Work Text:
*Click* *Ding! *
The elevator shut its doors and, with an almost imperceptible shake, started its descent. Through the glass door, Steve could see the multiple floors passing through his eyes.
One floor was filled to the brim with cubicles, forming a maze of stations, inside those, at least one person typed their life away, making their best to pull through the constant influx of documentation that seemed to never stop. It was the apex of boring office job, but Steve could at the very least appreciate the uniformization and organization the whole floor exuded.
On the next floor, chaos greeted the vision, as flying papers floated around, workers and interns alike yelled at one another, people tried to catch and sort the scattered documents while others simply turned the growing piles outside out looking for specific pieces, creating even more of a mess in the process.
A chill went down Steve’s spine as that could very well have been his reality when first joining the company, he would be forever thankful to Lilith for taking him under her wing.
Another floor down, and this time he let a smile grace his lips, when the halls of what could only be described as a school were shown through the glass. Some children milled around already, none in too much of a hassle as it was still very early in the day, but most still making their ways to whatever meeting or class they were needed, with very few others sticking around for meaningless conversation
A nice if not confusing sight, not every day you see what’s basically a school floor inside a corporative building. That tough was one of the most public and acclaimed projects of the company, the “brilliant minds” project, an initiative proposed by the CEO Phillip Wittebane, as a way to nurture strong minds of those without resources or infra structure. A sight of the kids happily moving about was enough to melt most hearts, including Steve’s own.
The elevator descended further, passing right through the reception and going even further down below.
Descending to the underground, Steve took a moment to get his mind on focus, back on the job.
Going deeper and deeper into the earth, it felt as if the real world was being left behind, and, as the first floor showed up, the sensation of dread crept up, it was like he had entered hell itself.
The first floor down the ground was a sterile hall of clean white walls, people with coats and paper masks lurked around, some with clipboards making notes, others guided wheeled mattress or wheelchairs, maybe for surgery, maybe for exams, maybe for tests, no one would ask which or why either way, for the patients were not the ones most would care for.
The floor was as normal as you could think, and almost passable as a floor for testing medicine that double as a hospital, all in all not that interesting, except for its location of course.
What would throw all logic and sense through the window would be the dismembered pieces of unknown creatures, pieces and bits of beasts and abominations, sometimes even the whole thing, constrained but still alive, could be seen passing through the halls, being moved from side to side, from one experiment to another.
What made the whole floor unbearable were the screams and howls, animalistic and inorganic in nature. Down the hall it was clearly seen, an enormous creature being torched down alive and regenerating soon after.
Steve gripped his knuckle at the sight, unwelcome memories fronting in his mind.
On the next floor, a militarized decoration was stamped around, uniformed guards with blank white masks bared arms for all to see, pistols to the hip and rifles to the lap, no expressions, no disorder, no faces, no life’s, only guardians of secrets, only weapons without name.
Steve clenched at his heart, phantom pain on his face and fingers, he could feel the weight of the gun around his shoulders the heat of the mask in his face, that was him once, that could still be him tomorrow…
The third floor was… in simple terms, a prison. Cellblocks lined the walls of concrete, doors of steel and giant guards, that you may confuse for a person, a very tall and very still person, getting a little bit closer tough and one would see that behind the plates of armor and faces of iron, there was only nuts and bolts in place of blood and veins.
Descending rapidly to the fourth floor Steve felt his eyes glaze over and his muscles tense, all training suddenly surging to mind as the blare of the alarms shot in his ear.
Yellow light covered the corridor where an escapee, a creature resembling a spider the size of a horse, with horns in its head and mouths on the leg’s shoulders.
The creature jumped at one of the guards that meet her midway through with a grip of steel, locking the beast midair, its hands extended from its joints revealing a purple Ozzy arm dripping and revolving around itself like a liquid. Without any hesitation, after dimming the creature far enough, the guardian pressed its fingers and tightened its grip.
The creature screeched and screamed until a sickening crunch was heard. In pain, the creature’s wail was turned to mere whimpers, it laid immovable in the hands of its captor. Satisfied, the keeper moved further inside the prison taking his catch with him if to re imprison or to dispose, Steve wouldn’t know or ask.
Gripping hard on his shirt, he locked his eyes at the scene ahead, not blinking for an instant, his instincts not faltering not undoing. Until the floor was completely left behind, he didn’t move, and only seconds after, he breathed and stumbled back, almost falling, his nightmares following, never far behind his back.
Besides those, there are other three lower floors Steve knew about, the sixth is another prison, one with more guards and protection, a high security for the worst beings. The seventh is the core, the main energy center of the base, as well as the main priority of the higher corporates.
Steve wasn’t going to see any of those today.
As the glass doors filled with light, Steve could see his destination. An enormous hole like cave, so big and deep that the elevator took minutes to get from the top to the bottom. On the walls observation ramps and research buildings were positioned, people dressed like scientists moved around in calm and peacefulness almost as if unknowing of the monstrosity’s up above as well as down below.
The place was so big people had to use vehicles to move around and in the center. An egg like structure was displayed as high as a pyramid, with buildings built around itself, forming a makeshift village of scientists and researchers.
The elevator stopped still a bit high in the air, over one of the many platforms.
The doors showed a woman with jet black hair, wearing a lab coat with a maroon sweater underneath a pin of Godzilla on her coat’s pocket, she held a notebook full of notes and made annotations while expecting the doors to open, when they did, she immediately saw his face and smirked.
“Hello Steve, welcome to the nest.”
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Steve's Pov
Lilith Clawthorne one of the main researchers in the entire facility, said while making space for me to leave the elevator, and extending her hand for compliment.
“Good Morning Doctor Clawthorne, hope I’m not late?”
I grasped her hand and gave a soft shake. She laughed.
“No need to be so formal Steve, we are not that distant in rank”
She moved aside and made sign for me to follow her. I gladly did.
“Even so, it’s better to keep things professional, not let any reason for people to think I’m getting preferential treatment ya know?”
She looked pensive for a moment. And them said while humming.
“Perhaps, but still, in private at last, I insist these formalities are not needed.”
They arrived at a jeep car on the edge of the platform, they both got on without hesitation, Lilith on the wheel and him on the shotgun and while putting seatbelts Steve ended with.
“Fair enough Lilith, although I wasn’t expecting this from you!”
Starting the engine, the woman grumbled.
“Urgh, don’t say it, I know I look like Edalyn when I try and do this type of things, no need to remind me.”
“No idea what you’re talking about doc, was just noticing your new pin, just that.”
“Yeah, yeah you were.”
The car started and moved swiftly on the sidelines of the platform.
“So, what do you know about the Nest and your new placement.”
Steve crossed his arms.
“Not much, from what I heard the place is just another prison floor, but the things you keep here are more powerful but kind of ‘docile’ so the big boss made this place to get all the nerdys their playground to experiment without any ethics problems as well as to have some secure space in case the prisoners ever turn around to be not that much harmless.”
A dark look crossed Lilith’s eyes as Steve talked, but it he could not pinpoint the reason, and it was gone as soon as it appeared.
They arrived at a turn in the middle of the platform, Lilith took it and turning the car, she set their course directly in the direction of the oval structure, ‘the nest.’
“Very well, that would be the simplified version of it, yes. What about your position?”
“Personal guard of the head chief researcher, that would be you. Keep sight of the experiments, make some light maintence on the cells, be sure the things aren’t dying, this type of things, and oh, assist you in your research if solicited, got it all?”
She nodded, serious gaze now covering her face Steve noticed her grip on the wheel tight when she referred to the prisoners as ‘things’. They reached the facility.
“Yes, you didn’t miss anything, mostly.”
Steve felt his good humor starting to leave.
Lilith scanned her eyelids, the gates opened, and in they go. The artificial lights getting behind and a cast of shadow looming over the two of them. Steve’s smile disappeared together with the light.
“Steve, what you will see here I need you to keep in secret, and not the normal, the world will enter in panic and chaos if you spread this, kind of way. But because if you say something, there will be consequences, very bad consequences, and not only for you.”
They arrived at a dead end, a small ladder of concrete that ended on a metal shutter door.
“So, I need you to be very throughout on this Steve, and keep your lips very closed, do you think you can do this?”
She looked him in the eye. He was confused.
“I don’t know what to say Lilith, after everything I saw already? Why would I talk now of all times?”
Lilith gripped the steer wheel with force.
“believe me, what’s inside here will make you want to talk.”
Lilith didn’t wait for a response, leaving the car, she directed herself to the door, a bashful Steve right behind her.
At the door, Lilith passed her keycard over a sensor and the shutter unlocked itself, the door opening without problems. Inside, a corridor one would think it would belong to a hotel, mahogany floorboards, flowery walls, and light decoration around, like a small table with a vase on it. On the end of the corridor, a completely normal wood door.
Not waiting on Steve, Lilith walked till the door and open it, this time she didn’t even had to do anything, the door was unlocked.
Behind that door, another even more strange place, a room filled to the brim with flowers and grass, and trees, an artificial light over the top, looking like a mini garden. There was even a small road of pebbles that converged in a crossroad at the center of the place, a wooden bank lying idly and peaceful on it. On the opposite side from where they entered, another simple door.
When they passed thought it without undoing any lock once more, Steve got confused.
“You guys are light on security here uh?”
Lilith didn’t look back.
“You said before that the nest was another prison floor, well, that is not completely correct, to work with our… individuals, we need them to be calm and not opposed to cooperation, more locks mean less freedom and that leads to stressed and uncooperative individuals.”
Steve opened his mouth but Lilith was faster.
“And no, just because the individuals here are more docile, it doesn’t mean they won’t fight back if unfairly treated.”
“Noted.”
She snickered.
“Besides, with what we have here, I doubt, a couple more doors would make much of a difference anyway.”
“What do you mean by that?”
A saddened expression rested in her eyes, shadowed by her defeated face.
“You will see.”
Without noticing they had already gotten to the end of another room, this one a simple corridor without any big decoration or addendum besides the exit door, this one was thicker more lustrous and apparently more intrinsically built than the others.
Still, Lilith swiped her card and the door became alive, all its intrinsic and complex mechanisms bending over one simple security lock.
Hissing and expelling a little amount of mist, the door stopped moving and without any sound its hinges twirled and it was open.
Inside… Wasn’t anything Steve was expecting. No cold and dirt stone floors of a callbox, no darkness common of a coffin, no bars or chains or shackles.
Inside the door, what awaited was a bedroom, uncommon only in size. Other than that? The room was bright and painted with multiple colors and forms, the walls had pictures and drawings lined up and covering the most part of it, each corner was painted with different colors, light blue, green, purple and golden.
Each corner also had a similar set of decoration to it. A bed, a night drawer, a desk and chair pair, and what a appeared to be a small wooden box like a chest in the four directions of the room, with little additions like a bookshelf in between the purple and golden one, a shelf with lots of trophies between green and purple, a set of cabinets and extra tables between the light blue and green as well as various different posters In between the light blue and the golden one.
The later was the last one noticed by Steve, they wouldn’t interest him much either way, as they were all empty and well made. Instead, the former soldier was taken aghast by the center of the room, were there laid a nest, made of a purple material that immediately got Steve thinking about the unhuman guards from the upper floors.
At first Steve didn’t know to what he was looking at, as the distance made It difficult to say if there even was anything inside the nest. But a slight movement from its direction already got his instincts pumping, he reached for his gun without a second thought.
Lilith’s hands met his. She wasn’t strong enough to stop him, but her attempt made him pause and turn. She had firm eyes, a thin line of a mouth, she shook her head twice.
He breathed deeply but made his best to calm down and keep his hand away from the gun, nodding to Lilith, signalizing he got the memo.
“Hmm? Who is it?”
Steve did a double take; he must surely have been mistaken. Just them he heard a voice, coherent and so deeply human, still it couldn’t be, the voice came from the nest…
Turning his eyes, he wasn’t ready, not because what he saw was horrible, but what he saw didn’t make sense, it didn’t make any more sense than anything that had happened till now, and his brain still refused to process.
“Lily? Is it another surprise test? We said we don’t do tests on Saturday.”
Over the nest, rubbing the sleep away from her face, was a girl, a human girl. Wearing a simple set of purple pajamas with patterns of stars on them.
“Rest assured Luz, its nothing of that matter, I’m just giving my new assistant, Steve here, a tour around the facility.”
That seemed to have struck a chord on the girl, cause the sleep suddenly evaporated from her face, and was replaced by an ecstatic cheerful expression.
“Oh! You’re Steve! Lily’s best friend! Oooooh I can’t believe I’m meeting you! I have so many questions! How old are you? Do you have hobbies!? Do you have any embarrassing stories about Lily!? Did she ever talk about us!?”
Steve was thrown out on a loop, immediately taken away from his surprise by the bombing of questions.
“whoa, whoa, slowdown a little kid! I don’t think I got even half of that!”
She retracted a bit, blushing in embarrassment.
“Ah, sorry, it’s just that we rarely meet new people and I kind of get a bit excited.”
She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
Steve tried to push that last comment of her’s to the back of his mind and let the situation relax him a bit, and although he had several questions on why a seemingly normal kid was apparently living in a dangerous secret private facility, he let himself slowdown.
“It’s all right kid, just surprised me its all, and I don’t mind the questions.”
She perked up.
“Oh phew, I thought I had screwed over there for a moment.”
“no, it’s, it’s quite all right uh…”
“Ah, I didn’t say my name, dumb me haha, I’m luz it’s a pleasure!”
“Right back at ya.”
Looking it all over, Steve was almost believing that this wasn’t as shady of a deal as it first appeared, Luz didn’t seem to have any injuries or signs of being sick or malnourished, in fact she seemed to radiate health and brightness!
Still, Lilith told him he wouldn’t believe it when he saw it, and he didn’t believe when he saw her, so by proxy, she had to be one of the ‘individuals. That already put a freeze to his spine, when remembering how the creatures on the upper floors were treated, as well as the possibility of there being more like her down here. Wait. Didn’t she say ‘us’ when answering Lilith?
On the moment of doubt, Steve couldn’t react fast enough, and before anything could be done, a purple oozing hand with claws as fingers strapped around the girl’s torso at the same time a number of green vines surged out of nowhere and did the same.
The girl let out a yelp as the two forces that now gripped on her figure pushed her down and back into the nest she was sleeping.
“Kid!”
Steve yelled in desperation while trying to take his gun from the holster.
‘Fast, Fast, Faster! Danm she is going to die if you don’t go faster!’
He thought furiously as she fought with the clip that kept his weapon away.
“Luuuz its early.”
“Go back to Sleep Luz.”
The girl laughed, for the love of all greater forces, she laughed.
“Guys! Stop I’m complimenting Lily’s friend!”
She said with mirth, and was answered immediately by a voice that sounded just as young.
“No, too early to make friends, time to sleep.”
“You guys can sleep without me!”
“Nooo, you’re so warm, don’t want to.”
Another voice complained and the girl just groaned defeated.
Steve blinked once, then twice; he surely isn’t hearing what he thinks he is hearing right?
He flinched when Lilith put a hand to his shoulder, her still neutral if not saddened look was the cruelest of the proves, he wasn’t hearing things.
Gesturing for him to follow, Lilith made her way towards the nest at the center of the room. Close behind, Steve slowly took notice of what laid inside the nest.
Four figures. A tiny boy who couldn’t be older than twelve, with darkish skin and blue pj’s decorated with rockets, the boy’s skin seemed to flicker from time to time, showing his whole internal structure clearly like it was made of glass, before going back to normal. A chubby and bulky girl snored peacefully at his side, she had light blue hair, her image almost fully innocent despite what most surely seemed like a whole second mouth snoring on her belly and the tendrils and vines of plants that erupted from her legs and nails and moved around and inside her skin. A second girl with very thin and pale complexion was covered in the purple ooze from before, her arms and legs completely taken like they were made of it, molded into claws and paws, her spine also seemed to erode from her back and end on a tail, all made of the same substance.
And bellow them all, being used like a collective pillow was the first girl, ‘Luz’ she said her name was, who had no apparent mutation to her form. Surrounding her the boy and plant girl were rounded around each other, both on top of one arm and a leg of Luz, while the one with the claws gripped to her other side.
Lilith sighed
“Let me guess, another movie marathon?’
“Hehe, the cinema room has just gotten new seats you know? We had to test them; it was a duty!”
“Aham, I see.”
“And besides, I will say it again, its Saturday! It should be a crime to wake up this early!”
“Them why are you up so soon?”
“hmph, for your information, preparing a fun day out is very difficult when you have three cuddling roommates who don’t take lightly to losing their human heater.”
Lilith chuckled, something small and fragile, but real.
“Understood. Still, could those roommates of yours make an exception on their cuddle pile to meet our new guard?”
“Well…”
Luz looked unsure to the pile that was over her.
“No. Sleep.”
Was all that was said by the one with the purple ooze. The other two didn’t move an inch. Lilith huffed.
“Oh, is that so? Well that’s really sad, almost as sad as all those pets in the animal room, all lonely and sad, up there.”
One of the girl’s ears pointed up.
“I’m listening.”
“Get up for five minutes with at least one of the other two to greet Steve and I talk the doctors to let you all visit your pets today.”
The purplenette’s eyes opened in a thin line, and with a tense minute of what didn’t have the right to be such a convoluted decision, she literally growled before disentangling from Luz arm and sitting up.
“Fine. Gus, c’mon wake up”
She shocks the small boy awake, he took a second to whip his eyes, his skin blinking and becoming translucent for a moment, getting a jump from Steve, before quickly going back to normal.
“Hm? What? Why… its Saturday.”
“Miss Lilith want us to meet a new guard, she said we can go see the pets if we do.”
“Emmely?”
“And all the others, yes.”
He hummed.
“ok.”
He settles on, before also getting halfway up, he and Amity them helped Luz get reclined at the border of the nest, Willow’s sleep form not making the slightest move to wake or let Luz free from her grasp.
“Great! Now kids, please meet our new guard Steve.”
The guard cleared his throat, awkwardly.
“Hey uh, kids, name is Steve, pleasure to meet you.”
“Oh, you’re Steve! HI the name is Augustus but everyone calls me Gus! I’m the youngest, I have twelve years old and I can do this.”
The boy changed colors, even his clothes changing, he passed from full on invisibility to being only halfway transparent, his upper layers being invisible but his internal organs being completely visible. Steve tried not to flinch away, with a cringe smile he gave the boy a thumbs up.
“Nice to know bud.”
The boy got back to normal, looking very pleased with himself. Next one was Luz.
“HI! I’m Luz, but you already know that I guess, ha ha, well, I’m fourteen and I don’t do much, but I really like to draw!”
Steve nodded, before looking at the last awake child.
“Amity, I’m fourteen, and I don’t think its difficult to imagine what I can do.”
She said while flexing her claws. Something nagged him every time he looked at her claws, the composition of the goop that formed her as well as the coloration utterly familiar, still he couldn’t exactly put his fingers on it.
“Fair enough, what about…”
Snooooooore!
The kids laughed at their friend snoring, even Lilith had to hold a chuckle.
“Sorry, Willow is a heavy sleeper, she probably won’t wake up for some hours yet, she is fifteen and has some control over plants.”
SNOOOOOORE!
The second mouth in Willow’s belly snored even louder than the girl.
“And there is that too.”
Steve looked haunted, cold sweat dripping from his forehead
“Well, uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you all kids, I hope we can work well together, if there is anything, I can help with don’t hesitate in calling.”
The three of them nodded.
“Very well, now better start your day children, I will take Steve to know the rest of the installations.”
“And get the pet room ready?”
“And get the pet room ready, yes, I will be back in an hour, be ready till them.”
“Yes!”
The kids loudly claimed, Gus and Amity high fiving while Luz giggled. They seemed so normal, like any other child you could have encountered. It gave Steve the creeps.
“Steve, with me please.”
Lilith gestured and they moved out of the room. On the outside, he didn’t say anything, just following Lilith around, she lead him into a side room, with a translucent mirror, on the other side an adjacent room to that of the kids could be seen, the room was filled with toys, books, paper, paint, some televisions with game consoles, it was the dream play room of every children, and it was displayed on a glass like a zoo jail.
“Lilith, what the fuck.”
She sighed. Pushing a cigarette out of her pocket, she lights it up and brought to her lips, taking a heavy breath out of it.
“Those are the hatchlings. Kids born with various mutations on their bodies and minds, making them not fully human.”
She took another drag.
“They were brought here as newborns, and were raised under our wings for the protection of the people and their own as well.”
Steve took a minute to process what he just heard. Turning around he let his back hit the glass and slowly slipped down on it, ending on the ground.
“Them what? Are you training them to be super heroes? Super soldiers? Fancy pets for some rich son of Bitch?”
“There is no such thing, they are well cared and raised on with the best resources, doctors, teachers, anything they could ever want or need is provided by us.”
Steve raised an eyebrow, waiting for the catch.
“We do study their changes to try and find useful uses out their ability’s but that’s the only…”
Steve didn’t hear the rest, his mind immediately connected were he had seen that ooze before, the thing the girl was covered in was the same they used on the Abomination guards.
‘We Study their changes’
Steve’s mind flashed to a guard mission he did for the laboratory, keeping tabs on a during surgery, surgery to extract his “changes” the whole process was invasive, painful, excruciating and it was done with the subject completely conscious. He looked at the girl behind the mirror, she was young couldn’t be much older than his own brother…
“Fuck Lilith. What the fuck!?”
Lilith flinched; the hand that wasn’t holding the cigarrete wrapped around her body.
“I know it sounds bad but…”
“Lilith, this are kids, being raised on an underground complex of a multimillionaire like they are beasts on a cage. And you just admitted they are doing experiments on them. This is not messed up; this is just plain horror movie bullshit.”
“If it makes it any less worse, they do have visitation days, and the tests were never done in any invasive or hurtful way.”
“That you know off. Hum, but yeah, it’s nice they can have visitation days, the most horrid criminals have it why a bunch of kids wouldn’t, am I right?”
She had her mouth shut in a thin line, nothing she could say would make it better.
“Why did you bring me here Lilith?”
She looked at the room behind the glass, where Amity and Gus were playing in one of the tv’s Luz reading a book in a beanbag.
“This place isn’t perfect, but there is no safe way for this kids to live normal life’s out there, they would be shunned, hunted, isolated, they would suffer and when they become adults, when they become stronger, they will give it back to humanity in the same coin.”
She clenched her hands.
“Maybe this isn’t the best solution, but it’s the best we have, though I want to make it the best for them as I possibly can. And I called you here to help me do so.”
She turned, they crossed stares.
“Will you help me Steve?”
He slowly got up, giving one last look to the room. Them back at Lilith. He extended his hand.
“for them.”
They shock on it.
“You won’t regret it Steve.”
Steve hoped he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t so sure.