#sts laboratories

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The lab boys, as the majority of staff called them, came up with a new ‘prototype’ yet again, under a theory if their newest subject was able to produce and sustain flora.

Dr. Heltrine was the one that had the ‘pleasure’ of testing the prototype. Of course the thought of strapping someone down and injecting them with a serum as unstable as their security system wasn’t a pleasant one, it was his job as the head of the prototype department, and he enjoyed it.

Valerian wasn’t as keen about the idea, rightfully so.

He wasn’t just gonna let this happen. Kicking, struggling, and screaming, he tried everything to get away from this. However, the moment he saw a duo of Handlers enter, he lost his spirit, eventually giving in as he was strapped down to the exam bench.

“Now, here’s how this is gonna go” Dr. Heltrine explained, preparing a needle with the swirling green and brown serum of god knows what. “We’re gonna inject you with this prototype, and leave you here for a week. Th-“

“Wait- wait, what?” Valerian interrupted, angrily. “A week?! That’s not fair-!”

“QUIET!” Heltrine snapped, hushing Valerian immediately. “..As I was saying; Then, we’ll return, and see the effects, and adjust accordingly. The goal is to see if your… biology, is able to support plant life.”

“This- this is insane-“ Valerian stuttered out, even though he knew anything he said would be immediately brushed off.

“No, ‘19” Heltrine grinned, flicking the needle as he pressed a thumb to his wrist, found his pulse, and then aligned the needle accordingly. He had to admit, feeling the other’s pulse increase under his thumb was exhilarating, especially of something so inhuman. “It’s science.”

Valerian let out a choked cry as the needle sunk into his skin, a burning rushing through his body.

Helix wasn’t a sympathetic man. She knew that. But it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less that nobody remembered her birthday.

She felt lost. Ignored. Unwanted. It was this way every year, she should’ve been used to it by now. She should’ve. But she wasn’t. She just wanted someone to care.

“…Right, apologies” Layna sighed, turning back to her desk to continue the paperwork there.

She couldn’t help but wonder how Helodite was spending this date. They had the same birthdate, just a couple years apart. She had no doubt Helodite was having much more fun than her on the outside.

Cole chuckled at the pleading, pained tone in Rayan’s voice, almost sadistically so. “Now now, be sensible, would you?” He responded, before crossing one leg over the other as he sliced the wound open further, eliciting a cry as sharp as Cole’s scalpel from Rayan’s throat as blood spilled out, staining Rayan’s baggy white shirt and the testing bench beneath him. “We have an audience.”

Rayan just whimpered, eyes drifting to Helix, who was standing over in the corner. Of course, it made sense that Helix was watching Cole - his son - with a judgemental eye. But it didn’t make him hate this any less. “Tough crowd” He hissed out, resting his head back.

Cole chuckled, before easing - or more, ripping - the cut open, making Rayan cry out again. The whole point of this test was if they could figure out what made Rayan so.. different. They’d tried everything else, and had decided an internal exam might give them the answers they needed.

But Cole just had more questions than anything. Nothing was different, or out of place. Everything looked how it was meant to..

“Impossible..” Cole muttered, leaning forward slightly. No. He couldn’t accept this. His father was watching. He had to turn up with something…

“Is something wrong, Cole?”

“…Ah- no, uh” Cole swallowed nervously. “I think we should take samples, for the lab boys of course.”

“Of course, brilliant idea.”

“What- no, not brilliant, what do you mean samples?!” Rayan yelled, tugging at his cuffs. “What fucking samples?! Where-?!”

Before he could finish the question, a searing pain shot through his nerves as Cole began cutting off a part of the organ tissue from his heart. He screamed, a raw, fearful sound from his throat. Cole made the Survivors seem like a daycare.

Rayan just kept screaming as Cole continued taking tissue samples from here and there. He couldn’t even think. It was just pain. Blinding, searing pain, that made Rayan see red.

This wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t.

Not that STS staff would ever care. Especially not after Gale’s death, and Simon’s leave.

He was in so much pain that he’d barely noticed when it had stopped. It lingered so strongly that he felt like he could just curl up and die, right there. Even as the cut was stitched back up carefully. It hurt, and it hurt bad.

But he knew that, even if he wanted to, he couldn’t die. But it hurt so, so bad.

“Now, we ask again,” Helix spoke, as Cole sorted the samples. “On a scale of one to ten…”

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A/N: oh boy this is. so rushed. idk i’m still getting used to writing whump stuff i can never quite get it right without feeling icky.