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Chapter Text

Rangi is blinded by the cold light of fluorescent tubes as the elevator door opens.
At least she isn’t in the crammed space anymore. Sharing it with her mother and jianzhu had been a pain.

The man with the neatly shaped beard, which despite all his efforts is slowly turning grey, steps out first and starts walking down the long, purely white hallway, clearly expecting them to follow.
It looks like a hospital.
A very unsettling hospital.

,,Now that we are surely alone, I can finally inform you about the very person we built this facility around.”
Rangi snaps to attention, still squinting slightly to block out the harsh light.
,,It is a human fused with a spirit. They are usually regarded as one being. Mild telepathic abilities which she is not allowed to use outside of actual training. Discipline her if she steps out of line”, is all she gets as an introduction to the job.
Which is bad. Because this seems too important to be rushed over like this. A huge responsibility rests on her shoulders.
If it is true what she heard, then this … Rangi didn't quite know what to call it. No one had shown her a picture or even given her a description. It could be anything.
Nevertheless, this … thing was extremely dangerous according to what she had heard.
Being able to toss around tanks and Jeeps at the apparent age of 7 was no joke. And its connection with the spirit had only grown stronger.
How did such a thing affect a person?
Was it even a person now?
Was it possessed?
Was it insane?
She really hoped it was as normal as possible.

,,Is there any more information I should know?”, she asks, trying to conceal the light unease as they pass a door that is just barely open, allowing her a quick glance at a table that was obviously built to hold someone down.
She forced the ideas, what this was for, down.
It was none of her concern.
Surely it was for the best anyway.

Jianzhu raised an eyebrow: ,,Oh yes. You will refer to it as 001. If talking about the person 001a. If talking about the spirit 001b.”
,,Does it not have a name?”
The man stopped dead in his tracks and turns around to her.
,,A connection is not needed for your job. You are to only keep her in and others out. Nothing more.”
Rangi has to defy the urge to lean away from him.
,,Understood, sir”, is all she says.
Standing her ground means succeeding. But she also has to accommodate in order not to succeed too much and make him feel small.
He seems to be someone to appreciate little words.
And angering him could lead to her losing this position.
The most most important chance of her life.

He still seems sceptical.
Hei-ran interferes and Rangi doesn't think that she has never loved her mother more.
,,I am certain she meant no offense. She is simply very … enthusiastic.”
That gets Jianzhu to finally back away from her.
Quickly she bites her tongue to not let out a sigh of relief.
It is too soon to celebrate anything.

This hallway is unnecessarily long.
At least Rangi thinks so.
Every few steps, there are slots in the wall for thick metal doors to hide behind.
A security measure. Built to shut when whatever she and everyone else here is trying to keep inside escapes.
It slowly dawns on her that in that case, she would be the first one to die.
Like an expendable pawn in a big game of chess.
Her throat tightens up and something dark and heavy curls in her stomach.
She grips her weapon tighter and forces the thoughts away.

,,And this is where you will be”, is all Jianzhu says as he lets her and Hei-ran into the room at the end of the hallway.
It is pretty barren. A chair in front of a control board with way too many buttons. Multiple monitors on one site with vital signs. A small table and a clock.
Over the control board is a window. A one way window as far as Rangi can hope. She doesn't need to be seen.

The man points to one of the buttons, one of the few that is labeled, ,, Lights. They're automatic but you additionally get manual control.”, he points to another one, ,,That one is a shock button. Not strong enough to harm. But it should throw it off its aggression should it get too serious”, the last button he points to is big and red. Either this means to never press it or to press it quite frequently, ,,If anything goes wrong, press this and the security program will engage. After that you're on your own. Everyone else is locked out. But, ,,he places his hand on her shoulder, an act that should feel warm and comforting but instead sucks every last bit of excitement and warmth out of her, ,,I have faith that you will do well.”

Rangi does not know him. She doesn't know if she can trust him or not. She doesn't know how much of what he says is true.
But she can feel like what he just said is not.
Hei-Ran stiffens slightly but doesn't object.
,,Thank you, sir”, it sounds as grateful as possible as it leaves her tongue. But clearly the knot in her throat left an imprint.
The man doesn't comment.

,,You share shifts with another guard. Yun. You will not meet outside of passing while exchanging your position. A true bond is not necessary.”, Jianzhu removes his hand from her shoulder -finally- and straightens his suit, sleek and black with a dark green tie that is the only thing giving it some form of character.
He then leaves without another word.

Hei-ran finally steps forward.
,,I believe that you can do this. No one else is as qualified for this position as you are, lieutenant.”
That does at least a little to lift Rangi's spirit.
Compliments from her mother were rare. Which was just another reason for her to be sceptical. But she will take what she can get.
For now at least.
Until she has proven her true worth.

,,Good luck, Rangi”, her mother lays her hand on her shoulder, this time with some actual warmth, before leaving.

Rangi has no other option but to wait and see what will be the thing to take her life eventually.

Chapter Text

It felt like an eternity had passed.
In reality it was only 15 minutes.

15 minutes of staring into the padded room in front of her, where seemingly everything that could be attached to something, was attached in some way.
Even the blanket was somehow stapled to the bottom of the mattress, making it resemble a sleeping bag more than an actual bed.
The only thing that seemed to be loose was a small clear turtle, sitting on the bare floor, since there was nothing else in the room outside of the bed and a toilet, sunken into the floor.

001 must have done something terrible to deserve such a fate.
And even then, Rangi couldn't help but feel a little bad.

Which was an absolute taboo.

Luckily she wasn't kept in that state for long, since someone entered behind her.
It was a young man, just a little shorter than her, medium green eyes resembling the leaves of a tree under bright sunlight.
He wore the same thing as her, so he must be-
,,Yun”, the smile he gave her as he bowed playfully could have lit up the room. And he seemed to be aware of that.
Rnagi knew multiple people who would fall over their feet to even talk to a guy like him.
,,Rangi”, is her simple answer, not smiling but at least tipping her head slightly.
He would have to work for more.

He raised an eyebrow but continued on carefree: ,,You're new here, right?”
Before she could even respond he continued, only using the pause for theatrical effect and to take a quick breath: ,,Well. Firstly forget everything they told you.”
What?
,,Good. Now. Kyoshi isn't some mother as you surely think. She's just in a … bit of a difficult situation. But none of it is truly her fault. She could never.”
Rangi blinks.
,,Kyoshi? Who's Kyoshi?”
That seems to finally stop Yun's speech.
At least for a bit, before he realizes: ,,Ooooohhhh. They told you that 001 a and b bullshit.”
She frowned at him disregarding and disrespecting the scientific names she had been given.
,,001a is Kyoshi. 001b is Raava.”
That made sense in Rangi's eyes.
,,But I guess you wouldn't know that”, he smiles that bright smile again, ,,only people who are close to her would know that.”
… Was he … claiming the very thing they were told to protect? As a friend? A partner?
,,Jianzhu said personal protection is unrequited”, is what she says while straightening her already perfectly straight back.
He nods simply: ,,Ah. You're one of those.”
Rangi bristles: ,,What is that supposed to mean?”
He glances her up and down. No answer needed.
She feels odd under his far too calculated gaze. Especially too calculated for someone so seemingly careless.

Before she can read anything from his odd behavior, he is already sitting on the only chair.
Great.
,,It’s not even your shift as far as I am aware”, there is little that Rangi wants more than to get this slob, who had now started chewing gum in a high security area, out of her workplace.
But physically grabbing her new coworker and tossing him around was most likely
A pretty sure way to get fired and
Would most likely come back to bite her in the ass later on.

So she tolerated him chewing loudly and blowing bubbles while looking through the one way mirror, rangi had confirmed it now, just like her.

A short pause in his disgusting mouth sounds.
,,They test on her, you know”
That came unexpected.
But it made sense.
Kyoshi- No. 001 was dangerous and had to be contained. And in order to contain her battery her powers must be understood.

But the memory of the testing rooms she saw does awake a bit of curiosity inside her.
,,How so?”
Yun just shrugged nonchalantly: ,,They won't tell me. Not even Kyoshi. Probably cause she’s scared. But it can't be that bad. Maybe like … therapy… talking about her feelings or something. Otherwise I could tell.”
Rangi suppresses an eye roll.
Of course he would steer the conversation back to himself.
Apparently she didn't hide it well enough: ,,What? I’m great at reading people”
She just huffs: ,,Oh yeah? What are you reading on me right now?”
Yun places two fingers on his temple like a psychic in a bad action film: ,,I see … that you really want to get back to my place”
Rangi feels genuine disgust: ,,In your dreams short stack”
The young man stops himself from laughing to act hurt and offended, including the hand on his heart: ,,I will let you know that I am not that short. Also women love short kings. You just don't have taste”
,,Exactly. I don't have bad taste”, Rangi shoots back at him.
That is what it takes for him to fully laugh.
The silence that follows is a bit less awkward.

,,Just as a fair warning”, Yun smirks and elbows her, ,,Kyoshi’s real pretty. So don't fall in love. Or Jianzhu would be real mad”
,,I would never let something like that happen”, the truth is simple and thus does not need to be expanded upon in Rangi's eyes.
The boy winks.
Again, disgust crawls under Rangi's skin. He seems nice enough. But this had to stop. She isn't sure if he is joking or not. But she fears he isn't.
,, Don't be so sure just yet”, his smile had (impossibly) gotten wider, ,,you haven't met her yet.”

Rangi wasn't bothered.
For she was a woman of duty.
She was Rangi Sei'naka.
And Rangi Sei'naka didn't lose track of her missions over some … pretty girl.

Chapter Text

This job was terribly boring as far as Rangi was concerned .
Granted, it was her first day.
But it had also been exactly one hour since Yun had left with his warning. And nothing else had happened.
Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her but she swore that sounds emerged from somewhere. It was hard to pin them to a specific location.
Not that it would matter anyway. She was basically locked in a small cage that could only be opened from the outside.

Another 30 minutes passed.
Still nothing. Her knees were starting to ache. She had forbidden herself from sitting down before analyzing the subject at hand.
But her conviction was slowly crumbling.
To pass the time she had started digging through the files she found in a drawer.
She didn't quite know if they were off limits but since they were about the subject she simply assumed that it was a part of her job to be aware of basic knowledge.

The files were mostly reports on behavior.
Calm. For the most part.
Except for when Subject 001b thought of the guards as a threat, took over Kyo- 001a’s body and started attacking them. Basic sketches of that form were all she could find on 001's looks.
And they, very honestly, weren't particularly attractive.
More like a body wrapped in strange White tentacles or vines. With some blue.
Either this wasn't what 001 looked like most of the time or Yun just had extremely questionable taste in women.
Which would make him complimenting her an insult.

Everything else in the file was vague at best or barely mentioned at worst. Very tall. Apparently used to be homeless at one point before being found. Potential connections with a cult- that made Rangi raise an eyebrow. Sadly it again wasn't elaborated on.
Too bad.
The only thing that seemed well documented in a way were 001’s abilities. Enhanced physical power, the ability to create constructs from some kind of energy that resembled pure light -sadly not elaborated on again-, very fast at healing, often replacing lost tissue with “unknown matter that resembles flesh in texture but is much more flexible and durable”.

Rangi tosses the file to the side with an annoyed huff.
Two hours and she still wasn't much smarter after her arrival. She was, technically, but the subject wasn't even here.
She was told that her life would be at risk, that this was basically suicide, but the only thing she felt weigh heavy on her mind was boredom.

Finally she heard a sound from the cell.
A hidden door had opened, revealing a long hallway and at its entrance a girl: tired looking, shaking slightly, barefoot in patients clothing and absolutely breathtaking.
Rangi just stared through the one way mirror (or at least she hoped it was one way. Otherwise this would be incredibly embarrassing) as the beautiful girl moved across the room and sat down in a corner that seemed slightly softer than the rest of the cell. She pulled her knees to her chest and just stared at the wall in front of her.
And Rangi stared at her. Like she had never seen another person before in her life.

She had stared so intently that she didn't notice the door closing again. Her mouth was dry and she was sure that she didn't blink once.
Rangi could -and possibly would- have remained in this position forever. Leaned close to the glass, staring.
That was until she felt eyes on her.
It weren't the ones she wanted though. Immediately she punished herself for that thought silently.

Next to the subject now was a fox, pure white with closed eyes pointed right at her and a mischievous smile -she didn't even know foxes could do that- that read as, “I see you. And I know what you're thinking.”
Rangi immediately decided that she would not like that fox and that she never would.

It was possibly one of subject 001’s creations mentioned in the files. It made sense given how she just let it push it’s face into her arms. Too familiar.
That cheeky smile remained at all times.
Stupid fox.
She had always hated them. Ever since one of them snarled at her as a small child. Sure, her mother said that it had simply been the neighbor’s dog. But she hadn't been there and thus had no right to unjusify her dislike for those fleabags.
Especially that one that was probably giggling on the inside. Getting petted by those hands and looking at her like it knew she would quite like touching those hands.
Perhaps hold them. Maybe kiss them. Maybe kiss somewhere else-

Subject 001 -what did Yun call her? Kyoshi?- had finally noticed her stupid foxes smile and closed eyes staring right into her soul and now followed its gaze. Right to Rangi, who immediately straightened up -she had actually begun to slouch this time- before realizing that Kyoshi couldn't see her anyway, which made her actions of no use.

Eyes, green like pine needles and soft like the sun's kiss, search that one way mirror for anything she could perceived that was out of the ordinary. When she couldn't, she gave up pretty quickly.
Fruitless work.

Rangi watched that girl return to her bored staring at the wall. She probably needed entertainment. She should talk to her. Her hands already wander to the microphone before she catches herself. No! Jianzhu said no close connection. Also … what if she needed her quiet? What if she would be annoyed by Rangi talking to her? What if she didn't like her?

Pathetic.

That was what this situation was.

She was top of her class, especially trained, eyes always set straight onto the goal.
How could a single person simply detail that by just existing?

Impossible.