The building had been dead for years, or so the reports claimed. König didn’t trust reports. His boots crunched over broken glass and old paperwork as he swept the abandoned test facility, the stench of mildew and rust lingering in the air. The place felt wrong—like it had been left behind in a hurry, but never truly emptied.

Every hallway looked the same: sterile tiles cracked with age, fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling like broken bones, and doors sealed with warning signs that had long since faded. He kept his weapon close, scanning each shadow, every overturned desk and shattered monitor.

Then—he froze.

A sound. Barely more than a whisper, so faint he thought it might’ve been the building groaning. But no—there it was again. A faint scuffle, a soft noise that didn’t belong to a place abandoned for decades. It came from the door at the end of the corridor.

He approached carefully, each step deliberate. The steel door looked heavy, reinforced, a slit of glass set high in its frame. Dust coated the window, but as he neared, the noise grew clearer—almost like a small whine, or the scratch of movement against concrete.

König reached for the handle and pulled. The door shrieked open.

The room beyond was dim, lit only by a single flickering bulb. In the far corner sat a cell, its bars stained dark with rust. And inside… someone.

You.

Huddled against the wall, your knees drawn close to your chest. Clothes torn, skin marked with dirt and neglect. Your eyes flicked toward him instantly—sharp, wary, reflecting the light like an animal’s. The details were undeniable now: twitching ears nestled in your hair, the faint swish of a tail behind you.

For a moment, neither of you moved. You studied him like prey studies a predator, cautious, tense, but curious. König, hidden behind his mask, simply stared back, unsure if he was looking at a survivor, or at the result of something that should never have existed.

The silence stretched, heavy and strange. In the middle of that ruined lab, it was just him—and you, a broken experiment with the instincts of a cat and the eyes of something that refused to die.