𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

022

iykyk

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You were on your way to the rainbow room, headed for the electronic door that separated the staff and the children when a young woman bumps into you. "Oh, excuse me," she stammers, kneeling to pick up her fallen papers. You stooped beside her, collecting a few spreadsheets scrawled with numbers you didn't understand. You hand them to her, her head still down as she replied, "Thank you."

Labcoat, you think, must be one of Papa's scientists.

It's the familiar smile she flashes you that stops your feet from walking away. "Alex...?"

She tucks a curl behind her ear, simultaneously pressing a finger to her lips. "Shh."

After all this time, she'd still been here? You'd stopped looking for her years ago. Her disappearance had only led you to assume the worst. Up until now, you were convinced she was dead, but no. The woman was still well and alive.

"How... what? Where have you been all this time?" you ask, chuckling a confused kind of chuckle.

"Oh," she gushes, "I'm cooped up in my office most days."

You hadn't realized until now just how young she looked. Actually, she couldn't have been over mid-twenty. That was only a handful of years over you. To, think... she'd really been here all this time.

"You're a... scientist now?" you question, motioning to her lab coat.

She tugs at her ID and nods proudly. "Yes ma'am, data analyst to be exact," she says, hugging her lug of papers tighter as they began to slip from her grasp again. "But now, I'm off to the genetics ward! Papa wants a new study on the children's DNA. Samples from powered kids look so much different it's really fascinating actually—" she cuts herself short, brushing the thoughts out of her mind. "Sorry, I'll get going!" She waves and scurries down the hallway.

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You rasped your knuckles on his door. "Peter!" you called, "Hey, Peter!"

The door opened after a moment. He stands at the doorway, looking flustered and disarrayed but quickly smirks to hide his flush. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asks, motioning for you to come inside.

The tidiness in his room never ceased to amaze you. His bed was always perfectly made, shoes always lined up beside the door, not a scuff or a stain anywhere in sight. Truth was, he deserved the title "orderly" for how perfectly he kept things in order. You even noticed it with the children, how easily he kept them well-behaved. You would think they were still scared of him with how quickly they managed to listen, but they couldn't be—not after their memories were erased.

"You're not gonna believe this," you rant, pulling your attention from the neatness of the room. "Alex is alive!"

His eyes widen and he claps excitedly. You're convinced he's as happy as you are when he pauses, "Who's Alex?"

That's right. 001 never spent much time in the library until after she'd left. He knew nothing about the scientist-turned-orderly.

"Oh, she's just... she's just—" you trail off when you meet his gaze. He was eyeing you with such focus, such intensity. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"No reason," he murmurs flatly.

It didn't take a genius to see he was out of it, but you don't stop to ask. "Remember when we would hang out in the library? She used to work there and..." You let your words die out again. It was clear he wasn't listening. "001?" you whisper. You only ever used the number behind closed doors. "Would you at least pretend to pay attention?!"