Chapter Text
Something was wrong with Medic.
It wasn’t obvious, like cat ears or three eyes or a broken limb. No, it was something else. It was this uneasy feeling that choked Scout every time he looked in the Doctor’s direction.
And it wasn’t the usual unease, either. Everyone was at least a little put-off by him- it was impossible not to be. The insane look in his eyes, the blood that stained his gloves.
This was something else , he knew it.
Scout lay awake at night, staring straight-up at a popcorn ceiling.
He couldn’t sleep.
It was just his luck that his room was closest to Medic’s lab. He could hear everything going on in there, and to be completely honest? It sucked.
On good days, it was completely quiet in there. Not a peep, other than the odd snap of a rubber glove or clink of a tool being moved. Those were the nights that Scout could sleep.
But on bad days?
Bad days were worrying.
Screaming echoed down the hallway, followed by the heavy thuds of something being thrown against a wall. The screeching of something that wasn’t human, the familiar sound of Medic’s needlegun being fired at some unseen threat-
Scout’s heartbeat quickened.
The darkness seemed to curl around the walls like creeping vines- the silence between the thuds and the screams gave Scout plenty time to hear his heartbeat in his ears.
It all went quiet for a moment. Scout sat up in bed, his knuckles white around his bedsheets.
Is it over?
A gunshot rang out across the tile, and Scout flinched hard.
No other noise came.
Scout pushed himself out of bed.
He pushed open the door, making his way down the hall; one hand trailing the concrete. It was cold tonight, real cold. The tile of the floor was ice-cold, and it hurt his bare feet. He couldn’t see a thing in this darkness- if he opened his eyes or closed them it made no difference.
He knew, rationally, that Medic’s lab was at the end of the hallway. That’s how the building was built, that’s how it was every single day that Scout had been there. But the darkness distorted everything- the hall seemed much longer than it had any right being.
Had it always taken this long to reach the end?
His hand hit the corner of the wall, and then the handle of the lab’s door.
Scout grasped the handle, the cold metal burning his hand.
He paused.
It had always been a sort-of unspoken rule: if it wasn’t an emergency and he hadn’t said that you could come in, you do not go in the Doc’s lab. If you had a noise complaint, you would slide a note under the door or something. Never go in. You would see things that you really, really wish you hadn’t.
And that wasn’t just referring to the Doc getting dressed.
Stupid, Scout scolded himself, slowly removing his hand from the door handle. You’ve slept through noisy nights before. Doc’s probably fine.
He took a single step back.
But what if he isn’t?
The thought nagged at him, festering in the silence. Gunshots weren’t unheard of, but rare.
Doc had a handgun in his drawer for emergencies, and only for then. Scout had asked him once- hey Doc, why don’t you take that handgun to fights? The man had just responded that he “liked it less”.
Did whatever situation was happening in there count as an emergency?
Scout reached his hand up from the handle, deciding to knock on the door instead. His hand hovered just above the metal, too scared to move it.
Countdown, Scout told himself. When I say ‘go’, you knock.
The mercenary took a deep breath.
Three, two, one, go.
Scout’s hand didn’t move. What if there was a monster or something in there?
Three, two, one, go.
What if Doc got attacked?
Go.
What if Doc was dead?
GO!
Scout knocked on the door.
“Hey, uh- Doc?” Scout asked, voice sounding very small indeed. “You ok in there?”
There was a short pause.
From inside the lab came one more BANG- the sound of a door slamming shut- before a lock clicked shut as well and footsteps made their way to the door.
It opened with a creak.
Harsh, bright light spilled out from the lab; blinding Scout for a moment- black spots danced in his vision.
Medic stood in front of him, looking only minorly disheveled. His face was perfectly blank, not even a speck of emotion in his eyes.
But the lab...was absolutely trashed . Medical equipment leaned on its side, broken glass was scattered across the floor. A shelf lay broken across the tile, bottles slowly spilling their contents.
Medic’s glasses lay, snapped in half, on a desk.
Scout’s eyes widened. “Holy-! Doc, you ok? What the hell happened?!”
The doctor tilted his head a millimeter.
“Nothing. An... experiment ,” he said with a strange tone in his voice, “got loose. I’ve...subdued it.”
A door on the side of the lab shuddered as something inside slammed against it. Whatever-it-was’s nails scrabbled wildly against the metal.
Scout took another step back.
“Well- uh. That’s. Good.”
“Yes. It is.” Medic looked down at his own ungloved hand, strangely curling and uncurling his own fingers.
There was an awkward silence.
“So...uh. Yeah.” Scout stared at his teammate. “...Need any help cleaning up?”
Medic was quiet for a moment, still staring at his hand.
“...No.”
Fight-or-flight instinct crawled its way up Scout’s chest, heart beating just a little faster. There was something wrong with the teammate standing in front of him. Not mentally wrong, but just...wrong.
Medic’s ‘experiment’ kept beating against the door. Medic slowly, slowly turned to look back at it, face perfectly neutral.
Scout cleared his throat. “Uh- I think I’m gonna go now.”
“...Yes. That would be good.” The doctor’s eyes, blank and empty, clicked back to stare at Scout’s. “You should go now.”
Scout took another step back, then another-
And then broke out into a run.
What the hell was that. What the hell was that?!
Scout darted back into his room, slamming the door shut. He checked and double-checked and triple-checked the lock, just making sure that nothing could get in. Soldier was going to yell at him in the morning, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care.
He stayed there against the door, breathing hard; back in the familiar darkness of his room. The safe darkness.
The moment of quiet allowed his heartbeat to fade from his ears, slowly calming.
He was overreacting. He knew he was overreacting, but goddamnit- Medic had scared him bad. Scout knew that the doctor was probably just shell-shocked after that commotion, but he was still off-put by that whole interaction.
He’d check on Medic again in the morning. Yeah, everything would be fine then, and Scout could go back to annoying him like usual.
Everything would be fine.
Right?
The mercenary crawled his way back into bed, wary; feeling as if his veins had been replaced with live wires.
There were no other noises that night.
At least none that Scout could hear.