Chapter Text
Richard Roe hates his new form. He used to be human, until an accident with the DNA Splitter turned him into a blob. Unbeknownst to him, some ram DNA mixed into his own DNA after the blob “ate” the ram from the zoo. The result is that he now has ram legs and horns alongside his human form.
Richard wakes up to his alarm at 7:00 AM as usual. He couldn’t sleep on the side due to his horns, so he slept on his back instead. He struggles to rise from his bed, his ram legs awkwardly tangling in the sheets as he adjusts to his new form. He’s not sure whether to go for an omnivorous breakfast or an herbivorous breakfast, so he just has an apple.
He takes a shower, thoroughly washing his hair and his legs with shampoo so he doesn’t smell like a, well, ram. After his shower, he stares in the mirror for a moment. The person in the mirror may be him, but part of his wishes that the hooves would one day disappear. That way, he could be himself again. He goes to his bedroom to get dressed, threading his hooves through his underwear and pants.
At last, he gets out of the house to get to his job. He stumbles a little bit, as his hooves are not used to climbing stairs yet. He drives his way to the government building, where he makes his way to the council meeting. When he gets to the meeting room, he’s greeted by Jane Doe.
Richard resents the people who still look like normal humans, especially Jane, who looks the same as she did after the blob incident. Richard forces a smile upon his face and greets Jane with, “Good morning. I see that your fully human body is as flawless as ever.”
Jane nervously laughs and lies, “Yeah. All that time being a blob has done wonders on my skin.” She looks away from Richard, touching her cheek which she now knows is fake skin. “Mayor Rosemary wants to talk about the current situation and the future of Coverton.”
Richard sighs and mutters, “If I have to.” With that, he goes into the conference room and sits down on one of the empty chairs. He looks at the rest of the council, who have ended up absorbing animal DNA one way or another. Then, he looks at Mayor Rosemary and Ms. Thyme, still human like Jane Doe. He resents the mayor and her assistant for not understanding his current situation.
“We're glad you could all come here, despite any issues you might have faced.” Mayor Rosemary says. “The first order of business is how to help our citizens adjust to their mutations.”
Oscar, the zebra, suggests, “With all this talk of our citizens being traumatized by their transformations, we should have an incentive to get therapists.”
“Therapy for our citizens? I thought our citizens were mentally fit enough that they didn’t need therapy.” Sage Thyme comments.
“Well, with the recent uptick in complaints and angst-y poems from the citizens, they might as well benefit from a therapist.” Alexandra, the sphinx, responds.
Parsley turns to Richard and asks, “What do you think about getting therapists for our citizens, Richard?”
“I think you’re not qualified to handle the emotional needs of masks!” Richard snaps as he slams his hands on the table.
“I think we’re more than qualified to handle the emotional and accessible needs of masks.” Parsley argues.
“Well, if you had been more responsible, we’d all still be human.” Richard argues back. “If you were a mask like us, we wouldn’t be having this argument.”
Parsley and Sage start getting nervous over Richard’s comment about being a mask. In truth, they are Chimera, with Sage being the goat half and Parsley being the Lion half. They would murder everyone in this room before they’d let their secret get out. Murder, however, isn’t good for a political career. They decide to resolve the issue in a politically friendly manner.
“Why don’t we go for a walk around the park to let off some steam? That way we can get a different perspective.” Parsley suggests.
Richard sighs. “Maybe a breath of fresh air will help us think more clearly.”
“That’s the spirit!” Sage cheers. “Let’s go for a walk!” With that, the mayor, her assistant, and the council all leave the government building and head to the park for a walk. Richard is fearful that Mayor Rosemary and Ms. Thyme will find out that he was the one who tore apart the pavilion and accessed the underground base. To his surprise, when they get to the pavilion, they’re more confused than angry.
“What’s this weird project going on at the pavilion?” Mayor Rosemary asks.
“Um, I stumbled upon this secret area by accident, and I’m working to cover it up.” Richard lies. Jane wants to tell the truth about Richard’s association with the underground base, but that would mean outing herself as well.
“Alright, Richard. We believe you.” Sage replies. With that, everyone continues their walk in the park. Richard and Jane look at each other with disdain.
Later that night, after finishing her dinner, Jane Doe decides to visit Richard Roe in hopes of talking things out. When she gets to her car, she hears an explosion in the distance. Fearing the worst, Jane drives over to Richard’s house, only to find it exploded. Jane breaks down into tears. She hates Richard Roe, but she never wanted anything bad to happen to him. Little does she know that Richard Roe is alive, leaving the restrictive life of Coverton behind. He blew up his own house as that was the final piece of his old life holding him back.
The next day, Mayor Rosemary declares that Richard’s house blowing up was an either an act of terrorism or, worse, a suicide. She makes an announcement in front of the citizens. “Starting today, we well be enforcing a few curfews for the safety of our citizens. No outside vehicles will be allowed inside Coverton after 8:00 PM and all Coverton citizens and visitors must be inside by 10:00 PM. Also starting next week, we’ll have daily group therapy sessions available at 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM for the Coverton citizens who are still processing their emotions over everything that has happened.”
Richard couldn’t ignore the resent and dark thoughts building inside of him. These dark thoughts keep telling him that the humans will never respect him like they used to now that he’s a mutant mask. His dark thoughts also tell him that it’s Jane Doe’s fault and she didn’t deserve to be human anymore. He decides that he would act upon these dark thoughts and become someone else entirely. However, he couldn’t do this alone. He needs a group that’s just as vengeful as him. His dark thoughts would lead him to the Mask City Museum.
The next day, he settles down in a hotel and decides to visit the Mask City Museum. He looks at the various sections of the museum. He goes to the Greco-Roman section and looks upon a statue of a creature called “Cyclops.” He goes to the Indian section and views a snake charmer basket, sealed with a lock and chains. The basket is believed to contain a sorceress that once tormented a village. A benevolent wizard then sealed her in the basket, locked it, and put her in an eternal slumber until the lock was broken. At last, he has an idea.
Later that night, he waits in the restroom for the museum to close. As soon as the clock hits midnight, he goes out of the bathroom and looks for the control room. When he reaches the control room, he turns off all the lasers. With no lasers in the way, he could finally access the snake charmer basket. He heads to the basket, grabs the key and unlocks the lock.
The key, however, is rusted, and unable to turn, which frustrates Richard. If only he had some rust remover for the key. He then realizes that if the key is rusted, then surely the lock and chains are rusted. He pulls out a Swiss Army knife, chooses the blade and saws through the lock with some resistance. Eventually, he breaks the lock and opens the basket.
Ram looks inside the basket and sees a pink and blue king cobra hibernating inside the basket. The king cobra wakes up and stretches out of the basket. The king cobra reveals itself to be a woman, dressed in a sari and adorned with elaborate jewels. She looks around the area. It’s not the luxurious palace that she usually resides in, but an odd...tomb. Right in front of her is a man in a suit with horns and hooves. The female king cobra hisses at the unfamiliar being.
“Hold your horses, missy!” Richard shouts. “I just freed you from an eternal slumber!”
“You did?” The female king cobra asks. “Finally! I can have my revenge on the wizard who imprisoned me!”
“About that wizard...” Richard says. “He would have been long dead by the time I released you.”
“Well, that’s a shame.” The cobra mutters, her hand on her cheek. “I guess I’ll have to find a productive way to use my magic. I could start by making you clothes befitting of a warrior.”
“What’s wrong with my suit?” Richard asks defensively.
“Those rags aren’t befitting of a warrior who just freed me. What I need is inspiration for your warrior armor.”
“We’ll worry about that later.” Richard replies. “For now, follow me to the Greco-Roman section of the museum.”
“Museum? Greco-Roman?” The female king cobra asks confused.
“Let’s just go.” With that, Richard and the cobra make their way over to the Greco-Roman section of the museum. They face the Cyclops statue, and Richard asks, “Do you think you could bring this statue to life?”
The cobra raises an eyebrow at Richard’s request. “You want me to animate a statue? That’s an unusual request, even for me.”
Richard sighs. “Yes, I do.”
The cobra puts her hands on the Cyclops’ chest and chants in an archaic language, “Turn this cyclops from stone to flesh.” The statue changes from stone grays to greens. The eye glows a yellow and red color. As soon as the statue finishes changing, it stumbles around tiredly but manages to stay standing.
“Welcome, Cyclops, to the modern world,” Richard greets.
Cyclops groans, “Can either of you tell me where I am and where that Lovefur Monster is?”
“You’re in the Mask City Museum and I don’t know what a ‘Lovefur Monster’ is.” Richard explains.
“Well, if you can’t find the Lovefur Monster, can you at least tell me how my children and my army are doing?”
“Well, according to the plaque, it says that your children…erm…paired up with the Lovefur Monster’s children.”
Cyclops growls loudly at this revelation. The Lovefur Monster is his enemy, and for his children to mate with the enemy’s children is obscene. “I will destroy the tainted bloodline!” He yells.
“First, you have to take a DNA test to find the tainted bloodline. Then you can destroy it.” Richard says.
Richard and the cobra turn to each other. The female king cobra says, “I feel like we haven’t introduced ourselves properly. I’m Queen Cobra.”
“And I’m R-” Richard thinks about his name for a moment and decides that his real name might be used against him. “I’m Ram.”
“Funny.” Queen Cobra points out, tapping her finger on her cheek. “You don’t look like a ram. You look like a man with hooves and horns.”
“It’s a long story.” Ram looks away from Queen Cobra.
“I still need to make your new outfit, and that armor right behind you would be perfect for you to wear.” Queen Cobra points to said armor. “Why don’t you try that on?”
Richard goes to the armor and takes it out of its case. He puts it on with a little assistance from Queen Cobra. The helmet, however, is a different story. “Can you fix this helmet to fit it over my horns?”
“I can do even better than that.” Queen Cobra chants, “Change this armor to fit this ram.”
The armor becomes golden and shiny, as if looking brand new. The suit jacket and shirt become a gold long-sleeved shirt and gloves. The pants shorten and become a skirt. A brown cape and a brown strap form over the armor. Finally, the helmet forms itself around ram’s head.
The armor gleams under the dimly lit museum lights, reflecting off the polished marble floors. Ram feels the weight of his new identity on his shoulders. Queen Cobra summons a mirror for Ram to look at.
Ram slowly turns to the mirror, hesitant about his new appearance, before he finally sees his reflection. The person in the mirror is no longer the same man that he was yesterday, let alone a few months ago. In just a moment, Richard went from being a politician to being a cold-blooded warrior. He has killed off Richard Roe, both in the physical and metaphorical sense. He lifts the front of his helmet and says, “Thank you, Queen Cobra. This is perfect.”
“You’re welcome.” Queen Cobra poofs the mirror out of existence and Ram puts the front of the helmet back down. “So, why are we here?”
“Yeah, why are we here?” Cyclops asks.
“You’re here to help me take revenge against Coverton.” Ram answers. “More specifically, Mayor Parsley Rosemary, her assistant Sage Thyme, and the citizens of Coverton that remain human. They believe that they have superiority over the masks. They don’t know what it’s like to be a mask, to be an outsider.”
Ram continues, his voice steady but laced with anger. “Together, we’ll bring this town down to knees and show them that the mask is the superior species.”
“So, what do you want us to do?” Queen Cobra questions.
“Queen Cobra, your knowledge of dark sorcery and your venomous talents will be crucial to our success,” Ram replies. “Cyclops, your sheer force will turn any defenses they have into a mere joke.” Cyclops smirks, his eye gleaming with determination. Meanwhile, Queen Cobra flicks her tongue, already envisioning the chaos she could unleash. Ram adjusts his armor and declares, “This alliance will not falter, for it’s not just about revenge, it’s about reclaiming dignity and power!”
The air grows tense as the trio prepares for the challenges ahead. “Now that we’ve set our sights on Coverton, what’s the first thing we gotta do?” Cyclops asks.
“First, we have to free an old ‘friend’ of mine...” Richard schemes.