Chapter Text
The blue beast sits around and waits, listening to the static radio and tapping his claws rhythmically on the desk stacked with confidential files and batteries. His gaze lazily drifts from the wall to the little vent down near the floor before he grumbles and glares back over at the wall. Sebastian Solace, Z-13, the handy man, the saboteur, the 10 foot tall/long experimental sea snake-ish beast, is currently bored out of his mind.
There’s always a base level of stress and necessary awareness to survive down in the Hadal blacksite, but that doesn’t mean one can’t get mind-numbingly bored even when being on edge about their life. And Sebastian is feeling very close to mind-numb at this moment.
He groans and shifts his monstrous tail, careful of all the wares strung about it, and runs his claws through his hair. He expected an expendable or two to come through by now, he was following a pair a little over an hour ago and they had a third following pretty far behind. They were supposed to have already been here then gone on their merry little way.
Yet here he is. Sitting about in his shop instead of scavenging around for supplies. Maybe that’s why he’s bored, because he’s in a safe space with nothing to do but wait.
The aquatic creature has half a mind to give up on this crew and start searching for the next one when he hears something slam through the vent.
Yet, not quite through… Against?
“hhHHEEEEEEEEELLPPP!!!!” Someone cries out, yanking and slamming their hands against the vent which Sebastian, in his boredom, forgot to flick open. They’re making quite a ruckus.
Huffing impatiently, Solace stretches his tail down the vent and pushes open the vent, but startles when he feels something latch on. He yanks his tail back and jerks it to the side, successfully flinging whatever little gnat was clinging onto his fins. His eyes go wide when he realizes it was an expendable. Specifically, one of the ones he believed already dead because they had been lagging so far behind the rest of their crew.
“O..h..?” The fish beast squints his eyes and tilts his head as he leans down to get a better look at whatever human was squirming about. They take a few deep breaths and put a hand on their heaving chest. Then, for some unfathomable reason, they smile up at him.
“Oh man I really did think I was gonna die there. Oh man!!” The human laughs, patting their chest, then their legs, then their face, as if checking to make sure it was all there. This human didn’t even so much as have a scratch on them, Sebastian didn’t think it made much sense for them to be so panicked. He was almost envious of how lucky they seemed to have made it so far so unharmed.
He doesn’t quite recognize them, though, so he might as well do his regular spiel.
“Ah, hah… Welcome, welcome, don’t be, uh, scared, you’ve… probably seen…” the shopkeep trails off when the Expendable seems to be much more interested in the vent they were dragged through.
“…Alright. Have a nice day.” He hisses with a smile before pushing his momentary visitor through the exit with his tail fins. The action elicits a startled croak from the human and them struggling to grab onto his tail again.
He really hates that feeling. The grubby feeling of a human’s dirty little paws on him, digging into him, tearing into him, scaring his flesh, staining his scales. His trigger finger twitches.
Somehow, this frantic little human notices his discomfort and grabs onto the rim of the vent instead.
“Now just- uh- Hold on for a second, please!” They blurt out, “Yeah, sorry, I- I’d like to buy, there was just a… a someone behind me.”
Sebastian moves his tail away from the metal entry and watches the human curiously, clasping his claws together and standing up straight.
“…Isn’t that interesting. Forgive me for my rudeness then. You’re free to browse, my wares are on my tail, but if you don’t mind… I don’t usually ask questions but… I’m just curious, did others tell you of my store or…?” He chuckles quietly, trying to keep up appearances after trying so hastily to get rid of a customer. The fins that replaced his ears stretch flat against the sides of his head, though, as he keeps a keen eye on his visitor.
“Oh! Well, yes, the others, yeah. The… this one lady told me that there’s a fish who always shows up in the halls and he sells things, which I assume is you, so I’m glad I spent so much time grabbing things.” The Expendable rummages into their pockets, presumably to pull out whatever assets they snatched along the way. They seem to not know that any item they grab gets liquidized almost instantly, so their pockets are empty. Sebastian hums and pulls a thin grin onto his lips.
“Glad to hear it, friend! I take it you know of the deals I make, then, and are willing to make a trade?” The beast stretches out his tail, showing off the items for sale and gesturing with 2 of his 3 arms. For now, he’s got a medkit, 2 different kinds of flashlights, and a lantern. A very light-source heavy stock, but still things of value. Because of how new to the Blacksite they seem, Sebastian doubts the Expendable grabbed all that much, not to mention they were so far behind their pals they probably spent most of their time hiding.
“What can a thousand worth of trinkets get me?” They ask in their oh-so enthused voice.
Sebastian’s jaw almost drops.
“W-well! If you’re truly so desperate to be spending, and really you should be, I’ve got, ah…” He reaches over and taps on the desk beside him, batteries stacked around a classified document. “Something very valuable here.”
He’d almost be hesitant to sell off the rights to view the document to any random human who walks through here, but the hefty price tag attached means it’s far too tempting to pass it up when he actually does get the opportunity. This ‘document’ being his own record in the Urbanshade data banks, including his unfortunate history and barely mentioning the experiments that happened to him.
This secretive and expensive manila folder catches the Expendable’s eye, but they hesitate. They glance over at the variety of lights and consider those instead; they had definitely struggled in the dark. The human looks back at the classified papers and reads off the small writing at the top.
“…What’s a Z-13?” They ask, looking back up at Sebastian.
“A dangerous monster you need to look out for. Never let it touch you.” He pushes the folder closer, “So it would be in your best interest to get knowledgeable about your enemy.”
The Expendable walks over to the desk and picks up the folder, eyeing it with somber curiosity. They really had better learn about the monsters down here if they want to survive.
Then again, Sebastian doesn’t exactly remember giving them an info folder. ANY info folder, really, so they possibly haven’t been killed yet. For that to be true, it means they’ve made it all the way to the 50th room… on their first try.
That can’t be true. Perhaps he just forgot what this human looked like, he has to see so many of their miserable faces it makes sense he’d forget a few. He must be getting tired.
“Okay, yeah. H… hm. How do I pay for it?” The forgettable human asks as they hook a finger into the file, starting to open it. Sebastian plucks the folder from their hands and pinches it shut, lips taut in a tight grin.
“You already have, friend. And don’t worry about reading now, I’ll give you the document when you come see me again.” He sets it back down onto the desk, tapping a singular claw tip against it. Nailing it down.
The Expendable sputters and makes an almost mouse-like sound. Solace chuckles quietly and narrows his eyes, waiting for their departure.
“I- I’m not coming back here, sorry, I was told to keep moving, and I really do want to get out of here because I’m not supposed to be here in the first place, so. Can’t I just read it now?”
Their babbling almost catches the sea beast off guard. He doesn’t like any humans, but he at least respects the ones that are quiet and succinct. This human is… chatty and confusing. How did they even…
Maybe Mr Lopee.
Sebastian’s tail slumps against the ground and he sighs through his smile.
“You’ll see me again, friend. Don’t. Worry about it.” He clasps his hands together again, struggling to keep his voice as smooth and low as possible, “And it’s perfectly fine that you’re here, no reason to complain about it now. It’s simply karma for your crimes.”
“But that’s the thing, I didn’t do any of them!”
Sebastian wants to shoot the human himself. He wants them gone, gone with their quick glances at his tail, gone with their almost casual attitude, gone with their insufferable Lopee luck, and gone gone gone he wants them gone He wants to be gone.
“…Do you have any more research?” He hisses, digging his claws into his skin so he doesn’t reach for his gun.
“Ah- uh, not enough to buy anything. But-”
“Then I’ll be seeing you, friend!” He chirps. He’s losing the mental battle. It would be soooooo easy to eliminate the pest.
Said pest frowns before crossing their arms and hugging themself.
“Oh...kay. See you, friend..?” They mumble as they walk to the vent. Sebastian hopes they don’t hear the venom that drips into a scoff.
The second they are far enough out of the vent, he sighs and props his elbows up against the metal desk, digging into the side of it with his third arm and glaring at the cursed file he just sold the access to view. He wishes he just stayed bored. It was preferable over whatever was just wrong with that interaction. He genuinely almost grabbed his gun and there’s a possibility that it would’ve dissuaded the human to buying his goods in the future.
Then again… It has very rarely dissuaded any expendables in the past. Probably has to do with the fact they’ve got no where else to go to get the items they so desire. So the curious one will probably be back again, maybe he’ll shoot them that time-
“Oh, uh, ‘fore I go-” The human crawls back through the vent.
“GET OUT!!” Sebastian snaps, spittle flying from his tongue as he jerks up and swipes at the air. The human shrieks and scrambles out. Z-13 grabs onto his head, holding himself together, pulling on his hair, breathing. He’s fine. The human is fine. Everyone is fine. Everyone is horrible and disgusting and fine and always fine.
Sebastian wants to be alone right now. He really, really just wants to stay alone right now.
He hears a chime outside and the lights all turn out. A harsh laugh forces its way out of his throat when he’s greeted by the very human he now considered his absolute least favorite.
They blink dumbly before squinting up at the beast’s glowing blue eyes and angler lure. It doesn’t seem like they can see very well in the dark. Bitterly amused by the immediate rejection of his desire for privacy, Sebastian rummages through a drawer for the file.
“I fell. Down a hole.” The human pouts. It earns a snort as blue claws snatch the correct folder out of the cabinet.
“Watch where you’re going then, next time.” He spits, dropping the file down with the same care as one would smash a cockroach. The human eagerly opens it and scans through it.
“Oh, hold on, you gave me one with marks in it-”
“It’s on purpose. Keep dying and you’ll get to see the rest.” He gives the human no pity as he (im)patiently waits for them to finish reading what little of the document they’ve been given access to. Yet, frustratingly, they begin to talk instead of read.
“…Do you know what Z-13 is?” They ask, in that stupidly calm voice. It irks Sebastian, his head tilts to the side, just a tick, and he hisses slowly.
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” He growls as the human shifts in their seat. They squint up at him before rubbing their eyes.
“…No? I’m supposed to be on the lookout for a Z-13, the shopkeep told me it was dangerous. I’m very curious as to what it is but I can’t learn about it until I make it back to his shop.” The Expendable explains. And it finally clicks.
Sebastian forgot to tell them his name. In doing so, he has accidentally led this human into thinking the ‘shopkeep’ and ‘Z-13’ are two different beings. Somehow, they haven’t connected the dots of the same voice and same eyes.
…Because for some reason, they can’t see.
It’s not clear what exactly is wrong, but the human keeps rubbing at their eyes and squinting. They didn’t do this in his shop, did they? No, no he would’ve noticed something like that… Perhaps it’s the dark, then? There’s something about the dark and the glare from his eyes, maybe even the angler lure, that’s screwing over their vision, so they can’t actually see him.
It doesn’t matter if this expendable perceives themself innocent to crimes, Sebastian still feels they’re guilty. He clears his throat and, in the most sickly smug tone imaginable and half an octave deeper than his regular voice, obviously clears up this misconception.
“I am Z-13. You should be deathly afraid.” He snarks. “But don’t trust that shopkeep. He’s so friendly, it’s suspicious. And nobody should be selling anything for such a good price, it is foul.”
The human winces back in their chair, scooting away from the desk. They look hesitant, but not yet afraid. It’s unfortunate, but Sebastian isn’t quite sure what he can do to push them over the edge.
“So… that file was about you? The one I bought?” They ask, oh so curious. Far, far too curious. It might be how they ended up here.
Z-13 growls and snatches the file off the desk, trying to move quick so they can’t see his claws, and blinks all three eyes one at a time.
“How rude. Buying information about me instead of gathering it yourself. And you didn’t even ask me either. How rude!”
The human startles and squeaks, once again, like a mouse.
“I- Well I didn’t know I would find you! And the shopkeep is very persuasive, so I had to buy the biggest thing from him.”
“Oh really? So you’d buy anything from that slug asks you to?” He purrs, getting ideas of how to make quite the fortune. If they got 1000 research on their first run, there could be impressive amounts gathered in the future. The human shrugs and squeezes their eyes shut, aggressively blinking, then repeating it a second time.
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in an economy? Buy things?” The little Expendable says with more sass than Sebastian has heard coming from them (yet it’s still pathetically bland). They bite down on their tongue and look down. “Sorry, that.. uh. I dunno.”
…They’re almost worth killing, Sebastian thinks. He gets the itching crawling feeling, coming up with the idea to shoot them the second they step into his shop again. It would be amusing. They make him irrationally angry to the point even he thinks it’s not worth being upset, and ‘The Saboteur’ is known to hold a grudge.
“How do I get out of here?” They ask, apologetic in their tone. Sebastian sighs and clicks his tongue.
“I can send you off or you can stand up out of the chair. Either works.”
“Oh, okay, well, thank-”
The human follows instructions and tries to stand.
They fall through the floor.
The lights turn back on and Sebastian feels the ground under his tail again. He shivers with relief and hisses as he runs his claws through his hair and pulls as much to cover his third eye as he can. He doesn’t want to be bored, he doesn’t want to converse with an expendable, so he’s going to go back out into the halls and hunt for remains. He’s done with thinking for today.
(Meanwhile, you wake back up in the lobby, confused but very intrigued by the ‘Z-13’ fellow that just greeted you after your nasty fall. You’re going to try your best to hurry to find the shopkeeper again. Speedrun strats have a chance of being more effective than taking it slow and steady! You hope the others made it to the end of the facility, at least. You hadn’t managed to catch up with them.)