(Old Version) Monsters and Men (Platonic Mercs X Child Reader)

Burning Chains

The familiar shoes that clicked down the hall caught the attention of everyone they passed. No one dared look the woman in the face but the fear written in each passing glance was easily noticed. She stood tall, her age noticeable though not incredibly so. The scowl that remained permanent on her features was not so much because she was angry at anything in particular but one could assume she wasn't very pleased. Her steps echoed closer and closer to her goal.

Soon the people she passed started to resemble soldiers more than the typical scientists that usually roamed down the halls. Each one stood tall next to the highly secure doors they were assigned to. Unmoving. Uncaring. Simply another cog in the machine that would bring her closer to her goal. The farther she went the tougher they looked and it wasn't long before their faces were covered and soon enough she was passing fully kitted out machines of destruction. One might ask what those soldiers were defending. What could possibly be behind such thick and impenetrable doors that required two to even sometimes three of these guards?

An answer she knew, one that only very few got to hear of.

All pales in comparison to where she was going though. At the end of the hall stood eight of these guards, or as many people in this place liked to call them, 'protectors'. She never much cared for the word. The only thing they really served is to bide time if something were to escape. They weren't protectors, they were the mice the caged predators chased until they were able to trap them again.

Most of these creatures were beyond any sort of effort to kill them.

Once making it to the end of the hall and one of these 'protectors' scanned her card to open the door, she walked into the dark room. She stood silent for a moment, red lights being the only thing that illuminated the incredibly small space. After a few seconds another door opened in front of her, one only just barely big enough for her to fit through. Keeping her poise she entered the room with no change of expression as her eyes locked onto the creature that laid in front of her.

The only thing keeping the place from total darkness was the flames that not only sat on the creature's body but the hair that came from its head. Her face soon turned to disdain, the memories of the failed experiment in a line of hundreds coming to mind. After the metal door shut behind her the room was silent, the only sound being the light breathing of the creature in front of her and the crackling of its never-ending flame. She didn't address the creature, knowing that it already knew who she was considering there was no other person that had the jurisdiction to be in this room.

"Any particular reason you decided to visit me?" It asked, its voice as scar-ridden as its body. No more hope, no more fight. Nothing but the terrible ache of a broken thing. She could find no pity for this creature. She had more important matters than its condition.

"The only reason I would ever come to visit you. Though I don't suppose you would know" she avoided the question, simply staring at the creature bound to the floor by uncountable chains.

"Get to the point before I kill you" it spoke, true intentions found in its words though the outcome was unlikely.

Her shoes echoed again. That terrible, aching sound. One so brutally burned into its mind that it almost wished for the return of perpetual silence.

Soon she stood above it, lighting a cigarette on its wings as if that was the only thing it was useful for. She brought the nicotine-filled substance to her lips, inhaling the toxic smoke before letting it out with a sigh.

"172 escaped" she answered. For a moment she saw its entire body tense, the shock slowly seeping into the mind of the creature. It was then followed by a laugh. A broken, sorrowful, pathetic laugh. One of accomplishment, though not it's own. Finally it turned to look up at her. The face was familiar though significantly different than when she'd last seen it all those years ago. The burning flame of hatred could only be found in one eye, the other one lost to whatever fight it had put up. Its smile was one of malice not in the way she had seen before. She found no disdain, no disgust. Only pure vengeful bliss. The many scars that lined its face only served as a reminder of how beaten down this creature was, its soul extinguished no matter how much its blazing body continued to burn with seething hatred.