a/n: it's my birthday!! :D

That night, the mood in Dot's room was unbearably thick, so full of tension that the hybrid was sure he could slice through it with his claws.

They were going to escape tonight. It was actually going to happen.

All three men were lying down in silence, but none were sleeping. Anticipation flew through the air in a silver chariot, filling them all with the nerve-wracking emotion in such intensity that it was almost hard to breathe, for fear they may burst.

How did Dot feel about leaving the facility? It was hard to say. On one hand, he would be glad to be rid of the place that had caused him so much horror and to finally make memories of the outside world. Proper memories, not hazy ones that faded away and fizzled out to almost nothing over time.

He wanted to go and live out his dreams in a sunlit cottage, to spend time with the people he loved and to never have to worry about blood or knives or pills ever again.

On the other hand, he was scared. What if Felix's family rejected him? What if they were caught? What if the humans out there thought he was a monster, and he ended up somewhere even worse?

At least in here, he had a big room, as many perches as he could ever need, good food, and Felix. What if out there, nasty people caught him and kept him in a cage, or starved him? Would he ever have human contact? If they took away his card that he used to type on, he would have no way of communicating that he was more than just a dumb beast, that he was someone worthy of rights and protection too.

As many times as Felix reassured him that he was human despite his body, each glimpse he caught of his own legs or wings proved the man wrong. He wasn't human, not really. If the people out there saw him, they wouldn't look past his bat-like features and see how he really was; they would take him at face value and think him to be a freak.

The worst part was, he wasn't entirely sure they would be incorrect.

He tried to shove his concerns down into the deepest darkest cabinets of his mind, locking them away forever so he wouldn't have to think about what could go wrong.

They were going to escape tonight. It was going to happen. And whatever reaction the people out there had to him, he would have to take on the nose and push forward regardless.

He was going to have to stay strong no matter what.

...

Nimue slipped out of bed and pulled on the shoes she had stowed beneath it, patting down the frizz in her hair a little to try and tame it.

She stared at herself in the mirror and chewed on her lip, slightly embarrassed at how her hair stuck up irregularly like the world's worst afro, the untameable curly strands ignoring her plea for them to lie flat in a more normal fashion in favour of sticking straight up to mock her.

Giving up, she put on her favourite jacket and did up the buttons with trembling fingers, trying not the think about what she was going to attempt tonight.

Although she had never truly been trapped here, she had always felt as if she was just as much a prisoner as Dot. Not wanting to stay, but unable to leave for fear of letting Digorn have full control over her son.

Even the thought of that man made her resolve collapse a little. If he caught them, her life was over. And she didn't even really have a plan of what to do once they got out- she couldn't stay with her family because one, Digorn knew where they all lived and two, half of them were a whole plane journey away.

The end goal would be to jump the country and escape fully, never having to be penned up ever again. But this would require planning, which took time: something she didn't have.

If she took too long to get everyone out of the lab and safe, they would start getting drug trial requests again by the hundreds and then they'd never have a good opening to escape.

When she had initially left for a few weeks just after Tiro had injured Dot's leg, she had told all the companies they were usually in touch with that they were no longer taking requests and then had blocked all their emails, doing her best to minimise how many trials would happen in her absence. It was still paying off now, as the requests were few and far between, but they were starting to pick up again- as was evident by what had happened to Tiro and Dot in the week she had been visiting her mother.

After a heavy exhale and a little jump to prepare herself for the action, she tiptoed through the door and hallways with as much stealth as she could muster, reaching Dot's room in no time while using her phone torch to light the way.

She drew the keys out of her pocket and unlocked the door, missing the keyhole a few times in her trembling nervousness.

When she entered this time, she did not close the door behind her; leaving it wide open to show off the dark corridor that lay beyond.

Hearing her enter, the three inside all sat up in unison and rose to follow her, Dot scuffling across the floor instead and Felix mumbling something along the lines of how the light was too bright and in his eyes, and a quick 'what the hell is up with your hair'.

She still found the man very, very irritating. But Dot liked him, so she guessed he must be worth something.

"Are you ready?" Nimue hissed, keeping her voice low as she replaced the key into her pocket and stepped outside the door again.

Felix picked up Dot and slung him over him like a backpack, nodding with determination in his eyes.

It was time.