They didn't call it an order.They called it a request, wrapped in professional language and thin patience, delivered only after the blond man had been left sitting too long in the cold.He was brought back into the interrogation room with a limp that hadn't been there before. His wrists were free now, but that meant nothing. Freedom without doors was decoration.A vial lay on the table.Clear liquid. Slightly viscous. Too clean.
"You're going back in," the woman with the glasses said. No warmth. No apology.
He stared at the vial. "No."
A man in black folded his arms. "You don't get to refuse."
"I do," he said hoarsely. "And I am."
Silence. Then the chair across from him scraped back.
"You're the only variable it hasn't killed," the man continued. "We believe proximity matters. Scent. Recognition. Something."
"You believe wrong."
"You don't know that."
"No," he said. "But neither do you."
The woman slid the vial closer. "This isn't lethal. It's a suppressant. Neuromuscular dampener. Temporary."
He laughed, once, broken. "You're lying."
Her expression didn't change. "We're guessing."
That was worse.
He pushed the vial back. "Send a drone. A machine. Anything else."
"We tried," another voice said. "It reacts violently."
"And you think it won't react to this?"
They exchanged glances. Finally, the man in black leaned in."It hasn't killed you yet."The sentence landed heavy.
"You want to know why?" the blond man said quietly. "So do I. But if I go in there with that," he nodded at the vial, "and it decides differently this time, you won't learn anything. You'll just lose your shield."
The word hung in the air.Shield.They didn't deny it.
Hours passed. Or maybe minutes. Hunger gnawed at him, not just physical. Exhaustion stripped his resistance down to bone. When they brought food, it was just enough to keep him upright. When he didn't touch it fast enough, they took it away.Eventually, the room felt smaller.
"Fine," he said at last. "I'll do it."
They moved immediately. No celebration. No relief. Just motion.In the white chamber.
The creature stood where it had been left.The light still burned. Constant. Relentless. It dulled the edges of the world, pressed thought into narrow channels. The creature's breathing remained slow, controlled, but its jaw ached from how long it had been clenched.Hunger pooled thick in its gut.It smelled him before it heard him.Not fear. Not yet. Something else. Weakness. Fatigue. The familiar presence that never turned into prey.
The door sealed behind him with a sound like finality.He stopped several meters away. Guards remained outside. Glass between them. Always glass.The creature's head lifted. Its lips peeled back in a silent display of teeth. Not a threat. A reminder.He swallowed and stepped closer."I won't hurt you," he said, and knew immediately how stupid it sounded.The creature's eyes followed the vial in his hand.Interest sharpened.Its ears angled forward. Its body did not move, but the air changed. The hunger twisted, focused, sharpened into something precise.
It took one step forward.Chains rattled softly.
He froze.The creature tilted its head, studying him. Smelling him. The foreign scent clung to his skin now. Chemical. Wrong.Its lips curled.He raised the syringe, hands shaking. "This is supposed to help."The creature lunged.
Not full force. Not a strike. Just enough to close distance, to snap teeth inches from his wrist.He dropped the syringe.It skittered across the floor.
The creature inhaled deeply, then mimicked, low and distorted, "Help."
He backed away, heart pounding."I don't want to do this," he said.
The creature's gaze flicked to the glass. To the watchers. Then back to him.
It stepped closer again. Slow. Deliberate.Not attacking.Cornering.
He grabbed the syringe and lunged forward, trying to inject.The creature snapped its jaws shut around the air beside his arm, missing by centimeters. Chains strained. Teeth scraped metal.He stumbled back, barely staying upright.
Outside, fists slammed against the glass. Orders were shouted. Someone screamed to abort.The creature stared at him, breathing steady, eyes bright despite the light. Hungry. Curious.He lowered the syringe.
"I don't think you want this," he said.
The creature leaned closer, breath washing over his face.It did not disagree.
The light hummed louder.Somewhere deep in the facility, a system adjusted itself, compensating for something it didn't understand.They turned the light up without warning.Not brighter. Sharper.
The white chamber flared until it erased depth entirely, the glow collapsing the room into a flat, burning void. The creature stiffened. Its head jerked slightly, pupils spasming as the brightness scraped against whatever counted as sight.It did not scream.Its jaw clenched. Teeth bared. Breath slowed.
The light wasn't pain. It was pressure. A constant force pressing down on thought, on instinct, on movement. The creature shifted once, then again, as if trying to anchor itself inside its own body.It blinked.
Once.
Then again.
The blond man saw it and froze.
Nothing had changed for him. The light was harsh, sure, but survivable. Annoying. It didn't burn his eyes or blur his vision. He stared at the creature as it shut its eyes for half a second, then forced them open again, breathing heavier now.Something was wrong.Behind the glass, the woman noticed it too."That's it," she said sharply. "Do it. Now."
He didn't move.
The creature blinked again, longer this time. Its head dipped slightly, like a predator forced to bow.The woman slammed her palm against the glass. "NOW."
The sound cracked through him.He moved.He lunged forward, syringe in hand, heart pounding so hard it hurt. The creature sensed motion immediately. Its eyes snapped open and it reacted on instinct alone.A hoof caught him square in the chest.He flew across the floor and hit hard, the air ripped from his lungs in a sharp, choking gasp. Pain flared white-hot through his ribs. He curled, gagging, vision tunneling.But the syringe was already in.The needle sank deep into flesh just before impact, the plunger depressed by momentum more than intention. Clear fluid vanished into the creature's body.The creature staggered.
Not immediately. Just a fraction of a second where its balance faltered, like gravity changed direction.Then its legs buckled.
Chains clattered as it collapsed heavily onto its side, breath hitching, jaw slackening despite itself. Its eyes fluttered, unfocused now, light smearing into something dull and distant.The hunger twisted, then scattered.It exhaled once, long and slow, and went still.Alarms chirped. Doors hissed open.Scientists flooded the room, swarming the fallen body like ants around something too large to understand. Gloves snapped on. Needles flashed. Tubes filled with dark blood that steamed faintly under the lights.
"Blood pressure dropping."
"Respiration slowing."
"Sedation confirmed."
No one looked at the blond man.(poor him…-^-)
He lay on the floor where he'd landed, coughing violently, bile burning his throat as he tried to drag air back into his lungs. Every breath scraped. He pressed a hand to his chest and felt something shift wrong.
He gagged again. Nothing came up.
Footsteps passed him. A cart rolled by. Someone stepped over his leg without noticing.Then the woman appeared.She crouched beside him, studying him with mild curiosity, like a side effect she hadn't expected.
"You know," she said lightly, "most humans don't survive kicks like that."
He glared up at her, vision swimming.
"Interesting," she continued. "Not breaking. Not bleeding out. You're sturdier than you look."She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "You might actually be something else."She stood and gestured. "Get him medical attention. Real attention. I don't want him dying yet."Two orderlies finally lifted him. As they dragged him away, his eyes flicked back to the creature one last time.
It lay unmoving under the light, chest rising faintly.Still breathing.And for the first time since they'd brought him in, he wondered if that was worse.