#serum injection

PROMPT - serum injection
CHARACTER - Slipper Hecatezen (Space Intern ocs)

So, tumblr ate your ask, @randomlifeunit - that’s fun! I’m sorry this took so long, and thank you for the submission, friend!

And, thanks as always to @badthingshappenbingo for the card!

After a devastating world war, the planet Perses had been reclassified to Class 0 – a certified “failure” of a planet. It was practically uninhabitable, with pockets of continents oozing with radioactivity. The Perseans that survived the war had been evacuated and relocated across the galaxy.

Slipper didn’t think a mission on Perses – even in a designated safe zone – sounded like a good idea.

He was right.

Slipper led the way through the streets, Brando and Tabby close behind.

“Okay. This is…great. I love it. I love this.”

“Brando, shut up.”

“No, it’s fine! It’s awesome. I love being in a ghost city on a planet that has two hours of sunlight a day.” There had been light while they were briefed, but night had fallen since they’d entered the city.

Yowling echoed through a nearby alley. Brando jumped.

Tabby rolled her eyes. “It’s just a roz fight,” she said. “Calm yourself.”

“Not all of us know every single creature in the universe by the sounds they make,” Brando grumbled.

“You shouldn’t waste your energy with focus on fear,” Slipper said.

“Easier said than done,” Brando said.

“Especially for a braveless like Brando,” Tabby teased.

Click.

Slipper stopped in his tracks. He looked down at his foot.

“What’s wrong?” Tabby asked.

“I appear to have tripped a trap,” Slipper answered. At the same time, there was a loud whistling sound as something hurtled through the air.

Slipper felt something strike his neck.

Tabby and Brando gasped. “Fuck!” Tabby cried. “Slipper, you –“

Slipper raised a hand to touch the foreign object. It appeared to be a syringe. He tugged, but the needle wouldn’t come loose.

“Holy shit – hang on,” Brando said, rushing forward. He reached up and touched the syringe. “Oh, okay – that’s a good sign,” he said in a voice too high to be genuine. “It’s, uh – it’s stuck between your scales. Tilt your head.”

Slipper tilted his head away from Brando, ignoring the prick of pain that followed.

Brando gripped the syringe with one hand and placed his other palm against Slipper’s neck. “I should be able to…” Slipper felt a pinch. “There we go. Got it.”

Brando stepped away, syringe in hand. Tabby stepped closer.

“Let me see that,” she demanded. Brando handed over the syringe. Tabby inspected it with a hum. “Um…Slipper, a bunch of this went into you.”

“I’m aware,” Slipper said, and collapsed.

“Slipper – Slipper!” Hands grabbed his arms as his knees buckled. A face entered his line of sight. “Hey, can you hear me?”

Slipper gritted his teeth and hissed. “What was in that syringe?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” Tabby said. “Talk to me – what’s happening, and what can we do?”

Brando shushed them suddenly. He cupped his ear. Slipper raised his head to listen, but there was ringing in his eardrum. After a few moments, Brando threw Slipper’s arm over his shoulder and started to lift him. “I hear voices,” he whispered.

“No one should be anywhere on this continent,” Tabby said. “What do you mean, you hear–“

A bright light washed over them all.

Slipper could hear an engine revving somewhere within the headlight’s too-bright beam. He curled his lip and shut his eyes.

“Oh, Dioscuri,” Tabby swore. “That guy’s got a plasma burner.”

Brando nodded. “We’ve got to fucking move!”

Tabby threw Slipper’s arm over her shoulder, rose, and then all three fell in step to hobble onward. Slipper tried to walk faster, but his left foot had gone numb. He shuffled along with Brando and Tabby to support him.

An ear-splitting tseew pierced the air as a bolt of electric energy crackled past them. Brando gasped and tightened his grip on Slipper’s wrist. “I see an alley – past the library!” he said.

Tabby nodded. “Let’s hope there’s a back door.”

Another bolt of electricity shot past them.

As they entered the alley, Tabby slid out of the support chain. She rushed ahead and tested the door. At first, it wouldn’t budge. But she quickly picked the lock and the door slid open. “In!” she shouted.

Brando bore the brunt of Slipper’s weight as they entered the building. Tabby slammed her elbow down on the keypad, shattering the screen, and then followed. She shut the door the moment she was through and set the lock from inside.

“That should hold them, right?” Brando asked as he helped Slipper sit down on the floor.

Tabby nodded. “Yeah. Slipper, you still with us?”

Slipper’s nostrils flared. He spat something in a Hecatean hiss. Then he said, “My vision is compromised, and I have numbness.”

“What do you need?”

Slipper barely had a moment to process what she had said before it suddenly felt as if a solid mass were striking straight through his head. He folded over, grasping his temples with his claws.

“Fuck,” Tabby spat. “I’m getting in touch with Aegis. Brando, get ready to move him. We need to get to the roof and get off this planet.” She tapped her chest four times. “Nic’hel to Aegis,” she said. She waited. “Nic’hel to Aegis,” she said again. She tapped her chest another four times.

“Don’t tell me,” Brando said dryly.

“Yep. Scrambled signal.”

“Okay,” Brando sighed. “So we’re sieged by unknown predators on a planet that’s supposed to be uninhabited. We can’t reach Aegis. Slipper’s –“

“Brando, the recap is not helping.” Tabby reached into her sash and pulled out her glasses, hooked them over her ears, and tapped the frames. “Hm.” She forward to reach into the darkness and pulled something off a shelf. She held it out for Brando to see.

“Vitamins?” Brando said. “Are we in a drugstore?”

Slipper’s breath rattled, but he managed to croak, “Look for triptans.”

“Triptans?” Tabby echoed.

“Or anti-inflammatory tablets,” Slipper said. “Triptans are…preferable.”

“Do you know what the serum was?” Brando asked.

“I do not,” Slipper said, “but I know what it is doing.“ He hissed. “It has triggered a severe migraine.”

“Triptans or anti-inflammatories. On it,” Tabby said, slipping into the gloom. She moved stealthily through the racks, her eyes skimming the labels. Fortunately, they were written in Standard; before its reclassification, Perses had been a Gal-U affiliate.

It didn’t take long for Tabby to find a bottle of triptan tablets. She snatched it from the rack and returned to her crewmates. She announced her arrival, but kept her voice low, for Slipper’s sake. “I found some triptans.”

Slipper didn’t even crack open an eye. His nostrils flared, and he asked, “Water?”

“Yeah, I’ve got my flask,” Brando said, reaching into his sash.

Tabby poured three tablets into her palm. “Here,” she said, kneeling in front of Slipper. She took his hand and uncurled his clenched claws before dropping the tablets into his hand.

Slipper held out his other hand. Brando handed him his unscrewed flask. Slipper sipped at the flask, then popped the tablets into his mouth.

“How long will it take for these to help?” Tabby asked.

Slipper swallowed. “I have not eaten since the midwake meal,” he murmured, “so they will likely take effect within the hour.”

“And we were supposed to check in with Aegis at around the same time,” Brando recalled. “When we don’t, they’ll realize something’s wrong.”

“So, what? All we can do is wait?” Tabby asked.

Slipper closed his eyes and burrowed his face into his arms. “All we can do is wait.”