Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Detroit, Michigan - United States

The building in front of Calysto didn't look special, but it belonged to a big multinacional corporation; the Panacea Industry. The light reflected on its multiple windows, and it was quite nice outside, so he didn't feel a scorching sun burning his head. He had seen an ad on his phone about some quick money he could make in a test here, so he decided to give it a shot. He did need it, and it would only take, at best, a few hours of his time. Besides, he'd already made a quick research about the company, since he'd never heard of it, and Panacea seemed pretty trustworthy.

Calysto checks the address in their cellphone again to make sure they were at the right place. A few workers directed him to a lift that got him to the seventh floor, and just like that, he was in. From behind the glass door of the reception, he could see a few weird advertisement posters lined up on the walls that made him uneasy. He decided not to question it.

As soon as he entered the reception room, a tall guard stopped him.

Eyeing him up and down with judgment,  he said, "Are you here for the company's test?"

Calysto met his stare equally, "Yeah, I am."

The security guard nodded and stepped forward, "Raise your arms, I need to search you."

"What, think I got a gun or something?" He raised and eyebrow.

The guard frowned in a very not kind way, "It's protocol."

Calysto sighed and raised his arms. He didn't like other people touching him, but he figured the guard wouldn't give much of a fuck, and he doubted he would make it in without getting searched first. Thankfully, the guard backed up as soon as he was done, and Calysto approached a woman behind the counter. She had a much nicer smile, and appeared to be somewhere in her thirties.

"Hello! I heard you're here for the test, I'll need your name and age please?" She said, looking expectantly at him.

"Calysto Stratos, 22 years old." He replied.

"Great! Thank you, you can sit in line and wait over there by those chairs!" The woman pointed at something behind him, and Calysto looked back to see a few lines of chairs in front of two large windows. There was no one there. Before he could ask what the woman meant by 'wait in line', because sure as hell there wasn't one, he heard the glass door's noise.

A short boy walked in holding two pizza boxes, one in each of his arms, long brown hair falling down his shoulders in a thick braid and bright blue eyes. He was using a pink sweater that looked, in fact, very comfortable and soft, and short black pants. His palms were covered by black fingerless gloves, of which Calysto caught a glimpse when he almost dropped one of the pizza boxes on the ground.

"E-excuse me!" He said, his voice cracking in nervousness when his eyes met the guard's.

However, the security man smiled, as weird as that looked on him. "Is that the pizza I ordered?"

"Yeah, I think so! Double pepperoni with extra cheese, right?" The pizza boy replied.

The guard simply nodded. He tapped his pockets and frowned, apparently not finding what he was looking for - which was probably his wallet, Calysto deduced - and walking off towards another door. Silence fell over the room, occasionally broken by the few clicks and keyboard taps coming from the receptionist's computer.

"So..." Calysto started, standing awkwardly a few feet away from the pizza boy. "Are you also here for the test?"

"Test?" The boy's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

Upon hearing that word, the woman's eyes lit up and she seemed to have lost interest in whatever it was she was doing.

"Sir! Would you like to participate in an experiment for science and the future of our humanity?" She kept smiling, which was slightly unsettling in a way.

"Um..." he fidgeted with his hands, "is there any payment involved?

The woman nodded happily.

"And what is it that I would have to do? I wouldn't have to- I'm not taking any medicine or substances I don't know." He shifted uncomfortably.

The woman widened her eyes, "Oh, no, no! It's just a couple of questions in a form that you would have to answer, it wouldn't even take much of your time! Think of it like this, you'd be receiving easy money, and we get what we want too from your answers! It's a win/win! Would you throw this chance away, dear?" She sounded oddly invested in the idea of persuading that boy into joining the test, but Calysto supposed it was part of her job.

"Oh.. okay then-"

"That's lovely to hear! I'll just need your name and age please, then you can sit and wait by the chairs!"

He hesitated as he approached the counter, but eventually said, "Wiks Centaurea, I'm sixteen years old ma'am."

As he approached the chairs, Calysto looked at him, "You don't look a lot like sixteen."

Wiks' gaze didn't stray from the ground to meet Calysto's, "Oh, well, I- my birthday is in a week, so I didn't think it'd make much of a difference."

At that moment, the security guard came back with some money in hands and handed it to him. Wiks took it and counted - ten dollars, Calysto realised - before putting it inside a little bug shaped wallet he took from his pants' pocket. Wiks handed him the pizza box and the guard disappeared into another door again, probably off to enjoy his lunch.

"What's up with the wallet, Wiks?" Cal asked, curious. It looked like a red ant.

Wiks flinched, "I just like ants. Also, please don't call me Wiks."

Calysto nodded, "What can I call you then?"

Wi- the boy pondered for a moment, then said, "You see, my friends gave me this nickname- I know it's silly, but it's the only thing they call me and I'm not used to others calling me anything else. You can call me Bugz." Bugz looked at Calysto, and frowned, "You're not supposed to laugh!"

"I'm not! I'm not- I promise, I just find it amusing, but not in a mean way. Is it because of your bug hyperfixation?"

Bugz seemed to relax, and opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to answer was drowned out by another person's yell.

"WHAT'S UP IDIOTS!"

A tall person showed up by the glass door, short wavy hair in light shades of green and a smile while they scanned the room. They wore a dark green poncho over a shirt Calysto couldn't see much of, but he thought he saw a small leaf shape in the center. He and Bugz stared at the newcomer dumbfounded. They marched up to the receptionist with a careless stride and gave her a 'good morning'.

"Name and age, please?"

"George Leif, and I'm 24! I know, I look young, right?"

"Your name is Leaf?" Bugz asked in a confused tone.

"It's- y'know what, sure, let's go with that." Leaf seemed unfazed by the mispronunciation of their name. Something told Calysto that was not the first time. "Yall look like a weird bunch, you guys here for the test as well?"

"You're one to talk-"

"Yes! We're here for the test, yeah." Bugz interrupted, as if he was scared Calysto would cause a fight or something. Well, not like he wouldn't, but only if the other guy asked for it.

"What's yours and the doctor's name?" Leaf asked.

Calysto was taken aback for being referred to as doctor, but he supposed his white coat wasn't very subtle.

"You can call me Bugz, and he's- actually, I don't remember asking you your name.."

"Calysto."

"Also, do any of you know what the test's about?"

The receptionist spoke up as soon as she heard Leaf, "Oh, just some quick answers, nothing big! Also, I should probably mention only one of you will receive the payment, the one with the better performance."

That made Calysto squint. "I wasn't aware of that." At the same time Bugz whispered a "what?"

"I'm gonna compete with these guys? I'd win too easy!" Leaf said.

Calysto was ready to fire back a remark, but as if in cue, a man walked in from the corridor the security guard had disappeared in, "Are you three the test participants?" When they just looked at each other, the man gestured for them to come, "Follow me, please."

Bugz was still holding another box of pizza though, Calysto realizes, so he subtly approaches him to ask, "You're gonna bring that to the room?"

It nods. "Well, I'm not gonna leave it here! Besides, if you're worried about the smell, it's also double pepperoni. Everybody loves that one."

Calysto shrugs, and follows the man after Leaf, with Bugz trailing behind.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

The sun shines through the beaches, but Honey wasn't here to enjoy the sea. Not this time. They were using a shirt they borrowed from Magnus, since the day was to hot to wear a sweater, although it was a bit big on them because of the size difference. Their friend was by their side, their multicolored hair with shades of blue, purple and pink covering a bit of his face, and a big traveler's backpack hanging from his shoulders. Magnus entered the Panacea building with them, and finally they were shielded from the sun.

"Why is it so hot today?" He questioned, putting a hand on his forehead in an attempt to get rid of the sweat.

"I know!" Honey said, "it's making me thirsty too, I need some water."

They looked around the room, taking in everything. There was a large window by the right wall, a few lines of seats in front of it, all empty, and a counter by the wall on the left. Aside from them and Magnus, the only other people there were the receptionist and two figures standing a few feet away from them, which looked like a parent and their child. The child's long brown hair was tied in a very floofy ponytail, and she seemed to be complaining about something to the other.

Honey also caught sight of a water pump next to the counter, and started walking towards it. The kid ran towards it too, though, and stopped once she saw Honey was already there.

Her eyes darted between the water pump and them. She was clearly suffering with the heat as well, her yellow sweater's sleeves were rolled up all the way to her elbows. Honey looked back at the gallon, and there didn't seem to be much water left, maybe a cup at best. Whatever then, Magnus probably had a water bottle somewhere in his backpack.

"Eu posso beber a água?" She asked timidly.

Honey for a moment forgot that they were in Brazil, having only spoken English with Magnus until now, but they knew she asked to have the water.

"Claro! Não tem problema." They answered in portuguese, fumbling a bit with the words. The kid must've noticed the accent, because she frowned.

"You don't speak portuguese?" She tried, in English.

"A little," they answered, "is that your mother back there?"

The girl glanced at her companion and giggled, "No, Whirlwind's my older sibling."

Whirlwind must've heard her, because she turned to look at her and called, "I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Whirlwind, huh?" Honey thinks about it, chuckling, "And what's your name?"

"Breeze." She said, then grabbed a cup by the gallon and filled it with what was left of the water.

"Honey I think we should check in with the receptionist." Magnus suggested, and they nodded, having completely forgotten about the reason they were here in for in the first place.

"You are here for the test, correct?" The lady behind the counter asks.

"Yeah! Do we have to wait too much? I'm thirsty."

"Not at all! Our doctor should be ready in a few seconds, and we can give you water afterwards."

Honey did not feel like waiting, their throat was dry and they were sweaty, but Magnus shook their head and apologized when they asked if they had water.

"We drank the last of it a few hours ago during our walk, sorry Honey."

They didn't have to wait at all though, because a man holding a clipboard appeared in the hallways connected to the waiting room, calling them over.

"Test participants! Come with me, please."

As Honey and Magnus started to follow the young man, they realized Breeze and Whirlwind were also joining them.

"The child is coming too?" Honey asked the doctor.

"Ei! I'm not a child! I'm fourteen!!"

"You are a child, though." Whirlwind said, patting her head, which only made Breeze puff up her cheeks in frustration.

"Don't worry, you will only have to answer a few questions. Nothing much." The doctor said, opening the door to a room.

The room was really small, and Honey would probably only have to take 8 steps forward to reach the other wall. There was a round wooden table in the middle, with two old, tiny computers on it. A chair was positioned next to them, but the doctor went around it and stayed on the other side of the room. Breeze took the seat.

"Hello! My name is Bernardo, I'll be asking you yes or no questions and all you need to do is respond with the shortest answer possible. Really simple! So, shall we start?"

Honey nods while Magnus and Breeze mutter an 'okay'.

"Don't need to think too much about the answers! We'll get this done in no time then." Bernardo says wearing a big smile, as if he was really excited about doing his job. Honey didn't know what could be exciting about this, but maybe his job was actually boring and this was one of the few out of routine things he got to do. They waited for the first question.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

They followed the man into a tight room with only a chair and a wooden table in the middle, two old computers resting on top of it.

"My name is Oswaldo," the doctor introduced himself, and both his face and voice revealed a very tired middle aged man who'd rather be anywhere else, "I'll be asking a few questions that any of you can answer, yes or no scenerios, so please keep your answers brief and simple and we should be done quickly. I just wanna get this over with and go home. Feel free to take a seat."

"Which one of us? There's just one seat..." Bugz stands awkwardly next to the chair, but Leaf simply pulls it and sits on it.

"Don't worry guys I'll go ahead and sit down!"

Calysto rolls his eyes. The doctor adjusts his glasses and writes something down in a clipboard he got from god knows where.

"Try not taking too long debating about morals, I don't want long explanations about your reasonings, okay?"

"Sure." Calysto says, nodding so the man could proceed.

"Okay then. You see an animal dying in the middle of the road. It looks to have been run over. There is no saving it. Do you leave it be, or do you end its suffering?"

"I thought these were going to be yes or no questions?" Calysto raised an eyebrow. He had assumed they were going to be simple, short ones.

"They're choices."

They pondered for a while. Would he mercy kill an animal on the side of the road? He would have tried to call for help, first and foremost, but Oswaldo did specify the fact that there was no saving it. Since he also said not to take too long answering, Calysto decides, "Well- I'd kill it I suppose. I wouldn't be able to watch it suffering."

The doctor nods, and turns to Bugz, who tilts his head confused. "Me? Are we all answering this one?"

"Yes." The doctor says simply.

"Um... I don't think I could bring myself to end its life even if I wanted to."

"Is there really no saving it? Maybe I could-" Whatever Leaf wanted to say, however, the doctor did not want to know about.

"No, you can't. Would you end its suffering or not?"

"Damn, okay, fine then, I'll kill it in a painless and swift way."

The doctor doesn't answer, only writing down in his clipboard.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

"Are you more of a cat or a dog person?"

"Ooh, that's a tough question.. I like both!" Breeze answered cheerfully.

"Yeah, but you gotta choose one or the other." Bernardo explained.

"I don't know! I like all the animals in the world and I'm not sure if I had to choose one-" She spoke quickly and gesturing widely, conflict written a over her face, but Bernardo lost his patience.

"It's two simple options! Just choose one already!" He raised his tone, throwing his arms up.

Breeze flinched, and yelled back, "FINE! Dogs then!"

Honey would not be surprised if she had cussed at the doctor right there, from all the frustration her tone indicated. Honey would've. They wouldn't like to get yelled at.

"I like both too, but I'll go with dogs." Whirlwind said, sending a pointed look in the doctor's direction.

"I prefer cats." Magnus added, resting against the wall but still close to Honey.

"Cats as well." Honey said, looking at Bernardo. He simply blinks and writes something down in his clipboard.

"Okay, okay, awesome, thank you." He looks at everyone in the room again, "So! How easily do you think you connect with people?"

"I think I do pretty well with people I know and care about, but I suppose you're talking about strangers? Then it'd depend on the person, if I think I can trust them." Magnus is the first to answer, although he took a few seconds to choose his words.

"I also think it'd depend on the person, but I'm okay with anyone as long as they're not assholes." Honey said right after.

"I have friends at school! Do they count?" Bernardo doesn't bother answering Breeze, focused on his clipboard. Did he seriously have beef with a child just because they yelled at each other? Honey huffed. He seems satisfied with whatever he wrote down, tapping his pen on the paper.

"I'll be right back!" He heads for the door, closing it on his way out.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

"I won't repeat the question, so pay attention." Oswaldo waits for confirmation from the room, then continues, "Let's say armed men start to raid this building in this exact moment. They're dragging off people and shooting them. You see a guard surrounded by them, but he is trained and looks strong. You also see a little kid getting dragged off by soldiers. You can only save one of them. If you decide to aid the guard, he will protect you, but if you save the child, you'll have to protect her instead. What will it be?"

There is silence for a moment.

"I mean- the guard has a higher chance of being able to survive, while the little kid would just die. I'm not trained in combat or anything but I think I'd be able to at least get somewhere safe with the child." Calysto says slowly, hoping Oswaldo would understand his reasoning.

"I'd choose the child too for the same reason, although I'm not sure I'd survive anyway... If they have guns, they could just shoot at anyone." Bugz muttered.

Leaf crossed their legs and smiled, spreading their hands on the table, "Well, I agree with Calysto that this security guy could fend for himself, so I would save the child! Also, I know how to use guns! So I'd just have to karate kick the soldiers, BOOM! They die! Then I grab their guns and now I'm armed too! And I win. I know, I'm a genius."

"That's a beautiful plan," Bugz chuckles.

Calysto didn't see anything genius about Leaf. In fact, that man was probably one of the stupidest people they had met, and Cal had worked with some pretty dumb idiots. However, something about their demeanor told him Leaf did, in fact, know how to use a gun. Calysto didn't know if he should feel relieved or concerned. Their brown eyes met Calysto's for a moment, and Leaf grinned.

"Don't worry, if armed people broke in, I'd protect you too!"

"I don't need-"

"We're straying from the topic," Oswaldo warned, grabbing everyone's attention. "I'll just leave you guys with one last question while I go grab the forms you'll need to sign. If you were to be stuck in an island with the other participants in this room, who would you cannibalize first?"

They all pause for a few beats to stare at each other. With that, the doctor leaves and closes the door. Leaf smiles as they look towards Calysto. He knows exactly what goes through their head in that moment, and resists the urge to tell them to fuck off.

"You wouldn't cannibalize me because I'd fucking kill you first." He snaps.

"What do you meannnn, I didn't even say anything!!" Leaf raised their hands with a fake offended expression.

"Yeah, but you were planning to."

Bugz looks between the two, opening his mouth as if it wanted to speak, but closing it again after deciding against it, afraid to be choosen as the one who'd get cannibalized.

"But Calysto! Think about it! I'm strong, so I'm very obviously needed to fend against, I dunno, island creatures or whatever! And Bugz is a child! And small, unlike you. You're kinda skinny, but you would do, and then we wouldn't die of hunger, and you'd be doing a good deed before you go-"

"And I'm a fucking doctor, now what? If any of you get sick, you'd just die, which has a higher chance of happening than starvation!" Calysto argued back, stepping forward.

Before they could continue this stupid, pointless argument - which Leaf started, mind you -, they listened the door squeaking as a small gap appeared. It did not open further, though, and a low thump! came from the ground as if something was dropped. After the door closed, Calysto heard a click!, telling him it was locked and finally was able to see what was dropped. The object, a small metallic can, rolled up to his feet.

"What the hell?" He said as he looked down at it.

Leaf kicked the door, but it didn't budge. "I think t's locked, guys. We might be stuck."

Bugz kneeled to the ground near the can by Calysto's feet, picking the weird object up. "Hey, uhh, Leaf you seem to be a weapons guy, is that a bomb or something?"

Calysto's heart rate quickens, and his mind races. Was this a bomb? But why? They were just doing a test in a random pharmaceutical company, why would there suddenly be a granade in here and who could've wanted to do this? Was this part of the test? Did they want to see how they would react?

Leaf sighed, "Yeah man, I think we're gonna die."

"What?!" Bugz's voice cracked when he yelled, panicking, "Shouldn't we cover it with something?? I- we- someone needs to cover it!"

"Maybe we can use Calysto." Leaf suggests, not even trying to hide their grin.

The way they didn't seem to be taking the situation seriously only annoyed Calysto further. "The fuck? Why me? We could use Bugz's pizza boxes instead!"

The can lets out a clicking sound. Calysto's heart stops.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

"This should be the last one now," Bernardo said, entering the room once again with a kitty in his arms. It was completely black except for the white straw at the end of its tail. It meows with its eyes closed, apparently tired and trying to sleep. Bernardo pets its head, still holding it, and puts a cardboard box on top of the table.

"Aww!" Breeze says, tilting her head to the kitty while looking like trying to resist the urge to pet it.

Bernardo takes a can of tuna and a tiny metal flask out of his pockets, opening it and pouring the flask's content on the can. He put the tuna inside the box. Honey squinted their eyes at it. "This," He started, "is a scientific experiment I wanna show you guys. Do any of you know anything about the Schrödinger's Cat?"

Honey's eyes widened.

"Is the kitty going to die?" Magnus blurted out, leaning away from the wall and taking a step forward, worried.

Bernardo puts the kitty inside the box. "This is a deadly poison. I don't know if you heard-"

Honey was faster. They immediately darted to the other side of the table and hurriedly grabbed the kitty before the doctor could even react. "What the fuck are you doing??"

Bernardo doesn't answer for a moment, staring blankly. "You're Honey Rye, right? I wasn't gonna kill that cat. It was part of the test, I wanted to see if you would allow the experiment to be conducted even if it would cost the animal its life."

He stretches out his arms, waiting for Honey to hand him the kitty back. They still didn't trust them, but they guessed they couldn't keep the cat with them forever. Besides, if Bernardo tried anything again, Honey would stop him. They delicately lay the cat in the doctor's arms, who carries it out of the room and puts it on the ground.

"Go, Lucifer!" He says his goodbye quickly and lets the little black cat wander off. "Alright! We're done. I'll go grab the forms real quick, you all stay here."

"Wow. That was. Easy money, right?" Honey looks at Magnus, who smiles.

"I mean-"

"Oh- shoot!" Bernardo looks at his clock as an alarm goes off, "I was almost late!" He reaches into his pockets again and takes out a small canister, twisting a gear and letting it fall on the ground. He quickly closes the door behind him.

"Is that a granade??" Honey exclaims, taking a step back in surprise.

Magnus body slams the door, but it didn't open. "Fuck! The door is locked!"

"What is this? What is happening?!" Whirlwind picks up the granade-looking can. "What do I do with this??"

"We need to cover it!" Honey grabs the granade and takes Breeze's backpack from her, ignoring her confused 'hey!'. Before they could cover it with the backpack or even ask Magnus to help with their own backpack, it lets out a weird noise, and gas suddenly stars leaking from it. It fills the room too quickly for any of them to process what was happening, and as soon as Honey inhales the air, their vision darkens. They fall to their knees, their legs giving in beneath them, and in less than a few seconds, everything went dark.

-- ───⋄⚠︎ ·☢· ⚠︎⋄─── --

"...Shit." Is all Leaf says as gas pours out of the metal can, covering up everything. Calysto barely had time to react or get away before it filled his lungs, and he started to fill his grip on conciousness slip away rapidly. He reaches for the table, but didn't have any strenghth to stand anymore and fell. His head was spinning, and finally, he started to feel his brain giving in to the smoke, pulling them into the deep darkness of their mind as they started falling asleep.

They let out a low, shaky breath before passing out.

Chapter Text

The first thing Calysto felt was heat.

Blazing, infernal heat, that got worse the more aware they became of their surroundings. His skin tingled with the sensation, and he quickly found out breathing had become a lot harder. Sweat drips down his forehead, and his mouth feels awfully dry. It felt like his limbs were on fire. They try moving their arm, but it touches a metal surface and they pull back with a hiss and confusion at the pain. His left hand was cuffed to a very hot pipe.

He opened his eyes properly, regretting the decision as soon as the smoke filling the room made it sting and blur his vision. Calysto blinks a few times, trying to get rid of the tears. They didn’t know if the stifling air was because of the hot environment or because he looked to be in an underground bunker. He managed to make out the silhouette of a person in front of him, their face becoming clearer as they approached him.

He looked young, about Calysto’s age perhaps. His expression betrayed some anxiety and worry. His blue eyes matched the shade of his wavy hair, although the smoke obscured its exact shade. He was using a brown jacket that didn’t seem appropriate for the heat surrounding them, but what caught Calysto’s eyes was the weird mechanism around his right hand. It looked like a normal black glove, but it had a bunch of weird golden gears around the wrist that connected a few glass flasks to it.

Looking around with his mind still foggy, Calysto saw four other people sitting in the little space they had, one hand cuffed to the pipes just like him. He realizes they have the same glove device as the man standing nearby. Blinking, he notices that his free hand was already in the stranger’s grasp as he put that same weird glove on him. There’s a soft click and the mechanism locks around his wrists. Then, the man’s eyes met Calysto’s.

“Oh- you’re awake! Listen, I don’t have much time, but I’m the only one that- I’m the only way you will be able to get out of this place.” He takes a ring of keys out of his pockets and unlocks the cuffs on Calysto, who can only mutter a confused ‘what?’ as his thoughts struggled to catch up to whatever was happening.

The others around him start shuffling and showing signs of life just as a loud alarm starts blaring his ears out, jerking Calysto completely awake this time. “Shit-!” the stranger curses, and turns to Calysto once again, “You see these valves all around the room?” All Calysto can do is weakly nod as the suffocating heat becomes noticeable again. “Turn them off before you all boil to death here!”

That is all he has to say for the other people to become more aware as well.

“What..” Someone beside Calysto whispers.

“What’s your name?” The stranger snaps towards him, catching his attention again.

“I- Calysto. Why-“

“Take the keys!” He yells, throwing them at his chest before he could process it, “Release the others, I’ll come back!”

“What the fuck is happening?” Calysto shouts after the man while he disappears behind a door that opened with his card, but he’s already gone, and the door closes once more. “Come back here!”

“Where are we?!” A young voice shouts somewhere to his right, and Calysto knows he’s heard it somewhere before. It doesn’t take long for his mind to go back to the people he met before that test- to Bugz, who is by Cal’s right, cuffed, and looking around with wide, fearful eyes.

“Calysto, is that right?” Another voice, this time one he didn’t know, called in front of him, getting the confirmation they needed when he whipped his head towards them. “Nice to meet you, but please hurry! We need to get out!”

Calysto sprints to action, getting up to his feet and fumbling with the keys as other voices were added to the mess- everyone desperately talking above each other.

“Use the keys!”

“What are you doing?!”

“The valves-“

“Everyone calm the fuck down!” He snapped, hands wet with sweat and shaking with anxiety as he failed to properly fit it into the lock of the cuff of the person in front of him. They looked at him with tired, exasperated eyes, yellow short hair sticking out from under a large brimmed hat that might’ve been bright and clean once, but now was visibly affected by the smoke in the air.

He realizes he would never get it done in time. He would fail to save these people and they were all going to be fucking cooked alive just because Calysto couldn’t control the trembling in his hands. He groans loudly in frustration, but the person he was – attempting to – help gave him a reassuring although strained smile. That was an impressive feat in his opinion, given the current situation.

“Here-“ They gently cupped his hands and took the keys from them without wasting another second, “You should take care of the valves.”

So while they unlocked their own cuff, Calysto rushed towards the first valve he saw.

“Where’s my pizza box??” Bugz cried, frantically searching the room.

“Sorry buddy, the pizza box is gone.” A voice he recognizes – though he’d rather not have – answers, and Calysto doesn’t have to look to know that it’s Leaf. His head was spinning too much, so he chose to focus on his task at hand, grabbing the valve. He forgot about the heat though, which led to him burning his palm and swearing, then using his coat to grab it again with a little more safety and quickly turn it until it was closed. One of the sources of all the smoke was suddenly gone, and the air near him felt a tiny bit more bearable, but still too dangerous.

“Honey!” A voice shouts from somewhere, “Over here!”

The stranger with the hat – Honey, - turns to the voice and tosses the keys across the room with a jingling sound. Someone catches it, because Cal doesn’t hear it hit the ground. “I’ll help with the valves, unlock the cuffs!” They say, and as soon as Calysto moves to another valve, Honey is there by his side too, using their gloved hand to briefly touch the valve and close it. Why didn’t he think of that?

With three of the valves already dealt with, the heat becomes much less intense, and Calysto feels like he can somewhat breath normally for once. He glanced back to see someone with colorful hair unlocking Bugz’s cuff – the last one – and helping him up, while Leaf turned off the fourth of the valves. The room was still hot, but the steam had stopped rising and they weren’t melting anymore, so that’s a win.

“That was the last one.” Honey says.

Calysto’s relief lasted for a very short time once he realized they were still stuck in that room. He grimaces when he remembers the door the strange man had used to get out. “By the way, did anyone see that person? I don’t think you were awake but..“

“My memory is foggy, I don’t think so.” The person that freed Bugz, the only one Calysto didn’t know the name of yet, speaks up.

Honey approaches the small circle of five they were all in. “Where even are we? I thought we were doing this test where we had to answer some questions and then suddenly-“

“You guys were also doing a test?” Bugz interrupts, wincing when he thought he might have come off as rude.

“We all were, apparently,” Cal concludes, “and then we got kidnapped. For whatever reason.”

“Magnus, do you-“

Honey cut themselves at the same time a low hiss came from the devices on everyone’s glove- and Calysto feels a painful sting in his wrists that takes him by surprise. He raises the glove to inspect it, although he doesn’t understand all those cogs and gears in one bit. He’s never seen anything like it before. And judging by the others’ reactions, they all felt the same thing.

“Ouch! What the hell?” Bugz flinched, holding his hand closer to his chest.

Leaf only stared at it in wonder, curiosity swirling in their eyes. “Well, that’s weird.”

Honey tries to smash it against the wall, only to cry out when the impact hurt. “Shit! What are these flasks even made out of? Reinforced glass?”

“Let me see that,” The closest person – Magnus, apparently, – approaches Honey with furrowed brows and a concerned expression, taking their hand in his.

Meanwhile, Calysto takes their time to look around the room, taking it in. The fire in the combustion chamber was still burning, and it was so strong that he doubted they could put it out by themselves, but the immediate problem with the valves had already been taken care of. So, to make it a little easier to bear, Calysto shrugs off his white thin coat and wraps it around his waist, tying it firmly and leaving his arms exposed, well aware of the luna moth wings tattooed on his back that reached his shoulders and arms now a little bit visible. He gazes down at his other tattoo, a small beta fish in his forearm, and traces it with his fingers.

Now that they had time to think, they found the situation quite strange. He still didn’t know why they’d been taken hostages, but the room they were being held in was by far an appropriate one. A boiler room? That sounds awfully rushed and improvised. Not to mention the fact they could’ve died, and why would they take hostages just to kill them right after?

At one point, Calysto realized, the sirens had stopped screaming and the insistent alarm was no longer bothering him. He turns his gaze towards Bugz at the fuss he was making, seemingly very busy searching all the corners of the room for... something.

“Hey? You alright?” He asked, which sounded far more stupid now that he’s said it. No, of course they were not alright, and probably no one in this room was, they were hostages in a place they knew nothing about, stuck in a boiler room with a bunch of strangers, for fuck’s sake!

Bugz’s head snaps to him with wide eyes. “I lost my- my- um..” He pauses, considering his words. His eyes lock into something behind Calysto though, and he gasps. “There!”

He follows the boy with his gaze until he stops and crouches in front of a metal barrel, reaching his hands to scoop out something from the ground. Then, he turns to him as he gently cradles in his arm-

“What.” Calysto mutters, dumbfounded and with mouth agape like a fish without water. He blinks a few times, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing, trying to say something, but nothing comes out.

“Hey guys! I think you- oh shit. Bugz what the fuck is that.” Leaf stops in her tracks as they see Bugz holding a fucking squirrel in his hands.

“It’s okay, it’s just Luna!” Bugz answers as if he is talking about the weather. ‘It’s just the shiny sun out there!’, ‘It’s just a squirrel in my hands!’. Same fucking thing.

Honey and Magnus must’ve noticed something was going on, because they turned towards them, and when they laid eyes on Bugz’s little animal, they froze as well.

“Is that a squirrel?!” Magnus exclaims, barking out an unbelieving laugh and running a hand through their hair.

“How did you even bring her here??” Calysto finally manages to ask, taking a step forward to look at Luna carefully and confirm she’s real.

“I just kept her in my pocket, she usually likes sleeping there! But she must’ve crawled out because of the heat, and I’m just glad she is okay now.” The little grey squirrel looks up with big round eyes, blinking lazily at him. Their tail had a big spot in an uncommon shade of yellow, although he could just assume because of the shitty lighting of the place.

“I find it quite cute actually.” Leaf raised his hands to pet Luna, smiling. She closed her eyes, enjoying the attention.

“We should probably focus on the problem at hand, which is getting out of here.” Honey says, snapping Cal’s attention back to the situation. “I don’t know most of you, but we’re clearly on the same page, so helping each other out to look for an exit would benefit everyone.”

Applying logic and common sense to create something to rely on when you don’t understand what’s happening. Calysto nodded. He was about to point out the fact that they’d have to find a way through the locked door when it conveniently opened again with a beeping sound.

Everyone turns to the person that rushes in. It was the same guy Calysto had seen previously. He had his hands on the pockets of his jacket while he ran his eyes through the people in the room.

“Who are you?” Honey asked, at the same time Bugz blurted out, “Where are we?”

“Lots of questions I’m sure,” the man said, raising his hands to try and calm them down, “But I don’t have time to explain, there’s a lot going on- My name is Hail, and I need your help.”

“What are you even doing here?” Magnus steps forward, frowning.

“I work in this place.” He said plainly, not changing his expression as the others stared. “I need you to follow me to get out of here. If you don’t, there’s not much I can do about it, but I wouldn’t stay here if I wanted to live.” With that, he turned away and started walking, not looking back to see whether the others chose to accompany him or not.

They all look at each other. Leaf took the first step, shrugging, and Bugz followed right after, putting Luna on their shoulder while she made herself comfortable. The rest then followed, Calysto the last one.

Leaf stopped at the doorway for a brief moment, blocking his view, and took a look at their glove again. Then, he raised his arm as if to try and hit it against something, only for Hail to turn to it and freeze, face going pale.

“NO DON’T DO THAT!” He shouted, then promptly clicked his mouth shut and glanced around warily. He proceeded with a hushed tone, “Don’t break that. That glove is the only thing keeping you alive!”

“...Okay? Chill, I’m not gonna do it. Probably.” Calysto couldn’t see Leaf’s expression from where he was, but he guessed they were probably thinking about doing something to annoy Hail further, such as screaming as loud as they could. Calysto didn’t hear or see anyone that worked here besides Hail, but if they ran into someone there could probably be trouble, so it wouldn’t be wise to attract attention.

Hail sighed and moved out of the way. When Leaf fully stepped out, they paused for a bit, murmuring an “oh, shit” and scanning their surroundings. He immediately grabbed Bugz when they reached him. The boy let out a confused squeak, trying to pull away, but his eyes trailed forward to something and he stopped struggling immediately, stiffening. Honey and Magnus soon joined them, and although Calysto couldn’t yet see what they were looking at, he could feel a weird scent in the air, one he didn’t want to recognize and preferred to believe it was just the stress making him imagine things.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected to see when he left the room.

You see, Calysto is a doctor. A surgeon. He has seen some pretty graphic things. The first time he saw pictures of people’s insides on Medicine school were very unsettling, but over the time, working with patients, he pretty much got used to it. Sure, he still surprised himself in his job sometimes. People came in from car crashes, pieces of glass attached to their skin and ugly tears across their legs and arms or chest. He still worked through it though, ignored the fear in his brain and focused on saving lives. He could manage seeing a patient’s blood on the table.

This, though?

This was a slaughterhouse.

No matter which direction of the corridor maze he looked at, there was red. Corpses scattered haphazardly across the ground forming a macabre tapestry, with blood splattered all over the place like some child had decided to paint the walls of their house. There was a pool of dark crimson by the door’s right, where a man was laying with his back against a corner, head hung and neck twisted in a sickening angle. A nametag by his feet revealed he was a scientist.

Calysto clenched his hands and took a sharp inhale, letting the nauseating smell of copper fill his senses. He didn’t want to see this. He didn’t want to, and yet he couldn’t move his gaze away. All he could do was stare at the carnage.

“What the fuck is this place?” Honey breathed out by his side.

Hail kept walking though, barely batting an eye. “Let’s move, we need to leave.”

Calysto shared a look with his companions. “Let’s stay close ‘cause I don’t fucking trust that person.” He muttered, earning a “me neither” from Magnus. Hesitantly, they caught up to the man.

Calysto glared at him warily. He didn’t trust that guy as far as he could throw him. Unlike apparently every single person that worked here Hail was still alive. Somehow. He didn’t look capable of much, to be honest, but Calysto still wondered if they knew this was going to happen beforehand or had any correlation to it at all. Why was he even helping them in the first place if he was responsible for them being here?

“What’s your name?” Honey spoke softly near Calysto, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“I’m Calysto.”

“I’m Honey,” they touched their friend’s shoulder, “And this is Magnus.” They smiled at him.

“My name is George!” Leaf chimed in, slowing their pace so they wouldn’t be too far ahead. “But that dumbass has been calling me Leaf-“ Calysto flipped them off, “-and admittedly I prefer that much more- so yeah. Oh, and this little guy is Bugz.” Leaf pulled Bugz closer like a parent proudly presenting their child in a family dinner.

Bugz seemed very shaken up, but managed to quietly nod. Luna perched forward in his shoulder, nudging his face and resting her paws on his shoulder blades so she could lay more comfortably.

“Where were you guys before this? You look like you already know each other.” Honey observed.

“We don’t. We were taking a survey in Detroit? Just like you.” He couldn’t recall seeing other participants in the building, but maybe they were in a different floor?

“Detroit?” Magnus raised an eyebrow, “We were at Rio. Like, Brazil?”

Calysto frowned. They came all the way from Brazil? Those two places were really far apart, so where even were they right now? The others seemed to share his confusion, judging by the narrowed eyes and furrowed brows.

Then Cal bumps into Leaf, who elbows him, and feels Honey halt by his side. He leans to the side to see Hail standing in front of a metal door, where a few barrels messily lined up against the wall. He was inspecting a keycard reader.

As if sensing the skeptical looks on his back, Hail spun around. “I promise I’ll answer your questions, but when we’re no longer in danger. Right now, we need to get to the control room.”

He fishes a red card out of his jacket and swipes it against the card reader. It lets out a loud blaring noise, quickly flashing red.

“No... fucking way.” He whispers, tightening his grip on the card.

“Um- I-Is it supposed to do that?” Bugz questioned, eyes darting back and forth.

Hail tries again multiple times, but the keycard reader kept flashing red, displaying ‘access denied’ on screen. “It was supposed to fucking work!” He barks, a little too loud.

Screams echo in the distance, making Calysto flinch. There was something really wrong with this place, and that wasn’t just because of the corpses. Again, he heard more screeches, but way closer. They were very close to human voices, but weirdly distorted somehow, like someone was speaking through a broken radio.

He felt every hair on his skin stand up as shivers ran down his spine. There was something around the corner. He felt it more than he heard it. All instincts inside him were yelling at him to look away, to run.

He turns to see bloody human hand grab the corner. The skin was an unnatural, sickly green, with glowing veins pulsating beneath it and fingers grown into sharp claws.

Another hand grabbed the corner. Then another one, the noises of a heavy weight being dragged the only thing breaking the tense silence.

And that’s when he sees it.

Three twisted bodies fused into a spider-like amalgamation, dragging themselves forward with unhuman twists of limbs that defied human anatomy, and just felt wrong. They were connected by a tangled net of pulsing purple wires and had multiple technological devices embedded to their flesh, each glowing with green radioactive energy that hurt to look at. The entire thing twitched and spasmed erratically as it struggled to control its grotesque form, their broken voices creating a cacophony of sounds that drilled and echoed in his brain and made him want to shatter his own eardrums just to make it stop.

Calysto felt a sickening twist in his guts the moment it noticed him. It made him want to throw up as those empty dead eyes locked onto his, boring into his soul, its intentions made clear. It was coming for him.

For the longest second in his life, Calysto could not breathe.

Then,

“RUN!” Hail shouted at the top of their lungs, causing everyone to stumble and sprint into action.

Calysto barely registers as Leaf and Magnus fly past him, almost tripping on himself as he tried to set a pace and not look back. He didn’t necessarily need to, though, as he could sense the creature getting closer and closer each step he took, and it was really fucking fast. Risking a glance, he saw it rolling over its own limbs, grabbing at every surface it could reach for, pushing and dragging itself with a speed that should not be possible.

Its screams were drown out by his own heart loudly beating inside his head and his short, desperate inhales. His legs protested against the sudden effort, but he couldn’t afford to stop.

Hail then darted in front of him, whirled their head at them, and yelled, “THROW YOUR CELLPHONES AT IT!”

“What?!” Bugz screams back breathlessly somewhere behind Cal.

He spun around again in time to see Honey stop, pivot on their heels and, hastily, flinging a small phone in the creature’s way. It bounces off the ground and slides past it, a few pieces of plastic breaking off as it hit the wall.

The creature suddenly makes a sharp full turn, bumping into a barrel and launching itself towards the device. As soon as it touches it, the cellphone starts melting, a low corrosive sizzle following as it merges against it.

Honey was paralyzed, rooted into place, unable to tear their eyes away. Calysto didn’t even process what happened before the thing then swung around and quickly aimed at the next closest thing in their field of vision. Which happened to be Honey. They slowly took a step back, but before they could make a break for it, it grabbed their leg.

“FUCK!” Honey shrieked, kicking at it, though it kept a firm grasp and did not let go. It resulted in them falling backwards and hitting their head full force on the ground, letting out another pained yelp.

“Honey!” Calysto saw Magnus dashing by him and reach them in a mere heartbeat, grabbing Honey’s stretched arm.

The creature bites down on their flesh, and they yell again, kicking harder as Magnus tries to pull them away. Calysto could see the bite start to infect, a yellowish color spreading through the skin, but their glove clicked and hissed, and their wound immediately went back to normal.

“GET INSIDE HERE!” Calysto gazed ahead to where Hail was, opening two double doors and desperately gesturing at them. Leaf and Bugz were almost making it.

“Let go of me!” When he blinked, he was already running the opposite way of the doors and towards Honey, kicking at the once-human head that bit them. Magnus drops their arm and also lunges at the creature, landing a punch on its other body. It roars and releases Honey, and this time, they didn’t wait before scrambling to their feet and bolting away.

Honey falters, their legs giving out beneath them, and Calysto rushes to catch them, putting their arm on his shoulders to help them stabilize themselves. That was bad. Very bad. He curses under his breath. Their head was still bleeding, and they probably had a concussion. They would never be faster than the creature like that.

“Just go!” Magnus shouts, and as they make eye contact, Calysto nods. Nothing they said would possibly convince Magnus to change their mind, so the best they could do to help was take Honey towards the double doors room and trust that Magnus would be okay.

Their head lolled forward, and Calysto’s breath caught in their throat. “No, no no- Honey- Honey look at me, you gotta stay awake, alright? We’re nearly there, please!”

He heard Magnus’ anguished cry. What was he supposed to do? It’s not like he could go back while he was carrying an injured person. His mind raced, unable to think clearly from the adrenaline. “Fuck, fuck-“

“The cellphone...” Honey mumbles against his shoulder, and their eyes widened. He quickly searches his pockets and fishes out his phone, still holding Honey as they half-turned and hurled the device at the creature.

He saw one of the heads had sunk its rotten teeth on Magnus’ shoulder while he fought to get it off. The cellphone flew past his head and disappeared somewhere into the hallway, and the creature threw Magnus to the ground to chase after it. The bite on his shoulder still pulsed with green energy, but it was slowly starting to shrink to a normal injury.

He catches up to Cal and Honey, taking their friend’s other side and guiding them to the doors.

They were so close.

A warped howl echoed further back.

Just a few more steps.

It got closer, not bothering to be silent as it approached its target.

Bugz and Leaf gestured for them to hurry up. Just as they stepped inside, Hail slams the doors shut, and something starts barreling against it. He held it closed until it stopped, but didn’t back away just yet.

Nobody dares to move a single muscle, and the air was so thick it felt like a knife could cut through it.

A heartbeat passed. Then another.

Calysto let out a breath they didn’t know they’d been holding.

“Holy shit.” Leaf laughs breathlessly, “that was close!”

“Yeah,” Magnus whispers, looking pointedly at Hail, “it was.”

Calysto glanced briefly around the room, spotting multiple pipes, a few large reinforced windows and some electrical panels. There was some steam leaking from giant tubes, but not as dangerous as the ones that were in the boiler room. Hail walks forward, “Okay, we should probably be a little safer here.”

“Safe? You think we’re safe?! What the hell even was that thing??” Bugz snaps, throwing his arms in the air. Luna squeaked in their perch.

“I’ll explain-“

“We almost fucking died!” Magnus curled his lips in a snarl, and Calysto didn’t miss the way their hands were still tightly closed. If they tried to punch Hail, he wouldn’t do anything to stop it.

“We’ll kick your fucking ass if you don’t tell us what’s going on.” Calysto scowled, adjusting his grip on Honey so they wouldn’t plummet to the ground.

Hail sighs, “Okay, okay!” He steps closer, “Fine. I’ll explain it. Everything.”

Chapter Text

“Fine. I’ll explain it. Everything.”

A tense pause follows, when Bugz and the others impatiently wait for Hail to continue.

“There’s... a lot going on. I know this is all hard for you to believe-“

“I think after that human centipede type of shit, I’m more open minded to hear it.” Calysto interrupts bitterly, briefly glancing at Honey when they stir by his side.

Hail’s eyes darted around as if he was searching for a way to say whatever he had to, “And we are safer here. For now. So don’t you think it’d be wiser to care for your friend first? We have time.”

Magnus scoffs with astonished anger, and Calysto looks like the only thing stopping him from jumping at their throat is Honey themselves. Bugz knows that Hail is probably just stalling and avoiding the subject, and he wants answers just as much as the others but- he was right.

“Guys, maybe- maybe we should do that. And it’s not like we’ll be attacked here, right? We can wait.”

“I don’t even know that much about this station anyways,” Hail speaks up when Magnus opens their mouth to argue, “I am from somewhere else. But what I do know is where to get answers and how to stop whatever’s going on here. Come talk to me when you’re ready. Also, look around for anything useful.”

Bugz watches him turn around and walk towards a table filled with files and papers and a big map hanging on the wall. Calysto laid Honey against the wall with a sigh, while the other kept protesting with “I’m fine”, and started to examine their leg. Then, he remembered a moment from way back in the Panacea building – which, wow, had probably happened a few hours ago, but already felt days away – and wasn’t Calysto a doctor or something?

“Hey, you good? You looking a little pale.”

It turns its head to see Leaf waving at it. “What? Ah, yeah, I- I think so. I mean, it’s not like I- ugh,” He shudders, a wave of nausea suddenly hitting him, feeling the bile rising in his throat. Luna nuzzles his cheek, confused, and squeaking in surprise when he starts moving.

He tumbled over to the corner and fell to his knees beside a rusted pipe, gripping it until his knuckles turned white while he emptied the contents of his breakfast on the floor. Then, there were hands patting his back, grounding him, and he heard Leaf speak up again.

“There, there, you’re good! You’re lucky you’re not Calysto or I would never let you live this down. Fortunately, I like you!”

Bugz felt like this was meant to be Leaf’s way of comforting him, but he still couldn’t wrap his mind around what had just happened. It felt like it all just caught up to him. “Wh-what are we even going to do right now? I mean, did we all see that?! That thing could be still out there- and you! You’re not gonna turn into a zombie are you?? You got bit, that’s what always happens in the movies!” He pointed towards Magnus, and the other frowned.

“It definitely doesn’t feel pleasant, but I’m fine.”

“Bugz!” Leaf grabs him by the shoulders and jerks him, “Goddamnit, calm down! We’re fine !”

“I was just delivering pizzas this morning...” He whined sadly, feeling a bit more upset than panicked now. “This sucks.”

He just wanted to go home.

-- ─── ⋄ ⚠ ︎ · ☢ · ⚠ ︎ ⋄ ─── --

Thinking about it, now that Bugz said it out loud, Magnus found it weird. They could feel the wound throbbing and hurting, almost like it wanted to spread, but it couldn’t. He didn’t think he was going to become a zombie or anything like whatever attacked them, but it still didn’t feel like any other injuries he’d ever had.

While Leaf kept shaking Bugz in their arms, desperately yelling things like “Stop crying!”, Calysto waved him closer.

“Can I see the bite on your shoulder, please?”

“Shouldn’t you take care of Honey first?”

“I’m okay, Magnus, really. Head wounds just bleed a lot.” Honey replied, standing up slowly.

“There’s not much I can do without any med kits or bandages, and they probably just have a concussion,” he bit his lips, looking at Honey then at Magnus again, “but I wanted to check a theory I have about something. So, can I see it?”

They sighed and lowered their shirt collar, making his shoulder visible. He couldn’t see much from this angle himself, but he had seen Honey’s, and it probably wasn’t all that different. Out of nowhere, the glove on their hand hissed again, followed by the familiar sharp sting, and a cold feeling traveling up their body.

Calysto locked eyes with him, and they knew they all felt the same thing.

“So, what’s this theory you thought about?” Honey half walked, half limped over. When Magnus squints at their leg, they furrow their brows, “I’m gonna be fine! It’s not gonna stop me from running, I promise, and I feel it getting better anyways.”

Magnus still wanted to add that even if Honey could run, it would be bad to push their limits, but Calysto started to speak, so he listened.

“You see these glowing veins on the wound? It’s like what those infected had, back there. it’s not spreading, though. Based on what Hail said earlier about the gloves, I think- they probably have some type of antidote to fight off the infection, and it has something to do with cooling our bodies down.”

That. Made sense. “So if we break these gloves, we become zombies?” He muttered.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“But can we even break these? I tried to smash them earlier, and whoever designed them did a pretty good job.” Honey added.

“Let’s not try to find out.” Magnus decided.

“Are you all finished? I think I came up with a plan.” Hail called them over, gesturing with his hand.

Honey politely declined Calysto’s and Magnus’ attempts to help and walked over on their own. When he followed, he could see that multiple documents and newspapers spread across the table were from Sweden, Mexico, Russia, and even Brazil. There was information from all around the world right there.

“Look at this,” Hail started, pointing to a blueprint on the wall. On its top left corner, Igneus was written in big bold letters. His finger tapped an area named ‘energy room’. “This is where we are right now. This is Igneus’ blueprint, one of the Panacea stations. I work for Panacea too, but in another station. You could say I... Infiltrated this area when I saw they were bringing new victims. I’ve had enough of it.”

“You mean it’s not the first time?” Honey raised an eyebrow.

He shakes his head, “I’m trying to stop the virus Panacea is developing and save everyone.”

Magnus did not know if they could trust Hail. He didn’t look like he was lying, and all he’d done up until now was help them. Still, different stations or not, he worked for the same company that kidnapped them. Nothing guaranteed he was a good person or was not doing this for ulterior motives. They didn’t have enough to judge them just yet, though.

“But for that to happen,” he continued, “we need to access the control room.”

They turn their attention back to the blueprint. The energy room had a vertical corridor on its right separating it from the medical area. On its left, there was the hallway they ran through and the door to the control room, which was also connected to the temperature room. The hallway went around a kitchen to the left, and on the farthest left there was the research laboratory.

“We need a key card from one of the higher ups of this place. I’m certain there’s one in the medical area, but that alone will not be enough. They should have an emergency protocol to stop the virus from spreading, but I don’t know what it is. The answers to that and what we should do must be in the laboratory.”

Both areas were on extreme sides of each other, although the med bay was closer.

“The answer is also running in our veins right now, if you’ve not noticed. We’re being injected with a substance that’s containing the effects of it. I don’t understand it, but all the higher ups use one when they come down here.”

So Calysto was right. The gloves were the one thing stopping them from getting infected.

“We should split into groups of three, since we’re six in total, to search both places at the same time. One team will get the key card in the med bay, and the other will go to the lab and find out what the fuck are we supposed to do in the control room. So?”

“I wanna go to the laboratory.” Calysto spoke up as soon as Hail was finished.

“What’s your reasoning?” He questioned.

“I have a doctor’s degree.” He replied, glaring.

“What kind of doctor are you?” Bugz chimed in.

Calysto hesitated for a moment, “a surgeon.”

A surgeon? Looking at him, he couldn’t be older than 25. Was he some kind of prodigy to obtain a full degree at that age? It couldn’t be. In that area, the moral complications of dealing with lives on the line can only be learned with experience, which comes with time and maturity. “How old are you?” they find themselves asking out loud.

He looks away, making a face, “This turned into a personal quiz very quickly. It’s not your business either way.”

Leaf then came into their field of vision, grinning, “He’s 22.”

“I hope you die.” Calysto stares at Leaf like they could drill holes into their forehead just with hatred alone.

“Listen,” Hail glanced at the two, making sure they did not get distracted again, “since I already work for Panacea and understand how they operate, I’ll go to the lab with whoever chooses to accompany me.”

“Then I’ll go to the medical bay,” Magnus said at the same time as Honey. They turned to each other.

Well, that worked perfectly for him, since he wanted to be with Honey should anything happen.

“I want pizza boy on my team, no way Leaf is coming with me.” Calysto declared, pulling Bugz closer.

Leaf gasped in exaggerated offense. “Well, I wouldn’t want to go with you either!”

“Fine!”

“ Great !”

“Oh my Lord...” Honey pinches the bridge of their nose with a smile dancing on their lips.

“We have to be careful,” Hail adds, “If you see one of those things, do not try to fight it.” He then pointedly looks at Magnus, who returns it with a glare of his own. He didn’t regret what he did. In fact, if he had no other choice then he’d probably do it again. “Most are not as fast as the previous one, though. The more bodies they have, the quicker they are, and single bodies are the most common. You’ll be able to easily outrun them.”

Bugz raised his hand quietly. When Hail didn’t say anything, he spoke, “Have you seen one with like... 10 of them? How bad can it get??”

A pause. “I have no idea.”

“Okay, okay, we should get this over with as soon as possible so we can get out, c’mon lab team!” Calysto splits up from the group, taking Bugz with him by his hand.

Hail pointed at double metal doors on his right, “Follow that path to get to the med bay. We’ll meet up in the control room.” He then chased after Calysto, and Magnus was left with Leaf and Honey.

He turned to face them. “So, should we get going?”

-- ─── ⋄ ⚠ ︎ · ☢ · ⚠ ︎ ⋄ ─── --

“What did you study again?” Hail asked Calysto when he got closer.

“I answered it already, I’m a surgeon! Fucking listen next time. This is pointless anyway, we should be focused on going to the lab.”

Hail raised an eyebrow, but dropped the subject, walking ahead. Bugz didn’t realize he was staring until Calysto’s eyes met his and he frowned.

“What?”

“I- sorry! I just... I was curious, but I know you don’t want to talk about it-“

“I am a doctor, okay? I’m almost done with medical school, and I will pass, so technically I didn’t lie about the degree. It’s like saying you’re a year older on a week before your actual birthday. And I get to practice by assisting surgeons on operations or using the simulations at school, so I know how to perform surgery.”

“Oh. Um... I believe you. Do you-“ Bugz didn’t get to finish before Hail was hurrying them up again. Calysto didn’t protest, taking the opportunity to leave the conversation.

“If anything goes wrong,” Hail started once they caught up, “don’t change the plan. We stick to it.”

-- ─── ⋄ ⚠ ︎ · ☢ · ⚠ ︎ ⋄ ─── --

When he opened the doors, Magnus saw a large, dark corridor. With walls made out of stone, he was pretty sure it was more of a natural tunnel than a hallway. This bunker had been built in a mine or underground a mountain. 

“Careful not to trip,” He warned, touching the surface of the walls for guidance and squinting at the spot where Honey and Leaf probably were. He felt more relieved when Honey’s hand grabbed his.

As they continued in silence, they walked up a few stairs to finally see lights weakly shining from the ceiling.

“Let’s go guys! Follow me!” Leaf cheerfully called, taking the lead. Magnus stayed by Honey’s side, despite them being able to walk on their own already.

“Why are you acting like this is a field trip?” He asked, but his voice held no anger, only tired disbelief.

“There’s only one way to follow anyway.” Honey shrugged.

The door to the med bay should be the one right up ahead, as they recalled from having looked at the map. Even if it wasn’t as bad as when they first left the boiler room, there was still blood on the ground, and he avoided looking at the corpse laying on the corner. There were also weird posters lined up on the wall. ‘When life gives you lemons, make a lemon virus’, he read. Quite unsettling, but knowing now what Panacea was really doing, he figured it was expected.

On the other side, at the end, he saw another door, with ‘Don’t open’ written in big white letters.

Leaf points at it, “Should we open that one? Wait, who am I kidding, of course we do.”

“Leaf, hold on- maybe there’s a reason it has that written in it?” Honey observed. When Leaf frowned, they added, “We can open it after finishing what we came here to do.”

Leaf mumbled a complaint along the lines of ‘ugh, fine’, and marched right back. Honey approaches the med bay doors and puts their face on its glass window.

“What do you see?” Magnus asked.

They hummed. “It’s not very clear. I think there’s a lot of steam... no, smoke, it’s making the glass blurry.”

Leaf kicked both doors open as soon as Honey moved away from them, barely avoiding getting hit. “I’ve always wanted to do that.” They smiled innocently at them.

Magnus had prepared to meet an infected corpse on the other side, but there was no one. Instead, they found an empty medical ward with some toolboxes and a big furnace in the center, if the fire and smoke were anything to go by. There was a tall wooden wall in front of the furnace, hiding it and half of the medical ward, so the only sign that the place wasn’t as abandoned as they originally thought was the sound of staggering footsteps approaching them.

“Hello?” He called, moving forward to subtly stand in front of Honey. No one answered, so he quickly searched the room for weapons in case it was one of those zombies. He found a loose pipe fallen near a door by the right, but as soon as he picked it up, something banged on it loudly from the other side, followed by a weird growling noise.

Magnus hurried away from it, cursing and gripping the pipe tighter.

“What the fuck??” He didn’t have to look behind to know it was Leaf.

“Guys, someone’s coming.” Honey warned, holding a hammer in their hands. Where and when did they get that, he honestly had no idea, but he was glad they did.

The steps got closer and a woman came into view. The first thing he noticed was her long black dress that, although was under a uniform jacket and didn’t get in her way, did not look very professional. Part of her hair covered her face, but she appeared to be in her early thirties. The lighting was shit, so her dark hair and clothes made her look like a shadow in that place. She was leaning forward as if it was painful just to stand by itself.

“And- who are you?” Leaf asked, relaxing a bit. Magnus, however, did not lower down his improvised weapon. The uniform told him she was a Panacea worker. Even though she looked in pain, they didn’t know what to expect, or if she wasn’t going to try anything.

The woman looks momentarily surprised, before her face falls back to a tired expression. “How did you... Oh. So that’s where they went.” She says, nodding to the gloves on their hands. “Mind if I sit?” She turned and walked around the wooden wall.

“Were you the one who trapped us here?” Honey called after her, but didn’t get a response. The way that woman turned her back on them with such trust was probably stupid. Sure, they wouldn’t attack her if she didn’t give them a reason, but she didn’t know that. Or maybe she just didn’t care if that happened.

More bangs and knocks came from the locked door near them, but Magnus didn’t jump this time. He chose to ignore them and walked to the other side of the room as well, making sure the others were following. The other side in question looked like a workstation, with a few monitors and tools placed on a large table. There were no bodies on the med bay beds. The only ones were scattered around lying in pools of their own blood.

The woman leans against the table and waits for them. “So... How did you get free?”

“Hail helped us.” Magnus answered. “Do you know him?”

The woman frowned. “What the fuck is he doing down here?”

Honey took a step forward. “Would you mind answering our questions first?” The interrogation mark at the end was just a whim. It was actually a clear command, and if Honey wanted, they would get their answers.

"I didn't bring you here specifically," she said with the same calm expression. So she did hear Honey before, "but yes, Panacea brought you here."

“Hey you, uhh weird… shadow woman, who are you?" Leaf asked.

"My name is Ma-"

"You know what, Shadow woman now," they interrupted.

Shadow woman didn't seem to mind, instead much more worried about what she had to say herself. "Where did you get those gloves?"

"We don't know," Magnus told her, which was harmless information in their opinion, so they didn't think it'd be a problem answering. "We just woke up with them, Hail probably put it in us while we were sleeping."

"Wait, so you knew we were prisoners here, right? So were we just not supposed to have gloves?" Honey squint their eyes, suspicion taking over them.

"You were supposed to be the first ones." Shadow said simply.

"To have gloves?"

"To become the thing."

A tense silence hung over the room.

Leaf casually broke it, leaning on the table besides Shadow and gesturing with their hands. "Why do you have creatures here anyway? Like, what's up with that?"

"It's just my job I guess," it didn't sound like it had any coldness or rudeness behind it, just plain indifference. 

"You lock us in a bunker to turn us into monsters and say it's just your job?" Magnus questioned.

"If you want my honest opinion, I was never really into the whole ‘kidnapping people from around the world’ thing, but they paid well." She sighs, "At least, I was supposed to survive this, but…" She raises her hand to show the same glove they had, but all their vials were broken. "I don't have much time I guess."

Honey faltered. "Hold on- are you going to become a monster? How much time do we have??"

"It's an inconsistent process. It can happen in ten seconds or in over an hour."

"Look, buddy, we just came here looking for a key card, y'know where that is?" Leaf said, walking around and kicking random objects on the ground, obviously bored.

Shadow huffed a halfhearted laugh, "You want a keycard you say?" She stared into each one of their eyes, then pointed at the door they had heard a creature banging on from within.

"Oh shit…" Leaf muttered amused.

"No fucking way." Magnus buried his face in his hands in frustration.

"There it is."

The creature screeched and slammed against the door again, as if on cue.

"She was my friend before, even though I know that does not interest you in the slightest. She was my light in this dark, boring place. Of course, respectfully asking her for the key card is no longer going to work. It might be in the lockers, which are connected to a technological panel. To unlock it, you have to make her touch the panel and infect it."

Leaf raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you do that yourself?"

"I couldn’t if I tried." She whispered, and got on her feet while clenching the table for support. She stepped forward to show a claw mark on her leg, with green pulsing veins glowing under the skin. "I won't be fast enough to run from her after this."

"Great." Honey put their hands on their hips with an air of determination, "let's do this and get that fucking key card."

-- ─── ⋄ ⚠ ︎ · ☢ · ⚠ ︎ ⋄ ─── –

"This is the way we came from." Hail points to the hallway where they ran from that creature. "That's also the way to the lab."

Bugz relaxed a little. "Huh. Simple enough, right? Just follow that way?"

"Actually, let me check the director's room first." There's a door before the staircase, one Bugz had completely missed, which, fair, considered he'd been running for his life.

"Is the creature in there?" Calysto popped up next to him, watching Hail walk up to the door.

He pulled out a red card and put it against a reader. When the door opened, it revealed a neat office with green carpet. Hail stands in the doorframe and speaks.

"Look, I know this all must be very confusing, but you guys need to finish what I told you to do." Bugz didn't like where this was going. "I can't risk dying here."

"What?" It asked in a small voice.

"Everything I know- it's too important. I'm not being selfish, okay? I need to live. I already saved your lives- you owe me this much!"

"We also want to live." Bugz said, frowning.

Calysto was not having any of it. "What the fuck are you talking about? Fucking explain yourself." He demanded in a low threatening whisper.

Hail does not bother with any further talk and jumps into the room, pressing a button on the inside. Calysto, however, was faster. He grabbed their arm before they could completely get into the director’s room.

"Get the fuck off me!" They yelled, trying to break free from his hold.

"You're not gonna fucking leave us in here!" Calysto shouted back, pulling harder. "If we die we're going down together you son of a bitch!"

"Just fucking let-"

 It was too fast for Bugz to immediately process what happened.

Suddenly, the door closed. A guttural scream came from the other side, muffled by the metal’s thickness. Calysto stood shocked in place as blood dripped from the space between the door, and slowly turned to face Bugz.

In his hand, was Hail's severed arm.