Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Noah’s bones ache when he steps out of the practice arena. He won this time -- proof his hours of experimentation had been a success. Dr. Y spending so much time turning him into a living weapon had paid off for him and his assistants. Funds would continue to funnel in from the mysterious benefactor.

He hates it. It still feels like it was just yesterday he went to an interview for a new job. Trying to celebrate being eighteen by branching out from fast food. He wishes he had stuck with it, instead. Instead of… 

How long had it even been? He finds himself unable to really remember . A year? A few months? Weeks? Days? They all seem as possible as the other, and his memory surrounding the facilities he now calls home are so blurry…

A win means a step closer to leaving, though. This was his first. Just nine more. Nine more and he could go home, despite the changes to his body.

He hand returns to its normal shape, rather than a blade, and he hears a song. The same song that always plays at the end of battle exams. One that was supposed to mean sorry, try again next time (whenever that was).

When he gets out of here, Noah promises he’ll write much prettier music than that.

Eunie is at his side, soon, Lanz too. They had their first wins just before he did… They would get out of here, reach that homecoming together! That’s what they promised each other each time they went into the arena and lost.

Lost… That’s what happened, right? They lost every time before that. He remembers some of them clearly -- movements he made that he shouldn’t have. When they both collapsed exhausted at the same moment. Times he was so close but a last-minute surprise attack got him.

He can’t remember his opponents’ faces, but he went through so many, how was he supposed to? The real issue was the times he couldn’t quite remember how he lost. Moments where he grasps at the threads and finds nothing at the end. No picture sewn into his memory.

This is a real problem, as Noah thinks he has quite a good memory most of the time. It was only these facilities that messed with that. Maybe it was the trauma, maybe it was something else. A part of him didn’t want to know.

He and the others are rushed into a single file line with Mwamba, the only other winning from Team Keves. He glances and sees another line of four from Team Agnus. This is more than usual -- most of the time most fights end in ties, and usually only one or two from both teams combined win.

A girl in the other line, probably a year or so older than him, meets his eye. Hers are golden and cat-like, as are her arms and legs. If he couldn’t see the human features hidden behind those eyes and nose, he wouldn’t even realize she wasn’t one.

Noah looks away, and the girl surely follows suit. Dr. Y comes to stand in front of them, drawls on and on about what wonderful experiments they are. How far they had come, how much greatness they were destined for.

“Tonight, you allowed to relax,” the doctor says. “For thou have proven yourselves worthy.”

He goes on to speak of a special part of the facility they usually don’t get to go to. Nice beds and two large bathing areas for them to share. A place to unwind and relax before going back to the table and back to the pain day in and day out.

Lanz seems excited -- he needs to be, if he’s going to survive here, Noah thinks. His friend has always been a bit of a crybaby, even if ever since Joran went missing he’s started trying to toughen up. He just cries without tears now, and excites himself for the bare minimum.

Mwamba shares a bit in his excitement, Eunie rolls her eyes. A short girl on the other side, quite muscular and chubby, seems excited too. The cat girl smiles and agrees, along with the guy in the front. The one with glasses says nothing and just scowls.

Noah does nothing.

They walk down the hall, following him until Dr. X comes into view. They share a few words, and now she’s the one leading them. It’s rare to see her up close, Noah thinks as he tries to study her face. Usually she’s up in observation, if she’s even around.

He doesn’t want to think about what it means that she’s mostly around for the mock battles.

“We gotta go settle some stuff in my office, make sure your wins all get noted and all that stuff,” she says as she starts walking, expecting them to simply follow. “Then you can go take your baths and I can get to work on the losers, too.”

Noah bites his lower lips. Something about that wording has him on edge.

He’s about to voice that discomfort, riding on the goodwill of a win, when an explosion rocks the facilities. He’s on the ground before he knows it, throwing an arm over whoever happens to be closest. Lanz jumps in front, using his body to shield from debris. 

If it wasn’t for what Dr. Y did to his skin, it would make Noah sick. It still does, to a degree, remember Lanz as the kid who used to scrape up his elbows and knees on the daily. But now, Noah reminds himself. Lanz is an experiment whose skin is harder to break than steel.

Eunie heals the smaller girl from Team Agnus as the dust settles, hands on her shoulders as she stares into the dust cloud with a frown. Noah readies himself, arm shifting into something much sharper and much more dangerous.

People emerge, and he hears Dr. X click her tongue as she runs to a phone at the side of the hallway.

“Send D and J here, now! Don’t make me tell you twice!”

“Move out!” Another voice calls. “Grab as many as you can! We’re getting out of here!”

The four bodies move quickly, more quickly than Noah could with all this dust. He finds himself and the cat girl grabbed by whoever’s in the front and he thrashes about, hits the man good, but he keeps going. Keeps running towards the hole blown in the building.

He’s thrown in the back of a van with cat girl. Lanz and glasses guy, as well as Eunie and the girl she was helping following soon after. He can see the faces of their captors now. Their goggles… They must have let them see in the chaos.

Blood drips from the front of the man who seems to be the leader’s chest, he breathes heavily. But still he looks over them, as if Noah hadn’t sliced into him like he was a cow at slaughter. He looks at them and speaks.

“You’ll be safe now, kids. Perfectly safe.”

Then, he shuts the back of the van and they’re encased in darkness.

--

The van has been moving for who knows how long, and Mio is holding Sena in her lap. The girl cries, the idea of using her super strength to rip over the back abandoned when Taion took a guess at how fast they were going. She hopes Hackt is alright, that Team Keves boy left behind, too.

She look at the sword boy but he says nothing, at least not yet. He must be chewing on the words said to them, too. How could he not be? After who knows how long stuck in the facilities, safety had been promised to them.

But how real could that promise be, when these people were blowing up sides of buildings?

She tightens her grip on Sena and speaks up. “Is everyone alright?”

“As alright as we can be, love,” the Keves girl says. “But if anyone has any nicks, I can fix ya right up.”

Sena raises her head and looks at her. “Yeah, I noticed that… Thanks.”

She shrugs. “It’s what I do. Besides, we’re in the same boat right now, yeah? No reason not to help you out.”

“Same boat,” The big guy who took the shrapnel from the explosion like a papercut scoffs. “We’re still rivals, even if we’re stuck here. For all we know this is some sorta test.”

“It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibilities,” Taion says. “We can’t let out guards down just yet.”

Mio frowns. “Dr. X seemed too upset for it to be a test. Besides, I can… hear them.”

She hears yells for someone named Vandham to hang in there -- she supposes that was the man who promised them they were safe now. She also heard talk of heading to a safe destination and back to someone named Monica. Not a word of the doctors or tests.

“Your hearin’ like a cat’s too?” Big guy asks.

Mio nods.

“Then, I suppose we really are in the same boat,” sword boy says. “In that case, I’m Noah. I was planning to go to school for music before this happened.”

There’s a pregnant silence. No one wants to talk, wants to say a thing about themselves like he did. Remember their old lives, before they became nothing more than experiments. That is, until Mio decides to follow his cue and break it.

“I’m Mio,” she says. “I used to write in a journal every day and was a track star. I suppose I still could be, though I may have an unfair advantage now.”

“Well, if Mimi’s going to…” Sena wipes her eyes and pulls away from her. “I’m Sena, I was planning to teach kids about fitness one day! Muscle training was and still is my hobby.”

Another silence, one Mio can’t see Taion breaking. Instead, she looks at the two Team Keves members left. Big guy won’t meet her gaze and the girl seems to be thinking. She looks at her, waits for their eyes to meet, and then silently pleads. Pleads for her to keep this going, keep hope alive.

“Well, guess I’m Eunie,” she finally says. “Was going into general medicine when my life got all screwed up. Used to like to collect four-leaf clovers, actually kinda miss it nowadays…”

Mio then looks at Taion, and he knows he has no choice.

“Taion,” he says, refusing to look at them. “I didn’t really have any hobbies before ending up in this position.”

Eunie whistles. “Boring, no wonder you signed up for a fake job without a second thought.”

“Says the one who clearly did the same.”

Noah clears his voice, touching the big guy on the shoulder. “Well, Lanz? Anything to say?”

“Not a thing,” he replies, looking towards the door between them and who knows how much road. “I still don’t trust this one bit!”

“That’s okay,” Mio says. “There’ll be plenty of time for introductions later.”

“Don’t worry,” Eunie says. “He’s just a big grump. Get past that outer shell and he’s a huge softy.”

“Oi!”

Mio and Sena share a laugh, Eunie and Noah joining in. She’s not too shocked Taion decides to keep to himself as usual, and Lanz probably doesn’t find it nearly as funny. But… it’s nice. Even a little laughter is making this all the easier.

Maybe if they stick together, they can figure this out. Even if it’s a test, it’s not one they can solve on their owns. Call it a gut feeling, but Mio just can’t see anything working without all six cooperating.

She opens her mouth to speak again when the van comes to a stop. They’re jostled around, but nothing’s too bad. Taion falls into Lanz, which earns him a yell, and Sena ends up on top of Noah, but no one seems hurt.

She’s pulling Sena and Taion both back when the back opens. There’s light this time, unlike the night time sky when they first ended up here. It hurts her eyes, a hiss escaping her lips as she squints and tries to make sense of what she’s looking at.

It’s not the man from before -- Vandham, right? But instead a woman. She stands tall, muscular and broad. She looks serious, gravely so, but still she offers them all her hand. Offers them a way out of the dark.

“Hello,” she says. “I’m Monica. And we’re going to help you.”

Chapter Text

Monica reveals she is the daughter of the man who told them they would be safe. She also reveals he died on the way here, and that it was not going to be held against whoever did it. Noah notices the way she refuses to look at the blood on his arm when she says that.

Noah regrets his panic now, but he supposes he had no way to know it would be alright. Mio smiles at him and pats his shoulder, and Lanz links his arm around Noah’s neck. It doesn’t really help it -- actually it just makes it worse, in a way. He feels babied, despite the horrible thing he’s done.

“So,” Eunie says, pulling him from his thoughts. “That’s really all you do? Liberate experiments like us?”

“Yes, humans like you,” Monica says. “This was one of our most successful runs yet.”

“Worth the loss of your father?” Taion asks after a moment.

Monica grimaces, but nods. “He’d have preferred this to going out peacefully in his sleep or something.”

“Sounds like my kinda guy,” Lanz says. “Uh, sorry for your loss.”

“It’s alright,” Monica’s eyes look sad when she speaks. “Loss is part of the business. Anyone who doesn’t want to be involved is at the other base, or here arguing we stop already. Less loss there, lot more intake of folks like yourselves.”

“So we’re being sent away?” Eunie asks.

“Only if you want to,” Monica says. “You can also stay and help free others, if you feel up to it. Your intelligence on the layout inside could be invaluable.”

Mio frowns. “Is that safe for anyone? I mean, even rescuing us puts you at risk, right?”

“In the moment it does, but once we get back here, it’s safe,” Monica says. “They can’t legally get you back, because saying anything means admitting to kidnapping. Admitting to that makes the big man funding it mad, and that means less money.”

“So being here or the other base are safe,” Taion frowns. “What of those who go inside?”

“Death is normal, or being turned into a test subject yourself,” Monica replies. “That risk would be there for you all, too, of course.”

Lanz whistles. “Not pullin’ any punches, eh?”

“No reason to,” Monica says. “If you wanna work with us, I’m making sure you know what you’re in for.”

“So… we could die, or end up experiments again?” Sena asks. “That’s scary… But…”

“But?” Monica raises an eyebrow.

“We left friends there -- a lot of them. We can’t just sit by and pretend that’s okay, right?” Sena wrings her hands together, looking at Noah. “Right?”

Noah nods. “Right. Besides… we can’t let your father’s death be in vain, right?”

“You kids are quick to want in, I like that,” Monica chuckles. “ But , we have a policy. Twenty-four hours to yourselves before you can officially decide.”

“Oh,” Sena deflates a bit. 

“I get it,” Taion says. “To keep anyone from signing on under duress or outright rejecting out of shock.”

“Bingo,” Monica nods. “So I’ll be taking you to the dorms -- you can stay there tonight. Look around, see the sights, get some grub… People’ll know you’re new, so for now everything’s on the house.”

Eunie whistles. “I shoulda been kidnapped and experimented on years ago…”

Monica shoots her a look and she looks away.

“Thank you, Monica,” Mio says, trying to smooth things over quickly. “Is there anything else we should know?”

“Not right now,” Monica shakes her head. “Though… there might be a call for you later.”

The rest of the walk is quiet, Mio clearly confused but not wanting to press the topic further. Noah glances at her, worried. Sena does the same. They share a look, but continue to stay quiet.

The dorms aren’t too far away, at least, and they get separated into two rooms. Noah goes right to his bed and collapses, his hands are shaking. How long had they been shaking?

All the mock battles ended before death, often on the verge of it for the loser, but never all the way. And they’re always back for the next one, always alright to go on. No one dies in the facilities, but Vandham had died.

Noah had killed him. 

--

A masked man fetches Mio at around nine at night and for a moment, she wonders if she’s being kidnapped for a third time. When he leads her to a room where Monica waits, talking to a woman she can only see from behind though, she knows she’s okay. She smooths her hair without thinking, stands a bit straighter, and waits.

Monica says something to the woman and points. The woman turns, and suddenly she means more than the words the woman would ever mean. Could ever mean. It was Mum -- it was really Mum.

“Mio!” She’s up and running across the floor to pull her into a hug in no time. “Oh my god, I thought I had lost you… Oh, my Mio…”

“Mum, how, I…!” She’s crying, crying harder than she had since she was ten and broke her left wrist. “Mum…!”

“Nia here has been helping with the efforts to free test subjects like you since you vanished, Mio,” Monica explains, somehow knowing just what to say. “She and your step-mother did some research and found out about Moebius Interprises and us.”

“Moebius Interprises,” Mio says, noting to ask Mum about Melia later. “Those are the people behind this?”

“One of many avenues they explore, yes,” Monica replies. “It’s probably their biggest wing, thanks to the brother of the CEO being gifted with all things science, and it’s the shadiest.”

“And the one stealing our babies,” Mum hisses.

“Mum I’m… or was? Nineteen,” Mio mumbles. “I’m not a baby anymore.”

“You’ll always be my baby,” she kisses her forehead. “My Mio.”

Mio doesn’t argue -- she doesn’t have it in her. She wants to be her baby in the moment. Wants to just cry and let Mum make it all better. The adult part of her knows that’s not how it works, but for the moment, does it hurt?

The tears start flowing again, and Mum hugs her tightly. Monica stands and says something about leaving them to it for now, and then they’re alone. Mum leads her to a chair, sits her down in it.

Kneeling, she takes Mio’s hands in her own. Rubs calming circles into the back of them, like she did when Mio was little. Mio wishes they could stay like this forever, even if she knows that’s not possible.

“There, there,” Nia coos. “No more tears, dear. You wouldn’t want Melia to see you like this, right?”

“She’s your wife, so she’s basically my other mum, right?” She sniffles, tears still falling. “She’s allowed to see me cry.”

Nia whistles, grins at her. “You tellin’ me Melia got a level up and all it took was a little kidnapping?”

“Techincally two,” Mio lets out a bit of a choked laugh. “Mum, come on…”

“Sorry, can’t resist trying to make my baby laugh,” Mum stands up, brushing off her pants. “...I heard you and the others who escaped are thinkin’ of going back in.”

“Yeah,” Mio nods. “We can’t leave everyone else like that, we just… can’t. If we can save even a couple more…”

Mum sighs. “And I just know you’re as stubborn as me and your surrogate father…”

“Sorry,” Mio says, not really that sorry. “Can’t help it.”

“Just… be safe, then, alright? Melia and I will handle any legal troubles that could come our way,” she replies after a moment. “Monica says it should be fine, but you never know. Melia has a whole legal team waitin’ in the wings.”

Mio laughs. “That sounds very Melia like.”

“One of us has to be put together, and it sure isn’t me!”

“You can say that again.”

“Now you wait just a minute, little lady…!”

--

Sena isn’t trying to spy on anyone when she’s peeking into the hall in the middle of the night. She just wants someone to talk to, and Mimi and Eunie both seem to be fast asleep already. When she sees Noah leaving his room and walking towards the exit, how can she not follow him?

She finds him standing by some railing, sucking in the cool night air. Sena can understand, it’s nice, being able to breathe fresh air again. But also, she can tell he isn’t doing it to just relax.

“Are you okay?” She asks as she comes to stand next to him.

Noah jumps when she speaks and takes a minute to look with her. His brow is plastered with sweat. “Oh, Sena. I’m fine, just… can’t sleep…”

Sena frowns, not buying it for a second. “Anything I can do to help?”

“No, I don’t think so,” he replies. “Just… this is a lot to take in.”

She sees the way he stares at his arm, the one he’d hit Vandham with. Placing a hand over it, she gives it a squeeze, a frown on her face. Does he blame himself for what happened, she wonders? It’s not like they knew it was gonna be okay.

“You can make up for it,” Sena decides to say, decides to take a chance. “Make up for your mistake, by doing what he was doing, right?”

He looks at her, shock overcoming his expression. “Ah, could you tell?”

“Yeah,” she nods. “I… don’t blame you, but it’s gonna be okay, Noah. Monica isn’t mad, and I’m sure she’d be happy if you helped out, too.”

“You’re sure optimistic,” Noah says, but it doesn’t sound like an insult. “I am thinking about it, though I’m so… scared.”

“How come?” She tilts her head to the side.

“What if I have to kill again?” His voice shakes. “I don’t know if I could do it.”

“You wont have to,” Sena says, sounding more sure than she really is. “I promise, if it comes down to it, you won’t be the one to do it.”

Noah looks at her, his expression softening after a moment. He nods and she nods back, a little promise between them. She squeezes his arm one more time, and he smiles. She thinks, for a moment, that his smile is really nice.

She hopes she can make him -- make all of them, really -- smile more.

--

Lanz lays in bed and frowns. It’s hard to sleep, especially since Noah had slipped out and he’d been too much of a coward to go after him. When he comes back and lays down without a word, it just makes Lanz feel even worse.

He thinks of Joran, the way he went missing when they were kids. Was it connected? If they worked with Monica and her group, would they be able to help him? Was he even still alive?

He swallows down the bile that last question raises. He doesn’t want to think about that. Doesn’t want to think about Joran saving his dumb ass from a kidnapping only to be taken in his stead.

His fault. He couldn’t let that happen again. Couldn’t let it happen to others. He thinks about the younger types on both Team Keves and Agnus. He’d gone toe to toe with some, surely. Taken at least one under his wing.

Turning onto his side, he decides he has to do something. Valdi is in there, for fuck’s sake! That kid doesn’t know what to do with himself, he needs help. Needs to be saved from being used by those bastards.

Eyes closed tightly, he decides he’ll ask Monica tomorrow. If not only can he help, but if he can make a request of who to go after. Maybe he’ll be laughed at, or looked at funny, but he doesn’t care.

This was for Joran. For Valdi. For everyone stuck there. One person at a time, he tells himself. Better than leaving everyone behind and running off to pretend it didn’t happen. They deserved freedom just as much as he did.

If not more.

Chapter Text

“Made your choice, have you?” Monica asks, hands on her hips. “Happy to see you all want to join up, but as per the rules this is a last warning. If you don’t want to risk being stuck there again or dead, now’s the time to back out.”

Noah looks at the others in the room, but they all seem as sure as he does. He turns back to her and gives a nod. “Thank you, Monica. But I don’t think we’ll be leaving.”

Monica smiles. “Had a feeling you would say that. In that case, we can set up your first job--”

“Actually,” Lanz speaks up. “...Can I make a request?”

“Hm?” Monica raises an eyebrow. “What kind of request?”

“There’s a kid there, Valdi. I wanna help him out,” Lanz says. “He’s got this control over tech and stuff, way too kind to survive there for long if I’m not lookin’ out for him.”

“Technomancy,” Monica hums, closing her eyes. “Well, we never have specific targets. Usually saving anyone, no matter who they are, is considered good enough. So if you want to try and get this Valdi kid specifically, I can’t stop you.”

“But you wouldn’t suggest it, right?” Eunie asks.

“Right,” Monica says. “I can’t stop you, but I suggest just saving whoever you can. If this Valdi is included in that, that’s great, but don’t force it.”

Lanz frowns, that kinda frown that Noah knows means trouble. “Got it.”

“Good,” Monica turns and opens the door, a girl around their age (if Noah was right about their ages) standing there. “This is Shania Reid, she’ll be helping you out since you’re all new to this.”

Shania isn’t the kind of girl who would stand out to Noah. She has her hair in two ponytails, her bangs pinned back haphazardly. She wears black and camo -- the kind of stuff that makes him think of a military brat, but not someone who would be safing experiments like him.

He supposes Monica knows best, though, so he doesn’t say anything.

“Nice to meet you!” Sena says, a smile on her face. “I hope we can get along.”

Shania just huffs and looks away, leaving poor Sena looking like she thought she just did something wrong. Monica pats them both on the shoulder and then starts speaking quickly enough, though, so it doesn’t get too awkward.

“You’ll head out when the sun sets -- by the time you get to the facilities, it’ll be dark out. Use that cover to try and save anyone you can.”

“You’ve talked about saving people, but…” Taion speaks up. “What if we fail?”

“Nothing is considered a failure so long as you all get out,” Monica says. “The safety of you seven matters first and foremost, got it?”

“Got it,” Mio nods. “We’ll do our best.”

--

“You’re abilities are still pathetic,” Dr. Q scoffs as Valdi once again practices bringing the machines around him to live. “I really dont even see why Y thought we needed another technomancer. You’ll never match my abilities.”

Valdi shrugs. “Oh well, I’ll just do my best to be second best, then!”

Valdi was a bit of a strange boy, that much was certain. Even stuck in the facilities he seemed to keep a sunny demeanor about him. One would think someone as kind and naive as him would be browbeaten by now, but no. Here he was happily doing the tests assigned to him.

Maybe it’s that very naivety about him that keeps him so chipper. He doesn’t realize what kind of danger he’s in, not really. Doesn’t quite understand just how horrible this entire situation is for him.

When Valdi looks for a brightside, he always finds one. Even when there was not one to find in the first place.

The machines are his friends, that’s one of the things that keeps him so happy. He’s simply making his friends come to life and move! He’s unsure what they want him to make them do, as he has yet to keep one awake for very long yet, but surely it’s nothing too bad.

Dr. Q tells him not to worry himself what what that role will be, anyway. There’s time for him to learn, time before his Homecoming.

Valdi, with zero wins, decides Dr. Q is right, and he should just focus on his tests. One of these days he’ll pass them, and the poking and prodding will end. That’s what he was promised, after all.

--

It’s dark out when Shania finally parks the van and they all pile out, leaving the back doors open. She’s fiddling with something as they head towards the ventilation system (Monica had insisted on a sneakier, less test subject filled escape after what happened to her father), and Mio finally realizes what it is. A gun.

She’s not totally against violence, it’s hard to be with everything about the facilities, but it still puts Mio off a bit to see that. Is she planning on using it, she can’t help but wonder. And if so, on who?

She thinks of all the doctors and professors. Not one of them seems the type that it would be smart to shoot. Not one seems like they would go down that easily. They seemed bigger than life to her, and she wonders if that’s born from some sort of bias or not.

Sena pries the vent to the outside off and they all file in, one by one, Shania leading the way. She’ll decide the safest place to enter into the actual building and safest place to leave out of. Mio, staring at Taion’s shoes, hopes it doesn’t take too long.

Shania eventually does push a vent cover out of the way and they all crawl out one by one. It seems to be a bathroom of sorts, currently unoccupied, at the very least. Shania pulls up the map on her phone again.

“We’re in one of the Team Keves dorm blocks,” she says, voice low. “Find one or two people who don’t put up too much of a fight and get out.”

“Any signs of the doctors walking around?” Mio asks.

“Nothing I’ve heard or picked up on, no,” Shania shakes her head. “Just get this done before any do show up.”

Mio nods, and the group slinks out of the bathroom.

--

“Lanz!” Valdi chirps, only to be hushed right away. “Lanz! I knew you would come back. Dr. X and Dr. Y were saying you got kidnapped but they were looking tirelessly for you--”

“Valdi,” Lanz cuts him off, voice softer than it usually was. “I was technically kidnapped but it was a good thing. I’m here to do the same for you.”

“Oh,” Valdi says. “I’m being kidnapped! How fun!”

Lanz rolls his eyes and tosses the kid over his shoulder, looking to see what the others are doing. They seemed to have found Kite, who wasn’t exactly happy about this, but wasn’t being too loud about it either. One or two was the goal, right? So he supposed this was good enough.

“Let’s get back to Shania,” Lanz says and Eunie nods. “No point in waiting around here.”

“She said to find those who don’t put up much of a fight,” Taion says as they walk, Kite and Lanz in the middle of the pack. “But it seems you’re having to carry him out of here.”

“He didn’t fight, he just gets distracted real easy,” Lanz says. “I didn’t want him wandering away.”

“He’s right, I hate to admit,” Valdi says, scratching his cheek. “Oh, but it’s nice to meet you! Did you get kidnapped, too?”

Taion just raises an eyebrow, and does not respond. Lanz can’t help but think that’s a good thing, given how chatty Valdi tends to be when he gets started. It’s not like the kid is great at volume control, either… So the less reason for him to talk, the better.

Shania’s moved from the bathroom, but thankfully it doesn’t take long to find her. She’d found a window, a bit closer to their goal, and opened it for them. Everyone climbs out, one by one. Starting with Noah and ending with Shania.

But when it’s Sena, the second to last one out, all hell breaks loose.

--

“Well, well, what do we have here?” A voice says, and Sena hears Valdi exclaim something about Dr. Q. “We can’t just let you escape with more of our experiments, now can you?”

There’s someone else with Dr. Q, Dr. D. Sena doesn’t like him much, though he mostly hangs around Team Agnus. He was mean, cold… Willing to scare them and risk their lives for a thrill, even if the tests didn’t call for it.

“Shania,” she says. “We need to hurry.”

“I don’t think so!” D waves a finger in the air and then shoots… something out of his arm.

It’s long, glowing, and dangerous. Sena closes her eyes and expects it to hit, but instead, she just hears Shania scream. When she opens her eyes, she sees it piercing the girl’s arm.

“Go,” Shania says through gritted teeth, throwing the keys at her. “You remember how to get back to base, right? Get going.”

“But Shania! What if they catch you?!” Sena asks, as Mio reaches back inside and starts pulling her up with the help of Eunie. “Shania!”

“Don’t worry,” she pulls out a gun Sena hadn’t even noticed and puts it to her head. “I won’t let them.”

They pull Sena out and Lanz is dragging her back towards the van as Eunie takes the keys. She’s yelling, trying to pull free. They can’t just leave her like that. Can’t leave her to kill herself just to avoid being caught.

She reaches out, and hears a gunshot.

--

Shania hisses as her gun goes off and hits the ground, her other hand pierced by the same bloody attack that almost hit Sena. It hurts, but she can’t cry. People like her aren’t supposed to cry.

“Well, well,” D drawls. “What should we do with you?”

“Killing her would be the easiest,” Q says. “Though i suppose you decided against letting her do the dirty work for a reason?”

“Less fun when they kill themselves,” D replies. “I don’t get any satisfaction from that.”

Utter creeps, that’s what they are. Shania grits her teeth and considers her options. She could try and get out the window, run as far as she can. She’ll likely get caught, but when word gets back to her mother maybe it’ll make her sound like she actually tried .

Maybe she won’t die a dissapointment that way.

She could also duck around them, try and get back in the vents. The issue was these spikes, though. They were big -- probably too big to fit in there. She would be stuck the moment she tried to crawl into them.

The final option was fight. She didn’t have her gun, but that’s where these spikes came in again. They hurt like a bitch. No doubt they would hurt these fuckers just as badly. She could go down fighting, go down a hero rather than a coward.

She sucks in a breath, and then she charges. A spike into both men, their sides. She grits her teeth as they try to shake her off, dig them in deeper. D screeches, calls her a little bitch. Q just howls in pain.

She doesn’t stop.

She doesn’t hear someone approaching from behind, either. She’s got the spikes deep on the men when someone grabs her by the throat, a choke hold. Holds her until things start going blurry, as she fights and claws the best she can.

The men are bleeding now, good, the bloody fuckers deserve it. She scratches and fights, but it’s no use. She’s about to pass out when D lets out a laugh, holding his own wound.

“Attaboy, J!” He barks out a laugh. “I think this little bitch could use a round or two of experimenting, don’t you think? Teach her not to fuck with us.”

She passes out, and knows she’s a failure.