Chapter Text
"Squiddle? THAT'S the name of the weird alien squid thing that bitch slapped me the other day?" Gabriel squawked from his spot on the floor, gaping at the open document in his hands. Similar folders were sprawled across the floor around him, redacted contents treated with the same care one would give dirty laundry in a teenager's bedroom.
A snort escaped Carmen from the other wall, not even trying to cover her own smirk on her face as Gabriel shot her a venomous glare. Her own collection of documents kept in two neat piles divided from what she had read and hadn't read.
"Hey man, I didn't name them." Sebastian shrugged with a grin, curled up in his designated corner of the shop. "The nickname just kind of stuck. They're are worse things to be called."
After the three's reunion, a cliff notes explanation of what happened to Sebastian, and introducing Carmen and Gabriel to p.AI.nter, Sebastian decided to wait till morning when emotions had somewhat settled to give the two a proper rundown on just WHAT they need to look out for now that they're stuck down here with him.
"They aren't Expendables, so I'm free to tell them whatever - no black lines or 'hands on experience' necessary" Sebastian assured himself. "Nothing in the deal forbids that."
The steady shuffle of papers filled the shop. Carmen let out a low whistle.
"The Angler? Was that what blew out all the lights in the hall before you found us?" Carmen asked, glancing up at Sebastian for confirmation.
"Yeeeep" Sebastian nodded, giving the 'p' at the end a loud pop.
Gabriel's head perked up in interest at the mention of the Angler. Snapping his own folder shut, he crab walked to Carmen's side to peer over her shoulder. His own eyes skimmed over the page, only to gape when they landed on the bottom.
"There's four more of them?!" Gabriel screeched. Sebastian winced in sympathy, only for a thought to occur to him.
"I think there actually might be one more not listed." Sebastian noted.
Gabriel shoved his face into Carmen's shoulder with a dismayed groan, the latter's mouth twisted into a grimace as she shot Sebastian a look as she gave Gabriel an awkward pat on the shoulder.
"Dude."
Okay, maybe not the best thing to say.
Sebastian raised his hands up in defence. "Hey, it's not that bad! Pipsqueak doesn't come up here. They like to stick close to The Outskirts. So you don't have to worry about them."
Gabriel's dramatic groans were suddenly cut off. He raised his head from Carmen's shoulder to squint at Sebastian in disbelief. "Pipsqueak?"
"The others are Froger, Blitz, Chainsmoker, and Pinkie."
Gabriel buried his head in his hands, though Sebastian didn't miss the smile the former fought to keep hidden. A muffled "Oh my god." Sounded out between incredulous chuckles.
Carmen continued to shuffle through her own files, shaking her head fondly.
"Z-17, codename: The DiVine. A species of humanoid "people" mainly made out of vines and other plant based materials. Main supplier of oxygen in the Blacksite." Carmen raised a brow at this. She tried to picture what these so called "DiVine" looked like. The best she could imagine were images of mossy men made of trees from "Lord of the Rings" films sprouted in her mind's eye.
"At least the air supply was one thing we don't have to worry about." Carmen thought to herself.
"You should be fine as long as you don't touch the grass and stick on the path." Sebastian waved a hand. "I can try to introduce the two of you to them later so they get used to you."
"Introduce?" Gabriel parroted back in confusion.
Sebastian had turned away from the pair to 'tidy up' his desk. Move the USBs into a little pile there, keep the spare batteries over there, ignore that one folder in the middle of the table-.
"They won't attack you if they like you." Sebastian said airily, as if what he said was remotely normal - (it was for anyone who'd been stuck down here for awhile.)
Carmen and Gabriel shared a look, the former shrugging before tossing an unread file to Gabriel. Fumbling for a moment that the pages nearly slipped out, Gabriel reluctantly cracked it open to resume their little group study session.
"Z-96-1, codename: Good People. Assimilated 108 victims." Gabriel cringed, already regretting going along with this. "Holy fucking shit."
"Those guys are behind some of the fake duplicate doors. You can tell which ones fake by listening for breathing or the monitor sparking - but I doubt p.AI.nter would let things get that far and would just give you a heads up if you got too close."
Gabriel hummed in acknowledgement to Sebastian's words, still absorbed into his reading. One detail in particular catching his eye.
Approximately 35 minutes into the lockdown into the initial Blacksite Lockdown, Z-13 breached the containment housing Z-96, codenamed "The Mask of Sadness." Upon acquiring the mask, Z-13 encountered Dr. Weisz and forced it onto his face, initiating the M.o.S.A. process (see the "Mask of Sadness" document for additional details).
Z-13. Which one was Z-13? Didn't Gabriel hear that name earlier in something?
He reached for another document.
"Z-90: Wall Dwellers." No.
"Z-317: Eyefestation." Gross and concerning, but no.
"Z-V06: Puddles of Void Mass."
At approximately 15 hours and 25 minutes into the lockdown, Z-13 disabled the Anti-Disgression Evaporation (ADE) field within Z-V0's containment and opened the doors to its cell.
"There it is again." Gabriel's brow furrowed in thought. "Sounds like that one caused a lot of problems."
Gabriel glanced over at Sebastian in his own corner, the latter's focus stuck on reshuffling his supplies for... Whatever reason. Gabriel gnawed on his lip in thought, awkward discomfort sloshing in his gut as he debated on how to broach his question. To his brother... The brother that he hadn't spoken to in over a decade and was convinced was dead up till yesterday.
Fuck it.
"Hey Seb, any advice on that Z-13?" Gabriel spouted out before he could get stuck in his head further.
Sebastian jerked up from where he was leaning on the desk, caught off guard at the sudden question. "Huh?" Gabriel didn't entirely get the wide eyed look Sebastian was shooting at him. Then again, Gabriel didn't really remember what would be a usual reaction from his older brother.
The question snagged Carmen's own attention away from her studying to watch the exchange. She cocked her head to the side like a curious cat, gaze flitting between her two brothers.
"Oh yeah, wasn't that the one that initiated the lockdown? I think there was a screen announcing the lockdown we passed mentioning it."
Gabriel snapped his fingers with a grin and pointed at Carmen, the earlier familiarity that had nagged at him like an annoying fruit fly finally properly placed. "Right! That's why the name sounded familiar."
Both turned back to Sebastian expectantly, missing the flicker of... something that flashed on his face moments prior.
"...You-uh. You won't have to worry about that one." A pair of clawed hands reached up to wring themselves out, the third gripping a fistful of fabric as if it needed something to fiddle with.
A wave of confusion washed over Gabriel at such a vague answer. A quick look to the side, proved Carmen feeling the same.
"How come?" Carmen asked. "Judging by that lockdown announcement, sounded like that one is particularly clever."
"Eh, well - yeah but..." Sebastian stuttered, head tilting slightly to the side as if he were looking away.
Gabriel suddenly wished he could clearly make out his pupils, the blinding blue drowning out his entire eyes made it impossible to tell where Sebastian was looking - thus making it a lot harder to read him. (The only time he could was when they reunited, that glowing cyan shrunk to pinpricks in a trio of inhuman eyes.)
"Plus," Gabriel interjected, waving one of the redacted folders in the air to emphasize his point. "I've been seeing the name pop up in a couple of these files you're having us read. Sounds like this Z-13 is pretty damn important."
Sebastian looked like he'd taken a bite out of a lemon, face scrunching further and further as the two kept talking.
"That's- look." Sebastian sighed, running a hand through his tangled hair. "Those files are for the entities that you'll have to watch out for whenever you're out of one of my shops but Z-13 won't be a threat to either of you two."
"Pretty sure that Dr. Weisz and all those others caught up in this mass lockdown would disagree heavily."
Clearly noticing the doubt carved onto both Carmen and Gabriel's faces', Sebastian continued. "Neither of you two work for Urbanshade and no offence - but neither of you two would appear to be that much of a threat."
The shop went quiet, letting the meaning of Sebastian's words to settle into their minds.
Gabriel wasn't a pessimist per se, but he couldn't help but think that Sebastian was being too hopeful. This Z-13 was the one that CAUSED this whole shitshow of a lockdown to begin with, and clearly wasn't afraid of killing someone if what happened to that Dr. Weisz guy is anything to judge. On the other hand, Sebastian was the one who had been surviving down here while since shit hit the fan - not Gabriel. p.AI.nter was sweet - albeit prone to some massive mood swings, those DiVine creatures sounded like they could be cool, and Sebastian himself is proof that some of these entities are friendly.
Still...
"Are you positive?" Carmen stressed.
"I promise. I-," Sebastian sucked in a deep breath. "It won't be a threat to either of you two."
Gabriel slumped against the wall in reluctant defeat. "Alright hermano. Your the expert."
He missed how Carmen narrowed her eyes in thought at the slip in Sebastian's sentence, back to poring over redacted files.
