Dave looked at the book, his chest tightening. All he could think of was his fourteen-year-old self just losing himself in shit like that. Reading about weird creatures by lamplight after he was supposed to be asleep.
"Yeah, biology was my passion too. Life and how it works, you know? All these complicated systems cobbled together by evolution, through incremental change. Just wanted to understand how it's all put together and why."
"He'll never get to study it."
He wasn't surprised exactly. His eyes slid momentarily to the side, to the spectral Mightyena now pacing in the corner.
"His mind is broken. Even Breaker can't fix it. The Substitutes keep saying going back to him would just break him even worse. And they'll do that if they stub their toe. We can't keep them from all harm forever."
"Anything else interesting? Or just binging that one?"
Shadow lowered his head, ears flattening. "And what if we have to kill Prime?"
He stiffened. Shut up, shut the fuck up. He grabbed a mozzarella stick and stuffed it in his mouth, unsure whether it disguised the reaction at all. Goddamn it, Shadow'd fucked off when he'd gone to see Soda at the park, why now?