VV Cephei Titan

Giant sweet soft murder man

Titan, the Cephei, the Project

Technically ambiguous, wasn't built to have a gender, but most refer with masculine pronouns, because...there's really nothing feminine about him. At all.

1 1/2 years. He's a baby.

He has no idea what romance is in the slightest. Even trying to explain it to him would take a lot of doing, because he wasn't built with a single one of those functions. Perhaps later, as he grew, it could be at least conceptualized, but in his youthly youth, it would just been ?????????
Once he and Peyton grew close, if she tried to explain, it would now be more of a ???

Long, heavy leather trench coat that serves as a not needed layer of protection, and also, you know, clothing, since no one wants to see a giant grey mutant walking around naked.

I don't know, and I legitimately have no idea how to even begin to calculate, actually. Given what he's made out of, he might actually be a lot lighter than you might think. For once, this field is actually under development xD So we'll call this one unfinished. Imma have to write him more to figure this one out.

9 ft

No hair

Almost white-blue, with greyish pupils and sclera.

A Titan, I suppose, or a Cephei. But that's more his species. I'm not sure he has a race. He's (currently) the only one of his kind.

Steel grey mostly, with lighter grey on his palms for example, and darker, bluish grey mottling here and there. We'll talk about this more in identifying marks.

Muscular, broad shouldered, heavy (maybe, again, this is just my current theory, may change), strong as all get out.

tbh, what about this guy isn't identifying?
But those who know him best could identify him from the rest of his kind by the minute facial expressions, and the higher level of eye motion. (But when I say minute, ooh, boy, I mean minute. It's like the thought of the idea of a realization that facial expressions might exist.) His expression is always that of a serious frown, regardless of what he's feeling, because though he learned many a thing from Peyton, mimicking facial expressions wasn't one of them. She's not entirely sure why; maybe he just doesn't have the muscles necessary, maybe the thought just never occurred to him, maybe he thinks that his minute shifts in expression are as diverse and noticeable as a normal human's.
Otherwise, onto the promised mottling. Peyton isn't sure why or where that come from either, just that it's there, just noticeable if you look close enough, on his arms, hands, etc. Her suspicion is that whatever fungus he's crafted from has a similar pattern, but whatever it is, Peyton thinks he looks beautiful, so that's all that matters. One thing she's noticed, is there's actually a dusty brown patch on his shoulder right by his neck which is barely visible under the trenchcoat. At first, she was worried about it, but nothing bad ever happened, so she figured it was just part of his skin. She has no idea if it's the only one, or if there's more.
Also, the scientists gave him a 'birthmark' in the form of one dark blue spot on his iris, the only distinct color in his otherwise colorless eyes.

...I'm not sure he knows what hobbies are, but the closest things to a hobby he has is playing with his kitten and his mom's friend's daughter when she sneaks in to see him. He loves everything about social interaction, and is constantly mimicking other's behaviour, trying to learn how to communicate. So that might count? He can spend hours just watching the people in the lab interact, he finds it fascinating. Kinda makes you wonder who's the scientist, who's the subject, huehue. He's actually quite analytical. he likes to draw, but more on that later

Does missing half a brain count? The scientists that built him left out anything that was either
A: Not necessary, such as the need to eat, speak, etc
B: Would create interference with his intended purpose, such as an ability to have morals, empathy, questioning of orders, etc.
One thing they didn't reckon on was that under the good influence of one of the scientists, his brain would start to grow back those parts itself to accommodate what she was inadvertently teaching him. Things like concepts of trust and mistrust, what life is, and how it differs from death, that life should be treasured, lying, etc. Because they stopped testing without realizing his brain was still in a developmental stage, they never realized until it was too late. More of this will be explained later, and I promise the 'only half a brain' thing will make sense too

He comes off as the epitome of the "strong, silent" type. He physically can't talk, and has very limited range of emotions to begin with, and even as he develops more, he still doesn't express them strongly in any capacity. His main emotions are:
1) gently smiles at favorite people and heart go uwu
2) >:(
and
3) ?????????????

Only Peyton, Gemma and Fire can read his expressions, (or lack thereof), and while he's very kind and gentle with them, he has no love for anyone else. (He doesn't know how, nor think it might be important in the slightest). However, he trusts Peyton above all others, and will do anything she asked of him, even if it hurt him, partly because he, as mentioned, trusts her, partly because he's too young still to realize what consequences are yet. If she told him to jump off a cliff, he would, without stopping to think that it might be a bad idea. Fortunately, Peyton takes good care of her giant mutant child.
While Peyton would describe him as sweet and caring, the rest of the scientists refer to him as ether a monstrosity, or an organic machine. But that's what they built him as. They never allowed for growth, and the thought never crossed their pea-brains. They may be intelligent, but smart? ...Come on, now.
But even before Peyton accidentally found out he wasn't entirely inhuman, he had to have learned that somewhere. The reason he helped her pick up the books she'd dropped out of fear the first time they'd met was from watching his caretakers help each other out. Basic behaviour modeling. He's got the mental capacities of a 2 year old, and one big thing for his development was trying to figure out how he's supposed to act. His brain, as it was missing parts, was trying to re-grow what it thought it needed, therefore was hyper active, making all sorts of neuron connections as he watched and modeled behavior after those around him. Since you can't take out too many pieces of a brain without rendering subject vegetable, and since he's supposed to have quick tissue regeneration, that created the oopsie of "and now it has emotions." FORTUNATELY Peyton was around to be a good influence, or else who knows what he might have become? She raised him as best one can raise a whatever he is.
But enough of this boring technical stuff, you're here for a PERSON.
As mentioned previously, he's quite analytical and detail oriented. He's as logical as a two year old can be, however if he were able to talk, he probably would say "That's not how that works you dummy" a lot when that was, in fact, how that worked. You could not explain to this bean that the earth goes around the sun. You'd just confuse him, and he'd decide you're wrong. If he sees something, that's as in-depth as his knowledge will get.
On the flip side of that coin, he has great spacial awareness, which means he's good at putting together a larger picture, and inferring potential outcomes based on his limited experience. (And in his limited experience, things usually go badly). He's constantly examining his environment, looking for danger, escape routes, flowers, kittens, enemies, and resources for his weak human friends. He's learned they like to "eat," and will now hand Peyton anything he thinks might be food. It's cute. He's cute.
In case you couldn't tell, he's a sweetheart softie. Peyton doesn't really know if he "loves" like a human might, but she has no doubt he loves. It's evident in the way he tries to take care of her, how he plays so gently and carefully with her daughter and his kitten, how he will take her hand when he thinks she's upset, or when he's upset. Once he learned about hugging, that was that. He now hugs whenever he gets the chance, because who wouldn't? It's the best thing ever.
Does he realize he's not a human? Maybe. Maybe not. Peyton's not sure he really thinks about what he is. What she does know is that he's a soft boi helpy man, and while he thinks he's protecting her, she has an equally strong feeling of protecting him, and would punch anyone for him. He doesn't know that either. Silly mom, you're too little to actually hurt anyone, leave that to me.
Speaking of, let's talk about morals, because really? He has none. As he ages, he may develop his own, but right now, whatever Peyton tells him, that's what's hip. If Peyton were evil and told him to murder, guess who would be murdering? Happily, Peyton is a good person, and never makes him murder anyone, or do anything immoral, unless she has a good reason. Because of this, he does good person things. But only because Peyton told him to. He doesn't have a super great grasp of what's good and bad.
So, we've covered emotion number one, hoo boi. Didn't know I could cram this much info in about a being who's supposed to be emotionless.
Anyways, onto emotion ???????
When Titan gets confused, he gets grumpy. When he gets grumpy, he gets withdrawn and cold-shouldered, even with Peyton, because he hates how uncomfortable it is do have no grasp of a situation. Rarely does he get confused enough to shut off completely, but there was that one time a dude he was trying to kill called him “Antidisestablishmentarianism Floccinaucinihilipilification Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg,” and proposed to him, offering a ring that Titan confusedly took, which promptly blew up in his face. Congratulations, that was a grenade. That'll confuse a lad. When he got back home from tht venture, he was angry and closed off, noticeably so. Peyton never did figure out why, but it took her a couple weeks to get him to 'let her in' again so to speak. He was only three months old at the time, it was a bit too much for him to handle.
Now that he's a grown up 1 1/2 year old, he will turn to Peyton when he's confused and upset, instead of shutting her out, but he still will become withdrawn and less open with his emotions until he's cheered up. But even now, when he's really upset, he likes to be left alone. Not physically alone, mind you, he still wants to be near his people, but he doesn't want to be talked to or touched. When he's ready, he'll go over and hug Peyton, and let her tell him everything's going to be okay. But until then holding hands is enough, if even that.
The other thing that makes him mad is when his family is threatened. You'd better watch out then because this child, unless stopped by Peyton, will kill you. He was originally created to do exactly that, and if you hurt Peyton, Gemma, or Fire, you will pay for it in blood. Now, he doesn't do this from a revenge standpoint, it's very much from a protective standpoint. Revenge is a foreign concept to him. Doesn't mean he's an less mad at you. Is he adorable and sweet? Yes, all of that. But he's terrifying, stronger than you could imagine, and if Peyton isn't there, there's not one thing stopping him from killing you.
But mainly he's adorable.

He wasn't really allowed to develop his own talents outside of what he was built with, but given that he's fast, strong, tough, focused, has great coordination, and has an eye for detail, I think he'd be great at knitting. Or art. Peyton's taught him about drawing, and he actually enjoys it a lot, but can hardly ever do it, for both lack of time and supplies. If you're picturing crayon stick figure pictures, please, continue. He loves to draw with Gemma the rare times Peyton finds paper and pencils, and the two can spend hours drawing together.

His brain hasn't developed enough for him to think much about prejudices, so he's not aware he has the ones he has. If Peyton says it's bad, or something is a certain way, that's the gospel to him. So he shares in some of Peyton's prejudices, but unfortunately I don't have her prejudices developed, so I'll come back later.
Otherwise, he is vaguely suspicious of anyone outside his immediate family circle, thinks all humans are tiny and breakable and need protection, (Peyton would argue with that one if she knew), and he thinks he's the toughest, strongest thing ever, because he's never lost a fight yet. So clearly, as the man of the house, it's his job to protect the ladies. Also, kittens are the best creatures on the planet, and if you disagree, he'll fight you over it.

He's sorta dumb. He also has an underdeveloped sense of right and wrong, and relies on other people to tell him which is which. He relies on other people to tell him what to do at all, actually. He doesn't possess the highest capability of independent thought, though that will continue to develop if he spends enough time with Peyton. I don't want to say he's egotistical, because he's not, but he's definitely got some 'well duh I'm better than other people," if only in the physical, win every fight I walk into sense. The concept of him losing is something that's never crossed his mind once.
He's VERY bad at making decisions. If Peyton is/was ever incapacitated, he would literally just sit there in a bit of a panic, not letting anyone near, whether they were friendly or not, keeping his family safe the only way he knows how and being otherwise paralyzed with indecision.

His small adopted family. He would do anything for any of them. He doesn't really know what death is, aside from it's when people get all still and cold and stop moving entirely, but Peyton always gets very serious when talking about it, so he's decided he would die for them, something he learned about in a book Peyton was reading to Gemma. What he doesn't know is that he actually would, even if he really understood death.

A few develop later on, but he mostly mimics Payton, learning body language and mannerisms from her. If she's frustrated, he imitates her, if she's happy, the same. But his imitations are very muted, just a slight mirroring of motion and expression. One he developed on his own is looking from one side of a room to the other, moving only his eyes, as a way to scout out new areas. Otherwise, he's unnervingly still.

He doesn't eat. He thinks it's gross.

Fire, the kitten he rescued from Romania after one of his missions. You can imagine Peyton's surprise when he came back from a mission, covered in soot and ash and blood...and one of his pockets was squeaking. Though she mostly kept Fire at her house, she brought the orange thing by as often as she could, since Titan and Fire were already super close.

He doesn't use weapons, just his own hands

Cat. Dogs sorta scare him

Assassin indicates subtlety, and he's not that, but that's what he does. Well, did.

Peyton: one of the head scientists working on the project that created him. She began to realize he was more human than they'd built him to be, and started sneaking in after hours to spend time learning about him. She's basically his mom at this point.
Gemma: Payton’s daughter. She’s known Titan since three months, and implicitly trusts the giant. She’s too young to know that she’s not supposed to be friends with him. They're very close.
Fire: A small, orange kitten Titan rescued off the streets in Romania, raised by Peyton. Best of friends with Titan, she revels in the new world she sees from his titanic shoulders. She's very loud.

He has no idea what religion is. Some people like to fall to their knees and babble a lot right before he kills them, but he has no idea what they're doing. Peyton never thought to explain it to him, an he can't ask.

He has no idea what romance is either.

Same with politics. But if Payton says it's bad, well, it must be. He would be so confused by the idea of politics. He'd probably go out of his way to ignore it if he knew what it was, since he would find it so upsetting and confusing.

War machine, soft boi good man.

He likes orange a lot, because that's what color Fire is. Peyton doesn't actually know what colors he can and can't see, so there's that also.

The project that got it all started. The Government decided they needed to experiment with genetically modified humans who were created to be the perfect soldiers in every way. Titan is the first, and honestly is sort of ideal. Plans have been made to duplicate this prototype. He's a high-tech hybrid of a type of fungus and man-made materials. He does possess some human material as well, but only a little, what is necessary. STEM cells and the like. He was officially considered 'done' a decade years after the project started, and regular testing of his development ceased after eight month, when their machines told them he was at the level they intended him to be. They didn't bank on his brain growing by itself.

As it would happen, Australia had been planning this project for over two decades, slowly building a team of the top scientists in the country to help build the first organic superweapon. Code named VV Cephei Titan after a far away star, to keep the actual intent of the project secret, they began planning. They wanted to create a killing machine that needed no operation, was practically invincible, and when it was damaged, could 'heal' quicker than a machine could be fixed. An unstoppable force, half nature, half man. With such a beast on their side, they could be safe from the churning political machine that threatened war on all sides from the other countries.
However, due to the seemingly impossible nature of crafting something living and conscious from scratch, the project never received the funding it needed, and was put on the back burner, likely never to be picked up again. This stayed the case for over five years, until the project head passed away. The rest of the team dispersed, and it was thought the Titan project would never come to fruition.
This all changed with the arrival of Dr. Benjamin Burke. He was young, bright, charming, and energetic. He discovered the project after talking to a would-be team member, (no worries, that wasn't spilling of classified info, Ben had every classification necessary to know about it), and he began to see how it could be possible. After spending some time researching, he came up with a plan, and proposed it to the uppity ups who had originally shut it down, the Coalition.
But despite his nat 20 on charisma and intelligence, the Coalition was hesitant to fund such a long-shot project. Ben worked tirelessly to convince them, but it wasn't until reports from America arrived of one known as Belphegor came that they decided to fund the project. Belphegor's single-handed efficiency at brutal murder alighted the light of power within the Coalition, and they began to dream. What if they had such a force? Only bigger and better? They approached Ben, and he managed to convince them it was in fact possible.
They gave him the funding he needed, and he put together a new team, the best and brightest. Important members include: Dr. Benjamin Burke, the project lead, Dr. Peyton Hayes, the technical lead, Dr. Taylor Tran, the biology unit lead, and Ella Cooper, an overseer from the Coalition that ensured everyone was doing their jobs and the project was going as planned. Seth Walker is the head of security at the facility, and though not a 'team' member, he's quite close with Ben.
Regardless, they get started. It's a long and laborious process, full of many setbacks, and sadly, I am not a scientist, so Imma just,,, say it worked out in the end.
What I can tell you, is what Titan is.
He's entirely organic, but he's created from both human components and mycelium from a type of fungus found not not only regrow incredibly quickly, but also able to interweave almost inseparably with other organic materials it grows with. There is no separation between the fungus and the flesh, so to speak. It's this mycelium that gives his skin the color it has, and tints his pupils and sclera. While he possesses the necessary compantants to life: lungs, a partially assimilated 'brain' of sorts, a heart that doesn't pump blood, but a bio component that serves as his only necessary form of sustenance, he his over 60% mycelium.
To achieve this, they had to craft every part from the ground up. His brain was grown in a lab, first as a human's might in the womb, then taken and adjusted before it was complete, certain areas enhanced, others cut off. The Mycelium was introduced, and promptly took over, assimilating with the brain and 'finishing' it.
Picture something like this for every step of the way.
They introduced the 'coraton,' Titan's 'blood' as a way to keep the fungus from breaking down and decomposing his human parts. It acts as a partial preservative, partial food for the fungus. They had to scrap his original heart and craft him one that could produce the coraton, so it would never run out. To put it simply, it's there to stop him from eating himself from the inside out.
Fun stuff.

Anyways, eventually, Titan was born. Or, woken up, I guess. They put all the pieces together, fired up the machine, and said 'cool.' I'm actually not going to describe this much here, because I'm including that moment from the story in the notes.

What I will talk about is his life after Peyton got involved. After she found out he was capable of kindness, (also in that excerpt in the notes), she became intrigued by him no longer scared of what they'd created. She took to visiting him after everyone else had left, making excuses to stay late by saying she was behind on her work, or she had more stuff to do, whatever she could think of. She quickly found that he was just as curious about her as she was about him. The two began to connect, and she became more and more involved in every aspect of his life, going down to his enclosure during the day to watch how he interacted with all the other scientists. Surely she wasn't the first to make this discovery.
Only, she was. No one else dared go into his room with him unless necessary, and he made no attempt to interact with them, watching them quietly from afar. She tried to talk to Taylor Tran, one of her closer friends about it, but Taylor only saw the killing machine they'd created, and had been overcome with guilt and horror at what she'd helped create. Ben refused to hear her out either, insisting it was an emotionless machine, incapable of empathy or kindness. It was here their friendship began to crack.
She spent more and more time with Titan, to the point where he began to greet her when she arrived, coming to the front of his room and touching the glass between them. When he came home after a mission in Romania with a kitten, it was her he pulled aside, taking her hand and showing her the tiny kitten he'd saved. It was at this point, she realized the full extent of his empathy levels.
Taking what some would call a risk, she brought her two month old daughter to the facility, to let her and Titan meet. Titan had been fascinated, and when Peyton let him hold her, he surprised her yet again with his gentleness. When Gemma started to cry of hunger, he was quick to had her back, definitely not a little freaked out. But Gemma and Titan quickly grew close, and he became more confident around her. Peyton always watched them carefully, but they clearly adored each other.

Three months into his life, Titan was sent on an expended mission, working at a different site for a few weeks. Peyton never knew what happened during those weeks, only that they got a panicked call in the middle of the night saying he'd gone missing. The panic only spread, everyone envisioning him going on a rampage, killing anyone he saw. Peyton was more concerned about his whereabouts for his own safety. No one slept much for a few days as no word came in. Finally, a whole week later, he came back, unexplained, just showing up at the lab in broad daylight. Peyton was among the first to approach him, but he seemed aloof, not greeting her as she thought he would. Confused, she took him back inside, and tried to figure out what was going on, but he was unresponsive and almost angry seeming.
Peyton was with him after everyone else had left that night, trying to reach out to him, when he suddenly lashed out, almost hitting her (that was an accident) as he cracked the wall, punching it. (That was not an accident.)
Peyton, not unduly terrified, fled, wondering if she'd miscalculated her relationship with Titan. She didn't dare go back for days afterwards, ticking to her office an avoiding the enclosure Titan was kept in.
Titan, for his part, felt like garbage. Remember that whole proposal/explosion combo? Yeah, this was that. He hadn't meant to scare Peyton, he just hadn't known what else to do with the confusion and frustration he felt. He couldn't communicate any other way, so had struck out. He waited for Peyton to come back, only feeling worse and worse as she failed to show up every night.
Peyton tried to talk to Taylor about it, but Taylor's immediate reaction was to tell Ben, and get the project terminated. Clearly, it was dangerous.
Peyton was quick to drop it after that. She gathered her courage and went back, waiting until she was alone with Titan again before approaching. She didn't go in right away, but as soon as he saw her he was up, coming as close as the glass would allow and reaching out. Hopeful, she cautiously entered the enclosure, and upon not being attacked, she was quick to re-establish with Titan that she still loved him. If ever a giant grey monster who couldn't talk was apologetic, now was that time. He was extra careful around her for a good two weeks after she started to come back again. Peyton managed to talk Taylor down, saying she'd exaggerated what had happened, and all seemed well.

Holy cow, this is getting long

Okay, I'll wrap it up, since we're about to when the story starts/a little into anyways.

Eventually, Peyton, Seth, and Ben all had a major difference of opinion over Titan, and since they were planning to move him to a facility far, far away, (Peyton wasn't invited), Peyton decided to act.
Long story short, she smuggled a nine-foot tall grey monster out of a facility and away into the night, taking only her kitten and her daughter with her. Thus, the meat of the plot begins.

He was officially considered "done" on August 18th, 20xx

Lol, what is skool. He only learns what Peyton tells him, and it ain't math. He's in the education field known as 'good vs bad' and 'life vs death.'

Fire, the orange kitten he rescued from Romania during a mission where the building he was in caught fire explosively. Fire was trapped under the stairs, and he heard her calling. Curious, he found her and tucked her into an inner pocket of his coat. Then, being fireproof, he strolled out and somehow made it home without anyone noticing that his coat was squeaking. He named her.

Theme Songs:
To Be By Your Side - Nick Cave
Level of Concern - Twenty-One Pilots (this is his and Peyton's relationship to a T. Both of them feel this way about each other, though it manifests and is interpreted differently for both of them)
Gasoline - Halsey
Run - Jasmine Thompson
It's Time - Imagine Dragons
King and Lionheart - Of Monsters and Men
Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men
Little Talks Of Monsters and Men
Towards the Sun - Rihanna, I think?
Home - Phillip Phillips
Ready or Not - JTmusic
Shelter - Porter Robinson

Bold of you to assume this child is anything but a Hufflepuff. Loyal? Check. Pure? Check. Hardworking? Probably. He's 2, he doesn't entirely have a lot of opportunity to show that one off.

He'd be an earthbender. He likes play in the dirt with Fire or Gemma.

He likes honeybees. Don't ask him why, he can't talk, so he won't tell you. But he will follow them around. And butterflies. Both of the above.

While Titan clearly doesn't ACTUALLY have parents, the closest thing he has is Peyton for a mother, and Ben Burke for a father.

Titan's only purpose in life really is to make Peyton proud of him. He's constantly showing off to impress her.

Titan had no idea there was an ugly blanket fever of '23, but had he known, he would have liked to indulge.

I mentioned flowers earlier as a joke, but Peyton made them all flower crowns once, and now ever time he sees a flower he will rush to point it out to Peyton, or pick it and bring it to her.

He doesn't like horror games. They're scary. He saw a bit of one once, and held Peyton's hand for the rest of the day. He's not sure he can protect them from whatever the frick a headcrab is.

On the other hand, he LOVES Disney films. And Animal Crossing. Both of which he's had incredibly limited exposure to.

He also quite enjoys music. He's a man of the arts twirls mustache

He's too mature to be read aloud to, but he will sure listen as Peyton reads aloud to Gemma. What, you think he's going to miss out on a good story? Come on. It's not like she's reading to him.

He does dream. They're big dreams, usually about whatever bedtime story Peyton read him-I mean Gemma. That he was simply listening in on.

He takes everything very seriously. Even if he could smile, he likely wouldn't very often. All jokes aside, he doesn't take his life for granted. Ever since that one time when Peyton left for a few days after he almost hit her, he's very careful to try and memorize every moment he can, lest it someday be snatched away from him.

He may be the first of his kind, but he won't be the last. He'll have a little brother who's a lot bigger than him, named Colossus.

Also, many months later, he'll be strolling around on the bottom of the ocean (don't ask why, that's be spoilers), and happens upon a man swimming nowhere near any shore, shouting to the sky something about
"See Anthony?! I told you I would drown, HAHA! This was a stupid idea and I hope you'll enjoy having me as a ghost buddy you stupid ghost."
That's Ram. He's yelling at his hallucinated dead friend who told him to escape the island he was trapped on by swimming back to America.
Anthony is currently laughing with triumph as Ram does not in fact drown, but meets Titan, who let's him tag along as he too aims for shore.
Nor, Ram isn't actually insane. He does actually have a ghost following him around.

The start of the story:

So there was shouting. They blocked it out. So there was a scream, either from celebration or fear. They ignored it. Machinery hissed, their people rushed back and forth. They paid no mind, focused as they were on one thing, and that thing only. Dr. Benjamin Burk, his eyes shining with excitement, Ella Cooper, face frozen between fear and disgust. And Dr. Peyton Hayes, breath caught in her throat, feeling as though she had been paralyzed. She felt Ben’s hand find hers, and she gave it a hard squeeze.
Below them, the capsule containing their creation slowly rose, steam flooding the room. Revealing, inch by inch, the grey skin, the powerful body, and, past the mask that assured breath in the lungs, eyes that were open prematurely, so pale blue they almost seemed white. Beneath the heavy brow they took in the room, a stare so full of death the action around the room slowed until all were still, staring in awe at what they had created.
It was a full two minutes of no one moving, hardly breathing, then Ben finally broke the silence.
“Vitals running smoothly,” he whispered into the intercom, his voice choked and strained. “Run pre-tests. You all know the routine. Well done, everyone. We’ve given death a body.”
The tension broke. There were shouts of excitement, people hugging, those who had manned their stations tirelessly for days on end before this final product throwing themselves down on the floor and weeping tears of joy. Ben turned away from the scene, and Peyton saw tears in his eyes. She felt her own tension break, and with a sudden laugh, they dove into each other's arms, Ben leading them on a sort of manic dance through the observation bay that only ended when he cracked his hip on one of the tables.
“Come on!” he shouted through the pain, grinning through the tears and clutching at his hip. “We have to celebrate. Ms. Cooper, Dr. Hayes, well done, drinks on me! I’ll find Seth and Taylor, then we’ll go to the Busted Trolly! Meet you all in the atrium.”
With a whoop and a leap, he bounded from the room, lab coat flying through the air as he tossed it off. Cooper followed him more stiffly, avoiding looking back at the room below the bay. Peyton watched them go, leaning heavily against the wall as she calmed her heart. She took one last look into the test room, watching for a second as scientists and engineers swarmed around, then she too, left the bay and followed her colleagues down to the main floor and out into a night of partying at their favorite pub.

Ben, as always, moved around the pub with his enticing energy, laughing and clinking glasses with all those present and charming his way into even the most stony-faced of hearts. Peyton, though also a lead scientist on the team, much preferred to hang back and enjoy a fairly quiet drink with Tayler Tran, who was head of the team’s biology unit. The two had gone to college together, and had been quite excited to work together on the project initially. However, Peyton couldn’t help but notice how pale her friend was, and how her hands shook as he held her glass.
“Are you alright?” Peyton finally asked, a little impatiently. Taylor jumped slightly, even though they had just been talking, and offered a watery smile.
“I’m fine,” she assured. “Just...that was a bit much, that’s all. I’ve been reading too many horror stories...that’s all. But…since you’re the lead scientist out of the two of us, and seeing how you’ve worked more closely with that...the...Cephei…”
“What? Spit it out!” Peyton said, less snappishly, taking Taylor's hand. Taylor shook her head.
“How do we know we can control it?” she blurted. “You heard Dr. Burke, he said we’ve given death a body. That doesn’t worry you? At all? I knew as well as you did what we were making when we were brought on to this project, but damn. It’s so much worse to see it up close. Alive, not just a dream. Peyton, we’re messing with all the things that go wrong in science fiction.”
“You have been reading too much,” Peyton said gently. “The Cephei doesn’t have the cognitive capacity to make its own plans. Remember? We built it to take orders and follow them. We wouldn't have gone through with the project if Ben hadn’t been one-hundred percent sure of success.”
“You’re right, I guess,” Taylor said uncertainty. “But still.”
“You should get home, it's been a long day,” Peyton said, giving her friend’s hand a squeeze. “Look, I have to go too, I’ll drop you off.”

That was a month ago. Peyton carried on, working on Dr. Burke’s team, but she wasn’t close to the Cephei again. Now and then she’d see him from afar, but her job now mainly was to oversee the analytics, check the information regarding the Cephei’s progress. What she saw chilled her. It was strong as an elephant, fast as a cheetah, and more capable of remorseless murder than a serial killer. It never questioned orders, never hesitated. Relentless, moralless, a god of death. She was glad she wasn’t around it, glad she was able to work far away, with the papers.
But, it was her job, a way to put food on the table for her wife and two month old daughter. Her growing horror at what the team had created dwindled in comparison to, at the risk of sounding contrived, her love for her family.

But it was not to last. It was as Peyton hurried home, late from filing too many papers, her books piled high in her arms, that she took a wrong turn in her rushed distraction. A wrong turn, through a door she unlocked with her card without a second thought, and then...she felt the presence.
Now, Peyton was frozen, as immobilized as the first day she had seen the Titan. Her dropped books remained on the floor as she flattened against the wall in fear. Alone. Alone at the lab, with no one here to help if their project went rogue.
Titan loomed over her, his white-blue eyes unreadable as they met hers. She felt certain he could hear her heart as it tried to flee without her, but he made no move. But then, before her limbs could become her own again, he bent from his great height, reaching towards her. She hardly mustered a whimper and a quiver before he picked up one of the books, as gently as he could, and offered it back to her.
She hesitantly reached out and accepted it, and he silently retrieved the rest of her books, one at a time, until they were all back in her arms. Then he moved away, as if nothing had happened, making in his slow way back across the lab where he had been before he’d suddenly approached her.
All fear was gone. Instead, sheer wonderment urged her to follow him. He noticed, paused, and glanced back. His empty gaze met hers, and then there was emotion there.
Curiosity.