Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was well known as a ruthless, chaotic terror that left buildings leveled and any sane person running for their lives when he was seen. He was wanted and any attempts to capture him left many in the hospital. Many superheros refused to even try to get close due to the number of other heroes he had broken. No one stood in his way and lived long enough to talk about it.

The Kraken, he had a decade doing whatever he wanted, where ever he wanted, whenever he wanted. No one argued with him.

Well almost anyone.

“Janus you will brush your teeth.” Remus said as firmly as he could in the face of his son’s puppy dog eyes. Well puppy eye and then snake eye. His half snake boy was firmly against brushing his teeth and Remus had gotten every type of toothpaste he could get his hands on to try to find one that he liked. Janus could smell with his tongue like a snake could and the toddler was a very picky eater because of it. All toothpaste was either, “burning.” Or “gross!”

Thankfully Virgil was asleep already. The baby was maybe a year younger than Janus and was getting to the crawling stage. Which was already a hassle without the spider legs on his back that let him crawl up walls. Remus didn’t regret taking them in for a second. Even while he had to try and get his snakelet to brush his teeth. “What about watermelon? You love watermelon!” Remus suggested.

Janus sniffed it and his tiny tongue darted out towards the tube. Janus huffed, “Ex-cep-ta-ble-ble.” he said.

“Except-able?” Remus asked smiling as he popped the lid off and grabbed the yellow toothbrush. “Good! Cuz if you didn’t accept it we’d go back to the mermaid glitter toothpaste.”

“No! Not the mermaid!” Janus grabbing the toothbrush from Remus and sticking it in his mouth.

Remus chuckled to himself as His little viper brushed his teeth. Janus took extra care of his canines which were sharper than a normal toddlers. “Don’t bite the brush.” Remus reminded him when Janus started chewing on it.

“I’m not!” Janus lied before spitting in to the sink. “Done!”

“Nuh-uh!” Remus said stopping Janus from running off. “Rinse.” Remus said grabbing one of the small disposable paper cups. Janus filled it with water and then rinsed out his mouth. He got more mouth and filled his mouth. “Don’t you dare.” Remus said when Janus looked at him with a full mouth and that glint in his eyes that said trouble.

Janus spit into the sink. “I wasn’t gonna!” Janus said. “I just thinken about it!”

“Well you should be thinken about sleep.” Remus said picking Janus up causing him to wiggle and laugh. “Sleepy sleepy boy!” Remus said taking him to the boys room. Virgil already tucked away and asleep in his bed. Remus would move them to separate rooms when they got older. For now one there wasn’t a morning where he didn’t find them curled up in bed together.

Janus got set down on his bed. Remus grabbing a pair of pjs for Janus. They were gold and black. Not ‘yellow’ as Janus instead he’s favorite color was gold. “Vee already sleeping?” He asked pointing to the other bed. His voice a loud whisper.

“Yeah he’s sleeping.” Remus said taking Janus’ day clothing.

“Not dead?” Janus asked concerned his face scrunched up in worry. That question didn’t break Remus’ heart like the first time he asked it. Janus just wanted his brother to be safe.

“Not dead bug.” Remus said, “Let’s finish getting your night stuff on and then you can go see him.” Remus promised getting Janus into his pj shorts.

“Can I sleep with him?” Janus asked biting at his lip. “Just tonight?”

With the amount of times Virgil going and curls up on Janus in his bed. “Yeah bug. I don’t think he’ll mind.” Remus said getting Janus’ shirt on. Janus stood up and walked over to the bed and crawled in next to Virgil. He grabbed one of Virgil’s hands and hugged it to his chest. A couple of Virgil’s spider legs uncurled and laid over Janus.

Remus watched them curl up together. It reminded him of how he found them. Locked in a room, curled up together. Both of them hissing when he got close. They had been hurt so much because of things outside of their control. Remus had broken into the building to grab some new toys. Maybe a few illegal substances if he could find them. He didn’t expect to find actual babies.

He didn’t leave anyone that worked there unscathed. He didn’t do hero work but he did try to not hurt the innocent too badly. Unless they were going after him. That was self defense really. He had almost disappeared from the public eye for the last seven months as he learned to take care of his kids. He stole so many child care books and items. Remus hadn’t been around kids since he was a kid.

The most fucked up thing about it was that these kids were the safest and best cared for with him. Public enemy and monster number one.

---

The Kraken had vanished. This wasn’t good. The longer he wasn’t seen the bigger and more damaging his plans were. He wanted the attention and outrage from the public. He was easily bored. Chasing his next big thrill. It didn’t matter how many people got hurt in the process.

Logan needed to find him before he ended up leveling a city or whatever big thing he was working on now. The kraken tended to move around a lot. It made it harder to track him down. He didn’t have long term goals which made him more dangerous as it was nearly impossible to predicate what he was do or where he would be.

“That’s the forth store that claims he walked in stole diapers and kids clothing and then left.” Roman said showing Logan an article. Logan hated to think why Kraken would need those items. Did he have kids? Worse did he kidnap children?

“All the stores are close to each other.” Patton pointed out, from his computer. “And it’s been awhile in the same place. I think he might have settled in this area for awhile.”
“It would make sense if he had a kid with him.” Roman said with a grimace. “Why tho? He’s never gotten out of his way to hurt children before.”

“That doesn’t mean he hasn’t.” Logan said flatly. Kraken didn’t blow up schools or parks. He tended to go for more adult places. Or corrupt business. There was a pattern of illegal activity where he showed up. That didn’t make it easy to predict where he was going to show up next.

“Maybe he’s holding them hostage.” Roman said.

“He doesn’t do hostages.” Logan said shaking his head.

“Maybe this is different.” Patton said, stilling typing away on his computer. “He’s staying in the same area. If we look harder enough we can find him.”

There was a tense silence that fell over all of them.

---

Remus hated to leave his kids alone. He never knew if something could go wrong while he was gone. Still they had run out of his favorite cereal and Virgil was refusing to eat anything else. Remus really did need to do a grocery run. Janus was going to bite him again if he ran out of apple juice. “Okay, Janus you are in charge.” Remus handed him a box. “If you need anything, open the box and press the button.” Janus hugged the box to himself and nodded.

Remus kissed the top of Janus’ head and then set Virgil down next to him on the play mat. The t.v was on to a youtube playlist of kids music videos and bluey episodes. Virgil’s eyes were already fixed on the screen. “love you. Be good for your brother.” Virgil gave no sign he heard focused only on shows.

“Call me if you need me Jan.” Remus said firmly.

“I got it papa.” Janus huffed annoyed that Remus was distracting him from his show. Remus happily took the attitude from his oldest since he used Papa. He was still a bit emotional about being a dad now.

“I’ll be back!” Remus called before heading out. He would be fast to get back. He hated having to leave them alone and that sometimes they would both cry if he left them alone too long.

Remus hesitated at the door before locking. They would be fine. Janus would press the button if he need him.

Chapter Text

Roman had to distract the Kraken. He was stealing from a grocery store. A small one near where they found his base. Patton and Logan would go in and ambush him when he got back. “And save any children he might have taken.” Patton said concerned.

“If they are still alive.” Logan said dryly. Patton looked a bit sick at that.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Roman said trying to comfort him. The kraken didn’t have a known history of killing kids which eased some of Roman’s worry about the situation.

Roman found the Kraken in the cereal section, a cart half full of stuff as he walked through grabbing things. He would have looked like a normal shopper if he wasn’t dressed up in his green and black suit. The workers had been thrown out of the shop with a threat of dismemberment if they entered before he said they could.

“I thought I said I would shop in peace.” the kraken said without even looking up from the box of sugar cereal he was holding. He didn’t even looked up as Roman threw a punch and he caught it. Roman barely at time to brace himself before he was being thrown across the store into a stack of boxes. The Kraken looked up at him as he put his cereal away. “Oh it’s you. The red one.”

“Charming.” Roman said making the Kraken laugh.

“I don’t think a punch to the face is charming for most people.” he said before yawning. “I was up late last night so you’re lucky. I’ll let you walk away if you leave now.”

“Not a chance.” Roman said standing up and subtly looking around for something he could throw at him, hopefully to knock himself off balance enough to attack.

“Well that sucks.” Kraken said before kicking a spare shopping cart at Roman. Roman caught it. He couldn’t catch the punch to the chest from Kraken. A hand gripping the front of his suit stopped him from being pushed across the store again. His chest felt bruised and if he didn’t have super strentgh he would be dead. The Kraken picked him up and slammed him into the floor. “I did offer.”

“Go to hell.” Roman said trying to kick him only for his leg to get caught by the ankle.

“I’ll send you there first.” Kraken said shoving harder on Roman’s chest. Roman grabbed the arm that was crushing him and pushed back, easing the pressure on his rib cage. It wasn’t enough. He wasn’t strong enough to beat him.

Roman struggled as hard as he could.

He was going to die here. If he didn’t do something he was going to die here. Roman reached up far enough to rip the mask off the Kraken’s face.

“Did you really want this ugly face to be the last you ever saw?” Remus, his thought to be dead brother, said. Roman didn’t think he would ever see his brother again.

Roman wanted to say something but his lungs were empty.

A terrifying thought crossed his mind as his vision started to fade. Did Remus know it was him?

A loud shrill noise sounded from Remus’ pocket. “Seems you got lucky Red.” Remus pulled his mask back down. He punched Roman in the face and the world went dark.

---

Logan and Patton had gotten in fine. This was not the only base, or even main one that the Kraken used. This was homely.

It was set up like a comfortable one story house. The fact that it was a bunker that was converted into something so welcoming brought its own type of dread.

And curiosity. Logan couldn't help but wonder why this is what he had planed to do with his space. Any base they had found of the Kraken's before had countless expensive stolen items. Strange tools he had either made himself or force someone else to make for him. It was rarely more than a dumb that the kraken had settled in for awhile before moving on.

This was permentant.

The sound of a t.v. playing came from a room close to the entrance. Logan looked towards Patton to check if he was ready for whatever they might see in there. Patton nodded once. They could handle this. If it was too upsetting Logan would send Patton out of the room.

They stepped into what had to be the living room. Two small children sat on the floor on a rug, one of them was playing with building blocks and the other was snuggled in blankets and watching the t.v. Patton took a step into the room and the one playing blocks stopped and turned around to look at him.

Patton gasped loudly seeing that the left side of the boy's face was covered in snake scales. His left eye yellow with a slitted pupil. He hissed at them.

Logan was not prepared for this. Kraken didn't do human experiments, he might make rudimentary explosives or traps but not this.

"You kiddos are safe now. Nothing is going to hurt you." Patton said making his voice more calm than Logan expected. Of course that calm vanished as soon as the second younger boy turned around. He had pitch black eyes and as he moved long thin spider legs appeared to be stick out of his back. The blankets falling off and giving the toddler Freedom to move.

A freedom he used to skitter across the floor and half way up the opposite wall. Patton yelled in suprise and probably fear as well. Logan had to admit seeing what seemed to be a normal toddler turn out not so normal and then crawl up a wall was not what he had been ready for.

"Who are you?" The snake boy demanded, he had a small box pressed to his chest. "This is our house! Not for you!" He yelled pointing towards the exit. Clearly telling them to leave.

"We just need to make sure you are safe." Logan said as softly as he could, Inching closer to the boy.

The snake boy's eyes narrowed and he tensed but didn't run away. As Logan got closer he noticed the box had a button on it that was being pushed down against the boy's chest. "Let me see that please?" Logan asked holding his hand out for the box.

"Careful." Patton said behind him. Patton's ability to sense when things are about to go bad is useful and normally Logan would listen if Patton wasn't staring at the spider child with terror. Logan wasn't even sure if Patton was speaking to himself or Logan.

The snake boy looked over towards Patton and that gave Logan the chance to snatch the box away. "Give it!" The snake boy said reaching for it. Logan lifted it higher than the boy could reach. It was a panic button, what it was programed to do Logan could only guess at.

"Watch out!" Patton yelled right before a sharp pain hit Logan's knee. The snake boy had bit him. Logan stumbled a bit as his leg started going numb. He dropped the box and the snake boy picked it up again, pressing it repeatedly.

Patton moved to catch Logan.

Something caught the back of his neck. He was pulled backwards into someone's chest. "I don't think you were invited." The kraken whispered in his ear. Patton tried to pull out the tazer that Logan had made to take down the Kraken.

"Papa he's got something!" The snake child yelled. There was a thump and Patton saw Roman's body fall to the ground as the kraken grabbed the tazer and Patton's hand.

The hand that was holding the back of his neck moved to cover his mouth. "Don't be loud. You'll scare the kids." He whispered in Patton's ear before he crushed the tazer and Patton's hand along with it. Patton's scream was muffled by the hand but not enough to hide it.

"Pat.." Logan reached for him from the ground. He was wobbling and looked like he was barely conscious.

"I would kill you but there are kids present." The kraken threatened when Patton's pained cries quieted. "So be good or I'll change my mind."

----

Janus watched as Papa locked the door. He had put the two masked men that had come into the living room in there with another one that he must have found somewhere else. Papa took his mask off and turned towards Janus. "Hey buddy. You did a really good job pressing the button." Papa said. Then Janus tackled his legs sobbing. Papa picked him up. "Shh it's okay snakelet you're safe. I got them. They won't hurt you."

"That was so scary." Janus sobbed hugging Papa's neck as tightly as he could. Papa rubbed his back as he walked away from the locked door.

"I know. It was really scary. You did amazing Janus. I'm so proud of you for keeping you and your brother safe." Papa said. A moment later Virgil was held to Papa's chest next to Janus and Janus threw an arm around his younger brother as well. "You're both safe."

Virgil hissed his spider legs twitching. "I know skitter but I'm here now. Nothing's getting past me. I promise." Papa said easing the tight ball of fear that had taken up space in Janus' chest. Papa would keep them safe. No masked men would take them away. They wouldn't be hurt anymore.

They were safe.

Janus tugged on Papa's sleeve. "Papa?"

"Yeah?" Papa asked.

"Did you get the cereal?" Janus asked making Papa blink before laughing. Papa ruffled Janus' hair.

"I'll make mac n cheese for breakfast how does that sound?" Papa said making Virgil hiss excitedly.

It wasn't cereal but mac n cheese would be good. Janus could live with the change.

Chapter Text

Remus wasn't dumb enough or honorable enough to not take off the heroes masks and look up who they were. At least he had to look up two of them. He knew who the third one was as soon as he took the mask off.

Remus hadn't really thought about his brother since he got his superpowers and hightailed it out of his hometown. He had stolen a truck and drove off. He never thought Roman might have abilities as well. They hadn't been close for years before Remus left. He didn't see Roman as someone who would be supportive.

He also didn't see Roman as willing to take a punch in a fight nor be one of the more successful superheroes.

Remus bandaged up Roman and his new friends.

He was smart most of the time.

Letting them live right now was a very dumb idea. Even if he has them strapped down there is no way for Remus to keep his boys completely safe. Not when Roman knows who is holding them. That they managed to break into his house and past his alarms was enough that Remus should kill them on the spot and move forward knowing less people would be looking for him.

It was his brother.

Remus hadn't gone to either of his parents funerals, there was no one to contact him about them. He found out afterwards.

Roman was the only family he had left from his childhood. The last tie to who he used to be. Remus never hated Roman, they didn't have a bitter fighting childhood. Remus never cursed Roman's name or wished him ill. He had been tempted to reach out after their parents had died but he couldn't find him.

Remus felt a tugging on his leg and found Virgil sitting on the floor next to him, he was chewing on the end of one of his spider legs and watching Remus clean up the first aid kit he had out. "Hello skitter." Remus said reaching down to pick Virgil up.

Virgil made a small hissing noise as his spider legs hugged themselves around Virgil and solidly attached him to Remus. "Oh you got me. I'm not going anywhere." Remus coo'd at him as he hid his face in Remus' shoulder.

"Where's your brother?" Remus asked looking around the kitchen. Virgil pointed towards the hallway and Remus peeked out of the kitchen to find Janus standing in front of the door that had the captured heros behind it. "You okay slithers?"

Janus startled when Remus spoke but calmed when he saw who it was. He ran over to tackle hug Remus' legs. "I don't like them."

"I know." Remus said picking Janus up as well and taking them to the play room. "I'm not a fan of them either."

"Why are they still here?" Janus demanded.

That was a good question. Why hadn't Remus disposed of them when his kids were eating breakfast? He had time. He had time enough to bandage them up. "One of them is...someone I used to know." Remus said. He wasn't sure how to address it or explain the situation to the child.

"I don't like them." Janus said unhappily.

"I'm not a big fan of them either slithers." Remus said sitting his boys down. Virgil took off to go play while Janus crossed his arms to let his papa know he was not happy.

"It's our house! Not their house! They can go get their own house!" Janus said turning his nose up.

"I know bud, they won't be here long." Remus said kneeling down so he was closer to eye level with the little one.

"They scared me." Janus said hissing a bit. "Now our house is not safe!"

"I won't let you get hurt." Remus promised. Janus looked over towards Virgil who was playing with a plastic ring stacking toy. "Or Virgil either."

"They were going to take us away." Janus said tearing up, still glaring. "They took my box."

Remus hated the way Janus was so scared right now. It made him want to go dispose of the heros just to comfort his son. But Roman was there too. He probably won't like Remus killing his friends.

"One of them is my brother." Remus said making Janus look up at him shocked.

"You have a brother?" Janus asked.

"Yeah. I have a brother." Remus said. Janus frowned as he looked over at Virgil and then back to Remus.

"He can stay for a little bit then." Janus said still not happy about it. Remus had to agree, he wasn't happy about it either.

---

Roman woke up on a sleeping bag on the floor. His hands were trapped in a metal box that he could feel draining his strength. His chest felt still compressed and he found his shirt had been removed and bandages were wrapped around his torso, it felt like some kind of bruise cream was numbing the chest injury he had gotten. He looked over to find Patton and Logan were also with him. Patton was laying on a sleeping bag as well, his left hand was heavy bandaged and he had a nasty looking bruise on the side of his head.

Logan was sitting next to Patton, he looked pale and sick. But he managed to patch Payton up so he couldn't have been in too bad shape. "Oh good. You're awake." Logan said. " I was beginning to worry you had stopped breathing. I'm glad to know i was wrong."

"Of course it would take a kidnapping to get you to admit to being wrong." Roman grumbled as he looked around the room. It was a small room that lacked windows and had a single door. There was a small air vent on the ceiling but Roman doubted he could stand let along reach it.

Remus must have set the power dampener to whatever his own strength level was. Thinking back on the fight it became clear Remus was stronger than him. Not a good sign for them being able to leave unscathed. Or at least not injured further.

"I would have gone over to help but Patton is blocking the way." Logan said. Patton was laying between them.

"What did he do chain you to the floor?" Roman asked.

"Not quite." Logan said. "We found the children." Logan trailed off and he looked uneasy. "They had been altered."

"What do you mean?" Roman asked ice forming in his chest at the thought that his brother had been experimenting on kids.

"One of them had scales all over his face and seems to posses some kind of venom. I made the mistake of getting too close and he bit my leg causing numbness then paralyzing my body for the next...." Logan looked off into space for a second. "Five and a half hours."

"We've been out for five hours?" Roman asked dread building in his chest.

"Closer to seven. The venom as been slowly working its way out of my system. I can't move my leg yet," Logan frowned down at it. "But I'm sure that's just due to it being the site of the injection." Roman wasn't sure he believed him.

"How bad is Patton?" Roman asked scooting his way over to the other two.

"We won't know till he wakes up." Logan said as he rubbed his unresponsive leg. "I know who Kraken is. I couldn't move but I could still hear everything." Logan looked up at Roman with a harrowed expression. Roman didn't need him to say it.

"I know. I tore his mask off in the grocery store." Roman said. "Maybe a camera caught what he looks like and someone will come to-"

"You know they won't." Logan said sharply. "We can not wait for rescue. The likely hood that he wouldn't have some plan in place is too small of a chance to bet on."

Roman hated that Logan was right. It also meant he had to confront Remus about all of this. He had to talk to the kraken. It was the same person now when it had always been two before. His brother who vanished without a trace. A brother that Roman had still been looking for.

And a monster he was hunting down.

Logan was staring at Roman, most likely looking to see what Roman would do or say now. He had been helping Roman try and figure out what happened to his long lost brother. None of them could have predicted this. "He wasn't a bad person."

"People change over time." Logan said softly.

Roman tugged at the metal box, his hands were cold and stiff from being held in place. He couldn't twitch a finger right now with how tightly it was compressing his hands. Logan didn't look like he would be much help, his hands were still shaking a bit. They had no idea when or if Patton would wake up. They needed actually medical attention not whatever Logan had managed to patch together.

"Do you think he's bugged the room?" Logan said as quietly as he could. Roman nodded. Kraken wouldn't be stupid enough to leave them unattended. There could even be a camera they couldn't see watching everything.

Roman moved his chest bandages made his movements stiff. "I know this is what you had to do but it's hard as hell to move." Roman grumbled trying to pull in a full breathe.

"He seems to be not as well versed in first aid as he claimed when he came in." Logan stated. "That or he patched us up poorly because he wasn't planning on keeping us alive. But in that case why bother at all?"

"The kraken bandaged me?" Roman asked jerking his head up to look at Logan. Logan could get past Patton, of course he wasn't able to patch them up.

"Poorly." Logan said disgruntled. "We need proper medical care! I could do it if we had any supplies."

"We'll figure that out we get out." Roman said looking around the room.

---

Janus watched his papa as he changed his baby brother's clothing. Gently helping him ease his spider legs through the back that Papa had cut hole in for him. Virgil wiggles his legs happily. The people before would wrap his spider legs around his body so he couldn't move them. The evil doctors talked about cutting them off. They talked a lot about Janus' scales too. The best way to remove them. To make them look normal.

But Janus didn't want to be normal. He liked his scales and his fangs and his eye. He liked Virgil's eyes too, and his spider legs. He thought it was really cool that Virgil could crawl on the walls. He was even trying to teach Virgil to climb up the side of the cupboard to reach the treats bowl that Papa hid at the the top.

"Papa do you love us?" Janus asked very seriously.

Papa looked him in the eye. "I love you very very much." He said honestly. Janus could tell in his bones that it was true.

Virgil hissed at Papa. "And I love you too." Papa said tickling him. Virgil giggled before squirming his way away from the tickling hands and run behind Janus to hid, giggling the whole time.

"Oh no! Vee it's the tickle monster!" Janus said a few giggles escaping him as papa had that look on his face that meant it was play time and he wiggled his hands in front of them. Janus grabbed Virgil's hand. "Run Vee!" they both run from the room laughing.

"I'm hungry for giggles, time for tickles!" Papa said chasing after them. Janus led them all the way to their bedroom.

"Hid under the bed Vee." Janus said sliding under his own bed. He giggled as he watched Virgil get under his bed as well. Papa come in loudly asking where they were as he walked around. He picked up blankets and the laundry basket and even asked if they were hiding under a small teddy bear.

"Papa we're too big to hid under that!" Janus yelled from under the bed while Virgil was giggling under his. Papa was awful at hide and seek. Janus never hides for too long.

One time when they just moved in with Papa and he wasn't papa yet and just Remus they hid. Remus got scared for them and was worried they got hurt. Or the bad men took them back. He had cried a little bit when he found out they were okay. It was the moment that he went from being Remus to their papa even if Janus didn't say it for awhile.

Papa stepped right up next to the bed and Janus reached out with both hand and grabbed one of this ankles. "Got you!"

"oh no! I'm trapped!" Papa said.

"Get him Vee!" Janus yelled.

Virgil skittered out from under his bed, quick to climb up their papa's back to try and tickle his neck. It was the only place papa was ticklish. "Who's the monsters now?" Janus said crawling out from under the bed.

Papa laughed as he sat down on the floor with them, Virgil in his arms now. "You got me!" Janus crawled into his lap too. It was the place he felt the most safe. Papa wouldn't let anyone hurt them. Not even Papa's brother.

Janus wasn't sue how he felt about Papa's brother. He broken in and tried to take them. But didn't Papa take them from other people before? Was Papa's brother a bad man? Janus wasn't sure about any of it.

"No biting." Papa said as he removed his hand from Janus' mouth.

"I didn't use my venom." Janus pointed out.

"I know you didn't and that was good." Papa said gently. "But biting can still hurt without venom." They said biting too much it seems as Virgil bit Papa's arm.

"Are you guys hungry? Is that what this is? Or am I raising lil cannibals?" Papa asked.

"Cannon balls on on pirate ships papa." Janus said done with some of his papa's silliness. "Can we have pizza again?" Virgil wiggled around happily hissing in agreement.

Papa seemed to be thinking he pulled out his phone before smiling at them. "I think pizza would be a great idea."

---

Roman and Logan both froze as the door opened. Patton was a bit out of it, as he had been given some type of pain medicine so his hand didn't hurt. Remus didn't say anything as he set two pizza boxes and a box of soda down on the floor just inside the door. They could hear it being relocked from the outside.

"At least we are being fed?" Roman said eyeing the pizza box. It was his favorite when he had been growing up, his favorite soda too. Was this a peace offering? Or just what Remus was having for dinner and decided to give them. Could still be a peace offering.

"Either way he just gave us something we can work with." Logan said probably trying to think of how to break out of a locked room with a soda can or something.

"I could eat." Patton said weakly, he was sitting up against the wall. His head resting on Logan's shoulder. "Food." He made a grabbing motion towards the pizza boxes. Roman looked down at his boxed in hands.

"I guess eating it going to be a team effort." Roman said a bit peeved.

"You go slid them over here and I can fed everyone." Logan said, with his numb leg he wouldn't be able to get over there and he had the only working hands. At least both working hands. Roman managed to get over to them and started pushing the boxes over to where Patton and Logan were sitting.

"Go nuts specs." Roman said sitting down next to Logan so he was in the middle of the trio.

"food." Patton said again sadly looking at the box just out of his reach. Hopefully the loopy was due to the pain meds and not the head injury.

"Patton can you tell if this has been poisoned?" Logan asked, holding up a slice. Patton's sixth sense for immediate danger might not work because of the drugs.

Patton leaned forward and took a bite. "Taste fine." He said chewing. Logan and Roman looked at each other. Logan handed Patton the rest of the slice to have with his one good hand. Logan held out a piece for Roman to eat as he himself ate one. Roman didn't notice how hungry he had been until he started eating. Now he was wishing there was more than two pizzas.

"This is one of the nicer kidnappings I've been through." Logan said lightly. Getting caught by the villains was never fun but this had been borderline pleasant by comparison.

Roman hoped that meant Remus wasn't as terrible as the Kraken was made out to be.

Chapter Text

When the boys had been tucked in bed Remus hovered by the doorway. He knew that he had to go face his brother. He couldn't put it off any longer.

He grabbed one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen, the one with crayon still on the seat from when Virgil had been coloring on it. They all had some type of stain or dent that showed they had been used.

Remus hadn't grown up in a terrible home. The lights were always on, something edible in the fridge. Had his parents been present? No. He barely saw them. He saw Roman more but that was just due to having the same classes. It hadn't felt like he had grown up with a family, more like he lived in a house and other people also lived there sometimes.

Remus had left because there was nothing keeping him in his home town. He didn't feel the need to stick around. He didn't have friends the way Roman did and often was just pity invited to tag along for things. He wasn't the best student but he wasn't a delinquent. He was unnoticed.

Then he went on to become the most infamous supervillian to threaten the modern world.

He didn't have anything to fight for before, there weren't risks because it didn't matter what someone else did to him, he would just get back up. Now there were risks. He had kids. He had weaknesses that could be used against him.

He didn't know if Roman was one of those weaknesses. He didn't know if he should walk in there as the Kraken or as Remus and at this point he isn't sure what the difference is.

---

Patton was grateful for the pizza and soda, it helped ease the pounding in his temples. It also soothed a bit of his bone deep urge to run away. As if he could go anywhere, his hands were cuffed together and one of them had been crushed. It was bandaged and the bones seemed to have been set right. It was numb and it would have worried about that had Roman not mentioned the numbing cream the Kraken had put on his ribs.

This told Patton a lot, This house was a home. It wasn't the evil lairs and borderline hazard sites that they had chased him through before. The Kraken had been someone that slipped through their fingers so often Patton was beginning to think they would never catch him. So what changed?

He had kids was the simple answer, one that Patton was starting to think was more innocent than Logan and Roman kept theorizing. They had monsterous appearances but they were still children. Barely not babies. The snake had been playing with blocks and there had been kids t.v. playing. That wasn't really how a supervillian kept children he was experimenting on.

He stole toys and books and clothing for them. Foods that went beyond keeping them alive. He stole treats and vitamins. He was taking care of them. Whether he had caused their more... unusual appearance and abilities or not, The Kraken had fallen into the trap of Parental responsibility and he was rising to the occasion as far as Patton could tell.

He wanted to see how the Children acted around Kraken to truly know how they were being treated. All the toys in the world could be for show had he known someone was coming.

But he hadn't known.

As Roman recounted his painful encounter at the store the more Patton was sure of that. He didn't know they were so close. Every other time he knew they had been there. He set up traps and speeches or just abandoned ship. He didn't return and threaten Patton to not traumatize his kids. He didn't silent screams of pain lest someone hear.

Something had happened that changed how the Kraken operates and Patton knew it was those kids.

Roman and Logan both were subdued when they mentioned that the Kraken was Roman's brother. This wasn't how they had wanted to find him. Patton and Logan had long assumed that Remus had died and were looking to see what happened to Roman would have closure. Roman hoped that his brother was still alive.

Patton wasn't sure if this was worse than Remus being dead or not. Him being alive might just cause more problems than it solves. Even if it is Roman's brother this is a monster that they had been hunting down for years. He isn't going to stop being a villain just because Roman found out who he was. Remus might have known who Roman was the whole time. It would explain why they remained mostly unscathed when other heroes didn't.

Patton didn't want to voice his theories about Remus' care for the children. If he was wrong than he just got Roman's hopes up for nothing. If he was right then he would say something later. Patton hoped he would be Able to find out more.

A chance thar came sooner than he thought it would. The Kraken stepped into the room wearing a black sweater and deep green sweat pants. He looked so much like Roman it was impossible to deny they were related. He had a few scars on his face and more os his hair was cut short except a longer clump that was bright white. He had a mustache that had an almost stereotypical villian curl at the corners.

"Well now that everyone has eaten, let's get down to the more up close and personal part of this." Remus said clapping his hands together once before walking closer.

"Wait!" Roman said moving to lean forward before falling back against the wall. His pain meds had started to wear off, as did the numbing cream on Patton's hand. So he groaned in pain as he fell back.

"I don't think you are in any position to be arguing right now Ro-bro." Remus said crouching down in front of them. He looked over them, eyes lingering on their injuries. "I think I'll start with the middle." He said before he reached forward and picked up Patton as if weighted nothing.

Patton would have struggled but his danger sense was oddly silent. Remus wasn't going to hurt him right now and while he could tell that Remus was very deadly, he wasn't an active threat. "It's fine." Patton said reassuring his teammates as they both reached for him and both yelled out for Remus to stop.

Patton was tossed over Remus' shoulder and carried from the room. The door locked behind him before he was taken into a large bedroom. Mattress on the floor with a pile of blankets and a mess of cluttered boxes sat around. This looked much closer to the lair they expected to find. Remus put Patton on a wooden chair and turned on a lamp facing him.

"So how should we play this? Scared Captured hero verus big bad?" Remus asked grabbing a box filled with medical supplies.

"How about two dads." Patton said evenly. Remus falthered slightly as he reached for Patton's hand. He was gentle as he unwrapped Patton's injuried hand.

"You know, you are awfully calm for someone whose hand I crushed." Remus commented. He didn't deny being a father which told Patton that Remus viewed himself as a father at least. Or he was just avoiding it altogether.

"We were fighting at that point." Patton said. He wasn't afraid because his power hadn't told him to be. Remus wasn't going to hurt him. At least not right now. "You haven't killed us yet and I doubt you will."

"Confident aren't you little hero?" Remus smiled with more teeth than most people would consider friendly. It was slightly disturbing to see someone that looks so much like Roman look at him like that.

"Why are aren't you running like you normally do?" Patton asked, watching Remus rub numbing cream into his hand. It was swollen and deeply bruised looking but it wasn't as bad as it should be right now. The numbing cream probably had a rapid healing ability as well. Logan would have a field day with something like that. Patton's job would get even harder if Logan thought he could just heal from doing something stupid. Not that Patton would ever call him stupid, he had too much respect for his friend to do that-

"Too much of that then." Remus said wiping the rest of the cream he had been rubbing in off on a towel.

Patton hummed as he looked up towards Remus. "Oh this has a side effect." Patton said realizing that he felt slightly light headed and more than a little bit dizzy.

"It's hard to know how much someone needs for it to really work." Remus said carefully wrapping Patton's hand up. Bandages tight enough to hold but not compressing Patton's hand. "It shouldn't take more than a couple days for you to be healed up."

"Why are you bothering with any of this?" Patton asked leaning forward before getting pushed back into the seat by Remus.

"I'm sure you know who I am. It's not hard to tell when you work with my brother." Remus said. "I just want to know how long he knew it was me."

"Roman thought you were dead." Patton said the truth falling from his lips far too easily for him to not be under some kind of drug. "He only found out today when he took your mask off."

Remus looked upset by this. Probably not what he expected to hear. "How long did you know Roman was chasing you?" Patton asked. He needed to get out of here, he couldn't tell if his danger sense was wrong or not. He didn't think he was in danger, but being drugged tended to be dangerous so if it didn't pick up on that then who knows what else it missed.

"Today." Remus said.

Patton nodded and then regretted it when the whole room swam. He did managed to look down to the side and see that the numbing cream that was effecting him so poorly was open and on top of everything else. It wouldn't take much for him to reach it. "Focus," Remus snapped his fingers in front of Patton's face. "What do you know about those kids?"

"Your kids?" Patton asked, looking back up towards Remus. His eyebrows were wrinkled together the same way Roman's were when he got worried. It was impossible to think they were the same person but Patton couldn't stop seeing the similarities.

"Yes my kids. What do you know about them?" Remus asked.

"Nothing. We weren't even sure you had kids here." Patton leaned forward again, this time falling onto Remus and more importantly the box that had the numbing cream. Remus held him up as Patton managed to get a handful of the cream and smeared in to Remus' shirt as he pushed himself up. Patton tumbled to the ground as Remus stood up.

"That was your big plan?" Remus scoffed behind him. "Rub healing salve on me?" Patton managed to get to his feet before he was grabbed from behind and put back in the chair. Next to him Remus was cleaning off his shirt with the towel. "I'm not killing you right now and the loopy feeling will pass soon."

Patton didn't fully trust that, but he wasn't going to just be able to get way. Remus spoke again. "What brunch do you work for? Research? Fieldwork?"

"Investigative." Patton said. "You're our only mission so if we go missing they will know it's you." He wasn't sure trying to scare Remus was a good idea but he didn't feel he had any other choice.

"They run through guys like you so fast." Remus said, "I must be breaking some kind of record right? How many people forcefully retired by a villain?" The word Villain is said with distain.

"You disabled multiple operatives." Patton said. "They can't work anymore."

"And they have the rest of their lives to enjoy the benefits of that noble sacrifice." Remus said. "Every single person I break ends up with hefty payouts and are set up in hero homes. If anything I saved them because the next guy wouldn't have spared them."

"You can't act that what you've done was good!" Patton yelled. Remus' hand was over his mouth in an instant.

"Quiet!" Remus hissed at him. His eyes on the door. They were both silent for a few seconds before Remus relaxed and removed his hand.

"Kids get upset if you wake them up too late?" Patton asked.

"You have no idea. I think if i snore too loud I'll have both of them in here complaining about it." Remus said looking towards the door.

"They're something else." Patton said.

"That's not a bad thing." Remus said sharply, he looked away from the door back towards Patton.

"What happened to them?" Patton asked. Remus glared at him, Patton felt the shiver of something highly dangerous nearby. Then it faded and Remus sighed.

"I've been trying to figure that out." Remus shrugged. "Bit hard when the building they were kept in exploded."

Patton remembered The Kraken blowing up a research center nearby. It had been a high security building that Patton had thought to be a rumor before it went down.

"You want them safe." Patton said drawing Remus' attention back to him, it had drifted vack to the door. Still on the look out for signs his children woke up. "Whoever turned them into..." Patton stopped before just nodding towards the door.

Remus' hand was back on Patton's mouth. "No one turned them into anything." He said darkly, leaning in close. "They were born like that and some 'heroes' decided to try and make them look normal."

Remus was mad. The kind of angry that was born from caring about something so much you would burn the world down for it. Patton had no doubt left in his mind that Remus would destroy anything that posed a threat to those boys. He also couldn't find it in himself to disagree.

"What happened to their parents?" Patton asked in a whisper When Remus' hand was removed. He could feel the dizziness ease. He hadn't been lying that it wouldn't take long.

"Eagerly gave up their children in the hopes of having normal children returned to them." Remus said the word Normal with Venom. "They moved on to having other kids. Normal kids."

Patton could argue that both of them were dangerous, but so were dozens of other early powered children. They got sent to special daycares or offers for prestigious schools. "I'm the safety person for them." Remus said firmly.

"Well this sure does complicated things." Patton muttered before taking another long look at Remus.

"For you maybe." Remus said before picking Patton up. He carried him back to the other room, Patton didn't bother to struggle. Remus put Patton down on the ground and grabbed Logan.

Logan was carried from the room. "What happened?" Roman asked looking Patton over. Patton wasn't sure where to start, but if Logan's questioning was as short as his then they didn't have long to talk before he would be back.

Patton knew that The monster they had come for wasn't what they found, and if he was correct in that then maybe all of them would get out of this alive.