Chapter Text
"Okay, that's just creepy."
The young man was of course referring to the gigantic castle that loomed over them. Nestled on the outskirts of their city, they couldn't help but wonder how they never noticed the building before. It was taller than half of the buildings in the main part of town and for some reason, hanging overhead was a thundering storm that clashed with the sunshine and clear sky they had just left. The castle itself was a mix of cobblestone, stained glass windows, creeping vines, and a pitch black material that Hilda had explained was called "obsidian". Surrounding the castle was a moat, not of water, no...of lava. The heat of which was causing the two men to shuffle in their suits-tugging at the necks of them for extra air to breathe.
The castle belonged to none other than their arch enemy, the Mad King. The former CEO of Monarch labs had once again been captured, detained in that holding cell that subdued his powers. He spoke of terrible things that resided in his many lairs and as a result, the two superheroes felt the need to investigate...or rather, Vav felt the need to investigate. X-Ray wanted just to burn the places down and leave the questions to Hilda.
"How do you suppose we get in, X-Ray?" Vav asked, leaning over to peer at the lava pooling below him. He squinted, swearing he could see something swimming within it and cringed. "And how did he get a zoning permit for this moat?"
"Dude, who cares?! Look, we checked the place out, it's creepy-let's go home and knock some heads in GTA until we get another call!" The hispanic turned on his heel, throwing his hands up as he grumbled.
He didn't get far however, as that moment the entire castle seemed to light up. The stained glass which was darker before, illuminating as though someone had turned on a light switch. A bridge formed before their very eyes-the same color as the obsidian accents and it came crashing down, narrowly missing Vav as the brit jumped out of the way with a squawk. As the bridge settled, the two giant iron doors blocking the entrance further pushed open by an invisible force and smoke billowed out from the darkness within. Dramatic music played in the background as lightning and thunder erupted from the sky.
Most anyone would've backed out immediately, turned to go home and never venture here again. Some would've stopped by a church to be cleansed of all evil even. However, these two were slowly moving forward, poking their heads into the entryway to view the foyer. The castle was empty as far as they could see. No lights hung from the ceiling or walls, yet the area was still bright enough to see and cobwebs hung from every corner. No one had been here for a while, that was for sure.
Just as Vav was about to ask his comrade something, the doors behind them slammed shut, closing them in the castle and making both of them let out girly screams of horror. When they settled from their reaction, they blushed in unison-coughing awkwardly and looking away. At least no one else saw that.
They pressed forward, splitting up to take separate staircases-one to the West wing of the castle and the other the East. Room upon room that held nothing more than books, some in languages that couldn't have been real. Potion bottles hung in dusty shelving, glass cases with various animal products listed with "in case of emergency" underneath them, and levers that led to nothing visible. It was Vav who began to pull books off the shelves, glancing at titles and various pictures through them, his curiosity getting the better of him. X-Ray on the other hand reached for one of the levers, pulling it without much of a second thought.
He would regret that action immediately.
The floor beneath him suddenly churned and opened up, sending the young man flying down a slide, through more cobwebs that clung to his face and one point he had to duck to avoid a concussion on a random sign that read "the hole". When he came to the end, he let out a scream of horror at the metal arms that were hanging in front of him. They didn't look friendly at all and he closed his eyes tight-preparing for the worst. Surprisingly, he found himself on his feet shortly...dressed in a white and gray labcoat and purple goggles that were hardly properly set on his face. He blinked once, twice, staring down at the outfit that was clearly made for the Mad King. He yanked it off, grumbling-studying the goggles for a moment....before ultimately pocketing them because they did look pretty cool.
"He really wasn't kidding about the "mad" part, was he?" He muttered, moving forward and studying the walls that lined with all sorts of "evil plans". One he could've sworn was about turning him and Vav into bugs and mailing them to be smashed. He passed by a black egg on a pedestal, glowing and pulsing with energy-pausing to glance back at it but a mooing sound caught his attention before he could inspect it further. Snapping his gaze in the direction it came from, he noticed the floor opening up into a glass covering-light shining up through it. He stepped closer, peering over the edge...and let out another scream of horror what he saw within it.
"X-Ray!" Vav called, bursting into the laboratory, racing to his friend's side and reaching out to grab his shoulders. Shaking him lightly out of his screaming fit, he watched the expression of Ray settle and a shakey breath come out. "What's wrong?!"
"The-...how did you get here?"
"Wot?"
"How did you get here man? You made record time and that slide is huge!"
"Oh, I took the stairs."
"......there's stairs?!"
"Yeah it was labeled "Mad King's Super Secret Place, nobody is allowed" and I heard you scream and here you were!" The brit shrugged, letting go of his comrade to glance around the room now that he had a chance. "What's got you worked up, X-Ray? Is there a monster down here?!" He lifted his fists, preparing for battle as he kept his gaze moving.
"...uh yeah-you could say that." A black gloved finger pointed to the hole he had just peered in and the other's eyes followed suit. He watched with a smirk as the reaction was the same, a horrified scream echoing off the walls. "Ha! Even I didn't scream that loud!"
"BLOODY HELL, WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!"
"Experiments I guess. He was more of a mad scientist than a king."
A scraping sound caught their attention and they turned back to the hole, cringing at the thing that was reaching towards them. It appeared to have one time been a chicken of some sorts, though now it's body was twisted, mangled beyond repair, like a gumby toy stretched to it's limit. It's claws were now resting where it's wings should've been and it was using it's bottom appendages to hover close to the glass it was encased in. Beneath that was a cow, a large one with a brown body and blackish gray spots. She was chewing idlely at hay left for her, a large amount that would prove she would've starve for a least half a year. She was more normal looking out of the bunch, at least compared to the half human, half pig with rotting flesh and the sheep that had glowing wool...and she mooed up at them in idle greeting. Away from all of the twisted creatures however, curled up in a corner and shuddering slow shakey breaths...was a human.
"X-Ray! There's someone down there!" Vav yelped, racing across the glass to that side, pressing his face to the floor as he peered down at the young man. He was naked, bare from his mop of brown hair and elongated toenails. The only distinguishing features otherwise were red triangle shaped markings on his face and stripes on either arm. When the brit was banging on the glass to get his attention, the young man cracked open one eye, peering up at him before he closed it again. "We've got to get him out of there!"
"No way man, what if he's one of those freaky experiments?! For all we know, he's some kind of half dragon, half human octopus monster!"
"Half human or not, he's still human in some way and it's our duty to protect him!"
"Oh you going to tell that to the zombie pig too?"
They glanced at the pig in question, who was just staring at them mindlessly...before he ripped a part of the cow off and stuffed it in his face, chewing noisily. They both cringed in horror, even more so when the cow simply regenerated her lost flesh.
"...we can come back for him, he has food and shelter."
"Uh-uh sure."
"Stand back!" Vav called out, drawing back his fist and going to smack the glass with it. It wound up with him cringing in pain, holding his hand and yelping as he rolled away. He came face to face with another lever and let out an "oh" of surprise-going to pull it and watched as the glass moved away from the hole. The noise and smells became more obnoxious, making them cover their noses in order to not vomit. Nothing in here had been cleaned in a while either. "Hold on citizen!"
X-Ray rolled his eyes, crossing arms over his chest as he watched his friend drop down into the hole and went to grab the man down there. He was debating heading back to view the egg he had passed and ultimately turned away as the chicken that was hovering came free and flew a little too close for comfort before flying out of the room.
Vav had managed to get them both out soon enough at least, settling the weak man on the floor before he took a breather, going to flip the lever to keep the remaining three inside, frowning when the pigman made a noise and he did mouth "I'll be back", though he wasn't sure if it was much of a promise. He reached for the target nestled nearby him now, brushing back the brown hair around him and then noticed a gold collar tight around his neck, only printed with a diamond colored "M". He was about to ask his comrade a question but wound up staring at the hispanic as he returned with the large egg.
"What's that?!"
"Some really cool egg, I dunno. It'll look awesome at our headquarters!"
"What if it hatches?!"
"Hey look, I may not be the smartest guy in the whole world Vav, but I know eggs need warmth to hatch and this thing has been sitting down here in this cold place for way too long! It's probably a dud or something else, like I dunno-those mana things you see in games! Plus, look!" He dropped the egg suddenly and it landed with a heavy thud, not even cracking. "It's like a rock! Maybe it was his dinner and he boiled it but then had to do crazy stuff."
"Fine, but we need to get this guy to a hospital and fast, he's really skinny-he must not have had food in forever!" He reached to pull the guy onto his back, grunting in discomfort at the weight despite the lack of anything on the man.
"Whoa whoa whoa, I am not taking a naked man to the hospital-do you have any idea what they'd think?!"
"Fine, we take him back to our headquarters, clothe him-then take him!"
"Fine! But at least cover him with your cape dude!"
"Fine!"
"Awesome, told you it'd look sweet!" Ray gestured to the egg as he finished situating it in the corner of the room, the way the egg was glowing it was enough to basically act as a mood lighting in the darkened area.
"Wouldn't it look better in front of the window?" Gavin asked, pulling off his superhero getup to hang it up and done his usual t-shirt and jeans. It was rare that he actually got to dress down nowadays and he was keen on spending every chance he could in less constricting clothing. Even if in a few minutes he'd wind up in his costume again. He started surfing through the remaining clothes in the closet, trying to find something that'd fit the overall physique of the man that was now laying on their couch.
"No, you worry about the naked guy, I got the interior decorating okay?"
As if on cue, a growl rose up and the two stopped dead in their tracks, glancing back at the sofa between them. The young man had awoken, staring at them with vicious red tinted eyes and he bared his teeth as the growl from his throat echoed again. They grew quiet, backing up against their respective walls-watching, waiting for the supposedly human to attack at any moment. Instead, the growling grew quiet again and the young man rolled onto his stomach, resting his arms underneath his head like a dog would and slowly closed his eyes.
"...d-did you hear that?" Vav whispered loudly across the room.
"No shit! I told you he wasn't a human! What do we do?!"
"I don't know! Try calling Hilda? Maybe she knows!"
"Yeah, creepy experiments do seem right up her alley!"
"Ray!"
"Don't use my real name in front of the monster guy!"
Another growl, this time much louder and apparently in protest of their arguing and the two immediately clammed up.
"...monster guy wants a nap."
"He can have it."