Chapter Text
Red lights flashed and flickered, bathing the facility in an urgent, almost suffocating glow as the building remained in lockdown. The metallic walls reflected the warning lights in uneven pulses, making the entire room feel unstable, like it was breathing along with the alarms.
“Sir, one of the prisoners has escaped from the solitary cells.”
The cat hybrid let out a quiet huff, his tail swishing behind him in a slow, irritated rhythm. Even in the dim light, his posture remained straight, controlled, though the tension sat clearly in his shoulders.
“Let me guess- it’s ParrotX2.”
The soldier nodded. “Yes, sir. What should we do now?”
Lettuce ran a hand through his hair, his ears twitching sharply at the confirmation. His claws caught slightly on a strand before he pulled his hand away, exhaling through his nose.
“Send SargeLaw, and a small unit with him. Lock down the surrounding sectors first, don’t give him room to move. Find that bird hybrid-and when you do, bring him to me alive. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
The soldier snapped a salute, boots clicking cleanly against the floor before he turned and hurried out of the room. The heavy door slid shut behind him with a low mechanical thud, sealing the space again.
A sigh escaped Lettuce’s lips, quieter this time.
The office felt larger once the soldier left, too quiet despite the alarms. Screens lined one wall, glowing with maps, security feeds, and flickering warnings. Some feeds had cut to static. Others showed empty corridors washed in red light.
“Lettuce.”
Ace’s voice came from the couch where he sat, leaning forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees. The dim lighting softened his features, but his expression was tense, uncertain.
“What, Ace?” Lettuce replied, not turning at first, his eyes still scanning one of the monitors. “I’m dealing with a situation, if you hadn’t noticed.”
Ace hesitated, then met his gaze. “Is this really justice?”
Lettuce turned sharply, ears angling forward. “What?”
“Hunting players… capturing them… killing them.” Ace’s voice faltered slightly, like he wasn’t entirely sure he should be saying it out loud. “For what? Power? Balance?”
“Ace,” Lettuce said firmly, stepping closer, his shadow stretching across the floor with the shifting lights, “I am trying to save this server, and that comes at a cost.”
Ace began tapping his foot, the quiet, repetitive sound filling the space between the alarms.
“These players are criminals,” Lettuce continued, his voice steady but edged with strain. “They’ve killed thousands. They’ve torn this server apart. The election? The chaos? That’s because of them.” He gestured briefly toward the screens, as if the evidence was everywhere. “They’re the reason Unstable even needs a ruler in the first place, you know that.”
Ace looked down at his hands, his fingers curling slightly as if he were holding onto something unseen.
“It just… feels wrong.”
For a moment, Lettuce didn’t respond.
Then his expression softened, just slightly, as he exhaled slowly.
“Ace, listen to me.” His tone dropped, quieter now. “When this is over… just imagine what this server could become.” He glanced toward the main display, where a map flickered between stability zones and danger sectors. “A place where players are safe. Where law actually means something. Where no one has to live in fear of losing everything.”
Ace remained quiet, his thoughts clearly elsewhere, his foot finally still.
Lettuce clicked his fingers once, the sharp sound cutting through the noise just enough to pull Ace’s attention back.
“Trust me. I’m doing everything I can.”
After a moment, Lettuce straightened, rolling his shoulders back as if resetting himself. He stretched slightly, tension lingering in the movement.
“I’ve got work to finish, okay?”
He gave a small grin, short-lived, more forced than relaxed, before turning and leaving the room. The door slid open with a mechanical hiss, then shut behind him with a solid thud.
As he walked through the long, dim hallways, his thoughts lingered.
The air felt colder out here. Harsher. The red lights stretched endlessly down the corridors, broken only by reinforced doors and narrow observation panels. His footsteps echoed in steady rhythm, each one carrying further than it should have in the empty space.
How was he going to stop that bird from escaping again?
His ears twitched at the thought, his tail flicking once behind him, sharper this time.
ParrotX2.
Of all prisoners.
Lettuce’s gaze hardened as he moved past another sealed door, its locking mechanisms glowing faintly under the emergency lighting.
Solitary wasn’t supposed to fail. Not like that. It was designed to be airtight, multiple layers of security, constant monitoring, no possible entry or exit without clearance.
And yet-
he got out.
Which meant something wasn’t right.
A flaw in the system.
Or someone interfering with it.
His jaw tightened slightly.
If it was a flaw, he would find it. Fix it. Eliminate it completely.
If it was someone-
his tail stilled.
He would deal with that too.
Because this wasn’t just about one escaped prisoner anymore.
It couldn’t be.
Not when everything depended on control holding together.
Not when the entire server was already balancing on the edge of collapse.
Lettuce exhaled slowly, steadying his pace as his boots continued to echo down the corridor.
He wouldn’t let this spiral.
He couldn’t.