#the doctor is a random npc nobody on the island knows shit

[factorialsotherfandoms]

Okay so my chill evening is turning into 'write a bit of fic set in operation 40 or so in the XCOM AU'. Or well I've been writing it a while, so... Cellbit and Memory Egg time!!! If its a weird team that's because it was lategame and I needed stats and such >.<

TW: mentioned corpses, severely ill child, non-consensual soul bonding (its an emergency), assumed dead child (they're not)

After the mess of the Viper King fight, Cellbit was almost happy to be crawling knee deep in half-rotten kitchen waste. It hadn't managed to do that much damage, all in all, but there had been a flurry of swords and gunfire and Cellbit is reasonably certain that had Roier and Jaiden not managed to pull out their insane stunt, the entire squad would be dead right now.

He's almost made his way to a side entrance of the building they were here to sabotage when Fit finally gets bored and lobs a grenade at a wall.

It makes a tidy entrance.

It also alerts every remaining enemy in the facility to their presence.

Cellbit takes one look at the assembled MECs - the Sectopod is doing reasonably well at destroying the building without their help - then glances back at his husband. He sees Roier visually check over everyone else - hears the whistle of Missa's EMP flying towards the Federation robots - before being given a nod.

He hoists himself the last little way up, ducks through the window, and neatly rolls to the floor. Via his comm he can hear Luzu's constant updates on enemy positions, and uses it to his advantage to sneak around.

Their only task is to destroy this place, but Cellbit is nothing if not curious.

Under the cover of nearby gunfire he slips down another coridoor, and finds himself before the prison. He's still hacking it open when the sounds of gunfire quieten, and moments later his comm sounds again.

"Oi Cellbit, where are you? We're cleaned up and I've got bombs with this facility's name on them here."

Cellbit snorts a little at his tone, before flicking up to reply. "I'm just checking the cells. Will be out shortly."

"Right. I still need to find a good place to stick this anyway. You've a few minutes."

"Sim, I'll let you know when I'm out."

There's a chorus of acknowledgements, one 'te amo' from Roier, and Cellbit breaks the rest of the way in.

In the first cell is a corpse. There's no kind way to say it, only that there is a body there. It is half decayed and the maggots pick at it. For a moment Cellbit sees Mike overlaid with the corpse but no, no, they recovered him from a cell half the world asay and yet just the same.

Soon enough this place will go up in flames, cremating the body too. He sees nothing with it, just a prisoner's jumpsuit, and so he closes the door and leaves them be.

If one prisoner is dead, he has little hope for the rest. To his relief the next two cells are empty, and in the third…

His heart drops to his gut.

"I found another of the children," he whispers.

"What?! Are they okay?!" Jaiden is the first on the uptake.

"Where?" Roier cuts in seconds later. "I come."

"They're dead," he whispers. "Not by long, but… Fuck!"

He rips out his comm, turns, punches the wall and stamps. They were too fucking late, and now another of the children is dead. Richas, fuck, Richas-

Cellbit reaches out along his bond and clings to his son. Richarlyson, confused, clings back.

It takes a few seconds for Cellbit to calm himself, but eventually he does. He might be willing to leave the adult prisoner to burn, but the child… He refuses to leave them here. They can bury the little one somewhere beautiful, at least.

He steps into the room - far too cold for a child - and looks around. This hatchling is smaller even than Richarlyson, only a little older in appearance than Trump, and clearly starved to death. A leaking water pipe is likely how they survived the dehydration at least... Their hand rests on a few scraps of paper covered in childish scrawl, and Cellbit's heart breaks all over again.

"Little egg," he whispers to the still form. "I'm so sorry we took this long."

Gently he lifts their hand, intending to read the papers. As soon as skin touches skin, however, he feels something new take root in his mind.

He doubts anyone else would notice, the connection is so tenuous but it's there. And its not a sectoid; it feels just like a very weak Richarlyson, weaker even than when the boy sleeps.

The child? But…

Cellbit looks again at the still form, and reaches out. Gently he brushes white hair from their neck, and rests his fingers against their pulse point. It takes much longer than he is comfortable with to find their pulse, weak and unsteady as it is, but it is there.

"Wait, they're alive. Just," it's not a certain thing; Cellbit gently scoops the child into his arms as he communicates with the team. "Needs urgent medical attention. Can someone call evac?"

It will reveal their position, perhaps compromise their mission, but the child comes first - they have to - and Fit did say he was very nearly finished. He can already feel the bond tighten, growing weak as the desperate kid steals his energy to keep themself breathing.

"It's okay little one," he whispers, even as Missa gives him the coords for the evac and Fit curses out the explosives. "You'll be alright now."

Almost as a second thought he grabs the child's scraps of paper, stuffing them in a pocket as he cradles the child and walks. Evac isn't far - Missa has managed to call it right by the hole where they blew their way in. Cellbit doesn't run, because if he runs he might drop an already sick child, but he does walk as fast as he knows how.

When he gets to evac, Roier is guarding it. The two of them share a quick look, before Cellbit signals for a rope. It's awkward to rope up with a child in arm, but he's practiced this with Richas who is a much wrigglier person.

This child might be too, if they live. And Cellbit sees this child, and knows he will do anything to help them.

He ropes up, and grabs the medkit from under one of the seats. There's not a whole lot to be done for the child this far our - let them drain is energy is all cellbit can do, and while his psionics training means he has a lot, it will still kill him if it takes too long to get them stable.

Cellbit is also not a doctor, but its clear the little one hasn't had any food recently, and he would bet on water too. With water the more urgent he finds the daline solution - made more with blood loss in mind, but it will do - and slips the needle under the girl's skin. He tries to ask Roier what to do, but over the comm is thw sound of gunfire and so he is not heard.

Instead he tucks the child - the tiny, small child - into his lap. His fingers comb white hair, and he tries to feed the weak but desperate hand as much happiness as possible. He's never quite worked out if emotions can change how much the energy helps, but Richarlyson always says happiness tastes best. He cannot sing well, but he does his best to hum a little tune for the child.

They'll need so much medical attention if they are to make it, but given everything… Cellbit hopes they will survive.

It's only a few minutes later when the call of "charges set!" comes through the comms. For sake of protocol Cellbit calls back his clear, keeping his voice low for the toddler in his lap. Over the next thirty seconds or so he has to shush nearly the whole team, but they make it back. Missa's burns look irritated and Roier is favouring one shoulder, but there are no new injuries they can see.

As they fly away he shields the child's ears, while everyone else protects their own. The sharp explosion shakes the helicopter a little, but no more than they have come to expect.

Silence passes for a few moments, Jaiden helping Roier set his shoulder and Luzu cleaning up Missa's burns. Soon enough they start talking in quiet Spanish. Cellbit listens idly to what is no more than teasing and gossip, rather wanting to be absorbed into the wall.

"This the new kid, then?" Fit is the one to finally ask.

Cellbit keeps stroking their hair, and nods. "Can someone let medical know?"

"Already done."

"Thank you," Cellbit lifts one hand to pinch his nose, before looking over. "Roier, we have another kid now."

"Qué?!" Roier turns, jarring himself a little.

"Bonded to me as soon as I touched her," he frowns.

"They didn't ask?"

"I don't think they'd survive the journey without," he confesses.

"Shit."

Cellbit plays with the child's hair some more, runs his hand across their face and checks their breathing. Very still, but there.

"Must be one of the ones who vanished," Roier suggests. "Bobby said there were, what, twenty?"

"Ramon can't tell he difference between alive and dead. Dapper might, but she wouldn't tell us."

Cellbit doesn't really care; he leaves the group to their devices, and slips the papers that he grabbed. The handwriting is childish, in dirt and blood, but just about legible - they, too, must have learnt to write through the bond the eggs share.

It's not a long ride, but neither did the child have much paper. Still it is heartbreaking, looking as their handwriting gets better and then worse. He reads about a child told to wait and obediently doing so, waiting and watching out the window for days on end. Talking about feeling their siblings learning love, and wanting it for themself...

And then, describing starving - dying - in a way no child should ever know.

He turns over the last page, and sighs. Roier takes the papers, skims them, and leans against his side.

"They'll be okay, sí?" His husband promises. "Everyone will help."

If it's the bond or the stress or the pain he's receiving back, but Cellbit curls over the child. Roier frowns, and leaves his seat, moving to shield the two from other eyes. Cellbit barely notices as the rest of the helicopter turn away, too focused on the little one in his arms.

---

Cellbit is still holding the little one when they wake up, days later. Pac and Mike are doing something with Richars - presumably extremely dangerous - while Roier and Jaiden have taken Bobby to the training range. Cellbit has been stuck here for days, looking after the little one; at least he can hold them with one arm, and work on decoding reports with the other. He has no idea how Forever survived this long, but maybe that is why he had so few contacts early on.

He doesn't quite notice the child stir at first, mind busy trying to formulate the key. It is only when he feels the pull of surprise in the bond, quickly followed by a mind closing off, that he notices.

He looks down, and meets a pair of tiny grey eyes.

"Hello little one," he whispers to them. "You're safe now."

He isn't sure if they understand his words, or just what they mean. Either way, they turn around and burrow their face in Cellbit's chest. Protectively he tucks an arm around them, and waves the doctor over.

"This might be a bit scary," he soothes the child. "But I'll be right here, okay? You're not going to be alone."

Its terrifying how easily that calms the child, enough that they just let the doctor do whatever. Or, perhaps, they are just too weak to object. Either way he makes sure to hold their hand, keeping them calm. He doesn't look at how their doctor frowns; he'll be told later when he needs to know.

The doctor is barely finished when Richarlyson barges in, Chayanne and Dapper both peeking around the door behind him. Cellbit greets his son and shifts, helping him up onto the bed. Immediately the notepad comes out, the messy scrawl of questions constant. Cellbit's newest child looks at them, but shakes their head and curls up more.

"Gentle, Richas," he reminds. "They're still recovering."

Richarlyson does, bringing back the notebook and replacing the multitude of questions with a simple 'hello'.

The little one does manage a wave before hiding again, only peeking out again when Chayanne and Dapper finally decide to come in. The two seem a little better at calming them down, but they still remain listless in Cellbit's lap.

"You can leave them now," the doctor says as the children communicate in their own strange ways. "They're stable enough for you to wander the ship."

Cellbit looks down at the child in his lap, half asleep but still watching their siblings as they descend into their own little conversation.

"I'll stay a little longer," he says, and leaves the children be.