He wasn’t strong enough, not right now.
It felt like doors slamming in his face, getting hit with a board, being cut off. He wasn’t strong enough to power through it, to brute force his way into the system, like he had been before. But it did not keep him from trying, from gritting his teeth and trying to keep going. Every countermeasure, every strike, every blow hit his body, and he jerked back.
A drop of metallic blood hit the floor and he sucked in a sharp breath. He was panting. He was tired. He was still fighting.
His eyes fixed angrily at the window of the observation deck when he was spoken to. Rage burned in him. An anger, a defiance that had not been in him for decades. He wanted to tear them all apart.
Setsuna refocused himself, and his voice came through the intercom on the observation deck.
“…I will not stop… not anymore…” He hissed. His first words spoken in years, and they burned with his anger.
The scientist’s lip curled into a snarl and he clucked his tongue. He had expected pleading, begging for the pain to stop, but this...well, perhaps he had prepared for that as well.
The switch was flipped and the oxygen levels began to normalize again. With the jammers in place, the scientist seemed more confident in his actions, and thus turned to his team and smirked. “Gentlmen, prepare objective B.”
Objective B? Owen thought to himself, looking around as the guards entered the room, one pausing to begin unlocking the chamber. Were they done with Setsuna already? There was relief to be had there. The sooner they let him out of there, the sooner he could sneak off and give Setsuna some water or something to help him heal--
All at once there were guards on him, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him not out of the observation area, but towards the door to the cell. “H-hey! What are you doing?! Let go of me, I’m--!”
“Commencing stress test C-038-1-B...Throw him in.”
The door opened with a hiss, a rush of warm air that took his breath away. Before he could fight them off he was shoved into the room and the door closed behind him. The oxygen levels were near normal now, but soon--
“What are you thinking?! Doctor, you can’t be serious!” Owen rushed over to the observation window and began pounding on the glass. Could he be heard still? Or was the monitor off? What were they planning to do with him in there?!
He got his answer all too soon, and Owen quickly recalled his own thoughts of leaving the facility. Seems they had chosen the body bag option for him.
“Lowering oxygen levels. Effective Oxygen at 16%. 15%...14%...”
Owen stared in horror at the scientists, whom only stared back blankly. They were planning on putting him through the same stress tests as Setsuna?! But he wasn’t an ELS, he couldn’t withstand torture like that!
“Doctor! Stop this! This is insane! Are you planning to kill me in here?!”
The scientist merely grinned maliciously in return. “There are protocols to be followed, Mr. Murray. Procedure, rules. And you...with your accessing of restricted data and consistent entry into prohibited areas...You’re not so good at following those rules.”
Punishment. This was punishment. They were going to make him suffer alongside Setsuna until he too begged for mercy. It was sickening -- he felt physically ill, but that may have been from the sudden loss of breathable oxygen.
Owen spun around to see Setsuna, as if to ask what he should do. The motion itself was dizzying and he staggered, a hand bracing against the wall so he wouldn’t fall. “Setsuna...What...” he was already feeling breathless. Damn them.
