Thomas jumps at the sound, instantly hugging Lucky around his neck. Lucky happily licks his face before turning his attention back to his bone. Edward smiled slightly at the scene before gently petting his head reassuringly.

"Let's get those wounds treated, Thomas." Edward smiles as he gently held his hand out to him.

Thomas stares at him as he gently grabs his hand, slowly standing up. The fur on his tail was fluffed up from the booming sound as he stays close to Edward. He remembers that Edward said Whiff is kind and friendly, but he's still scared that he works in a lab. The memories of the lab he escaped from are fresh in his mind as he follows Edward to a door.

Opening the door, both Edward and Thomas cough as black smoke billows out from the room.

"Whiff?" Edward calls out, tenderly holding Thomas' hand as he led him down the stairs towards the lab. "Whiff, where are you? Are you alright?"

"I'm *cough* alright!" a new voice calls out in reply. Because of the smoke, Thomas can't see its owner.

The sound of a fan turning on echoes in the room and the black smoke slowly clears the room. Thomas is scared as he sees the room come into focus, noticing all the beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, and other equipment scattered around the table. It reminds him of the same room that the scientists back at Stanford Gage Research had always strapped him in.

He feels his heart drop when he sees two rabbits sitting on a tray but was confused on why they were wearing tiny goggles and lab coats. Coughing was heard as a chair pulls away from the table, spinning as a male stood up. He looks to be to be in his mid-20s with mildly curled black hair. He wore a scorched lab coat over a dark green shirt and jean pants with black shoes. A pair of safety goggles are over his eyes and his face and goggles are covered in black soot. The male took the goggles off, revealing a black outline of them around his large glasses. His eyes are a deep green colour, and his face looks calming and kind.

"Whiff, we have a guest, and he needs your help." Edward says softly, squeezing Thomas' hand. "He needs your medical expertise, to be precise."

"Hmm?" Whiff hums as he turns his head so that he is directly facing his friend, soot coming off him. "Oh! Hello there!" He smiles as he sees Thomas and walks over to him. "What's your name?" He asked as he starts to inspect the wounds with gentle, yet efficient, precision.

"T-Thomas…" Thomas says quietly, nervous when Whiff touches him, frightened that the moment he registers Thomas's ears and tail, he'll be strapped down and poked and prodded again.

"That's a nice name." Whiff smiles as he carefully lifts Thomas' arms up. "My name is Whitford Lavon, but you can just call me Whiff. All my friends do."

Whitford Lavon. The name sounded familiar to Thomas before he remembers where he heard it before. His father had mentioned him a few times and he was famous for his work. He also remembered his father saying that Whitford Lavon was against animal testing, and was very committed to the ethics of science, as he didn't believe in hurting anyone in the name of knowledge.

He starts to relax when he realizes that Whiff isn't harming him as he inspects his wounds.

"Can you put him on one of the hospital beds, please?" Whiff asks Edward as he walks over to his lab.

Edward gently leads Thomas over to the other side of the room that had five hospital beds lined up.

Thomas was confused and scared that he would be strapped down onto one, as he had been strapped down onto beds before after several failed escape attempts; but he relaxes when he doesn't see anything resembling straps. The cushion on the hospital bed is soft and comforting when Edward helps him sit him down on it.

Unlike the table back at the terrible lab, Thomas feels himself slowly relaxing as Edward sits in a chair next to the bed. Soft scratching sounds were heard before both rabbits hop onto the bed. The white and brown rabbit sniffs the air as the smaller black and white rabbit hops closer to Thomas. Thomas smiles kindly as he gently pets the smaller rabbit, giggling at the small science lab outfit it wore.

"The one you're petting is Coal and the other one is Coco. Coal is a Dutch rabbit while Coco is a miniature Rex." Whiff informs him cheerfully as he grabs some bandages, rubbing alcohol, and tweezers. "They don't mind being petted or held, though Coco will beg for food, without shame" He chuckles affectionately as he walked over to them.

Coco stared at Whiff before thumping his back paws against the hospital bed.

"Coco, you took my salad and ate the lettuce off my sandwich during lunch and scratched my leg till I gave you a carrot." Whiff deadpans as he sits in a chair with wheels. "I haven't got anything to give you right now. You'll get some more later."

Coco thumps his hind feet against the hospital bed before curling up.

"Really, in front of our guest?" Whiff sighed as he wheels his chair over to Thomas.

Coco's ear twitches as he slowly turns around, hopping into Whiff's lap. Whiff sighs, before chuckling softly, gently rubbing his ears. Thomas giggles softly as he gently lifts Coal onto his lap. Coal gently sniffs the wounds before gently nuzzling against his hands.

"See?" Whiff chuckles softly as he held the tweezers. "Now hold still, please." He hummed softly as he started to pull the pieces of glass out.

Thomas winces as he feels the glass shards being removed from his skin, droplets of blood splattering onto the hospital bed. Edward holds his hand, rubbing his thumb reassuringly over his knuckle as Coal gently nibbles his fingers.

Thomas took deep breaths as he tries to remain still. Whiff continues to pull the shards out with great care, pressing a tiny button on the leg of his glasses. The lenses of his glasses lit up as he successfully removes all of the glass. Humming a tune, Whiff gently applies the rubbing alcohol to the wounds. Thomas hisses in pain but continues to keep still. The pain wasn't so bad he was screaming, but it was definitely unpleasant, regardless.

"All done." Whiff smiles as he wraps the bandages around his cuts. "You'll be fine in no time." He smiles warmly at the boy. "Just rest, take it easy and you'll be right as rain in no time."

"Thank you…" Thomas says gratefully, watching Coal hop onto Whiff's lap, next to Coco.

"You are quite welcome." Whiff smiles as he gently pets his head.

"Come on, Thomas." Edward smiles in relief, as he gently picks him up, slowly placing him onto his feet. "Let's get you something to eat."

"...Do you have strawberries?" Thomas asked quietly, looking up at Edward with hopeful eyes.

"We do." Edward smiles warmly as he gently held his hand, leading him up the stairs.

Whiff watches them go them with a smile on his face- but as they leave the lab, he frowns, petting both Coco and Coal's heads. Both rabbits looked up at him in concern, sensing his sudden change of mood. Humming to himself again, this time a more frenzied tune, Whiff wheels himself over to his laptop and turns it on. Typing rapidly, multiple windows pop up, all pictures of a large square building with a chain link fence surrounding it before a picture of a male popped up in the centre.

"Just what the hell have you been doing, Markus?" Whiff mutters to himself, his eyes narrowing as he glares at the image of the 'scientist'.