AYE- cough auughhheee anyways. I gots a question. How would the guys react if their darling tried escaping? Rather the apartment, or, if they ever somehow got free of their cage in the facility. I know they would probably be hunted down, but I wanna know the details; do they get drugged, put under some mind control program, forced in a smaller cell/a cell with more monitoring, I wanna know!
(Definitely not because I’m plotting something..cough..)
- Axiom honestly loves the chase.
- If you escape, there's a good chance he lets you think you've actually made it.
- You'll make it across the city, maybe even spend a whole day believing you're free, only to hear a familiar voice behind you.
- He isn't even out of breath.
- He'll click his tongue, shake his head with an amused grin, and pull you into a hug like you've just wandered off in a grocery store.
- "Aww... don't look so heartbroken, sugarcube. You knew I'd find you eventually."
- To him, the escape was never a real possibility, it was just a game.
- The first time, he'll laugh it off, the second time, he'll be noticeably less amused.
- If you keep insisting on running... Well. Chains exist for a reason.
- He doesn't enjoy making things uncomfortable, but he isn't above it either. If he has to hand-feed you because you're restrained, so be it.
- In his mind, the only thing you've accomplished is proving you can't be trusted on your own.
- Entropy's reaction depends entirely on how long you're gone.
- If he finds you within a few hours, he's mostly just relieved.
- Before you know it, you're sitting at his kitchen table with a fresh bowl of noodles while he gently asks what happened. He isn't angry, he's worried.
- If you disappear for several days, though... that's when things get bad.
- Entropy already has a drinking problem as is. It gets much worse.
- He stops sleeping properly. Starts calling in favors. Starts burning through every contact he's ever made.
- Every hour without you makes him more frantic.
- He's not above begging people for information if that's what it takes.
- Once he finally gets you back, he's not letting this happen again.
- He'll go straight to CORE, because he's convinced something is wrong.
- "Please... just, isn't there something you can do to straighten them out?"
- In his mind, if you keep trying to leave, then something in your thinking must be broken.
- If CORE can make you calmer, more compliant, less likely to run, drugged, a little brain-washed perhaps, then that's mercy.
- He'll genuinely believe he's saving you from yourself.
- Corollary doesn't panic. He doesn't even seem particularly surprised.
- There are cameras everywhere, sensors, access logs, security systems.
- If you escaped, that means he overlooked something. Which means the system has a flaw. Which means the flaw needs correcting.
- Once you're found, the first thing he says is usually an apology.
- "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
- Because his security failed.
- Then he quietly begins redesigning everything. Stronger locks, better surveillance, fewer blind spots, more redundancy. Every escape attempt simply teaches him how to build a better cage.
- By the third attempt, there probably won't be a fourth.
- Strife completely falls apart. He doesn't get angry, he doesn't immediately chase after you. He just... freezes.
- His brain refuses to process what's happened.
- Then the panic hits. Hard.
- He tears through every place he thinks you might be.
- When he can't find you, he shuts down.
- He isolates himself in his nest, stops eating, barely sleeps, won't answer anyone.
- Eventually, CORE has to intervene, not just because you're missing, but because MONO.ORG can't afford to lose its strongest operative to grief of all things.
- CORE organizes the search, someone finds you, and Strife doesn't let you out of his sight again.
- You're brought back to the nest, and that's where you stay.
- He'll ask Corollary to implant a tracking chip if it means he'll never lose you again.
- "I can't lose you again..."
- He's convinced that if he'd only held on tighter the first time, you never would've disappeared at all.
