Chapter Text
“Miss Banner,” Alex started, the door creaking as he stepped into her room, “They’re ready for you.” He continued in a much more hardened tone.
Two men stood behind him, their arms crossed. Ashlyn sat, a look of content horror on her face as she took a shaky sigh. She looked up to meet her gaze to Alex, whose eyes gave her a warm apology. He did not know what they were doing to her, nor was she allowed to tell him, but he tried his best to give her comfort even though she’d come back with almost no life behind her eyes.
Sometimes, she’ll come back with a few injuries ranging in severity. He’d practically beg her for an answer after every injury, yet she never could.
It got bad when her friends knew something was wrong, he was threatened multiple times, by mostly Aiden, but he didn’t have an answer for them. But what concerned him the most was that they didn’t stop, like they knew something was wrong. He doesn’t know how they know, nor does he care to tell the higher-ups, but he thinks it has something to do with midnight. He also figured the higher-ups knew that was well, why else would they subject Ashlyn to grueling experiments at midnight?
That worried him the most.
She then got up from her bed and stopped in front of him, she then held out her hands and he cuffed her. He noticed she kept shivering when it touched her wrists.
“Why do I have to do this near midnight?” Ashlyn asked, her hoarse voice filled with worry as they began.
“I-” Alex paused, “I honestly don’t know.”
“Let’s- just get this over with,” she sighed, swaying a bit after each step.
“Right,” He shivered.
Silence followed briefly before they stopped in front of the lab’s door. Before he placed the keycard on the scanner, Ashlyn softly spoke.
“I’m scared,” She whispered, her cuffs bumping together as she shook.
Alex’s heart broke.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered.
The door soon opened with two scientists standing on the other side. The two then grabbed her by her shoulders and she reluctantly went in, the door then shut softly, silence echoing around Alex. He stood there for a time before a hand was placed on his shoulder.
“C’mon, can’t stay here all night,” One of the men stated.
“Right,” He answered defeated.
“Aiden! No, bad Aiden!” Taylor yelled at him. “Please, you look like you’re about to pass out!”
Everyone, apart from Tyler and Ashlyn, stood near the door keeping Aiden from leaving.
“I’m going to find her!” Aiden retorted, “It’s been two weeks without her! I’m not stopping until I find her!”
He tried to shake out of Ben’s grasp, yet it was in vain.
“That’s great, very noble of you! But how will you do that when you’re unconscious!?” Logan retorted, sweating slightly. “The last time you went out you practically went into a coma!”
“I say let ‘em,” Tyler said, “could use some quiet.”
“Tyler!” Taylor screamed at her twin.
“Kidding kidding,” he put up his arms defensively.
“Look Aiden, please just stay here. I’m sure Ashlyn just- I’m sure she-” Logan couldn’t make up an excuse as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Just- I got a new keycard from Alex, we’ll look for her while you two look through the computers, alright?” He then held up a red card defensively.
Somewhat content with this answer, Aiden sighed and slightly pushed his cousin away and sat next to Tyler. Both Ben and Taylor sighed in relief, thanking Logan viciously. To which he humbly dismissed.
“You guys going to go or what? Ashlyn’s not going to find herself!” Aiden snapped.
“We’re leaving, we’re leaving,” Taylor sarcastically said, waving him off.
True to her word, they left shortly after. Through the dark white walls reflecting the red sky, they kept walking and kept looking. But found nothing, which hurt more than the occasional phantom that snuck up on them. Since Ashlyn wasn’t here to hear them.
Yet they continued for a while before they found a part of the laboratory they’d never seen before. Probably because they could access it until now since Alex went out of his way to get a higher-up key card. Logan did find it odd since he basically threw it at him.
They unlocked the door to the brand-new section and began to explore. After a few minutes, they made their way to what looked like a crime scene. There was a door on their left, which was now on the floor, covered in black blood and claw marks. The hinges were bent and broken off, lying near the door.
“Looks like they ripped down the door, wonder why?” Logan stated, making his way to the door on the floor.
‘I don’t think I want to know.’ Ben said, through his phone.
“It could be linked to Ashlyn,” Logan said, “why else would they want in?”
“Or out,” Taylor added, “the door is away from the room. They just could’ve wanted out?”
“Well let’s just check either way,” both Ben and Taylor deflated.
“Fair, let’s just get in and get out,” Taylor reluctantly said, Ben agreed.
They hesitantly walked into the large room. Logan then flipped on his head flashlight and was horrified, as were Ben and Taylor. They were met with Ashlyn, chained to the wall, surrounded by a few phantom bodies. Phantom blood surrounded her and caked the walls and floors.
She sat on the cold floor, arms slack as they stayed by her side. Covered in small gashes, cuts, and bruises, she barely moved. Seemingly dead. Taylor, being the most caring friend, rushed to Ashlyn’s aid. Logan and Ben quickly followed.
“Ashy? Are you okay-” She barely finished her question before Ashlyn’s foot rammed into her head.
Luckily, she blocked most of the impact, but unluckily, she still got hit. She was thrown violently and hit the wall with a small thud, she groaned as she rubbed her head. Ben then rushed to Taylor’s aid. Logan, confused for a moment, then suddenly snapped out of it as he barely dodged a kick from her.
“Ashlyn! Hey, it’s me, Logan?” Ashlyn didn’t speak, she kept thrashing around and straining her chained hands. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
On closer inspection, he finally got a look at her face. Some of her hair was ripped and she was bleeding slightly from tiny chunks torn off. The sleeves around her arms were torn, almost like someone bit and ripped it off. Her gloves were nowhere to be seen. Her face was covered in phantom blood like the rest of her body. Yet her mouth was concealed by a mask, almost like it was designed for her face.
Her eyes were wide, almost wild as she shifted her gaze at every corner, yet still focused on him. A red hue surrounded the back of her sclera like she had been crying. Even worse, her pupils were dilated, almost like a feral animal. The bags under her eyes showed she hadn’t been sleeping well. All in all, she just looked exhausted, like she was about to fall apart.
“A- Ashlyn?” Taylor mustered out.
She then hesitantly got up and made her way to Ashlyn. Ben frantically followed her, staying close by her side. She stood close enough to Ashlyn to hear her heavy, ragged breath through the thick mask. Small puffs of carbon dioxide came out of the tiny air holes, almost like she was suffocating.
She stayed in a slouched position and was constantly on guard. Her eyes flew between the three of them, eyeing them all carefully. Yet not recognizing them.
“Ash, it’s me… Taylor,” She said in a soothing voice, “Your friend?”
Ashlyn paused for a moment, her eyes finally focused on one thing, Taylor. Her body stopped thrashing as she kept her gaze focused. She then relaxed slightly as she stood up straight, her arms now slightly shaking.
“Ashlyn?” Logan broke the silence.
Hearing her name, she jumped slightly, her eyes ripping from Taylor to Logan. She studied the three for a moment, then was lost in thought. Her eyes softened slightly until they began to water, tears gently streaming down her face. She then reached for her friends but her hands were halted by her chains. Her brows then furrowed in frustration as she tried to rip off the metal around her wrists.
Wasting no time, Taylor practically jumped into Ashlyn’s arms and held her tight.
“You’re okay, you’re safe,” She slightly repeated into her ear.
Her tears then began to fall, yet no sound came from her. Both Ben and Logan joined their friends in a small group hug. Ashlyn clung to Taylor like a lost child as she shook, she almost ripped her shirt in half as her nails dug deeper. After a few minutes, they finally let her go.
“Ash, what happened? Why are you chained and have a muzzle on?” Logan asked.
Now Ben and Taylor were finally aware of her attire, horror was now etched onto their faces. Ashlyn tried to explain, but her sign language was lacking. Ben then dug out the phone Maverick gave him and handed it to her, she took it gladly. It was silent for a bit as Ashlyn kept typing.
‘It was one of the experiments they put me through, they strapped me to the wall and began testing what noises affected me the most.’ She then stopped and began typing again. ‘They wanted to see which one sounded mostly like the noises of the phantoms, they didn’t word it like that, but either way, they still had the same goal. They also took out my earplugs most of the time, it hurt like hell.’
“What…” Taylor covered her mouth.
“That’s horrible!” Logan exclaimed with Ben agreeing.
‘I’m not done yet.’ she quickly typed out. Then began typing again, ‘As for the muzzle, two reasons; One: I bit someone. Two: My screams were interfering with their data.’
“Heh, that makes me feel better.” Logan snorted, only hearing the bite part.
But he paused for a moment, realising the second part. Taylor froze as well.
“Wait, you were screaming!?” The two exclaimed as Ben wore a worried look.
‘Yeah, those noises were loud, you know how sensitive my hearing is. No matter how hard I covered my ears, they still hurt. But luckily they gave me breaks, or else I would’ve lost my hearing.’ Ashlyn then rubbed her eyes. ‘Though my ears rang most of the time after the tests.’
“Alright, we’ll talk more about that later, for now, how do we get you out?” Logan asked.
She then began to type.
‘The key to both mask and cuffs are in the observatory back there, but you’ll need a level three key for that. Which the staff don’t hand out willy-nilly.’ Ashlyn pointed to the big glass wall and gave them a disappointed look.
Ben then cocked a brow then made his way to the observatory window. He looked it over for a bit while rubbing his chin. He then slightly smirked and then took out his main weapon.
“Wait, Ash, is this a level three?” Logan then handed her his red key card.
She examined it for a moment, took it, and looked it over. Her eyes then lit up and she began typing.
‘Yeah, that’s-’ she was interrupted by glass violently shattering.
Ashlyn jumped and covered her ears as Logan and Taylor yelped. All three of them looked at the sound and found Ben next to the window, holding his main weapon. Glass shards surrounded him as he smiled and put two thumbs up. Ashlyn scowled at him and then began typing.
‘Really?’ Ben rubbed his neck. ‘Well, guess we don’t need the keycard.’ she relaxed her eyes as she placed the card in her back pocket.
“Great job Ben!” Taylor smiled as she reassured him. “Alright Ash, wait here.” She then walked to Ben.
‘Not like I can go anywhere.’ She then looked to Logan, ‘Are you going to help them?’
“Nah, they got it,” Logan stated.
A hint of confusion lay on her expression for a moment before she began typing again.
‘Wait, how did you get that keycard?’ Ashlyn asked, the robotic voice not voicing her concern.
“Oh, Alex practically threw it at me,” Logan answered, “I don’t know why he gave it to me though.”
Ashlyn’s eyes lit up a bit as she stayed silent. She knew why.
“I got it!” Taylor screamed as she rushed to Ashlyn and Logan. “Give me your hands.”
She did so obediently. Taylor then unlocked her hands, though unfortunately, revealing her irritated skin. Her wrists were partially burned from friction and cuts met near the beginning of her hands, probably where the cuffs dug into her skin. Ashlyn then lightly rubbed her wrists, eyes twitching at the slight pain. Taylor stopped to look at her hands, she almost teared up until Ashlyn snapped her out of her trance.
‘I would like to breathe now,’ Ashlyn stated with an inpatient look.
“Right, sorry,” Taylor sighed.
She then began to unlock the mask, it popped open then fell to the floor with a loud crack. A few bruises were near her ear and the base of her nose but nothing truly major, nothing like her hands. Ashlyn then quickly felt around her face then sighed.
“That feels-” Ashlyn stopped, cringing at her hoarse voice. She then cleared her throat and continued. “-a lot better.”
Ashlyn then handed Ben’s phone back, which he smiled gratefully.
“That’s good, now let’s get out of here. I don’t like being surrounded by bodies,” Taylor exclaimed.
‘Agreed!’ Ben nodded viciously.
“Wait, give me that key, I don’t want to be trapped here again,” Ashlyn stated, hiding her desperation.
“Oh yeah, that could happen again,” Taylor then handed her the small silver key, “Actually, how did that happen?”
“I have a theory-”
“A game theory?” Taylor smirked, then she laughed, “Sorry sorry, I couldn’t resist!”
Ashlyn groaned before she playfully whacked her friend’s arm, then resisted the urge to flinch at her wrists.
“So anyway, I do have a theory, but I’m exhausted. I'll take a small nap and tell my theory later,” Ashlyn sighed as she rubbed her eyes.
“That’s fair, but I do want Ben to check out your wrists. It looks painful,” Taylor said, trying not to leave any room for argument.
“Taylor… we’ve got a lot of stuff to do, especially since I’ve been gone for a while. And it’s just bruises, they’ll heal,”
“Just bruises!?” Taylor exclaimed, her voice echoing off the blood-stained walls.
Both Ben and Logan slightly stepped away, knowing full well what was about to happen. Logan then whispered in Ben’s ear, he then nodded then followed him out of the large room. Ashlyn strained her hand into a fist as she fully turned to her friend, shaking slightly.
“Ashlyn Banner, enough,” Taylor then grabbed her hands, avoiding her wrists. “For more than a hundred hours you were stuck here, fighting for your life against phantoms while being chained to the wall and wearing a muzzle! So please, enlighten me on why the only thing you deserve is a small nap!?”
Ashlyn stayed silent, she then took in a shaky breath then continued.
“Taylor please, I just want to go home. The longer we relax, the longer we- well- I will be stuck in this room with that muzzle on my face. And yes, to answer your question, it hurts a lot. And it’ll continue hurting until we leave,” Ashlyn explained, her eyes focused on her hands.
“Ashy…”
“I know, Tay, but please. I just don’t want to stay here longer than we need to be,” she sighed, exhaustion riddled in her voice.
“But if you push yourself too hard, you’ll die…” Taylor argued. “And besides, we’re not completely dependent on you. We can take care of ourselves while you rest.” She smiled.
“I’d be the third though, half of the group would be down. Also, I’m the only one who can hear the phantoms, and be honest, how many times were you caught off guard coming here?”
Taylor didn’t answer, she just looked away and rubbed her arm.
“Let’s go back to the room, we’ll talk more about this later,” Taylor deflated as she walked towards the open door.
“Right,” Ashlyn followed.
“But I’m really glad you’re back, I’m just worried about you. That’s all,” Taylor stated, now walking next to her.
“I know, and for what it’s worth, thank you. I- I honestly thought I would stay there until I died from starvation.” Ashlyn breathed out a laugh.
“Wait, you haven’t eaten!?” Taylor whipped her body to fully face her.
“Shit,” she whispered.
“I’ll fucking kill them,” Aiden grinned maniacally as he played with his knife.
He paced back and forth as Taylor tried to calm him down.
“Please don’t, that’ll make it worse,” Ashlyn sighed, stuffing her face with vending machine cinnamon rolls. Which Taylor forced her to eat.
She sat next to Ben on the bed as he bandaged her abused wrists. Once he finished with her last wrist, he began to type on his phone. Taylor, Logan, and Aiden began to lightly argue with each other, now ignoring Ben and Ashlyn. Tyler just watched the chaos which was the trio, and somewhat eyeing Ashlyn.
‘Can I look at your cuts?’ A robotic voice poked into her thoughts.
“Which ones?” Ashlyn asked.
‘The ones on your torso, where the worst scratches are,’ Ben explained through his phone.
“I never told you about those,” She stated, somewhat afraid.
‘Well your shirt is stained in blood,’ He lifted his brow. ‘And it’s ripped.’
She looked down at her shirt, noting it was indeed ripped, and her skin was agitated.
“Damnit,” She whispered, rubbing her neck out of embarrassment.
‘So?’
“Just as long as I can stay in the conversation,” Ashlyn stated, not seeing Taylor’s small grin. “And if I can keep my shirt on, just to cover my chest.”
‘That’s alright, I just need to see your stomach,’
“Works for me,” She answered as she maneuvered her way to lie in front of him.
She then untucked her shirt and pulled it to her chest, revealing her stomach. She folded her arms on her chest and focused on the group’s conversation. Ben’s light touch to her scraps burned slightly, mostly due to the alcohol. The stings of her torso were the only thing keeping her awake, the soft comforter and the supporting pillow did not help. After a few minutes after Ben finished cleaning, she quickly fell asleep.
However, it was short-lived as she heard the agonizing shrieks from the scientists’ machines once again.
Locked to the wall once more and muzzled like a dog.
Their dog.
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