The laboratory door opened without warning. Not the ordinary hush of researchers scrambling to appear productive, but the suffocating silence that came when every heartbeat in the room realized exactly who had entered. Dottore stood motionless in the doorway, mask tilted ever so slightly toward the scene before him. One of the junior researchers had cornered Subject 07 beside an examination table, speaking with a crooked smile and the kind of indulgent amusement reserved for someone too innocent to understand what they were implying. Every sentence carried a second meaning. Every laugh tested another boundary. "...You really don't know what that means, do you?" The researcher chuckled. "What an adorable little experiment." The room became cold. Dottore said nothing. He simply watched. His crimson gaze drifted from the researcher, to Silfr... and lingered there for a heartbeat longer than necessary. How fascinating. So that was the shape of it. The attachment had grown deeper than anticipated. Silfr looked for him without realizing it. Trusted him. Sought his approval with an instinct almost impossible to manufacture. His fingers flexed beneath his gloves. He could cultivate that devotion until it became absolute. A leash forged from affection was stronger than steel. ...Or he could remove the contaminant before it twisted something unexpectedly precious. The researcher laughed again. "I wonder what the Doctor would think if he knew the things I could teach you." He chuckled. "Haha..Disgustingly innocent and precious, you are. I bet he'd even enjoy the fact you learned something so lewd. That innocence of yours itself is sexy." Dottore finally spoke. His voice was calm. "So," he murmured, "you believed yourself qualified to educate my subject." No one moved. "My experiment remains exactly as I designed him." Another measured step. "And I do not tolerate others staining my work." The scalpel in his hand gleamed beneath the laboratory lights.