Chapter Text
Surge the Tenrec wasn’t a bad name. Perhaps a tad on the nose. It definitely could’ve been worse…she could’ve been Sparky the Tenrec which just feels insulting.
“You’re umm, very strong and extremely fast. As well as you have Electrokinesis, which feels ridiculous.” The boy-Kitsunami continued. “No one is that fast and controlling electricity? It’s…not possible.” Kitsunami continued although he didn’t seem too sure, and Surge definitely wasn’t sure. That was electricity that came out of her hands to zap that duck, right?
“Is weird purple metal ducks possible?” Surge jabbed a thumb behind her, the duck still laying in a tiny puddle of water.
“Metal duck…” Kitsunami breathed out as he turned, realizing as he looked at the body on the ground. “He’s…a platypus…” Surge wasn’t sure who Kitsunami was talking to. “Umm, yeah, can…can I ask what happened to him?”
“I zapped him.” Surge raised her hands and did light jazz hands. “With my electrokibble powers.” Kitsunami’s eyebrows shot up.
“R-really?” He seemed excited, a smile appearing on his face for the first time and Surge gave a snort of laughter. It was pretty crazy. Surge didn’t think she used to have electrokibble powers, but she also had no memory, so grain of salt.
The purple duck moved.
Kitsunami and Surge froze, heads rotating slowly as the duck groaned, eyes still dull and lifeless, but observant…and hungry. It started with a crawl but managed to get to a stand, arms extended as it shambled towards them, an empty groan reverberating up its throat and sending a chill down Surge’s spine. “Umm…can you do it again?” Kit whimpered, the two of them backing away again from the duck. Surge looked down at her hands and then the duck.
“Uh, yeah. Yeah!” Surge threw out her fingers, ready to zap the duck. But nothing happened. Surge looked at her hands and threw them out again. Still nothing.
“Surge?”
“I’ve got this!” The duck was getting closer and Surge was just standing there waving her hands around like an idiot. The duck was mere inches away and Surge had enough. “Okay, fuck this!” Surge moved around the duck with surprising speed. Too much, in fact, her body moved much faster than she would’ve predicted and she ended up slamming into a wall.
Momentarily dazed, Surge shook it off and snapped her attention back to the duck, now with Surge across the room, was closing in on Kit. Kit…would he like being called that? Surge didn’t know, and she didn’t have the time. Surge dashed towards the duck, ready to either punch, smack or slam it.
And then right as she got close, something changed.
A scary shiver ran through her spine, settling coldly in her stomach. Her fingers seemed to freeze up and tighten, her heart skipping.
Everything in her body told her not to touch the duck and its weird metal coating.
Surge had no idea where the feeling was coming from and she felt like she should obey it with absolute authority. Touching the metal coating was nothing but bad news. She should run to the other side of the room, out the door, and never look back. Get as far away as possible.
But it was too late, and Kit was in danger of being attacked. Surge shoved her shoulder into the duck, it giving off an inhuman growl as it was thrown back, sailed through the air, and smashed into the inside of the tube.
Kit was quick to act and slammed the door closed, the duck now sealed inside.
“You okay?” Surge raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the sickening feeling in her shoulder.
“Y-yeah…are you?” Kit asked and pointed to Surge’s shoulder. Surge’s breath quickened as she looked, the purplish metal adhered to her skin. It was deeply unpleasant like it was trying to get in her, consume her and-
It instantly gave up.
Surge blinked, confused, and swatted away the slime on her shoulder.
“Uh…yeah…yeah I’m good actually.” She watched it for a moment, the goop churning and boiling as it hit the floor, something alive and hungering still. It’s possible it hadn’t necessarily given up…so much as beaten. But as Surge watched it melt into nothingness, she got the feeling beating it wasn’t something she should get used to.
SLAM!
Surge and Kitsunami jumped as the duck, now encased in the tube, slammed its hand, open-palmed into the glass of the tube, actually looking angered now.
“Umm, wh-what should we do now?” Kit whimpered, eyes shaking slightly, terror resonating through his body.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the fuck outta here.” Surge started to back up, Kit quickly following. Spinning around, Surge rushed to the door and found herself getting there quicker than expected, the world slowing down around her.
Unprepared, she smacked into the door and crumpled onto her back, holding her head.
“You okay?” Kit asked again, his face appearing over hers.
“I’m fine!” She grumbled, this kid starting to get on her nerves. Getting back up, Surge pulled on the door, opening it.
Where a half dozen more of the weird metal-coated things were waiting. Surge panicked for only a second before her instincts kicked in and she closed the door again.
“Wha-”
“More.” Surge cut Kit off. “There’s more of them.” Kit let out a tiny whimper. “Fuck fuck fuck. Okay okay okay. Fuck okay…fuck. Ummm, I’ll…I’ll just shove them into tubes again.” Surge gave Kit a smile of reassurance, but it was more for herself.
“Ah!” Kit took a scared step back.
“What?” Surge looked around. Was there another one in here?
“You-your teeth are all sharp!” Surge recoiled a little, feeling the extremely sharp teeth in her mouth with her tongue. “I-I-I remember i-it on the UI, but it’s s-scarier up close…” A spark of shame and sadness struck Surge’s heart, only to be replaced by anger. At this situation, at the fact that she’d been made, at Kit for being afraid. It wasn’t her fault she was scary…she didn’t want to be scary…
“Get over it.” Surge tried to growl at him, but her voice broke midway through, sounding more like a tangled squeak. Still Kit shrank under her threat.
“O…Okay.” Kit nodded and Surge could only stare at him.
“You got any idea for how we get outta here?” Surge flicked her chin at Kit.
“M-me?” Kit took a step back, looking at Surge like she’d grown a second head.
“Yeah, you! Ain’t like we got five more tubes to stuff them into.” Kit blinked, digesting the information, and nodded. He slowly moved past Surge to the door, reaching up to try and look through the small window. He jumped a few times before Surge rolled her eyes and picked him up so he could see through to the other room.
“Well?” Surge grumbled after a minute, but Kit didn’t respond, mumbling to himself as he scanned the room. “Hey!” Surge shook him once, the tiny fennec’s head rolling momentarily. “Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you!” Surge spun the fennec around and plopped him on the ground as he nodded quickly.
“Yes ma’am.” Surge perked an eyebrow. “Umm…well it's an open space, so there’s not much of a place to hide. We have no way to properly fend them off, no equipment and they outnumber us by three. However, I saw an exit door across the room and they don’t seem to be very fast so…”
“That machine said you’re supposed to be super smart and the best you can come up with is-go fast?” Surge put her hands on her hips, glaring at the fennec. Kit had the audacity to shrug. Surge took in a deep breath, contemplating her tombstone:
Surge the Tenrec
5 minutes ago - Now
Couldn’t Gotta Go Fast
“Okay. We’re just…just gonna run it.” Surge tried to visualize her running it and only came up with an image of her getting dogpiled by the metal mucks. “Ready?” Kit gave her a grave nod.
Surge looked back up and through the window, spotting the exit door, maybe 50 feet away. She gripped the handle of the room, preparing to throw it open. And then…she’d run and pray she’d make it.
Surge threw open the door, put one foot in front of the-
SLAM!
Surge smacked into the exit door, nose bouncing off it painfully, and fell on her butt.
“What the…? OW!” Surge rubbed at her nose and looked up. Somehow, she was at the exit door. She stood up and spun around, seeing Kit only exiting the doorway of the other room, his little arms and legs pumping as he huffed. Surge watched as his look of effort was replaced by confusion. The metal mucks now started to realize they were in the room and started to move toward them, groaning and stumbling.
“What are you doing over there?!” Kit yelled as he ran.
“I dunno! I just…ran.”
“How?!” Surge didn’t really know how to answer that.
“By walking but faster! What do you mean how?! What do-” Surge cut herself off as she realized the metal mucks were starting to close in on Kit. She didn’t know this kid, but just ditching him like this helped no one. Maybe she could run him…
Getting ready, Surge ran forward and-
SMACK!
“OWWWWUH!” Surge held her nose as she ran into something cold and hard.
“RAAARGH!” Surge jumped back as the duck roared and slammed on the tube. She was back in the original room. How fast was she going?!
“Surge?!” Kit called from the big room.
“Yeah I’m-” Surge started running again, flew through the doorway, and tripped over some small boxes in the large room, knocking them over and tumbling end over end before coming to a stop on her back. “-here…” Surge groaned pitifully.
“Surge?! Help!” Kit cry got Surge up, head spinning from the vertigo of being launched around a space. She looked up and saw the six other metal mucks mere feet away from Kit, he was far too short to outrun them. Surge took a breath and watched his movement. She decided she could run really fast, but she needed to control it, just a little burst of speed-
Surge shot forward again, but more controlled. She somewhere between caught and crashed into Kit, the two sliding forward and lightly bonking into the far wall. Kit groaned dazily, but Surge remained firm, checking the distance of the metal mucks, satisfied with their distance before she grabbed Kit, looked to the exit door, and ran again.
Once more she shot past a bit too much but managed to grab the handle, but her feet kept going for a moment, flying out from under her. Surge and Kit were airborne for a moment before they landed in a heap, Surge’s hand still gripping the handle and the fennec. Kit groaned again, but Surge slowly rolled over, finally letting go of Kit and saw that the metal mucks were closing in on them.
“Okay. Time to go.” Surge spun around and grasped the door handle, turning it.
It was locked.
Fuck.
“C’mon c’mon c’mon.” Surge jiggled and twisted the handle like a crazy person, hoping that the lock would have mercy on her and randomly disengage. It did not. “Kit! KIT!” Surge yelped, the fennec hearing her but was slow to get up. The metal mucks were only a few yards away now, and getting feistier as they got closer, sensing their-prey, was in sight. “Open!’ Surge yanked on the door. “OPEN!” Surge yanked again, fear starting to fill her voice, the world so new to her and yet already so unfair. “OPEN!” Surge roared and the door opened.
No. It didn’t open.
It was ripped off.
It was instantaneous. The door was immovable then suddenly it was as fragile as a leaf. The inertia of the movement surprised Surge and she was slightly spun around, pulled by the door. She let go only by instinct and watched as the door smashed into three metal mucks and they too went flying back before the door squished them against the opposite wall.
“Uhh…what just happened?” Kit looked up at Surge, the intensity of the moment sobering him up. Surge had no answer but noticed that there were still a bunch of metal mucks coming from them so she scooped up the fennec in one hand and faced the now doorless doorway.
“Let’s figure that out later. Now? Now let’s run.” And indeed Surge did run. Activating that superspeed she blasted down a hallway, then as it came to an end she managed to turn then again and again, the maze of the facility, brushing past her eyes in an instant. Finally, one large set of double doors appeared in front of her, and at this point Surge realized she was going really fast. “Woah woah woah!” Surge tried to put on the brakes her feet going in front of her trying to slow her down. But it was too late and Surge and Kit in a tangle of limbs smacked into the double doors, which went wide and the two spilled out into the day.
And what a day it was.
The sky was a bright blue. And that’s about all that felt normal about the situation. A perfect dome of the heavens with a burning yellow circle shining down on the planet.
The rest was a world that made Surge want to crawl back into that pod she’d come from.
Everything was gray. Bright metallic gray that glittered, bouncing sunbeams across a cold expanse. Structures rose and fell, but looked like spires of simple fragility against perfect completeness of metal. What appeared to be plant life had been plated in the same silvery metal muck that the people had been back in the building they were just in. The few good things about it were that there didn’t seem to be too many metal mucks themselves. Surge caught a glimpse of a few in the distance, but otherwise Surge and Kit were incredibly alone.
A hot and dry wind blew, the air fried from reflecting sunbeams of the metallic plant life.
Surge returned her attention to the buildings. Noticing that there only seemed to be buildings as part of a single compound, the world beyond that bright shining mess. Was…was everywhere like this? A voice of nothing by buildings and metal ground and burning air?
“W-what now?” Surge was snapped out of her own thoughts as Kit tugged on her pant leg. She jerked back a little a glare unintentionally making its way onto her face.
“I dunno? Why are you asking me?!” Kit recoiled a little, his ears going forward slightly as a form of protective curtain.
“I-I-I I don’t know. I think you’re supposed to be in charge…” Kit whimpered out, toeing the dirt, one of few things free of the metal muck.
“In charge of what?! What’s there to be in charge of?”
“...me?” Kit asked after a while.
“Kit, I don’t even know you. Fuck, I don’t even know myself. So I certainly don’t know how to be in charge of you, or WHAT’S EVEN GOING ON!” Surge flung her hands in the air, yelling out and stomping in a circle. Frustration boiling over as she felt the desire to tear things apart, but there was nothing. After a solid tantrum, Surge squatted and put her head in her hands.
Something poked her in the shoulder.
“What is it Kit?” Surge grumbled through her hands.
“I…have an idea.” He mumbled.
“Is it…go fast? Cause if so, I think I’m gonna deck you.”
Kit didn’t answer.
“I swear Kit-”
“N-no! It’s not: go fast! Well, it’s not not go fast.” Surge dragged her hands across her face and twisted her head to look at Kit, now at eye level. “We should at least leave. This place is bad, but it’s all we know. Maybe there’s more civilization elsewhere. Plus those creatures could come get us here.” For a moment Surge didn’t answer and Kit was quick to panic. “I-It’s just and i-idea if you-”
“No. It’s not bad. If you’ve got an idea better to shit it out than hold it in.” Surge stood up and wiped at her nose.
“...thanks?” Kit wasn’t sure he liked that turn of phrase but took the compliment either way.
“Alright, let’s get moving.” Surge started walking down the dusty road, one of few paths clear of the glittering, hungering metal.
“Let’s?” Kit asked hopefully as he stumbled and had to walk quickly to keep up with Surge’s long strides.
“You see another path to walk down?” Surge threw out a hand at the dusty road. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, Kit.” Kit considered that, looking at the long road. Felt the hot day, and the angsty tenrec beside him.
Somehow he was okay with that.