Chapter 321: Dasha’s Lab
"Enter home."
Dasha and Xavier appeared in a flash of light, materializing in the middle of an expansive laboratory. Certainly Dash’s lab and significantly larger than it was thirty days ago. Wider and longer with shelves neatly labelled and lined with glass beakers, vials, and complex chemical apparatus.
Dasha glanced around. As anticipated, his personal dimension had been used and adjusted heavily during his absence. The lab was muttering with four alchemists engrossed in their work. Among them stood his former student Stager Meier, who was carefully in step two in the process of Dream Meth and measuring powder to several concocted beakers. The luminescence on the surface was evidence he was doing well so far.
Dasha approached Stager with Xavier a step behind. The young, short blond in a white lab coat looked up, momentarily startled by the newcomers. "Mr. X and..." Stager stared at Dasha openly. "S-sorry, do I know you?"
Dasha left a strong impression on people. The red scars currently ingrained on his skin and the Venetian mask prevented Stager from recognizing him. The longer he looked, the closer Stager got to identifying him.
"Wait...Professor?" Stager lifted a shaky finger. "It has to be, right? Mr. X said you would be here soon..."
"But the mask," he wanted to say. "What’s up with that?"
Dasha explicitly instructed Xavier to use his name to earn the trust of the grad student. Stager was the nervous wreck as he suspected he would be. That was what made him a great target for his operations. He listened because he didn’t know anything else. He listened and obeyed because that was what he was taught all his life as a dutiful student.
"I-it’s me, Stager Meier. Maybe you don’t remember, but I was one of the students that contributed to your paper on replacing carbon with nitrogen atoms."
"I could never forget. You were one of the field leaders I assigned for the experiments. You did fine work."
Stager looked glad he was remembered in the first place. "Thank you, professor."