Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sheriff couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to really, truly relax. But tethered to assault ship with the sun shining down on him and Dronny curled up beside him, he felt truly at ease. In just a few days, La Resistance would get the final ingredient needed for the antidote.

It was that single thought keeping Sheriff from letting his fears take over. Sure, the mutation was progressing a lot faster than normal, and sure, they had to deal with new types of mutants with ungodly powers, but it was all okay. Out on his boat, Sheriff was safe, and calm. Everything was fine.

“Hey Sheriff!” Vegan called, her head appearing over the side of the ship. “You might want to come back in now. Arkan said there’ll be a storm.”

At this news, Dronny stood up and started to nudge Sheriff’s normal arm, squealing anxiously. Sheriff groaned. Of course this couldn’t last. I can’t have anything nice, can I?

Sheriff looked up at the sky. There were a few clouds, but not with ‘dangerous storm’ potential. Vegan was gone as well, which meant that there was nobody to force him to go back to the ship. On any other day he would have gone back, but he really just wanted five minutes of peace. Arkan doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He waved Dronny away with his hand. “Come on, there’s no hurry to get back to the ship. There won’t be a storm, and even if there is, it will be ages away.”

Dronny made a face that Sheriff interpreted as sulking. Sheriff decided to ignore it, shifting into a comfortable position and closing his eyes. I’m just going to relax for another five minutes.

***

Sheriff woke up to the roar of the sea and the sky, and a very terrified Dronny screaming in his ears and running around the boat. He immeadiately sprang to his feet, almost being knocked over by a wave as soon as he did so. How long did I sleep for!? Panicked, Sheriff realised that the small boat would capsize if nothing was done. “Dronny!” He yelled over the sound of rain and thunder. “Calm down! We need to distribute our weight, or we’re dead meat!”

To his surprise, the pig actually complied, laying down on the opposite side of the raft to sheriff and letting out quiet and fearful whimpers. Sheriff reached out for the oars, snatching them like they were made of morphinite. There was a lighter spot in the sky just a few hundred meters to the right- the storm would pass soon. We just have to stay afloat until then.

***

Sheriff, though exhausted, was alive.

Dronny, though unconscious, was also alive.

But they were in the middle of nowhere, with no land in sight. Worse still, one of the oars had broke against the waves, leaving them unable to travel in any direction other than a circle. Sheriff punched the side of the raft angrily. “Could things get any worse!?”

As though the universe wanted to spite him, his morphoblaster let out a long, high pitched beep. It took Sheriff a moment to recognise what it was, until an all-too-familiar wave of pain sparked through his arm.

His morphoblaster was out of battery. And this close to the Supreme Commanders lair, that meant he was good as dead. Even the latest mutation had spread another centimeter, and the mutation was at the base of his shoulder now.

He hadn’t taken his mutant pad onto the raft with him, and he wasn’t stupid enough to assume that Dronny’s radar was working. No no no no no no I don’t want to become a mutant! Anything would be better than that!

Another wave of pain, this time almost agonising. and not just in his arm; in his face as well. His mouth was filled with the coppery tang of blood. Horrified, not wanting to see what happened to him, Sheriff lifted his normal hand to his mouth. His canines had turned into fangs, and all of his teeth seemed sharper.

This was too much. He was completely alone, with nothing but an unconscious cyborg pig to be there for him as he became a monster. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it’s better if none of my friends see what I’m going to become.

It was his own fault anyway. It’s always your fault, whispered a tiny, nasty voice. Your fault your brother died, your fault you’re becoming a mutant. it’s all your own fault.

Another burst of pain was all Sheriff needed to be taken by the misery. He could feel the tears roll down his cheek. He didn’t stop them. He was becoming a monster, and he was powerless to stop it.

Sheriff raised his head and screamed into the sky. All it achieved was making his throat hurt. Dronny didn’t so much as twitch at the noise.

Sheriff stared at the pig, wondering if there was anything he could do to get his radar working again. If there was even the slightest hope of being rescued, he would take it. He would do anything to stay human for just a little longer.

For a moment, Sheriffs vision was blurry, as though he was underwater. When it cleared, he was standing over Dronny, hand raised. From the pigs position, it was clear Sheriff had already struck him several times.

Sheriff jumped back as though his hand was on fire. No no no, I didn’t hurt Dronny, did I? What if I do that to my friends!? I hope they never find me, it would be better if I starved than if I accidentally hurt Vegan or Shooter or anyone else!

Sheriff slumped against the edge of the raft and sobbed. He cried for an hour, and in that time the mutation on his arm had grown to cover part of his chest, neck, and face. There wouldn’t be any way for him to hide what a freak he was now, unless he carried around a brochure like that guy from the island resort.

In another hour, Dronny was awake. To Sheriffs absolute surprise, the pig chose to sit beside him, providing some much needed comfort. The mutation was terrible now, and Sheriff could hardly stand the near constant waves of pain across his arm, face, and torso. But he was still human, still clinging to every last drop of humanity in him. His thoughts were blurry now, and he was too scared to talk in case his voice sounded like that of the colossuses. His eyes were puffy, but he had no tears left to cry.

When the third hour struck, the sun had almost set. Sheriff could hardly think, he could hardly see or hear a thing. Even with Dronny beside him, things seemed more hopeless than ever. So he gave up, and let the mutation take over him.

It was the worst pain Sheriff had ever experienced. It gripped every fibre of his being like an iron fist, twisting him into something humanoid, but far from human. Sheriff let out an animalistic scream as his skin turned to scales, slime oozing out of them and covering him. there was a loud snap as he became several feet taller. With the main changes out of the way, Sheriffs body started to change in smaller ways, his irises stretching to fill the entirety of his eyes, and his beard and hair grew longer and from more parts along his neck and shoulders to form a mane. His morphoblaster fused into his arm, and a replica grew from his other arm. Even his ears changed into something nonhuman.

When it was over, Sheriff found himself lying on the floor of the raft. Dronny stood at the other side of the raft, slightly afraid of the new, mutated Sheriff.

Sheriff stood up slowly, stretching his limbs as though to test them. When he was satisfied that everything worked, he sat back down. A wave of calm had dulled his thoughts since the full mutation, the only thing stopping him from having a full on panic attack.

Unsurprisingly unnoticed by both the mutant and the pig, there was a tiny black dot in the sky. A Mutantcopter, coming closer to the raft with every second. But the members of La Resistance were too late to save their friend- at least as they knew him.

Chapter Text

There was absolutely no thoughts in the newly transformed mutants mind for a moment. He simply sat in the raft for at least half a minute, unmoving. His eyes stared, unseeing, at the water.

And then there was some kind of noise, a whirring, repeating, and getting louder. Ears twitching, the mutant turned to the sky. Something was there, coming towards him quickly. What it was, he couldn’t tell (though it seemed familiar). But it was coming towards him, and it was loud. Too loud, in fact, for his new and much more sensitive ears. He hissed in pain, and the creature beside him gave a squeak of confusion.   

The flying-thing came closer, until the noise was unbearable. The mutant snarled, unsure of what to do. He wanted to destroy the thing, but how? He didn’t have any ideas other than throwing the creature beside him at it- something that, for whatever reason, he didn’t want to do. But the noise was too loud, too unbearable for him to think up any other plan on what to do. So he settled for crouching down, placing his hands over his ears, and growling at the thing as loudly as he could in the hopes it would be scared away. The pink thing seemed to not understand the seriousness of the situation, because it started to oink excitedly at the flying thing. It got louder as a long, fuzzy tendril dropped down. The mutant shut his eyes, as if hoping that would make a difference to the level of sound reaching his ears. He only wanted silence. Was that so much to ask?

“Sheriff? Is that you?”

There was something so very familiar about the words, the voice that said them- but he couldn’t place a finger on it. He opened his eyes slowly. Another creature, unlike him, this one with pale skin and black and green hair. He didn’t know what it was, until a tiny voice in his head chimed the word ‘human’. There was something about the word that sparked hostility in him. He growled, feeling conflicted. He wanted to attack the human, but he didn’t at the same time.

The human took a step back, keeping her eyes locked on him. He stared back at her, ears flattened. He hoped he was in a threatening enough position to scare the human away without a fight. Even though almost everything inside of him was screaming at him to maul her, there was a tiny voice, less than a whisper, begging him not to. But the voice was outweighed massively, and he was already tense from the loud noises in his ears that wouldn’t leave him alone. Snarling, unable to resist a moment longer, he jumped towards the human. Her eyes flashed with emotions he couldn’t interpret. He was just moments away from biting into the humans neck when she revealed a small, metal cylinder thing. There was a small click, and something from within it stabbed into the mutant. There was no time to react before the world went black.

Vegan would have cried if she was the type of girl who cried. Sheriff- the Sheriff she’d known for a year, was gone. Now he lay, in a horribly mutated form, at her feet. He hadn’t even recognised her. He’d tried to attack her- and whether the intent was to mutate her or kill her was something she’d never know. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She thanked whatever god was out there that she still had her tranquiliser gun on her. Yesterday, her father had asked her to capture mutants for him to study to help with the cure. She’d kept the gun in her jacket, somehow forgetting about it until now. To keep herself from any embarrassing emotional reactions to the situation, she decided to focus on getting back to the assault ship. She didn’t know how long Sheriff would stay asleep, after all.

Vegan tied the rope to the front of the raft so that she could tow it via the Mutantcopter. As she fumbled with the rope, she wondered how she was going to explain this to the rest of La Resistance. We’re so close to completing the antidote. Why did this have to happen now? La Resistance needed a leader now more than ever. They needed Sheriff now more than ever. She glanced at him. He was in a state somewhere between knocked out and asleep, eyelids twitching occasionally. Dronny was laying beside him, curled up in the fluffy mane that was a signature trait of all Colossuses.

It's okay. Leviathan’s a mutant too, and he’s still part of La Resistance. Everything will be fine. Even though she tried to reassure herself, it did nothing. Leviathan wasn’t like the new Sheriff. As much as it pained her to admit it, this new Sheriff was hardly more than an animal. He hadn’t even recognised her- a fact that hurt almost as much as the fact that maybe if she’d arrived faster, she could have prevented this.

The flight back to the assault ship was almost too peaceful. There was no sign of any mutants in the area, much less hostile ones. Vegan had no idea what was in the tranquiliser dart, but whatever it was was strong enough to keep Sheriff incapacitated until they reached the ship.

But as the silhouette loomed into view, Vegan realised that she had no idea what she was going to tell the others. But for better or for worse, she didn’t need to say anything. The other members of La Resistance were on the deck of the ship as she landed, preforming chores and laughing with each other. They all stopped to stare as Vegan approached, and their expressions turned to shock and horror as they saw what was inside the raft.

***

The mutant opened his eyes slowly. He felt tired and stiff, as though he’d been sleeping in an awkward position for hours. But the noise was gone now, which was good.

He stood up, surveying his surroundings. There were no humans here now. Pink thing was gone as well. He was in a room, although he was sealed off from most of it with a glass panel. He was trapped.

He hated that fact. Even though the area was fairly large, and definitely big enough for him to move around comfortably. But all the space in the world wouldn’t change the fact that he was trapped. Snarling, he slammed the weight of his body against the glass. Being trapped in this cage- looking out instead of in for once-

The mutant frowned at the memory. Had he ever been here before? Everything was so foggy.

“You’ve been awake for one minute and you’re already… doing that.”

The mutant turned towards the speaker. He’d thought he was alone, but now saw that there was another figure in his cage, lurking in the corner. A mutant, just like him. It put him at ease, if only slightly. The other mutant stared back at him. She was red and orange, with hoof-like hands and a sturdy figure. A scene flashed through his head, a human who looked so achingly familiar reciting a story to the other mutant, his reflection in the glass the only thing that showed his features. But what was the memory (if it even was a memory) and what was it doing in his head?

“Too stunned to speak? I’d be shocked if I were you too.” The mutant laughed. “Those humans are brutal, aren’t they? You’re friends with them one moment, and the next you’re imprisoned.”

Friends? He didn’t have friends- did he? He couldn’t remember- something so repetitive that it was becoming frustrating. It was as though all his memories were just below the surface of his mind. He was so confused- upset- so many emotions, and he didn’t even know why he was feeling them. Heck, he didn’t even know who this other mutant was. Or why she was talking to him like he was someone she knew.

“Would it kill you to respond?” She tapped her foot impatiently. “Wait, no- you look like you’re about to do something interesting. Do it now so I can brag to Gloom and Cyklops about how they missed out on all the cool stuff when they decided that Leviathan was more fun to hang out with then me!” Her tone became ranting at the end, but her words sailed over his head. He didn’t recognise any of the names she spoke of, much less was he able to connect a face to them.

“What… are you talking… about?” For some reason, he expected his voice to not be nearly as deep as it was.

The other mutant stared at him. “Do you have some sort of shock disease from turning from a human into a mutant? Or are you just being stupid for fun?”

He almost laughed before panic set in. Human? Him? No way. He’d always been a mutant.

…right?

Another fleeting memory. This time, he was kneeling on the floor, watching in horror as <leader> ripped away his glove. It was only his hand underneath (he looked at his current hand to confirm), so why did he remember feeling so… ashamed?

“Who are you?” He asked the other mutant. His thoughts were evolving, his consciousness turning from that of a savage beast into a sapient being rapidly. The other mutant scoffed, looking almost offended at the question.

“I’m Horror Kall, obviously. Don’t you remember?”

He shook his head, forcing himself to stay calm when he wanted to scream. “I can’t remember anything.” He paused for a moment, hesitating before speaking again. “Do you know my name?”

“You aren’t going to have a crisis if I tell you, are you?”

He frowned. “Just tell me.”

“Your name is Sheriff.” Said Horror Kall, staring at him as though watching to see if he would freak out at this information. It was familiar, it was so almost familiar that it hurt, but he just… couldn’t… remember…

Wait. There was something- another memory resurfacing. Tiny human hands (they can’t have been his, surely?) reaching up to grab a golden star from another human. The memory came with sadness, despite the fact that the memory itself was happy.

He would have given anything in that moment to remember everything. But since neitherhe nor Horror Kall was a genie, he would have to reclaim his memories himself. And that meant getting out.

“How can we get out?” He asked, inspecting the glass where he had rammed into it before. Other than leaving it covered in a thin layer of green slime, it was undamaged. There was a door, but no way to open it from the inside. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have expected an easy way out of a prison.

Horror Kall shrugged, her expression changing to be sulky. “The humans have keys to come in and out. And Leviathan does to, because he’s so special that of course the humans let him do what he wants.”

The memory that came to Sheriff (he decided he would use the name for now) wasn’t triggered by anything discernible, but was convenient. This time, he was holding a (thankfully non-human) arm out, some sort of mechanism plastered on it. He said something in a voice similar to the one he expected to have when he first spoke (the words were forgotten) and shot a beam of green light out of the device. Looking at his arms, Sheriff saw that instead of the mechanism, each one had a solid black-and-white growth, similar to the one in the memory. “I think I know what to do.”

He raised his right arm, pointed it at the wall, and shut his eyes.

Nothing happened.

“Amazing,” said Horror Kall sarcastically. “A truly amazing plan.”

Sheriff growled. “Shut up and let me break the glass. I should be able to fire a blast of-”

He really had no idea what he did, or how to do it again, but he suspected it had something to do with the way he moved his arm (or something, he didn’t really care now that he’d achieved his goal). The crash of shattering glass made him clutch his ears- he’d almost forgotten how sensitive they were now.

“Well shit,” said Horror Kall, clearly dumbfounded. “Let’s get out of here before anyone sees what just happened. Come on, I’m pretty sure I know how to get out.”

In hindsight, perhaps following someone he barely new into a place he’d never been was not the smartest choice.

Chapter Text

In the hull of the battleship, there was a room with a round table, used for meetings before the apocalypse. Why there was a meeting room in a battleship was a mystery nobody could answer, and nobody had ever been inside it before today. Now, almost every member of La Resistance was seated around the table, none of them speaking. The only ones who weren’t present were Leviathan and Arkan: Arkan because he had to steer the ship, and Leviathan because he was keeping the other colossuses busy. The ship only had one room that was strong enough to hold them, and Dr White thought that it would be best for Sheriff to be alone for a bit (and certainly not around other mutants).

The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. For a while, everybody was silent, the unspoken question of ‘What happens now?’ all they could think about. Finally, Shooter stood up, his chair scraping along the floor. His clothes were stained with a greenish tint from helping to carry Sheriff into the prison colossuses room, but he hadn’t complained. “What’s the point of this meeting if we’re all just going to sit here? I’m leaving.”

Vegans face became shadowed with anger. “Don’t you care?”

“Of course I do, which is why I’m going to see him instead of just sitting in this room and doing nothing.” He turned and left, slamming the door shut a little too hard behind him. Vegan opened her mouth, most likely to say something about Shooters behaviour. BP place a hand on her shoulder, and Valley spoke up to stop her.

“Can’t everything just, like, go on as usual? Like, Leviathans like, a mutant too, and he’s like, chill. And I mean, like, the other colossuses like, aren’t like, good but that’s like, because they’re them.”

“He didn’t recognise me,” said Vegan. The statement sounded matter-of-fact and perhaps heartless, hiding the emotions swirling inside of her.

“Maybe he just needs time to adjust,” contemplated Brutux. “Or maybe some mutants are just more unstable than others.”

“I think it’s the first option.” Dr White spoke quietly, his voice almost shaking. “When I was a mutant, it was… I couldn’t even think properly… but I was only a mutant for a short amount of time, and the colossuses have been mutants for a while, and they’re all… fine.”

“We don’t know how long they’ve been mutants for, though. It could take years for Sheriff to get back to normal,” said Brutux.

“We could always ask Leviathan,” suggested BP. It was such an obvious idea that it was embarrassing nobody had suggested it before.

“Lets go.” At Vegans words, every member of La Resistance still in the room stood up, walking hurriedly to find Leviathan. I’m sorry, Sheriff. We’ll find a way to help.

***

Shooter stomped through the halls of the ship, silently fuming. He couldn’t believe his friends- just sitting in a room and doing nothing! Didn’t they care more than that? Did they care at all?

Sure, Shooter had fought a lot with Sheriff- but they were still best friends! He knew that, right? He knew that I didn’t mean it when I teased him, right?

Or maybe, whispered a voice at the back of his mind, he lost his memories thinking that you hated him.

No way. It was always just jokes. Sheriff made them too. It was all in good fun.

Was it always, though? Really? Was it just a joke when you blamed him for being half mutant? Was it just a joke when you blamed him for the fact that valley loved him? You think that the others don’t care about him, but do you?

Well this was absolutely the best time for a voice in his head to start guilt-tripping him, wasn’t it? But now that the thought was in his mind, he couldn’t get rid of it. Fuck, he’d never even apologised, had he? The realisation that he was a shitty friend was heavy, hitting him like a brick wall. And Sheriff wasn’t dead now, but worse: trapped in his own hell with a mind and body that didn’t belong to him. If Shooter apologised now, would he even be heard?

He started walking faster and faster to the mutant containment chamber until he was practically sprinting. He burst through the door into the room- and was shocked by what he saw.

The glass had been obliterated. It looked like it had been shot with one of the laser canons from one of Shooters video games- shattered and burned, with the tiny shards blackened and melted slightly around the edges. It reminded Shooter of the morphoblaster blasts before Sheriff learned to control them. But this was on a much larger scale- a blow that could probably kill a human. Shooter wasn’t the smartest, but even he knew that having an uncontrollable mutant loose with that level of weaponry was a bad idea.

So, he decided to commit to an even worse idea and follow Sheriff, alone. He tried to reason with himself that he was armed- but if it came to it, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to shoot his best friend.

The trail was easy to follow. Flecks of green slime (that shooter was not at all tempted to put in his mouth) marked the paths that Sheriff had followed. Shooter cursed the ship for being so much bigger on the inside, hoping he wasn’t too late to stop- well whatever it was that Sheriff was doing.

And when he heard the sounds of footsteps just around the corner, he apparently lacked the common sense to stop and check what was there.

***

Sheriff trailed behind Horror Kall as he wandered. She didn’t seem to have any more idea of where they were going then he did, although from what he knew of her, she wouldn’t admit it if questioned.

He stared at the walls and the floors, trying to trigger another memory. A face, a  whisper- anything would be better than nothing, even if it was frustrating to not understand everything that was going on.

His ears were pricked with anticipation, and although Horror Kall didn’t have ears, he noticed that she seemed tense and alert- almost suspiciously so. Because he was on such high alert, he was able to hear the footsteps almost immediately. At first he brushed them off as his imagination- or the memory he had been longing for.

And then he realised the footsteps were real. Horror Kall growled. “A human is coming! Get ready to attack them. They need to pay for opposing the mutants and locking us up.”

Sheriff fully agreed with that sentiment- humans had locked him up for no reason, and even if they hadn’t, they still would’ve deserved punishment. Sheriff wasn’t entirely sure why- it was just something he knew had to happen.

But why? Why was the word of the day- circulating through his mind on repeat. Why couldn’t he remember anything, and why did he feel so conflicted?

He decided on a compromise. He wouldn’t blast the human when they appeared- he would only tackle them in a non fatal way. That seemed to satisfy both parts of his mind, at least a little.

The human ran to him without so much as a slight hesitation. Sheriff was surprised- the last human had seemed terrified of him. But the humans foolishness wasn’t his problem, and despite his brain screaming at him to stop, he slammed the human against the wall with a well timed strike.

The human made a horrible noise- a winded scream. Sheriff felt guilty, even worse than usual. This time, the guilt was a barrage of voices in his head, screaming at him to let him go. He furrowed his brow, trying to summon a memory.

There was nothing that came to mind. Did this mean that the human wasn’t important? Or did it mean that his memories were just pushed too deep for him to reach?

“What are you waiting for?” Horror Kall demanded. “Bite him!”

The human squirmed underneath his claws. “Sheriff-” he gasped, obviously struggling to breathe. “Don’t do this. We’re friends.”

But was that even true? Sheriff didn’t know a thing about this human- not enough to decide to let him go. Making his decision, Sheriff opened his mouth and lunged.

Chapter Text

Only to be stopped by a sharp pain in his chest. He grunted in pain, loosening his grip in distraction. The human tried to break free, but even with Sheriffs guard down, he was still too strong for the human to escape. He saw the humans boot covered in a thin layer of slime and was able to piece together that the human had kicked him in the chest.

And for some reason, that hurt on a level that was much more than just physical.

“Are you going to change him, or are you just going to stand there?” Horror Kall demanded, stamping her foot impatiently. “We don’t have all day, you know! When the rest of the humans find us, they’ll lock us back up. You don’t want that, do you?”

No. He still didn’t know what motive the humans had for locking them up. He didn’t know what would happen if he was caught again; would they do something to prevent him from breaking the glass? Would he be trapped forever?

But on the other hand, he didn’t want to hurt the human. Of course there was a part of him that did, but the other part of him felt horrified at just the thought. Was the human, even if he couldn’t remember him, important? He glanced at him. He looked scared, of course, but also hopeful, as though there was a chance Sheriff wouldn’t hurt him. Is that hope unfounded?

“I won’t hurt him.” Not yet. Not until I find out how important he is to me.

Horror Kall growled, her face quickly turning to one of hostility. “I should have known you were still human at heart!”

Still human? Sheriff’s mind was a mess of confusion, but he didn’t have time to process Horror Kall’s claim before red claws flashed in front of his face. As a reflex, he was able to dodge, but the claws snagged on his mane and painfully tugged out some fur. Sheriff screeched, both in pain and angry indignation, his own claws sliding out to launch a retaliating blow. The human made another pained noise, and Sheriff realised he was still in his grip. If I fight Horror Kall, he’ll escape, and then I’ll be locked away.

But why am I fighting a fellow mutant? Aren’t we kin? The situation he was in was wrong, and even the primal part of his mind recognised it. Part of him wanted to let go of the human and fight Horror Kall but letting the human go would almost certainly result in him getting recaptured, and then the humans would do something to him to keep him trapped forever.

Horror Kall jumped at him again, and the human in his arms screamed something angry and terrified at both of them. Sheriff wasn’t able to dodge this time, and hugged the human closer to his chest in order to protect them. Panicking, he did the first thing he could think of. Raining an arm, he released a bright green beam of energy. Horror Kall’s eyes widened, face twisting into horror. She didn’t have a chance to move before the beam struck her, leaving her on the floor with a smoking black mark on her chest.

Terrified that he might have killed her, Sheriff ran. The human shouted something at him, but Sherriff didn’t listen to him. I thought she was my friend. Why did I choose a human over her? I hope she isn’t dead. His thoughts repeated in a loop, over and over and becoming more panicked each time, until eventually he was confronted by one much more horrifying.

I’m trapped in here. I have nowhere to go.

 Horror Kall would find him (if she was still alive) or the humans would. He would be killed as punishment for his treachery, his betrayal of his species, or he would be locked away by the humans for them to… whatever humans did with mutants. I need to escape.

I need to get out.

I need out.

Out.

OUT!

The human was shouting, the walls were too tight, everything was far too overwhelming. He screamed, a deep and primal noise, raising his fist once again to cause more destruction and find a way out.

It ripped a hole above him, the smell of melted and burnt human-stuff assaulting his nostrils. Sheriff grabbed the human tighter to him, temporarily muffling his yelling as he shoved his face against his body. His spare arm reached up to grab the edge of the roof, slime sticking to the material that would have burnt him if he wasn’t a mutant. He used his single arm to propel himself up, out of the hole and into freedom.

The air was cool, and there was a slight breeze. it was peaceful, except for the gasping breaths of the human. Perhaps Sheriff had held him too tightly. Even with the human, however, things were peaceful. Sheriff put the human on the ground, staring at him cautiously. He was going to say something to the human—a reassurance, a question, a threat, whatever the words were, they never left his mouth before there was the sound of several extremely loud humans shouting beneath the surface. In yet another panic, Sheriff grabbed the human, who let out a yelp of surprise, and found a place to hide. A long pole with some sort of nest inside of it, perfect for hiding. Sheriff would never be found there. He was safe.

***

Vegan was having an awful day.

By the time they’d reached the mutants enclosure, there was a massive hole in the glass. It looked like it had been blown up, and partially melted fragments were scattered across the room. For a few moments, all anyone could do was stand frozen in shock. There were only two possibilities: Shooter had created some pyromaniacal bomb to set Sheriff free, or Sheriff, in his savage mutant form, was much more powerful than any mutant La Resistance had ever faced before. And Shooter, despite his (many, many) flaws, wouldn’t go to such an extreme no matter how in the right he believed he was. Which meant that La Resistance now had to deal with a crazed mutant with the power to melt and destroy more effectively than any other type of mutant.

And said mutant was Vegans best friend. Her leader. The only person, other than her family, she had allowed herself to rely on in years. Defeating him without hurting him was possible, but there was no point in fighting him if Sheriff could escape capture. But what can we do? If we don’t do anything, he’ll go to one of the mutant lords. Vegan’s teeth clenched as she imagined Wart ordering Sheriff around with an obnoxiously smug grin on his face. If that ever happens, I swear I’ll-

At that moment, Leviathan came back, looking equally as shocked as the rest of them at the chaos. With him was Cyklops and Gloom, but not Horror Kall.

“Leviathan,” said Dr White with the voice he only used when something was particularly serious. “Where’s Horror Kall?”

Leviathan shifted, looking as guilty and nervous as was possible for a mutant to look. “She say she stay in cage, methinks okay since Sheriff sleeping…” the other mutants snickered at the furious look on not just Dr White’s face, but the rest of La Resistance’s as well. Leviathan cringed, growling something in whatever language the mutants spoke that Vegan guessed was an apology. Not that she cared what it was.

“Leviathan!” She shouted, stamping her foot against the metal and glass of the ships floor. “You left Horror Kall with Sheriff!? Sheriff, who was just turned into a mutant, has the mental capacity of a wild cat at the moment and is more powerful than any mutant we’ve dealt with before? With Horror Kall, who has tried to kill us before and would definitely take advantage of this situation? What the fuck!?”

Cyklops and Gloom looked unbearably smug, and Vegan decided to go after Sheriff while the rest of La Resistance dealt with this. She whispered a “I need to fix this” to BP as she passed, slipping silently from the room and unnoticed by everyone except BP and Brutux, both of whom chose not to try and stop her.

As soon as there was no risk of being heard, Vegan ran. Her footsteps echoed in the enclosed metal tunnels, and the trail of green slime wasn’t hard to follow. Until Vegan heard a noise, skidding to a halt and straining her ears to be more alert. A whimper of pain, pitiful but in a pitch only a mutant could produce. Instantly, Vegans mind flooded with the worst possible outcomes, clutching her gun and vowing to destroy Horror Kall if he had so much as scratched Sheriff.

The pained mutant was not Sheriff, and Vegan gasped upon seeing the carnage undoubtably caused by Sheriff. Dried blood around massive stretches of black skin that had been charred so badly it was hard to tell the original colour of Horror Kalls skin. He was breathing, but unconscious, and he definitely needed some kind of medical treatment.

Shit.

Vegan wanted to ignore the body and continue chasing Sheriff, but her own morals stood in her way. Horror Kall was a person, trapped in the insanity of mutation just like her father and Sheriff had been. Vegan couldn’t just let another person die.

Hesitantly, she turned back the way she came and started to run back. Please Sheriff, just last a little bit longer.

***

Shooter was having an awful day.

He was covered in mutant slime, hadn’t played any video games in literal hours, and his best friend had been turned into a mutant. And then he had been kidnapped by said best friend, almost killed, and dragged into the crows nest with no way to get down.

Shooter didn’t know what Sheriff actually wanted from him. The human-turned-mutant had just been staring at him for the past three minutes, only moving to block Shooter if he made any attempt to get down.

“So. Sheriff. Hi.” Shooter felt as though he was trapped in the worlds most awkward conversation, which was slightly funny considering the reality of his situation. “Can you- I don’t know, give me a sign if you understand what I’m saying, or something?”

Shooter wasn’t certain that Sheriff had any idea of what he was saying. He’d seemed hesitant when Shooter tried to reason with him that they were friends, but Sheriff had also ignored literally every attempt he’d made to calm him down while being kidnapped, and although Shooter could understand the conversation between Sheriff and Horror Kall, it was entirely due to Horror Kall’s part. Sheriff’s version of the mutants… speaking thing (Shooter didn’t want to think of it as a language because a language meant that there were beings smart enough to speak it which meant Shooter had a lot more blood on his hands then he was comfortable with) was mostly growls, chirps and body language with a few recognisable words mixed in. Right now, Sheriff was staring at him with his head slightly tilted and a look of confusion in his eyes, as though trying to string the words together.

Eventually, Sheriff spoke. His words were mixed with a growling sound, but it didn’t sound hostile. “Sheriff yes,” he growled, words hardly recognisable with all the growls and purrs and other noises mixed into the syllables. He recognised his name, at least, Shooter reasoned, trying to stay hopeful.

“Okay, please don’t bite me. Or kidnap me again. Or shoot me.” Shooter was fighting the urge to apologise profusely to Sheriff. It wouldn’t matter now, when Sheriff could hardly understand a single thing that was going on. Fortunately for Shooter, he was nodding, albeit half-heartedly and with a bit of confusion in his movements. “Do you remember me?”

Sheriff stared at him. “Nrrrr.”

Shooter’s heart lurched, emotional pain stabbing into it. “You’re my friend. Please remember me.” He wanted to say so much more, there were so many words waiting to burst from his throat, but Shooter didn’t say anything else. He controlled himself, but only for a single moment. Then everything rushed out like a tidal wave of words, more than shooter had ever spoken in one go in his life.

“I’m your friend. We played video games together and I made fun of you for losing and you threw water on my head. We fought over Vegan Su and did dumb shit that almost got us killed. We snuck into the captains room and steered the ship into an iceberg one time. We had mutant races to see who could kill the most mutants the fastest. We played uno and spent more time cheating than actually playing. Maybe- no, I know I wasn’t always the best friend to you, but I’m so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have treated you badly when I found out you were part mutant and-”

 Sheriff put a hand over his mouth, stopping him from talking but not from breathing. “Friend,” he whispered.  

Shooter would be lying if he said he didn’t start crying.