AU: Sinister Studies (in case you don't remember, Professor Red but evil)

Context: Someone visits and gets a little too curious.

This AU now belongs to ItsIndigos! This is completely unrelated to what they're going to do with it, I just wanted to write something with an idea I had for the AU :>

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[3rd Person POV]

"Thanks again, could you just drop those off in the other room for me please?" The Professor asks, busy with a row of brewing stands.

"Of course. Same room as always?" The Red Steve asks with a smile. He's carrying a box filled with glass vials.

"Indeed! I'd go take the vials there myself, but I can't leave these potions unattended. They're for a new experiment and their ingredients are very difficult to get, so I can't afford to waste any by leaving them on the stand for too long. These things heat up like you wouldn't believe!"

"I understand Professor, don't worry." The Red Steve says, starting to walk away. The Professor calls after him.

"Oh, and remember to-"

"Stay out of #216, I know!" He chuckles. He's heard the same thing so many times.

When delivering glassware to the people of the Red Kingdom, Professor Red is always a frequent stop. Even more so when he's working on a new project involving potions or chemicals, which he seems to be doing a lot lately. One of the rules this Red Steve had been given by his boss, the glassmaker, is to never question what the Professor was doing with all of the bottles and vials, because in his words "You probably don't want to know what he's working on, that man could do quite some damage if he wanted to be a real problem." There were many incidents with other workers getting too curious and refusing to deliver to the Professor afterwards, so this one decided he'd rather just stick to the rule and get his work done.

Going through multiple hallways, he makes a few turns before reaching a staircase and going down. The rooms below were darker and more eerie than the ground floor, but it didn't really bother him. He just glanced at signs he walked past on his way to his destination, not thinking about what could be behind them.

203... 207... 209... 211...

The next few doors were more secure, and were placed next to each other instead of some being in separate rooms like the previous ones.

212... 213... 214... 215...

Finally, he reached a bigger, heavy door. It was slightly ajar, and he only pushed it open with his shoulder so he could walk inside.

The only things in the room were a few tables, two against the wall and one in the center of the room, and the numerous pieces of equipment and papers messily scattered on them. A clock ticked on the wall, breaking the silence, but it was stuck on 3:47. On the opposite side of the room of the tables against the wall was a very large, sturdy, reinforced metal door. Multiple locks held it in place. There were no windows looking into the room in the other side. The sign next to the door read "Experiment Room #216", and below that text in much messier handwriting (and in a completely different ink color), "Stay out unless authorized! Which isn't you!"

Just the Professor being the Professor.

As he has for the past few orders to the lab, the Red Steve placed the box on the table in the room's center, a space having already been cleared for it. After making sure it won't fall once he lets go, he pushes the box a bit further away from the edge of the table, then takes a breath. Glass is always heavier than it looks.

He was about to leave, when a thud resounded through the almost silent room. The Red Steve froze, scared by the sudden loud noise. Hands shaking, he quickly turns around to see if something just fell, but nothing is out of place.

Thud.

He jumps again. This time, he knows where it came from; Room #216's door. He just stares at it for a moment.

Thud.

Listening closer, he realizes he can hear something else behind the door. It was... crying. A male voice, sounded like a young adult. Was there someone down here?

Thud.

Taking a deep breath, the Red Steve slowly steps closer to the door, cautious of whatever could be behind it. He notices a gap between the bottom of the steel door and the floor, a shadow visible from it. Once he steps close enough, the thudding stops as whatever is in the other side becomes still.

He stops in front of the door, crouching down.

"H-Hello?" The Red Steve calls out. "Is someone in there?"

Silence.

Then, fingers of an odd peach color reach under the gap. They're bruised, and their nails broken, as if the person these hands belonged to had been trying to claw their way out. The crying is heard again, this time joined by something else.

"Pl-Please..." A hoarse, defeated voice echoes from behind the door, the fingers underneath the metal barrier tensing. "L-Let me out..."

The Red Steve only has a split second to be shocked, before something hits him in the back of the head, and he only manages a quiet squeak as he falls to the floor.

A metal hand reaches down and checks that the Steve is unconscious, then pulls back as the Assistant stands up. He looks at the door, and the hands peeking from the gap have disappeared along with the shadow under the door. There is only silence in the unseen room.

The Assistant quickly contacts the Professor.

"Professor Red, the glass deliverer came into contact with the anomalous subject." His monotone, artificial voice drones through a communicator.

In seconds, the Professor's voice crackles on the other end.

"Oh for goodness sake, he had one- ugh. I really thought he would be better than his co-workers." The Professor sighs. "Did he see anything?"

"He spoke with the subject, and it responded. He also saw it putting its hands under the gap in the door."

"Well, darn. Put the nosy moron in that room, I'll sort out his memory of the event in a moment. I just need to finish these potions for my next experiment with that... strange being. You make a note to remind me that I really need to block off that gap."

"Yes, Professor."

The communicator crackles, and the Assistant puts it away and picks up the unconscious Steve off the floor. Wheeling away, he carries the curious guest out of the room.

As he closes the door to Lab #216's station, he checks one last time that the subject isn't trying to find a way to claw its way out through the door gap again. The Professor always gets upset when it does that, because it stains the floor in front of it.