Chapter Text
Haiper’s body felt heavy, as if his arms and legs had been filled with lead. Even with the potions Graf had given him, the radiation poisoning showed no signs of stopping. Still, the weakness usually wasn't this bad, was it?
He tried to lift his head to no avail. The best he could do was peel open his eyes, met with the vision of his own lap.
What the fuck?
Was it possible he blacked out again and fell asleep sitting up? Maybe, but he definitely didn't tie his own hands together.
Escape options began to flood his mind, permeating the now-fading fatigue. If he could somehow get into his backpack, he could—where the fuck is his backpack, and his armour for that matter.
“Ah. You’re awake.”
Every hair on Haiper’s body stood up as the familiar feeling of dread overcame him. It wasn’t often he felt such an intense fear, but there was always something about that voice—about Multi—that scared him.
The scientist was growing more erratic by the day, and now it was impossible to ignore. Earlier, it was easy to write off Multi’s deluded ramblings that served as fodder for his God-complex for the sake of their alliance with the Polish, but that was before. Before Haiper found his way into the bunker, before he got sick, before the search for a cure became top priority.
“I am sorry for this. Ideally, things would’ve been much less messy.” Multi sounded close, but still too far for Haiper to make any form of attack—not that he could even if he wanted to.
“Wha…” Haiper tried to force a word out of his mouth, but his tongue wasn’t cooperating. None of his body was. He felt utterly powerless, and he hated it.
“Don’t push yourself. It’s unnatural for you to speak in this state. It’s unnatural for you to do anything but comply.” Multi took a step towards him, his shoes clacking against the tiled floor. “I’ve heard people call you many things. A cat. A loyal dog. A fox.” He reached out a gloved hand, grabbing Haiper’s face and forcefully tilting it up. He was forcing Haiper to look him dead in the eyes—or where his eyes were supposed to be. It was hard to see anything behind the gas mask. “But today, you’ll be my lab rat. You don’t mind that, do you?”
Come on. Speak. “I—”
“Uh uh, what did I say?” Multi let go of Haiper’s face. Thankfully, he'd regained enough strength to hold it up on his own. “You really don't need to be so scared. If you think about it, this will be good for us both in the long run. Don't you want a cure?”
Of course I do. But not like this. Haiper thought to himself, wanting nothing more than to snap the scientist in two.
He could tell Multi was ready to continue with his evil monologue, but was stopped by the sound of a warp being used. Someone was here.
Footsteps approached from behind, and if he was more on his game (and less recovering from being drugged), he might've been able to identify the person from that alone.
“Graf. How nice of you to finally join us. I was just explaining to our guest here how we plan on finding our cure.” Multi’s focus was entirely off Haiper now, which meant he likely couldn't see the relief flooding through the hybrid.
If Graf was here, he was safe. Simple as that.
There was no world in which Graf would let something bad happen to him, Haiper knew that. It was the same reason he'd gone out of his way to give Haiper one of the last fire resistance potions, despite the fact he could've kept it to himself and saved them for his actual team mates.
The pair had a soft spot for each other. Ash called it a weakness, but Haiper? He never felt stronger than with Graf.
“You're not being serious right now, are you?” Concern shot through Graf’s voice.
“Now, now, when have I ever not been serious?” Multi crossed his arms, a sterner tone setting in. “I thought you wanted to prove yourself. Prove your loyalty.”
“I do, but—”
“But what? Do we not come first? Does the good of our faction not reign supreme? What business do you have with a member of The Regime? With The North?”
“...none.” Graf let out a sigh.
“I thought as much.” Multi grabbed a cart, wheeling it over. “All you have to do is pick up the syringe and inject. I've already done all the hard prep work.”
“Wait, me?”
“Who else? Did you think I asked you here because I needed a supervisor?”
“No…”
“So, you'll do it?” There was a threat underlying his words that Haiper didn't fully understand, but outside of Tubbo and Ash, if there was anyone he could count on not to—
“I'll do it.” Graf made his way around Haiper, and for the first time, he was fully in view.
“Graf, come on, man, don't do this.” The words tumbled out of Haiper’s mouth faster than anything he'd ever said before. At least he wasn't choking on his words anymore.
Multi stayed silent, choosing instead to observe the steely silence Graf was responding with.
“I thought we were friends! I thought we were—I don't know! Something!” Desperation rang through Haiper’s voice. If Ash were here, he’d probably be ashamed of Haiper for begging for his life, but that wasn’t fair. Ash was stronger than him, Tubbo was smarter than him; neither of them could have been trapped like this.
“The more you resist, the harder this will be.” Graf picked up a syringe from the cart, moving over to Haiper before kneeling to the ground. He pushed Haiper’s face to the side, and the hybrid could feel the sting of cold metal against his neck.
“You can't even look in my eyes. I never thought you were a coward.”
“I’m sorry, habibi.”
The needle tip punctured his skin, and a fresh wave of fear washed over Haiper. If he had to guess, he’d assume there was a sour smirk spreading across Multi’s face about now. That psychotic asshole always seemed to get exactly what he wanted; the universe never blessed Haiper with the same luck. Now he was going to die at the hands of one of the few people he thought he could trust.
“What are you waiting for?” Multi asked, his eyes narrowing with scepticism.
“You don’t want me to do this wrong and mess up the whole thing, do you?” Graf looked back at Multi. “I’ve never done this before.”
“You’re stalling.”
“For what?”
“If I knew, I—” Multi suddenly tensed before pulling his communicator out of his lab coat. “He’s here.”
“What? Who?” Graf pulled the needle out of Haiper’s neck and set it back down on the tray as he stood up again.
“Ashswag.”
As if on cue, the Supreme Leader entered the room. “Hello, gentlemen. I hear you have something that belongs to me.” Ash withdrew his sword while making his way over to his subordinate. “Are you okay, Haiper?”
“For now, but you have to get me out of here.”
“I plan on it, don’t worry.” The blade made quick work of slicing through the rope that had been constraining Haiper.
It was at that point that the kidnappers began to warp away; Multi was the first to go, but Graf hesitated. He stuck around for a second longer than needed, his eyes lingering on Haiper.
“Are you serious? Fucking cowards.” Ash let out a frustrated huff. “I swear to you, Haiper, I will kill every one of those Polish bastards for thinking they could do this.”
The idea of revenge usually felt so much more fulfilling to Haiper. So why not now? “Can we just go back to The Regime?”
“Of course.” Ash took one look over him before scooping Haiper up in his arms and warping back to their base.
When they made it there, Haiper pushed away from Ash, forcing himself to be put down. “You don’t have to do that.” His legs nearly buckled as he stumbled backwards until he was pressed against the cold brick wall of the factory.
“Haiper—”
“I’m fine. I just need a second, okay?” Haiper slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ground. “Shit. Um, thank you for coming to get me.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that. If I didn’t show up, I’d have only failed you.” Ash looked down at his communicator for a moment. “It’s a good thing Graf told me to come get you.”
“What?” Haiper’s head shot up to look Ash in the eyes. “He did that?”
“He said Multi had you and was planning something. Gave me the coords and everything. I’m grateful, but if anything, that just reaffirms that we can’t trust him.” Ash tucked his communicator away.
“How do you mean?”
“Think of it this way: Graf easily flipped on his own people for the sake of his personal alliance with us. Who’s to say he wouldn’t do the same with us?”
“Oh… You’re probably right.” Haiper didn’t like the feeling this was leaving in his gut. His head was swimming with thoughts as he processed the tomfoolery that just occurred. How fast it happened. How fast it was over.
Purple particles began to fill the air, taking both Regime members’ attention as they looked towards the warpstone where Graf appeared.
“You’re both here,” he stated, glancing between the two.
“What do you want, Graf?” Ash asked, immediately on the defensive.
“I brought Haiper’s things. I figured he might want this back.” Graf set down the familiar blue backpack in front of Haiper. “Your armour’s in there too.”
For a moment, Haiper could only stare up at him. He was trying to understand the motivations hidden in Graf’s eyes and their soft blue that matched his own fur so perfectly. There was no lie, only a gentle remorse. Haiper wasn’t sure what was worse—deceit or pity.
Eventually, he replied with a soft and barely audible: “Thank you.”
Carefully, Haiper took hold of the backpack and pulled it to his side, immediately digging into it for his golden carrots. Auto-feed had truly been spoiling him, and it wasn’t until now that he felt the familiar ache of hunger in his gut as his insatiable stomach yearned for sustenance.
“It’s no problem.” Graf tore his eyes away from Haiper, focusing instead on Ash. “Would you give us a second?”
“Absolutely not.” The question led to a scoff from Ash. “Your people just kidnapped him.”
“You don’t have to go far; you can keep your eyes on us, too. I’d just like a moment.” Graf sounded almost pleading.
“Ash, it’s fine,” Haiper declared. “I’ll scream if I really need help.”
“Are you sure?” Ash dropped his tough guy persona the moment he started to address Haiper.
Am I? “I’m sure.”
“Okay.” With one last threatening glance towards Graf, Ash made his way down the train tracks, stopping near the tunnel’s entrance.
“Are you okay?” Graf asked as he dropped to the ground, once more kneeling in front of Haiper.
“As if you care.” Haiper couldn’t stop the biting remark from escaping him.
“Of course I care. Why else would I tell Ash to come save you? Do you know how much trouble I’d be in if Multi figures that out?”
“Wanting to get on Ash’s good side—”
“That is not why I did it.” Graf let out a frustrated sigh. “If all I wanted was a good rapport with The Regime, I wouldn’t have done half the shit I have. It doesn’t matter to me whether Ash hates me or thinks of me as his greatest ally.”
“Then why help us?”
“Because it wasn’t about your team, it was only about you.” Graf reached out, taking one of Haiper’s hands in both of his. “I’m not here to play for factions. I’m here for people.”
“I’m one of these people?” Haiper wanted to pull away, but even more than that, he wanted to stay right there.
“How could you not be?” Graf squeezed the hand gently before letting it go. “I hope you know that I never want to hurt you, and I will do everything in my power to stop something like this from happening again.”
“And if Multi works it out and kills you?”
“Then so be it.” Graf slowly stood up. “I have to go now, if I’m too long he’ll get suspicious. I’ll see you around, habibi.”
“Right. See you around, Graf.”
Haiper watched the man brush his hand against the waystone before purple particles filled the air, and he was warped away. For whatever reason, he couldn’t help but linger on the empty air where Graf used to be. If he focused hard enough, he could still feel the warmth of Graf’s grasp around his hand. There was something about it that felt so… right?
What am I even thinking right now? I really need some sleep.
Haiper reached into his bag again to pull out his warpstone, but froze at the feeling of an unfamiliar glass bottle. Pulling it out, his eyes settled on the Thick Serum that Graf had given him previously. Except, he’d already drunk that, which means this was a new one. One that Graf had given him so freely, despite how hard it is to acquire.
He was so strange.
Even so, Haiper was grateful to have a friend like that in his corner.