relaxed act, Viktor. JAYCE: He's a great agent, he's like the Freddie Mercury of the fae realm, they think he's a goddamned delight over there, JAYCE: But he's gone. He'd never leave his dog in a tricky situation like that. VIKTOR: What do you want to do? JAYCE: I want to find out what the protocol is. There's gaps in my knowledge that I'm not happy are there. VIKTOR: Perhaps the Director knows? JAYCE: I really don't want to talk to that guy, V. [Viktor hesitates] VIKTOR: Well, I do not know if the sentiment is much improved here, but… we do know someone else who is, eh… quite intimately familiar with protocol… JAYCE: ...Who...? VIKTOR: Er… Dmitri. [Jayce pinches the bridge of his nose] JAYCE: There was a time when PILT was under attack from a false hydra. It took days to notice as we lost all present memory of anomaly after anomaly. The only proof we had was in the Archives, where the Hydra was nestled. JAYCE: That thing was smart. It knew we hoarded secrets and had found its way under the dragon, so to speak. JAYCE: There was a massive fight in the Archives as we went to save all our information. We have no way of knowing if some workers were erased entirely. But it's weird that there are so few Archivists these days... VIKTOR: [Blinks] Well… I know we try to leave work at work, but I must say, we really ought to exchange stories more often. JAYCE: Anyway... That's all to say that the thing Dmitri grabbed was the rulebook. He did bag employee of the month for saving the procedural manuals. JAYCE: He's anchored to those things... JAYCE: He's also insufferable in the way he borders on insufferable most of the time. He's uncanny. VIKTOR: …I can ask him, if you would prefer not to. JAYCE: [Grimances] ...Do we know anybody else? VIKTOR: Jayce… JAYCE: I know. JAYCE: I don't like how long it's been. The weeks are just passing by and he's not coming back any sooner... VIKTOR: Then perhaps we should do something about it. Even if it is just… finding answers. We cannot let it be swept under the rug. JAYCE: You're right. I know you're right. We should ask Dmitri. JAYCE: I don't want this getting back to the director, though, things with him have been... weird. VIKTOR: Weird…? How so? JAYCE: He made that spectacle of chewing me out and we haven't heard from him since. We didn't debrief with him, no requests for missions when we're used to a near weekly grind. Just Hextech questions. He's being polite again... JAYCE: I don't want him to smell any more weakness on us. VIKTOR: [Chews the inside of his cheek for a moment] we may need to speak with Dmitri in private, in that case… the Director has eyes and ears everywhere. JAYCE: How do we do that? Invite him over? VIKTOR: The house is the most secure space we know… VIKTOR: If you can bear to have him there, anyway. JAYCE: I understand necessity, but why would he agree? We aren't exactly friends. VIKTOR: Hm… we could play to his ego, a bit. Tell him we have a case to consult him on, and that all of our research is best visualized on our board at home. JAYCE: Great. How do we make it sound like we aren't planning to murder him? VIKTOR: I think he knows that I, at least, am not the murdering type. JAYCE: Fair enough. [Jayce crosses his arms, thinking] JAYCE: the best way to get it done is to just do it. We should approach him soon. Or one of us. He'll, ugh, he'll probably respond better to you. VIKTOR: I will talk to him on our next coffee break. VIKTOR: We will get him home, Jayce. Even if we have to go there and fetch him ourselves. JAYCE: Let's try not to lead with that energy. JAYCE: If we need to do it, we can't have him see it coming. VIKTOR: [Laughs] I meant Heimerdinger, Jayce… JAYCE: O-Oh... yeah... [Jayce scratches the back of his neck] JAYCE: I knew that. [Jayce clears his throat] JAYCE: Let's get back to the lab.