Lab Rat: Subject 253

In Which He Worries

     "She must love you, like, a lot," Flytrap scrunches up her nose at the thought.

     Hippy gives her a glance, knee bouncing. He sat on top of their usual bench with her lower than him; her ass on the seat and back to the table. "Lord knows why," he murmurs, eyes once again scanning the yard. "She could do so much better."

     ...Not that he was complaining. He felt like the luckiest man alive.

     "She really could," she agrees.

     "Thanks," Hippy says dryly. 

     Flytrap shrugs. "I mean...you could be hot. If you ditched the hair."

    He frowns, eyes flickering up towards the dangling bangs. He liked them, and Ella once told him she thought they were sweet. He scoffs. "Well, we all know you prefer your men without hair."

     She narrows her eyes at him, gaze deadly. "What. Are. You. Talking. About."

    They both knew exactly what he meant, and her playing dumb just confirms it for him.

     He smiles innocently. "Nothing."

     "Yeah..." she nods, satisfied. "That's what I thought." They sit in silence for a moment before she asks, "Tell me about these...chips she mentioned? The ones that track us."

    He clears his throat, watching as their missing group member played poker across the yard with a bunch of Subjects 253 had only ever really spoken to in passing. "We've all got them. The gas they release into the room when they wanna knock us out? It's just for show. These chip things can put us to sleep in the blink of an eye. They just don't want us knowing in case we try and dig them out."

    She shudders. "I can't believe I never knew one of those things were inside of me."

     He nods. "It's fucked up. It's why they can confidently send us out there to do their dirty work. One wrong move and..." he snaps his fingers. "Of course, we don't know they can do that. Ella says they're more inclined to send out the Subs who have close friends. Threaten to hurt them if they don't stay in line."

    "That's harsh. Smart but...harsh."

    He exhales shakily, fingers clenching. "She told me there's only one way to disable them so we can escape without them KO'ing us soon as they realise what's happening...and that's by self-destructing the whole damn lab."

    109 eyes cut over to him. Her voice drops to a whisper. "She knows how to do that?"

    "She said she's really good with computers. Didn't say exactly how she was gonna do it."

     "Well, shit. Colour me impressed." She makes a face. "And kinda turned on."

     He makes a sound of amusement through his nose. "You're not the only one. I had no idea she had such a bad-ass streak."

    "Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she's just doing what she has to, to save the man she cares for."

     He sighs with a heavy heart. "Maybe."

     --

     "I feel sick," 253 mutters, pacing his cell.

     Tonight was the night...and he couldn't help but regret his decision to agree to this.

     Had she only been rescuing him from this hell hole, then he'd have told her no and kissed her to shut her up. But this was bigger than him. His friends could be free.

     Everyone in this place could be free.

     Fuck... He hopes she wasn't going to get hurt. Or caught. Or worse - he can't even stomach the thought - killed.

     "Calm down, buddy," 216 tells him softly through the wall. "She'll be fine. She knows what she's doing."

     "God I hope so." 253 turns his gaze towards the ceiling. 

     For the first time in a long time, he considered praying.

    --

     The door slides open and 253's stomach leaps. She was actually managing to pull this off.

     "Holy shit," he breathes, striding towards the door and peering outside. No alarms. Weird. He supposed she had something to do with that. 

     "Well, damn, Hippy," Flytrap steps outside of her room, arms wide as she does a circle. "Your girl pulled it off."

     "Not yet she hasn't." His insides ache. He longed to see her. To know that she was okay. 

     "I'm in love with your girl, Hippy." Fairy exits his own room, hopping on one foot while he removed his bulky black boots. He throws it down the hall before the other one joins it. 216 wiggles his grey sock covered toes with a grin. He then begins to hover, no longer weighed down by the specially-made boots designed to keep both feet on the ground, and stop him flying off during yard time. "Man, this feels too good."

     109 gives him a genuine smile before her eyes land on 253 and his anxious expression. She groans, knowing that he needed comfort. Ugh. "Hey," she rolls her eyes at herself. She sounded like such a pussy. "She'll be fine. She obviously knows what she's doing...right, Fairy?"

    Fairy, who was mid spin in the air, pauses. He then drops to the ground and gives a nod. "Uh, oh yeah. She'll be fine. She said she'd meet us outside, didn't she?"

     "Yes." 253 nods. 

     "Then what are we waiting for?" Fairy flicks his head. "Let's get the hell out of here and go find your girl."

     --

     Ella's eyes remain close, flickering beneath the lids, her hand flat against the computer panel as she concentrated.

    Numbers, codes, circuits...they were a puzzle for her to solve. To break apart and reconstruct. Disabling the alarms and opening the doors were easy enough, but soon the staff members would notice the Subjects escaping and try to activate their chips...

    She had to be quick and activate the self-destruct sequence, which wasn't easy; it was hidden behind layers of fire-walls. Only the Scientists could active it. The computer needed 5 of their individual fingers prints, iris's, and voice activation.

     Which meant she had to trick it. She had to find the vault which hid their original scans, make a copy, and attempt to feed it back to the computer. 

     Simple...

    If only they didn't have so many false paths. Fake saves. It was like a maze...only every time she got close to the centre, it wasn't the finish line she was looking for. 

     "Come on, come on..." she mutters, feeling the cables in her body buzz with static as the energy from the computer flowed through her. Into her. 

     "Hello, Ella," a familiar voice greets her. 

    She freezes, eyes blinking open in shock. 

     Oh no...Doctor Harrington!