Escape Plan [Robin]

He must be really out of it, and he blamed everything on the sedative that almost completely left his body by now. He could find no other explanation why he wandered into another hospital room, and a girl’s, more than anything! Like a deer in headlight, his hand stopped just as he reached for the handle of the window, but his surprise wasn’t for where he was but for hearing his name uttered by an unfamiliar voice.

Admittedly, he wasn’t the best at remembering the faces and voices of acquaintances. He needed one or two meetings before he could commit everyone to memory, and he usually did that by remembering distinctive features about them. Sutetchi had the stitched up body and the yellow eyes, the “in your face” personality. Rin had the serene and quiet aura, the incredible voice and the most gentle speech pattern. Kutsu had the never-ending source of plushies, the somewhat jumpy nature, the will to do the right thing. Alex had the confident posture, the honest and straightforward voice, the sharp eyes. He could remember everyone that way, and by making a double-take and watching the source of the voice for a short moment, he was sure: he did not know this girl that called out to him.

She was slender, body hidden under a blanket, impossible to try and familiarize her except by watching her face and hearing her voice. Long, brown locks, and a kind of broken expression that already started to build itself up from the ground, piece by tiny pieces. It was the expression of a strong person, and he could swear he had seen it before. But certainly not on this face, not with those pair of eyes.

“Um...” He started uncertainly, the genius. He still had no idea how he got into this room, and how he didn’t notice this person, but he could not possibly continue to be rude. “I apologize for barging in so suddenly.” Her lack of worry about his actions was somewhat reassuring, and it made him answer automatically. “Ah, it is no problem. They sent me on the fourth floor once before, and I still escaped.” The second floor shouldn’t be a problem. He had a feeling they gave him rooms on lower floors by now on purpose, so there is a smaller chance he will break his neck while running away.

“Um, excuse me for asking but...” He started, red and black, multicolored eyes staring at her with wonder and curiosity. “Do we know each other? You called out my name. I would like to think I would remember someone like you, but if my memory fails me, I am due to another check-up, probably.” And some memory-straining exercise, really. It was also obvious he halted his escape plan for the short few moments he figure this little mystery she gave him out, so plan B for the time they catch him would yet be unnecessary. Somewhere between two trains of thoughts, he could catch the soft words that were mumbled, breathed out into the open.

“I’m glad you all made it out too.”

Was she...?

“Were you... also there? At Semper fi?” At the hellhole that break lose? At the area where people bombed and shot at quirkers as if that was normal, where military experiments broke lose like they were in a thriller? He looked down, away from her, hiding his demonic eyes behind the curtain of white hair. “I am sorry.”

He was growing more confused by the moment, and after everything that had happened a few days ago, he did not appreciate the uncertainty. It was like the surface of the ocean that hid the viles and unknowns under, and facing this girl, trying to grasp at meanings and answers, he felt like he was drowning. She was almost stuttering, trying to make up an explanation to where she knew his name, and burning hot suspicion arose in him like coal. Suspicion that she must know him, and she must want to get under his skin just like the experiment in that underground facility. He took a deep breath just as she closed her eyes to turn the conversation and stop the lies before they could even take root in Naoru’s mind and bloom into mistrust. She turned honest, and he exhaled a sigh of relief before tensing again.

Walls of raw flesh, mutated monsters and voices in the back of his mind were rushing through his memory like someone sped up an old movie footage, but a moment later he was back and he stared at her before averting his eyes again. “You were there in the tent.” He said almost in awe. “But that means you were also...” Corrupted? Infected? Controlled? What was the right word here? If she was there, that meant she was also influenced by that substance made of Alicia... “We were alright. In the end. Somehow. We all lived, those of us who went there into that building.” There was a breathy laugh. “It seems to be a miracle, now that I think about it.” They were injured, that much was obvious, if Naoru’s lack of left arm was any indication. Though worst was the invisible injury that lingered after turning into a mindless puppet, into a drone with the sole purpose of protecting the person they went there to stop.

From under his white bangs, he glanced up again with his mutated black and red eyes. There was no one to correct him who this person might be, nor did he read the articles on the Semper fi tragedy to catch a glimpse of the name “Robin” associated with a female. For him, this person was someone unknown, but someone that went through the same torture. Someone that could understand him, and someone that he might empathize with in return.

“I am really sorry, I can not seem to remember you.” There was a kind of desperation to his voice, a tiny bit of agony upon realizing that much more of the day might be blurry than what he thought. “I knew some people there. Ito-kun, Kogami-kun, Robin-kun, Kasey-san...” The names rolled off his tongue absently, trying to remember how loud he was when saying his name, how many people aside from them would have heard him, and failing to remember the background people. Unknown to him, he uttered the name of this one girl, but to him, it was the name of a boy he came to know there but still worried over while traveling through the underground hallways of horror. His mind was filtering out the reporters too, except the twins, among whom one was probably already dead, all because of him. All because of Naoru, bleeding out on the floor to a wound through her neck. “I hope they are alright. I want them to be alright.” His hand moved to his front, as if trying to find something to grab onto, then remembering his left arm was not there anymore, it just grabbed at air instead of tangling fingers together.

He was standing there uselessly, forgetting that he was supposed to run away when he found another survivor, another person that shared this trauma, and hopefully, would grow stronger from it. He looked up at her again, wondering, but lost upon seeing the green eyes and long, brown hair. “Can you tell me your name?” His tired, confused mind wasn’t able to make the connection yet.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“No.”

The refusal was so sharp, so sure, that it made Naoru’s head raise, eyes widen just a fraction. That was definitely not the kind of answer he expected, not from someone who expressed concern so openly not a few minutes before. He tried to think of it as anything but rejection, but it was hard with that kind of tone. Especially when he had no Aura to hide behind and get reassurance from yet. But a correction came, as if she was trying to explain why she was so harsh. As if she was trying to shift the blame on herself to prevent him from guilt and further questions.

He smiled and shook his head, reassuring. “It is fine. It might have been too forward of me to ask. Please, forgive me.” Disappointment was still felt, because he had yet to make a connection, he had yet to realize who this girl really was. Without a name, he had to mentally call her “girl”, and that wasn’t sitting well with him. It couldn’t be helped though. He could not force her to tell her name.

Surprise made him fumble but he caught the chocolate bar that was thrown with his right hand, even though he wants to desperately reach out with his left instead. It is no use. His left is not there, and so he clutched the bar in fingers made of flesh. “Thank you.”

He hums, eyes half lidded as he stares at the snack in his hand, hearing her request. Or, well, order, if he considers the structure of the sentence, even though it is said softer than a demand. He tilts his head a little and sighs, as if defeated.

“I am not sure what to say. You must have seen the news. I have not read or watched them. I am sure half of them are bull---“ Deep breath. “Hardly believable.” He takes another breath, this one is more to buy some time rather than steel his emotions into cooperating. “We were drugged, and after that, we went to search for the person that the drug stemmed from.” His voice grew quiet, fingers playing with the wrapping of the chocolate bar idly, realizing he might need a second hand to open it. “It was like a horror movie, except I could not turn my eyes away. Walls made of breathing flesh, people mutated so much their skin and muscles were ripping off from the sheer power of the drive this drug caused.”

His hand was shaking, so he grabbed onto the snack instead, bringing it up to his mouth to tear the wrapping with his teeth. He was only partially successful, creating a hole but not a whole opening yet. “We saw what we would become if we did not succeed and...” Another deep breath, shaky. He leaned his back against the windowsill, as if falling against it. He let his hair hide his eyes.

“Were you alright then? The antidote must have reached you in time if you are here and well.” If she was there at the tent, she was infected, and in that case, she must have been given the antidote to be alright. Actually, Naoru himself must have been cured of the drug. He could not hear the buzzing of something at the back of his mind, the itch he needed to scratch until he felt blood under his nails.

Oh no. Wait. It was not because they got the antidote. It must have been because the source was dead. Right. Subject X320 was dead.