"Interesting. Hmm...alright, but shouldn't we move somewhere a little more comfortable?" Doc grins at me.

"You what-? How can you just go along with it without knowing what he wants?" Fenir scoffs at both of us.

"'Nothing's for free', isn't that what you always say," she says simply before leading me back out. "I'll let your Lady come along. I don't think she'll detach herself anytime soon."

I look down and remember the paw still pulling on me. I untangle myself but keep a hand in her fur and move after Doc.

I was forced back into that white room, this time an entire entourage filled that cube room. The tiger sat herself around my chair as I sat at the desk, waiting for the Spanish Inquisition to start. This time Fenir was inside the room, glaring at me, next to the door. Like I'm going to make a run for it. Where would I go? X settle on the wall to my left, opposite to the Station, staring into space.

Doc had found herself a chair and sat directly in front of me...it feels like one of those bad cop shows. I sigh, looking down at the tiger before shifting my gaze back up at the Doc. "You can ask whatever. But..." I bite my lip, I am hesitant at the idea of asking this but what else could I do? "My sister and brother are missing." I had no idea who took them. Were they taken separately? Where they dead? I have no clues. No leads. No power. Nothing. Nothing at all. What other choice do I have here?

"Siblings!?" Doc's spine stands straight.

I nod, glancing over at X, unsure if he remembers that time in the woods, a little over a month ago. "I want to find them."

"How are they missing? Who took them?" Doc was leaning towards me. ...She is waaay too intrigued by everything.

"...I don't know. My sister..." I frown, my memories were a mess. "I..." I wasn't able to finish, so I try again. "My brother Cody was taken away in a van...my sister...Anne...Anne was...helicopter..?" I remember the sound revibrating like a heartbeat was the blades as they went round and round. "Anne was taken by a helicopter. When Cody was taken he was injected by the same stuff I was when X," I look up over at him but he was looking somewhere else.

"Ah...so it is possible that they were taken separately..."she sounded like this was going to be troublesome. She then took in my accusing look, "Tranqs are a common commodity between groups in the business of capturing Outsiders, and there are unfortunately a lot. Armies, mercenaries, researchers and a combination or 'em are always looking for subjects."

That makes us sound like animals. Something slowly burns inside me, the old frustrating anger that I have been keeping buried for the last ten years was reigniting. "You included?' I ask bitterly.

"Me included. But I'm more interested in the Miasma to be honest," her eyes shifted over to the tiger. "It's something that's been the root of a lot of problems but it seems everyone is more interested in the effects rather than the cause lately." She looked a little upset at that. "But, that being said, you are very interesting to say the least."

"I'll let you do whatever you want to me. You can dissect me, kill me, whatever you want. But I want to find them and I want them safe. I don't want them tested on or used or whatever it is that you do to us on the Outside."

Fenir snorts at my demands.

Doc raises her hands up, "Oi oi, don't paint me as the crazy scientist that'll dissect everything in sight."

"You do dissect everything in sight," Fenir quickly retorts.

"Shut up. Furniture doesn't talk." She then turns back to me, "Are your sister and brother like you?"

"...like me...?"

"Cursed."

I scoff, looking down at my arm. How ironic that question was. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time but try to hold it in, my left hand squeezing this wretched right arm.

"What's so funny?" Doc asks. The tone wasn't offended, just her usual curiosity.

"I..." I didn't even know what to say. But instead try to answer the original question, "My brothers and sister are what you all categorise as 'Cursed'. Cody," the dumbfuck, "had developed strength, also some accelerated healing. Anne's abilities are...unstable and she could do so much. She can read minds, talk with my brothers in their minds...she could create electricity for old household appliances...heat and freeze water...psychokinesis as you would call it. She also a bit psychic. She can predict Miasma storms and is hyper aware of her surroundings."

Doc's eyes widen, "That...we've never come across someone that was psychic."

I harden my gaze as I continue. This exactly why why I never wanted my family discovered, "She's twelve. My brother, Cody, is twenty. I'm the second eldest."

A half smile entertained Doc's lips, "And you're extremely protective of them."

Until I fuck it up.

"You said 'brothers'." Fenir notes.

I sniff, the fresh wound that I barely held together as it is, threatened to leak open and drown me in blood.

Pain? Where is the pain? The tiger sniffs at me, her big yellow eyes wide with concern.

I think she's misinterpreting my physical and emotional pain.

"Yes." I manage to say..."Markus. He's my baby brother. He was also Cursed and...died when all the fighting started," I say bitterly, biting my lip as I feel myself wanting to sob my heart out at all the frustration that was building up. Cody. Anne. Markus. I want them all back.

"Ok. I won't push you," Doc replies with a soft smile. "Then, can I ask how you met little Lady here? Have you always been with her?"

I look at the tiger, unable to stop myself from reaching out to stroke her head, "No. She's as recent as this," I slightly shift my right shoulder, motioning towards the claw. I quickly retell what happened when Cody and Anne were taken then onto what happened after. I left out the unmanly details but when I got to the Keystone, she shot to her feet, knocking over the chair on the way up. Making me jump a little in surprise.

"Let me get this straight," she puts a hand up as if to stop me. "You can get close to one of the Keystones?"

"...That was the first time I was near one." I then quickly explained how I got stuck in the room with a boy. "Next thing I notice, X lands through the roof...then I woke up here with this thing as my arm. Am I some sort of half-formed Hexer? I was bitten..." I remember that much at least. That ugly helmet Hexer is going to be nightmare material for the rest of my life.

She picks up the chair and flops down, she seems a little rattled. "...I still need to do tests but for all intents and purposes, you are not a Hexer. But you are very interesting. Not only were you able to get close to one but destroy it as well!? And still mentally intact? That's...well...very interesting."

I look at her strongly, I am too desperate to get her to help and I feel like she was getting off track, "I'll say this one more time. I'll let you do whatever you want to me but I need to find my brother and sister."

She takes some time to respond but then nods, "Agreed."

"Say what?" Fenir interrupts.

"Shut up, Fenir. This is something that even I can't ignore. If his sister is as powerful as he says she is, no one is going to leave her alone. We might have another Syndrome R on our hands."

"... Syndrome R?" I ask, a little disturbed at the way Fenir's features shift slightly.

Doc glances at me, a soft laugh, "You know human nature. Once we find something new and interesting, we pick at it and warp it to suit our needs. Long story short, someone played with energy radiation of one of the greater Miasma storms and injected the raw form into unwilling subjects and boom! The very first, of many, unstable bioweapons. X here, is another. So are the Keystones."

"...you mean Keystones and Hexers aren't made by the Miasma...?"

"Nope. Humans did that. They even still use it as a way to undermine a city. How do you think this City," she opens her arms up to the room, "Went down?"

"I didn't even realise it was a Nest until I wondered in," I say quietly, not wanting to revisit recent memories. "There was a build-up of an army around it. Then everyone started fighting over it. We were caught in the middle...it was how I lost everyone."

She nods, "Someone was after something in here. Another City didn't like the idea of opening this tin can after what had been done to it about six months ago. It's a small City...they didn't have a chance to contain the spread. I was surprised that the Tower still functions. Lucky for you. You'd be dead if it wasn't."

"The Tower...?"

"It's the power source for everything, including the force-field that surrounds a City. Without it...well we'd be living like you have been for the last decade."

I stare at her. The big gold crystal thing in the middle of this place... "I saw the Tower. The Miasma crystal warped around it, like it was repelled."

"Towers are a mystery, even I don't know much about them. All I know it's what saved a lot of places from that Miasma Disaster."

It's also what's caused this entire mess.

"I can see by the look on your face, you disagree."

I stay silent. I was only seven when all that shit happened. I don't remember much except we were on the wrong side when those giant walls went up. I don't even remember when they went up, now that I think about it. I instead get back on topic, "What happens now?"

"Well, since you seem stable enough to move about, I need to report back to HQ. From there we'll see-" she must have seen the look of protest on my face as she holds her hand up before I could even open my mouth, "-I will also inquire about your brother and sister. Then we'll see what happens."