Wanda shivered a bit as she wandered deep into the UFO, her red suit keeping her protected from the cold and potential radiation from the unfamiliar environment she was venturing into. She decided to walk off alone to observe the control panels at the front, while the other two Oddity Investigation Operators went about the other direction.

Her eyes scanned the eerie ship as she wandered about. The control panels looked broken and occasionally sparked from the damage that the crash had caused. All of the technology was unfamiliar to Wanda, which was surprising considering she was one of the main technology operators in the organization.

Her steps took a sudden halt as she heard a quiet, foreign chirp within the same area. It wasn’t a loud noise, but it was enough to but her on higher guard. Wanda flashed her light around the surrounding area in an attempt to find the source of the mysterious noise, her other hand holding a taser. She slowed her search as she managed to find what was likely the most world-shattering thing she’s ever laid her eyes upon.

A dark entity curled up under the control panel. It almost appeared as a glitch, randomly twitching and leaving a multi-colored aura where it last twitched before the color quickly dissipated. The entity itself had a face that mimicked the expression of fear as it cowered in the corner, low chirps and static noises emanated from the mysterious being.

Wendy remained calm while she stared at the creature. Once she finished her staring, she brought her voice to the quietest whisper. “Hey, little uh, thing. What are you doing here?” She queried.

The entity remained as still as it could appear, remaining in under the control panel. “You know, I’m not with the government, right? I won’t hurt ya, sweetie,” Wanda reassured. She was unsure if the creature spoke English or any human language, but it was worth a try.

After a few minutes of no movement between the two of them, a sudden noise from the other side of the ship caused the dark creature to latch onto Wendy as it let out a sort of whimper in fear, though it sounded more like an old radio crackling.

Wendy was well aware that this creature was bound to be forced into horrible conditions once it was shown to be a live creature. The organization wasn’t the kindest to the out-of-ordinary species that managed to get found by them. All of the potential abuse and pain that could be directed at this poor entity whirled in her mind as she held the creature and stroked its back(?) in an attempt to calm it down. She knew that she wasn’t going to allow that to happen, she didn’t want the death of another living being on her hands.

The creature soon hushed its cries as and hid its head in Wendy’s shoulder. Wendy continued ti hold the creature as she dialed her husband on the phone.

“Wendy? What’s up, my love? Staying out late again for work?” Wendy’s husband, Edward spoke on the other line.

“I’m coming home early tonight.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. I need you to do me a favor.”

“What do you need, my love?”

Wendy paused for a moment and took a deep breath to keep her voice from cracking.

“I need you to get out Robin’s mattress and put it back in his old room.”

The silence that followed was deafening between the couple’s call.

“…Wendy. I thought we wouldn’t go back to th-“

“Please, Ed. This isn’t about…what happened.”

“Then why do you need me to take out our dead son’s mattress? Love, I don’t want you to go back to how you were when he first passed, we can go back to-“

“Edward! Listen, I can’t explain right now, but please, trust me.”

“…okay.”

“Okay. I love yo-“

The dial tone rang out as Edward hang up on Wendy. She knew it would be a bit hard for both of them to have to even be in that room again, but Wendy needed a place to take this creature, a place to protect this creature. Maybe she had gotten herself attached too quickly, may be she was being impulsive. However, she couldn’t care less, at least not now.

Wendy pulled a bit away from the entity and continued to speak in a low and gentle voice. “Sweetie, I know you don’t know me, but I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m going to take you home with me, so I can help you. Is that okay?” The unfamiliar being blinked at Wendy before clinging back onto her, as if she were a lifeline. In this situation, it wasn’t far off from the truth.

Wendy took the clinging as a “yes” as she unzipped her red coat and tried to get the creature to hide in it. After a few seconds of struggling, the entity sort of melted and shifted until it fit inside of her coat, feeling a bit cold and “staticky”. Luckily, the coat was puffy enough to appear ordinary as she walked out of the crashed ship and addressed the crew outside, who were observing the crash itself as well as the outward mechanisms.

“There is an abundance of unknown buttons within the control center, and none I recognized. If any of you would rather observe that for me, that would be wonderful. I’d do it myself, but I’m feeling quite under the weather and would hate to possibly infect the area. Goodbye.” Before anyone could respond, Wendy had already walked out to her work vehicle, and took off home. The entity had crawled out of her coat and was now napping in the passengers seat, occasionally glitching as it rested. Wendy glanced at it and smiled to herself, knowing that she wasn’t going to let this creature get hurt. Now, how to explain this to her husband was a challenge.