Tessa was silent, the look on her face made Victor want burst out laughing; it was the look of a puppy who's just been denied a treat.
"You know what I like about you, Tessa?" He asked suddenly "I like how you question things. Its quite refreshing, and something that I've noticed Maria doesn't do at all unless she has to." Archimedes flew down from the tree to perch, once again, on Victor's shoulder, ruffling its feathers in an affronted manner.
"So. . .you don't know anything?" Was the bleak query.
"Oh, I know plenty of things; like how Leon never trusts anyone he doesn't completely control, and even then he's not the type to reveal all of his plans. Did you honestly think that he'd confide in me? ME? The mentally unstable one? When he didn't even tell his entire plan to Asuka?"

"Shut up, okay! I know it was a long shot. I'm just worried. Something bad is going to happen, and I don't want everyone to die because I didn't try and help!" Tessa snapped, she looked like she was close to tears.

Victor sighed "Listen, love. I know that Skylark is probably one of Leon's better experiments. I know that he's been trying this for a long time now, and that he's very close to succeeding. I also know that there is a way to disrupt Skylark's powers."

"What? How?" Tessa rubbed her nose against her left arm and looked up at Victor, a new hope instilled in her eyes.

"I'm not sure, but I know that Leon's not the type of person to give someone a power that they could use against him." Victor knew he was being weak to take pity on Tessa, but she was another Maria, right? He sighed, now look! She'd gotten him trying to justify his kindness. I can be kind or mean whenever I choose, it doesn't have to mean anything! He told himself. "I've been to his experiment labs, I've seen the botched tests and all the cubicles of dead and mutilated bodies. It's not pleasant. What you really need to do, though, if you want to get into his head is find away into Leon's rooms."