By the next morning, while the news was still reporting on the incident at the Marlino Corporation, few other details were known. If the investigation had learned anything new, they weren't saying anything to the press. However, they did announce the building would be shut down indefinitely while the investigation was conducted. The area remained sealed off to the public due to a possible health hazard. Reggie could only smile as he looked at the TV. Today would have been the day of the machine test. It may only be a temporary reprieve but Reggie was glad for the extra time.

"Will they find anything? I mean, having to do with the sudden illness." Reggie knew nothing of magic or if it could be somehow detected by anyone from his world. The investigation could potentially find some trace of something, even if they couldn't understand it.

"No device exists on this planet to detect magic," Nel confidently stated.

"G-Good to know." Reggie stumbled over his words a little since he was still a little shaken. He wanted to find a way to shut the lab down for good, but the only ideas that were coming to him involved destroying the machine in some way. Though, that wasn't a guarantee, either. They would still have all the existing data, and could potentially make another. There must be a way to make them shut down the project. If they shut it down on their own, it is less likely to be revived. If we were able to link the sickness event with the lab, then that could cause them to shut down. Especially if it were made public.

Hyacinth was staring at Reggie, wondering what he was concentrating so hard on. His face seemed a bit scrunched up and tense. "Why are you making that face?"

"I was curious, as well," Tegan noted. Both girls were watching him, but he didn't seem to hear them. Hyacinth stood up and started waving her hand in front of Reggie's face. He blinked a few times and looked toward Hyacinth as though he was surprised to see her. "Good morning, Sunshine! Have you returned from wherever you went?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about our options and got distracted, I guess."

"Did you not hear us?"

"Stop being a dumbass and share your thoughts." Tegan seemed to be losing patience. Reggie turned towards her and gave a look as though she was crazy. Tegan just stared back at him. "We were talking to you, how could you not hear us?"

"Umm, I don't know. I didn't even know you said anything." Reggie shrugged as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Tegan glared at him, but didn't really know what to do so she said nothing. A sigh of exasperation left Hyacinth's lips as she returned to her seat. Nel silently watched with a smile. He found the whole interaction very amusing. Reggie, oblivious to how annoyed the girls are, leaned back in his chair before sharing. "I don't have a plan yet. I was just thinking about how the best way to shut down the lab permanently would be to somehow get the company to do it on its own. If we could find a way to link the lab to everyone getting sick, I think that would at least be a start."

"I have thought similarly. Linking the lab to the sickness and publicizing it seems the best course." Nel agreed with Reggie but also had no viable plan. Reggie nodded to Nel in a silent acknowledgement before getting up. He grabbed his laptop from the table and came back to the group. The documents they took from the lab seemed a good place to start, though Reggie had already gone through them and didn't remember seeing anything about possible risks. There may have been more on the server but with the lab closed there was no way to find out. "I think I will review all the documents again, in case I missed something. Wait..." Reggie trailed off as he brought up a web browser.

Tegan waited a couple seconds for him to finish whatever he was going to say but got even more annoyed. "You need to finish that thought before I need to get up and smack you." Tegan took a sip of tea while giving Reggie the side eye. The threat seemed to bring him back to reality.

"I am searching the internet for information related to the machine, the lab, the company, or anything else I can think of. Internal documents are frequently leaked by whistleblowers that want the information to be made public." Everyone was staring at Reggie with confused looks. "What?"

"Umm, what does blowing a whistle have to do with anything?" Hyacinth was the first to explain the looks. Reggie forgot they were from another world so they weren't going to be familiar with some terms commonly used here.

"I guess that would be confusing. It's a term used for people that see something wrong happening and turn to outside sources for help. That was probably not the best explanation. An example would be if a company is not following proper safety procedures for a factory and after the employees say something about it, the company ignores them. A whistleblower would then be the one who reports it to either someone higher up in the company or even to the press."

"Why wouldn't a company provide proper equipment for a job?" Nel had a hard time believing this could occur much if at all.

"Unfortunately, many companies are too cheap or simply don't care enough about their employees to follow the rules." Nel's mouth dropped open upon hearing this. Hyacinth was equally shocked, but Tegan seemed unsurprised. Tegan nodded as though she knew something about this. It wouldn't have surprised Reggie if she had seen it somewhere. She infiltrated organizations for a living so she has likely seen it first hand.

"I didn't know the term, but I have seen companies doing this. Even done a few jobs to gather evidence to prove it." Reggie had already thought as much and was glad he was right, but then was kinda depressed since it sounds like it happens all over. He went back to his internet search as a way to push it out of his mind. Reggie tried a variety of keywords but the search wasn't bringing anything up other than random articles about the company in general. Even using "whistleblower" didn't bring any results related to the Marlino Corporation. On a whim, Reggie typed in "Marlino Secret Lab" and hit enter. As he had suspected, there were no good results. That is, until he read the title of the fourth result: Secret Lab Under Marlino Building.

The link took Reggie to a message board about conspiracy theories, with one of them being about the secret lab. There weren't very many comments other than some generic acknowledgements. However, the post went into great detail about the secret lab including what floor it is on and that you need an electronic keycard to enter. It was a long post, with a few random tangents thrown in, but at the bottom it linked to the poster's website with a line saying he had evidence available there.

Without even thinking about it, Reggie clicked the link and on the front page of the website was a photo of the lab entrance. Whoever this guy was, he seemed at least a little bit legit. Though some of the tangents in the post did sound a little crazy, Reggie chalked it up to personal quirks. The website was not very extensive, but was well made. It was mainly a blog for the author, with many of the entries containing things about the Marlino Corporation in general. There was a gallery, but it didn't have many pictures in it. Most of them were related to other conspiracy theories. The only ones related to the lab were the lab entrance, and the building the lab was in taken from across the street. The author of the website had short comments on each picture, and would take credit for ones they took themselves. This included both pictures for the lab.

"I found something." Nel, Hyacinth, and Tegan stopped conversing and looked to Reggie. "Umm, how do I put this in terms you will understand? Hmm, so I have found an author who created a place that discusses the secret lab and even has a few pictures. I think they are local because the pictures were taken by the author." Reggie paused to gather his thoughts. "There isn't a lot of info here, but it has a picture of the lab entrance which tells me this person knows at least a little about it."

"Are you able to communicate with this author? Maybe they have more information not found on whatever it is you are looking at." Nel's idea made Reggie look around the website more to see if there was an email address listed. A specific address wasn't listed, but there was a spot to enter your own address if you wished to contact them. Reggie typed his email address and added a comment in the next box asking to talk about the lab, that he has been inside, and that he wishes to share information. Reggie clicked the send button and the page changed to a "Thanks for the message" screen.

Not knowing how long a reply would take, Reggie got up to go make lunch. Before he was able to take a single step, his computer made a dinging sound. "Wow, that was fast. I already got a response." Reggie was surprised and wondered if this person had been sitting in front of the computer when he sent the message request. "They are requesting proof to show we are who we say we are. I will send one of the status reports we copied."

"Squirrely fella, ain't he," Tegan commented. Reggie had to agree. The response was only the request for proof. Not even a hello or an introduction. Reggie sent a report at random since they were all basically the same. Once the email was sent, they all waited. Reggie figured it would take a few seconds to open the attachment and scan the contents. Sure enough, another email came in within 30 seconds.

"It simply says 'more'. This guy is pushy. I guess sending something else won't hurt." Reggie selected another document that included more than basic information. It was a request for materials to build a new part for the machine from a couple years ago. Reggie sent it off and waited. Another 30 seconds and the reply came in. "This one just says 'more please.' At least he said please this time but I am not playing this game." Reggie furiously typed a response and sent it off with a look of accomplishment on his face.

"What did you say to him?" Hyacinth wanted to know what he was so proud of.

"I told him that I wouldn't be sending any more stuff and weren't going to be pandering to them. I also offered to meet in person and said I would be glad to pay for any new information he might have." The computer dinged again. The latest reply included an attached document and simply provided geographical coordinates and a time. "He sent a document back and coordinates for a meetup including a time."

"That's it? I told you he was squirrely." Tegan hmphed then got up and headed for the kitchen. "I am gonna have lunch. When we meetin'?" Tegan had her head in the fridge while she asked about the meetup.

"Grab something to go because it's in less than an hour and it's a bit of a walk." Tegan closed the fridge and came back with a sandwich in her hands. Reggie wasn't sure when she had time to make it but was in a hurry and didn't want to ask. He put his laptop in a backpack, and the four of them walked out the door.