Work Text:
Barker stood quietly next to Arsine, taking deep breaths to ease his racing heart. It seemed to swell up to his throat, blocking any air from getting in. It’s not that he didn’t trust their new crewmates. He just…wasn’t sure about them. He trusted Arsine, and he trusted Claire, but he didn’t know if he trusted the other three. Barker knew it was wrong to falsely make assumptions about them, but something was wrong.
They had recently got enough money from their pay cheque to install a teleporter. All of them except Barker had any experience with them, but today was the day he would have to. Griffin would go first, then Barker, then Arsine. Squeezing the man's hand, he immediately looked down. Barker slightly jumped, not realizing he had even done it. “Sorry, sorry.” He quickly muttered, his face suddenly growing hot. “It’s okay, bud. You nervous?” Despite what the other has said about itself, Barker found him to be rather observant.
“A little bit, yeah.” He tugged at his jacket, shifting uncomfortably as he looked at the others. “We’re about to land, Barker, are you ready?” He immediately looked up, “Oh, uhm, yeah–yes. Yes, I am.” Griffin, one of the new members, stared for a moment, before humming.
Arsine stroked his hand. He sighed. “It’ll be okay, bud.” Barker knew he could trust Arsine. The windows shined with the moon’s brightness, welcoming a fresh warmth against their usual cold environments. Stretching out, he peeked out the window, seeing small deep red sprouts emerging from the soft land. It wasn’t comforting, but Claire and Venin said they’d be staying on the ship and taking care of problems outside—which always seemed to be the case. Taking one of the flashlights, he carefully slid it into the charging station, watching it blink three times with green. The doors hissed before opening, hitting them with hot air. “Guess you guys are lucky, huh?” Claire asked, checking one of the closets for equipment. “I think a warm place is exactly what we needed after all those moons.” Venin laughed, flipping a switch.
“Alright, Griffin, let’s go.” The large man quietly nodded, stepping up onto the sleek metal platform, and taking a deep breath. “Go whenever, Vin,” Griffin grunted. The rest watched as Venin pushed the handle with a loud click. Mechanical poles started to swing quickly, red sparks forming along the wires wrapped around them. As it started to hum, the sparks grew in larger quantities before there was a soft, hollow boom as Griffin’s image warped and disappeared. No matter how many times he watched it, it was always terrifying to watch. Barker knew it worked, everyone would come back in one piece, trying to reassure him it never hurt. He missed them.
At least he still had Claire. The thought hurt as he looked over at the older woman, who tilted her head at him. “Barker, you ready?” He inhaled, trying to shake off the fear in his voice and body. “Yeah, I am.” Walking up to it, the machine towered over him, radiating off warmth. “It’s normal to be pretty warm after. Just from the constant motion, don’t worry about it.” Venin said as he walked past them. “Claire, you got the rest?” She nodded.
They watched Venin hop from the rails, shovel in hand. “You guys shouldn’t be too far apart from each other. We just change the positions you’ll go as a way to be safe.” Claire offered, her hand resting beside the lever, but not on it. It made Barker feel better. If he wasn’t ready, Claire wouldn’t push it. She’d always been the nicest to everyone. Despite what others had done, she offered the most she could. Thank god she made it.
“I’m good to go.” He cleared his throat, clenching the flashlight tightly in his palm. Claire started it, and he looked at Arsine. Even if he couldn’t perfectly see his face from far away, he made eye contact as if he could. It was comforting. Barker clenched his eyes. His body felt light, as if it dropped to the ground like nothing.
It felt like his body hit the ground hard. He gasped after feeling like he’d been choking for minutes. Barker flickered his flashlight on, looking around. Every breath still felt shaky, feeling like they were simultaneously both filled with liquid and completely empty. Flickering his radio on, Barker began walking down the halls. “Griffin? Where are you?” His radio spit out static, before suddenly kicking up deep and ripples in the noise. Jumping, Barker frantically turned it off, shoving it in his backpack pocket. Sighing, Barker continued on. It wasn’t the first time they went in and had problems with their equipment, a lot of the facilities or mineshafts tended to have ancient technology that desperately needed fixing. But of course that was never going to happen.
Barker always kept chalk on him, to mark off the places he’s been and if there was still stuff around. Walking around for ten minutes resulted in him finding only a couple of things. Most of them being found together in a small group. There were signs of loot bugs forming the pile from the small bite marks on some of the softer objects. Out of many of the species they’ve found here, loot bugs have always been one of his favourites. He often left small gifts for them when the others weren’t looking so they wouldn’t feel too bad about their loot being gone.
Turning a corner, it led to a large open room, with dim lights flickering. It was the first room that seemed to have a working light fixture, which quickly lured him in. He was used to walking in the dark. Most of the time, when anyone tried to work the lights back on, it just resulted in them wasting more time and luring whatever was in the facility to come harass them. Jogging over, all the stuff he made small clicks and bangs, but he tried to ignore them, worrying more about something creeping up on him. Placing everything down, he started looking around further. The bottom room was pretty barren, isolated, with a hollow feeling. It felt wrong to be inside here. Quickly going up the stairs, he checked around corners, finding another door that led further to the top floor. Looking across to a large shelf, he saw something peeking from the top of it.
Dropping his backpack off, Barker placed his foot onto one of the railings, hosting himself up further. He gripped the shelf to balance himself, straining to look up over the top. A small sign was near the edge, but just enough to where Barker would be able to reach it.
Shoving his flashlight into his pocket, he pushed himself closer to the shelf, reaching out. Dust and cobwebs built up on his sleeve as he brushed it around in his attempts to grab the sign. Groaning, he tried again, hearing a faint noise in the background.
He paid no mind, believing it only to be just the place shifting around with age. His fingers could barely graze the object. Another small noise echoed in the facility. Sighing, Barker gave it one last attempt.
Finally, Barker could pull it closer to him, dragging it off the shelf. A deep groan pierced the silence, making Barker immediately turn around. Dropping to the platform with a heavy thud, nothing was around. Even when he pulled his flashlight around, he couldn’t see anything. Still, he wanted to be safe, so he made sure his steps were much more careful and didn’t make any unnecessary noise. A pair of footsteps pounded on the floor around far out, making Barker wonder. He knew it was stupid to do, but with his radio not working, what else was there to do? What if it was one of the others?
Picking his stuff up, he tried to find which way the source was coming from. “Griffin? Arsine? Are you guys out there?” The steps suddenly stopped. Something felt uneasy as Barker made his way back upstairs. “Are you here? I... I haven’t found an exit yet.” Slowly, the footsteps started again, but he couldn’t tell if they were coming closer to him or farther away.
Pushing through the new door, there was yet another floor to get up to, making Barker sigh. He had to juggle scrap, his flashlight, chalk and potentially the sign in case anything was there. Barker prayed it was just a loot bug. A couple more lights were on, allowing Barker an easier path to follow.
That was until suddenly the lights flickered. At first, he thought nothing of it until they shut off, and a loud alarm started to ring in the facility. The intercoms buzzed with a thick mechanical voice, “ WARNING, RADIATION LEVELS WILL BEGIN TO RISE. PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. “ No. No, please no. Dropping the scrap, Barker began running around different hallways, trying to find a fire exit. It couldn’t have been Arsine, right? It would have waited for him. It wouldn’t put him in danger.
His chest started to burn as his stomach tightened.
“Arsine?! Please, are you out there?!” He yelled, running with his flashlight, desperately checking every corner.
He was never good at directions. It had been something everyone got on him about. Bane and Terra constantly were getting on him (at varying degrees) about how he should be trying to pay more attention, and that he needed to start leaving marks for himself and others. Would they be angry at him now? Would they scorn him for being stupid and reckless? He hoped not. Barker never wanted them to be angry at him.
“If you can hear me, please! I-I, my radio doesn’t work!” He was panicking. He couldn’t get a grasp on anything, watching it fall apart tangled in his hands with no intent of stopping. Breathing wasn’t easy. Every rise had a shorter fall, making his mouth dry. Flashing his light around, Barker could hear footsteps coming towards him. “Arsine?!”
His breath caught in his throat. That wasn’t Arsine.
Ripping around, he saw the coil head stop dead in his track, the metal spring creaking with rust, heavy thuds of its body trying to make itself still. Gasping, Barker stumbled back, falling to the ground. He shoved himself as far away as he could, always keeping his eyes on it. Despite having no eyes, he could still feel it staring at him. Watching him.
Backing away, suddenly the coil head ran closer, making Barker cry out. He held himself, his body shaking violently. “A-Arsine?” He begged, feeling tears fall down his face. The coil head lowered its head down at him. Barker sobbed. Reaching for his radio, he brought it close to his body. Flicking it on, he whimpered. “Arsine…please…i-if you can h-hear this,” He tried to repress the sob in his throat. “P-please, I… I can’t find t-the exit.” Shame washed over him as he cried harder. “I-I’m sorry… T-there’s a coil head.” Barker watched its head slowly tilt to the side, lowering itself closer to him. “I-I, p-please teleport me…p-please.” He sniffled, curling himself up further. “Please…”
No one answered.
Sliding up the wall, Barker reached for the sign. Rationally, he knew it wouldn’t stop the damn thing from killing him, but it made him feel just a little bit better. Slowly, Barker crept around the towering figure, constantly watching it as tears freely fell. Every time it could jolt to get closer, Barker had to resist clenching his eyes.
A loud bang echoed as another pair of heavy footsteps came close. “Barker?!” Griffin yelled out, “Where the fuck are you?!” Barker swallowed the large lump in his throat. “I-I don’t know! I-I don’t… T-there’s a coil head!” He yelled out. “Follow my voice, okay? I’m trying to find a way in!” To the best of his ability, he carefully listened to the other man's voice, repressing every cry that came when it would come closer. Barker has never been more happy to see Griffin. “I see you! I almost got the door unlocked.” He stated, the grain of his voice was somehow steady, reassuring. The door swung open and Griffin stepped through. “C’mon, I’m watching it. You can turn around.” This once, he had to trust Griffin. He thought of Claire. She would tell him to trust Griffin, that everything would be okay.
Inhaling, Barker clenched his eyes and turned around.
The figure did not move, and Barker ran for it when he opened and saw Griffin. Running past the door, he could hear it beginning to run. Griffin yelled and Barker turned. His eyes flashed before his eyes. The coil shoved itself halfway through the door, warping its head to stick through the door frame. “Fucking hell. Go on, the exit is through that hallway.” Barker looked around, finding the place the man was referring to.
“Wh-what about you?” “Just go on, kid.” Swallowing, he quickly nodded, walking. Barker was halfway there when Griffin suddenly yelled. “Run, now!” Without thinking, his body ran, running as fast as Griffin followed behind him. The quick footsteps racing after them grew louder before there was a deafening crunch.
Barker turned around, watching Griffin’s body stiffen. He clawed at his throat, watching it seep blood before it fell off, a corkscrew untangling it from its skeleton. He could still hear the faint wheeze from Griffin’s body as the breath was pushed out from him.
Barker screamed.
A horrible noise. It broke and cracked, tears made it warp and stutter, as he scrambled for the door. The coil head didn’t care. It didn’t care that it had killed someone. It walked past it with such ease and without a sense of remorse. It flung itself towards Barker as he shoved himself through the fire exit door.
It slammed shut behind him and his throat hurt. Barker scratched at it, ripping his gloves off to feel the skin had been cut by the coil head, profusely bleeding already. “A-Arsine?! Arsine!” The night sky greeted him. He knew better than to yell, but when all he could hear was the piercing scream of what sounded like a woman, he couldn’t care about what else may have been looking for him.
“Arsine! Where are you!” Running down the stairs, he started frantically looking around. “Please Arsine! I-I need you!” He was exhausted, he was scared, and he was hurt. He sunk to the ground, sobbing. Holding himself tightly as he whimpered. Begging for the others.
“Arsine…please. P-please, I need you here.” He held himself with broken arms, soothing himself with nothing but the trembling realization that they might have left him to die. No one was coming for him. Metal creaked as he suddenly saw a head peaking from the ladder. “Oh my god, Barker!” He looked up, seeing Arsine running towards him.
Barker threw himself at Arsine, grabbing him as tightly as he could. He sunk into the man's arms, letting everything out. Like a broken record, telling it that he was sorry and that they were dead. That he promised he’d do better. At some point, his mask had been taken off, and scarred hands held his face. “Barker, look at me.” He did. He looked up at Arsine, who no longer had its mask on either, stroking its thumb across his cheek. “I’m not angry, I promise. I need you to be strong for me right now, can you do that?” He wasn’t sure. “Y-yeah… Yeah, I can.” He had too, for them. “They’re gone. I’m sorry. We’re going to have to find somewhere safe for now, okay? Can you do that?” They were gone. He was never going to see Claire again. “I promise you, it’ll be okay.” He couldn’t tell if it was the truth or not. “Barker, I’m so sorry.” He knew.
Holding him tighter, he cried more. “She’ll be okay.” Barker’s chest burned, as his body got too exhausted. “We’ll make it out.”
“I promise.” He had to trust Arsine. He had to believe that they all were going to be okay.