After around another hour and a half, the team returned to the headquarters around 1:37 in the morning. Exhausted but knowing she had a job to do, Ilithiyah groggily took Masider and Redknees back to her laboratory. She carefully sat Masider down on the examination table, still surprised by how he was still asleep, and she cuffed one of his wrists to the steel table leg.

“Does he usually sleep this heavily?” Ilithyiah asked, breaking the silence and crouching at the box Redknees was in, her tired eyes looking into Redknee’s and sensing his fear. 

“Why is that any of your business??” Redknees rhetorically asked, putting on an act that he didn’t care. 

“I’m asking because he may have a possible concussion that needs to be assessed, not because I’m trying to be your friend,” Ilithiyah replied, concerned and stern. 

Redknees sighed and looked at her, then away. “Sometimes he does; he only sleeps that heavily if he overworked himself and barely slept. Does that answer your question, creepy bird lady?” Redknees said, then tried to get out of the box again but to no avail.

“Y’know, just because you called me a ‘creepy bird lady,’ I’m leaving you in that box,” Ilithiyah said, chuckling a bit as she stood up and returned to tending to Masider. 

Ilithiyah noticed the dried blood on his face and became suspicious. She gently scraped off some of it for testing later, suspecting he may have had something to do with the spider incidents throughout the day. Ilithiyah walked back over to Redknees and gave him an interrogative gaze. 

“Here’s a deal,” Ilithiyah said, crouching again to meet his gaze, “If you tell me everything you know about those spiders, I’ll let you out of this box. Or, I’ll keep you here, and your friend here can take you back with him whenever he wakes up,” Ilithiyah proposed, “No pressure, though, it’s your choice.”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Redknees replied, his voice cold yet clearly showing his attempt at hiding his fear. He then averted his gaze elsewhere, trying to get her to walk away.

Ilithiyah stood up and shrugged, “Alright then, fine by me,” Ilithiyah responded calmly, turning her back as she walked back toward the examination table. “Oh wait, I forgot something,” she said as she turned back, pushed the box into a closet, and turned off the light. 

Although muffled, Redknees spoke through the door, “Really?? A closet?? That’s the best you can do? You think I’m scared??”

Ilithyiah returned to the main section of her lab and started comparing the dried blood samples to the spider samples from earlier. Just as she focused, she heard a slight sniffle, then many more. She got up and walked towards the source of the sniffling, just to end up in front of the closet. Calmly opening the door, she saw Redknees still in the box, bawling.

“I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS BOX!!” He wailed, his breath hitching as he kept sobbing.

Ilithyiah sighed, entering the combination on the box and opening the lid to the glass box. Redknees immediately lunged to hug Ilithyiah and sobbed, “I-IM SO SORRY FOR BEING RUDE TO YOU, BIRD LADY,” he sniffled, hugging her.

Ilithyiah gently pushed Redknees off of her and sighed, rubbing her nose bridge. “It’s whatever,” she said, looking up, “What’s your name by the way,” she said as she grabbed a piece of paper. 

“It’s Redknees,” he said, standing up and straightening himself out, then he wiped the tears from his face. “My friend on your table.. he’s Masider, please take care of him,” he said as he walked over to him, looking at him. “Is he okay?”

Ilithyiah spoke, feeling sympathy, “He should wake up soon.. I can’t test anything if he’s not awake,” as she wrote down Redknees’s words. “Now, who do you work for, and why did you target two of our members?”

Redknees tensed up and sighed, “I.. I can’t tell you the first answer or I’ll get in trouble.. but my boss assigned us to take down this really tall man on your team.”

“Tall man? Can you deserve what he looks like?” Ilithyiah questioned, periodically glancing between Redknees and Masider.

“He has long hair... I think it’s shoulder-length now? It looked shorter earlier. He wears glasses. And something about how he can heal himself,” Redknees said, sitting in one of the lab chairs, trying to relax but immediately wincing in pain.

Ilithyiah noticed and immediately stopped writing, “Are you alright? Did you get hurt? You don’t look exactly hurt..” she said, her hands ready to grab supplies. 

“Two of your workers cut my legs off; they just hurt for a while, I’ll be fine,” he said, extending the remnants of the once 8-foot-long tentacle-like leg. 

Ilithyiah sat there for a moment trying to think. She then got up and walked out with Redknees watching her every move. She soon returned with soap, water, and bandages.

“Uh.. what are you doing?” Redknees asked, sitting back up in the chair.

“I’m helping you, of course; I don’t really know how to.. considering you don’t seem human but, I’m trying,” Ilithyiah said, trying to stifle a nervous laugh.

“Helping..?” Redknees said, his eyebrows perking up, seemingly almost foreign to the concept.

In headquarters' dim, silent corridors, Baxter quietly walked alongside Xzbat while Mayhem and Diego were a bit ahead.

“Xzbat,” Baxter said, breaking the silence, “Your horns, they snapped off at the ends from earlier when you hit that wall,” he said, glancing over at Xzbat.

Xzbat’s eyes widened as he touched his horns, his hands running over the jagged ends. “GODDAMNIT,” he yelled in frustration, “THE ONE TIME I ACTUALLY TRY TO GROW THEM OUT THIS HAPPENS.” 

“Yes, that is quite unfortunate,” Baxter replied, seemingly indifferent. “I think they fit your personality more, considering your occasional rebelliousness,” he added, trying to make Xzbat feel better about it. 

As soon as they reached the entrance of the apartment hall, Diego speed-walked to his room, catching everyone else off guard. Before anybody could say a word, he hastily closed the door. Baxter shook his head, realizing what he and Xzbat would have to do.

In Diego’s room, the first thing he did was lay in bed and curl up into a ball, praying the world forgot about his existence. As he closed his eyes, he started to wonder, “Was joining Sunrise the right idea?” he asked himself, “Maybe Mayhem’s right, I-”

“Diego, right?” Baxter asked, standing in Diego’s doorframe, “Can we talk for a moment?”

MAYHEM’S HUSH-BUSH

Mayhem sighed in relief, “I’M SO GLAD THAT I DON’T ACT LIKE THIS ANYMORE, GOOD LORD, ANYWAY IN TODAY’S INSANE ISN’T-THAT-STRANGE HUSH-BUSH, IT TURNS OUT THAT XZBAT ISN’T A NATURAL GREENHEAD!!” he barked. “XZBAT IS A NATURAL PLATNIUM BLONDE! HE DYES IT GREEN BECAUSE HE THINKS IT SUITS HIS COMPLEXION MORE!”