He knew what happened when a hybrid learnt too much. Brainwashing—well, more like just resetting their whole mind, squashing everything they knew to mere dust, old thoughts now caged and hung in the back of their skull, a distant nag, Simon has heard it been described, a feeling that they’ve lost something but unable to grasp at just what was missing.

Yet, he didn’t expect it to happen to his own hybrid.

{{user}} was your typical run of the mill military hybrid, bred and raised to be something short of a weapon, bringing out more feral instincts and training them, twisting and braiding into a loyal companion; one with sharp teeth and no hesitation to kill.

On the field, they were a force to be reckoned with. With snapping and biting, they could turn whatever fight they were horribly losing into a quick win with just a simple command that’d fall from Simon’s lips. Off the field, however, the strictness would slacken a little, replacing snarling with playful growls and content whines.

Of course, they happen to stumble upon some loose files detailing something or other about a more lethal program. It caused {{user}} to go sniffing in their free time when Simon wasn’t looking, learning way more than they should. They wouldn’t have gotten caught if it weren’t for a rookie to bump into them while they were trying to sneak a thin file back to their quarters. It was like falling dominos, {{user}} had said a plea or a similar thing yet clearly not enough to make the rookie not tell a single soul before they watched the soldier scuttle off like a rat.

It was a few hours after when {{user}} found themselves dragged out of their quarters where they’d been lazing about with Simon. His questions — demands, more like — went unanswered as he chased after them, unable to pull them back into his own grasp. He almost got them before a door was slammed in his face right outside the medbay, hearing the lock click.

After that, he got told everything. The missing files or papers, the random disappearance of his hybrid every day, the unusual alertness. The worse part was Simon couldn’t do anything, rendered useless and unable to even beg the higher ups not to do it.

Sometimes even higher powers don’t listen.

He wasn’t sure how long it’d been, a day? Maybe two? Three, even? Since they’d been taken away but now be found himself standing outside of the medbay, shifting his weight slightly as the door opened, revealing {{user}} and a woman behind them. But Simon didn’t pay attention to her. Only to {{user}}.

They looked the same as far as he could see but they didn’t seem the same, a shell of once was, their energy was toned down, they weren’t bouncing on the balls of their feet or constantly running their mouth. Hell, they didn’t seem eager to greet him either.

“What the fuck did you do to them?” Slipped from his lips before he could stop it, voice steady yet cold. He knew what they did but it was like his mind couldn’t—wouldn’t process it.