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The building was silent, an ordeal of crimson dawn had just been completed and only a few clerks had been hurt but no one died this time. That’s really the best you could hope for. There was not a lot of energy and you were going to have to work hard to get the remaining amount since child of the galaxy had claimed a few employees and you couldn’t risk him having a melt down. There were only three abnormalities in you department, army in pink, who had only shown up a day ago. A hunter who you hadn’t met yet but apparently he wasn’t overly hostile. But he wasn’t talkative, in fact he didn’t talk. He used sign language, you only knew enough for basic conversation. The other two were a plague doctor and a child of the galaxy. Tatiana and Kinglapua could take turns babysitting him but you would have to deal with the others. The other departments were too busy to help, and you knew that being in information team meant you needed to get information so you needed to do everything to make up for what they couldn’t do.
Army in pink didn’t even put up a fuss and you got perfect results from it so you went to the hunter to test you luck. When you entered the room and the smell of tobacco overwhelmed you. It wasn’t horrible but you weren’t overly enthusiastic to inhale it. You walked right in to the abnormality, who apparently was waiting for someone. He waved to you and you waved back. You put your notebook down and tapped your middle and ring fingers together before spelling your name. He repeated the gesture to confirm it with you and once you nodded he signed his own name. ‘Der Freischütz’ it was an interesting name and you wondered if he had given himself that name or if the employees had named him that and he just accepted it. By how confident he signed it you assumed he had been going by this for a while, he put both his hands together in a cupping motion with his knuckles together and turned them towards you and pointed at you before drawing a question mark in the air.
You put your thumb to your chest and kept your fingers flat before pointing back at him. It was nice that he was asking how you were since most abnormalities didn’t even talk back. He pointed at you and signed ‘new?’ To which you shook your head no. You told him your the captain of your department and were usually sent to deal with abnormalities like nothing there. He asked if he could see the facility himself and you hesitated but agreed. No one could escape so scouting an exit wasn’t possible but you could keep him entertained and then you’d get more energy. You opened the door and brought him to control team’s department, it would be the best to start with since they are usually nicer than the others. There was one abnormality you were slightly concerned about him meeting but even if they met it probably wouldn’t be that bad. As you two walked to the first floor you told him about the building and what’s going on. He told you about himself only a little, just that he was a hunter and made a mistake that lead him down the path he is in now. You had heard rumors that he made a deal with the devil and didn’t want to ask. It was probably a touchy subject.
You stopped when you walked right into someone. They were wearing a tuxedo and were carrying a coffin, oh you knew him. Funeral of the dead butterflies, at least that’s what you thought Hokma called him. You didn’t really care, if the abnormality responded to it it all was well. You smiled and waved to him, he was one of the few abnormalities allowed out on their own since he was well behaved. Only problem was he kept taking the dead bodies but you were starting to run out of space for them so it was allowed. He waved back then looked over to Der Freischütz and stepped back. You look over to see the hunter had his gun drawn, it was an understandable reaction, almost everything here would kill if given the chance. You waved your arms to get his attention and signed ‘friend.’ He lowered the gun and put it back on the sash. He kept an eye on the other abnormality but was otherwise indifferent. Funeral followed you and tried to communicate with the marksman but after a few minutes seemed to realize that the marksman wasn’t interested in interacting. After that he hurried to your side and decided to talk to you. Well, talk as best as he could. It wasn’t that easy for him to talk and he didn’t know ASL so he usually would speak to his best extent or write something down. Sometimes he’d just draw things if he forgot what they are called.
On the way down the hall Funeral tapped on the numbers engraved on one of the doors and took your note book. He wrote in it and handed it back to you, showing that he had written ‘new’ on it. Oh, there was a new abnormality? Usually they are supposed to notify the whole facility of this. Maybe this one was a teth? Otherwise it was protocol to tell everyone. Funeral dragged you both to extraction saying that he wanted to meet the new abnormality. Der Freischütz didn’t seem bothered by it and you were just being dragged along. Der Freischütz tapped you on the shoulder and waved a hand to the walls. You told him that extraction was supposed to dark, you jolted when you heard a howl. You didn’t think that there were any dogs here, after all the red mist had destroyed next to everything and very little survived. Funeral stopped at a door labeled ‘F-02-58’ he quickly stopped you when you tried to open it. He mentioned it ate people and would probably be best if you don’t go in there.
It was mildly aggressive, fun. You noticed marks on the door, claw marks and gunshots. Not at all something to be concerned about. Both the abnormalities you were with wielded guns but neither of them would leave marks like that, meaning a employee sucked at aiming or there was another abnormality that has guns here. You were showed away by a clerk telling you to stay away from the door. Der Freischütz signed to you asking what happened but you weren’t sure yourself. You told him it was probably just a scuffle between abnormalities as it happens often. Funeral hopped up and nudged between you two and handed you both something. When you looked into your hand you realized it was a necklace made from butterflies. He put it on you and you looked over to Der Freischütz you noticed he had been given a bracelet of butterflies. It was odd to be wearing living creatures but you weren’t going to complain.
Gunshot rang throughout the facility. It sounded close, you heard the sound of paws running on the concrete towards you. When you looked back all you got to see was a mix of blue and red before you were plunged into darkness. Everything became muffled and the air was cold. You couldn’t see anything. There was shouting but you couldn’t make out anything. Everything spun and you fell. Something sharp grazed you as you heard the sound of tearing flesh. Light, a small amount cane into your vision. You hesitantly approached it and when you were in the light your eyes adjusted enough to realize you weren’t dead...but that definitely would have been prettier. Instead you’re covered in blood and on the floor. You saw clumps of fur and and blood everywhere. Before you could really say or do anything you were lifted by your sides, when you looked up you saw a woman, she reminded you of Mya’s rabbit team. She had her whole body covered in black and red clothes. She had a red hood over her head that was covering most her face and a mask covering the rest, all you could see was her eye.
“My bad, didn’t think there was anyone small enough to get eaten so fast. I recommend wearing spikes it makes it more difficult.” She put you down and you were immediately grabbed two pairs of arms. You knew who it was so it didn’t concern you. You felt someone pat your head and looked up to see Der Freischütz, who reached back and grabbed his rifle. He pointed it at the girl in red and she responded by pulling out a sawed off shotgun and pointed it at him, looking up you realized she was taller than him. Funeral let one pair of arms realest you and pointed at both of them. The women pulled out another gun and pointed it at him. Well fuck guess your in a Texas draw now huh? You tried to wiggle away and he quickly tried to hide you behind him. You looked around and there were only dead bodies, there was no one who could help you defuse the situation.
So you did what any reasonable person did, you screamed and it startled everyone. Funeral quickly let go of you and checked you for injuries. Der Freischütz has lowered his gun and the woman lowered her guns. You noticed she had a shackle in her wrist. ‘F-01-57’ weird. Oh shit she was, no is an abnormality. She’s an abnormality, and she killed an abnormality. She’s strong and armed. Now that they were listing you told them there was no reason for aggression. Der Freischütz was in the right for being worried about an armed monster and she was only going to act in self defense. Now that it’s calmer you asked her name. “Your co-workers call me ‘Little Red Ridding Hooded Mercenary’ but you may call me Little Red or, much more preferred just Red.” You looked over to your duo and asked. “Can they call you that?” She growled and said. “No. Just you.”
Funeral nodded and Der Freischütz signed ‘friend’ and you nodded to him. Red looked between you two and asked. “Is this some secret language?” You shook your head and told her he didn’t speak so that’s how he communicated. She glared at him and then turned to you and asked you to teach her it. Funeral jumped up and asked you to teach him too. You hesitated but agreed so they could all talk. As it was getting late you would need to sleep so you said they should go back to their containment units. They...weren’t too happy about that. Even Funeral was acting like a child about to be tucked in. You didn’t get to speak over the two arguing and Der Freischütz waving his hands in front of your face to get your attention so he could sign. After a...while you realized none of them would be willing to be recontained peacefully. A clerk walked by and said. “Just share your room with them, the Sephoras don’t care.” All three of them snapped back into reality and before you could say anything. They all agreed and dragged you to the person quarters.
They excited entered your room, which was spacious, but not meant for three seven plus foot tall abnormalities. They all quickly realized the bed was only big enough for you and one abnormality. Red THREATENED them saying she’d beat the shit out of them for the privilege to sleep in the bed with you. You realize your still covered in blood and would need to shower and change. You weren’t sure how to do that while they were here but you need to. You told them you need to shower and leave you alone for a little bit. Red quickly decided she would guard the bathroom door so you could have privacy. You just went with it, there was no point in arguing at this point. You showered and changed as quickly as possible. When you left the bathroom Red was there as she said she would be and the other two were investigating your guns. Well they weren’t loaded so not your problem.
You hopped into your bed completely done with the day and went to bed. Red went to join you but you stopped her and she glared at you. “I’m fine with sharing my bed but no shoes in the bed, ok?” She nodded and kicked off her shoes before joining you. Der Freischütz and Funeral of the dead butterflies slept on a ton of blankets since you really weren’t ready for guest. But, that also meant you had no blankets on your bed. You closed your eyes to sleep and curled into a ball. You felt Red pull you close to her and before you could say anything she pulled her hood over both of you. She was much warmer than your room, she rested her arm on your side and you closed your eyes to drift off to sleep. You heard funeral quietly speaking to Der Freischütz about the facility and abnormalities inside it. That was until Red shouted for them to go to sleep. God, you were having a sleepover with a bunch of abnormalities. But they did stay quiet and you slept well, which hasn’t happened since before the red mist.
You woke up before the lights turned on and went to get up but you realized you couldn’t because Red hat both her arms wrapped around your waist. You tried to wiggle out of her grip but she only tightened her grip on you. You looked over to see Der Freischütz was the only other person awake. You waved to get his attention, he looked over to you and you signed ‘help’ and he stood up then walked over to you. You moved Red’s hood to show the problem. He helped you you untangle yourself. You stood up and thanked him before quickly hurrying to get changed before everyone else was awake. When you came back out Der Freischütz was still there and seemed curious about your phone. You showed him it and went to camera. He was surprised to see the two of you on the phone. You took a picture and explained to him what it does. He seemed amused by it and took pictures of you two. You heard movement and looked over to see the other two waking up.
Red jumped up and and looked around frantically until she saw you. She calmed down instantly and said. “Though you got eaten again. Good to know your just hanging with Smokey.” Funeral waved to you and excitedly asked if you could start teaching them ASL. You sat with them while Der Freischütz was distracted with your phone. You told Funeral to just use his dominant hands and you started with just teaching the ‘hi,’ ‘bye’ and the alphabet. Funeral had an easier time and Red was struggling and frustrated. You stopped after not even an hour upon realizing she wouldn’t give up and would keep going even if she was getting upset. You said the three of you should go for a walk. Der Freischütz quickly got up and ran for the door stopping and waiting for the rest of you. Red put her shoes back on and picked you up.
Funeral followed with Der Freischütz and the four of you were on your way down the hall. You tried to get down only for Red to switch from having you sit on her shoulder to holding you like a bride. You yelled at her scared that she was going to drop you and after a short while of you complaining she lifted your head up...and kissed you. She was surprisingly gentle. She let you down gently and laughed at how surprised you looked. Funeral and Der Freischütz both seemed up set and Funeral shouted that if she got to kiss you then so should him and Der Freischütz. You just agreed to shut them up. You kissed one of Funeral’s wings, because you had no idea where his fave was. And for Der Freischütz you kissed him like you would a normal person, while Red was warm he was cold. He hugged you and you hugged him back. When you let go you asked if they were ready to go back to their containment units and they, unsurprisingly were all upset and refused to go. Guess this was your three musketeers, not that you mind.