Sitting at his spacious desk Jericho was engrossed in scanning over several key documents that had come across his desk just this morning when the call came in. Most of his calls were naturally screened, but a few choice people had his direct line. Looking up he saw the caller ID and sighed. "Already? Really.. Callahan.. what am I going to do with you?" he muttered as he put down the folder he was holding. There were of course computer documents, but those were sealed and for security purposes Jericho had always felt hard copies were far superior.<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;">Pressing the speaker button he leaned back in his chair and made sure to keep his voice neutral as he asked before his chief of security even had time to speak, "So tell me... what has my son managed to get himself into this time?"</span><br/><br/><br/>The proceeding conversation was nothing new to him. He'd heard most of this from other people who had looked after Callahan. Or so he thought at first. Frowning slightly mid conversation he began to see differences in the scenario. Specifically the fact that his security head had managed to one up his son. That had never happened before, at least not with anyone other than himself or Liliana. Interesting, he thought to himself but as the conversation progressed it get even more interesting. "Wait.. they did what? and where?" Jericho felt a cold shiver run up his spin when it was explained to him that the kids had managed to flood out one of the storage chambers. For anyone else it would have been easy to dismiss it as a broken water pipe or by setting off the sprinkler system. However, Jericho Marquis wasn't just any man. He was fully aware of the potential items those rooms held. Coupled with the fact that the amount of water that was explained to him would be impossible to be produced from any one pipe and that there had been no alarm from the fire suppression system...<br/><br/><br/>"Keep them there and keep an eye on them. That's your job for now, nothing else matters. I will have someone come down with a change of cloths for everyone and some towels. I need to check a few things and I will get back to you shortly." Reaching out he cut the connection and just sat there for a few moments. It was impossible. But was it? He had to know. It took him less than a minute to access the security footage from the building, and a few more moments after that to access the proper cameras. True to what he had been told, the storage chamber looked like a major flood had swept through it.<br/><br/><br/>Jericho turned on the voice command function of his computer before placing his elbows on the edge of his desk and lacing his fingers together. He rested his chin on top of his fingers, his eyes glued to his computer monitor. "Security footage playback. Sector 10-4B. Time stamp, 20 minutes ago from current server time. Display all camera feeds, multiple split screen." taking a deep breath it let it out slowly as he watched the footage. He had the the time stamp wrong by about 5 minutes but he was patient and finally he saw as the doors swung open and the kids entered the room. What he observed in the next few minutes after their arrival shook him to his core, and would irreparably alter the course of humanities fate and, by and large, the world itself. "My god..." he whispered breathily before saying, "Security lockdown. All footage previous displayed on this terminal within the last 15 minutes. Chairman level access only. Implement."<br/><br/><br/>Standing quickly he punched the intercom button to connect him to his assistant. "Cancel all my meetings and appointments. I am not to be disturbed unless someone is dying? Understood? And send someone to the security heads office to attend to the change of wardrobe of one adult and two small children." not waiting for a reply he hurried out of his office and took off down the hall. It was impossible, but he'd seen it with his own eyes. His son, and the little girl, had both activated very different artifacts within moments of just touching them. Breathing heavily he skidded into a secure elevator that opened automatically upon his approach and slapped the button that would take him to the most secure location within the building, heart of Hegemony, the R&D department.<br/><br/><br/>Once the elevator stopped he darted out and down the hall. He passed several startled technicians but paid them no mind as he his way to to the primary research center. When he arrived several took notice of him but Jericho's focus was on the elderly man he spotted across the vast expanse of the room. Before he even got close he called out to the elderly man. "Doctor Gruber! I need to speak with you."<br/><br/><br/>"Eh?" lifting his head from a monitor the old man eyes the fast approaching CEO. "I'm busy. Can't it.."<br/><br/><br/>"NOW!" Jericho told him and changed directions, heading for the scientists personal office.<br/><br/><br/>"Fine..." the elderly man sighed. "Young people..." he muttered and instructed one of his assistants to take over what he was doing. Entering his office he closed the door and looked at the CEO who was leaning over his computer monitor. "What's this about? You know I hate to be interrupted while I'm working."<br/><br/><br/>"Tell me Doctor. All of the items in storage area 10-4B have already been checked and labeled as inert, correct? They are being kept strictly for future potential study?" Jericho asked, looking up from the monitor.<br/><br/><br/>"Hmm.. yes.. yes, all of the storage rooms on level 10 have all been put through testing. What of it?"<br/><br/><br/>"Then pray tell doctor... can you explain this?" he said and swung the monitor around, showing the security footage once again so that his head of research could see it.<br/><br/><br/>At first the old man just scowled, his thought obviously still on the project he had been doing moments ago, but that all changed very quickly. "What!? That's impossible!!" the elderly man sputtered, his eyes looking like they would fly out of his head at any moment. The inevitable litany of questions soon followed but he was cut off by the chief executive.<br/><br/><br/>"Enough." he frowned at the man. "Now listen to me and listen carefully. The boy you see there is my son, and the girl is the daughter of our security chief. They are hands off. You hear me? Until I say otherwise. Check the records. Make sure no items were misplaced. I want to be 100% sure that there was no mistake made." Leaning back Jericho took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If, and only if, that turns out to be the case we can discuss ways of observation."<br/><br/><br/>With that settled he once again hurried out of R&D and all the way back up to the security heads office. He had things he needed to discuss with Jurgen that couldn't wait.<br/>