Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

WELCOME TO CATFISH

This is some random intro to just give a little bit of a lay down on whats gonna happen.

Basically this is a self-insert slow burn [I WILL KISS THE FIHS AUIRHALKDJSF BIG FEEEESH..] with a good amount of head canons.

I'm gonna let ya'll figure out the head canons cause it would be boring if I said "SO SEBASTIAN-" and then wrote it cause like- what the fuck???? have some input jesus :pensive:

BUT, I will give you the main headcanon since without it this fic will be extremely confusing (alr time to get cringe)

There is a chemical called VIVICA that Urbanshade had discovered a few months before the whole Z-13 going fucking apeshit and releasing everything. They tried to test it on a few expendables but it seemed to have no effect, until the day of the breach and they sent those expendables to join in on the mission to try and grab the crystal. Those specific expendables basically reformed from thin fucking air in the room they were originally tested on. Operatives later found them constantly reviving in the site, and took them back to the surface. After some research, a new branch to the Expendable protocol, the Regens and the Non-Regens. Lame titles, I know, they did it last minute. Non-Regens are normal people from the prisons(your stereotypical person from the prison that you can see in other pressure fanfics.) and cant revive. They are the ones that the company depend on to retrieve the crystal. Regens are Non-Regens specifically chosen for their strength, durability, speed, and mental capacity from CCTV footage observing them. Regens are basically the representation of a player controlled Expendable from the actual game. Their corpses are stuck with the chemical that has been stuck with a dosage of Vivica, than transported to the main lobby and left to run.

Now, why is this important? Because Regens cant retrieve the crystal. They can go on runs, but every time they success to take the crystal back, it seemingly disintegrates. Ussualy, they are still given the chance to return home, or the choice to stay. Non-Regens aren't given the choice to stay, but no Non-Regen has actually got to the end yet. The strange thing is that whenever a Regen makes their choice, the crystal sort of disintegrates and replaces itself into the chamber at the ridge, a side effect that the company is yet to explain. Another side-effect that the company is yet to explain is that some subjects grow more inhumane features as they continue to die, and this also disintegrates once they leave the hadal blacksite. The inhumane features are meant to represent how a lot of avatars in Roblox aren't "human."

If you dont understand my mad rambling or you didn't want to read all that bassicly: Regens are player controlled people, and Non-Regens are normal prisoners that cant revive and can be chosen to become a Regen.

I also plan some "chapter formats" since I kind of want to randomly add shitpost stuff that is like stupid and probably has no reason to be there but for shits and giggles so here is some titles i may put in the beginning and end notes of all chapters.

[CANON] - so yeah, canon. Canon to the AU.

[NOT CANON] - NOT canon to the AU! such contrast..

[SHITPOST] - well, holy fuck. shits and giggles. Do check for the canon and not canon though because i do play some shitposts to be canon and just meant to exist. Shitposts mots likely gonna be really short chapters :33

Definitely check for the pairings of the things. cause yeah.

Now for some MC shit. the ref is gonna be the last thing before my end message ahahhaha so coordinated

Quick explanation for faulty gills since thats the most confusing one: gills that appear around the neck and abdomen area when the skin of a Fiara(species name) is wet. The faulty gills work based off of energy and blood. If the Fiara doesent have enough energy and grows limp, the gills will forcefully close (and quickly) and, essentially, leave the Fiara to just drown, same thing when too much blood is lost. Uh huh.

Theres also the fur and tail that change when they become wet. There is this large fin that has webbing flowing to the near of the end of tail (im great at grammar) that resembles a axolotls tail but on the sides, and the fur kind of slicks back and clumps together to become for webbing like and move through water easily. Semi-aquatic creatures, amiright?

Fiaras are Cryptids (i claim i saw it in real life, there now its official/J LMFAO) and are extremely durable and survive in basically any temperature due to rapid adaptation.

Even though they have some attributes of an axolotl, Fiaras cannot regrow limbs(but can regrow their tails) and cant regrow webbing. They can regrow tissue that is meant to scar, but it takes a long time, and it can fail on really bad tissue damage.

Any questions? Comments.

anyways, here is our MC Catzs ref sheet (IT TOOK ME FUCKING 6ISH???? 7ISH DAYS?? TO MAKE THIS?!?!??!?!)

Chapter Text

"I SWEAR TO GOD, STOP THAT!"

Catz leapt onto the top of the couch, crouching on it like some random animal with their arms holding the controller in-between their thighs. There were three others on the couch as well. Borsh, Bomb, and Mike. Some of their friends, one of them being their brother.

"Stop what?" Mike, as much as he could with the very clear rotary phone that replaced his head, smiled and proceeded to initiate yet another blue shell, aimed straight for the cryptids kart. Upon their kart being hit by the shell, they whipped their head towards the orange phone head and snarled, their nose and lip curling up in the process.

And in that short moment of distraction, Bomb made a sound of triumph when their kart zoomed right past Catzs, making them snap their head towards the screen and yelp.

"No! Wait, that's not fair! I was distracted!" Catz yowled, trying their damn best to avoid the shells Mike very relentlessly threw ahead.

"Fair or not, I'm in first place!" Bomb announced very loudly and proudly, before shutting up as Catz collided into their kart.

Bellowing in laughter, they managed to speed right past Bomb, leaving them to be passed by some NPCs.

"I'm with a bunch of children," the last, but not least, one said, Borsh. He was more calmly driving along in the game, just listening to the competition beside him.

"I am not a child! I'm the oldest here!" Catz retorted, earning a scoff from their brother.

"It's fucking 8 am, what the hell are you guys doing yelling about fucking Mario kart," a new voice from behind the group came.

"Can it Wiz, we are gaming!" Catz replied, earning a glare from Borsh.

"They've been doing this for a while now," another voice from behind them came. Goblin, just drinking some water while scrolling through something on his phone in the kitchen, "None of them have even noticed me."

"Damn," Wiz was beyond the shortest of the group, and even shorter now since she was hunched over with a blanket draped around her body. She walked past Goblin, walking over to the fridge and opening it. Inside was basically nothing, and upon inspection of the pantry was a similar situation. "Who's next on the grocery run?"

Goblin looked over, seeing as she was standing in front of the wide open pantry and fridge. Thinking for a moment, he was about to say something before he got rudely interrupted by a very loud-

"YEAH! I WIN!" Catz jumped up from their spot, feet landing on the back frame of the couch and their head effectively hitting the ceiling with a loud thud. They cried out in pain and grabbed at their head, unaware of their body rapidly tipping and falling backward. No reaction time, they landed square flat on the ground with another loud thud.

The other three looked back, Borsh tutting as he looked at the form of Catz on the floor, "That's what you get..."

"You good?" Mike responded, earning a groan from Catz.

"I got second!" Bomb announced, turning back around and pointing at the screen.

Catz sat up quickly and stood straight up, their hands on their hips and a victorious expression on their face, "I got first! Second is first to loosing!" Which earned a eye roll from horned fellow.

"I had fun," Mike announced with a, as much as he could, smile. Having a rotary phone for a head limited a lot of your facial expressions. He wasn't alone though, since Wiz had a pink phone head of her own, with even more limited facial expression.

Borsh and Bombshell were rather pale beings, Bomb being horned and more orange toned, having a pair of orange and black horns rest in their white hair. Borsh was the most human of the group, having black hair with portions of it purple and his eyes a golden shade. The only unnatural thing was that he, like Bomb, had very pale skin. Like a vampire if you only glanced. His little rat was sitting on his shoulder as this was also going on.

"Okay, your games over?" Wiz spoke up, continuing before anybody could respond, "Winner gets groceries. Catz go to the store."

"WHAT?!" Catz whipped around, bewildered at this announcement, "I think the winner should not get groceries!"

"Come on, we're out of stuff," she gestured to the lack of items in the fridge, before closing it as it started to beep at this point.

Catz stared at them annoyingly, before feeling a nudge of someone's shoulder into their back. It was their brother, Borsh.

"C'mon, you haven't done groceries in a while. Go on you stinky animal," he joked with a smile, pointing his thumb to the front door.

"I don' wannnaaaa," they complained, slouching over to place their head on the back cushions of the couch.

Bomb flicked Catz's forehead, only response being a huff and a glare. Borsh sighed and just got up, walking around the couch to stand behind them.

"Come on," he picked up their tail and started to tug it, startling Catz and making them harshly flick their tail. Borsh hadn't let go and rather pulled again.

"What are you doing," Catz turned their head around to stare at him, trying to move their tail out of his hands.

"Bomb help me," he said before tugging again.

"Gotcha!" Bomb practically leapt right over the back of the couch in parkour style and grabbed at Catz's tail too, assisting him in pulling Catz.

It ended up working and they thudded off the couch and onto the ground again with a short lived yelp. They placed their elbows onto the ground to get up and yell at the annoying pests behind them, but that was canceled as the pair started to pull and drag Catz across the ground.

"Let go of me?!" They managed to snarl out, trying to turn onto their back and release themselves from Borsh and Bombs hands. It started to hurt as well, and Mikes laughter was not helping, "This is stupid!" They continued to protest, ending up puncturing the floor with their claws.

"Catz no, you're going to fix the claw marks if you rip up the floor," Wiz warned, having moved to stand in front of the purple creature on the ground.

Catz groaned and let go of the floor, before being pulled away from her.

"Fine! I'll go shopping, but let me go!" Catz announced with a groan, and their tail was promptly let go of. They got up and dusted themselves, "Let me atleast change into something else.."

They walked off to their room, quickly discarding their pink loose shirt and replacing it with a white shirt that had the decal of Paris. Changing out their grey sweatpants for Black cargo pant and slotting a belt into the loops. Tying a hoodie around their waist and grabbing a pair of their socks, they left their room yet again.

"That fast?" Goblin commented, before throwing the house keys over to them. Catching the keys with a keen persistency, they flashed a proud grin.

"What's the list, eh? Tell me what we're missing," Catz put the keys into one of their pockets, grabbing their headphones and wrapping it around their neck while also slotting their phone into another pocket.

"Milk, we're running out. Get some eggs too, and maybe a couple snacks while you at it." Wiz pointed out, looking through the fridge once more.

"I want some soda," Borsh chipped in, the Pepsi from this mornings game suddenly found its way back in his hand, though it was long forgotten just a bit ago.

"Might wanna grab some fruit too, there's nothing of that in here," Goblin said, shutting the fridge for Wiz, "And not only red ones you animal."

Catz chuckle and stuck out their tongue, "No promises!" which just earned a sigh from the purple headed person.

"Okay so Milk, Eggs, Snacks, Soda, and some Fruits of different kinds," they walked over to the tray by the door with all their wallets. Was it a dumb idea? Yes. But so is this fic. "Unfortunately.."

"Unfortunately- stop constantly picking up strawberry's and raspberries only motherfucker!!" Bomb spoke up and pointed an accusing finger at the cryptid, earning another tongue being stuck out paired with a shrug.

They glared at Catz, a chuckle from the couch where Mike was being audible. Catz then ducked down and grabbed their black converse, putting them on before, deliberately, grabbed Borshs wallet instead of their own and waved, opening the door and leaving. Once outside, they quickly locked the door and looked out towards the coastline. This jumbled family of friends had lived decently far from the beach, but not too far that you couldn't see the water. Sure from afar, but it was there. After that, they looked behind them to the sun. It had already risen, but was still lingering around the edge of the edge of the world, not close enough to be somewhat covered though. Sure, they weren't a morning person, but mornings tended to have its own beauty.

With a forced sigh, they went down the short steps of the porch and walked off. Rather than driving, they decided to walk there. Wasn't that long of a walk, and gas prices are too fucking high to waist it on something that could be fixed with a walk. Plus, the birch forest was always so nice to walk in, though it took a while. After a while of just walking down the side of the road and having a couple of cars pass by, they halted at this specific entrance that they claimed was THE pathway in the forest. Staring into the tempting woods, they forced their eyes to peel away from the tempting pathway and continued walking down the road towards downtown.

It took a little bit of spacing out and a few music switches to make it quicker, but they eventually got there. The downtown was getting busy with the hours passing by, but it wasn't too overwhelming for them. And a good bonus for them was that downtown had seen them and their friends a few times already. The few months had been very tense, sure, but after that people slowly got used to the group.

The store is where they found themselves. Specifically Walmart, for gods fucking sake. They mostly just kept their body on autopilot, making quick work with grabbing some milk from the refrigerated area. All they could think of was the stupid song blasting in their ears from their headphones, barely aware of the fact they now had two full packs of Pepsi in their cart. The cart they didn't even remember grabbing. After some more phasing out and walking around the slowly filling shopping center, they found themselves in self-checkout. Grinning to themselves, they checked all the contents of their cart and put it all bags. Once that was finished, they grabbed the bags and put them back in the cart, before proudly taking out Borshs wallet. Taking out his credit card, they swiped it through the card reader and paid for the items. Very easy, very quick. They liked it when it was like this. An in and out of a store.

Pushing the cart back into the entrance area where all the other carts were (not)neatly organized next to each other, they walked out with 2 bags in their left hand, the milk in their right, and both packs of soda wrapped by their tail. The others just couldn't understand how cool they were, how epic they could do shit. And with that mindset, they set off yet again. This time, after more walking through the town and onto the road home, they came across the entrance to the woods again. They stared at it for a moment, really contemplating it this time. What's so bad about a small walk, yeah?

And with their decision set in stone, they hid the groceries in the bush they always hid shit in. They took of their shoes and socks and hid them as well, seeing it useless if the grass and dirt is clean and soft. Dropping their headphones into the bush as well, they were now on their way down the path through the birch trees. The sounds of birds got louder the farther they went, and wildlife started to make the forest seemingly breath. The sun was hitting the leaves perfectly and making the gorgeous green grass almost glow against the unique white bark of the trees. There was a squirrel or two in the trees, almost easily identified with a simple look up. They didn't like how many people simply forgot about the wildlife. About how beautiful it can be to just look up for once. To the sky, to the horizon, anywhere but the blue light. Don't get them wrong, they love their own phone. But the gust of wind ruffling their fur and chilling their moist skin was almost as addicting as was a phone.

And, for some reason, it was always speak of the devil with them, cause the sudden constant vibration in their pocket prompted for them to dig into it and fetch out their phone out. Borsh was calling them. They smiled and swiped on the green button, placing the phone up to their drawn back ear.

"Yello?-"

"Where the fuck are you," Borsh, graciously, interrupted them.

"On the continent known as North America, hello to you too brother," they rolled their eyes, though there was a persistent smile on their face.

"No, I- oh my god, Catz where on North America are you?"

"The United States of-"

"CATZ."

"Okay, okay," they laughed at his agitation, brushing it off easily, "I'm in the woods."

It went quiet on the other side of the phone for a little, the only thing being audible was a disappointed sigh, "She's in the stupid woods."

Another voice was heard in the background, before it was make clearer, "Catz, what about the groceries?!"

"Hi there Wiz, sorry I threw em all into the river," they giggled at their own response, a loud FUCK coming from somewhere in the background, "I'm kidding! I just hid them in my little bush."

"Catz, the milk. You idiot!" That was Wiz, more quieter than Borsh and Goblin though. Probably just somewhere in the background.

"I'll be quick. Yall trusted me to go outside and this is what happens," an annoying shit was Catz, they even knew it, "I'll turn around right now and come back if that helps, yeah?"

"Yes that would help a lot actually. Get your ass back here!" Mike popped in as well, more of a walk by. His voice faded in louder before fading out.

"Just get home.." Borsh said after him, earning an approving hum from Goblin.

"Aie aie cap'n," and they hung up before he could mutter even another word.

With a quick sigh of disappointment, they turned around and started making their way back. Didn't even get a chance to get to the lake. After some more walking and prying their attention off of random things in the bushes, they were half way back to the entrance. The calming bliss of the woods always made them feel at peace, which contrasted their normal personality. Usually they would be described as some little shit that thrived off of chaos and danger, using others for their own entertainment. Yes they sucked, but they still cared for people. Especially their friends. No one could pry them away from their friends!

A strange sound in the bushes cut through their brain, snapping the train of thought to attract their attention. It sounded like a branch snapping. Their ears perked all the way up and towards the bush, head whipping right away and body stopping in all motion in practical milli-seconds. That was new. All if not most of the animals had a constant instinct to watch for branches or anything that would make noise, to keep themselves quiet. Catz even had that reflex. All if not most animals, including themselves, also had the reflex to watch for unusual noises. Other animals also had the tendency to either inspect strange noises or run from strange noises. Not them. They just watched closely, the air almost feeling like it got tense instead of serene.

"Weird.." they muttered and turned around, shrugging it off as a hallucination. They tended to have those.

They didn't even get five steps in before they heard something whizz right by their ear, almost like it was cutting through the fur in their ear. They immediately looked toward the noise, seeing something red on the white of the bark. Coming closer to it, they saw it was red fuzz. The red fuzz of a dart. It was obviously a tranq dart. With barely an inch missed, they turned their head to the opposite direction of the dart and a tranq barely miss their nose. Their breath hadn't even had the chance to catch before they quickly made work with their legs and ran. They found themselves in a daze, attention tunnel visioning on the end of the path back to the road. Their ears where pinned back, pointed backwards, and straining. They could hear boots, running on the grassy dirt path. It was loud thuds and it sounded like a big group. They didn't bother to turn their head, they knew something was chasing them. A lot of something.

Taking deep breaths, they managed to clear up that panicked fog in their brain. It felt like shit every time their logic would turn off and their instincts would take over with reflexes left and right. They hadn't been paying attention to a rock, stubbing all of the toes on their right foot harshly on it. Tripping right ahead, they barely processed the fact that they had dodged a dart thanks to that trip. And, thanks to the trip, they had fallen face first into the dirt. Quickly they tried to pick themselves up and start running to the road on all fours. They wouldn't make it, that ounce of logic told them. They had to make it.

A sting came to their ear. They yelped and ran off the side, stabbing their claws into the bark of a tree and climbing up. Their heart was racing thousands of miles a minute and it was becoming hard to breathe. Once they were in the leaves, they tried their best to hide. She knew it was impossible to hide like this, all purple skinned and very noticeable, but it would do for now hopefully. A group of eight armed people, covered in black clothing and armor and faces hidden behind masks and goggles, they surrounded the tree and aimed up with their tranq guns. They winced and barely dodged another one. Higher.

Clawing at the bark again, they started to rise. Using their tail to help with balance and using all of their bodies strength and muscles to move. The sting in their ear was getting worse. Once they were up another branch, they reached up to pry at it. Once the source was taken out and brought to their view, it was as expected. A tranq dart. The black base with the red fuzz taunting them. Within the short period of their focus being lost from the group under them, another harsh sting came to their tail. They yelped and grabbed at the end of it, pulling it close to their body. This time, it was almost immediate. The wooz of the chemicals effects were hitting them and their posture faltered.

Trying desperately to shake it off, they started to feel the base of the tree start to shake. It was dizzying, and they hugged the bark of the tree to try and stay on. It all came to no avail though. The dart still stabbed into their tail woozing them rapidly and the shaking making them lose their grip, they had eventually fallen. Despite that, they never thudded onto the ground. Lots of arms wrapping around their body made them barely register the amount of hidden faces came into their vision. All that they could see through their heavy eyelids was the blinding sun rising more and then the void.

----

With a jumpstart, they took in a harsh breath and coughed it out just as quickly. Where- what happened. Their body ached and their head was spinning. Their ear and tail stung like hell and they were extra cold. Looking at their body, they had noticed that they were stripped of their clothes and only their boxers had remained. Frantically looking around, they found themselves in the middle of a tight and small room with bars. The overwhelming sound of helicopter blades where buzzing their ears, causing for them to press their ears against their body to try and muffle the sound. It didn't work.

"Wha.." they quietly muttered, the supposed cell they were in was dark. Though that was short-lived as some sort of cover was lifted and the hidden face of one of those armed people- the armed people.

They pressed themselves against a corner, standing up quickly, and hugged themselves. God where they scared. The cover was dropped again and someone's voice could be heard, though muffled. After a moment of the sickening feeling of what they could only describe a terrible hangover, the cover was lifted again and two hidden faces came into view.

"Shit," one of the masked people said, almost not audible over the blades. Where they in the air?

"Get it under another dosage," the voice said, looking towards the other person as that one promptly disappeared. Dosage? Of what?

In seconds the other person came back and reached through the bars. It was a real tight cell and they were promptly stuck with a syringe of something in no time. A frightened yelp escaped their throat, shirt-lived as the effects quickly made work. Woozy yet again, they tried to fight off the heaviness in their eyelids.

"God damnit, pass out!" the other person said, using the butt of a shotgun they hadn't even noticed to hit them across the head. A short stab of pain and they were out again.

----

This time when they woke up, it was a lot slower. The feeling of many hands around them, under their shoulders, around their torso and legs, one under their head, and a couple dozen on their tail. It made them groan, trying to move away from the hand under their chin. Their head was spinning... Blinking away the immense tire from their eyes, they could see many more of those masked people and now a guy in a white lab seeming coat in front of them. The weird thing is that this person didn't seem human. Well, he did, but had special features like all their friends did.

Massive fleshy whiskers, like one you could see on a catfish, left his nostrils and reached near to his feet. His eyes had no present white sclera, rather a blue right eye and a green right eye surrounding black diamond like pupils. His ears were also elongated and almost elf-like, piercings coming from the bottom side of his ears, and there was a pair of blueish grey scaley arms coming from under his actual arms. There was also the presence of a sea-snake like tail with the same color of his extra hands coming from behind him, barely long enough to rest on the floor.

"wha.." they muttered, making the man in front of them jolt.

"Good morning!" he chirped up, going to fix his hunched over posture to a straight one. He was walking backwards. Scratch that, everyone was walking, dragging the purple cryptid along.

He turned around and led the way, turning a few ways this way and that. Where were- No. They jolted, shaking their legs out of the peoples grips. Snarling, they tried to yank their arms out of the others grips. No no no, where the fuck where they? They snarled and growled at the hidden faces surrounding them, wriggling away from their hands and lashing their tail aggressively. That seemed to free them quickly, jumping forward to lunge at this strange man. Teeth bared and ready to bite his head. It was shirt-lived, their tail being yanked and causing them to promptly fall onto the floor with a thud. It was metallic and strange, the floor, and it echoed when they hit against it. Quickly flipping over, they kicked at the person who had yanked them. It was successful, causing for them to fall tight over with what Catz suspected a broken nose. Hitting another with their tail they flipped over and started to run a random direction from this large group on all fours.

The memories were coming back to them, the running in the woods and the fear. Where the actual fuck where they? They looked back this time, seeing the group chase them down and seeing that strange man staring in shock at the scene unfolding. What they hadn't paid attention to was the wall, and when they whipped their head around they crashed nose first into it. Paying no mind to it, they flipped around and pressed their back to the wall, lashing their lash quickly and aggressively to keep space between them and this group of people. They snarled, baring their sharp teeth at these people. All of them hidden eyes, staring at them.

"Please, calm down!" the man ran over, being stopped by one of the guards arm. At least they all seemed like guards, covered in armor and armed with weapons.

They scanned around the area, searching for an exit, before feeling the sudden electric surge climb up their body from tail tip to head. Looking down, there was one of those long Taser poles you could see at corrupted zoos being pressed right against their tail. They yelped and promptly went limp. The people worked with no time, immediately going to grab them around the shoulders yet again and shuffled around. The lab coat man watched wearily, intently watching the facial reactions and body language of them. They snarled yet again, their body twitching back to life after recovering from the limpness. Now, they found a pair of metal cuffs behind their back and their tail had more arms with a tighter grip around it. They moved their head to bite at the person next to them, muscles crying in pain at the whiplash of the movement.

The lab coat man had disappeared off somewhere, coming back after a few minutes with what they could only understand was a muzzle. A bulky, metal muzzle. Ears pressing back against their head, they shrinked away from it as he handed it off to the person next to them. Their attempts went to vain as the muzzle wrapped over their small nose bridge and around their jaw, a strap being tightly wrapped around the back of their head. They squealed and yelped, trying to shake off the thing. They would be able to take it off super easily, if they could move their hands that was.

"Please, listen to me," the mans voice came again, though they felt their feet placed on the ground and their body shoved forward. Yet again, they were walking. Through their panic now.

They growled at the man, warning him to back off, and shook their head yet again, "Leave me- get it off of me!"

Incoherent babbles of fear followed, really trying to move their wrists and pry at the uncomfortable metal pressed deeply into their skin. It took a while of walking, some stopping and pausing, an electric shock here and there to force them to comply, but then the big group entered a room. Thrown into another door inside, they were met with a blindingly white room. One you could see in your stereotypical asylum. Mattress on the floor, white padded walls, ceiling, and floor, and a sectioned off area that was yet to be discovered by them. Crawling rapidly to the corner, they watched as the metal door shut, being the only grey on the wall.

Their wrists where yet to be freed and the metal on their face agitated them even more. They stuck to the corner of the room for a while before the agonizing feeling of it on their face became too much for them to handle, causing them to force themselves up and rub the muzzle against the wall. After a couple fails, they turned so that the back of their head, where the strap was, faced the wall. Maybe with enough friction and a shit ton of luck that the strap was cheap, they could make it fall off.

But before they even had the chance, the door suddenly opened and they flinched. Moving quickly to the back corner, they let out a snarl with bared teeth, not even visible through the metal on their face. Who came through the door was that man in the lab coat and tow of the masked armed people. The man was in front of the two others, height difference very visible as the pair towered over him.

"Please, be calm and patient with me for now!" he started to speak, keeping his eyes closed. A weakness. Did this guy not know? "I need your help with something."

They huffed through their nostrils, shaking their head to deny whatever he wanted of them. The man frowned a little and sighed, looking back to the people behind him and waving his head. The pair looked at him, and at each other, before one shrugged and left with the other following. The door didn't close though, and the man rather stepped closer. Slowly though, an obvious attempt to not stress them anymore, but it came to no avail. Each step closer made them tense up even more, aggravating them to a level of unwanted violence. They didn't actually want to hurt anyone, but if they had to they would.

"My name is Callum Coviar, but people refer to me as Dr.Callum. I don't want to hurt you and just need to talk," he outstretched his hands, his steps careful and his inhumane appendages and limbs staying still. This man was strange, and even they knew he was trying to calm them down. He didn't seem like a threat, but nonetheless they didn't want to trust him...

Instead, they rested their tail on the floor and raised an eyebrow, Callums gentle smile growing in an instant, "Please follow us, and if you do so quietly, nothing... absurd will happen."

He came closer to the cryptid and stretched his hands out gently to the muzzle on their face. Catz tensed up, but started to relax upon feeling the harsh fabric of the strap behind their head start to loosen. Once the metal unlatched from their skin, they shook their head and backed up away from it. With their mouth still partly open, Callum backed up and placed it into the leather fanny back under his coat. This guy was stupid. He was somewhat animalistic like them, why did he make himself so vulnerable like this? Not actively watching them, even freeing them of the one thing that stopped them from possible biting off his head.

"Follow me, we will explain after," he waved his hand and headed for the door, Catz finding themself following right after. This was... bearable. Least they hoped.