Experimental holding… They were prison cells, straight and simple. I didn't get a good look when Corvid scouted the place out the first time around. I wished I never got a good look. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. I had to look. Mira… Mira could be in any one of these cells.

I turned the camera of my phone on. Saint wanted footage of the inside of a Savant Lab for his article just to show how truly fucked the establishments were. I wasn't really sure. I did know that I'd forever be etching what was left of these poor souls into the Net. It was a sickening thought. As if they hadn't already lost enough.

The security here was extremely high, though there were almost no human guards. Mostly just bots, turrets, and cameras. They were exposable security, as if the savants were scared of an escape. Vents all around the space suggested this place was rigged with some kind of poison or knockout gas too.

I stayed out of the electronic security's way and moved through the clinically white halls. Blinder kept me entirely hidden from view while I carefully inspected each and every cell for signs of my lost mikata.

Most of them held two or three per room, all locked behind one-way glass barricades like some kind of zoo exhibits. Closer to the entrance, they appeared like just normal people. They likely hadn't been touched yet by the psychopathic fucks that ran this place. Most looked like they'd just been picked up off the streets.

Further in though, the conditions of the people deteriorated rapidly. One, a man, traced the padding of his cell with an almost reverent hand Ike it was some kind of holy message. His face was twisted in rapture, completely unaware of his reality.

A woman a bit further in paced around her cell muttering in a never ending tide of numbers. Her steps and movements were perfect geometric shapes and patterns like her head was fully taken over by math. A pair of mechanical horns stuck up from her head, pulsating with an eerie red glow.

A kid, barely thirteen years old by the looks of things, smiled constantly with a grin that was just slightly too big. It was unsettling, and his eyes were twisted in black manifestations of something that shouldn't exist. Even being near him made me deeply uncomfortable.

Most of the ones that were mentally afflicted had various devices attached to their heads. They were stuck on, drilled into their skulls in gory messes of wires and cybernetics. I didn't know what they did, but they seemed to ruin the brains of whoever they were attached to. Halos, horns, hats, and all sorts of different designs.

Some carried more physical traces of experimentation. Bones stuck out at odd angles like some kind of wild mutation. Prototype exo-skeletons twitched uncontrollably, making the bearers twist and groan in absolute agony under the mechanisms.

Some of the people were… 'glitched'? It was the only way I could describe them. They were sunken into the floor or the walls, their body parts looking as if they clipped out of reality for brief moments of time. Most of them just stood there blankly like their mental capabilities were entirely shut off.

Further in, they ceased looking human entirely. Massive, bulking frames of experimented flesh filled the pens. Some of them were melted into pools of flesh covered goop. The cries of utter agony were the only thing that informed me they were still alive. It was a state where death would be better though.

All of the experiments wore a slathering of clothes. Some had on patient gowns, but most wore tattered remnants of lives that used to be. They were mere reminders that yes, these monstrosities and borged out beasts were once human just the same as me.

I didn't see Mira. I- I refused to believe she was one of the melted flesh people or the bulking monsters. She couldn't have been one of them. She was still here. She was still safe. She was still fine. I just needed to find her.

There were two more places outside of Experimental Holding that she might be in. The 'VIP suites' where more successful experiments were held, and active experimentation. She could very well be up in one of the labs, being forced to undergo horrific experiments.

As much as I wanted to free the people here, there was no telling what chaos it would cause. Not to mention what they might do to themselves. Almost no one here looked mentally stable. With the elevators shut down, I shouldn't have to worry about Savant scientists coming to snag one of these poor souls for further experimentation. For the time being, at least. Once I found Mira, I could something.

And then after that the professionals of the Blue Crusade would be coming. They would know how to deal with all of this much better than I could. My single-minded goal remained, even if it hurt to just walk away from the suffering down here. I had to find Mira.

And if she was- if she was like these people? Horrifically experimented on and broken? I'd stay by her side. I'd- surely one of the eidolons had something that could help, should the worse come to pass. All my EF- I might have to actually start farming the bounties for the stuff.

I squeezed my gauntleted hands hard enough to bleed. Just- just focus, Shiro. Deep breathes. Your mind spiralling won't help anyone. You got this… I even faced an eldritch plant abomination. This- this was nothing…

I took a few more breaths and then moved for the actual labs. It was a few stories up. I used the Corvid and Spectral Flock combo to get past the wards. It was rapidly draining me to use the trait over and over again. I had maybe two or three more uses before I passed out from exhaustion. I had to make them count.

The active labs had much higher security. Borged out guards and robots alike moved through the space on constant patrols. I kept to the sides and slunk down the halls, taking cover behind clutter. For the most part, the scientists themselves were my biggest concern. The guards here were to chromed out for their own good.

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I slunk around, dipping into empty offices and labs to dodge the patrols just in case. I paused at every lab in use and looked through the observation windows. Most were implanting various bits of chrome into unwilling patients. Some, however, were using various needles and drugs. One even held one of the bulking brutes, carefully pulling it apart piece by gory piece and replacing what was left with cybernetics and biomods.

Were they trying to create super soldiers? Twisted abominations? I couldn't even tell what most of this stuff was for in the first place. The chrome was weird, like nothing I'd ever seen before. It shot an incredibly unsettling sensation throughout my head.

I paused at one lab, spotting a doctor's pass carelessly discarded on the side of the lab. I lockpicked the door and crept up to snag it-

I threw myself behind a gurney just as the scientist turned around with some kind of wiggling parasite. Illusive hid my body in what little shadows weren't banished by the clinical lights overhead. Once the route was clear, I darted back out of the exit.

The images of the horrified man and the parasite were pushed to the back of my head. The rest of the labs were much the same as what I saw on the way through. I didn't see Mira anywhere. Each empty lab sent waves of worry through me. Worry that I'd already passed by her. Worry that she'd been one of the unrecognizable creatures down below. Worry that I was too late, even.

I scanned the doctor's ID at one of the stairwell doors and easily passed through the ward with my upgraded permissions. That took care of that concern, at least. Next up was the VIP suites. The place where they kept all of the important-

"Stop!" A shout came from behind me. I instinctively froze up and glanced over my shoulder. Five guards stood there with rifles. Only one of them actually saw me though. The rest glazed just behind me with their chrome eyes.

"Who are you talking to, Rob?" Although they were grouped up, none of their guards seemed particularly concerned about their companion. Could I- maybe I could play this off?

I slunk down further, shadows claiming even more of my body. I flared Fear the Reaper, causing the guard who spotted me to flinch back. Burst Step sent me catapulting into an empty room. By the time he opened his eyes, I was gone.

I carefully listened out into the hall. "I- I swear I saw someone there. They were wreathed in shadows."

One of the other guards laughed and a meaty smack echoed down the hall. "C'mon Rob, shadow people? Just a figment of your imagination… working in this place does it to the best of us."

"I… I swear I actually saw someone." Rob's voice was much more hesitant now.

A sleazy third voice spoke up. "Sure you did… you need to go get laid after this, bro. All that stress is getting to you."

"I…"

"If you're done horsing around?" A fourth person spoke up with a trace of authority. "The security breach was down in the basement. Let's get moving."

Shit. I must've set off an alarm down there. How though? Maybe some kind of motion detector slipped my notice? Or was it the door? I did fry the lock on it. Might've overlooked something while I was down there.

The second guard spoke up again. "Probably just another rat, boss. Seriously, going every time is such a waste of time."

"Protocol is protocol. What are you going to do when it's actually an intruder one…" Their voices trailed off. I waited several minutes before peeking out. They were gone.

I took a few seconds to calm back down and then moved out into the hall, looking from one room to the next. At long last, I caught sight of a familiar figure laying on a cot. I paused at the door, hand reaching to the metal bars blocking the way forward.

I almost passed without recognizing her. Her beautiful blonde hair had been shaved off, leaving her entirely bald. A shimmering halo was forced into her head, and a black exoskeleton stuck out of her back. "Mira."

She looked over her shoulder back to me. For a moment, her eyes blazed with recognition and yearning. That light faded just as quick and she settled back in the cot like I wasn't even there. It- it burned like a searing brand pressed into my stomach. It couldn't overcome the sheer relief surging through me. She was here. She was in one piece.

I fiddled with the door and popped it open. A pulse of electricity fried the sensors and monitors attached to the door. It'd only be a matter of time until someone noticed, but we'd be long gone by then.

I tossed the Transporter into the air and sabotaged the door behind me, ensuring it'd remain locked. They'd have to force it if they wanted in from the other side. "Mira."

She sat up fully this time and looked at me. Her eyes darted around, scattering around unsteadily. "Shiro? Is that- this mattress really sucks- it couldn't be her- the quadratic equation is- if only I had a gun."

"Mira- what- what's wrong?" I stretched out a hand, wrapping her trembling ones in my own.

She recoiled away from me like I burned her. Her body turned into a shaking mess and tears spilled from her eyes. "Shiro. You really came- A squared plus B squared equals- definitely just a hallucination- when's the next experiment coming- I don't feel so good."

"M-Mira. I'm here for you." I tried once more, but she backed into the corner of her cell, staring at me like I was the one who might vanish at any moment.

I took a step back and carefully inspected my mikata. Her voice… it shifted with each statement. It was like five different people were trying to speak all at once. Her words and statements scrambled and cut off halfway through in a confusing mess of words. The halo- it was the same style as the other chrome I spotted on my way up.

She wasn't in a good state. That much was clear. I hesitantly summoned out Crow's Canteen of Chaos. I was afraid she'd be heavily injured, so I'd already set it to produce Pervider venom. I held it up to her. "Will you- will you drink some of this for me?"

"She isn't real- I want to believe- remember what happened last time I believed- theorem might not be true- if she isn't real, then why is there a drone?" Her features twisted in confusion.

"I- I am real, Mira." I tried to show an Honest Face. I didn't even know if it'd work given her state. I couldn't even feel my face anyway. I could've been baring my teeth at her for all I knew.

"Not real. Not real. Not real- could be real- why is she here- you shouldn't have come here." Mira pulled away from me and stared at the floor, twitching sporadically. The exo-skeleton on her back seemed to pull awkwardly at her limbs.

I held up the canteen to her. "This- this'll make you feel better."

She hesitantly reached out to take the canteen from me. Once she held it, she gulped down some of the venom. "Did they capture you- what is this stuff- this is definitely some of hallucination to see how I- I miss seeing the sky- should I just kill my-"

"No. M-Mira. We'll get through this. I- I promise." I pulled her into a hug. She struggled weakly in my arms for a moment. Her trembling body slowly went still. When I pulled away, she was unconscious and faintly breathing. The stasis effect of the Pervide would last thirty minutes from now.

I checked the Transporter. It was about halfway through. In just five minutes, we could get out of here. I carefully rubbed at her back in slow, soothing circles. "We- we'll be out soon."

After that- after that I'd take her to Nael. Surely he'd be able to help, right? Would he even know what this kind of chrome was? There wasn't enough information. I- I should get into the archives of this place. Pilfer their documents. Something in there might help me figure out what's going on.

I sat back on the small cot, cradling her fragile form while I waited for the Transporter to open the way.

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