Kieth headed past the security checkpoints and followed the tiny hovering drone that guided him deeper into Containment Facility B3. three 4-foot thick shielded blast doors, heavily armed guards, including three Omega-class military androids, DNA scan and screening by two trained psychics- it took nearly half an hour to get inside, and that was *with* the request from the chief researcher. But then again, the security made sense, considering the facility contained individuals with some of the most dangerous hybrid powers - including a young fawn. As the elevator took him down to the underground primary facility, he scrolled through the message on his wrist-mounted datapad, re-reading the information on the one he was about to meet.
Her designation was B3-0081.
Her name was Ruby Antlerson. A female whitetail fawn with the genetic trait of albinism, as well as the trait that gave her hybrid powers. Visibly, her powers would first manifest as a deep red glow of soft tissues- eyes, nose, organs etc, in what researcher notes referred to as a "physical charging phase". Apparently, the charging phase was intensified by strong emotional states, and led to the second phase, a discharge of strong psionic force that could disrupt the nervous systems of living beings, stunning them or worse. With most, powers wouldn't manifest until teenage years, and for large chunk, like Keith, those abilities still wouldn't show unless "activated" by an outside force, which was a very unpleasant experience. So here was this fawn, who during the holidays, suddenly found her eyes and nose glowing red, started to panic, causing her her to glow even more brightly, making her panic even more. She ran to her parents for help...and her power exploded uncontrollably. Keith sighed. It was difficult when terrible things happened to the innocent, especially with his belief in the ultimately benevolent Maker. Still he was here, and he would do what he could for her.
The elevator stopped then chimed, the doors opening. The tiny drone hovered out and he followed it to a door marked "27". he tapped his suit's power button. Radiant energy flowed through his suit, as his naturally brown fur turned white. As his fur reached a dim glow, he turned off the power, and pressed on a nearby door chime. A moment later, the door opened, and he found himself looking down at Ruby. The fawn was wearing a simple purple and yellow dress..as well as a power-suppression collar. Keith inwardly winced. The collar looked like a mechanical donut made of chrome and small panels that were lit up. He had been collared before, but nothing as bulky as that. For a moment, she just stared at him wide-eyed. There was a momentary awkwardness.
"Um, Ruby? I'm-" he began to say, but the fawn immediately spoke over him.
"Are you Nightlight?" As he nodded, she smiled excitedly. "I heard so much about you from the others! I heard about the time you fought against the guy with the lasers, and the time you walked *into* a reactor and took away all the radiation and saved the day!"
He nodded, happy to see her so exuberant. "It was a rough spot, but things worked out." he said smiling. "I've come to to see you, Ruby. May I come in?"
"See me? Oh, Sure!" she said, stepping out of the doorway to let him in. The entire room was of a fair size with a tall ceiling. Everything inside was covered in silver-colored cloth, from the padded walls and ceiling, to the flat tiles of the floor. Even the desk, bed, sheets and comforter had it. Keith recognized it as a dampening agent, common to cells made for dangerous psychics. The only things in the room that were not covered in the material were a number of plush toys on the bed and a few "Space Princess Io" posters, and a computer that was bolted to the desk. "This is my room." she said, waving her hand around the place.
Kieth looked around "It's a nice room..." he said evenly. It was better than some containment facility rooms, larger and more spacious, and personal belongings, though it still seemed..well...sterile, hospital-like. He turned his attention back to her. "I've heard about you." he said. At that, Ruby's ears lowered and her smile faded. "oh...." she said softly. Kieth lowered himself down and sat on the floor before her, bringing himself to eye-level with her "I know what happened, and I know you've been told over and over by others that what happened is not your fault, but you don't believe them." Ruby glanced away. "...y-yeah..." she managed to say.
"Ruby, when my powers came, it ended up hurting a lot of people, including some I loved and cared for." The fawn's ears perked up, and she looked at him, surprised.
"It...it did?" she asked
"Yes, it did." he said, forcing his ears to remain up and forward, covering the fact that technically, he was lying. His powers had been activated in a controlled environment under watchful supervision. There was only indirect dangers to family and friends, and that was just from him being who he was. "I felt terrible, lower than low, because of what my powers did. I was afraid too, afraid I would hurt more people or worse." he said as he looked her in the eyes.
Ruby looked back at him for a long moment, her head tilted as best that her collar could allow. She was standing before a hero...she didn't expect him to experience something like what she had happened to her. "What did you do?" she asked softly.
"I had friends and other people help me to hold in my powers, then help me learn how test them and use them. Before them, my powers were out of control. With them, I was in control of my powers, and I could use them to help others." he said as he looked at her. "I was told about you, by someone here who cares a lot about you, someone who is not afraid of you, and who wants you help you learn to control your powers, so that you won't need this any more." He said, tapping a hoof-tipped finger on her collar. "You can always become a hero, Ruby."
He looked at her. The fawns ears twitched, pinning back, perking forward, her face showing a myriad of emotions, with one starting to emerge from the rest....
Hope.
"Can I? Can I be like you?" she asked.
He nodded. "Of course you can." He reached over and gave her a hug. "Everything is going to be OK. Let the people her help you. Talk to them and-" his words were cut off as his wrist-mounted datapad gave a small alarm. He pulled back and looked at it, giving a sigh as he read what it said.
Ruby's ears perked "What is it?"
"I'm being summoned for a mission. I've got to go now." he said, moving back onto his hooves. Looking at the crestfallen fawn, he smiled softly "But before I go, I want you to have this." he said moving to reach into a small pack, and pulled out a padded green tablet. "I got permission from the people here to let you have this. With this, you can send me messages directly. Now, if I am on a mission, I won't be able to respond back until it's done. But I promise you, I will read anything you send me, and will message you back as soon as I can." he said handing it to her.
Ruby took the tablet from him, smiling excitedly. "Thank you! I'll take good care of it!"
Kieth smiled. "I know you will."
A few minutes later, as he was leaving the facility and heading to the transport that had landed outside, there was a chime on his datapad. Checking it, he saw the text message from Ruby and smiled, typing a quick response back before heading inside the transport. Looking out one of the windows as it took him off to whatever mission waited him, he hoped that the world would be stabilized and secure by the time that Ruby was ready to face it.
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Based off of a roleplay inspired loosely by a superhero comic series. Got inspired to draw, but geez, the more I look at it the more of a mess it is, in regards to proportions and perspective of the characters. Still, it felt good to be inspired enough to push through depression and general lack of motivation to attempt this. I need to practice and draw more.
Keywords
male
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female
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deer
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hooves
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hero
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story in description
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fawn
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hoof
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containment facility
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grimlight
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4 years, 11 months ago
09 Dec 2019 04:46 CET
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