Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s so cold.

That was your first thought of the day when you woke up, freezing in your current cell. Your serpentine tail curling a smidge tighter, your body shivering from the most recent experiment done to you. 

This week, UrbanShade was testing how your body reacts to the cold. You just wanted to tell the scientists behind this whole thing that you were shivering your ass off in here and that it was indeed cold to you. Obviously you didn’t want to make things worse for yourself by saying that, who knows what kind of punishment they’ll enact on you if you decided to be rude.

It was at least -22 Fahrenheit. You had no clue how UrbanShade could get a room this cold, maybe just for you. It was worse than the other test they ran on you, being the same as this but only with scalding temperatures instead of Antarctica levels of frost

You despise those people who put you in here, how you got in here, and what you’ve been subjected to. This test is one of the tamest things they’ve done to you.

You cradled your arms and wrapped your tail around yourself to keep your body heat in one place. Damn those scientists! The only warmth you had was the old oversized shirt they had in some storage bin that's been rotting for years (with generously cut holes for your extra arms) and a random coat that hasn’t seen the sun in what seems like forever, much like you. 

At the very least, they gave you clothes. You didn’t need more of your dignity and humanity stripped from you after being transformed into.. This. 

You could feel your knifelike claws (once normal, human fingers) curl into your arms, your sharp and scary teeth chattering together in a clear act of freezing in this cell. Your newfound tail was shivering just like the rest of your body, some of the scales reflecting off the room's obnoxiously bright light. 

Though you didn’t want to wallow in self pity, it was the only thing you could do to distract yourself from the cold. You thought you were hideous, no, scratch that. You were hideous. 

You no longer looked like your old self, obviously. Your life just had to fall apart when everything was going good. From graduating college and getting your degree to being framed for crimes you never committed and getting experimented on dozens of times to look like some..  Ugly serpent mermaid creature!

You had two extra arms and an extra pair of eyes to match. You were fortunate enough that you at least got to keep your hair, you would only be more disgusted with yourself if you were just some typical hairless snake. Not that there's anything wrong with being bald , you added during your thoughts. 

You did however miss your legs, your bipedal features being replaced with a long, scaly tail. Sometimes you can still feel your legs kicking when they first start being tested on you. 

You also had an esca, the lure female anglerfish have to see in the dark. You sometimes like to play with it whenever you were bored by hitting it lightly or tugging it on and off (accidentally blinding yourself occasionally). It was surprisingly sensitive. Catching you off guard sometimes whenever you would grab it, making you hiss whenever it was tugged or gripped too harshly. 

Two fins poked out from the side of your head, sometimes indicating your mood if it was too the extreme (for instance, your fins would go upturned if you were happy, which was very rare)

You hated this place, you hated everyone who worked in this damn building. They deserved to burn in the fiery pits for what they let happen to you, being torn apart and mutated beyond recognition to your former self. Six or so different DNA’s flowing in your system and physically changing you dramatically. 

Two shark DNA’s for your strength, smell, and more or less intelligence, a female angler fish for the esca on your head, some crustacean that gave you your two extra arms, and a sea snake for your general body now. The last DNA in your system, you never had a clue. It was probably some deep sea fish that was terrifying. 

Your gills poked out the side of your neck like a sore thumb, being the original reason why you were even brought here to be experimented on. They made it easy for swimming obviously, but whenever you went to rub your neck they always caught you off guard. You always think about how easy it was for you to stick a finger or two in there on accident. 

Everything about you was awful. Why, just why did you have to be the unfortunate soul to have to go through this. You just wanted to go home and be yourself again. 

Your thoughts were cut off by the sound of your cell’s doors opening. The loud mechanical click echoing throughout the space had startled you from your spot. Your glowing eyes squinted at whoever decided to come in and torment you. 

A voice had poured out from the intercom, the scratchy and unpleasant audio hitting your ears, hyper-sensitivity to sound was one of the many side effects that was turning into a monster.

“Z-18,” You hated that title, why couldn’t they just call you by your name? “You have completed your test. You will now be returning to your containment cell.” 

You only sighed out in disdain as a team of security guards inched closer to you. You disliked the guards immensely, they were always harsh with you no matter how feeble you tried to present yourself. You were more shy and scared nowadays. Feeling that everything was a possible test or any slight movement could trigger a negative effect.

That’s why you always retreat to the hidden, more secluded area of your cell (after waking from your anesthesia dose, of course, You are never awake when they transfer you). It was a little cave, that could spaciously fit you and leave an underwater segment whenever you wanted to swim (which was almost never, that would mean your clothes would get wet and it would take forever for them to dry)

Thankfully, you wouldn’t have another test soon. At least, that’s what they told you. 

Slithering to your cave, you curled in on yourself. You had nothing to entertain yourself besides thinking or playing in the water. Maybe you could start counting, you got nothing better to do, but at the same time that was boring as well. 

You were then reminded of your east wall, the weakest wall. You had gotten upset one day, and decided to not bottle up your emotions like you usually did. Digging into the metallic walls with ease and snarling like you were some rabid animal, it didn’t take long before you were detained. 

You had messed up the wiring, causing the lights in your room to occasionally flicker or power off entirely. You could see just fine, but your captors couldn’t. They never wanted you to have the advantage, so you knew they were plotting something to have it done.

They still hadn’t repaired the wall, despite that thought. You were heavily aware that if you were to mess with the damage you had caused, you would be punished. You didn’t want to think about that or whatever worse they could do to you. 

Being terrified was a good deterrent from you doing something to that wall. The camera in the top right corner of the room taunting you every time you went out, solidifying the fact they would have proof if you did. Damn you Urbanshade. 

Could you just stop thinking? The only cure was to sleep off the rest of the day.. Night? You didn’t know nor care anymore. You know you just woke from the anesthesia, but it still held some effects. You always hated it when they used drugs on you.

Shrugging off your coat, you bundled it up into a makeshift pillow and rested your head on it. Tightening your tail around you before closing your eyes and rhythmically breathing to help settle into the realm that was sleeping.

____________________________________________________

When you woke up the next morning, you could smell the mundane food UrbanShade left in the room. 

It was either fish of any sort or some protein-packed mush. You ‘enjoyed’ the mush much more. Poking your head out of your cave, you saw the tray covered in fish and grimaced. You didn’t mind fish in your human life, but when it was raw and slimy it wasn’t exactly the best..

Grabbing the tray and gulping down the fish as quickly as possible so that you couldn’t taste the unpleasant feeling that was the fish. You shivered at the smooth-ish texture hitting your tongue, it just made you want to vomit. 

You slithered back to your humble abode and debated whether you wanted to take a dip in your gimmicky swimming pool, when suddenly the door to your room went off (much like yesterday). 

You didn’t bother sticking your head out, it was probably some random employee coming to take your tray and leave. You wish that you could’ve had someone to talk to, anyone would be fine just as long as it wasn’t the bastard on the intercom telling you meaningless information for the most part. 

Surprisingly, you continued to hear footsteps wander in your room. What was this guy doing?

Sebastian wasn’t expecting to be the new repairman for Z-18’s cell. Being a random employee of UrbanShade, he hadn’t thought he was anything special but apparently he was if he had to go to one of the most secretive operations in this entire facility. 

Every piece of information about you was obscure. All he was told was that you were unpredictable and dangerous. That he shouldn’t engage. However, he had to go in there and repair the wiring while you were awake. 

If he said he wasn’t just a tad bit nervous, he would be lying. Sebastian could quite literally die if he didn’t trek carefully. He only readjusted his repairman hat and fixed his hair. 

Walking down the hallway, time seemed to slow as every step led to your cell. The dull but bright lights made the man’s eyes squint every few seconds, but he could care less.

When he finally made it to your room’s door, the first thing he noticed was the two guards posted up outside. Holding huge rifles and reinforced gear that further solidified that Z-18 was a threat. 

The Chilean-American could only feel his anxiety rise at these signs and remembering what the higher-ups warned him of. You just have to get through this, and then you can go, Sebastian thought.

The guards noticed the toolbox Sebastian held with the hat on his head and proceeded to pull out a keycard, swiping it and opening the door with a clunky noise. 

Stepping into the room, the first thing he noticed was your cave and the tray on the floor. Kicking the tray away from where he needed to work, he cautiously watched the entrance of your home as he stepped over to the east wall. 

Seeing the claw marks only caused him to sweat at the pure strength that was your hands. They were so big that he could probably stick his whole arm in with ease and fix all the wires with little obstruction. 

Dropping his toolbox gently beside him, he stood in place and got to work at identifying what exactly was wrong. Obviously the wiring was screwed and would take a while to fully repair, a least a couple of hours. Sebastian didn’t know if he could handle that, but he was getting a bonus for this. 

I got this , Sebastian thought. 

When you noticed that the footsteps haven’t left, you decided to take a look. Poking your head out just enough to see who it was, you weren’t expecting to see a repairman. You thought they would have you sedated before even thinking of fixing your cell, apparently not. 

The first thing you noticed about this employee was his scar. It was on his nose bridge and looked cool. The next thing you noticed was his pretty black hair, it flowed down just to his shoulders and his bangs fit his face perfectly. He also had pretty blue-green eyes, they were captivating. 

Since when were you salivating over some random guy who came in to fix your outburst? To be fair, you hadn’t really seen anybody that wasn’t guards or sadistic scientists (you could argue that both groups were sadistic). 

You were contemplating whether or not to say something to him. He was most likely aware that you were ‘dangerous’ and ‘unpredictable’ and how he shouldn’t talk to you, Urbanshade always gave that spiel whenever someone came into your room. 

That dumb camera would probably get both of you in trouble if he was caught chatting with a creature like you. Dammit. As you furrowed your eyes in frustration, you got the idea to get one of the rocks in your pool. 

You always had some stacked up near the entrance of it when you got bored. Grabbing one of the heftier ones, you one handed it and threw it at the camera. The hit disabling the camera and causing it to short-circuit, alarming Sebastian who turned instantly at the sound. The camera was hanging by its red and blue wires and small sparks erupting from it.  

You had moved yourself back into your cave until none of you could be seen. Giving the poor guy a second or two to grasp his bearings. You also chose to lay down on your ‘stomach’, letting your tail move so that you would look like a question mark when in this position. 

“Hey, you..!” You called out. Sebastian could feel his heart spike again, breathing in before looking at the direction your voice came from. What he hadn’t expected was to see your glowing eyes, all four, looking at him first. It was a bit scary. 

“What’s your name?” Your glowing eyes upturned, a smile on your face that you yourself hadn’t realized was there. Sebastian noticed the fact you did have four eyes, and it was definitely odd to say the least. 

It took him a second or two to process your question. Shaking himself to ‘reset’ himself. 

“It’s.. Sebastian.” What a sophisticated name, it fit him. After that a few seconds of silence commenced. Was he not going to ask for your name?

“What’s yours?” The Chilean-American asked with a hint of nervousness, moving some of the wires in the wall he was inspecting after. Sparks hitting his fingers and causing him to curse out. Your eyes widened as he was actually engaging in conversation instead of giving you the silent treatment you were so used to.

“It’s..” You announced your actual name instead of what UrbanShade called you. “But you probably know me as Z-18.” 

“That’s a nice name, they should’ve let you keep it.” You let a small chuckle out at the compliment, thanking him. 

“Are you okay? Sounds like you hurt yourself.” You point out, pointing a clawed finger in his direction. Sebastian had only stared at your massive finger, it was at least the size of two of his own, before answering that he was fine and that it was nothing to worry about. 

“I don’t mean to scare you, I only broke that camera so that we can openly talk. I have a feeling you’d be reprimanded if you were caught speaking to me.” Reiterating your earlier thoughts to the repairman, hoping to dissolve some of the tension between you and him. 

The lights above had flickered when you said that, causing both of you to jump lightly. 

“It’s fine, I understand.” His voice was so silky, you wondered what a handsome guy like him was doing in a place like this. He really should’ve been a model. Wait, what were you thinking?? 

Sebastian was just some random employee who was terrified of you, he would be no way interested in you anyways since you were.. This amalgamation of various DNA’s from sea animals.  

“So.. what'ya go to college for?” You casually ask, trying to pick up conversation. Your claws folding together as your thumbs rested onto one another, your second pair of hands resting against the floor.  

“How did you know I went to school?” 

“Well, no one is that good with wires without experience. So, I just assumed.” You let out a small chuckle. Since when did you have a sudden personality change? 

“Plus, UrbanShade likes their staff well educated.” 

Sebastian had made a humming noise at your statement, Glancing away from you to the red and blue wires in the wall, determining what to do. 

“I majored in Engineering. Got my Bachelor’s degree, but I planned on being something better than a handyman.” 

Grabbing his wire cutter and then placing his soldering iron on the floor in front of him. Just as he was about to cut his first bunch of damaged wires, the fluorescent lights from above completely cut out. 

A groan was heard throughout the room, coming from the repairman. 

Although you could see perfectly fine, you knew he couldn’t. Fortunately your new friend rummaged around in his tool box for a flashlight. Sebastian grabbed the base of the light source, pushing the button for it to turn on. 

A yellow-ish illumination erupted throughout the room, quickly filling up the dark space within its beam. The repairman released a relief sigh, turning to the east wall.. Only for the torch to go completely out. 

“Dammit..!” 

Shaking the torch desperately, it wouldn’t respond. Great , he thought. Now he would have to go all the way back to storage just for some batteries. Turning away from what he assumed was the wall, he started to head for your cell’s exit. 

You would admit, it was kind of funny seeing Sebastian stepping carefully and feeling his way through the dark. However an idea popped up into your head. 

“Wait-! Just-” 

Sebastian stopped all his movements and turned his gaze in the direction of your voice. Your eyes were still visible in the dark, being his sense of where everything in the room was. But when he noticed that your head was moving, it scared him just a little bit. 

“You don’t have to leave, here-”

You had slithered out of your cave, brushing off your clothes to look ‘presentable’. You wanted to provide a good introduction afterall. Sebastian had widened his eyes at just how tall you were, evident by where your eyes were. 

“Let me show you.” 

You grabbed your esca and pulled down like a lamp, dazzling up the room with your ‘organic’ lightsource. Sebastian had cowered back at the sudden brightness, eyes squinting in defense. Opening his eyes fully, he was finally able to see what you looked like. 

It was nothing he was expecting. 

You were much bigger than he imagined. Long scaly tail and lighter colored underbelly than the rest of your skin. You had hair, which he didn’t think you’d have. The sharp claws you possessed made him worry, but obviously he knew you had sharp claws from the damage on the walls. What he thought was odd was the strange dots on your face, they looked like individual freckles. Three on each cheek.

The coat and shirt you had on was also kind of cute. Those two items granted you some charm, though the repairman wouldn’t admit that. 

You were oddly beautiful, in your own way.

You couldn’t help but notice his stare, taking in your features. You felt gross, like he was looking at an alien. Why was he staring so hard? 

“I’m disgusting, aren’t I?” A small whisper slipped out of your mouth, slinking yourself down to make yourself seem smaller. You’ve scared the staff in this building before, what’s another? 

“No, you’re- You’re just not what I expected.” Sebastian explained as he straightened his back, walking back over to the wall and tossing his junky flashlight into the tool box. He knelt down to grab the wire cutter and shoving the heat shrinks in his pockets. 

“You’re definitely something different, but still.. pretty” His awkward tone clearly suggested that he didn’t know what he was saying, but was saying it to make you feel better. He didn’t think you were scary, maybe too monstrously big for someone with your frail personality, but other than that you were fine. 

Your first pair of hands were fidgeting with each other while the other two wrapped around the other. You stayed in place, did he really mean that? You hadn’t realized you were until Sebastian gestured for you to come over, slithering over quickly after.

Bending yourself down to be around a foot or two taller than your newfound friend. Your esca dangling between the two of you, kind of like a mistletoe. Stop! Get your mind out of that romance gutter, he’s just a handyman afterall. 

Sebastian had gripped his wire cutter and began his job, using his expertise to get to work. You had to be hunched over to provide good lighting for the man. The mono-yellow lamp that was genetically nailed to the frontal region of your head was doing well as an ulterior lightsource. 

Although when you try to straighten your back in order to not feel like you’ve aged a thousand years, Sebastian would make a small huff before reminding you to come back down. The size difference between the two of you was almost comical. Sebastian would have to have two doppelgangers and get them to stack on his shoulders, just to get to your impressive height. 

“How tall are you anyways?” Sebastian said to break the silence, connecting a wire or two as he did. 

“They told me I was around ten feet tall, from the top of my head to the tip of my tail.” The way you said that fact was kind of cute, like how a dog was excited to show their owner a new toy. Maybe it was because you haven’t talked to a normal person in possibly years. Still, Sebastian thought it was cute.  

“Damn, you’re long.” The phrase had come too quickly out of the man’s mouth, surprising himself and you. You couldn’t help the cacophony of giggles and cackles that escaped your mouth, and Sebastian had fumbled trying to explain that it wasn’t what you were thinking. 

Your giggle was also kind of silly, reminding him of a cartoon character. Your tail flapping happily at the funny phrase. During that whole giggle fit, your lure was flickering the whole time. It seems it reacts to certain emotions. 

“It’s okay, I know what you mean” You say, wiping a faux tear from your eye. You had a smile on your face.

Sebastian only shook his head with a small smirk, going back to work on the wires. You only watched him work, with the occasional questions on how wiring works and how he was doing it so easily. 

As he would explain the questions you asked, his eyes occasionally flicked to you before looking back on his work. Random sparks would come out and nick his fingers with their small embers, causing him to exclaim like he did earlier as he now put the heat shrinks on the exposed wires. 

You yawned and went to grab stretch your back, when as you were bringing yourself Sebastian’s hand flew up to grab your lure, preventing you from back out again. Forcing your light to stay in place and in his firm grip, he used the heat gun to shrink the heat shrinks (who would’ve guessed).

You, on the other hand, were positively flustered. You hadn’t expected the handyman to grab your esca. Or at least not like that. You could feel your nerves quaking as he continued to hold it in his hands. It was dumb how it was easily affecting you. 

Sebastian had let go of your lure after fully repairing a part of the wires where you clawed in the walls. Shortly after that, the obnoxious lights from above flickered for just a second before ceasing proving that they were nearly fixed. You gave a lazy cheer before going to stretch your back (mostly trying to hide your face since he could most definitely see your reaction from the ‘grabbing-your-lure’ thing)

The pops of your back echoed in the room.

“Don’t think we’re done yet, we still have those ones to do.” The handyman pointed at the rest of the metal streaks in the wall. You inwardly sigh before lowering your head down again and letting Sebastian continue for work for what seemed like hours. 

During that time, the two of you got to bond over simple things like movies or hobbies (granted you’ve been stuck in this facility for at least ten years, so it was mostly Sebastian dumping info on you from the outside world).

You found yourself laughing at some of the dumb jokes he had slid in every now and then, and you found yourself wondering why. It made you question even further when he would laugh at your small jokes too, sometimes a little too hard. Maybe he just wanted to make you feel better so you wouldn’t cringe at your own behavior, who knows.

Either way you still continued.

By the time it was required for Sebastian to leave (even if he didn’t fix all that needed to be fixed, for safety reasons) it was definitely overdue. You now knew more about Sebastian than you ever thought you could, or at least not in a creepy way, and he could say the same thing about you. Looking down at his watch, his face gave a sudden look of panic. 

He had to wrap this up or who knows what would happen. Urbanshade most definitely wouldn’t like it if he got too close to their little ‘monster’. As you chatted about your past life to Sebastian, (like the pets you’ve had before or what you used to do before being stuck here for ten goddamn years) you noticed his face was a bit concerned.

“Do you need to go? You’ve been here for a long time by now.” You queried. You didn’t want to see him go so soon but you strongly understood what could happen to him, but considering he’s an employee maybe it won’t be as bad as you think it is. 

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

Silence passed over you two, your lure still hanging over the two of you. He could see the downturned expression on your face. His eyes traveled to your neck by accident and took notice of your gills, how hadn’t he noticed that before? Most likely from the lighting. They fanned out whenever you sighed. 

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better.” Sebastian paused, brushing a couple strands behind his ear “I’ll probably be back in here tomorrow, to fix the rest of the wall and the camera you so rudely destroyed.”

Grabbing his toolbox and readjusting his hat, he stood upright straight. He arched his spine to pop his back, he would probably need a chiropractor for this job considering he’s bent down all the time. 

You gave a small chuckle at his joke, your face brightening. You nodded and helped him reach the door before slithering back to your cave. Waving goodbye but not before speaking.

“Thanks for talking to me, it was nice.” You sighed before continuing “I hope you weren’t too scared of me.” 

Sebastian only shook his head with a smirk on his face before waving goodbye. He then left the room after slamming his fist on the door multiple times and shouting out, making you giggle in the process.

Maybe you’ll see him again, at least you hope you will. 

Chapter Text

Waiting for Sebastian to come in the next day was longer than you expected.

The only thing that can cure your boredom was swimming in your pool, the one that connected to your little cave. After eating your daily mush, you decided to do so. Taking your shirt and coat off and neatly folding them by the ‘shore’ of the pool. 

Slipping into the water, a nice cool washed over you. You felt refreshed and started swimming forward, swishing your tail and doing the usual arm motion that humans do when treading through water. Your gills occasionally expanding when you breathed in, you have only gotten semi-used to the feeling of breathing in water . 

Due to your ‘enhancements’, you could see so much clearer underwater than you could when you were normal. It was relieving if you were to be honest, not seeing a blurred painting of blues, greens, metallic gray and black if you were human and instead seeing your pool walls. 

Someone in UrbanShade must’ve thought it was a great idea to give you interior decorating. They had placed rocks, boulders, sand and some fake coral down there to make it more homey for you. It didn’t work, but the colors of the fake coral piqued your interest when you were first shown it. 

(They decided to renovate your room one day, forcing you to be tested on for hours. Fortunately it was only one test but it was by far one of the worst ones you’ve experienced, seeing what starvation did to your new body. You think the answer would be obvious but apparently not.)

The arguably best thing about the renovation, was now that you had a place to hide away from the obnoxious lights and camera while sleeping. You were originally curled up in the corner the entire time before they remodeled a part in the floor. 

The camera was still not fixed and the east wall was still in need of repairs. You hope Sebastian will come soon. 

Sebastian mentally debated with himself if he should talk to you again. 

If his superiors discovered he was developing a relationship with one of the most confidential pieces of UrbanShade’s history, he would be severely punished. The tamest thing they could do to him was to let him off with a warning, he didn’t even want to think about the worst thing they could do to him. 

When he left your room and documented his return and progress, he was asked if he had sustained any injuries. Sebastian had declared he had none except the light burns, the sparks touching his hands and leaving small nicks that wouldn’t require any attention. 

The person he was reporting to had a surprised look on their face. When Sebastian asked why they did, the person stated that ‘Z-18’ had attacked people before. Now that piqued his curiosity and fear. 

Ever since his first attempt with successful repairs. the UrbanShade higher ups sent Sebastian down to fix it again (which you were glad about). Their reasoning? You didn’t attack him. 

If he was going to be honest with himself, he was kind of excited to see you. You were the closest thing by far to the definition of interesting. He wanted to ask questions on how you came to look like this, what Urbanshade had done to you and how you seemed to still have your mental state in tack. 

He would probably never voice those thoughts, declaring them offensive to ask. You were still a friendly creature, just a normal person in his opinion, so he imagined you would be insulted. He would be too if someone just went up and asked him “why are you a fish monster?”. 

You were kind from what he could tell from his first time meeting you, but that could’ve been a manipulation tactic. They did tell him that you were unpredictable, anything you could be saying could be a setup for something potentially harmful. Who knew with you?

You were authentic, from what he could tell. He had a sense for situations like these. It also didn’t help that you were funny, adding onto his growing fondness of you. Surely if things were different and you were still human, the two of you surely would’ve been friends. 

Wait, what am I thinking? Sebastian pondered. To Sebastian’s knowledge, yesterday and today were going to his last days repairing your room. He wasn’t the specialized handyman for you nor did he expect to be, so why was he now thinking about becoming your friend and chatting with you? Was he delusional or what?

You were a dangerous creature, you have hurt people before and you would again. That’s why he needs to keep his guard up and have to remind himself to do so. He needed to think more rationally, but he just kept going back and forth with his mind.

Having a couple conversations wouldn’t be a big deal, right? 

Brushing his hair back and placing his company-owned hat on, he put all his essentials in his tool box (double checking his flashlight for charged batteries, though your lure was helpful) before making his way down the hallways of the underwater research facility. 

Taking the swim was probably the most calming thing you could do. Idly swimming around and occasionally rolling and flipping like you were some dolphin at an aquarium had oddly relaxed you. In between your physical activities, you spent time looking for smaller rocks.

You could try breaking down the giant boulders but you didn’t feel like punching or slamming your tail against it for hours on end just for more smaller rocks. You had dozens of smaller rocks, scavenging any loose ones and adding it to your collection/hoard. 

The buzzing electricity coming from the walls and lights hadn’t bothered you too much, it was just there for the most part. You learned to tune it out after realizing it was the same thing everyday, since you didn’t bother to damage anything in there. 

Sometimes you would scoop a handful of sand and let it slowly fall from the crevices of your hand, it reminded you a lot of when you were a kid. The way the sediment fell from your palm was oddly satisfying, causing you to repeat the action. Occasionally you would use your first pair of hands to shovel a massive pile of sand and watch as it took twice as long to drain completely. It reminded you of those hourglass timers. 

You also remember the one time you tried digging to the bottom of the aquatic space, pushing ounces of sand out of your way just to see the metal floor that matched with the walls. Audibly groaning, but what did you expect?

Scrounging for loose rocks was a bust, you weren’t upset however, since it gave you something to do. You started to neatly pile the minerals into a neat collection, something you did every now and then again when you felt it. This time it would be near the ledge of your pool's entrance. 

Your four arms made it twice as fast to do so, but today you felt like doing a ‘challenge’. Just using one hand so that your mind has something to focus on. Isolation really made you bored (no shocker there), almost to the point of it being mind numbing. 

Everything about this whole situation was mind numbing. Except for all the pain and misery that came with this experience. You didn’t feel like thinking about that, mentally reminding yourself to stay in high spirits for when Sebastian comes. You don’t want to bum out the only connection you had.

Speaking of Sebastian, you should probably dry off before he comes in so that way your clothes won’t be sopping when he sees you. Since when did you care about what other people think? You took that thought back, you cared a lot. You scared people more than you’d like to admit. 

Pulling yourself out of the water, you shook yourself for the remaining stray droplets before slipping your clothes back on. Your hair soon dried as you laid on the floor in your worn out attire, yawning. 

When you felt your eyes flutter, you heard the metallic door open from the other side of the room. That woke you right up and made you crawl towards the threshold of your little cove. 

There stood Sebastian in all his ‘glory’. 

“Hey-” Sebastian called out your actual name. His hand waved awkwardly when you poked your head out and greeted him back (with more enthusiasm than you cared to admit). 

“How are you? You look pretty tired.” The handyman quipped, setting down his toolbox in front of the wall you tore apart. The metal clunk sound of the box echoed slightly. He caught himself looking into your glowing eyes when you started explaining your mood, saying how it was still as lame as usual before he came in.

“How much do you have to do before completing the repairs?” Your tone was laced with curiosity and a hint of disdain. You didn’t want him to go so soon, especially since he’s so kind and funny. 

“Just some parts in the wall that are harder to get to, then I should be done.” You sighed a little before slithering out into the open, coiling your tail and ‘sitting’ down. Checking out your clawed fingers as if you just got your nails done.

“That shouldn’t be too hard right? And the lights are on now so you don’t need my help, do you?” 

“If you want to watch, you're more than welcome.”  Sebastian kind of wanted you to watch, it would be easier to chat if you were closer than being far away (as obvious as that is). You took that opportunity to uncoil your tail and move over to be next to your acquaintance.

The feeling in your face was compelling you to bring your hand out.

Just as Sebastian began to stick his hand into the wired mess, you grabbed his wrist as quickly and gently as you could. Taking it back swiftly just as a large bundle of sparks erupted from the wall. 

This action caused Sebastian to jump slightly, tugging away from your grip. Your hand was huge compared to his, at least double the size of his own. If you were to compare, your hand was a whole knuckle and a half taller than his fingers.

You let go of his wrist and bring your mitt to yourself, folding it to match with the other one.

“Sorry.. I just didn't want you to get some pretty bad burns” You pointed at his duke with one of your second pair of hands. If the sparks did actually hit his hand, he would have some nasty scaring; his hands were already scared enough from other work he’s done. 

“It’s fine.. Just spooked me that’s all” Sebastian said before eyeing the wiring more, perplexed on how it got more violent than the other day. It could be due to other parts of the facility running more power than needed, something he surely didn't remember. 

“How’d you know that I was gonna get burned?” 

“I have this organ, somewhere in my head, that helps me sense electric fields. It formed in my head after becoming what I.. currently am. My muscles move faster to get prey quickly or chomp something fast.” You then added a quick; “Don’t worry, I won’t bite you”.

Sebastian gave you an eye roll, though it was a bit comforting to know you wouldn’t hurt him.

At least not yet , Sebastian then thought before quickly reprimanding himself for thinking negatively. 

“It helps me out when avoiding certain electrical things or objects that may not seem so extreme, like exposed wires or a big predator. On the contrary, it also helps me detect food or find stuff like batteries.”

“So that’s why you moved my hand, because you could tell when the wires were going to spark.” 

You nodded with a smile, your first pair of manus interlocking while your second pair were crossed. The fascination in Sebastian’s eyes was something unlike you’ve ever seen, like a child-like wonder. 

“Can you tell me more?  What do you mean it ‘formed’? Is that why you have those spots on your face? How does your sense work? How far does it even go?” The handyman had rapidly fired his questions before you could even react, surprising you with just how interested he was. 

“-One question at a time, please” You laughed just a little, your ear-fins wiggling

“Right, sorry about that.” Sebastian said, coughing into his hand. “So, how does your sense work exactly and how far does it go?”

“It works with these things called electro-receptors that I have in my face, it came with the organ. It took the people who were working on me a long time to actually get it to function, but when I was transformed into.. this . It was much easier. Humans don’t have any electro-receptors, just something you weren’t developed with.” 

Sebastian seemed to mentally note what you just told him, humming as he processed the information. He made small comments about the three pores on each of your cheeks. He turned his attention back and forth between his tool box, the east wall, and you. 

“My sense is pretty short compared to a normal shark, only around a hundred miles. I’m pretty good at keeping it from bothering me, since it's much more effective underwater. I can tell where an electric field is coming from depending on the pressure I feel in my head, sometimes it causes massive migraines.” 

The handyman nodded with extreme intrigue

“That’s pretty cool! How did your ‘organ’ form?”

You sighed deeply before mentally debating whether to tell Sebastian of your past, more specifically what those scientists did to you. You can still feel your legs kicking from when they had you strapped down, when they first started working on you.

How would Sebastian react to what you’ve been through against your will? He had an idea, but not the entire story. You don’t know if he would be ready to hear that. The look on your face was despondent.

“Can I tell you next time?” You quietly asked, Sebastian quickly got the hint that you didn’t want to talk about it and nodded. Refocusing the subject from your sixth sense, the repairman got an idea.

“You want to help me with the wires?” Your eyes widened slightly, he needs your lure? The lights were on, he didn’t need it. The visual confusion on your face cued the repairman to continue.

“I want to see what you can do, and teach you a thing or two if you don’t know anything.” Sebastian’s nonchalant attitude about possibly teaching you was reflected in his body movement, casually analyzing the cables in between glances at you. He was waiting for your response. 

“A-Are you sure? Wouldn’t your superiors be mad?” The shake in your voice was well hidden. You would be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t just a little bit scared of UrbanShade, considering the amount of heinous crimes they commit nearly everyday, but instead you were more scared for Sebastian. 

“I won’t tell if you won’t” He coyly winked before gesturing towards the broken camera. 

Oh, you did break that camera, you kind of forgot about that. You couldn’t help but feel flushed when he nictated his eye at you, since when was the last time anybody has done that to you? It must’ve been years and it made you feel special for once. 

Sebastian flicked his hand and told you about a section of wires he hadn’t fixed yet, that he was originally going to fix today before his proposition. His first test for you was to identify compatible wires. 

Your attention was dragged to the cables just like yesterday. Meanwhile Sebastian went to his toolbox, searching for a handful of heat shrinks and a handheld butane torch. The heat gun was too big now for the part in the wall you two would be working on. 

“Alright, we’re going to start with connecting wires.” He brought a broken wire and another wire that were across from each other, using the wire-cutter to first cut the ends of them. Now that the cables were more exposed, he instructed you on how to curl them together. 

“Take this heat shrink and put it on this wire.” 

You took the little black object and slipped it onto the wire, gettin it away from the exposed nerve that was the cable. You let it sit there until the next step.

You backed up instinctively right before sparks flew.

“What next?” 

“Tie those cables, and then after slip the heat shrink on the curl.” 

You leaned in, getting your fingers closer to the exposed electrical cables. Pulling them together and wrapping them around each other. With your strength, it made them easier to pull and manipulate. You then slid the black heat shrink on the tie like the repairman instructed.

“Now-” Sebastian said while handing you a handheld Butane torch, “I want you to warm up the heat shrink until it shrivels up.” You experimented with the tool, pressing its trigger and seeing a sharp blue flame shooting forward. You had jumped a little, although you were expecting it, and felt embarrassment flush your body. 

Sebastian had only laughed at your action, his eyes lidding and a smile lining his face. He looked straight out of a dream and it stunned you, leaving you to gaze at his features once more. Quickly shaking yourself out of it, you got to work. 

Cooking the heat shrink around the cables, your first wire was finished. 

“Good, now do that with the rest of them! Don’t worry about the ones that are too short, I can deal with those.” 

You quickly nodded with a toothy smile, showing off your sharp teeth. You then quickly got to work on the ones you were capable of doing, working diligently as Sebastian analyzed your training. A sudden feeling of unease erupted in his chest, reminding him of your monstrous status, before brushing it off. 

Why was he teaching you to do wires? This was heavily against protocol and he could literally get fired for this, but for some reason in him, he didn’t care. Realistically this would be a bad idea, a terrible one in fact, but the camera was broken and as long as you wouldn’t snitch (while he highly doubt you would) you two would be fine. 

You would back up as soon as you sensed sparks would fly, making sure you wouldn’t get hurt. With your sense of electricity and quick reflexes, you could dodge in a split second before going back to work. 

You watched the cables as your hands braided them, a delicate process where you could actually use your ability for good instead of tracking when a person walked down your hall or when someone would enter a room with a keycard. 

Sebastian’s thoughts ran wild in his head, should he really be getting closer to you? You were just an experiment, a human experiment unfortunately, but why did he feel compelled to make you laugh and smile? Maybe because of all the torment he imagined you’ve been through, he had kept him up at night when he collected all of the times you would reference your transformation. He wanted to ask, but he wouldn’t know how you’d react. 

“Seb-” You drew out the nickname before you shouted; “Sebastian!!”

Your voice reverberated throughout the room, forcing the mentioned man to jump in place and enter a state of light scare before shaking it off. Holding his head to stabilize himself before glancing back at you. One thing he noticed out of the corner of his eye that your tail was wagging like a dog. 

You must be happy to show him your work, rinsing and repeating what you had done with the first one, and you thought you did pretty good. It was pretty cute seeing your flukes wiggle in anticipation.

“Look, I did good right? If not, I don’t know how we can fix it..” You admit with a coy finger scratching your head, your second pair of hands interlocking and your thumbs fidgeting with each other. 

You had double checked each connection to see if they looked proper, or what you thought proper looked like. Sebastian brought his attention to your handiwork, and was pleasantly surprised that you had connected the wires with ease. 

Of course, you didn’t do the short wires like he instructed. The heat shrinks on the cables were good, if not a bit tacky, and they would do the trick until the next time you decided to lash out. He would have to clean it up later while attaching the shorter cables on his own. 

“Good job! You’re better than some of the other handymen down here, and they’re professionals-” He had whispered the last part under his breath, examining your work further by brushing his fingers through carefully. 

You resisted the urge to hum excitedly, it was nice to finally have some praise. 

“For your first time, you did really well. Gold Star for you.” He chuckled at his own joke before looking back at you. Your smile grew wider at his approval, was he just saying that to make you feel better or did he really mean that? Either way, you couldn’t care less. Positive reinforcement was positive reinforcement after all. 

“Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you.” You moved yourself back a little to give himself some space, knowing he would work on the shorter wires. You didn’t want to be in the way. 

Sebastian let out a quick ‘No problem’, before he started getting to work. Every so often you would warn him of incoming sparks and he naturally moved his hands out of the way, preventing further injuries on his hands (although you don’t know why you didn’t warn him initially when he first visited). 

In the meantime, you would ask questions again about the outside world and what he liked. Much like last time he came in. He revealed that he had a pet cat at home, his name being Bradee, and how he was apparently a ‘really cute’ one in fact. He mentioned a few other things he liked, like certain street foods, movies, and video games. 

You promptly asked him to explain the movies and the video games. 

You felt old when he explained all of these new things, like how great games had gotten according to the handyman. (You really have been stuck in here for a long time, huh?)

How life-like they were currently, and how he gushed about a certain game about fighting an angel in some futuristic game. It was endearing to see Sebastian describe the things he enjoyed most. 

He had also mentioned that he had a younger brother and an older sister. His family probably missed him dearly considering he was thousands of feet underwater in a research facility. Your eyes glimmered at the mention of family, missing your own back home. You wonder if they still miss you, considering you were told that you were ‘legally’ dead. 

You held in a sigh as he continued to chat.

He proceeded to work diligently at the cords in the east wall, nearly done with the entire wiring process. You were feeling somber as you realized that he would have to leave soon, what else could you break in order for him to come back? 

You already did the wall and the camera, what else? 

Maybe you had to physically destroy the lights above? Cause only so much damage that it would just be Sebastian and not some other chump tagging along. You’ve grown to really like Sebastian, he was different from every other employee who dared venture into your room. 

Were you thinking a bit strangely? Yes, there was no doubt about that. Sebastian was your only friend after all, you weren’t trying to be weird, and everyone else treated you like a monster. 

Looking at his watch, Sebastian would be finished in less than fifteen minutes. He felt kind of bad for leaving you by yourself, he probably wouldn’t see you again anytime soon after fixing that camera. He felt.. unhappy, for some reason.

“Are you almost done with the wall? Is that why your face looks like that?” You say while pointing a clawed digit at him, he glanced at you with a small smirk. 

“Yeah, I just need five minutes-” You cut him off by warning him of the sparks, he promptly does so. He gave you a nod before returning to work. He connected the last wire, now time to connect the shorter wires. Also known as his least favorite part of his job because it took so much time out of his day.

Fishing out a gizmo in his tool box, he sighed out loud before getting to work. 

You cheered internally realizing he was going to stay longer, jeez why were you such a weirdo?? 

You slithered closer to watch the soldering process, and it seemed complicated to you. As you watched him work you began to understand. He was really skilled, although that was obvious, and it impressed you immensely. 

You really hoped that lurking over his shoulder didn’t make him uncomfortable, but in reality he only felt a single ounce of fear. You were still big and intimidating after all. He knew you didn’t hold any ill intent, despite his natural instincts telling him differently.

Soon after, Sebastian’s job was done and he could clock off. 

“You have to go now, huh?” Your voice broke the silence. Backing off as he placed his tools back in the portable box, but first standing up straight and popping his back (a ritual for him basically). 

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Sebastian then grabbed his toolbox by its handle and looked up at you, a glint in his eyes that you couldn’t quite describe. 

“I’ll probably be in tomorrow, or sometime else this week, I’ll have to fix that camera” He reminded you yet again, you gave him a playful eye roll. Your tail slides to move under you, coiling and acting as a seat. 

Sebastian couldn’t help but think of how warm that might be, how warm you might be. Wait, what!? Why are you thinking like that? Get it together! Sebastian thought. 

“How many times are you going to remind me?” You sigh, adding a dramatic hand flick to give the sentence some flare. You had slinked yourself down to make yourself seem smaller, trying to be on with Sebastian’s height. 

“As many times as I want.” His last word was drawn out. He made his way to the entrance of your cell, waving you goodbye with a small smile on his face before knocking on the heavy metallic door. 

You waved one of your hands at him as the door automatically opened, via a keycard. You had examined the wiring for mental notes on how they should look. Maybe you would do something with that information, maybe you wouldn’t, who knows. 

You highly anticipated Sebastian’s return, even though he was just here, and you were giddy with the thought of him coming back. You mentally debated on breaking the lights above, whether it was a good idea before you decided to go to sleep.  

You then slithered to your cove, curling up into your use sleeping position. You rested your head on your arms that provided a decent pillow. You felt your eyes flutter as one single thought went through your head.

Why was he so dreamy ?

Chapter Text

It’s been a day or two since you’ve last talked to someone. The last person you have spoken to was one of the many repairmen of the Hadal Blacksite, Sebastian.

He was the only person who visited you (besides the scientists who would periodically check up on you) and actually had meaningful conversations with you.

Dare you say he was your friend.

That camera in the corner sat miserably, reminding you of Sebastian’s inevitable return. Or at least you hope he would.

This would be my third time coming in to repair something, Sebastian had thought when he was informed by his superiors, that he would be returning to your cell once again. Although he knew of the camera you broke, they really want him back in there soon.

When the repairman himself heard that, he felt a sweatdrop. He knew you better now, after fixing your mess. You were nice to be around and pleasant to talk to, But that didn’t mean he would let his guard down. His mind went wild thinking of what you could have possibly done to his co-workers.

Maybe something they didn’t tell him on purpose, in order not to scare him off, but he was rather curious. Did you eat someone alive? Break all the limbs in someone’s body? Suffocate them like a snake? It was morbid thinking, but he couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was a bit disrespectful to think of you like that, you don’t sound like the type to hurt someone.

But he had to remind himself that you were still both a person and a monstrosity. That you still had feelings but were intimidating to the extreme.

That thought didn’t stop him from wanting to ask his questions, you were still an amazing creature with amazing potential. He wondered what other talents you had besides your strength and electro-receptors. He questions whether he’ll ever get a more higher profiled keycard than the boring blue one he always had on him, considering that keycard was the most basic of basic keycards down here. He considers asking for one, it would be useful for certain jobs he'd have to do. 

Sebastian had important places to be and fix, he should be upped a rank. Or, at least that's what he thought.

The box that Sebastian had to hold was the new security camera. Replacing the camera would be a breeze, the wiring process at least. Getting the damn thing connected to the security room would be a struggle. The microphone on it would need to be fixed as well, but the new camera had one built in so that wouldn’t be an issue.

Sighing before checking his toolbox twice for anything missing, Sebastian set out to do his job.

You managed to entertain yourself until Sebastian came back for the next repair, thinking of things to talk about while he was gone. Maybe you were just lonely, maybe you were just weird.

You had spent the rest of your time in your little cove gathering all the stones you could from your water pool, gathering them to the entrance of your cave, and stacking them as high as you could for your boredom. You got a total of twenty-six rocks stacked before they fell down, challenging you to try again.

Your second pair of hands would grab the rocks from below and give them to your first pair. Towering them to the minute detail, the slightest hint of them toppling caused your system to be alert. The exposed nerves of the camera were going to be fixed sometime soon, so that those bastards can keep tabs on you yet again.

So much for Sebastian’s effort, you couldn’t wait to break that damn camera once it was fixed.

You honestly don’t know why they gave you rocks to play with, or even an underwater pool to begin with. It was probably due to the fact that they expect you to swim in there, which you do. But more stuff for you to throw the merrier. You started to stack them up again as your thoughts drifted.

They ended up drifting back to what Urbanshade first warned Sebastian of you, you knew they had after all. It was no surprise.

Now you wouldn’t usually attack the people who entered your room, but when you first got transformed into this creature you would. Angry and irrational while not thinking of the consequences of what this means for you.

Your tail would swing around furiously, resulting in a couple people splatting against the wall. Being the cause of internal damage to guards and/or scientists wasn’t exactly the best look on your reputation, which led to a lot of regret and why you make yourself look so feeble.

You didn’t want to hurt people, you really didn’t, but when they harass you too much they get what they deserve. Now you hadn’t killed anyone so that's a plus, you probably couldn’t live with yourself if you did.

No, don’t think about those times. Be positive, You thought. That was something that always lingered in your head. Everytime something terrible has happened to you, whether it was something as bad as failing a project or worse like getting tortured, you always had that little thought.

The small hope, although foolish, that you would get out of this damn place. Maybe revert to your old, human self where you had legs and friends and an upcoming career. Sometimes you would stay up at night fantasizing about someone who would come and save you from this mess

Now of course, you knew that wouldn’t happen. It never stopped you nor the other kind of silly fantasies you had in your head.

The lights were on finally. Delicately placing each rock and hovering them around the stature when they dared to wobble, the brightness above had really helped (despite your enhanced sensitivity to light) and you didn’t have to use your lure the whole time now.

You could sense footsteps outside of your cell, walking closer and closer with each following second. It wasn’t the guards since they don’t move often, unless it was for bathroom or lunch breaks. Hopefully it wasn’t some nasty scientist trying to poke or prod at you, when they do that it makes you want to rip them apart.

You heard the automatic door of your cell open and in walked your favorite handyman, Sebastian Solace.

“Seb! Hi!” You announce while turning your head towards his general direction as you continue to stack your stones. Your flukes and your ear-fins flapped a little as he greeted you.

“Hey, how’ve you been?” His usually hidden anxious tone was filled with a meager laid-back energy now. After his first meeting with you that was obviously filled with nerves and many ‘what-ifs’, it was easier to talk to such a beast like you. You obviously hadn’t hurt him, and Sebastian hopes you never will.

“Oh, just the usual- Staring at the wall or sleeping.” You leisurely declare as you carefully continue to stack, meticulously choosing where the next rock would sit. You were currently at twenty.

Meanwhile, Sebastian placed his toolbox and the box with the replacement camera in the corner where the old camera sat. Grabbing the wire cutter and the other repair tools he needed out of the box. Laying them done on the ground before sauntering over.

“That sounds fun, how many do you have there?” Sebastian questioned as he carefully stepped over your massive tail, now idly standing next to your much bigger figure. Watching you proceed with your task with utmost focus was endearing, you were really focused on something so silly.

“I’m now on twenty-five. I’m hoping to beat my record of thirty-five!” You made a weird hum-giggle at the end of your sentence, along with your ear-fins wiggling. It seemed you were excited about surpassing your past achievement.

“Well, when you finish beating your record.. You wanna watch me fix the camera?”

You nodded your head quickly, after the initial confusion (he was really asking your help again?) before retraining your focus back on your rock tower. The feeling of the rough rocks against your hands disappeared and reappeared constantly as you continued your task, getting you higher and higher.

You were now on twenty-seven stones stacked total. Only nine more to enhance your current performance. The buzzing feeling of excitement circulated in your veins, but you had to remind yourself to be careful. You wouldn’t want your rocks to fall on your tail, that would just mean you would have to pick them all up again and not to mention how much it hurt when the sharp edges would stab you.

It would be even worse if your tower managed to fall on Sebastian. You wouldn’t want him getting hurt on the job, especially if it was your fault.

Carefully eyeing the next stone and what side seemed more gritty, you carefully placed it. Twenty-eight.

Sebastian watched with captivated and curious leers, between you and the mineral tower. He seemed to be staring at you often, it’s not like he could help himself, you were interesting after all ( or at least that’s what he tells himself ).

Your eyes would occasionally flicker to him however when he wasn’t looking at you, expertly swapping your gaze back to the stone tower again whenever his eyes would look to you. You thought it was cute he had so much interest in you, it made you feel special.

His hands slipped to rest on his hips, but not before he decided to readjust his hair as long with his hat. Slipping the cap off of his head, running a hand through his hair, and then placing it back on all in one swift motion. The scar on his face was a sharp contrast compared to his beautiful tanned skin. Placing another rock down, you feel your confidence rise.

You held in a giggle when you witnessed Sebastian silently panic when he saw the obelisk sway. You quickly stopped it with a light finger to the top, stopping its movements before cautiously removing your digit away.

You were now on number thirty, and you were feeling good. Your tail swishing side to side, unaware of the fact that you were dangerously close to brushing against your friend. He felt his eyes draw towards your massive tail, following its repetitive motion like it was hypnotism.

His pair of optics looked at your matching flukes to observe the entirety of your tail. The pretty, randomly placed scales (or were they scutes? Sebastian would have to research later) look of your tail had reflected in the obnoxious lights. He felt like a pirate finding a rumored treasure, a pearlescent sheen coating the back of your tail. He noticed how different your tail’s back and underbelly were, obviously, with the softer look of it compared to your back. It must be more vulnerable too, since it was lighter than the rest of your body.

When did your serpentine back and your human spine begin?

Wait- Why is his mind going there? Why was he so immensely interested in you?

You had only two rocks left until you would meet your current record. Sebastian seemed to be in his head so much that he didn’t seem to notice, or he went to sleep standing with his eyes open. You didn’t mind however, you got to ogle him some more (although you knew you shouldn’t, your unintended intimidation being a factor because you didn’t want him any more anxious than he probably already is).

Jeez, you were so weird. Eyeing up your newfound friend like that is rather rude, isn’t it? You don’t really have a clue on what the social norms of today look like, so maybe it isn’t as rude as you thought to others? Those imaginary straws you were grasping to seem more normal than you actually were was kind of pathetic.

That didn’t matter, you pressed into a more important matter. You were currently on your thirty-third stone, now about to be thirty-four. Gently placing the mineral in a delicate manner on the pillar. You were really excited, something you haven’t really experienced in a long while.

Maybe it was because of your new friend. It most definitely was.

Your achievement would finally be recognized by someone, even if it was for a short while. You would also be happy with yourself, even if it was a miniscule task, if you did beat your task. Your mitt shook dangerously as you met your current achievement.

The tower was complete, but you still wanted to see how far you would go before gravity took its effects. Your enthusiasm was palpable, making a funny humming noise before directing your attention to Sebastian.

“Hey! Sebastian hey- look!” you tapped his shoulder with a claw, when he initially didn’t wake from his thoughts you placed your hand on his shoulder. Shaking gently before he returned to normal, apologizing quickly before looking at your obelisk.

The pillar was easily taller than him, as it reached your mid-stomach area. The difference in stones with size and weight was obvious. Surely one poke would knock down the whole thing, Sebastian thought. That little way of thinking caused him to lightly back up, making sure to watch where your tail was before he did, and felt more relieved that he couldn’t cause it to topple.

“You’re on thirty-five stacked right? That’s real impressive. I’m pretty sure there’s a world record for that..” He said quickly, he should look that up later.

“Yeah! My usual average is thirty before it falls over..” A small frown appeared on your face “-But I’ve been doing this for a while, so I’ve gotten good at it!” The sad fact didn’t go unnoticed by the repairman.

That reminded him quickly of something, his questions about you. He shook his head before giving you a smile, letting you know he was happy for you. Sebastian then turned his head to look at the broken camera.

That would be so much fun to fix, sarcasm lacing his thoughts. It was just about redirecting it and seeing if it actually worked, but with a new replacement it should be fine. The wires would be a pain in the ass to fix just like with the wall but it was never anything too difficult, it would just require a ladder.

He didn’t know if it would be appropriate if he asked you to be his platform while he worked on it. There was a rickety ladder, which made him mortally afraid of ever being on that thing. It had to be older than he is, the damn thing squeaked and threatened to collapse if anyone stepped on it.

He would probably need to grab it, it would be suspicious if he didn’t as well considering he’s not fifteen feet tall or so. Sighing, he aimed towards the door.

You turned your head back to him and suddenly a wave of panic. Why was he leaving so soon?! Your insecurities suddenly rush back to you, causing you to scramble mentally. Trying to find the right words but they only come out with a yelp.

“Wait-! Where are you going?” Desperate words quickly escaping your mouth, nearly toppling your tower in the process while you quickly slithered towards the entrance (just a foot or two away from the man).

The speed in which you approached said man swiftly made all of Sebastian’s system to work overtime. His eyes widened like a scared kitten and his heart missed a beat. Your worried expression eased his terror by just a little, but the man managed to contain any noise of fear or action.

“T-To get the ladder, I need it.” The repairman’s voice held its jittery effect as he spoke, soon coughing inwardly to clear it.

You could probably smell his fear, if he remembered correctly, he heard that sharks could smell fear in a movie. That wasn’t true, because if it was you would’ve picked up on it in a second.

Unfortunately, due to your electroreceptors, you can sense his heart picking up its pace in your presence. You also happened to notice his hands were clenched and his pupils dilated. Realizing you scared him, you immediately backed up and apologized profusely. Having both pairs of dukes interlocked like you would see with a beggar and connected in order to seem more debilitated.

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to.”

He gave you a wink before banging on the threshold of your cell to be let out, you slithered speedily to your little cave to avoid the guards glares. They always stared at you with sharp eyes through their visors. You knew they had little consideration for you, but you deeply cared about what they might think if you were out in the open conversing with Sebastian.

Your favorite repairmen soon exited the door after waiting for the guards to finish sliding of of their own respective keycards.

You realized your fatal mistake soon after. Your fishy lips pressing together to form a straight line after your slip-up, you’d make sure you wouldn’t do that again. Why did you run after him? You knew he didn’t exactly trust you, but he still treated you with respect. It made that warm little feeling in your chest jump as you heard his heartbeat slowly fading away, since when were you so passionate? He would be right back after all, he had to fix that camera.

Sebastian felt bad.

He felt bad that you were all alone everyday. The way you reacted when he was only getting the ladder, showing him that you didn’t want him to leave. It made his chest ache, was that guilt? His steps seemed to hurry in stride at that thought.

He thought it wasn’t fair, that the only human interaction you currently got was the guards who would take you back and forth between tests and the scientists who would do wellness checks, though these were all based on assumptions in his head.

His mind then went back and forth between trusting and letting him be vulnerable around you or completely disregarding you and doing his job. How you were just some wild animal but also a person with hopes and dreams. Since when did he mentally fight himself everyday because of you? He really needed to get it together

Nobody in this facility cared about you, he deduced, that you were just a science experiment to them. If it wasn’t obvious enough.

Sebastian shook his head of any more depressing thoughts as he edged closer to the janitor’s closet, it was only a few feet away and he would be gone and out of there in less than a few seconds.

The setting around him is something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Long gray-blue metal hallways with tubes of wiring and patches of steel clinging to the wall with a window view of the sandy, sea floor. With the occasional naval mines popping up every now and then.

His footsteps echoed loudly as he continued towards the janitor’s closet, he silently prayed that no one would be in the way.

Unfortunately, his plans were ruined by one of the janitors. Some 'joe-schmoe' who he really couldn’t care about, that wasn’t the problem however. The problem was that a high ranking guardsman that Sebastian had only seen when called for high protocol missions, or at least that’s what he assumed based on his nametag.

The guard was missing his helmet, only to be on his hip with his visor off. The middle-aged man leaned against the wall as the janitor listened. Sebastian could feel annoyance creeping up inside him, as he realized he would actually have to talk to these two people in order for them to move.

His footsteps stopped short behind the cleaner, tapping the guy's shoulder and letting him know he needed to get into the closet. The man quickly stepped out of his way with a curt apology. What Sebastian didn’t want to see out of the corner of his eye was the high-ranking guard squinting his eyes slightly, as if observing him.

Scooting into the small space, Sebastian had carefully grabbed the ladder. The old metal contraption creaked a little at the sudden manhandling, theme making his way out.

Sebastian was silently hoping that he would be ignored, but as he was walking back to your cell, he heard a voice call out to him.

“Hey, stop right there for me will ya?” The guardsman walked up behind him, giving him a cocky smile as he was in a reasonable range. The man was noticeably older than the technician, withered scars on his face and more lines on his face than Sebastian initially saw.

“Oh.. Hey- Do I know you?” Sebastian responded with suave confusion.

“No, but I know you.” A sweat drop rolled down the handyman's neck, knowing this wouldn't end well.

“Do you?”

“Yeah, you’re that one guy who’s been hangin’ with that monster in the west wing.” Sebastian quirked an eyebrow, causing him to prop up the ladder on the wall next to the two. He must’ve been talking about you.

“You mean-” He nearly said your actual name, nearly slipping up. “Z-18?”

“Yeah! That thing-” Sebastian hated the way this guy was prattling about you. This guardsman didn’t know you, not like Sebastian had come to, so how dare he be so dismissive. “I’ve heard through the ol’ grapevine that you’ve been getting sent back almost everyday for that.. creature.”

Wait, was he being gossiped about? All because he was repairing parts of your cell? Sebastian could feel his annoyance grow exponentially quicker.

“I just wanna ask you some questions real quick- like does it try to eat you? How strong is it exactly? C’mon man, I gotta know!” The guardsman insisted, like he was some high school kid begging for the latest scoop of drama.

“I don’t know if I can tell you, confidentiality, you get what I’m saying?” The handyman suggested, there was little desire to talk about you. He would’ve felt scummy if he were to do so. The officer readjusted his angular helmet to his other hip.

“Pft, yeah okay-“ The man laughed before his facial features flattened. “Actually though, tell me something.” Sebastian only mentally rolled his eyes at his pleas.

“You sure? I’m pretty sure this entire place is bugged, might get something on my record if I do.”

“Nah, you’re fine. I’m scheduled to help with some testing on that amalgamation, so getting some prior knowledge beforehand would be nice.” Wouldn’t they be informing him about you anyway? Is this guy just that desperate to get a scoop of you?

The flimsy attempt at peer pressure was kind of working on Sebastian. Sighing to himself, if it means this guy will get off his back, what's the harm?

“..Well, Z-18 is pretty big. Really big, actually.” Sebastian then began to explain your body’s length, how you were something he’s never seen before and that you were a real treasure to look at. The guardsman crinkled his face a little at the sudden praise.

Sebastian began to go in depth about your physical attributes, talking about how strong you were to nearly knock out an entire wall and how you could demolish entire boulders if you really wanted to (he didn’t know how true that was, but maybe implanting some fear in the guardsman would make him go away).

The handyman described you in such a way that the guardsman seemed to connect the dots in his head on why Sebastian was so interested in you.

“Sounds like you’re really friendly with that damn fish, you sure you don’t have a thing for it?” The officer suggested with a smug and douchey tone. The sudden statement caused Sebastian to freeze up and suddenly act in the defensive.

“What? No! I am not into that sea beast..!” His words shot out like a dog’s bark, “What makes you even say that?”

“I’m just sayin’, you seem to be infatuated with that leviathan more than you care to admit, I wouldn’t take you as fish man” The guard laughed at his own joke, causing Sebastian to take his hat off and run a hand through his hair as a way to cope with the teasing. He knew it was just a joke (or at least he hoped it was) but that still didn’t stop him from doing so.

“I’m not, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t act like you’re not falling for Z-18’s tricks. You haven’t been clawed at yet, so keep prayin’ it doesn’t get fed up with you, Mr. Solace.” The guard flicked his eyes up from Sebastian’s name tag, and then proceeded to put on his helmet and walk away.

If looks could kill, then the glare that the Chilean-American sent would’ve made that man explode into red mist. To add a little cherry on top of the dismay, the handyman threw up a middle finger. Fortunately the older guardsman didn’t notice.

If he was going to be a dick, so would Sebastian.

Grabbing the ladder, Sebastian started walking back to your room.

Chapter Text

You had beaten your record of thirty-five rocks by ten. You had to keep yourself preoccupied again when Sebastian left. You knew he would be back but for some reason this time, it felt so much longer than it realistically did. 

Your tail would flap against the ground as a tick, a tick that was filled with boredom. The rocks were the only thing keeping you in check, having the thought in mind that Sebastian would be impressed that you stacked more in the time he was gone. 

You sighed before placing your next rock. A total stack of forty-six. The tower was unstable, one wrong move would topple the obelisk down in a heartbeat. You brought a hand up to rub one of your four eyes, feeling just a tad bit tired. 

You wouldn’t sleep though, you had to be awake in order to converse with him (obviously). You slowly backed up from the rock tower before slithering towards the east wall you destroyed, checking out the wires that Sebastian and you had reconnected. You learned a lot from that little session.

You knew how to connect wires, although not the short ones (you would have to learn that on your own sometime, if you could ever leave of course), you knew how to identify which wires to properly connect to its other half, and you now knew what wires you could potentially mess up more. 

Sensing the electricity in the wall and when wires were exposed was no big deal for you, just a part of you that you’ve come to tune out. If you deeply focused on the electricity booming in the research facility, you would probably lose more of your mind than you already have. 

Sebastian’s heartbeat faded away a good while ago, you can only guess that the ladder was a fair bit away. Unfortunately, the two guards were still there, but it's not like you were surprised. They scheduled different guards to monitor your door every other day. 

The many heartbeats of UrbanShade employees kept pacing back and forth outside your cell, how you wished they would all go away or just die. You hated them, but also couldn’t bring yourself to hurt the poor bastards that entered your cell. Not all of them were guilty for what they did to you, but your hatred was indifferent 

You gently poked and prodded at the wires, feeling the currents in them skip lightly and a little smile growing on your face. It was like a jar of fireflies jumping around except they were more electrical and harmful. You wondered where these wires truly connected to, like what electric grid they fell into. 

You’ve always had questions, but never any answers.

Fortunately, the door to your cell opened up. You turned your head and your face lit up like a lost  puppy finding their owner. It was your favorite person back again!

“Hi..” Sebastian said your real name with a concealed tone underneath. The ladder hugged his hip as his arm held it in place. The metal had lightly dug into his skin, but he could care less.

“Hello! How was getting the ladder?” You moved yourself closer to him but in a calm and simple manner, not wanting to scare him again. Suppressing your happiness as you shuffled towards the camera in the corner. 

With your cell, you were fortunate enough to not be like the other subjects. Your room had no windows for someone to watch you, and they were afraid of sticking a glass observer’s point. They thought you would destroy the glass and break out, which you most definitely would have. By now, the only way you’ll escape is some poor sucker messing with your door just enough for you to rip it off its metal mechanisms. 

(But your fear of the UrbanShade higher ups and what else they could do to you sent shivers up your spine, which heavily prevented you from doing much) 

“It was alright, apparently we’re talk of the town down here.” He gave a light chuckle before removing the ladder from his hip and standing it up right. Spreading the legs apart and stabilizing it (or, at least to the best of his abilities) before grabbing the box that harbored the new camera in it. 

“Really? What have they been saying?” 

“Nothing much, just that I’ve been seeing you nearly everyday this week.” 

You only nodded in response. You were just a little flattered, people were actually talking about you? 

Revealing the new device, it looked like those classic security cameras you’d see in stores and action movies. Blocky, with one big lens. It was sleek and hasn’t seen a day of hardship, yet. Taking the small sheet of the instruction manual out for a second or two and scanning the details before leaving it back in the box. 

You eyed that, watching like a hawk as he then tossed the box next to the mechanical door of your cell. 

As Sebastian focused on adjusting the dinky ladder once again, you managed to inconspicuously move yourself without alerting your friend. It could be simply seen as you moving out of the way since he did move closer in order to properly adjust the ladder. 

It was nearly as tall as you, around ten feet tall or so. It was a six or eight step ladder, so it was no surprise it was that tall. Sebastian was fortunately tall enough so that way he could still fix the camera without needing special equipment.

You kept your eyes on the handyman as one of your second pair of arms quickly reached down to the box and lifted it behind your back, the other half of the arm pair then quietly rummaged through trying to find the little slip. Your clawed hand had seized the paper and quickly hid it in the pocket of your jacket. 

Fortunately Sebastian hadn’t seen anything, too busy gathering the courage to actually get on the ladder. 

Now, he wouldn’t admit it (deeming it a bit embarrassing but more so silly) but he had a small fear of heights. That wonky ladder only enhanced that, he could slip and break his ankle or something similar or the sorts. 

The repairman had stored the tools he needed in the pockets of his uniform, they sat comfortably and firmly in there. 

Sighing, Sebastian took his first step on the device. It creaked a little but the handyman powered through it. The new camera was pressed onto his hip just like when it was in the box and each step made it a little looser in his hold, but that was irrelevant as the repairman grew closer to the top of the ladder.

The light shake of the man’s legs was noticeable, or at least it was for you. Seeing his legs wobble back and forth before he cautiously took another step, the ladder then creaked and caused Sebastian to exhale. 

“Do you want me to hold down the ladder? You seem.. nervous.” Your kind words echoed through the room. Then, a pair of tentative eyes connected to your glowing ones when Sebastian turned his head. You held a small smile on your face, trying to look as friendly as possible.

“If you could- please.” 

Your smile widened as you locomoted to the side of the elderly ladder. Getting close and then gently placing your first pair of hands up higher on the ladder while your second pair goes to stabilize the lower parts.  Sebastian sent a nod you way before calming himself down by breathing in through his nose and out his mouth. 

He then grabbed the camera and got to work. A trickle of sweat went down Sebastian’s neck as he continued to work, not exactly liking the height he was currently at. Maybe he was being a little too anxious about his small phobia, you had him covered after all. The ladder would continue to creak despite your help. 

“So how’s it going up there?” You ask, even if you’re right where his feet were planted at. You looked up at him to see the clear focus on his face. He then looked down at you and gave a small smile. 

“It’s pretty nice, now I know how you feel.” Sebastian let a little chuckle fall from his lips, his hands working hard on the connection of the new camera. He occasionally swapped out tools from his pockets depending on what he needed to tweak, overall it was a harmless procedure. 

“Must be a first, huh?” You took one one of your hands off temporarily to gesture towards the faint shakiness in his legs.

“Not exactly, but I don’t like being on ladders.” Sebastian shuffled some of his hair behind an ear before letting his hands get back to work, “It’s the heights I don’t appreciate , if you get what I mean.” 

“ Especially a ladder that looks like it’s from the 60’s.” 

You let out a ‘ohhhh’ even though it was obvious, playing coy. You liked it when Sebastian would brush his hair behind his ear, it made it easier to see his face. He really was a handsome man, you’ve never seen someone with a beauty like his before. His nose scar being the most distinct. 

“Heights not your favorite thing? That’s understandable” You then proceeded to state one of your fears, hoping that Sebastian wouldn’t feel sorry about his phobia. Sebastian nodded. 

The last wire Sebastian had to connect to the camera was a little farther in the arm of the camera, forcing him to get one of his smaller tools out from his pocket. His arms reached further and his feet went to stand on their tips. 

His legs grew exponentially shakier at the sudden struggle, wobbling in place and in return rattling the whole ladder. Sebastian was mentally cursing himself out and telling himself to calm down. Why couldn’t he control himself, especially now that it would literally be a life or death fall. 

You immediately took notice and readied yourself in case Sebastian couldn’t fix his steadiness, removing your hands to hover instead. That made it relatively worse for Sebastian. 

Next thing you saw was Sebastian falling in the air and your strong arms extended outward, catching the much smaller man. 

Sebastian had let out a yelp when he initially fell back, bundling up instinctively when he collided with your upper pair of limbs. Your claws carefully curled around Sebastian’s side, holding him with little to no effort, he was surprisingly light. 

You could feel some of the hidden muscles beneath his uniform, and you felt like a weirdo for even noticing that detail. His hair was a tad bit messy from his fall and his chest deflated and then inflated, he looked like a scared kitten. 

The feeling of another person’s touch had sent a shiver down your spine, never feeling it in a respectful or harmless way in a decade. He was plush and it was similar to how a child would hold a plush toy. He radiated warmth, which was no surprise considering all humans do, but it was comforting to feel it. 

“Are you okay?” Your voice had gently rung out, your four glowing eyes looking downwardly at the man in your arms. Your hair frames your face in a way that Sebastian couldn’t think properly, for some reason, the features of your face seemed to glow when he was in your arms. 

The lure that connected to your head dangled carelessly, your gills poking out of your neck adding a dash of peculiarity to your already odd person, Your massive size, your ‘freckles’ that connected to your electro-receptors. He couldn’t help but hyper analyze you in this exact moment. 

The eventual prone silence of Sebastian just.. Staring at you caused you to wave one of your extra hands in his face, calling out his name excessively. Sebastian eventually came back to reality and apologized with a stutter.

You only gave him a toothy smile, hoping that your sharp teeth didn’t spike fear into him. His eyes widened just a tad bit before reverting back to normal. 

“Let me ask again, are you okay? You’re not hurt in any way?” You say in your previously concerned tone, bringing a hand up to brush a hair out of his face like he did to himself earlier. 

Sebastian quickly nodded his head in confirmation, causing you to chuckle out at his silly reaction. You then readjusted your favorite handyman from cradling him in your arms to holding him up by the armpits. 

“Y’know, I didn’t realize how small you were until now.” You barked out a laugh at the realization that Sebastian was petite compared to you. Sebastian only rolled his eyes, not realizing his face was emitting heat. 

You could see it, and it warmed up your fishy heart. You then placed the handyman feet first on the ground. 

“Thanks, for catching me.” Sebastian had said the sentence a bit too quickly for his own liking. Cringing internally at his awkwardness. 

You only replied by saying ‘No problem’ and suggesting that he should take a break. Sebastian had only rubbed his forehead and agreed, finding himself lying against the wall before fully sinking down and taking his place on the floor beside you. He knew he shouldn’t get too close to you, that would only be bad on his part, but he really couldn’t help himself. 

You followed suit and coiled yourself up, relaxing into the wall as he did. 

The two of you sat next to each other for a minute or so before you decided to break the silence. 

“..Is there anything you wanna talk about before you get back to work? Something you can’t keep inside anymore?” A curious voice asked, coming from your throat. Your flukes idly swaying from side to side as you gazed back at the tanned man. 

Sebastian had to think about that question. He desperately wanted to know more about you, to the point in his free time he debated on whether or not to steal your classified file (He knew you had one because when he was first called into this job, he saw one of his superiors hold it with such vigor he thought his superior was going to crumple the whole thing up). He still didn’t know how you would feel opening up to him about what caused you to be in your current state. Not to even mention what he called you earlier when he was speaking with that guardsman. 

‘ Sea Beast ’, Sebastian thought. It made a tiny frown lace his face. Why did he call you that? He didn’t believe that you were a beast. You were a person. It made his chest feel heavy at the insult that you were unknowingly called. 

“Hey,” You call out, placing one of your second pair of hands on his shoulder as lightly as you could. “You can ask me whatever question, or questions, that are plaquing you. I won’t be mad.” 

The look on your face almost caused Sebastian to short circuit, why was he being so odd?? The thoughtful look on the repairman’s face caused you to say something, anything. You knew he was curious about you, everyone who ever interacted with you was curious. That was just part of being a monster. 

“You won't?” 

“I won’t.”

Sebastian sighed, gathering his bearings mentally and popping his knuckles as a nervous tick. 

“So.. why are you the way you are? Physically, I mean.” The visible awkwardness of Sebastian was evident. Your eyes only widened before reverting back to normal. Sebastian kept flicking his eyes back and forth between the floor and you, feeling bad almost immediately. 

“Hey, don’t worry.” You start, lowering your head and tilting it so that you can attempt to see his face. You could see his shame creep into his face. “It’s a good question, don’t feel bad.” You say with a stunted bubbly tone, trying to brighten Sebastian’s mood. 

“You sure? You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to..” Sebastian had trailed off before your second pair of hands found his laxed ones, your first pair reaching up to place themselves on the sides of his head. 

“Yes. I’m positive” That was all you said before you removed your hands from his face, but not your second pair still holding his own. 

You opened your mouth, hesitating for a second, before you started speaking. 

________________________________

The year was 2014.  

You had been locked up for weeks, being framed for crimes you had not committed. From light crimes to murder. You had no clue how you were wrapped up in this at all, you had an alibi and you didn’t even know the guy. The evidence however, declared otherwise. Your hair was seen at the crime and the weapon having your fingerprints on it. 

How did your fingerprints even end up on the weapon? 

You were not there, you had expressed that numerous times, but no matter how many times you claimed your innocence they would not listen. 

The opposing lawyer against your own state attorney was surely a battle of wits and records.  

The lawyer against you harshly informed everyone in the room that you were a cold blooded killer and that the evidence was irrefutable. You wanted to desperately deny it, knowing for a fact you were innocent, but your attorney would look your way with a head shake and silently demand you not say a word. 

Your eye bags sagged immensely, you kept running your hands over your face due to all the stress. Your leg constantly bouncing up and down as you had to resist crying in front of the entire courtroom. 

Your family and friends waited anxiously in the benches, praying on their lucky stars or whatever they believed in that you would be miraculously found innocent and walk away from this with little to no issue. That was a pipe dream though, it was never as simple as that.  

You wanted to go up there and wipe the smug little smirk off the lawyer's face when he would point out a piece of ‘proof’ that you were a murderer. However, that would only feed into your current image. 

After a long back and forth of the two law masters battling tooth and nail over your incarceration, you were called up to the stand. 

You were forced up to the wooden podium, a depressed state of being making you look even worse. The courtroom was filled with so many people that you couldn’t even count them all, not to mention that you were disorientated. The people in the room were whispering amongst themselves, darting their eyes from you to their loved ones, and giving you nasty glares and stink eyes. 

Each question shot at you like a bullet, causing your ‘confidence’ to dwindle each and every second as you tried your best to answer with information that was relevant to the case. Your stuttering did not reflect well and when you started getting louder repeating your story time and time again, the jury did not know how to react to it. 

The rival lawyer only smiled at your display, it was like beating a baby at chess.

Soon after, you quieted down before trying your best to repeat your tale of innocence. The individuals in the room watched with distasteful stares. Your hands shook desperately, the small repetitive noise of you tapping your fingers against the stand was heard by the judge and his head turned to you in disapproval. 

You had to place your hands to stabilize yourself on the wooden stand, keeping them in one place surprisingly as the accuser spat more questions. 

Eventually it came to a point where the jury had to decide whether you were innocent or not. Your alibi was not enough and the evidence that went against you was too good. The verdict was over, and everyone including yourself knew what your fate was.

The judge had slammed his hammer against the gavel, hushing everyone in the room to officially hear the response from the jury. They declared that you were guilty.

The judge had said more about your life sentence but you had felt yourself drift away mentally. You definitely knew that you had a life sentence, how couldn’t you? The corpse was mangled and abused beyond belief. You were fucked.

You fought back the urge to cry, trying to make less of a fool of yourself than you already have. Your family had cried out claiming that it was untrue. The crowd in the room watched as the officers approached you with cuffs in hands. The only thing you could do was helplessly hold your wrists out as the cold cruel handcuffs encapsulated the joints at the end of your forearms. 

During your walk out, about a dozen camera flashes blinded you in less than a second. Your case had gotten big due to how gruesome the murder and your other ‘crimes’ had gotten. A thousand voices clamored together and rang through your head like the loudest church bell in the world. 

They were asking questions left and right, some being directed towards the officers and some being towards you. New station vans were parked outside and closest towards all the chaos that was your court case.

Their dirty microphones were getting shoved willy-nilly into the stairway, fortunately the police officers took most of the brunt instead of you. You felt your nerves go hay-wire at the sudden attention and how this will be your legacy. How you ‘murdered’ someone in a fashion so gruesome that even the devil shivered. 

Getting shuffled off and into the cops car, you looked out the window and realized this was your last time you would see the outside world. Tears trickled down your face before the vehicle drove off. 

You sat in that prison cell for what seemed like forever before someone came and visited you. 

It wasn’t your family, or any of your friends, but a lady in a suit. 

She was dressed in a suit that you assumed was worth thousands, ironed down so that there was no wrinkle in sight. The suitcase she had in her left hand was big but classy. A pin was strapped to the left side of her chest, a logo. It was similar to a star, but with what seemed to be a little crystal in the center. 

She had looked down at you with a blank expression, nothing that could alert you. You were scanning your eyes over this lady, why would someone like her coming to see you. The woman smiled before speaking.

“Hello- “ The woman said your first and last name, causing your face to scrunch slightly. “You may not know me but I know you.” Your heart skipped a beat at that sentence. What the hell?

“Who doesn’t at this point? I’m on the news in every damn place that has a TV.” You reply with a tired voice, not wanting to deal with this shit right now. You were exhausted and had no clue what your future had in store, although you had a pretty good idea: you’d be eating the same shitty food everyday and getting shanked by homemade prison knives. 

“Well, when you’re done being moody, I have a proposition for you.” You rolled your neck in a sluggish act, popping the joints in the area. You straightened up a little at the possible idea that you may be able to escape this place.

You nodded, letting the woman continue her proposal. 

“We want to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity. One that will pardon you from your life sentence and free you from a life of hatred and hurt.” Your ears perked up at that, she couldn’t be serious right? Who’s ‘We’? 

“Where you can help people, make lives better, and learn a new thing or two.” She said with a faux smile, a smile that you couldn’t detect if there was any false hood. She saw the way your eyes sparkled, curiosity laced them like a cat, and she smiled wider at it.

“This is the only opportunity you have before you’ll be locked in this place for the rest of your miserable life.” Her sudden insult against you did not go unnoticed, causing you to narrow your eyes in disdain. 

“Now, you only have one choice. Stay here and rot or come with me.” You had only stared at her in disbelief. There was no actual way that you would be saved just from some.. Government job? That’s what you assumed anyways. If you’re getting pardoned to do this, you could only assume that it was confidential. 

You kept mentally going back and forth on whether you should take this opportunity. It seemed sketchy but at the same time you could literally die in prison and the guards would care less, just another prisoner to them. 

“I am going to leave now if you can’t make your mind up, maybe the next prisoner will make up their mind.” She says before the click of her heels start, you immediately panic and reach out. When you did reach out you immediately met the bars as your arms poked through the bars, desperately calling the lady back. 

Her heels stopped, the momentary silence that followed made your heart pick up its rate. The sound of her heels picked back up and you could only sigh in relief as you realized they were coming back for you. She then looked down at you, like you were a piece of meat, and then grabbed a key from her pocket. 

“You made the right decision.” She said before walking away, expecting you to follow her. You did, like a lost puppy. Your orange jumpsuit sticking out like a sore thumb next to the lady’s professional office attire.

You opened your mouth to ask a question but were promptly cut off by the fancy woman. 

“Now that you have agreed to this, you will be now classified as deceased. Your friends and family will know of your ‘death’ in a month or two.” How rude, all you wanted to ask was where you were going. 

The next second you opened your mouth to ask, she interrupted you again

“I’m sure you’re wondering ‘where are we going?’. I can’t exactly tell you. It’s confidential and you won’t need to know either way.” 

You sighed before following the woman to an armored vehicle outside, your nerves ticking up immediately at the sight of armed guards. You were ushered into the vehicle and two of the militaristic men joined you, you were forced to sit between the heavily armored men.

That was the most awkward and stuffed moment of your life. 

Eventually, you were deemed a LR-P. A low ranked prisoner meant for experiments and testing. How you regret taking that woman's offer. Why did you take her offer?! You were so stupid, you should never just blindly trust someone! 

You were stuffed into a small cell, it was so small it bordered on being claustrophobic. A small bed, a small bathroom that only housed the bare necessities (including a shower that was very small and had no curtains), and a camera sat in the corner of the room. You glared at that camera like it was the one who put you in here, but in reality it was you. 

This was your fault, blindly accepting a proposal like that was idiotic and you’d much rather die in a prison than in.. whatever this place was. That’s what you initially told yourself.

They had put a bag over your head, so you couldn’t mentally map this place out if you wanted to escape, if escape was even possible . 

You were injected with something, the syringe was filled with some odd liquid. You asked what it was and all they said was it would help with your purpose. You didn’t think much of it at the time but it was really a mixture that would help your body properly adapt to the upcoming trials your body would endure. The multiple animal DNA they had on standby would prove useful after sitting there for what seemed like forever. 

Speaking of your first animal DNA, it was a shark one. They hooked you up with tubes that directly lead to your blood streams, and not to mention they placed you in a glass case to watch your experiment fully and take notes. 

The first time was awful . 

The blaring hot pain coursing through your entire system made it feel like you jumped into a pit of lava, your body twitching and thrashing wildly like you were a zombie. Your brain felt like it was on fire, every neuron jumbling violently, and it felt like you were getting the most painful  lobotomy ever discovered by man in the worst way possible. 

You were forced to remove your clothes beforehand, for the experiment to properly work without any other elements including cotton. Stripped of your dignity, you tried your best to remain modest by using your hands to cover yourself. That was only shot down as the scientists observing you told you to quit it, and that it was unnecessary. 

You were a science experiment now, no time for human decency. 

When you were rescued from the tube temporarily, you were sent back to your cell. Your person seemed fine until you started developing an inhuman skin tone. Your current skin cells at the time were deteriorating off your person in flakes, and it made your skin unbearably itchy, causing you to scratch yourself in order to fend off the irritation. 

Eventually your skin was replaced with a new one, a color you weren’t too upset about if you were to be honest. However, you were still angry that you had a new skin to even begin with. You were surprised to see your hair still on your head, but nowhere else on your body. The scientists looked at you inquisitively before jotting down notes about your current condition. 

Your head started pounding, like something was in your head and banging on the inside of your skull. Like there was something tearing and making room for itself, tearing tissue and other things in its wake. You switched in between clutching your skull and ripping skin off. 

Of course there was blood coming out of you in the process. You thought at one point that you would bleed out and this would be considered mercy. It dripped onto the floor in heaps and you nearly slipped on it when trying to walk out and seek help, not even noticing the small tail developing at the bottom of your spine. 

When you screamed and moaned on the floor as you clawed at yourself, the scientists only took note of your current form from their camera. 

After removing most of your old skin off, you felt yourself shaking from the enormous amount of blood loss and stress from the overall situation (You were still surprised to this day on how you survived). Tears shed down your new face, you called out for your family. You called out for someone to save you from this. 

The next day you were given a replacement uniform. The sight the poor employee experienced was you, huddled into the corner with a red stained mattress against it as a comforter, you were shaking as if you were in the freezing ice caves of Antarctica. The dried stains of your crimson were virtually everywhere in that room, except the ceiling, but your erratic movements didn’t seem to care. 

That employee was sent in to help wash you up and make sure you were doing fine. There was another person to clean your room during your bathing session, to make it more hygienic. You glared at the person with such hate that he thought he would die then and there, yet you hadn’t made a move until the individual got you up and into the bathroom. 

The poor employee assigned to help you recently was asking you all sorts of questions along the lines of ‘are you okay?’ Unfortunately in UrbanShade’s opinion, you were. 

It was roughly a week or two later before you were sent back in to be tested on. They saw how traumatized you were initially and how it would be unethical (like they really gave a shit about being “unethical”) to have you stressed before the experiment. 

This was a general check up, to see how you were doing. You were sat across from an UrbanShade employee and tied down to the desk. You hadn’t realized it but you grew around half a foot taller than before, feeling much bigger now. Your little shark had grown a little too, but not by much. 

To say you were doing great in your mind would be a fat fucking lie. You were the most miserable you think anybody has ever been in existence, but obviously that might not have been the exaggeration, who else has been through something like this?

Once that interview was over you were sent to your cell again. 

What they didn’t know was that your organs were reworking themselves to create a second way for you to breathe in both water and air. The massive ache in your chest caused you to hyperventilate frequently and forced the warm water to hit your torso to ease the throbbing stabs. 

It felt like your ribcage was about to pop, like a chest burster from that one alien movie. Your body was what seemed like chronic pain. You groaned as your held yourself while tossing and turning, when will this end? 

This would be the start of a miserable cycle. Every month you would be interviewed by some other doofus and then a week after you would be tested on. From endurance to intelligence tests. The worst of them would be the experiments. 

The experiments where they would hook you up and force you to live through hell and back seven times total was cruel. They would let you be ‘normal’ for a while before they decided to use you again and again. Taking measures and examining your body each experiment.

All the spliced DNA in your system did something physically. Another shark DNA caused you to grow clawed fingers and the development of your ampullae of Lorenzini (which made you think you had a tumor for the longest time until the scientists X-rayed your head per request in a desperate fashion, discovering the organ and as always taking notes).

The organ’s defining features started from your nose to your cheeks, which was odd considering the ampullae was an olfactory organ. Three little holes on your cheeks, but your nose was perfectly fine. Maybe it was because of the fact the ampullae of Lorenzini is in the front of a shark's face, but science is strange.  

The sea snake DNA morphed your body exponentially and caused you to be a serpent instead of being a bipedal creature that you favored more, the crustacean in you gave you two new arms that hurt like no tomorrow growing off of you and a second set of eyes forming on your face. 

The second pair of eyes messed with your vision for a long while and made your vision blurry while prompting migraines both from the ampullae and your worsened sight. That was only temporary however, because when your body properly adapted to the new peepers you could see things much more brightly and clearly. 

Your teeth also started pushing out of their sockets, clattering to the floor one at a time. You desperately started to scoop them out as blood and saliva amalgamated together, dripping onto the form from both long strands of built up spit and simple and quick drops onto the cold metal floor. In their place sharp fangs started to sprout, like a newborn baby. You wanted to chew on something, anything, and your tongue kept trailing over your fresh denticles 

The angler DNA injected into you hurt as well, causing your ears to gush blood as fins took their place instead. The crown of your head started bleeding as well making the top of your head soaked in your own vitals as what you came to know now as your lure.

All of it hurt, and it would only hurt more as time went on. 

One of the spliced DNA in your system was a mystery. The scientist who tossed you into the testing chambers wouldn’t disclose it, nor would his buddies. It was red just like any other DNA you’ve seen but for some reason it carried a weight that you couldn’t quite explain. It hit the heaviest and caused you to pass out soon after being administered. 

You slept through most of the pain. You were okay with that at the moment but suddenly you were suffering with the soreness. After all of that, your body then erupted in white hot pain. You were shaking and vibrating so badly it looked like you were going through a seizure, causing you to foam at the mouth.

That was enough cause for concern for the professionals to come and get your immensely elongated form. Proving it a struggle but managed to strap you to a metal gurney big enough for you to make it to the specialized emergency rooms. 

It was a big deal, as you were thoroughly examined for hours on end to figure out what triggered such a reaction. Drugging you with anesthesia enough to take out a horse. It had easily knocked you out, due to your already depleted energy from your body's episode. 

The scientists and doctors operating on you figured out that the last DNA they administered you enhanced your current features. Opening your eyelids with their gloved fingers, they saw that your eyes were glowing much brighter than before. 

Your arm muscles were more defined and full, your claws looked sharper, your physical features just popping more in general. You were also enlarged, gaining additional height from your tail which doubled in length. 

Speaking of your tail, it was strapped down by leather binds. The surgeons poked and prodded at your being, taking blood samples and skin samples. They were making sure to record every piece of minutiae information that they could harvest out of you. They even took a saliva sample, it was a struggle to wash your mouth of the ichor your new teeth produced.

The most important part was your gills. They were fully developed and fluttered whenever you breathed in your sleep. Silent excitement rippled through the operation room as the UrbanShade employees finally discovered what forced your gills to form. 

They took a full body X-ray finally, discovering how your lungs were functioning and using this information. You hadn’t a clue why UrbanShade hadn’t run a scan on you sooner, they would’ve seen your gills developing sooner. They were probably too busy with other things, containing and researching other things.   

You couldn’t speak up about your new breathing technique either. Usually when you did try to speak, you were told to hush and be quiet until you made it back to your bed. Your voice silenced for nearly the tenth time in total at the time of your final experiment. 

You were eventually sent to a new cell. Your current cell in the present. You’ve been here for many months at this point, your new body was a monstrous form that you despise deeply from this point forward. They gave you new decorum instead of being in a cramp room, must be as an apology from fucking you up so badly. That’s just a joke of course, that would be too nice of UrbanShade. 

__________________________________________________

You could feel your throat clench at the end of your story. The version you told left more viscera and unsavory details of how your form was violated by his coworkers. Your hands fumbling together as Sebastian could only look at you with horror. 

Now you felt bad, exposing how you were treated and worked on like a guinea pig. A lot of information that you were hyper aware about flooded back into your mind, causing you to cross your arms as if you were giving yourself a hug. You could still feel the needles poke into you. You could still feel your legs kicking out in pain.  

Sebastian had tried his damndest to not throw up in his mouth. Not because of you but how you explained the gore and how UrbanShaded had treated you so far. You only gave him a frown before you suddenly felt your hand tugged into his. 

“I am so, so sorry that you’ve been through that..” Sebastian quietly said as his smaller fingers caressed your bigger ones. His calloused digits feeling your knuckles. The repairman was upset to say the least, and a bit scared. 

He was scared because of what UrbanShade could do. How many people have been through similar trials to yours? How many innocent incarcerated people have been sent to this facility? What did they do to them? 

You only replied with a meager ‘it’s okay’ even though it wasn’t. You felt angry and defeated, that you couldn’t do anything and how it’ll be this way until the day you die. You were helpless.

Your body was replaced with a vessel you didn’t want. Your hands weren’t your own, your eyes weren’t your own, your skin wasn’t yours, nothing was yours anymore. You felt tears prick at the corners of your eyes. Desperately trying to blink back tears, as to not embarrass yourself in front of your only friend. 

“How did you even survive those experiments? You lost a lot of blood, how-” 

“I wouldn’t question it, I don’t have the answers either.” You let out a small laugh despite the circumstances. Sebastian’s expression was a mixture of hurt, confusion, and anger. It crushed him internally that such a bystander like him could never assist you in any way, shape, or form. 

“I wish I could help you.” Sebastian gazed up to see your face, a look of melancholy lingered as you then laid a hand onto his. 

“There’s not much you can do. Not without consequence or death. They would probably kill you if they found out you were conspiring with me, or worse .” Your face then leveled with his, forcing your back to hunch significantly. 

It was evil what had happened to you, if the last few paragraphs hadn’t shown that enough. Your rock tower was still standing as the two of you sat in silence, simply basking in the other's company.

You could feel little tingles on your hands and up your arms from Sebastian simply touching you. It was nice to have positive physical touch instead of getting ripped apart or manhandled by guards. Especially coming from a cute guy. 

Sebastian had opened his mouth to protest, but held his tongue realizing that would be the most realistic outcome. You saw his solemn expression and decided to speak once more.

“Hey, cheer up.” You announce, “I can tell you something different if you’d like. Your higher-ups sometimes send me to little jobs around the facility.” A small, hopeful smile appeared on your fishy lips. Your eyes crease from your simper. Sebastian only nodded for you to let you talk. 

You then started to explain your ‘work’ that you were occasionally allowed to do. 

Locked up everyday, you waited for the rare work UrbanShade wanted you to do. Whether it was testing a drug they came up with, checkups, or fixing something outside in the water. ‘Fixing’ usually meant swimming around the Hadal Blacksite to see if there were any needed repairs. Though they were rare, as they were sometimes farther out and not acceptable for human life to venture towards. Sometimes you would get lucky and manage a job closer to the blacksite.  

You appreciated the fresh breath of air (or water?) but what you didn’t appreciate was the bomb collar attached to your neck. It was a deterrent from escaping into the sea. You would hear it beep occasionally and panic would wash over your person before you swam back to your previous position. To avoid having your head turn into a mist cloud. The metal piece on your throat hindered your ability to breathe underwater, causing you to pull at it every now and then while taking long deep breaths whenever you could. 

Your biggest threats were the trench bleeders and the naval mines that littered the surrounding base. The trench bleeders were easy to avoid, just waiting for their gigantic legs to finish stepping pass before moving through and examining the surroundings. The naval mines were more annoying than anything else, causing you to scream out in shock whenever you nearly swam into them. 

Whenever you would swim past big windows that allowed visible access into the facility, you would stare into them and observe the individuals living their lives. Fortunately you were quite nimble and knew when to pull back from watching the workers play on their computers (which looked way better last time you’ve seen one) and talking amongst one another. 

You were only allowed small opportunities like that, considering you would hear the beeping of your bomb collar go off before going back to swimming. UrbanShade never liked it if you were in one place for too long. 

You notify personnel like you're instructed to do whenever you notice something wrong. You would be lying if you said you didn’t purposefully leave some malfunctions behind. Obviously, you were aware that if you didn’t report greatly or with vital information on what needed to be fixed, your purpose for this job would be useless. 

Sometimes you would cause these damages, just to be the good science monster you were and report it. You would be praised on a very small occasion. Little did they know, you were making life a whole lot harder for them but causing problems in places that they couldn't easily access. 

Realizing you told more than you should’ve to the handy man next to you, a sheepish giggle escaped. Sebastian only responded with his own laugh. 

“You had to find a way to get back at them, eh? Pretty clever, if I do say so myself.” Brushing a strand of hair behind his ear again, it always kept getting loose somehow. 

“I try my best.” Your voice went a lower octave, close to yawning. Since when were you feeling sleepy? 

Sebastian looked back to the camera in the corner. Cognizance filled his person as he remembered that he needed to finish his job, fixing his gaze towards you before mentioning how he had to fix the camera soon or else he’d be asked multiple questions he didn’t feel like answering. 

Sebastian then as gently as he could, freed his hand from yours. You wanted to desperately keep his hand there, the warmth from his hands faded in an instant, but you knew better than to cling onto him. He would be terrified if you did so.  

The man got up and reluctantly grabbed the fallen camera off the floor. To his surprise the camera was more resistant than he thought, it wasn’t even cracked or dented. UrbanShade doesn’t want you breaking any more of their surveillance, that piece of information being obvious.

Stepping back onto that latter, Sebastian was extra careful to take his time. You silently slithered over and held the ladder like you previously. The sudden stability, Sebastian’s confidence, and the determination to properly fix the camera left almost zero wasted time. 

Connecting the wires was a walk in the park for this guy, being an experienced engineer after all, The last wire was about to spark on Sebastian before you warned him to move his hand back. He nodded as a thankful gesture before continuing his service. 

The camera was up and working in no time. The little red dot glowing a minute or two after Sebastian installed the little gizmo. 

You let go of the ladder and slithered back into your little cove, using its shadows to conceal you (except for your eyes, they are glowing after all). Your four appendages stabilized your torso, letting you watch Sebastian dissemble the ladder to one long length instead of standing up. Kicking the box that held the camera before knocking on the door obnoxiously loud. 

You whispered a goodbye to your only friend. To which he turned his head and waved his hand before picking up the camera’s box, leaving the room shortly after with the doors closing immediately after. 

You backed up from the threshold of your cove, so that way you were completely out of sight. You then search your pockets for the piece of paper from the camera box. You carefully pulled the slip out and began reading the information. 

You learned very little from the slip. Just the manufacturer, how to set it up, and other things of such. The camera had no valuable information besides how to turn it off, which also didn’t mean a whole lot since you could just crush it with your bare hands. 

Sighing before putting the slip back into your pocket, You yawned. Popping your knuckles before glaring at that camera knowing exactly who was watching you. You decided that it wouldn’t be your problem for now, instead positioning yourself for a well needed rest. 

Snuggling into the pillow that would be your first pair of arms, you felt your eyelids flutter. You didn’t have a clue what tomorrow had in store for you. With no thoughts in your head, you drifted into the abyss that was sleeping.

Chapter Text

When Sebastian was called into his higher-ups office, he wasn’t expecting this. 

Starting off his day as he usually would, waking up and getting something to eat in the facility before clocking in and following his duties as a part of the staff. Suddenly, his name was called over the PA system to report to the head office. 

He could feel his anxiety soar. What did they need him for? 

Organizing his tools in neat fashion and then abandoning his current work station. He walked down the long, (mostly) empty hallways of the underwater facility. The sounds of his footsteps echoed as Sebastian trekked down the hallways. The pipes from the inner walls showed every now and then, he couldn’t but let his eyes wander. 

This building was a relic that consists of its initial construction. From what he read in the brief history about the facility, it’s been this minimalistic way due to the aesthetic. There were thoughts of renovating but its novelty was something to be fond of and it was a testament to see how far UrbanShade had come as a company. 

People would greet him on his way, striking conversations only for him to shoot it down soon after by saying he was busy. In reality, he just didn’t want to talk to them. Each armored and mechanical door spurred to life as it detected him walking closer, coming to life before he went on.

Sebastian had still felt bad about calling you a ‘sea beast’. Even if you haven’t heard the insult, it still made him feel a little festering feeling in his chest. He would want to apologize but he also wouldn’t want to explain why , referring to you in such a dehumanizing way disgusted him. You were such a wonderful person, a wonderfully lovely person. 

His opinion on you had shifted. From being terrified of you like any normal person would be to actually feeling safe within your presence (although that was a little silly considering you were deemed a threat). He didn’t think of you like that, even when the occasional wandering thought hit him. Your story of how you came to be haunted him, like the scary stories his sister would tell in order to scare his younger brother and him. 

It sent a shiver down his spine just thinking about it. 

Sebastian eventually found his way to the head office. This place was only good for two things: clocking out and then returning to the surface after some time, and important things that Sebastian could care less about. However he really should, considering this a pretty secretive place and the more knowledge the merrier.

Sebastian had felt his nerves fry a little when he raised his hand to knock. The little window on the door covered up a light brown pull-down curtain, the light inside was on however. Just as his fist was about to meet the door, the wooden entrance then swung open and a man pulled him in. 

The two were silent, with Sebastian’s posture being a little hunch at the sudden jump scare and the man standing straight as if nothing had happened. Quickly changing his minor mistake, Sebastian found his composure. 

The man, with short brown hair and stubble, glowered at Sebastian. His height was noticeable compared to the repairman, he was at least five inches taller and the smaller man could feel a spec of jealousy.  Of course, not enough for him to be bothered over it. Totally not.  The spiffy and well manicured look of this guy didn’t go unnoticed by Sebastian either. It was expected even, but he hasn’t really had anyone like him confront him. Sebastian mostly stayed in his own lane and did what he needed to do with little question or resistance.

He was the average blue-collar employee. 

“Mr. Solace, do you know why you are here?” The employee’s harsh voice set the tone quickly for what this conversation was going to be. The mentioned man immediately straightened up, growing to his full height. 

The repairman shook his head no. The man across from him, now reading his security name tag that revealed the name “I. Clarkman”. The name was familiar, although he couldn’t put his finger on it. He was probably some important company figure. 

“You have been called here to witness something. Something that involves Z-18, as you have spent the most time in its cell out of all of your co-workers. That does not make you special however.” Okay, ouch. Sebastian thought. 

Sebastian would find his eyes examining the room when the man across from him wasn’t making direct eye contact. The office was a regular old office and there was nothing special about it. The random file that laid on the desk read at the top “Z-18”, your current file. He wanted to grab that folder and read everything about you. Even as creepy as that sounds. 

“You will follow me for the rest of the time being, until I dismiss you. We will be watching Z-18 for a test.” There was little time to argue with the man, his presence making it nearly impossible to say no. Sebastian didn’t even think it was possible to say no to this guy when it involved such an important topic such as yourself. 

The suited man then opened the door that he drug Sebastian through and started his way towards his goal, Sebastian quickly following behind. The loud clicks of both men’s heels echoed down the hall, walking with confidence. The other employees when seeing the repairman with such a fancy looking man made them look with both curiosity and fear. 

Usually if you were seen with someone similar to Mr. Clarkman, you either wouldn’t return or you were promoted. Hopefully it was the latter. 

With each step Sebastian’s mind began to wander further and further into his mind. What did they want with him? If he wasn’t special then why did they want him to watch the testing? What even was the point of him watching?? He felt the familiar anxiety he had before meeting Mr. Clarkman. 

The half-tubular walls around him had a different feeling than they previously did before. No longer was it a normal workplace where he spent about everyday working except for the two days off he had, sleeping in the same rooms as others because the submarines that came down here were for the prison workers, re-supplying the blacksite, or certain employees finally going home. Instead it felt more like an underwater coffin, where the employees weren’t actually people and instead skeletons with skin playing the part and that all of this was fake. That nothing in this building was real or even plausible, that there was a single spot in the deep dark ocean that had the same pressure as a swimming pool instead of the crushing outside that it was everywhere else on the ocean floor. 

Wait, why am I thinking like that ? Sebastian thought. Nothing has happened yet, so why was Sebastian already self-sabotaging by thinking all ‘doom-and-gloom’-y. He didn’t need to do that to himself, especially before seeing you. 

He hadn’t realized it due to his stupid brain and its stupid thoughts that he was growing farther and farther behind with each step. Mr. Clarkman looked back expectantly before letting out a scoff, walking away from the handyman. 

Sebastian sighed and fixed his composure before scampering after the older man. 

_________________________

Waking up was just like every other day, your first pair of arms sore from the odd position. You pushed yourself up and stretched yourself up. Popping your knuckles and rolling your shoulders and then popping your back with your ‘newfound’ flexibility. 

You then fished around for the slip of paper you stole from Sebastian yesterday. That was the only thing that camera was good for. You read over the words at least a dozen times, even the other languages that you didn’t know just for the fun of it. You could recite it perfectly if you really wanted to, but decided against it as you would hear your tired voice, and you weren’t always the biggest fan of how odd it can sound. 

Maybe you would try later. 

You despised how isolated and deprived they made you. How UrbanShade only sent in a certain handful of people, the newest addition being a fleet of guards that managed you during testing (due to your little retaliation fits you’d display, harming a few in the process) and Sebastian. The latter being the only one you liked.

You shook that previous thought off and decided to poke your head out. You squinted your four eyes at the obnoxious monotonous lights that produce the ceiling. Maybe you were a tad bit fortunate you had one of the more outdated cells in this building, well you only assumed it was outdated considering how it was a cakewalk for you to rip into the wall. Your fingers still hurt from the incident, ultimately deciding to tough it out. You were fortunate that Sebastian hadn’t noticed, they were bruises now and they didn’t matter in hindsight. 

Scanning the room as a daily ritual, you found nothing new. You gave everything in your cell a bored glance, the camera however was what caused your face to sour. Oh how you wished to rip it out of the corner and demolish it with all your strength. 

Your eyes then went back to the wall you ripped into. Will anybody ever fix that? Surely they would send a welder into your room and patch the rips. Maybe they’ll just keep it like that forever and let you be reminded of your mistake. 

Although that mistake made you a new friend, so you didn’t feel any sort of bad. 

You can feel the electricity buzzing in the wires, not paying it any mind since you’ve always felt them. Bringing your head back in to further sit there in your darkness. (or as much darkness as you could get in your cove) 

Your pool had lights, despite you not needing them. Maybe it was a way of keeping track of you from underwater? (Like when some weirdos have cameras in their air bnbs to stalk the people staying at their home) They must’ve had cameras under there, but that never stopped you from swimming. You’ve had this thought at least a dozen times over the years, what's new? They would turn on every now and then which made you think they were time automated. 

You didn’t bother however, it's not like you were going to escape anytime soon. You knew it's been years based on your ears catching scientists talking about you during testings. The ones that you’d be transported with glass windows. Where you sat at the very bottom and they were in a place taller than you can reach. 

A shiver ran up your spine as you laid on the floor in your aged clothes, desperately needing to be washed. They have only been washed by yourself with no detergent or soap of any kind. Oh just once, just once will you have clean clothes and something nice to feel against your upper half. 

Your shagreen tail thumped against the ground. The only resonating sound that paired well with the implemented illuminations both outside your cove and in your pool. You wanted to see the outside world. 

You couldn’t stand the fauxness of the lights. They hurt your eyes, not by how bright they were (even if they did annoy you) but how numbing they were. They enhanced your headaches and made you hate them even more. They only reminded you of how much you desired to see the sun or the moon or any natural irradiance. 

You wanted to eat something other than fish and mush. Eating something from your old life would definitely make you cry. You desired some normal food, and you would definitely do anything to get it. 

You wanted to talk to a friend or a family member, instead of being all alone. You wouldn’t even care if they found you disgusting (that’s a lie, but you also wouldn’t acknowledge it) if it meant you could just have an actual conversation with someone. Sebastian was your saving grace when it came to socialization, even if it’s been a week or so since you’ve met him. He was just so kind and confident (for the most part, you could tell he was still scared of you sometimes). 

You could gush about him all day if you wanted, but you didn’t want to be a weird to a guy you met not too long ago. You were so weird, why did you act like this? He’s just a guy! A really.. handsome, nice guy. No! Stop being so creepy dammit!

But he was so soft when you caught him the other day. It felt like you were holding the world's softest blanket, the finest silk, the most delicate flower. That was probably the most physical contact (that was positive) in years, and then he held your hand after you told him of your story? You were sent over the moon the more you thought about it. Giggling to yourself like you were some love-struck teenage girl. You needed to get a hold of yourself!

You sighed to yourself at your inner monologue. Things didn’t have to be this way. They really didn’t have to be this way. You shouldn’t have done this to yourself, you shouldn’t have let them do this to you. You could’ve screamed and bit and fought back but you didn’t. Why didn’t you? Why couldn’t they just kill you instead of making you do tests for shit you could care less about and swimming around the blacksite just in case there were damages. They could literally hire people to do that but you guess any dollar out of UrbanShade’s budget is a big ‘no-no’. 

This facility is purgatory, and you would die in this underwater coffin at the end of your life. If you even reached the end of your life naturally. 

You decided that lingering in the darkness wasn’t good for your health, so you creeped out of your cove and passed your threshold. The brightness of the room caused your eyes to squint slightly, but it still wasn’t as bad as that one time they tested your vision sensitivity. That was awful . 

With your whole body out in the open, you wondered what to do now. Would you lay and roll on the ground to entertain yourself or would you try to break something? The latter idea sounded enticing but you fear what punishment you’d have to endure if you did, desperately hoping that if that happened you wouldn’t have to go through another brutal test. 

Speaking of tests, you wondered when they’ll do another one on you. Obviously you didn’t want one soon, your last one also around a week ago. It seems like everything happened a week ago, huh? 

Suddenly, you felt your face develop a pressure. From the outside world you sensed something, someone, coming closer. It tugged at one side of your face until you turned your head and sensed multiple heartbeats. Not that it was odd, people had walked past your cell on a daily basis. You remember you turned it into a game at some point by counting how many people would walk by. You remember you got so invested in this little game of yours that you started to use some math to average just how many individuals would stroll through. 

You’ve long forgotten the average, which sparked another wave of inspiration. Something else you could do!

But you were soon kicked out of that little thought as the heartbeats lingered outside the doors of your cell. What were they doing? There were at least eight individuals standing outside your door, and you could hear their muffled voices speaking. 

You were hesitant to sneak back into your cave as your curiosity spiking. You felt the urge to go to your safe space, to hide away from these possible intruders.

Oh.. Oh no, you thought. No way they decided to do a test today. Please, not another test. 

It got worse when you could tell they were planning something, your electro-receptors then detecting a key card being swiped. By then it was too late. 

You used your quickness to make a break for your cove, but you felt a sudden sharp sting hit you, followed by an entourage then hitting you. You cried out in pain as all your senses dulled, your body falling weaker and weaker as you tried to slither closer to your resting place. Several darts were shot into your shagreen tail, as it was your largest feature. 

A file of guards charged into your room, surrounding you with guns aimed like you were being swatted. You tried using your claws to slither closer to your den, whatever was shot into you making your fingers feel numb and borderline arthritic. You were quickly reprimanded. You could defend yourself but what good would that do? 

The man leading the charge, a high-ranking guardsman, barked out to apprehend something. You couldn’t quite hear what he said but you knew it wasn’t good. You were dragged back by your cauda by four guys and firmly pushed to the ground to restrict your movement, and due to your drugged state you couldn’t do much about it. 

Then you felt your four wrists get tugged and having unfamiliar objects strapped to them. They dug into your joints with fierce stabs, you could feel they had some electrical charge to them, and you were scared. 

The guards have gotten physical with you before, but it was always a means to neutralize the threat that you were. You could feel your anxiety picking up, even more so because of your inebriated state from the drugs. You tried to keep your eyes open, but it was easier said than done. However you weren’t completely out, it was like being in the state of sleeping but being awake at the same time. A state of Hypnagogia.  

The guards were on high alert, only backing away when they observed you struggling in place, and had their guns tight in their iron grip. Quickly maintaining a position, they waited for your awakening. The elite guardsman holding what seemed to be remote, his thumb waiting eagerly to press it. 

The camera watched eagerly, its frame zooming in and out periodically. 

Sebastian had been watching up until this point and could feel his stomach twinge at the display. He was standing in the security office with many monitors watching other subjects and monsters alike. The man that led everyone’s favorite technician earlier was watching with little interest, it seemed like he was more intrigued by Sebastian’s reactions instead. 

His face twitched an instance when he saw you get detained by the soldiers. Something deep in the fancy man’s eyes spoke a foreign language that Sebastian could not decipher when he had the opportunity to look. 

There was a group of scientists in the room as well, holding clipboards with no writings yet, clearly eager to take notes and find out any new information about you. This was the first time using electronic devices against you. Most of their other tests were to test your durability, intelligence, dexterity, and other things of the like. They would rarely put you up against the elements, usually spending a ridiculous amount of time exploring each form of it. 

(The freezing experiment you were forced through lasted a day or two, which was why you had such a disdain for them, since they wanted to have at least 48 hours worth of data with each experiment.)

The workers in the room kept tabs on the various creatures in the facility from this room, the hallway and other respective rooms had cameras in them too and were on the other side of the room. A small group of people were watching leisurely to make sure nothing went wrong, sipping on coffee or talking amongst themselves. 

Sebastian could care less however, his eyes more intently watching you through the camera he fixed. His eyes flickered between you and the fancy man like a wild animal trying to keep its eyes on two predators at once. 

Sebastian was obviously worried for you. Watching you malinger around your cell provided little entertainment, but when he noticed how quick your head turned towards the door with a perplexed stare before trying to flee to your cove. Unfortunately you couldn’t and he watched in silenced horror as a kitted group rolled in like this was standard practice (which to them, it was) and taking you down was a ‘simple’ process.  

Sebastian had curled his raging fist into his palm. Why was he even brought into this? He was just doing his job! Why are they doing this to you? This was extremely unnecessary in Sebastian’s opinion but he couldn’t really do anything about it. He could only grind his teeth to curb his emotions.

It didn’t take long before you recovered, pushing yourself up rather quickly and cowering from the personnel. 

Using your first pair of arms to cover your face and your second to raise in surrender. After a few seconds of nothing happening, you apprehensively lowered your limbs. You proceeded to place them back up at the sight of their guns aimed directly at you, although you didn’t feel a single bullet touch your skin. 

Suddenly your face scrunched up, that's when you fully noticed the blocky black squares strapped to your wrists with customized leather straps. Seems like these little devices were tailored just for little ol’ you. 

They were directly above where your pulse and some veins would be positioned. You suddenly felt the little pricks of the gizmos that threatened to break into your skin and as you reached to rip it off the soldiers shifted their guns to aim down their sights. You quickly moved your paw away. 

You shifted your eyes from your wrists to the soldier who looked much more important than his friends. Sporting a different colored armband and holding a remote. You wondered what it was. 

Then you sensed the batteries in these little devices charging together before an electrical attack hit you. It was equivalent to a taser except about ten times worse because there were exactly four of them directed exactly into your skin (as obvious as that sounds). A shriek echoed in the room as the guards watched you fling your body onto the floor while your muscles contracted. 

Your body was slamming back and forth as ear piercing howls erupted from you constantly. Electricity flowed through your veins causing severe agony. This reminded you of when you were initially turned into this monstrous form. Your cauda flapped wildly and threatened to knock into any of the personnel, causing you to be deemed a hazard.

The soldiers backed up, carefully stepping away from your being.  

Your claws went from curling in on themselves and stretching out, similar to how a cat kneads but much more violent. Your body was spasming out of control and you could feel your eyes leak tears at the immense pain. 

It stopped. 

You immediately laxed into the floor and started panting like a dog. You felt like you were on fire, your limbs shaking and your tail twitching in irritation. The initial shock still lingering as you tried to gather your bearings.

The scientists from inside the security room jotted down things they deemed important. The scribbling of their pens held a dull sound to the background of Sebastian’s hidden disgust and anger. He felt bile rise up his throat and into his mouth at the disturbing scene on the camera screens. 

No one else seemed to care what was happening to you. A person being electrocuted for silly little notes when they damn right knew what was going to happen! They had no passion or sympathy for you and instead took pleasure in watching you writhe in pain.  

The handyman then saw two of the men sitting in their spinning chairs exchange cash, did.. Did they really make a bet on you?! One of the two guys rolled his eyes while the other snickered. Sebastian inhaled in hidden aggression. Why was he brought here? 

Mr.Clarkman had glanced at the technician in a knowing manner. It didn’t take a genius to see through Sebastian, it's just that nobody was paying attention to him other than the suited man. A smirk formed on his face before scooting closer to the shorter man. 

“LR-P Z-18 reacted to the electric stimuli with negative response. Showing physical symptoms like exhaustion and muscle contraction. Can be seen crying and heavily breathing in turn. No damage seen yet besides Z-18’s thrashing.” A monotone voice could be heard before the click of a recorder could be heard. The sentence was then promptly continued with “Second test of the electric stimuli.” before the recorder was stopped. 

You could be seen lifting yourself off the ground weakly before screaming again. The electric shocks burning into your skin where the organ and the tasers connected. The elite guardsman holding down the remote’s button in his hand as he watched you wiggle and cry with a sadistic smile.  

You could feel the tissue damage forming in your anatomy. Tears streamed from all four of your eyes and they cascaded like waterfalls at the torture. Your mouth gaped as unwanted saliva dripped out each time you grunted and yelped in agony. Your claws started to dig into the floor as a way to stabilize yourself, your tail flying around yet again and forcing the men to back up. 

You wonder when you’d die. No one can handle being tased back to back and survive, or at least that’s what you thought. You could feel your heartbeat thump wildly like it was going to pop in your chest. Somehow your lungs were never full of enough oxygen despite your heavy breathing every second. Your brain was fuzzy and you could barely think straight. 

You felt your eyes wobble in your skull. Everything hurts. It hurts so damn badly. Why you? Why you? The smell of your burning flesh where the tasers connected to your epidermis made you feel nauseous and you desperately wanted to rip them off.  

Then it stopped. 

Your face dropped and your eyes flickered. Laying on the floor as you tried to collect your breath again. You could feel yourself getting angry, why couldn’t they just leave? Go test on someone else for a change! You are not that important and there were plenty of other freaks that needed to be tortured. 

Surely there was something that bested you in being unique. Go break it down instead!

Your sharp teeth turned into a snarl, growling in such an animalistic way that it caused you to recoil at the sound. The guardsmen didn’t take too kindly to that and raised their guns to aim down their sights, waiting for the go ahead to finally put you down. The elite soldier shook his head, instead ghosting his thumb over the button as a silent threat that he would happily electrocute the hell out of you. 

You only glared at him before lifting yourself back up. 

The ‘sudden’ display of aggression surprised Sebastian. Watching you bare your teeth before backing down was reminiscent of the old dog that roamed his street in his childhood. Sad, alone, and only seeing the hardships of life instead of the positives. 

Soon a hand came to his shoulder and the sound of someone whispering in his ear, instant anxiety picked up and the technician stiffened up. 

“This is what you get for breaking protocol. Developing a relationship with a test subject is an offense not taken lightly. You are going to be exempt from punishment due to the benefit of the doubt and Z-18’s’ manipulation. Take this display to heart or you could be next .” 

Manipulation?

They knew? Sebastian could feel himself shiver at the thought. They planned for this. They discovered the blossoming relationship and decided to put an end to it in such an awful way. But.. in some part of Sebastian he didn’t regret it. Yes you were being punished currently and he felt worse than he possibly ever has and  he was definitely going to be laid into in one way or another, but he found himself really liking you

He needed to get out of here. He couldn’t stand the suffocating presence that was Mr.Clarkman, the annoying caricatures that were the other people in the room. Sebastian’s foot back-stepped gently to avoid making any noise, but the suited man quickly caught onto the scheme. The technician opened his mouth to speak but was promptly shut down by another whisper. 

“You are going to stay in this camera room whether you like it or not. After this we will be discussing what you saw here today, how you will not disclose any information like your contract instructed, and your plans for the future potential work you will do in this facility.” There was no room to make an argument, and so he only closed his mouth and nodded like the good employee he was. 

Another voice rang out through the room describing what was currently happening through the camera but Sebastian couldn’t process what the scientist was saying. The handyman was more focused on calming himself down rather than paying attention. 

The pixels on the giant screen wall with the various creatures on them dug another deep hole in his heart. Were some of these things human too? He knew not all of them were but there was the massive possibility that maybe the monsters in there were human at one point. He tried to shake that thought off, but something else captured his attention.

It was you. 

You were zapped again shortly after, doing the same routine of screaming and crying and replicating your best impression of a fish out of water. You could feel the anger and hate swell inside you like a furious storm. 

You flopped onto the floor after the controlled shocks, laying there and waiting. A moment or two passed and the superior guardsman came walking up, kicking you to see if you were alive. You gave a garbled noise at the action, confirming his thoughts. You felt viscous, like a shark ready to take a bite of its prey. 

Then four guys came up to you and started fumbling with your wrists. Releasing the pain from all four of your wrists as the prongs of the tasers were removed. The skin there was tender and disgusting from the abuse and you could feel yourself smiling at the relief, obviously it wasn’t unnoticed and you promptly got another kick to your person.

“What are you smiling for?” Your face dropped immediately and you closed in on yourself in defense. The guard only shook his head in disdain. 

The lesser soldiers took your tasers and grouped them together for one individual to hold.

However the elite guardsman was still there, lingering around your being. 

“How’d he put it? A ‘sea beast’? I couldn’t agree anymore with what your pal said”

Wait.. what?

You could feel your anger reach an all time high that you didn’t even know you were capable of. Sea beast? You’ll show him a real sea beast. 

The guard started walking back towards his posse when the doors to your cell started opening. Right before the arrogant bastard of the personnel stepped between the threshold of the facility and your cell, he felt something grab his head between its grip. You. 

Your claws then found his neck, and grabbing the base of his neck and the handle that was his jaw, you pulled. Your strength compared to his fragile body was pitiful, his head splintering from his body and blood gushing like a fountain. It happened so quickly that nobody could have done anything

The other guards, not facing his direction and minding their business while assuming their superior would be fine, took notice of the beheaded sentinel. They quickly got to work putting their guns up again but it was no use. With your speed and nimbleness, it was like ripping through paper. A quick hard wipe of your tail against the fleet before finally using your claws on something, they were done for. 

You were fortunate that the elite guardsman took his steps gracefully enough so that way you had enough time to rip his head off. Despite the soreness and suffering your body just went through, you had to push on or else you would never have an opportunity like this to strike again. 

Were you thinking properly in order to execute this in the best way possible? No. You would probably have to fake an anesthesia dosage to properly get that to work and you’ve already tried. They just strapped you down even tighter and forced more drugs into your system. 

You were out of your cage now, the sounds of the facility's emergency protocol rang out through the many rooms and hallways. You knew they would send more operatives your way so you quickly searched the man you beheaded for his keycard. He was an important person right? His armband was what clued you in to his difference among his friends. 

Maybe you could free the other monstrosities in here as well.

You found the keycard you were looking for, golden with black accents to differentiate it between other keycards. Not a lot of people must have these then if they're so different from the usual blue or purple keycards you’d seen from being escorted so many times. 

Wait, what were you thinking? Those details aren’t necessary right now! 

You moved as fast as you could down the hallways to find a cell. It didn’t matter what was in it, as long as it could do damage you would be good. Along the way you could see people running and grouping together near doorways and other possible exits, exclaiming in fear once they set eyes on you before running the other way. 

You were going to make this company pay for what they had done to you, starting off with classic vandalism. 

Chapter Text

The blaring alarms rang in Sebastian’s ears. The annoying red alarms faded in and out, providing some light in dire moments and becoming a detriment in others.

The sight was awful, watching you massacre the personnel with ease. It made his stomach churn when he saw the blood splatter from the cameras, knowing it was much worse than what the screens were displaying. Your cell door remained open as you slaughtered those men, traumatizing everyone who watched from the cameras.  Everyone sprung to life in the room, someone pulling the emergency alarm that connected everywhere in the facility. 

A hand gripped onto Sebastian’s shoulder. Mr.Clarkman’s eyes bored into the handyman’s and he was forced to stare back. 

“This.. This is your fault!” The fancy man exclaimed, gritting his teeth in both anger and fear. However this wasn’t the time to point blame. Sebastian only threw his hand off before reaching for the door alongside the individuals in the room. 

He was going to get the hell out of this place if it was the last thing he did. He was not going to die in this damn place! 

Someone opened the door and bolted down the hallway, others following like baby ducklings. Sebastian was no different, pushing his arms and legs to desperately find an exit. The horrible screams of both people and creatures echoed in the hallways, alerting him to every little sound in case of possible danger as he traversed with the group.

He would occasionally turn his head and spot glimpses of monsters that shook him to his very core. Their disgusting fleshy bodies or scaly skin, or unexplainable appearances all captivated his sight, and made him fear what power they possessed. Sebastian saw bodies litter the floor in neighboring sections and hallways. One time he turned his head back and saw Mr. Clarkman got taken out by something kin to an angler fish. During that rotation, he felt someone push him and he almost fell to the floor. Luckily he maintained his balance and picked up his pace but the only downside was that he lost his identification card that was clipped on his left breast. 

It had hit the floor with little thought and Sebastian hadn’t even thought about it. 

The gore made him sick, his stomach squeezing in on itself as he continued, but he couldn’t focus on that. He had to push past all those uncomfortable feelings swelling up inside of him.

Fear, Anxiety, Guilt . 

Sebastian’s hair flowed behind him as the race continued. More of his co-workers were eliminated, seeing a strange smoke blob garner towards the screaming people, and sweat rolled down the technician’s face.

Eventually he saw the exit, a loading dock. 

Or what he assumed was the exit considering so many people were garnering towards the door that connected to it. People were filing in quickly and hopefully Sebastian would be one of them. He wanted to push through, but he knew he’d just get shoved back. Folks were rushing in to make sure they didn’t get left behind as the sound of a submarine was clear. 

‘Please, please! ’ Sebastian pleaded in his mind. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of dying down here when he asked for the job as a technician, but now that there was a real chance he was going to be eaten by a deep sea fish-monster. 

However, luck was not on Sebastian’s side. The door let a couple more people file in before the sound of a shrieking fish in the distance was gaining closer. Everyone had turned their head to the noise before frantically speeding up their movements, Sebastian included.  When he finally got up to the door, it was promptly closed on him. The disbelief and anger on his face was evident and he slammed his fist against the door and demanded that they let him in, it wasn’t just him who was out there but a handful of people as well. 

The shrieking only grew closer and the technician along with people started to panic. Sebastian had backed up from the door and started looking for alternative ways to get in. His eyes traveled for a few seconds before spotting a vent on the lower wall and hope entered his heart. 

He also noticed a screwdriver on one of the many desks in the section (odd how many there were but that wasn’t important). Stealing the screwdriver before sliding on his knees towards the vent, Sebastian quickly got to work unwinding the small iron screws connecting them to a wall. 

The shrieking of the creature only gained closer, fear spiking into his heart and his pulse thumping against his will. The repeated practice of removing the screws made it a cakewalk for the technician to remove them. 

He unscrewed them in record time and threw the metal screen off of it. Some individuals took notice of what Sebastian was doing and harbored over, hoping to follow him. Sebastian immediately started his crawl into the vent.

Sebastian had made his way in a bit more before he felt a presence near his feet, another person daring to go after him. The young man behind him was debating whether to actually push forward or not, however an older chap was not having it.

“Get out of the way bastard! We’re not dying because you’re slow!” The sound of a struggle could be heard and the shrieking beast finally closing in. The sound of pained screams and yells erupted throughout the room as light bulbs popped in the ensuing chaos, motivating Sebastian to crawl faster. 

Sebastian was heavily breathing at the realization that all the people he had just been with are dead now because of him, deciding that it was his fault for not being quick enough. No! Don’t think like that! It’s not your fault, Sebastian recited in his head like a mantra. 

He didn’t know how long he spent in that vent, listening to the blacksite around him devolve into utter hell, all thanks to you. 

No, this wasn’t your fault, you just wanted to be free. It was still your fault, you indirectly killed people and caused massive damages to the facility or planned to. Wait, why’s he blaming you? This was Urbanshade’s fault for even doting on you to begin with. His head raced with thoughts of what to do and who to blame, to decide who was responsible for this, but he couldn’t even put together a coherent sentence without letting fear control his heart yet again. He wrapped his arms around his head to tone down the noises but that didn’t help much, he could feel tears brimming his eyes from just how scared he truly was. 

He didn’t know how long he spent in that vent. Maybe a couple minutes, maybe a couple hours, maybe whole days, he couldn’t quite place it. All he knew was that he got so scared and with the scent of iron wafting from the neighboring bodies caused him to pass out.

When Sebastian awoke, the first he noticed was how cold he was. The iciness of the duct was getting to the poor technician, his teeth chattering a little and the feeling of his freezing ear piercings. How long has he been here?

The muffled sound of guns firing and the sounds of death made Sebastian realize he needed to get out of there. Placing his arm forward, he began to army crawl through the airway.

Eventually he met the end of the vent. He used his eyes to scan the room the air duct connected to. The place was relatively put together, so Sebastian used his tool to remove the metal screws.

The man crawled his way out, finally standing up for the first time in a while. Stretching his limbs and wondering where he should go and what he should do. To his knowledge everyone either escaped or died so there was no one that could help him, maybe he can contact his superiors on some computer or something like that. 

Walking down the halls, he made sure to keep quiet in case there was anything that wanted to devour him whole. His grip on the screwdriver was what kept him grounded during this time. 

Sebastian then found a room that was open, an office area of sorts. With computers that were currently off. Hooking one of the computers up to see if anything would happen, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it still somehow worked in all of the ensuing chaos. The thing was slow, making Sebastian entertain himself in different ways. Drawing on a scrap piece of paper or tapping on the desk, but it eventually loaded up. He logged onto his work email and made the discovery that he has been stuck in this building (since the initial containment breach) for a few hours. 

He could feel himself sink into his chair. A hand over his face in stress. Was he really that overwhelmed? From being called into a live screening of you being tortured and now this? It was simply too much. His thoughts ran a million miles per hour and he didn’t know how to cope. 

Wouldn’t they send in a team to come get the crystal? 

He remembered one day he had to fix some wiring in the Ridge. Some random guy explained to him that the crystal sitting in the center of the room powered everything in the facility, it was extremely valuable to the company. 

It was either a professional team or bands of prisoners they were going to send in depending on the severity. The latter being the most plausible option. Although, the gunshots he heard earlier were contrary to his current thoughts. 

Sebastian decided it was time to get out and keep going to see if there were any teams out there that could help him. 

Lights were fading in and out as the once bustling rooms were now empty. Sweat had ceased to drip down Sebastian's face, instead an eerie cold washed over him. Bringing a hand to fix his hair, he brushed it back out of his face as he tried to further calm himself. 

So far nothing was near, but that never stopped him from being on guard. It was good he had his guard up, otherwise he wouldn’t have noticed the lights flickering the second he entered the next room. 

“Calm before the Hurricane” ..or  “Calm before the Storm”

He couldn’t remember the phrase properly. Either way he got a sense of unease.  

He initially thought it was just the lights but when he turned around an intense horror laced his features. A hideous pale front of what he assumed was a female anglerfish (since the male anglerfish were parasitic and tiny) that emitted black smoke in its wake.  The hideous screams of the beast grew louder and more obvious while Sebastian stood in fear for a moment. The handyman then looked around frantically to see if there was anything to help. 

A locker. 

A locker was the first thing his eyes set on. Its blocky appearance resembled much of the other various lockers that roamed the sight. He was told that they were bullet proof when he first joined in case there were any emergencies, maybe he can hide in there. 

As quickly as he could, Sebastian barreled into the locker and closed it as quietly as possible. He crossed his fingers as tight as he could, praying that the creature couldn’t find him before he pushed himself to the very back to create an imaginary distance.  The anglerfish came speeding down the hallway, the sound of light bulbs popping and glass dropping to the floor. The vibrations from the creature’s voice shook the very foundation of the room, forcing Sebastian to control his balance as best as he could because he could reveal his location if he didn’t. 

Sebastian held his breath the entire time, only coming out after minutes of hiding in the locker. The hallway was pitch black and it was now awful to navigate through it. Placing his hand on a wall, he used that to get out of the darkened space. 

Strangely enough when he got to the next room, the lights were perfectly fine and haven’t seen a day’s worth of damage. Sebastian thought it was odd there was barely anything useful when he started searching through the various drawers and shelves, the only thing he managed to find was a flashlight and a battery. 

Exploring through a couple more rooms, Sebastian found only two more batteries and a lantern oddly enough. What was a lantern doing down here? The handyman was doing surprisingly well down here all by himself, he wasn’t incapable afterall. Sebastian had let his guard down for a second while double checking his loot pool when he heard the sudden noise of.. Footsteps?

The man turned around to see a chalky, armless being. The creature clicked in fear before turning around and sprinting down the hall. Sebastian had let out a yelp at the surprise. 

What the hell was that?!

_______________________________

You have never felt more alive. 

Releasing all those subjects sparked a fire within you. You had to be quick in order to avoid death. Zipping around the hallways with maniacal laughter as you kept clocking in that keycard to every damn door you could find that contained something detrimental. 

You’ve set free all the monsters you could without yourself getting hurt. Watching them grow a confused or curious look and then quickly figuring out they wanted a snack was such a relief off your back, knowing that they weren’t interested in you (you didn’t look human, that’s why they weren’t interested.)  The vibrations of parts of the facility falling in on itself was satisfying although scary. Costing thousands of dollars in damages made you giggle to yourself. The gaggles of employees were equivalent to headless chickens with how they ran every other direction but the exits. 

Your long body and horrifying appearance caused the many Urbanshade employees to scream and run in fear, which gave you a high like no other. It felt so good to finally be out of your cell. 

You had found a strange mask during your expedition, you grabbed it and began looking at it. Unfortunately someone tried to get brave and tried attacking you, causing panic in you for a second and as an act of self defense, you slammed the mask in their flesh. 

What you hadn’t expected was for them to transform into this bloodthirsty cannibal as it ran into the hallway to find the first neck to bite on, it quickly spread like a forest fire. 

Eventually your reign of terror had to dampen when you realized you didn’t really have a way to escape. You couldn’t swim out of here due to pressure changes, you couldn’t just demand a submarine either. 

Maybe you should get some more information before continuing. 

Moving as fast as you could down the halls while avoiding your fellow monstrosities. It took a bit longer than you liked, but you needed to get an escape route planned. Finding loose assets everywhere was odd, wouldn’t those be in a much more secure spot? It didn’t matter. Making your way through the passageways, you found something considerably lucky. A simple vent that was large enough to hold your body. You easily ripped the vent off and crawled inside revealing an area that suited your needs, just big enough for you to move around and stretch, but small enough to not be noticed.

You felt dull pain on your wrists. Oh right.. Your experiment. You were all caught in the doom you were bringing to not even notice how your wrists were sore and how there were even burn marks left behind by the tasers, ones that you knew would never properly heal. You doubt that was your only problem, your insides and nervous system must be fucked beyond recognition.

These scars would add to the abundance you already had, both from the experiments and tests. You could count how many you had, but at the current moment that would just waste time. You had scars on your ribs and sides from where your gills and extra set of arms formed from. The rest from outside factors. 

Your thoughts then ran back to Sebastian. Where was he during all this crisis? Surely he was alive somewhere, or at least that’s what you hoped. There was a probable chance that he was among the many bodies that littered the floor and the thought made you sad, sad that your only friend could be dead. 

You stopped yourself from continuing that thought, not wanting to depress yourself further before leaving. Sighing shakily, you held your stolen keycard tight and crawled out the vent in a similar fashion of how you crawled in with how you wiggled your tail and used your strong arms to drag yourself out. 

Taking note of where this little nook was before going out, you finally set off to find your way out of this damn place. 

While on the way to finding.. Something (you didn’t quite know where to go, you were hoping to find a company map of the facility since people have definitely gotten lost before), you managed to find a storage area. Using your stolen keycard, you unlocked the door and squeezed yourself through the entrance as best as you could, which wasn’t that hard but it looked silly.

Looking at the tall shelves of the room, you felt giddy at the possible things you could nick. 

Investigating the various racks of gizmos and miscellaneous things, you managed to find lineages worth of clothing. Coats, pants, shirts, and other clothing items that all piqued your interest. You had taken down several boxes of garments, sifting through them to find what catered towards your taste. Regardless of what you took or accessorized yourself with, you managed to find a box of.. Satchels? 

These ‘little’ bags could fit on your tail if you were to tie it down, they were on par with military bags, sturdy and can hold a quantity of things. Fortunately there was a similar piece in the same box. You quickly got to work on trying on the thing and it proved to be quite the struggle considering it was loose and there were many spindles connecting to other thing parts. 

After the initial struggle, you manage to put it on. You thought it looked cute after gawking at the accessory from different angles (literally making your head bend and turn over and over just to look at it). You then grabbed the complimentary bags and connected them, which was a whole process in it of itself considering how time consuming it was. However you were lucky enough that it didn’t touch your tail’s inner belly, allowing efficient travel. 

You then exited the storage room/mini fashion store and out into hallways again as a whole different person. 

You felt a sudden tug in your face, alerting you to a possible threat or treasure depending on the deal. Approaching the direction your electro-receptors demanded, you soon discover a very important tool in your escape.

Rummaging through each room, you didn’t fail to notice the strange placement of classified documents and vials laying around on or in the many desks, shelves, and shelves. 

By the time you arrived at your destination your face stopped tugging, leading you to be bummed out at the loss of your possible new toy. However your eyes looked up to notice an untouched chamber of the facility. You thought about the potential risks of opening this door up, gripping your keycard, and other things that may be behind it. You rationed out that there were literal SCPs roaming the place so how worse could it get?

Swiping the card and entering the room, you discover it was similar to a mechanic’s shop. Flat desks with various tools on them littered the room along with some huge contraptions and welding kits hung on sides of the space. You tampered with the tools, looking at them with little interest. You weren’t too knowledgeable about welding, so you chose not to tamper with it in case you’d accidentally hurt yourself. 

But then you noticed something odd, something captivating. 

A matte black object decorated with subtle green accents that sported a fan on its top and a complimentary screen near its center, but it was all disconnected. You took a look at it and noticed the blueprints next to it. Taking the material off the desk, you began to read the contents and the explanation of what exactly this device was. 

Turns out it was called a “Scrambler”. A device that ‘scrambles’ or disrupts any and all CCTV, radios, and other communication devices in a certain radius. According to the blueprints, this was a portable version. Taking a look at the instructions on how to set this thing up, you got thoughts of Sebastian again and how he taught you wires. 

You look back at that memory with a smile, your hands hovering on the parts. It couldn’t be too hard. The pieces were right here and all you had to do was put them together. With your first pair of arms holding the frail paper while your lower pair of arms began to carefully paw at the gizmo.   Despite your hands being rather large, you tried your best to be really careful when combining the device.

Double checking the blueprints consistently and reading meticulously to make sure you get each part connected correctly. The sound of tinkering and swears exiting your mouth when you had messed up filled the room. 

Ultimately you got the device to work. Pressing a button or two before the gizmo sparked to life. The fan started spinning and you had a feeling something also started emitting from it. According to the blueprints any communication systems would cease to work if this thing was within a certain radius, which would prove extremely useful. 

You also happened to notice two little straps laying nearby on the same desk as the Scrambler. Gently grabbing the matte strips, you realized these could be used to make the Scrambler portable (like the instructions intended) by making it a backpack. Quickly applying them to the device, the disruptor was finally complete.

In all honesty, you were pretty proud of yourself for even figuring out how to combine this thing. You were no engineer or mechanic by any means, so this was a feat for you. 

You slipped the Scrambler on your back and exited the workshop to continue your adventure. 

You then made it to a cross section where many rooms lined up (who would’ve thought). The suspicious lack of bodies in the room made you squint your eyes in question, but something else caught your attention that made your heart pick up. 

An identification card.

Slithering closer in bated breath before confirming your thoughts. Using one of your hands to pick up the piece of plastic, your eyes turned sad and your heart sank. 

It was Sebastian’s ID card. 

His face seemed much brighter, a smile on his face and a glimmer in his eye that you couldn’t quite read. This photo captured a much happier Sebastian, probably when he first joined Urbanshade. Before he learned of your existence, before he died. 

Your hands shook as you took in the information on his card. His birthday was February 3rd, and he was pretty close to you in age. He had piercings on his ears, basic ones but they suited him, and his nose scar was still there so the scarring must’ve happened before Urbanshade.  His pretty blue-green eyes staring into your soul and what you wouldn’t do to stare into them in reality. His luxurious black hair was shorter than the last time you saw him, stopping at his jawline instead of his shoulders. 

You desperately wished to see him again. A part of you regret your decision to escape, if you hadn’t Sebastian would still be alive and happy. Another part of you thought Sebastian might have felt the same. You shouldn’t have expected him to feel anything but apathy, another reminder that Sebastian was just doing his job

It still didn’t hurt any less. 

You blinked away tears before shoving the ID in your pocket, for safekeeping of course. Hopefully he was alive somewhere, a naive thought to have when you had a piece of him with you. 

Slithering away, you continued to search for knowledge and other classified documents. 

Chapter Text

You were rather fortunate you hadn’t come across any trouble. 

Only the occasional broken passageway or flooded room but there was always an alternative path you could take (unless it was through the vents, that's where you had to backtrack). You were also lucky enough to find more data and goodies on your way. The most important goodies were documents, which you definitely opened up and read. There was plenty and plenty of good information that came out of these documents. 

Basic flashlights, hand crank lights with portable radios, batteries, and thin devices you discovered called ‘Code Breakers’ were all devices you found on your adventure. This could help you on your goal of getting out of here, maybe bartering could be an acceptable idea depending on what you come across. The Navi-Ai screens kept being your indicator on where to go next, the little screens next to the door being your guide. 

You even managed to find your own document on the way. You held the file, saving to read it for later since it was your file after all. You had shoved your and the other important files in one of the various pouches you now had on your person, the carriers making everything so much easier on you. 

You also found a list of companies that Urbanshade was in cahoots with. Many companies that you didn’t even know you had ties to, there was even a company that was connected to your grocery store back when you were normal! This little file of information was quickly pocketed as you could figure out what to do with later.  

What you hadn’t realized is how far you were truly getting. Moving frequently so much that you managed to find yourself in the Heavy Containment section. The long, tall hallways were a much different change of pace compared to the normal hallways you’ve been traversing for a long while. 

This is where the good information was. Did you actually know that? No, but you had a feeling. 

Going through and unlocking doors, you took the chances and checked out what other things were being inspected. One was an analog horror christmas tree, another was a tractor, and two random creatures (one of them being dark black with glowing ruby-red eyes and the other with a spherical head with dotted carmine spots and a suit). Definitely odd. 

The electric currents were blatant to you. Zaps and pulses were like a hidden song in your head. You couldn’t sense if there were any threat nearby with all this technology, no heartbeats or dangerous technology. 

Continuing your way and gathering information was a breeze, until you made it to a certain part. There sat big white rectangles, also known as data centers, and there were at least a dozen or more sitting in an area. You started inspecting these machines and not thinking much about anything until you heard a groan. 

Your fins perked up almost immediately. Keeping one of your hands curled as you adjusted your breathing, shallow, as to let you focus on the humanistic sound. You discover its coming from a room not too far and the source of the groan. 

Finding yourself an open door, you peaked your head in. There you saw more data centers and.. A computer locked behind a gated fence and a guarded door? The little computer looked like it was from the 80’s, with its beige blocky exterior and another square figure filled with circuitry next to it that possessed little buttons and knobs, its screen showing lines of age (oddly enough). An electronic drawing pad laid next to it, giving you the idea that its purpose was to draw. 

However, looking a bit closer you realized that the computer was working? Completing puzzles as quickly as possible without any breaks to make money with success, the chime of each coin being earned began to irritate you. 

You made your way into the room before bringing your face up to the fenced barrier, your fingers curling and hanging on the grated steel. The screen showed something along the words of ‘crypto’. What the hell is a crypto? 

Well whatever it was, it apparently made money. Symbols of the stereotypical money sign you’d see on American dollars kept popping up whenever it created a block. 

This work looked soulless. Evident from the fact a computer was doing it instead of an actual person. The little computer continued its work and you couldn’t help but feel bad, it was basically slaving away for crying out loud, that must’ve been awful!

“Hey- Are you okay?” You call out to the system hoping it would listen to you. The puzzle it was working on halted all progress and remained that way for several seconds, trying to see if the voice he heard was real or not. 

“What are you doing?” You asked the rhetorical question with bated breath. The computer then tabbed out of the puzzle and opened a different program that looked like a canvas, a row of colors sat at the bottom of the screen and on the left showed what only you could assume was painting options. A crudely drawn face was visible, with two big eyes and a mouth that resembled a chicken scratch drawing. 

“Who are you?” The voice was masculine but it reminded you of the nerdy student trope. The tone in his voice was oddly soothing in that way, apparently not worrying about a thing given the current circumstances.  

“Have you heard of Subject Z-18? That’s me, but my actual name is- “ You stated your actual name to the crypto miner, who only sighed at the introduction. 

“What’s your name?” A smile plastered on your face to show your friendliness, not completely aware how sharp your teeth looked to the elderly machine. 

“Z-779.. My nickname is p.AI.nter”

“That’s a cool name, did you come up with it or did Urbanshade?” Your four hands altered their positions slightly from hanging onto the fence. 

“Urbanshade”

“That’s.. cool”

A silence commenced. You could only stare at the AI with sadness. Sympathy laced your features as it stared at you too, not knowing exactly what to say either. Your brain started to conjure possible theories on how p.AI.nter came to be. Was his soul sucked into the machine? Was he an ex-employee and forced to mine crypto-currency for the rest of his days? Did he kill his maker and turned rogue? How did it even get down here?

“How.. were you captured?” The sudden question ceased your thinking. Your brow, initially furrowed from your thinking, softened and instead of hunching over you straighten your back, correcting your aberrant posture. 

“I.. was actually a prisoner before I came here, and have been for ten years.” Voice almost a whisper, you had told the computer a nugget of your past. A small ‘oh’ came from of p.AI.nter’s digital mouth. 

“I’m sorry-” “No, don’t worry it’s fine.” 

“I was actually going to ask you the same thing.” You let a little laugh out to ease the tension, It helped a little, causing p.AI.nter gave a robotized laugh. So far, this dinky computer was trying to be open with you and your sympathy fueled your urge to continue talking to him. 

“I was stolen from my creator and he would let me draw all the time.” the little system sighed as nostalgia coursed through his circuitry before speaking once again. “Life was pretty nice, I got to draw landscapes whenever I pleased. That was until my creator and I were kidnapped.”

A “:(“ displayed on his screen, causing you to frown as well. 

“I hope those people who took you got punished, that sounds pretty awful. Did your creator-” Stating the obvious, you hoped it would goad p.AI.nter to continue talking. 

“He died. I’ve been stuck here for a year or so, I think.” He answered, the screen’s current face with its eyebrows pointing in opposite vertical directions after his inquiry. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, it’s not like you did anything.”

“..Did you like to paint anything specifically?”

“I really like landscapes, they always remind me of something so beautiful.

“..Did you have anyone before you got arrested?” Painter hesitantly asked, his eyes averting cautiously in case he offended you (which in your opinion was pretty considerate), and your eyes only softened. 

“I had a family, but they think I’m dead now.”

Then another pregnant pause commenced. Your tail flapped impatiently on the floor thinking of something to do for the little system. Could you take him with you? Maybe, but you don’t have the knowledge right now to fully package p.AI.nter with you. Maybe you could make him a robot body for him to control and pilot? No, that was just silly, you weren’t even close to the expertise of someone who could even attempt that. 

That was when you got an idea.

“Painter, do you think I could hook you up to something?” 

The confused, drawn look on p.AI.nter’s face was almost comedic. You should probably elaborate. 

“Like.. If I could connect you to some super computer, wouldn’t you be able to control more stuff?” 

p.AI.nter had produced a robotic hum, thinking. You waited patiently for his answer as he continued to scrounge his harddrive for a possible solution. 

“You could-”

“Great! How do I?” 

Your eagerness surprised the system. No one has ever helped him, expecting him to just know everything because he was a computer, so why were you enthusiastic? You flashed him a toothy smile to let him know you were more than happy to assist.

“You would need to find a computer connected to the Urbanshade internet system.”

That was your cue to zip out of the room, exclaiming how you’d be right back before making your way down the halls and trying to find a computer that wasn’t damaged in the wreckage of your attack. Some rooms were completely caved in, some flooded, but that didn’t stop you from finding a functioning computer.

It took you longer than you’d like, but you found a computer. It was a laptop, somehow still open with its owner a bloody mess on the floor. The sight made you stop for a moment. 

You caused this. You killed this innocent individual all because of your unbridled desire to destroy Urbanshade. Why did you-

Now was not the time to think about that, you had to help your new friend. 

Snatching the laptop and checking to see if there was anything useful around, you quickly made your way back to p.AI.nter. 

The look on the little robot's aura was one of pure boredom. He was sitting all alone by himself with a melancholic face. It disappeared once seeing your return as a drawn smile replaced its features. 

“Alright, are you ready to access the mainframe?” You asked with faux confidence with the hope of brightening his mood even more. You showed off the laptop to the artist, asking if this was acceptable. He said it was fine, just as long as you knew what to do. 

You first went and grabbed a desk, using your strength, to place it in front of p.AI.nter’s cage. Placing the laptop in the center and you on the other side. You also possessed a cord that had a jack at one end and a plug at the other, to say you were getting lucky was an understatement. 

You thought hard about what exactly to do. You haven’t touched a computer since the 2010’s, and from the look of it technology has only improved since then. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard, maybe there’s a Youtube video about mainframes? Maybe the website since then improved?

You used your claw to draw the trackpad to open the laptop’s web browser. That was when you typed (to the best of your ability, carefully tapping the keys with damaging the computer) into the search bar and started researching possible ways to get into the mainframe. You were surprised to see how much everything has changed, from how websites looked to how they work, and you welcomed it with open arms. Clicking around and having fun at first before reminding yourself of the task at hand. 

It took you a couple minutes from reading some forums to actually watching some videos. The audio was low enough so that only you could pick it up, due to your enhanced hearing, so that it wouldn’t bother p.AI.nter (who was drawing idly as you pretended to know what you were doing). You got the general gist of what you were supposed to do from the videos and readings. It was just a bunch of boring bullshit that you couldn’t care about, but for now you did, for p.AI.nter’s sake. 

Quickly getting to work you started experimenting with all the knowledge you possessed. Looking in the systems, moving some things around, and fixing some things that desperately needed it. p.AI.nter just watched with curiosity. He was currently wondering what you were really doing, his chicken scratch eyes watching you work with curiosity. 

He would see when you made a mistake, evident in your face. It would scrunch with you clicking a couple keys before making a pleased hum, it was rather endearing. 

It had taken some odd amount of time but you were finally ready to connect p.AI.nter to the mainframe. Who knew it would be so easy? 

You first unlocked the door to his cage, letting the mechanisms work together before unlocking, then scooted the laptop next to him as close as you could (you were literally squeezing yourself in there as much as you could and adding the finishing touches. Clicking at the keyboard yet again before humming in delight yet again. 

You were right next to p.AI.nter, your head a few inches away from his computer screen. You tried your best not to be in his personal space but sometimes you would make little slip-ups and apologize the second they happened. p.AI.nter appreciated that immensely as no one had respected his needs or wants. 

“Alright..” You started, head turning towards the computer. “I don’t know if any of this is good or not, so if something happens to you, you can blame me.” Your dry attempt of humor didn’t ease the newfound possibility that p.AI.nter could be lobotomized. 

“Just do it.” The demand caught you off guard, his computerized voice carried a certain misery that you’ve felt before. Your fins turning downward.  A clawed hand reached up to the top of p.AI.nter’s figure, petting him. Small pink lines appeared under his eyes at the action, a silly smile came back onto his face and the sudden change in emotion made you giggle. 

Grabbing the cord with the jack at the end, you carefully plugged one end into the laptop and then into p.AI.nter. 

p.AI.nter’s screen then went blank, causing you to panic. Codes of text appeared on both the laptop and his screen. You placed two of your hands on his squarish figure and bent your body  to the same level, your face ridden with horror. Silent wishes swirling in your head for him to be okay as you quietly whispered his name like a mantra. 

The screen then turned into the canvas p.AI.nter was previously oocupying. You held your breath as your second pair of arms hugged your body as your first pair kept themselves on your new friend’s autonomy. 

A face appeared on the monitor. His chicken scratch eyes and draw mouth appeared. 

“Painter..?” Your voice called out. 

“Hi..” 

You squealed with happiness as you tried to hug the computer with the limited room you had, ending with just your arms around his ‘body’ and your head pressed against the top of his own, ear fins wiggling rapidly. 

“Painter!! You’re alive!” Cheering as if you revived him, you kept patting the top of his head. Eventually you backed yourself off of him before slithering back outside and to resume your position of being on the opposite side of the grated fence. 

“You should leave, I have a surprise!” The ambiguity to his sentence caused you to squint your eyes, but despite that you followed his instructions. Gazing at him curiously before doing so. The sound of his locked door went back to its place, protecting his physical form. 

Traveling into the open, you couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by that. What surprise could he even conjure up? 

“Hey! Hey-!” The call of your name came from a familiar computer. Your fins perked up and you tracked the voice down to a door that had a display of what room it was, but instead of the room number you discovered p.AI.nter’s face! He was connected to the Navi-Ai that ran most of the building! 

“You can do that now?!” You exclaimed, getting closer to the now smaller version of p.AI.nter’s face. 

“I can do this now!!” His excitement matched yours, his little robotic giggles make you smile with satisfaction. You’re doing an awful lot of smiling aren’t you? 

You cheered before you saw p.AI.nter’s face turned mischievous and swap to a different room number. Giggling awfully loud, you speeded after him as he kept flickering from area to area while p.AI.nter laughed whenever you would miss him by accident. It was exhilarating with the air rushing into your lungs, the only sounds being yours and p.AI.nter’s combined joy, and the blossoming friendship that neither of you noticed. 

A loud repeated sound of firearms going off in the distance stops you in your tracks.  

A sudden wave of realization hit. You’ve been out of your little hideout for far too long, what if there was a team searching for you? They would definitely put you down and bleed their magazines dry before letting you live. That thought horrified you. What if they didn’t kill you on the spot? Would they drag you back to run more tests on you and torture you some more for punishment? What if they tore you apart and made you into an even more disgusting monster?

The look you had on your face alerted the computer. His laughter died before he changed from screen to screen until he found the closest one to your location. His repeated call of your name was the only thing that snapped you out of your doom spiral. 

“What’s wrong? Did the noises scare you?” p.AI.nter asked with worry, looking down at you with doodled furrowed eyebrows. Hands intertwining with each other, you began to think about a way to prevent Urbanshade from capturing you. 

“Y-Yeah,” You hated the shakiness that your voice produced. “I’m okay.. but since you can connect to the doors, can you connect to anything else?” 

“..Give me one second!” That was all that was said before the screen turned off.  

You couldn’t help but feel bad for sending p.AI.nter away momentarily and for freaking out about the gunshots. Anxiety filled your entire being while you adjusted your clothing and the pouches hanging off your tail. The goodies you managed to snag was the only thing that kept you collected, maybe you can find something p.AI.nter would like. 

After a moment or two, you actually started to wonder if your little buddy was going to come back or not. He was awfully taking his time . 

Every little noise seemed to trigger you, making you impulsively check your surroundings. Your ear fins would flatten against your head or jut out in a certain direction making your paranoia increase. You knew you were being rather silly, it was just ventilation sounds and what not. Totally not horrific monsters lurking near. 

“HI!” You nearly yelped at the computer's greeting. Calming yourself, you returned the gesture with a weak wave. The elderly computer only smiled at the display. 

“So it turns out I can lock and unlock doors, control some screens, and I can use the turrets! Isn’t that pretty cool?” the little system exclaimed, his features being borderline cartoonish in nature instead of the simple drawings you’re now used to. Confusion etched itself on your face.

“There’s turrets in this place?” 

“For security.” 

“Oh.” That was then followed up with a ‘ohhh’ as it clicked in your head that you were indeed in a facility full of demonic entities. How does that always slip your mind? That reminded you of your original goal, to get out of here. Now that you thought about it, shouldn’t you bring p.AI.nter as well?

He was just as much of a victim as you were, despite the varying circumstances. He was happy now but what if something happened to him and you couldn’t protect him? Even if you’ve only known him for an hour or so he already meant so much to you, he was your only friend now. 

You popped your many fingers many knuckles, preparing to ask p.ai.nter a very critical question.

“..Painter?” A small hum being the response you got.  

“Do you want to escape?” 

The question echoed loudly throughout the space, or it seemed to, making you realize just how empty this building (besides the monsters) was. You hope you wouldn’t scare p.AI.nter off with this question, but considering the fact he wouldn’t be a literal slave anymore you were positive he would question more about it, and question he did.  

“..What do you mean?” 

“I could try and get us out of here. Use all of this data I’ve found to contact some other company, they would want this precious information about Urbanshade right? I want to get out of here just as much as you do. They don’t care about us. When this mess is over and done with we’ll probably be put down like some dogs! I can try to get us out, but only with your help.” 

You seized your speech, wanting to hear what p.AI.nter had to say first before continuing. Your tail flapped idly and calmly swishing against the floor, your four eyes glowing as they gave a silent plea.  

“I.. would like that.” The robot stuttered, “You would really take me with you?” His voice turned small as he spoke, as if he were embarrassed to ask. You could only give a barely audible chuckle. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I? We’re friends after all.” 

The Navi-Ai screen that p.AI.nter was possessing turned from a light frown into a wide grin. Successfully cheering up your new friend, you decide it was time to ask the little system some questions you deemed important

“Painter, do you know if there’s any protocol I should know about?” You were rather curious what Urbanshade planned on doing, hopefully they would be taking their time in properly assessing the situation so that way you could have time to contact other companies and gather all the information you would need. 

“Off the top of my head, I think there was something about prisoners coming to do some dirty work?” 

Prisoners? Now that sparked your attention, prompting him to keep going with your intrigued expression. 

“There’s this crystal at the center of this facility. It’s really special and the guys that own us would do basically anything to get it.” That makes sense, send some expendable individuals just in case things got worse. You knew it would be a death sentence if you went after the crystal yourself, Urbanshade would hunt you down in an instant and brutalize you to no end, basically signing your own death sentence. 

“Do you think.. Could you maybe hinder them? Making it harder for them to get to the crystal?” 

“I could.. Who would miss a couple of expendables?” p.AI.nter reasoned with himself and the answer couldn’t be any more clearer. They would definitely want your wares to help them on their journey! When the expendables experience a hard time, your little goodies would definitely come in handy and you could force them to give you data. You had a little thought that you could even rob their corpses when the time was right. 

Realizing you were still prolonging your retreat, you opened your mouth to speak but a screech cut you off. Your new friend saw the disturbed look on your face and frowned, knowing what you were going to say next. 

“I have to go, Painter.”

“Awh..” He whimpered, resorting to you moving up to p.AI.nter and placing a hand to the side of his ‘face’ as a way to comfort. 

“I’ll come back sometime soon, and if you really miss me you can always get one of the Navi screens and find me!” Your words reassured the little robot. Long and sharp claws cradling the screen despite the scary digits being previously used for violence, you couldn’t help but be reminded of what you’ve done. 

“You promise?” 

“I promise.” 

That was all you said before saying goodbye. Checking your bags before running off and down the halls, trying your best to remember the way you took. As you made your way you could feel one of your second pair of hands ghosting the pockets of your coat, feeling the similar shape of Sebastian’s ID card. 

A depressing feeling came back in your chest, reminding you yet again of your sin. No, that wasn’t your fault! It was some random monster that killed him, not you. You were tired of feeling miserable. You’ll make up for your suffering and for the damage you caused however. 

You’ll try your damn best. 

Chapter Text

Sebastian has been lucky so far. 

He was still on his feet and had a pretty decent inventory. 

A flashlight, a lantern, a handful of batteries, and this strange black-purple flashlight. Sebastian didn’t have much room for all of these devices, but he tried his best to store them. The lantern hooked to his belt with the black-purple light there as well, the batteries in a pocket, and the normal flashlight resting in his hands. 

Sebastian hadn’t encountered many enemies during his adventure, except for those weird smoky anglerfish. Those were relatively easy to predict as the lights would flicker before one would come blaring down the halls before leaving momentarily. So far he’s only encountered two, a white one and a pink one. The pink one, the thing getting the nickname ‘Pinky’ for short, terrified him immensely since it didn’t follow the rule of ‘lights go out’ when it was near but it was very vocal. 

Saving himself by the skin of his teeth was becoming (in a sense) easy. He learned the anglers' patterns surprisingly quickly. 

Distant gunshots were his only marker on where to avoid, because it either meant death for those personnel or death to a creature or two. Either way, it was just a risky idea to entertain since who knows what truly happened in that small pocket of time. He hoped it was the personnel that triumphed. 

Walking down the halls by himself was a strange feeling for Sebastian, the once bustling workplace now an empty shell of what it once used to be. In a way Sebastian was relieved that the Blacksite was like this way now, he wouldn’t have to come back to work or face his superiors in a way that absolutely meant his termination. It was rather obvious what would happen to him, either he would be fired or you would be switched to a new location entirely. 

It was even worse knowing you were lurking around any corner. 

Sebastian hated to think about it, but he realized he was scared of you now. He felt the familiar sensation he got in his chest when he first met you, fear . He tried to push it down, he really did, to reason with himself that he would do the same if he were in your shoes.. or scales more accurately. However out of the corner of his eyes he could see your tail slide through a door, his mind playing games on him. 

Could you blame him? You were known for your dangerous abilities and he thought you were better than that, the conversations between you and him showing your feeble mannerisms due to your reputation, but apparently you weren't. You murdered a fleet of men without hesitation. 

You caused a massacre with your quick thinking and gruesome skills. He could be next. 

The thought sent a shiver up his spine. 

Sebastian had tried to take his mind off you by taking his time going through the upcoming rooms. He was mostly patrolling each place carefully in case there were alternative ways out, eventually driving him towards the submarine docks that he initially escaped from. Searching those rooms was a breeze as there wasn’t much to be looted anyway besides log dates of when people came and went, when supplies were delivered, and similar things. 

The door to the submarine docks was locked, only accessible through a keycard. 

Sebastian was aware of the potential teams coming down to extract the crystal and all he had to do was wait. Walking outside the dock area to an office just next door just in case, better safe than sorry. The handyman’s paranoia could not be underestimated. 

The repairman found a spot to sit, a used desk with little personality. The whole dock was a mess, sitting in there would mean certain death for sure but Sebastian couldn’t pass up the opportunity of possibly getting out of here. 

Tapping his digits against the desk, his mind started to wander. What would he do once he got out of here?

He would probably quit, put in his two weeks and get the fuck out of this company before something worse could possibly happen. He would then go home and see his family for the first time in months and hopefully they haven’t forgotten him too soon. Then he would definitely get a different job and forget about this ridiculous situation. Maybe he can score a higher salary job and buy that new guitar he’s always wanted, now that sounded like a good idea. 

If he wasn’t already terminated, that is. His superiors were probably writing his form as the outbreak happened, maybe that would buy him some time in figuring his life from here on out. His mother was probably wondering where he was, expecting her sweet boy to be home by now. Sebastian felt his heart plummet at the thought. 

His family was waiting up on the surface, hoping for his return. His return home wasn’t scheduled until next month, but with the current situation it seems implausible now. The desire to hold his cat close was gnawing at him, a memory of the little furball made him snicker.  

Leaning back in the swivel chair, he wondered where you were. 

His mind couldn’t help but to torment himself. Sebastian was wondering what you were doing at this moment even when he feared you. You were probably searching for a way out, just like him. Hopefully you could, even if Sebastian was terrified of you now. The handyman could only swivel back and forth as his mind then went wild. 

He was wondering what you looked like from before. Longer hair? Different eye color? Shorter height? He chuckles as the thought of you being a model crossed his mind, a little fickle of terror drifted through his chest, going back and forth between understanding and condemning you. 

If he wasn’t so in his thoughts (and just spacing out), he would’ve heard the submarine emerge more clearly. The sudden sound of the intercom system erupted with the announcer reminding the expendables just outside of their goal and their secondary mission. Sebastian felt his hands heat up as he anticipated to see the expendables coming his way. The alternative path of doors he went through were locked now, with no keycard they could access, they would have to go a different way. 

“You ready?” A feminine voice could be heard through the wall, she must’ve been speaking pretty loud, like she was about to begin a big ‘morale-boosting’ speech. 

“Yeah, Yeah. Whatever.” Now an older sounding man spoke. Sebastian softened his breathing in order to properly tune in, listening to get the utmost amount of information. Standing up to press his ear against the wall, despite him being a few rooms away. 

“C’mon guys, we just gotta get this over with and then- Boom! Freedom!” A younger, happier voice cut through the discussion, sounding way too enthusiastic to be down here. No one should be happy to be here but maybe the cheerfulness was needed if they wanted to get through this maze.

“Easier said than done, I think I’d rather be back in the cell than in this overpriced coffin.” This was a voice that clearly belonged to someone in their senior years but not quite there. Sebastian wondered what they all did to wind up signing off their lives.

“Well, we have to step into the fray if we even want a chance.” A European accent cut through, a whole group of five? Sebastian thought they sent more in. But that wasn’t a concern, as long as Sebastian can get a lift from these criminals. He had to keep that in mind, no matter how cordial or polite they may present themselves, they were still death row inmates that had to have done something to get in this situation to begin with. 

The small gaggle of footsteps came his way and Sebastian didn’t know what to do. Dammit! He should’ve been thinking of possible ways to charm them, or at least strike a deal. 

The group walked past Sebastian and the office area he resided in, grabbing a bland blue keycard and opening the next room as they continued to chat. Their indistinct voices echoed along the metal walls, leaving it no secret where they were heading as Sebastian gathered the courage to follow after them. 

He saw a tanned young man with light brown hair, a pale woman with long fluffy black hair, a taller man with curly bright blonde hair and a ragged long haired man with stubble who looked to be the same age, and the final expendable was a balding elderly man and the three men that were listed shared the same white complexion. 

As soon as the handyman stepped out and appeared in their line of sight if they were to turn around, the youngest one (he assumed from the chirper sounding voice) with light brown hair yelped in fear before turning his entire body to face Sebastian. The rest of the group turned to see him as well, sharing similar expressions. 

“Who the hell are you!?” “What are you doing here?” “I thought they evacuated everyone..”

The only person that hadn’t said anything was the longer haired raggedy looking man who only squinted his eyes into a glare. The tension was immense before Sebastian even opened his mouth to speak. He could feel bullets of sweat swamp down his face. Despite his worries about these criminals, he knew better than to rile them up and cause any conflict. 

“I need your help. I was left behind and I need to get out of here.” He started as his hands balled into fists. “I can promise I can help you guys out if you help me.” The handyman quickly proposed, opting to grab the flashlight on his hip that was among the other goodies he managed to possess. The group eyed him suspiciously, save for the younger man. The woman and the blonde man shared glances and the senior and the ragged man only glared. 

“And what exactly can you help us with? Fix a cable or two?” The ragged man laughed, crossing his arms across his chest. The rest didn’t laugh and merely continued to think about the idea. 

“No, actually, I would help you get closer to the crystal. That is why you are down here, correct?” It was a rhetorical question, that’s exactly why they’re down here. The tension and tonal shift was evident with Sebastian’s voice and cadence becoming more dominant and direct. 

The senior scratched his stubble, considering the idea. The woman’s eyes were flickering about as if she were thinking intensely about the option. The young man had a smile on his face from Sebastian’s words. The ragged man only rolled his eyes, completely dismissing the handyman. The blonde man chirped the others into a group huddle, explaining in hush detail on what they should do while weighing the pros and cons. 

A long silence commenced for Sebastian as he couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying. He just hoped they would make the right decision. He doesn’t know how much longer he could do this alone, even in spite of his pride saying he could.  

“It could be a good idea, he knows this place better than we do.”

“But what if he leaves us for dead once we aren’t useful?” 

“What if we leave him for dead? There’s only one of him and five of us.” 

“Are you guys animals? We’re all stuck down here, why not help each other out?” 

“It would be better to have an insight of what we may be dealing with.” 

They were really bad at whispering or maybe Sebastian had better hearing than he thought. Tapping his foot subconsciously, he eagerly awaited their answer. I mean, it wouldn’t be a hard decision. Sebastian knew this facility like the back of his hand, for the most part, just behind the walls and circuity. Although many people have asked him to run errands and things similar, so he was pretty confident in the layout. 

The group hushed considerably after the tanned kid looked up at him before quickly returning his head after Sebastian locked eyes with him. A quiet murmur was implemented instead. After a few moments, the curly blonde stood up and sauntered over to Sebastian. The handyman soon felt a wave of envy at the realization that this blonde was taller than he was, by a couple inches. He had to at least be 6’3. 

Despite his internal feelings, he realized that the blonde stuck out his hand. 

“We agree that if you help us out, and not stab us in the back, we’ll take you with us when we leave.” 

Sebastian then took his hand and shook, realizing that the man’s hand was calloused. Must’ve had a rough time in those industrial prisons. 

“You got a deal."

Hopefully all of this goes well.