Newcomer (someone should've called CPS years ago)

Walking through the hallways, I kept a calm facade as Squishy tried his best to calm my tense nerves. Keeping my chord in a firm hold, he enveloped it with a warm sensation as we followed the short man with the pretentious one behind us. The hold he had on me was comforting and soothed my thought-filled mind.

It was silent except for the sounds of our shoes tapping against the laminated floors; the two men, obviously not in the mood for chit-chat; while we were conditioned by experience to not speak in front of others unless asked to.

Really took the saying "Children should be seen and not heard" to heart.

The temperature dropped the further we were walking until we reached the point where I could see our breath. Luckily, our uniforms had long-sleeved tops, so we weren't shivering from the cold.

The closer we got to our presumed destination, the heavier the air seemed to be; the kind of weight you would feel if you were in a room occupied by a caged bear.

An agitated one as well, now that I take note of a young erratic heartbeat surrounded by a trio of adult heartbeats, two of which beat placidly while the other seems to be excited. I pulled Squishy's attention to it up ahead with a little mental nudge, prepping him to be ready for any dangerous situations.

The erratic heartbeat seemed to belong to a young male judging by the general outline I was sensing, who seemed to barely react to any movements made towards him. It was as if he was a wild animal backed against a wall, waiting for a chance to strike when provoked.

The cage he seemed to be locked in boded nothing promising to us.

We stopped in front of a metal door that was the only barrier keeping us from the feral being; a keypad located on a wall on the left side with a slot for a card. The man in front of us moved over to the keypad and punched in the code, the buttons letting out a high-pitched beep for each one he pressed.

Paying attention to the details made by the beeps, I memorized the passcode. The keypad itself was a three by three with another button down the middle row—likely a zero. If not, then I'll have to fact-check with Squishy when we get the chance.

With a whoosh of the doors—signifying its airtight status that I took note of—we were immediately hit with a heavy wave of resentment. There was a split moment of hesitation, but it was quickly thrown away when I felt Squishy's fear and apprehension.

I quickly clamped my core around his to shield him from the worst of it, letting him go when he got acclimated to the pressure.

There was an exchange of words between the scientists that brought us here and the ones occupying the room concerning what lessons we were picked up from and our identification papers that I paid extreme attention to. Unfortunately, it was just the basic things I already knew about (that I was going to deal with later) and the conversation shifted to another topic concerning so-and-so drinking all the coffee in the staff room.

Stretching out my senses, I noted the wall separating us from the caged boy. There was a glass panel that confirmed my theory of the room being an observation room. Said boy was currently looking at my twin, his eyebrow raised a bit in confusion at the new development. It would have been cute, if not for the obvious murderous vibes he was sending out. (Not to mention the fact that the window separating us was most definitely a one-way mirror, the material sounded the same as the ones we've used before in interrogation simulations. He shouldn't have been able to notice us at all. It wouldn't be far-fetched to conclude that he might have enhanced senses like us.)

Consciously or not, he was astronomically different from the children we usually dealt with. His body was tense with aggression long before we entered the observation room, head swerving at the smallest of sounds. The young child's body was clad in only thin pants and a shirt, bare of anything else just like his cage was. There was nothing there that indicated he had a bed of some sort, just hard metal and gaps made by the iron bars surrounding the boy. Located at the bottom of the area was a slot I supposed they used for feeding, although, what they fed him was unknown.

"One."

One of the men our transporters were conversing with, broke off from their group and walked over, addressing my twin. Holding up his hands, he revealed a box of crayons and some paper, giving me an idea of what our purpose here was for. "Your objective is to interact with the subject and gain his trust. Find as many details as you can, be it his family, affiliations, or where he is from." Handing him a key-shaped object, he continued, "This is the key to his cage. I want you to unlock it while you interact with him."

Well, that definitely did not seem good for my brother's health. Child or not, that boy was dangerous

I purposely shuffled closer to Squishy, catching the man's attention.

"Ah, right, Two, your objective is to assist One. In the case that your partner struggles, you are to fill in the gap, otherwise, don't interfere with the two." He added after a moment, handing the objects to him while avoiding skin contact.

"Are my directions understood?"

"Yes." we answered in sync, not showing any inflections in our tone that would betray any emotions.

He nodded, before moving towards the metal door that connected the two rooms.

"Follow me."

Fiddling with his lanyard that hung around his neck, he picked a rectangular-shaped object—either a keycard or an ID—and pressed it down against a pad located near the metal door. The doors opened with a slight creak of metal, the sound baring a likeness to scenes in horror movies when characters open ominous-looking doors that bore nothing good for them.

How ironically foreboding.

Seeing the man motion for us to enter the room, my twin walked towards the doors first, signaling for me to follow after him. We placed our cases near the door and walked in, the pressure feeling heavier than ever now that the gazes of the scientists were focused on us.

Once we were inside, the doors closed behind us with another creak, leaving us alone in the room with the caged child.

A possibly feral caged child.

Of course.

The kid perked up at the sudden increase of people in the room, his murderous intent lowered due to his focus on the two of us. After a moment of silence, he turned away from us, already bored with the situation and adamant about ignoring us.

I turned to Squishy and motioned my hand towards the key in his left hand, suggesting that I handle unlocking the cage. His refusal was immediate as soon as he realized what I was insinuating.

"No, I can take care of it," he whispered, making sure it was low enough that only I could hear him.

With a shrug, I moved to the corner of the room not too close from him, but not too far away in case I'd need to lunge in and grab my brother by the collar in case there was a violent reaction.

The kid was currently in the part of his cage farthest away from us, tensing up at every step Squishy took towards him.

"Hello," my twin greeted with a smile, his voice loud and bright, "I'm One, what's your name?"

"....."

"....."

"....."

Squishy waited patiently as he sat by the locked doors of the cage, not bothered by the silence.

"Oh, that's right," In sudden realization, he knocked his fist into his open palm. "You look like a foreigner so you probably don't understand me. Um....," he faked a hesitant look, "I only know a couple of languages so let's hope I get the right one." He then began greeting him in a multitude of languages, each attempt getting the boy more irritated.

Zoning in on the clock located back in the observation room, I deduced that it was around 3:45. They haven't told us when we would be taken back yet, so I doubt we'd be leaving anytime soon going by how things were currently going.

What a bother.