Chapter Text
Thursday Night…
Celeste rifled through Dr. Torrence’s office, the entire room already in disarray.
Torn papers were strewn over every surface, entire notepads and clipboards worth of research scribbled on with black marker. Drawers were taken out of desks and cabinets, upended and tossed into one corner. There was a pile of papers on the desk doused in water.
There had to be something she could salvage on her own, some notebook that he’d written things down in and maybe forgot to grab. If she couldn’t find anything in his office, she’d try one of the other rooms. She was holding onto the dregs of hope that, maybe, there’d be something she could find that would explain what exactly the drug was made of so they could come up with an antidote instead of making those affected just wait it out.
Celeste couldn’t help but grimace as she shut the door to the office behind her. Robert had trusted her and she all but led Dr. Torrence to his apartment. He knew what he knew because of what he’d gotten from the members of SDN and she contributed to it by exposing Robert to him. And now he was out there with a drug that he more than likely helped develop after doing who knows what to the alphas that were stuck in the infirmary.
The thought made her shiver and she headed down the hallway towards the examination rooms. Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d find something stuffed in a drawer in one of the empty rooms. She’d wait until morning to have someone else help her check the rooms that the alphas were in; if he was doing something to them, then there he could have left something behi-
“Don’t move.”
Celeste’s body froze in place as she felt the prick of something sharp against her back. The voice alone made her seize up. She tried to keep her voice from shaking.
“How did you get in here?” she hissed, “Blazer said-”
“Blonde Blazer is losing her touch as a hero if she thinks that rescinding someone’s credentials is enough to deter them from not entering a building,” Dr. Torrence said, his voice close behind her ear. She shivered, feeling whatever blade he had pressing against her back dig in further into her lab coat. “Hands where I can see them, please, don’t need you fumbling around for your phone.”
She moved her hands up towards the sides of her head. “Perfect. Now, we’re going to take a little walk down the hall. And you just be a good omega and keep walking until I tell you to stop.”
Celeste took a shaky breath in and did as she was told, still feeling whatever blade was poking against her back.
“You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” Dr. Torrence hissed, “You just had to interfere. I should have known better to keep you on staff with how you were acting.” He scoffed. “You omegas…”
She tried to keep her mind blank, tried not to think about the spreading terror that was making her body want to shut down. If she stopped complying, who knew what Dr. Torrence would do to her. She just needed to keep moving, focus on her breathing and the steps she was taking down the main hallway of the infirmary.
Dr. Torrence’s office was settled in the back of the infirmary area, so the hallway he led her down was lined with examination and observation rooms. She could see the infirmary exit in front of her. It was still a long way off, but if she ran fast, she could make it to the exit, lock the door, and call someone.
The urge was there, but another urge took over. There were still patients in the observation rooms, the alphas that were under the effects of the drug that was keeping them in a perpetual rut. What if Dr. Torrence had some of the drug with him? What if he got into one of the rooms and dosed a patient that it caused them to get more violent? Or worse, what if it shut their body down to the point that they couldn’t be resuscitated?
Celeste took a deep breath in, mindful of the blade against her back, and let it out. She’d made an oath to protect her patients. If she was going to get out of this, she wanted to make sure that the rest of the patients under SDN’s care weren’t in danger of being hurt or exposed to anything that would make their symptoms worse.
“Stop.”
Celeste stopped moving, longingly looking at the exit doors. They were closer, but still far enough away that if she made a run to-
She let out a gasp of pain as whatever was pressing against her back dug in deeper. Not enough to draw blood, not with the layers of clothing she had on, but enough that she could feel the prick of a knifetip against her skin.
“We’re going to have you turn to your right. You’re going to open the door in front of you with your keycard and then hand it over to me.”
Celeste did as she was told, the knife digging in just enough that she heard the fabric of her lab coat tearing from the blade. She had her keycard around her neck on a lanyard and, once the door in front of her unlocked, she handed it over to Dr. Torrence.
“Now, be a good little omega and go inside.”
Celeste bristled as she was led into the room once she opened the door. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
She could hear Dr. Torrence’s sneer behind her as he chuckled. “I already have. You’ll just be a footnote in my research about just how omegas can’t reach an alpha when they’re under the effects of the drug.”
The door shut behind her and she stood still. The automatic lights in the room had turned on, a product of her badge being used on the door.
The first thing that hit her was a wall of scent.
The smell of mint was sharp, mixed with the scent of grass and tilled earth. It reminded her of her garden at home, something she sought refuge in after a long day indoors. It should have been calming, but in the harsh fluorescents of the room, it was too much too quickly and stemming from someone that was deep into a drug induced rut.
She kept her back to the door as she stood up slowly, fumbling with the knob behind her. It wouldn’t budge past a small turn. She’d been locked in. With her keycard either with Dr. Torrence or outside the room, there was no way she could be let out unless someone else opened the door.
Celeste could see the large, dark shape of the alpha slumped against the far wall, facing the corner. She couldn’t help but take in a deep breath at the realization of who she’d been locked in with, getting more of their scent in her nose.
One long, pointed ear twitched in her direction at her inhale.
Sonar stretched his arms out, his wings expanding to take up nearly half of the room. Slowly, he tilted his head up enough for her to see his snout twitch, scenting the air. His own scent soured, the earthy smell more akin to mold. He let out a low growl, maneuvering around to face her fully.
Celeste had seen Sonar in his full bat-monster form for nearly the entirety of his time in the infirmary, the drug seeming to lock him into that state. The only time she hadn’t seen him in it was when he was first sedated, the sedatives proving to be more powerful than whatever was coursing through his body. It still amazed her at how large his form was, dark gray fur covering the entirety of his body, wings latched onto the underside of his arms with thin membranes to allow him to fly. His eyes were a deep red that almost seemed to glow under the right lighting, his hands transformed into pronged talons at the end of his wings.
She’d been one of the nurses that had been asked to check on him and her status as an omega was deemed by Dr. Torrence as ‘helpful’ in keeping the alpha calm while there were tests done and vitals captured. She’d always make sure to keep her voice low so she wasn’t overstimulating him. She’d figured that it was the drug that made him more receptive to her scent; he’d let her get close to him as she spoke aloud about what she was doing, step by step, filling the space with soft words and touches.
Those times, it’d been a routine; professional, easy for her to keep her scent clear and calm to make sure he knew that she didn’t mean for him to feel discomfort. There’d been at least two other people in the room with her and another three outside the door just in case.
Now, it was just the two of them. Celeste didn’t know what more Dr. Torrence had done to Sonar, especially now that she understood that the drug’s effects should have lessened with the presence of an omega (or in Robert’s case, an alpha). All five of the alphas had worsened over the past few days, their baser instincts taking over to the point that the omegas needed to go into each room in teams of three and some of the alphas had to be almost fully restrained.
“Ce…leste?”
Sonar’s voice was low, a hoarse growl that vibrated through her body even with the space between them. She watched his red eyes widen, nose scenting the air again as he leaned forward towards where she was standing.
“Celeste,” he said, more surety in his voice. He didn’t make another move towards her, his talons gripping along the wall.
“It’s me,” she said, not trusting her voice to speak above a whisper. Both of Sonar’s ears rotated towards where she stood and he dipped his head to try and focus his eyes on her. She knew just from his file that it was difficult for him to see in his hybrid form, but she wasn’t sure how well his vision was in his full bat-monster form, especially with the lights on.
Celeste expected him to approach her or to continue scenting the air around him. Instead, she watched as he all but crumpled in on himself, tugging his arms around him to cocoon himself in his wings. He let out a low whine, his scent souring further. The mold scent deepened and a memory of a very, very neglected leftover in a shared college refrigerator surfaced to her mind.
“Hurts.” His voice was soft, but still reverberated through her.
Celeste took a step forward, knowing he was just trying to convey his distress. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Her instincts were screaming at her that this wasn’t normal; an alpha would have lunged for her in the throes of his rut, but Sonar was doing the opposite.
Was it because of the drug? Did his transformation affect the rut to negate some of the drug’s effects?
She should take the opportunity and cower against the far corner of the room, just like he was. She could call for help there, maybe get a few words in before her fear tinged scent set him off properly.
But Celeste still needed to help. She didn’t know what more she could do, but if she could at least get Sonar to calm down if he was volatile, then maybe she could have enough time to call for help. She took another step and could see his wings tighten around his body. His ears drooped.
“No. Stop.”
Celeste did as instructed, trying to relax herself and keep Sonar’s scent from souring to the point of her gagging.
“I’ll stay here,” she said.
He most likely couldn’t see her properly without his echolocation, but she wanted to make sure he knew where she was in proximity to him. She let the bit of courage that was keeping her standing leave as she crumpled onto the floor. Her collapse was heavy and telegraphed, enough to have his red eyes focus more on the space she took up.
“I won’t come closer. I’ll just be right here, on the ground.”
She felt a rumbling growl reverberate through the floor. Celeste tried to extend her scent, to keep it from going sour with her fear. She’d done it ozens of times before with her patients that it was close to second nature. A part of her hindbrain knew when she needed to calm an alpha with her scent or let another omega know that they had nothing to fear.
She let her right hand drift down to the pocket of her lab coat, feeling around for her phone. She took it out, slowly and set it down next to her. Keeping her body angled towards Sonar, Celeste looked down and unlocked her screen.
Sonar snuffled, his snout appearing through a gap in his wings, as she moved her fingers around the screen. Her phone was on vibrate, so he was most likely picking up the small buzzes it made with each button she pressed.
“The door is locked,” Celeste said, keeping her voice even, “I just want to call someone to open the door.”
Sonar didn’t make a sound, but his ears swivelled around again, picking up every tap and inhale she made.
“I’m going to call Nurse Hector. You know him. He might sound confused and upset, but all I want to do is tell him where I am and then I’ll hang up. It won’t be a minute and then it’ll just be you and me.”
This time, Sonar let out a tinny whine, but still didn’t move from his corner. She could see his snout twitch again. His ears were folded towards her, cupped to listen to whatever she said in front of him.
Celeste swept through her contacts and put the phone up to her ear. At the first ring, Sonar let out another soft sound, pressing back further into the wall. She prayed Hector would pick up by the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Hector,” Celeste said, her voice still quiet but just a little louder for Hector to pick up, “I’m calling from the SND infirmary, examination room 45E. I need you or someone close by to get over here and open the door. I’ve been locked in.”
There was the sound of something being knocked over on the other side of the line, muffled from being far away from the speaker.
“Holy shit, are you-!?”
“Hector,” Celeste continued, hearing another low rumble from Sonar, “I’m in 45E. When you open the door, please make sure that you are quiet and have scent blockers on.”
Before Hector could utter another word, she hung up the call and put her phone on silent.
The nurses had contingency plans if something went wrong. They practiced them every three months, just enough to have it latch into someone’s head that there was something wrong. Especially when it came to alphas that weren’t cooperating, Celeste had been made aware of the network that the contingency went through. Someone would be there for her; it might take some time, but she felt better knowing that she wasn’t going to be alone with a drugged alpha for much longer.
“Someone is going to be here soon to get me out of the room. I’ve made sure they’ll be calm and are wearing blockers so they won’t bother you when they come in, okay?”
Now that Celeste was off the phone, she could see Sonar’s body visibly relax. His wings drooped down enough so that she could see his red eyes again. He was blinking slowly at her. It reminded her of when cats were just waking up, slowly blinking against the light of a room or the day outside.
There was a soft humming noise that echoed through the room, thrumming through her body. Again, her mind went to a cat’s purr, something to soothe or self soothe. His wings were dropping down lower, showing off his snout and fangs. Even with how large they were, Celeste didn’t feel any fear. Sonar’s scent was softer now, calming. She let her own mingle with his, a strange concoction that she didn’t think would work, but brought out the brightness of both scents. Sure, she was still afraid, but if Sonar finally felt calm, she was going to follow after.
She watched as Sonar’s form began to shrink. The wings and large talons regressed into the hybrid form that SDN had on file as his fur retracted back towards his upper body. She was surprised to see that, as he got back into his hybrid form, Sonar was still wearing clothing. His blue suit was rumpled, but not torn in any way. She could still see there was a white dress shirt under that and a red tie loosely wrapped around his neck.
The hybrid sagged against the wall, eyes closed and breathing heavily. The scent in the air was easing up, just enough for Celeste to smell herself properly. Pomegranate was a bit sour by nature, so she hoped that her response to Sonar’s scent would continue to calm instead of agitate.
“Fuck, my head hurts,” Sonar muttered, sagging down to sit on the floor.
Celeste couldn’t help but shift into nurse mode. “Is it a throbbing pain or a stabbing pain?”
“Throbbing. Feels like I got off a bender.” He lifted his head, eyes focused just off to the right of her face. “How are you here?”
Ah.
Celeste didn’t need to let Sonar know about Dr. Torrence (if that was the bastard’s real name) being the one to lock her in with him, especially not after she finally got him to calm down enough to transform back. “Stayed late and got a bit…uh…”
Fuck, she was bad at lying.
Even in his current state, Sonar seemed to get that impression too. He blinked at her a few times, clouded irises finally focusing on her face, then his eyes narrowed, his brow laying flat. “Did you lock the door?”
That got Celeste to pause. “No?”
Sonar leaned back, snout in the air, wiggling as he sniffed. She didn’t know how sensitive he was to smell or anything else she was letting off, but hoped it wouldn't set off another transformation. Instead, when his nose stopped, he let out a snarling huff. “Don’t like that other smell on you.”
His speech patterns were off; even though he’d gone back to his hybrid form, Celeste could still smell the underlying sweetness of the drug. She grimaced, knowing what he was probably smelling on her.
Celeste didn’t want to think about what else Dr. Torrence had done to the alphas that were being treated for the drug, but of course even the bit of scent that clung to her from being in proximity to the man could be picked up by Sonar. She tried to extend her scent a bit more, at the very least masking it enough so that it couldn’t be detected.
Sonar’s head lolled for a moment, then knocked against the wall and he let out a groan, screwing his eyes shut. His arms hung limp, hands resting against the floor of the observation room, clutching at the flooring.
Celeste slid herself closer to him, keeping herself on the ground and, with how she was dragging the fabric of her pants and lab coat against the floor, allowing Sonar to know she was approaching. He didn’t make a move or a protest to stop her, but she paused every few moments to make sure that he was still comfortable.
His scent had completely receded. He was breathing heavily, his head resting against the wall. His limbs were limp. Celeste wondered if he’d dozed off, but his eyes were still open. She went for her pocket to pull out a penlight as she got even closer, just far enough to reach out and touch Sonar’s shoes. She moved the light just below his eyes, wanting to make sure she didn’t cause him any distress at losing what little vision he probably had left, and, to her relief, he followed it.
“Can you keep talking to me?” she asked, keeping her voice soft as she pocketed her penlight.
Sonar let out a snuffling noise. “About?”
“Anything.”
“Um…bright in here. Can’t see you well.”
Very carefully, Celeste moved to Sonar’s side. His eyes weren’t following her movements, but she could see him beginning to lean towards his left. With how calm he was, she figured getting a pulse might be a good idea. Gently, she settled her right hand against the fur just above his collar, using her pointer and middle fingers to check his heartrate. He let out a small clicking noise, but didn’t pull away. His heartbeat was a bit elevated, but not dangerously so; small miracles.
Celeste moved her hand up his neck towards his cheek, attempting to keep his head upright.
“You smell good…” She could still see that his milky white eyes were unfocused as his head lolled to the side. His eyelids drooped as she cradled his cheek.
Celeste’s heart rate ramped up again, not so much in fear this time. “Thank you.”
He pressed his snout against her arm, focusing on her wrist. Celeste didn’t have the glands that some omegas had on their wrists, but with how sensitive Sonar’s senses were, it probably didn’t matter.
She remained still as Sonar’s snout moved against her arm, working his way up to her shoulder as he pushed himself away from the wall just enough. He paused for a moment, stopping at her shoulder. She moved her left arm slowly to clutch at Sonar’s jacket, using it as an anchor.
A soft chittering noise escaped Sonar’s lips as he moved to nose at her neck and Celeste couldn’t help the small gasp that left her as he explored her scent gland.
He wasn’t pressing hard, but Celeste closed her eyes to try and keep herself calm. No one had ever gotten so close to her and she didn’t want her reactions to instigate a reaction. Sonar had been nothing but docile during this whole ordeal, but there was still the threat of the drug overriding his instincts and causing him to get violent.
And yet….
There was a squeaking sound against her neck.
She lowered her right hand, letting the hybrid take in her scent as he switched from one side of her neck to the other. His snout nosed against her glands on her neck, but he made no effort to push against her. He was taking her in, the inhale and exhale of air from his nose tingling against her skin.
“Smells safe.” His lips and the tip of his fangs ghosted along her skin. Celeste took a breath in, letting the calm of Sonar’s scent wash over her.
She nuzzled against his shoulder, earning another soft chitter. “You do too.”
It wasn’t a lie. Out of all of the alphas she could have been locked in with, she was glad it was Sonar.
Celeste felt Sonar’s arms tighten around her as the sound of the door clicked open behind her. Her breath caught in her throat and she could feel the rumble of a growl against her skin.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, running her hand down his back, “Remember? I said someone was coming to unlock the door.”
“Said they’d have scent blockers,” Sonar muttered.
“Maybe he forgot. I told you that he might be worried, remember?”
“...yeah…”
“Celeste,” Hector’s voice floated from behind her, “you good?” His own scent of chamomile wafted around her, another calming smell added to her own.
“I’m fine,” she said, just raising her voice enough not to disturb Sonar. His snout was still pressed against her shoulder, but he’d moved off of her scent gland. She felt his breaths against her shirt and lab coat calm further, taking longer inhales and exhales. “You have to let me go now. It’s time for me to leave.”
Very slowly, Sonar’s grip on her loosened. He moved his arms from her back, fingertips dragging lightly against the fabric of her coat. His face stayed where it was for a moment, then he turned to press his snout directly against her scent gland. Celeste’s breath hitched, but she stayed still. She could feel the fur on his face rubbing against her neck, her heart beating harder at the thought of him moving just enough to scent her properly.
But his snout stayed where it was, the damp skin cool against her neck. A few seconds passed and Sonar shuffled backward and away from her, hands held up in surrender. His cloudy eyes were focused on her own as he smiled.
“Be safe, Celeste.”
Celeste felt someone grab her torso and pull her out of the room as two other people took her place. The examination room door shut with a hard finality in front of her and it took her a few seconds to process what had happened.
The first thing she noticed was that she was breathing heavily. Hector had crouched down behind her, anchoring her in place as she tried to focus on breathing, taking in the sterile scent of the infirmary hallway instead of the scent of mint.
“You’re okay,” he was whispering in her ear, “You’re out of there, you’re safe now.”
Something in her chest ached at that, but Celeste was shaking too hard to focus on it.