TO fumbled for the communicator, grabbing it from under the worn pillow and dropping it on the floor as they attempted to turn it off, cursing as they reached for it. In those moments while they felt around for the communicator, they realized that it wasn’t just an alert warning of a waiting message, or that someone was trying to reach them: It was an alarm, identical to the one currently going off on DH’s communicator.

Finally, they grasped it and pulled it to their face where the brightly lit screen displayed a simple message: “Call me now.”

TO called them right away, even as DH’s communicator was still going off.

“What?” TO snapped as soon as Vik answered, which was less than a second after they placed the call. Blissfully, once Vik answered, DH’s alarm went silent.

“I think Avery killed Kei.”

The last of the sleepiness drained from TO, along with any color in their face. “What?! No, Avery is-” They turned to look at Avery, who had been sleeping between them and DH... But they weren’t there, and they weren’t in the room with them.

TO’s stomach churned.

DH crawled over the bed and reached out for TO’s communicator. They put it on speaker, “Avery wouldn’t kill anyone.” DH said, “They hate violence. It makes them sick to their stomach to think about being violent with anyone.”

“Look, I just got an alert that all Kei’s vital signs just suddenly dropped.” Vik said. “When I checked, I saw Avery was in the med-room. I can’t see anything because there’s something wrong with the camera. So, with the cameras malfunctioning, and with Avery in the med-room while everyone else is asleep-“

“No.” TO said as they got up and grabbed their clothes from the edge of the bed. “No, you’re wrong.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

“You’re going to say that you think Avery planned it.” TO said as they pulled their clothes on. In seconds, DH was up and getting dressed as well. “You’re going to say that they did something to the camera because they planned to hurt Kei.”

“... To be fair, that camera there isn’t the only one that’s not working.” Vik said, “All the cameras on that side of the tunnel system are down! I’m getting nothing but a black screen here.”

“And you think that’s because Avery had an escape plan?” TO snapped.

“I would, but Avery is still in the med-room. Their vitals are going all erratic, but they’re there.”

Erratic. TO didn’t like that.

“What do you mean, Erratic.” DH said as they took the communicator from TO. “What are you seeing?”

“I don’t know. They’re erratic! can’t read all these stats, you know? But I can tell you that the yellow line went down, and the blue line and the red line went up. “

Now DH cursed as they pulled on their clothes. “And Kei’s?”

“Kei’s vitals elevated for a few seconds, then completely dropped off,” Vik said.

how long ago was this?" DH demanded.

“It was only a couple of minutes ago.” Vik said, “As soon as it happened, I started calling people, but nobody answered. So I sent out the alarms to everyone, asking for anyone to call me back! Since I’ve been talking to the two of you, I’ve had half a dozen others contact me. I’ve been messaging them and telling them what’s happening, but I’d rather if the two of you went to investigate... just in case.”

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“Just in case what?” TO hissed.

“Just... just in case something happened, and they’re scared or aggressive-“

“Avery isn’t aggressive.” DH said as they grabbed the med kit from under the bed. “We’re going there now.”

“I’ll keep you informed if anything else happens. I need to call Goretta. She’s messaging me a lot, but it’ll be easier to talk to her. I’ll send her your way.”

The line went quiet.

TO and DH ran to the door, pulling it open and running down the hallway as fast as they could.

“Avery wouldn’t kill anyone,” DH said. “Ever. The thought of violence makes them sick. Even if they were angry at Kei... no, they’d never. They wouldn’t.”

TO said nothing, mostly because they were saving their breath and running as fast as they could. Avery wouldn’t hurt anyone, not even Kei. But if they went to see Kei for whatever reason, and Kei got angry and told Avery what they really felt...

TO just ran. They needed to get to Avery.

======

Mere minutes passed before TO burst through the door of the makeshift med-room, nearly breaking the old wooden door off its hinges as they rushed forward towards the room where Kei had been bound on their bed only hours before. Their panic over the situation had only grown as they ran though the hallways and considered the implications of what might have happened. If Avery had killed Kei, would anyone demand that Avery get left behind? Would they demand that Avery go into a medically induced coma, as they were planning to do with Kei?

TO wouldn’t allow it. If Avery did something to Kei, there had to be a reason. Maybe there were recordings they could listen to from Avery's chips, but that was something they’d look into later. There had to be a reason to explain what had happened. Of course, even if there was a reason, and even if everyone they knew decided that Avery was blameless, TO was still worried about Avery. They remembered how they had been after their examination in training, and how the idea that they might have killed actual people had stuck with them.

They had to get to Avery. They had to make sure their friend was ok.

They didn’t even pay attention to what DH shouted at them as they threw open the door to the room in the back.

blood

There was lots of blood on the floor, glistening in the overhead lights-

Blood. The sound of bones cracking. Scalpel through skin.

-dripping from the bed onto the floor. The smell was strong, metallic, and sharp in TO’s nose, and it seemed to wrap around their brain. Their vision went white, and they felt arms grab them from behind-

Blood. Bones cracking. The sharp smell of sanitizer mixed with the stench of blood, so strong and so real that TO could almost taste it.

-and carefully lower them to the floor before letting go. As they lay on the floor, TO could see a body crumpled up on the floor, mostly covered by limp wings. There was a certain, subtle twitching of the ears which at least told TO that they were alive. Blood soaked their clothes, and there was blood on the floor. A foot had smudged some blood near TO, and left a few footprints on the ground before disappearing.

Blood. Bones. the thin layer of the medical gloves was the only thing between TO’s skin, and the organs of the juvenile synth on the slab.

“Avery!”

There was an anguish that TO hadn’t heard in DH’s voice before, and a panic that made their voice crack. TO turned their head back to the blood covered body, their own movements slow and detached.

DH turned the body over, and TO could see their face of their friend, of their Ankyra, of Avery, covered in blood. Through the blood and bruised skin, and the attempts of their own mind to fade their vision so they wouldn’t have to see the scene before them, TO saw a flash of metal at Avery’s neck.

Focus

Blood, Bone, skin.

Focus. Something is wrong. Avery needs you.

The smell of blood, of antiseptic, of plastic gloves

Avery needs you. DH needs you. Don’t lose them!

They blinked twice and strained to focus on their friend. The flash of metal was from a syringe which stuck out from Avery’s neck. As TO looked, they could see the skin under the blood already bruising.

Avery had been attacked.

It was like their mind was starting to reset, to boot back up after a critical failure, and now basic information was flooding their mind once more. They still felt like they had to vomit, and wanted to close their eyes and pretend that they didn’t see any of this, that they couldn’t feel sticky blood on their skin, feel it soak their clothes and cling to their body. They wanted to pretend that Avery wasn’t laying on the floor only a few feet away from them, unconscious and bloody.

They pushed themself up, ignoring DH’s warning to stay down and rest. They shook their head and looked around.

“Avery’s hurt.” They said, more to themself than to DH. “Avery... Avery’s heart rate was erratic. Kei-“

They looked around, cursing themself as this was the first time they noticed that Kei was gone. The footprint they had seen on the floor was on the opposite side of the bed from where Avery lay. A quick examination-

Blood. Bone. Sliced skin. Plastic gloves.

It’s just ink. It’s paint. Just pretend for a few minutes! You can’t fail here!

-told TO that a synth left the footprint. It was easy to tell, given the rounded toe-prints, the telltale scrape of the curved claws of their feet, and the additional pressure on the front pads of the foot, caused by their digitigrade stance. But why was there blood on that side of the bed, and why so much? Avery was on the other side, so while there might have been some splatter-

Splattering blood, stinking, sticky. Blood everywhere.

-There was no reason for there to be so much blood on the other side of the bed.

On their hands and knees, they pulled themself towards a small puddle of blood on the floor. There was less blood than TO thought at first, collected in a single puddle, disturbed only by that one footprint.

Something metallic was in the blood. Their mind raced back to Avery and the needle in their neck, their brain playing awful videos in their head over and over... But this wasn’t a needle, it was small and flat.

With a shaking hand, they reached out and picked the metal item up from the blood, wiping it and their hands off on their shirt before they inspected the item more.

The metal of Kei’s chip lay in the palm of TO’s hand.