Chapter Text
Jay was in a tree. like a gremlin, or a really ambitious shark. He watched the clearing, the rendezvous point was a small patch of grass right at the lip of the swamp. Jay's belt was strapped heavy with sleek throwing knives made of black metal, the ones he’d been using since he was a kid. He also had a backpack full of freeze-dried food and water, basic first aid and a plethora of other things he would need to survive in this place. On his wrist was a metal communication device with a built-in tracker and a rough map of the forest. All he had to do was wait. He settled on a sturdy branch and kicked his boots up.
Whoever this was, they were late. Probably spending their time rounding up giant weapons with millions of saws and an ambush team. Jay scoffed, then realised that the Kranio might also be hiding out, waiting for him. The reason Jay scaled the tree was in case of danger, he could slip away unnoticed and alert Lord Dante. But what if his ‘teammate’ had the same thought. That, or they were hiding the weapons and waiting for Jay so they could spring on him. Either way, Jay was tired of waiting. He was about to swing down when he heard leaves ruffling near the opposite end of the clearing. From the deep green willow emerged a figure. Jay held his breath, the figure staggered towards the sunlight.
Jay didn't know how to feel. He looked kinda freaky, with salt and pepper hair and a crazy scar on the left side of his jaw, his belt was strapped with vials of weird liquid and strange metal ball things with a bunch of gears and rusty bolts. He also had a bag, Jay assumed it held more weird vials of… stuff. The craziest part; He used a cane to walk. Definitely not what he was expecting. The guy stood with his weight shifted towards the cane, he glared around at the trees. Weirdo was waiting for him, Jay realised, he almost laughed.
“Took you long enough” he said, wrapping his hands around the branch he sat on, the weird looking guys glare shot to Jay's tree, it almost looked like he could see him though he thick leaves. Jay swung his body weight down so that he was hanging from the branch. No ambushes… yet.
“So this is Kranios’ best soldier” Jay moked, he grinned in spite of himself, Kranio were so easy to annoy it was laughable. “A pity” the weird guy's face twisted in frustration, but his eyes remained calculated, studying Jay as if he were the world's hardest maths problem. Jay let go of the branch and landed on the grass. He strode over to the Kranio,
“Wow, what's up with your ears” Up close Jay could see that he had ears that pointed, like an elfs, he could also make out lots of other things about this guy now. The bags under his eyes were deep and crimson, his lab coat was all burned and scraped up and the goggles on his head were burned from the tips.
“Actually, what's up with all of you, you look like a failed lab experiment” Weird guy winced slightly. But recovered quickly and glared daggers.
“That; is none of your business” Jay felt a tug in his navel. He spoke with an accent Jay couldn’t quite place. It was strangely British with a hint of something else. But his voice made him want to melt into a puddle of honey, so that couldn’t be good.
“Okay Lab experiment, you ready to get ourselves kille-?”
“Don't call me that” the guy snapped before Jay could even finish his sentence. Oh this was gonna be fun.
“But you look all messed up. and what am I supposed to call you. We can't tell eachother our real names” The guy scowled up at him, he was a bit shorter than Jay, or maybe it was Jay's massive combat boots that gave him the height. Jay put his finger and thumb to his chin. Dramatically scrunching up his face to make it look like he was thinking.
“Count Dracula?”
“No”
“Shorty?”
“No”
“Ratatouille!”
“What? where did that even come from” Jay grumbled a little more, studying the guy's face, he could have sworn his salt and pepper hair was familiar. He snapped his fingers
"Frankenstein! you look exactly like him” The guy made a face
“Absolutely not.”
“Frankenstein it is then” Jay turned on his heel and marched straight into the maw of the swamp.