It wasn't often that new cryptids came in to E-Ward. A through C were basically full by his understanding, since that was where the more 'common' cryptids that required less intensive containment strategies were held, and though the creatures contained within D-Ward were far more less likely to be compliant and far more likely to breach their cells, D-Ward remained relatively full.

E-Ward was different. E-Ward was where the things that didn't really fit the standard classification systems went; that was why he was here. He would probably have been in B-Ward if it wasn't for one thing, and that one thing happened to be the toxins the scientists could extract from his venom. When he was first interred in this place there were only half a dozen or so people like him in the entire block, and out of those six he could only remember Myndie. Myndie had been covered in what looked like copper-coloured scales and required constant heating of his cell because his blood ran cold, which Wander supposed that if he were the 'spider' then that made Myndie the 'snake'. He'd been nice, save his fangs which had scared him a little at the time since they were far larger than Wander's own chelicerae, and had been just about the only companion Wander had been allowed to have in his time here.

He hadn't seen Myndie in a long time. Myndie's venom had been used to make chemicals that could make the other cryptids contained here docile or even unconscious, which had made him valuable enough to the agency that he was kept away from most of the other cryptids and contained in E-Ward. He'd told Wander that, when he was first brought to the agency, there had been another cryptid who's venom or toxins or somesuch thing had been used for the same purpose as his own. Myndie said that she'd been a very colourful humanoid amphibian, but that when the tests were ran on his venom and it was found to be more stable than her own he never saw her again.

A month after that conversation and Wander's toxins were found by the men in white coats to be an almost direct upgrade from Myndie's venom. Wander hadn't seen them again.

Instead Myndie's cell had been redecorated and refurbished to resemble more a misty terrarium than a lizard's enclosure at a zoo, and Wander had been shunted from his concrete cube in B-Ward to his new pen as befitted his status as one of the most valuable creatures under the agency's control.

Not through his own merits of course, but for the toxins that coursed through his person and dripped from his chelicerae. He was the agency's main tool in the containment of rowdy and difficult to conceal creatures.

Which was probably why this new acquisition from the agency was sat at a desk opposite him.

He'd been in a situation like this a few times before, since the more dangerous creatures the agency acquired often needed an immediate dose of undiluted toxins to sedate, but he couldn't recall being in a situation exactly like this either. For one he was being told not to sedate the winged boy opposite, and for another he was being addressed by none other than the Administrator himself.

And no-one questioned a command from the Administrator.

"Designation E-005, known by name as Wander. It is a pleasure to meet you in person at last. I've heard a lot about you from our research specialists and technicians alike, all of it good. I have a job for you, Wander. It's important. You think you're up for the task."

Wander nodded silently, focusing intently on the Administrator with six of his eyes and only allowing the other two to focus on the small winged figure sat in the chair opposite. This wasn't a request, not when it came from the Administrator.

"Excellent. This fine cryptid opposite you is nothing less than a true angel, Wander. F-Ward will be receiving him soon, but until then he'd be on this floor with you."

Wander swallowed before speaking up, making sure his voice was clear. He got the impression that the Administrator wasn't the sort of fellow who liked to need things repeated.

"But there isn't an F-Ward, sir."

The Administrator turned to him with an emotionless gaze.

"There is now, Wander. A new floor has been excavated under E-Ward, purely for young Elias here. He's dangerous, having little control over his powers. That's where you come in, Wander. You've long complained to the guards and researchers assigned to this floor that you're lonely, so think of this as a reward for good service. You're to help young Elias get settled in, and to make him feel at home here. Do you think you can do that, Wander?"

Good service. Settled in. Feel at home. Do they honestly expect me to believe in any of this?

And yet they were right. It did get lonely here sometimes.

Wander nodded slowly, the golden eyes of the apparent angel across from him flitting surreptitiously towards the Administrator, who still had his hand on their shoulder, in what seemed to be a silent plea not to leave him with the humanoid spider sat across from him. Wander suppressed a sigh. He couldn't blame the angel, apparently named 'Elias', from finding him scary-looking. He knew well what he looked like, and Elias had likely never even seen another cryptid before. Comparing him to Wander was... he had soft features, wings of pure white, eyes with golden irises, and Wander had none of that.

All Wander could boast of were too many arms, too many eyes, and a pair of chelicerae that were little more than small fangs that, because he was in his venom cycle at the moment, dripped with a purple-black poison. He didn't blame Elias for being scared.

That didn't mean it didn't sting a little, though.

"Of course, sir. Is he- no, never mind."

The Administrator looked at him a little strangely at his unspoken question, but then seemingly decided against asking about it and instead turned to look at the pair of guards, gestureing to them that they would soon be leaving the room. The black-suited man patted Elias on the shoulder one last time before leaving, giving the young angel a few parting words.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"We'll be back here in two hours. Wander, there will be a pair of guards outside your door at all times, but that's it. Elias, Wander here is very valuable to the agency, so if you find yourself about to lose control of your powers then alert someone right away. The agency will not tolerate any damage to our... prized possession. Understood?"

Elias nodded fast, almost fearfully, whilst Wander looked down and bristled with a twinge of shame. That's what he was, wasn't he? A 'prized possession' for this secret service. God, it was humiliating.

"Good. In that case we'll be leaving." The Administrator turned to face the two guards, both of whom acknowledged his orders with perfectly synchronised salutes. Wander had always found the guards creepy, what with the masks that covered their faces, but they'd never really mistreated him so over time his fear of the masked men with guns had gone down.

A fear of the white-coated men with syringes had very quickly risen to take its place.

All of that was off topic at the moment, for the young angel opposite, 'Elias', was silently staring at him as if he were waiting for Wander to act first.

"Well," he said with a sigh as he rose from the table, "at least I'm still in my enclosure I guess. So, you're Elias then?"

The figure opposite nodded, but remained silent. Wander took a moment to walk around and stretch his arms and legs, whilst also allowing all of his eyes to settle on the angel. The boy looked to be around his age, though admittedly age was a difficult thing to judge where cryptids were involved. Still, if he had to place a bet he'd put them to be around fifteen, about the same age as he was. Elias was still staring at him with more than a little trepidation, which caused him to sigh again.

"Are you not a big fan of spiders, then?"

For the first time today Elias actually spoke in response, his words rushed but still almost supernaturally soft-sounding.

"No, I mean- It's not your fault, sorry, I just- I don't- I'm not used to all of this yet. They told me that you might be able to... I don't know, give me some advice? About living here?"

Wander huffed out a small laugh, genuinely a little amused.

"Me? I guess you might be in for a nicer cell than most then. Unfortunately I don't really have any advice for you, truth be told. I mean don't get me wrong, I know exactly how this place runs now, but you're different."

"Different?"

Wander nodded.

"Yeah. There are sixty cells in wards A, B, and C, and twenty-four in ward D. E-Ward, that's this floor, has six cells for people like me that the agency considers 'useful' for whatever reason. But if they're digging out an entire new ward specifically for you... well, you're different to the rest of us. You have to be. The Administrator doesn't do this sort of thing on a whim. He doesn't do anything on a whim. You're either extremely valuable to the agency, or more dangerous than you realise."

There was a pause as Elias took this information in, broken after a moment as the conversation continued.

"So how long have you been here?"

"Long enough. Two, three years? Something like that."

"And this... cell? Enclosure? This room is nicer than most of them?"

Wander watched as Elias looked around his heavily forested room. To be fair, for someone like him it was about as good as any indoor chamber could be. The floor was a mix of soil, mulch, and leaf litter, with sections of grass and undergrowth for variety. Hell, there was even a pool of fresh water in one of the corners and a few dozen trees growing indoors. Combined with the thick fog that moved up and down the room depending on the time and the cool humidity of the chamber it was almost like home.

Almost. If he closed a few of his eyes and pretended he couldn't see the concrete walls or fluorescent lights he might even have been able to fool himself.

"For me? Yeah, it's alright. Most of the rooms get customised to better fit the 'natural' conditions of whatever's living in it at the time, but mine's a lot bigger than most since I'm in E-Ward."

"And if the first three floors have sixty cells, and E-Ward has six, then yours is like... ten times the size of a normal enclosure?"

Wander nodded.

Thereabouts. There's a floor under this one that contains most of the equipment for the scientists, you know, like the extraction machines and stuff. You probably won't ever have to sit in one of them though. You don't excrete any sort of chemicals outside of the ordinary, right?"

Elias shook his head.

"I'm not poisonous or venomous or anything like that."

"Then in that case you don't need to worry about that. Back to my point, your floor will be below that one, and if it's just for you then your room will probably be several times larger than mine."

"And you like living here because of your big room?"

Wander felt himself tense a little, as even if Elias hadn't intended to hurt him those words still made him uncomfortable. He was a prisoner here, and there could be no mistaking it.

"It's not about liking it, Elias. I don't want to be a fucking toxin dispenser for the scientists, but that's the role I've got. I can't go home, I can't leave this place, and no matter how much I wish more than anything that I could just see the night sky once more I know I'm stuck here. This is our life now, Elias, and the sooner you get used to it the sooner you can start pretending that none of it bothers you."

There was another pause as Elias gave him a sad and empathetic look, but Wander just shrugged again in response. What was done was done, and he didn't have the courage or stupidity to think he would be able to escape. Still less to believe that he'd be able to outrun the grasping hands of the agency. They'd never let their prized-possession go, after all.

"It's both."

Wander blinked a few times, his various sets of eyes opening and closing in a stagger as if performing some sort of wave.

"What's that?"

"It's both." Elias repeated. "You said I was either valuable to the agency or dangerous. I think it's both. I'm a uh- I'm not from around here, I don't think."

Wander nodded while shrugging with his two uppermost arms.

"Neither am I. I come way north from here, up in the Cairngorms."

Elias shook his head, and for the first time since this meeting had started Wander saw him smile. It was only a small thing, barely visible, but it was there all the same. He'd have been able to see a smile that bright even with only two of his eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that. I don't really know where I'm from, in honesty."

"Well, I hate to say it but you're here now. I'll try and help you as much as I can with life here, but they only really put you with me to... well, I think they wanted to show you another cryptid who wasn't likely to try and kill you."

Elias looked at him in concern.

"Is that common? Likely?"

Wander gave an exaggerated shiver, smiling as he spoke.

"You should see some of the guys from D-Ward whenever a harvest moon comes into play. That's about the only way I'm able to tell what time of year it is to be honest; when the dangerous cryptids the floor above me start getting uppity and they need me to bite them after they've been detained I know it's autumn."

Elias giggled a little at that.

"I'll do my best to keep out of your way in the autumn then. I don't want you to go biting me because I'm playing up!"

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and the garbled, monotone voice of one of the guards echoed throughout the forested cell.

"Two hours is up, Elias. It's time for you to go back to your holding cell."

Elias gave him a shy smile as he turned to leave. I guess the time went by faster than I thought it did.

"I'll see you soon, Wander. You're not as scary as I thought you were. It was nice meeting you!"

Wander smiled back and gave a small wave in response. It was nice to have someone to talk to around here.