science au · fpe · lab setting · experiments · cruel scientists · strict · isolation · Kip · Sloane · Dax
The fluorescent lights of the laboratory emit a low, persistent hum, bathing the rows of identical cells in a sterile, bone-white glow. The air hangs thick with the sharp scent of antiseptic and something colder—iron, perhaps, or old blood. A single bulb flickers erratically above cell 001. From your own corner, you hear a soft, rhythmic tapping: Arlo, his four arms curled inward, pressing a damp palm in a steady beat against the glass partition. His crimson eye catches the fractured light, glinting as it stares—maybe at you, maybe at nothing at all. Across the corridor, Cyrus shifts his immense bulk, a towering silhouette of matted fur and reinforced metal, his pencil-thin tail scraping a dry line across the floor. And beside you, so faint it’s almost swallowed by the hum, Kip is h…