A/N: Low-key written for DP Side Hoes Week – March 13, 2021: Valerie and Hero.


You're being transferred, she said. Don't ask questions, she said. He knows the protocol. This doesn't make sense.


The cell opened with a few keystrokes and a confirming swipe from Valerie's key card.

No alarms went off.

Valerie helped him climb free but kept him shackled. That wasn't a surprise; he knew that that was the protocol here. What was a surprise was that she had the authority to move him at all. He'd heard rumours of her joining with the Guys in White, of course. It was hardly unexpected. But even with her skill, he hadn't thought she'd rise through the ranks quite this quickly.

He leaned against the lab bench, enjoying the freedom of being able to stand up fully again. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had that luxury. Valerie eyed him, but she didn't produce any additional restraints. Instead, she merely attached the lead and asked, "Can you walk?"

Her voice wasn't gruff or demanding. If anything, she sounded dubious, and her voice was softer than he'd expected. He immediately turned to check the cameras, but the familiar red light stared back at him.

She had to be authorized.

He nodded.

"Good. You're being transferred."

"Within the facility?" He couldn't imagine they'd want to risk transferring him between facilities if they could possibly help it, even if they'd caught wind of a planned attack on this one. Here, they'd dug deep into the ground and had every surface treated with anti-ecto coating. Even if a full-on siege were staged, this facility could run for months on its reserves, especially when they only cared to feed their fully human occupants.

On the other hand, being allowed to walk for such a transfer instead of being held in containment was a privilege he wasn't convinced he'd earned, even if Valerie had decided to display some uncharacteristic favouritism. Walking was preferable for him and gave him the opportunity to see more of the facility, neither of which was encouraged by those in charge.

"Don't ask questions."

He cringed on instinct, but the reprimand didn't come with any sort of pain. He knew all too well how quickly Valerie could produce something to induce such pain in him, and the fact that she didn't now brought him a little comfort. He wasn't foolish enough to think it a forgiveness of the lies that had grown between them, but considering all that had happened since he'd last seen her, he knew perfectly well that she could simply be waiting to take her revenge.

He wouldn't assume her patience to be kindness; he'd merely be grateful for the time it granted him.

"Keep your head down," she murmured as she raised her access card to the scanner to open the door to the hallway again. "You'll stand out anyway, and I'm assuming everyone on staff will know you on sight, but if even one person has to look twice, that'll work to our advantage."

Their advantage? "I beg your pardon?"

"Don't ask questions," she repeated as she strode out into the hallway, tugging him behind her. He stumbled when she didn't stop to wait for him and instead started off at a brisk pace.

Don't ask questions. He'd heard that so many times before, but she didn't say it with venom in her voice. There was no mocking or taunting at the fact that he did not know things he should. There was a warning in her voice, but it wasn't a warning solely for him. It was a warning for them both.

She was helping him.

After everything he'd done—everything he'd done to her—she was helping him. Risking her position, her own freedom, and who knew how many others—

He didn't know what to say to make her stop. He didn't want her to stop, of course; he didn't want to be here anymore, cooped up for study with those who didn't recognize a single shred of his humanity, but if this went wrong….

He wasn't the one they should be taking this risk for.

"Why?" he breathed, careful not to move his lips.

She didn't answer, didn't so much as flick her eyes in his direction, but from the way her lips pressed together, he wondered if she was thinking the same. She had little reason to like him. It couldn't be her decision to throw everything away for him. Her key card would be tracked; even if she'd stolen someone else's, the cameras would clearly show her, and the ecto-sensors would verify that she hadn't been overshadowed or replaced by a shapeshifter. A lack of apparent motive and whatever false orders she could produce would not guarantee her safety.

Selfishness kept him from whispering to her that she didn't need to do this. Didn't need to risk more. That she could instead do what was expected of her and ensure that he remained trapped here, regardless of whatever more the current plan required of her—even knowing that aborting now, if this were the escape he thought it must be, would make any attempt in the future nigh on impossible.

The desire for freedom, for the chance to be human again, to fight back— It weighed heavily on his tongue and stopped up his throat, stilling any words that would save her at a cost to himself.

He was not the hero in this story.

If she was willing to risk herself for him, he would not stop her. He would not insist she take care of herself first. He would not question her judgement. This was not a snap decision for her, and he would respect what she was trying to do.

Moreover, he'd be grateful for it, even if this didn't succeed.

Knowing that someone out there was still trying, knowing that Valerie would try after everything he'd put her through…. It gave him hope.

The world had changed more than he'd realized. The world, and the people within it. But however much had changed, some things were very much the same. In this case, Valerie's fighting spirit was alive and well—and not turned against him, though she would have every right.

Valerie led him right, down a corridor that looked much the same as all the others. White, sterile, simple. Terrifying.

A high-pitched hum he hadn't been aware of until the moment it was gone cut off, and Valerie yanked him back, turning quickly.

He didn't know if she was alarmed or if this was part of the plan, and that part of the plan simply necessitated that they move faster.

Everything became silent, and then he could hear shouting in the distance.

Valerie forced open one of the doors they'd passed earlier and dragged him inside. It was dark, the room barely lit with the oh-so-faint light of his own ghostly glow once Valerie shut the door behind them. He could smell the sharp stench of chemicals, but the air was musty, too contained for a busy lab.

Custodian's closet.

His eyes began to adjust to the darkness, picking out the hint of shapes on shelves beyond Valerie's shadowed face.

"There's a maintenance tunnel in the ceiling," Valerie said. "If you make it three levels up and reach the fork, you'll find the pack of supplies I stashed. Grab it and head left if you can; that one will get you outside faster. Just follow the smell of fresh air." She was standing right next to him, flipping through a ring full of keys. She settled on one as he watched before reaching to unlock the cuffs that bound him. It took her three tries to get the key to slide in, but he didn't know what to say that would calm her. There was no reassurance to be had.

"Why?" he whispered again.

"No one deserves this," she answered. "Not even you." She took another deep breath and let it out slowly, no doubt trying to get her nerves under control. "You'll need to move quickly. It's safer for a human than a ghost, but—"

He risked changing back, feeling humanity—and everything else he'd had to push away for so long simply to survive—drop back onto him.

He staggered, knocking against something in the dark, but he wasn't sure he could muster a ghost ray in human form right now, not even to provide a little bit of light.

"Right," she said, her voice tight and clipped as if she still hadn't expected to see it, even though he knew perfectly well that she'd know the truth by now. There was the sound of fumbling and then a click as she turned on a flashlight and set it back on the shelving unit beside her. She must have memorized more than just the layout of this room if she'd found that so quickly. "Punch me. Knock me out, tie me up, I don't care, just gimme something to try to sell before you go. And then…. If you see me again, don't trust me, in case it doesn't work." Another loud exhale before her mouth twisted in resignation. "Hurry."

His heart raced, catching up for all the time it had missed beating when he'd been trapped as a ghost, and he felt dizzy.

"Come on. There isn't time for this."

He'd forgotten how easy it could be, to just let himself tumble into oblivion. If he just gave in to his exhaustion, never mind anything else—

Pain flooded in from his foot where she'd stomped none too gently on his toes. "Get it together," she hissed. "You can't throw away this chance."

She was right.

He couldn't.

He wouldn't get another.

He reached for the flashlight, spun, and struck her on the temple. Her cry of surprise cut off as she crumbled. He stepped over her, bouncing the beam of his flashlight off the shelving units to decide the best path into the maintenance tunnel, and then he began to climb.

He didn't look back.

He couldn't afford to.