Outbreak

Face Your Demons

Day 5̶̼̉0̵̘̈́

Sabre's P.O.V.

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Together, Assistant Steve and I walk down to the portal room.  Inside, the professor is buzzing about, checking and rechecking the readings from various machines.  As I hesitate at the doorway, he pulls a salmon out of his inventory, smacks the side of a screen, and the loading symbol on the monitor vanishes at once.

"Professor Red!"  Assistant Steve trills.  The frenzied Red Steve turns abruptly to face us, and I notice the purplish bags under his eyes.  He looks almost as bad as when he caught the sickness.  Once he sees the syringe Assistant Steve has brought him, however, his face lights up in a mixture of triumph and relief.

"Ah!  Perfect.  This is perfect."  he mutters, examining the contents eagerly.  "I'm surprised you got the sample so quickly!  That's good.  There's no time to waste!"  He bustles to the mess of wiring hidden behind the portal machine, and starts pressing a series of buttons.  "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's the other missing element that is giving me trouble."

"What's going on?"  Red Leader pokes his head into the room, frowning at the Professor.  He steps in, and a Demon Steve follows soon after.  The demon stiffens as Professor Red comes close, and it sees the vial of blood in his hands.  Its orange gaze pivots toward me, and I stare back at it coolly, silently daring it to attack.  It backs out of the room, eyes wide.

"Is that-?"  The Red Leader gasps, noticing the vial.  "Oh Origin!  Don't tell me-"

"-yeah, it is."  I say calmly.  "But the Professor still needs Yellow Steve energy, right?"  I turn to the crazy Red Steve, who has already turned his attention to a series of repeaters inlaid in the wall.

"At the very least I need an in-person demonstration."  he huffs.  "I can't run tests without one, and without tests, I can't be certain if it'll work or not."

The Red Leader frowns, unsure.  He seems hesitant about the obvious solution.  I fix my gaze on him, undeterred.

"Red Leader, I know you're against it, but we need to invite a Yellow Steve into the kingdom."  I say firmly.  "It's the only way for this plan to work."

The leader sighs.

"I've already told my apprentice that he may take extreme measures.  I suppose this isn't any different.  However, if there is a Yellow Steve who won't tell the others about the Red Steves, that would certainly be preferable."

"I'll see what I can do."  I offer, already having a specific steve in mind.  "Would you mind teleporting me so I can speak to him?"

There's only a moment of hesitation before the Red Leader reluctantly holds out his hand, letting me grab on and enveloping me in light.

I end up in Light's office.  Out of all the steves in the Rainbow Kingdom, I figure he'll know where LC is right now.  The pale steve nearly falls out of his chair.

"Origin, Sabre!  What's happened?  Is something wrong?  Have they-"

"-Calm down, Light."  I soothe him, feeling a little bad for coming in so urgently.  "Sorry, I should've teleported outside the door.  I wanted to ask: Do you know where LC is?  I need to speak to him."  Light frowns.

"You... want to speak to LC?  Why?"

"I need his help with something."  I reply vaguely.  Light's expression remains suspicious, but his eyes dart to the window by the door.  Several Colorless Guards are approaching, probably to receive more orders.