Chapter Text
“Meddy, look!”
“What is it this time, Subspace?”
“I finished the new prototype of the Biograft ZETA model! Here, turn it on!” Subspace pointed excitedly to the button to power up the robot in front of him.
“Are you sure it’s not going to explode like the last prototype that you made?” Medkit cocked an eyebrow.
“I’m sure I have it perfect this time, you’ll see. This robot is what’s going to get me promoted! One day I’m going to be the head of the Blackrock Robotics Division. Just you wait! I’ll be the famous Subspace T. Mine!”
“Sure you will.”
“Maybe I’ll give you a raise once I’m above you! Maybe you can even be my second in command.”
“I’m your work partner, it’d be rude not to give me some compensation for putting up with you.” Medkit nudged Subspace playfully.
“Yeah right! I do all the important stuff!” Subspace rolled his eyes.
Medkit’s throat stung from the shouting exchanged between him and the pink demon standing before him. Medkit felt fluid down his face, tears coming from his stinging eyes. His vision was blurring and swaying, his left eye socket feeling stiff.
“Your intentions for those crystals are disgusting!”
Medkit and Subspace had always disagreed on most things, but this had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Subspace and Medkit were working together to perfect a type of crystal, intending to use them for greater purpose. The two had different ideas of how the crystals should be used, causing the dispute in the first place.
Medkit’s vision focused and he noticed the thick coating of blood on Subspace’s hand. His hand was entirely red, the body fluid making his arm look slimy. There was something grasped in between his claws. Something small and circular. It was white, save for the red staining accompanying it. On one side, there was a green ring around a black dot.
The sphere seemed soft, squished in Subspace’s grasp.
Medkit reached his hand up to his left eye, feeling the moisture of his cheek that was previously brushed off as tears. He felt his eyelids.
Flat.
Medkit withdrew his hand and held it up to observe.
Medkit’s hand was stained with blood, red residue under his nails.
He stared at his hand for several moments in shock before turning his glare up towards Subspace. The two of them stared at each other, both bloodied and wounded from the fray.
“The next time I see you, I will kill you, traitor. ”
Medkit’s remaining eye bore mercilessly into Subspace, and he stood static like a deer in headlights. His face twisted into one of disgust, mixed with an underlying yet very blatant fear.
“Get out of here before I change my mind and kill you now. I never want to see you around here ever again.” Subspace’s glare looked as if it could kill anyone weak-hearted.
Medkit snapped out of the daze and quickly turned to run out of the lab. His glance landed on a table covered in test tubes with various chemicals filling each of them. Medkit impulsively grabbed multiple vials, throwing them at Subspace, the chemicals inside of them spilling out onto his skin.
Subspace gripped at his face in agony, chemicals covering the left side of his face and burning away at it. The skin on Subspace’s right arm was rapidly reddening and patches of muscle began to become exposed.
Subspace was howling in pain, running over to the lab’s faucet that was used to wash off chemicals in the case that they were spilled. Subspace quickly turned the faucet on, water washing over his body and clothes. As the water fell to the floor, pieces of pink-tinted skin flaked off from the places where Subspace had suffered the most severe burns.
Subspace’s left eye had melted entirely from the chemicals, and the thick liquid dripped out of his eye socket and down his face. A small hole was burnt into his cheek. His tail was lashing against the floor in pain as he tried to soothe his agony.
Subspace quickly noticed the small chunks of skin falling off of his arm, leaving exposed muscle and a bloody aftermath. The chemicals mixed with the blood, fizzing and causing the blood to turn a bright, pink hue. Subspace continued rinsing himself off in the falling water, calling for help.
All focus that was previously on Medkit was now gone.
Medkit fled from the lab in a hurry, the sound of Subspace’s agony ringing out behind him, dashing through the corridors and long hallways of the building. He left bloody footprints on the floor behind him as he ran. Medkit passed other colleagues who gave him weird looks, and eventually, he exited the building through a door near the back. Snow was falling, and people were looking at him strangely.
Medkit felt a sharp pain in his face and winced, bringing his hand back up to the spot where his eye no longer was. That was likely the reason people were staring at him. Blackrock was a rigorous faction, but it wasn’t every day that you saw someone running out of a building covered in blood and missing an eye.
Medkit felt the eyes of the surrounding citizens on him. It felt as if they were pricking at his skin. His heartbeat and breath rate quickened with his nervousness, sweat beading on his skin.
Medkit bolted through the city, panting as he ran. His weak lungs and less-than-muscular legs burnt, complemented miserably by the general pain that wracked his body from his quarrel with his now former lab partner.
Medkit came to a stop in an alleyway, collapsing against a wall. He popped open his medicine kit, retrieving bandages. Medkit dumped the remaining water out of a discarded water bottle that was in the alleyway onto his face to try and clean up. He quickly wrapped bandages around his head, covering the hole where his eye was crudely torn from his face.
Medkit was drifting in and out of consciousness as he sat against the brick wall. The wind blew through his short hair, brushing it into his face, hair sticking to the blood. He was too exhausted to worry about the fact there was a chance he could die.
Medkit’s life was already over either way. His life was spent working at Blackrock with Subspace, and that was clearly over for him. Even if he did survive this, there would still be individuals out there trying to hunt him down. There was no doubt about it. If Subspace ever managed to build a Biograft that actually worked, he might even use that against him as well.
Medkit groaned, closing his eyelids.
“This is just fucking wonderful. Joyous day. I’m going to die alone in a cold alleyway.” Medkit groaned in pain.
Medkit gripped tightly onto the handle of his gear before loosening it again, repeating the motion and trying to ground himself and keep himself conscious.
Despite everything that lay ahead of him, why did he still fear death? Many who are put in his position would gladly take the easy way out. Dying is easy, living would be way harder. So why was Medkit so adamant about his survival? Surely there couldn’t be anything left for him after this.
“Dying all alone I see? Isn’t that a little tragic!” A chuckle followed the lighthearted and insensitive tone.
Medkit weakly pried open his remaining eye. His now emptied eye socket would’ve also opened if the now-drying blood didn’t glue his eyelids together.
In front of him stood another demon. They looked older than him by at least ten years, and their appearance was strange. One of their eyes was white, and their forehead above their left eye donned an X-shaped scar. They were dressed in a suit of a teal hue, with the vest being black. It was definitely not the typical Blackrock attire. Their horns were black and pointed upwards, featuring a slight curvature near the base and the tips of the horns.
“Oh! Awake are we now? Good morning sunshine, I hope you slept well!” The demon grinned sickeningly.
Medkit narrowed his eye, blinking a few times. Was he hallucinating? Had the loss of blood brought him to delirium? Or was there just some freaky hobo in the same alley as him trying to taunt him?
Suddenly, Medkit felt the harsh splash of cold water against his skin, leaving his clothing wet and clinging to his skin in the process.
“If you would care to stop letting your mind continue to wander off, I would really appreciate it! I have an offer to make you!”
Medkit kept his gaze focused on the abnormal eyes of the demon that stood in front of him.
“Good! Now, how would you like to live ? I’ll gladly help you out! However, everything comes with a price. Lucky for you, I have a very teeny tiny price just for you! I’ll help you if you repay me with a small favor when I might need it!”
The demon stuck out their hand, waiting for Medkit to grab it and shake on the proposal. Medkit was hesitant to do so, doubting that this strange demon was entirely friendly.
“Or I could always just leave you to die out here, cold and alone. It’s no skin off my back!”
The demon shrugged theatrically before returning their hand to the same position, ready for Medkit to grab it.
“So, how ‘bout it?” Their grin remained the entire time they spoke.
Something about the way they smiled was off. It was strange, it sent chills down Medkit’s spine. There was something suspicious about them, but what other choice did Medkit have?
Medkit slowly reached his hand up, his fingertips grazing those of the demon before him. Strangely, their fingers were smooth where their fingertips should have been. Medkit placed his hand entirely in the other demon’s hand and was quickly pulled up from the ground into a stumbling but standing position while his hand was roughly shaken.
“So nice to meet you! Hey, aren’t you a little famous around here? The well known ‘Medkit of Blackrock’ ! Although, you aren’t really ‘of Blackrock’ anymore, are you now? Nevertheless! I am The Broker.”
Medkit groaned quietly, annoyed at their energy. Quite frankly, he was too tired and out of it to care.
“Oh, the boss is just going to love you! Now, let’s get you out of this dingy old alleyway.”
Medkit found that in the process of moving from the alleyway in Blackrock to wherever The Broker had intended to take him, he lost consciousness. He awoke in a bed inside a small room that was lit dimly with a lamp and a couple of candles.
The blood on his body was gone and his wounds were freshly clean and bandaged. He felt light and like his mind was dim. He was likely under some form of painkiller or some other medication, so he didn’t question it even if he did find it slightly strange considering his circumstances.
The walls of the room looked reminiscent of sandstone, and they were rather tall. There weren’t any windows in the room, and it was very narrow. It was a lot more tall than it was wide. The bed he was in had white sheets and a thin red blanket thrown over it, the pillow beneath him being also white and very flat.
Medkit heard the metallic creak of the hinges as the door was slowly opened, and he sat up, looking towards it.
“Well, glad to see ‘yer awake. Those wounds of yours were lookin’ mighty serious.”
The figure standing in front of Medkit was an unfamiliar one. Her horns were teal, curving back behind her head with spikes running along them. The ends of the horns faded from the teal into a darker shade, nearly black at the tip. Her outfit was similar to that of The Broker’s, however it included a lot more white and gold and less teal like his did. On her cheek, there was a similar scar to the one above The Broker’s left eye, and her skin was darker than most other demons he’d met before. She donned a western-style hat over her horns that featured the logo of the Lost Temple faction on the front.
“Nice to meet ‘ya, ‘Kit. You can call me Scythe.”
Kit ? What was with the nickname? Was this ‘the boss’ that The Broker had mentioned earlier?
“Y’know, I do have a favor to ask of you. D’ya think you could do me one good once ‘yer all healed up? You do remember the deal you struck with Brokes, right ?” Scythe’s voice dipped into a more serious tone near the end of her sentence.
“Yeah, got it.”
“Good! Now, here’s how this is gonna work. We’ll house you in Lost Temple and the family will welcome you. In return, you will help us out. To start, I need ‘ya to modify my gear, sugar.”
Medkit tilted his head, his face slightly twisting in confusion. Sure, he had modified his own gear in order to permit it to do damage alongside the regular healing, but he didn’t think people would want to seek out his abilities. He wasn’t in any way a professional at the craft.
“Modify your gear? In what way?”
“See, I’ve got a sort of reputation that’s been chasin’ me ‘round. Y’know Windforce’s little brat? The warden of Banland? He’s been hot on my tail. I have a certain criminal record, and it ain’t all that quaint.”
Ah, of course , Medkit thought. Of course no normal demon would’ve bothered helping him. It had to be some criminal freaks who were on the run from the law.
“I’d like you to modify my gear so I can assume another identity. Y’know, make it so I can disguise my gear as an entirely different one?”
Medkit’s hand was by his chin, pinching it with his pointer finger and thumb as he thought. He seemed to be deep in thought for a few moments before nodding slightly in understanding.
“So you want me to change your gear to an entirely different one?”
“No, I was more so lookin’ for a temporary disguise. D’ya think you could make it so it can change between the two? Like some sorta switchblade.” Scythe crossed her arms, leaning to the side slightly.
As she crossed her arms, Medkit took note of her right arm. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but her right arm was a prosthetic. It was seemingly poorly made by someone who wasn’t very experienced in robotics, let alone the complex inner workings of prosthetics. It also seemed fairly aged, and the part that was fixed to the body didn’t appear to be all that secure.
Medkit nodded at her request, eye still focused on her metal arm.
“I see. You have a prosthetic arm?” Medkit changed the topic quickly as his curiosity peaked.
“Oh, this ol’ thing? Yeah. Lost my arm a while back. Had to get this as a replacement.”
Medkit shook his head once more.
A sharp pain pricked in his eye socket, and the soreness in his body was beginning to return. Medkit reached a hand up to his missing eye, feeling the gauze and bandages wrapped around his head. He leaned back in the bead, his head landing back on the flat pillow. Scythe nodded in response to this action.
“I should let ‘ya get some rest. You’ve had one hell of a day, that’s for sure.”
Medkit squinted his eye shut, not responding. A headache was creeping into his skull, and he didn’t want to speak at the moment. He was far too tired.
“G’night, ‘Kit.”
Scythe stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Medkit was left alone in the room, the silence relaxing him and slowly lulling him back to sleep.