Chapter Text
Kieran Weisz didn’t know when everything fell through the floor of the Let-Vand zone and directly into hell, but he was pretty sure he knew why. The speakers right above his cubicle were even blaring its name. “This is a site-wide announcement. Z-13, codename The Handyman, has breached containment and is freeing anomalies he comes across. A list of the entities Z-13 has released so far are as follows: Z-283, The Angler; Z-90, Wall Dwellers; Z-264, the Abomination; and S-Q, Squiddles. NAVI has marked the route to your nearest evacuation dock; please collect any conveniently available research and leave the Hadal Blacksite immediately. Quick note to all Guardsmen: Obtaining the Crystal is your top priority, outranking evacuating or even executing Z-13. This message will repeat every 15 minutes, updating to include any new anomalies Z-13 may have released.” Then alarms started to flash and blare in the hallway outside. Well, there goes his lunch break.
Kieran scooped several USB drives and files from his desk drawers and stuffed them into his bag as he prepared to leave. He would have grabbed more, but he was painfully aware he was a long ways away from the nearest evacuation dock, seeing as he was in the middle of Heavy Containment. Right in the center of where this mess was going down. Cautiously, he opened the door to his lab area and looked out into the hallway- only to press himself back against the wall when a navy blur of teeth barreled right past him. Most of the lights outside shattered by the time it passed through, and Kieran was pretty sure he’d just shit a brick in his pants. He then proceeded to run for his life.
He stepped over the corpses of his coworkers unlucky enough to be found by that… thing in his mad dash to an exit. Thankfully, the opening mechanisms of the huge doors still worked, and the hall before him opened up to blessed light. Kieran then followed the crowd of employees evacuating through Heavy Containment, when he heard a scream from right behind him. He whirled to see a creature that looked like living drywall tearing open the neck of someone who had worked in the cubicle next to him. It hissed at him, and began to bolt away on misshapen legs. Overcome with a sudden burst of rage-fueled adrenaline, he ran after it and tackled it to the floor, caving in its face with a solid right cross. Maybe that handful of boxing lessons he got before he was sent down did come in handy, he supposed.
Unfortunately, in his impulsive act of vengeance, he’d lost the group he was a part of entirely. Now he could only follow the trail of open doors and glowing signs that promised freedom. He heard more screams that sounded nearby, both human and not, which put him on edge. But there was another sound that disturbed him more. The faint rasp of scales over plate metal, growing louder by the second. Then it suddenly stopped. A metallic groan from the doors in front of him sent him turning tail and running through the halls, no longer caring about getting out, just getting away. “HEY!” A voice shouted from behind him, and the rasping started up again, faster this time.
Kieran stumbled once or twice as he scrambled away from whatever was chasing him, making sudden turns in order to try to lose it. Unfortunately, it seemed this thing had it out for him. Just as it seemed he could run no more, he turned a corner and found an exit. A checkpoint, leading out of Heavy Containment and into the main Blacksite. He checked his pockets as he ran for the doors, only to realize he’d forgotten his keycard. Shiiiit. He made one final turn, forcing down the handle to the door of the checkpoint booth and darting inside. Choosing to hide under one of the desks in the room, he hoped that his pursuer had lost the trail. As the rasping grew steadily closer, though, he realized that his luck had run out.
“Ugh, didn’t even bother to close the door… I know you’re in here, dude. I can smell you.” Kieran cowered under the desk closest to him while something very blue, very large, and very covered in blood slithered into the checkpoint room. It plucked him from the ground by the collar of his lab coat and held him midair as it spoke. “Hey there. Name’s Sebastian. Care to tell me yours?” “K-Kieran. Kieran Weisz. Sir. Ma’am? Please l-let me go now.” “Oh, sure. Just do me one little favor. Do you mind taking part in an impromptu fashion show? I think you’d look good in this .”
A third arm he hadn’t noticed before gave him a thumbs up as the creature’s other arm produced an off-white, smiling mask from behind its back. “And on we go. ” Kieran was too afraid of how the beast would react if he resisted to even struggle. Its arm came forward slowly, and pressed the mask onto his face, giving it a couple of pats with a huge hand. “There.” It set him down almost gently on the floor. “Don’t you feel great?”
Whatever the thing said next was drowned out by a sudden loud ringing in his ears. Then, a wave of excruciating pain tore through his body. Kieran shrieked and fell to the floor, tearing at his face as the mask started to do… something to him. He tried to take it off but his efforts were in vain. The material was too slick to get a hold of, and it had somehow stuck itself to his face. A sensation of being dissolved from the inside started to radiate out from where it had been put on him. Kieran heard his skull crack, bones pushing themselves into unnatural shapes.
Black dots swirled in his vision as he tried to scream, but it came out as more of a strangled gurgling. His head throbbed like it had been split open, and it only got worse from there. He half fell against, half leaned on one of the consoles, the cool metal a small comfort. All this strange red stuff pouring out of him would no doubt stain it, though. The dissolving moved down into his torso. Kieran knew calling out for help would be useless, so he just slid to the floor and cried in silence.
After twenty more seconds he couldn’t breathe- the blood he was losing had filled his throat to the point where no air was getting through. He retched, a thick puddle of the stuff forming on the ground in front of him. It glimmered in the light, disgustingly beautiful in the same way a pack of hyenas eating something alive might be. The thought terrified him, but he couldn’t look away. A coppery taste lingered in his mouth, promising more to follow. Kieran paid no attention to it, instead focused on the agony creeping down his arms. He could only stare as they fell apart at the seams.
If he were able to scream, he would have. Instead he just watched one arm’s ligaments give way, plopping wetly into whatever visceral mush he was becoming. The haze of pain that shrouded his vision thickened, and his other arm followed suit. He slumped backwards, wishing for a faster end. Anything would have been better than melting under the influence of whatever the hell he was wearing. Now his internal organs were coming undone, the pain at a mindbreaking forte. At some point Kieran flopped sideways, no longer able to keep his sitting position. His breath came in quiet rasping heaves, and his heartbeat slowed in his chest. Did he finally get to die? No.
Instead, if only for a moment, he stopped melting. The problem with that was that it left him alone with the pain running its course through his mutilated body. He looked out at the blaring alarms, muted by the ringing in his ears. No one was around to help, they had all gone or just died. What a shame. Kieran looked over at his lab coat, soaked with gore. He closed his eyes for what he hoped was the final time. Then, all of a sudden, the pile of raw meat that was now ‘him’ shuddered. His pulse started to pick up again. He perceived something forcing its way into his mind and starting to consume him. He couldn’t move his body; he was paralyzed.
Despite his best efforts to keep it away, it was a losing battle. He was being forced out, and there was nothing he could do about it. It burned, though he didn’t feel it, as whatever it was devoured more and more of his memories, his identity, and what remained of his consciousness. Eventually, there was no more left to consume. Kieran Weisz was well and truly gone. In a puddle of blood, on the floor of a checkpoint room somewhere in the Hadal Blacksite, a husk with a pale mask over its face opened its eyes.
“… A list of the entities Z-13 has released are as follows: Z-283, The Angler; Z-90, Wall Dwellers; Z-264, the Abomination; S-Q, Squiddles; and Z-96, the Mask of Sadness.”