🔴[Error]🔴 ~ MCYT Lab AU

Chapter 4 ~ Risk

Wilbur turned a corner and saw his dad standing at the end, a short brunette beside him. His face lit up and he gave the pair a wave, but Philza had already sent the boy in the other direction.

The smile fell from Wilbur's face. He had been dying to meet Phil's new apprentice; he hadn't trained one since his last apprentice, Ranboo, died over a year ago. The dark-haired boy could've been good friends with Tommy, but the boy had killed him as a sort of 'revenge' on Philza.

He pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind, walking over to join his father.

"Hi, Phil!" He beamed. "How's you new apprentice?" Lowering his voice, he added, "Can we trust him? Besides Ranboo, all of your apprentices have been hybrids."

Philza sighed and nodded. "Yeah, bee hybrid." He whispered. "Let's talk somewhere else."

The duo winded through the narrow corridors, looking at each door to find the label they were looking for.

Finally, they reached a door with 'TESTING #7' engraved on it. It wasn't nearly as old as 'MOBS #1', but nobody ever used it anymore, and it was completely empty. Philza, Wilbur and his brother, Techno, often went there to talk.

"So, how'd you find out?" Wilbur asked as they locked the door behind them. When Philza didn't reply, he shook his head and sighed. "You wern't talking to that cat again, were you?"

"I can't help it." Philza tried to defend himself. "Besides, he's helpful!"

"He's manipulative." Wilbur argued. "A bloodthirsty mistake of a robot that should never had existed!"

"Well, whatever he is, he helped me find out more about Tubbo, my apprentice."

"But?" Wilbur stared at Philza, knowing something bad would have happened.

The older scientist seemed reluctant to answer. "He knows Tommy is my son." He admitted. Wilbur groaned and lay his head back on the wall. "This won't end well."

After a minute of quiet, Philza turned to his son again. "He wanted to meet you by the way."

Wilbur looked up, surprised.

"Tommy told him about you, apperantly." He continued. "I'm guessing he knew you were a hybrid somehow, before the cat told him about us."

"Why don't we bring him here, then?" Wilbur exclaimed. "He's a hybrid, too. He can help us!"

"No." Philza said quickly. "I trusted Ranboo, and wanted to bring him into this, but remember what happened when he started mingling with hybrids? He died, Wil!"

Wilbur stared at his father, a mixture of shock and grief in his blue and red eyes.

His eyes. That was the only clue to Wilbur being a phantom hybrid. The two of them and Techno figured out how to hide their hybrid traits pretty quickly, and he guessed Tubbo had too, since he was allowed to work here.

"I'm sorry." He murmered after a moment. "I know you don't like talking about Ranboo. You two worked so well together." He paused, and added with a smile, "Especially when you were making burgers together that one time."

Wilbur smirked. "You hated those."

"They wern't that bad!" Philza insisted. "You two just needed more experience."

"More experience." Wilbur echoed, the laughter fading from his eyes. "If Tubbo had more experience, would you let him help us?"

Philza thought for a moment. "I don't know." He said at last. "I don't want to risk his life."

The phantom hybrid walked up to Phil and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If we don't let him, he might put his life in even worse danger; he doesn't know how to do this. You know that."

~~~~~

"I don't get it." Tubbo glanced up at Philza. "Why do I need to memorise the difference between elytrian feathers and kestrel ones?"

"You'll need to memorise many." Philza informed him. "When studying avian and elytrians, it's important to be able to know the difference."

It was strange- almost scary- teaching Tubbo about his own kind, the elytrians, but he had no choice; both of them were playing along now, trying hard to blend in with the human scientists, but it wasn't that difficult; without their hybrid features, they seemed like normal people.

He was honestly relieved they had to do this; it was nice to have a 'normal' day for once, without stressing over Tommy and Ranboo and that hidious cat.

Tubbo seemed to be happier too; Tommy had came back from his testing exhausted but unhurt, and had been relieved to see a familiar, friendly face.

Nobody would suspect them of being hybrids for acting like a friend to a hybrid, even a dangerous one like Tommy. A scientist named Schlatt got along decently with an avian named Quackity, and his friend George was practically best friends with hybrids Sapnap and Clay- although every other hybrid called that dangerous mob 'Dream'.

These relationships were rare, though; most hybrids and monsters absolutely hated scientists for capturing them there. Only the older ones that had been there for years got along with them better, so it was a surprise Tubbo and Tommy got along so well.

Tubbo's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Okay, this delfinantly isn't kestrel." He was holding up a bright blue feather.

"That's right." Philza said, taking it from him gently. "I don't know how it got there. Which avian do you think it came from?"

Tubbo frowned at it for a moment. "Either one of those blue macaws, or a kingfisher."

"That's right, kingfisher. Good work, Tubbo." The brunette beamed at his praise.

Philza didn't meet his gaze.

Things seemed almost too good now; it was never this peaceful for so long.

Something horrible would happen soon; he knew it.

Hi I'm still writing-