Being a guinea pig, and doing favors.

[White Rabbit]

It was a long, hellish, road he still had ahead of him as far as research was concerned. He'd gotten the main drift of what was in the pills-- but there was still much work to be done, though he was satisfied with the idea of having help from an outside source.. perhaps it'd make things easier. Sometimes, it paid off to have more than one person looking into things. Maybe that would be no different.
David made it to work ten minutes early, if only in attempt to gain some respect and trust back from his superior - and the other agents, of course. It was all to keep up an appearance that would allow him to do the things he needed to do, without them watching for too long as if he were now the one to be untrusted instead of that Jack fellow. There were still more pictures he had to grab when the cameras angled themselves away from him; and now, a certain device that needed to be literally signed out and carried out of the facility.

It was why, when the buzzer buzzed it's time, he moved to reach a matching, plastic, container that housed all the pills. He fished one out easily enough and while staring down at it, paused; a slow glance up, and he tucked the thing in his cheek instead of swallowing it. That gave him an hour to focus on the tasks he needed to handle; even if it slowly dissolved, and even if he would get a bit sick from doing so. At the very same time, he was pushing limits-- finding out in what variation he could get away with taking the pill, without a full submit to the power that was Freidrich. Or even just how long it would take to reach that point. Knowing was better than not knowing.

Still, it was quite the bitter pill -- no pun intended. 21 managed to keep a straight face though, and go about the dutiful inspection of all the malfunctioning weaponry that had been laid out on the counter in front of him before he'd even gotten to work that day. Both black-gloved hands skimmed their outer parts thoughtfully, then he moved to flip open the laptop and log in.

Some weren't discharging properly; some weren't working at all. Some, hell, were only there for a small replacement part. Either brow popped up upon reading that, and he instantly selected the transmitter that was due for the part replacement, and then started for the door. Too eager. Slow down. While plundering through his blazer pocket for his card key, he took a deep breath, made sure he wasn't about to rush out and have that generalized quirk about him.. then slid his card through the reader and palmed the door open.

David slowly made his way through the hallway, careful not to as much as look up at the passing agents; his gaze was dead-set straight ahead, as it should've been. All the way to the elevator, and there, he pressed the down button. After a brief wait, he and another agent were on board and heading down. Just as the other agent didn't move out of order, nor did he. Even if his own mind was going a mile a minute, he knew the others was simply set on his tasks for the day-- he did not speak, he did not think for himself. ..Was it getting hot? A barely noticeable breath was exhaled, and he waited for the ding of the elevator to sound to announce they'd reached their destination.

Of utter incident, he swallowed; the near-mouthful of bitterness of the dissolving pill, and in turn made a face even while walking that he disguised by means of reaching up to rub at a non-existent itch just at his cheekbone. Down, down, down the long hall he went and was quite relieved when the other agent turned off. 21 continued on to the storage area, and went about skimming over the SKUs of the multiple boxes of all various sizes. He picked the one needed for the transmitter he still had tucked in his hand, and continued on down the aisle until he could easily take yet another box, though signing it out would be a bit more tricky.

He rounded the aisles then, seeming quite disinterested - or indifferent, rather - to the items he was carrying and set both down, collectively, along with the transmitter box. Simply enough, he pulled up the check-out screen that belonged to the computer - and the inventory, of course. The replacement part was easy enough; he tagged the SKU with his number, and used his finger to sign his initials beside it along with the date.

Now the next one.

David didn't find the SKU and tagged with his number, but instead, he used his finger once more an wrote a "JMM JR" in the space provided, then proceeded to backdate it by a good month or so. Back before the agent who's name he'd just signed was still in good standings with Freidrich and the Facility. By then, though, his eyesight was a bit blurry-- so it took a little extra time to make sure there were no mistakes, and he took the parts from their rightful boxes - ripped the SKU code off the one that had homed the tracking device, and pocketed the nearly capsule-sized object, before heading back for the elevator.
This time, the ride was by himself.. and he leaned heavily against the wall once the doors had closed. His eyes closed for all of a minute, but that seemed long enough for the elevator's doors to reopen-- and for him to reluctantly swallow what remained of the pill. If he could feel himself getting woozy, then .. it was time.

Back in his area, with the weaponry, he got to work-- and oddly, barely noted when the pill took full effect. By then, he was long distracted by the work at hand, in repairing and fixing the agency's devices and weaponry. His last thought before it had set in, however, was:

Slow dissolve, slower onset of sickness. More time.. Gotta figure that out.

But he'd done it! He'd killed two birds with one stone, in one day; got the device from inventory, and ran another test-- the only problem was, David was going to have to figure out that he couldn't be his own guinea pig.