In the hallway just outside the test observer’s room (which Zain is currently being held), we see a man in a blue, sleeveless shirt mopping the floor. He stops for a moment, putting his weight on the broom as he fails to restrain a fit of dry coughing.

Moving into the test observation room just past the closed door, we see Doctor Ramsay and a heavy-duty guard sitting at the control panel. Past them, through the window, a familiar testing chamber can be seen. Zain is sat, his back hunched forward, in the middle of the room’s floor.

HEAVY GEAR GUARD: Can’t you just tell him to get up?

DR. RAMSAY: Yes, I could, but–

Ramsay looks disappointed, sighing as he looks up at Zain through the glass.

DR. RAMSAY: I expected more of an immediate response. Something like fear, since this thing basically put a monster in him–

Ramsay, his hands still gloved, turns the small black case in his hands to face the guard.

DR. RAMSAY: And I know he can see it, and is looking this way! We’ve observed his eyes following movement! How’d the search of his house go?

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: Nothing. We did get confirmation of the searches on the Chisholm family being in his history, but the director’s still refusing to tell us why that’s so important.

DR. RAMSAY: Ugh, maybe this line of inquiry is hopeless. We can pack up, if you’d like.

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: No, no, come on. He’s got some issues, doesn’t mean he won’t respond at all! ‘Might just take him some time, is all. Just prop the arrow thing up on the glass and we’ll wait a bit.

Ramsay chuckles, indeed propping the case against the glass with the arrow facing inward.

DR. RAMSAY: Well, while we wait, let me bore you with this new skip I’ve been researching as a side-project.

Ramsay scoots his chair over to a nearby filing cabinet, opening a lower drawer and beginning to mill through it.

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: Sure, but before we shoot into that; I wanna ask just what’s up with that SPC front we’re using. Wouldn’t it be super obvious to G-O-I’s, with that spelling?

DR. RAMSAY: It would be, if the student price card program had much of a reason to make a lot of vehicle transportations or had significant weight as a political power, which it doesn’t.

The guard laughs.

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: All right, all right.

In the background, through the window, Zain can be seen to shift positions to hug his knees, planting his feet so they are flat on the floor.

Back in the forest, we see fear in Wenji’s eyes.

She backs away from Angosin, the cool smile on his face obviously doing little to comfort her. Nevertheless, her voice carries a stern, commanding tone:

WENJI: Who are you? Where did you just come from?

Far up in the trees nearest Angosin, two osprey can be seen to land, their claws catching the moon’s light. Their eyes are fixed on his back. Wenji’s eyes 

ANGOSIN: My name is Angosin, but you can call me Angie.

Angosin turns slightly to look up at the two birds of prey, which had made no sound as they perched.

ANGOSIN: I’m a friend of your father’s, so if you’d refrain from killing me with those birds…?

Angosin turns back to look at Wenji, her expression betraying her hesitation.

WENJI: What–prove it! If you are a person from the cruel new world, you are surely a schemer and a liar!

ANGOSIN: Biskawaagan is one. A nickname, he told me, that was given to him by the “weaklings” he stole away from to raise you. 

Wenji’s panic seems to leave her, although she is obviously still keeping her guard up. She continues to squint at Angosin, not moving back as he takes a few steps closer to her.

WENJI: All right, so you know him. Why are you here? Why just when I am leaving?

ANGOSIN: Well, you can’t really believe he wanted you to face the world alone, when you finally ventured into it! No matter how well prepared you are, you can’t go wrong with someone watching your back.

WENJI: So, you– appeared–

ANGOSIN: Out of nothing, yes. I’ve special powers like you do.

As he speaks, Angosin shakes his hands in a sarcastic gesture, as if to say “big deal”, moving ever closer to Wenji.

For a long moment, Wenji is silent. A few times she looks down at her feet, thoroughly confused. Angosin breaks up the stagnation, gesturing to the small bird still of Wenji’s shoulder as he speaks:

ANGOSIN: So, whereabouts is it you’re going?

At this, Wenji looks up.

WENJI: Ah– up into some mountains, to save my father.

A change of scene brings us to said mountains: a slow zoom on their snowy tops shows us, well hidden between them, the facility where Zain and Jordan are being held. Seen struggling through the whirlwinds surrounding the building are a selection of seagulls, red-tailed hawks and a single snowy owl.

Within the building, we see the guard and Ramsay, still sitting near the control panel, and Zain still sitting limply on the floor behind the glass.

Spread out on a small table to the panel’s right are a few sheafs of paper, whereupon the two mens’ attention is largely focused. One of the documents, at their top in bolded lettering, reads “2301-KETER”.

DR. RAMSAY: And the reason I started studying this thing is because its containment has just recently become nigh-impossible. It’s started manifesting in random spots all over the globe!

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: You’d think that it might stick to cultural spots, or maybe battle-fields.

DR. RAMSAY: Exactly. What I think is that it’s doing this to look for some. It assumes a form suggestive of a monster in old legend, like an Oni or Manticore. It can only be beat by a person resembling that which would usually defeat the specific monster in said legends, like a generic knight or samurai. This thing exists as some living homage to these ancient stories! It’s certainly going to try and make its new manifestation grounds around some cultural or heritage sites involved with what it’s glorifying.

In the background, through the glass, Zain can be seen to raise his head somewhat. His eyes are focused on the case propped against the window.

DR. RAMSAY: What I’ve grown most interested in, however, is just how it selects what it manifests as. It’s been seen to diversify just what antagonists it takes the form of many times before. What if it eventually takes the form of some horror of the world wars?

In the background, Zain stands up straight, stretching his arms. He hops a little in place, seemingly warming himself up. As his feet collide with the ground, they emit a resounding “clinking” noise.

Hearing this, both the guard and doctor drop everything. By the time they’ve both looked past their reflections in the glass, Zain is already charging the window.

The clinking sound is more audible now as Ramsay’s finger darts to the control panel’s blue button.

As he presses it and holds it down, sparks fly within the testing chamber. To Ramsay and the guard’s shock, Zain is not at all impeded as electricity jumps in arcs across the floor, continuing his mad dash at the window.

Zain’s dash culminates in his driving a knuckle towards the window, a jagged, crystalline fist phasing in to overlap his as it collides with a deafening “SCOP”. As the rest of Colossus manifests behind Zain, its form warped as ever, horror grows on Ramsay’s face.

DR. RAMSAY: Good lord, we can see it! And did we not charge the floor-stunners?! Those sneakers are supposed to be conductive!

HEAVY DUTY GUARD: That’s not it! Look!

The guard, whilst un-shouldering his heavy rifle, points down at Zain’s feet, of which only a bit can be seen behind the angular, neon behemoth.

A side view of the same feet, dressed in sneakers of an orange matching the jumpsuit, shows us the crystal manifested on their bottoms in a pattern similar to a kleat’s spikes.

Ramsay and the guard back away from the glass, the guard levelling his rifle at it.

DR. RAMSAY: Wait! We need to get the arrow, it’s what he’s after! And, look; I don’t think he can break that bullet-proof glass!

Indeed, Colossus is pummeling away at the thick window and the wall around it, making little more progress in its rapid attack rush than denting some metal and creating some superficial crack-marks. At one point the thing rears back, only to drop its skeletal maw wide and unleash a horrid, ear piercing sound, itself similar to shattering glass. After having done this, it drives it’s wickedly antlered head into the glass, having little effect.

The doctor begins to, slowly, inch towards the glass. His hands are outstretched towards the black case, now knocked onto the control panel just beneath the vibrating window. The fear on his face begins to fade.

As Ramsay comes within arm’s reach of the case, Colossus abruptly ceases its assault. At this, Ramsay freezes.

There is a tense moment where Ramsay is staring Colossus right in its reflective, twisted skull-head, the guard looking anxiously between them.

Colossus shifts back, placing the palms of its clawed hands on the glass and hanging its head.

In but a moment, crystal begins to form from in its hands, gradually extending, plate-like, over more of the window.

As this happens, Ramsay is backing away from the window, a poorly-hidden anxiety bubbling just underneath the surface in his expression.

The window cracks gradually, as jags of crystal extend from Colossus’ palms through its thick glass layers, moving with the destructive strength of time behind them. 

As the final layer on the observer’s side shatters at the window’s center, shards of loosely-attached glass surrounding the invading jag in a sort of cone, Ramsay lets out a short, girlish scream.