This is a little bit of Mantis' backstory! TW: Stitches and experiments! If you don't like these subjects, don't read further! Mantis didn't know what was going on. The only light in the room was the bright beam panning from his screen to the floor. His shoulders were stabbed with pain every few seconds, like an inexperienced seamstress was plunging a needle into his skin over and over, before tearing it out by the tip. And his back ached. Something heavy pulled his form down, something he could feel. He could feel the floor below him, but not just in his feet. He drowsily turned his head to his elbows. The glare caught on thin, grey fabric, only slightly darker than his skin. Confused and concerned, he raised a hand to move the fabric back. Instead of a hand, a large, heavy hook loomed toward his arm. He swerved the beam to the hook. It had been stitched onto his elbow with strong, black, shiny thread. Mantis suddenly felt sick, and everything suddenly hurt a lot more. He dropped his head, watching the light spill onto the floor. Mantis couldn't remember anything, except for the night before. He had gone out at night for a walk to distract himself from everyday life, and somehow wound up here. Over the next few days, he dragged those big metal hooks around that big dark room. They scraped and whined loudly against the floor, got tangled up in glossy black wires, made him trip and fall. Every time. Fall. Learn. Hurt. Repeat. Scientists watched from behind tinted black glass. Mantis had paced past many, many times. He stared at the obsidian glass. Was it a way out? Were there people behind it? It made him angry. It made him very, very angry.
There were people behind that glass. He could see very faint outlines. Many times he threw the beastly hooks against that veil of shadow, that little protective window. Time and time again he'd scratch and claw, shout and scream. He was furious. Every time he walked past that window. He could see the marks he'd left on the surface. He hoped the people behind the pane were scared of him. After three long weeks, the researchers finally lost hope. They weren't happy with the final product. He wasn't speedy, or agile. His movements weren't fluid. He didn't have willpower. They forced the lever down, the creaky garage door rolled up, filling the room with artificial light. Song - Survivors theme - Dead by Daylight!
