The Man Behind the Glass (Lalnable Hector x Reader)

Prologue

Tick...tick...tick...

You casted a glance at the clock on the wall, a feeling of anxiety overwhelming you at the mere thought of being late for the sector meeting. You heaved a small sigh through your nose, your eyes still transfixed upon the clock. 

Tick...tick...tick...

It was only 3:00 a.m. Some scientists may prefer to be asleep at this time, but you were far too busy to even consider rest. You turned towards the fragments of a ruined machine. Of course it was not a major machine, in fact, Yoglabs could make do without it very easily. The facility had far greater machines to worry about malfunctioning, but since the thought of sleep did not make itself present to you, you believed you could soothe your apprehensiveness with some tinkering. 

If only it worked. The meeting was at 9:00 a.m. A firm six hours away, but it was the fear of the unknown that clouded your mind like a blanket of frost upon the ground in the early morning. The idea of it was unbearable. 

What if you were being fired? You shifted your gaze to the floor to grasp a small gear for the machine, half-pondering of what you would make do with it. 

No, you told yourself. They wouldn't fire me. I have done nothing but give it my all for Yoglabs. They would not even consider disposing of me.

But what if they did? 

You shook your head to clear your thoughts as you grabbed a wrench you had placed on the counter only moments prior. With another shake of your head, you began to remove some broken gears to instead replace them with the one you had in your right hand currently. 

After a few more moments of tinkering, the machine was fully repaired. You gazed at it for a brief moment, taking in all of the details and whatnot. 

The medium size machine in front of you was mostly used for keeping certain substances frozen, and since the small refrigerator-type device had ceased preserving the countless embryos that were stored within your sector, you repaired it. It was in low demand, but the idea of correcting a minor issue felt like a minor victory in your eyes. 

With that completed, you removed your black working gloves and placed them on your dark brown desk that possessed many burn marks and scratches from previous inventions gone wrong. As you sat down on the chair near the desk a small yawn escaped you. A small nap wouldn't hurt, would it? 

Before you could even contemplate about sleep, you felt your eye lids grow heavy. 

Staying up wasn't the best choice, you told yourself as you wiped at your eyes with the back of your hand. As soon as you sat your hands in your lap, you felt your head grow foggy. Alright, you mentally scolded yourself, I'll go to-

~                               ~                              ~                              ~

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Wha-?" You lifted your head from your desk, groaning as a steady throbbing sensation made itself present in the middle of your forehead. You rubbed at your head with your hand for a moment. 

You passed out again. It's not like this doesn't happen every night. You were always one for losing conciousness if badly sleep deprived. This time, you were paying for it. (With a nice bonk to your head. Isn't that fun? :3)

After a moment of gathering your thoughts, you searched for the source of the beeping. A small, rectangle shaped clock on your desk was going off like crazy, and upon seeing it, your stomach dropped. 

9:12 a.m. You were late for the meeting! 

Without as much as a second thought, you raced outside your room and entered a vast, white hallway that only made up one corridor of Yoglabs and scrambled towards the meeting area. 

If I head down towards the lobby area, I would save two minutes, you blindly thought, already making headway for the small section, your footsteps echoing amongst the, surprisingly empty, hallway. 

It felt like eons passed by the time you reached the door to the meeting area. Anxiety gripped your being like a clawed hand, squeezing tightly to the point where you could barely breathe. With a sigh through your nose, you calmed this feeling. 

Raising your head, you approached the door, which opened rather quickly for you. 

Inside, was a rather large, oval-shaped wooden table. Yet, it appeared empty. You scanned the room and immediately saw Xephos, whom appeared to be deep in thought as he sorted through papers that must have recently been handed to him. 

"Xephos, sir," you began, catching him out of his thoughts. 

"Ah, U/N. I noticed you were not at the meeting," he spoke.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Slept passed the alarm. May I ask what it was about?" 

"It was just a small check up to see how the divisions were going about their work, and that some may be moving to different areas within Yoglabs to be more efficient, that's all." 

"Oh, anything regarding me?" You asked, a small prickle of worry taking hold. 

He searched through the papers, shuffling them so he could read the next one in line. "From what I'm seeing, no. No changes for you, but I did want to ask you something." He set the papers down in front of him, a warm smile upon his face as he did so. 

"Ask away."

"Can you do me a favor and put these papers into the data base? That would be extremely helpful." 

"Of course, sir," you replied, grasping the papers. "May I ask what these are for?" 

"Injuries in Yoglabs, nothing too serious. If you need anything, please ask," Xephos added as he turned to a whole new set of papers, his eyes already narrowing in focus as he scanned the papers. 

Nodding, you turned out of the meeting room and made headway for the Computer Lab. Around you, scientists walked passed you, some muttering to themselves while others spoke about recent experiments to colleagues. You would occassionally check the door signs to see if you passed the room or what not. 

When you reached the room, a vast open area filled with technology opened before you. The room was buzzing with conversation, yet you paid it no heed as you approached your designated computer. Sitting at the computer, you smiled to yourself. 

Let's get some work done. 

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I must apologize for not writing in so long. This whole qurantine thing has been a tricky thing to bypass, and it was not helping my writer's block. However, I am rather excited to get this story going. :)

~HotTubNavy