[Time Steve's POV]

As I walk through the halls of the Professor's lab, I start to hear strange sounds echoing throughout the passages.

"What in the name of Origin...?" I mumble, trying to understand what these sounds are.

There's more than one, it sounds like... metal scraping, growls, and low shrieks? What is happening?!

Wait... metal scraping... the Assistant!

I rush to the source of the sounds, and I see a staircase leading deeper down into the lab, the noises coming from wherever it leads. Of course this whack job has a basement to his lab, of course he does. It's like some kind of requirement that every mad scientist has a spooky fricken basement to their labs, or something.

I brace myself for whatever I might find, and rush down the stairs. Flight after flight of stairs, the sounds get louder and louder with each passing level. Eventually, I reach the bottom, and I see a hall full of what looks to be high-security cells with glasslike walls facing into the hallway. There's a weapons rack with five swords placed in it near one of the middle cells. At the back of the hall, there's a room with a very sturdy-looking door with multiple locks. What on earth would the Professor be keeping down here...?

I look closer at the reinforced door at the end of the hall, and see that it's slightly open. Carefully making my way towards it, I realize that this room is where the sound is coming from.

I open the door to see the Assistant holding a door to a giant observation room closed, a strange black, white, and grey half-melted goo creature trying to force said door open. The creature only has its head, arms, and torso, the rest a gathered blob around the creature and spreading along the floor. Gross.

I rush over and try to help the Assistant keep the door shut, and he turns to me.

"You do not have the authorization to be down here." He says.

"Is now really a time to be bringing up authority, Assistant?!" I yell, both annoyed at him and worried about... whatever this thing is. "There's a freaking goo creature trying to break out of wherever this place is!"

"Did the Professor send you?" The Assistant asks, and I sigh, knowing I can't reason with this one-track-mind android.

"Yes, he did." I say. "He asked me to find you because you were supposed to be getting information on Sabre's illness, and you hadn't checked in for a while."

"Understandable. It has been 6 hours since I last was with the Professor, also how long it has been since I was assigned to research the virus." The Assistant begins. "I had an alert from this room notifying me that there was an in-progress breach going on just as I arrived the research station. I have been given a protocol to keep this intruding entity inside this chamber and to keep it from not only risking the safety of those inside the lab, but the Kingdom as well."

"Intruding? What do you mean?" I ask, still trying my best to keep this door shut along with the Assistant.

"Before yesterday's incident involving the two unidentified entities, this one had broken into the lab a few days prior." The Assistant says. "The Professor and I were able to capture it before it went into the room Sabre was inside. Professor Red had told me to place it inside this chamber for analysis, but the following morning it seemingly deteriorated itself, turning into a liquid mass of an unidentifiable substance. It seems to be reforming back into an entity for an unknown reason."

Wh- These things have broken into the lab before?! Dang it, Professor!

"Are you serious- Whatever. I'll yell at Professor Red later." I say. "For right now, can you somehow let the Professor know this is happening?"

At that moment, the creature bashes itself against the door, pushing it open slightly. A bit of the monochrome liquid oozes out from the small open space.

"Because I don't know how long we can keep this door shut." I continue.

"Affirmative. Sending signal to the Professor now." The Assistant says.

Just then, the creature starts ramming itself against the door, and the Assistant and I are pushed back a little with every hit. The metal door starts bending, becoming dented by the creature.

"The probability of the intruding creature breaking down the door in the next few seconds is 97%." The Assistant says.

"Then I hope the Professor has some very on-point timing." I say.

The door breaks, a loud 'bang' heard throughout the room.

The Assistant and I are flung back a few blocks, him falling backwards onto the floor while I just barely keep my balance. When I look up, I see the creature. It's towering a few blocks over us, using the leftover not-fully-formed-yet goo to raise itself up like a sea serpent using its tail to look above the water. It suddenly has huge, sharp-looking claws on its hands and two half-developed grey eyes are placed in odd spots on its head.

...This thing looked a lot smaller inside the chamber.

I quickly grab the Assistant and get him to his feet. He sees the creature in front of us, and the redstone cannon from yesterday night appears on his arm again. I charge my lightning strike ability.

"Buddy, if you're gonna try and use that, I think you're gonna need a bigger cannon." I say.

"We do not have anything else. This was the only weapon developed to fight against this creature. I believe your lightning might not work as well either." The Assistant says, still pointing the cannon at the creature's head.

"Origin help us..." I mumble underneath my breath.

The creature lunges towards us, and the Assistant and I fire off our weapons. My lightning hits the creature, burning a hole in its arm. The Assistant puts a hole in the creature's head with the cannon. The creature backs up, holding its head with its good arm. Suddenly the room smells like burning rot of some kind.

Just as the creature reforms its head and arm, staring us down, the door to this chamber room flings open. The Assistant and I look behind us to see the Professor and M standing there in the doorway. I quickly point at the creature, staring at the Professor.

"PROFESSOR RED, WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT GOOD AND HOLY WERE YOU THINKING?!" I yell, and the Assistant gets slapped to the side by the creature immediately after.

I hastily back up and dodge the creature's other arm, although the end of its claw puts a scratch in my mask. I just repainted that...

"I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA, PROFESSOR!" M says, helping me up. It looks like he picked up a sword that was in the previous hallway.

"M, YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?!" I say. Suddenly a tendril forms from the strange monochrome goo, and I have to strike it with lighting before it grabs me.

"WISH I DIDN'T, BUT THE PROFESSOR TOLD ME HE CAPTURED A STRANGE CREATURE AND MADE ME COME DOWN HERE A FEW DAYS AGO!" M replies, knocking away the creature's claw with his sword. 

The Professor runs over to the Assistant and helps him up, then pulls out another redstone cannon, just like the Assistant's.

"I DID NOT KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! SOMETHING MUST'VE CAUSED IT TO GROW SOMEHOW!" Professor Red yells back.

Professor Red fires off his cannon, aiming for the head as well. However, the hole is gone in a matter of seconds, the creature reforming its flesh.

"That... should've worked." The Professor says.

"HOW DO WE STOP THIS THING?!" I yell, still striking lightning at the creature. Jeez, that burned smell is terrible, what is this thing made of?! Rotting corpses?!

Suddenly another tendril forms from the goo, and I'm knocked into the wall by it. The creature moves towards and corners me against the wall.

"TIME!" M calls out.

The creature is almost right in my face. I panic, feeling around the wall for anything I could grab. My hand grasps something, and I throw it at the creature without thinking.

Suddenly, the creature backs away, clawing at its face. It moves against the broken chamber, and I see that something has set this thing on fire. Looking closer, I realize there's a torch stuck in the creature's left shoulder. That must be what I threw at it.

All of us notice that the creature isn't reforming itself, the fire burning away at its face and shoulder entirely. We all get the same idea.

"KILL IT WITH FIRE!" The Professor yells, grabbing a torch from the wall as well.

M and the Assistant also grab a torch, and the three of them all throw the torches at the creature; One landing on its torso, one landing on the weird goo mass underneath it, and one landing on its right arm.

We all back into the walls as the creature flails, it burning away. Eventually the creature collapses, not getting back up. The fire completely chars its body, and then... it goes out. The creature still doesn't get back up. In fact... it's not even breathing.

Suddenly, Light and a few Colorless Guards come into the room. Light looks confusedly at the scene in front of him. He then motions to the burned creature.

"What on earth happened here?!" Light exclaims.

"Turns out, the Professor was keeping one of those strange monochrome-swirled creatures down here." I say, stepping away from the wall. "It somehow grew while it was in that chamber, and broke out just as I got here to look for the Assistant. Professor, I dunno what you did-"

"Hey, I didn't do a thing to it. The most I ever did was take a few samples of the odd liquid substance it turned into after it seemed to melt itself... somehow." The Professor says. "That's how I knew how to make those redstone cannons... and it seems these things are weak to fire, so there's that."

"That... was terrifying." M says.

I suddenly realize something.

"Hey Professor, these things have a strange ability that worsens Sabre's condition as long as they're around, right?" I ask.

"Yes, they do. Why?" The Professor says.

"Well..." I say. "Did you ever think that since this thing had probably been growing down here for a while, and the range of that ability was increasing, so maybe... that thing is why Sabre wasn't recovering from the attack last night that well?"

Silence. Then, the Professor looks furious with himself.

"GOSH FRICKING DANG IT!" Professor Red says, facepalming.

"Uh, yeah, maybe you shouldn't bring these things anywhere near here. Ever." M says, giving the Professor an annoyed look.

Professor Red then realizes that everyone is staring at him.

"...I'm in trouble, aren't I?" He asks.

"Yes." Everyone else replies.

Just... why. Why would he do this??