The Fox and The Forest (EDITING)

That Damn Lock!(2.4)

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***

- 2nd Rank Purifier Station-

The intercom screeched again like a dying bird. "I repeat, a replacement team is required for the 3rd rank station. All replacements make your way to the Rig immediately."

3rd rank. Tom and Kate. What if... Flynn shuddered, knowing that he couldn't face to be without his friends once again. He'd waited too long to see them and he dared to think what could have become of them now.

Immediately Flynn shoved the disinfectant over into the hands of the Purifier named Gregg- who almost dropped it in surprise.

I have to go.

Now.

***

- Half an hour earlier: 3rd Rank Purifier Station-

"Oh god. Don't get in there! Please! It's not yours!"

But they didn't listen to Kate's cries. Instead the boy who she had been calling opened up the Aquarist suit and climbed into the metal carcass.

It was the suit that had belonged to Axel Hastings, 3rd Ranking Purifier Colonel. The man himself stood close by, watching smugly as the trainee unknowingly sealed their own fate.

Kate clutched her face, wishing she could reverse the past. She lunged towards the person ahead of her in another attempt to stop them but the Colonel grabbed her by the wrist. "Don't. Even. Think. About. It." He ordered, emphasizing every word he spoke by digging his nails further into her soft skin.

Tom turned around in dread, hearing Kate's protests. It was clear he had not known. Had not even a vision to show him what Kate would come to do. What she had now done.

Kate squirmed, ripping herself away from the Colonel. She stared at her hands, disgusted at herself.

This is my fault. This is all my fault.

Those hands. Those childish, reckless hands. Those were the hands that had cracked a hole in the glass of the suit. In turn damaging the metal structure in an attempt to dispose of the Colonel.

Though the Colonel was too astute. Too ready for blood to be shed and he had seen her placing a screw against the suit's heart, shoving it into the glass.

Before Kate's eyes her hands began to change colour again, orange blooming across the skin like poison blossoms in water. Twitch.

"Don't let him go in there! Please. I didn't mean-" The Colonel dragged her back out into the central room of the compound.

"I know exactly what you meant to do," he spat, his gaze unwavering.

"But I'm feeling charitable," he continued. The orange hue from the Aquarist sign highlighted his head in a sardonic halo. "So how about I let you begin the water collection first too. You can go with your victim, whose suit you willingly destroyed. All you have to do is bring back the water required and you'll live. No big deal. Sure, you'll have to watch the kid die but it's clear you wanted death by fucking around my Aquarist suit. So death you will get."

*

Tom watched on helplessly as the Colonel had led her out of the room. He himself had been preparing the suit controls, pressing the symbols in a measured sequence as he'd been told.