As promised, Kirk returned the following morning to follow the same guard down the same long corridor to collect the results. The room was quiet when he first entered, no one speaking to him through the walls or vents. Although he knew it was most likely ridiculous to expect the man he spoke with yesterday to know he had returned, he couldn't help but cast an eye over at the vent that remained silent.

Even as he collected his data and left the room in hopes to not keep the guard outside waiting for long on his behalf, nothing came from the vents.

"Mr. Langstrom." Kirk glanced up at his name suddenly being called.

A young man greeted Kirk with a broad smile, and just as long strides to reach him. Judging by the man's long white lab coat flaring behind his every eager step, Kirk hoped he was another scientist. Perhaps even the one that had been speaking to him through the vents.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Michael Holt. It's nice to finally meet you." he extended his hand out for Kirk to shake. Kirk did so, although the voice was not the same one he heard from the vent. He wasn't sure whether the fact was reassuring or disappointing. Nonetheless, it was good to see another face in the facility that wasn't presently wearing a face guard.

As if reading Kirk's thoughts, Holt smiled. "Charming place here, isn't it? Come, let's talk somewhere a bit friendlier."

He began to walk the opposite way Kirk was used to, but Kirk followed nonetheless as Holt continued to walk like Waller, confident that Kirk wouldn't question him. However, Holt seemed more approachable than Waller. His smile was bright, and his voice calm and amicable. Even so, Kirk couldn't help but feel like the smile was distant, impersonal as the person who makes sure there's food in the fridge for Kirk every day.

"Here we are. I'm on the tenth floor. I like natural light, don't you?" Holt glanced over at Kirk for his agreement.

"I'm afraid I'm fonder of the dark myself. My complexion isn't one that can stand the sun for long." Kirk tried to humor which Holt readily chuckled at for a moment until the elevator slowed at his floor.

Holt led Kirk to what appeared to be his office, and true to his word, Holt had a large window at the far wall that allowed plenty of light. Looking past Holt, all Kirk could see was miles of golden wheat fields.

"Please, have a seat." Holt indicated the seat across from his desk as he moved to sit behind it. "Lovely view, isn't it?" Holt caught Kirk's line of sight. "It's no city skyline, but it's better than cement. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here, and quite frankly I wondered myself why Waller brought you in. Personally, you were not my first choice – no offense, it's just your… health concerned me. How are you feeling by the way?"

"I'm alright, thank you." Kirk mentally stumbled across the other man's straightforwardness.

Holt's artificial smile tugged upon the corners of his lips once more. "Good, glad to hear it. One of the guards was telling me earlier that they heard coughing. I just want to make sure, since you don't see a lot of people during the day, we're not going to find you keeled over your lab notes several days after."

After a moment of watching Kirk trying to scramble for a proper response, Holt continued. "But Waller tells me you're working on that as well, which brings us to the real reason I called you down here." Holt straightened, and his dark eyes narrowed on Kirk. "You were given, ah, a pet project to the parent one I'm currently working on. However, the strides you make in this project could prove fruitful for mine. Therefore, I've called you in to ask you simply, how are you doing?"

Kirk stiffened. Holt did not greet like Waller nor did he carry himself like her, but his dark eyes pinning him down like a bug on a glass slide were no friendlier than Waller's. Nonetheless, Kirk repeated what he had told Waller, hoping Holt wasn't too disappointed by what little progress Kirk has made so far for certainly what he had told Waller, Waller already told Holt.

Despite this, Holt's artificial smile never faltered for a second with genuine feeling. Instead it remained fixed on the man's lips until the very end.

"I see. Well if something new should develop I hope you don't hesitate to tell me." Holt began to stand up from behind his desk as Kirk did the same. One last time, he gave his regards to the project before Kirk was escorted back to his floor by another guard. Kirk tried not to wonder how many armed guards there were stationed here, for the question of why they were there would inevitably follow.

Meanwhile, Holt watched Kirk's retreating form when the sound of his phone returned him to his office.

"This is Dr. Holt… Ah, thank you for returning my call, Mr. Magnus."


Knowing that he not only had Waller, but now Dr. Holt as well watching his every move, Kirk didn't spare a moment to return to his work. The work that was so important and yet so secretive that even he wasn't allowed to know everything. Nonetheless, he spent the next few days crunching numbers and going over the data enough times, he lost count.

He returned to the sequencer for further analysis. He prepared the samples like he did last time and cleaned up after himself as he waited for the sequencer to process the genetic code once more. When he was sure there was no variation from the first and second time, he would be sure that the sequence was correct.

"Long time no see."

Kirk glanced up at the vent opening where the familiar voice echoed from. For some reason, he couldn't help the slight up-curve of his lips at the comfort he found in the familiar voice. Perhaps it was the fact that the voice was faceless. He couldn't see its artificial smile, or feel the person's piercing gaze which brought him ease. He could only hear the warmth in the other's voice.

"Yes, it has been. I see my gait has not changed."

The voice chuckled but did not confirm nor deny the assumption. "I've had some time to think. Are you afraid of death?"

Kirk paused, setting the cleaned beaker down for a moment. "No."

"And yet you're here."

"I might not be afraid of death, but that does not mean I want to die." Kirk resumed his cleaning.

A bemused hum sounded from the vent as the voice did not say another word. Kirk wondered if the other man had left at that point, going to think again. For some reason, the thought unnerved Kirk. Whether the words who they were intended for was there or not, he was moved to say something.

"I… I have friends – good friends who I don't want to say goodbye to just yet. You see, I have always been a friend to the dark. When I was eight, I fell down a hole in the ground, and the place was dark, and cold… very cold, and no matter how loudly I screamed no one came. Needless to say, I was down there for over a month until authorities found me, but by then I had made friends with the dark. I still feel comfort in it. But my friends…" Kirk paused for a moment before a self-deprecating laugh left him. "I'm not sure why I'm sharing this with you… I've never told anyone this… maybe it's because I can't see your face that this is easier. Sort of the way people say confessions at church."

Kirk chanced another glance at the vent, but yet again, he was met with silence.

"I once saw a man who thirsted for sunlight. I feel as though I have been in the dark for so long I've lost that desire until now. My friends, I've come to realize, are my light, and I wish to stay with them as long as I can. I don't want to miss everything. That's why I'm here."

Kirk packed his things up ready to go. He did not mean to slam the cupboard as loudly as he did. The shock of it caused his fingers to linger on the handle for a moment longer as if to ground himself once more. Where that sudden need for validation came from, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to prove himself to a faceless voice that came from a vent. For all he knew it could just be a voice inside his head, another mocking side effect of ever growing lymph nodes.

"Around 5am is day break," the voice returned. "Maybe then you'll know what it feels like to thirst for sunlight."

Kirk let go of the handle, but didn't make a move to say anything.

"Also, you haven't missed everything. You might miss some things, but not everything."

Kirk looked back at the vent. He wanted to say thank you, but he instead picked up his things and left the room with the machine still processing and the man on the other side of the vent alone.

Even though he had shut the door behind him, he couldn't shut the other man's words out. Kirk worked through the rest of the day, although he couldn't help but find himself lingering out in the hallway longer than usual, or remarking the time of day by the darkness outside the few windows he had.

Did the man from the vent have a window? Dr. Holt had his office on the upper levels so he could have sunlight, but the man from the vent… he must be stationed on a basement level meaning he wouldn't be able to see the sun. Though perhaps he went home in the evenings, and woke up to the sun rising, only to return to the darkness that was the basement.

Kirk glanced down at his watch. He had been standing there since 4am, waiting for the sun to rise. Some part of him thought little of it. He had seen the sun rise and fall before. There was nothing to it, and yet he couldn't help the twists in his gut.

Nonetheless, his eyes never left the horizon as he watched the sky gradually turn lighter and lighter. The stars faded in surrender to the one Earth revolved around, what everything, everyone revolved around, the sun.

The sky streaked in varying gradients of reds and orange like fingers reaching across the sky. It was as if the sun were pulling itself through the night sky and with It brought victorious light.

Before he knew it, the disc of the sun began to peek over the rim of the earth at Kirk, and in what seemed like only a few seconds, reveled itself completely in all Its shining glory.

The rays painted the wheat fields in gold, the sky blue, and for a moment Kirk just took in a deep breath. Then let it go.

When he closed his eyes, he saw that man's face once more, with his head raised in complete surrender to the sun. Although Kirk could not feel the ray's warmth, he saw it chase away the night, and knew that he too could chase away the doubt that shadowed his mind.

"I saw the sun rise," Kirk said aloud as he began to extract the data from the sequencer. He wasn't sure the man from the vent would be there to hear him, but part of him knew he was.

As if on cue, the voice cleared their throat. "And?"

"And it was… enlightening."

A laugh trickled from the vent as Kirk found himself smiling at the sound of it. "I'm sure it was."

Kirk began to clean up after himself, the smile still gracing his features. "I wanted to thank you for your advice."

"De nada. I'm glad you took it."

"Do you often watch the sunrise?"

"No, not anymore. When I was growing up, yes, I got up before the sun, and watched it as it rose."

"You got up that early as a kid?" At least his parents never made him do that, Kirk thought. "Were you raised on a farm?"

There was a small pause before he answered, "Yes, it was a… large farm. My family and I worked from the crack of dawn to well after sunset. And you?"

"I'm a city boy, I'm afraid. It's where all the cars are you see. My father's an auto repairman so I've been in the city for all my life."

"You don't tire of all the smoke?"

"And all the congestion and pollution? I suppose not."

"Hm, then tell me how a boy who probably learned how to put carburetors together by the age of five becomes a scientist?"

Kirk couldn't help but laugh a little at question for it was one his family has asked him several times before as well.

"Remember when I said I fell down a hole? Well, I wasn't alone in those caves. I was surrounded by bats."

"Bats?"

Kirk hummed in confirmation, "Many of them. It was scary at first, but I grew quite fond of them. Once I got out of the caves, I read every book I could find about them. I was going to be a zoologist at first, but I ended up turning to medicine, and then oncology, and lastly hematology."

"What is that?"

Kirk paused for moment at the question. The voice was not another scientist for they would have known the terms otherwise. Perhaps they worked in the kitchens, or maybe they were another guard?

"I study blood based diseases."

"Diseases such as your own?"

Kirk nodded, forgetting that the other person could not see him. However, the silence that filled the void between them was telling enough.

As Kirk made his way to the door to leave, the voice trickled out of the vent once more. The words were soft, almost whispered, but Kirk heard them nonetheless.

"I'm sorry."

He smiled. "Me too."

He made sure the door was shut behind him, and the guard once again walked him back.

'Me too.' Kirk had never said that before. When someone said their condolences, he thanked them, or said it was not their fault, but for some reason, he did not this time.

Perhaps it was the way the other person had worded the question that made him think defensively. The person knew he was sick. Although there was no way of determining the degree of it, the assumption was clear.

The stranger assumed he was finding a cure for himself, and though that was true, Kirk couldn't help but feel like there was judgement behind that assumption as well.

Did the person pity him? Think him desperate or self-serving? Was it wrong to want to save oneself?

Kirk tried to shake the thought away, and yet his eyes kept drifting to the phone that hung on the wall. It must have been a week or maybe two since he had spoken with either Tina or Will. Both must be furious with him.

Will because he thought Kirk had given up, and Tina because he was sure she has filled his voice box with messages asking where he was. He couldn't tell her. Either of them. It was better if they both tried to move on.

That day at the hospital when Tina returned, she passed the day talking about her wedding. She had narrated her tales about her fussy bridesmaids, and nearly reenacted the theatrical battle between her and the baker to speed up her order. She was moving her wedding up, even changing the venues, and although she never said it, Kirk knew it was for him.

She wanted him there. She wanted him standing beside Will as his best man, and to see her in her overpriced white dress as she walked down the aisle.

Kirk wanted to be there too.

With that thought in mind, he pushed the stranger's voice aside, and returned to work.

The sequence was the same. Nothing had changed, but just to be sure, Kirk prepped a third sample to check one final time.

When he returned to the room later in the evening, he didn't say a word, and nor did the other person. There was silence from the vents. Kirk wondered if it was what he said earlier that made the other person silent, or perhaps he just wasn't currently around.

The latter was more plausible than the former, and though Kirk tried not to dawdle, he couldn't help but take his time more than usual.

Still nothing.

Finally, with a knocking on the door from the guard, Kirk gave up and concluded that the other person had simply gone home. The thought of home, made Kirk think that perhaps he should head home too, but he never did. He went back to work.


By morning, Kirk knew the sample would be ready, and so he returned to the room, not knowing if he should expect the person to be back or not. Nonetheless, he went through the usual motions.

"I see… you're still al-alive." the voice sounded from the vents, breathless. The 'e's in the word 'see' seemed to have more 'e's than just two. It was drawn out, and yet the word 'alive' strained.

"Are you alright?" Kirk asked, worry evident in his tone. "You sound hurt."

The voice scoffed. "In this world… it's hard not to be."

Kirk paused. He didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to respond to that? A simple apology wouldn't suffice, but then he felt nothing would.

However, before he could say anything, the voice prompted. "Would you say you're a good person?"

Kirk took his time before answering. "If you're asking me whether I think there are good or bad people in the world, I do, but I also believe there are good people who do bad things and there are bad people who do good things. Not every decision we make is all bad or all good."

The voice was silent for some time.

"Then what makes a person good or bad to you?"

"Intentions, I suppose."

"And your intentions?"

Kirk wanted to say his were good. That what he was doing was for everyone else's sake, and yet…

"I… can't say that all my recent intentions have been good…" Kirk admitted, although it was hard to see a good road on the current path he was forced on by the luck of the draw. Or was it fate that had brought him here?

"So you're a good person who's doing something bad?"

"I'm not a good person," Kirk corrected. "I'm… I'm just a person."

"Just a person?"

"Yes, just a person. I don't think I've had enough time yet to decide whether I'm good or bad."

"So, you have time to change?"

"I'd like to believe we all have the potential to be good or to do good things."

"Same can be said about evil, and yet I can't help but notice a trend when it comes to good and bad people." the voice paused for a moment, as Kirk could hear a light rattling noise, followed by a muffled grunt forced between clenched teeth. The person took in audible gulps of air, and then there was silence.

Kirk wanted to say something, call out to them, but luckily the person spoke up before Kirk could get the words out.

"You say all have the potential to do good things, but not all people are born the same, which creates a trend of those who are good and those who are bad. Those who tend to be good are those born with less, and those bad are typically born with more…"

"I don't think it's as black and white as you say." Kirk spoke up after some time of thought. He believed Will and Tina were good people, and they were born in relatively good families. However, at the same time, from a scientific point of view, it would be hard to say this person was good or this person was bad, and place them all in an excel file to graph.

Nonetheless, he tried to sympathize with the person. "I'm sorry if I assumed wrong, but you sound… pained. Not just physically but emotionally as well. Someone has hurt you, perhaps more than one person, and it's true, people can be cruel. Growing up for me was not easy. I was more in love with bats than I was with humans, but then I met two people who made me think for the first time that life wasn't so bad. That people could be kind too. You just have to find the right ones, and once you find them, keep them close."

Kirk stilled at his own words as he thought about the two people he had in mind and what they must be going through. What he was doing to them. He was hurting them.

"Thank you… I needed to remember there are still good people." the voice said after a while. "And I think you just remembered too."

Kirk smiled, "I did. I do."

He began to stack his collected data in a pile to go. "I hope you are alright?"

An incredulous huff sounded from the vents. "I am, thanks. Go, be with your friends."

"I will, thank you," Kirk replied, and he left the room to finally go home.


A/N: So the story of Kirk falling into a hole when he was young comes from his background in the New Earth verse. I liked that this was his origins to loving bats, and probably being really awkward around people, so I adopted it for this. How he survived there for 5wks, or however long it was, I don't know, but comic logic.