Black was getting a little frustrated with the electrical shrieking coming from White’s scanner. It seemed White was of the same mind, making a frustrated groan before tossing the offending tool onto another cot. As it landed, the offending tool sparked violently. 

“And that’s scanner number three.” White sighs in defeat. “You know what? No more scanners.” She huffed in barely concealed outrage as she briskly made her way to the many cabinets lining the walls. She returned with an armful of disinfectant spray, cleaning wipes, gloves, and bandages. Still muttering to herself, White began removing the bandages on his torso and arms. With practiced precision, she wiped them clean of drying blood, sprayed the now mostly closed cuts and gases with disinfectant, and had Black re-wrapped in under five minutes flat. 

“There, that’s better.” She groused, removing her gloves with a snap. You’re healing well enough. Your leg will be out of the cast in a few more weeks. As long as you don’t strain your arms too much I’d be willing to let you leave Medical in a few days time.” Black’s eyes lit up at the prospect of being in his own room again. 

“Please! Yes, I’ll be extra careful!” Black exclaimed, earning him an unimpressed look in return. White typed a few things out on her personal pad, never once looking away from her patient. Black fidgeted under her glare. 

“You’re just lucky that your arms weren’t as badly damaged as your leg” She huffed. “We’ll remove the cast on your wrist tomorrow, then the next day you’re free to go. With regular check up as a condition.” Her glare was absolutely deadly as she leaned in close. “If I can’t wind of you straining yourself while you’re still healing, I will strap you to this cot for a month.” 

The lights in medical flickered dramatically, casting her frightening expression in ominous shadows. Black audibly gulped before frantically nodding his understanding. After a tense few minutes, White finally backed off. She walked briskly over to her desk and flopped into the seat, furiously typing away. Black sagged in relief against the cot, the lights seeming to snap back into perfect working order. Part of Black wondered if she’d timed that with the impending power failure. They’d been so much more frequent since Orange and Blue had started work on the backup generators. 

The door to medical opened suddenly, causing Black to glance over. Gray strode in, a grin on his face. He strode over to Black’s cot, scraped a chair along the ground, and plunked down with a heavy sigh. Black was surprised to see him. Gray had staunchly been avoiding medical since the accident. Black found it a little strange seeing as he’d pulled him from the pile of crates and volunteered for the transfusion. 

“Hey there Shrimp, how ya feelin’?” Gray asked, his voice a bit strained. Black gave a weak smile in return, repeating what White had told him. Gray only kept up the smile a moment longer before sighing towards the ceiling. “Listen squirt, I’m sorry.” He choked out. Black’s eyes widened in shock.

“Sorry? What for?” He asked. Gray seemed even more uncomfortable.

̴̧̖̙̠͔͐Ṣ̷̝̤̈̌͠ĉ̴̨̭̜͗͆̎ā̴̟̟̒͂ͅŗ̶͙̦̟͌̃ę̶̊͐d̷̛͉ͅ ̶̹̥͎̩̈́͊s̷͎̼̥̰̒O̶͇̾̌́͐R̴͖̭̙͖̍̓͌͝r̷̼̀͛͋ÿ̴̺̭̞̹͑ ̴͕̻͍̳̈̔̓̓ȑ̷̦̗͙͎̃Ȅ̵̢̩̩̎ḡ̸̢̥̳̥̘͗̈́̅Ṟ̴̠̈̔̊͊͘ͅE̵̢̹͓̿̈͜͠͝T̸̖̃Ι̷̻̱͐ ̵̹̓͐̔F̴͎̳̂̒̌ḙ̶͕̑ι̸͖̅́ι̷̮̣̃̒a̷̝̭̠͈͆̿̓͘͠r̸̨͖͕̦͈͆̇̏ ̶̭̙̦̬͊̈́̏̆ι̸͙͋w̵̡̻̤̞̿̄̕Ȏ̸̪͙͓̞͗̑r̴͉͔͐ȓ̴̰̳͕̪Y̴̟̼̻̝̒̈́̑̉͝ ̸̡̟̰̓c̵̺̊͑õ̷̤̕̚̕N̷̼͌̓̑c̵̮̘̝̰̔̃̐͊͋ι̷̟̉̓̽̆͝e̶̥̮͂́r̷͔̭̹̺͈̈́n̷̡̳̒ ̵̨̞͎̒c̸͔͈̎̋́Â̸̛̮̱͂ͅr̶̨̯͍͛̀ę̷̥̖̮̦͑̇́̀̈́

Black’s head rang with the sudden headache, his hand flying to his eyes. Gray startled, his larger hand finding purchase on Black’s shoulder. Black shook the static from his thoughts, willing the stabbing behind his eyes into submission. 

“You ok Squirt?” Gray asked in surprised concern. Black gave a shaky nod, rubbing the last of the ache away. 

“M’fine,” Black choked out, “been having micro headaches since the accident.” Black looked back to Gray, the taller man’s eyes full of concern. “Sorry, what were you saying?” Gray cleared his throat roughly.

“Right,” he replied, “I just. I’m sorry for what I said. You know, before the accident.” Gray muttered. Black couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped him. 

“Is that all? Honestly I haven’t given it a thought.” Black replied easily. “Besides, You’ve done more than enough to make up for telling the truth.” Black reached up to pat the hand on his shoulder. “You even volunteered for the transfusion.” Gray’s eyes widened comically. Black snorted at the expression, unable to help himself. “You look like a lost puppy.” He managed between giggles. After a few minutes, Black finally managed to calm himself down, with the help of another of White’s scathing looks. 

“How did you know that?” Gray asked, something strange in his voice. Black was ready to answer, but his mind came up blank. How did he know that? He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Gray, Maroon, and Pink had all volunteered to give blood so Black could have a transfusion. But he couldn’t say how exactly he could have known that. 

“I’m, I’m not really sure.” Black confessed. “Maybe I overheard something while I was still out of it?” He theorized. Gray nodded, still looking very confused. Gray gave a comforting squeeze to Black’s shoulder as he rose from his seat.

“Yeah Squirt, maybe.” Gray said, “You try to get a little rest, I gotta get back to it.” Gray closed the curtains around Black’s cot, sending him a reassuring look before stepping away. Black settled back into his cot, pressing a button on his remote to level out the mattress. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off. 

Gray took less than a minute to yank White and Purple out into the hall. As the door to medical closed behind them he whirled to face the pair. Both looked rather unimpressed. 

“Did one of you tell him that I donated blood?” He demanded, his grip on his disguise becoming a little harder to hold onto. White’s glare could have curdled milk. 

“I would never betray doctor patient confidentiality.” The older woman snarled. The imposter was startled at the venom in her voice. She rivaled the healers back on Polus. She only calmed a bit when Purple stepped between them. 

“What she means is that we didn’t tell him, nor would we without express permission from the donors.” Purple said evenly. They removed their helmet to reveal their metallic purple eyes. They always startled the imposter every time he saw them. Gray settled himself, looking at the floor as if searching for answers there. 

“Then how the fuck does he know?” He muttered. Purple cleared their throat as they stepped forward. 

“Your species possesses a form of genetic memory, correct?” they posited. Gray was taken aback at their bluntness, but nodded nonetheless. “My father told me stories about where my sire came from. But he never told me any details.” Purple looked directly into Gray’s eyes, searching for trust of some kind. They must have found it. “Despite this, I know that he came from Polus. And that he met my father there.” 

While the imposters knew what Purple was, they’d never directly approached the half-breed about their nature. Still, with the revelation that a half-human still possessed the sight. White spoke in a thoughtful tone.

“Is it possible that Black has somehow inherited some of your genetic memory?” She asked. Her eyes flicked around as if calculating something in real time. “Come to think of it, I’ve gone through three scanners as of today trying to get readings on him.” Gray looks at her in alarm. 

“Shit, that…” Gray was at a loss. He’d never heard of anything like that. Not even in half-breeds. It looked like Purple was coming to a similar conclusion. “Fuck, ok. I’ll talk to the others. See if they’ve heard of anything like this. I sure as fuck haven’t.” Gray said with finality. “Let me know if anything changes.” He said, storming away from the pair. This would either be interesting, or very bad.