"Hey, umm... Jack's been missing. He said he was leaving the planetoid for a date yesterday and he wasn't in his room, and then he completely missed the morning shift."
Diego sat down with Peter at his table outside of Café Vosta. He'd been biting down on a beef sandwich and gulping down some black coffee, eyes scanning place to place to be sure that nothing was off during his lunch break. Shaking his head, which made his ears flop around, Peter made a look of disgust at considering why Jack would still be gone.
Dismissing his husband, after swallowing a bite, he finally said, "No, no- I don't need to know. That man's sex life has been exposed to us far too much already. Isn't this finally a chance to get some peace from that by getting to not be forced to sleep in a room across from him?"
Diego rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. Vosta was so open and exposed, and far too busy for him to deal with. The easy vulnerability to anything, the background noise- it just made his skin crawl. "You know how it was with the... danger. -He always called if he was going to miss anything... even though he's a lazy...err- sloth. And he- he didn't even send a text."
Peter smiled at him, reaching over and ignoring his greasy fingers to playfully ruffle Diego's dark, fluffy hair, huffing fondly. "I swear, you're practically an angel. Can't even call an arse an arse when he's being one."
With Peter really the only one he could ever talk to on equal footing, he made a stand and made his desires known. Being the face of the Rabbit was something Diego needed Jack for, lazy or no, because he just couldn't do people. He needed to be found to help with that, at the very least, even counting out their friendship and his safety. And Diego was actually a little worried. "Look, I love you- but this is serious. You're the head of security now, right?"
Peter only shrugged. "I was head security officer of Legion City too, you know that."
While true, that wasn't something he'd ever seen that way. But 'knight in shining armour' would always be more accurate to his view of the enforcer, ever since their very first meeting.
Diego pouted adorably, his eyes seeming to inflate and his eyebrows tilting up. He was a master of doe-eyed pleading.
"So- help me find him? Please?"
Cocking his head back in surrender, Peter joked, "Goddammit Diego, why are you so bloody cute? I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about, we'll just ask around and see where he could've run off to, tell Irving. And I do take my job very seriously, I'll have you know. With all the students piling in and the summit coming up, it's hard to prioritize Jack being lazy. But I'll give it a go."
He sighed a breath of relief. "Thank goodness."
Getting up from the table, Diego passed by his husband with just a quick peck on the cheek and a timid smile, and walked away back towards the Rabbit.
"Yeah, yeah. Jack is late and we haven't heard from him," he confirmed, rolling his eyes at the hologram.
Braxiatel steepled his fingers and stared off in silence, gears grinding in his head as he added things together and calculated all the possibilities. Eventually, he spoke after rapping a stack of paper on his desk. "...A bit... concerning. I'll send a few spare staff members into the Rabbit to help Diego in his absence."
Peter's ears drooped and he sighed, now trapped in the position that Diego had just been prior. That put things into perspective, didn't it? It didn't help how he saw Irving now, away from each other all this time, him changing so much since Legion. "While that would be nice, Irving- that's... sorta not the point."
At least Brax affirmed his understanding. His stern front fell slightly in front of the young man, pinching his nose and squinting. He frowned in genuine worry when he put his hands down, not that his words exactly matched it. "The point is that he's missing and it's concerning, yes. If his communicator happens to be on, I may be able to override it and force him to take the call."
He rolled his eyes, but seemed to relax his guarded stance a little in front of the less stiff and dull Braxiatel, one that still welcomed him far more than the man who had been so cruel to everyone he cared about. His acting like that did however put Peter on edge regardless. It was too much a reminder. This was better. "Thank you. It's probably something stupid with it being Jack, but y'know... Diego's always worried." He shrugged casually. That much was true.
Brax nodded, head resting on folded hands, his expression going stagnant again, aside from his eyes, pensive and analysing. "Hmm... Understandable- what little I know of your husband, that makes a great deal of sense."
Peter nodded back and waved a furred hand at him. "Well- bye, Irving. I gotta go ask around. And get some students in order, there's a graffiti problem on one part of campus already."
"Yes, yes. I'm aware that has been an issue lately. I've already ordered the spray paint dissolving agent." The place wouldn't look any less than pristine. Ever. Not when he had a say. And the clash between that image being in the same conversation as a missing employee- it didn't appear to faze Braxiatel at all on the surface. To him, it looked arguably just as important. But looking carefully, you could tell, in his eyes, and the way the corner of his mouth twitched, that he was already worrying somewhat himself. Just a bit.
"Goodbye, Peter. Have a good day."
The call slipped away and Peter's likeness disappeared.
He tapped a few things out on the systems, and soon enough he'd gotten a connection.
"Jack, you were supposed to be back hours ago, are you alright?" Brax tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. The signal already seemed rough, badly disrupted, unstable and fuzzy despite the fact that the camera on Jack's communicator was likely covered up. But it was there. At least it was there.
Jack stole the communicator from his pocket, coming into frame, shaky and definitely nervous. "Irving! Ah- yeah. Alright, perfectly alive, thank you! So far, at least. Not a great time. There's a giant monster thing in here that probably wants to eat and digest us while we're still breathing."
Braxiatel put a hand to his face. "Of course this would happen."
Jack put up his arm defensively. "It's not just my fault! It was also my boyfriend's!"
He scoffed back. "It doesn't have to be your fault. You still stupidly put yourself in danger for no reason other than a date. Do you need a rescue?"
The Kadeptian rubbed the back of his neck. "A little help, at least, definitely."
Brax rolled his eyes, cracking his knuckles and pulling up a screen to look through possible choices of help. "Who should I send to save you? Benny, Roda, Peter, gods forbid, Jason? Or someone else?"
"Well, err- we're in a different century-"
"Are you really?" Irving cocked an eyebrow. Now that was concerning indeed. But he'd address that later, if it was indeed urgent. Waving it away, he looked back at his holographic interface. "Ah, yes. Roda then. That should be easy enough. I'll ask precisely how you've travelled through time when you return."
"Sounds great! Here's my coordinates, I'll try to keep my communicator oh- ah ahhh! Ugh... bye, Irving-" The picture shook as the signal went completely to static and fizzled out.
"Oh, dear."
Roda didn't find what she expected when she stepped inside the abandoned bar. Her torch illuminated the area, plaster cracked and falling off the walls in chunks, old booths and stools with torn upholstery and exposed stuffing, broken glass, and of course, mould. Lots and lots of mould. But also, the odd choice of gimmick. She'd never been to the Mississippi Bayou- but the statues and faint pictures of frogs and crocodiles... or alligators, she didn't remember- in the decayed fake foliage made that clear enough.
It was damp in here, the wooden floor somewhat sticky, and it smelled absolutely rancid from the various types of decay and stale alcohol. The faint, but all too familiar stench of death made its way to her nose too. Her nostrils flared and she cringed at the odour. She was in fact so familiar with this smell that it actually took a minute to realize just what it meant they'd probably gotten themselves into.
Oh no.
Roda's eyes widened when it finally dawned on her.
Shit.
She put one hand on a blaster and crept forward toward the hallway in the corner of the bar. She scanned the doors it connected to and frowned. There were multiple floors to this place and enough rooms that it could take a while, but luckily- or worryingly, a scream alerted her to the presence of who was here. Along with a faint, unless she was mishearing it, 'I love you!'
The sound came from below, the direction of the basement. A clattering confirmed it, and she dashed down the stairs as fast as she could.
She caught sight of them, Jack and presumably his boyfriend standing in silhouette. She knew who was who both by the height and the pair of gleaming embers that were his eyes.
"Jack?"
His eyes lit up at the sound of her voice. "Roda! A pleasure to see you, absolute joy, really. But you may want to run."
She grimaced at him. "Then why aren't you?"
The flames in Jack's eyes shifted downward. And when she shone the torch on them, it wasn't just them. Behind it was something, something terrible... It seemed to eat away the very light. Amorphous and shapeless, pulsing, a black void without a clear mind of its own, and it had Jack and the other man's feet in a death grip.
"Roda, this is my lovely boyfriend Robin, that over there is a monster, and judging by the skeletons in the kitchen, we think we're being eaten."
Fun.
"You might be able to pull us out- I had an escape line attached to a spot in the kitchen- maybe the winch could get us out?"
"Yeah, if ya could try that. Shooting the thing only scared it away once. Running might be better."
"Alright- scream again if it gets worse. Promise I'll be right back."
"My lungs are perfectly well equipped- now go, please!"
Roda nodded, turning away and rushing back up the stairs.
Reaching the top and turning towards the kitchen, she suddenly felt even more uneasy. Her hand hesitated and shook on the door handle, and she winced as she slowly pushed it open.
A cloud of noxious aroma burst out, far stronger and far, far worse than anything else here so far. Despite her strong stomach, it made Roda want to vomit.
She stepped forward, and something damp squished underneath her boot.
Pointing the flashlight down, she saw it, her eyes widening.
This wasn't a skeleton.
It was a severed and blackened, half-dissolved arm with exposed, brittle bone, oozing with coagulated blood and disintegrated flesh. There was a massive puddle on the ground surrounding it with some other meat-like chunks, and farther away were other parts, strewn across the floor and countertops- a skull, some remains of the legs and feet, part of the other arm- but the torso was just an empty pelvis and broken ribcage, also blackened and delicate, emptied and devoid completely of organs.
Along with the devouring and butchering, these were clearly the effects of a deadly strong acid.
Digested.
They weren't exaggerating- the void in the basement was consuming them- she had to act fast before it could happen. Roda got back on task and caught sight of the escape line- a controllable rescue cable attached to a winch.
Picking it up with one hand, she turned around on a dime, sliding through the once-humanoid remains, back down the stairs.
"Roda!"
"Yes, I'm back- now take this-"
She passed the men the grooved handholds on the cable and hooked the other end on the closest stable object in the room, a snooker table. The thing didn't appear to be active, so it was good to go, or as close as they'd get.
"Hold on."
"Goes without saying."
"Thanks, Robin"
Switching it on and increasing the torque of the pull until it seemed to break the surface tension of the being, it slowly pulled Robin and Jack free.
Unfortunately for them, it still wanted its meal.
Doing the closest thing that an ooze could to rearing up, it slithered dark tendrils towards Roda and rolled over in a crashing wave that broke the snooker table in two.
"Shit-!"
"Roda!"
It began creeping up, encasing her slowly, but much faster than it had either of the others.
The acid already stung and burned when it seeped into her clothing, making her wince as the pain. She dropped the torch and it was consumed, leaving no light to speak of aside from the tiny candle flames in Jack's eyes.
Until...
There were sparks.
"Now I can holl thif lonnn so finnne the torfs cauz I'l bur ma toun-" Jack mumbled, a bright, blue fire having lit itself in his throat and licks of it slipping out of his mouth, faintly illuminating part of the room again, enough to look for something to help.
"Was wonderin' why you chugged all that dusty old booze," the Exile remarked. "Fuel?"
That was in fact not the reason, but he wasn't exactly able to contest it.
"Concentrate, please," Roda snarked, gritting her teeth through the pain.
"Huwry!" Jack spat back, a burst of fire erupting from his mouth.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm working-"
There were supposed to be spare ones in a satchel they'd left on the floor, luckily undissolved. Rummaging through, he found a pair of them and tossed one to Jack, allowing him to finally put his flame out.
Catching it casually, Jack snuck past Roda and the creature and took something off the wall- a long wooden rod.
It wasn't a great idea- perhaps to anyone but him anyway, but it was a start.
Bernice mulled over her paperwork again, after a few other previous rounds of mulling. There was one research paper she needed to edit, beginning of year forms to read, and at the end of it- hopefully a chance at a book she'd become rather invested in.
Her communicator buzzed an update. Having heard about their disappearance on the grapevine- it'd been almost a full day now, she set it with Braxiatel's permission to check if his DNA signature was anywhere on the planetoid. She sighed and let it play in its dull, automated voice.
'Jack McSpringheel's bio signature still either not present or detectable. It has now been 24 hours since he was last seen on the Braxiatel Collection.'
"That's it," Benny growled. She wasn't going to sit idle.
Grabbing it off the desk, she tossed her work aside and tried to get through to him herself. Calling him up, it seemed like it would only be static- but after what felt like hours, she finally got a signal, and eventually, a picture- dim, but discernable.
And a weird picture indeed.
Benny cocked her head, puzzled. "Jack... Are you beating something with a pool cue?"
He rolled his eyes.
"No, it's a snooker cue. But yes, I am beating something with it."
"Goddess..."