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About 7:30 today, Hyperlaser had finished his last "task" from Blackrock for today. He'd had enough of their shit, but...
Everything clings to him, like it was old gum on a classroom chair. His scars are a map of everything that they've caused, that they've done to him. But he can't leave.
He just can't.
Whether it was fear, or something else, he didn't know. But the icy mountains were a cage, and he saw the key get thrown away a long time ago. It still haunts him.
"Hyperlaser?"
The voice startled him, the amber liquid sloshing around in a glass he clutched tight.
He'd forgotten he was with Katana, at the bar again. He really needs to...
"-stop zoning out."
He looked at Katana, his mask examined by the scanners in his helmet. But he could have been recognized a mile away. He's the only person Hyperlaser had, after all.
".. Sorry. Just... Thinking-"
"You say that every time. I am starting to worry, Hyperlaser. Please, tell me."
The taller demon looked over him, softened, troubled eyes peering into his visor. Hyperlaser shrank away.
"I... It's just..."
Words failed him. But Katana didn't mind. Supportive and kind, he was. That's what made Hyperlaser think so fondly of him.
"You can speak of your troubles." Katana reassured, wanting him to feel safe. To feel... Vulnerable around him. That his past is no problem.
"Well.." He starts, trying to remember without going back entirely.
"Hyperlaser.." Katana questions, cupping his hands that were clenched around the glass of alcohol he held. "Is it that you do not remember? Or..."
"No- no..." He quickly cut him off. But he didn't pull away.
"I remember everything."
The blood on his hands.
Bloody, mutilated bodies of his comrades.
An acrid, poisonous scent.
Intoxicating, sickeningly bright pink.
Before it all stopped, for a good while.
How he wished he could have stayed in that space, that limbo of unconsciousness. Peace at last, before he woke up in a sterile, white room, hooked up to machines and gazing helplessly at the ceiling, eyes now sightless and vulnerable, ears ringing with pain, writhing in anguish. He was dead. He was supposed to be.
Then he was given a helmet, and it felt like it merged to him. A second skin- no. His skin entirely. No face was better than a sightless, scarred and sensitive one. His horns, now stubs because of deadly flames, replaced by antennae that connected to transmitters. His face reflected others', a black void of a visor. If anyone were to take it off, he'd be headless.
"Pink?"
His voice made him jump again. Hyperlaser wasn't even talking. Or was he? Reality was getting harder to recognize.
"Are you saying.. That Subspace..."
Katana was already catching on. But Hyperlaser didn't respond immediately.
A silence passed before he lifted his helmet to take a swig of the whiskey, hoping the truth serum would force it out his mouth. He had to tell Katana, so what better time than now?
He lifted the protective gear the rest of the way.
Hisses escaped, compressed air now free.
An abomination escaped from the confines of the helmet. Ugly and ruined, chiseled features now morphed into an ungodly thing. Stubs that were once horns poked out. Scars of now dull pink marred his cloudy eyes.
A disgusting creature has finally seen the light of day.
His blind eyes were looking into nothing, but knowing Katana was watching. Knowing he was disgusted. No doubt the comforting, large hands would pull away any second now.
Instead, they enveloped him in a loving, appreciating embrace.
"Thank you."
".. For what?" His gruff voice now clear, no longer trapped. It had no bite to it. He was genuinely wondering why he was.. Being held like this. Being looked at with love. He'd feel the warmth of Katana's stare. God looking at a sinner, and loving him all the same.
"For... Feeling safe."
Caresses and soft, examining touches met his scars. He shivered, but never pulled away.
"You can go on, dear."
"Dear."
"Dear."
It repeated.
Over and over.
Bouncing around in his brain, lighting up every corner.
And not the cold, painful reminder he usually heard.
This was different. Warm.
If he could cry, he'd be bawling.
He'd been doing another task. Subspace's direct orders this time. No directions, no instructions, just "GET THOSE CRYSTALS!!" in that same voice he'd grown used to. Whiny and stupid.
He was told to go to one of Blackrock's old labs, vandalized, broken down and barely clinging to the mountain. If there were people? Clear the place out. Subspace went with, only to direct him. The rest of the team guarded and cleared out the halls.
Hyperlaser was the extractor.
Subspace went ahead, no warning or anything. Like he was drawn to it.
"HYPERLASER!!"
His screech was answered almost immediately. The sooner done, the better.
A giant encasing for a large crystal. It was pungent and filthy in the room, bright pink puddles littering it. Definitely poisonous.
"The console's NOT WORKING!" Subspace cried, like a child having a fit.
"Of course it isn't, the whole place has no power."
"YOU DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!! I COULD HAVE YOU REMOVED FROM YOUR JOB IN--"
"In a nanosecond, I know."
He began to think.
"How fragile is that crystal? I'll shoot the casing and see if the rest can be cleared." Hyperlaser had already loaded up his railgun.
"It's a tripmine! Get it right." Subspace grumbled. "Very. Be careful with... Whatever you're doing."
"Wait. That thing is a giant explosive?!"
Subspace just scoffed and gestured to the casing.
"No. That could kill us. I'll tell the team to get out."
Before he could even grab the transmitter, Subspace launched a tripmine and smacked him with his own gun.
"FUCK-" The curse barely left his mouth before Subspace put something else in it, blood. Punches and tripmines met his face. He was going to get that crystal, one way or another.
"MOVE IN! MOVE IN NOW, CENTRAL CONTROL R--"
Repeated punches, tripmines being set off, Subspace looked rabid, controlled by the poison running through his veins. Hyperlaser had to turn this around.
He wrenched the gun from his hands, aiming a few shots at the pink, livid demon and putting a good distance between them. He was clawed at and tripmines were thrown his way. Subspace wasn't even thinking now, was he?
"THIS IS USEFUL!! BLACKROCK NEEDS THIS YOU IMBECILE!!"
"IT'S GOING TO KILL US ALL!"
He grabbed the transmitter again.
"TEAM, MOVE IN NOW!"
The rest of the squad entered, some trying to hold the scientist down, and the others too cowardly to betray their orders.
But it was too late.
A tripmine met their bodies.
Hyperlaser was hit by two. One to his eyes and another to his chest.
Subspace scrambled for his tripmines, destroying the glass with what he had.
And hell followed.
Screams of his teammates, painful fumes, feeling his skin melting.
He couldn't go on.
A beat of silence passed.
Another.
He hadn't even realized he'd leaned so far into Katana's embrace.
".. It's alright. You're not there. Come back. You're with me."
Hyperlaser curled further into Katana, unshed tears making him choke on his words.
Warm darkness claimed him.
For once, he hoped it this would have lasted longer.
For once...
He'd hoped he could wake up.