Troy did not like all of this. Getting out of the room with the cells was likely the happiest time he had ever been, but that emotion was quickly beginning to retreat back into whatever hole it had come out of. It had begun to get replaced by what could have only been explained as outright dread of what was to come.

Looking to the side, he found nothing but empty air and a wall that spoke nothing but nonsense. No Dr Hale was there to stare back at him, no glares coming his way no matter how much he wanted them to. Not that he enjoyed them or anything. They still made his skin crawl every time he thought of them.

No… it was more aptly shown off as the young man being alone, as he walked towards his destination, the woman he thought he would be accompanying nowhere to be found. She had other tasks to do, other things to get done without him being there. Because Troy apparently needed to do things as well!

It had all been clearly explained to him back in the cell room. Due to a massive amount of minor tasks that needed to be gotten over with, Dr Hale would do the small things, like delegating focus on other areas of the facility, while Troy would get some essential items that would help them in their travels. And a person, if he wanted to.

Clearly, things had not been as well-made as Troy had hoped they had been. But that was how things were when one was made to work under straining circumstances, where every second could have been used for something more productive, and even the act of blinking could be seen as a federal offence. Both of them needed to hurry and do different tasks, or they would both be screwed over.

Troy could not help but think of it as so different than earlier that day, where Dr Hale had done mostly everything. The young man had just been following along through most of it, simply made to hold first-aid kits and make sure not to die from taking the wrong steps. Back then, he had seen it as a stressful endeavour, pressure on him being at an all-time high. Now? Now he could only look back at that time and laugh at his own incompetence.

That was supposed to be stressful. How about what was doing now, huh? The task given to him by Dr Hale was not something to be ignorant about, nor should one ever take it too lightly. More precisely, he had two tasks, though with one of them not being mandatory to complete, even if it was stressed to an incredible degree.

The first was of course to bring an assortment of items. Those were easy to remember, as they weren't too complicated in their naming schemes. And… acquiring them would likely be easy to do, if not perhaps a small bit awkward. Troy was still deciding between doing the second task before the first, actually.

As nearly every human being would have guessed by then, Dr Hale had ordered Troy to try getting Charlie on their team. Or, to at least get him outside of the facility with them, as she was unsure if he would be allowed to remain at his position when he tried to escape. The young man decided to look at it as a taste of guilt. He would certainly feel like so if anything ever happened to the muscular man due to their actions.

But… that was not the most important thing of all. Guilt was already being felt in plenty amounts. Troy had a first-hand idea of the number of times where he had stopped to send a mental apology Charlie’s way. Over the last few days, so many lies had been told, to the point where it could perhaps be called a betrayal. The young man had directly let it be known that he would likely die due to knowing that he shouldn't, that Dr Hale was trying to protect, that…

It was all terrible, and Troy still regretted ever starting up on it. He should have just gotten Charlie included in some way from the start. The man had been in possession of something capable of disrupting surveillance, so why had Troy not used it to give a brief explanation of it all. The man would have surely understood, right? It would have been fine.

Yet that was something he had not done, and now he would be paying for it with his conscience. He would have to go over to the laboratory and explain everything now. Charlie probably believed him to be dead now. That would be something of a surprise to show off. That did cause a small smile on Troy’s face. It was not really funny or anything. It just… distracted him for a few moments.

Ever so slightly, he got closer to the augmentation department. Dr Hale had explained how to get to the cafeteria when they had been stuck at the cel-room. From there, Troy had been able to find the rest of his way easily, the constant travelling between the two places having finally ingrained itself into his mind. Fat load of good that did him now. No matter what happened, he would be walking that path so much more.

It was an interesting thought. The knowledge of this being the last time he would be doing this particular journey was making him feel slightly nostalgic about it all. Was it really meant to be, with how beautiful it all was? The drawings on the walls were more than a little distracting, their beauty only first coming out now that Troy realised he would not be seeing them again. Was that weird? Perhaps it was. There was little care about that fact.

Even if the enjoyment of the art was there, time was not wasted on them. The young man looked at them as he walked forward and nothing more than that. All the figures passed him by, and most barely got a glance. He would not recognize them if he didn't.

Speaking of figures… The lack of people around him was disconcerting. Nobody had been at the cafeteria when he passed by it. Troy had first just chucked it up as it was not lunch hour for anybody, but then remembered that such a fact should not have stopped anybody from being inside. Only once had he seen it empty, and that had been during the middle of the night, where people other worked or slept. It wasn't close to that now, making him question just why it was all so empty.

Maybe it should have just been summed up as a bad thing. A lack of people equalled a lack of witnesses. If he was able to avoid anybody seeing him, it would be taken as a perfect event. Already, so many had been brought into it all. Having more would only bring problems.

That negative end-note was what he closed his thoughts up with, as Troy finally reached the entry to the augmentation department. The doors were open, just as they had been not so long ago. The security on it really was too lax for its own good.

Walking inside, no person was there to confront him. Nobody stood around chatting. Even the dull paintings were empty of people. Well, they had been empty last time Troy visited as well, so there was not much surprise there, but it did help make it feel so… eerie. He knew where he needed to go and what to do, but he just could not make but try to find something to stop that process from ever starting. There was so little desire towards it all, to the point where he wanted to jump ship immediately.

He knew he could not do that though, as it would do nothing but make him sign his own death warrant. Yeah, Troy really did need to remember that fact. Too many times spent hesitating was equal to his own death, which would be most likely extremely painful to have. Who knew how they would remotely execute him while he was inside a hallway. Perhaps a more high-tech version of a dart-trap? Or perhaps just an energy-rifle that automatically fired at his frontal lobe. That was also a possibility.

…

There was no doubt about it. Troy was doing it again. Making innocuous statements, blowing them out of proportion, and then spending way too long a time figuring it out mentally. The only real way to deal with it was to go forth without pause, and never look back.

Troy took the first real step towards Charlie's laboratory. Another followed soon after, with many not being too far behind. By what felt like but a moment, he was in front of that door. It had no lock attached to it, just like he remembered it as. It would take but a single push of his hand to open it up and allow himself to get inside.

How surprisingly hard an action, when knowing just what laid behind that door of plain artificial wood. Charlie would likely be there, working on some stupid thing. How would he react to Troy walking in? Maybe surprise? Anger perhaps? That could have been justified, if the older man had realised what had been actually done, how he had been lied to… or it could have been sadness, not realising the truth. Troy hoped for anything but the last.

…

When not knowing what was behind the door, everything was possible. Charlie had all range of emotion, and it could all be unleashed the moment the frame was touched. If left alone, the possibilities would remain as they were. Only upon Troy walking inside would observable reality solidify and allow the truth to be shown off. But, the younger man preferred not knowing what was the actual truth, not being too sure that he would be asked to leave when he finally did enter.

Life was a chance, after all. One could always roll a new low, even if they had been at a constant high before. And, it could be the other way as well. Only… chances were usually stacked against one when that happened. Growth was in bursts, and few things remained level for long.

Troy understood that more than others might have, being at the lowest of lows, only to be brought up a lot by pure chance. Nothing that he had personally done was the reason that he had been chosen for this job. It was all pure chance.

And it would not remain as it was, just as it had been stated before. If he waited for too long, the situation would change, and another door would open without his permission. There really were too few things he could actually control, and now that he had one of them before him, should he not have felt ashamed of being unable to grasp it?

It all seemed so easy, yet it never was. So much had been left up to the hands of fate, leaving Troy to be helpless. He had been trained for it, and now the consequences were paying themselves in droves. He was not proud of it, but that was how it seemed to have become. Really, if only there was a-

Again, fate took his destiny in its own hands. It had apparently waited patiently for him but had grown to feel the opposite after his hesitation, making it so that Troy would not be the one that opened up this particular door.

No… for it was Charlie who did, the man quickly pulling Troy into a hug. It was a pure instinct to hug the larger man back, but nobody would know that for some time. The young man certainly would not tell them.

“You weren't at lunch today,” Charlie stated, sounding worried while also trying to hide it. “Nor were you there at dinner. Should I be worried?”

Troy did not look up to meet the man's eyes, instead briefly pushing his head further into the other’s chest. I felt nice, knowing that he was not under threat of death for at least a few seconds. Was that what he should have gotten out of this, however? Probably not. Nor did he really care, for that moment of safety was worth a thousand normal ones.