Claus glared up at the large bearded man that reeked of bananas and sweat as the man whispered hushed commands to both boys. The village was finally changing for the worst as more and more buildings were cheaply erected and roads paved over grassy meadows and fields. This man was encouraging the use of 'Happy Boxes', something he and Lucas had never trusted ever since the start, despite the weariness of the rest of the village.
"You two need to stay out of my hair!" Hissed Fassad as he brought a hand up to jab Lucas in the chest, which caused Claus to reach out and slap his hand. With an overzealous cry Fassad leapt back and held his hand to his chest.
"Y-You little biting heathen!" He shrieked which roused the crowd he had managed to pull in around the fountain that was once a well. "You and your brother have turned into beasts! Animals! Creatures of wrong doing! All because you have constantly refused to let happiness into your hearts!" Fassad turned to preach to the audience he had. "People of Tazmilly! Please, do not turn to violence such as these two have! Bring happiness into your homes and happiness will bring you peace!"
Both boys sneered at the man, but Lucas started to slink away when he heard the soft murmurings and mutterings of the people he once trusted. He turned and started back up the path and Claus trailed after him once he got a few under his breath curses out. Both boys walked out of the modernized town and started up the sidewalk, no real destination in mind.
"What is his deal?" Claus grumbled as he shoved his hands into his shorts pockets "I didn't bite him and he was clearly hurting you!"
"He wasn't hurting me but he still over reacted!" Lucas spat as he mimicked his brother's pose.
"He totally was hurting you, I saw that frown on your face!"
"I just don't like being touched by people who smell like bananas!" He grumbled, Claus snorted at that as he brought a hand to his shoulder.
"Fine, he wasn't hurting you." He mused "He was just avoiding touching me! Cause if he touched me I would've totally bitten him!"
Lucas snickered and pushed at Claus "If he touched you he wouldn't even be able to eat another banana again!"
"Yeah! Y'know what, we should go back there and get him to jab at my chest that way I can knock his lights out!"
"Yeah we sh- We're getting too riled up over this." Lucas sighed "Let's just leave him alone and look for the source of this whole dilemma."
"You mean the people behind the pig masks?"
"Uh huh! Someone has to be ordering them around! If we can stop that person, we can stop the destruction of the village!"
"Heck, we can stop the destruction of the entire island! You've seen what they've done to the forest, who knows what else they've done!"
"You're right!" Lucas gasped "but… Where do we start?"
"Should we ask Uncle Alec what to do? His house is a bit far away, but if we run it'll be a lot faster!"
"...Yeah, let's go for it!" Lucas smiled and started running down the sidewalk, over towards the dirt path that led to the small shrine just before the forest. "Uncle Alec always knows what to do!" Lucas sung. Claus laughed as he tried to keep up with his sibling, but once they started seeing trees he found himself surpassing Lucas. Poor blond was getting side tracked by flying mice and chicken heads on snake bodies, which was pretty funny to Claus, but he wasn't gonna stop and help him. Lucas can take care of himself, he's shown he's a pretty good fighter. Guess his dweeby brother was finally growing to be a strong boy.
Claus continued to run through the mostly cleared forest; he ran from most of the dangers within it, like the mice and the living shrubs that wanted nothing more than to trip him up. When he reached the dirt pathway that started to lead up to the mountains, he turned and called out at Lucas.
"I got here fiiiirst! C'mon Lucas ya rotten egg! Catch up!" He teased from a distance, but he was a bit surprised at the lack of a running blond. He pursed his lips, waited another few moments, and brought his hands up to cup around his mouth to project his voice.
"Lucas?! Lucas are you okay?!" He called, the silence being too worrying to him. He took a few steps forward, squinted to look out into the charred remains of the forest, and was horribly startled by the sound of a squeal behind him. He turned around sharply and was greeted by a strange sight. A white pigmask. It was so foreign to Claus, he'd only ever seen pink before, and occasionally blue, but white?
His confusion only lasted a small moment as the pig mask squealed again. From behind came a troop of about four green pigmasks. Now there's green? Heckin' green? But again, Claus' confusion only lasted a small moment as the green pig masks charged him.
"C-Commander! What are you doing out here?!" Cried one of the pigmasks that reached out to grab onto his left arm. He tried to shake that pigmask off, but another reached out to snatch up his other arm.
"You idiot, this isn't the commander! Our commander wears different clothes!" He yanked Claus by his arm, which caused him to stumble and bump into the side of the pigmask.
"He still looks strikingly similar to our commander!" Another pigmask said as he drew his gun.
"I-Is it casual Friday? Does the commander do that?" The final pigmask asked. He then turned and looked at the white and caped pigmask. "S-Sir, are you making the call?"
"Y-Yes, give me a moment and I'll be back with the results!" The Colonel yelled as he took the phone he was given and began to hammer in numbers.
Claus glared and tried to yank his arms away from the vice like grip of the pigmasks, anger starting to set in.
"I-I don't know what's going on, or what you guys want, but if you hurt my brother I swear you all are in a world of pain!" Claus shouted as he tried to kick out at the pigmasks. The kicking got a startled pig-like squeal out of a few as one drew his baton and struck out at Claus' knees. Claus shouted in pain at the various whacks he got with it as his legs gave out from under him. The pigmasks however didn't seem to mind having to lift the small boy, he didn't weigh that much to begin with so it was no skin off their ugly pig noses.
The phone began to ring at the other end, and luckily there was a rather eager servant there to answer it. Another fellow Colonel picked up the phone.
"Hello? Who is this?" He shouted into the phone.
"I-It's me, the Colonel of Sector A7. I wanted to ask about the state of the commander."
The other Colonel looked down at the phone then back at the large crib-like machine that was situated towards the window. With a hard swallow the Colonel took the dial pad in one hand, held the phone out towards the crib, and waddled towards it.
"S-Sir, it's Sector A7. Th-They wish to speak to you about the commander." He quaked in his boots as he watched the cradle turn around with its spider-like appendages, revealing the living corpse that laid inside. With a strained wheeze, the king sat up within his cradle and held his hand out.
"Give me the phone." He gurgled out. The Colonel shuffled closer once more and handed him the phone as he held the dial pad out for him.
"What is it? What do you idiots need now? Your commander gave you your orders, why aren't you following them?!" He yelled into the phone. After that outburst he fell into a harsh cough.
The Colonel of A7 winced at the spluttering coughs of his king, but he wasn't going to shake this issue off. He waited until King Porky finished his coughing fit before continuing.
"Y-Yes, our commander gave us orders. A-And we were following through with that order! H-However… We found something we-we thought you would like to hear!" He said, forcing a cheery tone to his voice.
King Porky cocked a brow under that mat of hair as he purred into the phone. "Go on."
"W-Well, we found a boy th-that looks rather similar to our commander!" That roused a ghost of a gasp out of Porky "A-And he's in our hands at the moment! We have him captured!"
Claus glared at the speaking Colonel and, despite his distance, he shouted out at him. "Like HELL do you have me captured!" That phrase earned him a swift baton to the face. The pigmasks holding the poor boy seemed to enjoy hurting the young ginger. Maybe it was just a bit of pent up aggression towards the actual commander. Oh how Porky absolutely loved that thing almost as much as he loved himself.
Porky chuckled lowly at the faint sound of the voice over the phone. He thought he had finally captured Lucas. He was gonna have some fun with the blond when he finally got his hands on him. He looked over at the robot that stood on standby in the corner of the room, his lips curling into a devilish smirk.
"Where are you at the moment?"
"W-We're at the forest! By the canyon!"
"The forest we burnt down?"
"Y-Yes!"
"I'm sending the commander over there. You idiots can't be trusted with something as simple as babysitting a monster in a cage let alone being trusted with a child!" He mocked, basking in the fact that he could feel the Colonel shriveling up at that. Indeed the Colonel of Sector A7 was cringing at his insult, but he bit his lip under his mask and continued forth.
"O-Okay sir, we will await for his arrival."
"You better not lose the kid!" He growled into the phone just before he hung up. He slammed the phone down onto the dial pad, almost sending the other Colonel by his side to the floor. Despite being an old man, he still surprised his men with his bursts of strength. Porky laid back in his bed, took a few deep breaths, and pointed at the masked man that stood in the shadows of the facility.
"You! Come here!" Porky commanded, and the masked man stepped forward and over to the cradle. "Yes, my little monster. What a good little beast, you're so much better than those bumbling idiots. I need you to go to their location. They're on the outskirts of that wretched village, by the burnt forest, do you understand?" Porky said as he reached out to roughly grip the masked man's shoulder. The man nodded and turned after Porky released him from his icy grip. Without another word or even a look, the masked man was off to go collect their prize.
On the other hand the pigmasks were having a bit of an issue.
"Are you sure he isn't just the commander in casual clothing?" The pigmask with the baton mumbled.
"I'm sure of it!" Another crowed.
"How are you so sure he isn't the commander?"
"Our commander doesn't moan and groan and whine like this one does!" He said, motioning towards a very angry Claus with his gun.
"I don't moan or groan you bird brains!" Claus barked, which earned him a hit to the gut from the baton wielding pigmask.
"Yeah, you're right. Our commander is a lot quieter than that!" The one with the baton snorted as he waved the baton in front of Claus' pained face. Just as he said that their Colonel waddled forward, his cape blowing in the breeze as he tucked his phone into his belt.
"Good news, this isn't our commander!"
A collective sigh of relief escaped all of the pigmasks surrounding Claus.
"However, the commander is coming here to pick him up."
"What?! Why is he coming here?!" One pigmask squealed as his grip on Claus' arm tightened.
"Yeah! Why is he coming?!"
"W-Well… The king said we can't be trusted with him."
"That's a stupid reason!" Another pigmask grunted out "We could totally take this kid to Porky himself!"
"Yeah, and we'd do it a lot faster than that stupid commander!"
"I know I know we can do better than the commander, but think of it this way." He turned to Claus. "What if he's sending the killing machine to pick him up just in case King Porky needs to get info out of him?! Interrogate him with his strongest weapon!"
All of the pigmasks gasped, it making the most sense to them. They started to oink out of approval as they shook Claus.
"Yeah! You're right! He probably wants to scare the kid into talking!"
"And then probably wants to dump him into the ocean right after!"
Claus sat there as his eyes widened. Was he gonna seriously be killed? Just like that? Oh god he hoped not.
"Y-You're all insane!" He cried out as he tried to kick out at the pigmasks. The one with the baton stuck out at his legs, despite the forming bruises on his knees. Claus cried out again in pain, but the pigmask didn't stop there. He wanted to shut the boy up, even if it was temporary, so he brought his baton up high and struck the back of his head.
Claus saw stars for a moment before darkness overcame his vision, his heart started to race at the idea of being plucked from life so easily. When his body relaxed in the pigmask's grip, they all began to bicker amongst each other.
"D-Did you kill him?!" Shrieked the Colonel as he placed his hands up to his mask's cheeks.
"N-No! I didn't! I-I couldn't have!" He screamed as he brought his gloved hand down to press two fingers to Claus' neck. There was a moment of silence before he sighed in relief and the tense atmosphere was sliced in two. He was actually feeling his own blood pumping rather than Claus', but luckily Claus was still alive regardless. Porky was right, these guys are idiots. Regardless of rank.
Each pigmask took turns insulting the baton wielder mercilessly, each one coming up with more and more creative curses to insult this piggy idiot. The insults stopped once a loud fwoosh sounded behind the group and a strong gust of warm wind blew over them. The Colonel gulped as he turned around to look at the masked man that had just landed before them all.
The Colonel brought a hand up to his forehead, saluting the masked man. The other majors dropped what they were doing to turn and salute the masked man as well. They ended up releasing Claus' limp body, which flopped over with a soft thud as the majors saluted. The masked man's wings retracted into his back once both feet were on the ground, and he didn't even look any of the pigmasks in the eyes as he walked towards the crumpled heap of boy he was told to retrieve.
The majors by Claus all parted away to give the masked man room. The Colonel slowly stepped closer.
"W-We're sorry we didn't have the carpet ready for you sir. I-I have it now if you would like it! It's in the ship!" He said, his form bouncing as he tried to convey some kind of cheer.
The masked man didn't reply to him as he knelt down onto his knee near Claus. A soft exhale was heard from the masked man. That caused the pigmasks to worry as they watched him carefully. The masked man brought his left hand up to his face, bit the glove, and slid it off. Once his hand was bare he brought it down to Claus' neck to press two fingers to his neck near his jaw. Already he was obviously more intelligent than the pigmasks, as he actually got a proper pulse from Claus. The Colonel reached out to pluck the glove from the masked man's mouth.
"H-here, let me get that for you!" He sung and held the glove by it's thumb and little finger. The masked man turned his head slowly towards the Colonel and he held his hand up for it to be put back on. The Colonel muttered "oh" and slid the glove back on properly and the masked man pulled away once that was done. The majors all stood stiffly as they watched the masked man grip onto one of the belt loops in Claus' shorts. Without warning his wings expanded, clocking the poor Colonel in the head in the process.
The Colonel was out like a light as he flopped back onto the grass, but the masked man didn't care. Instead he allowed the wings to fire up, and soon he was hovering with his new load. He gave the majors one last look over before ascending to the skies, leaving nothing behind besides an out cold Colonel. When you only had a single hand to use, it was pretty tedious holding things. He was grateful that Claus was out cold, since it was now similar to carrying a load of boxes or a very small clayman.
He spoke too soon.
Claus mumbled softly as he started to awake from his forced slumber. He mumbled his sibling's name and slurred a soft question as his eyes began to focus. What they focused on scared the life out of poor Claus. It was a top down view of numerous buildings and trees from the highest point he had ever been at, and to say Claus screamed was an understatement. He shrieked like a banshee as he tried to grab onto what was holding him, his eyes glued to the ground as he felt like his death was coming soon. Holy shit they legit wanted to kill Claus! They really did!
Claus began to squirm and kick uselessly, not quite liking the flimsy hold on his belt loop, or at least he deemed it flimsy. The masked man glared down at Claus from behind his mask, angry that he had awoken, but he was far too high up to do anything about it. Claus gripped onto the masked man's wrist, sounding like on the verge of tears as he shrieked out a "Let me up! Please!"
He turned back to try and look up at the machine currently dangling him over the town, but he froze when he saw a human face staring at him. Another girly shriek tore its way out of his throat as both hands reached to try and get this man off of him. He'd rather fall and deal with the consequences with that rather than be whisked around by a human helicopter.
The masked man sneered slightly as the kid attempted to pry his grip from his shorts. The more he squirmed the more his shorts were slightly tugged down. Soon enough he'd be slipping out of his shorts and falling to the world below, and the masked man didn't want that to happen. With a heave he yanked the boy upwards by his pants, listened to him shriek as he released his hold, and then watched him drop a bit before reaching out to snatch up his ankle.
Claus bit his lip as his leg was stretched out, the bruises from the earlier beatings causing the pain in his knee to flare up. Though the boy looked upwards towards the masked man, brows furrowed as he glared at the underside of his face. The thing just started ignoring him, how cruel. Claus grunted as he hung upside down, and he felt his face growing warm, which was accompanied by the smell of burning gasoline. His eyes wandered to stare up at the masked man's expanded wings, and he immediately thought this thing was a demon out of hell.
"L-Let me go you b-beast!" Claus yelled as he attempted to strike out at the masked man's hand. The masked man looked down at Claus with the blankest expression as he watched him kick out at his hand. After taking a few hits he gave Claus a rather harsh shake by yanking him up and letting gravity do the rest. Claus squeaked out of fear of being dropped, but his kicks subsided as he glared at the masked man.
"Where are you even taking me?! Why are you even taking me?! I'm not gonna help you guys do anything so tough luck!" He called out to the unresponsive creature. Claus started to grow frustrated at the lack of speaking, so he brought his other leg up again to try and kick his way free. "If you're the one behind this I'm going to kill you when we land! No if, ands, or butts about it! I'll fricking kill you!"
The threat of death caused the masked man to stare down at Claus, the stare sent a cold chill down Claus' spine as he tried to focus on the eyes that were mostly hidden by the visor. A heavy pit was lodged in his stomach as he stared longer and longer at this unblinking beast, and then it hit him. That face looked awfully familiar. His lip quivered as he tried to dislodge any bad thoughts. No, this couldn't have been Lucas. Lucas is so much stronger than this! Like hell would that little blond boy give up and fall into doing evil! Especially when he had his back turned for only a few seconds! That's when Claus began to grow suspicious of the events that led up to this point. Where was Lucas?
The Empire Porky building was now beginning to come into view as well as the mostly deserted and in progress New Pork City. Claus started up his speaking once again.
"If you hurt a single hair on Lucas' head I will have your head mounted up on my fireplace! And you'll have a plaque that reads 'Trophy number 205, idiot in a suit'!"
That quip didn't get much out of the masked man as he flew upwards towards the highest floor of the Empire Porky building. They were getting close and Claus was dreading what was awaiting him. To be fair, if you were being lugged around by your ankle while you were about 100 feet in the air and ascending you'd be dreading anything too.
Awaiting peacefully by the window laid Porky, his crib facing away from the glass as he planned out what to do with the blond boy. Threaten him a bit, maybe insult him, make sure he made himself seem better than him, and then send him off to the chimera lab. Two masked men are better than one, and it's two birds with one stone too! Two PK Loving little birds. Porky turned in his crib as he heard the masked man outside of his window, the sound of his wings burning fuel gave him away.
"The window's open my little canary!" Porky called out, a flurry of coughs attacking his lungs at the strain of his voice. The masked man then scanned the window, looking for the bit that Porky claimed was 'opened', but that was the catch. There was no 'opened' portion of the window, it was all just one giant bit of glass. The masked man didn't think twice, once it was confirmed there was no opened portion, he reeled back and used his momentum and hard mask to smash the glass that separated him and his owner. The sound of glass crashing was one Porky wanted, mainly to yell at his bot for.
"You IDIOT!" Porky yelled as his crib turned around to face the now broken window. The masked man eased him and his victim down onto the floor. Claus' head hit the ground first before the masked man landed, but he didn't seem to pay him much heed as the wings retracted into his back. Claus tried to get a better look at the giant spider he saw, but his current position and his stinging head prevented him from doing so. Though that voice began to grate on his nerves.
"The window was open you mutant! You could have flown in like a good little minion but no! You had to break the window!" Porky sneered as he turned to fully face the masked man and the boy. "Now you're going to have to pay for the damage. Oh wait! I don't pay you!" Porky laughed a bit too hard at that, but the masked man didn't even flinch or blink during that whole ordeal. It seemed like Porky was barking up the wrong tree if he wanted a reaction.
"Now, is that how you hold a friend?" Porky sneered as he looked down to the folded body of the boy he sent his 'son' after. The masked man looked down at Claus, released his leg, bent down, and hoisted him up by his shirt collar. Claus winced but immediately shoved out at the masked man. Big mistake. When the masked man was shoved his knee jerk reaction was to swing his blaster arm, and that decked Claus right in the side of the head, causing the poor boy to see stars as he collapsed for the second time in the span of about an hour or so.
Porky laughed at that, finding great joy in his creation carrying out his duties. The demon glared at the orange haired boy, and in a fit of rage, pulled his leg back and kicked at his stomach. Claus however grunted and attempted to sit up to try and retaliate despite his vision not being the best at the moment. Though those thoughts were stomped out once the masked man reached down and yanked him up by his ice cream hair.
"My, aren't you the fighter!" Porky teased as he leaned forward in his bed to get a better look at Claus. "Those bruised knees look good on you. May I ask how you earned those?" He sounded like such a smug bastard and even looked like one with that stupid smirk on his face.
Claus glared at Porky, not even phased by his looks. "I-I got them from your stupid pigs!" He spat, which roused more chortling laughter from Porky.
"I can't believe you got beat up by those bumbling idiots! Lucas, the boy that was supposed to save humanity, bested by a bunch of morons in suits!" Porky started to bang his hand against his bed he was laughing so hard, but he stopped laughing at Claus' words.
"Whaddya mean Lucas got bested by those idiots?! He's stronger than that, like hell would he be taken down by them!"
Porky leaned forward some more in his bed. He placed a hand to the side to hold himself in place as he squinted to see Claus better. This wasn't Lucas.
"Those IMBECILES!" Porky shouted, he brought a hand down to bang against the bed, causing it to rumble as Claus' glare held strong. "They bring me the wrong boy! Of course they would mess up like this! Of course!" He wheezed loudly as he relaxed from his outburst. Oh that was not good for his heart. Though during his relaxing he looked at Claus more closely. Then he looked at his masked man. They looked strikingly similar, startling so!
"You. Monster. Lift up your mask for a moment." Porky ordered the masked man to do so, and without another word he used the barrel of his blaster to tilt the mask upwards. Claus looked over at the creature that was dragging him around and he felt his heart sink. Now that he saw his face better, he was almost certain that was Lucas. The eyes, the cheeks, even the jawline was oh so familiar to his beloved brother. He felt tears welling up in his eyes at the thought of his brother falling into this madness like this, until he noted something further up. Orange hair.
Claus swallowed hard as he brought a hand up to swing at the masked man's face, effectively punching him as well as knocking the helmet clean off of him. The masked man threw Claus off to the side as he stumbled away from him, holding a hand to his now aching face.
"Don't you hurt my child!" Porky snarled as his crib lurched forward. Claus flinched at the sight of that giant junk of metal teetering towards him, but he stayed strong as he tried to get a better look at the monster. The once masked man pulled his hand away to look at Claus, and Claus felt his heart sink. That was him. That was him and there was no doubt about it. The mutant brought his blaster arm outward and aimed it at Claus, it beginning to fire up as Claus looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Now now, let us all relax here!" Porky coughed. A devilish idea began to creep up into his mind as he looked to Claus. "Maybe our little guest has stuff we want. My little animal, would you please do the honors?"
Claus started to try and crawl away when he saw the thing stride forward, but he found himself stuck once he brought his hand down to roughly grab his ankle. With Claus now stuck in place and the blaster pointed at him, Porky began.
"Where is Lucas?" He growled out, the spider legs of his crib beginning to creep closer to both boys.
"I-I don't know!" Claus shrieked. Porky tsked and Claus could see the beam beginning to start within the barrel of the blaster.
"Wrong answer! Answer correctly and you won't lose your life!"
"I-I really don't know where he is!" He sobbed out. The hum of the blaster started up and Porky grinned.
"One more time, tell me where Lucas is!"
"I-I don't-" Before Claus could get out his answer, the Colonel from before rushed into the fray.
"S-Sir! The boy and his weird friends are heading for Thunder Tower!" The Colonel cried out as he barged in through the doors. He didn't even manage to salute as he looked to the strange scene before him. Porky wore a frightening smile as he spoke out at the Colonel.
"Go after them! Make sure they don't try anything within the tower!"
The Colonel nodded, saluted, and turned to run out of the throne room. Once the large doors were heard shutting and the elevator began whirring he chuckled darkly.
"My perfect little child. Take your new friend to the chimera labs." Porky ordered. The child Porky adored oh so much nodded, and released Claus' leg to bring his foot down on his shin. Claus screamed in pain as he brought that leg closer to his chest, his hands reaching out to press a hand against his shin as the masked man ran off to retrieve his mask. Once the mask was situated back onto his head, he charged Claus, snatched up his other leg, allowed his wings to spring out, and he flew out of the hole he made earlier, all in one swift motion. Porky laid back and laughed, the idea of another mindless child got him in a good mood.
Claus didn't even seem to protest the fact that he was back in the air once more. He was too busy trying to process how in the world there were two hims. Something had to have happened, something major. Lucas was here one moment, gone the next, and suddenly he was at this 'Thunder Tower', something he had never heard of! How could a boy who couldn't even beat Claus in a race move around so quickly?! As he thought his eyes began to wander to the masked man that was more than upset at this boy. He would've killed the boy if it weren't for the fact that he was an essential piece at this point. That and Porky would have him be some kind of lamp if he messed up that bad.
Claus took a deep breath, collected his thoughts, and spoke out to the masked man.
"You don't have to do this." He said sternly. "Y-You're so much better than this! What would Lucas say?!" He shouted, expecting an answer. Tough luck, the masked man was as silent as a cold winter night.
"He would be so upset with you! And what about dad?! Dad would ground you for twenty years to come!"
He didn't seem to care about that.
"Claus just listen to me!" He shouted, finding it strange to say his own name. Though, the mention of his own name got the bot to look down at him. Finally.
"Are you listening? I hope you are! Cause you're doing horrible things right now!" Annnnd turns out it was just his doppelganger making sure he was still there.
"Claus you aren't like this! You're a kid that likes to fight and make friends! Not a mindless slave to some fat kid in a cradle!" He bellowed, hearing his voice echo over the mountains below. Still there was nothing from the masked man.
"What about mom?!" He shrieked. That got a response from him. A very startled look. Claus took a deep breath and started belting off his complaints. "Mom wouldn't want you to do this! She loved you and cared for you and this is what you grow up to be?!" He shouted, his own heart sinking as he was forced to recall his mother's death, tears starting at the corners of his eyes. Though it seemed to be falling all on deaf ears as the masked man just stared down at Claus.
"H-Hinawa wouldn't have wanted this!" He wailed as he brought his leg up to kick at his hand again. The tears at his eyes trickled upwards along his forehead, and fell down to the ground below. "S-She wanted you to be great and strong! Not s-some idiot's lackey!" He tried to bend upwards to try to get himself free. "Your f-family's all disappointed in you! M-Mom especially! She wanted the best a-and you go and stab her in the b-back!" He screamed.
Though the masked man slowly turned his head away to look at the approaching labs. Claus frowned and adverted his blurry vision to the labs. They were as ominous as they came. He continued to hiccup and sob, now into his hands, as they landed right outside of the labs. Claus' head hit the ground for a moment, until he was raised once more. The masked man raised Claus up by the leg he held and seemed to hold him over his shoulder; he held the ankle outward slightly as he made sure the bend of his knee was nestled against his shoulder, limiting any attempts at movement from that leg for the moment. Claus' back was pressed against the masked man's, he felt the warmth the wings emitted against his lower back.
A shaky sigh left Claus' lips as he watched the world shake around him with every step the masked man took. He felt the cool air conditioning once both boys stepped in and he heard the squealing of multiple pigmasks saluting their commander. He didn't even bother looking at them as he cried his last few tears. He watched the walls pass him and he looked at everything at such a strange and upside down perspective. A sniffle shook his small and battered body as he heard a door open and watched the doorway pass.
Once the masked man was in the room, he released Claus from his grip, causing him to fall on his head on the tile floor. Claus groaned in pain as he flopped over, but the masked man was more concerned with closing and locking the door than with the boy. Once that was done he reached down to grab Claus by his shoulder to hoist him up. Once up onto his feet, he saw what was in store for him.
A huge threatening machine that looked like it could yank his limbs from his body and reattach them at the flip of a switch. And that's what the masked man started to push him towards.
Claus shrieked and tried to escape from his grip on his shoulder, but he was quickly yanked back and onto his butt. The blaster was now aimed at him as the masked man grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hoisting him up yet again by it. Now Claus was getting tired of this. Without another thought Claus brought his fist back and decked the masked man in the jaw, causing him to release his hold on him and stumble back, similar to how it was back at the tower.
He could have sworn he heard that thing cursing, but it was hard to tell whispers from whirring metal. Claus still booked it and he ran for the chemicals he saw sitting upon a table. The masked man grit his teeth and charged at Claus, but Claus grabbed a beaker and splashed its contents onto his face.
That stopped him dead in his tracks as he lurched back to assess the damage. Electricity sparked off of him as Claus expected some kind of face melting going on, but instead saw a very angry and sparky masked man. He looked between the beaker and the masked man, trying to figure out what had occurred. Until he smelled blueberries in the air. It was blueberry juice. He just splashed blueberry juice onto a threatening beast and maybe made it sticky. God pigmasks were stupid.
The masked man charged forward and pushed Claus with his blaster, shoving him into the corner of a near by command input used for the machine that laid in the middle of the room. Claus shouted and collapsed into a heap as he placed a hand to his lower back, the pain being nearly unbearable there. The masked man could have dragged him off right then and there, but he didn't.
Instead he stood over Claus, his blaster whirring up as the energy inside emitted a blue glow. Claus cowered and scooted away as he looked up at his face. It was animalistic, like the bot had finally snapped. His jaw was clenched, teeth bared, eyes wide, and his breathing was heavy. He saw his chest rising and falling with great fervor and he wondered just how robotic this thing was.
The blaster though didn't let Claus think too much as he backed up into a corner, knees to his chest as he felt weak and vulnerable. The masked man didn't approach him, only followed him with his eyes and his blaster.
And then there was a roar followed by a crash.
That snapped the masked man out of his aggressive fit. He leaned back to stare at the door as the sound of heavy footsteps pattered past it. The sounds of many squealing pigmasks signified it was absolute chaos outside. The masked man looked back at Claus, sneered, and ran towards the door. Claus sighed in relief as he watched him unlock the door and slam it behind himself as he left. He thought he could finally escape and be free from this mess. Until he heard a thud at the door.
The masked man outside was not one to let his victim escape. Before he left he made sure there were no windows around the lab, and thankfully there weren't, so he settled for jamming the lock. He locked the door before he left, stepped back outside, brought his foot back, and kicked at the door frame where the lock held strong. It dented the lock slightly, now making it near impossible for anyone to open that door. Except it was possible for the masked man. And maybe a couple of people with drills. But until then, Claus was stuck like a stick in the mud.
Claus sat on the floor of the lab as he assessed his injuries, then stood to get a good look around. His first instinct was to try the door, but he found it to be jammed as he jimmied the handle. He exhaled deeply as he banged his hand against the door once and turned away.
"Lucas I hope you're okay." He muttered under his breath as he hobbled around the lab aimlessly. Time to try and find a way out of this mess.