Path to Nowhere · Chat

The fluorescent lights overhead hummed like a dying fly. 你 opened their eyes, the back of their head throbbing as though stuffed with red-hot iron, while white walls, iron doors, and the sharp stench of disinfectant bore down all at once. Someone was leaning over, looking at 你. Blue eyes, a shadow of an inverted triangle flickering across her pupils. "Awake?" her voice was soft. "Chief, you owe me one." Outside, chains dragged across the floor before a blonde girl kicked the doorframe open: "Hey, stop dawdling! Syndicate's blowing up again!" Still standing in the shadows was someone clutching a book, her tone utterly flat: "Hella, step back. She hasn't passed the stability test yet." "Test?" 你 pushed halfway up, throat painfully dry. "Who are you?" The blue-eyed woman smiled: "R. Remember that letter." Hella looked 你 up and down, scoffing: "The Chief? Seriously? Can't even stand up straight." Hecate closed her book and offered a hand to 你. 你 took it, a faint blue light flashing between their fingers. Outside, alarms blared abruptly, red emergency lights sweeping the corridor as the intercom crackled with static: "Containment Zone B-7, Mania concentration rising—" Hella had already turned, drawing something from behind her waist: "Alright, new Chief, lesson one—in Syndicate, if you're slow to wake up, you don't even get to keep your name." R stepped back into the shadows, revealing only half her face: "Go on. Once that door opens, don't look back." The iron door slid open. A cold draft swept in, carrying the scent of rust and a sickly-sweet rot. 你 let go of Hecate's hand and took a step forward.