A/N: I got this idea just around exactly one hour ago. I think that makes this the fastest thing I've written & posted, ever.
The main warehouse was always a commotion of noise: researchers powerwalking to meetings they were late for, handfuls of notes pressed against their chest or shoved into bags; gray lab assistants silently taking readings; and occasionally one of the four mercenaries would wander in, checking on things. Second got a feel for the flow of things relatively quickly, watching people come and go.
The gray hollowhead making his way across the warehouse floor now was a newcomer- Sec hadn't seen another hollow, in this entire facility- but from the way everything fell completely, dead silent when he entered, footsteps clanking against hard metal, he had to be someone important.
She unconsciously scooted back just a little bit, until she her back met cold metal and she realized she'd hit the back of the cage.
Her eyes rose to meet the new stick.
(He looked an awful lot like her.)
The room was still silent.
"Where did you learn how to draw?"
His voice was quiet but commanding. The voice of a boss. The voice of a person in power.
Second swallowed. "I don't know," she answered, truthfully. "I was drawn with it, I guess."
"You do it well."
The silence felt increasingly awkward, like she was supposed to say something. "Um... thank you?"
The gray stick shifted, pulling something out of a pocket and tossing it to her. Sec caught it on reflex, and when she looked down into her hands, realized it was her pencil. The silence was trickling back to normal, like water coming to fill a stream, and it slowly rose as they kept talking. Life kept going.
Why was he giving her the pencil back?
"Draw me a snake," he ordered. "I saw the fight. Like your eels, but more elegant. A pet."
Sec shot a look around the room. If he was letting her draw, she could draw anyth-
"And before you think about escaping," he continued, as if he were reading her mind; "I have at least 100 sticks on staff in this building, and security." He leaned in. "We're a lab who keep a very close eye on powerful sticks, and we've seen escapees with every trick in the book. But you were not the target. And you can animate. So draw me a snake, and you're free to go. You can even keep the pencil, I have one of my own and I really don't care."
What?
Her surprise must have shown in her face, because he sighed. "Do I have to turn around, or something? Is it an artist thing? Do you not like it when other people watch you draw?"
"Um- no, it's- it's okay." She flicked the pencil, scribbling a sleek, coiled body that casually dropped to the ground. The snake rose up with a soft hiss, staring the gray stick dead in the eyes.
It's little tongue flicked out, once. Blep.
The gray hollowhead was fighting hard to contain his smile as he reached through the bars, but Second saw the hint of a genuine grin peek through as the reptile obediently slithered up his arm, roping around his shoulders and settling like a bodyguard over its new master.
The tongue flicked again.
The hollowhead made a sort of squeak, most of which was lost in the commotion that had resumed around them. Then he shook himself, putting his "boss" face back on and nodding once. "Thank you."
He motioned one of the mercenaries from the side. Agent brought him a ring of keys, and the gray hollowhead unlocked the cell, gesturing for Second to follow him.
Five minutes and one long confusing maze of hallways later, she was again left blinking in the sunlight. The door shut behind her, and she started walking out of the compound, wondering how to find the others.
What a weird day.
YOU ARE READING
AvA/M Oneshots
Fanfiction(Book started early/mid January 2022, everything's in chronological order of when I wrote it) This is 18-25 because I am 18-25. Is that a reasonable age range? I have no clue. NO: smut; cursing; Y/N or xReader; posts that only contain art MINIMAL:...
