Victor had been contemplating this for weeks. His last test had resulted in the lab being effectively shut down until it could be fixed and the doctors could go over their mistakes. So he had some time between then and now to contemplate the boy he had run into. Panu seemed like a sweet enough child but there was something about him that made him worry. Particularly the way that he spoke about Ambrose...

The boy had call the man his caretaker...

And there was an implication that said caretaker was abusive...

He didn't want to jump to any conclusions. There was a great possibility that he was misunderstanding the child's words. But he couldn't fight the familiar worry in his gut. The way Panu acted and the way he talked about Jaager and how things 'should be'. There were some very worrying signs and on speaking it over with his aunt he could help but feel like Panu could be in serious danger.

Still, he had to be fair to Mr.Jaager. The man had been kind to him the last time they had talked. He had practically been gift wrapped a scholarship to college. It would only be right if he questioned the man first and foremost.

So here he was, in the lab again, shirt removed while the new batch of scientist ran some tests. The old group had been moved to another project. Or so he'd been told. They could have all been fired for the incident. There would be no trial drug this time around. They were focusing on his biology, trying to figure out why the drug kept recoiling.

He had been waiting for Ambrose to make an appearance. But there was a good chance that the man wouldn't show. Which would be disappointing. He couldn't wait forever, he had questions that needed answers. Desperately so. Panu could be in real trouble if his gut instincts were anything to go on.

"I really don’t understand,” Ambrose said dejectedly, even though his wings were shifting around to show his agitation. He was sitting in front of Cail’s desk down in the Ragnarok base, flipping through a binder full of notes and trial results from where he sat in one of the many chairs in front of said desk. ”Everything looks fine. If there’s a mistake, I’m not seeing it. Sure, the chemicals we’re using aren’t optimal, because that would take a lot more time and effort, but it’s something fundamental that we’re missing. It looks like the calculations should be wrong, but they’re not.”

Cail wasn’t listening. He was reading on his Kindle, ignoring Ambrose, which was something he’d learned from Madeline. She wasn’t here, right now - she had kicked him out of her office when she’d found him too annoying, which was why he’d come down to bother Cail instead.

"It’s all correct,” Ambrose continued petulantly. "No calculation errors, or anything of the sort.”

"Units,” Cail suddenly said, midway through Ambrose’s tirade, and that actually made Ambrose pause and stop speaking to look at him in complete and utter bafflement.

"What?” he said, very much confused.

"Units,” Cail repeated patiently but somewhat patronizingly. The latter he’d also picked up from Madeline. ”You use the metric system. Maybe one of your scientists used American units. You know, ounces instead of grams.”

Ambrose was suddenly very focused on his papers again, and after two or three minutes, Cail heard him swear under his breath. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened, and Madeline was greeted with the unexpected sight of Ambrose excitedly telling their honorary doorman, ”Cail, I could kiss you,”, followed by the man’s rather deadpan, ”I’d rather you not.”

”Mr. Jaager,” Madeline interrupted. ”Your test subject is upstairs, and the researchers want to know if -“

”I have,” Ambrose said, almost gleefully. ”Someone’s losing his job.” And on that excited note, Ambrose bounded into the elevator right before the doors dinged shut.

Cail and Madeline exchanged a glance. ”Well,” Cail said after a beat, ”at least he’s not bothering either of us now.”

Meanwhile, Ambrose essentially flung the doors open to the room where Víctor was being presided over by an entire research team, startling everyone inside. Not even paying attention to the test subject inside, he stormed over to the head of the research time and started discussing in hushed, aggressive tones the mistake he’d found. ”This is in feet,” he growled. He jabbed a clawed finger at something else, nearly puncturing the whole file. ”This is in ounces. This is in gallons. How could this possibly have gotten past everyone?”

Victor had been contemplating this for weeks. His last test had resulted in the lab being effectively shut down until it could be fixed and the doctors could go over their mistakes. So he had some time between then and now to contemplate the boy he had run into. Panu seemed like a sweet enough child but there was something about him that made him worry. Particularly the way that he spoke about Ambrose...

The boy had call the man his caretaker...

And there was an implication that said caretaker was abusive...

He didn't want to jump to any conclusions. There was a great possibility that he was misunderstanding the child's words. But he couldn't fight the familiar worry in his gut. The implications were there.

By the time Ambrose came storming in, the lab techs were taking blood samples and noting Victor's temperature. They watched as the angry mutant cornered the team leader, holding their breath as the truth came out. Apparently someone made some rather large mistakes concerning the units of measurements. Ambrose's hushed tones weren't actually all that quiet. Not that it seemed to matter all that much to the boss man who heard.

Behind Victor one of the lab techs gave a tiny, "Oh shit..." Given how quiet everyone else had gotten the small voice was easy to hear. Victor looked over his shoulder at the tech. He was a frail looking mutant, marble textured skin and strikingly silver eyes. He looked like a deer caught in head lights, his hands gripping his clipboard all the tighter as he looked down at it. The others shifted away from him, making sure they were out of the way of any wrath that might come the young man's way.

Victor looked from the young man to Ambrose, knowing that the man probably noticed the shift in tension. So it might be a while before he'd actually get a chance to talk to the boss-man about Panu. "Mr. Jaager, when you get the chance, I'd like to talk to you...about a boy I met the last time I was here, Panu." Perhaps mentioning Ambrose's little ward would get the man's attention sooner.

"Oh, shit."

Ambrose definitely heard that. Even if he hadn't had enhanced hearing, he probably would've heard that. His head researcher certainly did, as the man's head snapped up to look at the offending techie, eyes wide in horror. Ambrose himself straightened up. And turned around very slowly. He could almost smell the fear in the air, which was good. He was known to be a good boss, but also a particularly vengeful boss who did not tolerate stupid mistakes that resulted in thousands of dollars of equipment being destroyed by - oh, the mutant who was conveniently here already. Ambrose hadn't even noticed.

Ambrose opened his mouth to say something that probably would've been very patronizing and highly passive-aggressive. But before he could, Victor spoke instead.

"Mr. Jaager, when you get the chance, I'd like to talk to you...about a boy I met the last time I was here, Panu." That effectively stopped Ambrose from whatever he was about to say. He knew about the incident, and had been quite proud of the way that Panu had shut it down, but what would Víctor want to talk about? The first thought that sprung to Ambrose's mind was that Panu had said something he shouldn't have. The boy had a history of being careless. So the researcher could wait.

"Why don't you go have a talk with Ms. Brass?" Ambrose said icily, and the lab tech was out the door in record time. "The rest of you, take a walk. I can take care of this myself, and likely in a more competent manner than you all can." They all scurried out, until the lab was entirely empty save for Ambrose and Víctor.

"What about Panu?" Ambrose said cautiously, now that they were alone. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to dispose of this mutant - his mutation made him a prime test subject and he seemed intelligent enough, but if Panu had said something wrong, Panu was certainly the more valuable of the two.

Victor watched the first assistant run like his bottom was on fire, followed by the rest when Ambrose dismissed them. Nobody wanted to stick around and question what the conversation was going to be about. It didn't concern them and the bosses wrath had been redirected at the test subject. The large mutant was uneasy about confronting Ambrose but he kept in mind Panu.

The boy had obviously been scared of something and he couldn't help but feel unease when the boy talked about his relationship to the Jaager CEO. Perhaps he was simply misinterpreting things but it was better safe than sorry. He wouldn't let the abuse of a child slip under his radar while he could help it. Left alone with the CEO, it was now or never.

"What about Panu?"

"Hopefully, nothing too serious. I'm just curious about your relationship to him. He said he was living with you but that you weren't his parent and that his parents weren't working for you. Rather that you were simply taking care of him, giving him a home." His claws scratched softly on the padded table he was sitting on, a useless motion of fidgeting. "I know it's none of my business but I can't help but feel a bit of concern about the way that he talked."

He watched Jaager, looking for signs that the man was getting angry or upset. He had to be careful for Panu's sake, whatever he said here could easily be taken out on the child. "He seems like a smart kid but too...reserved, almost frightened of stepping out of line, and he kept on making strange assertions about power and mentioning correcting-behavior. I don't want to imply that you are but has Panu been abused before? Is that why you're taking care of him?"