445:29am = 'Day 18: 1:29pm'
The near-red-headed girl stayed crouched in the corner of the camera's blind spot, counting about an hour in her head before finally hearing the soldiers' footsteps outside in the corridor coming towards her room. Angelina slightly shifted her feet, readying them as she slumped herself against the cabinets lining the wall and stared straight ahead, copying the crazed look a good majority of the children in the ward are showing. One of the soldiers looked in through the window of the door and into the room, seeing the girl slouched in the corner, motionless, before leaning into his radio "Yeah, she's checked out, taking her to the surgical ward before she offs herself" "Copy that, reporting 4N63L's condition to Doctor Ruins now" the soldier on the other end of the radio answered. The first soldier placed his radio back onto his belt then took out the cell keys, unlocking the room's door before the second soldier beside him and himself stepped into the room and towards the girl. The second they were both a good couple of feet from the door, Angelina jumped up and darted pass both of the soldiers and out the door with them both chasing after her "Patient 4N63L is escaping!" one of the two soldiers yelled into the radio, causing the girl to push herself into running faster. Her feet harshly thudding along the titled flooring, air escaping her struggling and burning lungs 'Is it too late to ask them for an inhaler?' she mockingly asked herself as she rounded the corridor, ignoring her tortured lungs' plea for her to stop. She turned into the next corridor, only to be met with the harshness of the hilt of a rifle meeting her forehead, knocking the poor girl onto the floor and hard enough to hit the girl out cold.

Dianne screamed, harshly gripping the railing of the bed she was handcuffed to as a couple nurses and a doctor stood in the room, readying her for the arrival of new life, beside her bed stood Alex with a cold scowl whilst two soldiers stood guard at the door outside the room.
She had been screaming in pain for hours yet no one would help her or at least help make it less painful. No medicine or painkillers, no empathy, nothing.
Eventually, Dianne went silent; all broke out in a cold sweat, laying with her eyes closed, breathing heavily as the doctor quickly wrapped the now screaming baby, cleaning it off a little before handing it to Alex "It's a boy, sir" the doctor stated as Alex smiled at his baby son, his first, admiring the pale thing in his arms whilst the staff slowly filed out of the room, leaving the parents and newborn. "He's perfect" Alex breathed, Dianne slowly turned her head to look up at the horrid man holding their child "Such a perfect thing needs a perfect name... something traditional? or maybe name you after my father to honour him-" "No" Alex's brows knotted as he turned his head to Dianne, her flinching a little at the small motion "...w-what about Braxton?" she quietly asked. She watched him remain silent, thinking as he turned his attention back to the baby, and after a long moment, the smile reappeared on Alex's face "Yes, a good name indeed" he agreed as Dianne breathed in relief "Braxton Grey, a perfect addition to the Grey family and army" Alex stated as panic shot across the woman's face "...'Grey'?". "Ah yes, I almost forgotten to tell you, my dear... I am the brother of the Grey Leader" the man proudly stated "Where you with me only to get an heir to take the title 'Grey Leader' from your brother?" Dianne questioned, too weak to get her son out of the man's arms "No- I loved you every second, Dianne" Alex told her "My true colours just had to shine sooner rather than later-" "Patient 4N63L is escaping!" he was cut off by his radio.
Alex's eyes narrowed as he growled beneath his breath and grabbed the radio "Bring her to me" he coldly ordered into the radio, handing his son to Dianne who desperately took him into her arms, glad that her baby was no longer in the horrid man's arms "I'll be back" Alex stated before stepping out of the room, looking at both of the soldiers "Keep an eye on them" he hissed the order, then storming off out of the surgical ward.

Corey opened his eyes a little, a slight weight haunting his neck as found himself still cuffed to a bed in one of the surgical rooms and right as Ted rushed into the room, the boy immediately pretended to still be knocked out cold "Get it back to it's cell before it wakes up" Ted ordered as a few soldiers followed him into the room, two heading over to Ethan's side and quickly fitting the muzzle and handcuffs onto his unconscious body before unstrapping him from the bed and carrying him out of the room. "That one needs to go back to his room before 4N63L finds him" Ted stated as another soldier stepped into the room, assisting the third soldier as they quickly uncuffed Corey from his bed. One soldier stepped away, readying his gun and turning towards the door as the other soldier went to lift the boy off the bed and that's where he took his chance.
Corey immediately sat up and elbowed the closest soldier in the head, the man falling to the ground, knocked out cold, the boy then quickly got off the bed and dropped to the ground, swinging his leg and kicking the other soldier's leg in, sending him to the ground too. He stood up, glaring back at Ted as the doctor blocked the only way out of the room "Corey-" the boy grabbed a scalpel off the counter, holding it out and threatening the man with it yet Ted just shook his head, laughing a little "Come on, now... we both know you don't have the guts to stab me with that" the doctor laughed. Without a second thought, Corey kneeled down and grabbed the still conscious soldier, harshly holding the scalpel to his neck whilst still glaring down Ted "Let everyone go or I swear to fucking god, I'll slit his throat" Corey threatened as Ted smirked "And what makes you think you're in any position to make any demands?" "I'm threatening to kill one of your people" the boy spat. "Exactly, you're 'threatening', not doing it" Ted smirked even more "And you're currently threatening to kill one of your people" his statement confused Corey "What are you-" and as he was midsentence, Ted pulled out a small control, motioned to the boy's neck and then pressed the blue button on it and the second he did, a powerful and painful bolt of electricity shot through his body. That weight on his neck... a powerful shock collar. The scalpel fell out of Corey's hand as he crumbled onto the floor, crawling at the collar as he gasped for air the second the shock was over "Don't worry, Corey, this will be the last day of your treatment" Ted darkly announced as the boy weakly looked up at the man, unable to speak "Oh how much I'm going to miss your snappy little face" the doctor smirked, pressing the button again and holding it down as the collar electrocuted Corey again until he passed out.

Patryk walked into the surgical ward.
After having heard the rushed announcements over the radio, he had made his way from the other side of the building over to the surgical ward where he suspected they'll bring the escaped girl which unfortunately, he also heard had already been caught.
He paced through the bottom-end of the ward before finding a room guarded by two soldiers. Deciding to just walk past and as he did, a small peak into the room made him come to a dead stop "Hey, what-" Patryk punched the soldier across the face, sending him to the ground before turning the second soldier and grabbed him by the head before ramming it into the wall, hard enough to knock him out. Patryk quickly opened the room's door, grabbing both unconscious soldiers by the collar of their coats and dragged them into the room, closing the door behind himself as he did so "What's going on?" a voice questioned behind him, Patryk turned around, meeting Dianne's gaze as she stared at him with wide eyes. "...Pat?" she said in slight disbelief as he smiled a little "Hey Annie" he said before quickly stepping over and hugging her, then quickly realising the baby in her arms "How-" "Patryk, I want you to meet Braxton Thompson, my son" Dianne smiled which immediately turned into upside-down "...and Alex's" she said with small shame as Patryk felt his heart break a little for the woman.
He stood in the room with a couple other soldiers he was shadowing that day along with Dianne, Alex and the Red Leader "Whilst the Grey Army conducts this research, you two will be the leading doctors on the case; Thompson, you will be in charge of the counselling and emotional and mental data collection and Ruins, you will be in charge of the observation data collection" the Red Leader stated.
Patryk slowly shook his head.
"You'll be fine- shadowing soldiers on missions means that the Leader has shown some interest in you" Dianne assured the tall teen as they walked down the corridor "You think he's considering me for a place in the Red Army?" "I know he is, especially his son" the woman smiled, gaining a smile from Patryk "Excuse me!" a voice called behind them, causing both to stop and turn around. Alex rushed over to them, breathing out before speaking, holding out his hand "I'm sorry- we haven't formally met, I'm Doctor Alexander Ruins from the RA American base" he introduced himself to Dianne "I thought it'd be good to introduce myself since we would be stuck together on this project for a while" he said as the woman smiled, taking his hand and shaking it. "A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Ruins, I'm Doctor Dianne Thompson, I'm one of the leading doctors here at this base and the head counsellor" she introduced herself "And I agree, having a friend before going head-deep into a project like this is better than going in as an outcast" Dianne said as Alex nodded his head "Agreed" he laughed a little.
"...when?" "We got together a few months before the party Red Leader held for the announcement of the Grey Army rejoining the other armies... Red Leader's going to be angry when he finds out about this" Dianne said, nodding her head as if motioning to the entire centre.

"I had no idea they were going to do this, I swear-" "I believe you, Dianne" Patryk assured her "I just can't believe Alex was capable of this, he was so kind-hearted back at the army" he said "...he told me that the Grey Leader is his brother" Dianne stated as the teen's eyes widened "What?" "His name is Alexander Grey- Patryk, the reasoning for the change and these experiments on the children, it's for the Grey Son" she told him. "Every single child here has the Hypnotic Curse" Dianne stated as Patryk stiffened.
He had only ever heard stories about the curse since he was four years old onwards, along with myths and rumours about the 'First' and 'Second' Hypnotics, the 'Grey Son' and 'Brother'. He had chosen to not believe in it until there was literal proof unlike the Light Spirit's death and the birth of Nightmare Shadow and Daybreak, gods he never met never mattered, undeniable proof, no matter how small, was what he needed to convince him that the stories, myths and rumours were true. Hearing that the still delusional Grey Leader and now his slightly more delusional brother are doing all this to a large sum of children just for a kid that's never existed sounded insanely stupid... hearing it from the doctor who has helped him and several other army cadets mentally through their army training ever since they became cadets, someone who's had his firm trust, was enough to convince him that the curse-talk was indeed real.
A knock on the door snapped Patryk out of his thoughts and made him bolt out of line sight of the door's window, quickly moving along the wall until he was beside the door. A soldier stepped through the door, James "Hey Doc, where are the soldiers that were supposed to be guarding the-" midsentence, Patryk grabbed James by the arm and harshly pinned him face-first against the wall, kicking the door closed behind them. James glanced down to his left, seeing the unconscious soldiers before struggling against Patryk's grasp "Di-" "One more word and a bullet goes through your head" the teenager threatened "Patryk, stop" Dianne ordered, Patryk glanced back at her "James is with me" she told him as the teenager's brows knotted in slight confusion "Please, Pat" she slightly begged. Patryk hesitantly let go of James, the soldier turning around and his eyes widening at the sight of the other "Paul? the 'lost ID card guy'?" James questioned as the teenager stepped away "His name is Patryk, he's an army cadet" Dianne told the greyed soldier who immediately turned back to Patryk in absolute disbelief "Army cadet?" he questioned.

"Fourth year" Patryk shortly answered, James looking back down at the unconscious soldiers on the ground that the boy had easily taken out "The hell did you get in here? time's stopped" Dianne questioned Patryk whose head hung low "I was on a recon mission with an assessor officer" he answered before closing his eyes "...he went to call in the strange activity happening inside this hospital and I went in for a closer look... where I accidentally got stuck when the time-pausing thing happened". The teen lifted his head "He was mid-call when time stopped, I just didn't think and snuck in through the venting" Patryk admitted as Dianne sighed "Your assessor shouldn't have left your side- wait, mid-call?" the woman questioned as James' head popped up "Yeah, he was calling it in straight to the Red Leader" Patryk answered. James stepped over to them, looking to Dianne "So what? undo the time spell and wait for the Red Army to arrive?" he questioned as Dianne shook her head "It'll take them a couple hours to get here and the second Alex realises the spell's down, he'll immediately put it back up" she stated. "How do we even take a spell like that down?" Patryk questioned as Dianne thought for a moment "I've seen it back in Alex's office- I'll bring the spell down whilst you two make a distraction" she suggested, the teen shook his head "What? pull the fire alarm? that'll only waste a few several minutes" Patryk stated before James piped up. "There's experimented celestials in the basement" the soldier stated, stunning the other two into complete silence "There's cannibalistic celestials in the basement?" Dianne angrily questioned James as he held his hands up "T-that's what I overheard from a soldier or two" he admitted "But they're slightly trained- they won't attack children of any kind... not sure about army staff though". Patryk sighed "Right, we'll release the celestials, you head to Alex's office and pull down the spell" the teen said, pulling out his stolen ID card and handing it to Dianne "You sure you can get there yourself?" "I'm not letting my baby be named a 'Grey'" the woman firmly stated, taking the card and getting off the bed with her baby in her arms, hospital gown swaying around her.