Secrets unrivalled - Darling In The Franxx

Part 8 - Chance

They wait at the very entrance as they were before. The door in front of them, unable to get through. They must keep a low profile in case someone walks in or out and spots them. Hachi is with them.

"Alright guys, let's grab Hiro and be in and out" says Ichigo

"But what if he's already...ya'know..." mumbles Zorome
"What if he's already a monster?"

The squad look at Zorome at once, they didn't think of that possibility.

"Than we still take him with us" says Ichigo
"He May look like a monster, but inside, he's a human, don't forget that!" She yells.

"He is still himself, he yelled my name as I was taken away" says Zero Two.
"He looked so uncomfortable, he was forced into this." She continued.

They hide behind the walls knowing any moment now, the plantation will be shut down and a bunch of plantation workers will come running out. They're bodies are shaking and butterflies fill their stomachs.

"Any moment now" says Mitsuru.

Hachi is given a signal by Nana and the lights turn off above them. The door operator can now be freely accessible. A bunch of workers immediately come running out the un-operational door, they pay no attention to their surroundings and run straight down the way the squad came. They now have 10 minutes to retrieve Hiro and to get out.
They run down the hall and pass the door, though the familiar walls make Zero Two sick, she feels somewhat better that she is being accompanied by her friends this time.

"The room on the right!" Zero Two yells. That's where she last saw Hiro.

The room comes into view, though it seems no one is in there. There aren't many workers around so it is rather easy to get by. They don't have long.

"Where could he be?" Yells Goro

A few seconds later, they hear sharp screaming coming from the left far hall. Screams of pain and torture, it sounded like Hiro. They run down as fast as they can to get to the other side. Kokoro falls behind.

"Keep going! Don't worry about me!" Kokoro yells, she is exhausted. Mitsuru stands by her siding supporting her frail pregnant body.

"I'll stay with her! You all keep going!" Mitsuru yells.
The hall feels long and time feels limited. The sounds of ticking clocks clouded Zero Two's mind knowing that they didn't have much time left.
Eventually, they arrive at the end of the hall where an opening into a large room is placed. Hiro sits in the middle, tubes all over him as Dr. Franxx stands by him with 2 other plantation workers.

"gaaaahhh!" Hiro Groans in pain as Dr Franxx enters the sharp needle edges of the tubes into his body.

"Darling!" Zero Two yells
"Hiro!" The rest yell.

Hiro looks perfectly human.
Dr Franxx looks their way.

"Look who's come to join us" says Dr. Franxx
Mitsuru and Kokoro finally catch up.

"Oh my, the whole squad is here to watch!" He lets out a little giggle. A man his age laughing like that is rather odd.

"Let Hiro go!" Yells Ichigo.
Zero Two gets a bigger glimpse at Hiro, he's sweating all over.

"You need to all get of here now!" Hiro yells
The rooms walls are solid concrete, 4 small bars are placed at the top in the 3 corners of the room. The room looks like a prison.

They ignore Hiro's words and run straight for him at once, they know their time is almost out. They are stopped by plantation workers wearing giant suit's covering their faces, and they are very strong.

"So you were the ones that shut of the power?" Dr. Franxx asks rhetorically

"Smart thinking, you surprisingly postponed the experiment" he continues.
"I originally didn't want to do this but when I found out I had the chance, I couldn't stop myself"

"Oh, Hachi, you're here too? That's a shame" Hachi was careless, he couldn't help the children after all. He is taken away to another room.

The squad tug and pull but are unable to break free from the heavy suited guards.

"One more" Dr Franxx says, as he proceeds to insert the last needle into his neck.

"The power should turn back on shortly and when it does, you'll get a good look at my new experiment!"
He is truely a mad man, a mad scientist.

"Why are you doing this to him?!" Yells Zero Two
"He's shouldn't be involved in this?!"

"The moment he injested your blood, he became involved in this"

Everyone looks at zero two, they are unsure of what this means.

"Injested what?" Asks Miku. They heard what Dr Franxx said but they didn't want to know. Ichigo's eyes light up.

"He did what now?" Says Ichigo. Her expression is scary looking.

"Oh, they never told you the story of how they met?" Says Dr Franxx sheepishly. He has a large smirk on his face.

The back up generator kicks in, alarms ring in Zero Two's ears, they're out of time.