Piero was back on his feet in an instant, growling, hurling himself toward the door as it shut with a hiss. His fingers curled into talons as he reached for the control panel on the other side, but Edison was just a little faster, inputting his captain’s code and locking him out.

He hadn’t noticed how hard he was breathing, but he leaned against the door, listening to Piero swear and kick. Fixing his crooked glasses, Edison turned around, sliding down a few inches while Piero huffed and paced on the other side.

Then he knew, or sensed, that Piero had put his palm gently on the door. “We are your cluster, your family,” he heard Piero murmur. It didn’t sound anything like him at all. “We are not the enemy, Edison.”

He closed his eyes, made a fist and pressed it against the portal. “You’re sure as shit not my friend.”

“Let him in.” Rayan rushed toward the door, slamming his fist against the panel uselessly. Without Edison’s code there was no opening the portal. Outside, Piero laughed and laughed, adding his own fists to the racket. “Let us in! LET US IN!”

The biologist was screaming now, louder and louder, frantic, and Edison didn’t know if his aching head could take one more shout like that.

“LET US IN! LET US IN!”

“You have to stop that.” Edison’s voice shook. Whatever Rayan was doing called to the monster inside him. It snarled and snapped, desperate to get out, determined to open the door and let Piero and the chaos back in. “Rayan, listen to me, you have to control yourself.”

He didn’t like manhandling the kid, but there were precious few options. Misato joined him, taking Rayan by the shoulders as he bucked and shrieked, both fists banging on the door panel. Clamping a hand over the biologist’s mouth, he made a soothing sound over and over again, as if trying to settle a spooked animal. Shhhh. It’s okay. Think of a memory. Something that’s just you, anything that’s just you. Shhhh, calm down now.

It was as much for Edison as it was for the kid.

Misato met his eye over Rayan’s shoulder, her mouth a thin line, but he looked quickly away from her, afraid. Proximity was dangerous. Easier now, he thought, without the screaming, to keep hold of his humanity. But still.

At last Rayan stilled, no longer squirming and kicking at them. He blinked rapidly, the bright terror in his eyes dulling until it was the usual dimly glowing turquoise. His hands closed gently over Edison’s wrists. On the other side of the door, it had gone quiet, Piero’s giggling vanishing down the corridor. Even without the silence, Edison sensed he was gone.

“Are you going to be quiet?” he asked Rayan, stern as a parent.

The kid nodded yes.