Warning: This is the second of the three chapters I feel the need to put this on, but here's another content warning. A lot of very real, very painful subjects are gonna be dragged into the light. Those of you who know Mad Dawg may have an idea where this is going, but I'm copying a message from the end of a chapter from another story at the bottom. Take care.
Also, I wrote most of this BEFORE the most recent Activision-Blizzard suit came out. Just… dude. That's horrific, and I'm on the side of those who have been hurt, I'm not trying to excuse anything.
"ThatgrinningbastardImgonnashovethatcanesofaruphisassitllcomeouthismouthand-"
"Ah, Mad Dawg. I've been looking for you." Alastor remarked, stopping Dawg dead in his tracks. After talking with Vaggie, Mad Dawg had realized something, and that something made him really angry. So, he was stupidly going to confront the source of the issue.
"As have I." Mad Dawg replied, his response taking Alastor aback somewhat.
"Oh, really? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Alastor inquired, seeming already all-too-amused.
"What the hell did you do to Vaggie?!"
"…pardon?"
"She said she saw that weird shadow-thing you have, and then she woke up in the cage in Imp City. You clearly had something to do with that, and I wanna know what."
"You really think I'd waste my time with something so-"
"Oh, don't you start with that! This is EXACTLY what you'd do!" Mad Dawg cut in, annoyed. "You're always going on about 'entertainment' and crap like that, so do us both a favour and drop the act."
"You're playing a very dangerous game, Kace." Alastor spoke, his voice more unsettling and metallic than Dawg had ever heard. But the fear was replaced with anger. Anger at that name… "For some unknown reason, you seem to think you're indestructible down here, and while I will admit, you do intrigue me, you are also much more fragile than I think you're willing to admit."
"Same can be said for you." Dawg retorted, refusing to give Alastor any ground in this fight. "Take away the microphone and demon powers, and what are you? You're just some guy. There's nothing memorable about you, there's nothing scary about you, and the other thing to note… no one knows who you are." Mad Dawg didn't know why he was talking like this, but anger was kinds pushing him forward right now.
"Ha!" Alastor laughed, his tone rather cruel now. "All of hell knows who I am! I, am the Radio Dem-"
"No, you're not. You're an urban legend in hell, back above, you may have been known for killing some people, but times change. Your crimes will be remembered, then forgotten. In time, no one will even know who the heck you were."
"They say pride and vanity are two of the most lethal sins, Kace."
"I'm sorry, am I the one who broadcasts all my actions across hell like a twenty-something Twitch streamer desperate to get donations from naked forty-something neckbeards sweating in their basement while they slowly rot from the inside due to their poor dietary decisions?"
"I don't have the faintest idea of what any of that mahogany mean, but I am offended nonetheless, good sir."
"Then get this; leave them alone, or you'll see why the horned dumbass who runs this world fears me." Mad Dawg snarled, his teeth glowing ever so slightly. It was clear Alastor didn't like some kid challenging him, and liked the fact that he couldn't put him in his place properly even more… but then again, this was the Radio Demon, so he always had a back-up plan.
"Well, how would you care to partake in a gentleman's wager?" Alastor said, and while Dawg's instincts told him to yell 'NO', kick Alastor in the speakers and run, he decided to hear him out.
"What's the bet?"
"You and I play a simple game of chess." Alastor remarked, summoning a table, two chairs, and a board, all ready to go. "If you win, I will leave Molly, Vaggie, and everyone else in this hilarious mistake of a hotel be. I'll continue to make their lives hell, but I won't harm them the way you seem to think I will."
"And if you win… you take my soul, or something?"
"Ahahaha! No, no! Of course not! Why would I want that?!" Alastor laughed. "Even those exterminator teeth you have don't interest me. Where would the fun be in my performances if I could end it so quickly? No, no, no. If I win, you have to use Baxter's Memorjector doohickey."
That… really didn't sit well with Mad Dawg. If he won, Molly and the others would be left alone, but if he lost, Alastor had to see (and most likely broadcast) all of Dawg's past. Honestly, he wasn't really willing to risk that much, and was about to say as much, when Alastor said something surprising.
"I promise on my Mother's grave, if I win, I will not broadcast anything I see from the device. In fact, Charlie, and all the others can join us, if you would feel better that way!"
"Why should I trust your word?"
"Mad Dawg, my boy. Have I ever lied to you?"
"Ye-" Mad Dawg began, but cut himself off. Alastor… hadn't. Ever. Every word, every joke, every threat, all of it had been true, Alastor had never once lied to him.
"Fine." Mad Dawg nodded. "You're on."
Five Minutes Later…
"Stupid game, anyways… I wanted to use the stupid memory ejaculator…" Mad Dawg grumbled as Baxter affixed the machine to his head. He had called the others, and while Vaggie wasn't okay with this, Charlie was. If anything, she was thankful he had done this, as it made digging into Dawgs' past easier.
"WE'RE HERE, AND MOST OF US ARE QUEER! SO, GET USED TO IT!" A voice shouted as the doors were kicked open. Mad Dawg jerked up to look at the door-kicker.
"Boss?!" He exclaimed. Seeing Blitzo, Millie, Moxxie, Loona and Octavia entering the room.
"We got a call about a job that needed all four of us." Blitzo shrugged. "The Princess there was at the office looking for you, and she came with."
"That… that doesn't make any sense." Mad Dawg frowned. "I didn't call you guys, and why would Octavia be looking for me?"
"Because I hate my home life and wanted to talk to someone who wasn't either having sex with my dad or ignoring me entirely." Octavia said dryly. Her response made Mad Dawg look to Blitzo, baring his fangs ever so slightly in annoyance, but wasn't sure where he fell on 'loyalty' in this scenario. Blitzo however, looked like he wanted to say 'Kid, there is so much more to this, and I REALLY don't wanna talk about it.'
"Ah, good. Everyone is here!" Alastor remarked, entering the room. "Let us begin!"
"…you called them here to watch this, didn't you?" Mad Dawg flatly asked.
"Yes."
"I hate you."
"Fair."
"Wait, Mad Dawg. If you're not okay with this…" Vaggie began awkwardly, knowing Charlie sure as heck wouldn't say anything about it. To her surprise, the mutant seemed contemplative, then shook his head.
"I'm not." Dawg remarked. "I'm not really okay with any of this. But, this might be a way to help me get better, so I'll put up with it."
"Sorry, what's going on?"
"I lost a bet, so now we're gonna see a bunch of my memories, apparently this may help with my therapy, or it may make things a million times worse. Knowing me, it really could go either way." Mad Dawg explained. "How long until this thing is ready?"
"Two minutes." Baxter remarked.
"Awesome. Someone make popcorn." Mad Dawg ordered.
Two minutes later, the group had snacks and was prepared. Baxter explained how this Memorjector worked, and Dawg pulled the cord. Everything was a hazy mess, but it began to become clearer, and a laboratory appeared, with a trio working on… something.
"Well, the organism seems to be growing, at least." The man in the trio remarked. "Hey, Odie, what did you say you added to the genetic make-up?"
"I added a series of patterns which should in theory cause mass acceleration to the growth of this organism's cellular structure. From there, it will be easier to isolate and harvest the necessary genes and cells which could lead to our goal." The orange-haired woman remarked, then gave him an annoyed smirk. "Also, how many times have I asked you to stop calling me that?"
"42 and counting." The man shot back. Everyone looked to Mad Dawg, as if asking for an explanation, but to everyone's surprise, he seemed taken aback by something. Perhaps it was seeing these memories for the first time, or perhaps something else. Looking around the lab, it seemed, well, futuristic. But what caught everyone's attention was drawn to the massive tube in the centre of the room.
The large tube had a weird mass in it, it honestly looked like veins and spaghetti mixed together. It was hard to tell what was coming in or out of it, and those watching felt oddly entranced by the almost rhythmic floating of the weird mass. But then, there was a change. Things seemed to speed up, like a time lapse, and the veins got larger, then darker, then they seemed to turn white. But they weren't veins, they were bones! The mass seemed to be forming a rather crude skeleton to contain the mass of mess that seemed to be its innards.
"Huh, I guess this happened, but I don't really remember it." Mad Dawg commented, scratching his chin.
"So, you're not some random dude's sperm shot into a hooker's snatch?" Blitzo asked, then saw the disgusted looks he got for asking it. "WHAT?!"
"No, Blitz. I wasn't born, I was created." Mad Dawg admitted, somewhat awkwardly.
"Fascinating…" Baxter said aloud, watching with great interest. "What kind of technology were they using?"
"No clue." Mad Dawg shrugged. His answer clearly wasn't what the scientist wanted, but whatever. The memory jumped ahead, to the man of the group on his knees looking at something.
"Awww, that's you?" Charlie asked, looking down at the very little Mad Dawg, who was struggling to even stand. "You're so adorable and widdle!"
"I'm not little…"
"Doesn't change the fact that you're adorable~!" Millie added, and Mad Dawg looked away, embarrassed.
"Wait, was this supposed to happen?" Alastor asked, genuinely intrigued.
"No, I was meant to be a cure, not a living person." Mad Dawg shook his head. "The cell regeneration was so effective, it built me a body!"
The memory faded away (Baxter explaining some memories may be incomplete) and re-appeared with Mad Dawg hiding in a vent, looking down at Moira and Jax talking to a giant of a man. Someone Angel Dust wanted to know more about. Namely, if he was single.
"That's Doomfist-" Mad Dawg began.
"Ohhh… Daddy likes…" Angel Dust moaned.
"He's the reason I'm dead." Mad Dawg said aloud, and everyone looked to Dust for his reaction. He wisely stayed silent. "This is one I don't remember…"
"I understand from where you stand, this may be rather unusual, but I ensure you, what I offer you is legitimate." The giant of a man remarked in a shockingly calm tone. "We want you to help us, and in turn, we want to help you."
"Uh-huh." Jax said flatly.
"We can give you what you need most; freedom."
"See my previous state-" Jax began, but Moira kicked him under the table, silencing him for now.
"We can provide you with the equipment, funding, and resources to continue your experiments for as long as you need." Akande explained, and the two at the table seemed taken aback, and reasonably skeptical.
"Let's say for the sake of the argument, we agree to this." Moira commented. "It's clear you aren't doing this because you want too, but because something we have done or you think we can do will be beneficial to you. So… what is that?"
"The subject you're working on, we had… ideas, for it."
"That sounds ominous." Blitzo remarked as the memory changed. This time (to the shock of some of those watching) Mad Dawg was on an operating table, cut open.
"Moira please!" He heard Angela practically beg. "Don't do this to him! He's just a child!"
"A child?" Moira scoffed. "Dr. Ziegler, you have to understand. This… THING isn't human. He's a creation we made. One which will change the world."
The words stung, partially because now Dawg was seeing just how much Angela had tried to do to protect him, and because he knew what that 'change' would truly mean. The memory faded to black, then faded back in. Moira was seeming downcast, and Angela seemed furious.
"-bring in the authorities if need be!" Angela snapped.
"Wait, what happened?" Mad Dawg blinked. "Why didn't we…"
"Well, considering how young you are, I believe it's fair to assume that you don't remember everything." Baxter hypothesised. "That, or you've suppressed certain memories so far down that you can't remember them fully."
"Ugh, great." Mad Dawg sighed. "A'ight everyone! Lore time! Blonde lady is super nice, and is essentially my Aunt, she wanted to make a cure, not a weapon. From what she told me, Moira faked my death so they could continue weaponizing me, and Angela thought I was gone."
"Ouch." Moxxie muttered.
"That won't be necessary, Angela. It… it's dead. He, is dead." Moira said quietly. Angela seemed genuinely mortified by her statement, tears threatening to well up in her eyes. Heck, if Dawg didn't know how heartless and ginger-y Moira really was, he might have been fooled by her acting, she seemed genuinely saddened by Dawg's 'death'.
"That's horse shit!" Angel Dust yelled. He didn't know much about Moira, but he knew she was a bitch. The memory changed again, and they were in a different lab. Jax seemed to be trying o reach Dawg.
"Hey little buddy." Jax said quietly, laughing when Mad Dawg hissed, almost like a cat, and tried to hide. "Whoa, whoa, it's okay little dude. It's cool. I'm not here for another test." He took a Styrofoam container from his bag and opened it, Charlie fighting to repress an 'Aww!' when she saw the wide-eyed look the tiny Mad Dawg had when he saw the nachos in the tray. Jax slid the container across the floor and took a step back. "All yours, kid."
There wasn't much said, but the reactions were genuine as the next few memoires played… Moira really seemed to have no end to her depravity. Cutting Mad Dawg open, experimenting on him, injecting him with all sorts of… things. Burning him, mutilating him to see how he'd react, or how long it'd take to grow back. A few felt like they were reaching their breaking point when she picked up a scalpel and held it up to his eye. However, unbeknownst to Moira, Dawg had managed grab a small blade of his own, and had (grossly) broken his wrist to get his arm free.
"I've never actually seen this." Mad Dawg remarked, seeming rather calm. "If this is what I think it is, this is gonna be gory. But don't worry, she deserved it."
The young, almost feral Mad Dawg roared like a wild animal, and swung at Moira with the blade without any warning, catching the scientist completely off-guard.
ShUlK!
"HAHAHA! RIGHT IN THE EYE,BITCH!" Mad Dawg laughed victoriously as Moira shrieked in pain, clutching as the massive wound on her face. Blood was spewing like a faucet from where the blade dug into her eye, and the chained-up Beta seemed to be reacting like a scared stray dog. Namely, thrashing and trying to run for its life. Charlie was mortified, but knew Dawg… DIDN'T like his Mother. Alastor was more than amused, Blitzo cheered as well (although he didn't know why), but generally, the demons believed she more than had this coming. Even Vaggie agreed she deserved much, much worse.
"Well, she certainly didn't see that one coming!" Alastor laughed, and to everyone's surprise, Dawg laughed too.
"She should've kept her eyes open for danger!" He replied.
"She took her eye off the prize!"
"She'll be telling her doctor about a stabbing pain!"
"I've heard of red-eye, but this is ridiculous!"
"Ahh… we're terrible people." Mad Dawg nodded. They watched as he ran, and he jumped through a window, glass cutting his body as he plummeted towards the ground, smashing through scaffolding and other debris before landing with a sickening CrUNCh! In a garbage bin. Mad Dawg weakly pulled himself up, and there were some gasps at the long chunk of metal going through his head. Mad Dawg gave them the rundown, jumping ahead to another memory, one where the chunk of metal was rather brutally ripped from his head. There was skepticism, until Dawg showed them the scar which had never healed on the sides of his head.
After being frozen in shock for a full minute, and odd sound was heard, slowly but surely the hole in the side of the boy's head closed, an odd crunching sound was heard as the skull re-formed and then muscle and skin re-grew over it closing it.
"Wait. Is he-" The woman of the group that found Dawg muttered.
Before the question could be asked, the boy coughed and leaned up, looking down at his chest. The woman rushed to his side and gave him a tender hug, tears of relief flowing down her face.
"Nomoow." He mumbled, seeming… happy. Looking over to the hackers he added: "Thanyou!"
"Aww!" The woman cooed, picking him up in the sheets and bundling him up. "You're so adorable!"
The boy responded with a sound that sounded like a laugh and Sitara smiled down at him. After some clean up (both of the table and a bath for the kid, and then a second one after she couldn't get all the blood and dirt off him on the first pass) one of the team had found an oversized Dedsec shirt which the kid was now wearing as a sort of shirt-gown and was sitting on the couch, slurping down a cup of instant noodles the older guy had made, while the hackers stood off to the side.
"So those were Marcus, Sitara, Josh, T-Bone and Wrench." Mad Dawg explained as a few more memories went by. "They were my family."
"Sup, Kace?" Marcus nodded, and Past Mad Dawg blinked.
"Kace?"
"Yeah, you're Kace. We can't just call you 'Kid', now can we?"
"Kace… Yeah! I'm Kace!"
"Kace?" Octavia asked, a bit confused. "You said your name was Mad Dawg."
"All right." Mad Dawg quietly nodded. "Some of you know this, some don't. But my name, is actually… Kace. I don't like it when people use it, with a few acceptations."
"Yeah, that's really weird. Like, no offense, but are you trans or somethin'?" Angel asked. He didn't think Dawg was, but still. "You've reacted like it was a dead name-"
"Anthony!" Charlie snapped, silencing Angel with the use of his real name.
"That dudes got a point." Blitzo nodded, munching on some popcorn. "Why the hatred behind your name? What's wrong with Kace?"
"What's wrong with Blitzo?" Mad Dawg asked, adding the 'O' to the name, and making his Ex-Boss freeze and blink in shock.
"Okay, first of all, piss off and die a second time." The short, horned Imp growled.
"My point exactly." Mad Dawg nodded. "It was my name. The name my family gave me." By now, the Memorjector honed in on another memory and Dawg pulled the cord. "I was there when it happened, this was the night, that Kace died."
The memory was hazy, a reddish-orange, then it became clearer, and it wasn't at sunset like some believed. It was a fire. The building Dawg had been taken to was being engulfed completely by flames, and a tiny Mad Dawg, looking rather disheveled, stood outside. He was looking on in terror, before running and somehow scaling the wall, and kicked in a window. Everyone had questions, of course, but they decided to wait and see before asking.
The tiny Mad Dawg was now ducking and weaving through piles of wires, tools and servers. The fire was spreading quickly, and his frantic breathing could be heard among the crackling and moaning of the burning building. He dashed into a room and began almost viciously tearing it apart, grabbing a few books and other bits before stuffing them into a bag. He paused, before running forward to the bed, and snatching a stuffed husky from it, yelping in pain as he was slightly burned by the oncoming fire. As the tiny Dawg was looking around in a panic, everyone could hear voices screaming in another room.
"Shit! Marcus?! Where are you?!"
"Sitara!? You out there!?"
"Follow my voice!"
"What!?
"Follow my voice! I'm right here!"
Fire roared and consumed everything around them as the members of Dedsec struggled to find one another. No one knew how the fire had started, but all the electrical equipment had been burnt, and then started sparking which only agitated the uncontrollable fire. Mad Dawg ran back to the main room and began moving about through the smoke.
Stumbling and coughing through smoke, it was clear from the look on his face, that Marcus felt his eyes watering as he tried to find Sitara, or Ray, or anyone… The smoke was so thick, that when Wrench walked right past him, neither one saw the other. Mad Dawg meanwhile, was watching from a corner, afraid to be seen.
"Why didn't you-"
"When this happened, I thought they didn't want me anymore, that they'd hurt me if I came back." Mad Dawg said quietly. His answer was short, but it gave them enough to know not to push further.
"Where are you…where are you…" Wrench muttered, anger and fear taking over. His mask thankfully negated a good portion of the smoke, but there was someone he was looking for. Someone who needed to get out of here, NOW. "Josh!"
Shaking violently, Josh coughed aggressively as Wrench ran up to him. There were a few burns on his arms, and it was clear he was frozen in fear. "Josh, listen to me, we need to go!" Wrench exclaimed.
"I…I…" Josh stammered. "Where is he? Where's Chase?"
"Who cares about Kace!? He's long gone! We need to get out of here!" Wrench ordered, something about his words angered Charlie and Millie, but now wasn't the time to comment on that.
"Nice mask." Blitzo commented.
"Yeah, he never told me how he made it work." Mad Dawg shrugged. "I really wanted one!"
"Kinda seems like he'd be friends with you, Loona." Octavia mused, and Loona shrugged.
"He was a punk-rock anarchist who made explosives and destroyed stuff with a sledgehammer." Mad Dawg added.
"Okay, yeah, we'd be friends."
"No! I'm not gonna leave him!" Josh shouted over the smoke.
"Kace is gone! Remember?!"
"But-"
"Wow, some family." Angel dust snarked, and Charlie glared at him. Dawg just shrugged.
"Wrench… had reason to be upset. He himself said he went too far, and we're close again." Mad Dawg smiled. "Well, until I died, starting jumping worlds, ended up down here, but I think you get my point."
"Josh! Josh…" Wrench began, but then heard the creaking of wood. "Shiiiiittttttt…" Without warning, he pulled his mask off, Josh blinking in surprise. Without another word, Wrench forced the mask onto Josh, making him struggle for a moment. "Breathe! Just breathe man!"
Sitara was in a full-blown panic at this point. She needed to get her equipment, her files, her team… which one first!? If she had to, what could she leave?! Without warning, the door to her left flew off the hinges as Ray mumbled out coughing violently from the server room. He was trying to cover his face with his shirt and passed Sitara a hard drive.
"There's the crucial shit! We need to get out, now!" He yelled.
"Get Josh and get yourself out!" Sitara ordered. "I need to find Marcus!"
Ray nodded in understanding and stumbled off. Normally, he'd argue with the Dedsec leader, but right now, they were in danger. They had already lost Horatio and Kace, they weren't losing more. The hidden Mad Dawg watched as Sitara looked around then ran towards a creaking floor board. When she jumped through the smoke, all she saw was Wrench without his mask.
"Where's Josh!?" She yelled.
"Ray's got him!"
"Marcus?!"
"I'm-cough-good!" Marcus called out. "I can get out! There's something I need!" Not waiting to hear any protests, Marcus turned and ran off deeper into the base, trying to avoid the fire and breaking wood as he did so. Mad Dawg looked to where he was going, then looked back, seeing that over by a window, Ray and Josh were looking down at the pile of mattresses Marcus and Wrench had stacked so they could jump from the roof onto them.
"Again, escape plans." Mad Dawg commented.
"Smart." Moxxie conceded.
"So… what caused this fire?" Loona asked, and Dawg simply shrugged.
"No idea, we never found out." He frowned. "Could've been a rival hacker group, a gang, or a faulty wire."
"Dang, you never found out?"
"No, and it doesn't really matter at this point." Mad Dawg shrugged, looking back to the fire.
"I can't." Josh said.
"Kid, I need you to trust me." Ray insisted.
"I can't." Josh repeated.
"Kid, I know this seems bad, but I need you to-" Josh was gone. Yelling as he fell down to the mattresses below. It wasn't a graceful landing, but nothing was broken. "What the f-GAH!" Ray felt something shove him harshly, and the demons watched as the tiny Mad Dawg rushed from his hiding spot and shoved Josh out the window, before doubling back and shoving Ray out the window, before running off after Marcus. The last thing past Mad Dawg saw of his old family was Sitara and Wrench jumping down as well.
"Geez, what a day." Husk muttered. The younger Mad Dawg looked around, then ran off after Marcus, finding him trashing a room in a full-blown panic.
"Nononononononono-YES!" He declared victoriously, and was then hit by burning debris. Yelling in pain, he dropped what he was holding, which Kace kicked back to him, not being seen. Marcus didn't question this, he grabbed the drill and took off.
"All that... for a drill?" Millie asked, a bit confused.
"If there was one thing that Marcus would die before losing, it was that old drill. It was Horatio's, and it means the world to him. He and Horatio were been close, close as brothers, and when he-" Mad Dawg shook his head, not wanting to think about that. "It had also been how I had gotten my last name, as I had been using said drill to fix things around the hackerspace, and…"
"Now, he was gone..." Marcus said somberly, finishing Dawg's thought. Grabbing the drill, Marcus turned and started running towards the 'fire escape' when the floor gave out from under him. He yelled in pain as the fire and wood smacked into him, resulting in him unceremoniously crashing into the lower floor. There was blood, lots of it… but it wasn't all his. With another crack, a large chunk of wood fell down… then suddenly stopped. Not questioning it, Marcus pulled himself out from under the wood, grabbed the drill and ran. The smaller, rather harshly burned Mad Dawg had dove down after him, tackling the burning wood away, at great cost to himself.
"They were safe. Good." He whispered.
"Hang on, I don't wanna pry here, but did they know you were alive? Or… what happened?" Octavia asked, a bit confused and a little on edge from the clear terror going on around them.
"Uh, I can't say." Mad Dawg frowned. "Something… something happened a little bit before this, and from what I've gathered, they didn't think I survived. Now, from my end, what happened ended with me getting the message 'We-never-want-to-see-you-again.' And since I was little, I wasn't thinking rationally."
"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry, for what it's worth."
As Marcus ran to the open door, he saw the others, he looked back one last time, and froze in terror. "Marcus! What… are…" Sitara began, but trailed off when she saw what he saw. Standing about ten feet from Marcus, cut, burned, bleeding, and looking like absolute HELL was Kace. The tiny boy weakly holding up the wooden splinters that would've impaled Marcus, tears running down his face from the pain. Charlie herself felt close to tears at the sight of someone so small in such pain.
"Kace…?" Marcus asked quietly, then spoke louder. "Kace! Dawg! C'mere man!"
Kace didn't move, his legs were shaking, and his body seemed to be threatening to give out. It was now that the hackers saw the bean Kace held was effectively supporting the upper four floors of… stuff. If he let go, he'd be buried.
"Kace." Marcus spoke again, speaking calmly and slower than he probably should've. "I know you're scared, but I need you to trust me okay? Let go of the beam, and run to me. I'll catch you, you're gonna be okay."
Kace looked up, then to Marcus, and nodded. Taking a few deep breaths, he let go and bolted towards the hacker. At first, they thought he'd run past Marcus and out the door, giving them both time to escape…
They were wrong.
So very, very, wrong.
As the ceiling began to give way, Mad Dawg ran towards Marcus, but at the last moment, the Hacker saw the pain in Kace's eyes, and knew something was wrong.
WHUMP!
Gasping for air, Marcus felt all the wind leave his lungs as Mad Dawg jumped and kicked him square in the chest, sending the older man flying out of the building. The demons were all confused as to why he'd do such a thing… Scrambling to his feet, Marcus saw the pained look on Kace's face, as he spoke two words in a barely audible voice.
"I'm sorry."
Before anyone could move, before anyone could scream, the building gave way and caved in on itself, and Kace 'Mad Dawg' Teller Horatio was left at the very center of it all. The room went silent as any cries Mad Dawg let out were drowned out by the rumbling and crashing of the building, and the demons watching were shocked, to say the least. At least, most of them were.
But there was not a single sound from Mad Dawg.
No one could see anything, even Loona and Octavia, who specialized in night-sight couldn't see anything. But eventually, the embers faintly lit Mad Dawg… and Millie nearly vomited with disgust and worry at the sight of what had happened. It wasn't pretty… Even some of the 'tougher' demons, like Alastor and Husk were thinking along the lines of 'Wow. That just… that just ain't right…' Mad Dawg was somehow alive, but he was burned, cut, stabbed and mutilated beyond belief. At least, beyond what anyone expected for the survivor of a burning building crashing down on them.
"Ray…? Marcus…!?" Mad Dawg weakly called, his voice broken and scratchy. He was in pain… so much pain… "Sitara…? …M…M…Mom…mommy?" He whimpered, letting out small, broken sobs as he whispered; "I-I-I'm scared…please…Idonwannadie…" By now, Octavia had lost a number of her 'stoic defenses' and moved to Dawg's side, wrapping a wing around his arm (even if it was more for her sake than his, but whatever).
"How long were you down there?" Moxxie asked, quietly.
"I don't know." Mad Dawg sighed, shaking his head. "It could've been hours, or maybe days. All I remember was the pain, and the heat, and the darkness… it's honestly what I thought hell would be like…"
(Past) Mad Dawg had found either a grate or a hatch, and was weakly pushing on it, practically bouncing off of it as he gave it everything he had in a desperate attempt to escape. The sound of running water could be heard far below, and it was clear this was Dawg's only way out. It was clear during the skipped time, more wood had burned, crumbled and piled up, burying him further underground with no chance at escape.
"Please…someone…I..Idonwannabealone…"
Finally, with one final push, the hatch gave way, and Mad Dawg further into the darkness, finally landing into the waters below. The tiny boy sunk under the water, crying out in pain as the burns were exposed to the water cold, stinging water. But by a miracle, he managed to grab some driftwood and floated away into the night.
"Mad Dawg, I-" Vaggie began, but couldn't find the words to express what she wanted to say. Mad Dawg, however… seemed almost indifferent.
"That was a long time ago." Mad Dawg frowned. "Mistakes were made, but… but I… I got better." It was clear despite his attempt to seem indifferent that his defenses were slowly starting to break down. Deciding he had seen enough of this, Mad Dawg grabbed the ripcord and yanked on it. The Memorjector began chugging to life and honing in on another memory.
"Wait! What happened?!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Shit."
"Yes! But that's what we're here to help you get through!" The look Charlie got in response was one that seemed to be born of anger, frustration and hesitation. It didn't frighten her, but it also didn't deter her from her questions. Mad Dawg however, wasn't going to answer that, at least not now. Charlie was willing to live with that, knowing this was hard enough as it was, she'd push further, later.
The next memory began, and it was as if there was a drone flying down from the sky, following alongside the train as it began to pick up speed. Suddenly, the younger Mad Dawg appeared, running alongside it, looking at the different cars which began to pass by, until he jumped onto a box car, and rather than enter the car itself, went back to the coupler. He looked around, as if trying to find a hidden passage way, and then to everyone's surprise, climbed under the box car. Gripping onto the beams tightly, Mad Dawg crawled like a spider across the underneath of the car until he found a spot among the axels, and made himself comfortable lying down at a precarious position. He wasn't going to fall, but it looked like if he rolled over, he'd fall onto the tracks, and then be run over.
"That was fun." Mad Dawg smiled. "If I couldn't find a box car to get into, I learned from this guy, Shiey, how to hide on trains."
"Cool." Moxxie nodded.
"Isn't that dangerous?!" Millie exclaimed.
"Yeah, but it's free." Mad Dawg shrugged. "The biggest risk was making noise when we were stopped. That could get inspectors coming, and I'd have to find a new train if that happened… but during the day, I could run up and down the cars all I wanted, and barely anyone ever saw me!" Mad Dawg explained as a series of memoires flashed by of Mad Dawg doing what he was saying, exploring the cars, hiding from what looked like robots, peeing off the side of the flatbed… He seemed happy, despite everything which had occurred recently. Maybe it was as if he was set free? It was hard to say, really.
"Y'know, I bet Cherri would enjoy doing this." Angel Dust nodded.
"Hey, if you can get her at a time when she's not in a turf war, I'd be happy to teach ya!" Mad Dawg remarked, and Angel Dust smiled in response. As the train drove by a truly breathtaking landscape (one which Charlie demanded they pause for a good five minutes just to take in) Past and Present Mad Dawg did something no one expected.
"The surging of the ocean… The breakers on the shore… The echoes of our bodies, to the lovers' dream we soar…" The Past Dawg began singing, and the Present one joined in. "I've been walking, walking these shores all my days. But with you by my side I am walking on the waves. I've been walking, walking these shores all my days…"
The memory jumped ahead, and Mad Dawg looked around at a village built on the base of a mountain that the train was pulling into, and he jumped. Rolling down a hill before coming to a stop and taking off. He looked up at a sign which read 'Oban Train Station' and he disappeared into a nearby patch of trees, re-appearing in the middle of a crowd, as if he belonged.
"Where were you going?" Nifty asked, curious.
"I dunno." Dawg shrugged. "Off of this train? I wound up in Scotland for a few months, and then I doubled back and wound up in Miami."
"So, you were just living on the streets during this time?"
"More or less. As I traveled, I set up safe houses, but that ain't really too important." Mad Dawg shrugged, thinking, then pulling the rip cord. "Okay, let's get back to what matters." He felt the jab at his head, and another memory began to form. When it came into focus, the projection was that of an empty room, save for a small bed, and a desk. It was a room which Mad Dawg knew all too well. The door opened, and an older man with a red visor, and a jacket with '76' on it entered, followed by an older Mad Dawg.
"This is your room, feel free to do to it what you want." The older man commented, and (present) Mad Dawg saluted him in a semi-jokingly way, but also one that singled respect.
"That's Jack Morrison." Mad Dawg explained. "One of the toughest guys I've ever met. We butted heads, a LOT. There was a time when we wouldn't even speak to each other… but he wasn't a bad guy, he believed in truth, justice, and helping others, even if you had to get your hands dirty to do so. Back then, and even now, I'd go to the deepest rings of hell to save him if I had too." He spoke with genuine confidence and truth to his word, and it made Charlie smile. It was more proof this was working! He had been afraid of talking about his past, and now he was showing the good! She was reaching him!
"Hiya, new guy!" A British woman said with endless energy and cheerfulness that Charlie could relate to as she poked her head into the room. "So… they call ya, Mad Dog, right?"
"Dawg, but yeah, Miss… Tracer, right?"
"Yup! That's me!" Tracer beamed, sitting down next to Mad Dawg. "But y'don't need to worry yourself with the 'Miss' business."
"So, how far did you get with her?" Dust asked with a smirk.
"She had a girlfriend."
"…so, how far-" Dust began again, but was promptly hit by Vaggie, silencing him.
"She was Lena Oxten, one of my best friends on the team." Mad Dawg nodded. "She was always trying to help me in one way or another, and when things got bad, she had my back… even when she really shouldn't have."
"She seems nice." Vaggie smiled.
"She could probably out-optimism Charlie." Mad Dawg remarked with a slight smirk. The Memorjector hiccupped, and it jumped to another memory, where Mad Dawg was sitting, bandaged on a hospital bed. Lena seemed to be in the middle of screaming at a cowboy with a mechanical arm, whose expression clearly said 'I-don't-care-that-you're-mad-that-was-awesome'. "And there's Jesse, or McCree. He was probably one of my two closest friends, practically like an older brother to me." Mad Dawg continued with a fond smile. "Heck, when I got grabbed by Talon before we knew who each other were, he was one of the guys who came and saved my ass."
"He seems like fun…"
"He was." Mad Dawg nodded, not getting the double-entendre.
"Well, it's been fun, but I've healed by now, so-" Past Mad Dawg shrugged, beginning to get out of the bed.
"Nope. You're not going anywhere." Lena said matter-of-factly as she pulled Dawg back onto the bed and pulled the blanket up over him. "Doc said you need sleep, that's what you're doing."
"Hey, why is Emily on fire?" Mad Dawg quickly asked, pointing.
"WHAT!?" Tracer whirled around in horror at the supposed fact, only to see nothing, and then looked back to see Mad Dawg wave before jumping out a nearby window.
"OHCRAPWEREHIGHERUPTHANITHOUGHT!" He screamed as Tracer screamed in shock and rushed to the window, looking out before looking back with a death glare at McCree.
"Hey, don't look at me." The cowboy said, raising his hands defensively. "You're th'one who made him jump."
"McCree. If that poor dear is hurt because of this. I swear to whatever powers are above, when I'm through with you, you'll need much, MUCH more than a mechanical arm. Do you understand me?" She said with a shocking amount of venom in her voice.
"So, what the hell did you guys do?" Loona asked, never having gotten a clear answer on that earlier.
"Overwatch was a group of people with unique talents and powers, and we protected the world from an organization known as 'Talon'. They were a bunch of jack-off ass-hat terrorists who wanted to kill and cause fear for no reason other than they could."
"Did… didn't Talon make you?" Nifty asked, but recoiled when Dawg glared down at her. "I just… I thought…"
"Yeah, they did." Mad Dawg sighed, lowering his head. "Like you saw, I was meant to be a cure, but became a weapon."
"So, the assholes who made you inadvertently gave the assholes they were trying to kill another asshole to deal with?" Angel Dust asked, piecing everything together with more clarity. He had heard some of this (well, most of this) before, but it was better now that he was getting everything.
"Pretty much, yeah." Mad Dawg laughed. The memory jumped ahead, and everyone blinked in confusion at the Gorilla in a space suit who was working in a lab while Dawg looked at a small sphere.
"That's Winston." Mad Dawg nodded. "He's a scientist. And from space."
"WHAT!?"
"I don't know-"
"BULLSHIT!"
"I don't!" Mad Dawg exclaimed defensively. "He didn't like talking about his past!"
"Wait, so… you're telling me that THIS thing, can somehow stop bullets?"
"That's the idea." Winston nodded, watching as Mad Dawg activated it. He looked around at the shimmer he had and then looked out the lab, as if looking for something. "Bullets, and even regular-sized explosives."
"Oh, what I would give for just two minutes in that lab…" Baxter muttered, and Mad Dawg smirked.
"Crazy thing is, that ain't even his main lab. This is one of the smaller, lesser-quality ones." The mutant commented, noting Baxter's eyes go comically wide at the implication.
"HEY! JUNKRAT! HOW'S LIFE IN JUNKERTOWN!?" He shouted down the hall at someone. About five seconds later, a makeshift grenade flew into the room, exploded, and past Mad Dawg was sent flying into a wall. The impact making a sizable indent, before falling to the floor face down.
"…I..It works..!" He said, weakly raising a thumbs-up, while Winston wrote something down.
"Well, that wasn't how I intended on testing it, but all right." He shrugged.
"So, this is good and wholesome and all, but I don't see why you'd end up in hell." Husk remarked, dryly. "Wasn't there some asshole you killed? Or someone who tried to kill you? Beyond those terrorist pricks." Mad Dawg pulled the cord, allowing the Memorjector to hone in on another memory as he listened to Husk's question.
"Virus…" Mad Dawg thought, then realized at the last second the mistake he had made. The room swirled about, and finally came to focus on the interior of an old, seemingly abandoned apartment building with arrows painted on the floor. Mad Dawg fell in through a window, followed by a woman in a purple coat with cybernetics attached to her body.
"Whoa, you okay, Dawg?" Loona asked with a raised brow, seeing his whole body seemed to be on edge. Edge, or 'moments away from murder'. She had seen him like that only when he was up against that random demon who knew Valentineo.
"No. I'm not."
"Hey! Fish Sticks! How do we stop this?" Loona demanded.
"You can't leave a memory, if you try to do so before it's over, it could tear your mind in two." Baxter said, taking a step back and holding his hand/fins up. "I-I-I didn't subject us to this! His mind conjured the memory when the cord was pulled!"
"So, we're stuck seeing whatever this is?!" Blitzo shouted.
"Essentially, yes…"
"Moxxie, remind me to break his legs when we're done here." Blitzo said matter-of-factly, pointing to Baxter.
"Enough games Virus…" Past Mad Dawg growled, before taking a much more vulnerable tone. "What is this?"
As the two silently walked, a mannequin holding a steering wheel began jittering around as sparks flew off of it, followed by it jerking forward as a car crash sound effect played. In the real-world, Mad Dawg didn't seem sad, he seemed PISSED.
"I wAs LEFt To walK that WiCKed PATh, they CaLlEd dAmNaTiON WaY, i rESted ON A riDge as i wENT aloNG THat wAy." Virus' creepy, distorted voice began singing. "on THIs PaTH, I tRaVellEd THROugH THE WAsTElaNd OF HELL's Bog. and On MY jOURNeY, i mEt A fREaK WhO cALLeD HimSeLF MAD dAWg."
Another mannequin, this one cut in half so only the torso remained, with scrap on it to make it look Omnic, was reaching for a phone, while a pre-recorded message played.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"
"What. The hell." Sombra said, half fear and half demanding an answer. Whoever did this was out of their damn mind…
"Oh God…" Mad Dawg breathed as if he realized something as they passed by another figure, this one in a circle which caught fire as audio played of a woman screaming in pain.
"Hm, interesting theatrics." Alastor remarked, wondering if this was something he should look into. The others… were more creeped out than intrigued.
"wHeRE THiS FReaK of NAture wEnt, onLY DEATh WoUld fOlloW! HIS VERy ToUch wIlL Cause THe iNnOCENt tO split OPeN Like BLiSteRS." Virus continued. "fAthers. motHERS. HuSbaNds. wiVEs. Sons. DauGhters. SISTERS!"
"Mad Dawg, what the hell is going on?" Sombra demanded.
"Tyler Cook." Was all Mad Dawg said, quietly, and to himself, Nifty looked around the projected memory, but jumped back when a mannequin fell to the ground, its head rolling away. On the one hand… so much mess… but on the other, this felt wrong.
"This… this was that Virus puta madre you've mentioned in the past?" Vaggie asked, and Mad Dawg nodded. Vaggie bit her lip, not knowing the whole story, but having a pretty bad feeling abou this. To her annoyance, all her attempts to get Charlie's attention (and get her to stop this) went unnoticed.
"Sorry, who?" Octavia asked.
"Virus… Virus was a Dj, a guy from my home." Mad Dawg confessed. "He was, well, troubled. And I certainly didn't help things. I… I did something, a long time ago, and… and it hurt him, and he spent years seeking revenge. This was just the beginning… of that revenge…"
Another mannequin, this time one coated in scrap metal was lowered into a tub of water which sparked to life, electrifying the water. Blitzo jumped back and screamed slightly, but thankfully no one seemed to notice or comment on this. The past Mad Dawg kept walking, but Sombra saw his hands were so tightly clenched they were drawing blood. He was scared. No. He was TERRIFIED.
"Mad Dawg, what the hell is all this?" Charlie asked, quietly.
"A mistake." Mad Dawg all but whispered, any jokes he had for getting through his past clearly weren't gonna cut it right now.
"dID It make yOu fEEl lIke A goD FREaK?" Virus demanded. "DId yOU tELL your TALE aS YoU sUckLEd On Your bItcHES eiGht teeTs?" Walking to another clearing, another mannequin was shown being electrocuted. Virus' mask was hung on the wall, this one larger than any human could physically wear. Sombra followed behind him, machine pistol drawn.
"This looks like one've the villages we found back topside…" Husk muttered, thinking back to a rather unpleasant memory. "Nothin' but charred corpses left."
"smiLE foR THE CaMERa MAD DAWg. yOU'vE got fAns." Virus' distorted voice ordered.
"Go to hell." Past Mad Dawg growled. "I didn't mean…"
"I'm sorry…" Present Mad Dawg whispered.
Shaking his head, Past Mad Dawg opened the next door with 'See what I see' painted on it. Opening it, he saw a large red 'X' painted, then heard something falling and an elevator rapidly descending. Pulling Sombra back, a large pile of broken bricks fell to the ground, with a mannequin covered in wire on top, imitating a severe mangling. Sombra saw newspapers hung down from the ceiling with 'Elevator Accident' as the headline, and other such things.
"Oh, this is sick." Past Mad Dawg whispered.
The situation wasn't helped by Virus mockingly laughing at the two as they walked on, passing a mannequin on a hospital bed with a heartrate monitor flat lining. The woman with Mad Dawg, who seemed to have an air of 'I've-always-got-this-under-control' was genuinely horrified. Why would Virus set this up for a child? He was controlling all of these remotely, and was probably recording the whole thing…
"Damn, did you sleep with his sister or something? Because this is kinda overkill, even for down here!" Blitzo remarked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.
"Eat shit Virus!" Past Mad Dawg snapped suddenly. "Mary Caworth." He then whispered as he looked at a mannequin that had been impaled on rebar.
"leT's TAlk about thiS!" Virus said.
"Oh, we're gonna! When I find you!" Mad Dawg yelled back, pure anger in his voice. Sombra though she was past the worst, but then she nearly threw up when she saw a mannequin of a baby being moved back and forth, and a hand hooked up to something moving up and down with a knife in front of a light. The shadow seeming to be stabbing the baby. Mad Dawg didn't see the reaction, but Alastor seemed disgusted by that, as if Virus had just crossed a line for him.
"seE fReAk? I'm an aRtISt too!" Virus chortled.
"Shut the hell up!"
They came to one last mannequin, this one again covered in scrap. Hooked up to four devices pulling the arms and legs off of it. Behind it were more newspaper clippings with "Mass Death" and "Suddenly Dark" as headlines.
"Ally…Myre…" Past Mad Dawg whispered, seeing the mannequin. "They're all here…Aren't they?"
"Wait… you…" Moxxie slowly began to put the pieces together. At least, he thought he did, and Dawg's refusal to look at him wasn't helping things, either. Some of the other demons began to put this together as well.
"Damn, kid's got more of a body count than I expected." Angel Dust blinked, but was smart enough to not say that out loud.
Walking into the final room with 'Truth…?' painted above the doorway the two saw security footage of people and Omnics, one was opening the door for an elder, one was in their car, another was making toast. Then it briefly cut to black, and they were shown dead for one reason or another. Sombra gasped at the horror while tears fell down Mad Dawg's face. With a thunderous crash, one final mannequin, this one female and wearing a replica of Virus' mask, fell from the ceiling with a noose around its neck. Everyone noticeably reacted to that, from Charlie screamed slightly in shock, to Loona visibly recoiling and her fur standing on end. Mad Dawg however… didn't seem to react. Swinging back and forth, the mannequin hung above a row of TV's in the shape of a cross, which were all playing an old news report.
"Officials are unaware of what caused the 'Omnic Blackout' as it's being called, but there are at least thirty confirmed deaths, human and Omnic, despite the latter being more affected. The shockwave caused has caused potentially millions in property damage, police are searching for the culprit in what is being called done of the worst terrorist attacks of all time. Eyewitnesses claim to have seen a figure running form the King's Row power plant, but nothing is clear just yet. The perpetrator's motivations are unknown and the CEO of Direct Line Power has yet to comment. If you know-"
"NO!" (Past) Mad Dawg yelled in anger. "That's not what happened! Is this what helps you jerk off you sick psychopathic FUCK!?" He was screaming in anger and sorrow. Suddenly he began stomping on the screen in anger. Yelling; "WELL FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" With tears running down his face. After a few more stomps he stopped and whispered. "Fuck…"
"You… Caused… the Omnic Blackout?" Sombra whispered in disbelief, unable to process what he had just heard. And If Akande and the others were watching, she couldn't begin to imagine their reactions. Mad Dawg didn't reply, but she knew that meant 'Yes'. It was horrifying to her, and she wasn't sure why. But it also explained all the newspapers. Those were the people and Omnics who died during the blackout.
"THEy caLlED it SuicIDe!" Virus shouted over the pa's. "SHE WAS ON emERGEnCY sUpPORT and WatCh UntIL YOU cUt the POWer! YoUr oVErLOADEd tHE liFe suppoRT She WaS oN AnD kiLlEd HER! yOU MuRDerED heR! mUrdERER! MURDERER!"
By now… things weren't going as planned. ALL of the demons had seen terrible things. Husk was a Vet, Angel Dust was an ex-mafioso, Vaggie had seen abuse and pain, Alastor had seen more than anyone could begin to imagine (granted, he caused that pain, but shut up), even the Imps were taken aback by how vicious this whole thing was. Yes, they literally killed people for money, and didn't have any real reservations about it (aside from Moxxie, sometimes). But maybe because they had seen the real Mad Dawg, that all this hurt so much more. It felt like a cage they were all trapped in, and all they could do was stare in horror. Heck, even Alastor wasn't finding this as entertaining as he wanted…
"huMaNS DeSeRVe fOrGIveNeSs! OMNics DESERVe A SeCONd cHANCe!" Virus berated him in his distorted voice, as Past Mad Dawg opened the final door, his blood went ice cold as the computers before him played old recordings and showed files revealing what Bet-576, what He, really was. "You'rE NOt eithEr ONe of tHoSE tHINgs."
"This… was one of the worst moments of my entire life." Present Mad Dawg commented. "This is when I found out what I was, and where I came from. Until now, I didn't really know what my past was, or where I got my powers… and then… it all hit. Turns out I wasn't just… 'born with a unique gift', I was made by freakin' terrorists. And I found this out from a guy who wanted to kill me."
"Damn. That's rough buddy." Husk frowned.
Mad Dawg didn't say anything, he just watched the scene unfold. The truth of what he was, where he came from, collapsing into Sombra's hug, crying his eyes out… and then being attacked.
"So… what happened? With Virus? Why'd he hate you so much?" Blitzo asked, asking the question he had a feeling he'd be punched for asking… but secretly, pretty much everyone, even the ones who knew Dawg's story, wanted answered. Mad Dawg didn't move, he refused to. He didn't want to think about that, he didn't want to go back there…
"I can't… I won't… I can't… I won't… I can't…" He began stammering, shaking uncontrollably, as if some terror grasped his body and refused to let go. Someone moved forward to get the contraption off of his head, and it was all the more painful when the light turned green, and someone grabbed and ripped the cord.
"CHARLIE!" Vaggie screamed, but it was too late, the scene was already changing.
"NO." Mad Dawg whisper-screamed, realizing which memory had been locked in. He began fighting to get the helmet off of his head, but it was locked in, the hooks effectively digging into his brain.
It wasn't clear if time had gone forwards or backwards, but wherever they were… it didn't look great. It reminded the demons of a number of the slums in hell, even IMP City looked better than wherever this place was. A small figure dashed by into the shadows, then again, and again, and again. Finally, the figure took out a crowbar and seemed to open a vent. Sliding down into a large room filled with computers and other technology he demons couldn't begin to understand, a young Mad Dawg (around the same age as whenever the fire memory happened) landed and lifted off the mask he wore. A neon-green digital skull, and looked around.
"Please… I don't wanna watch this…" Mad Dawg whispered, practically begging.
"You wanna explain what's happening?" Husk asked, and Dawg didn't.
Mad Dawg ran up to a bunch of control panels and began working away on them, th flow of electricity seemed to be growing… at first, it seemed to be going smoothly, but then it was clearly going too quickly.
"Wait, were you trying to reset the power or something?" Octavia asked.
"They-they-they-they were over-over-overcharging them." Mad Dawg began stammering uncontrollably, Octavia noting he looked like he was about to break down into tears. "I-I-I-I just wan-wanted to help…"
Past Dawg looked around, then smashed what almost looked like a large clamp off of one of the generators. This only seemed to jump-start the power even further, leaving him desperately trying to stop what was happening. As he worked, it was clear that the younger Mad Dawg was growing frantic and desperate, trying to re-gain control of everything around him, but nothing was working. The whole station sparked, generators exploded and the electricity seemed to exponentially grow. The tiny Mad Dawg was on the floor, looking up with terror in his eyes at what was happening. This wasn't his plan! He was trying to help! The generators kept whirring, a repeating hum getting faster and louder…
"Charlie, please! I don't wanna see this!"
…and then it all released.
The spires lit up as unstable amounts of power shot through them, a shockwave sent the small Dawg flying into a wall. Everything went silent, then the sound of crackling electricity could be heard and within moments, glass could be heard shattering and screams of terror soon followed.
"Oh God! What happened?!" A voice shouted, terror filling its tone.
"I-I-I-I'm so sorry…" Mad Dawg stammered, seemingly growing faint as the screams of terror began. All around the group, in a moving picture of the past that no one could edit, the city seemed to come alive in terror, screams and wails echoing off of every wall.
"Someone call an ambulance!" Another voice shouted. A chorus of confusion, anger and pained screams seemed to rise up and surround the group, and at the center of it all, watching from a rooftop, the very young Mad Dawg looked down in absolute, stricken terror. He swayed, as if uncertain of what to do, then threw up. It was clear now what had happened, it was clear that a lot of innocent people were dead. Sirens wailed, people and Omnics screamed, power flickered, and at the end of it, Dawg was responsible for all of it. The world around them changed again, melting away and swirling to form a new location. Dawg blinked, clearly confused, until his confusion turned to absolute horror.
"Oh God, please…" He whispered, his body beginning to shake uncontrollably.
"WaTCh. WHaT. yOu. DiD." Virus ordered, appearing beside Dawg, wearing a Memorjector of his own, and forcibly grabbing Dawg's head, making him unable to look away from what was being shown to him. Dawg began to panic, where had Virus come from!? What was happening?! Why was he seeing this?!
A young girl looked around her room, she seemed to have too much energy, and had just taken out the IV that was in her arm.
"Mama? Daddy?" She called, looking around, then wandering out of her room.
"No…" Mad Dawg was practically begging, and it was beginning to dawn on everyone what was happening. Yet, what they thought was happening, and what was actually going to happen were two drastically different things. "Please…"
"Is that your sister or something?" Dust asked.
"Shh." Charlie whispered.
"God, please! Don't make me watch this!" Mad Dawg was begging now, his voice so quiet and broken. This wasn't helped by Vaggie's attempts to get through to Charlie, but the princess was either too enthralled at what was happening… or this was her idea of therapy. Anyone who approached Dawg were forced back by a blast from the helmet, which seemed to have taken on a mind of its own, and was determined to make Dawg watch whatever was happening.
The world glitched and now they were on the roof of the building, it wasn't clear if this was the hospital or the girl's home. But she seemed saddened as she looked around. "Mama!" She exclaimed happily, walking towards, and then through the group.
"I'm so sorry…" Mad Dawg said with shut eyes, only for Virus to force them open. The demons looked around in confusion, then Nifty gasped in horror as everyone saw the little girl standing on the edge of the building. "I'm so sorry!"
"Mam-" She began, only to then walk off the edge of the building.
There was a snapping sound, like wire, or lines getting tangled, and then a sickening 'SNAP', the sound of something hitting bricks, then silence.
Mad Dawg breathed off-beat, and then for the first time since coming to hell, he fell to his knees and cried out in heart-broken agony. Tears finally breaking through all defenses and staining his face and mixing with the twisted blood that poured from the claw marks Dawg raked across his own face in desperation, frustration, anger… fear… His voice was no longer his own. It was a primal agony, torn from the individual bit of a soul that a human-made living weapon like Mad Dawg may have believed he had. A bit of soul that he created through his want to be more than just a weapon. More than a hero. A want to be human. A want to be considered normal, to grow up as a child with a caring family and live the best life he could. It was the most horrible thing Charlie had ever heard, and she recognized it for what it was: the sound of a soul dying.
The demons watching were all left in mute horror. Not just at the sight of a little girl accidentally killing herself, but at the pain of what Dawg was going through. He had been a child when this happened, no wonder he felt like he couldn't change. But out of the group, Angel Dust felt the worst. He felt a pain he hadn't felt in ages, a personal memory clawing its way to the surface despite his best attempts to bury it.
In that moment, Charlie realized something.
She... succeeded?
She had set out to help him… and she just forced him to watch the most painful memory he had. Not because she planned to help him overcome it Even after what happened in the studio, he hadn't cried. Now, here he was. On his hands and knees, crying uncontrollably as he desperately fought for control once more. He was remorseful, that was the first step to-
"Baxter my boy. It's time to stop this." Alastor spoke in a quiet voice, one not filtered by his radio tone. He didn't sound malicious, he almost sounded… saddened.
However, the memories kept playing… the world faded out, distorting and decolouring, before returning to a hillside, looking down at a graveyard.
"No!" Dawg shouted and sobbed simultaneously, speaking a series of words that broke Charlie even further. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't care about leaving here! I'll stay down here forever! I don't care what Val or the others do to me! Just make it stop!"
Past Mad Dawg looked on at the funeral, then looked up at the tree, picking up a length of rope. The memory seemed to jump ahead, and Mad Dawg was sitting in a box car, riding the rails, the demons noticed something, a red mark along his neck, one which present Mad Dawg unconsciously rubbed where it had been. He looked to Charlie, betrayal and pain in his eyes, and she cowered back, afraid he'd strike. Vaggie looked between them, but didn't know whose side she was on in this case…
"What happened… to Virus?" Angel Dust asked after a few minutes of silence. The Memorjector hadn't come off, and it was clear any attempt to go near Dawg would be met with hostility. Mad Dawg looked down, then back up and sighed, pulling the cord again. "Wait, no- Kid, I didn't mean-"
"This is to help me, right?" He asked, and it wasn't clear what he meant by that. "You've seen this much, you might as well see what happened."
"Uh, actually I think I'd be better off not seeing this…" Nifty mumbled, but knew there wasn't much of a way out right now.
"You can do this. You can see this, you mutant bastard." Mad Dawg told himself, refusing to break down further as tears ran down his face. "After all he did… you aren't gonna feel bad about this." With one last deep breath, the light turned green, and the next memory began.
Making his way through a twisted metal and neon light maze, Past Mad Dawg came to dead end after dead end, but eventually he saw a door with Virus' mask painted on it. Walking to the final door, he opened it and was swallowed by the silence as he entered into a dark room. Suddenly, a bright blue light appeared and Mad Dawg covered his eyes. Looking up once his eyes adjusted, Past Mad Dawg saw Virus wearing his mask, sitting on a chair on a large screen, with humans and omnics, their faces concealed by Virus' logo, on smaller screens. Spray painted on the ground were the words Judgement. Pictures of people and omnics lined the bottom of the screens, surrounded by candles. Mad Dawg knew all of them. He knew who the people behind the masks were too, these were the families Mad Dawg had destroyed, the ones whom he had taken their loved ones away from. His eyes watered somewhat, finally standing before his victims as the monster he was.
"FoR those of YoU plAYinG at HoME, now's YOuR TiME to ChoOSE. Did MaD DAWG eaRN hiS FrEEDOM? Has He LEARNed hiS leSsOn? TuRN oFF yoUR scREENs If YOU thINk so, OR keEP wATCHING if yOU WaNT tO SeE hoW ThiS gOES DowN."
After Virus stopped talking, Past Mad Dawg stepped forward. Most watching felt disgust, anger, unbridled hatred. Mad Dawg looked to be so young! Maybe only thirteen! And this man… this… MONSTER… was playing a game with his life?! Charlie wanted to drag him screaming down here, to show him the worst hell had to offer, to hit him with everything he had done to Dawg, and to never let it loosen up.
"I know you all want me dead! And I don't blame you!" He shouted. "There were mornings where I'd wake up questioning why I was allowed to keep walking while so many innocents had died by my hand! If this is where I'm gonna die, that's fine. But don't let it be because of what this shit-for-brains DJ told you!" He yelled, pointing to Virus. Looking up at the cameras, everyone watching was shocked to see that the man behind the Omnic Blackout was just a child, and they could see he had tears on his face.
"I don't deserve forgiveness… but you all deserve the truth." He continued. "I never meant to hurt anyone! I know you want to see justice done, but if you do this, you'll be suffering from the same damn guilt that's been tearing me apart for years!"
"So that's it huh?" He whispered. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" He suddenly roared in anger. "DO IT! IT'S CLEAR WE'RE ALL MONSTERS! SO, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! DO IT! KILL ME!" Tears rolling down his eyes, he clenched his fists and looked at the people watching. "I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! GO AHEAD! WATCH ME DIE!"
Then, a few screens shut off. No words, no response.
"You really thought you deserved to die?"
"After all I did, after everything I took from them… yes." Mad Dawg said quietly, in perhaps the most heart-broken tone anyone had ever heard.
"WeLL I gUeSs wE haVe our ANSwER! So LONg DawG! Bye-bye! Adios!"
Suddenly, the vents opened and a gas began fuming into the room. Mad Dawg coughed, then his eyes began to water. He grabbed a blowtorch from his bag and seemed to ignite it, but it wasn't clear what he was doing.
"For what it's worth, I will give Virus this." Mad Dawg admitted. "He was smart enough to try and kill me without guns to start, I think he realized by now I could heal, and a bullet wasn't gonna do the job."
"How'd you survive?"
"Well, healing factor, and the poison wasn't properly mixed, it was more like chloroform than it was actual poison."
Virus was ecstatic. He was gone! He was finally DEAD! The freak who killed his family was finally dead! As he made his way to the room, he laughed uncontrollably. The way he tried to beg for forgiveness made Virus laugh even harder. Checking to see that the room was now properly ventilated, he walked into the auditorium and looked at the corpse of Mad Dawg. Virus wasn't an idiot, he was gonna shoot him several times to make sure. Kicking him face up, Virus laughed again.
"It's AmaZiNG." He commented aloud. "wHeN THIs STArTed, i waS jUst tryinG To stEal fRom tAloN. i haD nO idEa yoU werE eVen aLIvE! BuT tHen… tHat CHANCe, ThAt ONe iN A tRIllIOn CHAncE! yoU JuSt HAPpENED to be in THaT baSE WheN i waS sTEAlING fRom thEm, ANd yOU jUst HapPeNEd tO have been On TheiR raDar… anD eVEnTuAlLY, i foUND YOu, ANd i FOUND tHat olD SEcUrItY FoOtage FRoM THe pLanT… AND I KnEw It WAs YoU… And BOY oH Boy WaS it fuN! FRaminG that meXICAn WhORE, fORgiNG oRDErS tO tHE jUnkErs! i mEAN, SURe, THE JuNKEr queen'S DeaD aND alL, bUt tHEre's No WAY tHey CAn tRAce tHat bAcK tO Me! bEst OF All, i DestRoYEd thE one ThiNG you cAReD foR!" Lifting Mad Dawg up to his face he continued.
"All yOUR pAlS AT OVErWATch? TheY'rE NEveR gONNA FINd oUt wHAT HAPPeneD TO yOU! you'Ve loSt evERyonE, ANd NOThING, AnD no-oNE caN SAVE YOU NOW…"
Pressing the gun against Mad Dawg's temple, he paused when he heard something.
"Ditto."
There was a bright flash, and Mad Dawg grabbed Virus' neck and shoved the active blowtorch against the metal mask he wore. Virus screamed in pain as the metal mask melted and his skin burned as it touched the scarring hot metal. Mad Dawg didn't stop either, he melded Virus' mask to his skin, making sure he felt EVERYTHING.
"You manipulated families who lost so much!" Mad Dawg shouted. Punching Virus in the face, making him scream as his skin touched the burning hot metal. "You manipulated my friends!" Mad Dawg now stabbed Virus in the gut, the blade slicing through ribs and flesh. "YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Mad Dawg slammed Virus face-first onto the ground and held him there, making him scream as his skin melted onto the hit metal. Grabbing his handguns, he shot Virus several times in the back, blood splattering everywhere, and Virus screaming even louder.
"Holy shit, Dawg!" Angel Dust shouted.
"Fuckin' hell!" Moxxie exclaimed.
"That cretin had this coming." Alastor said in a low tone, and Dawg nodded in agreement. Charlie just watched, mortified. This was far more vicious than she had EVER expected… and she began to feel things crumbling down around her. She quickly shook her head, refusing to entertain such thoughts. This is what she was here to help him with! But… this… was this…?
"You said nothing would ever be traced back to you. And y'know, you're right. No one's ever seen your real face…" Reaching under Virus' chin, Mad Dawg grabbed onto the still hot mask wincing in pain at the burning metal.
"You're not gonna-" Octavia began.
"SHOW ME YOUR FACE!" Past Mad Dawg roared.
The demons watched in horror, or amusement, or satisfaction, as with one swift motion, Mad Dawg ripped the mask off of Virus. There was a sickening squelching sound as mask and skin were ripped off, along with most of the Dj's face at the same time. Virus screamed in pain and Mad Dawg screamed an animalistic scream as he held the bloody mask in the air. Mad Dawg looked at Virus, now with a good chunk of his face gone. The rest burned or scarred from something else. His eyes burning with rage and fear, anger because he hadn't killed Mad Dawg, and fear because he knew what was coming next.
"I promised I'd kill you if it was the last thing I'd do. And I don't break promises. Just necks."
"If you do this… You'll always be a monster." Virus garbled. Blood pooling in and flowing out of his mouth. It was also clear he was crying and had probably pissed himself.
"Oh, that's BULLSHIT!" Blitzo snapped. "Y'think you can call him a monster when you set up a BDSM-Torture-Maze for him!?"
"Blitzo, this is a memory." Millie said calmly.
"Fair enough." Mad Dawg growled, both in the memory, and in real-after-life.
Snap!
Twisting the Dj's neck, Virus fell to the ground dead, and then Mad Dawg fell back to the ground, feeling out of… everything, and as the door opened, and the whole room went black.
"Holy crap, kid…" Blitzo muttered taken aback by the raw brutality of Dawg's actions. Again, he killed people for money, and had seen Dawg literally destroy souls while in the fighting pit, but seeing a younger, human, and very terrified Mad Dawg do this? It just… hit differently.
"I…I…ugh." Mad Dawg sighed, that one action still heavily weighing on him, for reasons he didn't understand. "I dunno, Boss. He had to go, more would've been hurt if he hadn't." The light on the helmet turned green once more.
"Mad Dawg, we've seen enough-" Charlie began, trying to get him to stop. To salvage this mess, but Mad Dawg stared right at her, and pulled the cord again. His mind was racing, and he didn't know which memory was coming next. Finally, what looked like a school began to form, and Mad Dawg sat across from Moira, now with an implant where Dawg had removed an eye.
"Oh, THIS is gonna be a fun memory…" Mad Dawg growled, clutching at his arm so tightly it drew blood.
"I hope that clarifies your confusion, and now my only other question is a simple one. I'd ask why you refused joining us, but you have your reasons, believing that Overwatch at one point was your 'family'." She explained waving her hand dismissively. "My question is, why are you really here?"
"I… I wanted to figure out some more about who I am, what I am." Mad Dawg replied.
"No, there's something else." Moira shook her head. "What is it?"
"I…" Mad Dawg began but sighed. "I wanted to figure out what this all means for you and I."
"Oh? And what do you mean by that?" Moira asked with a mirthful smile, leaning forward on her desk.
"I dunno. You created me, but we're constantly fighting and…"
"I'm sorry. Are you under the impression that since I created you I have some connection to you? Like I'm your mother?" She said nearly laughing. She reached out and lifted his head up so he was looking at her. "You mean nothing to me. You were just an experiment, and a failed one at that. Now, you're an annoyance at best and nothing to me at worst."
Moira enjoyed the broken look in Mad Dawg's eyes, while his face didn't show much other than 'deep thought' she knew she had broken him, and she felt like that was good enough. If she was honest, she was surprised how honest she'd been with him and vice versa. But now, this time for pleasantries was over. Mad Dawg seemed to know this as he nodded and got up and left. The Memorjector began to power down, but it was clear there was one more memory, whether Dawg liked it or not.
"Damn, what a bitch…"
"Heartless wretch…"
"I… wow…"
Millie just hugged Dawg's hand, trying her best to be reassuring. It meant a lot to Dawg.
"Aw, shit." Mad Dawg muttered, remembering what this was… it was one of two nights he tried to forget, but remembered all too clearly. The (human) Mad Dawg was sitting among burned and broken piles of scrap metal, and from the look on his face, he was devastated. It was clear this was his home (as Dawg had said that earlier), but seeing it gone? It hit a chord for some of the demons.
"Geez, the hell happened here?" Husk muttered.
"We got attacked by a group called the Junkers." Mad Dawg remarked. "Virus sent them after me… I don't remember why. They're an anarchistic society, but they were working for money? I think? I never really got an answer… but… I didn't have a choice. I was afraid of what they'd find, so I had to rig the whole place and blow it up." He paused for a moment, then gave a small smirk. "Still, that was an awesome explosion…"
The younger Mad Dawg looked around, before finally leaving and grabbing a shovel. He walked to a corner and began digging, it confused those watching as he made a small pile of dirt behind him, but his expression was grim.
"Ray… T-Bone, I mean, always wanted to have an exit strategy." Mad Dawg explained as the memory kept playing, the pile of dirt growing slowly. "The dude could fight, hack, or trick his way out of Fort Knox while blindfolded, but he also knew relying on skill or luck wasn't going to cut it. He made a point to never tell anyone about this, but I saw him bury it when I was little, and just ignored it…"
By now, the past Mad Dawg had finished digging, and dragged an old, rusted box up into the light. He turned it about, something heavy rattling about as he did so.
"Ooh, mystery box!"
"Gotta know, what's in there?"
Mad Dawg didn't say anything. Finally, the younger him found the top and undid the latches. Charlie's heart sunk deeper than the final ring of hell when she saw what was in the box. It was a revolver, with a bag full of bullets.
"T-Bone never intended on using this, but he didn't want to be caught without it, either." Mad Dawg shrugged. Ray had never been suicidal, aside from offering Dawg a beer now and again when Sitara wasn't looking, and Dawg figured Ray would most likely dig this thing up to stop invaders, rather than use it on himself… but after what happened, Dawg assumed Ray forgot about it.
Mad Dawg looked to the gun, and closed the chamber. Leaning against the wall with his head, he pulled himself back up and looked out the window, looking at the burned and twisted remains of what was once his home. The older Mad Dawg sighed, looking away, as if he was ashamed of what he was seeing…
"Good-bye… everyone." Mad Dawg whispered, putting the gun under his chin. "I hope… I hope things get better, when I'm not here tearing things apart…"
"No… no… NO!" Charlie whisper-screamed. She knew Dawg had gotten here somehow, what if everyone had been lying, and he was here by suicide? That was a gut-wrenching thought, and not one she wanted to entertain. But she had dragged all this to the surface, and no matter what she tried, she couldn't look away.
"Baxter. Stop this. NOW." Alastor ordered.
Click
The younger Mad Dawg (and most of the demons watching) opened his eyes, looking to the gun in shock. Turning it away, he squeezed the trigger multiple times, the constant clickclickclick signaling the gun was empty… but when he opened it, it was loaded fully. Tears formed in his eyes again as Mad Dawg screamed, but no sound came out, and he whipped the gun with a shocking amount of force. The gun sailed away… and disappeared into a pile of junk. The memory of Mad Dawg fell to his knees, and then onto his hands, and cried.
"Ugh… that was a rough day…" Mad Dawg sighed, seeming… not as devastated as one might have expected. "Still, I've come a long way since then, and I'm glad that gun didn't go off."
The memory began to fade… and another one didn't play. Mad Dawg sighed, and then pulled the helmet off of his head, before shaking his long fur back out. The helmet fell to the floor, and rolled away, everyone staying where they were, wordless.
"I, uh… I could use some whiskey." Mad Dawg commented, awkwardly, leaving towards the bar, a few others following along. Everyone else stood in silence.
"Alastor."
"Yes?"
"If you broadcasted… ANY of that… I will kill you." Charlie said in a very quiet voice.
"What's done… is done…" Alastor remarked. Charlie turned to leave, and was suddenly slammed into a wall.
"What the FUCK is wrong with you, you blonde demonic BITCH!?" Angel Dust shouted, grabbing Charlie rather aggressively. "Are you more like your dad than you know?! Or are you just fuckin' retarded!? Because BOTH seem likely right now!"
"Get off of her!" Vaggie demanded, showing the porn star back. "She was trying to help!"
"Right! Because hearing the kid crying and begging was TOTALLY helping! And don't give me that 'he-needed-to-see-the-past-to-get-through-it' bullshit! Don't try and tell me this was for his own good! Because it clearly wasn't, it's clear you're so desperate to prove this hotel works that you'll subject a child to literal torture!"
"That's not what I was doing!"
"Uh, yes the fuck you were!" Blitzo spoke up, angrier than he realized. "Did you not hear the kid literally begging you to stop this?! That he'd rather spend an eternity trapped down here than see what you made him see?!"
"Yeah, no. I'm with Blitzo on this one." Loona added.
Mad Dawg didn't say anything, he just looked down, swaying about as if he was drunk, trying to figure out what to do. He could hear the argument clearly, and it wasn't helping things.
"No! Ya wanna know WHY I'm so pissed at you!?" Dust yelled.
"Oh, why? Because you think that we can't be redeemed, so it's better off letting us all suffer!?" Charlie retorted.
"NO! Dawg can change! He wants to change! He didn't come back sooner, because he was afraid you had considered him a lost cause! He believed in this, even after the crap with him and Val! He fought to prove you weren't who others said you were!"
"He tore 'imself apart trying to justify YOU not being OKAY with sending a CHILD into a PORNO STUDIO! Despite the fact that EVERYHTING pointed t'a you bein' responsible for it! But he tried to convince himself y'were better than that!" Millie added. "AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT HIM!?"
"Oh, so you feel bad about getting Dawg hurt, and suddenly you're the nice one?!" Charlie retorted defensively.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE KIND ONE!" Dust snapped, and everything dropped. It felt like a sack of bricks just crash-landed on Charlie's soul. "Guess I was wrong about you."
There was a painful silence, until Moxxie said what Charlie refused to believe.
"Yeah, your Majesty? If this is how you redeem demons, then this whole place is a joke. If it isn't… well, congratulations, you've just irreversibly screwed Dawg up."
Charlie looked to everyone, her eyes demonic red, and then she turned and hurried out of the room, crying to herself.
Alastor found Mad Dawg sitting at the bar, looking at a bottle of Sinful Sider, but he seemed afraid to drink it. Mad Dawg noticed him enter and narrowed his eyes. "Well, did you get your damn entertainment? Did you enjoy seeing what I've been running from?" Mad Dawg said, his voice hard to gauge. Alastor blinked, frowning for the briefest of moments, then struck Dawg atop his head with his cane. "OW! What was that for?!"
"What does it matter? It's in the past." Alastor shrugged, and Mad Dawg blinked, confused.
"Yeah, but… ow, that stung!"
"Yes, yes, the past can be rather dreadful, can't it?" Alastor nodded, sitting next to Dawg, casually. "And sometimes, the future can seem even more painful, because you'll have to embrace your pain to get through to it! But, Mad Dawg my boy, here's an honest truth for you. It's your future! Not Charlie's, not the devil's, not that wretch Moira's, or even that idiot Virus'! If you'd rather hold onto your past pain because you know that pain, then you'll never overcome it. With everything you've experienced, you can run from your pain, or-" He swung, but Dawg blocked the attack. "-learn from it. But whatever you choose, it's your choice. You can't let anyone make that choice for you. Does that make sense?"
"…why are you helping me?" Mad Dawg quietly asked, being far, far more vulnerable than anyone ever should around the Radio Demon.
"I can't quite say." Alastor shook his head. "Perhaps it'll be more entertaining to see how you learn and change, or perhaps after everything you've been through, you need someone to show you a shred of decency."
Mad Dawg looked to Alastor in genuine shock, then looked at his hands, realizing something.
"Everyone, SHUT UP." A new voice spoke, and everyone froze, looking to Dawg. Whatever arguments they had been having were silenced for now. "I… No, Charlie's wrong, but she's also right. She did try to help me, and she made a mistake."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Blitzo said, raising his hands. "Dawg, buddy. D-Dog. Didn't you run away from them because of a mistake? Both Charlie, AND your family?"
"Yeah, and that was wrong." Mad Dawg countered. "Now all of you listen up, cause I'm only gonna say this once. I knew this was gonna happen. From the moment I put that damn helmet on, I knew there was no way we'd get through this without y'all seein' something bad. I knew that, and I'm okay with it. If… If I wanna get better, I gotta push through it… and… thank you."
"Huh?"
"Thank you. All of you. For helping me." Mad Dawg quietly admitted. "I don't think I could've done that alone."
"Okay, cool, but that doesn't change-"
"Charlie wants to help, she tried to help. The fact she ran off crying? She actually feels bad." Mad Dawg continued, pointing down the hall. "And here's the truth of it all. I could keep focusing on what sucks, or I could try and make a better future for myself. So, if any of you wanna blame Charlie, you blame me."
Mad Dawg spoke with such conviction and seriousness, that those present were surprised. This was so unlike the anarchic, weird demon they had grown to know and love/hate/question/tolerate.
"…now, if you don't mind, I need to go talk to someone."
Charlie wasn't in a good place.
Big surprise, right?
No, but seriously. It felt like everything she had ever attempted, everything she had ever wanted, had just crashed down around her, and she had no one to blame but herself. They were right. All of them! She had all but tortured Mad Dawg with his past, and for what?! To help him?! She hadn't helped him! She hurt him! She-!
"Miss Charlotte?" Mad Dawg spoke up, leaning into the room. His voice caught her off guard, and she scrambled to get up, trying to seem composed. HE didn't seem angry, so she assumed he was lying in wait before he attacked her.
"Y-yeah?" Charlie sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Uh, I'm sorry." Mad Dawg said quietly. "I'm sorry I upset you. I just-"
The next thing Dawg knew, he was wrapped up in a hug, with tears staining his chest.
"I was s- I was… I was…" Charlie tried to form words, Mad Dawg just remained silent, then hugged her back. "I'm so sorry… I just… I wanted to prove that this could work… I didn't care how… the others we saved, they were just… they were easy to deal with… you… I've never had a case like you, and I thought if I pulled this off, that it'd be great for the hotel, that it'd prove this wasn't a bad idea. But I didn't focus on you. I let that want get in the way, I convinced myself I was helping you, and not treating you like a pawn, and I–"
"Charlie. I forgive you." He said. "Even if I don't need too, I forgive you."
"Y-y-you do?"
"You were trying to help me." Mad Dawg said quietly, as if finally settling on a story, or an argument, or even just finally understanding the truth of something. "You were… you were trying to do the right thing, but it went wrong. I know all about that. Look, I want to change, I want to get out of here, and if being forced to relive that pain is my only way out? Screw it, let's do it. But… at least warn me." Charlie nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and Mad Dawg added:
"Look, there's something I wanna do…"
"Really?" Was collectively asked.
"Yeah, one more memory." Mad Dawg nodded with a small smile. He put the helmet back on and closed his eyes, thinking back to a time long since passed, and one he'd give anything to get back too. The other demons looked to one another, but shrugged eventually, deciding to roll with it.
"Back… back… back…" Mad Dawg muttered. "Stop! Right there!"
The memory began with the sound of thunder echoed above as a very young Mad Dawg sat by a window, looking out over the city scape, he looked down to his arm, and in a surprisingly disgusting move, cut his arm open, only to watch it heal. In the background, the old man walked by, and stopped.
"Hey. Kace." He said, gruffly. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Mad Dawg jumped, and the knife clattered to the floor. The older man looked down, then up at Mad Dawg, then down at the bloody knife, shock and anger clear on his face.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!? Are you outta your damn mind?! What the hell is wrong with you!?" He snapped. The little Mad Dawg twitched, then sniffed, and the older man's face softened.
"Oh… wait, were you…"
"Idunnowhatiwasdoin…"
"…okay, okay…" T-Bone said, walking forward and picking Mad Dawg up. He carried him into the lounge, and sat him down on a bean bag chair, sitting across from him on a couch. "What's happenin' little guy?"
"Kenny? What am I?" The little Mad Dawg asked, and the older man seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Hell… I was hoping it wasn't this…" He muttered. "Of course, Sitara's gone…" He rubbed his face, before seeing Mad Dawg deflate.
"M'sorry… it's my fault…"
"Whoa, hold on. No." T-Bone shook his head. "Back it up, kid. Back that up. What's your fault?"
"…everything…"
"Okay, I'm gonna be real, you need to be more specific."
"Everything that's gone wrong since I got here… it's all my fault… I'm…I'm…I'm…I'm not even human! I'm just some animal!" The tiny Mad Dawg seemed to break again, tears running silently from his eyes.
"Why did you want to see this?" Charlie asked, softly.
"I think it's coming." Mad Dawg quietly replied.
"Is that what you think about yourself? That you're some sort of stray pet we took in?" T-Bone asked, skeptically, beginning to get a grasp on what was bugging the newest recruit.
"It's what you think I am." The young Mad Dawg said quietly, and T-Bone noticeably recoiled.
"Now hold on… I… that… I mean…" He sputtered. On the one hand, he did think that. Mad Dawg, Kace, or Kaiju whatever wasn't… human. At least not fully. But he didn't see him as less because of-
"Is that why they didn't want me?"
"Huh?" Was collectively asked.
"Aw, crap… I forgot about this part." Mad Dawg muttered, sighing deeply.
"My parents… I don't know who they are, Miss Sitara isn't my mom… not… not in the parent-way, so does that mean they didn't want me because I wasn't normal? Because of how I was born? What's wrong with me, Ray? What am I!?"
"Rrrghhh…yer not cryin'… yer not cryin'…" Angel Dust seethed, digging into his arm with one of his hands in an attempt to not break down over this sob story. Octavia blinked, wordlessly looking over to Mad Dawg.
"Hey, it doesn't matter what the hell you are." T-Bone said matter-of-factly. "What matters is this, you're one of us. Nothing's gonna change that." He paused for a moment, then said: "Kace, I don't know what you are. You're not human, you're a mutant, most likely. But here's the truth; that little voice inside your head, asking if you're not good enough, it's you. That's you asking yourself that. Maybe you can't answer that, but I can. You are, kid. In more ways than I think you realize. Thing is… you need to hear that voice of yours give you the honest truth."
Cracking a top off of a bottle of beer, he passed it to the tiny Mad Dawg, who looked up at him with tearful eyes, but the beginnings of a smile that Charlie thought was adorable. "Now, repeat after me."
"Repeat after me." Kace repeated, clearly not understanding what was being said.
"Heh… okay… ready?"
The little Mad Dawg nodded.
"I'm proud of you." T-Bone said.
"I'm proud of you." Both Mad Dawg's said, with the one the story is focused on whispering it.
"I matter."
"I matter."
"I'm part of this family."
"I'm part of this family."
"Nothing can change that."
"Nothing can change that."
"From now until the end of time, we're family."
"From now until the end of time, we're family."
"I'm gonna be the best self I can be."
"I'm gonna be the best self I can be."
"I'm not gonna tell Sitara about you giving me beer." T-Bone added.
"I'm not gonna tell Sitara about you giving me beer."
The memory began to distort and fade, until it was gone, and the group of demons sat where they were, until Mad Dawg looked up with a genuine smile.
"That… that helped." He nodded. "Thank you, you've given me something to work towards, to get back too. Thanks."
Later that night…
Nifty was walking about the current floor she was on, inspecting everything for even the slightest hint of dirt or dust. Even since he had gotten it cut, Dawg hadn't been shedding, but that didn't mean there still weren't messes to clean.
"S..OP…Yo…on't…ve…Ge…yo…ands…off…er!" A voice could be heard from… somewhere. Nifty paused, looking around confused before shrugging and returning to her cleaning.
"Weird." She shrugged. Sure, this was hell, and screaming was fairly common, but she could've sworn that she heard that coming from-
"NO! PLEASE! I DON'T- DON'T HURT HER! I'LL DO IT, VAL!"
That got the small demoness to stop and look around. Finally, she saw the room which was Mad Dawg's, the door still not fixed, and she slowly approached it. Looking in, Nifty saw that the room (or more specifically, the bed) seemed to be torn to shreds, with stuffing and fabric all over the place. Her eye twitched in irritation, as she was not one who enjoyed cleaning up after Dust's… 'work', to put it nicely.
"Okay… okay… I'll just dismember him a little bit… no big deal, no big deal…" Nifty mumbled. She pulled a knife from behind her (don't worry this is fairly common, apparently), and approached Mad Dawg's bed. However, when she got there, she froze in surprise. The stuffing and torn fabric wasn't due to some weird foreplay thing… but… "Oh, you poor thing…" Nifty whispered, realizing Dawg was trapped in a nightmare. His claws had dug into the mattress, and he was in a cold sweat. His breathing sounded like he was being choked, and was trying to both scream, cry, and fight back all at the same time. She climbed up on the bed, and pulled Dawg's large paw-hand over to her small one. "It's okay, it's okay…" She walked down and collected the blanket Dawg had discarded in his sleep, and pulled it back up over him, tucking him in up to his chin, before sitting next to him.
"There we are, all nice and snug." The small demon smiled.
Nifty settled down on the bed, sitting with her back against Mad Dawg's side. Silently, she returned to her knitting, and felt Dawg's body calm down, as if something lulled him to a peaceful sleep. Slowly, the shaking reduced to a slow breathing, and despite his arms shaking and twitching occasionally, he seemed better overall. There wasn't any more screaming or whimpering, but Nifty couldn't blame him for that… not after what had happened today. No, instead, Nifty hummed softly and reached over, putting her hand on Dawg's large paw-hand.
"It's okay, I won't those scary monsters can't get you." She said soothingly. "Sleep tight."
And on that night, with a renewed sense of hope, even if he didn't know it was there yet, Mad Dawg did.
A.N. Listen, everyone suffers at some point in their life. It's gonna happen. And a large amount of people will contemplate suicide/self-harm because of whatever they're going through. An abusive relationship, bullying, general depression, loss of a family member, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you don't suffer in silence. Mad Dawg and I aren't the right people to talk to about this (unless you need to) but there are people who can help. All you need to do is google 'Suicide Prevention Hotline' and call them. They can work miracles. If you're still unsure, find someone you can trust, a friend, a parent, a pastor, anyone. And tell them what's going on. Don't be afraid, it's not weakness to admit you're scared or hurting. It's one of the bravest things you can do. It's scary, believe me, I know.
Sometimes you might think no one will notice if you're gone, I've been there, but they will. Trust me on that. Please, always remember that no matter what anyone says, no matter what you've gone through or are going through, there are people ready to help. And no matter what anyone says, I think you're an amazing person, and your life has value in ways you might not even know yet. There will be better days ahead, and I'm fighting to get to them as much as you are.
-SkorchNTorch
Anyhow… enough emotions, let's have some chaos next time! And… well, we're approaching the end of the story, so what does the devil have in store for Dawg? Let's find out…
WHY WAS THIS CHAPTER SO LONG!?
