The Boring Days

in the lab, boredom had settled over the group like a thick fog.

“This is SO BORING!” Billy groaned, sprawled out in the middle of the room, his voice echoing off the walls.

Penny, ignoring him, hurried across the room toward Henry and SF. Henry was buried in casualty reports, his eyes scanning over lists of battles and losses, while SF sat beside him, calmly flipping through a book titled Think Straight.

Penny stopped in front of them, Rey following closely behind. “The child is acting out again,” she announced, pointing toward Billy.

Henry looked up from his reports, but SF merely turned the page of his book, unbothered.

“Ugh, well, I suppose we should do something,” Henry muttered, realizing that SF wasn’t about to offer any suggestions.

“Great! Like what?” Penny asked, arms crossed.

Henry thought for a moment before calling out to Billy. “Hey, want to meet up with Sharpshot and the other Fallo units?”

Billy’s eyes lit up, his frustration forgotten. “Yeah! That sounds awesome!” He jumped up from the floor, suddenly energized.

“I’d like that too,” Rey chimed in, raising a hand. “I want to see Fallow and Slick again.”

Henry smiled. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind catching up with Clue or Flame either.”

“Ooooh, right!” Penny added with a grin. “I need to find out what happened with those two lovebirds since last time.”

SF, still lounging on the couch, turned another page. “That all sounds great—except for the minor detail of how you plan to meet them. Unless, of course, we’re volunteering for a mission that will most likely lead to our deaths.” His voice was flat, uninterested.

Henry smirked. “Well, aren’t we lucky that someone recently got promoted to Marshal?” He locked eyes with SF.

SF finally looked up from his book, narrowing his gaze. “I see. Yes, it would be possible. But that doesn’t mean I’ll do it just to keep B2 quiet.”

Rey took a step closer. “Would you do it for the rest of us? So we can at least see our friends?”

SF glanced at his team. Henry gave him a knowing look—the kind that silently screamed, Come on, dude.

With a sigh, SF closed his book, setting it aside. Then, he sat up, stretched slightly, and stood.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

A wave of excitement spread through the group as they exchanged smiles. For the first time, they walked toward the lab’s door—not as prisoners, not under orders, but by their own free will.

SF led the group through the twisting corridors of the lab, a sterile maze of white walls and fluorescent lighting. It was clear from his steady pace that he had walked this path before. The halls were eerily quiet, aside from the occasional presence of Lab Overseers standing guard outside certain rooms. Every so often, they passed other unit members, some walking freely, others engaged in quiet conversations.

Billy glanced around, his brows furrowing as he threw a ball up and down. “Hey… is it just me, or are there a lot of unit members just roaming around? Shouldn’t they be locked up like us?”

Henry shrugged. “I don’t know, Billy.”

SF, who had been walking a few steps ahead, spoke without turning back. “We’re among the elite. The five elite units—ours included—aren’t permitted to walk freely, but units like 9 and 17? They have more freedom.”

Penny raised an eyebrow. “Huh. Seems like someone’s been doing their homework.”

SF glanced over his shoulder at her. “I ran into Fidus—K9—outside the library a few days ago. I was curious how someone who isn’t even a captain could be out and about, so I asked an Overseer.” He turned his gaze forward again, his tone casual.

Eventually, they reached a long hallway lined with identical doors.

Billy’s eyes widened as he took in the sheer number of them. “Okay… so which door hides our comrades?”

Without hesitation, SF strode to a door near the end of the hallway on the right. “This one.” He pushed it open, stepping aside to let the others in.

As Henry approached the threshold, he slowed, glancing at SF. “So… I wonder how you knew exactly which door it was.”

Pausing in the doorway, he watched as their Fallo friends came into view inside the room. Then, he turned back to SF, his expression amused.

SF met his gaze, his voice calm. “I guess I just got lucky.”

Henry smirked slightly. “Mhm. Well, you must have very good luck, then.”

With that, he stepped inside, leaving SF to follow behind.

SF lingered outside the doorway for a moment, his expression unreadable. He exhaled quietly before finally stepping inside.

The moment he entered, the stark contrast between the Fallo units’ quarters and their own became glaringly obvious. This room was biig and open you could however see now many beds had been moved out becouse of all the markings in the floor, still there were rows of metal bunk beds in the far left side lined against the walls. There were no personal touches, nothing to do it seemed.

SF’s own quarters, while far from luxurious, at least had some semblance of comfort. Their room was divided into separate areas—the right side designated for the girls, the left for the boys. The middle section functioned as a communal space, with couches for lounging, a table for playing cards, and even a small gym area.

Here, however, there was nothing but cold metal and concrete.

SF’s gaze swept across the room, his lips pressing into a thin line. “This place… really does feel like a prison.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

A voice answered him smoothly, and SF turned to see Fallow leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a sly smile playing on her lips.

“Well, well, it’s nice of you to visit us, Marshal.”

Before SF could respond, an excited voice suddenly rang through the room.

“Fallooowww!”

Rey spotted Fallow and wasted no time launching herself forward. In a heartbeat, she wrapped her arms around Fallow in an almost tackle-like hug.

Given the height difference, the scene was almost comical—Rey barely reached Fallow’s shoulders, making it look as if a child were clinging to their mother.

Fallow chuckled, effortlessly catching Rey in the embrace and ruffling her hair. “Missed me that much, huh?”

SF stood motionless at the entrance, quietly observing the room. Despite Fallow’s presence, he quickly noticed that Slick wasn’t by her side. Instead, Slick stood further inside, lingering near the back, away from the activity.

Havoc had already struck up a conversation with Clue, their voices blending into the background. Nearby, Penny was teasing Flame, gesturing toward Clue with a playful smirk. Flame’s face flushed red in response, her flustered reaction only encouraging Penny further.

Sharpshot and Billy, on the other hand, immediately busied themselves with something Billy had brought from their room. A small ball flew through the air between them as they tossed it back and forth, engaged in their own game.

Everyone seemed at ease, laughing and interacting freely. Everyone—except SF and Slick.

SF remained at the threshold, neither fully inside the room nor entirely outside it. Slick, too, kept his distance, standing far in the back, just beyond the reach of the lively conversations. Neither of them took part in the moment unfolding before them.