Arknights One Shots

Danger (Red x Provence)

A/N: So I feel like Red is either viewed as sweet and loving or scary and dangerous. It probably won't take you long to figure out which I went with for this one-shot. (Never fear you'll get to see her other side eventually). Remember to comment and vote so I know if y'all are enjoying this.

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Provence was a Catastrophe messenger. She had been through a great many dangerous situations in her day, and likely would go through a great many more before her life met its end. But, contrary to popular belief, she did not seek out danger. No, it was the other way around. If danger was in her vicinity then it was her duty to investigate; it was her duty to explore the unknown.

But, right here, right now, with that strange smell lurking nearby, Provence was seriously beginning to regret her life choices.

It had all started five minutes ago, back when she'd been at the recruitment office. Doberman announced over the intercom for current workers to go on break. So, humming to herself, she'd left the recruitment office and made her way to the third dormitory. There was a new Siesta theme layout to it —probably to make Scharwz feel more comfortable. The new assassin operator acted pretty shy around everyone (excluding Ceylon for obvious reasons😉) and Provence could only hope she was beginning to warm up to her new home.

Sniff. Sniff.

She had been just about to reach the door when she caught a whiff of it. The scent was near impossible to explain: a mix of primal wilderness, lab chemicals and metal that made a jumbled mess of wrong and not quite right. The weirdness made the hair on the back of her neck rise. The fluffy tail that had been swishing behind her went entirely still as the temperature in the air seemed to drop for no apparent reason at all. She couldn't say how, but she knew someone else was there with her in the hallway.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Provence called out.

Every nerve cell in her body was pulsing on edge, they were vibrating as if they realized the approaching danger would be too much to bear. But why? I'm at Rhodes Island. None of the alarms have gone off. One of said alarms was right above the dormitory doors. Light winked off of it, reflecting the red machinery akin to a fire alarm, but no sound blared from it.

But then she heard footsteps.

A shadow whirled right past her face. Provence tried to catch a glimpse of whoever was responsible, but they were gone too fast for even her trained eyes to pick up on them. Her tail lashed in frustration, so fluffy that it brushed the floor much like a broom would. Thankfully no dust was swept up as a result. The cleaning crew really did a good job keeping the floors clean as a whistle. Probably because there's so many injuries a bodily fluids everywhere. That was the less fun part about this job description, but she could hardly fault the pharmaceutical company for it. We didn't ask for all this trouble with Reunion after all.

"Hey! If you're out there stop running around! It's really weird!" She hollered.

The darkness was a foreboding shroud around her. At some point Provence had unconsciously walked into the generator room in search of the shadow. The humming of the metal machines did little to sooth her unease. Whatever had been running amuck was in here somewhere. That unmistakable scent hung in the air, barely concealed by the bite of iron and the frazzle of electricity. It was a a little weird no one was at work in here at the moment. Perhaps Shaw or whoever was on shift took a break. Levers jutted out of the wall with metallic paneling, offering themselves up to be yanked in whatever direction an operator pleased.

Hmm, a little extra light can't hurt, can it?

But when the switches came on pain followed suit.