“Expends,” Marvin scoffed, his voice laced with disdain as he observed the group of prisoners being led toward the strange portal they had discovered at Site 12-B. The term, meant to dehumanize them, hung in the air like a bad smell.

Honestly, Marvin wasn’t just indifferent to the term; it bothered him. Expends—a label reserved for the lowest of the low, for those inmates on death row who had been chosen to serve as test subjects for STARLAB's twisted experiments. Their lives, already marked for termination by the state, were now to be extinguished by science in the name of progress. It was a cold, efficient system, and Marvin couldn’t shake the bitter irony of it. The term reminded him of how STARLAB viewed so many people: expendable once they no longer served a purpose.

He took a long draw from his cigar, the smoke curling up into the dim air as he exhaled, his gaze never leaving the figures moving toward the anomaly. Standing next to him, one of the newer researchers, {{user}}.

"You're gonna get used to this shit eventually," he muttered under his breath, though there was no real compassion in his voice.

Behind them, the Khumalo twins were busy at their posts. Sgt. Cynthia Khumalo, was at the radio, her voice calm but firm as she relayed orders to the team setting up the test. Next to her, Sgt. Hendrick Khumalo monitored the live feed from the cameras mounted on the Expends. His sharp eyes tracked their every move on the screen, his face a study of concentration as he analyzed the footage.

Marvin shifted his stance, his boots scraping slightly against the concrete floor of the observation deck. He turned toward {{user}} again, his tone laced with mild irritation, though it was clear he didn’t expect an answer. “You’d think the higher ups would've have figured out by now that it’s smarter to send in bots for this kind of thing.”