Chapter Text
Simon paced around his room, eyes tracking his halted steps.
‘Room’ might be too generous a term, he was pretty sure the bathrooms that the other pilots got to use were larger than that place.
So Simon's room was a tiny box of welded steel that housed a crappy bed that was falling to pieces and a half-blocked toilet.
He sat down briefly on the edge of the bed, fingers picking at the threadbare blanket before standing up again, hefting open the door.
A few guards ran past at the end of the hall, yelling something about a security breach.
Simon dragged a hand down his face, letting out a tired groan before beginning to head in the direction the guards were.
Two figures quickly darted down the hall - or more accurately, one of them darted while carrying the other bridal style.
“Grace so weak! Why so weak?!”
“Why’re you so heavy?!”
Wait, Grace? Wasn't that the science guy's name?
“Hey Simon,” the man carrying the other panted as he passed before skidding to a stop. “Oh crap, if we're over here this is a dead-end.”
“Stupid, stupid, stupid! Should've let me leave normal way!” The man in his arms critiqued. “Grace forgot crutch too, stupid.”
“Oh, you are Grace,” Simon said, brain sluggishly processing everything in front of him.
Fucking stupid headaches, all the damn time-
“Who Grace friend, question?”
“Um, Simon this is Rocky. Rocky, Simon.” Grace's panicked gaze flicked past Simon's shoulder. “That your room? Can we hide out in there?”
“Fuck no,” Simon growled, defensiveness flaring inside of him, ready to protect the one space that felt vaguely his. “Get your own place.”
A voice echoed from the end of the hall. “Doctor Grace.”
The three of them turned to look at the singular figure awaiting them, Stratt's unimpressed frown visible even in the low lighting.
“Ah, fudgesticks,” Grace sighed.
“Put Rocky down,” Rocky whispered, tapping at something on his wrist. “Put Rocky down and run to end of hall and make sure she not come over here.”
“Huh?” Simon grunted.
“Have five seconds. Grace, take other stupid friend with.”
Grace grabbed tightly onto Simon's wrist, tugging him down the hall even as the latter’s instincts kicked in.
Simon began to yell, screaming out wordless sounds, trying to wrench himself out of Grace's grip, snapping his jaw and even going so far as to bite down on the scientist's arm.
Getting dragged off by one of them meant more tests, more examinations, more probing, more forced drifts, more-
The wall at the end of the hall smashed open, Grace finally letting go of his wrist and curling in on himself, crouching down to the floor.
Simon's vision went hazy, ears ringing as he watched Rocky's silhouette limp out the hole blasted in the wall, climbing into what could vaguely pass for being a Jaeger.
More guards flooded the hall and Simon fought back against the ones that pinned him down, spit flying while he cursed at them, head hitting the concrete hard when he was fully forced down to the floor.
Simon's eyes watered as he felt a needle stick into the skin of his neck, slowly slipping away into tired darkness.
The last thing he saw was Grace backing away from him to stand beside Stratt, the pair of them watching as he was sedated.
Stupid fucking scientists - they were all the same.
~•~
“Hey, no, what the heck, where are you taking him?!” Grace questioned, watching as Simon's limp form was carried away.
“The butcher became too volatile, this is for the best,” Stratt argued, hands folded behind her back as she watched the pilot get carted off. “You may question him once he reawakens and has calmed.”
“Was sedating him really necessary?!” Grace asked, aware of how he was yelling but he couldn't care at that moment.
“I don't know, Doctor Grace, was Roxanne breaking into the facility and then blasting a hole in the wall with a Jaeger necessary?” Stratt responded, head tilting to the side.
“First of all, might be his legal name but he hasn't used that in years. Second, that's his girlfriend's Jaeger and I'm assuming they've got places to be if they wanted to get out of here so quickly,” Grace explained.
“Or your engineer didn't want to go to jail again.”
“To quote Rocky, he'd break out like last time,” Grace huffed, running a hand through his hair. “Where'd you take Simon?”
“Who?”
“You know who I'm talking about.”
Stratt exhaled through her nose. “Doctor Grace, if you won't comply then we are going to have to limit your funding again.”
“You've already got me down to basically nothing, why would it matter,” Grace sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “Y'know what, I'll just go find him myself.”