Project A.L. (BFB AU) (COMPLETED)

Thirteen - The Zero Tests

It's Sunday today, according to X's clock. They didn't want to go into work today, but they must. Who else was going to take care of Four?

Getting up out of bed, they made the sound decision of not starting the morning with coffee. Their brain could wake up on its own, and it's about time they stopped feeding into their caffeine addiction.

The morning drive to work was quiet. Now that they had their own provided car, they didn't have to rely on Two anymore for rides. Sure, the silence was nice, but it also felt as if they were supposed to be driving with someone else. It was lonely.

As they drove, they thought about Four. They'd gotten a lot warmer over the past week. X started to think about their relationship with other people. They were never very friendly to anybody. To be fair, however, most of those people regularly tortured them, but why was Four nice to them? It just didn't make any sense, X was just as much an employee of the company than any other person there.

Before they knew it, X was already in the facility parking lot, still thinking about things. Getting out of the car and into the building, they noticed a company notice right next to the clock in station.

Dear employees,

Please do not use anything other than the cafeteria microwaves to heat your food. We have had to deal with too many incidents of people using the cauterization tools to warm up food faster and it catching on fire accidentally. Please use the microwaves for both your own safety and ours.

Senior officer meeting starting at 9am on Tuesday.

-One

X thought nothing of it - after all, they weren't one of those people that the notice was talking about. Moving through the halls, X quickly ended up right in front of Four's room. They decided that before they greet Four today, they'd get into their observation duties early today.

Sidestepping a few feet to the left, X entered the observation deck. Coming up the few stairs they used for elevation, they saw their paperwork already on their desk. A bit suspicious to have it here and not at their quarters, but X wasn't complaining about not having to make the trip.

The metal door slowly slammed behind them, still making them jolt just like their first observation. Four now knew that X was here, and paused in their pacing to look up at the window. They waved and bared all their teeth in a smile. And even though Four couldn't see them, X waved back.

Almost as if it was their first observation all over again, someone slammed the door back open. And of course, it was Seven.

"I didn't expect you to be in today, X. I was just about to collect the paperwork." They couldn't see each other, but X could tell that Seven wore the same face they always did: mildly tired and done with their job.

"Did you need anything in particular, or are you just here for the paperwork?" X asked down the stairwell, rolling their chair over to where they were dangerously close to dropping down the stairs at any given moment.

"As you're here today, it seems I do have a task for you, yes. It appears we've made another breakthrough in zeroes. I need you on deck, because you're quite literally the only person I know who is compassionate enough to accompany me in the tests."

X would feel honored by this statement, but for some reason, they didn't. "Alright, I'll be down in a second," they called down the stairs, to which Seven nodded. They pushed the chair back into the desk before hopping down each stair, careful not to fall over.

"Let's go." Seven turns away and down a hallway that winds off into an unfamiliar place.

"I've never been down this way before, but for some reason, it feels oddly familiar," X wondered out loud.