(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 400: A crazed scientist

It was like Casper had done a 180 after that. He had completely changed his tune. Kellen didn’t have to go searching for him, or do a run around to get in contact with him. If he needed to speak with Casper, he could just find him.

It was great. Especially since Kellen had so many tasks related to Guides that he needed to speak to him about.

That, and now that he was back to teaching two classes, one full, one half full, his day was busy. Add in the meetings that Carlos was asking for now that his parents were back, Kellen had a full schedule ahead of him.

He barely had time to do one video call with Brent this week.

Brent had looked rough. He said that it wasn’t from his students, which Kellen believed after much prompting, but he also wouldn’t reveal what was the true issue. Kellen could tell that he wasn’t wearing his prosthetic though, so he worried it might be something related to that. Was it his grandfather? Were the prosthetics that he had on the front lines not working out for him?

Brent wasn’t willing to talk about it over video call, so Kellen was holding out for the fact that he should be coming back to the city in another two weeks. The plan was he was going to come back for a week after their month-long rotation.

Hill could also come back with the new recruits that she had gone out with, but she was likely to stay on the front lines and make sure everything was okay for when the next rotation, the rotation with Gwen in it, went to the front lines. She might surprise him, and come back with Brent and everyone else.

The times were strange. Captain Sergei was still on the front lines, and he had popped into the city for a few days here and there over the last few weeks, but he was their feet on the ground out there.

He was very worried about the gate. As he should be, but Captain Sergei was taking this very seriously. From how serious he was taking it, Kellen had a sneaking suspicion that Captain Sergei might have some trauma related to gates exploding. Kellen had kind of always thought that way, but it was coming to a head the longer the man was further away from the city that he loved so much.

He was the type of guy who had a deep, almost weird passion about keeping the city safe. The Nemesis Guild practically acted as the police of the city, even when they had their own police. Which was probably why the double whammy of the E.A.G. and the gate were taking a toll on him mentally.

Kellen could tell the man was growing more unstable whenever he saw him speaking with Rhys, or in the background of Brent’s calls. Kellen was worried for him, as a friend would, because Captain Sergei cared for him as well. Plus, he’d always treated Kellen well.

So Kellen made sure to reach out to a few Field Guides he still had contact with, along with a few Nemesis Guild Guides. Not trying to overstep, but just let them know that if Kellen could see it, it was probably pretty obvious to others.

He hadn’t seen Captain Sergei since he sent out those two calls for action.

Kellen had seen his parents at least twice since they had come back into the city. Both were for working purposes, and Kellen could tell why when he had seen them. They were shaken, probably from Aunt Dina’s situation.

His Dad was taking it particularly hard. Aunt Dina had been his friend first, and Kellen was sure that he knew her partner better. Hell, he was pretty sure he remembered walking in on them video calling a few times.

His Dad had deep circles under his eyes, they were swollen, and his normally handsome looks were made dull by how unwell he looked. His Mom, on the other hand, just looked a little harsh, sharper. It was clear that they were taking the news and the lack of ability to help differently, but Kellen could tell that they were still in it together.

They were always holding hands, always next to each other. Drawing strength from each other.

When Kellen needed to go speak with Carlos, well, more like wanted to be there for more information on the gate, his Mom had offered to take him. It was one of the few times his Dad had given up his hold on his Mom, and it became clear to Kellen what his concern was.

His Dad hadn’t ever considered being the one left behind. He could survive without his wife, but she couldn’t. Having come face to face with a different side, he was feeling all sorts of emotions. It was actually a little cute and sad that his Dad was having this realisation, and it didn’t appear as if his Mom minded too much. She was kind and loving to her husband, and the reason for her tenseness was because she just wanted to spend more time with him.

Either way, his Mom took him to the meeting with Sakura and Carlos. They used her powers to sneak into the Peach Guild building, and only revealed themselves near Sakura.

When they arrived at Carlos’ office, he was a mess. His clothing was in disarray, his hair was greasy and gross, his eyes looked insane. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days, and had also had far too much caffeine at the same time.

Isabella was around, looking worried and nervous. He was sure that she was the only reason Carlos hadn’t surged. He was also sure that she had tried to get him to take care of himself, but that the man had probably refused. He was stubborn, and focused to the point of endangering himself.

From the tense way that Sakura was smiling when she had greeted Kellen and his Mom, he was pretty sure that she had tried to interfere as well, but it hadn’t gone well. So, they were just letting him ride it out. Kellen almost wanted to laugh.

The glint in Isabella’s eyes told him that Carlos was going to be in for hell once this was all over and he had finally sequenced the right antidote for the poison.

Carlos, however, was able to pull himself together enough to get all of the new developments that he’d made out and explain them in depth. Since Kellen’s parents had gone across seas with the antidote, and that it had performed well, things were moving in a positive direction. They had apparently used the powers of several Espers to isolate a few sections of the poison cloud and had tested the antidote on one half while keeping the other untested. They left the two groups to their own devices, testing them every 15 minutes.

It was found that the antidote worked within 30-45 minutes, and that it cleared up 98% of the poison in the air. It was a breakthrough. Carlos was being lorded as one of the best poison synthesizers of his time since no one had come out with the same powers as him.

Hell, Kellen was pretty sure that no one even considered that his powers were related to poison. It was a little strange, but Kellen’s Mom agreed as well. When she had chatted with the scientists, they hadn’t given the vibe that they considered that a possibility. All they said was how cool he was, and how fascinating his mind must be.

Now that his Mom and his Dad had been sent home, the scientists who were on the other side, still near the gate, were working on the formula to try to push it that last 2% points. Trying to make it was perfect.

Carlos said that the reason why he needed to speak with everyone was to discuss the progress he had made on the other antidotes that he was working on, and also about the fabric he had been working on to protect everyone on the front lines from the poison.

Carlos had been religiously, almost fanatically reading reports from the other scientists who were working on the front lines near the new gate. He was under the belief that the fabric and suits that he had made recently weren’t good enough.

He pointed to the symptoms that were still being reported by the scientists on the front lines as proof.

Kellen, after reading the symptoms, couldn’t really disagree with him. While it was true that those who wore the new suits and spent very little time near the gate showed no symptoms, where before they had a chance of being affected, those who spent a lot of time near the gate weren’t so lucky.

Often they were being sent to the healer, or to the Espers like Green who were on the front lines. Even if they were those people as well. It was doing a number on morale, and it was clear it was bothering Carlos.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have made a whole new fabric after studying how the poison from the exploded gate reacted to the antidote he had made. From that, he had made a new fabric that he hoped would be tighter, and allow less seepage from the poison.

Everyone agreed that the poison from their gate was more aggressive than the exploded gate. No one argued that. So even if it felt a little ridiculous that this was something Carlos was updating them on after Sakura had bragged about the new suits to the public, it was still something to celebrate. Along with how the antidote was working at a higher percentage.

It wasn’t much, but it felt like they were slowly conquering this new gate. Soon, they would be able to go inside, find out what had happened, and close that asshole before it swallowed their city. Kellen could feel it in his bones.