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“What happened?”
That’s all Eugene Krabs manages to say upon seeing the horror scene in the doorway of his restaurant. Pink. There’s neon pink everywhere, splattered across the two boys’ faces, limbs, and torsos, along with a pale… blue liquid, almost like the blood of his kind spattered and splashed across the young freckled face he knew well.
He blinked several times then looked at his cashier, Squidward, who had an equal look of shock and horror that the old man expected was on his face too. The humanoid octopus’ eyes were wide and he almost looked pale, his two humanoid arms hunched in surprise and the tentacle-like limbs attached below those curled up like how they usually did when the young man was anxious.
Eugene looked back and blinked again, his mind still unable to fully accept what his light green eyes were seeing. It was only a few minutes ago the two men had finished closing up the restaurant, the Krusty Krab, and were just about to leave when out of the dark blue night sky; SpongeBob and Patrick- and Sandy, he realized with a jolt, noticing the limp brown form Patrick had draped over his shoulders- burst through the glass doors, clearly shaken and the fry cook announcing in a voice Eugene had never heard him use that the trio had discovered the cause of the recent disappearances in the small, sleepy seaside town.
Both of the boys’ eyes— normally filled with life and excitement— were now dead and empty, staring beyond at something no one else could see. There was a small, tangible glimpse of horror and some kind of grief in them, but the main thing the old man could see was that both the lad’s bright blue eyes and his friend’s dark gray had both gone cold.
Eugene felt a small, icy stab in his chest and held back a cringe- he knew the look in the kids’ eyes too well. He’d seen it in his own and many other eyes after the war. That was the look of trauma.
“What- what are ya two covered in??” He asked, taking a few steps forward. SpongeBob had something in his hand, dragging next to legs. He didn’t look at it though- he was too busy looking at his employee’s face. “What happened?” He repeated. “Are you two kids alrig-“
There was a hard ‘clang’ and a soft, abrupt impact that made the old sailor grunt in surprise.
SpongeBob had lunged forward and grabbed the human-crab, hugging him tightly and clinging to the back of his shirt even tighter, as though they were in a hurricane and Krabs was the last anchor in Bikini Bottom. The boy was shaking like a freshly fallen palm leaf and with the sticky goop now squished onto the cotton, the manager was sure that he also felt hot tears springing up against him too.
The restaurant was silent for a few minutes, then Eugene heard an audible sniff from the lad and he felt a twinge of concern along with being taken aback.
He’d never seen the kid like this and he sure wasn’t a fan. Immediately he wanted answers, yeah- what did he mean, they knew who were behind all the kidnappings that had happened in the last weeks? What had happened to him, Patrick, and Sandy? And what in the deep blue sea had he just dropped that had just made a noise like THAT?
But that somehow was less important right now. First his employee— almost the son he never had- was clearly fazed by whatever happened some time ago, and was nothing like how he usually was.
Answers could wait.
“Hey…hey, it’s ok. Yer safe, boy-o.” He said softly, placing his hands carefully on the kid’s back, rubbing the (definitely) stained white shirt. He had never been much of a comforter, but through his soft, albeit awkward sentences, and his small crab-like limbs on his side also extending to hug SpongeBob seemed to calm the lad down enough to the point where he wasn’t shaking so much.
While that was happening, he heard a certain nasal voice mutter a small exclamation to Neptune, and he looked.
Squidward had apparently gotten a hold on himself and snapped his mind back to reality, grabbing Sandy’s legs and helped Patrick set the squirrel-human hybrid on her back on a nearby table, her head lolling to one side.
Now Eugene really cringed and he heard Squidward inhale sharply, slightly gagging at the sight of the red trickle of blood flowing down her brown hair and across her head, now dripping onto the freshly cleaned tabletop. She was still breathing- that was seen from her rising chest but her eyes were half-closed and her ears weren’t twitching like how they normally did when she was just asleep. She was almost completely motionless and with a huge gash on her forehead— NOT a good sign.
Once Squidward got over the blood and shock, he sprung into action and ran to the kitchen, looking for the first aid kit.
Patrick stood there, looking numb, and slowly pulling his hands up to rest in the crick of his elbows, as if to hug himself but he couldn’t put in the effort. None of the blue liquid was on the larger kid, just the pink stuff, like a neon, icky variant of his hair color, tail, and ears. However, he had a much larger quantity of it on his whole body than SpongeBob, like they both had a water balloon fight with neon blood.
“What in Neptune’s name happened to Sandy?” Eugene asked, eyes still mostly on the unconscious squirrel as Squidward emerged with the kit. The latter’s yellow-red eyes locked with the formers’, also stating the same question. Sandy was one heck of a tough girl, so what could’ve done this to her?
SpongeBob immediately reacted to that, heaving a dry sob and burying his face deeper into his boss’s chest. His ears and tail scrunched in fear and sorrow, blond hair smushing and slightly unraveling.
“They-they hit her in the…head.” Patrick answered, voice breaking and swallowing thickly.
“Who did?” The octopus and crab said in unison, Eugene now gently patting the fry cook’s head, slightly regretting asking how Sandy ended up this way in the first place. Squidward kept putting gauze on Sandy’s head wound but obviously his interest was peaked.
Patrick mumbled something unintelligible.
“M-Mr. Krabs?” Squidward called out. “Yep.” He responded, giving SpongeBob one more soft squeeze before sitting him down at the table closest to them both. He made his way over and the turquoise-haired man gestured to keep wrapping her while he took out his cell phone. Clearly he was getting an ambulance. Eugene nodded and tried to keep his hands steady, finishing the bandage. It wasn’t much, but from what he remembered in the Navy it was sturdy enough.
“911? Yeah, my-my coworker and his friends just stumbled in and I think one of them was whacked in the head really hard…”
“Patrick?” The manager said, turning around. The pink-haired boy wasn’t there anymore. Where had he— ah.
The sponge and sea star were sitting down side-by-side, Patrick’s strong arms wrapped around SpongeBob’s thin shoulders, their faces smooshed up against each other, holding on for dear life. Tears rolled down SpongeBob’s face, but he didn’t cry. He wasn’t even sniffling, just… letting his hands fall on his knees.
Eugene sighed. He had never seen the boy like this. He was always so alive and abuzz, jumping around, singing, running around happily, causing mayhem and laughter. Now he was just…in shock.
Patrick wasn’t much better, with the way he was equally holding on back. His eyes were wide and his big hands shuddered slightly, shaken by what happened to their friend.
That in of itself was concerning. Sandy was the tough lass of everything. She could stare down a Leviathan without flinching and break a coral tree in half with punches to spare. But Patrick? He was strong too. He was the rock, Eugene noticed, of the kids he knew. Whenever people needed to cry, usually Patrick was there to offer a shoulder or something like that. Of course he was doing that now but still he was never this fazed.
“Hey, boys…” Eugene spoke softly, making a mental note to grab a blanket for both of them if they had any. They both looked up but didn’t say anything.
“Who did this?” He repeated. “Who’s ‘they’?”
They stayed silent for a few minutes until Patrick swallowed again and pointed to the doorway. “Those things.”
Eugene finally looked and saw what SpongeBob had been holding, and his mind refused to simply process what lied across the floorboards, leaking more pink goo onto the wood. It looked like a robot, similar to Plankton’s work. But Krabs knew the look of that green pest’s inventions, and this was NOT one of that little freak’s doing. This was sleek, and vibrant in a way, almost…otherworldly. It looked somewhat like the top half of a human-based robot, with a shiny, silver, polished ‘skeleton’ with bright pink highlights and hexagonal symbols, all encased in a blue, almost jelly-like layer that looked like gelatin but when he bent to touch it he found it was more like a strange kind of plastic.
“What the hell…” Eugene muttered, cautiously tracing his hard, clawed fingers along the exoskeleton, getting a little of the pink stuff on them. It felt like…oil?
He looked back at the two friends, now slightly more on edge. THESE were the things that were slinking around town, grabbing random people like Fred and that reporter man- Perch Percy or whatever? The old man hadn’t taken those broadcasts on the news seriously, he had to admit, but now knowing what was happening, he couldn’t help but feel a cold chill in the pit of his stomach. He even thought of Pearl, his little girl (well, ‘little’ was a bit of an overstatement.) who was over at a friend’s house, and he felt the urge to call her, just to know she was okay. Anxiety- something he didn’t feel often- swirled, mixing with the ice.
“What is this thing??” He wondered out loud, half-asking the kids.
Patrick had his head buried in SpongeBob’s neck, unable to answer. That, or he was asleep.
SpongeBob gulped and squirmed. “I…I dunno. But they’re the ones that have been taking everyone. I’m sure of it. We saw them loading Old Man Jenkins, Don the Whale, and a bunch of others into these cages…” he shuddered.
Squidward thanked the operator and hung up. “Ambulance is on the way.” He said grimly, walking back over to Sandy and keeping an eye on her. Then he saw what Krabs was halfway kneeling over and retched at the sight of it being ripped in half with that weird pink oil everywhere.
“I…” SpongeBob’s eyes lingered on the torn midsection of the alien android with a strange expression.
“I think they called themselves the Kraang?”