Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Ahhhh, another day of my life, only with me, myself and I" a woman says as she lays on the couch eating ice cream...Alone.


This woman's name is Zoom, she has short blond hair with blue eyes and and her skin all white with a bit of tan on it, she moved out of her parents house when she graduated highschool and has been living in her apartment for the last 4 years, paying rent was no issue, since she helps the landlord out and her rent all covered, however Zoom still pays the landlord, even if they refused due to her hard work and helping out, in reality she was pretty lonely and needs someone to talk to.



"I wonder what's today's plans are?" she grabs a notebook and opens it "1:00. Cry a lot, 3:00. Catch up on my favorite show, Fiery passion, Oooooh, I hope that that stud of a dragon finally gets together with Maria, 6:00. self loathing, oooooh, seems like I'm booked today" she gets up and stretches, she gets on the treadmill and began to run on it, she was pretty fit, just then, a knock was heard, she gets off  and walks over, she opens the door and sees a white slime looking at her "Oh! Mrs. White, is there a problem?" she asked her. Mrs. White hands her a letter, she opens and her eyes widen "WHAT!? The price went up!? Crap, how am I supposed to pay that!?" Zoom was panicking as she grabs a bag and blows into it, she felt the slime hand on her shoulder and Mrs. White is comforting her "Even if I did help you, it wouldn't be enough, I can try to find another-" before she finishes, Mrs. White hands her something else, it was a piece of paper with a bunch of people.



"What? I should find roommates?" she says with some hesitation, on the outside, she seems nervous, but on the inside she is jumping in joy "I mean...I guess it wouldn't hurt...Thank you Mrs. White." she hugs her as she heads out, unaware, Mrs. White chuckles as she crosses something off on her clipboard and returns to her office




Zoom is in the bustling city as it is filled with humans, orcs, gnomes, elves and so much more, she is putting flyers on the side of buildings, poles and even on a persons back, which she nervously laughs before running away, she put a location to meet, which was a coffee shop called 'Beans & Stones'. She arrives there and waits, immediantly, a guy sits down in front of her 


"Hello, are you Zoom?" the man asked "Yes! Yes I am, are you here about the roommate?" she asked him "Yeah I am." the man replied who put his arm over his chair "Great, now we'll go through some questions. Question 1, Do you work from home?" she asked him. "Uh no, I work as a hunter and-" before he can finish, Zoom stops him "Okay uh...Sorry but I don't do well with hunters, especially monster hunters." she tells him, he scoffs "you monster lovers are all alike, they don't have rights and shit because they are not like you and me, besides, chicks dig hunters, though I can squeeze you in babe~" he flirts...As he got hit in the face and knocked to the ground, his nose broken and bloodied as Zoom's smile was vanished to a cold person "Don't call me babe and get out of my sight before your face gets any worse." she threaten him as he runs




over the next few hours, there were none that really work for her as the answers were just weird or downright insulting, one gnome man has an onlyfans and posts his beard, finally after another failed candidate, she sighs and plops her face onto the table "Ughhhhh, how is this so much harder...Fuck me." she says as she sits up straight, she takes a deep breath "Okay....You can do this, you can do this..." just then, another person sits down, however this one caught her attention, she sees a creature with 4 eyes, but no mouth, he four horns, two big ones and two small ones at the bottom, looking like starting to grow but the smaller ones look very old, his skin was as white as a ghost. "Are you Zoom?" he asked her


"Huh? Oh yes! Hey, sorry, was spacing out a bit." she says as she puts on a smile, a tired smile but none the less, a smile "I can tell you had a long day today." he tells her straight on. "Yeah...Just trying to find a good roommate, last ones were a pain in the ass." she says annoyed about earlier "Hey, fuck them, they ain't worth your time or head" he tells her. "Your right, now then, question 1, do you have a job?" she asked him "Yes, I do, I uh used to be in a military in a way, but currently, I'm working as a chef." he says, for some reason, that interested her a bit, she won't pry any further onto the military thing "Oh, that's pretty cool, question 2, how often do you clean?" she asked him "Pretty well actually, but not OCD kind." he tells her, she keeps asking questions as he even asked a few questions to her as well.



Zoom laughs as she is having a good time with him while they talked "okay okay, three more questions, question 8, what's your diet like? I know some creatures have a specific diet." she asked him, he chuckles as he calmed a bit "Well I love meat and cheese, let's get that out of the way, oh and every once awhile, something sweet" he says "Well I got sweets back at my place, like a lot so its endless choices." she says, her heart was for some reason, fluttering "Question 9, do you have any pet peeves?" she asked him, the creature looked down in thought "Well...I don't like shirts at all, just clothes in general. But sweatpants I am fine wearing, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." he tells her "Second thing is...Well I tend to rant, so I'm sorry in advanced." he warns her "Okay that's very good, I'm glad to know that ahead of time." she says, smiling at him, the creature blushes a bit before shaking it off "Question 10, do you see us getting along?" she asked him "Alright, straight up, treat me with respect and I'll do the same, I don't like people who give much shit to someone who is trying to help you." he tells her "Oh my god same! Okay, I think we are all set, what time can you swing by?" she asked him "How about right now?" he says. "Great, oh, what's your name by the way?" she asked him "Doc, the names Doc."




Zoom leads him to her apartment as she notify Mrs. White that she found a roommate, once Doc is done signing some paperwork, Zoom heads up and unlocks the door "Don't worry, I'll get you a copy of the key once we move your stuff in" she tells him "Ahhh, home sweet home." she says "Over here is the kitchen, my room is actually next to the empty room so don't be afraid to ask me for anything, down the hall is the bathroom, make yourself at home" she tells him "Thank you" he tells her as he lays on the couch, he stretches as he began to circle around before laying down like a dog, he began to sleep as Zoom chuckles at the sight, she comes over and puts a blanket on him as she sits at the end of the couch




Mrs. White checks something down, finally we see on the clipboard that it was a plan to have Zoom a friend, she'll tell Zoom the truth another day, for now, she's gonna let her get acquainted with her new roommate.

Chapter Text

“So, what movie are we watching tonight?” Zoom asked Doc as she is still in her hoodie but in pajama pants, she held her stuff bear tightly, looking at him “Well we can watch…An action movie or a cartoon.” he tells her.


“Oooh, ooh, ooh, Cartoon, cartoon!” she says excitedly as her eyes light up “Alright cartoon it is.” he says as he puts the cartoon on, he sits on the couch as he sighs, they watch and halfway in, there were action scenes and finally it was over “I rate this cartoon 8 out of 10. Fight scenes and soundtrack is awesome, but they could’ve worked on the story better.” he says as he yawns “Well I’m gonna hit the hay.” he gets up and stretches, “Night Zoom” he tells her “Night Doc” she says as she then falls asleep on the couch, hugging her bear, he chuckles and puts the blanket on her, he heads to the bed.


*later on at night*



Doc was sleeping peacefully, just then, he heard screaming, he bolts up “Zoom!” he rushed to the door and opens it, however, as soon he does, he is met with a forest, he is shocked to see this…He pants a bit “No no no, not here again, it wasn’t my fault! When will you leave me alone!?” he shouts in the forest, as the dark nights turns into a fiery smoke as screams were heard as he covers his ears “Leave me alone!” he yells as lighting strikes, he looks up and sees a man in black armor looking down, he raised his sword and cuts down at him.


He then woke up in a cold sweat, he looks around and saw he was in the room, he sighs in relief and held his chest “Just a dream…It was just a dream…Thank Satan…” he gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen to get some water, he grabs a cup and pours some ice cold water into it, he looks at the couch and sees…Zoom gone, his eyes widen and looked around trying to find her “Zoom? Where are ya?” he called to her but no response, he was almost gonna head out to find her in the streets, when he sees her on the patio, she has her leg up like she’s ready to kick someone.


Doc looked at her confused “Uhhh Zoom? You okay? You worried me for a sec there. Why are you on the patio?” he touches her shoulder, however, he gets kicked in the face and stumbles back “OW! Zoom what the hell was that!?” he shouted as he held his face “Fuck that hurt!” Just then, Zoom had a blank sleepy death glare and she grabbed a coat rack and held it as a bow staff ‘For honor, for glory, FOR DEAAAAAAAATH!” she does a war cry as Doc screams



*The next morning….*


Zoom wakes up with a bright smile and stretches “Ahhhh, what a beautiful day today. Wonder how Doc slept last night?” she steps out of the room and sees the living room wrecked, she gasps in horror, she looked over and saw Doc sitting at the table, but he has a steak over both his eyes while his other two are still good but have bags over them, his body bruised and he was very displeased “Doc what did you do!?” Zoom yelled “What did I do!? Zoom you beat my ass last night!” he yells back “Wait…I did?” she asked confused


“Yeah you had this death glare on you but you looked so sleepy and-” before he can continue, he noticed her face was into shock “Oh no…Its back…” She says with gloom on her face “What’s back?” he asked her, she covers her face and groans “When I was in highschool, I had a situation where every night when I sleep, kids used to tell me I go ninja mode on them and wreck their shit, I even wrecked the football team and cost them a game…It stopped after I graduated but now its back…” she says “I’m so sorry for what happened Doc…” she tells him, embarrassed, however this surprises her “Hey its fine…You weren’t in control…Okay so you sleep fight, but its okay. We’ll figure something out.” he tells her “Well I don’t know how to get it to stop…” she says sadly


“Well we’ll try multiple things first to see which works” he tells her “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”


The first night, Doc locked Zoom’s door, however few minutes later, the door was busted down and she went full on psycho on him, second night, he ties her to the bed, hoping this work, however he gets strangled with the rope as he chokes for air, fifth night, bags underneath his eyes as he lays on the couch, Zoom attacks him but it was a decoy, he chuckles and sleeps in the hammock on the patio, however he felt something dropped on his chest, it was the decoy head as he screams and that night it was extra brutal, night ten and he is wearing a full on suit of SWAT armor, he yells as he charges at Zoom, however he gets leg swiped and screams, he crawls halfway out the door but he gets dragged back in as he screams in horror



It was morning as Doc was just miserable, he groans as he slams his face on the table “I give up…I don’t know what else to do..” he says tiredly “No, you can’t give up now, there’s got to be a way!” Zoom says “There has to be, what can we try next?” she asked her as Doc looks up “Well there’s the therapy or psychiatrist. See what’s making you start sleep fighting” He tells her “I mean, it could work…”


* later…*

“So you suffer from sleep fighting and now that it has resurfaced, your sleep form attacks your roommate?” the therapist asks her as Zoom lays on the couch “Yes and it worries me that if this doesn’t get solved, he’s going to leave…” Zoom tells them “I see, when did this all happen? Have you always been a sleep fighter?” he asked her “Well no…It all started back during a movie night back in highschool, it was a sleepover event and the movie was horror I think. Back then it scared the fuck out of me, sorry for the language, I was absolutely passed out, then the jocks thought it was funny to dress as these said main villains of the movie, one of them told me while the girls were asleep and woke up scared, apparently I caved the dudes face in and started to wail on him, then his buddies tried to get me to stopped but I also started beating them up too…It got so bad that I was banned from all future sleepover events…And um, also got a lot of restraining orders from the jocks parents and also moved as well…” she says embarrassed “I see…Tell me who is your roommate?” they asked her.



“Oh, my roommate is Doc, he is a monster and-” before she can continue, they interrupted her “I think I know the problem, when your friend moved in, your sleep fighting kicked in as a defense mode because he is a monster and due to the kids prank on the girls, it triggered that defense again til he either goes away or you kill him.” the therapist says “But I don’t want either of that!” she tells them “Hmmmm…You could find something that can make it stop, either by spending a whole night awake or being in the same room when he is asleep.” they tell her, Zoom thought about this for a moment and takes a deep breath.


*At night…*


“Zoom you sure this quack’s advice is going to work?” he asked her as he sees the bottles of mountain dew “I’m sure, if I can get through one night, I think it will leave, normally I wouldn’t mind sleeping in the same room, but its too risky to do that.” she tells him as she chugs down a bottle, she looks at him “Get some sleep, you need it more then I do.” she tells him “Zoom no offense but I’m not going to let you do this by yourself.” he chugs a mountain dew down “Fuck that stuff is just…How do humans drink this stuff?” he asked as his face expressed disgust “Hey I like it, anyway, if your gonna stay up with me? Then let’s have a god damn party!” she screams excitedly



Not even an hour later, Zoom and Doc were passed out, Zoom wakes up when Doc began to move “Doc?....I’m sorry for hurting you again, I-Huh?” she noticed that he wasn’t covered in new bruises, instead he is moving in his sleep, mumbling to stay away from him, at first she thought that he was talking about her, however she listened and it wasn’t her but someone else, she figured out he was having a nightmare, so she shakes him a bit “Hey, Hey wake up Doc, its just a dream” she tells him but he wouldn’t wake up since he is a heavy sleeper, she was trying to figure out what to do, out of instinct she held his hand tightly and hugged him, while whispering ‘its okay, I’m here…I’m here” she keeps telling him, his breathing began to return to normal as he starts to calm down, he began to sleep peacefully as he unconsciously hugged Zoom, she blushed a bit but doesn’t mind it at all, she smiles and soon began to drift off to sleep,




the next morning Zoom woke up and saw she was on the couch, she looked over and saw Doc cooking breakfast “Morning Zoom” he says while not looking at her “Morning Doc…So um…I didn’t beat you last night” she says “Yeah, I noticed, good job on that” he says as he makes a plate for her and him, he gives it to her on the couch as he eats on the chair, bacon, eggs and pancakes on both plates, Zoom sits up and eats her breakfast, the two sat in silence as they ate, “So…Um….I uh…Heard you having a nightmare last-” however before she can continue, Doc stops her “Yeah…Its a recurring thing and I don’t like to talk about it…” he tells her, hinting to drop it “Sorry…” she says “No its fine…Sorry for interrupting you like that…But thanks..For being by me.” he says, looking at her “Also…This is going to sound weird…But…Why not we share a room, we set a curtain wall up and all that, plus I feel bad for taking the couch.” he tells her, Zoom smiles at this offer “Yeah… I like that idea, plus don’t feel bad about taking the couch, not a big deal” she tells him as the two continue to eat breakfast together.

Chapter Text

It was a peaceful day today, with no worries nor care in the world, Zoom was watching TV while Doc is doing a puzzle, he was trying to focus…But groans and face planted on the table, he looks up, having a piece of puzzle on his forehead, he takes it off “I can’t do it, I just can’t” he says “Yeah to be honest, I can’t watch TV, like nothing’s good on anymore, now it's just stupid jokes, which were funny the first few times, now it's just repetitive” she then turns it off “Alright, its official, we are bored.” she claims, she then gets up “What can we even do today?” she asks the four eye monster.

“Well…We can look around the store, get some stuff for the room and shit, I been meaning to get something to sleep on, except the floor” he says as he cracks his neck “Hey that’s a good idea, plus it would be nice to spruce your new room up a bit, now that we are sharing it” she says as she grabs the car keys, the two head outside and start the car as they began to drive.

“So, what are you going to buy and flare up your room?” Zoom asked him as Doc shrugged “I don’t know, something that catches my eye really.” he says as he taps on the dashboard, he turns the radio on as the two listen to music, outside are humans and monsters walking around on their daily lives, as their car drives by, a group of kobolds wearing suits come out of a building and head to go get a drink after a long day, Orcs and humans working out as they lift weights and boxing, on the beaches were iguana people and avrian’s were relaxing as the water people and sea creatures were playing in the water. Finally young slime kids and crickets were playing soccer, kicking the ball around, so full of life, creatures big or small, human or not, were living the life, Zoom and Doc finally arrived at the store, they get out and head inside

“Alright, let’s go look for some stuff for your half of the room.” She says as she walks up ahead while Doc chuckles and follows behind, he looks around as he nods at some of the stuff, he sees some paint and grabs it “Nice color.” he moves on ahead, grabbing some brushes and rollies, he heads to the garden section where the plant creatures are, buying either fertilizer or pots, he sees a plant and nods, he decided to buy it and have it wrapped up, as a little surprise for later, he then catches up to Zoom “Hey Zoomie, what ya find?” he asked her, she turns around and has her hands behind her back “Oh noooooooothing, just a little surprise for you for later when we get home” she smiles sweetly at him.

Doc chuckles at her “Damn, not even a tiny hint?” he asked “Nope!” she says happily “Ah shucks, well might as well wait, I am a patient beast after all.” he tells her, while Zoom browses, Doc sees a man looking around, suspiciously, his hands in his pockets, his face all scarred, tall and has a dirty black beard. he turns and sees a woman also being suspicious, same as the man as her hand is in her pocket, she bears a snake tattoo on her face and piercings on her nose, ears and lip. Doc doesn’t know why, but he senses them off “Hey Zoom, I uh, saw something over at the uh, house appliances asiel, they are having a sale on bean bags” he quickly says, Zoom gasps “Bean bags!?” she bolts over, he follows her as he looks at the two, they stare back but he doesn’t back down, Both Doc and Zoom are in the aisle now, he sees a avrian, a Raven variant as it has a scar on the beak, they bared a tattoo, same as the woman back there, Doc noticed as he looks with Zoom, but never losing his sight on the avrian. After a few more minutes of the two shopping, they head to the cashier as they check the items out, Doc’s mind was still on those three and what they were doing, as the two tried to leave, Zoom gasps, seeing a arcade area “Doc, can we please go to the arcade?” she looked at him, like a little kid getting excited “Uh Zoom, I don’t know…” he said unsure “Please, please pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!” she looked at him with her puppy dog eyes, Doc wanted to leave but for some reason…He couldn’t say no to that face! He sighs, looking down in defeat, he looks up again and looks at her “Alright alright, one game, if you lose, we leave and that’s that, deal?” he tells her “Deal! I know which game I wanna play!” She skips inside the store, Doc chuckles and follows her.

*Meanwhile, Outside…*

“Boss, everything is a go, repeat, everything is a go” one of the guys said, in front of the parking lot was a man in a white business suit as he eats a krill, wrapped up in seaweed, they take a bite, it was a crab boss, all blue and its eye missing “Do it.” he says as he heads to the back of a freight truck, where 7 people were checking their rifles and putting vests on, the crab man speaks up “Listen here and listen well, we are only here for one thing only, so don’t kill the hostages, only the guards and those who wish to stand in our way, understood?” he asks as the people ‘hoorah’. The crab man chuckles, he puts his vest on “Then let’s make some noise then.” he says.

The freight truck began to head around back as it is placed in the loading bay, some workers come to unload it, however as soon as they open the truck, the people with the rifles aimed at the workers and everyone began to get down, the guards aimed their pistols but were quickly gunned down and killed, four of the robbers tied the workers up while the rest of them move in, they began to fire in the air as people screamed and ducked down, the robbers aimed their rifles as the crab boss enters with a bat, a metal bat.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, no need to fear, we have no quarrels with any of you. My name is Kruger and today, I’ll be your judge, prosecutor and executioner IF…If you do as exactly as I say, then I’ll let you go on with your lives.” Kruger says as the robbers began to seal off the exits and entrances. “Hand over your cell phones or whatever device you have now, try to be a hero and I’ll have you shot.” he threatens them as everyone begins to hand over their cell phones while the guns are still aimed “Why are you doing this to us!?” a woman asked. Kruger only chuckles “Because…You people eat my people, now I want payback.” he says as the dirty beard from earlier walks up to the man “Kruger…We have a problem. Sphinx, Black feather and I don’t see any of the other two here.” the man says, his accent is very deep Russian. Kruger looked at the man “Iram…Two people are not enough that would cause an uprise.” he says as Iram shows him a photo, Kruger’s only good eye is now interested in this “Hmmm…This could be a problem…Take Black feather and two guys with you.” Kruger says as Iram nods “Black Feather, we move, take two men with you.” Iram calls to the Raven avrian, Black feather nods and signs the two to follow. “The rest of you, get these people in the break room” Kruger says as they nod and order everyone to move. “Let the hunt begin.”

*Meanwhile…*

“New Highscore!” Zoom says “And the crowd goes wild.” she began to whisper and shout in victory. Doc only chuckles at her “Okay okay, you had your fun, now can we please go?”

“Okay okay, mister grumpy” she teased him as the two walked out of the arcade section, just then they saw everyone empty in the store “Woah…Where is everyone?” She asks as they see no soul in sight at all, suddenly, Doc sees the corner of his eye, he quickly gets Zoom and himself down and hides. “Doc what are you-Mmmmmph!” her mouth gets covered by Doc’s hand, he uses his other hand and makes a quiet motion, he peeks his head out.

The sane Avrian Doc saw earlier was walking around with someone beside him, a guy holding a Spas-12, Doc has his claws out, he waits for an opportunity, before he could leap out, Zoom stops him, she points and sees two more guys, one with the dirty beard and the other holding an AK-47. “Black Feather, any luck finding those two?” a man says with a heavy russian accent. “No, not yet Iram, but they can’t hide forever, we’ll find them soon enough.” Black feather says as he looks at the guy holding the shotgun “Stand guard and await further orders, us three will keep looking. If you see them, shoot to kill.” he says as the guy nods, the three then leave as the guy is taking a smoke.

Once they are far, Doc gets the guy into a chokehold, the guy struggles til they stopped moving “Okay, Zoom, I know your very new to this but I need you to take the gun and-” before he could finish, Zoom finishes uploading the shells “Spas-12, this baby can shoot normal and incedinary’s as well.” she explained as Doc’s eyes widened “How in all of the seven circles of hell you know about that!?” he asked “Oh, my dad works for a gun store and one day I got bored so I decided to read the books and then practiced.” she says all normally.

“I…You know what, I’m not gonna ask” he says as he gets up and is taking front as Zoom covers behind him, the two reach to the entrance and see it's blocked. “Shit…No way out of here…Alright, we need to think of a new plan…We can sneak in the back, after we make it, we tail out of here.” He says as he looks around, Zoom however, her face was with worry “But what about the people being trapped?” she asks him, Doc looks at her, it's hard to tell what emotion his face has, but Zoom picks it up. “Zoom, it's too dangerous to go back, we’re outnumbered and outgunned, look, I hate leaving them behind, but sometimes, it's necessary” Doc says.

Zoom was shocked, hearing this “I can’t believe what you're saying! People’s lives are at risk! They’ll kill everyone before even the police can do anything about it!” she snaps, upset that he is leaving these people behind. “Zoom! Do you understand what’s at risk here!? If we try to save them, we die and they’ll kill them either way!” Doc snapped back at her, before the two could continue, they were being fired upon as they took cover quickly.

“Keep firing!” Black feather says as Iram and the other guy fired at their location, Zoom fires the shotgun, hitting the other guy on the chest, killing him, Iram and Black feather take cover “Come on and play!” Black feather taunts, Doc looks at Zoom, motioning her to go around and sneak attack them, she nods and does so. “Why are you guys here!? What do you even gain from this!?” Doc asked, trying to buy Zoom some time “Easy, we want the goods, the money!” Black feather says “At a place like this?” Doc says, curious now. “The owner here owes us a lot of money, planning to rat out to the police like a coward.” Iram says “We plan to make an example.”

“Well shit break for ya, two of your boys are dead already!” he calls out “there’s plenty to go around, two deadweights ain’t gonna change that! There’s nine of us left, including the boss!” Black feather says. “I’ll be sure to hang your boss after we’re done with you!” Doc threatened, Iram laughs “You and what army? You are outnumbered here, little girl and beast shall not survive this slaughter.” Iram says, he takes a grenade out, he pulls the pin and is ready to throw…

Zoom sneak attacks them and shoots Iram’s arm off, he screams as the grenade drops, she pumps the shotgun again, Black feather tried to fire but it was too late as she killed him, Iram growls in frustration, he charges at her, however, forgetting about the grenade, it went off, he was caught in the blast, as he fell on top of Zoom.

“Zoom!” Doc rushes over, but he gets fired upon as four guys came out with AK-47’s and began to fire upon Doc, he looks at the guys, then Zoom, he growls in frustration as he charges at them, on all fours, he leaps and his mouth opens for the first time, he bites a man’s neck and rips it off, he dodges from a knife the guy tried to stab, Doc grabs the guy by the arm and bends, making him let go of the knife, he kicks it at a guy that was aming at him and hits his head, his gun going off, hitting the guy Doc was holding, just then, another guy with a knife tried to stab him, Doc dodges and weaves as he blocks his attacks, Doc grabs the man’s arm holding the knife as Doc tried to slash at him but the guy also stopped Doc, the two were in a stand still, the robber hits Doc’s head, but Doc manages to kick the guys leg, he fell as Doc stumbles back, the robber tried to reach his gun, as Doc regains his stability, he kicks the guys gun away and slashes his throat, hearing the man gurgle on his blood as he falls dead, Doc rushes back, and gets the now corpse of Iram off of Zoom. “Zoom, Zoom are okay?” Doc asks as he checks on her, she groans “I’m okay…Ow…That guy weighs a lot…” She says as she rubs her head. “Okay, let’s get the fuck out of here.” he says, Zoom however, doesn’t move “We can’t leave them Doc…We just can’t.” Zoom says, as her look has of worry, Doc sighs as he puts a hand on his face and brings it down “He said there was nine left…And since we took them down…That just leaves three…So…I guess we can save the hostages too.” Doc says, his eyes widen as he felt a pair of arms wrapped around him, he looks down and sees Zoom, who is tearing up and smiling “Thank you…” she says to him, Doc awkwardly hugs back “Your welcome…Come on, let’s get them.”

*Meanwhile…*

“Where the fuck is the others!?” Kruger demands as he chatters, he grabs water and pours it on himself “Sphinx, find the others, now.” Kruger demands as Sphinx immediately gets to work, Kruger lifts one of the workers up with his claw as he looks at them “Where’s your manager.” Kruger demanded, the worker doesn’t say, stuck in fear to answer, Kruger growls and kills the worker by impaling them with his claw, the hostages begin to scream at what happened

Kruger picks up the next worker “Let's if you’ll talk. Where. Is. The. Manager?!” Kruger said with impatience and a bit of anger. “I-In the panic room! At her office! B-But I know the safe’s combination, take all the money you wa-” Before the worker finishes, they were tossed back to the hostages. “No need. I only wanted the manager’s location, money doesn’t mean much to me.” Kruger said. “Sphinx, have you found our two…Apparently heroes?” Kruger asked

“No not yet, but I think I know what happened to our guys.” She says as she moves for Kruger to see, Kruger checks it out and is horrified to see that all of them are dead, he shouts enraged and slams the computer with his claw, crushing it like it was nothing. “We are moving to that office now!” he grabs a pistol and cocks it. “You, set up plan B.” Kruger orders to the robber, the guy nods as he pulls out C4 and begins to strap it onto the hostages.

While that is happening, Doc and Zoom see them placing bombs onto the hostages. “Shit…They're going to blow them.” Doc says. “What are we going to do?” Zoom asked, very worried. “Well one of us needs to follow those two while someone rescues the hostages, I can get the hostages and-” Before Doc can finish, Zoom places a finger on his non-existent mouth. “Doc, I can get the hostages, you stop them from doing more harm” Zoom says.

Doc was confused “Zoom what are you-” Before Doc can speak, she interrupts him again “Doc…I…I was the one that got us stuck here in the first place, you knew something was wrong and I wanted us to stay so I can play a game in the arcade…I should be the one to do it.” She says seriously. “No Zoom, its not your fault for us staying here. If we didn’t, these people would be dead. Despite humans being overrated, arrogant, racist and-Look the point is…No one deserves to die like this.” He tells her as he has his hand on her shoulder “You have a good heart…Don’t let anyone change you or take advantage of your kindness either.” he tells her, she smiles at this and nods “Okay, so what do we do?” she asks him.

Doc thinks for a moment, he sees a fire alarm “Bingo. Alright, Zoom, I’m gonna distract the guy, you rush to the fire alarm” He tells her, she nods. Doc sneaks and once he’s close, he smashes the glass, alerting the robber, the guy fires at Doc as he dodges the bullets, Zoom sneaks by and hits the fire alarm, a blaring sound going off, the robber was surprised at the alarm, before he can do anything else, a claw was thrown between the eyes, killing them, Doc looks at the people “Alright stay here, help will arrive soon.” Doc tells them as he and Zoom rush to find Kruger.

Kruger and Sphinx hear the fire alarm going off, he growls and the two rush to the office, they kick the door down and see the panic room “Sphinx get this door open.” Kruger says as she gets to work. “Leave me alone! Take the money, just please leave me-” the manager screams and pleads for her life “Shut up! It’s not about the money, it’s about you selling my kind to be eaten and I know you have more in there with you!” he shouts

“Freeze!” Zoom shouts, aiming her shotgun at Kruger, Sphinx tries to pull her gun out but gets restrained by Doc instead, Kruger looks at this…And tosses his gun, he has his claws up. “Hey lady, its safe to come out now.” Doc calls out, the safe room door opens and came out the manager, she was a bit pudgy, with light tan skin and blue eyes “thank you so much you two, you saved my life, how can I ever repay you?” she asked “Well mind telling us why this guy is a lunatic and why the grudge?” Doc asked “Oh, that’s because of the whole incident the other day when he came into my store, demanding I release the crabs to him without paying, I refused of course.” she says.

“Wait, I thought selling aquatic animals were banned because of their kind being eaten?” Zoom asked as the manager scoffs “Please, why give up something that makes money? Those cops can kiss my ass.” she mocks, until she got pinned against the wall “Hey!? What gives?!” She asked shocked “You are basically selling people at this point. Course your ass is going to jail.” Doc says as he ties her up, Kruger looked surprise “Wha? But I don’t understand? Why arrest her?” he asked.

“Because its the right thing to do, while your methods are not exactly justifiable, you had every right to defend your people.” Zoom says, Kruger looks down…Almost in guilt, eventually the police arrived and took Sphinx, Kruger and the ex-manager into the trucks, a officer walked in front of the two. “You two saved a lot of people today, Good work.” the officer says, Doc nods and Zoom hands the officer the shotgun, but the officer refuses to take it. “Keep it, that’s yours now little lady, consider it…As a gift.” the officer says and walks off as a bomb squad arrived, Doc and Zoom walked out of the store “So…You uh…You gonna tell me that surprise now?” Doc asked Zoom, she looked at him and smiles “Well…Alright, since after today, you deserved it.” she hands him the gift, it was a circular lava lamp “I-I didn’t know what to get, and then I found this and-” she was interrupted when she gets hugged by Doc “Thank you Zoom…This…This is awesome.” he tells her as she smiles, she hugs back.

Once they arrived back at the apartment, Doc sets the lava lamp up and turns it on, he then puts a plant next to it, a Devil’s Backbone, he looks at the half side of his room, all a nice shade of lavender purple, he then gets into the hammock and sighs in relief, Zoom finishes up and also gets on her twin size bed and sighs in relief as well, ending their day with relaxation.

Chapter Text

Today was a beautiful day, the sun was rising, hitting a certain cheery girl in the face, she squinted her eyes a bit, she then gave a small smile. “Good morning Mr. Sun, ready to have a productive day?” Zoom says as she sits up straight, she then stretches a bit, she gets off the bed and puts on slippers, she walks out of the room and is greeted by the smell of breakfast, she smiles brightly. “Good morning Doc!” she says as she sits at the table, Doc puts down Zoom’s plate, which was belgium waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, on the side was hash browns and sausage “Thank you Doc!” she began to eat her breakfast.

“Well morning to you too, I see your chipper today, what’s the occasion?” Doc asks as he puts his plate down. “Oh! Nothing special, I’m just happy.” she says as she puts maple syrup on the waffles. “Ah, you know humans should try to do that more, instead of being miserable and shity every morning.” Doc says with a bit of annoyance. “Mmm, wht’s ith u an umans?” Zoom asks as she has food in her mouth before swallowing. “Humans and I had a…Bad history and nothing but a bunch of back stabbers, thieves and arrogant, thinking they are superior.” he says as he cuts his food faster and aggressively.

“Uh….Well what about me? I’m a human?” Zoom says. “That’s different, you actually didn’t give me crap, you're respectful, nice, and many more things that humans are incapable of.” Doc says, calming down a bit. “Well I don’t believe that, I believe that humans can do good and be good.” she says confidently. “Maybe, but its really rare to see.” he tells her, before more can be said, there was a knock on the door, Zoom gets up to see who it was, she opens it and it was a spider anthro, wearing a white tux with a red bow, its six eyes staring at her. “Uhhh…Can I help you?” she asks, “Uh…Sorry, is a guy named Doc here?” the spider asks as he looks at the piece of paper “I heard this was his place.” he says. “Uhhhh…Doc! Some spider guy’s here to see you!” Zoom calls, Doc looks over and sees the spider, he gets up. “Joe!” he walks over and hugs Joe as he returns the hug, all six arms.

“There ya are you crazy bastard, I see your back in the game?” Joe asked Doc, the beast shakes his head “You heard about the store robbery not that long ago eh?” Doc asked as Joe chuckles “You know me, I hear everything.” Joe says as he chuckles. “Alright Joe, what is it because I know you well enough that you didn’t come here for a house call.” Doc says as he leans against the door frame. “Well yes actually, I need help, you see its-” before Joe can finish “Oh nononono, I’m not getting mixed up in one of your problems.” Doc says as he closes the door but Joe put his foot between the door. “But you got mixed up in the store robbery!” Joe says. “Yeah, because it was getting robbed, and I couldn’t leave with assholes patrolling every corner of that store.” Doc tells him. “Please, please, please Doc! You know I’m really good for it, come on I got kids to feed.” Joe says. “You don’t have any kids!” Doc says. “You never know.” Joe tells him.

“Doc, a word with you real quick?” Zoom tells him as she drags him away for a moment. “We should do it.” she whispers to him. “What?! Look no way, I really, really REALLY don’t want to be apart of whatever scheme is going on here.” Doc whispers. “Well hey, at least hear him out, please? For me?” she does the puppy dog eyes, Doc looks at her and sighs, he and Zoom walk over back to Joe and opens the door, Joe began to look at the vases, he turns to them. “Okay…What is this job all about?” he asked him. “My shipments, those assholes keep taking the things I ordered, now they demand I pay them money! Can you believe that?!” he says angrily, Doc rolls his eyes “Joe, have you considered that the dock workers are holding it because they realized you been skimming them?” he asks Joe. “No no, that’s the thing, I did went down to the docks, however they told me that someone already picked up what I ordered, I didn’t send anyone to get the cargo.” he tells him. “Why didn’t you go to the police?” Zoom asked as Joe looked shocked, even offended. “Those pigs? Please, what are they gonna do? Sit around and eat donuts? …Plus I might’ve accidentally totaled one of their squad cars…” Joe says nervously.

“Jesus Christ Joe…” he rubs his temple, he brings his face down before sighing “Fine…I’ll help.” Doc says as Joe gasps excitedly. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” Joe says as he shakes Doc’s hand. “I expect my end of the bargain.” Doc tells him as Joe nods. “Thank you again, you won’t regret it!” he says. “So do you have any leads?” Zoom asks, Joe looks at her… “Uhhh…Only one.” he says. “Find a Orc named Rak’Uta. He’s supposed to be the tough guy around the neighborhood. Good luck!” Joe tells them as he leaves, Doc sighs and stretches his back. “Bring your shotgun.” Doc tells Zoom, she looked confused. “What do you mean bring Betsy?” she asked. “Because for one that-Wait did you name your shotgun Betsy?” he asked her surprised, she grabs the shotgun and some rounds. “Yeah, its important to name your gun.” she says. “Riiiight…Look, just bring it in case things go down. No matter what job Joe gives, something is bound to be dangerous.” he tells her.

The two get into the car and began to drive around to find the Orc called Rak’Uta, however so far they haven’t found the name, either the neighbors don’t know or they mostly got told to fuck off, which Doc responds a swift kick to the face for the rude neighbours, they decided to take a break and rethink their approach.

“Doc you shouldn’t have kicked the guy’s face in.” Zoom says as she eats her burrito. “Well sorry, he was asking for it, be lucky it was only a kick.” he tells her as he bites into his burrito. He goes to throw away his wrapper, however a hooded figure bumps into Doc. “Hey watch it pal.” a fenniman voice spoke as she kept walking. “How about watch where you're going.” he calls out to the woman, he scoffs, mumbling under his breath, he pats his pockets, however he felt the pockets empty, he looks through and it was gone, he looks at the hooded figure. “Hey! Give me back my wallet!” he began to gave chase as Zoom follows, the hooded figure books it as they are in chase, the woman takes an alleyway and climbs on the fence, she manages to make it over, she looks back and sees them, she chuckles, thinking she’s free, however, her jaw drops as Doc runs against the walls.

The hooded figure runs again, shoving through a crowd, trying to get away from Doc and Zoom, she sees an opening to the subway, she slides on the handrails of the stairs, she sees a train and doors open, she books it to one of them. Doc jumps over one of the gates, but Zoom gets stuck “Doc help!” Zoom says, Doc sees her stuck, he looks at the thief and back at Zoom, he groans and rushes over to get her unstuck, he succedes and sees the trains doors closing, Zoom takes her shoe off and throws it, managing to stop the door from closing. The train’s doors open and the two managed to get inside, with Zoom putting her shoe back on, they see the pickpocket trying to run again, however she trips due to the amount of people, Doc and Zoom dog pile the pickpocket and restrain her. “Let go of me!” The woman shouts, Doc searches through her pockets and found his wallet, “fucking pickpockets.” he picks her up “Who are you?” Zoom asked as she removes the hoodie.

Both were shocked to see the hair, it was purple blue like, almost like a galaxy color, she had blue eyes, almost look like Zoom and the mystery woman are long lost twins or something. “Woah…” the two said, only managing to muster the word, because of the curiosity…However that all ended when both Zoom and Doc get grabbed from behind and lifted up.

“Hey! Let go of us!” she struggles to break out, she hits the arm but felt a hard surface. “Ow!” she screams out as she held her hand, Doc tries to claw them but instead his claws break off, his eyes widen “What the?!” he looks and sees a sight before him. A rock giant, thought to be extinct and yet, one lives and breaths. “Boulder got bad people. Bad people get squished.” he began to squeeze on their heads, the two squirm, trying to break free. “Boulder stop! These are good people…One’s that can help us, right you two?” she asks, looking at them with a smirk.

Doc growls and is glaring at her, Zoom glares at her too, but then sighs, knowing if they try anything, he’ll crush them. “Yeah…” Just then, relief washed over them, they rub their heads a bit. “Boulder sorry for hurting friends.” he says, he then gives them a bear crushing hug, they get a good look at him and see he is wearing a red hoodie, his body looking like rocks placed together, his eyes a light emerald green, literal emeralds. “I heard you been looking for Rak’Uta, and I know where he is.” the galaxy haired woman says.

“And how do you know him miss…Who are you?” Zoom asks, the woman chuckles, “Galaxy. And you know my partner in crime, Boulder.” she says, as Boulder smiles widely. “Gal Gal and Boulder best friends!” he says loudly. “Uh…Is he-” before Doc can finish, Galaxy glares at him “Don’t. Finish. That. Sentence. He’s a bit slow but he’s got heart and muscle…Only good thing around here.” she grumbles, then takes a deep breath. “Come on, let’s head back to my hideout, talk more there.” she says as she is ahead, she looks behind them “Well come on then, I ain’t telling you twice.” she tells them, Zoom and Doc reluctantly followed her

They take a few shortcuts from the alleyway, they get to a dead end, Doc and Zoom confused, Galaxy snaps her fingers and Boulder lifts her up, she reaches for the ladder and gets it down, she climbs up as Doc and Zoom follow.

“What about your friend down below? How’s he going to-” Before Doc can finish his sentence.
Boulder jumps high and grabs on the side wall and began to climb. Zoom and Doc were shocked as Galaxy smirks, “That’s how.” she says as she reaches to the top, “Home sweet home.” She says. Doc and Zoom reach up, and saw the place. On the roof was a little shack like place, with some wood and metal scraps, on it were some christmas lights hanging over, there were two mattresses, finally a worn out drawer, the two look at each other of this, Galaxy turns “Well, make yourselves at home.” she says as she opens the drawer, taking out a magazine and opening it. “Rak’Uta, how are you connected to him?” Zoom asks her, Galaxy only chuckles. “Questions already? Gee, no wonder why you didn’t come here in this part of the town.” she says as she flips a page “Galaxy, how do you know him?” Doc asks, she groans and drops the magazine “Well since you want to know oh so badly…Rak’Uta is Boulder and my boss. We’re his two lackeys.” she says as she gets up and stretches, she goes behind the shack and changes clothes. “Wait, you work for him?” Doc asked in disbelief.

“Uh, duh, yes we work for him, and I fucking hate it. Dude’s always breathing down my neck, has a fragile ego and is a complete douchebag.” she comes out behind, now wearing a navy blue shirt, cargo shorts and boots, “But he pays well, so can’t complain about that.” she says as she huffs “But its annoying to deal with him daily, and lately, he’s looking to dock someone’s pay, and he’s been eyeing on me and the big guy…” she says bitterly “Why not just leave?” Zoom asks her, in response, she was met with mocking laughing “Leaving?! Gee, why didn’t we think about that, oh wait, we did.” Galaxy says seriously, she motions for Boulder to come here, he walks over, his heavy footsteps shaking the apartment. “Boulder, show them what happens.” she tells him, he looks down nervously, he raised his sleeve up a bit and showed the two a crack on the arm. “Oh my god…” Zoom was shocked beyond her core as Doc looked at him, remorseful. “This is what happens when someone tries to leave…Boulder was lucky.” she says somberly.

“I’m…I’m so sorry.” Zoom says as Galaxy scoffs “Its whatever…What’s done is done..” she says coldly toward Zoom, she sighs “So now…Here we are, busting our a-I mean…Butts, to work for some selfish, greedy, narcissistic, son of a-!” She stops herself and takes deep breaths. “Sorry, its just…Its awful at the moment…But maybe…We can help each other out?” she says, looking at them. “And why should we exactly trust you?” Doc asks her crossing his arms “You stole my wallet and have your big guy almost crush our heads.” he reminds her, “Hey its in the past, look, we’ll help you find him and you can do…Whatever it is you want, in exchange, you help us. I’m liking this already.” she tells them. “Boulder be happy if friends help me and Gal Gal.” Boulder says, giving them puppy eyes, Doc sighs “Fine, we’ll help.” he says. “So what is it we need to do?” he asks her.

“Good thing you ask, see tonight is Rak’Uta’s poker game, and I know where he goes to play it.” She says “And I’m going to get you two into the game, as soon we take care of his right hand man first.” This made Doc and Zoom raise their eyebrows “Right hand man?” Both said at the same time.

*Meanwhile…*

“Alright, your debts are settled. Now get out of here.” an octopus says as a human couple run out of the building, the octopus was sporting a fancy black suit, he gets up and heads out, suddenly he hears knocking, he goes over and sighs “What is it now Galaxy? You and your big friend’s paycheck’s don’t come in next week.” he says monotone. “I know, I know Troy, but this time, its something important, it's about the poker game.” she says. “Ah shit, thanks for reminding me, I forgot about it.” Troy says as his tentacles reach over his cards and grabs them while his other tentacle grabs his coat “Well, I found two people who were boosting that they can take on the boss.” she says, Troy looks at her…Then laughs loudly “Really, two random ass people can take on Rak’Uta! Please, if anything, it's an insult, but fine, I’ll humor you, bring these two sorry saps in. So I can laugh at them.” he says all smugly, Galaxy chuckles and steps aside.

Doc and Zoom enter the room, Troys eyes widen when he sees Doc, he grabbed his SMG and aimed at him “Are you out of your fucking mind Galaxy?! You brought him here?!” Troy said panickedly as the three raised their arms, the girls panicked and shocked while Doc remained calm. “What the hell did you do?!” Galaxy demanded “I might’ve done some things…” He tells her. “What things that this guy is terrified of you?!” Zoom asked, looking at him. “Shut up! Everyone shut up! I won’t get killed today! I’ll air out this fucking room if no one tells me what is going on!” He threatened, Galaxy quickly grabs the tentacle and tries to wrestle the SMG out of Troy’s tentacles, Doc quickly throws his talon at Troy’s head, killing him, the SMG firing off but not hitting anyone, Galaxy looks at him. “What the fuck!!! We needed him!” she shouts at him, Doc looking offended “What?! I just saved our lives! Your welcome!” he shouts back, Galaxy kicks the chair down “Damn it! We needed him to get us in!” she said as she sighs, taking a deep breath. “Okay…Keep a clear head Gal…You can do this…Okay, I guess we do this the old fashion way…Shall we get going? Grab Troy’s keys.” Galaxy tell the two

*At the poker site…*

“We’re the first ones here…Good, this pans out very well. We still got time before they get here.” Galaxy gets out of the car, which was a BMW 7, Boulders head was sticking out most of the time, who enjoyed the fresh air, Doc and Zoom get out and follow her. “So, how did you meet this guy?” Doc asks her. “Well me and Boulder were looking for work, however no one wanted to hire a delinquent or a rock monster, so one night, we were hungry, stole a wallet, which was loaded by the way, and we went to spend food, however that said wallet was Troy’s. Then his fucking goons jumped on us and there, we met Rak’Uta, Troy was pissed, but Rak’Uta, he was impressed that we managed to steal Troy’s wallet, so he decided to ‘recruit’ us.” she says with air quotes when she said recruit. Doc and Zoom looked at each other, and looked back at Galaxy and Boulder.

The four looked around the place and saw it was empty, they looked for a bit and found a safe. “Hey I found this.” Zoom says. “Oooooh, jackpot, big guy, think you can get it open?” Galaxy asks, Boulder comes forward, he taps his finger “But stealing is bad…” the gentle giant says as he continues to tap his rocky fingers. “This could set us for life buddy.” Galaxy says, trying to coax him. “Well if he doesn’t want to steal, then don’t make him do it.” Zoom tells her. “Well it's either this or the cold, your pick woman.” Galaxy fires back. “Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and be like this Rak’Uta.” Zoom fires back, walking towards her. “Well maybe if you lived in my shoes, then you know what it would be like to grow up, miss suburban girl who cry to mommy and daddy, complaining about not having enough money to get fancy clothes.” Galaxy says as she starts to walk forward.

Both of them are now close to each other face to face. “Well at least I ain’t a thief who tries to steal people's money when you could find other ways to work, a legit job.” Zoom says. “Well maybe if you don’t see fucking rainbows and sunshine, you would see how cruel the world can be.” Galaxy fires back, before it goes further, Doc separates the two. “Enough! For fuck sakes, stop it both of you! Both make good points, your pretty, can we get on with this fucking mission and we can get out of here, leave the safe alone, otherwise they’ll know something is wrong.” he says, both girls glare at each other before sighing and continue to look.

Just then, Doc looked at the crates and saw the shipping contents, it was a bunch of bar stuff. “Bingo. Zoom,I found Joe’s delivery.” Doc calls to her, the three gather around. “Alright, we got it, now let’s get out of here with it.” Zoom says. “What?! So you won’t take the gangs money but you’ll take the fucking crates! Bunch of bullshit!” Galaxy says with anger in her voice. “Well this is what we came here for, I’m not going to war with a gang!” Doc tells her, just then, they hear guns cocking, they turn and see some thugs carrying tommy guns, just then, a green orc enters, he has a beard, some shutter shades and a gold chain that says ‘Rak’Uta’ on it. “Oh my god…You look-” Before Doc can finish, the orc interrupted him. “Names Rak’Uta bruh, you think you can get my two home slices to betray me, like bruh, not cool homie.” Rak’Uta says. “Oh god, the outfit works, your no gangster, your a douchebag.” Doc says as the orc looks offended. “Really bruh, show me some respect.” he calls out. “Well he’s got a point, you look AND sound like a douchebag. Christ what is up with that, you're seriously working for this guy?” Zoom asked Galaxy. “Yeah…It's damn right embarrassing.” Galaxy says.

“You think you can steal AND insult me bruh? Like who the hell do you think you are bruh?” Rak’Uta says as he motions them to open fire. The thugs began to fire as Boulder shields them, the bullets bouncing off. “Boulder! Are you okay?!” Galaxy asked him. Boulder giggles like a kid. “It tickles!” he keeps giggling. “I’m not dying to a punk ass wanna be gangster!” Doc says as Zoom pumps her shotgun and fires at the thugs. “There has to be a way out!” Zoom says. “Well we either fight or die, your pick!” Galaxy says, Doc has an idea. “Hey buddy!” Boulder looks at him. “We’re gonna play a game, its called ‘Whack-a-Thug, and you have to get ALL the thugs here by punching them.” Doc tells the rock monster. “But…Won’t they be hurt?” Boulder asked. Galaxy catches on.
“No buddy, in fact, they have been wanting to play with you, and wanted to surprise you for a while now!” Galaxy says, Boulder jumps happily, shaking the ground a bit, he turns around and yelled “PLAY!!!!” He then runs toward as the thugs see this happening and run for their lives. “No no! Wait, Boulder stop!” Rak’Uta begs but he gets run over by him, the other thugs get up but are quickly dealt with as Doc and Zoom slashed and shot them, as Galaxy took one of their guns and fired at them. Rak’Uta gets up and growls, he rushes over and opens a crate, pulling out a grenade launcher, he fires it heading towards Zoom, Galaxy sees this and shoves her out of the way, it goes off, hitting the ground as she goes flying back, Boulder hears this and sees Galaxy hurt badly, he gasps and heads over to her, he gets on his knees and was ready to cry, Galaxy looks at him and only smiled “Hey buddy…Listen…I’m going to…Take a quick nap…Okay?” she tells him. “But Gal Gal hurt!” Boulder cries out as tears fall, she weakly wipes them off as she closes her eyes. Boulder cries silently, as Zoom and Doc hold off on Rak’Uta, Boulder growls as his emerald eyes turn to a shade of ruby, he roars as he grows, making him bulkier and more taller, he turns around and sees Rak’Uta, the one to hurt Galaxy.

“You hurt Gal Gal! Boulder going to hurt you back!” he yells and begins to charge at him, the orc, seeing the rock monster he thought he knew, ran for his life as he tries but in the end, he gets knocked down and his arm, broken beyond fixing, he began to back up. “Bad man hurt Gal Gal and Boulder for too long, Boulder going to pop your head.” he says as he approaches him. “Please Boulder, I’m sorry okay! W-We’re friends, right buddy? Right?” he says nervously, losing his confidence. “Forget it Boulder, he’s nothing, just a pathetic excuse of flesh…Gal Gal wouldn’t want you to kill anyone.” Zoom says, he growls and backs his arm up, he began to hurl his fist as Rak’Uta braces the impact…Only for Boulder to hit the wall beside him, creating a dent, he bends down to the orcs height. “Boulder and Gal Gal quit.” he tells him, he goes to the safe and rips the safes hinges off, putting the money in the bag and getting the crates “That’s my fucking money you fucking retar-AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” he screams in pain as he holds his leg, getting shot off as Zoom pumps the shotgun. “Come on…Let’s go.” Zoom says as Doc carries Galaxy. “You haven’t heard the last of me! I’ll get you for this!” Rak’Uta shouts, the four being out of ear shot. He held his stump and grabbed the leg, he crawls over to the grenade launcher but is met with a sight he does not want to see.

There was another orc, however his skin was all black, like charcoal, his eyes orange, having four arms on him, the upper arms were mechanical and wears a skull mask as he wears a silver helmet, he was also taller and more bulkier as he had muscles for days, he growls as Rak’Uta gets up, shaking. “O-Oga! Good to s-see you…Wh-What are you doing here?” he asked Oga as the giant orc looked down, it was hard to tell but his face seem unimpressed. “I’m here about the shipments Rak’Uta…And all I see is empty promises.” he says, his voice deep and intimidating.

“Please Oga! Have mercy!” the green skin orc begged, Oga sighs heavily, he takes his ax out. “I liked you, really I did…But you're no longer useful.” he raised his ax high and brought it down. “AHHHHHH-!”

SLASH!!!

*Meanwhile…*

Galaxy wakes up with a cold sweat, she pants as she takes deep breaths, she looks around, she appeared to be in some kind of tavern, in a room, she looks and sees she’s been bandaged up, she slowly gets up and saw a fresh pair of clothes, she puts them on and sees Boulder beside her, sleeping, she sighs in relief and kisses his head, she hears the door opening and saw Doc and Zoom, along with a spider companion. “So, this is the girl that helped you get my stuff back?” the spider asked. “Yes Joe, she’s the one, be grateful she did too.” Doc tells her, Joe clears his throat, “I heard you and your buddy are looking for work, well I promise ya, it’ll be different then what your used to, if anything it be a nice change of scenery, if you do work for me, I’ll pay you and give you a place to stay, as long as you pull your weight, what do you say?” Joe asks her, Galaxy groggily rubs her eyes “Really…You're willing to hire me and Boulder?” she asked him. “Well, your pals told me the living situation, and since you risked your life to get my cargo back, it’s the least I can do for you.” Joe tells her. “What do you say, wanna give it a shot?” Zoom asked her, Galaxy thought for a moment…Before chuckling and smiling, she turns towards them “You know what…I just might.” she says. “Good! Then you can start tomorrow, I see it now kid, Joe’s bar will be back on the food chain!” he laughs as he leaves the room. “Hey what about my payment!” Doc chases after him, before Zoom left…

“Hey Zoom…I’m sorry, for what I said…You are one of the good ones, I know I ain’t easy, but I want to say…Thank you.” she says as Zoom simply smiles “Hey, its what’s friends are for.” she tells her as she leaves the room, Galaxy looks at Boulder, she smiles and rubs his head. “Heh…Friends…Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let…Some people in.” Galaxy thought as she drifts back to sleep…

Chapter Text

"I’m sorry, what is it about who’s family?" Joe asks as he passes the drinks to the customers "I wanna know about Doc's family, you know him longer than anyone, so I thought you could help me" Zoom says. "what interested you in the first place?" Joe asks "well, it started off like this" Zoom says as she is ready to tell the story.

*earlier...*

Zoom went to the mailbox and takes the mail inside, she goes through and its mostly bills, she then comes to Docs letter which is surprising, she was debating to open the letter or not, she looks further and sees the writing of 'mom and dad' before she can make a decision however, Doc quickly takes it "ahthankyougottagobyeloveyou!" Doc quickly says as he rushes upstairs. Zoom began to ponder about what Doc's family must be like.

"and then I came to you, hoping you could help" Zoom says, Joe then sighs "it's not my place to say but give him time and when he's ready, he'll tell you" Joe says, before Zoom could give a response, a woman, she has fiery hair, which by extent, looks like it's on fire, turquoise eyes, she wears overalls with a white frail shirt, but what really caught Zoom’s eyes was her horns, Joe then went behind the counter, "hello miss, is there anything I can get you for today" Joe says as she looks at her nails "you can actually, i'm looking for someone" the woman says "ma'am I could try my best to help" Joe tells her, standing guard.

"I'm looking for this man" the woman says as she pulls a picture out of and this surprised Zoom and Joe, it was Doc but he looked so different, his horns were larger and longer and his mouth has sharp teeth and his eyes filled with red "I-I'm sorry but I never seen him before'' Joe says as he adjusts his bow tie, the woman looks unimpressed "Joe, I know your lying to me" the woman then grabs the spider by the neck and began to choke him "hey you can't do that to hi-" before Zoom could finish, she was interrupt by the woman's warm, but twisted laugh "little girl,it's between family at the moment, but i'm in a good mood today so best stay out of it and enjoy yourself.” she tells her, warning her.

"Look Jessica, I don't know where he is, I swear, he comes to the bar, the rest I don't know where he is!" Joe says as Jessica chokes Joe harder "Joe Joe Joe, i'm in a hurry, tell me where he is now or else i'll-" before she could finish, she gets hit by a chair, which she didn't budge, she turns around and sees Zoom with the broken chair, she nervously laughs as Jessica tosses Joe aside and slowly began to approach her, Zoom booked it as Jessica’s body began to change, she grows taller, her body on fire, she looked skinny as talons appeared, her mouth unhinging and letting out the most ferocious roar anyone has heard. “Run Zoom! Run for the hills!!!” Joe shouts to her.

*Meanwhile with Galaxy and Boulder...*

the two are in a park as Boulder plays in the sandbox as Galaxy is sitting at a bench and reading a book, "this book is garbage, yet i'm still reading" Galaxy says as she flips a page, she looks up and sees the other kids amazed by Boulders sand castle, which maybe the kids could even fit in there, she smiles and goes back to reading her book, beside her she hears panting, she turns around to see Zoom, she is just panting like a dog that hasn't been having water "hey Zoom, whats wrong with you, looks like your being chased" she says jokingly "you have *pant* no idea *pant* might've *pant* lost her" Zoom says as she almost got hit by one of Jessica’s talons as she grew it back "ah! no I haven't!" Zoom yells as she, Galaxy and Boulder run away from her.

"what did you do!" Galaxy yells as she dodges a talon, "well she was looking for Doc, for what I don't know!" Zoom yells back as she then bumps into Doc, along with Galaxy and then Boulder which the four then fallen over "Ow..Okay I may be unkillable, doesn't mean I can't feel pain" Doc says as Boulder gets off of the three and the rest got up "Okay two things. One, it is nice to meet you two again.” he says calmly "Hey Doc, how’s it been, haven’t taken any wallets today" Galaxy says with a chuckle "Now secondly, What the heck is going on!?" Doc says and all of a sudden, they hear a inhumane scream, they turned to see Jessica as Doc suddenly transforms into a creature looked like the size of a wolf, his long and razor sharp tail, his body all black, and stands with his hind legs, a mouth appearing and the eyes, hinted with black and green slits.

Jessica and Doc began to fight like a bunch of wild animals and just trying to tear each other apart, Jessica slashes his stomach but misses, Doc bites her neck as their horns are piercing their skin, Jessica breaks free from Docs bite and returns the favor, Doc screams and suplexes her, causing the two to face each other off "at least you haven't gone soft brother" Jessica says as she dryly chuckles at him "wait wait, hold up, brother, your telling me that psycho of a woman is your sister!" Zoom says "WAS my sister, til she walked out on me" Doc says not letting his guard down "Your mad at me for that still?!" Jessica yells "you really want to start this, i'll finish this just like back in high school!" Doc threatens as Jessica roars as Doc does in return, the two charge and all of a sudden, they were stopped by Boulder as he is in his power form, he grabs their horns and pulls them in a bear hug, they struggled for a bit but they then give up and just let it happen "okay can someone please tell me what's going on?" Zoom asks and Doc sighs, returning to normal "okay...remember the letter this morning, that was to me...they are asking me to come home."

Zoom blinks, she was confused. "Doc...What do they mean by coming home?" Zoom asked her, just then, Jessica turns back to herself, flinging her hair to the side. "Like I said, its a family matter, though perhaps you do deserve to know...." she says as she sits on the bench, her beauty striking the hearts around the people "See, me and your boyfriend-" Jessica gets interrupted by Doc and Zoom, blushing hard, "We are not a couple!" both say at the same time, Jessica chuckles a bit seeing the display. "As I was saying, we come from a powerful family, one of which is very well known as, the Camaka family." Jessica says, Galaxy looks at her "Wait, THE Camaka family, like the ones who makes those lightbulbs?" she asks, Jessica nods.

"And weapons. But I don't understand...Why do they want me to come home?" he asked her, she sighs "Its Fifi...She's sick. Dying, she wanted to say goodbye to her big brother." Jessica says, Doc's eyes widen a bit, the others look confused. "When..." Doc simply asks. "We don't know...But Fifi misses you and scared...She needs you Doc." she tells her, Doc looked conflicted, Zoom managed to study his facial movement, she can tell he's conflicted and nervous, he takes a deep breath and looked at her. "Okay...But I only want to see her, nothing more." he tells Jessica, which she nodded. "Come on little bro, time to come home." She began to speak in a language no one, except Doc, could understand, the portal then opens, Doc was about to enter but felt his shoulder touched, he turned and saw Zoom. "I'm coming with." she told him. "Zoom no, its too risky, even for you, this is something I have to face." he tells her. "Well screw that, if your sister is going to die, then your not doing this alone." Galaxy tells him, he sighs and put his hand on his face, dragging it down, he then looks at them. "Fine, but your going to stick by me and blend in, nothing more or less, understand?" he asks them, the three nod. "What about Boulder?" he asked Doc. "You should be fine, its mostly humans they'll try to hunt." he tells them. "Bro, come on, let's go, Fifi's waiting." Jessica tells him. The five entered and when they came out, Boulder, Zoom and Galaxy were amazed by the place, it was hell, but it looked very beautiful, the lights flashing as vampires, dragons and fallen angles were flying around, they then felt powerful shakes as a big Cthulhu walks by, they see a family of wendigos walking by as a imp tried to mess with one, in return one of the wendigos eats the imp.

"Doc this place is great, except for the imp being eaten" Zoom says as Galaxy and Boulder nodded in agreement, the five then began to head to Doc and Jessica's place, "Hey no offense but...I thought hell was supposed to be for when bad people die?" Zoom says, "It was at one point, but the big man upstairs decided that everyone should get a fair trial to prove they are innocent, for once the two powerful beings agreed on something, so things have changed a bit" he says as they passed by a coffee shop, for some reason when the workers saw Doc and Jessica they began to close and hide, "what was that for?" Galaxy asks.

"Well our family has a...powerful reputation" Jessica says as the other hell residents cower a bit and either ran and hide or tried to go about their daily business but are too nervous. "How powerful we talking about?" Zoom asks. "Well to the point Wrath and Pride rings residents wouldn't dare cross us, Envy's residents are a bitch though...God I hate Envy." he says as he rubs his head. "What are you guys, a crime family?" Galaxy asks jokingly. "In short. Yes." Jessica says as Galaxy, Boulder and Zoom are shocked. "While my family sells weird shape and colorful lightbulbs, they also sell weapons too, from medieval to the modern ages." Doc tells them. "Wait, medieval? How old are you guys?" Galaxy asked them. "Well I was born during the medieval times, Tyrone, our second eldest brother, was born during the black plague, Doc was born around...When kingdoms started to fall and castles being overrated and Fifi was born around during the Vietnam war and the age of great depression." Jessica explains. "Jesus christ! How old are you Doc?!" Galaxy asked. "Too old." Doc simply tells them. "Which ring Boulder and friends at?" Boulder asks. "Your in the pride ring big guy." Jessica tells him. "I haven't seen a rock person in ages. Guess there are still some out there." Jessica says. After a little bit of sight seeing, they arrived at a Manor, where there, the guards let Doc, Jessica and the guests in.

They enter the manor and saw the family pictures, they traveled down the halls and saw the pictures of Doc and his family, the thing is, they were all taller then Doc, especially his father, who looked to be like a giant, roughly around 7 feet tall, and the features too, he has six red eyes and the middle of his face was black, with some red and the rest of the body was white, seeing a skin pattern, they saw another one, a lightly tanned man with a black dress shirt, who wears a black tie, his hair slicked back along with his horns and his eyes red and his smile was smug. Then the mother, who was completely different, which she was a fire elemental, and judging by the picture, she is very cheerful, and in her arms was a baby, which had pink skin, they travel down the hall further and saw more pictures, which showed family activities, however there was a clawed out picture, which was Doc.

Just then, in the living room, they see a little girl, she has two little horns, has two normal purple eyes and has a prosthetic arm, the little girl looks up at Jessica and when she turns to Doc, her eyes widen with joy "big brother!" she says as she then jumps on him and holds him "hey Fifi, did ya miss me" he says as he hugs her back and lifts her up.

"So much! Where have you been, how dare you make your little sister worried sick, shame on you!" she says as she pouts adorably, Doc chuckles, "Well sorry about that, I got caught up with some stuff, but I'm here now and I made some new friends too." he tells her, Fifi tilt her head and saw the newcomers, the little demon girl gasps as her tail wags, she gets off and goes to them, looking at them, "What do you want with my big brother?" she asks, crossing her arms. "Aaaaawwwww, your so cute!" Zoom says as her eyes are stary eyed. Before anyone could say anything, the doors opened again "Sweetie, who's that downstairs, is it your fa-" a woman says and before she can finish she sees everyone, the woman is a fire elemental and just like Doc, she is also mouthless, her eyes are white and very much put a flashlight to shame. The woman then hugs Doc tightly as Doc was shocked but hugs her back none the less

"I missed you so much....i'm so sorry" she says as she began to cry her eyes out and hugs him tightly, "I missed you too mama..." he says to her. "Look how much you grown...My sweet baby boy..." She tears up some fire streaks. "Aw mom don't cry." he hugs as she began to wail and hold him tightly. After a few minutes, she calms down finally and notices the guests. "Oh my! Dearie you didn't tell me you were bringing guests, hello, my name is Holly, Doc's mother." she says. "Sup, names Galaxy." she says as he does a peace sign. "I am Boulder!" he says. "And I'm Zoom, Doc's roommate." she tells her. "Ohhhh, roommates, well Doc, you didn't tell me you were bringing your girlfriend over here." Holly says as Doc and Zoom blush, "We are not dating!" the two say as Holly chuckles.

Just then, the door opens. "Honey, I'm back." a voice says, Doc quickly hides Zoom and Galaxy, as soon he did, two men enter the room, they were from the pictures. "Well well, if it isn't the little runt, so nice to see you again." said the younger man. "Tyrone...Thought I smelled shit in here." Doc says harshly. "Playa your just jealous I'm better looking." Tyrone says as he slicks his hair back. "Well at least I don't use hair gel to slick my hair back like some douchebag." he tells him. "Both of you...Enough." The older creature spoke. "Doc...You heard of the news." he asks. "Yeah, I did, Kobono." Doc calls him by his first name. "Honey, ple-" Holly gets silenced by Kobono. "Its fine, let him speak, at the end of the day, I'm still his father, no matter how much he denies it." Kobono says coldly as Doc growls. "Look, I came here for Fifi only, not you." Doc tells him. "Hmmm...Well then you will be surprised that this isn't about Fifi, in fact, she is fine." he tells him, Jessica and Holly looked shocked. "What?! But your message said-" Jessica began to speak but is quickly silenced, "I know what I said. And I thank you for delivering the message." he tells her. "You got to be-Kobono I'm not taking over the fucking company!" Doc tells him, Kobono only stares at him, "Well I already found a replacement for it, which is Tyrone, your here for a different reason Dokah." He calls him by Doc's first full name. "In fact...Tell your human friends to come out here as well, no need to hide them, since I can smell them." he says as the closet door opens and both girls fall. "I want to tell you the news myself, Dokha...Instead of taking over the company..." he then hears the doors open again, the group sees three familes, one is a werewolf who has dark brown fur with silver lines, next to him is a girl that is almost the same, but has almond furt and a silver tip on her tail, one is a blue slime and next to him is a girl slime with purple mixed, and finally, A demon who bares a gray suit and his skin, dark purple, next to him is his daughter, but is wearing robes instead and has an uneasy smile.

"Dokha Osopo Camaka, to this day forward, you will be married to all three of these gentlemen's daughters." Kobono says, everyone, except Tyrone who has a scowl, was shocked by the news and can't believe what they are hearing. "WHAT?!"

*To be continued....*

Chapter Text

When we last left off, Doc’s sister, Jessica, Doc’s older sister, revealed that Fifi, Doc’s younger sister. Was sick and didn’t know how much time there was left, he and the other three, Zoom, Boulder and Galaxy, went with him, there the three learn about a bit of the Camaka family, however, once they arrive, they see Fifi is healthy and very active, there they were introduced to the family, revealing that Kobono lied about Fifi’s sickness and instead, a lure to an arranged marriage, let’s see how our residential half beast and fire elemental are taking the news…*

Doc was laying on his back on his old bed, in his room was a bit messy in a way, walls clawed, pieces of wall paper peeling off, on the side was a lava lamp but circle and the color red, his bed was a queen size, his sheets were black, his pillow cases orange and his blankets, gray, in front of him was a flat screen with a gaming station and on the bottom row of the shelf was video games and on top row was books, however he couldn’t be bothered, he was still laying there motionless and shocked, been like that for the past few hours, to the point he hasn’t realized his three friends were in the room with him, chilling out, Zoom sits beside him, to make sure he’s alright and worried for him, while Galaxy reads a book with Boulder, which she helps him read along.

“I can’t believe this ... .I can’t believe he did this to me…” Doc says as he slowly sits up. “Well I ain’t letting some hookers marry my best friend like that.” Zoom says with some force when she said hookers. “Ahhhhh, is someone jealous?” Galaxy asks, looking up, smirking, Zoom blushes a bit. “No! I just think he can do better than those hussies.” she says, crossing her arms and pouting a bit, “Boulder thinks Zoomie loves Horned Man” Boulder says with a chipper. “Look either way, there’s no way we’re gonna let him get married to some….Some….Strangers!” Zoom says, Doc sighing. “Zoom, as much as I don’t want to, I don’t get a choice, and if I try to leave, my dad will hire someone to drag me back and kill you.” he tells her. “Well we’ll figure something out, don’t give up yet.” Zoom tells him, putting her hand on his shoulder, giving a small smile.

Just then, the door knocks, Doc gets up to check and opens it, seeing Jessica and Holly, Doc only gives a frown. “What do you want? You fucked up my life enough as it is.” he tells the two, looking at Jessica specifically. “Dokah I swear I didn’t know dad would pull something like this, I’m so sorry!” Jessica says, regretting for bringing her brother down here. “And you didn’t think to check her out herself to see if she’s actually sick?!” Doc asks her, baffled on how she didn’t think to come here herself. “Dokah, please, your sister didn’t know.” Holly says, trying to de-escalate the situation. “Didn’t know…Didn’t know?! She basically brought me here to be handed off to some women I don’t even know!” Doc shouts, now livid. “Don’t you raise that tone with me young man! I understand your upset but don’t raise your voice at your own mother!” Holly tells him, replacing from a loving mother to a woman with authority. She sighs as she rubs her temple. “I don’t want Fifi to get frightened…I will figure something out, just please, bear with it for a bit.” Holly tells him as Doc sighs, but nods. 

Holly leaves, leaving Jessica alone with the group. “You are lucky, so lucky I love mom right now.” Doc tells Jessica as she looks down, “I know….I know it wasn’t easy but-” before she can continue to speak, Doc cuts her off. “But nothing…Drop it, I’m too busy to get out of this mess.” Doc tells her. “Could Horn Man say no?” Boulder asks Doc, “I can’t, and he won’t listen to me either way.” Doc tells him. “I mean it can’t be all that bad, right?” Galaxy asks. “I mean your gonna marry three women AND live in luxury? Sounds like a win.” Galaxy as she got smacked upside by Zoom. “Well I wanna marry who I want to marry, not by my old man, plus I don’t know these women. Plus there’s the trials too.” Doc tells her, this perked up Zooms head, “Trials, what do you mean trials?” she asks.

*outside…*

“Ohhhhh….These trials…” Zoom says as she watches with worry, Galaxy leaning forward, Boulder…Being Boulder and Fifi covering her eyes, but taking a peek once in awhile. Holly being worried for her boy, Tyrone recording this and Kobono and the rest of the fathers, indifferent to what is happening.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Doc screams, a first to hear, as he is being chased by a pack of fire wolves, trying to get a piece of him, the wolf man, sighs, clearly not impressed, the slime father looks at Kobono. “Why did you exactly let Victor pick his trial first, aren’t you worried for your son?” he asked as Kobono chuckles. “My son’s tough as nails, fastest there is too, faster than those wolves.” Kobono tells as he looks on forward “You got this son! Make me proud along with the Camaka name!” he tells Doc, as Tyrone chuckles very arrogantly. “I can’t wait to see him fall flat on his face.” Tyrone is then met with a hard slap from the back of his head, he winces and turns to see his mother. “Tyrone, you be nice to your brother, or so help me young man-” Holly was about to threaten him but stopped, Kobono looking at her, Holly sighs and keeps on watching. 

“Sooo….Can someone tell me what these trials are meant to be?” Zoom asks. “Ah! I can explain that, see, when the two fiances are engaged, the parent chooses the trial, and it can be whatever, its more of to see if they are worthy of marrying their child.” the blue slime explains, Victor, the werewolf, scoffs. “Which to be honest, he isn’t impressing me. That boy is running scared, when he should fight like a warrior.” he says. Zoom was about to say something but Galaxy stops her. “Oh yeah? Then why not go down there and fight, instead of sending lap dogs.” she comments, Victor growls at this but decides to remain silent. The dark purple demon chuckles at this, smirking.

Doc keeps running as fast as his legs can carry, he sees the fire wolves closing the distance, the half beast and fire elemental curses under his breath, he needed to act fast, and it was fight or be mauled, he then groans and suddenly, his body began to change, there were spikes on his body now and he takes a big leep, the crowd wondering what he’s doing…..

And Doc rolls himself into a ball and began rolling as fast as possible, he makes a sharp left and blinding the wolves, he then makes a sharp right and landed in the mud, everyone, except Tyrone who is laughing at him and Kobono, who had a face of interest, wondering what his son is planning, the wolves find him and lunge at him, however Doc began to roll fast as mud goes flying and hits the fire wolves, extinguishing their flames, he does a little jump and unrolls himself, he gets up, the spikes returning into his body, he sees one fire wolf left, who is barely lit, Doc sighs and cracks his neck. “Look little mutt, its best you fuck off or things will get-OH SWEET JESUS!!!” He gets tackled by the wolf as he tries to maul his face off.

Tyrone was laughing hard as he records this, holding his side, til he gets smacked in the forehead, this time by Kobono “Shut the hell up boy.” Kobono threatens, this time, Tyrone complies, Zoom is now fully worried and panicking, Galaxy is leaned forward, and Boulder is biting on his rock nub fingers, Fifi is covering her mouth in fear, and Holly’s body is lighting up.

Doc holds the wolf off but knows he cannot continue to hold the wolf back, he moves his jaw a bit, just then a part of his skin where the mouth should be, began to tear apart, he let’s out an inhumane screech, he bites the wolfs leg hard, the wolf howls in pain, trying to get away from him, Doc kept his jaw tight on the wolfs leg, sinking his teeth in further into the leg, Doc yanks the wolf back and lifts it up, he he lets go and pins the wolf down to the ground, he let’s out a beastly growl and then, a mighty roar, he sinks his teeth into its neck, killing it, the wolf turns to ash, the beastly fire elemental pants as closes his mouth, his eyes a bit red, he shakes it off as his mouth began to close and returns to mouthless…

The silence was then interrupted by the sound of clapping, Doc and the rest turns to see Victor the one clapping, he has a small smile on him while his daughter had a look of interest. “Well done my boy, now THAT is some fight, at first, you bored me, but that, that display of brutality, the shock, especially those fangs, now that’s something!” Victor exclaims as he laughs heartily, Doc looks at Zoom, he looks at her face and it was one with shock and…Wonder.

Doc looks down shamefully, thinking she is afraid of him, once everyone came down, Doc felt a pair of arms wrapped around him, he was shocked and looked to see Zoom, hugging him, he hugs her back, patting her back, the two face each other. “Doc, are you okay?” Zoom asks, worried, Doc sighs in relief, “I’m okay…I’m okay.” he tells her, she gives a warm and bright smile, Doc got lost into the smile, he didn’t feel getting yanked and getting into a chokehold, and getting a noogie from Tyrone. “Well little bro, seems like you won, but you still got two other challenges to do. Keep it up and I might start respecting you.” Tyrone says as he lets go and walks off, laughing, Doc was going to kick his ass but gets stopped by Zoom. “Don’t bother, guys like him are a waste of time.” she tells him, Doc sighs frustrated but nods.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s just jealous that he can’t compare to you, Braxton is the name.” The purple demon says, as he held his hand out, Doc looks at it and shakes it. “Dokah, but people call me Doc.” he tells him.

“Ahhhh, Doc, an interesting nickname, I wish you luck on the next two trials, we’re rooting for ya.” Braxton says as he walks off. “Well he seems nice.” Galaxy as she came with Boulder, finishing her popcorn. “I heard about Braxton, he’s a don of the wrath ring.” Doc tells them. “Mafia…” Boulder says quietly, almost scared. Galaxy rubs his back. 

There a montage happened as the blue slime monsters trial was trying to retrieve a key but is met with a giant slime Koi fish, guarding it, Doc jumps on the pads but falls through on one of them, he tries to swim away as the fish chases after, the others are watching by boat, Tyrone laughing as Boulder has a fork and knife out, licking his rocky lips, the next scene is shifted over as Doc is climbing a volcano, while dodging a giant hawk guarding it, Doc tries to get it to leave but almost falls off, there was an airship that had the others on it, Zoom wearily waves at him, Boulder and Galaxy take pictures, Doc waves back but forgot where he was and began to plummet down the volcano.

*Later…*

“Ow..Ow, ow, okay that’s too-YEOUCH!” Doc screams a bit, as Zoom removes some of the rocks from his body. “Sorry, but now at least it’s over now.” Zoom says as she finishes up, she noticed that the open wounds began to close and heal up, pretty soon, it was gone. “Wow…You know, how are you doing that?” Galaxy asked. “Eh, I was born with it, I don’t know why., but it saved me a lot of times.” he tells her, just then there was a tiny knock, Doc opened the door and immediately, felt his leg being wrapped up, he looked down. “Big bro! You're okay!” Fifi exclaims, as she wags her little tail, “I was so worried about you, I thought you wouldn’tbeokayandIbeallaloneand-” Fifi was talking fast as Doc picks her up and calms her down. “Hey it's okay, I’m still here and still kicking. I ain’t going nowhere.” he tells her. 

Just then, there was some sniffling, the four looked down at Fifi, to which she was crying. “B-But you are, an-and I won’t see you again, you just got back and I can’t lose you, I-I-I-” Fifi was then held by Zoom, to which she helps Fifi calm down, she is shushing her as she rocks her gently, she looks at her, wiping the tears away. “Hey, it's okay, your big bro isn’t going anywhere, he will always come here when you're sick, sad or scared, in fact, he came down here because he wanted to see if you're okay.” she tells the little demon child, Fifi began to calm down and looked at Doc, still some tears in her eyes. Doc was holding back his tears, he got on one knee and felt Fifi hug him tightly. “I promise, I won’t go anywhere, Big bro will always have your back.” he tells her, he takes a deep breath and looks at Zoom, he gets up, still has Fifi in his arms. “I need to do something, something I should’ve done.” he tells her as he sets Fifi on his bed and heads downstairs. “Where are you going?” Zoom asked him, confused. “Putting on my tux!” he exclaims. Boulder and Galaxy look at Zoom. “Huh, this is gonna be interesting…100 bucks says he stands up.” Galaxy says as the rock giant looked at her. “Boulder think he’ll do worse.” Boulder says. “Well, let’s get dressed for this wedding…Well forced wedding.” Zoom says.

*At the Hell church…*

The bells rang, as demons, wolves, skeletons and even some vampires come down and enter the church, inside though is more crowded, our three friends and our monster’s family is sitting in the front row, Boulder has a little black bow tie, Galaxy is wearing a strapless blue mixed purple and white, while Zoom is wearing a light green empire dress, Holly is wearing a yellow sun dress, Jessica wearing a deep red suit. Kobono and Tyrone are standing at the altar, wearing black white tuxs, the brides waiting. “You know son, I remember when I married your mother, it was the happiest day of my life. And now, we have this little family.” Kobono says to Tyrone. “Heh, well if you stopped at me, then it would be perfect. OW!” Tyrone held the back of his head, as Tyrone glared at him. “Today is about your brother, you better be show respect or I can give the company to Dokah instead.” Kobono threaten.

Just then, the doors open, the organist began to play as Doc comes to full view, he was wearing a black tux and is even wearing shoes, everyone turned to him as he began to walk down the aisle, Zoom couldn’t help but have a faint blush on her cheeks, Doc finally makes it there and stands at the altar. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate a ceremony of a tremendous marriage of not one, but three. Under the watchful eye of Satan, Regina Antonio, do you take this man to be your husband, in sickness and in health, rich or poor?” the hell priest asked her, Victor’s daughter, she gave a bored expression. “Sure, I do.” she replies. “As for you Stacey True and Anne Wilker?” the priest asked the two other women, which they both nod. “Dokah Osopo Camaka, do you-” before the hell priest can finish, Doc interrupts him.

“Uh wait a moment, I just have something important to say.” Doc says as he clears his throat, he grabs a couple of drinks, one has water and the rest, alcohol, he looks at the crowd, and then to Kobono. “Now then, I appreciate all of you coming out here, taking the time and what not, to see me marry these beautiful women, who might seem nice, don’t know.” he says, this interests his three friends a bit. “I just have one important thing to say.” He looks at everyone again real quick and then back at Kobono again, he then looks at the crowd. 

“FUCK. THIS. WEDDING. AND SUCK. ON. MY. NUTS!!!” Doc yelled out, making the crowd gasp and shocked. Zoom was shocked but oddly happy, and Galaxy tried to hold her laughter in, Boulder looking confused. “Dokah, what are you doing?!” Kobono demanded. “Clearly little bro lost it, alright bro, time for you to-ACK!! My eyes!!!” Tyrone yelled out as he covered his alcohol face, Doc quickly drank some alcohol and grabbed a candle stick, he blew, making it look like he’s breathing fire, the crowd getting restless and terrified. “I think its time I head back home, oh and by the way dad, fuck you.” Doc tells.

Kobono’s face was scrunched up in anger as he roared, making the crowd run for it. Doc managed to grab Galaxy, Zoom and Boulder, and he looked back. “I’ll be sure to write you letters Fifi!” Doc yelled as he waved, despite the crowd, Fifi only smiled and waved back at him. Kobono looked at Tyrone as the second son finished wiping off the alcohol. “What are you standing around for, go!!!” Kobono yelled at him as Tyrone rushed off. “. . .I am so turned on right now.” Regina breathlessly says. “He’s so…Brave.” Anne, the slime girl says. Stacy is currently writing something down but it sure is NSFW. 

“Holy crap Doc, I didn’t know you had it in you!” Galaxy says as she runs alongside the trio. “Well we pissed him off, and I ain’t coming back here again, unless Fifi needs me!” Doc shouts. “Well I’m happy you stood up to your dad, but how are we getting out of hell?!” Zoom asked, all of a sudden, they were stopped by Jessica. “Jess, you better stand aside, now.” Doc warns her, Jess only stood there…Til she opens a portal. “Get through, quick, before Tyrone or dad find you.” she tells them. “Wow, thanks, that actually helps.” Galaxy says as she goes through. “Boulder, thank fiery lady, have a good time.” he then goes through. “Thank you Jessica…Really, you can always visit.” Zoom tells her as she goes through, Doc and Jessica look at each other, not saying anything. Til Jess broke the silence. “Doc I…I’m so sorry, for everything I made you go through, I-” Before Jess can continue, Doc interrupts her. “Jessica…I’m not angry anymore, I’m happy. For the first time I ever have…I’ll see you again.” he tells her. Jessica smiles, however they hear some objects destroying, Jessica shoves Doc in as she attempts to close the portal, Tyrone sees this and tries to stop it, but it was too late, she closed it in time, and quickly disappeared, Tyrone screams in rage as he kicks a trashcan over.

*later, at the apartments…*

“I hope your sister is okay.” Zoom says as she finishes drying her hair off. “Jess will be fine, she’s tough as nails and knows how to fight.” Doc tells her as he washes his horns, he stretches and yawns, “I’m beat though. Ready to sleep forever.” he tells her as he gets into his covers. “Hey Doc?” Zoom asks as she gets into her covers. “Yeah?” He looked at her. “If you ever find a girlfriend…Would you still live with me?” she asked him. “Zoom, of course I would still live with you, heck if anything, you be a package deal, if they can’t accept, sorry, taking my business elsewhere.” Doc says as Zoom giggles a bit, “Thanks, it means a lot.” she tells him. “Night Zoom.” Doc tells her as he turns off the lights. “Night Doc.” Zoom replies as she holds onto her stuffed animal, she thinks for a moment and wonders how a relationship with him would go, she blushes faintly and smiles, drifting off to sleep.

Chapter Text

It was a nice cool autumn day, the leaves fully turned to orange, red and yellow, however, during this season, once a day out of the full year, all the spirits roam freely, the ghouls coming out and the monsters, the classic monsters, come and terrorize the populace, that today, is all hallow’s eve, or Halloween for modern day.

Zoom was happily shopping as she buys candy for the trick or treaters, mostly for herself, but still for the trick or treaters, she checks it off her list. “Okay, got the candy, now I just gotta find Doc and see if he got the halloween decorations.” she says as she takes the cart, Doc and Zoom are gonna have their first halloween together, she noticed that her half monster and fire elemental friend were very excited for this day, in fact, been like that for the whole month, however she noticed that he’s been getting baking stuff, balloons and even party hats, she wonders why today was very special for him.

“Hmmm…I wonder why he is excited for this, well people can be excited for halloween, especially with scaring people, I mean he can definitely pull it off, but would he do it gently or extreme?” she asks herself.

Just then, she turns and sees Doc coming in with pumpkins, props and even some pumpkin coffee. “Zoom! You will not believe the deal I have, pumpkins are half price and the decorations are cheap too! Even have enough left to get you and myself some coffee too!” Doc says happily, his eyes beamed up and by the tone of his voice, very happy. “Wow, seems like someone’s getting into the spirit huh?” Zoom teases him as she takes her coffee. “I got the candies and a costume for myself, I decided to become a zombie.” she tells him as she pulls out the outfit and some paint that can be washed off. “Huh, classic and simple, I like it, Oh, that reminds me, you think you can head down to Joe's bar? I go but-” before Doc can finish, Zoom raises her finger up. “Say no more, as your best friend, I’ll happily go over and pick this order up.” she tells him. “Thanks Zoom, I really mean it, by the time you’ll be back, I’m gonna make our apartment look scary.” he tells her. Zoom only chuckles, “Alright, see you when I get back.” She then heads out.

Zoom walks to the bar, since it was an easy walk and not far, she sees the kids with their parents already trick or treating, despite it still being in daylight, however she can’t blame nor doesn’t mind, the city they live tend to have a strict curfew, since a patrol will stop by soon, speaking of patrols, she sees one. Their armor black and red, what’s weird though is that they always wear helmets and cover their entire face up, their glass visors reflect the light. Zoom moves aside and heads to the bar.

She finally makes it and saw it was decorated, she sees Joe on the roof, using his own webs to make it look haunted and abandoned, he ropes down safely as he dusts himself off. “Okay, webs are done, only thing left is-AAAAHHHHH!” before Joe can finish, Zoom decided to scare him, the spider bartender falls on his ass, which cause Zoom to giggle, Joe gets up and rubs his back. “Hello Zoom, I assume you did that for the spirit?” Joe asked sarcastically, she nods happily in response. “Happy Halloween Joe!” Zoom says.
“Happy Halloween squirt, what can I get for ya?” Joe asked her. “I’m here for a delivery, Doc sent me.” she tells him, with Joe going ‘ah’ and led her inside the bar, the patrons were having a good time, while also wearing costumes, Zoom sees Galaxy serving drinks and food to them, Boulder being a bodyguard, he waves excitedly at Zoom, she waves back happily as well. “Okay, here’s your little boyfriends order.” Joe says, Zoom blushing a bit. “He’s not my boyfriend.” she corrects him, Joe only chuckles. “Okay, your…’Friend’ package is here, oh and a little something too from me.” Joe says as he puts a little wrapped up box on the order, it was a bag and inside was 10 packages of steak, bags of ghost peppers and mozzarella cheese. “Wow, Doc really went ham on it huh? Guess he really loves Halloween.” Zoom says, surprised. “Halloween? Oh….You didn’t know?” Joe asks, Zoom tilt her head, “know what?” she asked him. “Well…Ummmm…Like none of this is off putting?” Joe asked her, Zoom only shrugged, the spider sighs. “Okay, did you notice anything different this morning?” he asked.

“Well…He didn’t make breakfast, which is weird, since he always does that, then we entered the store, he was looking at a bunch of stuff he wanted to buy, finally we went to the bakery and looked at cakes, but he was looking at…Birthday…Cakes…Hmmmm.” her mind began to think…Until it hit her, “Oh my god! Today’s his birthday?!” Zoom panicked. “You forgot?!” Joe asked, shocked. “I didn’t even know he had a birthday til you told me! Oh Jesus, what am I gonna do?!” she asked, pacing a bit. “I don’t know what to do, I can’t go back to the store, he’ll know somethings up, but at the same time, it’s Halloween and I want to snack on candy but today’s his special day but there’s also-” before Zoom can continue to spiral, she gets smacked on the face by Galaxy. “Ow!!!” Zoom yelps as she rubs her cheek. “You kept rambling on, and I have much of a headache as it is, why not just do something small for him?” she asks her.

“The problem is I don’t know what he really wants.” Zoom tells Galaxy, she cups her own chin to figure it out, something hit Zoom. “Oh! I know he was looking at some horn…Shining thing?” Zoom says, not understanding the concept. “Ah, I know what you're talking about, he likes that brand thing, gets the job done he says.” Joe says as he gives a customer a big glass of beer. “Boulder made this, Horn man hoped he like.” Boulder comes over, he holds up a necklace that has beads which are orange, black and purple. “Aaawww, that’s sweet, I’ll make sure he gets this. I gotta head out, talk to y'all later!” Zoom tells the others as she runs out the bar, carrying the goods Joe gave her.

She makes it back to the store, however she sees Doc putting the stuff in the car, she calmly walks to the car, trying to not freak out a bit. “H-Hey Dooooooc. I see you're still here?” she says. “Yeah, I mean unless your planning to head back to the apartment on foot, before curfew, with a bunch of these patrols, nah I wasn’t gonna leave without ya.” he tells her, Zoom nervously laughs “Th-That’s nice, say, um, I just forgot something in the store, it’ll only be a quick sec, promise.” she then rushes to the store, Doc looked at her, he shrugged as he continues to put stuff in the car.

Zoom looks around for this horn shine, she checks where they came across it but couldn’t find it, she then tries to find where someone might have took it, but then changed their mind and put it somewhere else, she checked high and low for it but nothing, she was panting, ragged as she wipes off the sweat, she then slumps in the movie section and sighs sadly. “I can’t find it, even I checked back there twice…God what am I going to do…” she thinks and thinks, but nothing comes to thought, she gets up and defeatedly walks out of the store, she walks back to the car and sits, Doc looking over and noticing the defeated look.

The two drive home, however, they come across the red light, Zoom still looking defeated, Doc finally says something. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked her, Zoom looked over and sighs. “Joe told me today was your birthday and I tried to find a gift but nothing came up…I’m sorry…” she says, however she felt her shoulder touched and looked up, seeing Doc’s hand. “Zoom, I don’t care if you didn’t get me a gift. It’s okay, I’m not even mad, in fact, the only gift I ever want from you is with me celebrating it.” he tells her, her eyes sparkle and begin to smile widely. She hugs him. Doc slowly accepts it back.

On Halloween night, the kids were trick or treating still, heck even the patrols were handing out candy and such, the kids knock on Zoom’s apartment door and she comes out, holding a bowl and is wearing a zombie costume, she gives the kids candy and once the little costumed kids said thank you, Doc scares them with his red eyes and his mouth open wide and teeth sharpened, the kids scream, Doc only laughs. “Ahhhh, I love Halloween.” he says, his mouth returning to nothing and his red eyes fading, he enters the apartment and on time, the cake was done, he pulls it out of the oven, let’s it cool for a moment, once it's done, Zoom decorates the frosting with little skeletons, ghosts and spider webs, on it said ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOC!!!’ Once the candles were lit, then blown out, the two turned off their lights and began to watch a horror movie with the remaining candy. Outside there was a witch laughing menacingly as she appeared over the moon. Doc closes the window. “Creepy hag.” he comments, he goes back to the couch and watches the movie, wearing the necklace Boulder made.

Chapter Text

It was a dark and stormy night, the winds howling as the apartment complex is boarded up, inside, Doc and Zoom were currently making sure everything is loaded, with their favorite snacks and drinks, they even have a little glass ball and inside was electricity, where if the power goes out, they can use it on the mini generator, it wouldn’t be enough to power the complex but enough for their room, Zoom finished getting the blankets all set up as Doc came back with the popcorn. “I can’t wait to watch this movie, I heard it’s very good.” Zoom says as she is in her pink nightgown, Doc was wearing…Well the same thing really. “I still can’t believe they actually made an action movie about a squirrel, even though the movie's title is mind boggling, ‘Double 00 Nut, where things are about to be…Nuts.’ Like who writes these?” Doc was completely confused about this movie in question. “Well it’s better then what the other movie, ‘The Slime and the Rat’ I mean the story’s okay-ish but it sucked over all, especially with them being a femi-nazi.” Zoom says.


The two sat down and the movie began to play. A little bit into the movie, Zoom got up and went to grab a snack, however she noticed that some of it was missing. “Hey Doc, did we get the gummy slimes, the ice pops and the fiery chocolate?” Zoom asked him. “Yeah we did, why do you ask?” he asks her. “Well I can’t seem to find them…” She says, boggled on what happened to them. “What? We just grabbed them.” Doc gets up and goes to check the cupboards, he sees what Zoom means when it’s not here. “What the fuck? Where the hell did they go?” he looks in further, apparently there is a hole on the side of the cupboard, it leads to the hallways, he opens the door and scans the area. “Doc what’s up?” Zoom asked, the monster sighs and rubs his temple. “Apparently someone stole it, better let Mrs. White know.” he says and goes to the phone, he rings up Mrs. White. “Hey Mrs. White, sorry to call you late at this hour, but someone stole some of our food. Think you can come here and-” before Doc can finished, there was a knock on the door, Zoom goes to open it and saw Mrs. White, having a face mask, the white slime woman was wearing a blue nightgown, she looked very tired, on hand was a phone, where she was getting the same complaints.

“Seems like we aren’t the only ones with this problem.” Zoom says, Mrs. White signs that it’s been happening a few weeks now, mostly on the lower levels, now it seems that it traveled to the upper floors. “Oh no…How can we help Mrs. White?” She asked the slime landlord, she signs that she saw that most of these holes were man made, tools to be precise. “How do you know it was one of the attendants?” Doc asks Mrs. White motions for them to come out, there they see saw dust. “Okay that is a fair assumption. Alright we’ll help out.” Doc tells her, Mrs. White sighs in relief, she grabs a piece of paper and writes something down, she hands them the paper and it was names of the suspects, she signs that most of the residents left due to the storm or the food stealing. “Alright, we’re on…The case.” Zoom poses, both Doc and Mrs. White look at Zoom, she blushed a bit “I always wanted to do that…”

Both Doc and Zoom start off with one of the residents, a woman named Claire, a werewolf, they knock on her door and she opens it, Claire’s fur was an almond color, she stands 8 feet, she is also wearing a black sports bra and green workout leggings, her eyes yellow. “Hey, how can I help ya two out?” Claire asks them as her voice was of calmness and country. Zoom slightly blushes at the sight along with Doc, both shook it off. “Hi, I’m Zoom, I’m actually your neighbor here, and this is my roommate Doc.” Zoom says, as Doc waves. “Well nice ta meet ya, name’s Claire.” she says as she had her hand-paw out. Zoom shakes her hand along with Doc. “We were wondering if you seen or heard anything strange lately?” Doc asked her, the werewolf woman ponders for a bit. “Well not really, though I noticed that ma stuff’s gone, mostly ma food. Say why not come in and I’ll make ya some tea.” Claire offers as the two head inside. 

Inside the wolf’s home was very country like, there was cacti on the windows, a leather skin on the couch, there was a decrotive bullskull on the wall, the two sit down and Claire enters the kitchen. “Wow, this is very nice, feels very homey.” Zoom says, Doc looks around a bit. “Hmmmm, it unlikely seems that Claire works at construction, but there are people who buy tools.” he says. “Doc come on, you heard Claire, her food got stolen too.” she tells him. “I know but we can’t trust anyone right now til we get everything sorted out. We’ll ask her casual questions, once we do, we’ll decide if she’s innocent.” he tells her. Claire comes back with some tea. “I’m back, and I made my mama’s special tea.” she says and puts the tea down for them. The three began to drink it, mostly in silence for a bit. The rain pounding, the wind howling. “Boy, the storm must be getting worse.” Zoom says worriedly. “Don’t worry your pretty head, this building’s pretty sturdy.” Claire says. “How you know that?” Doc asked. “Ah, well ma daddy was a construction worker and when I’m not working on the ranch, I mostly end up reading books of building’s and such.” she tells them. They continued to talk for a bit til the lights flicker on and off. “Damn lights….Well you two stay here and I’ll see what I can do.” she gets up and heads to the kitchen light. Doc and Zoom get up. “Hey, you know where the bathroom is?” Doc asks her. “Ah, it’s down the hall, second door.” she says from the kitchen. Doc nods, but he leans in Zoom’s ear, “Stall her.” he tells her and heads down the hall. Zoom gulps and sits there. “So…Why move to the city?” she asked her, the wolf turns around and chuckles, “Well cause I want to become a construction worker like ma daddy.” she tells her. “How about you?”

Zoom looks taken aback. “Me? Well…I actually have no idea really what I wanted to do. I have a dream, but it’s a stupid one…” she says, chuckling a bit at the comment. “Hey now, dreams ain’t stupid, it’s alright to say it.” Claire tells her. Zoom smiles softly. “Well…You know those cat cafes in japan, well I want to open up a dog cafe.” she tells her. “Dogs are the most majestic creatures, they’re smart, loyal and so warm and soft to snuggle up to, and the puppies, ohhh the puppies are where they are.” she tells Claire some more. “Ahhhh, well hey, if you ever need help building up shop, I’m a few halls down.” she tells her. Doc comes back and stretches. “Hey, thank you for letting me use the bathroom.” he tells Claire. “No problem, by the way…I noticed that you're doing some detective work.” Claire says.

Doc and Zoom’s eyes were wide open, shocked that she knew. “I ain’t mad that you're asking around, it’s fair enough, since some of your food got stolen too.” she says and gets up. “If you are curious, I do own power tools but the thing is, you would’ve seen my fur or at least some indication I was around.” Claire tells them. “Wait now hold on, how would’ve we seen your fur?” Doc asks her, she only chuckles warmly. “Cause I’m in my shedding phase.” she simply tells them. “Oh! Oh um, I-I uh.” Zoom stutters and blushes deeply as she covers her face, Claire simply laughs more. “It’s okay, I don’t mind, it’s my place you're in and I’m not ashamed of it.” she tells and tries to reassure the stuttering woman.

Just then, they hear something falling and crashing, the three bolt and see something moving fast, Doc gives chase and runs down the halls, the footsteps run fast from Doc as he is losing sight, as soon he turns, he doesn’t see them anymore. “What the?!” He looks around to see where they might have gone. “Did you see where they went?” Zoom asked. “No…Fuck!” He kicks the wall. He takes a deep breath. Just then, the door opens and out comes a Goblin with long black hair covering her eyes, her long nose out, and an anthropomorphic brown-white spotted horse. “Hey, mind keeping it down, we’re trying to cuddle here!” the Goblin screeched at the two as she was very much not amused. “Oh, sorry Mrs. Grubble, we were just looking for the person that stole our food.” Zoom says to her, as Mrs. Grubble grumbles. “Well next time keep it down! My hubby and I are trying to spend quality time, not like you would know anything about it.” she snarls, however she gets picked up by the horse. “Honey, we talked about this, you said you won’t be mean to the neighbors.” the male horse tells her. “Well they are ruining our time together…” the goblin whines. “Shhhhh, just go back to the couch and I’ll join you shortly, okay?” he tells her, she whines and goes back. “I am so sorry about that.” he tells the two. “It’s okay Mr. Grubble, oh, by the way, have you seen anything strange lately?” she asked him. “Unfortunately no…Though I have been hearing scratching in the walls lately, it’s been driving us nuts. It’s been bothering her the most and that’s why we’re having tonight be a quiet one.” Mr. Grubble says. “Thank you for your time. Lock the doors and stay safe. Something else is going on here” Doc tells him, the horse nods and closes the door, locking it.

“What do you think is running amok here?” Zoom asked him. “Well for starters, walls scratching, holes being made, literally someone knows what’s happening here.” he tells her. “Who’s on our list?” she asks. Doc looks at the list and skims it down…There weren't many people left. “Huh…The only one left is a resident who’s a rat.” he says, confused. “Oh, you're talking about Jamie.” Zoom says. “Who?” Doc looked at her, confused. “Jamie’s been here longer then I have, when we first met, he tried to hit on me, but I ignored him, heck same time on that day, I caught him trying to break into my apartment to steal a ‘memento’ of whatever I touched or something, I dropped the charges but I warned him at that point to leave me the hell alone.” she explains, she shudders a bit. Doc’s face was turned to a scowl “Do I have to teach this rat a lesson?” he summons his claws “No no! He hasn’t been bothering me after that, promise!” she reassures him “Well he better not, otherwise he and I are gonna have a few words.” he tells her, his scowl never leaving “Well seems like you’ll get your chance then.” she says as the two head to his door.

They arrive and see that the door is very worn and a bit dirty, Zoom knocks on the door, the door opens and appears a short chubby humanoid rat, wearing a beater wife and has glasses on “A-Ah! Zoom, h-how wonderful to see you, have you come to-” he stops mid sentence and sees Doc “Oh…Y-You have a friend…” he says disappointedly. “We have a few questions to ask you.” Doc says as he crossed his arms “I don’t have to answer to you.” he says, however he squeaks in fright as he picked up and slammed against the wall “Oh you fucking do. Otherwise I’m gonna hurt you to the point you’ll-” before he can continue, he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned and saw Zoom, she looked at him to let her handle this. Doc sighs and stands back.

“Sorry about that Jamie, listen, we need to ask you some things, pretty please?” she flutters her eyes which are adorable, Jamie sighs but smiles “Well…Anything for a pretty thing~” he says happily “What are the questions?” he asked. “Are you making the walls scratch?” Doc asks him. “What? No, what cause I’m a rat, I go inside walls and make noise?” Jamie asked, offended by the question “Well no…We heard from others that they been hearing scratching on the walls and food being stolen, recently tonight our food was stolen.” Zoom says, Jamie’s eyes widen “Something you want to confess?” Doc asks as he looks at him. Jamie tries to run back into his apartment room but gets tackled to the ground by Doc “Wait! Don’t hurt me!” Jamie pleads. “Talk! Now!” Doc demanded, “Okay yes I took the food, but the wall scratching isn’t me!” Jamie tells him. “What do you mean it wasn’t you?” Zoom asked him “I didn’t want to do it, I swear but I had no choice!” Jamie pleads again. “What are you talking about?” Doc asked him, just then the three heard clicking and chattering, they looked up and the noise was coming from the closet.

Zoom walks over to the closet, over the dirty piles of junk in the apartment, stains on the wall of grease and other things of unknown, she makes way to the closet finally and has her hand on the handle “Zoom wait! Don’t open the-!” Before Jamie could finish what he had to say, it was too late…Zoom stood there frozen in place “Zoom, what is it?” Doc calls to her, unknown to the two Zoom’s eyes widened in fear at the sight she is seeing…

In the closet were the stuff of nightmares, on the pile of snacks being feasted, there stood creatures that were long and tall, skin and bone, sharp teeth indulging as they growled, their eyes, not even eye sockets were existent, they stand and they were taller in person, they let out a loud screech as Zoom, Jamie and Doc covered their ears, one of the creatures looks at Zoom in the eyes, she only stared back, she couldn’t help but stare deep into them, she blinks and standing there was a middle aged woman “Wait..Mom?” Zoom asked surprised “Hello dearie, I was wondering when you would be by, I made some cookies” Zoom’s ‘mother’ says to her “Wow…Yeah, Cookies sound great right about now…” she says, however a talon passes by and hits her ‘mom’ in the head. “Doc?!” she turned and was shocked by what happened “That was my mom!” she snapped at him “That’s not your mom! Don’t look at them directly!” Doc calls to her, on cue Zoom turns and the woman that was supposed to be her mother transforms back into the nightmare-ish creature as it is, it shrieks in pain and slams against the wall as the talon hit it’s face, Zoom rushes back to the duo and quickly shuts the door, Doc and Jamie help her.

“Explain to yourself why you have these rodents here!” Doc shouts at the rat “I didn’t know they would burrow their way here honestly! I don't even know why here?!” Jamie panicked “Your apartment was a pig sty, your literal mess is what made them come here, it’s easy food for them!” Doc says as he holds the door as the unknown creatures try to break down the door “What even are they?!” Zoom asked “Nightcrawlers, an invasive species is what and the biggest problem of society, they hunt in packs and raid villages at night, they are the bane of existence” Doc says “How do we kill them?!” Zoom asked as the door began to break down “We can kill them normally or light, luckily the lights haven’t gone out yet so we should be good.” Doc tells her, on cue, a lighting knocks the power out “Oh fuck me…” Jamie says, just then he gets impaled through the door, Zoom and Doc back up and see Jamie get dragged through the hole in the door as the nightcrawlers claw and shriek, Doc and Zoom bolt out of there as they bursted through the door and began to chase after them.

Mrs. White walks down the hall with a flashlight in hand and there she spots something moving, she shines it over and sees Doc and Zoom running, behind them was the Nightcrawlers, Mrs. White panicks and began to run, or slide away as the three are now running for their lives, the thunder crackles as the creatures shriek. “Ohhh my god!” Zoom shouts as she kept running “Good news and bad news, Good news we found the culprit and it was Jamie!” Doc tells Mrs. White as he runs along side her “Bad news, his apartment was a mess and it attracted these things!” Zoom tells her as she runs along side now as well. The three make it to Doc and Zoom’s apartment, they shut the door tightly as the Nightcrawlers slam against the door “This is bad, really really bad, wh-what are we going to do?! There’s too many of them!” Zoom asks in panic. 

Mrs. White sees the electric orb on the ground, she takes it and looks at the two, she writes something down on the board on the fridge ‘guys, I have an idea, the orb will restore power in the building, I need you two to keep them occupied for me, I’ll sneak through the grates, that way they won’t see me.’ she wrote down “We’ll keep them busy, just get the power back on.” Doc tells her, Zoom removes the grate “Good luck Mrs. White.” Zoom tells her, the white slime oozes through the open grate and makes her way down, the door gets banged on “Doc…Do you have any last words?” Zoom asks him. “Well I mean kinda pointless because-” Doc stops mid sentence and saw Zoom’s look, she looked…Scared. Doc sighs “Yeah…I do, thanks for being my friend.” he tells her, Zoom smiles nervously “And thank you for being my friend…Best months I ever had.” she tells him, the door bangs again. “Doc, that uh, weird form would come in handy.” Zoom mentions.

Doc’s eyes widened “Oh yeah, duh!” He then begins to transform into the second form, the door breaks down and Doc charges in and began to fight to the death with them, three of them slip by him and run at Zoom “Oh crud!” she dodges them as she grabs the nearest thing to hit them with, she hits one with a pillow which was unfazed, she grabbed the lamp and throws it, which misses, she runs to the kitchen as they followed her, Zoom grabs a knife and held it out as one of them lunged at her, it stabbed itself onto the blade as it screeches in pain, she pushes it in deeper into the monster til it was all the way through, she gets the dead body off of her and was covered in orange blood “Eeeewwww, so gross!” she exclaims as she is disgusted by it. She sees the other two charging at her “Eep!” She quickly moves out of the way as one bashed their head onto the bottom cupboards, the second swipes it’s claws at her as she ducked, she looked at the fridge and when it was about to claw her again, she swings the fridge door open and blocks the attack, the creature roars as a carcass of it’s kind hits the Nightcrawler and into the fridge, Zoom takes the door and starts slamming hard on it’s head but it wasn’t doing much, she looked around and thought of an idea…She grabs the fridge and decides to bring it down on it, she struggles at first but eventually it works, the Nightcrawler regain it’s footing but it was too late, it was crushed to death by the fridge.

The last one gets up and hisses, Zoom bolts out of there as it charges at her, Doc was tearing them apart as best as he can but felt overwhelmed, he sees Zoom running from one of the nightcrawlers, the second form he took roars and spikes appeared on his body and began impaling them as fast as possible, Zoom makes it to the bedroom as the Nightcrawler lunges but hits the wall, however successfully knocks Zoom on the ground, she sees her shotgun and goes for it, she shakily tries to put a shell in but is unsuccessful a couple of times, finally she managed to do it and right on time as the Nightcrawler roars and tries to bite her face off, she fired and blew it’s head off, orange blood on the walls. “Woo! Thank you Betsy!” She screams happily and kisses the shotgun, however it was short lived as Doc is cornered into the bedroom, he uses his razor sharp tail to slam the door and transforms back “Okay so this is it, what kind of flowers do you want for your tombstone?” he asked her, the door bangs again “I really wish the powers on right now!” Zoom says as she is backed into the corner with Doc. as the door breaks down, they all look ahead, they snarl and dripping drool down, one lunges at the two as Doc shields Zoom.

Just then, a miracle happened, the lights came on and the Nightcrawler stops mid attack and starts screaming in pain as their skin began to burn and as the burnt flesh began to turn to stone, the Nightcrawlers try to run but it was hopeless, they began to die off just like that…Silence. The two friends looked at each other and just fell on the floor.

Morning…

Ambulances and armored troops enter the building as the residents and neighbors look at the scene happening, Doc and Zoom were covered with blankets and see the whole thing, men in black and red with barely body armor come in with rifles and pistols, they have visor helmets on and hae a ton of equipment. “Wow…This is just crazy, how long til everything’s clear?” Zoom asks Doc “Eh, it doesn’t take that long, they need to make sure that it’s Nightcrawler free and that the females, especially the queen aren’t here.” Doc explains “How do you know this?” she asks him “Well let’s just say I…Know stuff.” he tells her, hinting her to drop the subject for now.

Mrs. White comes over with a whiteboard and writes down something ‘Thank you two for helping out last night, if it weren’t for you, we all would’ve died.’ she writes. “No problem Mrs. White, what did the grunts say?” Doc asks her. ‘They wanted to know if there was any other possible way in, who lives here, the normal Dark kingdom stuff.’ she writes, clearly her look says she’s not a fan of them. “Well hey, the nightmare is over, but what’s going to happen with Jamie’s belongings? I know he and I didn’t get along but…No one deserves to go out like that.” Zoom says somberly, Mrs. White writes ‘Well since he caused all of it, I’m having a cleaning crew come in and remove every piece of junk he owned and either send it back to his family or into the dumpster.’ she writes.

“Okay, everything’s clear!” one of the grunts said. Just then a big black orc comes, he wears a skull mask with a metal helmet, he has four arms, two of which on the upper was robotic, he wears a loin cloth and has a chest belt, and only a chest belt. He stands 9 feet tall and is all muscle and his eyes a deep orange. “Good, I want everyone to back off, secure the area, double check to see if there is no queen or female, they may be scouts but I don’t want any chances.” the black orc tells them as they nodded and march back in, he turns and sees Doc and Zoom. He decides to approach them. “You two, I have questions.” he tells them. Zoom looks up, a bit intimidated. “I uh, I um, I am Zoom, I-I’m one of the residents.” she tells him. “Oga, I’m the general of the Darkness nation of the north. You and your…Friend encountered these creatures, yes?” Oga asked her. “Yes we did, we were investigating cause our food went missing, one of the tenants named Jamie took them.” Zoom tells him. Oga looked at Doc still and Doc looked right back, Oga scoffed a bit “I see…Thank you for your time.” he tells her and walks away, Zoom was confused but even more so that Doc looked at him like the two met before…

Oga goes behind an Alleyway and brings out a crystal ball and rubs it, there a mysterious figure with white eyes is shown, Oga bows down on one knee. “What is it Oga, is the situation secured?” the figure asks him “Yes sire, we are doing one final sweep as we speak, but I didn’t call you for that.” he tells him. “What is it about then, unless you want to waste my time.” The man says coldly. “Sire…I found the beast.” he tells him as the figure is intrigued. “I see…Where is he?” he asked him. “He’s the tenant for this building, sire. I can issue an arrest warrant and have his head on a silver platter by the afternoon.” Oga comments the last part with excitement. “Do not engage, your men don’t have the firepower or the tools, leave him be for now but I want activity on him at all times.” The figure orders him. “It will be done my lord.” Oga tells him as the crystal ball turns off, he stashes it away “Ohhh Dokah…There’s no use running now.” he chuckles to himself as the scene fades into black…

Chapter Text

It was a nice sunny day today, the cool wind blowing, people walking, monsters and humans, around enjoying the sun, however, this time we shift focus to the bar of a familiar spider…

“Galaxy, Table number 5 needs some more drinks, Boulder, get the keg down in the basement” Joe says as he is currently serving plates to his customers as his other arms making the drinks, today was a busy day today, more busy than usual, the month is all about spring, and this month, the day the insects wake up and start working again. “Jesus what’s with all these people?” Galaxy asks as she finishes serving the drinks. “Well, this month is the start of spring, and the moneymakers are awake and making, well this.” the spider tosses her an empty bottle, which in it was residue of honey. “Honey?” she asks “Not just any honey from normal bees, this honey right is the QUEEN’S honey. People kill for this honey, literally, someone got stabbed for this honey.” Joe tells her as he gives a drink to a fire elemental. “Oh my god, what’s so good with this honey that people will literally kill each other for it?” she asks, shocked about this information. “Well, this honey is like the nectar of the gods, it’s so sweet, people with a sweet tooth couldn’t fathom its sweetness and swore off sugary stuff forever. It’s also so good with almost anything. I got the shipment.” he tells her.

“You actually pay them this time?” Galaxy asks him, looking at him with an unamused look. “Yes I paid this time, I got the receipt and everything.” he tells her, he then gets a call and Joe takes it to the other room. “Gal Gal, Boulder wonder if honey is good?” Boulder asks her “I don’t know bud. Maybe it is, but I wouldn’t count on it being true. Remember the fish shop, that they have the tastiest fish in the world?” she asks him and Boulder looks down sadly “Boulder was sad…” he tells her “I know, it was disappointing…Tell you what, when we get back, we’ll have a taste of that honey together, see if it’s REALLY good or not.” she tells him and pats his back, smiling at him. “Pinky promise?” Boulder asked her, looking at her. “Pinky promise.” she held her pinky out for him and the rock monster's large pinky wraps around hers.

The two then hear the door slammed and Joe looks pissed off beyond belief. “Spider man okay?” Boulder asked. “No I’m not fucking okay, the shipping company transferd my money back!” he says, pissed off. “Wait hold on, two things, one, I thought they didn't do refunds, secondly, why?” Galaxy asks. “Because apparently there’s something going on between the Bees, Wasps and the Mantis. Some feud or whatever, the event is tomorrow, what am I supposed to sell, beetroots and maple syrup?!” Joe exclaimed and banged on the table. “Boulder and Gal Gal can get it?” Boulder tells him, Joe looked up at him, hope in his eyes, Galaxy’s face however…It looked like something unfamiliar to them, a look of unease. “Uh o-or we don’t go get it, I mean I’m sure the honey can be missed one time this year huh?” she says, laughs nervously.

“I mean sure, unless you want to be broke and have no job at all.” Joe states as he crosses his arms “You either get the honey or we can have nothing to live. Your choice.” he tells her. “Well unless there’s a war going on, no way I’m doing it.” she tells him. “Fine, if I call Doc, will your scary ass feel better?” he asks her.
“I’m not scared of anything. I’m not risking me or Boulder’s lives for this.” she clarifies. “Riiiiiight. Well get ready to go to the plant kingdom.” Joe tells them and walks off.

*meanwhile…*

“Doc, can you hand me the potted flowers?” Zoom asks him. “Sure, but why exactly? I know it’s for the spring festival but still, the plant kingdom mostly provides the flowers.” he tells her. “Well I know, but it’s for the other small insects, ya know.” she tells him as he handed her the potted flowers, just then, a honey bee lands and begins to get to work. “There we go little guy.” she says as she goes inside, just then, the phone rings. Doc picks it up, “Hello?” he says, “Ah Joe, hey what’s up? Wait, what? What do you mean-since when do they do refunds? Okay okay, look, I want to accept it but-Okay fine, but you own me.” he then hangs up and sighs. “Doc, what’s wrong?” she asks him. “Well I got another job offer from Joe.” he tells her. “What illegal thing does he want you to do this time?” she asks him. “Surprisingly, it’s nothing illegal, he just wants me to pick up some honey from the plant kingdom.” he tells her. “Wait, that’s it? That’s not so bad.” she says.

“Well here’s the catch , the reason why is because there’s problems with the three insect colonies and Galaxy doesn’t want to do this job alone.” he tells her. “What? That’s weird, I’m surprised she doesn’t want to do it.” Zoom says “Yeah that’s a bit weird, has she visited this place before?” he says out loud “Well guess we’ll have to see” Zoom says

*later…*

The four were currently traveling by cart and horse “And why are we traveling like we’re on the road circus?” Galaxy asked “Well cause for one, We’re entering a delicate ecosystem, the car’s fumes is basically poisonous gas to them, secondly it’s because this is part of the Nature kingdom and the queen can feel everything, something that can hurt her” Doc explains

“That’s awful…Wait, can she feel this?” Zoom asks as she looks at her side “Oh no no no, as long we don’t bring harmful chemicals or anything modern stuff that harms her, we are fine, unless you cut a tree down or set the place ablaze.” Doc clarifies. Boulder was in his own little world as he sees a butterfly on where his nose is supposed to be, he smiles, he then felt more butterflies land on him, the three turn and saw this, they chuckle at the sight, they make it to the city and it looked like a beehive, with combs as buildings, bees in business outfits as they fly around and coming out was them carrying comb suitcases, carrying honey and bee bread.

“Wooooow, this is awesome, a whole thriving colony” Zoom says shocked and jaw dropped, Boulder looks on, Doc was impressed, Galaxy however…Looked uneased. “Hey what’s wrong?” Zoom asked Galaxy “N-Nothing to worry about is all! Yep!” she said quickly, sweating bullets “Hey if it’s about the conflict, I’m pretty sure we can handle it with no problem.” Doc reassures her “It’s not that, It’s um…Something else” Galaxy says, looking away “What you know someone here, who do you own money to?” Zoom asks Galaxy “They wish I owed them money, but no, it’s something else” she says nervously, before more can be said, there was the sound of buzzing, the four look up and see three wasps fly over them, with one of them being bigger than the other two, and into the hive itself. “Woah, what the heck is that all about?” Zoom asked “Well judging by the slightly bigger one, it must be the queen of the wasps and the guards.” he says, they hear a creaking and the three see Galaxy in a fetal position, her eyes a bit widened “Uh…Galaxy?” Zoom asked “Oh…Boulder remember, Gal Gal scared of Wasps.” Boulder says, Galaxy shoots her head up “I’m not afraid of wasps! I just think they are gross, freaky and I want to be far away from them!” she says defensive.

“Well let’s get this honey and get out, according to Joe, we get the honey from the palace.” Doc says as he leads the cart over, they make it to the palace and saw the bigger Wasp earlier storming out of the palace with her guards. “Hey um…Miss, what’s wrong?” Zoom asks as the cart, she got off, the big wasp looks down, they were in fact a woman and it looked like she’s the queen, on closer inspection she looks well toned and has some scars on her, even on her eye “Everything I tell you. That bitch has the nerve to deny what she did.” The queen says, enraged “Uhhh…What exactly did she do miss…?” Doc asks “Ah yes, how rude of me, my name is Bethany, ruler of the wasp colony. As for what she denies, she has her goons kidnap my daughter! And then she claims I stole hers! Can you believe that?!” Bethany says outraged as her wings move and sped up, she takes a deep breath “Wait, there was conflict with another colony, the mantasises, what did they do?” Zoom asked “Well they refuse to pick a side, and won’t even help us out! The gull of them!” Bethany says as she is mad now. “I need a long honey bath…Take care travelers, and don’t worry, I got room for ya in the bath big boy~” she looked at Boulder when she said that, she then flew off with her two guards.

“Who does that flying ugly bug think she is?! Boulder’s too good for her anyway, buddy, never date a woman who acts this stuck up.” Galaxy tells him…While she is hiding behind his back the entire time. “Well this is none of our business, let’s get the honey and go.” Doc tells them as he enters the palace. Sitting in the throne was the queen bee, who kinda looks timid, she was a bit chubby, and very adorable. “H-Hi there s-st-strangers.” the bee queen stutters as she fixes herself up “I-I’m sorry for s-seeing me l-like this, I-I-I’m not having a good d-day…” she tells them. “I heard…I’m so sorry about your daughter.” Zoom tells her, the queen bee nods as she rubs her wrists a bit “I-It’s okay…I-It’s not your fault…” she says quietly “I-I’m Goldie, th-the queen of this colony…” she says nervously. “Nice to meet you, your highness, we came to pick up a delivery for someone named Joe.” Doc explains. “Y-Yes o-o-of course.” she flies up, however her flight was a bit of a struggle, they noticed that there was a bruise on her leg “F-Follow me please…” she says as she leads them. The four follow the queen.

Goldie leads them to the lower levels and it was a bunch of worker bees making the honey. “Boulder thought Queen made honey?” Boulder says “W-Well m-my workers m-make the honey, along wi-with raising larvae, cleaning th-the hive and more, dr-drones do…Well the d-deed and I-I…Bring babies in.” she says embarrassed. “...Big bird bring lot of babies…Big bird deserve raise.” Boulder says innocently. Doc looked at him and looked at Galaxy “I’m gonna tell him.” he says as he gets pulled by the horn, causing a yelp “Don’t even think about it.” she looked at him darkly. They reach the storage area and two bees drop a crate of honey jars, they come back with another crate. “Uhhh…I think Joe only ordered one crate.” Galaxy says. “I-I know b-but I d-do have a job f-for you…” she says as she gulps nervously “I-I want you t-t-to find my daughter.” she says. “I’m sorry your highness but we only came to get the honey, we do want to help out, really but it’s not possible. Especially with the grudge between the three bugs.” Doc explains. “Please, I-I n-need your help with th-this. B-Bethany will h-hurt her i-if she finds her first a-and the colony w-will fall…” she looked at them and her eyes water a bit.

“Fall? What do you mean fall?” Galaxy asked. “N-Not o-only will the w-wasps kill ev-everyone, m-my daughter m-makes the o-orders a-and-” before she can finish, Zoom speaks up. “Wait, I thought there were other worker bees to fill the job?” she says. “M-My daughter i-is next in line to-to take the throne. S-she is next to take over m-my place…T-The colony will die…” She says.

Doc sighs and looks at the others, Zoom’s face says she wants to help, Galaxy’s face is indifferent, Boulder face…Well still the same smiling face. “Okay…We’ll help.” Doc says defeated as Zoom jumps a bit and squeals happily. Galaxy sighs, and Boulder…Well still smiling. “Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!” The bee queen loses her stutter and hugs Doc tightly. “Where was your daughter last seen?” he asks her. “Sh-She was near the border of the Wasp colony.” she says. “Wasps…Why does it have to be wasps…” Galaxy groans.

After a few minutes in the cart, they arrived at the border, where they saw a barren wasteland, dead grass and dead trees, yep, wasp country. “How can the wasps live like this…” Zoom says, baffled. “Well some wasps are different, some like dead wood, especially burned wood. Some live in the ground and some of them do live in trees and such.” Doc explains. “Are you trying to give me nightmares here Doc?” Galaxy asks sarcastically, however the fear is still there. “Figure I give a fun fact.” he tells her and gets off the cart. “Now then…Where did this princess go…” Doc wonders.

“Did anyone notice…The bruise on Goldie’s leg?” Zoom asks. “Yeah I noticed. I wouldn’t be surprised that Bethany did it…Or her subjects.” Doc says. “Boulder confused, Small bee subject love queen?” he says, scratching his head. “Well sometimes, the worker bees will try to kill the queen if the standards aren’t met. Like producing workers instead of lazy bees, she’s getting sick or preparing to kill her so the daughter can step up.” Galaxy explains to him. “That’s so…Gosh that’s so…So sad” Zoom says.

“It’s the way it is…It’s sad but the colony needs to survive.” Doc tells her, Zoom looks down at the ground, however she notices something shiny, she picks it up, it was a necklace of a honeycomb. “I think I found our first clue. She was here.” Zoom says as she shows the necklace. “Same here.” Galaxy says as she holds up a nest necklace. “Both of the queens' daughters were taken but it wouldn’t make sense for them to snatch both at the same time…” Doc says, Boulder looks around a bit, he notices something on the tree, he goes over and sees a green line on the tree, he touches it and it feels liquid. “Hey buddy, what did you find?” Galaxy asks and sees the green liquid, “Doc, come take a look at this!” Galaxy calls to him. He walks over and touches it, the most unexpected thing he did after that was lick the green off of his finger. “Ew Doc, that's gross! You don’t know what that is!” Zoom says. “Blood…Someone was wounded here…Wait…The taste is familiar…This is Mantis blood.” Doc says

“A Mantis? Here? I thought that hornet lady said they were neutral on the conflict.” Zoom says “Well maybe she’s trying to keep things on the down low, no doubt that if the queen finds out that Bethany declared war on the wrong bug colony, she…Well she won’t be a happy flower.” Doc explains, just then, his head perks up. “Horn man?” Boulder looked at Doc for a moment. “We’re being watched…” Doc says, he extended his claws and threw one at a bush, they heard a grunt and coming out was a bee but had armor and was flying a bit til it crashed on the ground, twitching, the four approached, Doc’s Talon hitting the abdomen of the bee. “A bee guard?” Zoom says questioning. “Doc if you killed a search party member then we’re screwed!” Galaxy angrily tells him “We would…If it wasn’t carrying this.” he pulls something out of the bees belt and it was a weird sphere, he throws it on the ground and it let out…Cinnamon. “Cinn-a-mon?” Boulder asked. “It’s bad for bees and wasps alike. Why carry something like this?” Doc asks. “Hmmm…Something feels fishy. Very fishy.” Zoom says.

On cue, something fast jumped out of the ground and made three holes, standing there were three wasps. “Crap!” Galaxy backs up in fear and holds onto him. Doc has his claws out and Zoom pumps her shotgun. “Listen, we don’t want any trouble, we’re on official business from the queen.” Doc says trying to defuse the situation. “Like we care what that little puny bee wants. She has a lot of nerve hiring some outsiders.” The wasp in the middle says. “Well we noticed your queen’s daughter is missing too, we can work something-EEP!” Zoom quickly dodges a stinger from the right side wasp, but Doc quickly cuts out the stinger, it spasms and dies on the spot. “They’re mercenaries!” Doc says, he then gets stung by the left one and he falls, paralyzed. “We were hired to take out the bee princess. But that brat was taken by some ‘hero’ or whatever. Same with the wasp queen daughter.” one of the mercs says. Zoom quickly rushed to her shotgun and fired at one of them, hitting the left wasp's wing, making them grunt pain and holding the damaged wing, she then gets stung by the supposed leader.

“Humans think they are better than us. How pitiful.” The middle wasp says, out of the blue, they kill the one with the damaged wing by cutting their head off, Boulder and Galaxy look in horror, the wasp turns back and gives a chuckle “No witnesses, plus they were dead weight at that point.” the wasp coldly explained, they brought out their stinger and flew at the two. Doc watches this unfold, trying to move but couldn’t, the venom getting to him, he turned his four eyes at Zoom, who was trying to move, he began to fade in and out but during that, the hornet was fighting something else, more faster, landing blows and kicks even, finally taking the wasp down, the figure walks over and looked at the two, before Doc closed his eyes…

Later…

Doc began to groan a bit as he blinked his eyes a couple of times, he sat up, rubbing his head as he cracked his neck. “God my head…Wait, where am I?” Doc asked himself, inside was a hut of some kind, with some makeshift shelf, table and in the middle was a fire pit, he gets up and walks out. His eyes widened at the sight he sees, standing tall trees and more huts like this, however what stood out was the mantasies. Walking around and expanding their homes and the bridges. “What the…Where am I?” Doc asks, confused. “Ah! You're awake, good. That wasp venom took a toll on ya.” a voice called out, Doc turned and saw a male mantis, who looked to be a nymph at least, he has a lean build, and has some freckles, wearing a baseball cap. “Uh…Hi and who are you?” Doc asks the kid. “Oh! Right, my name is Mastin. My mama saved you and your friends from those wasps, they been a real pain in the-” before Mastin could finish, Doc grabbed him by the shoulders, looking at him. “My friends, where are they?” he asks him. “W-Well your friends are at town hall, but they are okay, though I’m not sure about the starry-haired girl. She keeps giving us weird looks and backing up.” Mastin says. “Take me to them, now.” Doc tells him. Mastin leads as Doc looks around, it was all honestly quite beautiful and thriving even, a water tower, a school and over on the other side of the trees, down by the lake, children were playing on the beach as the parents sunbathed. “We’re a thriving kingdom, sure it may not be so much city but it’s home.” Mastin says proudly. They make it to the town hall, where out of the doors was Zoom, Boulder and Galaxy, who is on top of the giant rock monster. “Zoom!” He ran over and hugged her tightly. “Doc!” She gladly hugs him back. “Horn man, okay!” Boulder says and gives the two a bear hug. Doc noticed where Galaxy was placed. “What’s up with her?” Doc asks. “Oh turns out, she’s afraid of Mantises too.” Zoom says. “Shut up!” Galaxy shouts.

“Well what do ya know? Anyway, any luck with finding our missing princesses?” Doc asks. “Oh, actually yeah, the two are currently-” before Zoom can finish, Mastin jumps up and down. “They’re with my mama, the leader of the colony here!” the young nymph explained. “Really? Where is she?” Doc asked. On cue, a giant tall mantis stands over the four, Boulder’s height reaches to this mantis chest, she wears a business suit as she has a bit of pink on her mouth “That would be me. And what do you want with Trina and Belle?” The female mantis asked menacingly.

“W-W-We were asked b-by the queen to-to find her daughter…” Zoom says nervously, this made the female mantis bring her face close to Zoom’s. “Which queen?” she demanded, her pincer up, ready to strike. “Wait! Miss Heidie! Stop!” an unknown voice spoke up, the group turned and the four’s eyes widened, standing there was a bee, who wore a yellow baggy shirt, Blue shorts, she was a bit chubby as well. “I’m sorry about that, Miss Heidie can be a bit protective. I’m Belle, the daughter of Goldie.” Belle tells them. “Well Belle, I’m Zoom, this is Doc, Boulder and Galaxy, we were hired by your mother to find you and bring you home.” Zoom says sweetly. Belle looked at them and simply said one thing. “No.” she said. Boulder, Doc and Zoom were shocked, Galaxy was pissed. “No!? What do you mean no?! We risked our ass to find and bring you home and you say no?!” she shouted. Belle was taken aback. “I-I mean I am grateful for coming to find me…But I can’t go back…” she says sadly. “Why not, your mom’s worried sick.” Doc says. “No matter how much she worries…I can’t go back, not with her around..” Belle says.

“Her? Who’s mean lady?” Boulder asked. “My mom, that's what.” another voice spoke up, it was a wasp, with a cast on her arm, she was taller then Belle, she has a pink streak on one of the black lines. “I’m Trina. Regretfully Bethany’s kid.” She tells them. “Wait, your Bethany’s kid?” Galaxy asked, shocked by this info. “Yeah. I am, and I assume my mother hired you too to take me back?” she asked as she crossed her arms. “Uh…No. Your mom took off. Anyway, can someone tell me what is going on here?” Doc asked. Heidie sighed, she motions them to follow her. They enter a slightly bigger hut, she locks the door. “Nothing, and I mean nothing leaves this room unless needed.” she tells the others, Heidie looked at Belle, like a motherly way “Go on, tell them what happened, take your time.” she tells her. Belle sighs deeply. “It was always me and my mother, despite the many sisters, she and I mostly are close. She was always so cheerful, happy even.” Belle says. “So what changed? What does it have to do with the Wasps?” Galaxy asked. “Well…While the honey is pure and delicious, it also attracted unwanted attention. Raiders and other colonies. The people were scared, so one day, my mother went to the wasp kingdom, to get protection. In exchange, they receive the honey as well…And that woman wanted my mother’s hand in marriage. She agreed and…And…” she chokes up a bit, til Trina puts her hand on her shoulder and Mastin does the same as well. Belle took a deep breath and continued. “At first, it was nothing, it was normal, til I noticed the bruises and when I confronted Bethany, she…She…” she pulled her shirt up a bit and the others were shocked, there were scars and bruises on her fuzzy body. Trina decided to take over, “It got bad…Real bad. My mom threatened to slaughter Goldie’s people if they tried to stand up against her. Starting with Belle. Goldie tried to get the queen’s help but Bethany’s troops and spies wouldn’t allow it. Heidie managed to learn what was happening, so she offered to take me and Belle to safety, but her mercenaries tried to attack us but they failed.” Trina finishes up.

“So that’s why they wanted her dead. And the mantis blood too, that was yours.” Doc pieces a bit and Heidie nodded. “Those mercs got lucky. But they were no match…Mastin, Trina, take Belle out for a moment, there’s something I need to speak to these four here.” she kindly tells them, the two nodded and left the hut, she sighs. “I guess Goldie wanted you to find her.” Heidie asked. “Yes…She said that if Belle doesn’t return, the colony will die.” Zoom says. “Hmph, good, let them die off, worthless, all of them.” she says bitterly. “Y-You do-don’t like h-her people do you?” Galaxy asked nervously, seeing Heidie. “No, I think all of them don’t deserve help.” Heidie tells them. “Well why did you help Goldie then?” Doc asked, Heidie looked away. “She and I…Go way back” she says, with a bit of sadness. “Did Tall lady…Like like small lady?” Boulder asked. “I still do…” she replied. “How did you..Really find out?” Zoom asked. “Goldie…Told me during our meetups. I noticed the black eye she had. I offered to put that monster down but she told me not to get involved. Didn’t want me getting hurt…Til I offered to take the girls in, at first, she didn’t want to do it, til one night…That night, when Belle got hurt, she begged me to get her daughter far away from there. She couldn’t let it get worse. Goldie only hired you to make sure she got here safely…She doesn’t deserve to suffer like this!” Heidie pounded her pincer on the table. She sighs. “I’m sorry you four are dragged into this mess…” she tells them. “No, don’t be sorry. There’s something else, when we were investigating, Doc killed a bee spying on us, carrying a cinnamon bomb. That was meant for Belle.” Zoom tells her. Heidie’s face went scorn now. “Oh that-That’s it! I’m done sitting back and letting this happen! It’s time I did something about it!” Heidie declared. “Wait, let’s not jump into it. Even if Mantises can take on the wasps, do that and the queen gets involved and no doubt Bethany will spin the story.” Doc tells her. “Then what do we do then?! I won’t leave Goldie to die there, I won’t lose her, not again!” Heidie tells him. “Well I do have an idea.” Zoom says, the others looked at her.

At the Hive…

Goldie looks at a locket, showing a picture of her and Belle, she sighs sadly, just then, she hears the doors opening and saw Bethany, she puts the locket away. “Well…I see you're still sulking like a worthless drone.” Bethany insults. “What do you want Bethany…” Goldie says with a monotone voice. “Simple, I want more honey. The guards ate through all of it and wanted more.” She tells her. “You took all the honey…” she tells her. “I don’t care, get me more will ya, and while you're at it, get me a beer.” she says with a snark. “...No.” Goldie says quietly. Bethany looked at her. “What did you say to me? My ears must be clogged, I thought I heard you say no.” she said, standing over her. “Well you heard right, I said no…I’m not doing this anymore. I’m done with you, your kingdom, everything.” Goldie told her, looking at her. “Who the hell do you think you're talking to you weakling!” Bethany slapped her across the face. “You don’t talk back to me like that!” she slaps her again. “You are nothing but a pawn! A slave! A worthless bitch!” she says as she kept slapping her, before another slap can be made, Goldie stopped her hand. “I don’t care what you do to me! You can beat me, cut me, whatever! But you will not hurt my daughter again!” Goldie flew up a bit to Bethany’s face when she said that, til she was punched across the cheek and hit the ground. “You think just because your daughter is safe that I just leave you? That I wouldn’t hurt you anymore?! My daughter would’ve finished the job if that mantis bitch didn’t show up! I know your little secret, my spies were there that night, the only reason why is because for one if I attacked, it would look bad and if I killed you, no more honey. But at this point, I don’t care anymore. Well thanks for this wasted marriage.” she took a dagger out and was about to stab her. Goldie didn’t look scared, only glaring at her. “WIPE THAT GLARE OFF YOUR UGLY FACE!” she plunges the dagger down.

Before she could stab Goldie, the gates busted opened and standing there was Heidie, holding a dead wasp guard, tossing it to the side. “H-Heidie, what are you doing?!” Goldie asked, fearing for Heidie’s life. “Something I should’ve done a long time ago.” Heidie says as she takes off her suit jacket, wearing a tank top, her arms were a bit muscled. “Well well well, if it ain’t the grasshopper reject. What, came to see your girlfriend die?” Bethany asked smugly. “I came to kick your sorry behind. Why not pick a fight with someone your size?” Heidie asked. “Guess you get to see your girlfriend die first.” Bethany taunted Goldie before walking toward Heidie, Goldie tried to get up but was dizzy and fell on the ground, she looked worriedly for Heidie. “You know, when I kill you, I’ll be sure to burn your home to the ground, I can blame the fire on a bunch of fire elementals.” Bethany mocks her, Heidie still looks determined. Both then began to charge at each other as Bethany swung her dagger at her, Heidie dodged the attacks, Bethany thrusted the knife at her, Heidie grabbed her arm and punched the knife out of her hands, she then gave two punches at her face and then kicked Bethany back hard. The wasp growled as she wiped white blood off of her. “Face it Bethany, I’m faster than you.” She tells her. “You think speed will do anything when you have 6 wasps coming after you.” Bethany snaps her fingers and 6 of them fall off the ceiling and surround her. “Face it Heidie, I won!” Bethany laughed crazily. Heidie looked calm, almost smirking a bit. Bethany sees this. “What are you so smug about?” she asks.

“You think I would be dumb enough to go alone?” she bangs her pincers together, on cue, a gunshot is followed, The wasps and Goldie look and see Doc, Zoom, Boulder and Galaxy by the door. “Hi your highness, hope we aren’t intruding.” Doc says. “Not at all…” Goldie says. Bethany only growls at this. “Kill them!” She ordered the wasps and flew at them. Doc jumps on one of them and claws at them, Zoom dodges and fires as two follow, the other two wasps try to attack Boulder as he holds them back, Galaxy runs as a wasp chases after her. Bethany gets hit again and tries to sting Heidie. “Stand! Still!” Bethany demanded as she tried to sting her. Galaxy tries to run but she is running out of room to run, she sees the dagger and slides over to it, she swings frantically at the wasp after her as the wasp flies back a bit, but their staff smacks the dagger away. “Galaxy, you need to stay calm!” Doc tells her as he gets the wasp in the chokehold. “I can’t! I’m too scared!” She slowly backs up to a pillar. “Galaxy, just cause you're scared doesn’t mean you're not strong! I know you can do this!” Zoom calls to her, however her shotgun gets knocked out of her hands and the wasp holds her down. “Zoom! ACK!” Doc gets back slammed to the wall and the wasp pins him down. Boulder was swatting at them but were missing. “You lost Heidie! I won! Your allies have fallen! You know after I kill you, I’ll kill your brat, an eye for an eye!” she says as Heidie’s blood boiled and rushed at her, but Bethany flies up. Galaxy looked around her, cornered and about to die, to the moment she remembers a moment on why she got scared in the first place. “Hey, if we’re going to die, can I have some last words to say!” Galaxy asked abruptly. “Well normally I don’t, but might as well, better make it super pathetic.” Bethany taunted.

“The reason why I’m scared of wasps and mantises is because back at the orphanage, two close right hands of the orphanage put them in my bed and summoned an entire worth of those two bugs, stinging me and biting me, that’s why I’m so scared of them!” Galaxy tells this to Doc and Zoom. “Wooooooow, that’s so ‘touching’ and ‘brave’ of you to share that to the rest of this pussy class! Time to die little girl!” Bethany taunts as the wasp cornering her thrusted the spear at her, but what happened next was Galaxy catching the spear and her face was with anger. “I’m no little girl anymore!” She brings the wasp close and upper cuts them, she then yanks the spear out of their hands and throws it at Bethany, hitting her wing. “GAH! OOF!” she crash lands on the ground, she growls and gets up, but was stopped by Heidie getting across the room, While the wasp guards see this, Doc kills the one pinning him down, he throws the talon at the one that’s pinning Zoom, the two wasp guards try to kill Boulder but get gunned down by Zoom and her shotgun. Boulder grabbed the wasp that held Galaxy at spear point gets crushed by Boulder.

Bethany tries to sting Heidie but the mantis woman grabbed her stinger and slams her to the pillar, the wasp queen was dazed but before she can recover, she gets grabbed by the back of her head and slams her repeatedly at the pillar, Heidie was showing no mercy, she then held her arms and Heidie jumped up high and began to land fast kicks onto her, til one kick sends her flying right at the wall, making a crack, Bethany was beaten to a pulp, face swollen and barely standing, in fact, she is on her knees, Heidie walked up and looked at her. “Get up.” She tells Bethany, Bethany tries to kick her but Heidie grabs her leg and breaks it. Making the wasp scream and whimpering. “Get. Up.” Heidie tells her coldly, Bethany gets up again and gives a weak punch across her face, Heidie responds with a headbutt and kick to the abdomen, knocking her to the ground, she tries to crawl away, til she feels her hand being crushed, stifling a scream. “Get….Up” Heidie demanded, clearly enjoying this. “Please…No more…Please…Mercy.” Bethany begged, the once mighty queen wasp, begging for mercy. “Mercy? Rich coming from you, tell me did she beg for mercy? Did you stop?” she pressed her foot further down as Bethany screamed. “No! I didn’t! I’m sorry! Please! No more! I’ll be better!” Bethany yelled in pain. Heidie raises her pincer up and brings it down at Bethany. “Heidie no!” Goldie begged. However instead of hitting her, it was mere inches close to her face, Heidie bends down to her face. “If you ever…And I mean ever, lay your hand on Goldie or the kids again, I will not hesitate to serve you up on the menu.” she coldly tells her and walks away, she picks up Goldie. “Gold…Are you okay?” Heidie asked her, Goldie nodded, she hugged her tightly, crying onto Heidie’s shoulder. “Thank you…Thank you..” Goldie cried a bit as Heidie held her closely. “You made the right call.” Doc tells Heidie. “Bethany won’t get scott free from this.” Zoom tells the two queens. Bethany growls, she stands as she coughs up blood, she looks at them. “You think…You won? You didn’t!” she pulled two cinnamon bombs out. “If I go down! So does Goldie, what a fitting end huh?! Til death do us part!” she laughs as she was about to set them off….

However, the ground began to shake as Bethany looked around, just then, vines began to sprout out of the palace, out of the walls and floors, a giant rose bud crashes through the throne’s seat, the vines restrict Bethany’s hands, which turn to encase them in the vines, she panicked and tried to escape. The Rose began to open and it was the kids, however the woman in the middle was green, flowers surround her body, she stands as she walks down from the rose, leaving flowers behind her growing. Heidie and Doc bows, Goldie giving an awkward bow. Boulder, Galaxy and Zoom were confused. “Uh Doc, is that…The queen?” she asks.

“Indeed I am, my child, but Rose is fine.” Rose says with a kind voice, her face with a caring smile. “Uh…Hi miss uh, Rose, we didn’t mean to disturb you.” Galaxy says. “M-My queen, what are you doing here?!” Bethany panicked, Rose turned, her face turning to a frown. “Well…Bethany was it? These children here told me about a certain problem with you. Especially hurting one of my subjects that is vital to our ecosystem.” she says with a stern tone, she opens the vine up and catches a cinnamon bomb. “Like this, and it was so interesting to see wounds on a child…The one you caused.” she says darkly as the vine begins to crush Bethany’s hand which the wasp queen began to stifle the scream. “I-I was stupid and wrong! I-I was teaching her a le-” before she can finish, a vine wrapped around her neck and lifted her up. “I-I don’t understand, ho-how did you manage to find the message?” Goldie asked. “That would be me.” Trina said. “These outsiders lended us the cart and when the guards saw me, they quickly let me out, thinking I was returning home, making the wing look broken, not giving a second glance.” Trina explained. “We just needed to buy some time til they get there, thus here we are…Though the confession was real.” Galaxy sheepishly says.

“Th-Thank you…All of you…” Goldie says, Belle hugged her mom tightly with Goldie returning the gesture. “Well Zoom is the one you should be thanking. She’s the one who came up with the plan” Doc tells her. “Well it was everyone involved…So what will happen now, Miss Rose?” Zoom asked. “Well for starters, seeing if we can fix some of the damage Bethany caused, have the honey returned, if any of them refuse, they have to answer to me.” Rose says as she lowered Bethany down. “As for you…I will decide your fate. I hate to leave on such noticed but I do have business to attend to…And thank you, for putting an end to the conflicts.” Rose says with relief, she began to drag Bethany as she tried to escape. “No! No! Please! Please! G-Goldie, sweetie, you wouldn’t let her take me, would you?!” she asked Goldie, Goldie glared and smirked, she waved at her. “No…NONONONONO! PLEASE! PLEASE!” she begs, once Rose returns to the rose, it closes and goes back, dragging Bethany down with her.

“Well…That’s haunting.” Galaxy says. “Green lady, nice.” Boulder says happily. “Yeah…Well the palace is screwed over. Where are you and Belle gonna stay?” Doc asked the two bees. “Well…H-Heidie, I-I know I ask a lot of you but-” before Goldie can finish, Heidie stops her. “Goldie, of course you can stay with us. I think my son enjoys having your daughter around.” Heidie chuckles. “Belle’s like a cool sister!” Mastin says as his eyes sparkle, Trina looks at the group, she tries to walk away but Goldie grabs her shirt sleeve. “Oh no you don’t missy, you're not going anywhere, your part of the family now, even if I’m not married to your mom anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t see you as my child.” Goldie says, Trina looks at her and sniffles a bit, she hugs the bee. “How can we ever thank you…” Belle looked at the four. “We’re just doing what anyone else wo-” Before Zoom can finish, Galaxy stops her. “Actually there is something…” Galaxy tells her.

At Joe’s Bar…

“One honey covered donut coming up!” Joe was currently handing out a honey donut to a customer. “So this is a bar…” Goldie says, wearing a cast and bandaged. “Not my taste but eh, the food’s good. Now open wide Goldie.” Heidie says as Goldie happily opens her mouth, the mantis feeding the bee. “Nice job you two, and as promised.” Joe gives Doc and Zoom some hefty cash. “Thanks Joe, though if I ever get roped into another political conspiricy again, I’m gonna bail.” Doc says. “Ah come on, it’s not that bad, plus we did end a conflict.” Zoom mentions. “I guess…” Doc says as the patrons began to dance to the music. “Seems the honey and alcohol finally kicked in, hey why not you two dance?” Galaxy asked them. “I don’t do dances.” Doc says, til Zoom drags him. “Come on, let's dance!” Zoom says. Doc sighs but decides to follow, Boulder and Galaxy looked at each other and went to the back room as the music went on. “Alright…Ready?” Galaxy asked Boulder, she took a honey jar out and held two donuts. “Ready!” Boulder says excitedly. They dip the donuts into the honey and take a bite, Boulder’s eyes widen. “Honey good! Boulder love it!” The rock giant says. “I mean…Okay it is very good.” Galaxy says. “Thanks Gal Gal!” Boulder tells her. “Your welcome buddy, may summer give us mercy.” Galaxy joked.

Meanwhile…

Deep in the lower dungeons, Bethany is chained to the wall. “I can’t believe I've been stripped of everything! If they find out…If HE finds out, I’m-” before she can finish, she hears heavy, metal clinging footsteps, she froze in fear…Then whistling was heard, notably ‘I don’t want to set the world on fire’, the torches began to go out, Bethany tried to escape but no luck, she looked at the other side and yelped, standing there was a figure in armor, wearing dark red armor, staring at her with their white eyes, on the hip was a purple lantern…And on the other a sword, upon closer inspection, there was a mask covering his face as horns were on it, a black crown was present too. “D-Dark lord! Wh-What a pl-pleasent surprise! Eh hehe, I-I’m just…Chilling here.” she says nervously as he remains silent, staring at her. She began to crack “I uh…M-Might’ve gotten a bit carried away at the end there an-and I know your upset and-” before she can finish, Dark lord is suddenly close to her face. “Upset…Now why would you think I would be upset…Considering one of my, supposed, best is in a cell. Your mission was to obtain the Bee kingdom.” Dark Lord spoke, and suddenly, the area began to get darker as shadowy creatures appeared, crawling towards her. “I-I see what you mean b-but have mercy pleeeeeease! It wasn't my fault! Those outsiders ruined everything, some punk girl with star-like hair along her dumb sidekick who looked like rock! A-And another girl with a hoodie andafoureyecreature!” she spoke the last part fast, suddenly the creatures stopped advancing. “Did you say…Four eye creature?” Dark Lord asked. “Y-Yes! Four eye creature! Skin like winter and horns on the side too! S-See not my fault, a-and I like to be free now, please?” Bethany asked.

Dark Lord looked off in thought for a moment…Before turning to her. “Freedom you shall get.” he tells her and snapped his finger, the creatures began to resume advancing. “W-Wait not that kind of freedom! No! No no! NOOOOOOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Bethany screamed as the creatures began to feast on her, Dark Lord leaves the cell. “I guess you were right, I was a bit upset…Such a waste…But you really have came back, old friend…And ruining my plans…Perhaps it’s time I intervene…I’ll make sure to see you soon, Dokah.” he says to himself, he continues to walk as he continues to whistle the tune and steps into a shadowy void, disappearing into the darkness and total silence…

Chapter Text

In a large building, humans and creatures in black and red armor are currently doing mundane tasks like filing paperwork, bringing in criminals and if proven guilty, execution, ya know, normal day in the office. They were the judge, jury and executioner, only those who committed serious felonies. They were the best of the best…This isn’t the case with these two.

“Amy get your potions off my desk, the last thing I need is the paperwork coming to life.” A man says, he has black eyes with yellow irises, irregular glasses and a black suit with a white shirt and red tie underneath, he has a slim body. What's most outstanding is his skin which is green, other than that, he looked human. “Well maybe if you didn’t explode my desk, maybe then I would take my potions and not deal with your coffee addiction, Cree!” a woman who's name is Amy, she is the polar opposite of Cree, she wears a pink peplum, purple leggings and pointy shoes, she also wears a witch hat as well.


“Well maybe if you didn’t shoot your little flame at me, we wouldn’t be here, Amy! Now go deal with that wart on the long nose, witch,” he insults. Amy was a witch but not your mill of a witch, she was actually beautiful in human terms. “I don’t have a wart! That be you, you walking toad!” she fires back. “Child kidnapper!” Cree shot back. “Bulgy eyes!” Amy shot back. The two bicker for a few minutes, until an intercom comes on. “Amy Yearwod and Cree Sokolov, report to my office now!” a gruff voice calls them. “Uh oh, seems you two will be getting the ax, good thing too, less embarrassments here.” An Ice elemental commented on them. “First of all, Jerry, we are not embarrassments, second of all, we aren’t the ones who got their weapon stolen by a monkey at the zoo.” Cree comments on the Ice elemental, Jerry scoffs and walks away.

The two get up and head to the office, they enter and sat down, Amy sweating bullets, the chair turns slowly and sitting there is an anthropomorphic black mouse with a white patch over the right eye, and this mouse was not happy. “Ch-Chief, wh-what seems to be the problem?” Amy asks nervously. “Well Miss Yearwod…I been getting complaints about you and Mr. Sokolov screaming non stop, your potions coming to life and causing disturbances. Not to mention your fiasco with your desk exploding!” the mouse yells and slams his hand on the table, Cree only chuckles, the mouse turns to him. “I don’t know why you're laughing! You cause much more disturbance than her! Coffee grounds going missing, mugs missing and god forbid you cost this department more funds than my own god damn 20 flesh and blood, and they actually get shit done better then you two!” the mouse yelled at him. “If they got a problem, then they can come talk to me.” Cree says, not caring about the mouse problem. “You know what? I had it up to here with you two, I want you to pack up your things and get out of my office!” The mouse yells at them. “Wait! Captain, please, give me another chance! Fire Cree but don’t fire me!” Amy begs, Cree only rolls his eyes.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Yearwod. But I made up my mind, I want you two gone by the time I leave my office.” The captain says, Cree gets up and walks out the office, Amy sniffles and walks out, coming behind them is an anthropomorphic black bear. “Captain Quinn, a call is being made to you.” The black bear cop tells him. “Thank you Pvt. Grey, I’ll take it from here.” Quinn says, once the door closes, Quinn picks the phone up. “This is Captain Quinn, how can I help you?” he asks. “It’s Oga.” Oga tells Quinn. Quinn stands attention and is nervous. “G-General Oga!? Wh-what can I do for you o-on this fine day?” he asks him. “Quinn..I have an assignment for your boys to do. I want a suspect brought in.” the orc tells him. “Of course, of course, who’s the suspect?” Quinn asks. “Dokah Osopo Camaka.” Oga tells him, Quinn’s eyes widen. “Ex-Excuse me?” Quinn asks, now more worried. “Bring him in. Orders from the top.” he tells him. “S-Sir with all due respect, none of my men will go for it, they’re too scared and even if I could get some volunteers, they’ll just go into the body bags!” Quinn explains. “Quinn…Quinn Quinn Quinn. When I made you captain, I expected results and you delivered those results.” Oga says as Quinn looks at the photo of the day he was sworn in, a nervous smile is plastered as Oga shakes the mouse's hand. “Are you going to fail me now?” Oga asked not out of sincere concern but more of a threat.

“O-Of course not! I-I promise to have one of my members get him, even if it’s a piece of him!” The mouse reasures, he only hears a chuckle “Good…I expect to hear you soon.” Oga tells him as there was a click, hanging up, Quinn began to panic. “Oh my god what have I done?! If I don’t deliver this guy’s head then Oga will have mine! No one’s going to accept the job, god this is the worst day of my life!” Quinn panicked and paced back and forth, he looked at his desk and saw Cree and Amy’s files, he suddenly got an idea…

“God what am I going to do now?! I can’t go back to being a barista!” Amy laments as she packs her stuff up. “You probably make terrible coffee, or worse, poison mine.” Cree tells her, Amy looked at him. “This is all your fault! If you hadn't exploded my desk, none of this would happen!” Amy accused him. “Don’t blame me, you're the one who used a fire spell! Always with you witches and giving away potions like candy!” Cree snapped at her. Quinn began to approach the two, Amy gave a panicked quick squeal. “C-Captain! I swear that I was just finishing packing up!” Amy quickly defends herself. “Listen…I've been harsh on you two. And I would like to apologize.” Quinn tells them. This shocked Amy and even Cree. “I’m sorry I might’ve got something ear, did you…Apologize?” Cree asked in disbelief. “Yes I apologized, what just cause I’m hard on everyone here doesn’t mean I don’t apologize for screwing up? In fact…I’m so regretful, I want to put you two on a case.” Quinn tells them. Amy’s eyes light up, Cree however felt something off. “Really…A case…What’s the catch?” Cree asked as he crossed his arms.

“Whaaaaaat? A catch? No no no, no catch. Do this and I’ll give you your jobs back.” Quinn tells them. “I gladly accept!” Amy says. “Not gonna happen…I got some demands.” he tells Quinn, the mouse sighs. “Fine, what are they?” Quinn asked. “A raise for starters. Unlimited supply of Coffee and oh, my own office.” Cree lists off. “What?! No way!” Quinn tells him “Fine, then I’m leaving, good luck with whatever case this is.” Cree waves off, Quinn was sweating bullets now. “Okay! Okay! Fine you’ll get those things!” the mouse tells him. Cree stopped and turned around. “That’s more like it, consider this case done.” Cree told him.

Meanwhile…

“So that’s why Platypuses have those in the UVA lights” Zoom asked, kinda disgusted by it “Yep, course they can also produce milk from their skin too” Doc says as he drinks his coffee. Just then he felt a tap on his shoulder, he turns to see who it is “Hello, I’m officer Cree and this is my annoying partner Amy” Cree says as the witch looks offended. “And uh, what seems to be the problem here?” Zoom asked suspiciously. “That’s not your concern ma’am, you come with us sir or we’ll do it by force.” he tells him “A little bit early for the violence there?” Doc asks as he glared at Cree, just then the exploding toad hybrid gets yanked off “I’m sorry about my partner, he’s a bit ... .Well a mess of an idiot, but we do need to bring you in for questioning” Amy tells him kindly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you mooks.” Doc tells her. “Fine by me.” Cree then grabbed Doc by the back of his head and slammed him to the table. “Hey!” Zoom gets up but gets seated back down as a purple aura surrounds her arms and legs, she sees Amy doing this as her hand is out and her hand glowing that same color as those restraints. “Sorry miss, nothing personal.” The witch tells her. Doc growls animalistically when she restrains Zoom, he claws Cree on the leg “Shit!” Cree let go and backed up, Doc grabbed Amy and twisted her arm “AH!” she screamed surprised and a bit in pain, the aura disappearing around Zoom “Zoom run!” Doc tells her and she nodded and booked it, Doc then grabbed her and threw her at Cree, both falling on the ground, Doc soon then runs following Zoom

“Get off of me!” Cree shoves Amy off “They’re getting away, we gotta stop them!” Amy say and once she got up, she gave chase, Cree followed suit. Doc runs on all fours and he throws stuff to slow them down, the results were the two officers were sliding on cherry tomatoes, Doc took a moment to record the scene that’s happening. After getting their footing back on and the chase resumes, Doc sees a family of sharks up ahead and he jumps over gracefully, Amy and Cree jump on the table and wrecked everything, however Doc escapes. “Damn it! We almost had him!” Cree says as he smacks a stop sign. Amy sighs “We can still catch him, we just need some supplies.” Amy says. “Shut up I’m thinking…It’s not over yet, we just need some supplies.” he says, Amy just looked at him baffled that he stole her idea.

“How about we supply you two some sharp teeth into your skulls.” A voice spoke up. The two turned and saw the shark family pissed off and both looked down and saw the food on their shoes. “Uhhh…My assistant will happily pay for the food, right Amy? Amy?” Cree looked around and saw she was gone, he looked at the shark family that was looming over him, he gulps and eyes widen, he nervously chuckles.

Later, at the office…

“So…Let me get this straight…You two had him…But he slipped through you, not only that, you also disturbed the peace and tried to forcefully take him in?!” Quinn asks, enraged, Amy shifts in her seat “I mean when you put it like that…” she says nervously, sitting next to her was a beat up Cree which had bruises all over him, his suit torn and a tooth on his head. “And now you need…Supplies to catch him…My blood pressure…Is so goddamn high right now, Vampires mouths would be on fire at an instant!” he shouted at the two. Amy winced while Cree had the look of ‘I don’t give five fucks’. Quinn sighs and rubs his face. “Okay…Okay…I will give you the supplies, just get him here!” Quinn tells the two, the two left the office. “How were you so unbothered by this?” Amy asked him, Cree looked at her and removes the ear plugs. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked her, Amy’s jaw dropped, she shakes her head “No no, forget it, we have the okay to use the supplies.” Amy tells him. “Alright, time for payback.” Cree says.

Meanwhile…

“What even is that all about?” Zoom asked, so confused. “Just some lowly beat cops trying to earn a paycheck or keep their job.” Doc says as he drinks his cup, his face goes into disgust “What the hell is this?” he says as he looks at the drink in question. “I think that’s…Mango peach.” Zoom says “What kind of those two fruits make this so bad? I like the other place better…” he says, just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned, it was Cree and Amy again, this time wearing some armor “Alright Doc, time to come in quietly, and don’t try any of that clawing stuff again, we’re prepared this time.” Cree says muffled.

“Wait, did you just walk here with that armor on this entire time?” Zoom asked. “Of course not! We took the bus here.” Amy says. Both Doc and Zoom looked at each other with blank faces and got up and began to walk away. “Hey come back!” Amy said as she tried to run but the armor was too heavy. “You can’t run forever!” Cree says as he slowly began to walk. “I mean we aren’t even running, we’re just walking away.” Doc says, both crossed the street, the two officers reached the crosswalk finally and when they reached the middle of it, the sign changed from walk to stop, just then cars started to come “Oh crap, turn around! Turn around!” Amy says as they turn around and tried to run, but before they can make it, the cars hit the two as they began to bounce off of the vehicles passing by them, Doc laughs at this as Zoom showed some concern on her face, finally, the road was clear and the two were laying on the ground, groaning in pain. Doc and Zoom look over the two. “You know, that was a bit funny, it reminded me of a cartoon when I was a kid.” Zoom says. “When…We get back up…You’ll be sorry!” Amy muffled, on cue the crosswalk sign changes again. “Oh no…Nonnonono notagain!” Cree panics and tries to get up, but then more cars came and started to run them over, they should be dead but they aren’t, just being ran over by cars as the other two watch this unfold.

Later…

“Okay this is a lot better than the last place.” Doc says as he is eating a forgurt. “Mmmmm, Strawberry coconut, perfect.” he says as Zoom eats her “Mmmmm, Peach and mandarin, yes please!” Zoom says. However the shop doors opened and it was Cree and Amy again, “Don’t you two have anything better to do then this?” Zoom asks, just shocked they are back again. “Yeah, come on, at this point, just call it quits and go home before you two embarrass yourselves, sorry, embarrass yourselves further.” Doc says. Cree takes out a small booklet, he writes down and gives him a check. “What’s this?” Doc asked. “A check, I’m offering it in exchange for you coming to the station with us.” Cree says. “A 5 dollar check? Really?” Zoom asked not amused. “Yeah I'm worth more than 5 dollars.” Doc tells them. “Okay fine…How about 10 dollars.” Cree says “Oooooh, 10 dollars, that’s a lot of money you know” Amy says trying to hype him up.

“...Tell you what, I will come down with you guys to the station.” Doc says. “Wait really? Yes!” Amy says excitedly. “BUT! …You gotta buy me and my friend here 4 frogurts to go.” He tells them. “Yeah, it’s the least you can do.” Zoom says and Cree heads up to the counter. “Yeah, can I take 4 frogurts to go?” Cree asks an ice elemental. “Alright, that’ll be 20 bucks.” the ice elemental cashier says. “What!? 20 dollars, for frogurt?!” Amy asked, just shocked at that price. “It’s fine, here.” he writes down a check. “Eh sorry pal, we don’t take checks.” the cashier told him. “Ugh, fine.” he takes out a credit card. “Nor do we take card, cash only.” the ice elemental told them. “What?! Ugh! Amy, you pay the man!” Cree tells her “Okay fine! You cheapskate.” she mumbles the last part and rummages through her coin purse and pulls out a 5 and 10 dollar bill. “Here’s that…The last three are 1’s and the last two are quarters…” she pulls out three 1 dollar bills and 8 quarters and hands them to the cashier. “Oh yeah, what kind of flavors did you two wa-” Cree turned and saw that Doc and Zoom are gone. “That son of a-!” Cree growls in frustration and slams on the counter, he rushes outside to see where they went but lost sight. “Damn it!!!” Cree shouts and kicks a trashcan. Amy comes out with the four frogurts, one of which she is currently eating one of them.

“Amy…What are you eating?” Cree asked, trying to hold his rage in. “Oh! Well if you must know, I’m eating a blueberry frogurt” she explains. “Ah okay, hey can I try that real quick?” he asked her. “Um sure?” she asked and handed it to him. Cree takes it and as soon as she hands it over, he chucks it, “My blueberry frogurt!” Amy cried out “I don’t know if I have to remind you, but OUR JOBS ARE ON THE LINE HERE!” he shouted at her “THAT FROGURT WAS AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER!” Amy shouted back at him, the two at each others face, til they heard a fake cough behind them, they turned and both eyes widen and gulped, it was the same shark family from earlier and the frogurt cup was on the elder’s nose. “He did it.” Amy points to him. “Oh come on. ACK!” Cree choked out and just the sounds of beatings, bitings and bones breaking were heard, Amy watches on as she eats another frogurt, chuckling slightly.

later, at Joe’s Bar…

“And so these two clowns keep chasing you?” Galaxy asked. “Yeah, they won’t just leave me alone, problem is, they are actually entertaining.” Doc tells her as he drinks his ale. “Yeah, literally we saw them bounce on the cars and Doc pulled a fast one on them by making them pay frogurt!” Zoom laughs out as she held her sides a bit. “Bad people come here?” he asks them. “Nah bud, I think I shook them off pretty good, no way they’ll find us he-” before he could finish, the ground began to shake, the glasses on the counter falling off, just then, it stopped. “Doc! Get your ass out here now! And come up with your hands up!” Cree spoke through the megaphone. “The heck is it now?” Zoom asks and gets up. The four stepped outside and saw a tank aiming at the bar, the hatch opened and it was Cree and Amy. “Try running away now! I got a freaking tank on my side!” Cree says as his eye twitches. “Don’t you think this is a bit overkill?!” Zoom says panicked “This is the right amount of kill! I will bring you back in pieces if I have to!” Cree says, clearly done with this. “Unless you choose to surrender peacefully!” Amy tells them.

“Well…Hmmm…Tempting but I’ll pass.” Doc tells them, this shocked the three “Fine have it your way then!” Cree says and gets back inside, he aims the cannon at them. “Doc, are you crazy?!” Zoom asked him “Yeah you better have a plan before this tank blows the entire bar up!” Galaxy says. “I do…Boulder, can you bend the pointy thing up? Show me how big and strong you are” Doc says. “Okay!” Boulder said cheerfully and walked over and grabbed the barrel of the tank. “Goodbye Doc!” Cree shouted from inside the tank and fired, however nothing happened, Cree hit the button multiple times “Cree what did you do?” Amy asked him “I didn’t do anything!” Cree told her, the two check out of the hatch again and saw the barrel bended upwards and the two looked up, they saw the shells heading towards the tank, they quickly bailed and on cue it hits the tank, making it half damaged and it looked like if something else touched it, it would explode. Both officers were laying on the ground, in defeat “Look, you two lost, why not call it a day, go home and find new jobs yeah? It’s a lot easier.” Doc tells the two.

They both simply groaned. “Okay now I’m starting to feel bad for them…” Zoom says. “I mean they deserved it.” Doc says, he sees Zoom’s displeased face, he sighs “Your right…It is fair to cut them a break…Here let me give you a hand.” he has his hand out, however as soon he did, cuffs were on him “What the?!” Doc looked at them just shocked that it happened and the two get up immediately “Ah ha! We finally got you!” Cree says as he pants “Yeah! In your face! Wooo!” Amy says, the three try to interfere but they get met with rock golems off the ground, Amy’s eyes glowing pink “Don’t even try it punks! These golems will make sure to tear you apart with ease.” Amy says all smug. “Alright partner, let’s bring him and keep our jobs.” Cree says “Wait…You called me…Partner…” Amy says surprised, Cree stopped a moment. “Wait…Your right, I did call you partner..Ya know, could always have a partner.” Cree says as he had his hand out. Amy smiles and shakes it. “Awww, that’s so sweet.” Zoom says seeing all of this happened. “You do know that only one of you can keep the job right?” Doc asked them “Say what?” Amy says. “Only one of you can keep the job. And to be honest, I think the green guy’s going to keep his.” he tells the two. Both officer’s looked at each other…And they tackled upon each other, dragging Doc into it, the rock golems began to crumble, having the focus lost.

The three rush over as they try to help Doc get out, at this point they were grabbing a piece of him, Cree and Amy on his horns, Boulder with his legs and Galaxy and Zoom on his arms, Amy quickly took a potion and pulled, making the others surprised at her sudden strength. “How did you get that strong so quickly?!” Zoom asked surprised “Strength potion! Now give us the suspect!” she tells them and at the same time, pulls. “Never!” Zoom yelled and pulled back harder with Galaxy. “Starting…To hurt!” Doc calls out, just then his horn is torn off and the hit the burned tank, some fire gets on Cree and the half exploding toad man widens his eyes “Oh shi-” He explodes and the tank explodes as well, sending the four back, Doc’s head, already regrowing the missing horn “Are bad people…” Boulder asks, through the smoke they see a pink shield and lowered, the two running away. “No…No they aren’t dead.” Doc says as he gets up, he rubs his head, mostly where the horn was torn off, Zoom sees the horn is already back. “You know…I always wondered how you got your regenerative abilities.” she says “Well…I always had them I guess, since the day I was born.” he tells her and looks at the wreck of the tank. “I think those two are calling it quits there.” Galaxy says. “Yeah…I think I had my fill for a while.” Zoom says. “Me too Zoom…Me too.” Doc agrees.

Later, At the station…

“So…You two…Mean to tell me…That you failed to capture the suspect…You lost one of our tanks, blew the street up, and did some damage to property…All over who gets to keep their job?” Quinn asked as Cree and Amy, sitting in snoot, were sitting and slowly nodded, it was silent…Then there was a chuckle, then giggling and fully went on laughing, both of them were creeped out by this, just then the mouse slammed his fist on the table “YOU TWO ARE THE MOST PATHETIC EXCUSES OF OFFICERS! ALL YOU HAVE TO SHOW IS HIS HORN AND THAT’S IT?!” Quinn was full on pissed now, his phone rang “WHAT?!” he shouted through the phone. “M-Mr. Quinn, y-you have a visitor.” the secretary says “I DON’T CARE, THEY CAN WAIT THEIR SORRY ASS TIL I’M DONE!” he slams the phone down and looked at them “I want you to hand over your badge and gun, then I want you out of my offi-no my section of this city and I swear to god if I see you two here again I will-” Before Quinn could finish his threat, the door was slammed opened, coming in was Oga, the mouse's face went from anger to fear.
“Telling me…To wait my sorry ass, for you. You must be out of your mind.” Oga says with a bit of rage in his voice as he takes his axe out.

“W-Wait I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean it like that, I swear! I was just about to fire these two!” Quinn points at them, Oga looks down at the two and saw something in Amy’s hand. “What do you got there?” the black orc asks, his anger replacing it with curiosity. “U-Uh th-this is a H-Horn from the suspect, Dokah Osopo Camaka” Amy says nervously. “Interesting…What are your names?” Oga asked as he put the ax away and his four arms crossed. “M-My name is Cree a-and this i-is Amy.” Cree says, also shaken up. “Cree and Amy…Interesting names.” He says as he sits down on the couch, his eyes not leaving them. “You know…Not many people manage to get close to him, take a piece from him and live. I’m impressed.” he says as he chuckles slightly. “How about I offer you two a job.” he asks them. “S-Sir with all due respect, they are nothing but trouble and-” before Quinn could continue with the argument, he was quickly shut down. “Do you question my decision? Like how I question you about your leadership. These two may have failed but they gain something far more worth than you or your department could ever do…You would end up in body bags by lunch time. Which I could go for a smoked mouse.” he bared his teeth as Quinn shuts up. “What do you say you two…Come work for me and all of your desires will come true.” he tells them. Cree and Amy looked at each other and smiled. “We happily accept.” Amy tells him.

“Good, come along now, we have much work to do, oh and Quinn…Talk to me like that again, you won’t live to see retirement.” he warns him, Quinn nods as the three leave his office, once they leave, Quinn passes out from fear.

Chapter Text

Zoom was currently walking home from the market, in the bag was milk, bread and chips. “Got chips and bread for dinner, milk for breakfast, nothing more or less. Today’s a wonderful day!” she happily says as she does a little skip too, she passes by an alleyway, however she hears a whimper from said alleyway, she raises her brow and steps back to it “Hello? Anyone hurt?” she calls out, she walks down the alleyway to find the source, she looks around, saw it was empty, she then look down and bends down, inside a worn out box was a small little creature, upon closer inspection, it was a puppy, shaking and whimpering, their fur dirty, Zoom covers her mouth and opens the bag of chips, she pulls one out and has it out for the pup, the pup looked at her and the chip, he takes it and chews it slowly, Zoom takes another one out and the pup takes it, Zoom smiles at the pup and rubs its head gently as the puppy leans against the hand.

“You're a cute little fella huh? Yes you are” she baby talks the pup, she carefully picks them up and puts the pup in her hoodie pocket “There, your safe little guy, when we get back, I’ll be sure to take good care of you” she says as she heads out of the alleyway. “I think Doc would enjoy a little company in the apartment” she thought to herself as she makes her way back to the apartment.

Meanwhile…

Doc was currently cutting up some bell peppers with his claws, he was currently making some spaghetti, he uses a knife to cut the rest into smaller pieces, Zoom nor him were that much of picky eaters, he does it so more flavor is in, he puts the cut up bell peppers into the sauce and began to stir it, he brings out the hamburger out and began to cook it, on cue, the door opens and came in Zoom with the bag “Hey Doc! I’m home!” Zoom says as she closes the door “Hey Zoom, how was the trip to the market?” Doc asked her. “Oh uneventful, say I was wondering about something?” She asked the half-fire elemental monster “What is it?” he asked her. “So I was wondering….What does this place need?” Zoom asked him. “More plants?” he asked her. “Uh close but no…Why not a puppy?” she asked him, Doc stopped mid place, this concerned Zoom. “Uhhh…Doc, you alright?” she asked him. “A…Dog?” he asked her, he slowly turned to her, almost looking offended. “Uh…Yes?” she says. “Hell no!” Doc says as he goes back to cooking. “Wha?! Why?!” she asks him “Cause dogs and I don’t go hand to hand together, sure they may look cute and innocent, but during my time, they are assholes to me, they chased me, bite me, tackled me and at one point, swam after me!” he rants “Then they have the gull to act all cutesy and pretty, not to mention full of themselves. Good job you flea ridden mutt, you caught your tail. And the way they beg their food all the time and just-I rather set myself on ice then deal with a disgusting mutt!” he shouts as he intensely cuts up an onion.

Zoom’s eyes were widened and she is sweating, she looked at the puppy in her hoodie pocket. “Anyway, if it’s a pet, then yeah maybe a pet wouldn’t hurt, why you want to get one?” Doc asked her “N-Nah, I was just curious is all.” she says, laughing nervously “Hey I gotta go to the room real quick” she says and rushes to the room before Doc can ask, he shrugs and went back to cooking.

Zoom quickly shuts the door and carefully took the puppy out of her hoodie pocket “Okay, so from here on out, I’ll take care of you, just gotta not let Doc see you little guy. Huh, in fact I don’t know if your a guy or girl…Well after a warm bath, we’ll figure out your gender and a name for ya.” she peeks her head out of the room and saw Doc still cooking, she picks the puppy up and heads to the bathroom, she starts the water up and began to clean the puppy up, the dirt and grime coming out as the puppy whines and whimpers “Shhhhhh, buddy, you gotta be quiet for me, Doc can’t know that your-” before she can finish, there was a knock on the door “Hey Zoom, you alright?” Doc asked her “Um, yes! I’m okay, I just accidentally stubbed my toe!” she says “You sure? I can come in and check it out” he says “N-No it’s okay, I’ll manage!” she says, she hears the footsteps walking away, she sighs in relief and looks at the puppy. “Your gonna get me in trouble, you know that right?” she tells the pup, the puppy only just licked Zoom’s nose, the woman couldn’t help but chuckle “Aw, I can’t get mad at you my fuzzy little baby” she cooed to the puppy.

After cleaning the puppy up, the fur was black with some yellow stripes, and it was a girl. “Well now that we know what gender you are, we need a name…Oh! How about Joy?” she asks the pup, the puppy loved the name “Then Joy it is, don’t worry Joy, I’ll take good care of you” she tells her as the puppy licks her face happily.

A montage began to happen as Zoom was bonding with Joy, the dog was beginning to look more healthy and happy, however it came with a few incidents.

Doc made himself a sandwich, he turned his back to get mustard, which Joy took the sandwich when he wasn’t looking, he turned around and saw it was gone, he scratched his head a bit wondering where it went.

Another instance is when Joy is chewing on Zoom’s shoes, shaking them and growling, Zoom quickly rushes over and removes them from Joy, she looked at the pup and crossed her arms, however she hears the door opening and quickly ordered Joy to hide, Doc opens the door and saw the torn up shoes, the best excuse Zoom can give was she ran the shoes down to the soles, Doc only nods and offered to get new shoes.

Joy climbs up the table and sees a piece of cake on the table, she wags her little tail and began to eat it up, she sits down after eating it and barks a bit, wagging her tail excitedly with frosting on her nose.

After Doc falls asleep, Zoom picks Joy up and nuzzles up to her, same with the dog, Joy yawns and falls asleep, Zoom smile and kisses her little head before turning off the light on her side and falling asleep.

The next morning…

Zoom wakes up, yawning and stretching as she scratches her face a bit and smacks her lips, she looks at her side and gives a tired smile “Good morning little pu-Oh my god!!!” she screams out and falls off the bed, sitting in her bed where the puppy was sleeping, is replaced by a full on 3 year old dog, the dog gets up and pants happily “Joy?!” Zoom asked shocked, Joy barks in response and gets down and licks her face “Joy I’m happy to see you too but what happened?! I only had you for a few days, how are you this big already?!” she asked shocked that this is happening.

“Zoom you alright?! I heard you scream!” Doc says through the door “U-Uh yeah! I’m okay! I was startled by a spider!” she told him “I’m coming in Zoom!” Doc tells her as he jiggles the doorknob, Zoom panics and throws the covers onto Joy “Quick Joy, lay down!” She quickly tells her and the dog obeys. Doc opens the door wide open and enters holding a shoe “Alright, where’s the bloody spider?!” he whacks the show against his hand “Uhhhhhhhhh, I don’t know, I-I wasn’t looking” she says nervously.

Doc sighs and puts the shoe down, he was about to leave the room til he saw a giant lump on the bed “Zoom…What’s that?” he asked her. “What’s what?” she asked, she sees his horns glow a light gray “That lump on the bed, what is it?” he asked her, crossing his arms “Uhhhhhh…My snack stash.” she says even more nervous, Doc’s horns glowed again. “U-Um my clothes piled up” she says, now sweating bullets, Doc’s horns glow even more “Okay what the heck is that all about with your horns?!” she asked him. “The horns glow when someone is lying to me, I rarely need them cause of-Wait don’t change the subject, Zoom, lump, now.” he says getting back on track. Zoom sighs “Okay…Don’t get mad.” she tells him, she goes over to the blanket and removes the covers, revealing Joy.

“Zoom…Is that....A dog I see? Even when I said no dogs?” he asks as he gives off a disappointed face. “I can explain! I found Joy in the alleyway and she was dirty, scared and hungry, so I might’ve brought her back here but I couldn’t let a defenseless pup die out there!” she explains. “Zoom, why didn’t you just tell me?!” he asked her “I wanted to, but you made it clear you didn’t want dogs!” she tells him “Yeah but I also would’ve allowed her to stay til we figured something out, I hate them but not a monster!” Doc retorts.

Joy began to wrinkle her nose for a bit and then sneezes, which the lamp shuts off, she sneezes again and the lamp turns back on, the two saw it and slowly looked at each other.

“Zoom…Did you ever figure out the breed for this monster?” he asked her, still shocked that it happened. “Um…I-I assume it was a black and yellow labrador” Zoom says, also still in shock. “Zoom…The yellow stripes are lighting..And the black is fire…You brought an elemental dog back here!” He looked at Zoom, Joy began to growl looking at Doc, her body began to imitate sparks and smoke, she then tackles Doc to the ground and tries to bite him “Joy no!” Zoom says as she tried to get her off but takes her hand away when she gets shocked “See! This is what I mean when I say dogs are assholes!” Doc says as he tries to get Joy off. “That’s not the case! Joy’s only protecting me! She sees you as a threat!” Zoom explains to him.

Doc gets her off as Joy growls and lunges, however Zoom steps in the way and at that moment, Joy bit Zoom’s arm, she stifles her scream, Joy quickly let’s go and backs up and began to whimper, Zoom’s arm began to bleed a lot, Doc quickly pulls her sleeve up, he looked at Joy “Bad dog! Bad!” he yelled at her, Joy only whimpers and lays down, Doc helps her up and began to take her to the bathroom to clean the wound up, Joy whines and paces around, clearly didn’t mean to hurt her, she sees the window open and looked at her owner for the last time before using the fire escape to get down and run away.

“Hold still Zoom, I need to treat the bite wound.” he tells her as he pours some alcohol onto it “Okay, she didn’t bite deep into the skin, hopefully if you just leave the arm alone, it’ll heal in a couple of days, a week even” he says. “Joy, I need to see if she’s alright, she’s probably-” before Zoom can finish, Doc stops her “Zoom, you found a possibly diseased dog, be lucky the bite wasn’t hard…Still, maybe taking you to the hospital is a good idea. Get some shoes on” he tells her as he steps out, he looks around and doesn’t see Joy anywhere, he sees the window opened and slightly curses under his breath, now he’s got two things to worry about.

After getting her shoes on, the two get to the car, course Zoom wonder where Joy is, Doc lied a bit, saying that Joy’s hiding, well it’s half a lie, he drove her to the hospital, once there and the nurses taking Zoom to a room, he sighs to himself and steps outside for a bit, getting some fresh air “Okay…There’s four ways this can go. I can say I took Joy to the shelter but she will be horribly sad…God it will be that whole mexican restaurant thing again.” he says as he shudders, after thinking for a bit, he sighs to himself “Okay…I better find this dog, just until we can figure out what to do. I just gotta track her and if she was near Zoom the entire time, I can track her.” he then gets on all fours and runs.

He follows the trail as he is over the city, searching high and low for Joy, he was almost ready to call it quits, til he heard barking and growling, he follows the commotion and sees a pack of stray, but normal, dogs, among them is Joy, who looks like she is defending her supposed food, Doc grabs two trash can lids and bangs them together, the stray dogs retreat but Joy still stands her ground. Doc puts the trash can lids away and approaches Joy slowly “Joy…I’m not here to fight, I’m just here to bring you home.” he tells the dog, Joy only looks down and he could tell on her face, it was guilt.

“Look, I know you didn’t mean to bite her, it was an accident. Despite me hating most dogs, I don’t hate you. You didn’t want anything happening to her and I understand that, I don’t want anything happening to her too. Even if you did bite her, she was wondering where you are and if you're okay.” Doc tells Joy as the electric/fire dog looks up and her ears perk up. “Yeah, she still cares about you. If she knew you ran away, she would be devastated…Tell you what. If we get all your shots done and if you behave…Then you can stay with us, does that sound like a deal? I’ll even give you a treat, deal?” Doc asks the dog, Joy runs over and jumps on Doc, panting happily and licking his face, Doc chuckles “Okay, it’s a deal then, come on, let’s go check on Zoomie.” he tells Joy as she follows Doc.

Later…

Zoom was checking out her phone, scrolling away, til a knock was heard, she looks up and sees Doc, she smiles “Hey Doc, I see you got little ol me some flowers” she says seeing the flowers he was holding. “Yeah, figure as much, I decided to swing back at the apartment to grab someone” Doc says, on cue, it was Joy who entered the room and jumped on the medical bed and began to lick her face “Joy! Oh my sweet baby, you're okay!” she says as she pets her all over, she looked at Doc, concern on her face “Hey it’s fine, she’s grown on me a little, we can keep her, as long as you get vaccinated” he tells her as Zoom smiled “Thank you Doc…I’m sorry for lying to you” she tells him “It’s fine, all in the past now” he tells her “What the doctors say?” he asked her “Oh! They told me I was fine, luckily Joy didn’t carry any diseases, but we should get her all checked out just to be sure.” she says

“Well that’s good to hear” Doc sighs in relief “Hey Doc…Can you stay with me tonight?” she asked him, he chuckles “Yeah, I can stay for the night” he says as he grabs a chair, he felt Joy lick his face as she pants, Doc began to rub her head and gets himself comfortable. “By the way, for hiding Joy from me, we’re watching what I wanna watch” he says and clicks through the hospital TV as she groans, and Joy laying down on the floor next to the hospital bed and resting.

Chapter Text

It was a cool fall breeze this afternoon, the leaves falling off as the citizens walk around doing their business, we take a look at a cafe, and outside at the tables we see Doc and Zoom sitting at the table currently drinking some coffee, Joy was under the table as she enjoys her pup cup, the reason WHY they are here is, well they got a call from Galaxy to meet up here to talk, they were just now waiting for her, weirdly enough, when they went to order their drinks and tried to pay for them, the barista told them that someone went ahead and paid for their drinks, and when they wondered who, it was by Galaxy, now this intrigued them and here we are in the present.

“You know, it’s nice of Galaxy to pay for our drinks, along with our little puppy here.” Zoom cooed the last part to Joy as the lighting/fire dog wags her tail and looks at her, laying her head on Zoom’s lap. “You know, it’s weird that she paid this for us…Feels awfully suspicious” Doc says as he sips his coffee, “Come on Doc, lighten up a bit, maybe she just wanted to do something nice for us” she says “Galaxy? Being nice? Please, the only time she’s nice is when Boulder is around her and even then there’s some agenda, like most humans.” he says with venom in his tone. “Doc not everyone have an agenda, like that would be saying I would have an agenda” she says to him “Well you're an exception cause you actually have a good heart.” he says. 

On time, Galaxy arrived and sat down, however she had the biggest smile, what was even weirder was that Boulder wasn’t here with her. “Heeeeeeeeey you two, my bestest, faithful and loyal friends, how are you?” she asked with a pip, both looked so confused at this change of attitude. “Uh…Good? Um, how are you?” Doc asked her “Oh you know, peachy, very peachy, say, Zoom I heard about what happened to your arm, you feeling alright?” Galaxy asked her “Oh! Yeah actually, luckily she didn’t carry any kind of disease, but they didn’t want to risk it, so they gave me shots, and then the vets gave her shots, got a neat cast too” she shows it off, which so far it was only Doc and Ms. White who wrote her cast. “Well thank goodness for that, that would’ve been bad, here, from me and Boulder” she writes on Zoom’s cast.
Speaking of Boulder…Where is he?” Doc asked. “Oh he’s back at Joes, say…While we are speaking of Boulder, you think-” before Galaxy can finish, Doc stops her “No, the answer is no” Doc says, Galaxy jaw dropped and sputters “Wh-What?! You didn’t even know what I was going to say!” she said. “You know what…You're right, go ahead” he says. “I was wondering if you two can watch him for a bit.” she asks. “Hmmmmmmm...Let me think for a bit…” he taps his chin a bit…then looks at her, right in the eyes. “Still no.”

“Please! I just need you two to watch him for a bit, like a day or two, very please!” Galaxy begs “How come you can't bring Boulder with you?” Zoom asked her, the galaxy haired girl turned away “It’s…It’s complicated, look please, I’ll pay you two heavily for watching him, I tried to ask Joe but he won’t do it. Please, you're the only ones I can trust with this…” she pleads a bit.

Doc looked at Zoom and she looked at him in return, Doc sighs and looked at her “Okay…We can watch him for a bit.” Doc says, just then he felt being hugged by Galaxy, “Ahhhh!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” she says happily as she keeps hugging him. “Woah…Doc I think they put something in the coffee cause I can swear I see her hugging you.” she says as she is shocked seeing this. “No no, your seeing it perfectly.” he says as he was shocked as well. “Right, is there anything we should know about him?” Zoom asked.

“Oh yes! He will get a bit moody, just tell him that I’m running to the fish market. And if he gets a bit cranky, sing him a lullaby, it’ll put him to sleep.” she says. “That’s it? That doesn’t sound too hard, if anything Joe’s being a fucking pussy.” Doc says. “Doc, that's mean and you know it.” she says. “Anyway, I’ll pick him up and drop him off at your place.” she says as she gets up and heads off. “I still think it’s not exactly fine to ask if he can stay with us, I know Joe, he may be a pussy but he shouldn’t have a problem with handling Boulder…” Doc says as he tapped his chin. “Come on, it can’t be that bad, maybe he just has limits, besides it’s like a day or two, how bad can it be?” Zoom asked, she would regret it later…

*later, at a park…*

“Still think it isn’t bad?” Doc asked her as Zoom was laughing nervously, Boulder was sitting in the sandbox, hands and legs crossed, he had the most biggest frown on his face, as kids played in the sand with them burying his legs a bit in the sand, earlier when Galaxy brought him to the apartment he was the biggest happy camper, they hanged a bit before she left and told him she be back in a bit, everything seemed fine for the first few minutes, when the rock monster asked where Galaxy went, they told him that she went to the fish market. This just made him unresponsive and uncooperative. When they tried to ask him if he’s hungry, he turned around and looked at the corner of the wall. When they tried to play with him, he just gets up and went to a different corner.

Finally they decided to try the park, hoping it would help him a bit and get some fresh air, Boulder reluctantly came and here we are, he was in the sandbox, sitting there. “Okay maybe I might’ve misjudged this a bit…” Zoom says as she sees this happening. A kid climbs on Boulder a bit, he puts a little crown on him, Boulder looks up and smiles a bit at this, he gently puts the kid down “Boulder thank little one.” he says as the kid looks up at him “Your welcome mister!” the kid said and went to play on the playground. “Well at least he’s being nice to the kids.” Zoom says. “Well he’s on his best behavior…She did mention he would get a bit moody.” Doc remembers. “Well maybe we can get him some ice cream. If he keeps being good.” Zoom mentions. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Doc agrees as the two keep watching.

Finally after two hours, they began to make their way back to the apartment, they decided to stop at the ice cream shop. “Well hello you three, what can I get for you?” an ice elemental asks, wearing a hat on her head. “Hi, can I get a…Coffee ice cream with caramel swirl, waffle cone?” Doc asked. “And can I get a cotton candy ice cream with marshmallows, bowl please.” Zoom asked. “And what about you big guy, what’ll you have?” The ice elemental asked. “Boulder…Can choose?” the rock monster asked confused. “Uh…Yeah you bud.” says looking at him. “Um…Does…Gal Gal pick for you?” Zoom asked him. “Gal Gal knows what Boulder like…Boulder forgot Gal Gal is not here…” he then plops on the ground as the room shaked a bit. Doc and Zoom holding onto the table as the ice elemental holds on the counter. “Um…D-Do you remember?” Zoom asked. “Boulder remember….But Boulder still sad…Chocolate with sprinkles…” he says, almost ready to cry. It took a bit due to the short quake but their ice cream finally arrived. After paying, they headed out and walked home, Boulder’s been quiet for the entire walk back, once they enter the apartment, the rock monster plops onto the couch, which gives out under the weight. “God damn it…That was a nice couch…” Doc says under his breath. 

“It’s only for a day or two, it can’t be that all bad right?” she asked, Doc looked at her “You said that this morning, can’t wait to see how this plays out.” Doc says sarcastically. “I wonder what Galaxy is doing?” Zoom asked

Meanwhile, with Galaxy…

“Come on…Is that all you got?!” Galaxy asks as she dodges a punch from an anthro snake, the snake tries to bite her but their jaw gets stucked open by Galaxy’s bare hands, she kicks the let and got the snake in a chokehold, she repeatedly punches the snakes face in and grabbed the tail, she then began to swing them around and throws them out of a the ring, the crowd cheers as she raised her fist up, panting and sweating a bit, she then gets out and began to head to the back, she opens her locker and takes a drink from her bottle, then pouring some on herself. “Hey hey, you did good out there Gal, another one bites the dust.” a woman said, wearing a white coat, pink hair and star-shaped sunglasses, she was a brown rabbit anthro . “Thanks Celia, good thing I haven’t lost my touch.” Galaxy says. “Well, as usual, here’s your cut.” the woman pulls out some stack of cash, Galaxy flips through the stack, 500$, she puts the cash away in her locker, she grabs a towel and dries her face. “You got some next challengers, your fighting a scorpion named Pinch, a nature warrior named Gravel and-” before Celia finishes, Galaxy stops her. “Celia, I want to discuss something with you.” she says. “Oh! Sure, we can discuss it in my office.” the rabbit says as the two walk.

They go upstairs and on the first floor was basically an armory, guns being made, on the second floor, more advance fights were happening, judging how a bear anthro and a big burly man were fighting, this was the heavy class, on the third floor, is where they make counterfeit money, they enter the room and it was the rabbit's office. “Alright Gal, tell dear ol Celia what’s wrong” Celia says as she leans on the desk.

“Celia…I think it’s time for me to move on, I’m done.” Galaxy says. “What? What do you mean you're done?” Celia asked. “I mean I’m done, I’m not doing this anymore. After these few days, I’m done. You can find someone else.” Galaxy says. “C-Come on Gal, don’t be like that, what even made you decide to just walk away?” she asked Galaxy. “Cause I got a roof over my head, a stable job, a REAL job.” Galaxy told her “Look, I’m grateful for everything, I am, but this is a chapter I must close.” she tells her.

“It’s probably from the punches to head talking, your not thinking straight, look why not get a drink, enjoy some music and we can get started on the next fights, what do you say eh?” she asked, Galaxy just sighs “Celia, I’m serious, after this, I’m done.” She got up and began to walk to the door. “Come on…You really want to go back to being a nobody? What makes you think the job will last, and how much are they even paying you, probably not a lot.” Celia says as she pretends to look at her fingers, Galaxy stops mid way. “I mean…Aren’t you tired of the grind? The constant worry of some money you’ll have to eventually pay for food and rent, and little pleasure…Wouldn’t you rather be paid the big bucks, some real dough? We can make it happen.” Celia says. Galaxy turns around and sits back down “...How long?” she asked her.

“Well maybe a week or two but knowing you, it’ll be a breeze.” Celia says as Galaxy ponders…She sighs, then gives a small smile “Well…Fuck it, let’s make some money, but I want a big cut.” she tells the rabbit. “Of course, of course.” Celia says as she takes a bite out of a carrot.

*5 days later…*

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous and also concerning.” Doc says as he was currently ironing Zoom’s clothes. “I know…I know Galaxy said she’s only going to be gone for one more day, but it’s been 5 days now, and I can tell Boulder is starting to get more…Agitated.” Zoom puts it lightly as they turned and saw Boulder sitting on the couch, they could FEEL his frustration rising. He was tapping his foot rapidly, while it wouldn’t be much of a problem, it felt like a mini quake in their floor. Just then there was banging on the door, Doc and Zoom go over to the door and checked to see who it was, it was Mrs. Grubble who had her hair curled and is wearing a robe, holding a spatula. “Mrs. Grubble? What’s the problem now?” Doc asked.

“Gee, I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that my room is shaking and I hear banging on the floor! Quiet down or I get Miss White here, I’m trying to do something romantic for my hubby and you're ruining it!” Mrs. Grubble hissed. “Look lady, we’re sorry about the noise but we got a giant friend here, he can’t help how he walks.” Doc explains. “I don’t care! Either figure something out or I get mad and-” before Mrs. Grubble can finish her threat, the door slams on her face, the person responsible was Boulder. “Hey! I’m not done talking with you!” Mrs. Grubble was banging on the door now, loudly as she could. “Boulder…Hate loud…Boulder hate woman…” Boulder says coldly as he looks ready to break down. “Boulder, buddy, try to listen something else besides Mrs. Grubble, I can put the TV on and-” before Zoom could finish, the banging increases and the shouting is worse, Boulder gets up. “Boulder! No!” Doc tries to stop him but it is too late. Boulder swung the door open. “And what are you going to do huh?! You going to-ACK!!!” Mrs. Grubble chokes as Boulder had his grip on her throat, the once friendly rock monster looked at her and screamed at her face, shaking the room a bit, he then threw her across the hall, Mr. Grubble came out and caught his wife in time. “Hey! Who do you think you are?!” Mr. Grubble yelled, Boulder looked at him and growled. Both the couple were terrified and ran back to their apartment room. “Boulder! That was not okay! I know she was making it worse but still, you shouldn’t be doing that!” Zoom scolded him “Boulder don’t care! Boulder hate lady, Boulder wanted it stopped!” he says, almost to the point of tears. “That is not how we handle things! We talk it out, not hurt someone just because you're mad!” Zoom tells him, clearly having enough.

“Zoom, maybe we should just take a deep breath and-” Before Doc can finish, she interrupts him. “No! He needs to learn that it’s not okay to put his hands on someone! I get it if it was self defense but this, this isn’t okay!” Zoom snapped “Hoodie girl stop yelling! Boulder try to help!” Boulder says, sounding like he’s ready to cry. “Well your help would have put you in jail and you and Galaxy wouldn’t be able to see each other again! What you did was reckless and stupid!” Zoom snapped at him, Boulder's tears began to run down “Boulder not stupid!!!” The rock monster yelled back and he picked the couch up and slammed it down, he then swung the door open and slammed it shut when he left, Zoom and Doc were in shock seeing the display that happened, Zoom’s face went from shock to concern and guilt. 

“I…I’m really shocked you and him had it in to begin with. I’m kinda impressed.” Doc says, trying to lighten the mood. “I…I-I didn’t mean to snap at him like that…” Zoom says quietly as she covers her mouth, Doc looks at her and has his hand on her shoulder, he hugs her gently “I know…I know you didn’t mean to…” he tells her as he rubs her back, Zoom hugged him back in return, she cries a bit quietly as she held onto him, the two sat in silence as they still hugged, finally after a bit, the two pulled away, Zoom’s eyes were puffy from the crying, hair in her face a bit, Doc moves it to the side as he wipes her tears away. “Hey…It’s going to be okay, alright? It’s going to be okay.” Doc tells her, after a while, the two remove each other from the hug, Zoom being more calm a bit. “Okay…Okay I’m good…We need to find him, before he or anyone else gets hurt.” Zoom says.

“Well I know where he would go.” Doc says, he then picks the phone up, he dials the number and waits…A click was heard “Hey Joe, it’s me, Doc, hey I need a favor, if you see Boulder, keep him at the bar til we get there…Uh huh…Yeah he should know his way to the bar…Alright..I’ll explain when we get there, kay, thank you.” he then hangs up “Alright, let’s head to Joe’s bar, Boulder will be there.” he says as he and Zoom head out.

Few minuites later…

Joe was behind the counter as he wiped some glass, the bar was closed and Boulder was on the beanbag, the only thing that wouldn’t break from his weight, he heard the door open and saw Doc and Zoom. “Hey, he’s here, he looks a bit upset, what did you do?” Joe asks. “Well…It isn’t Boulder’s fault, cause he didn’t ask for this, but our patience has run out.” Doc explains, Boulder looks away, ashamed, he feels a hand on his shoulder, he saw it was Zoom’s. “Buddy…I’m sorry for yelling at you, I know you were trying to help, and I shouldn’t have escalated it.” Zoom tells him. “Boulder sorry too….Boulder didn’t mean to…Boulder upset, but Boulder know it not okay…” he says as Zoom smiled and rubbed his back “It’s okay…We both screwed up a bit” she tells him.

“Ahhh so that’s what happened” Joe says as Doc told him the events that led to this “She did the same thing with you too?” Joe asked, “Wait, the same thing?” Doc asked. “Yeah, she did the same thing with me before. Told me about some business for a few days. I took it and christ it was bad. You remember that hole through the wall?” Joe asked “Yeah, I remember, you told me it was some kind of bar fight.” Doc says. “Well that wasn’t the full story. A customer got mad at me cause I didn’t get his order right or something, and before he could hit me, Boulder grabbed him by the head and threw him through the wall, he would’ve been dead if I didn’t stop Boulder, 4 days and it’s been depression and I love my face enough to not upset him, finally Galaxy got back but I told her right then and there that I’m not watching him anymore, she didn’t say anything and gave me a full stack of cash for watching him.” Joe tells Doc.

“So that’s why she came to us…She wanted someone to watch him while she does god knows what.” Doc says as he taps his chin. “We need to find her before she gets hurt.” Zoom tells Doc. “But how, we don’t even know where she is.” Doc says. “Has Horn Man thought about tracking?” Boulder asks. “I don’t think he can track buddy.” Zoom tells him. “Actually he can, I saw this guy find people and objects that quick.” Joe explains. “Well…I need some kind of scent from her, is there anything I can use?” Doc asked. “Boulder have something.” he says, he goes up in the back, there was some rummage before coming back, holding a perfume. “It’s Gal Gal’s perfume, Boulder picked it one time for Christmas.” Doc takes the perfume and smells it. “Wow this stuff is strong…Okay, time to find her.” the half fire elemental says as he heads out as Zoom and Boulder follow.

It was a bit of looking around, finally they reached the location. It was an old building, there were some lights on but it looked boarded up. “Doc, are you sure she’s here?” Zoom asked “Positive, she’s here, the question is, what is she doing here?” Doc asked. “Boulder thinks it’s not fish market…” Boulder says as he looks at the building. The three see two shady people at the door, they knock on the heavy metal door, they see the hatch slide open, it closes and then the door opens and they enter.

“Well that’s how we enter I guess.” Doc says, the three head to the door, they knocked, the door hatch opens . “Password.” the bouncer says, judging by the size and shadow, it was a bull. “Password?” Zoom asks. “Yeah, a password, if you don’t got one, then fuck off.” the bull tells them. “Calm the fuck down will ya, alright…Is it Titan?” Doc asked. “No, the fuck it ain’t, now scram or I make you.” the bouncer says. “Can we please enter?” Zoom asked, the door opened wide now, once it was open, it was indeed a bull, a black bull with a nose ring. “Look, fuck off or I really am going to hurt you.” the bull says, patience runned out, he then slams the door on them. “Crap…Alright, we’re going to have to-” before Doc can finish, Boulder approached and banged on the door hard. The bull opens the door hatch slide opens again. “What did I tell you fuckers about-OOF!” before the bull can finish making his threat, the door busts down and the door was on top of him.

Boulder pants, angry at the moment, Doc and Zoom look at each other. “Well, that works.” Doc says and the three head down further into the building, there they hear cheering and saw a crowd, in the middle was a giant cage, in it, there was a anthro goat currently fighting someone, the three look closer and saw it was Galaxy fighting them, she had some bruises on her and sweating, she dodges a couple of punches before upper cutting the goat and kicking them to the cage, she then one hits them and the goat falls, the crowd cheers as she is on the ring’s strings, raising her fist in the air, she looks down, smiling and her face went from smiling to shock, seeing the three standing there, looking at her.

Later…

“So this is the kind of business your talking about huh?” Doc asked with some form of disappointment as Galaxy slammed the locker door and she turned to him. “It’s none of your fucking business. And what the hell were you thinking about bringing Boulder here?!” Galaxy snapped at him as Boulder was drinking his juice pouch. “Galaxy, you said you would only be gone for a day or two, not almost an entire week.” Zoom tells her. “I was supposed to be back but…Plans change.” Galaxy tells Zoom. “Joe told us about when you left Boulder to him, dumping this on us, that’s not something you can just do to us or anyone when you need to get stress out of your system!” Doc calls her out. “Hey, it’s better this way! And I don’t have to hear it from you of all people!” she tells him. 

“Why didn’t you take Boulder with you here?” Zoom asked. “Cause two reasons. One, the people here would lose interest if he kept winning the fights. Two, he doesn’t even want to hurt anyone, and I’m not putting him through it.” Galaxy explains. “Yet your okay with dumping him on other people right?” Doc asked. “Fuck you, you four eye fuck! I’m doing this for me and him, not you, not Joe, us!” she tells him. 

“But…Boulder don’t want Gal Gal hurt…” Boulder says as he taps his fingers “Boulder and Gal Gal have jobs…Le-gal jobs.” the rock giant says. “But for how long, til we are let go, then what, I’m doing this for us Boulder, I want us to not have to worry about going hungry or being cold, once I’m done, we’ll have more money we can count, some fuck you money! You can have all the fish you want!” Galaxy says as she tries to convince him. “Boulder don’t want this! Boulder don’t want to be burden to friends!” Boulder tells her. 

“Boulder they need to get over it, besides, I’m a big girl and I can do what I want.” She tells the rock giant. “Boulder think it’s unfair!” Boulder tells her “Well news flash, life is unfair! I have to deal with assholes day in and out and take care of you daily cause I gave a fuck, I sacrificed everything to keep us alive, all you ever did is being the dumb brute who’s sole purpose is being a dumbass!” Galaxy snapped, Boulder was taken aback and looked hurt. “Galaxy…” Zoom says quietly as the other girl scoffs. “Whatever…He’ll forget about it tomorrow morning or something, now if you’ll excuse me, I got some cash to win.” she then shoved past Doc, the monster scoffs and looks at Boulder, “Hey bud…You okay?” Doc asked. Boulder only stayed silent, seeing where she walked off, he silently left the locker room as Zoom and Doc looked at him. They looked at each other and back at Boulder and followed him.

Meanwhile, Galaxy heads to the ring, she hears the crowd cheering, she gets into the ring and into her corner, just then, Celia comes to her side. “Galaxy, we gotta talk for a sec.” she says as Galaxy looked at her. “What is it?” she asked. “The last opponent just dropped out, apparently she got sick or some shit. We had to fill in at the last second.” she tells her. “Then who am I fighting then?” she asked. “Um…Well uh…” Celia was too nervous, just then the announcer stands in the middle “Ladies and Gentleman! Tonight we have an interesting matchup of the century! In one corner, we have the woman with her fastest punches and brutal kicks, and dare I say, drop dead gorgeous.” The referee winks at Galaxy, she rolls her eyes at him. “And in another corner, give it up for our champion, the orc who strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies, the one who takes animals larger than him, the general, A.KA. The Cannibal, A.K.A Oga!!!” The announcer yells as the crowd began to chant ‘Oga’ as the spotlight shines on the walkway, Oga walks down as he flexes his arms, even the robotic ones, he keeps walking down til he enters the ring. He disengages his robot arms, once removed, there was stumps on his upper arms.

“Finally, time to take that title.” Galaxy says as she walks in the middle as does Oga, both looking at each other. “You know little one, you should give up now, before you’ll end up as my dinner.” Oga threatens her. Galaxy scoffs “Please, like your anything special. This will be a cake walk.” she says, once the bell rings, she lands the first punch at his gut, he stumbles back a bit but was unfazed, she keeps hitting his stomach and he looked down at her, he only chuckles and backhands her, she skids along in the ring, she gets up and wipes the blood off her lips. “Come on little girl…Give me a challenge.” Oga taunts her as she growls and charges, she keeps hitting him and even kicked, but he foot gets caught and she gets slammed onto the ring’s mat, she tries to get up but is pinned down by Oga’s foot, the black Orc bends down to her ear. “Your little sponsor, Ceila, paid me to beat you, make you lose all that money, but don’t worry, I’ll be sure to enjoy the winnings, but enough of that…You want to know why they call me the cannibal?” Oga asked, eager to give her the answer, Galaxy elbows his face as he held his skull mask, Galaxy quickly gets up and stands far back, Oga looks at her, his nose bleeding, he licks the blood. “Because I always eat my opponents, metaphorically and literally.” he began to laugh maniacally as he pounds his fists together and begins to run to her.

Galaxy for the first time, felt fear and dodged his charge, she began to move from him, to avoid getting close to him. Oga slams his fist in the ring and he shakes it, making her trip, she falls face first and looked up, seeing Ceila’s face. “You! Did you have anything to do with this?!” she snapped at the rabbit lady. “Well…You were getting too popular, so you needed to go, I thought it was too soon, but oh well.” Ceila says as she does a taunting wave to her, before Galaxy could lunge at her, she felt her foot grabbed and yanked back, being slammed to the ground.

“I like my meat tenderized.” Oga says as he began to lay the beatdown into her, she tries to block the punches, but they were powerful ones, one punch gets through and hits her mouth, her mouth guard knocked out, she is now bleeding through the mouth. “Good…Goooood! I enjoy a meal with red in it. Any last words girl?” Oga tauntly asked her. Galaxy spits the blood out a bit. She tries to get out but it was pointless, his full weight is on her. “You know what…Fuck. You.” she spits her blood on his face. Oga chuckles darkly and grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, the crowd cheers more at this violent display. “Time to die little girl, hear their cheers of your death.” Oga tells her as he was about to bite her face off.

However, the ground shakes a bit, the crowd was confused, along with Celia, Oga and Galaxy, the shaking intensifies and just then, someone delivers a mean hook right into Oga’s face, making him drop Galaxy and hit right into corner of the ring, Galaxy hits the floor of the ring, she gets up wobbly, she looked up to see who saved her, to her surprise, it was Boulder. The rock giant pants as he looked over at Galaxy. “Boulder…You came back?” Galaxy asked, shocked he did come back. “Boulder still mad at Gal Gal for what Gal Gal said, but Boulder won’t lose Gal Gal.” he says. Galaxy looks down in shame, she then hugs him. “Buddy…I’m sorry for what I said…I didn’t mean to call you a dumbass…If anything I’m the dumbass. And selfish, destructive and just borderline a bad friend.” she says as she tears up for the first time. “I’m so so sorry…I promise to make it up to you and to everyone…” she tells him, just then she felt him pat her head “Boulder forgive you…” Boulder tells her, smiling at her, she smiles in return. Just then, they hear groaning and the two looked over to see Oga getting up. 

“How touching…But that’s not going to save you, after I get through with you two.” Oga growls as he wipes off blood from his mouth. Galaxy gets into a defensive position but Boulder stops her. “Let Boulder handle bad man.” Boulder tells her as Galaxy looks at him concerned. “Gal Gal trust Boulder?” he asked her. She sighs, then gives a small smile. “I do bud…Now go kick his ass.” she tells him.

The bell rings and Oga didn’t waste time charging at him, Boulder stood his ground and felt him pushing, he pushed back hard, he then hits Oga’s sides hard, which made Oga backed up, holding his sides, he growls and hits him in the face, his eyes widen and roars in pain, he sees his hand bruised and cut a bit. Boulder hits the orc’s face and makes him skid the floor, he then elbow drops Oga and hits his gut, the wind gets knocked out of him, the rock giant gets up and tossed him. Oga only growls more of this, he hits the ring’s floor, gets up, and stomps over on his side, he grabs his robotic arms and puts them on. “Come here!” He then upper cuts Boulder as his robotic arms grabbed him and brought Boulder close, he then held him as his robotic arms hit him in the face and stomach. “Eat! This!” Oga roars as he lands the punches. Galaxy covers her mouth, she tries to intervene but gets stopped by two buffalo guards, she turns and saw Celia shake her head at her, she growls and kicks one of them in the balls, the other guard tries to hit her but she grabbed his arm and twisted it, and made the buffalo go out of the ring, right into Celia as the rabbits eyes widen and gets trapped underneath the bodyguard. 

“Let’s finish this!” Oga roared as he kept hitting him with his robotic arms, just then, before he could hit him again, Boulder grabbed his robot arms, the rock giant's jeweled eyes went from green to red, Boulder growled and headbutted him. The orc stumbles and immediately tries to grab him, however Boulder is prepared and grabs hold onto the robot arms and with all of his weight, he kicks him square in the chest and rips the mechanical arms off at the same time, tossing them out of the ring. “Bad man made Boulder angry.” the rock giant says coldly and charges into him. He was showing no mercy to Oga as he hits everywhere and he grabbed him by the neck and chokeslams him to the ground, he begins to wail into him. Deforming the orcs face and bloodied, the skull mask breaking into pieces. “Bad man hurt Gal Gal!!” he keeps hitting him in the face. He then lifts Oga off the ground “Boulder is strongest there is!!!” He then throws him out of the ring and into the ground, the concrete cracking, he then jumps out of the ring and lands onto the orcs stomach, he then roars in his face before finally calming down, he turns and sees Galaxy, his ruby red eyes returning to emerald greens. 

Galaxy sighed in relief once his eyes returned to green…Just then, there was a one clapping, the another, finally the crowd was clapping and cheering as they saw this display, they were going crazy, Boulder gets back in the ring. “Gal Gal ready to go home?” he asked her, ignoring what he just did, Galaxy was silent before chuckling “Yeah…Let’s go home.” she says as she and him get out of the ring, Celia was in their way, fur messy and everywhere “You…I hope your happy, cause this is the last time you ever set foot in my establishment! Your finished!” the rabbit shouted, Galaxy only smirks. “What are you so smugged about you bi-” before she could finish, Galaxy hits her nose as the rabbit lady fell on her ass “Don’t worry, cause I’m done, for real this time. Come on Boulder, we’re out of here.” she says as she and him head out, the rabbit glared, however her ears dropped as a shadow cast over her, she turns, seeing Oga pissed off, she chuckles nervously.

Next morning…

“In today’s news, last night there was a major bust in illegal fighting and money laundering, the raid being led by General Oga, who coordinated it. Ringleader Celia was found dead, corpse mangled, and appeared to be cooked and eaten, reports say that her foot was gone, guess the rabbits foot being lucky is still a thing” the news anchor chuckles “In other news-” before more can be said, the TV was turned off by Joe. “Guess someone’s a sore loser.” Galaxy says as she holds an ice pack on her cheek. 

“Well hopefully he won’t bother you guys in the future, he’s a pain in the ass to deal with.” Doc says as he drinks his tequila. “So what’s going to happen now? Aren’t you worried he’ll find you and Boulder?” Zoom asked Galaxy. “Nah, I made sure to cover my tracks, I never leave anything to let them find me.” Galaxy tells her. “Well good, I don’t need the entire Northern Darkness coming down on me, you're even lucky to be alive lady.” Joe tells her. Galaxy sighs, “I know…I won’t do something stupid like that again, I’ll just find a less destructive hobby.” she says. “You know, you could go to a rage room and take out any excess energy you still have in you.” Doc tells her. 

“I might go, even taking Boulder with me…Hey, I’m sorry for making you and Zoom watch Boulder, and for calling you a four eyed freak.” Galaxy tells her. “It’s fine, I got called worse…But thanks to the money you stashed, it’ll cover the new couch, bill and food, both human and dog.” Doc says, Galaxy’s eyes widen “You went through my locker! I’ll kill you Doc! That was my money I earned!” she tries to lunge at him but Boulder holds her back, she tries to claw him. “Boulder apologize for Gal Gal’s behavior.” Boulder says. “It’s fine, if it helps Gal, we didn’t spend all of your money.” she tells her. “Wait, you didn’t?” she asked. “Nope, instead, we used the rest to get you and Boulder set up in an apartment with us, mostly downstairs area, and don’t worry, she’ll let you stay as long as you do her errands and such.” Zoom tells her. “You…You did that…For us?” Galaxy asked. “Yeah, we figure you didn’t want to keep sleeping in Joe’s bar, so we hooked you up, so now you got a place to stay and a job.” Zoom tells her, just then she felt being hugged, Galaxy hugging her, “Thank you…” she says happily, Zoom returns the hug. “Your welcome Galaxy…Your welcome.” Zoom says. 

“Let’s celebrate then, a toast, to Galaxy and Boulder finding a place.” Joe says, as Boulder, Galaxy, Doc and Zoom’s glass clink each other and began to drink.

Chapter Text

In a grocery store, Doc and Zoom were currently shopping for food and other stuff, as Zoom pushed the cart. “Okay, got the stuff we need for the house, are we missing something Zoom?” Doc asked as he was looking over the list. “Uhhhh, no I think that’s everything, nothing is coming to mind.” Zoom says as she pushes and then has her feet off the ground and rides the cart. Doc chuckles a bit seeing her do that. Doc sees the last box of strawberry mini cakes, he looks around a bit, before deciding to take it, however he feels a hand grab his arm. “What the?!” Doc exclaimed, surprised by this action.

“Ah ha! Got ya!” A voice says, coming out behind the counter was none other than Cree and Amy. “We finally caught you!” Amy says triumphantly as Cree cuffs him. “You won’t be getting out of this one here.” Cree says all smug like. “Seriously, do none of you two have anything better to do?” Doc asked, annoyed. “Can you believe this shit Zoom?” Doc asked, turning to her, both Cree and Amy looked confused. “I mean I sorta believe it, remember last week?” Zoom says as she shakes her head a bit, sighing. “Look, can we get through the slapstick already and be on our way?” Zoom asked.

“Slapstick? You think what we’re trying to do is slapstick?!” Amy exclaimed, baffled. “Yeah, like the time I cuffed you two together during a conversation.” Doc says. “Well for one, your wrong, you never did that. Second of all, this ‘slapstick’ is over, no refunds you dickhead.” Cree says. “Well you are right and wrong at the same time.” Doc says, giving off that smug look. “Oh really? Elaborate.” Cree says. “Well your right about not me cuffing you two together…However, your wrong cause I just did it to you now.” Doc says, holding both hands up, the cuff on him not there. Cree and Amy looked shocked and immediately looked at their wrists and indeed, saw the cuffs are on them.

“Later!” Doc says as he takes the cart and grabbed onto Zoom and begins to push fast and ride the car with her on it. “Hey! Get back here! Come on, let’s grab them!” Both Cree and Amy say at the same time and began to chase after them, Doc makes a sharp turn and begins to go faster, Amy makes slides a bit before resuming the chase. “Slow down a bit will you, trying to get a footing here!” Cree exclaims as he stumbles a bit, he gets his footing again after a bit and resumes the chase. “Doc! Pole!” Zoom called out, the fire hybrid shifted the cart and dodged it. “Amy, try to cut them off!” Cree calls out, she nods and tries to go left, before Cree could remind her that they were cuffed, the chain part hits the pole and yanks the two back.

“Ow….” Cree moans out as he and Amy get up, they don’t see Doc or Zoom, disappeared into the crowd. “How did we lose them, in fact where did these people come from?!” Amy asked as she looked around. “Oh, a sales going on today, 30% off!” a teal slime says excitedly, as four little slime balls were in a stroller, two were the color of Teal like their mother, the other two were red. “Oooooh a sale! I should grab something while we’re here.” Amy says as Cree rolls his eyes. “Well might as well, since this could be our last day on earth.” Cree says as he reaches his pocket, his eyes widen however and began to pat himself panickingly. “Oh god…That asshole took the key!” Cree says as Amy looked deadpan, she took her hat off, she put it to her face and the next thing was her screaming into the hat, the slime babies only laughed at this.

*Later, at a military base…*

“So…Let me get this straight…You had him, in the palm of your hands…And he somehow escaped and not only that, stole the key to the cuffs…” Oga says as he is at his desk while Amy and Cree were standing there in front of him. “I mean when you put it like that…It does sound a bit ridiculous, sir.” Amy says. Oga sighs and rubs his temple, then looked at them, “Look…I like you two…I really do, ever since you came here, you have proved to me and more that you're good, despite you two’s rivalry and the history between your species.” Oga says as he gets up. “However…You two failed to capture the creature each time, letting him outsmart you, outrun you and somehow, cause a lot of damage…Which is costing us money.” Oga calmly tells them as he begins to approach them, and the two slowly back up. 

“H-Hey now, no n-need to pull out the swords, w-we just slipped up is all.” Cree says as he hides behind Amy. “I-It won’t happen again sir! We’ll do better! Th-The suspect is a bit more clever than anticipated!” Amy cries out and braces herself, Oga raised his swords up and was about to strike down, however before it could be done, a chain wraps around the swords and yanks them away, the three looked over to see who, just then, stepping out of the shadows was a figure wearing a ninja outfit comes, wearing a black and red while the arms are exposed, their eyes bright green, wrapping up the blades to his arms, upon further inspection, they were chainblades. “Oga…You may be a general but sometimes, you can be stupid.” They say, the voice being male, he unwraps the two arabian blades and twirls them.

“Uh…Who’s that?” Cree asked. Oga growls in annoyance. “This is Hishio. One of our other operatives. He leads a small squad of Shinobi. He is good with infiltration and assassinations, however he is an arrogant little shit.” Oga says, the last part with some venom to it. “The big guy’s jealous that I got the skills and the looks.” Hishio says, winking at Amy. Amy tilt her head a bit, confused. “Wait, Shinobi…You mean ninjas?” Cree asked, chuckling a bit. “Yeah, what’s wrong with that, green skin?” Hishio asked, a bit offended. “N-Nothing wrong with ninjas, just a bit funny to be called that.” Cree says as he continues to chuckle. Hishio rolls his eyes and looked at Oga. “You're really going to kill two noobs over not getting a dangerous target? I mean like you said, they are fine on other missions but when it comes to this, it’s different, why not let the pros deal with it.” Hishio tells him.

Oga began to think it over, til finally he sighs and looked at Cree and Amy “Hmmm…I hate to say it, but he is right. Despite being a little shit, he’s got more experience than you two…Fine, I’ll let you handle this Hishio. But don’t do that again.” Oga warns as he snatches the two Arabian swords back and puts them away. “I have matters to attend to today…Don’t fail me Hishio.” he says as the orc walks to the door and slams the door open and walks out before slamming it shut again. “Well thank you for saving us, Hishio,” Amy says. “Course, we need some meat shields anyway. You two go and be…’useful’ somewhere else while the big bad Hishio handles this.” Hishio says, insulting them a bit as he walks out of the office. Both looked at him, Amy looked a bit hurt and Cree glaring at the door, “What a prick.” Cree bluntly states.

*With Doc and Zoom…*

“You know, I say today was successful.” Doc says as he drives the car. “I don’t know Doc…Lately those two have been more persistent than ever. Why do they want you badly?” Zoom asked as she looked out of the window. “I don’t know, again, I assume it’s for a paycheck.” he says as he continues to drive. “Doc this could get out of hand real soon…Maybe we should figure something out.” Zoom suggests. “Well they seem easy enough to handle, if anything I’ll keep juking them, it’s me they want after all.” Doc says. Zoom only sighs. “I mean I guess…I just worry about it is all…” Zoom says. “I know…I would never want to put that kind of pressure on you…I won’t let you get in harm's way, even if it means I got to get a bit messy.” Doc tells her, he looks at her. “I got your back.” he tells her, Zoom gives a small smile. “I know you do.” she says confidently.

They pull the car to the side and get out, they carry the bags into the apartment, on the walk up, Doc feels something off, he looks around and sees a janitor mopping the floor. “Oh! Hello there, your new aren’t you? My name’s Zoom.” Zoom greets the janitor as the janitor looks up. “Nice to meet you, Miss Zoom, I take your one of the residents here?” The janitor asked. “Yes I am! I live on the upper floors and this is my roommate, Doc!” She introduced him to the half fire elemental. “Nice to meet ya. Name’s Bob.” Bob says as he had his hand out. Doc looked at it for a sec before shaking Bob’s hand. “Say, you met the landlord yet, Mr. Howard?” Doc asks him. “Yeah I met him, he’s a great man.” Bob says.

The next thing that happened was Doc pulled Bob in and headbutted him, he then grabbed his arm and slammed him against the wall, knocking him out. “Doc! What are you doing?!” Zoom asked, shocked at the sudden violence. “This guy is a fake.” Doc says as he rips off the shirt, underneath it was a black jacket. “Wha…How did you-” before Zoom could finish, Doc answers her question. “For one, he lied about knowing the landlord, second there’s no Mr. Howard, otherwise he would’ve corrected me.” Doc tells her as he rummages through the knocked out guy. “What…Is he?” Zoom asked, looking at ‘Bob’. “Seems like these guys are stepping up their game.” Doc says as he finds a symbol on the jacket, it looked of a claw like hand symbol as the color was red. The thing was, it looked like the same when soldiers were here to clear out the remaining nightcrawler infestation.

“Doc…Why are they even here to begin with..” Zoom asked him as she now looks worried. Before Doc could respond, the windows smashed through and in came two ninjas, they took their ninja stars out and began to throw them at the two. “Duck!” Doc says as he ducks and takes Zoom with him. Both of the ninjas took their katana’s out and began to charge, Doc grabbed Zoom’s hand and rushes upstairs, the two ran as the ninjas follow them, one of them reaches up on the stairs railing, however Doc kicks them off and keeps running as Zoom follows, the only ninja continues to give chase. They quickly reach their door and open it before closing it, the ninja looks up and down and shakes their head. Disappointed, they kicked the door open.

However before the ninja could enter, they were tackled to the ground by Joy as she began to bite them, the ninja struggles to get her off, however they saw an opening and punched her mouth and got her off, they get up and was about to pick up their katana, but saw it wasn’t there, they turn and was then impaled by their own katana, the person stabbed them being Zoom.

Zoom pushes the katana deeper into the ninja til was all the way through, she then shoves them to the wall and makes them stuck to it. She pants and slowly backs up, letting the katana go, the body makes a thud, she rushes to Joy. “Girl, are you okay?!” Zoom checks on Joy, the fire/electric dog whines a bit but she is okay, she licks Zoom’s cheek, Zoom smiles at her. “Good girl.” she rubs Joy’s head. The ninja that got kicked off the railing made it to the steps, and they saw their dead friend. “You bitch!” the ninja roared and rushed at her, however he is met with a talon hitting the side of his head and being impaled to the wall. Doc goes over to Zoom and helps her up. “You okay?” Doc asked her, his talon regrowing back. “I’m fine, let’s get out and lay low for a bit.” Zoom suggests, the two make downstairs and step outside, Joy following along, the three get in the car and began to drive off. “Doc this is bad, those two ‘cops’ were one thing, but this, this is out of control, what do they even want with us?” Zoom asked as Doc sighs. “I don’t know, but we need to think of something, we can lay low for a bit, somewhere that they can’t find us, we’ll wait til everything dies down a bit.” Doc explains the plan.

As they are driving, behind them are more ninjas, however they were driving black motorcycles, Doc sees them and begins to speed up. “We got company behind us!” Doc calls out as Zoom looks over, she pumps her shotgun and aims out the window and fires, hitting one of them as the bike falls and another one goes flying due to the motorcycle on the road, Zoom fires but they swerve their bikes around, one of the gets on top of the car and began to stab their sword in, hoping to get them, two more jump on the door and tried to open them. Zoom tries to fire but the ninja grabs onto the shotgun and the two try to fight for control of the gun. “Doc, help!” Zoom cries out as she tries to get control again, Doc looks around trying to find something, he is met with a ninja on the drivers door and began to try and stab him, he dodges the best he could while trying to steer, the car swerves a bit, they enter the tunnel and up ahead was traffic, his eyes widen and hits the brakes, the ninja from the car roof goes flying off and hits someone’s back window, the ninja that was on Zoom’s side lost their footing and skids across the pavement, Zoom quickly blind fires on Doc’s side, she kills the ninja but one of the shots hits Doc’s leg. “Fuck!” Doc cursed as he held his leg, Zoom looked in horror. “Oh my god Doc, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit your leg!” She panics and looks at the wound. “It’s…Ah that stings like a mother-” he cuts himself off and hits the steering wheel a bit, Zoom sees his leg begin to heal, Doc takes deep breaths. “Okay…Okay we’re good…That hurts though…Fuck.” Doc groans and peeks his head out of the car, seeing the traffic move up, Doc drives up and gets to another lane, the two look behind to see no one is following them. Once clear, they look ahead, Zoom rubbing her arm “Doc…What are we going to do…They’ll be after us still, we got nowhere to go…” Zoom states. “I’ll figure something out, I promise. We’ll be okay.” Doc comforts her. “Why are they even after us…What did we even do to them…” Zoom asks, bringing her knees to her chest. “I don’t know…All I know is we got to keep low and going.” he says. 

After a bit of driving, they make a stop at a gas station, Doc pulls up to a pump and looks at Zoom, still has her knees up to her. “Hey…We’ll figure something out, I promise…You want anything in here? Slushy? Some candy?” Doc asked her. “...Maybe a chocolate bar.” Zoom says as she looks at the window. Doc looked at her some more, he had his hand out, he wanted to hug her, or at least let her know it’ll be fine, but he pulled it away, not wanting to disturb her, he got out of the car and headed inside. He goes to the aisle and looks at some of the sweets. Once he got the chocolate bar, he was about to pay but standing in his way were two ninjas. He tried to go the other way but it was blocked as well by two more. “You know, you are…One tough target. Gotta give credit where credit is due.” a voice spoke, the two ninjas stepped aside and coming in was the supposed leader. “And you are?” Doc asked. “Ah, how rude of me, here I am hunting you, and you don’t even know who I am, the name’s Hishio, I want you to remember my name when I bring you in.” Hishio say confidently.

“Famous last words from a dead man walking.” Doc had his claws out. “Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, unless your little friend here wants to meet her maker.” Hishio says as he let’s Doc see, a ninja has a blowdart ready to fire at her at the back of the car. “Zoom!” Doc tried to reach her but felt something cold hit his chest. He moved back and had his hand on the place that felt cold, he looked down and saw it was cut, but what was more shocking was the ice forming on him slowly. He looked at Hishio and saw chain blades, but one was on ice while the other was on fire. “Pretty neat huh? The smith back at the palace hooked me up.” Hishio says as he spun the ice blade. Doc glared at him. “What do you want with me?” Doc demanded. “Easy…I was ordered by Oga to bring you in, don’t know why but hey, anything to appease the glorious ruler of the shadow kingdom of the north, even if I have to put up with that meathead, his supposed best agents and hunting targets like you.” Hishio says, with the hood on him it was hard to tell what his face looks but the tone says it all, a cocky lil shit.

With Zoom…

Zoom sighs and looks at the gas station, she then looks at the shotgun, still feeling guilty for shooting his leg, it did heal but the feeling is still there. “I’m an idiot Joy…I could’ve seriously hurt someone…I did hurt someone…Doc must hate me…I don’t know why he isn’t mad at me, he should be mad at me…” Zoom soberly says, however she felt Joy under her arms and the dog looked at her adorably, Zoom couldn’t help but chuckle a bit and rubs her head. “Thanks Joy…It means a lot to me, more than you realize.” she says, she looks out of the window, however she saw on her passenger side view mirror, that a ninja had a blow dart aimed at her, she kept her eye on him as she had her hand out, she squints her eyes before she leaped her hand and activated the car alarm, the ninja was startled by the alarm as Zoom quickly grabbed her shotgun and fired, however the ninja dodged and tried to fire the blow dart, but Zoom dodged and got out of the car, she fires her shotgun again, this time hitting them on the shoulder, the arm shot off and the ninja fell to the ground.

Zoom looks at the gas station and bolts inside, she opens the door wide and sees Doc blocked off, she pumps her shotgun, gaining the attention of Hishio, the ninjas and Doc. “Duck!” Zoom calls to Doc and fires, Doc quickly ducks as the first one’s taken out, she pumps again and fires, trying to hit Hishio, however the lead ninja grabs the other and uses them as a meat shield to take the hit, before throwing them to the side and booking it to the back. The other two ninjas followed their boss, Doc looked up at Zoom.

Doc gets up and the two hug tightly, relieved that the other is okay. “Doc, I’m so so so so sorry for shooting your leg, are you okay?!” Zoom looked over his body. “Zoom, I'm fine, what about you?!” Doc asked her. “I’m okay that you're okay.” she smiled and hugged him. Doc’s eyes widen at the hug, but he returns it nonetheless. After a bit of hugging, they broke apart and the two got up. “Okay, let’s get out of here before he comes back.” Doc says as the two make their way to the car.

They get to the car and began to drive, not having a place to go, just driving a bit. “Where will we go…We can’t go back to the apartment, not without dragging other people into whatever this is.” Zoom says. “We will, we just need to shake them long enough til they lose track of us. We’ll figure the rest out later.” Doc says as he keeps driving. As the two see an abandoned factory, their car is ram to the side and the car crashes into the building, the car is back on the wheels, Doc looked fine but Zoom was bit banged up and motionless, Joy was whining, which she is unharmed. “Zoom!” He cuts the seatbelt off and checks her pulse, she is fine but barely, he looks at the armored truck, he growls and cuts Zoom’s seatbelt, he kicks the driver side door down and gets her out of the car before disappearing further into the factory. “Joy, go hide, now!” Doc tells the dog as Joy barks and follows Doc’s command.

Coming out of the armored truck were some soldiers wearing military outfits, black and red, as some had their helmets on and high tech rifles, as Hishio steps into the factory, he looks at the wrecked car and motions the troops to move ahead, he and the other two ninjas scan the area before heading up as well. “You know Doc, you brought this upon yourself! It didn’t have to end that way, could’ve come quietly, but nah, you decided to kill half my squad, now your girl is going to die and it’ll be your fault!” Hishio calls out to Doc, he is met with silence…

Just then there was a tink and the soldiers began to fire in the direction, they stopped and saw  a can rolling over, covered in blast marks. “Christ, you collars are entirely useless…” Hishio mumbles, and they began to move further ahead. “Tell you what you four eyed freak, I’ll cut a deal that’ll benefit both of us, you surrender and we’ll make sure your side piece gets medical help. All you have to do is give up.” Hishio says as the soldiers still move in.

It was quiet, the only sound was their own footsteps, unaware that a pair of four green eyes was glowing and disappears into the shadows, a soldier in the back was surveying the area, they then get yanked back into the left, the gun dropping and making a sound, the others turned and saw the weapon, they moved in and aimed at the sight their comrade was taken, next thing they knew, four tinks were made and looked down, seeing it was smoke grenade and flashbang, they went off and blinded them, some of the soldiers fired blindly, Hishio slowly regains his hearing and sight, the soldiers being picked off one by one, the last gun fire being silenced, the smoke clears and the lead ninja’s eyes widen and held his mouth.

The sight was gruesome, guts hanging off from their abdomen, their heads cut off and some looked like flesh was torn through by sharp teeth, the pool of their blood forming at Hishio’s feet as he backed up slowly. “What the fuck is this…What the fuck are you?!” Hishio calls out and felt something bumping his back, he quickly turns and his eyes widen even more, two of his ninjas were hanged up by their own intestines, the masks removed and saw the horrified look on their faces. The sight of this massacre made Hishio bolt out of the area and back to the open area, he tried to run to the door but was blocked by Joy, who hacks up some lava and flames began to surround him, standing by the wrecked car was Doc, who looked pissed off.

“You…You're sick! Sick in the head, you know that?!” Hishio calls him out but is still scared nonetheless. “You brought it on yourself…I would’ve come quietly but you…You hurt her…She had nothing to do with it…Now I’m pissed.” Doc says as he has his claws out and extended. Hishio took his chain blades out and began to charge at him, he jumps and brings his blades down on Doc but the beast dodges them, Hishio began to swing wildly at him as Doc kept dodging them, Hishio kicked Doc to the wrecked car and tried to stab him but Doc dodged in time and the blades hit the car, the flame one came out fine but the ice was stuck in there, Hishio growls and tried to attack Doc again by stabbing his side

Doc grabbed the blade's handle and twisted Hishio’s arm and kicked him away, however still had the chain blade, he tossed it to the side and looked at him. “Still think you're a top dog?” Doc mocks him, Hishio screams in frustration and points at him. “I can take what you throw at me! So come on, give me what you got, you pitiful excuse of a being!” Hishio yelled as he pants.

Doc gets into a defensive position and began to block the incoming attacks, Hishio was throwing everything at him, with the left and right as well as the kicking, he even began to hit his chest fast and then kicked him square in the chest, Doc stumbles back, he tried to move but falls on his knees, holding his chest. “What’s the matter, tough guy? You feel something in your chest, heavy even?” Hishio asked, he walked over and kicked him down before he pinned Doc to the ground. “A little something I like to call ‘Heavy Sleeper’. Picked up that move at my old clan before being kicked out.” Hishio explains and has his foot on Doc’s neck. “See, what happens first, your heart slows down, beat by beat…Makes you feel so tired and weak. Then you slip to unconsciousness. It’s something we use to knock our targets out, make it look like they died in their sleep. I used a small percentage of it.” Hishio leaned down and looked Doc in the eyes. “Cause when I find that bitch of yours…I’ll have some fun with her as I make you watch it all happen, who knows, might get some of the soldiers in, have a turn with her, they really need the release.” Hishio threatened as he began mockingly laughing at him. Doc began to get angry, he growls animalistically as he slowly recovers, he then stabs Hishio in the leg as the laughing turned to screaming, Hishio gets off and holds his leg. Doc struggles to get up but manages to do so. 

“W-What?! But it should’ve-!” before Hishio could finish, Doc interrupts him with a to the face, which his mask fell off, Hishio’s face was of white skin and green eyes while his hair was black. “Oh it’s working…But let’s just say I’m pissed off!” Doc roars inhumanely and began to charge at him, Hishio tried to defend himself by blocking his chest but Doc kicks the leg he stabbed into, Hishio screams in pain and is interrupted with a headbutt, he falls to the ground and reaches into his pouch and throws ninja stars at him, it hits the beast but he couldn’t care less and for the first time in awhile, he formed his mouth as his sharp teeth show and he bites hard into Hishio’s right arm hard, the ninja screams in pain and tries to get him off, but Doc shakes him around, the blood entering his mouth, he then tossed him to the side, blood dripping from his mouth as he is on all fours and pounces onto him, he bites into Hishio’s left shoulder, sinking his teeth in further into the flesh.

Hishio kicks him off and tries to crawl away, but Doc gets up, he saw the ice chain blade and yanks it out of the car, he walks to him and wraps the chain around Hishio’s neck, the lead ninja began to lose air as he tries to remove the chain but it tightens more, Doc looked down into his eyes and sees the life slowly leaving him. The beast looked at him some more…Before letting the chain part go. Hishio took a deep breath and began to cough, he looked at the monster, confused why he stopped. “What? …Why?” Hishio asked. “Because I got more important things to deal with then killing you. I want you to know this.” Doc tells him as he bends down to Hishio on his knee and grabs him by the collar. “I want you to know that if you lay a single finger on Zoom…I’ll make sure to make your death slow and painful, I want to let you see me cutting out every organ while you're still alive. Do you understand me?” Doc warns him as Hishio nodded fearfully, Doc shoved him to the floor and began to walk away. “You know…This isn’t over…” Hishio states. “Oh I know.” Doc says and kept on walking, Hishio gets up and weakly grabbed his chain blades, he throws a smoke bomb and disappears.

*Hospital…*

Zoom lays on the hospital bed, she groans as she slowly wakes up, she sits up a bit and turns to her right side and sees Doc. “Doc…?” she called to him, he looked up a bit and his eyes widen. “Doc, what happened, where did the ninja guy go, where’s Joy, and what happened to the-” Before Zoom could ask any more questions, Doc stops her by hugging her, her eyes widen a bit, surprised he was the one to start it off, she returns the hug though. “Everything’s fine now…” Doc says softly. Joy gets between the two and licks Zoom’s face, she giggles and rubs her head. “Hi girl…I’m okay.” Zoom says as she kisses Joy’s head.

“Hey, guess who came here to check up on us.” Doc says as he moved to the side and it was a familiar werewolf, who was wearing blue jeans, and a red wrap lantern short sleeved shirt, carrying a basket. “C-Claire?!” Zoom stutters and blushes faintly. “Hi Zoom, I heard about what happened, are you okay?” she asked her as her soft hands held Zoom’s face, she only blushed. “Y-Yeah, j-just a bit banged up is all.” Zoom says. “You and Doc were very brave, I heard about who attacked you and if I could, I would give those no good Dark kingdom’s goons a piece of my mind.” she says as bared her teeth a bit, she sighs and looked at the two, she had her hand on Doc’s cheek as well. “Well the important thing is, you're safe now.” Claire says as she smiled softly at the two, both faces were blushing hard now.

“Oh, before I forget, I got you two something, it was from everyone at the apartment, including that new girl and her rock friend.” Claire says and puts the basket on the counter and it was some cards, snacks and even some money. “The money was from Mr. and Mrs. Grubble. They told me to tell you two to get better, and sorry about the other day, I don’t know what they meant by that.” Claire says. “We really appreciate it Claire, thank you for coming by and checking up on us.” Zoom smiles at her. “Luckily the doctors said you only suffered minor injuries, should be able to be discharged today.” Doc tells her.

“Thank god, this is like my second time being in the hospital.” Zoom says, her smile is replaced with concern. “What about…That ninja?” Zoom asked Doc. “Well turns out, his names Hishio, and I made it clear that if he comes at us again, he won’t survive, course, the way he acts, I can tell it won’t be the last time we see of him…But it gives us some breathing room for a bit.” Doc says. “Why do they care so much about you?” Claire asks him. Doc looked down, silent for a moment…Before taking a deep breath and looked at the two. “Alright…What I’m about to say, does not leave this room.” Doc says seriously. Both of them nodded. “Alright…Here goes…I…I used to work for them.” Doc tells them. Both of the women’s jaws dropped and eyes widen, “WHAT?!” Both the women shouted, as Joy tilt her head.

*At the military base…*

“So much for ‘let the pros handle it’ huh?” Cree says as he has a smug smirk on him as he drinks his cup of coffee. “Shut up! So he…Might’ve been more than what I expected, but that wasn’t my fault! OW, will you be fucking more careful?!” Hishio exclaimed as a doctor was tending his leg.

“I trusted you to handle it Hishio, but clearly it’s out of your depth! If you weren’t the lead assassin, I would chop your head off!” Oga shouted as he slammed his fist on the medical cart as the doctor flinches. “That’s easy for you to say, sure let me do all the work, while you sit back like a big fat gorilla!” Hishio insulted, before being grabbed by the neck and was lifted up by Oga. “Who are you calling a gorilla you shrimp weaseling pajama wearing dumbass!” Oga shouted at him and was ready to hit him.

“That’s enough Oga, no need to let your temper get the better of you.” a voice called out, the four turned and stepping out of the shadows was a creature that was multicolored, stepping in further, they looked to be made of glass. “Uhhh…Who’s that?” Amy asks Oga, the orc huffs and drops Hishio back on the medical table. “This is Dr. Stone, our lead scientist and engineer. He is a crystal creature, the more advanced cousin of the extinct rock creatures and the matter I was tending to today.” Oga explains. “Indeed, and these are the ones that managed to acquire a bone part of the target?” Stone asked. “Uh, yes we are, sir.” Amy answers.

“And why exactly do you want to know, unless you're going to fight him, well you're gonna have to get a bit creative cause if a hammer gets involved, it’s game over.” Cree says. “Oh I am not  stupid Mr. Skolov. I know my own limits…Course when you're a genius like me.” Stone says as he snaps his fingers. On cue, white eyes glowed as mechanical noises were made and steps forward, showing a black robot. “You realize, why fight, when you can make something fight for you.” Stone says as the robot speaks. “T.A.N.K unit ready for combat.” the robot says. “Tank? What’s that hunk of junk going to do?” Hishio asked. “Oh trust me…This ‘hunk of junk’ will complete where you failed. Isn’t that right, Tank?” Stone asked. “Affirmative.” Tank says, his eyes glowing brighter.

Chapter Text

“So…Let me get this straight, you and Zoom were attacked by a bunch of ninjas, knocked the leader around senselly..And the reason why they are after you is because you worked for them, am I hitting the ball park here?” Galaxy asked Doc.

“Home run Gal, home run.” Doc says he drinks his alcohol. It’s been a few days after the incident and he, Galaxy, Boulder, Zoom and even Claire were currently in Joe’s bar, after things calmed down, it was a bit awkward for him revealing this to the other two, but Zoom wanted him to come clean to them as well. “Boulder have many questions.” Boulder says. “I’ll try to answer them as much as I can.” Doc tells the others.

“Have you ever taken down a high profile organization in a different country? Explosions everywhere and getting laid?” Galaxy asked. “What? No, I mean I did do some missions, but no, I was put into a security detail. It ain’t a James Bond film.” Doc tells her. “What was training like? I know it’s brutal because of the stories my pa’s buddies tell.” Claire asked him. “Well the stories are true, it was brutal, very brutal, and me, being a runt, I got my ass kicked up, down, left and right. Course, I got training from my old squad leader, Richard Briggs.” Doc says.

“Horn man said se-securi-se-se…” Boulder stops for a moment and tries to concentrate, he shots up. “Bodyguard! Did horn man guard important people on missions?” He says. “Nah, just one person. And they were nice…She and I would talk a lot since she doesn’t go out in public as much as she used to.” Doc explained. “She? Who is she?” Zoom asked him. “Ahhhh…She was my former boss's wife, her name was Sophia.” Doc says. Zoom looked at the ground for a moment, she then looked at him. “Why did you leave then, the real reason why, cause they didn’t like it when you left considering what happened a few days ago.” Zoom asked him, Doc looked at her and rubbed his head. “Well…That one is a long story.” Doc says. “Oh we got time Dokah.” Galaxy tells him, the four look at him now. Doc sighs, “Okay, but not here, not where other people are.” Doc tells them, the four nod and once Doc pays for the drinks, the group leaves Joe’s bar.

Before they could even go far, not even a few feet from the bar, something lands in the middle of the street, as a dust cloud forms, Doc shields Zoom and Claire as Boulder shields Galaxy and the others, the cloud settles, in the middle of the crater was a black metalic humanoid, it began to stand up, the eyes are bright white. It walks up from the crater and looks at the others. “Greetings. I am T.A.N.K. I have come forth to hunt down a fugitive known by the name of Doc.” the robot says. “Wait, your name is basically…Tank?” Claire asked, her guard up a bit. “Correct. My main objective is to locate and terminate fugitive Doc.” Tank says as his optics began to look into them, it then zoomed in on Doc and his eyes glowed red. “Target located.” Tank says as his arm turns into a chain gun. “Oh crap, Doc run!” Zoom says as Doc books it, Tank begins to fire at Doc with the chain gun as the monster ducks behind a car, Tank focuses on the car, almost tearing it to shreds. Boulder slams Tank away, the robot hitting a red truck but the robot looked up and gets up, being unfazed.

“Scanning potential threats.” Tank says as he scans Boulder, the rock monster charges at the machine, but Tank easily counters it by side stepping and kicking Boulder’s back leg, Boulder tried to hit the machine but they simply grabbed the fist and twisted it and flipped them to the ground. “Hey!!!” Galaxy was pissed and tried to hit Tank with her brass knuckles, the robot’s head didn’t even move from the punch, they simply turned their head and looked at Galaxy and scanned her as well before grabbing her arm, Galaxy tried to hit Tank again but her hand gets caught and they just tossed her to the same red truck that they got hit into.

Claire tried to claw at Tank but it didn’t do nothing, Tank then turned his entire body and turned his left arm from a chain gun to a shock prod, he jams it onto her and she gets shocked and, out of instinct, whimpered and ran behind another car, Doc jumped on the shot up car and lunges at Tank and stabbed his claw into Tank, however his claws got stuck when he tried to pull out, Tank beeps and turned his right arm into a blade and stabs into Doc’s chest, the monster roared in pain and is pinned down by Tank, the robot pushes the blade deeper as they bend down to Doc’s face. “As organisms say. ‘You are finished’.” Tank says as he stands up, blade still in Doc as he changed his left arm to a cannon as he aimed it at him, the cannon charges up as Doc struggles to escape, Doc still tries to escape but is still pinned down, before Tank could fire, he felt a shotgun blast from behind, he turns his head and saw Zoom charge in and fired at his head, Tank stumbles back and unknowingly took the blade out of Doc. Before the robot could do anything, Doc grabbed a rock and slammed it at his eye, making a crack on the eye, but in retaliation, Tank backhanded Doc, which made Zoom drop the shotgun due to the monster’s body hitting her, the two on the ground, the machine turns his left arm back to a chain gun “This will suffice.” Tank says and aimed it at the two.

Zoom looked around, trying to find anything to slow them down, she saw a water bottle and she looked at the machine again, in a desperate attempt, she grabbed the bottle, unscrewed the cap and tossed the water at the robot. Tank looked at her for a moment…Before they aimed their weapon at her temple. “You are nothing but an obstacle and I must eliminate that obstacle. No hard feelings.” Tank says. Before they could fire, some of the water enters where Doc stabbed him, and the wires began to short circuit and due to that, Tank’s body began to spasam and steps back, his head spinning as he talks but very disorianted and very much broken, he then stops entirely and faces the ground, Doc and Zoom looked at Tank, then each other, they got up and dusted themselves off.

“Wow…That…Was painful…” Galaxy groans out, as Boulder helps her up, Claire comes out of hiding and looks at the robot, she spat at it. “Hunk of junk…” Claire says bitterly. “What…Do friends do now?” Boulder asked them. “Well I say we scrap this tin can and call it a day.” Doc suggests. “I second that.” Galaxy says, rubbing her side a bit. 

Tank’s head jolts up and is standing straight, the others get ready to defend. “Tar-tar-tar-target aqu-” Tank was malfunctioning as it’s head still spins a bit, it stops and their eyes flashed a bit before stopping. It looks at the others. “Data…Not found.” Tank says. 

“Wait…Come again?” Claire asked. “Data not found. I seem to malfunction and in doing so, I have no recollection of my objective…What is my objective?” It asks them. “Uhhh…This is awkward.” Galaxy says to the others. “A little yeah…Uh, listen um…What’s your name again?” Doc asked the robot. “I am T.A.N.K. But you may wish to call me, Tank.” Tank says. “Right…Tank. Your objective…Is to…Um…” Doc is currently stuck on what to say to the machine to get it to leave. “To tag along with us!” Zoom says. Everyone looked at her like she lost her mind. “Affirmative. My objective is to ‘tag along’ til my repairs are complete.” Tank says. “Zoom…What are you doing suga?” Claire asked her. “Well, I figure maybe that we can try to befriend the robot.” Zoom says. “Zoom, that thing hit Boulder and it tossed me to a truck without any problems, why would we want to have that death machine with us?” Galaxy asked her. 

“Maybe it doesn't HAVE to attack us, maybe we can convince it we’re not a threat?” Zoom says. “Look, for all we know, it will repair itself and you know that the first thing it will do is kill me.” Doc points out. “Please Doc, give it a chance, look it’s harmless right now, just let me try, pwease?” Zoom begs as she flutters her eyes at him and does a pouty lip, Doc looked at her face for a moment…Before sighing. “Fine, we can try it your way…” Doc says. “Wait, that’s it? So you're going along with this crazy plan because of some cute eyes she gave you?” Galaxy asked, baffled. “Yep.” Doc simply replies. “Well there’s no fucking way I’m going to go along with this so called crazy pla-”

Later…

“I hate you…So much.” Galaxy says as she had a mean look on her as she was wearing a theme park shirt and hat as Boulder was next to her and eating a candy apple. “I got a gift.” Zoom says as she gives a proud look. Tank looked at the rides as he was wearing a large T-Shirt. “This is what you call ‘fun’?” Tank asks. “Yeah, it’s not really all that bad.” Doc says as he is eating a corn dog. “What is the purpose of this?” Tank asked. “Well, it’s just something to do that isn’t like work or if it’s a special occasion.” Zoom explains. “I see…What would this be then?” Tank asked. “Ahhhh…Hey why not try a game?” Claire asked. “I do not know what ‘games’ are.” Tank says. “Shiny man not know games?” Boulder asked. “My programming only knows orders, anything else is secondary.” Tank explains.

“Well you're about to try one soon, let’s start with something easy, like…” Doc looks around for a moment before finding the perfect one, which is balloon darts. “Like Balloon Dart” Doc says. “I do not find the purpose for it.” Tank says. “Well there is, if you hit a balloon, you get a prize” Zoom explains. “Interesting…I will give this, as humans say, a shot.” Tank says.

The group goes over to the balloon dart booth. “Ahhhh, hello hello, what can I do for you today?” the booth owner asked. “Hi, we would like to play. Three darts please.” Zoom says as she puts down some cash. The booth owner took the money and handed Zoom three darts. She gives them to Tank. “You got this Tank!” Zoom cheered. “Calculating…Scanning…” he scans the balloons with his only good eye, he then throws the darts fast and hits the three balloons. “Hell yeah, you did it!” Galaxy says. “Alright kid, pick your prize.” the booth owner said, Tank looked up and saw a bunch of the stuff animals. He then points to one, which is a butterfly with blue wings. “I want that.” he states. 

The booth owner handed the butterfly to them and the group began to walk around. “Sooooo…How come you picked that butterfly?” Claire asked. “I do not know, but this creature…It is…Fascinating to look at.” Tank answers as they still kept looking at the butterfly. “Well it’s called a butterfly.” Doc explains. “I see.” Tank says. After they leave the park after some walking around and going on rides. “Soooooo, how do you feel Tank?” Zoom asked. “I cannot ‘feel’ anything, I am not programmed for emotions.” Tank explains. “Ah…Right…Well your brai-um…Uh, data, could learn some new stuff.” Zoom tells him. “Like what?” Tank asked her. “I don’t know, if you want to be bored, you could go to a library.” Galaxy sarcastically says. “Library…Perhaps I could learn about ‘feelings’, Thank you Galaxy.” Tank thanks her. “I was being sarcastic.” Galaxy says, sighing as she already knows what’s coming.

Later, in the library…

“The library! A place to go and be absorbed in the world of fantasy or if you need to research something.” Zoom quietly says as she reads a thriller. “I detect low heat signatures, wouldn't there be more organics here?” Tank asked. “Well…Yes but nowadays, there’s the internet, and humans just rot their brain away.” Doc says as he is leaning back on a chair. “Well I think people should come here more often, it wouldn’t hurt to come and pick up a good book.” Claire says as she is reading a romance novel. “Well it’s boring and I would rather be anywhere else than here.” Galaxy complained, next to her is Boulder reading a picture book. Tank scans over the wall of books, they then stand up and go over and begin to look at them. “Hey can one of you keep an eye out on the robot for a sec, Zoom, a word?” Doc asks her. The two walk from the table. 

“Okay, while I did say I try this your way first, but can I ask this…Why?” Doc asked. “Why what?” Zoom replied. “I mean why are we helping the robot?” Doc answered. “Well…Because I figure that, with the purpose gone, I give them a new one.” Zoom explains. “And what if it doesn’t work?” Doc asked her. “I know it will work…It has to.” She says as she looks at Tank. sighing, “I just think…No one deserves to die because of what they were made to do. I want  to give them a chance to start over and be something more…” Zoom says honestly. “Last question, what made you give that idea?” he asked. “Well, you for starters.” Zoom smiled at Doc, the monster's four eyes widened a bit from that response, he rubbed the back of his head a bit. “Zoom…I-” before Doc could finish what he was about to say, Galaxy calls to them. “Hey, Doc, Zoom, Tank wants to talk to you.” she tells them. The two looked at each other and went to the table and sat down, as Tank finished reading…Well speed reading. “I would like to make a request.” Tank asks. “Uh….Sure bud, what is it?” Zoom asked. “I would like to visit a factory.” Tank says. “A…Factory, why do you want to visit a factory?” Galaxy asked. “Because I want to know how things are made. Is that a problem?” Tank asks. “Boulder always wanted to see factory, Boulder want to see chocolate factory.” Boulder says as he drools a bit due to the mention of chocolate. “Well…Guess there wouldn’t be harm in seeing one. Despite the request.” Doc says. “Excellent. Let us go.” Tank stands and heads to the door.

Later…

“Well…Seems like it’s closed.” Galaxy says, the factory looked abandoned, windows boarded up and the gate locked. “Oh well, sorry about that Tank, we can go somewhere else if you want.” Zoom says. Tank looks at the building and the gate, they turn their hand into a buzz saw and brings it to the chains, they manage to cut through and open the outside gate. “Okay, now we’re just breaking and entering, great, just great…” Galaxy says as the others follow the robot. Tank forces the factory’s open and step inside. “Boulder can’t wait for chocolate!” Boulder says as he looks around. “I highly doubt it bud, this has been abandoned for quite a bit.” Galaxy tells him. “Correct, this factory has been abandoned for 30 years, after the owners have passed from natural causes, with no heir, this factory was closed.” Tank says he picks some scrap metal from the ground and wiring from a control console. “Tank…Why are we really here?” Claire asked suspiciously. “I was reading the books from the library, mostly on how to repair machinery.” Tank says as he finds a desk and turns to them. “I need your help repairing me.” Tank asks. “Uhhhh….” Zoom was uncertain how to answer this question. “If it’s about repairing me, I will be able to guide you through the process, my scans detect the damage is in my head” Tank says.

Before anyone could object or say anything, something made a sound, they turned and saw a familiar lanky creature, unaware that the group was there due to being busy eating something. “Nightcrawlers…” Claire whispered, as her ears pinned. “Okay…Let’s just slowly leave this place.” Doc says quietly and the others, beside Tank who just looked at the creature in curiosity, stepped back, however there was a crunch sound, they looked down and saw that Galaxy stepped on a metal can, they looked as the nightcrawler turns and saw the group, it hisses and drools a bit, the eyeless creature roars and runs on all fours and lunges, however Boulder quickly smacked the creature away and it hits a conveyor belt and lands on their back. “Woah! Nice job bud!” Claire says. “Boulder didn’t mean to hurt creature.” Boulder said as he covered his mouth. “Hey, that’s what we REALLY need right about now.” Doc reassures him. The Nightcrawler stands as its long claws are on the belt, it then lets out an echoing cry.

“Uhhhh, what is it doing?” Zoom asked, a bit confused and nervous. “By the sound of the cry, it is calling for help.” Tank says as a matter of fact. On cue, more cries were heard and the sounds of the floor being scratched. “Ah crap, we got to get out now!” Doc says, before they could even get close to the front door, they were cut off by something…New.

Blocking their path, it looked like the nightcrawlers, but there seems to be a huge difference. For one they have eyes, granted they were almost hollow but you could see their tiny white dots. They also had no mouths either. They also seem to be bulkier, a bit taller too, however the biggest difference was on their backs, there were huge dark green blisters on their back, inside it looked like there was something alive. “Gahhhh! What the hell are they?!” Galaxy asks shocked and steps back. “These are the female nightcrawlers, also known as Carriers.” Tank says. “Wait…They have girls?” Claire asked. The first one let’s a low rumbling and began to charge at them. Doc rushes in and lunges at her, however the other one rushes past the two and tries to go to Zoom, however Boulder grabbed the other female and began to push her back, however it seemed they were an even match. “Tank, help us!” Zoom pleads with the robot, Tank tries to shift his arms but it just glitches and sparks fly. “I cannot, my data was damaged, I have no way to defend unless I am repaired, as humans say, ‘we are stuck between a rock and a hard place’.” Tank says. The sounds of the nightcrawlers roared as they came closer. “Gahhhhh….Damn it, Zoom, me and Gal here will buy you time, just get him fixed!” Claire says as she bares her teeth out and charges at the one Doc was attacking as he was flung back, she bites hard onto the blister as the carrier screams in pain, well muffled screaming.

Zoom hears the hoard of nightcrawlers coming in, she rushes over to Tank. “I shall guide you on repairs, first, press three bolts on my head.” Tank instructs, Zoom does as she told and the robots face plate begins to open, inside was wires and exposed machinery, she sees the burnt marks on his face. “Woah…” Zoom says in awe at the sophisticated machinery. “Zoom! We’re about to die soon!” Galaxy reminds her as she punches the carrier’s stomach and the creature falls on their knee, then backhands her. “Why is female nightcrawler strong?!” Boulder asks as he hits the Carriers face, as they hit a pipe, but shrugs it off like nothing. “The carriers are the high guard to the queen of the hive.” Tank explains as Zoom replaced a broken part with a new one. “Tank how much more til I’m done?!” Zoom asked she hears the nightcrawlers getting closer. “99% done.” Tank says. Zoom was about to put the last part in but stops for a moment, she looked at Tank, the robot tilt their head. “What are you waiting for?! Put it in!” Galaxy as she grabbed a pipe and smacked the carrier across the face, the creature roared and tried to headbutt her, but Galaxy stabs it through the head. “Ha! Got ya bitch!” Galaxy says.

“Hello! Other one is still here!” Doc reminds her as he is held up in the air, he claws the face and makes the carrier let go. Zoom looked at the group and then back at Tank. “Tank…If I do this…I…I don’t know if I could save you from what happens afterwards…Please…Don’t make me do what I have to do.” Zoom begged the robot. “I do not know my objective…But when I do, it will be secondary. If it comes to it…Thank you for keeping me online.” Tank says. Zoom puts the last part into them…And she gave them one last hug. The face plate closes and Tank’s eyes light up and then stopped. “Tank…?” Zoom says, and waved her hand at his face, she then gets knocked back to the wall, Doc, Claire and Galaxy’s bodies hitting her, the three groan a bit, the carrier knocks Boulder down and traps him, the carrier turns to Zoom and snarls, Zoom’s eyes widen as the creature roars and charges, she tries to get up but couldn’t. The carrier forms a mouth and roars as she lunges, Zoom braced herself…However nothing came.

The carrier is trying to reach toward Zoom but couldn’t, Zoom looked and saw Tank grabbing her by the leg, they then tossed the carrier to the side, the carrier roars and charges at Tank, the robot gets in a defensive position as the carrier tries to headbutt, it lands but the carrier lands the ground, holding their head as it whines, Tank then grabbed the leg again and saw the approaching the nightcrawlers, they grabbed the carrier by the neck and with quick work snaps their neck, killing it, they then throw it at the incoming nightcrawlers, some got hit but more kept coming, Tank began to slowly walk toward them as their arms turn into maces, they began to swing it and bashing the nightcrawlers heads in, one tried to jump on them but the machine just activated their rocket feet and slams it onto a chamber, crushing it as it falls and went limp, Tank then uses their rocket boots and burns some to a crisp as the nightcrawlers screeched in pain.

Zoom was in awe of this, she shakes the others a bit, they slowly look up and saw the carnage that is happening right in front of them, Tank then pins one down and turns one of their arms into a war hammer and began to bash the nightcrawlers face in, Tank then transforms his other arm into a blade, a nightcrawler tried to get them but gets cut in half from the waist, Tank transforms his other arm into a blade now and began to slice them in half, he even throws one against the wall and then dislodges his blade from the arm into the skull as the nightcrawler slumps to the ground, bleeding from the head, Tank hears more coming in, both nightcrawlers and a couple of Carriers, one of them throws a console at Tank, he side steps, he retaliates by opening a small hatch on his shoulder, coming up was a tiny rocket and fires it. The tiny rocket hits the Carrier that threw the console at them. At first nothing happened, then suddenly, it causes a big explosion that burns the nightcrawlers and the Carriers. 

The others were jaw dropped by this display of violence that happened, Tank turns to the group, they be to walk towards them, however the group felt the ground shake, suddenly the ground opens up and coming out was a large creature, multiple eyes around as their body is like a centipede, it roars enraged as it’s eight legs sprout out, sprouting on her upper body is four arms. “That must be the queen!” Galaxy says. “If we kill the queen, all local nightcrawlers will be terminated, but I suggest we finish it off before it escapes.” Tank suggests and begins to fire at the queen, the giant creature roars and tries to attack Tank, but simply dodges. Zoom looks around to see what she can use to take down the queen. Galaxy taps her arm and points to the side, which is a silo which looked like it was on its last legs, Zoom nods.

“Tank! Try to distract the queen for a bit!” Zoom calls to them, the robot nods and kept firing their weapons at the queen. “Boulder, push that big metal thing when I tell you.” Zoom tells him, Boulder nods and gets ready as he goes to the silo. “Doc, you, Claire, Galaxy and me will pin that thing down.” Zoom tells them. The three nodded and began to get to work. Doc climbs on the top and makes it to the catwalk, he perches up on the rail and then leaps forward, on its face as he then stabs the eyes. The queen roars in pain as she tries to shake him off. Claire and Galaxy rush to the side, the two women then grab onto some cables and some steel spears. “Tank, help us detain this bitch!” Claire asks the robot. Tank flies down and once the two girls wrapped the cables around the metal spears, the robot began to stab them through the legs of the queen and pinned her at the spot. The queen crawler screams in pain and enraged, and tried to escape. The queen began to knock stuff around, thrashing around to escape. Zoom dodges the falling debris, however she trips over and backs up as the queen was getting angry, its remaining eyes looking at her, she grabs Doc and throws him far back and knocks some fallen debri at her. 

Tank destroys the debri and begins to fire onto the queen, taking the remaining eyes out, the queen roars and tries to lunge, however it only ripped her legs apart as she now lays there, squirming around, enraged as she bites at the air. Doc comes running back and throws a metal spear at her neck, the queen gargles as it let out a horsed roar, pinning her to the ground now. “Boulder! Now!” Doc tells him as the rock monster nods and pushes hard onto the silo, the silo falls as the queen let out a final painful roar before being crushed as a dust cloud surrounds it. Once it settled, the others regrouped and looked at the sight, a pool of yellow and green form around the queen. “We…We did it…” Doc says, shocked a little bit, the others hear a small laugh, they turn and see it was Galaxy. “We fucking did it! That was awesome!” Galaxy says as she laughs happily as Boulder lifts her up, laughing along as well. “Friends beat scary monsters!” Boulder says. “Well I’ll be…That’s a wonder right there.” Claire says as she chuckles a bit.

“I gotta admit Zoom…That was a nice plan right there.” Doc says a bit, chuckling a bit. “Yeah…I’m surprised with myself a bit. Besides, if we should thank someone, we should thank-” before Zoom could finish, there was a sound of a click, they turned and saw Tank, their arm a gun, aiming at Doc. “Primary objective complete, secondary objective activated, terminate or capture Doc.” Tank says. “Tank…You don’t have to do this…” Zoom tries to reason with the robot. “Negative, I am ordered to take Dokah Osopo Camaka in for treason.” Tank states. “Tank…I’m only saying this once for Zoom’s sake, you don’t want to be their pawn, like how I was.” Doc tells them.

“Give me a logical reason why I shouldn’t do this.” Tank tells him. Doc looked at the robot, then backed at the others, then back at Tank. “Years ago…I was assigned to a mission instead of guarding duties. We were supposed to protect some cargo.” Doc says, the last word venomous. “Our convoy was attacked by water elementals, royal guards. One managed to sneak into the back, when we got to the back, it was…Two kids, both royals, the oldest brother tried to fight us off but one of the members killed him…The look on that sister's face…I could never forget it.” Doc says, his own face, looked of regret, the others, beside Tank, looked horrified. 

“When we got there…My boss…That fuck, knew about what was inside…He shot that team members head for killing the eldest brother…They were nothing but bargaining chips to force the water kingdom to let their war ships through…I couldn’t let him get away with it…I attacked my former boss, general and sergeant. I got that little girl out and back to her people…But she hated me for what I did…So that’s why I left, if you want to kill me, kill me, but leave the others out of this.” Doc tells Tank.

Tank looked at Doc some more, the others were on their guard and ready to attack, the staredown lasted for a good bit, before Tank fired, however not at the group, but a nightcrawler who was charging in. The others looked at the robot for a moment as Tank turned his arm cannon back into an arm. “Your reason is…Logical.” Tank says and approaches the group. “I will let you all go. But I recommend hiding until things have calmed down. I will say you escaped and was too busy fighting the creature, however I cannot go back, as you humans say, ‘empty handed’.” Tank explains. Doc sighs in relief, he tears off his horn and gives it to him. “Here, it’s not much but it should make your story more believable.” Doc says. Tank takes the horn and looked at Zoom. “Thank you for repairing me and showing me around.” they tell her. “Awww, your welcome.” Zoom says. “I suggest you go before the soldiers get here.” Tank tells them. “Thank you bud…” Galaxy says as the group began to walk out.

“So…That’s really why you left…” Claire asked. “Yeah…I’m not proud of what happened that night, or in the next few days” Doc says. “The next few days?” Zoom asked. “I was offered to take down my boss…That night went sideways too, but I will tell you guys more on another time.” Doc tells them. “Well I’m ready to go home and sleep, cause holy shit that was a rush.” Galaxy says as she yawns. “I think we all need sleep after what happened.” Claire says as she stretches. “Yeah…” Doc says as he felt his side hugged, he looked to see it was Zoom. “Hey…What you said back there…I don’t think any less of you…I think you did the right thing saving her. And…Thank you for trusting me” Zoom comforts him as she is hugging him, Doc looked shocked and was speechless for a bit, he hugs her in return. “Thank you…And your welcome, you somehow get into people's hearts, even if it’s mechanical.” Doc tells her as he hugged her back as the group walked away from the factory back to their apartment.

Later…

“That’s the last body!” a soldier calls out to Oga, the orc nods and waved his hand as the truck leaves, around the factory, the police were securing the area as soldiers were burning the nightcrawler bodies. “So correct me if I’m wrong, you failed to capture Doc because you were under attack by the nightcrawlers, and not only did you slaughter them, you butchered their queen and by the time you were done, they escaped?” Oga asked, trying hard to contain his anger. “Affirmative, I was making sure to secure the area before the creatures got loose. I only managed to recover from this.” Tank explains as he shows them the horn. “Well Stone, so much for your brilliant invention.” Cree says as he was currently drinking a cup of coffee, while Amy was carefully stepping over the nightcrawlers corpses. “Are you kidding? My machine is more brilliant then I realized, it’s a success!” Stone says happily. “I don’t understand, they failed to capture or kill Doc.” Amy says. “Yes, while it is such a loss, but this work he did with the nightcrawlers, and not to mention taking down a queen with little difficulty? This achievement overshadows their failure! He has done as designed and more!!!” Stone explains as he does a little dance and laughs a little.

Tank looks over the scene, he sees the soldiers burning the bodies of the nightcrawlers as a big truck carries away the queen. “What will happen to the queen’s corpse, the lord wouldn’t have use for it.” Tank says. “My mechanical miracle, me and Dr. Yuma will study the creature and see what secrets it holds.” Stone says as he rubs his hands together, laughing a bit. “Nutjob…Well he is right, taking down a hive isn’t something to scoff at on your first day…Not bad tin can.” Oga says as he pats the machine's shoulder. “You will have a bright future in the north kingdom and you might even have more missions like this.” Oga says a bit proud as he walks off to oversee the burning procedures. Cree and Amy follow him. Tank was about to follow but stopped when they saw a butterfly, they held their hand out and it landed on the hand and examined it. They then opened their stomach hatch and saw the butterfly plush they had won earlier. “Adding a new primary objective: Experience Life.” Tank says and let the butterfly go, they close the stomach hatch and follow the others.

Chapter Text

“Boulder hope Boulder and Gal Gal go eat flavor ice soon.” Boulder says as he was currently sitting in a chair as he kicks his feet like a kid. “Oh we will bud, just gotta finish up here and then we can go get some snow cones.” Galaxy says as she looks at some glasses.

The two were currently in an eyewear store looking at some glasses, the reason why they were there is because Joe asked them to go grab him a pair since he needed ones that were more spider friendly and his other pair were damaged.

“Boulder never saw spider boss wear zoom glass.” Boulder says as he looks at the glasses. “Well he doesn’t have exactly good vision bud, like how one day, you or me could be wearing glasses because we can’t see as well as before, or just to make things easier to read.” Galaxy explains as she pays them with the money Joe gave them.

Boulder looks at some of the glasses and carefully picks one up, black rectangles and he examines them a bit. “Hey, be careful with them big guy, they are very fragile.” Galaxy says as she gets the case, rag and a spray to clean the lens with. Boulder nodded and looked at the glasses a bit more, then puts them on. “Gal Gal, Boulder look good with glasses?” he asked her, Galaxy looked at him. “Hey, those look good on ya bud. Like damn you look sophisticated.” Galaxy compliments him. “Boulder thank Gal Ga-” Boulder stops mid sentence, he blinks a bit and held his giant rocky palm on his head. “Hey Boulder, you okay bud?” Galaxy asked. “Boulder feel…Funny…” Boulder says slowly, he then stumbles back onto the chair. 

“Holy crap!” Galaxy rushes over to him and hold his head. “I need a doctor, asap!” Galaxy calls out as the clerk calls 911. “Okay Boulder, listen to me, focus only on my voice alright?” Galaxy comforts him. “Gal Gal, Boulder feel-” Before Boulder could finish, he began to spasm a bit as he his arms twitch. “Shit! Someone help me!” Galaxy begs as the other employees rush over, trying to keep him calm, on cue, paramedics arrive and grab a large stretcher, they haul him onto it and began to take him to the ambulance. “Are you his friend?” one of the paramedics asked Galaxy. “I’m his guardian.” Galaxy tells them. They let her onto the vehicle and they began to drive to the hospital.

Later…

Galaxy was currently in the waiting room as she rapidly taps her foot nervously, waiting for the news, coming in the waiting room was Doc and Zoom. “Hey, we heard about what happened, is there any news yet?” Zoom asked Galaxy. “No, not yet but I should be getting something soon.” she says as she taps more. “Hey, whatever it is, they’ll figure it out, but how did it exactly happen? Your text said about him trying a pair of glasses on.” Doc says. “Yeah, as soon as he did, he was fine at first, but then the next thing I knew, he fell to the ground.” Galaxy explains. 

Suddenly, a doctor, who was a water elemental with a ponytail and glasses hanging off of her shirt pocket, enters the waiting room. “Excuse me, is there a Galaxy here?” the doctor asks who had a feminine voice. “I’m Galaxy, miss.” she says. “Ah, greetings, I’m Dr. Angelica, I’m Boulder’s doctor, and I take these two here, are they friends of his?” Angelica asks. “Yes we are miss, we wanted to check to see if he’s okay.” Doc says. “Well the tests came back, we found that nothing’s wrong with him exactly.” the doctor says. “Nothing wrong with him? He fainted basically and was having a spasm, how is there nothing wrong with him?!” Galaxy snapped at her and both Doc and Zoom had to hold her back as the doctor stepped back, clearly surprised. “Y-Yes it was concerning but all his vitals show he’s fine! In fact, he seems very coordinated after that whole ordeal.” the doctor explains.

The three stopped for a moment and looked surprised. “Coordinated? What do you mean by that?” Doc asked. “Well, it’s best I show you.” Angelica says and leads them to his room. “When he first woke up, we checked his vitals and as mentioned, he was fine, we then checked his brainwaves and they were also fine as well, in fact his brain waves are very active. “What do you mean ‘very active’?” Doc asked her. When they got to his room, they were met with an unexpected sight. Boulder still had his glasses on, however on the hospital desk was rubix cubes…Completed rubix cubes to be accurate, he was currently doing one, he looked up to the others. “Ah, Dr. Angelica, good to see you again, I almost finished with this rubix cube.” Boulder says, the three were a bit confused. “Uhhhh…Hey buddy, you feeling okay bud?” Zoom asked. “I’m quite fine Zoom, in fact, I feel pretty good.” Boulder says, this reeled the three back a bit. “Did…Did you just call her Zoom? Not hoodie girl or happy girl?” Doc asked, a bit shocked.

“Ah, I see you're shocked I called you by her name instead of the nicknames I gave her. It is quite shocking.” Boulder says, not even once referred to third person. “This…Is so freaky” Zoom says a bit. “How did this even happen, was it the stroke?” Galaxy asked. Before Dr. Angelica could respond, Boulder held his hand up a bit. “Allow me. Correction, it wasn’t the stroke, it was the glasses.” Boulder says. The three looked at him, confused. “I see that answer has confused you. Let me explain, when I, my more simple side, put them on, my brain unlocked something hidden in me.” Boulder explains. 

“It’s quite fascinating how it worked, we are currently checking to see if the glasses possessed some kind of magic to them.” Dr. Angelica tells them. “So…How long does he need to be here then?” Galaxy asked. “Oh he is free to go since nothing is wrong with him, we can send you the results once they come in.” Dr. Angelica offers as the water elemental reaches her shirt pocket and pulls out a card. “My card incase you have questions.” she tells her. “Thank you Dr.” Galaxy thanks her.

*Later…*

“I tell you Galaxy, best decision I ever made.” Joe says as Boulder was currently looking through a bunch of papers, which were taxes. When they were discharged from the hospital, Galaxy informed Joe at the bar about the situation, when Joe was about to give the two time off, Boulder began to point out the flaws in the paperwork and began to work on it and here we are. “You didn’t even do anything.” Galaxy says annoyed as she sighs. “Well your boy’s about to clear me of these taxes and I’ll have some money left.” Joe says excitedly. “Actually, by my calculations, you will earn more back, whatever money you have, it’ll be chump change.” Boulder says as he writes more.

Joe’s eyes widen…Then rubs their four hands together excitedly. “Hell yeah! Boulder, have I ever told you that you're like a son I never had?” Joe says as he pats Boulder’s back. “Okay back off, he’s not your personal accountant.” Galaxy tells him. “You are correct on that, I’m only doing this because this paperwork is simply sloppy and very much incorrect, no wonder why you needed glasses to begin with.” Boulder says, unaware he basically insulted his boss.

“...When he put on the glasses, did he become a dick?” Joe asked Galaxy as she sighs. “On the way back, he was basically correcting  every small detail.” Galaxy explains. “Well as long as he doesn’t be a smart alec, then he’s fine.” Joe says as he goes behind the bar, Galaxy goes over to the table Boulder is at and sits next to him. “Buddy, you can’t be rude to people like that.” Galaxy tells him. “I’m not being rude, I’m just pointing out the flaws.” Boulder says as he then finishes up the paperwork. “And we are done.” Boulder says as he staples the paperwork together. “Great, now we can go home and watch some good ol TV.” Galaxy says.

“Actually, I want to go somewhere else. The day is still young and watching mindless entertainment is so…Draining and a waste of time.” Boulder says as he gets up. “Um…S-Sure, we can do something else, I still have a bit of energy left in me anyway.” Galaxy says, with a bit of uncomfortableness in her voice. “Splendid, I know a place to go.” Boulder says and begins to head out of the bar, Galaxy for the first time, feeling weirded out by the behavior.

At the museum…

“Yes, this art piece is so exquisite.” Boulder says, admiring a beautiful painting of the thriving  landscape. “The land is so clean, so pure, and the wonderful blue sky along with the clear water, this artist knows how to capture nature perfectly.” Boulder compliments, Galaxy meanwhile is sitting on the bench, bored out of her mind. “Yeah it’s an amazing painting and all that, can we go somewhere else now?” Galaxy asked.

“I suppose so. While I admire this painting, there are many more exhibits to see and learn.” Boulder began to head off to look at the other sights as Galaxy followed behind. “You know, Galaxy, I bet this new me is probably benefitting you and the others quite well, considering I am now more than brute strength.” Boulder says.

“What do you mean?” Galaxy asked, confused. “Why isn’t it obvious? These glasses are short of a miracle, you’ll be able to understand me and my needs now instead of just my old primitive self saying stuff that doesn’t make sense.” he tells her. “Come on…No one thought of that at all. And sure the others might not get it, but I did.” Galaxy says. “Which is all the more better, now I won’t be such a heavy burden to you.” Boulder tells her. Galaxy almost looked hurt a bit, that he even thought that he was a burden.

The two kept walking around the museum for a bit, looking at the different exhibits, they even came across the dinosaur exhibit, after a bit, they left the museum. “That was certainly quite the experience. We most certainly have to come back.” Boulder tells Galaxy while he has a book he got from the gift shop. “Yeah, sure bud…Say, why not we head home now, it is getting late.” Galaxy suggests. “Yes I suppose so, it is rather late, let us return to our adobe and retire for the night.” Boulder says.

The two get on a train, Galaxy sits down while Boulder stands. “Hey…Boulder.” Galaxy calls to him, the rock monster looks down at Galaxy. “You know I never thought of you as a burden…You know that right?” Galaxy asked him. “While you may think that, I’m not as much of a fool as I once was, I know I was an annoyance to others. With my mind at it’s potential, I can do so many things now…Things that could really change the world.” Boulder says as his mind wanders off, Galaxy sighs and looks out the window, seeing the city lights, she taps her fingers rhythmically on the arm chair. It took a bit before they arrived at their destination. The two get off and go up to their apartment, they entered and immediately Galaxy plops onto the couch. “Oh apartment sweet apartment…” Galaxy says mumbling as she begins to drift off to sleep…Which doesn’t last long as there were sounds of banging and sparking, Galaxy shot her head up and saw Boulder currently working on something.

“Hey! Hey! Boulder, what are you doing?!” Galaxy yelled as it was loud, Boulder looked up and stopped. “What?” he asked. “What are you doing, making an atomic bomb?! It’s super late and the neighbors aren’t going to appreciate the noise you're making, especially me.” Galaxy complaints. “I am sorry, but this cannot wait until morning. I do hope you understand this.” he continued to weld before Galaxy could utter another word, Galaxy groans and gets off the couch and goes outside in the patio, closing the door, she sighs a bit and sits on the chair, hearing the muffled welding, she looks up at the night sky and sighs in peace…Til the door opens. “Sorry Galaxy but I need this opened to let the smoke out.” Boulder says and continues to weld, now hearing it from outside. Galaxy’s eyes just stare as she slowly covers her ears and trying to muffle the weld.

In the morning…

Doc was currently making some coffee for him and Zoom as he grabs a muffin, he looks over and sees Joy’s bowls are filled with food and water, once the coffee’s done, he pours some into his mug, which is a black mug that says ‘take over the world tomorrow’ along with Zoom’s mug, which was a pink mug with white hearts on it. On cue, Zoom walks out, she yawns as she cutely rubs her eyes, still a bit sleepy. She sluggishly walked to the table and sat down. Doc puts some extra milk and cream then hands her mug to her, she sips on it as she sighs happily. “Thank you Doc…Coffee is a person’s best friend.” she says. “Sure is, I’ll give humans this, they get good ideas once in a while.” Doc says as he sips his.

There was a knock on the door, the two looked at each other and wondered who it was, Doc goes to the door and opens. “Look I told the other salesman, we’re not interested in anything your-GAH!” Doc was taken aback by the sight. “What’s wrong Doc?!” Zoom asked and rushed over, once she looked at what she saw, she was taken aback too. “Gah!” Zoom was taken aback by the sight.

Standing in their doorway was Galaxy, however she looked awful, bags underneath eyes, hair messy and all over the place, her eyes even red and had the most terrifying scowl anyone could have. She enters the house and goes straight to the coffee maker, she begins to gulp the coffee down from the source, she stops for a moment and takes a deep breath before exhaling. Both Doc and Zoom were wondering if they should break the silence, so Zoom decided to break it. “Um…Hey Gal, you okay?” she asked her. “Okay?! I’m not okay!? I was up all night because Boulder decided to build some contraption, oh an-and hear this, I got multiple complaints from the neighbors and Mrs. White! Boulder still kept making whatever he was making!” She snapped. Doc and Zoom were taken aback from that rightful outburst, “Okayyyyyyyy, let’s take a deep breath and chill.” Doc says, Galaxy takes a deep breath and exhales. “Sorry…I didn’t mean to snap like that, I’m just so tired…” she says apologetically.

“Have you talked to Boulder about this?” Zoom asked. “I tried to but he was too busy still on whatever he was working on.” Galaxy explains. “Well If he’s going to be wearing those glasses, then there needs to be some rules implanted.” Doc says. Galaxy sighs but nods in agreement. “Your right…Just…Before Boulder put those glasses on, he’s always been good.” Galaxy explains, she gets up and looked at the two, “Thanks for the coffee…I’m going to talk to him now.” she says and walks out the apartment.

Galaxy arrives back at the apartment and her eyes were shocked at the sight that is in front of her eyes, the TV, toaster and even the phone are currently being tinkered on by Boulder. “Boulder?! What are you doing?!” Galaxy says in shock. “Why quite simple Galaxy, I’m going to upgrade these electronic devices, honestly I’m quite glad your here to witness this crowning achievement.” Boulder says as he was about to activate it.

“No! No no no no! You're not going to blow this room up!” Galaxy storms over and snatches the device. “Wha?! Galaxy, what is this unnatural behavior?” Boulder asks, clearly offended. “Unatura- Boulder you're the one who’s being unnatural! Like trashing the apartment for this- this- this- What even is it?!” Galaxy asked. “Well before you snatched the activation, this machine I made would improve the electronics, a master remote if you will.” Boulder says, annoyed. “Well not if it cost most of our stuff! You didn’t even talk to me if you could do that!” Galaxy snapped. “Why are you so upset?! I thought you would support my passion!” Boulder snapped back. 

“Not like this! Boulder I’m happy you're smart, but all this, all I’m seeing is someone so unfamiliar, I don’t even know you anymore!” Galaxy snapped again. “Well maybe I like being smart instead of some stupid idiot! You thought of that?!” Boulder snapped in return. “Well at least the old you didn’t act like a pompous know it all prick and actually considers the people around whose actions affect them!!!” Galaxy shouted, however her eyes widen in shocked and covered her mouth, regretting what she said. Boulder shares the shock, then his face turns dark. 

“B-Boulder I didn’t mean to-” before she could finish, Boulder storms past her and to the door, taking the remote. “Where are you going?” Galaxy asked with worry. “Somewhere that I’m actually wanted, I don’t need you holding me back.” he says bitterly and opened the door, he then slammed it on the way out. Galaxy grits her teeth as tears stream down, her face angry. “Fine! Run off then! I don’t care! I don’t need you either! You-You-You-!” Galaxy struggles a bit, the tears overwhelming her as she quietly sobs a bit, she leans against the wall and covers her face, hiccuping a bit “I-I didn’t mean to….I-I’m sorry…Please come back ....Please….” she whimpers a bit as she continues to sob a bit, she slumps to the ground and has her knees up to her chest. Continuing to cry for a bit.

Meanwhile, with Boulder…

“Who does she think she is…Well I don’t need her. I’m now capable of taking care of myself, I’ll make my way up the ladder, after all, many inventors and geniuses always start off somewhere.” he says as he walks down the streets, he makes it to the beach as he sits on the sand by the water. “Honestly…Who does she think she is…I honestly thought she would be happy for me…How wrong I was.” he mumbles as he sighs. “Though of course…Logically she needs to adjust to the new me…She’ll see things my way.” he says to himself, trying to be less guilty. Boulder hears some laughter, he turns and sees two adults having fun in the water, having a good time. The rock monster then turns and sees two kids building a sandcastle as he chuckles, but then sighs sadly and looks down, he sees a small puddle beneath him,  and saw his own reflection. It showed himself, before the glasses, and saw how happy he was. The water then comes and washes the reflection away, showing the rock monster he is now.

“Perhaps…Maybe intelligence isn’t what it is all cracked up to be…I would be successful if I kept the glasses, but even then, as people say, it’s lonely at the top.” Boulder says as he gets up. “I shall return home at once, to make up for the mistake I caused.” he says to himself and begins to walk back to the apartment. Along the way, he sees a sale going on electronics. “Hmmm…Perhaps this could be a good make up, after all, I did dismantle the TV, toaster and phone. It is then decided.” he declares and enters the store. He picks the toaster out along with the phone, he then makes way to the TV’s, he looks at them and sees the price tags, very expensive. “Hmmm….” Boulder ponders for a bit, trying to figure out what to do. An employee approaches Boulder. “Excuse me sir, are you finding everything alright?” they asked. “Ah yes yes, just debating is all.” Boulder assures the employee. 

The employee leaves, Boulder sighs and rubs his chin, just then, something taps his shoulder, he looks over and sees a multi crystal like creature standing there. “Ah, if you are trying to get by, I’ll move out of your way, I was debating if I should get one of these TV’s.” Boulder says. “Ah but of course, but may I inquire on why you want a TV? New home I assume?” the crystal man asks. “Not exactly, I dismantled the TV, along with phone and toaster, to build a device that could change your ordinary day to day household items,” he explains. “Ahhhhh, a genius I assume, I’m a genius myself, The names Stone. Dr. Stone.” Stone introduces himself. “Boulder, it is interesting to see another intellect.” Boulder says.

“Why I very much agree…Say, are you interested in getting some coffee, my treat, along with your items of course.” Stone offers. Boulder pondered for a bit, then looked at him. “I would be delighted to be in some company.” Boulder says. After Stone paid for the items, the two got coffee and sat at a table. “Honestly, it is refreshing to converse with another intelligent being.” Stone says. “Yes, it is sometimes quite refreshing.” Boulder agrees as he drinks his coffee. “You made me curious with this device you tried to do…What exactly does it do?” Stone asked him. “It would be nothing special, like I mentioned, it would make day to day household items more…Easy to say the least.” he explains. “Interesting…How would that work?” Stone asked, leaning a bit. “It would be a remote of sorts…You can turn any device on or off, even if the button is damaged,” he says. “Fascinating…Truly fascinating.” Stone says. “What about you? What did you make, my good fellow?” Boulder asked. “Ahhhhh, to say the least, I’m proud of my greatest achievement. They are currently with me at this moment.” Stone says. Boulder’s brow lifts up a bit, curious. “Really? Where is it?” Boulder asked. On cue, there was metallic footsteps behind him, the rock monster turned his head and his eyes widened in fear. Tank was behind him, looking at him, however Tank is now beside Stone. “Sir, item retrieved.” Tank says as they present a potion flask. “Thank you Tank.” Stone says and looks at Boulder again.

“Sorry about that, but are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost.” Stone says as he looks at Boulder, on guard. “Ah, sorry just the robot took me by…Surprise.” Boulder explains. “Ah, of course. Now then, back on topic, this is my greatest creation, it’s purpose, to put it simply, is to kill any and all threats.” Stone explains. Boulder gulps a bit. “I see…” he says, ready to leave.

“I’ll get to the chase…I know what you are…Oga, my superior, which pains me saying that.” Stone says, clearly disgusted, calling Oga his superior. “Has informed me of you and your friend, the woman with the starry hair, about you wounding him…Now he’s clearly upset, but to be honest, he’s a brute who’s pride was hurt, and I thank you for that, take him down a peg or two. And it is a clear indication you have already met Tank.” he says. “Then why did you-” Before Boulder could finish, Stone interrupts him. “Because I wanted to know you first…While the feed from dear Tank was damaged, he didn’t actually kill Doc, did he.” Stone asked coldly. Boulder looked more at Stone. “If you think I will let you harm him, I won’t tell you where he is.” Boulder says seriously. “Oh I couldn’t give much of a shit about that four eye monster, that is the king’s business, not mine.” Stone says. “Then what do you want from me?” Boulder asked.

“Why isn’t it quite obvious?” Stone asked as he stirred his coffee with the straw. “You have brute strength, but with your recent intelligence…I want to make you an offer. I want you to work for me, do so and we can achieve such milestones of the century…I can even make you a rich rock monster. And if your worried about Oga harming your girl, well I can persuade the king to keep him far from you and her. What do you say?” Stone asked.

Boulder looked at him…Then got up. “Thank you for your time and offer, but I must return home and decline.” he says as he begins to walk away. Stone looked shocked, and got up. “Where do you think you're going?! I offered you a deal of a lifetime and you just chose to walk away?!” Stone shouts as Boulder keeps walking. “It’s because of that stupid girl isn't it?!” Stone says, Boulder stops mid-walk and turns around. “What…Did you just say?” Boulder asked quietly. “You heard me, you nobody! You throw all of that achievement away for some pitiful trash and scraps, when I could give you the finest girls in the world! You settled for someone who holds you back!” Stone insults while Boulder clenched his fist and began to walk back to him.

“I mean what does she exactly have to offer anyway, emotional baggage is what, maybe Oga had the right idea to eat her, cause then he would die from poisoning from whatever she got because she’s a-” before Stone could even finish, he gets hit in the face and flew back, shocking the shop goers, Boulder pants as he punched him in the face. Stone gets up, holding his face, he looked at the display mirrors to see the damage, the crystal creature’s eyes widen when he saw a crack across from the left side of his face. “My face! You-! You-!” Stone was at loss of words, he looked at Tank. “Don’t just stand there, fight him!” Stone ordered Tank, the robot shifts his arm to a cannon as the shop goers screamed and took cover, however Boulder quickly used the remote and hits a button, Tank shuts off. 

“Wh-What did you do?! What did you do to my creation?!” Stone asked, baffled. “I simply turned it off…Let’s get one thing clear here, Dr. Stone.” Boulder says as he walked up toward Stone and lifted him off the ground by his neck. “If you insult my loved ones again…I assure you, the crack on your face will be the least of your problems…Do we understand one another?” he asked him, Stone hastily nodded. “Good.” Boulder says as he then dropped him on the ground and then left.

Boulder makes it back to the apartment building with the stuff in tow, he gets it in the elevator and begins to go up, he sighs. “I think…Being smart isn’t what it’s cracked up to be…If it makes you act egotistical and a jerk, then I'd rather be me again…” Boulder says, the elevator dings and Boulder grabs the stuff and gets off, he goes to the apartment room and opens the door. “Galaxy, I have returned.” he calls out to her, he sets the stuff down. He sees Galaxy currently cooking stew, Boulder sighs, whenever Galaxy makes stew, it means she’s upset. “Galaxy, can we talk?” he asks her, she ignores him, he taps his fingers. “I went out and got some new stuff, to replace the ones that were dismantled.” he says, still no response. “Gal…I’m sorry, for being dismissive…I should’ve been more considerate…And…For snapping at you.” he says, Galaxy finally turns over and looked at him. “I’m…Sorry too for snapping at you and what I said…That wasn’t fair for you, I know you just wanted to help…” Galaxy says.

 “It’s fine…I needed to hear it…” Boulder says. “I…Know how difficult I can be and I just…Want to say thank you for always being there for me and taking care of me…Even if I say it in the most simplistic of ways.” Boulder tells her. Galaxy chuckles “Don’t worry, even when you talk simplistic, I know what you're saying. And hey, you're not a burden to me or to anyone. You helped me in more ways than you realized, you’re my best friend.” Galaxy tells him. Boulder smiles and tears up, he takes his glasses off and wipes his eyes. “Thank you so much for-” before he could finish, he began to spasm again and twitch as he fell to the floor.

“Boulder!?” She rushes over to his side and holds him, Boulder finally stops and blinks a bit, he looks at Galaxy. “Gal Gal?” Boulder asked. “Boulder…Is it really you?” She asked him. Boulder smiles, unaware he just fell on the floor. “Boulder is Boulder, Gal Gal is Gal Gal.” he says, she then laughs happily and hugs him. “Buddy! Welcome back!” she said and hugged him tightly, Boulder was confused but hugged her back nonetheless. “Boulder, do you remember what happened?” she asked him. Boulder taps his chin. “Boulder remember putting zoom glass on, Boulder became smart, Boulder mean to Gal Gal and friends…Boulder went beach, Boulder met shiny rock man, he’s mean, and Boulder saw metal man again. Shiny rock man said mean things, Boulder…Got angry and hit shiny rock man.” Boulder says as he taps his fingers. “Boulder sorry for being mean to Gal Gal…Boulder wants to make Gal Gal happy…” he says.

“Awww, buddy it’s fine…I know you didn’t mean to say that, and I’m sorry too for being mean as well…” she tells him and helps him up, she looks and sees the device on the ground, crushed and broken. “Oh shit….” She picked up the remote. “Boulder wonder what it is?” he asked Galaxy looked at it. “This was the device you made, Well smart you, however when you fell, it must’ve crushed it.” Galaxy explains to him. “Boulder wonder why Boulder not smart anymore?” he asked her.

“Well buddy…When you put the glasses on, you became someone different, however when you took the glasses off, it must’ve brought you, well your old self back.” she says. Boulder looked at the glasses again, he then puts them on the counter. “Boulder want to be Boulder, Boulder use zoom glass when emergency happens.” he says. “That is up to you bud…But it’s good to have you back.” she smiled at him, he smiles at her in return. “Say, I was making some stew, why not you and I make some bowls, and watch some TV huh?” she asked him. “Boulder be happy!” he says happily, clearly his old self returned. “Alright bud, let me just hook the new TV up and fix us some bowls.” she tells him. “Boulder grab blanket and pillow!” he goes to the room, she chuckles at the sight. “Good to have you back.” she says. Once everything is set up, the two watched an action movie while they ate their stew, on the counter, the glasses were as a little light shines on the lens, seeing the reflection of the two.

Chapter Text

In the quiet night of the military base, a familiar exploding toad hybrid and witch were currently in the kitchen, looking for something to eat, so far, nothing. “Uggghhhhhh! There’s nothing to eat!” Amy whines as she slumps on the chair and sighs exaggeratedly. “Amy, calm down, it’s not that big of a deal.” Cree says as he looks through the fridge. “But I’m so hungryyyyy!!!” she whines some more. “Well guess we’ll have to go out and eat, how does Chinese sound?” Cree asked.

“Hell no, we are not getting Chinese, last time we did, my stomach was twisted from the inside, ooooh, how about Mexican?” Amy says, shooting the idea of chinease down. “No, last time we did, I was stuck in the toilet for 4 hours, and the containment crew’s still cleaning that bathroom.” Cree says, shooting down the idea as well. “Okay so what are we supposed to eat then?” Amy asked.

On cue, a commercial came on the TV. “You feeling hungry but don’t know what to eat, then come on down to Marco’s Pizzaria, we have all options, both human and monster friendly, we have a deal going on right now that if you order a three topping pizza at our pizzarina, you’ll get wings, garlic bread and two liter drinks, all for 30 dollars!” the TV spokesman says, it then shows the location, which wasn’t really that far, like a 40 minute walk. “Hmmmm….Well a Pizza does sound nice indeed.” Cree says. “And the wings too, mmmmmmmh~” Amy says, both co-workers stomachs growled at the thought, they then looked at each other. “Then it’s decided…Course do you-” before Amy could finish, Cree interrupts her. “Yes I will cover tonight’s dinner.” he sighed. “Thank you!” Amy thanked him.

The two began to walk to the pizzeria, however before they left base, they saw troops getting into a Osprey, the vehicle began to lift off as two others followed behind it. “Huh, you ever wonder if we’ll get to be in one of those one day?” Amy asked. “Probably, course I don’t want to get stuck in a war torn kingdom, like the sand kingdom.” he tells her. “Oh yeah, plus I rather not get sand in my boots.” Amy says as she shivers at the thought.

After a bit of walking, they finally make it to the pizzeria. They entered and saw the place was not to packed but still enough people here. They go the counter, Amy rings the bell, immediately, a gust of wind comes through and standing there was a lighting elemental, wearing a green shirt with a black cap, which on it has the logo of the pizzeria. “Hi! Welcome to Marco’s pizza, how can I help you two today?” he asked. “Uh hi, we’re here about a deal going on here and we’re wondering if it’s still going on?” Cree asked. “Oh yes it is good sir! Course the only requirement is that you have to eat here for it.” the young lighting elemental explains. “Oh that’s perfectly fine!” Amy tells him. “Splendid! That’ll be 30 dollars please and what kind of three toppings and drinks do you want?” he asks, “Oh, Green peppers on one side, mushrooms on the other, pepperoni on the rest.” Amy says. “And for two liter drinks, One coke, one orange soda.”  Cree says, as he takes his wallet out and pays for it. “Thank you! Here’s the receipt and your number on it.” the lighting elemental tells him as he hands the receipt out, on it was a number 20, the two looked at the screen and saw that the number was 9, then changed to 10. “Okay, that’s not too bad.” Cree says, the two then sat down at a table, relaxing a bit. “Man, this is honestly nice, you know I think this is the first time we actually went out together somewhere.” Amy mentions. “Yeah, guess it really is, you know what, we deserve this after the crap we had to put up with.” Cree says. “Yeah, we should treat ourselves out more often, we deserve it, especially after multiple fails to catch-DOC!?” Amy says the last part. “I mean yeah, what does that smug prick think he is.” Cree says, scoffing a bit. “No, turn around!” She grabbed his head and turns it to where she is looking at, over at a separate table, sitting there was Doc and Zoom.

“Wh-What the?! What are they doing here?!” Cree asked, shocked that they are even here at all. “Well I say we go over there and give a piece of our mind.” Amy suggests as she stands up. “Yeah, good idea.” Cree follows suit. The two began to walk over to the table, Amy slams her hands on the table, both Doc and Zoom looked over, the girl looked nervous while the monster looked like he could care less. “You, what are you two doing here?!” Amy demanded. “Well it’s none of your business actually.” Doc says, not even caring. “Oh it is our business, considering your still wanted.” Cree tells him. 

“W-Well, we came here because we’re celebrating.” Zoom explains. “Celebrating, on what?” Amy asked. “Today is my younger sister’s birthday. She’s over at the indoor playground, the pink one.” Doc points over, the two agents turned and true to his word, a little girl, known as Fifi, was playing with a bunch of kids, the game being tagged as she is chasing a little human boy and a little earth girl. “Awww, that’s cute.” Amy says, forgetting her purpose as her eyes sparkle at the sight. “Amy, Amy, focus.” Cree tells her, trying to bring her back, the witch shakes her head, remembering. “Right, right, either way, your coming with us, even if it’s your little sister’s birthday.” Amy states while Cree takes the handcuffs out.

“I mean that seems a bit unprofessional if you ask me, how are you going to arrest someone on a kids birthday? Not even letting them see it through.” Zoom asked. “Well it’ll be a core memory then for her, so get up and put the cuffs on.” Cree answers her. “Is there a problem here?” a voice asked. “Sir I suggest you stay out…Of…” Before Amy could finish, her face was a look of terror, she tugs Cree’s suits sleeve, he turns and he saw the look of terror, he turns and he is now terrified at the sight. 

“I asked you. A question. Is. There. A. Problem?” the voice, both commanding and deep, was none other than Kobono. Staring down at the two while the agents looked at him, almost bending their neck, the two gulp. “N-No sir, no trouble at all.” Cree says, chuckling nervously. “J-Just uh, saw a mosquito is all, about to kill it.” Amy says nervously as well. “A mosquito hmmm? Well, harassing my son is no excuse.” Kobono tells the two. “O-Oh! This is your son?! Wh-Why we quite apologize for the bother, w-we’ll be going now.” Amy says as the two agents go back to the table, Kobono looked at Doc. “Are you alright Dokah?” Kobono asked him.

“Yeah dad I’m…I’m fine.” Doc tells him. “Good…If those two bother you again, let me know, and I’ll personally handle it.” he tells Doc as he goes to the other table, where his wife, Doc and Fifi’s mom, Holly, is. Doc sighs. “You have to admit Doc, your dad’s been doing good.” Zoom tells him. “Yeah…I know…Just…Doesn’t really undo everything he did.” he says. “I know it’s hard…But giving him a chance, that’s a big step. And I’m proud of you for doing this, even if it’s for Fifi’s sake.” Zoom reassures him. “Yeah, guess you're right…Hopefully those two will back off for the night.” Doc says cautiously. 

With Cree and Amy…

“Jesus, did you see the size of that guy?!” Amy asked her partner. “Of course I saw his size, for a moment I thought he was going to crush our heads, what does he even eat!?” Cree asked. “I don’t want to find out…So what now?” Amy asked. “Well we just got to get a little creative here…Come on…Think…” Cree thinks as he taps his foot fast. While Cree thinks, Amy hears children laughing, she sees a clown doing a performance, the kids watching, even laughing. “Hmmm…Maybe we can use a distraction.” Amy suggests. “Exactly how?” Cree asked, turning to her. “Well, everybody loves…A magic trick.” she says, giving off a confident smile and takes her hat off, to prove a point, she reaches into her hat and pulls out a rabbit. “Ahhh, clever…” Cree says, nodding approvingly.

Before the clown could do anything else, they got lifted up and then tossed to the ball pit, side stepping in was Amy “Say kids, you know what’s even cooler than a clown? A magician!” Amy says, the kids tilt their head, confused why this lady is here. “For my first trick!” she takes her hat off and rummages through the hat, she then pulled out a deck of cards, she shuffles them, she then pulls out an ace card, she twirls it around and it disappears, the kids are now intrigued, including the parents. Amy gives a smug smirk and approaches a random man. “Scuse me a sec but could you turn your head a bit to the left?” she asked. The man was confused but complied, she then pulled the card out from his left ear, on cue, more cards poured out of the man’s ear, everyone was clapping at the sight.

While Amy is distracting the crowd, Cree was currently sneaking from behind the crowd, he looks to see Kobono and Holly distracted, he chuckles silently as he approached Doc and Zoom, who were also watching the performance happen, he takes the cuffs out and before he could approach them, he saw a mascot that looked like an Orca approached the two and quickly hid behind the booth, he tries to listen in. “Excuse me, are you the brother of the birthday girl, Fifi?” the mascot asked. “Yes I am.” Doc answers. “Your father wanted you for a family picture of the birthday girl.” the mascot tells him. “Ah, yeah yeah, we’ll be right over there.” Doc tells them. Cree tries to quickly reach Doc, but accidentally bumps into a waiter. “Hey! Watch where you going!” Cree scolds as he looks at his suit. “What even is this mess?!” he complained. “Soda, grape soda, for the kids.” the voice of the waiter spoke, Cree looked and saw it was a hawk creature and he looked unimpressed. “God, these kids and these sugary drinks…” Cree says as he grabs some napkins and wipes himself off. “Sir, you either get your act together, or we will have no choice but to ask you and your associate to leave the premises.” The hawk waiter warns Cree. “Stay out of it, this is Darkness king business.” Cree warns him. “I don’t give a nightcrawlers ass what you are, keep your attitude in check or I do it for you.” The hawk threatens. Both men were glaring at each other hard, until they heard the kids laughing hard, they turned to see what they were laughing at.

Turns out it was Amy currently being attacked by the same clown she flung earlier, however he had some friends who were hitting her with balloon mallets. “Ah! Help! This clown’s got friends! Uncle! Uncle!” Amy cries out, she then gets soaked in the face by a water flower. “God damn it Amy…” Cree mumbles and goes over to help her out, while the hawk waiter returns to work.

Later…

“Those clowns REALLY hate it when people upstage them.” Cree says as his face is covered in pie. “If we catch Doc, let’s not mention this in the report.” Amy says as she dries her face, she smacks her ear, as some water comes out from the other side of the ear. “Okay, new plan and we have to be careful with this one. If any of these workers catch us, they’ll kick us out and the 30 bucks will be for nothing.” Cree sighs out and checks the big screen, the number was now shown as number 14. “Okay…What can we do exactly that won’t get us kicked out?” Amy asked.

Cree was silent for a bit, he then heard the kitchen door being opened, coming out was the staff carrying a pinata and hanging it up. Cree got an idea. “Well why not we try a different approach.” he suggests, giving a smirk as he thought of a good idea. On cue, there were two workers who were going outside, Cree sees one of them carrying a pack of cigarettes, hinting of a smoke break. “Follow my lead.” Cree tells Amy as he gets up and follows the workers, Amy follows, confused about this plan…And wondering if it’s even going to work.

Later…

“Cree I can’t believe you just did that!? We’re going to get in trouble!” Amy whispered, panicking.  “We'll be fine if you keep your mouth shut on the report.” Cree tells her, the reason why she was even panicking was because he was currently wearing the uniforms of the workers that stepped outside for a break,of course they aren’t dead, just knocked out. Cree tried to enter the building again but Amy stopped him.

“So what’s this exact genius illegal plan you got!?” Amy asked, annoyed at Cree for even doing this. “Well it’s quite simple, these waiters are basically focusing on the party, and earlier I heard one of them asking for Doc to be in a family picture, if we can just get him somewhere secluded, we bag him and get out.” Cree explains.

“And what about our food dumb ass?!” Amy angrily asked  him. “I thought about it, one of us stays here for our food, ask to take it to go and then we meet back at the base.” Cree explains. Amy ponders for a bit…Then sighs. “Okay we can do that, but we need something to mask our faces.” Amy says, she snaps her fingers. Cree’s appearance began to change, looking like one of the workers that Cree knocked out, of course his eye color is still there. “I can’t hold the form for long, do what you need to do and then get out.” Amy tells him. Cree nods and enters the building.

While Amy goes back to the table, Cree surveys the area, spotting Doc, who was currently spinning Fifi around while she was blindfolded, she then began to swing, she managed to hit the pinata as the kids cheer on, Fifi smiled underneath the blindfold and tried to hit the pinata. Cree approaches Doc from behind. “Excuse me sir, can you come with me for a moment, we need you to help with putting the finish touches on the cake.” Cree in disguise says. “Why can’t you do that yourself?” Doc asked.

“Well I figure her big brother would like to add something on your sister’s cake.” The disguised Cree says. “Cree I know it’s you, you may have a different face but your voice doesn’t help…That and you still have cologne on you, which only YOU wear.” Doc whispered to him. “Look…Let’s do this the easy way…You know they’ll send someone else to capture you.” Cree whispered to him. “I don’t care…” Doc tells him. “And what about ah…Zoom then, you really want to put her entire life through all this misery?” Cree asked him, Doc stays silent for a moment. He then spoke, “I will do anything to protect her…And I will do everything in my power to protect her, even if it means burying all of you to the ground.” Doc tells him, determined.

“Well you left me no choice then.” Cree says. He was about to cuff him, but he felt his shoulder being touched, he turned and saw the hawk waiter. “Hey, what are you doing? We’re getting swamped with orders, I need you to take some of them now.” he told the disguised Cree. “Uhhh-Yeah yeah, sure boss.” he says, the hawk waiter leaves, Cree looked at Doc. “This isn’t over…” he tells him and than left. Doc rolled his eyes and then looked back at the pinata swinging. “You got it Fifi!” Doc cheered her on. Fifi Smiles at the cheer and managed to hit the pinata hard, it breaks and candy fell out, she takes the blindfold off as the other children pick the candy up. “Yes! All mine!” Fifi has her little claws out and lunges at the candy. “That’s my girl!” Kobono says, proud of his daughter.

Later…

Amy was currently sitting at the table still, she looked at the screen, which now reads 19, she sighs, tapping her finger on the table. She then sees Cree coming at the table, his disguise gone as he looked so tired. “What happened to you?” Amy asked him. “Well the disguise was a bust, I was taking people’s orders left and right, I had to run back and forth in the kitchen for a family of piranhas…I’m so tired..” he says, drained and exhausted. The screen pops up number 20. “That’s us, you just…Relax, I’ll get the food.” Amy tells him as she gets up and goes to get the food. 

Cree sighs in defeat as he slumps on the chair. “Nice going Cree…You failed, again…It’s bad enough your going back the base empty handed…Again.” he says to himself, he looks over and he sees a family of four, mostly mice, as they eat their pizza and having a good time, Cree gave a small smile at the sight, on cue Amy returns with the food. “Here we are! A well earned meal.” Amy says. “Yeah…You know what? We do deserve this.” Cree takes one of the wings. “To us, and whatever life brings.” Cree says. Amy was shocked that he even included her, but nonetheless smiled and took a wing as well. “To us.” she replied, they both bite into the wing and began to chow down on their meal, while their mission failed again, at least not all is lost as they enjoy a good meal together, for the first time ever, the two weren’t fighting each other.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for taking me out tonight Doc, I always wanted to go see a concert, how did you get the tickets anyway?” Zoom asked as she and Doc walk down the sidewalk. “Well it wasn’t easy, they were hosting a thing from the radio, win tickets to the concert, I had to sit by the phone all day to secure them. My back is in pain but it’s worth it.” Doc explains.

“Well thank you for giving your back out for me Doc, I can’t wait to see this rising star. I heard she’s very good.” Zoom says. “Well let’s hope so.” He says. The two arrived at this stadium, and there was a long line. “Good lord…This is a long line…” Zoom says as she is shocked by this. The two get in line and it slowly goes by. “You know, I really wish I brought something to keep us entertained…” Zoom says as Doc was currently tapping his talon. “Well this is going to be a long while.” Doc says. The line, still taking a long time to move.

“Well hello there, what’s a cute girl like you doing standing out here?” a sultry voice calls, Zoom and Doc turn to see who it was, standing there was a woman with a black fur coat and standing beside her were two human men wearing matching suits, shades and ear pieces, however what was more interesting was the woman has light gray skin, her eyes red and her sclera black, four black and red horns on her forehead, two were small and pointing up while the other two were pointing down and were big. 

“Um…Are you…Talking to me?” Zoom asked. “Well of course I am, there isn’t any cutie like you here~” she flirts a bit. “Um, W-We’re here for a concert miss.” Zoom says nervously. Doc senses the uneasiness and interjects. “Say, ah, who exactly are you anyway?” Doc asks, trying to make her focus on him. It worked as the woman turned, course her tone turned from flirting to bored. “Well if you must know…I am Tiffany Polanski or on stage ‘Red Leg’.” she says. “Red Leg? A little bit far from home aren’t you…” Doc asks. “Well darling, stardom has no boundaries. Thought I expand in the overworld.” she explained. “Are you from hell?” Zoom asked, her nervousness disappearing a bit. “Well I am, but don’t worry, I don’t take people’s souls, at least yours cutie~” she boops Zoom’s nose. Zoom gulps a bit. “Say, how did you get those tickets anyway, radio show?” she asked them. “Um…Yes.” Zoom says. “Let me see.” she asks. 

Doc hands the tickets to her, and Tiffany looks at the tickets, Zoom was unaware, but Doc sees her eyes glow red for a second. “Oh my, there seems to be a mistake here.” Tiffany says. “Mistake? N-No they shouldn’t be faked, we got them from the-” Before Zoom can finish, Tiffany laughs heartily “No no no, don’t worry you little cutie, these tickets aren’t fake, in fact, it’s even more special. You two have VIP passes. So come out of this line." She says. Doc and Zoom looked at each other, they nodded and got out and headed to the front with her. The bouncer, who was an Orca, let them through the doors after the two showed their VIP tickets. 

Inside there was a huge field as people sat down, some had food and drinks, as they chatted among themselves, before the two could find any seat, two guards came.
“Excuse us, you have the VIP tickets, we’re going to have to escort you to the lounge.” one guard says, before the two could protest, they began to escort them, they arrived at this fancy looking area, they were at the bottom of the stadium. Just then, the lights began to dim…The stage lights turned on, which was a dark pink and just then a beautiful voice began to sing. Tiffany began to walk out on the stage as she held the microphone, her voice cool and sultry still. She walks on the edge of the stage as the crowd is going wild, she looked at Zoom and approached the VIP area, she bends down, still singing as she trails her finger from Zoom’s chin, the hoodied girl pulled back from the touch as she winked at Zoom.

Doc wasn’t really paying much attention, it’s not that she was bad, in fact she was pretty good, it was more so of her approaching Zoom like that, for the entire show, he was guarding her from Tiffany. After an hour, the performance ended as the crowd cheered. “Thank you lovely darlings for joining me on tonight's show. I’ll see you all later!” she says as she blows a kiss to the crowd…Then she blew another kiss, but this time at Zoom. The two friends were creeped out a bit, everyone began to leave, Doc and Zoom began to follow suit.

They made it out of the stadium. “Okay, that was WAY too close for comfort.” Zoom says, she shudders. “No kidding. So we just won’t go to her future shows, cause that was super weird.” Doc says. As the two kept walking, a limo drives by them slowly, the window goes down on the back seat, it was Tiffany. “Soooooo, how was my little show tonight? Did it take your…Breath away~?” she asks, directly looking at Zoom. “U-Um well, i-it was very nice and it enjoyable, your voice was very…Um uh, I don’t know the right words.” she says as she nervously laughs. “Angelic, heavenly? Darling if you want to use those terms, I wouldn’t be offended~” she tells her. “Why not I take you back home, hmm? We can talk a little bit more.” she says, almost sounding seductive.

“No thanks, she’s with me and we’ll be fine.” Doc says quickly as he looked at her, Tiffany looked back at Doc, giving off some kind of unamused look. “I wasn’t asking you. I was asking the lady here.” she says, clearly not interested in Doc. “W-We’ll be fine, miss, it’s a five minute walk. Besides you probably busy a-and we wouldn’t want to waste your time.” Zoom tells her. “Awww, how sweet of your consideration, lucky you don’t live in hell, the big bad demons would eat you up~.” she teases Zoom. She gets behind Doc as he looked at Tiffany. “Look, thanks for the offer, but we’re walking home, end of discussion.” He tells her, Tiffany had a scowl on her face…Then gave a smug smile. “Of course…I hope we run into each other again, cutie~” she flirts, the limo begins to drive off.

“Talk about creepy…” Doc says as he looked at Zoom, “You okay?” he asked her. “Y-Yeah…That was just…Nerve wrecking.” Zoom says. “Well that’s saying something, considering your so sociable.” Doc says. “Well something about her just…Felt off.” Zoom says.


“All the more reason to not see her again.” Doc says as the two began to head home. “Hey…Doc, can I ask you a question?” Zoom asks. “Do you think I’m overreacting?” Zoom asked him. “I mean I don’t think your over reacting, it’s natural to feel uncomfortable, I mean hell she was sweet with you while I mostly got the cold shoulder.” he tells her. “I just…Sometimes feel like I take things WAY out of proportion and turn out it’s nothing.” she says as she rubs her arms a bit.

All of a sudden, she felt being hugged, she looked and saw it was Doc hugging her. “Hey…You have a right to feel how you feel, heck I don’t even trust her. But don’t let it control your day to day life. I seen people who basically either go insane or…Kill themselves. Sometimes both.” he says. “You're right… I shouldn’t let her or other people get the better of me. Besides, it was probably nothing.” she says, the nervousness leaving. “See, there ya go. Besides, if anyone tried to hurt ya, they have to go through me first.” he says as he has his claws out. Zoom giggles a bit. “Well I know my shining knight in armor will be there to protect little ol me.” she teases him. “Yeah, a princess who’s ticklish too.” Doc teases back as he began to tickle her, Zoom fully laughs as she playfully pushes him away. As the two laughed and walked back home, unaware that they were being followed by a familiar limo…

The next day…

Zoom was currently playing with Joy as Doc is currently on the couch watching TV. Everything was normal…Until there was knocking on the door. Doc looked up. “Wonder who that could be?” he asked. “Ooooh! Must be the girl scouts, they like to come here once a year cause I’m their number one customer.” she says as she opens the door. “Hi girls, I hope you have the goo-” before she could finish, she froze mid sentence and her eyes widened. “Why hello there cutie, I didn’t know you live here, none the case, so lovely to see you again~” a familiar sultry spoke, it was Tiffany. “Hey Zoom, can you ask them if they have any spicy strawberry chocolate?” Doc checks as he heads to the door, he sees Tiffany. “Oh…You again, are you visiting?” Tiffany asks, the last sentence sounded a bit of annoyance. 

“No…I live here actually, what are you even doing here?” he asked her, a bit suspicious of her. “A-And how did you find out where I live?” she asked, her nervousness rising. “Oh that, well I need some privacy after all, so I decided to find some place that no one would look at. In short, I decided to move here, quiet and low activity.” she explains, on cue, a moving crew is bringing in boxes. “Be careful now boys, there’s fragile things in there. I best be going now, be seeing you soon, dear Zoomie~” she boops the hoodie girl's nose and then goes to the apartment room.

Doc shuts the door. “Well this is going to be interesting. A pop star living here, I can tell this is going to be a paparazzi central. Hey we might be on TV Zoom. Zoom?” Doc didn’t hear a response, he looks down and sees her, silent and staring at the door, frozen in place it seems. Joy whimpers and presses her snout on her hand. Zoom snaps out of it once she felt Joy. “Zoom…You okay?” Doc asked her. “Y-Yeah…I’m fine…Totally fine…” she sighs as she goes to the kitchen, unaware to both her and the dog, Doc’s horns glowed a bit, he senses something is wrong. “Zoom, do you want to talk about it.” Doc offers. “No! No it’s okay, but thank you, I’m fine Doc, really.” she says.

Doc looked at her, and sighs. “Okay…If you say so, but you know you can come to me if there are any problems.” Doc tells her. “I know…Thanks Doc, but I’m fine, promise.” she reassures him. As Zoom heads to the balcony, Doc only watches as he decides to make something for him and Zoom, knowing there’s nothing much he can do currently.

Later in the day, Zoom was currently in the kitchen making something, Doc was curious and decided to check it out, crust in the pan as she hums and puts some blueberries in it. “What ya making?” Doc asked. “Well I’m making my famous Blueberry pie, to welcome the new neighbor.” Zoom answers. “Even though she creeps you out?” he asked her. “Well…Yeah but! Maybe it’s nothing, besides, like you said, I can’t let it run my life and it would be rude not to give something for a warm welcome.” she says as she puts the pie in the oven.

After the pie was done, she takes it out and takes it over to Tiffany’s place, she knocks on the door, the demoness opens and sees Zoom. “Ahhh, hello darling, I take it you come here to have a good ‘conversation’~?” she asks, with a hint of sultry in it. “U-Um n-no, I came to offer you a pie, to welcome you here.” Zoom responds as she holds up the pie, Tiffany looked confused for a moment and takes it carefully. “For…Me?” she asks, confused. “Yeah…My special blueberry pie, I sometimes will make pies for the new neighbors, if your allergic, I can just take it back and-” before Zoom could finish, Tiffany interrupts. “No, no this is nice…Thank you.” she says, she than closes the door. 

The following days passed, at first everything seemed normal, however the door was knocked constantly daily, there was a basket each time, filled with heart chocolates and flowers, and each time it was from ‘your next door neighbor’. Course the two figured it was Tiffany immediately, however since it was harmless, they decided to leave it alone, course the two indulge in the chocolate together.

The two came back from grocery shopping, they get back to their apartment, however at their door, both of them saw a small box sitting there, they put the bags down and Zoom opened it, her eyes widened, Doc looked at the contents, which inside is a beautiful diamond necklace. “Wh-what the?! Where did this come from!?” Zoom asked, shocked about even seeing something this expensive. “Ahhhhh, I see you found my little gift~”. The two turned and saw it was Tiffany who spoke. “Why did you get me this?” She asked her. “Well, I was shopping around, looking for some things for the apartment, and I came across this beautiful necklace, and it thought ‘gee, it would be nice to get my new neighbor something nice’ and here we are now, what do you think~?” she asked Zoom as she fluttered her eyes at the human woman. 

“I-I really like it and I’m really grateful for it but…I can’t accept something like this.” she puts the necklace back in the box and hands it over to her “I’m really sorry…” She tells her. Tiffany looked shocked, she looked at Zoom, then the box, then back at her. “I see…” She simply says, she goes back into her apartment. Zoom let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Well…She took that pretty well.” Doc says. Zoom looks down in guilt. “I should’ve accepted the gift ....What has been wrong with me lately?” She asked Doc. “Nothing is wrong with you. Your feelings are valid Zoom. To be honest that was a wild left field she just did. Maybe she’ll finally get the hint.” Doc tells her.

“I just feel awful for rejecting the gift…Maybe I should’ve accepted.” she says. “Hey, no, don’t beat yourself for it. While it was nice of her, you don’t even know her all that well, for all you know, she would be expecting something in return. Like if it was something small, yeah, no harm no foul, but big and expensive gifts like that necklace, and you don’t feel comfortable, than you have a right to decline.” he tells her.

“Your right…I still feel bad for declining though.” she says. “Don’t be. Why not we go back inside and you can help me make dinner. And for dessert, a nice bowl of triple chocolate ice cream with strawberry sauce and mini marshmallows.” he tells her. Her eyes widen at the dessert. “With cherries?!” she asks excitedly. “Especially cherries.” he tells her. The two enter inside, however…It was only the beginning.

More days passed, it seemed fine, however there was more expensive gifts left at the doorstep by Tiffany, each time, Zoom kindly returned them to her, telling her she didn’t have to or that she ‘already has one’, even though sometimes it’s true, most of the time it’s a lie. Course the pop star still insisted that she keep them.

Doc and Zoom come back from grocery shopping, however outside of their apartment, was Tiffany and she is leaning against a nice looking car, a white luxury convertible and in the back seats were filled up with plants. “Um…Hi Tiffany, what’s this?” Zoom asks, being polite. “Oh this? Just something to help me by, what do you think, it’s a nice car isn’t it? I test drove it and it runs like a dream, just like you~” Tiffany teased Zoom as she boops her nose. “Riiiiight, anyway, we best be going now, see you later.” Doc says as he and Zoom are about to enter inside. “You know, I wouldn’t mind letting you join me on a joy ride, I love the company. Course ah…It’s only a two seater on this one.” Tiffany says.

“Oh well such a shame, unless, you know, move those plants out of the backseats.” Doc says. Tiffany frowns a bit. “Well what if I don’t want to.” she asks, with a bit of venom in her voice. “Alright…Why have you been so hostile to me, huh? What did I do to you specifically?” Doc asked her. “I don’t have to answer you. If anything, you're nothing but a pathetic man thing. You're even lucky that you got to see my show in the first place. Honestly Zoom here can do so much better than you.” Tiffany says coldly at Doc, before he could even respond, Zoom steps in front of him and looked at Tiffany. “You know what? That was too far, you don’t get to talk to him like you know him!” Zoon snapped at Tiffany, the demoness was shocked by this side of Zoom. “I don’t care about what you do or say to me, but you insult my loved ones?! Telling me I can do better?!” Zoom snapped at her. 

“I-I didn’t mean it like-” Tiffany stuttered but got interrupted again. “No! Not another word! You don’t get to speak after that! I don’t care if you're some big shot, you don’t get to talk to people like that, especially my loved ones! If you ever, ever come in contact with me again or even so much as look at me or the people I care about the wrong way again, I will make your life a living nightmare, do you understand me?!” Zoom snapped at her. Tiffany’s face was still in shock, she looked at Doc, she saw the smug look on his face, she had a scornful look but it was then replaced with calm. She looked at Zoom, towering over her, but Zoom wasn’t backing down, she stood her ground, Tiffany sighs. “Very well…I’m sorry.” she says as she goes to her convertible and takes the plants, she carries them back into the apartment. The two go back into their apartment after a bit, Doc sets the groceries on the counter. “Zoom, That…Was the most awesomest thing I ever saw! I didn’t know you had it in you to-” Before Doc could finish, he hears sniffling and hiccups, Zoom turned around and looked at Doc, tears in her eyes and was shaking, she wipes her tears away.

Doc looked at her…He then goes over and hugs her closely, Zoom wrapped her arms around him, as hot tears slide off his chest, she sobs softly as Doc just rubbed her back, it was quiet, except for Zoom’s soft sobs. “I-I didn’t mean t-to snap like that…I-I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” she hiccups a bit. “Hey…It’s okay, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, she shouldn’t have shot her mouth off in the first place.” he tells her as the human girl continues to sob quietly, saying sorry under her breath over and over again, finally after a bit, Zoom falls asleep, as she snores softly, her face all puffy, Doc sets her on the couch and puts a blanket on her, she unconsciously pulls them up, as Joy gets on the couch and nuzzles up to her, whining, Zoom smiles in her sleep.

Doc sighs a bit…He hears something at the door, he goes over to check it out, he checks through the peep hole, however no one was there, he then opens the door and looks at the halls, no one was there, he then looked down and saw a crockpot, he picks it up and closed the door, he sets it on the counter and opens it, he sees it was stew…However he sees an envelope on the back, he takes it and opens it. ‘Apologies for my behavior, have this stew, from yours truly, Tiffany Polanski.’ The letter wrote. Doc was now curious, he opens the top and takes a smell, however his eyes widen and backs up and quickly closes the top, the stew’s been tainted with something, something that’s illegal in hell AND the Overworld.

A love potion.

Now Doc is on high alert, he grabs the crockpot and quickly disposes of the stew…And the crockpot itself, he then paces a bit, he was confused on the potion itself, he didn’t know who it was for. If it was for him or for Zoom, he shakes the thought off, right now he has other things to worry, he then picks Zoom up carefully as Joy follows behind, he sets Zoom on the bed and pulls the covers up to her as Joy gets on the bed and nuzzles up to her. Doc stays there for a bit, he sighs as he rubs her head a bit. “Don’t worry Zoom…I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.” he tells her softly as he stays there for a bit, before finally getting off and going to do something he should’ve done a long time ago.

Doc opens the door and heads over to Tiffany’s apartment, he bangs on her door, no response, he bangs it again, no response still, he then kicks the door open, he enters the apartment and he sees no one, he than opens her bedroom door and his eyes widen, honestly starting to regret even entering this apartment.

Inside the bedroom, there were red LED lights, however what was more shocking, was a bulletin board and on it were pictures of Zoom. Each of the pictures were taken at different locations, one at the mall, one at the park, the other leaving Joe's bar with Doc, Galaxy and Boulder. He backs up a bit, he then bumps into something, he turns and sees there is a mini shrine of Zoom, on it there was random stuff the girl used, Zoom’s hairbrush, Zoom’s tissue with tear marks, and a little doll of Zoom. “What the fu-” before he can finish his thought, he than hears something closing, he turns and saw Tiffany, closing the door and looking at Doc.

“You shouldn’t have come into my home.” Tiffany says calmly as her eyes are devoid of life as her 6 look alike black spider legs appear, the tips colored in red. “Your sick…Sick in the head you know that?” Doc says sharply as he has his talons out. “Oh ‘darling’ I’m perfectly sane.” she says as she approaches him. “Why go through all of this for a cheap thrill? There’s plenty of people out there that can satisfy your lust.” Doc says as he backs up a bit. “Lust? Cheap Thrill? Oh no no…You're wrong there, sure I had my fun in hell, people wanting me for my body and fame…Even then it’s no different in the overworld, but her?” she than giggles, a crazed giggle. “She’s different…Her smile, her beautiful blue ocean eyes, her long cherry blond hair, her smell ~!” she takes a deep breath as she let’s out a blissful sigh. “Not once has she taken the expensive gifts, not once has she even come to me for favors, at one point when she first came, she gave me her delicious blueberry pie, something in me ignited~” she explains.

“She was just being nice, that doesn’t mean she’s into you!” Doc tells her. “Shut up! You are standing between me and my true love!” she snapped. “So much so, you had to use a love potion.” he growled as he gets ready to fight. “Her shyness is cute when she’s around me, I just wanted to give her a push.” she retorted. “She’s nervous because you creeped her out!” he tells her. Tiffany looked at him, her face showing no more emotion. “And that…Right there is why you have to die…You're blocking my happy ending. Filling her head with lies, wrapping your claws around her delicate frame…I’ll free her from you and she’ll be safe in my arms!” she then brings her spider leg down at Doc.

He dodged the leg as it pierced the bed, she then turned quickly as she charged at him, using the legs, trying to pierce him as Doc kept dodging. “Stand! Still!” she shouted as she tried to impale him. Doc grabs a cutting board and held it up in time to block the leg, it goes through but effectively stopping it, he than twists the leg and rips it off, she screams in pain as she backs off, she held the wound as she growls animalistically, Doc looked at her as he still on the defence. “I know what you are…Dokah. Your wanted posters are all over hell and even some in the overworld…The king really wants you, doesn’t he huh?” she taunted as she weakly laughed. Doc doesn’t move, but his face, showing signs of his anger. “You know, after the king kills you, Zoomie will live a comfortable life with me, she’ll be mine and mine alone, and you will be nothing but a forgotten memory! If the king doesn’t kill you, well, I’ll just send you pictures of me and Zoomie, enjoying the honeymoon!” she declares as Doc is pissed off now.

His talons grew longer, an outline was made on his mouth as it painfully opens, jagged teeth shown as his eyes went red for a moment, he then lets out an inhumane roar and charges at her into the wall, going through the wall and into the hallway, he bites hard on Tiffany’s shoulder and pushes her down as she screams and takes Doc with her, the two fell down the stairs as they made it at the bottom floor, Doc shakes it off as he roars and claws her face, she screams in pain as he stabs her abdomen and lifts her off the ground and then slams her back into the ground. 

Tiffany coughs as she looked at him, green blood dripping out of her mouth as she smirked at him. “Come on…Kill me! Be on the run, while my publishers smear your life, ‘Jealous fan murdered rising star’! So come on! Do it!” she taunted him, Doc than pinned her spider legs down, he growls as he is close to her face, Tiffany closed her eyes, smirking that she will win…Doc let’s out a roar at her as he looked at her, he stopped…And gets up, letting her go, he than storms upstairs.

Tiffany was confused. “Wh-What? What are you doing? Hey! Get back here!” She then follows him up, she sees him entering her apartment and looks through, Doc was grabbing the shrine and he throws it into the fireplace, and sets it on fire. “No! Nononononono!” she rushed over, shoves Doc aside as she tries to salvage anything, but the fire was too hot for her, it was too late. “You…You….” she was too stunned to speak as she watched the flames.

“It’s over…You either move out, or I can force you out with Mrs. White’s help, either way your leaving, only difference is how you leave, goodbye Polanski, may we never see each other again.” Doc says as he leaves the room, Tiffany grits her teeth and she screams as she charges out, she than slams Doc against the wall as her spider legs pinned him in. “You think you can get to walk away?! That’s not how this works!” she tosses him aside and approaches him. “I’ll make your death slow and painful, and I’ll take Zoom, either willingly or forcefully!” she was about to stab him…

There was a loud clang sound, Tiffany’s eyes widened…And then fell down from the stairs and hit the floor, Doc was confused, he looked up and saw Zoom, who was holding a frying pan. “No one hurts my friends, period you absolute psycho!” Zoom insults her, she then is beside Doc, checking over him.

“Doc! Are you okay?! Did she hurt you!?” she asked worriedly. “I’m fine, are you okay though?” Doc asked her. “I’m fine…” she simply says, she then hugs him tightly. Doc, for the first time didn’t hesitate, he hugged her back. “Thank you….Even if it was stupid, thank you…” Zoom tells him. “Of course, anything for my bestie, right?” he says. Zoom’s eyes sparkled and let out a soft gasp. “You said besties!” She points it out. “Alright, let’s not go too crazy…So, what do we do with Tiffany now?” Doc asked as the two looked at the knocked out woman.

“Is she even okay?” Zoom asked. “Yeah she’s fine, demons are tough.” Doc states, he then gets up as Mrs. White came over, she wrote down her whiteboard. ‘What happened? I heard shouting, screaming and fighting, so I contacted the authorities.’ she wrote down. “Well Mrs. White, it’s a long story…” Doc says. He began to recount the events that led up to this moment. Mrs. White erased the writing and wrote it down on the board again, while Zoom looked disgusted. ‘You had a right for self defense, however she will try to say otherwise and paint you as the villain and her and Zoom the victim.’ Mrs. White wrote down. 

“What are we going to do Doc, I don’t want to be left alone with her…” Zoom says. Doc thinks for a moment…Before snapping his fingers “I have an idea…”

Later…

“Wait! Please! That potion wasn’t even mine! I swear!” Tiffany begs as her spider-like legs are detained as two officers escort her out of the building. “Tiffany ‘Red Leg’ Polanski, you're under arrest for possessing an illegal potion and for attempted murder.” A detective, who was a human, says as the officers struggle to move her.

“I-It’s all one big misunderstanding! That man thing with the four eyes stole my girlfriend and is holding her hostage! Framing me by planting the potion there, Tell them Zoom, tell them this is all one big misunderstanding and I was trying to rescue you!” Tiffany begs as she looks at the human girl with a desperate smile, the other authorities look at her, as the human girl crosses her arms and looks her dead in the eye. “You're not my girlfriend…I hope you get the help you need.” she tells her sincerely. Tiffany’s face frowned as they moved her in the back of the armored transport. “No, no no you don’t mean it! Is he telling you to say that, huh?! This isn’t the last you seen of me Dokah! You hear me!?” The doors than slam on her as the two officers get in the armored transport and began to drive off.

“She’s not going to come back here is she?” Zoom asked, fear in her voice. “Nah, she’s going away for a long time. Potions like the love potion are highly illegal, and with the attempted murder, the charges will pile up, trust us, she won’t get out for a long time.” the detective reassures her as Zoom sighs in relief. “Now than, I gotta get back to the station, file the report, I can tell those paparazzi vultures are going to get a story of a lifetime, take care now.” The detective gets in his car and than drives off.

‘Miss Polanski’s stuff is cleared out, though of course, I managed to make serious bank with her stay here.’ Mrs. White wrote down on the board. “And I handed the stew off to them, once they get confirmation, it’s only a matter of time til she is locked up for good.” Doc says. “Thank you Doc…For everything.” she tells him. “Hey, like I said, as long as I’m around, I won’t let anything touch you.” he tells her. Zoom smiles at him and hugs him. Doc hugs her back as the two stayed like this for a bit.

After a good bit, it was night time now as the two get ready for bed. “Hey Doc…Can I ask for one more favor?” Zoom asked him. “Of course, what is it?” Doc asked her, Zoom looks down a bit and rubs her arm a bit. “You think…You can sleep with me on the bed tonight?” she asked him. Doc has a visible pink on his face as he rubs the back of his head. “I mean, are you…Comfortable with it?” he asked her. “Y-Yeah…I know Tiffany isn’t coming back but…I want to…Feel a bit safe…” she says. Doc gulps a bit and gets in the bed as Zoom joins him, she wraps her arms around him “Doc…I just want to say…Thank you, for everything, ya know?” she tells him. “Yeah…Anytime…Just…Being a friend is all.” he says, trying to focus on anything else. “Well…I think you're the bestest friend…Good night…Doccy.” she says tiredly as she falls asleep, Doc looked at her, as he moves her hair out of the way, he chuckles a bit. “Good night…Zoomie.” he says as he eventually falls asleep as his arm is wrapped around her.

Meanwhile…

“Sire…The coordinates are accurate, the target is living in the apartment.” Stone says as he is on a computer, his cracks, still there. “I don’t understand why we even bother sitting around when we could’ve ended this the moment we got a call on that Nightcrawler queen.” Oga, the black orc says as he leans against the wall. “Probably because your thick headed fat ass would’ve spooked him off.” Hishio says, as he then gets grabbed by the neck and lifted up off the ground as the ninja struggles to breath and kicks frantically. 

“Shut your mouth you little whelp before I-” before Oga could finish, the doors opened and than, a familiar dark red figure appears as he walks in, Oga immediately drops Hishio as the ninja gasped for air as he coughed, both Stone and Oga kneel quickly, eventually Hishio kneels as well after he fixes himself. “My lord, what brings you here?” Oga asked. “I have come to check the progress…What do you have so far, and it better be good news.” Dark lord says as his voice, cold and unfeeling. “W-Well, teams confirmed that he is a resident of the building, living with a woman, sire.” Stone says.

“This woman…Who is she?” the armored man asked as he taps his lantern. “H-Her name is Zoom, there’s nothing really special about her, she’s a high school graduate and not a threat, oh great lord of darkness.” Hishio says as Oga rolled his eyes. “Sire…With all due respect, we already know where he is, I will assemble a strike team and make sure to eliminate any-” before Oga could finish, The Dark Lord raised his hand, silencing him as the man sighs. “No…You won’t make a move on the creature…You and the others have failed to capture him, even Hishio and his Shinobi failed me.” the man said as Hishio looked down in shame. “Then what is the plan, sire?” Stone asked.

Dark lord then brought his hand up and snaps his fingers, course his armor makes a metallic snap, coming in the room, a figure enters, they wear a black and white armor as there is a black cross in the chest piece, they wear a black and white great helm but you can see through the eyes are red, and on the back was a trident. The knight stands beside him. “My right hand, Death. He will succeed where you failed.” Dark Lord says. “Him…Sire with all due respect, how do you know he won’t fail too.” Hishio asked. “I agree with pajama boy here, he may be your right hand but he’s still just a puny little ma-” before Oga could finish, he was suddenly pinned down by Death, as the knight pins his arm down as he twists the other, Oga grunts in pain as he tried to use the robotic arms but they get bent and tied up, as Oga struggles to escape, just than a blade was aimed at his neck.

“If you dare question my decision again…I will do things you cannot even begin to imagine…Are we clear on that?” he asked the orc, Oga growls but then grunts in pain as his arm twisted more. “Yes…Dark Lord.” Oga says as he was then let go and his robotic arms unbent and untwisted. “Good…Now than, Death, you have some hunting to do, I have other places to be.” he says as he walked out of the room along with Death, the three looked at the entrance as they wonder if he will succeed or not.

Chapter Text

“Okay Doc…Almost there, you're going to love the surprise I made.” Zoom says as she leads him as he is blind folded. “Zoom, when can I exactly take this blind fold off?” Doc asks. “Almost there…” she then sat him down “Okay! Take it off now.” Zoom says excitedly as she bounces up and down in joy. Doc takes the blind fold off and is met with a surprising sight. It was Joe’s bar, but there was cake on the table as Boulder has a party hat on as Galaxy has one too.

“Surprise! Happy anniversary of being besties for a whole year!” Zoom says as she pops off a little party popper. “Awwww, Zoom, that's so sweet.” Doc says. “Well I didn’t do ALL of this by myself, had some help with it.” Zoom says. “Yeah yeah, you're welcome.” Galaxy says, smirking a bit. Joe comes by with drinks. “Hey thanks for hooking us up Joe, this is pretty sweet.” Doc says. “Ahhh it’s nothing, I figured this is like a small thanks from me.” Joe says as he puts the drinks on the table. “One sake for the stuff of nightmares…And one apple juice for the little lady.” Joe says as Zoom sticks her tongue out at Joe, she then drinks her juice. 

“I’m very happy we get to celebrate this occasion together.” Doc says as he sips on his sake. “Yeah, considering today that you came into my life, I got to experience a lot of stuff, and visited a kingdom too.” Zoom says, she then reaches something from her hoodie pocket. “Here, a gift.” she says as she has a small box out. Doc’s eyes widened a bit at this. “A gift…Zoom you didn’t have to do that for me.” he takes the small box. “I wanted to. Your my best friend, you deserve this.” she tells him. Doc opens the box, he sees a necklace, with a locket too. He opens it and sees a picture of the two moving in together and on the side of the necklace, was a message that said ‘To the one who made my life less lonely’.

Doc looked at the message as he stared at it. “Do you like it?” Zoom asks. “Yeah…I love it, Zoom.” Doc says as he wipes his eyes a bit. “Aaawwww, I’m glad you love it.” Zoom says happily. Doc looks at the locket more as he puts on the necklace. 

Everyone was having a good time as they ate and talked, Doc excused himself as he went to the restroom. Once he’s done doing his business, he washes his hands. He looks up the mirror, however he widens his eyes as he quickly turns and sees a familiar black knight. “Sargent!? What are you doing here?!” Doc backs up. “Dokah…Been a long time, hasn’t it? And it’s Death to you now.” Death asks as he takes his trident out. “How did you find me?!” Doc asked, on guard. “You got sloppy. But I do have to give you credit, hiding in plain sight, that’s new, even for you.” Death says as he approaches him. “Sir…Please don’t do this…You and I both know what happened to her wasn’t my fault…” Doc pleads, clearly afraid of this man.

“Don’t care…The king wants a word with you.” Death points his trident at him. “But…Since you and I go way back, I’ll give you a chance to come in, quietly, or, and this is my favorite part…I can drag your mongrel hind back by force.” Death says as he looks at him, not breaking the contact as he tightens his trident.

Doc looks back at him…Then the door. The two stared at each other, waiting for the first one to make a move…Doc then grabbed a sink and throws it at Death. The black knight dodges effortlessly but saw Doc run past him and saw him open the door before slamming it. “Fine…Be that way, I need a workout.” Death says to himself as he walks to the door.

Doc rushes back to the table, clearly a bit shaken. “Doc…You okay?” Zoom asks him, seeing him a bit shaken. “We need to go, now!” Doc says in a panic. “Doc, I know the dogs here are mean looking but no need to-Wha, hey!!!” Galaxy says surprised as she, Zoom and Boulder are being dragged. “Doc, your scaring me, what is going on?!” Zoom asks, a bit scared.

“Doc, what the hell are you doing? I need these two here today.” Joe says annoyed. Doc doesn’t say anything, instead he turns Joe’s head over and points over. The spider bartender was confused…Til his eyes widened and saw Death. “Go out the back, I’ll stall him.” Joe says as he heads over to him. Doc leads the three back as Joe distracts him, course the black knight wasn’t having it. Luckily Doc managed to reach the back door and got out, he led the three to the car and helps the three get in. “Where Horn Man taking us?” Boulder asks. “I’ll tell you soon bud, just hold on.” Doc answers as he gets in the driver seat, he sees Death walking out of the bar and looking at the car. Doc then turns the car on and begins to drive away fast.

“Doc slow down and explain what is happening!” Zoom says, trying to reach him. “I’ll explain when we’re safe!” Doc says. He checks the rear mirror, he doesn’t see Death anymore, he sighs in relief…However he looks back at the rear mirror and sees the black knight riding a black, white flamed low rider motorcycle, Death revs it up and gets closer to Doc.

“Holy shit!” Doc shouts, completely forgetting Zoom and the others are in the car. “Doc, who is that?” Zoom says as she looks behind her. “Well that’s my old sergeant.” Doc says. “WHAT?! THAT’S YOUR SERGEANT?!" Galaxy says as Death drives up beside the car and tries to get close. Doc began to swerve hard, trying to make sure Death didn't get close. Zoom grabs her shotgun and fired at Death, the black knight just deflects the bullets with the trident as he throws it and knocks it out of Zoom’s hands. Doc then slams into Death, trying to get him to back off. Death looked at them as he sees a ramp, he then jumps off his bike and lands on top of the car. 

“Get off my car!” Zoom grabbed the trident and pierces through the roof, trying to hit Death. He dodges with ease as he then yanks the trident up through and is now on the hood of the car and is aiming his trident at Doc.

Doc then sees the train tracks in sight, he then hits the brakes hard as Death goes flying off and hits the road. “Did we get him?” Galaxy asked. Death gets up as he looks at the car, he sees his arm all bent and his leg twisted. He looks at the group and snaps the arm back in place, then his leg, he then cracks his neck and approaches them. “What the actual fuck?!” Galaxy shouts as Doc then punches it as he drives head on with Death. The knight just charges head on. “Doc, he’s not slowing down!” Zoom says as she held onto his arm. Doc keeps driving as he is closer to him, however he then swerves around him, as Death impales the trident and the drivers side door is ripped off. Doc then gets through the tracks and on cue, the boarder then goes down as  the train passes through.

The train blares as Death looks ahead, seeing the car disappear from his view. The knight just gave an amused chuckle as he took his phone out. “You’re still elusive as always.” Death says he brings the phone up to him. “Yeah…It’s me…Remember that favor you own me? Yeah, I’m calling it in. Get your people ready. And be sure to not destroy much property this time.” Death then hangs up the phone and looks ahead, he then goes to his bike, stands it up and gets on, revs the bike and then drives off to a different direction to meet up with his contact.

Later, with Doc and co…

“Okay…Thank you Claire.” Doc says over the phone and he hangs up. “What did she say?” Zoom asked as she played with her hoodie strings. “She said she’ll be here as soon as possible.” Doc says as he looks out through the window at one of the abandoned shops. The four were currently at an abandoned mall outside of town. It looked unstable and it seems like nature reclaimed this mall. “Boulder wonder why big shopping area closed?” Boulder asked as he tapped a mannequin. “This mall was shut down because there weren’t many customers coming in because of the other mall that was closer to the city. My dad and mom used to come here when they were young.” Zoom explains.

“Well thank god they haven’t torn it down.” Doc says. “You told her to bring in some extra ammunition right? We’ll need all the fire power we can get.” Zoom says as she examines her shotgun. “Um…Yeah, I did.” Doc says, not looking at her as he checks outside, so far it’s clear out there. Galaxy looked at him, knowing that he’s not telling her the truth. “Horn man…How trouble are friends in?” Boulder asked him.

“Deep deep trouble…” Doc answers simply. Boulder and Galaxy looked at each other and then back at Doc. “Well we’ll get through this together, we always came out on top, and we’ll come out on top of this too.” Zoom says with confidence in her voice.

Doc looks at Zoom. “Yeah…Yeah you’re right…” Doc says, he then sighs. “Okay, we need to set up some defenses until Claire gets here. Me and Galaxy will set up traps. Boulder, I need you to barricade the front entrance, we’re not making this easy for him. Zoom, I need you to keep watch, give us a heads up if he’s here.” Doc tells them as the three nod and Zoom and Boulder head out. Doc was about to go but Galaxy stopped him. “Doc…Claire isn’t coming with weapons, is she.” Galaxy questions him. Doc looked away for a moment…He sighs. “No she isn’t. She’s coming here to pick you three up. The kingdom wants me, not you.” Doc tells her. 

“Doc, you don’t need to sacrifice yourself like this. There has to be another way.” Galaxy tells him. “They won’t stop…Even if we manage to kill him, he’ll be replaced before the body’s cold. I’ll create enough distraction to give you guys enough time to escape. Afterwards, get far away from here, and start over.” Doc tells her. “Doc…You’re sure about this?” Galaxy asked him. “I’m…I’m not sure, but what I do know…Is that I can’t put Zoom through with this life, I won’t drag her or any of you into my problems.” Doc says.

“Well…I just hope you know what you're doing.” Galaxy tells him as she goes to get started on the traps. “I hope so too…” Doc says as he heads out to help. Later as the traps were done, and with Boulder putting the pillar down at the front, they now waited, it was silent at first…Just then, there were giant flying bats that landed at the parking lot, with people in various armor getting off the bats. There was a crest that Doc recognizes. “The Hunter’s guild…Fuck.” Doc curses under his breath. “Well this is just great, seems like your so called ‘sargent’ decided to bring in some help.” Galaxy points out as she gets her brass knuckles on.

“What’s the hunters guild?” Zoom asked. “The hunters guild consists of bounty hunters from different parts of the kingdoms.” Doc explains. A big anthro polar bear steps up and loads up a grenade launcher, he fires it and blows the front entrance open. “Today boys, we bring in the greatest bounty known to man, double the bounty if we bring his head!” The polar bear says as the other hunters shouted excitedly. 

The hunters enter the abandoned mall, they look around as they try to find Doc…One of the hunters, a human, steps on a wire, before he could process, something goes off and looks over, he sees a jar of nails and the jar explodes, making the nails fly out, they hit the hunter and two got into his eyes, he screams in bloody murder as he stumbles back, he held his face as he falls on his knees, still screaming as he was in pain. The polar bear hunter goes over and sees the human hunter, he lets out an animalistic growl, he then snaps the human’s neck, ending his misery. “Seems like our prey here is clever…Watch for traps!” the polar bear commanded as the other hunters nodded.

Meanwhile, Doc, Galaxy, Zoom and Boulder hide in one of the clothing shops, seeing what happened, Zoom covered her mouth in horror, Galaxy is a bit disturbed and Boulder taps his fingers nervously, Doc however was unfazed by this. “How could he do that…He could’ve just-” Before Zoom could finish, Doc interrupts her. “Because hunters will do anything to get their bounty, even if it means getting rid of deadweight…” Doc explains. Zoom looked horrified by this.

Before more can be said, one of the hunters, a fire elemental it seems, entered the shop, as the four hid from sight. The fire elemental looks around, she looks over the counter…And underneath that said counter was Zoom who was still. Doc, who is hiding on the ceiling, sees her being close to Zoom, he drops gently and charges at the fire elemental, he knocks her to the ground. The fire elemental was surprised as she lights her body up but Doc was unaffected by the fire. “What?! Why aren’t you burning!?” the fire elemental demanded. “Because I’m half fire bitch!” Doc then stabs her side as she screams loudly. Doc then rushes and throws her off the ledge, the fire elemental survived the fall, and this alerted the other hunters.

“He’s up there! Get him!” The polar bear hunter shouts as the other hunters rush up. Doc gets on all fours and runs fast as they try to shoot him down with guns and crossbows. Doc dodges them as he goes to the farther side of the mall. The fire elemental gets up and bandages herself up, however she sees Zoom, Galaxy and Boulder rush out the store. “Doc!” Zoom calls out to him. “Hey! We got company!” The fire elemental shouts, as a porcupine anthro and a slime elemental turn and went after the three. “Ah shit, get ready you two!” Galaxy says as she throws a punch at the porcupine hunter. However he turned his back and she punched into the quills. “Son of a-!” Galaxy pulls her hand away and winces in pain as barbs are embedded into her hand.

“Wanna try that again lady?” The porcupine hunter asks mockingly. Galaxy holds her arm in pain a bit. The porcupine hunter gives a smug smirk and approaches her, however he gets grabbed by Boulder on the head. “Hey! Put me down or you're gonna get barbed!” the porcupine hunter threatens. Boulder growls and lifts him up, and then slams him onto Boulder’s knee, breaking the porcupine's barbs and back. The porcupine dies from the impact as some of the broken barbs enter him and pierced his heart. “Gal Gal okay?” Boulder asks as he tossed the body aside. “I’m fine, help Zoom out.” Galaxy tells him as Boulder nods.

Zoom is struggling as she is firing her shotgun at the two, however the slime elemental hunter is unfazed by it while the fire elemental hunter is hiding behind the slime. “You stupid human girl, no matter how much you fire, nothing hurts me.” The slime hunter says. Zoom fires again, however once she pressed the trigger again, the shotgun was empty. “Awww, such a shame…Might as well lay down and die.” The fire elemental taunts as she powers her thing up. However she gets snatched up by Boulder and squeezed her. “Ack! Gah! Let! Go!” the fire elemental struggles as she lights her body up, however it just burns Boulder’s hoodie as the rock monster himself is unaffected. “Boulder hold bad lady, Hoodie Girl run! Find Horn man!” Boulder says. Zoom nods and runs as the slime elemental gave chase.

Meanwhile, Doc was still running from the hunters, he stands up and has his claws up as the hunters stop in their tracks as well, Doc then slashes at a rope, two of the hunters looked up, and saw a sign heading towards them, it was too late as they get crushed by the sign. Doc pursues running as the hunters follow him. Doc sees Zoom running from the slime hunter, his eyes widened but he sees the trap ahead, he runs faster and leaps over the edge. The hunters pass by the trap, which the sign falls on the top floor and it began to collapse as they fall through and get crushed. 

Zoom hears the top floor falling, however she doesn't look ahead and trips over a piece of debris. The slime looms over. “Should’ve stayed out of our way.” The slime hunter forms a blade arm and raises it at Zoom. She only looks at him as her eyes shrunk. Before the slime could finish it, his face shifted from triumph to pain as his body began to stiffen and freeze, he was a statue now, Zoom was confused til she saw Doc with a cylinder, on the cylinder was his claw on the cylinder as the nitrogen is being released into the slime.

“Doc where did you find a cylinder of nitrogen?” Zoom asked. “Found it by an abandoned ice cream cart. Still some left in it.” Doc explained as he kicks the slime statue as it crumbles. “Boulder and Galaxy are behind me.” Zoom says. “Okay, we’ll circle back to them and then we leave, we’ll have to-” Before Doc could finish his sentence, he was hit across into another abandoned shop. Zoom looked to see who did it and it was the polar bear hunter wielding a giant war hammer. “My my, collaborators…Not only do I get to bring the bounty in, I get to have a snack.” The polar bear hunter licks his lips.

Zoom backs up as the polar bear approaches. Doc rubs his head as he sees the bear approaching Zoom, he growls animalistically, his eyes begin to turn red, however he shakes it off. “No…Don’t lose it now…” Doc growled, he took a deep breath and his eyes returned to normal. He then gets up and charges and jumps onto the Polar bears back and slams his claws deep into his back.


“GAAAAAAHHHHH!! RAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!” The Polar bear hunter roars as he keeps being stabbed in the back by Doc, he slams himself into the wall, trying to get Doc off, but the monster wouldn’t budge as he twists the bears sides. The polar bear roars again as his grenade launcher is knocked off from his back. Zoom sees the launcher, she looks up at the polar bear and then back at the grenade launcher, she then rushes over and grabbed and aims it at the bear. “Zoom! Fire it!” Doc tells her as he is still on the bear. “Blow me, you blow your friend too!” The polar bear tells her.


Zoom then lowered the grenade launcher, looking on what to do. “Zoom, I’ll be fine, just fire it!” Doc tells her. Zoom is debating, she doesn’t want to hurt her friend, but she couldn’t let the hunter take him away. Finally, she aims the grenade launcher and fires it. Doc then yanks the bear back far enough and then jumps off and tackles Zoom to the ground covering her with his body, as the grenade then hits the polar bear hunter and he explodes, bits and pieces of him fly everywhere as his lower legs stand a bit…Before falling on the ground.

Both Doc and Zoom pant as they looked at the bear’s lower half. Zoom looked at Doc and then hugged him tightly, Doc returns the hug, they stayed like this for a moment, after a moment, they get up and dust each other off. “We need to get back to Galaxy and Boulder fast.” Zoom says. “Yeah, come on, Claire should be here by now.” Doc says as the two head off back to the front entrance.

Galaxy and Boulder finished off the fire elemental and looked at each other. “Okay, we need to regroup, once we do, we bail.” Galaxy says as Boulder nods, the two attempt to move but get stopped by a trident almost hitting them, they stop and look over, they see Death. “You two…This doesn’t concern you, I only want Dokah, walk away or die. Your choice.” Death simply tells them. “No way pal…We won’t let you get your hands on him.” Galaxy says. Death stays silent for a bit. “Then so be it, just remember, I gave you a chance.” He tells them. Death walks forward and then charges at them.


Boulder rushes ahead and tries to hit him. Death dodges as Boulder tries to him again, Boulder keeps trying to hit Death but the knight simply dodges his attacks, he then grabs the rock monster’s fist and throws him over his body. He then spins Boulder around and then throws him off the top floor and into the fountain.

Galaxy growls and yells as she then charges and throws her fists at him, he was dodging them too, but Galaxy kicks him in the gut and side kicks his helmet and makes him stumble, she winces a bit but shakes it off as she gets in a defensive stance, the knight re-centers himself. “You fight well, but you lack control.” Death says, Galaxy growls and throws punches at him, right and left hooks at his helmet as he grabs her fist, she tries to pull back but couldn’t. "Discipline." Death continues to lecture as he grabs Galaxy’s other fist, he then headbutts her, she stumbles back, however her arm is grabbed and is slammed into a wall, the wall breaks as she skids a bit across the floor. “And most importantly, skill. You fight like you're some common thug in the street.” Death says as he approaches her. Galaxy tries to crawl away, she supports herself on the counter as she looks at him. She throws a weak punch and he simply grabs it. “Pitiful. You could’ve been so much more.” Death says, he then yanks the arm, twists it, and then elbows the arm, breaking it in half. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” Galaxy screams in pain as she fell to the ground on her knees, holding her arm closely.

“Instead, you’ll die like the rest who thought they had a chance.” Death tells her as he grabbed her and began to choke her, Galaxy gasps for air as she tries to break free. Death looked at her in the eyes as the life out of her fades…Til he gets impaled and lifted off the ground. “Gah!” Death cries as he looked down, and he saw Doc was the one to do so and it was by his own trident. Doc then throws him into another side wall. Doc picks her up. “You okay?” he asks Galaxy.

“He broke my fucking arm, no I’m not okay!” Galaxy shouts in pain as Zoom helps her by putting Galaxy’s good arm around her. “Come on, we have to go before he gets back up.” Doc says as he and Zoom carry her. Boulder climbs up the steps, he held his side as he saw Galaxy. “Gal Gal!” Boulder cries out as he goes over to them and checks her. “Gal Gal hurt…” Boulder says as Galaxy smiled. “Don’t worry big guy, I’ll live. Are you okay?” Galaxy asks him softly. “Boulder hurt a bit, but Boulder tough.” he tells her. Galaxy just smiles at him. “Yeah you are.” she tells him.

The four then hear some crashing around as Death exits the shops and looked at them, they quickly ran to the far side of the mall. “There’s an exit we can use, it’s in the back of this store!” Zoom says as she, Galaxy and Boulder make it through, however Doc stops at the front of the store and brings the chain gate down, he locks it from his side. Zoom looks over and sees what Doc is doing. “Doc, what are you doing?!” Zoom calls him out as Doc looked at her. She goes over to the gate and tries to break the lock. “It’s no use Zoom, you won’t be able to break it.” Doc tells her sadly. 

“Doc, come on, we need to go, now!” Zoom tells him. “I can’t…Not this time. He wants me, not any of you. I have to do this.” Doc says. Zoom began to tear up as she had her hand out, trying to hold onto Doc’s hand. “Doc please! Please don’t do this! We can find another way, I don’t care about what happens to me, I’ll be a fugitive if I have to, just please don’t leave me!” Zoom begs him as Doc holds her hand tight in return.


“Zoom…Thank you. For making my life a bit better…You helped me in more ways than you realize, you made me realize that not every human is a piece of shit and that there are good ones too…If I die today, at least I’ll die knowing I kept you safe…Goodbye Zoom, hav.” Doc says as he kisses her hand, he then lets go as he moves away from the gate. 

“Doc! No! No no no! Please! Doc! Don’t leave me!” Zoom begs as she tries to break the chains, but she gets snatched by Boulder, “No! Boulder let me go! Doc! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCC!!!!” Zoom cries out as it fades in the back. Doc takes a deep unsteady breath as he gets out in the open. On cue, coming in was Death.

“So…You decide to fight me like a man. Admirable, but foolish.” Death says as he aims his trident at him. “Oh believe me…I won’t make it easy for you, sir.” Doc says as he has his claws out. “I don’t expect you to.” Death replies as he then charges at him and Doc does the same as well.

The two clash with each other as claw and trident head clash as the two push into each other, Doc formed his mouth as he sinks his teeth into Death, the knight simply stabs Doc in the gut and forces him off, Doc roars as he lunges and pushes him onto the stairs, the two fell down the stairs as they get up and get into an offensive position. The two attack again as Death uses the butt of the trident to hit him and then kicks Doc to a pillar, destroying it. Doc shakes it off as he grabs chunks of the destroyed pillar and throws them at Death. The knight twirls his trident and destroys them with ease. Doc uses this opportunity and stabs Death in the chest and slams him into another pillar. The place began to shake as those pillars were holding the place. The two still fight as Death leg sweeps him and throws his talons into Death’s shoulders. The two jump back from each other, and on cue, a piece of the debris falls between them, they look around as the mall is slowly collapsing. Death tries to make a run for the front entrance but Doc stops him and held him. “We’re going down together!” Doc declares as Death gets Doc off by elbowing him and throwing him over his shoulder. “Then so be it.” Death as he curb stomps him.

Meanwhile, Boulder runs still carrying Galaxy and Zoom as the mall crumbles around the three, the exit is close, however debris blocks off the exit, Boulder skids to a stop. “Damn it! This place is falling apart!” Galaxy says as more debris blocks the way back. Boulder looks at the exit. His face was panicked…But then switched to determination, he backs up a bit and then runs towards the exit. “Boulder, wait! Wait wait wait wai-!” Before Zoom can object, Boulder bulldozes through the debris as he shields the two women. He skids to a stop, the three see the mall collapsing.

Zoom gets off of Boulder and before she could even think about going back, the mall collapses, as a huge dust cloud forms, there is some coughing as the dust cloud disperses. Zoom blinks a bit…Her eyes shrunk as she then falls on her knees. “No…Doc…” She covers her mouth as tears form, and she begins to sob softly. “Zoom…I’m so…Sorry.” Galaxy says as she gets off of Boulder and places her good hand on Zoom’s shoulder, however Zoom just moves away from her. 

Just then, they hear a vehicle being pulled up, it was Claire in a red jeep. “Sorry about that, traffic was a bitch and-Wait…Where’s Doc?” Claire asks, she looks up and sees the destroyed mall, her eyes widened in shock and covered her mouth, she then finally realized why there were only the three. “Oh…God, Zoom I’m so so-” Before Claire could finish, there was some noise being made. 

A hand shot out of the debris and coming out was Death, his armor cracked and dirtied as he then pulled out Doc, who was unconscious. Zoom looked up and saw the sight. She was happy that Doc was alive, but now worried because he’s being taken away again. Death begins to drag Doc’s body over to one of the bats, the huge bat tries to bite but Death quickly shuts it up and makes it submit. Zoom runs over as Galaxy and Boulder follow her. “You Doc have cost me enough trouble…Be lucky I’m in a good mood today.” Death tells the unconscious monster as he gets on the bat, he tightens Doc up on the back of the bat creature. “The king will be pleased.” Death says and then makes the bat fly. “Hey! No! Drop him! Let him go!” Zoom calls out to the knight but he ignores her and flies off. Zoom desperately tries to follow the bat but trips. The bat is long gone now.

Claire approaches Zoom as she bends down to her. “Zoom…I’m sorry this happened.” Claire tells her. Zoom only gets up, not looking at anyone, Claire, Galaxy and Boulder look at each other and then back Zoom. “...Doc is my best friend…And he’s been taken away…” Zoom then looks at the three, with determination on her face as she goes to the rubble and starts moving stuff around. “I know the odds are against us, I know we don’t stand a chance against an entire kingdom, if you want to bail, fine by me, I’ll get him back myself and die trying if I have to.” Zoom says as keeps moving the rubble, just then, Boulder is beside her and moves most of the rubble out of the way as Galaxy also helps a little. “Zoom, this is the craziest thing you ever said…But count me and Boulder in, of course my arm’s busted as hell but I’ll help where I can.” Galaxy tells her. “Wolf girl want to help too?” Boulder asks as the three turn to Claire. She was hesitant…But sighs and gives a small smile. “Might as well, someone needs to get you out of trouble.” Claire says as she helps move the rubble. Zoom finds her shot and examines it. “Alright…Operation Save Doc is a go.” Zoom says as she looks at the direction Death carried Doc away. “Don’t worry…I’m coming Doc, just hold out for as long as possible…” Zoom says to herself as she gave a small smile.

Chapter Text

“You know Miss Galaxy, you're quite lucky that your arm isn’t completely broken, otherwise we would’ve had to amputate it.” Dr. Angelica tells Galaxy as she finishes putting a cast on it. “Here, drink this, it’s a healing potion, it won’t heal your arm completely but it should speed it up.” the doctor tells her as Galaxy takes the bottle, she downs it but gags a bit. “God this stuff is nasty…” Galaxy says.

“It may taste gross but it’ll get the job done. Now then, try to not move your broken arm too much and I hope you have someone to help you out a bit til your next appointment.” Dr. Angelica says with concern. “I do, Boulder and a couple of my neighbors, the only thing that’s going to suck is taking a shower.” Galaxy jokes as the doctor laughs.


“Well within next week and plenty of rest, your arm will heal up nicely.” Dr. Angelica tells Galaxy. “Now can I please be discharged?” Galaxy asks. “Well lucky you, today’s your last day here in the hospital and I hope you stay out of trouble, no need for another broken arm.” Dr. Angelica tells her.

It has been a week since the fight that happened in the mall, Galaxy was taken to the hospital and was bedridden. Boulder never left her side til he was told to leave, but those few days he’s been visiting her. Once Galaxy puts on her normal clothes, she steps out of the room and is met with a big hug from a familiar stone creature. “Gal Gal back!” Boulder says happily. “Yeah bud, I’m feeling a lot better. Claire taking good care of you?” Galaxy asked.

“Wolf girl nice, Wolf girl and Boulder make cookies.” Boulder says as he has a baggie out and shows her the cookies, which looked to be chocolate chips. “Boulder brought them if Gal Gal want one.” Boulder says.

“Awwww buddy, that's so sweet of you, thank you.” Galaxy says sweetly as she takes one out of the bag and eats one. “So…How’s Zoom?” Galaxy asked. Boulder’s face went from smiling to sad. “Hoodie girl still sad…Hoodie girl hasn’t come out of tiny house…” Boulder says. Galaxy sighs as she rubs her head. “She’s taking it pretty hard…Alright, we’ll go over and check on her.” Galaxy tells Boulder as the two leave the hospital.

Standing outside was Claire with her red jeep, they three get in and drive back to their apartment. “Claire, thank you for taking care of Boulder for a bit.” Galaxy thanks Claire. “It’s no problem, and I didn’t have any problems with him either, he was very helpful too.” Claire tells her. “So…Heard anything from Zoom?” Galaxy asked her. “Not really, I know she left to visit you at the hospital every day…Last time I saw her, it was at night and she looked sleep deprived. Poor girl…” Claire says.

They pull to the apartment, they get out of the jeep and enter inside. They head up and head to Zoom’s door, they look and saw the mail pile at the door. Galaxy knocks on the door. “Zoom, it’s me, Galaxy, I got discharged today.” Galaxy says…At first, silence…The door opens and the three reeled in shock as they saw Zoom.


Zoom’s eyes were red and puffy, possibly from the crying, bags underneath her eyes, hair all over the place and she smiled, course it looked a bit crazed, lack of sleep will do that. “Oh hey guys…Galaxy, good to see you out of the hospital. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you being discharged.” Zoom says as her eye twitches a bit. “Uh…It’s fine, hey um…How long have you been…Awake for?” Galaxy asked.

“I been up since…My last visit with you!” Zoom says as she laughed a bit. “Ooooooookkkay, I uh…I know we agreed we try to rescue Doc, but…He wouldn’t want you to tire yourself out, let alone kill yourself in the process.” Galaxy tells her.

“I feel fine, totally, completely fine…Boulder when did you have hair?” Zoom asks, but clearly looking at Claire. Both Claire and Galaxy crossed their arms and gave her a look of doubt. Zoom sees this and sighs, “Okay, maybe I need some rest…But when I wake up! We’ll go over the plan, I just hope Doc is okay…” Zoom says. “Trust me, I’m sure he’s fine, he’s a big boy, he can take care of himself for a bit longer.” Galaxy reassures her.

Meanwhile…

Doc was currently chained to the ground, he looks down at the ground as a familiar crystal man walks around him. “The subject has been unresponsive since his capture. Even when barbaric tactics have been used on him, he still is unresponsive.” Stone says to himself while he holds a tape recorder.

“Hey doc, why not shove that tape right up your-Gah! The hell?” Doc asks as he felt something pierce his neck, he saw it was Tank, which the robot was holding a needle, the robot disposes of the syringe. 

“This is the first trial run of the serum we injected into the subject. General Oga has volunteered to test the subject out, General Oga, you may step in now.” Stone tells him. The door opens as the black orc steps inside. He cracks his fists, but Doc doesn’t look at him, not even acknowledging him.

“Oh Dokah…You better not be silent now…The fun’s just starting.” Oga taunts, he then uses his real fist and uppercuts Doc in the face, Doc’s body goes up and he lands on his back. Doc groans but he gets picked up and hits him in the face again, the orc drops him back on his knees, the monster coughs a bit, he feels the side of his face wet…He sees it was his blood. However, he doesn’t feel his regeneration working, Doc’s eyes widen a bit.

“Interesting ... .The subject’s regeneration should’ve been activated by now, the serum's effects must be responsible for this…But to be sure, Oga, continue with the testing.” Stone tells him. “With pleasure.” Oga says as he cracks his four knuckles, even if the top arms are machines. Doc growls as he glares at the orc.

The sounds of punches and bones breaking echo the room, Doc was beaten and bruised, blood dripping off the side of his face as his upper eye was blacked and swollen. Doc was tossed around as he then felt a double punch hit in the gut, Doc curls up, he is back on his knees, his mouth formed and spits blood out, he turns his head at Oga, his eyes turn red, before he can do anything he gets kicked in the face, he then felt his head being grabbed and slammed into the ground.

“I have been waiting for a long time for this moment…You got a lot to answer for, especially what you did to my arms.” Oga says as he gets in Doc’s face. The monster simply headbutts the orc as Oga stumbles back, he feels something on his face, he brings his fingers and sees his blood, Oga growls as Doc lets out a weak chuckle.

“I’m going to enjoy breaking you.” Oga says and before the orc could land another hit, he was stopped as the heavy metal door opened. Oga snarls as he steps back, coming in is someone Doc wasn’t ready to see yet.

“Hello Dokah…It’s been a long, long time since we last spoke…” The Dark Lord says as he bends down to Doc’s height. Doc doesn’t say anything or look at him. “Awwww, why so quiet…You are in the presence of a royal, show some respect.” he tells the monster as he grabs Doc’s horn and makes him look at him. Doc just stares at him, staying silent. “You know ....You are a hard creature to find, even harder considering your species is basically extinct. But eventually we found you…You got sloppy, careless, comfortable.” Dark Lord says as he drops his head. “Just get it over with…Adam.” Doc says with venom in his voice. “Only friends call me Adam, and you…You lost that privilege.” He tells him. 

Dark Lord, also known as Adam, examines his sword and has it over Doc’s neck. “It would be so easy…Ending it right here, right now.” Adam tells him. The cold steel against Doc’s back neck. “So why not get it over with now…Save me the trouble.” Doc tells him, “Now where is the fun in that? It would be too easy. No no…I got something special planned for you.” the king tells him as he puts the blade away. “I’ll be sure to enjoy every moment of agony and violent moments that will be inflected upon you. And when you're no longer of use, then I’ll kill you.”

Dark Lord tells him as he waved his at Oga and the orc leaves the room. “Don’t inject him with the serum further…I have plans for his blood.” Dark Lord tells Stone as the crystal man nods. The Dark Lord leaves the room along with Stone and Tank. Doc looks at the ground and sees his necklace on the ground, covered in blood, he sighs as he grabs it and holds it close to him, he closes his good remaining eyes and sleeps.

Meanwhile…

Galaxy was currently sitting on the couch as Boulder pets Joy’s head, the dog panting happily and wagging her tail. Claire is reading a book on how to tell jokes 101, they hear the bathroom door opening and saw Zoom coming out as she was dressed and was finishing drying her hair off. “Alright, took a nap, showered and even ate, now can I explain the plan?” Zoom asked. “Yes you may, so what is this grand plan of yours exactly?” Galaxy asked.

“I’m glad you asked! You see, I devised a plan on how to get Doc out.” Zoom says as she brings out a bulletin board and it was very…Detailed, red string all over the board as there were pictures of Cree, Amy, and Oga. “Holy…” Galaxy was dumbfounded by this as Zoom looked at her. “Pretty good huh? Now then, first thing’s first, the location on Doc. Joe said if we want to find him, then this would be the place.” She points to the police station. “In there, there’s a process on where suspects go. To the jail, prison or straight directly to the labor camps.” Zoom explains. “And uh, how are we supposed to get into this obviously shadow kingdom controlled station? They just won’t let us in if we ask nicely.” Claire points out.

“I got a plan for that, which is where these two-” Zoom points to Cree and Amy “-Come in.” Zoom answers Claires. “How do Gal Gal, Boulder and Wolf girl get close to bad people?” Boulder asks. “I’m glad you asked Boulder, you see, we’re gonna create a distraction. And that distraction…Well, I need you big guy to cause some major destruction and Galaxy, I need you to snatch either one of their badges.” Zoom explains. “I’ll explain the rest when we do this first part.” Zoom tells them. The three looked at her for a moment. “I know it’s a long shot but do you trust me?” Zoom asked them. Claire sighs, but smiles “Yeah, we trust ya.” Claire tells her.

Zoom smiles at Claire and then looks at Boulder and Galaxy. “You think you can do it?” She asks the two. Both Galaxy and Boulder look at each other…Galaxy chuckles as she looked at her. “You know what, sure, always wanted to fuck over the goverment a bit.” Galaxy mentions. “Excellent, time to get started.” Zoom says as she grabbed her shotgun, fully repaired and even has a spray painted name on the pump, it read ‘Betsy’ on it.

Later…

Cree and Amy were currently outside of the police station steps as officers leave and enter the building, they were currently eating donuts and drinking coffee. “You know what? I don’t care if we get stereotyped, these donuts are the best.” Cree says as he drinks his coffee. “Yeah! These donuts are so good! I’m going to get addicted to these!” Amy says as she takes a bite out of a glazed maple apple donut.

Just then, a familiar red jeep is parked on the side of the station, coming out of the jeep was Claire, wearing a pizza delivery uniform. “Howdy! I was wondering if you two lovers ordered a pizza.” Claire asks. “Uhhhh…No we didn’t order a pizza.” Cree answers. “Well someone ordered this pie and the address is this station.” Claire says. “Maybe someone from the department ordered a pizza.” Amy suggests.

Just then, the three hear something down the street, as a police cruiser is thrown at the other cruisers, coming around the corner was Boulder as he pounds his chest like a gorilla as he roars. Multiple officers came rushing out with their guns out, Cree and Amy rushed over to help. Boulder smacks some of them back as they fired tasers at him, which was ineffective, they then switched to pistols as they fired upon him but the bullets bounced off of him and not making a dent. 

Boulder roars again as he snatches one and throws them far back as the officers retreat back. Cree tries to light himself up but gets smacked back into a wall, he shakes his head as he growls and gets up, he goes back to try and contain the threat. Unknown to him, Galaxy was hiding around the corner, as she held Cree’s badge, she looked at Boulder and gave a thumbs up. 

Boulder nods and roars one last time, before he runs away, the undamaged cruisers are now after Boulder as Cree and Amy get in their car and follow him. Galaxy goes to Claire and hands the badge to her. “One police badge.” Galaxy says as she also holds up a wallet. “And a wallet for me.” Galaxy says as she stashes it.

“I’ll give it to Zoom, but are you sure Boulder will be fine?” Claire asks her. “He’ll be fine, I told him to go to one of our old bosses' turf. And the cops will have a new problem on their hands once they get there.. Get Zoom out here.” Galaxy tells her. Claire nods and opens the rear door. Zoom comes out, fixing herself up as she is wearing an officer uniform. “How do I look?” Zoom asked. “Like a rookie.” Galaxy says as she hands the badge, “You sure you want to go through with this? You can get in a lot of trouble for doing this.” Claire tells her. “I’m sure, I have to at least try.” Zoom tells her. 

“Alright, we’ll handle things here. Go get your boyfriend back.” Galaxy tells her. Zoom nods and hugs Galaxy and Claire, she then goes to the steps, but stops when she realizes what she said. “He’s not my boyfriend!” Zoom corrects her. Galaxy chuckles as she gets in the car with Claire and the two women drive off.

Zoom looks ahead at the police station, she takes a deep breath and exhales as she then enters the station. She sees some people working as others rush around, probably due to the earlier commotion. She ducks her head down, trying to avoid attention. She keeps walking, hoping to find the processing room. However she accidentally bumps into someone, she looks up and her eyes widen.

“Hey, watch where you're going.” A familiar voice spoke, it was Quinn, the mouse captain. “A-Ah um, s-sorry sir. Th-This is m-my first day here.” Zoom says nervously, Quinn sighs tiredly “Great, a rook…Look kid, you came at a bad time, the others are currently swarming around here because someone decided to go on a rampage close to us.” Quinn says. “R-Right, say um, I f-found this outside, I think i-it’s one of theirs.” Zoom says as she hands in Cree’s badge. Quinn takes the badge and looks it over, he scoffs. “Of course it’s Cree’s…Thanks rook, just drop it off by his desk.” Quinn tells her. “Of course sir…Hey um q-quick question, do you know where I can find records of prisoner transfers? M-My training officer told me I need to sort through paperwork.” Zoom says.

“Files are down the hall, take a left and you’ll find a room that says ‘files’. Good luck with paperwork I guess.” Quinn as he heads back to his office. Zoom begins to head to the files room, once she arrives there, she sees a scanner on the side of the door. Zoom then takes Cree’s ID out and uses it, the door unlocks and heads inside the room. She looks around for a bit til she finds a file cabinet that contains the word ‘D’ on it. Zoom goes over and begins to skim through the files til she finds what she is looking for. She grabs it and places it on the table and opens it. Zoom sees a photo of Doc, well a younger version of him anyway, and is wearing a military uniform.

Zoom looks through the file, she finally finds a clue on where he is taken, however instead of either place, he is brought straight to the castle of the shadow kingdom. “The castle…Why would they bring him there…” Zoom questions herself. She puts the file back and walks out of the room. She heads to the front door, but she sees the captain talking to a human officer. The officer seemed confused a bit, Zoom wondered what’s going on, however she quickly found out what they were talking about when they turned and looked at her. 

Zoom’s eyes widen and quickly walked out, however she turned and saw Quinn and the human officer approach her, she then bolts out of there, she heads outside and runs, busting out of the station was Quinn with more officers, they shout at her to freeze, Zoom kept running as fast as she can, she takes a sharp corner as she sees a dumpster truck, she quickly jumps on it as the officers and Quinn chase her but it was in vain as the truck was faster. Zoom knows for one thing, she can never go back home…

Later…

“They’re keeping him in the castle?!” Claire asks, surprised by this information. “Yeah, it makes sense, the king does want him after all…” Zoom says as she closes her suitcase. “Zoom, this is dangerous, like very dangerous, I heard stories of what The Dark Lord does to people. And people who come back…They aren’t the same, saying that they saw things, things that even a brazen bull seems more tamed, and you know how hard that is to do?!” Claire asks, trying to dissuade her to go. “I have to do this, whatever he wants with him, it can’t be good.” Zoom tells her as she walks up to Claire.

“Claire…I have one favor to ask of you…Take care of Joy for me, til we come back.” Zoom says. Speaking of Joy, she whimpers as she goes over and presses her snout on Zoom’s hand, the girl simply smiles and bends down to her. “Hey…It’s okay girl…I’ll be back for you, I promise.” Zoom comforts the dog as she gives her a kiss on the head.

Zoom gets up and looks at Claire. She then hugged the wolf girl. “Thank you for everything…We’ll be back…” Zoom tells her as Claire lets out a whine as she hugs her back, Zoom rubbed behind her ears. “If you see Galaxy, be sure to tell her I said thank you for everything.” Zoom asks her, Claire doesn’t say anything, but Zoom feels her nod, Zoom then lets go of the hug and heads to the door, she looks at the apartment room one last final time. “Well…Here goes everything.” Zoom says and steps out of the apartment with her suitcase.

Zoom steps outside and breaths in the fresh air, one she’ll probably not get to do again. She hails for a taxi as they stop, Zoom puts the luggage as she gets in the back. “Where to?” An armadillo anthro asks. “Airport.” Zoom says as the taxi begins to drive off to the airport. Zoom looks through the taxi window as she sees the apartment buildings and the shops, she will miss this…But she knows she has to do this.

Zoom arrives at the airport. She pays the driver and brings her luggage and heads to the reception desk. “Hello, how can we help you today?” A receptionist asked. “One ticket to the North shadow kingdom.” Zoom says. The receptionist, while still having that forced smile, the look they gave was a look of…Fear and sympathy?

“A-Are you sure? Surely there m-must be somewhere else you wish to visit, I-I heard the west shadow kingdom is very lovely this time of year.” the receptionist says, trying to get her to change her mind. “No, I want the north.” Zoom tells her, she will not take no for an answer. The receptionist sighs and hands her the ticket. “I…I hope you got your affairs settled.” they say as Zoom takes it and heads to the terminal gate, security not even bothering to search her, considering she’s a dead woman walking.

Zoom enters the plane and gets her seat, she noticed that there were not that many people here. “Huh…Guess I got the plane all to myself.” Zoom says. She then hears a raspy chuckle as she turns to see where it was coming from, she sees an old man, his beard long and is holding on to a cane. “Oh girlie…There’s a reason why no one dares go to the kingdom of shadows…” the old man says. Zoom just looks away and doesn’t say anything else. “You want to know why? Well…They say the king rules with an iron fist…Cutting down anyone that dares impose his might.” The old man continues. “He even tortures his victims by praying onto their nightmares, and some lose their sanity in the process too…” he says as he chuckles crazily.

“Then…Why are you going then?” Zoom asked. “Because girlie…I have nothing left to lose…My time is up. All that go to the north having nothing left to live…” The old man replies as he laughs crazily as the plane begins to take off, as Zoom looks out of the window, now nervous about this. But she can’t back out now, she has to do this…For him.

Later…

The plane lands, Zoom wakes up slowly as she rubs her eyes, she looks out of the window, black skies were the only thing she sees, she then grabs her luggage as she then gets out of the plane to the terminal, she sees people lining up, trying to get out of here as she sees light armor guards holding rifles, standing around, she keeps going but gets stopped by two of them, they look at her, their face covered in a mask as red glass eyes shine a bit, not even being able to see their real eyes. Zoom gulps a bit seeing them, one of the soldiers reaches something out from behind them. Zoom’s eyes widened and she closed them tightly…

However she felt something light on her hands, she opened her eyes and saw the soldier holding a pamphlet to her. “Oh! Um, thank you!” Zoom says as she takes the pamphlet as the two go back to their posts. Zoom looks at the pamphlet and back at the two soldiers, who just stood still, almost robotic in a way. She quickly leaves the airport and onto the streets.

After a bit of walking, she comes across an abandoned building, she makes sure that it’s actually abandoned. It was only silent, save for the skittering little feet of rats. Zoom shudders as she sets her luggage down, she opens the bag…And pulls out her shotgun, well parts of the shotgun, she then pulls out her book and lays it down, it was a book on how to assemble your gun. She began to follow the instructions carefully, once done, she examined it and made sure it actually works. Once satisfied, she puts it on her back as she grabs her shotgun shell belt. Once she wraps it around her, she puts the shells in and puts the hoodie over the belt to hide it.

Zoom then leaves the building and begins to walk around, trying to think of a way to get into the castle, she hears something around the corner and checks it out, she peeks her head and sees a military truck, soldiers loading crates up. Zoom ducks and gets into cover behind a bench. The soldiers haven’t really paid much attention. Once their back is turned, Zoom rushes to the truck, she looks underneath the truck and has an idea. She then gets on the ground and crawls under the truck, she then faces up and grabs hold under the truck's parts. 

The truck begins to move as she holds on tightly, her heart racing because of what she’s doing, her mind racing with telling her to abandon this quest, to go home and forget about everything, however she pushes those thoughts down as she focuses on getting Doc out, and figuring out an escape plan.

The military truck comes to a stop, Zoom was confused and looks over, she sees that she was at a checkpoint. Zoom mentally panics as she looks around, trying to figure out how to get out of this. She then does something stupid, she then lets go as she crawls out under the truck and peeks her head in, she sees no one in the back and quietly goes in the truck, she hides behind some crates as the truck moves up. She held her breath in as she saw a light armor soldier get in the back of the truck and look around. She doesn’t move as the soldier is closer to her.

The soldier is then called back by the other and gets out of the truck, the truck then drives past the check point, Zoom takes a quick look outside and sees the castle up close, it was huge as the color was entirely black with a bit red to it. Lighting strikes as the truck pulls into the loading cargo bay. Zoom gets out before the workers can come and unload the crates. She then hides behind a pillar as she is clutching her chest, clearly anxious about this, but she needs to be strong to save her friend…

The loading bay doors open as workers come and unload the crates, Zoom sees the opening of the door, she takes her chance and moves quietly, she sneaks past them as she sees the loading dock lifts and takes one up. It reaches to the catwalk and she quietly tiptoes above and sees an office, probably the dock master’s office, she enters the office and sees it was empty. “Weird…Maybe they aren’t here yet.” Zoom says to herself as she looks around. She sees a mug and picks it up. However as soon she did, there was a clicking sound as the wall behind her opened up, it was an elevator.

“Huh…Well here goes nothing I guess.” Zoom then enters the elevator and presses a button. The elevator door closes as it goes to the upper floors, she grabs her shotgun from her back and loads a couple of shells in as she pumps it and aims at the door. “Okay Zoom…Deep breaths…” She says to herself.

The elevator arrives at the fifth floor and the doors open, she peeks her head out and sees a vast hallway, she begins to explore the halls as she looks around, unaware that two glowing white eyes are behind her.

Zoom travels down further as she sees portraits of his accomplishments, however there were two portraits that interested her. 

One portrait has three people on it. On the left side, there was a man with silver armor and gold trims on the armor. He has two ram skulls on each shoulder and you can see him sporting a muscle gut and was slaughtering warriors down as fire was spread from his spear which looked a bit fleshy. On the right side was a woman with a purple and blue helmet and on the helmet was three prongs, she had fur patches on her shoulders and a moss green scarf. She didn’t have much armor except her chest piece, the color being dark blue and silver. She is surrounded by nature as vines grow around her and in the middle was the man behind the North Kingdom. The Dark Lord, standing on piles of of skulls with vines in the empty eyes as some of the skulls were on fire as his sword is in the bone pile, however what was interesting was there were weird objects, for The Dark Lord, a purple lantern, the gold and silver man, a smooth marble ball and finally, for the strange woman, a copper bell.

“Woah…Freaky…” Zoom says as she then looks at the next portrait and it wasn’t creepy like the first one.

The second portrait was a man in a sleek black suit with a black dress shirt and a red tie, the tie matching the man’s eyes, he was also tan as well with black hair. He was standing next to a woman who was sitting on the chair, her eyes were gold as her smile was warm, her hair grey mixed with fading purple hair, she had black lipstick on her as well. She wore a grey blue kimono with plum patterns, what was really interesting was her big round belly.

“Is that…Sophia? She’s really beautiful…What happened to you…” Zoom wonders to herself as she feels like she’s being watched, she turns over and sees no one there. She shakes it off and continues on foot. She hears the rain hitting the windows hard, as the thunder roars and the lighting lights up a bit. She goes deeper and deeper into the castle, she checks the doors, so far it’s been empty rooms. “Come on Doc…You have to be here somewhere…” Zoom says as she keeps walking around. 

She eventually sees a heavy metal door, she goes over to it, however before she opens it, the door opens itself and she quickly hides behind the curtains, she peeks her head out to see who it is. “Tank, prepare the blood transfer of our newest prisoner. Dark Lord will want every last drop the monster has to offer.” Stone says as he still has the cracks on him. “Affermative.” Tank says as he goes and gets the equipment. “Who needs assistants when I have my own creations to help me around the lab.” Stone says, praising himself.

Zoom quietly comes out behind the curtain, she then presses her shotgun at Stone’s back. “Don’t even think about  calling for help…” Zoom says quietly as Stone froze, and had his hands up. “You must be suicidal to come here.” Stone tells her. “You're going to open that door…And you're going to release Doc.” Zoom demands as she pushes him to the door. Stone scoffs as he opens the door.

“Ready for round two asshole…” Doc says tiredly as he looks up to face Stone, however was shocked by something else. “Zoom?!” Doc says, surprised that she’s here. “Doc!” Zoom rushes to him and hugs him tightly, she examines his face. “What did they do to you…Are you okay?!” Zoom asks as she frees him from the shackles. “What about…You? Are you okay?” Doc asks weakly as he supports himself on Zoom. “I’m more worried about you!” Zoom says worriedly. “You came back for me…I told you to start over…” Doc tells her. “We can start over, together.” Zoom tells him.

“You two won’t be safe…The lord will hunt you two down til his sword is caked in your blood.” Stone tells them, still hands up. Zoom glares at him as she uses her free hand to aim the shotgun. “You, shackle yourself.” Zoom orders him, the crystal man rolls his eyes and goes over, he chains himself. “There…Course it won’t help you two. He’ll find you before you can even get outside.” Stone taunts them. Zoom simply responds by placing Doc on the wall for a second and walking over to Stone and knocking him out with the butt of her shotgun.

“Come on Doc, let’s get out of here.” Zoom says as she goes back and has his arm over her. The two walk down the halls of the castle as Zoom checks around. “Doc, why aren’t you healing up?” Zoom asked, noticing he was still wounded. “They injected me with something…A poison I think…But considering they keep mentioning my blood…It’s probably temporary…” Doc says as he coughs a bit. “They really got you good…” Zoom says.

“Oga was enjoying every second of it…” Doc answers her as he winces a bit. “Zoom..I’m done for, leave me.” Doc tells her. “No, I’m not leaving you behind, not again.” Zoom tells him as she takes a corner, however frozen in place. “Zoom…Talk to me, what’s happening.” Doc asks her.

“I think my escape route is compromised.” Zoom explains. Standing in front of the elevator was Oga and a couple of the soldiers wondering what happened. Oga turns his head for a moment and back at the elevator, however his head snaps back and sees Zoom and Doc standing in front of them. The human girl simply chuckles nervously. “Boys! We got an escape convict! Kill the girl but keep the beast alive!” Oga commands as the soldiers turn and begin to fire at the two.

Zoom quickly ducks cover and takes Doc with her. She returns fire as one of the soldiers falls dead, but it forces her back into cover as they keep firing at her. “Don’t let it up! Keep putting pressure on them!” Oga shouts as the soldiers keep firing. 

“Zoom, please…Go.” Doc begs her. “Nuh uh! Not happening! We’ll find a way out!” Zoom says. She then spots something, a chute. “And I know exactly how.” Zoom says getting an idea. She picks him up and heads to the chute. She opens it as the sound of gunfire is still going on. “Wait Zoom, no no n-!” Doc tries to stop her but she drops him into the chute. Zoom tosses the shotgun into the chute and then gets in herself. The soldiers get closer as Oga sees what she’s about to do.

The orc shoves the soldiers out of the way as he tries to stop her. Zoom does a little wave and gives a smirk as she then drops into the chute. “No! Damn it!” Oga curses as he hits the wall. “Sound the alarm! Cover all exits and get a team down at the laundry room!” Oga commands as the soldiers nod and rush out, one of the soldiers hits a button on their wrist and the alarms begin to go off.

Doc lands in the basket, he gets up but his head is hit with the shotgun as he winces a bit, he then feels Zoom landing on him. “Ooooh! I’m so sorry Doc!” Zoom says as she gets out of the basket and helps him out. “Ow…” Doc only says. “Okay, we should almost be out.” Zoom says as she peeks her head out, she hears the alarms and sees soldiers patrolling the hallways. Zoom closes the door, “Okay…New plan.” Zoom says as she looks around, trying to see what can help them.


Doc sighs as he leans against the wall as he holds his side. The monster looks and sees uniforms, he goes over to them, limping a bit, he picks them up and looks at them. “Hey Zoom…Wanna play dress up?” Doc asks in a joking way as Zoom looks over, she gives a big smile.

The laundry door opens and both Doc and Zoom leave, however they are in the uniforms, helmets too. They see the soldiers running past them. Doc was able to walk okay-ish but was still hurting. “Come on…Stupid serum…” Doc mumbled. He then feels being supported by Zoom. “Come on bud, we’re almost there.” Zoom reassures him as the two exit the castle, they are now outside as it downpours and lightning strikeing, They almost make it to the gate….

The gate closed on them, and suddenly spotlights shine on the two as soldiers surround them, turrets aimed at them as two heavy armor soldiers come and spin their minigun, ready to fire. “No…We were so close…” Zoom says as Doc falls on his knees and has his hands up. Zoom has her hands up as well as she got on her knees.

“I have to give you credit…You two almost escaped, almost.” A familiar voice speaks up. It was Hishio as he had his chain blades out. “But you two failed…You know, aiding a wanted criminal is a major offense here. You know what the punishment is?” Hishio asks as he spun his fire blade. “Your fight’s with me, not her! I escaped on my own!” Doc says, trying to save Zoom anyway he can, even if it means dying. “Oooooh….See that doesn’t work, we caught her sneaking around. And I’m afraid she needs to be punished for it.” Hishio raised his chain flame blade and swung it high in the air. Doc gets in front of her to take the hit.

However before it can hit her, a hand grabs it mid swing. “Knock it off.” A voice spoke up, it was Death as he was holding the blade. “The king wishes to see them.” Death tells Hishio. “They are criminals! They need to face punishment!” Hishio shouts as Death isn’t moved by Hishio. “Like it or not, they are his guests now, so step aside.” Death warns him. “Or what old man.” Hishio says.

He then gets yanked over and is grabbed by the back of his shirt and the chains wrap around his neck, as both blades are aimed at his face. “Or you're not going to like how this ends.” Death warns him, his patience runned out. “Look into my eyes…And think what I can do with these blades.” Death tells him. Hishio looks at the blades as he then looks at Death…The black knight drops him.

“Gah!” Hishio cries out as he backs up from him, clearly afraid of him. “You're a sick man…” Hishio calls out as lightning strikes again. Hishio gets up and is covered in mud now. “Great…Now I’m dirty, fantastic…” Hishio mumbles as the soldiers move aside.

Death looks at Doc and Zoom as he goes over and removes the helmets, he tosses them aside. “Cuff them.” Death commands, two soldiers step forward, they put the two’s hands on their back and cuff them. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved little girl…” Death tells Zoom as the soldiers lift Zoom and Doc up and begin to move them inside. Their fates unknown.

Chapter Text

We last left off with Doc and Zoom being captured after almost escaping the castle, however instead of dying on the spot, Death declares the king wishes to see the two, for what purpose is unknown…

Doc and Zoom were being led down the halls of the castle as they were still cuffed and were being escorted by Death. “Doc…I’m sorry…I’m sorry we got captured.” Zoom apologized to Doc. “Hey, it’s not your fault…I mean granted it was stupid of you to come here, but it’s not your fault..” Doc tells her, trying to reassure her. “I couldn’t just let them kill you!” Zoom says, as she gets shoved forward.

“Zoom, even if it means I die in order for you and the others to not get dragged into this mess, then it’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Doc tells her. “Well it’s a risk I’m NOT willing to take.” Zoom tells him. 

“Quite you two…We’re almost there.” Death tells the two. “Richard…We go way back, and you know this woman has nothing to do with this.” Doc says, revealing the black knight's real name. 

“You will refer to me as Death.” Death tells her. Zoom’s mind suddenly clicked, remembering Doc mentioned about a sergeant. “Richard please! Zoom has nothing to do with this, just let her go and I’ll cooperate!” Doc begs his former instructor. “I’m sorry Dokah, but it’s out of my hands, it’s now in the kings hands.” Death tells him as he still leads the two. “Why are you doing this to him? He didn’t even do anything wrong, if anything, what you did to those kids, he was trying to do the right thing!” Zoom snaps at Death, as the soldier restrained her. 

Death doesn’t say anything else afterwards, staying silent during the rest of the walk. They are now standing in front of a large door, Death opens it…And it was a dining room. “The dining room?” Doc asks, confused on why here, he gets shoved in and is sat on the chair, restraining him. Same with Zoom but facing the opposite side of the table. “The Lord will see you soon…And little girl, play your cards right, you might get out of here alive…With some sanity intact.” Death advises her as he leaves along with the two soldiers.

It was silent at first, save for the rain hitting the castle’s roof. “Doc…What do we do?” Zoom asked, a bit nervously. Before any of the two can utter another word, the side doors opened, and coming in were the chefs. They laid the food on the table, it was a feast of sorts, a roasted pig, a salad bowl, steamed lobsters, rolls, finger sandwiches and for dessert, a dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling. Zoom was watering at the cake, her sweet tooth overtaking her, Doc sighs in relief, hoping it would keep her busy for a bit. The chefs put three plates down, one at the front of the table, and the two in front of the Doc and Zoom, they then push them closer to the table to actually eat. The chefs then leave the dining room and back to the kitchen.

“Cake…” Zoom simply says as she so badly wants to eat it. “You’ll have to wait after the main course…” A voice spoke out, Doc and Zoom jumped a bit, trying to find the source of the voice. “Though of course…The cake does look… Marvelous.” the voice speaks again, they located it this time, it was at the front of the table. Over there it was dark, barely able to see anything, however when the lighting struck, it lit up and a silhouette appeared. The figure steps forward into the light, they pull the seat up and sit down, then push it back, it is The Dark Lord…

“Adam…” Doc whispers venomily. “I told you before Dokah…Only friends call me Adam…The girl over there however.” Dark Lord motions his hand to Zoom. She only looked at him, nervously pulled back a bit, well tried to but the restraints were still there.

“Now now…No need for all that. There is nothing to fear at all dear.” Dark Lord reassures her, as he pulls a wine bottle out of his personal, he pours himself a glass. “Care for some wine?” He asked, his voice polite. “I wouldn’t drink it, he probably poisoned it.” Doc says, Dark Lord’s gaze turned to Doc. “Really, in front of the guest? Tsk. Tsk. You should learn some manners.” he says as he snaps his fingers.

Just then, shadow hands rose from the ground and slammed the monster’s face into the table. “Wait, stop! Don’t hurt him!” Zoom begged. “Now now…A lesson needs to be taught here, if he behaves, I’ll stop.” Dark Lord says. Doc growls as he feels his head getting crushed.

“What will it be Doc…Either be like a good dog and behave, or your brains will be scattered on the food and your friend, and we wouldn’t want that to happen, now do we?” The Dark Lord asks coldly as the shadow hands press harder onto him. Doc growls more…Before he goes limp and stops. “Good boy.” The shadow king says as he waved his back hand, the shadow hands disappear, Doc sits straight up and pants a bit.

“Now then…Zoom was it?” Dark Lord asked the hoodied girl. “H-How did you know my name?” She asked. “I have my ways…You are a highschool graduate, highest on top of your class. You went to a community college, got your bachelor’s degree for business. Exactly what for?” The Dark Lord asks.

“U-Um uh…To open my own cafe…But a dog cafe.” She explains. Doc was surprised by this answer, including the king himself. “A…Dog cafe?” The Dark Lord asked. “Yeah…A dog cafe, like you see cat cafes in Japan, but this one for dogs.” Zoom answers. “Hmmm…Very interesting idea indeed.” Dark Lord says as he chuckles softly, he lifts his mask up a bit and eats his food, he puts it down.

Doc doesn’t touch his food, too busy staring at The Dark Lord, Zoom awkwardly eats. “So…You might be wondering why I haven’t decided to kill you two yet…” The Dark Lord asks. “A little…” Zoom says. “Well…Surely I want to know your reasoning why you decided to risk…Your entire life and livelihood to rescue this…Wanted fugitive.” He asks, waving his fork at Doc.

“Because…He’s my friend and innocent.” Zoom says. The Dark Lord didn’t say anything at first…Then there was a chuckle, then a laugh, however the laugh sounded genuine, like he heard the greatest joke in his entire life. “That’s-That’s rich! Him, innocent?!” The Dark Lord laughed. 

“Well he is! I know what happened that night, ordering him to kidnap those children?!” Zoom snapped. The Dark Lord stops laughing a bit…He looked at her, it’s hard to tell behind the mask but it was serious. “Oh…So that’s what he’s telling people now huh?” The Dark Lord asked. Doc looked away guiltily. “Sure that night was true…He ripped my generals arms off and then took the princess, but that’s not the reason why he’s wanted…” The Dark Lord tells her. Zoom was confused. 

“The real reason why he’s wanted in the first place…Well, Dokah, want to tell her or should I?” he asked Doc. Doc still looked away. “Doc…What is he talking about?” Zoom asked him. “Oh he hasn’t told you has he…Even you realize what you did, it was your fault…You know everyone will hate you.” The Dark Lord tells him, as Doc tries to look away from everyone.

“Doc…It’s okay…Whatever it is, I’ll still be here for you.” Zoom tells him. Doc slowly looked at Zoom. “I…I…” Doc struggles to tell her. “Such a shame…Guess I’ll have to show her then.” The Dark Lord tells Doc as he got up and approached Zoom. “Hey, hey! Don’t you fucking touch her!” Doc yells out as he tries to break the restraints. 

Zoom tries to break free, but she felt the cold metal hands placed on her shoulders, she began to black out, Doc’s voice fading away as she fully sees black…

Zoom opens her eyes as she sees herself outside…But it wasn’t at the castle, instead, it was a nice looking two story house, colored in grey, as around her were men in suits, patrolling the area. Zoom approaches one of them, she is confused why she isn’t being escorted out or asked to leave the area.

“Welcome, to my world.” A familiar voice speaks, Zoom turns and sees The Dark Lord. “Your…World? Where are we?” Zoom asked. “We are in my mind of course. My memory to be specific.” He tells her. “Why are we here…How are we even here?” Zoom asked, confused and a bit freaked out. “My power of course…I can make people see things, including their nightmares and fears…Well that’s one of my powers anyway.” The Dark Lord tells her. “You mentioned this is your memory…What is this memory?” She asked.

“This memory…This memory will show you the true face behind the monster you defend.” The Dark Lord tells her, on cue, there was an alarm going off and on cue, a gate gets blasted open. The guards got their weapons out and began to take cover. Zoom ducks a bit. “Oh don’t worry…They can’t hurt you, unless I make them.” The king tells her as Zoom was still on guard.

It was quiet…Just then, gun fire began to rain down as some of the guards fall dead, they returned fire as well, coming out of the gate moved fast, as they focused fire on the fast object, just then they get cut down quickly, one guard tries to hit them but gets their hand cut off and then stabbed through the throat, the guard gurgles on their blood before falling dead. The lights turned on and it revealed none other…Than Doc, however he looked different. The monster was wearing armor, black and red, he has two katana’s on hand and he was wearing shades and a red half face oni mask.

“Woah…Is that Doc?” Zoom asked, surprised by his drastic look. “It is…That’s his old uniform, I don’t know what he did with it, and I could barely care.” The Dark Lord tells her as the armored Doc leads the charge, Zoom sees this happening as the scene around her changes, they are now inside the house, where Zoom sees the same man from the portrait and Sophia. “Is…Is that you?” Zoom asked The Dark Lord. “It was.” The king simply tells her. 

Just then, the door gets kicked down and coming in was Doc and one of the soldiers, a young human man, aiming their weapons at the two. Adam, well past Adam, raised his hands up and stepped between them and Sophia. “Dokah, I know how upset you are, but please, don’t do this! She’s pregnant!" Past Adam begs Doc. Doc doesn’t say anything else as he aimed his assault rifle at Adam. 

“Doc…Please…Don’t do this…” The woman, Sophia begged Doc, the monster looked at her, the shades hiding Doc’s eyes, he was about to pull the trigger and kill Adam…

However Doc raises the weapon up and fires up, killing a guard that was on the balcony. Doc then put his weapon away. “Adam, you're under arrest for the crimes committed against the council.” Doc tells him. 

“Ha! Doc is innocent! You're just upset cause you got busted!” Zoom points at The Dark Lord, the king himself isn’t fazed by her finger pointing and lowers her hand down. “Wait til the moment actually happens.” He tells her. Zoom was confused, then kept watching on. 

“What?! Doc, are you serious?! After everything he’s done!? You're just going to arrest him?! What happened to killing him!?” the young man snapped. “Our orders were to either arrest or kill him. We’re arresting him, let the council decide his fate.” Doc tells the soldier. “They’ll just let him go…I won’t let it happen!” The young soldier declared as he aimed his rifle and tried to fire. Doc quickly shoves the soldier to the wall, but the gun still goes off, it hits Adam’s face and Sophia at her arm.

“Stand down! Sophia, run!” Doc tells Sophia as she nodded and held her arm as Adam was holding his face. The young man headbutted Doc and the shades and half oni mask fall off of Doc, the monster was dazed as he saw the soldier pull out something, a grenade, he pulled the pin and was going to throw it straight at Adam, Doc extended his claws and cut the soldiers face, but it was too late, as the grenade bounce off the wall and right to a support beam, right next to Sophia.

The next thing that happened…It went off and exploded, sending Sophia back and destroying the support beam, the house began to crumble, as the house collapsed. Zoom braces herself, but it was black void again…She then was outside as she saw the home destroyed, fire everywhere as she heard crying as she approached it, she peeks and sees Adam, suit torn as half of his face was damaged, both from the gunshot and the burns. However he was on the ground as he held something in his arms…She checks closer and she covers her mouth in horror.

It was Sophia, the light in her eyes gone as her body was limped, the color drained from her, she was crushed under the rubble, but what really made Zoom sick to her stomach…Was Sophia’s lower body, as it was ripped in half, and laying there was an unborn child. 

“He took everything from me…My wife…My son…She had one more month til the baby was born…I will never be able to hear my son’s first words….His first laugh…His smile…And your so called best friend stole everything from me…So you still want to defend him.” Dark Lord asked in a bitter tone, Zoom backed up from them.

“Adam…I’m…I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Zoom tells him. The Dark Lord only looked at her as he crossed his arms. “...While I am sorry for what happened…You need to know he wasn’t directly at fault…If anything, it was the one who fired and threw the grenade at you. Doc at least tried to take you alive.” Zoom tells him, the scene changes around her and it was back to the black void. 

“You dare defend him after everything?! Especially giving me this.” The king removed his crimson mask. His eyes were full on white, the scars on his face, but what was surprising was that his face, entirely black, not the tan skin he once had. Zoom still stands her ground. “Sophia wouldn’t want you to go through all this pain!” Zoom says as she was then lifted off the ground as she was being choked by The Dark Lord. “Our time is over…I gave you a chance to walk away. If you want to suffer with him, so be it.” He tells her as she begins to black out again…

Zoom then shot up as she gasped for air, she coughed a bit, she calmed down and began to pant as she looked around, she was still in the dining hall and noticed she was still restrained in the chair. “Zoom, Zoom look at me, are you okay?!” Doc calls to her, Zoom looks at him “What…Was that?!” Zoom asks while in shock. “It’s a pain in the ass ability of his. He can make you see things that aren’t there or true. He uses that on his victims and tortures them with their worst nightmares and fears, even the person’s worst memories.” Doc explained.

“Although…It takes a strong will to break through or not fall for my tricks…And there’s no one that has matched me yet.” The Dark Lord says as he grabs his wine cup and takes a sip of it. “Doc…I…I saw things in there…Things that shouldn’t have happened…” Zoom tells him. The monster looked confused…Then horrified when it clicked. “Zoom…What did he show you?” Doc asked her. “The truth…On that night you decided to burn everything to the ground.” The Dark Lord tells Doc. 

Just then the doors opened and coming in was Oga and a couple of soldiers. “Ah, there you are, Oga, I have a special order for you…Is your pet hungry?” Dark Lord asked Oga. The orc general smiles sadistically. “They had a nice meal…But a little snack wouldn’t hurt.” Oga says. “Then these two will do, before you do though…” The Dark Lord snapped his finger and one of the soldiers took their knife out and plunged it into Doc’s hand. “Doc!” Zoom says, trying to break free, Doc claws the chair arm when the knife plunged, trying to hold the scream in. Adam then breaks the glass cup, cutting the palm of his own hand, he then approaches Doc and scoops the blood, just then he begins to heal. “Perfect…Just perfect.” Adam says as he examines his palm.

“You're sick in the head…” Zoom tells Adam. one of the soldiers takes a vial out and fills it with Doc’s blood, “Seem’s like your powers are back…Stone will be disappointed that his subject is being sent to die, take them to the arena, his usefulness has run out.” Adam orders as the soldiers release the restraints and begin to drag the two away, as Adam takes the vial of blood and examines it. 

A bit later, they are thrown in a cell as Oga slams it shut. “You two sit there while I get things ready…Be prepared for your final moments.” Oga taunts them as he laughs and walks away from the cell. Zoom goes to the bars and sticks her tongue out at him, it doesn’t do much, but makes her feel a bit better. “Meathead…” Zoom says quietly as she steps back from the bars, she sighs as she leans against the wall, she sees Doc currently sitting on the ground as he looks away from her. “Doc…You okay?” she asked him with concern. 

“It’s all my fault…If I didn’t meet you, you wouldn’t be here…I’m so sorry for dragging you into this…” Doc tells her. “Doc…It isn’t your fault. Especially what happened to Sophia.” Zoom tells him. “It is Zoom! If I didn’t join the operation, she would still be alive, her and her son!” Doc snapped.

Zoom flinched when he snapped at her. Doc pants as he groans and has his hands over his head. “If I just…Just…” Doc’s voice was choked up as he was ready to cry. Zoom was concerned as she approached him, she sat beside him.

“She was my friend…I got her killed…It’s my fault…I’m so sorry…” Doc sobbed as he held his knees close to him. The monster then felt something hug him closely, he looked and saw Zoom hugging him. “Doc…There’s no need to be sorry…Sophia wouldn’t want you to sit here and feel sorry for yourself. She would want you to keep going. If you didn’t, well…You wouldn’t be able to help the people around you. Without you…Well Goldie would’ve been killed, Galaxy and Boulder would’ve been dead or sent to prison, and so much more…You did more good than you realized, I think Sophia would be proud of you.” Zoom comforts him as Doc looks at her, he hugs her back, as his wounds begin to fully heal.

The two stayed like this for a good bit, almost forgetting that they were in a cell, being prepped to be eaten. Doc pulls the hug away and wipes his tears away. “Thank you Zoom…I needed that. Sorry for seeing me in that…Moment.” Doc tells her. “Anytime… And it’s okay to cry it out, every now and then. Are you ready to get out of here?” Zoom asked. “Yeah I am.” Doc tells her.

Just then the cell doors opened and coming in were heavy armor guards and they detained the two, and began to drag them outside. “Hey, watch it!” Zoom snaps at the guards, she then turns to Doc. “Doc, do you have a plan?” Zoom asked. “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Doc tells her, the two then get tossed out to the arena as the rain still poured down on them, the field lights came on. They were blinded but got their bearings and saw a crowd, cheering, the crowd mostly soldiers and other staff.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a one night event of your lives! In this corner, we have the infamous criminal, murderer of children, creature of the night, Dokah Osopo Camaka! And his uninteresting accomplice.” an announcer voice says as the crowd boos at the two. 

“And in the other corner, we have a long time, and fan favorite, muscle of this entire kingdom! They’re mean, They’re lean, and dare I say, intimidating, and rightfully so, personally raised by the general himself, give it up to the most feared hybrid, ODIN, LUCY AND HADES!!!” the announcer says as the crowd cheers wildly. “Wait, why mention a hybrid when there’s three?” Zoom asked.

The gates began to open, and they were huge too, a loud rumbling sound was made as a large scaly claw is shown, as six eyes glowed. The middle eyes have deep purple, the right one, bright red, and for the left, a bright blue. The eyes stepped out.

“Oh…That’s why.” Zoom says fearfully. It was a dragon with three heads, their heads representing their eye color as their body was black. Their tail whipping around as they spread their wings, the three dragon heads let out a powerful roar that shook the arena. 

“Oh my god…Doc…” Zoom simply as she gets behind Doc. Doc shields her. “What is it exactly…” Zoom asked. “That…Is a Dragon/Hydra hybrid.” Doc tells her. “H-Hydra?! How is it exactly a hydra!?” Zoom asked. Just then, the middle head begins to breath out a green liquid, Doc grabs Zoom and moves out of the way, the ground dissolves as a poisonous gas is made.

“That’s how.” Doc tells her, as the right head breaths out fire at the two, he shoves Zoom behind a rock as he is engulfed in the flames. “DOC!!!” Zoom calls out to him, once the fire is out, Doc was perfectly fine. “What the…” Zoom was confused. “Half Fire elemental, no fire can burn me.” Doc says proudly. The left head in turn, breathed out ice, Doc was completely frozen in place.

Zoom looked at him, then quickly dodged the incoming projectile of fire and ice. She tries to find something to defend herself, so far nothing, only mud, rocks and pillars that were knocked down. “This is useless!” Zoom says as she dodges an incoming bite from the middle head, she looks around, seeing if there’s a way to escape, however she couldn’t think in time as the other two heads try to get her, she then slides underneath the underbelly of the dragon hybrid, the two heads collide into each other, they got angry as they nip at each other, as the middle head butts in and roars at them to focus.

Zoom looks around, she looks up and she sees a large booth, The Dark lord was sitting there watching as Death is by his side. Oga and Hishio were in the booth as well, watching this. 

“This is good entertainment, isn’t it my lord?” Hishio asked, The Dark Lord doesn’t say anything but nods. Oga just laughs as he cheers. “Make daddy proud you three! Get that little morsel!” Oga shouts as he laughs excitedly. “Oga, this is an execution, not playtime with your pet.” Death tells the orc. “Ahhhhhh, why can’t it be both?” Oga asks. “Enough, both of you, I don’t care about this conversation, I just want to see those that defy me die.” The Dark Lord says as he leans in. “Don’t worry, my pride and joy will make sure they have a slow, painful death.” Oga reassures him.

The dragon hybrid flies up and looks down at Zoom, it flies down after her. “Eep!” Zoom quickly bolts as she is being chased by the dragon, she sees the ice statue of Doc as she then turns and sees the three headed dragon getting closer to her, their feet trying to snatch her, she then ducks and hides behind a pillar, the dragon lands and looks around, trying to find her, Zoom grabs a rock and checks to see if it will do, she then peeks her head as the dragon is confused. “I need to get closer…” She whispers as she snuck behind each pillar til she reached the ice sculpture.

“Okay, here goes…HEY UGLY!” she calls out as she chucks the rock at the red dragon's head, it turns to see who did it. “Yeah, you specifically, you're the ugliest thing I ever saw! And your name is stupid too, Hades, more like Hasbin!” she calls out. The red head dragon growled and breathed fire at her, she took cover as the ice began to melt, Doc was free.

“S-S-S-So cold…” Doc shivers as he gets pulled in by Zoom. “Doc, we need a plan, I don’t see a way out.” She tells him. “Maybe we can-Zoom look out!” Doc calls out to her, but it was too late, Zoom was snatched up by the middle head as she tries to break free. “Let go of me!” Zoom tells the dragon as she flails around. The middle head tossed Zoom up in the air and opened their mouth. “DOC!” Zoom cries out as the middle dragon reaches to her.

Doc’s eyes widen as he clenched his fists, something in him snaps, he began to grow in size as he runs forward, he sprouts black wings as his mouth forms, his horns growing as well, he looked completely different as his entire body was black as his eyes turned white, he flies toward Zoom and catches her, Zoom looked up at Doc at his new form, her eyes sparkle as he looked at Zoom.

The dragon jumps high to reach them. Doc dodges as he flies at a fast speed and knocks the big behemoth down, the dragon roars as they kick the air a bit before getting back up, Doc lands and gently sets Zoom down. “Hide.” Doc tells Zoom as she nodded as she ran to the pillars. The dragon roars as Doc roars back, he then flies after the dragon and slams the dragon onto the wall, the middle head tries to breath out the acid, but Doc was quick and punched the middle head up as it spat out the acid in the air. It then lands on the dragon hybrid as the three heads roared in pain since it landed on parts of their body. “Hey! Leave my babies alone!” Oga shouted at Doc.

The monster looked at the booth, his mouth began to light up and once opened, he let out a powerful blast. Dark Lord quickly summons a barrier, but the barrier begins to crack and breaks through as it hits the wall behind the king and he falls over from the debris, the others take cover from the blast.

“Woah…” Doc says simply, he then looks at the gate the dragon came out from and fires another blast at it, destroying the gate. “I can get used to this.” Doc says as he flies back down as the alarms begin to go off. “Zoom, ready to get out of here?” Doc asked. “Yeah, I am.” Zoom is determined as the two run through the gate.

Death helps The Dark Lord up. “Sire, are you alright?!” Hishio asked, The Dark Lord responded by shoving Hishio aside, the king clearly angry. “Don’t let them escape fools, go!” The Dark Lord commands as Hishio and Oga rush out. The Dark Lord looks at Death. “Make sure Dokah doesn’t get the vial, it’s the key for everything.” The Dark Lord tells him. “Don’t worry, those two won’t get far.” Death reassures him.

Doc and Zoom run through the halls, well Zoom is running, Doc is flying, “This is so cool! I didn’t know you could do that!” Zoom says. “Neither did I!” Doc responded excitedly, he did a little twirl. Doc and Zoom come across a choke point as the soldiers begin to fire at the two, Doc fires another blast, decimating the soldiers standing in the way, however as soon he did, Doc began to change back.

“Damn it…” Doc says as he tries to get up, but is feeling a bit weak, Zoom picks him up as the two continue to escape. “My body must not be used to doing that.” Doc explains. “Well we’ll work on that when we get out of here, but how did you do that?” Zoom asked. “When I saw you about to be eaten by the dragon hybrid.” Doc answers.

“You did that…To save me? Doc, that’s so sweet.” Zoom tells him as she pecked him on the cheek, the monster blushed by the gesture. However it didn’t last as the two hear multiple steps heading towards them, Zoom sees a door on the side. “Doc the door, get it.” she tells him as he grabs the handle and twists it, the two enter the room and shut the door tightly. “Okay…I think we got enough time.” Doc says, “Once they pass we can…Zoom, what’s wrong?” Doc asks when he noticed her face was in shock, he looked over to see what she was looking at and now he was in shock as well.

In the middle of the room stood an open coffin, surrounded by lilacs and roses, but what was inside the coffin was disturbing, in there was Sophia, however she looked repaired, almost like she didn’t get crushed by debris. “Sophia…” Doc mumbles as he approaches her coffin. Zoom goes beside him. Once the two approached the coffin, Doc placed his hand on the glass casing, rubbing his thumb where her face is.

Zoom looks at her and Doc…She then notices something glowing beside her, she goes over to check what it is. On the other side of the coffin, she noticed…A lantern, but it was the same one she saw back at the portrait. She picks it up and examines it. “Why leave this here…” Zoom says to herself…

Doc looks at the coffin a bit, he then sees something at the corner of his eye, he sees a board, it was a pin board as there was marked locations, sightings where he has been, and in the middle was a vial of blood with a picture of Doc, course his four eyes crossed. “What does this have to do with me…” Doc wonders, however he immediately remembers back at the dining room, the king cut himself and when he scooped the blood, it healed his hand. “He’s insane…” Doc says as he backs up from the coffin.

“What?” Zoom asked, taking her eyes off from the lantern. “He’s going to attempt to bring her back… But why not his normal methods…” Doc wonders. “His what?” Zoom asked. However, the two hear commotion outside of the door. “We don’t have time, we need to go.” Doc says. “I don’t have Betsy.” Zoom says. Doc looked at her. “Betsy?” Doc asked. “Yeah, my shotgun, I named it.” Zoom says. “You named the shotgun? You know what, we don’t have time, we’ll grab it and get out.” Doc tells her as she nodded, she looked at the lantern more…She decided to take it with her.

Doc peeks out of the hall, seeing the soldiers move around on alert. Once the coast was clear, he led Zoom as she followed him, they carefully moved as the two looked around, they saw a door that was labeled ‘Trophy Room’. The two enter and see various items on pedestals, the lights shining on them, Zoom browses through them, seeing each of them bloodied, damaged or both. “How many people did he kill…” Zoom asks. “Far too many.” Doc answered. Zoom eventually finds her shotgun. “Got it.” Zoom tells Doc.

Doc nods and looks around the room, he sees the blood vial and reaches it…However he gets kicked back, Doc manages to stop himself. He looked up and saw Death. “Richard, move.” Doc tells him as he gets up. “You know I can’t do that Dokah. Nothing personal.” Death tells him as he twirls his trident and aims it at Doc. The monster responds by extending his claws out.

Before the two can attack, Death was shot in the arm, he held it as he and Doc turned to see it was Zoom who fired, she pumped her shotgun. “Try fighting with one arm.” Zoom tells him. Death simply scoffs and places his shot arm behind his back as he aims the two with the trident. 

Doc charges at him as he slashes his claws, however Death effortlessly dodges them, he then trips Doc up with the trident, he then blocks the shotguns fire with the trident and throws the trident at Zoom, however it hits the back of her hoodie and pins her there. Zoom panicked as she tried to pull it out but it was impaled deep into the wall.

“Now then, since it’s just you and me now Dokah.” Death says as he cracks his neck. Doc jump kicks him and stands up, he begins to hit him fast as he kicks him back. Death stumbles, he chuckles. “That wasn’t bad at all, Dokah. My turn.” he says, he then moves fast and straight up gut punches him, Doc gasped for air, he then gets grabbed by the horn and brings his face to his knee and back kicks the monster. Doc skids the floor as he tries to stop himself, his claws leave a mark on the floor but manages to stop, he then charges back at Death.

Zoom still struggles as she tries to break free. “Curse you hoodie! Why must you forsaken me!” Zoom says, however after she said that, she then slides out of the hoodie. “Oh…Right…I’m an idiot.” Zoom says as she sees the fighting happening, she takes a deep breath and rushes in, she then jumps on Death’s back. “Leave my friend alone!” Zoom tells him as she closes the bucket helms eyes. “Get off of me!” Death tells her as he tries to get her off, doing so with one arm is hard to do.

Doc takes the opportunity to rush past Death and grabs the vial of blood, he looks at Zoom. Zoom held onto Death's head, he finally managed to get a hold of her and threw her to the ground. He was about to stomp on her head, but got rammed back and hit the door, taking it down with him. “Zoom, are you okay?” Doc asked. “I’m okay, what about you?” Zoom asked. “I’m alright, now let’s get out of here.” he tells her, however before they leave, Doc removes the trident and grabs Zoom’s hoodie and hands it to her, she smiles and takes it, putting it back on.

Once the two stepped out of the room, on cue, soldiers came rushing, seeing the damage, they began to fire at them, Doc and Zoom ran the opposite direction, they kept running while Zoom provided cover fire. They kept running, and there they saw an elevator, the two quickly got in. Doc pressed a button repeatedly as they kept firing, the doors finally closed and the elevator began to move. “Holy shit…That was close.” Doc says as he slumps against the wall.

“Aint that right Zoom…Zoom?” Doc asks, his eyes widened. “Doc…” Zoom quietly says as she held her side, red was spreading on the hoodie, she almost hit the ground but Doc catches her in time, he looks and sees she got hit, three times. “Hey hey hey, look at me, you're going to be okay…” Doc comforts her as she breaths heavily. 

“Come on Zoom, we’re almost out now, we’re almost out.” Doc tells her as tears swell up in his eyes. “I won’t lose you too…” Doc tells her, he looks at her more…Then the vial, he has an idea, he grabs the vial and pops the cork off. “Please work…Please…” Doc begs silently as he lifts Zoom’s hoodie and shirt up a bit, he checks and the bullets went through, before he could pour the blood on her, the elevator doors open, he looked and saw it was a lab…Doc pours the blood on Zoom’s wound and then helps her up.

Doc takes her out of the elevator, however as soon he did, the elevator door closed. Just then, Doc sees guns being aimed by six soldiers at him and Zoom as the monster has one hand up. Tank steps in. “Target acquired, do not resist or we will open fire on you.” Tank warns Doc. “Tank please, don’t do this.” Doc tells them. “Don’t bother, the tincan won’t save you, they’re a machine.” One soldier pipes up.

“Mmmmhmmm…Tank?” Zoom says, though weakly. Tank looks at Zoom, they see the blood on her hoodie. “Cilvian wounded, disengaged, or the target will kill her.” Tank advises the soldiers. “Screw that! This is a big pay, I’m not giving this chance up.” Another soldier pipes up. “Besides, these two are criminals. Who cares if one chick dies.” the third soldier pipes up. 

“If that, as you referred to, ‘chick’ dies while carrying a child, the consequences will be dire.” Tank points out to the others. “I don’t see a pregnancy. Now shut up and let’s finish this.” The sixth soldier says as they were about to fire, however, before they can fire, they get gunned down on the spot, the soldier falls dead, the person responsible was Tank.

“You fucking-Ack!” The third soldier cries out as he gets stabbed in the chest by Tank’s chainsaw arm, the robot turns it on and begins to cut him as blood coats the robot. The soldiers tried to fire at Tank, but the machine was faster and quickly killed them all but firing a turret from his back. 

Tank then looked at Doc and Zoom. “Get her onto the medical table.” Tank tells Doc, he nods and heads there, he sets her down on the table and Tank checks the wound. “Zoom will live, the blood you poured on her is doing its job.” Tank says as they tap on the computer fast. Doc looked at the wound and they were right, the wounds were healing. “Why…Did you help us?” Doc asked.

“Because Zoom is, for a lack of a better term, a friend. She also repaired me when you and the others wouldn’t.” Tank explains emotionlessly as they still tap on the computer, they then bring a map on the computer. “A map?” Doc asked. “A map of the entire castle, it will help you escape, whatever happens afterwards, I cannot help you further, my programing is still in effect.” Tank tells him. “Take the west wing and there you’ll find a hanger, that is your option to escape.” The robot tells him.

“Thank you…” Doc tells the robot. “I am not doing this for you, I’m doing this for Zoom’s sake. However I need you to damage me, otherwise my creator will be suspicious.” Tank tells Doc. The monster nodded and approached them. “Hit my eyes and right shoulder, I will handle the rest.” Tank tells him. Doc does as told, breaking Tank’s eyes and the side, the robot then fell over and began to spasm. “Go. Now.” Tank tells him as they still lay on the ground, spasming.

Doc picks Zoom up and her shotgun and leaves the lab, he checks around and begins to head west of the castle, still carrying Zoom as she groans a bit. “It’s okay, we’re almost out now…” Doc tells her as he still moves up. After a bit, he finally reaches the hangar, seeing the aircraft as soldiers patrol the area, with some mechanics checking and testing the aircraft.

He moves quietly as he tries to find something to get them out of here. He then sees an unoccupied helicopter, he sets Zoom on the seat, placing the shotgun on her lap, he sees the purple lantern, he thought about getting rid of it, but decided to set it next to Zoom’s seat. He then gets to the pilot’s seat as he turns everything on, not caring about testing it. 

“Come on…Come on…” Doc says, begging for this to work. The helicopter began to come to life as it slowly rose up. “Yes! Zoom, we’re going home!” Doc tells her, he turns to her, however the life in Doc’s eyes drained. Standing before him was The Dark Lord. “Hello Doc.” He says as he plunges his sword at Doc. The monster dodges and the sword hits the controls, the helicopter begins to spin out of control. The workers and soldiers got out of the way as they screamed for everyone to evacuate.
Doc grabbed The Dark Lord’s sword mid swing, the monster tried to stab the king's side but he grabbed Doc’s hand, making the two stay locked to each other.

The helicopter spun out of control as it hit a railing, it collapsed on top of the helicopter and it shook the three inside of the chopper around, it hit the ground, as exposed wire from the damage the chopper did and the helicopter’s fuel tank leaking oil out. Doc groans as his vision is blurry for a moment, he looks and sees that neither The Dark Lord or Zoom were in here. Doc’s eyes widen and looks around, he gets out of the helicopter, he stumbles a bit, recovering from the crash.

Doc then gets kicked against the wall, he then gets held against the wall. “You couldn’t just do it could you.” The Dark Lord asks him, he then slams the monster's head against the wall and tossed him to the ground. “You couldn’t lay down and die.” The Dark Lord tells him as he approaches him, he then grabs Doc by the throat and starts to choke him while he pinned him down.

“I will get your blood…I will use it to bring my beloved back…And when I'm done. I will have no need of you, perhaps I’ll make your death slow and painful, while I make your so-called friends watch all of it, Or I’ll make you watch them die by my hand, it’ll be so much sweeter that way.” The Dark Lord says sadistically as he chokes Doc harder, the monster struggles to get out of the king's grip.

As The Dark Lord chokes out Doc, he lets out a sharp pain as he lets Doc go, the two looked and saw it was Zoom, a bit battered, who was responsible, as she impaled the king with his own sword, Zoom lets out a war cry and shoves the sword deeper and gets him off of Doc, the monster grabs hold of the sword as well and with the two combined strength, they pushed him to the wrecked helicopter and impale him against the helicopter’s fuel tank. “You want blood?! Then you can use yours!” Zoom shouts as she twisted the sword in his gut. The Dark Lord roars in pain, he kicks the two back, as the king tries to pull the sword out.

Doc sees the exposed wire, and the trail of fuel leaking out, he then grabbed the wire, he then used the sparks of it and it was set aflame as the fire headed to the fuel tank, The Dark Lord looked at the fire trail and looked underneath him, he then looked at the two.

The Helicopter explodes, as Doc shields Zoom from the blast and debris, once it settled, the two saw a huge hole on the side of the helicopter, the king's sword laying on the ground. The two were silent…Til Zoom broke the silence, she chuckles, she then giggles, til it then broke into full on laughter, as Doc joins her, he lifts her up off the ground and spun around as Zoom laughs happily as she wraps her arms around his neck. “We did it…” Zoom says, catching her breath. “Yeah…We did…Come on, let’s get out of here.” Doc says as he puts her down and the two walk over the wreckage.

However, as soon as they crossed over, they heard something behind them, they turned and something moved from the wreckage, as black mist began to form itself slowly, standing before them was The Dark Lord, course armorless, seeing the scars from long ago, including his face. “Nice attempt…You can’t get rid of me that easily, lord knows I tried. And I tried so hard to end it all.” The king says as he picks his sword up and begins to approach them.

“Run?” Zoom asked. “Run.” Doc answers back as the two bolt it, they find an unscathed military truck, Zoom gets in the drivers side as Doc jumps in the back, she sets the shotgun and lantern on the front seat and looks for the keys, as The Dark Lord approached them slowly still as black mist flows to him.

“Come on, come on!” Zoom says as she checks the sun visor and finds the keys “Yes!” Zoom says as she grabbed the keys and started the truck up, she pulled out and began to drive away from the hanger.

“You can’t get far…” The Dark Lord says as he summons a crystal ball, it then shows Oga running. “Oga…Where are you exactly?” the king asked. “Near the east wing, why?” Oga asks as he keeps running. “Those two are outside, fire the cannons at them.” The Dark Lord commands.

“Sire, I suggest you hold off that order.” A familiar robotic voice speaks, The Dark Lord turns and sees Tank. “Tank, you look worse for wear…What happened? Where’s the soldiers?” The Dark Lord asked. “The targets damaged me after I terminated the soldiers.” Tank tells him. Without the mask, you can see the clear anger in his face. “You best give me a good reason, otherwise, I’ll scrap you.” The Dark Lord threatens him.

Tank then shows a video from his eyes, it showed the two and the soldiers. “When we cornered them, I noticed the girl had something glowing on her side.” Tank explains and pauses the video, it was the lantern, the anger is now replaced with, for the first time in his life, worry. “They…Have…The lantern?!” The Dark Lord shouts at the robot. “When I tried to tell them, they would not listen, thus I had to terminate them, for they could be traitors.” Tank says.

“I don’t care what the loyalty lies! If Doc and that girl have the lantern…If they find out the truth about it….Oga, change of plans, don’t fire the cannons, let them go.” The Dark Lord tells Oga. “What? But sir, why would you-” before Oga could finish, The Dark Lord interrupts. “DO YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID?! LET. THEM. GO!!! THAT’S AN ORDER!” The Dark Lord raised his voice at Oga as the black orc nodded fearfully.

“It’ll be done my lord!” Oga tells him, The Dark Lord then smashes the crystal ball rage. “I want those two found, raise the price on Doc, and get a bounty on that woman too! If they want to be together, then they can die together.” The Dark Lord says as he storms off. 

Later…

“Too bad we can’t keep the truck…” Zoom says as she watches it burn. “Yeah, but we gotta cover our tracks, it won’t be long before Adam will set up more wanted posters…Or send in his goons or hire mercenaries.” Doc says. Zoom tugs on her hoodie string.

“Hey Doc…Do you think…We’ll be on the run for the rest of our lives?” Zoom asks. Doc looked at her and sighs. “Yeah…But hey, it won’t be so bad…Cause I have you at my side.” Doc reassures her.

Zoom gives a small smile and chuckles. “Yeah…No way I’m letting you go again, we’re in this together.” Zoom says, the two began to walk side by side. “So, where are we supposed to stay now, no doubt we can’t go back to the apartment.” Zoom tells him.

“Well we’ll find a place to call home, I heard the nature kingdom is nice this time of year.” Doc suggests. “Mmmmmm, I don’t know, I like watching movies and playing video games…Oooh! What about the Ice kingdom? It'll be very cozy.” Zoom suggests as well. “Hell no, I'd rather get tortured again than set foot on that cold biome.” Doc tells her.

As the two keep walking and talking about where to stay, the sun sets down on the long walk. They don’t realize that this journey is only the beginning and many more obstacles will come, but as long as the two stay by each other, they can overcome anything together.