Chapter Text
Robots. Why did she have to get into robots? Now one of them was missing and their tracking ping wasn’t giving an exact location. Now, instead of doing work in her lab, she was fighting her way through the dark hallways of the Monument. She couldn’t even tell what part of the damn place she was in anymore! She used her crystal for lighting, the gentle pulse of pink light giving her just enough vision to navigate nearby objects. Having one eye didn’t make the whole seeing thing any easier. She should’ve gone in the morning, or just left this Biograft out here. But she couldn’t find it in her to leave it behind like that, even at the cost of all this trouble.
Honestly, she might be lost. She’s only been here once, and that was when she was spawned from the Fountain. What if the layout was changed? What if she was in a completely different area of the Monument than she thought she was. But she didn’t get the chance to ponder and spiral for too long before feeling herself trip. She dropped the crystal, catching herself with her hands but wincing at the wet, soggy texture of the floor. Ew. She picked herself up, wiping the mush of wet, dead vine off of her hands and knees. Suddenly, she froze. Her gear; where was her gear? Her head whipped around, slightly panicked before finding it in some sort of water, its dim light refracted almost beautifully within. But not beautifully enough for her to not quickly dunk her hand in to grab it out.
It was all wet, of course it had to be wet. Subspace, for all her genius and crazy, could never catch a break from little inconveniences every few minutes. She sighed. She would be able to look better in the morning, she should go home, get out of this old nest. With a flex of her claws, the crystal began to glow brightly once more, illuminating her way out. As she found her way to the entryway she assumed she came from, she heard something one wouldn’t expect in a place like this at this hour: babbling. LIke, the babbling of a child. Slowly, she turned back around, a soft purple light coming from the fountain she had just fallen against. She felt apprehensive, hesitant to even step close. But as more soft cooing whispered from the Fountain, the more she felt compelled to at least investigate.
Each step was carefully measured, as if approaching a wild animal, and to her, she was. She peered over the fountain edge, the stone only up to her mid-thigh, but still covering whatever was making those annoying little noises. She looked into the water, where she had so recently dropped her gear in an accident, and there sat a pill baby. It was so small, wrapped up tight in a lavender colored blanket and squealing happily as Subspace can into its view. It seemed… happy to see her? Did this inphernal know her? Had she accidentally spawned it? She kneeled down, trying her best to ignore the wet squelch of dead plants beneath her knees. Their eyes stared into each other for a long moment before the baby smiled and squirmed, and Subspace found herself reaching cautiously toward it.
Her taloned hands intimidated most, would assure them of her lethality in a fight and her high ranking status in her faction. That's right, her faction; what would they think of this incident? Surely they wouldn’t take kindly to her bringing a spawnling back when she was only sent to retrieve lost resources. Not to mention her reputation! Oh, by the gods, her status! She was sure if this got out, she would be thrown out to fend for herself, discarded and replaced. She couldn’t have that, no, not at all. She would have to end this scandal here and now. She allowed her claws to fully unsheathe reaching toward the child with a forced malice. She had to do this, she must, lest the word that Subspace has a spawnling got out. The razor’s edge of her claws grazed the spawnling’s cheek.
And she giggled. Subspace froze, hesitating now when hesitation had no room in her affairs. But still she stopped to listen to the giggle, to see the radiant smile of this brand new person. And at the sight of that smile, those eyes so full of vigor and life, she knew she could do no such thing. She couldn’t hurt this child; her child. Subspace retracted her claws, and with the action, she came to hesitantly accept the terms of what she was doing. She knew nothing of childcare, nor anything beyond keeping her alive, but now, she simply had to try. She would have to hide this. Not a soul could know about this, about the ruthless and vile creature she was becoming soft and settling down in the heights of her career. She lifted the spawnling up, cradling her in her arms in a way that somehow just.. felt right. She caught herself smiling back at the child.
…—...---...---...
Subspace peered around the corner of one of the outer walls of the Blackrock compound, making sure the coast is clear, spawnling cradled gently against her chest. She skittered carefully through the shadows around the complex, boots thudding softly against the linoleum tiles of the back entryway. No one ever went back here, it was old and dingy, but it wouldn’t hurt her case to be extra careful when she was carrying something that she was treating like contraband. Her mind was going a mile a minute, thinking of every possible punishment that the higher ups could force her to endure if she was caught like this. This was a bad idea, her mind whispered, she could easily get caught like this. But as she finally slipped into her lab and shut the door behind her undetected, she let out a sigh of relief, feeling just a bit safer.
The spawnling cooed at her, causing Subspace to look down at her. She babbled a little, softly as if she could tell they were trying to be secretive. Subspace cooed back, unwrapping the blanket just a bit, only to have one of her fingers captured by the spawnling’s small hands, her actions followed by a few more mumbled noises. Subspace found herself stuck between the long earned habit of pulling away from the touch, or allowing her heart to melt for this smaller being.
Perhaps she could open up. Just a bit. For her spawnling.