Hermitcraft S7 Shenanigans

Friend or Foe (one-shot/AU)

thank you tumblr and wattpad for choosing whose blood gets spilt :)

(tw: violence/technically a bit of torture (also yes this is facility AU hush i like it))

   ~*~

"Go in there," Grian instructed, pointing to a closed door next to a complicated looking control panel.

Impulse glanced warily at his nurse but conceded and walked over, uneasy stirring within him. He could feel the eyes of all the workers searing into his back, watching his every move to see if he stepped out of line, and hurried over as quickly as he could.

"Wait." He turned around and Grian swiftly unlocked the cuffs around his wrists, taking off his gloves as well. "Alright now go in," he muttered, ushering him into the small room behind the door.

The door slammed shut, leaving Impulse to his own quiet thoughts once again. He rubbed idly at his wrists until a burst of electricity sparked around them, scaring him slightly as they formed small rings.

He looked up at the "door" in front of him, which was really a mesh of holograms in a web-like pattern. The room behind it was barely visible but Impulse could see a lot of tiles that looked like the pages of a math notebook.

The hologram suddenly faded away in front of him and he stepped into the giant, empty room, looking around.

"Y-you..." The voice made him jump and he instinctively crossed his arms in front of him, rings of crackling electricity pulsing around him.

A boy with white hair, slightly taller than him, was standing at a doorway opposite to his. A single bloodshot eye stood out against deathly pale skin, the other eye being pitch black with twinkling white stars dancing around in it. A puff of cold air escaped his lips, which were the same light purple as his nails.

Impulse's pure yellow eyes widened and he took a step back in shock. "Y-you're not... you're a person..." he whispered.

"S-so are you..." the boy breathed. "I thought you would be just another set of dummies..."

"Get to it already!" a voice yelled over a speaker, causing them both to wince from the feedback. "You're supposed to fight, not have a tea party!"

"I'm not gonna fight him!" Impulse yelled back, glaring up at the speaker. "He's a real person! Gimme some more dummies if you want me to fight!"

The metal collar around his neck suddenly tightened and started to burn, making him gasp and fall to his knees, digging his fingers into his skin as he tried to tug it loose.

"Stop stop!" the other boy exclaimed, waving his hands at the speaker. "We'll fight I promise! Just don't hurt him!"

The burning instantly stopped and the collar loosened, letting Impulse gasp and double over coughing. He glanced up at the boy, tears streaming down his face, and nodded. "Th-thank you-you..." he wheezed.

The gridded room around them suddenly started to change into what looked like a cityscape. Glass-tiled buildings grew beneath their feet and the sound of honking horns filled their ears as traffic rushed below them.

The pale boy glanced over at Impulse, who had managed to stumble to his feet, and sighed. "I'm Etho by the way," he said, smiling a bitter sweet smile as ice formed in claws around his hands. "And uh, I'm really sorry for this."

An thin icicle shot from his hand and Impulse yelped, jumping to the right to dodge. "Nice to meet you too I guess," he mumbled under his breath.

Neon yellow electricity crackled around his hand and he aimed it at Etho, striking a bolt of lighting directly at him. Etho swiftly swept out his hand and ice shot up in front of his, capturing the electricity for him.

Etho backed away for a moment before charging towards the edge of the building and jumping off the edge and towards Impulse. He skidded down the side of the building and dug his ice claws into the side, wincing as bits of glass sprayed against his face.

He clambered onto the edge and slammed a hand into the floor. A ripple of ice surged through the ground and shot up in front of Impulse, narrowly missing his eye and making a thin cut along his cheek.

Impulse swiftly rubbed away the blood dripping down his cheek, trying to ignore the slight sting, and shot at Etho with another bolt. Etho easily dodged and rolled to the ground, sweeping out his leg to kick at Impulse.

The brunette gasped and stumbled over. Etho shot an array of icicles at him, grimacing as Impulse yelped in pain. Impulse scrambled away, electricity surging around him in rings, and blasted Etho with a lightning bolt.

The bolt collided with him and his body convulsed, making him cry out in pain. Impulse looked away and covered his ears, trying to push down the guilt and horror inside him.

Suddenly he hear the whirring of machines and footsteps. He glanced up to see the simulation melting back into a gridded room and workers rushing into the room. Grian came up to him and kneeled down, quickly putting his gloves back on and clicking the metal cuffs closed.

"Wh-what happened...?" Impulse asked in a quiet voice, shakily standing up.

"The electricity short-circuited Etho's collar," the blonde explained, hesitating slightly on the last word. "So we stopped the simulation to fix it."

Impulse looked down. "Oh..." What did he expect? That they'd suddenly turned good and didn't want to force to fight like animals? Of course not. They were the reason he was even like this, so of course they wouldn't stop being evil at the drop of a hat.

No matter how inhumane it was.

   ~*~

i had wayyy too much fun designing looks for all the mutants (also i recently watched Spiderman Far From Home and that's what this fight was inspired by)

*laughs in i ruined Cleo and Scar in this AU*