𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐚𝐦 | 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐑𝐢𝐦/𝐈𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐏

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

❝𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐓, Hermann," as soon as Charlie finishes his 'Science Bitch' rant, the same voice in form of Newt takes over.

Hermann is lucky he's so used to such a sound; he doesn't think he could handle it if he wasn't so accustomed to the rapid succession of Newton's tone and mannerism.

He looks over to where Newt is now kneeling to the floor. A flash of white scuttles past his cane, and the man picks it up immediately.

"This is your rat, right? Holy shit, this is Isaac!" Hermann bought the lab rats a long while ago, just after Newton had become disturbed. He never could bring himself to experiment on the poor things, and it certainly hadn't helped when Newt named each one of them.

The new experiment, however, had been a good time to put the rodents to use. Clearly, it hadn't been fruitless. The rat squeaks in tattooed hands, and Newt runs his fingers along the white fur.

"That's why he's different! Man, I didn't bash that guy, 'cause he was all clean and white and like, not bitey. I knew he wasn't just a common basement rat, but I didn't know where he came from. There's no white rats around here, and even if there are, they'd get way too dirty." Hermann wonders for a moment if doppelgänger is the right word. Possibly 'really creepy exact clone' wouldn't roll off the tongue as well.

"Yeah, this guy's special. He's smart as hell, old too. Pet rats live like, around four years, -depending on how well they're looked after- but this guy is invincible, I swear. I think the oldest pet rat lived to around seven, and this guy is getting pretty close. I think..."

"Jesus Christ, there's two of them" Dee whispers.

"Yes, it's quite peculiar. Can I please talk now, while they're distracted?"

"I like how you work, man. Leaving the Charlie's out so we can get some real work done." Hermann thinks Dennis is complimenting him for something he shouldn't really be proud of, but he nods anyway. At times, it is best to leave Newton out of things. He does tend to rant.

"I am Doctor Hermann Gottlieb, and this is Doctor Newton Geizsler-"

"Doctor? Damn, so he's smart?" Dee cuts in. Hermann barely stops himself from smashing his face against the bar.

"Well, that is debatable-"

"I have six PhDs dude, come on." Newt butts in from his conversation with Charlie. He places Isaac on the bar, and Dennis squeals in disgust, to which Charlie smiles.

"You have six what?"

"Not the PhD you're thinking of, Mac. Please take that rat off my fucking bar." Hermann picks him up and places him in his breast pocket, just to stop Dennis from going completely insane.

"Oh my god, Herms, that is the cutest thing you've ever done," he glares at Newt.

"Can I please talk, for the love of my sanity! Gott." Everyone shuts up, but he can see Newt's evil smirk out of the corner of his eye. He thinks the man is secretly sadistic, he loves when Hermann raises his voice, or gets annoyed. "I'm not sure how much we can say, but-" he's cut off again, and he tries not to scream.

"You guys are like, from a different universe, right? You're me, and you're Science Bitch. Are you aliens?"

"Well, if you think about it, we technically are. Holy shit, that's cool! But you're like, pretty much spot on. We opened this Breach -a portal thingy- and, like, I could've died, the whole thing was in kinda bad taste, really, but-"

"Newton, please save me the hastle of sticking my cane somewhere it doesn't belong and shut yourself up for a change."

"Take me to dinner first and I'll shove that cane anywhere."

"Christ," he pretends to ignore Newt, "Mr Choi will be opening the Breach soon. I told him to open it twenty minutes after we first entered. Hopefully he manages." Hermann grumbles the last sentence. Dispite Tendo being the Chief Officer of J-Tech, Hermann has a fear that the man won't be able to figure out how to open the Breach back up. Hermann had to show him four times what to press.

"Wait, you're leaving? Dude, come on. You just risked your life for nothing? Twenty minutes in another dimension, and you're out?"

"The Marshall will fire me if I don't, Newton. I'm already close for managing to free you from that God forsaken cell."

"But he can't! You're doing this for the greater good. If I'm cured, I can work again and-"

"I am not letting you go back to work."

"Isn't this what this whole thing is about? Making me useful again, repaying my debts, or whatever?" He picks up previously forgotten beer. "What if they get in my head again, and you're not there to reign them in? You keep them from getting bad, Herms."

"Newton." Hermann is too tired to argue. Newt huffs.

"Fine, guess I'll just stay here, all on my own." He rolls his eyes.

"Ok, now hold on a second. We haven't agreed to this." Dennis, the voice of reason. Hermann assumes he's the group's leader, of sorts. If this group can even have a clear leader. He doesn't think Dennis does a very good job at controlling them, either way.

"Well I agree." Charlie says.

"Yeah so do I, I like New Charlie." Mac speaks.

"I don't give a shit, sure." Frank speaks. Hermann forgot the man was even there.

"Dee?"

"I don't really want two Charlie's, guys.... I guess Charlie work will be less, though."

"What's Charlie work?"

"You'll see, bud. Well, it's four against one, Den. Sorry." Mac places a hand on Dennis' shoulder, who pushes him away immediately. "Ok, but why do you have to stay here?"

"Oh, I'm, like, infected with something." Newt says nonchalantly. Every person steps back, apart from Charlie. The man looks immune to everything, judging by appearance.

"What? You can't just say that in a bar with people! Is it COVID? Stay the hell away from Dennis if it's COVID," Dennis nods along with Dee's words.

"COVID?" Both Newt and Hermann question at the same time.

"No COVID in your world, huh? What is it then, AIDS?"

"Jesus Christ, Mac-"

"What, dude? We need to know if he has AIDS. Especially me. And as a gay man-"

"It's not contagious. Unless you drift with a Kaiju, I guess. Or me...?"

"I bloody well hope it isn't contagious via drifting with you."

"Anyways, these giant sea monsters in our world, like, found their way into my brain. I went pretty crazy for a while, tried to destroy the world, you know. So now I have to stay here to like, cut ties."

"You tried to destroy the world? That's so cool!" Charlie exclaims.

"Trust me, dude, it's not."

And with that, the Breach opens behind them. The floor crackles, and opens up under a table, swallowing it and a few chairs. That will be interesting once Hermann gets home.

Newt helps Hermann up from the stool, and hands him his cane, patting Isaac on the head, before deciding he wants to keep him. He lifts the rat out of Hermann's pocket, who smiles, reaching out his hand.

"Are you seriously trying to give me a handshake?" Newt laughs and throws his arms around the man, who returns by wrapping his free arm around the other's shoulders. "Hey, uh... I'll see you, yeah? Try not to get in trouble, and like, take care of Tendo. Be nice to him. And don't throw any of my shit away, 'cause that might be useful if you get a new Biologist-"

"You're speaking as if these are your final wishes."

And when Newt doesn't say anything, he knows the man doesn't believe this will work. He steps into the Breach.