"Hey." Azazel replied.

He then made his way to the desk and sat down in front of it.

"Just wanted to let you know that... well... Aedan won't be available for a while." he told her. "As someone to help on experiments, or be tested on." he continued further.

"And when I say 'for a while', I mean... 'for the foreseeable future'..." he then clarified.

"She's under special lockdown... meant for people that are a danger to themselves and others..."

Azazel just sighed quietly.

"I'm going to be fine." he said.

"But... I don't know about HER." he admitted.

He then told her all he knew. What Sharp had told him, what Aedan had said, and what Cain had told him. But the big thing was that he had told Kiah what the chemicals that Aedan was about to place in close proximity together were.

"...she admits that she had no clue as to why she was about to do it, and she seems to be lucid right now, but she's placed herself under this lockdown." he told her further.

"And we have NO idea what is happening."

"I know." Azazel responded.

"But yeah, you'll need to get Cain's help for anything you'd call Aedan in for." he told her.

"I'M going to be devoting most, if not all, of my time to any underworld info that might lead to a solution or information on this." he said further.

"And hoping this is all for nothing." he continued.

"Which is to say, that this is nothing, and Aedan was just having a massive mental derp."

Azazel just sighed and shook his head with a shrug.

"I'll let you know if I think of anything." he told her.

"I know your hands are tied with trying to help that Ciroc fella." he reasoned. "I'm not going to ask you to put even MORE on your plate." he said further.

"All I can ask of you right now is to see if you can do some sort of mana scan." he went on.

"Or... well, just.. all right, I don't know what I mean. The room does a scan already." he lamented.

"I'm just confused and concerned and irritated right now." he admitted heavily.

"I know." Azazel responded. "And it's appreciated." he told her with a sincere smile.

"I'll let you know if anything comes up." he said further.

"I just came here to fill you in." he continued. "If you want more information, you can try and talk to Aedan herself, but she might not be in any mood to, depending on... things." he sighed.

"Also, she gave me this piece of info, so I'll share it with you." he then said.

"Please ignore any insane texts for her. Because who the hell knows what the cause will be." he finished.

"I know. I feel the same way." Azazel responded.

"...oh, I suppose there IS one thing you can do for Cain, though." he then told her.

"If you can think of anything he can do around here, even if it's mundane, or if he's overqualified for it, give him something to do." he said. "I think he'll appreciate the distraction." he reasoned.

"But not unless you have the work for him to do, or have something that needs doing." he added.

"After all, it won't be good for him to just hang around here, being so close to his mother, when she's under such lockdown." he sighed heavily.

"Well, you may need to use Cain for them." Azazel said.

"I'll return home and let him know. He'll text or call or something if he's cool with it." he told her.

"I get the feeling he will be." he went on, pausing again.

"He usually is, and I think he's desperate for a distraction." he went on.

"..." he was then silent, before leaning in closer.

"He's cleaned Aedan's lab twice already, and rearranged everything 4 times over." he told her. "First it was alphabetical, then it was by colour, then it was by chemical make-up and/or elemental number, and then back to how Aedan had it previously."

"...yeah, I remember that." Azazel commented. "It devastated him." he said.

"But at least THIS isn't so bad. Or at least, it doesn't seem it." he went on.

"Anyway, if agent Sharp talks to you about it, let him know I already filled you in." he then told her, standing up and making his way to the door of her office.

"Later, Kiah." he said. "Take care." he finished, before they said their goodbyes and he left... about 5 seconds before Ilias showed up.

"Hey." he greeted her. "Got the formulae you wanted." he told her, looking in the direction Azazel has gone.

"...he seemed glum." he then commented.

As they walked out the door, Ilias faltered when he heard that.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Aedan? Out of commission?" he asked further.

"That's... oh... oh, wow..." he mumbled, stunned for a moment.

"What could have possibly...?" he started to wonder before he looked VERY concerned.

"It's... not like last time is it? Where her memory got screwed?" he asked hesitantly.

Ilias' jaw was agape by the end.

"Holy effing Christmas." he said.

"To think she would attempt something so hazardously foolish..." he went on. "And... so basic, for her. Like, that's something that's just natural knowledge for her. I can understand having a momentary slip, but... for her to just keep insisting is... scary." he admitted.

"I can understand why she quarantined herself." he went on.

"...and I can understand why we'll be seeing a lot more of Cain." he then said further.

"He... yeah, he'll need some serious distraction."