Here we are: Here we are

A dark, abandoned laboratory – as it had been for years.

After so long, it finally saw light again in the form of an opening wormhole.

 

From the other side came two teenagers – Arael, along with her friend Mona – who’d requested Arael’s assistance in the first place.

 

“Well, I was going to ask if this was the right place, but…” Arael said as she paused to look around.

“If any place hits the vibe of ‘creepy condemned lab’, this would be it…”

 

With a snap of her fingers, Arael summoned a small ball of light to function as a flashlight of sorts. With the surroundings now a bit more illuminated, the duo looked around.

 

It was certainly a mess – papers strewn everywhere, furniture toppled over… and an overall eerie atmosphere. While all the machinery had been deactivated when the lab was abandoned, all the boards and screens remained in their place.

 

Then, something caught Arael’s eye.

“Haha, Mona, look! Now that’s freaky, huh?”

 

At the end of the room in which the two were standing in, sat two opposing chambers… though one had been partially opened up by the destruction that caused the lab to be condemned in the first place.

What really caught Arael’s attention was the inside of the chamber – an unmade metal-framed bed that was torn up quite a bit… with hefty scratch and impact marks covering the floor and walls of the chamber as well.

 

“Do you think whatever was in there got out? Do you think it’s still here?” Arael said, using the light she’d summoned to illuminate her face in a spooky manner as she faced Mona.

 

“No. If something had gotten out, one of three things would’ve happened.” Mona replied flatly.

“One; whatever it was got captured by the government here. Two; it’s living in the world freely. Or three; it didn’t make it out of the facility and died of starvation.”

 

“Boooo! You’re boring!” Arael scoffed.

“I mean, it’d make it at least a little bit more interesting if there was genuinely something creepy here.”

 

“No it wouldn’t. It’d just get in the way of what we’re here to do.”

 

Arael frowned and gave a sigh. She had a feeling this would be less exciting than what she had imagined.

 

Mona, who had been studying archives and the internet deeply, had come to the conclusion that there had to be something in this lab of worth to her.

It was where her parents met, after all – and if there was anything Mona’s parents would never tell her, it was what their lives were like before moving to the small town she called home.

 

Arael’s parents were a bit more upfront about it, though – as they were involved in the same ‘incident’.

There was a heist. A heist both so grand and high profile, yet so deeply covered up due to the secrecy of the facility involved… that there was barely any information on what exactly happened.

All Arael’s parents would say was it was the grandest job they’d pulled off, and not much else – since they were simply contracted to orchestrate it, and didn’t have any personal motive.

 

But… they’d mentioned Mona’s parents were involved in that motive.

And that’s where the knowledge trail ended, a trail that Mona wanted to pick up the pieces of.

 

The two walked carefully through the hallways of the condemned building, peeking into every doorway and labspace they could.

 

“You sure you’ll know which one it is just when you see it?” Arael asked.

“What if what you needed was on one of the computers in the room we just passed?”

 

“I’ll know.” Mona replied, with no elaboration.

 

Arael sighed, and gave her arms a stretch as the two continued walking.

But… then she heard something.

 

“Wait, stop.” Arael told Mona.

 

A few seconds after stopping, Arael could pick it up more clearly. The clicking of hooves on the floor, stopping almost as soon as the duo stopped walking themselves.

 

“Did you hear that?” Arael muttered.

 

“No?” Mona replied, confused.

“Are you still trying to freak me out so you can get me to make us leave?”

 

“No, I’m serious! I heard footsteps!”

 

“I think you’re losing your mind – not like you had much to lose anyways.”

 

Arael just scoffed.

“Whatever. Just find the stupid files…”

 

More walking and navigating hallways, and the footsteps remained at the back of Arael’s ears. She was trying her best to not let it bug her, but… it’d gotten to a point where she was starting to turn around intermittently to check if there was anything there. But beyond the radius of the light Arael had, it was pitch black.

 

It didn’t take long until Arael was finally fed up.

Stopping in her tracks, Arael made an effort to brighten the light she was holding, and turned around – and she saw it.

At least, part of it – whatever it was, it was bipedal, and quickly slinked back into the safety of shadow before it was fully visible.

 

“What was that about?” Mona asked, turning to Arael in confusion over the shift in lighting.

 

“Mona, I swear, I’m not losing it here – there is something following us…! I saw it!!” Arael said, terrified.

 

Mona just raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re really that scared, I’m sure you could just fire a blast in that direction and vaporize this hypothetical creature.”

 

“Yea, but then if I ended up also taking out the room we’re looking for… what then?”

 

“...Good point.” Mona said.

“Well, again, I still think you’re losing your mind. This lab has been completely blocked off, and the only reason we were able to get inside was because you can make wormholes.”

 

Arael didn’t say anything in response, and only let out a groan.

 

Thankfully for Arael, she wouldn’t have to tolerate the background sound of footsteps much longer.

 

“There!” Mona exclaimed as she peeked into one of the rooms, promptly running inside.

 

Arael followed, and as she lit up the room, she could see a… giant fishtank? Though it seemed to be decorated like someone’s room, and if it had been filled with anything, it’d already evaporated long ago.

 

“This is…” Mona mumbled, but her words faded out as her train of thought went on.

 

“This looks like a place your mom would live in, if I’m being honest.”

 

“...That’s the point, Arael. Because she did.”

 

“Wait, seriously?” Arael asked in response, cocking her head.

 

“It’s a long story, but I’ve pieced it together myself – though I doubt you’d get it if I tried to explain it all.” Mona sighed.

“Well, time to get sorting… just grab as much as you can carry, I guess. We can look over it all once we’re home.”

 

“Fiiiiine.” Arael groaned.

 

She was about to go to shuffle through the nearest cabinet, when… in the moment of silence, she could hear something breathing. And it surely wasn’t Mona.

 

Arael froze, and wanted to turn around to check… but was terrified of what she may see if she did.

Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to make up her mind.

 

“Alright, playtime’s over. The stuff in here’s mine.”

 

The voice was a bit light, a bit growly, but ultimately not what Arael expected… it was human.

Still, it was enough to cause Arael to scream, firing a loose laser blast in the direction of the voice.

 

Whatever the voice belonged to, it exclaimed with an expletive briefly, and Arael could see the figure successfully duck out of the way.

 

With whatever had been following them right in Arael’s sights and cowering a bit from the sudden blast, Arael was able to take a closer look.

 

It had to be a humanform species, but… Arael couldn’t quite place what specific species they were. They didn’t quite fit as a humanform hybrid that made sense, either.

Light blue hair, horns, hooves, an odd, flail-like tail… whoever this was, they seemed like a one of a kind.

 

“Watch it! If you break anything in here, then neither of us are going to get anything!”

 

While Arael was still a bit too riled up to speak, Mona, who had been watching, asked the question.

 

“Who are you?” she said, her tone both worried and curious.

“Are you… an escaped experiment…?”

 

There was a pause, and the intruder stared blankly at Mona – before breaking out into a laugh.

 

“Haha, what?! Geez, that’s not a new one, but hearing it here… is a bit too ironic!”

 

Arael and Mona were no longer scared – they were just bewildered. The two waited for the intruder to stop their laughing fit, to let them follow up.

 

“Yeah, sure, call me that, whatever!” they said with a snort.

“Most people outside of work call me Tuesday, though. I had unfinished business here, business that’s got to be more important than whatever some random kids have going on.”

 

“Excuse me?” Mona replied, her tone shifting to an uncharacteristic sort that almost sounded like… anger.

 

“If I can’t get the lead scientist’s notes on reversing a certain type of poisoning, someone very important to me is going to die. So like, screw off, I’m sure there’s more interesting urban exploration places out there.” Tuesday said sternly.

 

There was a pause from both Arael and Mona, as they considered the weight of what Tuesday had said.

Mona was murmuring a bit, but ultimately, any words she tried to say faded into nothing.

 

Knowing Mona was never the best at confrontation, Arael took the lead.

“Well… I’m sure we can reach a compromise, then! Because we’re here for a totally different thing!”

 

“Wait, really? What else would someone be here for?” Tuesday asked, confused.

 

“Mona’s mom has a deep history here! ...I think. But they’ve been completely leaving her in the dark! We need answers!”

 

Tuesday chuckled a bit.

“Oh, I see.”

 

“You see what?” Arael replied.

 

“I… wasn’t aware that others got out too, but I guess it really does make sense.” Tuesday said – their face shifting into an odd smile.

“I guess if that’s the case, it’d only be fair to extract some things for your sake, since I’m already here.”

 

Tuesday shuffled around in their bag, and pulled out what looked like an odd-looking thumb drive. They plugged it in to one of the computer boards, and the room’s electronics slowly started to whir back to life one by one.

 

“It may take a second, considering how old everything here is… sit tight, I guess.”

 

Mona and Arael just watched as Tuesday waited for the main computer system to start up, but it looked like Mona had something on her mind that was bugging her.

 

“Uhm, excuse me… Tuesday, was it?”

 

“Yeah – just spit it out.” Tuesday responded, not shifting their focus away from the computer.

 

“What do you mean… got out too…?” Mona asked, her voice nervous.

“My mom, she…”

 

Tuesday finally broke their focus, and turned to face Mona and Arael.

 

“She must’ve been one of the experiments here, yeah.” Tuesday nodded.

“Never saw her myself, but heard about her quite a bit from the scientists talking about this department. But I hope you understand that… digging into those memories too deeply is something I’d rather not do.”

 

Both Arael and Mona seemed shocked, Mona moreso. But no words came, and the two simply stared blankly as Tuesday resumed what they were doing - they opened a command line, entered some commands, and watched as the console started rapidly outputting new lines.

They took out two flash drives, and plugged both of them in.

 

And so, while the data presumably transferred, the three waited in silence.

 

It felt like an eternity, but was really more like 5 minutes – but the data finished, and Tuesday shut down the computer and removed all the drives they’d inserted.

 

Nonchalantly, they tossed one of the drives to Mona and Arael – with Arael grasping it with her large claw.

 

“Well, hope the stuff in there can give some kind of closure. Have fun!” they said, walking back off into the darkness.

 

Arael held out the flash drive for both Mona and herself to see, and looked over. Mona still looked… almost shellshocked.

 

“I guess… I’d predicted that was the truth, but… hearing it outright…” Mona mumbled, before shaking her head.

“No matter. Let’s go home, Arael. I’m sure we’ve got a lot of scrubbing through data to do.”