別の / Another - Puro X Male Reader

Chapter 4: Not enough RAM.

--=Narrator's POV=--

(unknown) - You don't have much of a choice, do you?

Dr. K sat in a chair in one of the facility's hallways, bathing in the darkness of the night. Most were still working, except those that did the day shift only. He held his phone to his left ear. It was an LG Flex 2, known for its vertically curved screen. It made no difference to him whether the screen was curved or not, but it looked good, and was cheap for today's standards - however, age was starting to show its signs: scratches provenient from his lab's keys being on the same pocket as his phone, a few dents from a multitude of drops, and other things. However, his phone was not concerning him right now. What did was the voice behind it.

(unknown) - I'm paying you for a reason. Find me a goddamn cure, or I'll make sure your family will pay the consequences!

K wasn't blown away by this threat, but he knew he meant it. His boss was very serious, and took everything as serious as possible.
He wasn't in a position to beg, either, but K knew he was still powerful, no matter if he was a latex creature or not.
Dr. K (afraid of what'll happen next) - Sir, we've been researching for a long time. 2 and a half years in, and we still haven't found any traces of a possible cure. I'm not implying there isn't a cure. I'm just saying that there might be a chance you can't be transformed back, and you should accept it-

Boss (yelling) - DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT TO STAY LIKE A LATEX BAG FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE?? I GIVE YOU A MONTH TO BRING ME EVIDENCE THAT THERE IS A CURE. IF YOU GET NOTHING, THEN YOU'LL PAY FOR THE "CURE" YOU INJECTED YOURSELF AND OTHERS WITH. mumbling Who even thought it was a good idea to mix human DNA with filthy animal's DNA... What a bunch of incompetent fucks. hangs up

Dr. K throws his phone into the wall. It falls to the ground quite audibly, and its screen forms a new crack through the bottom half of it.
Whatever, he thought. It's already unusably slow.
Instead of picking it up, Dr. K hides his head behind his arms, bending his back. He might be transfurred like the others, but he preserved his memories. And the owner of the facility did so too... unfortunately.
The cure the wolf and his fellow scientists had found was... questionable. It turned them all into... what they were.

He needed to talk to his boss again. Not that he wanted to, but it was the procedure. Black and white creatures were divided, but both K and Puro were different, and they isolated themselves from the others, since they preserved their human rationality.

Reluctantly, the doctor picked up the phone again. In addition to the new crack, a couple more dents had appeared. Wasn't this phone advertised as having a self healing back? What a piece of junk, he thought.
With great effort, he navigated through the slow, old Android OS. 2 Gigabytes of RAM were definetly not enough. Reaching the phone app after what felt like hours, he clicked the first contact in the call history, since he was too tired to fight with his device and dial the number itself or find the contact. After several seconds, the screen showed the call's status, appearing to be dialing his boss. He put his LG-branded device next to his right ear, since his left one was already warm from talking on the phone for too long.

After a few seconds, the boss picked up.

Boss (Annoyed) - Found the cure yet, idiot? If not, stop bothering my ass and go put the money I pay you every month to some use!... a loud noise came from the phone's earpiece, suggesting he dropped some sort of mug God fucking damn it.... What do you want?

Dr. K - We're pairing the newcomer with Puro. He has shown suicidal tendencies, and I don't trust him enough. Besides, I can't be with him all the time, I have to find you a c-

Boss (yelling again) - JUST GET ME A CURE! DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT, BUT GET ME A FUCKING CURE FOR THIS SHIT!
K hangs up. He's tired of being yelled at, tired of being undervalued. But all he can do is try to find a cure.
He lets out a deep sigh.
He wasn't religious. But a God to blame his fate on would serve him well now.
K gets up. With another heavy sigh, he takes a different route, not an unusual route at that. He's glad they have elevators. Seriously, that building has several floors. It'd be weird if there weren't any.
The doctor checks his mask to make sure it's in working order, and enters the empty elevator.
It's not a regular elevator, since you need a key card to enter half the floors. This was a measure to prevent possible intruders from accessing the labs, where the cure would be stored in. Dr. K could access any place he wanted. He had been in the facility for too long to not been given a master keycard.
He drew his red card with a quick reflex, and swiftly wove it over the sensor under the elevator's screen, the one that should usually just show the floor you're in, along with some warnings - but instead, it was many times larger, 22 inches, and could be used for many more things, such as...

It was a useless gimmick, actually. A dumb decision made by his boss, who has too much money on his hands. A shame he isn't in the mood to enjoy it...
The white latex wolf selected the floor where Puro was.
With a quiet ding, the elevator accepted the keycard and ascended a few floors before slowing down, and opening again, letting K leave it. It closed behind him.

Puro was unusual compared to most latex creatures out there: he wasn't compulsively trying to transform any non-latex creature like the others, and respected everyone. He read, drew, wrote, things normal for a human being, making him look much smarter than the others. However, he was much smarter than that, and both him and the doctor knew that.

He turned left, and entered the first door on his right. His phone buzzed, with some sort of notification, but he dismissed it. He had more important matters on hand right now.

Puro lifted his head, as the face behind the gas mask appeared behind the unbreakable glass, turning on the light outside.

Puro - Hello there.
Dr. K - I'm gonna need your help, Puro. Your wreckless attempt to escape made another victim, so you'll be taking care of him.
Puro wasn't happy about this. He wouldn't dare to complain, since he was lucky K didn't punish him after his recent "jailbreak" attempt.
Puro - I see. How exactly would that work? Do I have to babysit him?
Dr. K - Very funny. He won't accept himself very well, so making him feel welcome would be appreciated.
Puro wouldn't mind having a friend. He thought about the fact that the new creature, like him, was different, rational. It was pleasing, tempting even, to have a roomie. Perhaps they could even, one day, have philosophical conversations about life. After all... they were the same. Both dark latex creatures.
Puro - I accept your offer, Doctor.
Dr. K - It wasn't optional.... smiles But I'm glad you're OK with it.
Puro can't help but to wonder what happened to his roommate - and it was unlikely that he would tell him that. But he decided to stay silent. If he trusted him... he'd tell him. One thing at a time.

Tomorrow is another day.