Kevin blinked. "I think that's a terrible idea."
"I think it'll be nice!" Min shot back.
"...can I get a say in the matters, maybe?" Doppler piped up. "Or should I break out the popcorn and kick back?"
"You can shut up." Kevin flicked Doppler on the nose.
Given the random break Ironwood was giving them, Min decided to take full advantage of the situation. How? By inviting her demonic family to Earth, all so Kevin could meet them.
"If Ben and Ruby are gonna tell Carl and Sandra, we should at least inform my parents about us!" Min protested.
Kevin winced and stood his ground. "I'm, uh...not the best at first impressions."
"It'll be fine, I promise," she said, trying to reassure her boyfriend.
"Just trust me on this," he insisted.
"Kevin, my first impression of you guys was accidentally being summoned by Ben's cousin and she just drove over to drop me off, basically saying 'Hey can you guys deal with my new demon roommate so I don't have to?'" Min countered. "Not exactly the smoothest introduction right?"
"You did something that impressed everyone," Kevin pointed out. "That coin flip trick was pretty sweet."
"I mean, I guess, but it's a pretty simple example. You still get the point, right?"
Kevin groaned and slapped a palm to his face. "You realize that nothing you say is going to convince me, right? I'm still going to fail to make a good first impression."
"Just trust me on this," Min said softly, reaching out to grab his hand.
Kevin sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Just ask Kylie, she'll back me up."
She nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll do it later."
"Oh, yeah, he sucks at first impressions," Kylie said flatly.
Min sighed. "You guys keep saying it so I guess I need to ask. How bad exactly?"
"Well, when I first met him, he was a mutated monster. Kinda weird, but he couldn't fit in our car..." Kylie reminisced.
"That's under weird circumstances, though. I mean normally," Min countered.
"When he met Weiss, he tripped on his face and got a bloody nose..." Kylie continued.
"...oh...o-okay, that could just be bad luck."
"And then, when he met Ozpin, his fly was down." Kylie finished. "He sucks with first impressions. Why are you torturing him?"
"Ok, wasn't expecting all of that," Min muttered. "But I thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to my family."
"What even is your family like?" Kylie had to ask. "You've never really mentioned them."
"My family is, for lack of a better term, evil," Min deadpanned. Kylie blinked as she let that sink in.
"...like, a good kind of evil? You evil?"
"The Alkaev family is a very interesting group of demons. We're pretty well known from where I'm from," she explained.
"That can go either way. And I'm not sure which is worse," Kylie admitted.
"Depends, honestly." Min chuckled. "We're pretty close-knit. You think I'm a bastard? Wait till you see my brothers."
"I'm scared to ask but you got me curious."
"I'll let them explain," Min smirked. "I've met your moms before. I think they like me. But it's honestly hard to tell."
"They do. So, how are you planning this?" Kylie asked curiously.
Min smiled. "Simple. We have dinner. That's it, nothing else."
"So it's either going to go well...or things are going to erupt into absolute madness."
"No, my folks promised to be civil," Min reassured her. "Promise. Cross my heart."
"Alright..." Kylie said, a bit hesitant. She wanted to say this was going to go well. But in all honesty, she had no idea how this was going to end.
"Honestly, I should probably redo my nails for tonight," Min said, looking at her hands. "Looks like the purple polish is wearing off. Wanna do some prep?"
Kylie's eyes lit up. "Yes, absolutely."
Kevin carefully ironed his suit, making sure not to burn it. Doppler watched carefully.
"Aren't you worried about overdoing it?" he asked.
"Min's parents aren't like Taiyang or my moms. They're VERY important people," Kevin explained. "Like, Weiss levels of rich in the demon world."
"...why does that make me think they just have a bank vault full of souls? Wait, is that a stereotype?" Doppler asked, genuinely worried.
"It could be," Kevin groaned, rubbing his temple. "Look. Right now, I want you on your BEST behavior. I'm talking about you not making a peep all evening. I don't wanna fuck up the first meeting."
"Not my fault you're so awkward already," he teased.
"I will iron you."
"Ok, ok. Not a word," Doppler said. "Sheesh..."
"For now, I want you to make sure everything is perfect. I don't wanna randomly mutate in the middle of dinner," Kevin ordered.
"Ok, see, that I have under control. And if I don't then I'll let you know and you can...I dunno, think up some way to get away from them for a bit. Undoing the mutation won't take THAT long."
"Find something to preoccupy yourself with. Seriously," Kevin pleaded. "Work on recovering my aliens or whatever."
"I could...I'll try not to activate the form RIGHT when it's back if I manage something," Doppler compromised.
"Okay, I'll take what I can get." Kevin frowned. "Get to work. Maybe I'll sneak you a bite of steak."
"Ah yes, my reward for being such a dear friend!" Doppler chuckled before he went silent and started working.
Kevin suppressed a groan as he went back to ironing. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.
"It's open!" Kevin yelled. He figured it'd be Lev or Rook, maybe coming in to ask him about something. But to his shock, Weiss entered the room.
Weiss blinked as she looked around the room- band posters and Christmas lights on the walls, some scattered clothes, and what was absolutely one of Min's bras on the ground.
"Uh, hey. Are you busy?" Weiss asked nervously.
Kevin briefly looked up. "A little, but I can talk."
"Right, so...how do I impress your parents?"
He blinked. "Weiss, you've known them for years. I think you know what you're doing."
Weiss began to pace. "Yeah, but...do I, honestly? Like, yeah, Anna and Sienna are VERY understanding and caring but..." She tapped her fingers together. "I feel like I'm gonna fuck up somehow."
Kevin took a deep breath. "I am not the person you wanna talk to about this. Where's Kylie?"
"She's getting ready with Min. Wants her outfit to be 'a surprise,'" Weiss said. "So, talk."
"Okay," Kevin sighed, "Uh..." He wasn't ready for this. He was focused on his ways of not fucking up an introduction.
"What's the best way I can reintroduce myself? What does Anna look for in a person?" Weiss asked.
"What does she look for in a person..." Kevin softly repeated the question to himself. "Well, there's the obvious stuff. Honesty, not being an asshole, but that's not what you're looking for here...um..."
"What about Sienna? Does she, like, secretly hate me because my dad's a shithead?" Weiss asked, beginning to sweat.
"Oh definitely not," Kevin immediately protested. "She doesn't believe in that 'sins of the father' excuse."
"Oh, thank Christ- well, what about if they hate-"
"They're totally fine with you," Kevin huffed. "Look, I'm trying not to fuck up with Min's parents tonight."
"Did she ever tell you what they're like?" Weiss asked, furrowing her brow.
"Just that they were important."
She was about to say something but Kevin cut her off.
"Weiss, trust me. You're not gonna fuck up here. Me, on the other hand...well, you know my track record with first impressions," he sighed heavily.
"Yeah, remember the first time WE met?" Weiss joked.
Kevin hung his head and whined, "I don't wanna talk about it."
Kevin sighed as he looked over himself in the mirror. He'd be meeting the rest of Min's family in fifteen minutes and he wanted to make sure he was presentable…and he was. Or at least, he thought so. He had no idea how Min's parents would see him. Doppler was the quietest he'd ever been, which was honestly surprising. Kevin expected a comment or something but no, dead silence. Either he had finished his work and was just listening to Kevin (which was doubtful), or he was VERY focused on getting his aliens restored.
Weiss walked over to him, wearing the same outfit she did at the Beacon Ball. "Look at you, all cleaned up...jeez."
"As I said earlier, I don't wanna fuck this up," Kevin pointed out, looking over himself in the mirror again. "Doppler's been quiet too, so he's not messing this up for me either."
"Wait, seriously? You must be serious about this if he's quiet," Weiss realized. "Should we make our way to the hanger to meet your moms?"
Kevin gave one last quick glance at his reflection before nodding. "Ready as I'll ever be."
"Right." Weiss nodded. Admittedly, she was still very nervous, but still...she could handle it. With that, the two of them started off towards the hangar.
"Kylie and Min meeting us there?" Kevin asked a few minutes later.
"I think so-" Weiss answered as she saw Kylie and Min...and Kylie's makeover.
Kevin had to hold Weiss' arm to stop her from fainting.
Kylie was now wearing a green and black outfit. The top somewhat resembled a corset with added shoulder covers, all complete with leather trim and a floral pattern. She had a leather belt complete with some attached pockets around her waist. She had a green skirt that went to about her knees but it was held up a bit for better movement and black ankle-high boots. To finish the look, she had worn black, beaded earrings with a single black gem in the middle.
"Yeah, she said let's paint our nails, and then it turned into 'let's raid a random closet and steal something good,'" Kylie explained.
"You look great." Weiss smiled, her cheeks a delicate pink.
"Wait till you see Min," Kylie said, giving her brother a sly look.
When Min walked into the hangar, Kevin was just as awestruck as Weiss was. Her ensemble was a flowing black dress that reached her knees, with straps that extended over her shoulders and connected to a black choker-like bit of fabric at the base of her neck. The dress' sleeves reached down all the way to her hands. From her ears hung two rather impressive diamond earrings that shone when the light reflected off of them. Finishing up her outfit was a pair of net leggings and black pump boots.
Kevin's face turned bright red. "...oh my god."
"You like~?" Min teased. "Gotta dress to impress. And with my family, we dress for the kill."
Kevin, Kylie, and Weiss gave a blank stare.
"We're not gonna kill you guys, obviously."
"I am already nervous enough about this," Kevin sighed. "Please don't make it worse."
"Come on, Kev. My parents are gonna be here soon." Min grinned, as she pulled his tie towards the hanger. Kevin didn't even resist, still awestruck by his own girlfriend. He was expecting something fancy, but he wasn't expecting something quite like that.
"So," Kylie asked, turning to Weiss. "Whatcha think? Too gothy?"
"Oh, no. It's most certainly a 'you' dress. And I mean that in a good way," Weiss reassured her.
"Ah, thanks. 've never worn something like this before. Kinda weird..."
"Kylie, it looks good on you. Promise," Weiss said, trying to get rid of those last lingering feelings of doubt Kylie had.
Kylie smiled as the two turned into the hanger, seeing her moms coming out of a ship.
Anna was dressed respectfully, wearing a green dress under a trench coat, along with some flat shoes- she hated heels. Don't even mention them to her.
Sienna was dressed similarly, wearing a dark red dress that somewhat resembled a kimono, probably from Mistral, black diamond earrings, and flat shoes as well.
"Hey mom, hey amma." Kevin grinned, as Anna happily walked over and hugged both her kids.
"You guys need to come home more often," Anna said. "You're making me all emotional."
Sienna smirked. "I would say that's a good thing."
"Hush, you," she grumbled, pulling Sienna into the hug as well.
Weiss smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Miss Dombrowski."
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute. Family moment," Anna dismissed her. Weiss frowned, looking hurt
"Don't worry. She'll be fine in a minute," Sienna told her gently.
Anna eventually broke away, returning to her cooler persona. "Right...so, Min," she said, clearing her throat. "What can we expect from your parents?"
"Interesting topics, stuff about demons and, well, just my energy times 10," Min quickly explained.
"Should be interesting, at least," Sienna admitted. If Min was any indication, this was going to be an eventful evening.
"So, when should your parents be here?" Kevin asked just as a sphere of darkness suddenly opened up behind him.
"Right now, apparently," Min said, raising an eyebrow.
The first to exit the sphere was Min's father, a tall man with curly golden hair and the same eerie yellow eyes as his daughter. He was formally dressed in a black and white tuxedo complete with a tailcoat, bowtie, and even a top hat. He was talking into a phone as he exited the sphere.
"Look, normally I'd LOVE to renew the contract, but I have a very important family matter to tend to. So if you could just hold off on that by like...a day? Then we're good," Min's dad said. The person he was talking to said something back over the line and the demon hung up before long.
"Sorry about that! Last-minute call. Some self-proclaimed bringer of order or some such nonsense. Starts with an A. Now, where is my little hellion?"
"Dad~!" Min said, her voice audibly excited. She flung herself into his arms and he lifted up his teenaged child, happily swinging her around.
"...wow. Min's dad is not what I expected," Kylie said in awe.
"What did you expect?" Kevin had to ask.
"Something more…ethereal?" She made a few vague hand gestures. "I dunno, the mind perceives stuff differently."
"I...have no idea if that's a compliment or not," Min's dad admitted, "but, that doesn't matter right now! How've you been? Spreading your special brand of terror in this world?"
"Yep! Spreading chaos by messing with some evil witch woman!" Min grinned.
"That's my girl!" Min's father beamed back. "But before I hear the story, introductions are in order." Min's father took off his top hat and bowed. "My name is Cipher, but please...keep a hand on all your wallets. I might steal them to pay for dinner."
Kylie's hands immediately went to her side. Weiss blinked. "...well, now we know where Min gets her humor."
"And some of her magical prowess. You've shown them Walpurgisnacht, right?" Cipher asked.
Min smiled. "Oh, yeah. Blew someone up with it."
"Even more fantastic! Oh, wait until your mother hears about this~" Cipher sighed.
"Speaking of her mother," a voice called out as someone else stepped out of the dark sphere. In truth, she looked like an older version of Min with the only real differences being shorter hair and bright green, cat-like eyes. She was dressed in an elegant black A-line dress with a slit up the long skirt, with thin straps to hold it up and a black and gold diamond necklace resting at her collarbone.
"Woah," Kylie breathed. "And now we know where Min gets her looks."
"Everyone, this is my wife, Bianca," Cipher announced.
"And the source of all her mischief. I raised her right." Bianca smiled, her blood-red lips a sharp contrast to her pale skin.
"Chaos which is being put to good use. Though I feel like I need to know more about her," Cipher said, furrowing his brow. "If it's anything like the other witches I've had to deal with..."
"She's...well it's debatable if she's better or worse," Min said, wincing.
"What kind of witches do you deal with then!?" Kevin exclaimed...before remembering who he was talking to.
"I presume this is Kevin?" Cipher asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," Min said proudly.
"Hm...now it's my turn to say it: not entirely what I was expecting."
"...huh?" Kevin said.
"When you were described to us, we kinda expected...someone more..." Bianca hummed. He braced for it- the backhanded comment.
"...alien."
...wait, what?
"I thought you said he was an alien," Cipher elaborated.
"Oh, no, he can turn INTO aliens."
"...oh. Well. Slightly less impressive."
"Hey, it's still cool," Min protested. "He can make hybrids out of the ones he's already got. I told you about Black Hole Sun, right?"
"Oh, so your gimmick is hybridizing...interesting." Cipher gave Kevin a look of appraisal.
"Well. my forms are also a bit...mutated," Kevin added sheepishly.
"Really? Hm...might need to see that one day," Bianca mused.
"Well, not tonight," Min said, stepping forward. "This is gonna be a nice, fun dinner. Come on, this place has some REALLY expensive but great food."
"Oh, excellent. Haven't had human cuisine in a while...you guys still eat goat's heart, right?" Bianca asked.
Sienna blinked. "...oh, I like her."
Bianca visibly preened at the compliment.
"Now, I hope you weren't going to forget us," a new voice said as two more figures stepped out from the sphere. Both of them were guys a little older than Min, one African-American, the other Japanese. The former was very well-put-together and had a more athletic build to him, wearing a suit similar to his father's minus the tailcoat. He had golden-brown eyes and black curly hair with a temple fade. The latter was...interesting. He still wore a nice suit, but there was something about him that made the others guess he would've preferred something a little different. His dark hair was wavy and stylishly messy, even with the undercut, and though his eyes were dark brown there was a familiar eeriness to them that reminded them all of Cipher.
"Okay, who are these guys?" Kevin asked.
"...oh, my god, those are her brothers." Kylie gasped.
"Yep! Meet Danny and Nagi," Min beamed.
"Pleasure to meet you," Danny said, his voice deep and naturally smooth. Why did Kevin feel like this guy was familiar? Something about the way he spoke.
Weiss hummed. "I...okay, how does this work? Are they adopted?"
Min smirked. "Kinda."
"...kind of?"
"Complicated story," Nagi said, his smirk matching his sister's. "You'll never hear it, and that's the best part."
"This is going to bother me for a long time, I just know it," Kevin muttered. All three siblings shared a laugh.
"Alright, alright, enough for now. I believe we have a dinner planned," Cipher smirked.
Kevin walked forward, but as he did he felt a weird itchy sensation on his wrist. He scratched at it and hummed. Weird place to have an itch, but it was the least of his worries now...
That was a Doppler problem.
Speaking of Doppler, as Kevin and the others started to head out to the restaurant, he was still busy inside the AntiTrix, working on restoring forms and working power sets. But, here's the thing. On the outside, the AntiTrix was nothing more than a weird, techno-organic watch.
On the inside, at least to the everyday person, it was a weird mix of components. To Doppler, the inside of the AntiTrix was like a massive facility he would walk around in, almost like it was its own microscopic planet.
Interestingly enough, and maybe a bit obvious, Doppler wasn't in his usual liquid metal form. Inside the AntiTrix he was more humanoid. His whole body was silver in color, with red circuit lines reaching down to his hands. The lines went up from his arms, down his shoulders, and connected in the middle of his chest, each one on the side of the AntiTrix symbol situated in the middle.
"Ok...let's see if we can get Twisted Sister active," Doppler muttered to himself.
He pulled out a keyboard and began to type- his job wasn't luxurious or noticed by anyone, but if it kept Kevin alive, and got him stronger, he could live with it. Doppler wasn't a 'deep' character. He was just built to save a life, repair it, and...do whatever else he could.
Doppler was a bit satisfied when he got a small chunk of the alien back. It'd take a bit longer to reinstall the rest of it, though.
"Not much, but progress is progress," Doppler said. He was working diligently...and completely unaware of what was happening.
Several levels below him in the AntiTrix's build, sparks started to fly as something cut a hole in one of the walls. The sparks stopped as the metal fell forward and clanged against the ground. A large team of green, insectoid aliens with a single bright purple eye situated in the middle of their faces poured through the opening, each armed with what seemed like laser rifles and carrying some kind of holder on their backs. They all lined up on either side of the hole and saluted, as another insectoid alien scurried through the whole. He was similar to the others, but he wore a military officer's hat atop his head.
"Textbook infiltration, gentlemen; nicely done. Now, fan out and find the most promising samples," the officer insect ordered.
Kevin itched his arm again.
"What, the suit itchy or something?" Kylie joked.
"No, I think Doppler's choosing to do some maintenance right now..." Kevin huffed. "It always feels weird."
"He seriously chose now?"
"Dude's a bastard. He would."
"Won't be a problem right?"
"Nah. It's just annoying." Kevin scratched at his wrist again. Hopefully, just an itching sensation was all Doppler's maintenance would cause.
Back inside the AntiTrix, the insect aliens were making their way through the AntiTrix, looking for the various DNA samples. Some of the samples were stolen from their places and put into the holders on the aliens' backs.
"Good, good," the officer said. "Which one is THAT?"
"Uh...no idea sir! All it says is Aerosmith!" one of the insect soldiers answered.
"...the hell is Aerosmith?"
"Just take it!" The commander yelled. "Our client demands all the samples they can get!"
"SIR YES SIR!" The bugs yelled, going back to work...and silently triggering an alarm.
Doppler was just about to finish restoring another piece of Twisted Sister when he noticed.
"What the hell..." he muttered, typing in a command on the keyboard to access internal security. Four holographic screens appeared in front of him…and then he saw them. Those small, flea-like aliens stealing the samples.
"Oh fuck no. Not after all my progress, you bastards!"
Doppler had to remain secretive about this attack- he could easily flush them out and ensure Kevin's date went swimmingly. The kid seemed stressed, and he didn't want any trouble.
Doppler looked at one of the samples he'd already completed, long ago- Smashing Pumpkins. "Gonna need to borrow this," he said.
The AntiTrix's engineer picked up the sample and carried it under his arm as he raced off to the nearest intrusion. One of the screens followed him as he ran. Whoever these things were, they were all over the DNA storage systems.
"Ok...ok, who are we dealing with? Insectoid, small or smaller than a flea, one eye...that microscopic bit has GOT to narrow it down a lot," Doppler muttered to himself, "C'mon, c'mon. Please be in the database..."
A ding sounded off- Doppler quickly looked at the screens. The aliens were...
"Hulex?" Doppler asked. "That's weird, they're usually passive..."
A thought suddenly went off in his head and he started having the screens switch perspectives. He was trying to find their leader- whenever a normally passive or peaceful species turned to sudden aggression or crime, nine times out of ten, there was an outside force. Maybe it was all those sci-fi shows he binged without Kevin's knowledge, but if he was right, things were going to get a hell of a lot more chaotic, and not in a fun way.
Doppler's cameras scanned the hallways of the AntiTrix. Workers and workers and workers, all scurrying through, taking whatever pieces of the AntiTrix they thought useful.
"Wha-seriously?! Kevin Eat World?! That was next on the list you assholes!" Doppler shouted when he saw a Hulex steal the sample for Kevin's Oryctini form. "Ok, finding your boss first, THEN I'm coming for whichever one of them took that!"
Doppler looked at the Smashing Pumpkins DNA sample in his hands. "But first, I need to be ready." He quickly absorbed the DNA and began to transform.
Most of Doppler's body stayed the same, shifting from silver and red to a color scheme more fitting for the alien. He grew taller and his arms elongated, matching those of Smashing Pumpkins. His head took on a similar shape as the AntiTrix symbol grew in size to accommodate the shift.
Doppler grinned. "Now...let's do some interrogating."
On the surface, Kevin looked fine, but that itchiness wasn't going away. He secretly scratched his wrist as Min cheerfully explained how they wiped the floor with Cardin and his teammates.
"Please tell me someone recorded that," Nagi pleaded, giving his best impression of puppy dog eyes… which was ruined by the perpetual smirk on his lips.
"I think? After everything that happened, I don't think anyone got to upload it though," Min admitted.
"Damn." Nagi pouted. "Guy sounds like he deserved it, and you know how much I enjoy seeing karma in action. Especially when it's embarrassing."
"Yeah, you know me, just trying to help karma along," Kevin said, scratching his wrist again and again. No one seemed to notice.
"You said 'after everything happened'," Danny interjected with all the grace of a particularly charming businessman. "Things went south after that?"
"...you didn't tell them?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Eh, chaos follows me a lot. If I told my family I was in a traumatic event, they'd just call it a Tuesday," Min joked.
"I mean, she's not wrong but it's still concerning," Bianca admitted.
"Yeah, minus some injuries, we all got out alive," Min said with a shrug.
Kylie winced. "Not Ozpin."
"He reincarnated. He's fine."
"Didn't realize people here had that power," Cipher said, taking a sip of wine.
"They normally don't. Ozpin's...unique," Weiss eventually added, for lack of a better term.
"Also another huge, fun story-" Min began, as Kevin's arm began to beep. He turned pale.
"...everything alright?" Weiss asked, concerned.
"Uh, yeah! Probably a watch alarm I forgot to shut off!" Kevin lied, already starting to sweat.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"
"No worries," Nagi said calmly. The guy wasn't even worried about the interruptions. How nice of him.
Kylie began to sweat. If that Doppler bastard is gonna try and fuck this up, I'll waterboard him again.
Doppler yelled as he ran through the halls of the AntiTrix, throwing fireball after fireball at the Hulex.
The Hulex tried to fire back with their rifles, but they were too slow. Each blast got them down in one hit. Fortunately, the DNA sample containers were durable, so they weren't damaged. One of the Hulex managed to radio their boss.
"Sir...security...we've been...compromised!" he coughed out.
"Eh?! Our client said this place was uninhabited!" The commander grimaced. "Were we set up!?"
"I...don't...know...but he can...use...the DNA...I think."
"...you think?"
An explosion confirmed it- the commander turned around to see Doppler storming towards him, slowly producing more flames.
"You have exactly one minute to tell me why you're stealing my DNA samples. If I don't like what I hear, your ass...er...thorax, whatever, is toast. Got it?" Doppler threatened.
The lieutenant's gaze hardened. "Dunno what you are, but...it just tells me we need to step up our mission."
"Didn't answer my question. Why. Are. You. Here?"
"Really think you scare me? Our client is ten times scarier than you are, hotshot. Not to mention our commander-"
"And who exactly IS your client?" Doppler interrupted.
"If I told you, that'd violate our policy about client confidentiality. So instead, I'll think we'll just kill ya and be on our way. Didn't WANT to kill anybody but...eh."
"Cute. You think you can kill the person who controls this place."
Doppler slapped his hands on the ground- suddenly, the whole room became green and swampy, much like his own form. "And whatever I say goes!" Doppler crushed his hand, and the room shrunk.
"What the-" the lieutenant began before the room started to close in around him.
"Y-you think killing me solves this?! We're professionals! We won't stop until we have all the sam-" The walls finally caved in around him and crushed him, leaving only his little officer hat behind. Doppler could figure out who sent them later, maybe capture one of them. Right now, he had to get back the rest of the samples.
"What the hell could my client want with the AntiTrix to begin with?" Doppler thought to himself.
...and then he remembered. The thing he was born to do.
"OH FUCK." Doppler screeched as he rushed off. They were trying to make more Crystal Dolphin.
Back outside the watch, Cipher and Bianca were discussing their work with Sienna and Anna.
"It's not as exciting as it sounds. Yes, people do rituals to make deals with me and sometimes they make cults but, usually, I make the contracts work in my favor. Unless I like them. If they wanna make a deal for like...the cliché things, you know money, power, I usually pull some 'monkey paw' nonsense to mess with them. If it's more unique like that...oh god what was his NAME. The green guy...the one I was talking to over the phone, whatever. He wanted to bring order to his home. So I let him buuuuut give or take a few more years, that guy's whole regime is gonna come crumbling down," Cipher explained.
"So...classic demon deals then," Anna surmised.
"Yeah, pretty much. Just with my own flair."
"What about you, Bianca? What kind of mischief do you create?" Sienna asked, genuinely curious.
"Oh, me? Oh, I just cast great amounts of karma onto the souls of the damned. I make life even more unbearable for them," Bianca smiled sweetly like she was recounting a fond memory. "Oh, for example- I was the one who gave John Lennon the success he wanted, and then took that away. Why? Notorious asshole and hypocrite. Don't miss him."
"I could think of a few people who deserve that kind of karma," Weiss said, mainly thinking of two of Salem's underlings.
"Oh, plenty of people deserve worse. And as the rulers of the Chaos Sphere, we're to make sure that-"
"...wait, what?" Kevin asked, eyes going wide.
Cipher paused. "What?"
"You're rulers of the what now?" Kevin asked as Min found new interest in her dinner plate.
"Oh, Min never said? We're demon nobility," Nagi said oh-so-casually, his smile as sweet as his mother's. Danny gave his sister a pointed look and took a sip of wine.
"What?!" Kylie gasped. "Seriously? You're a princess?" She paused and had to imagine Min in a fancy demonic princess dress- one that was made of spiders or demon flesh.
"Um...yeaaaaaah?" Min said nervously. The way she said it made it sound more like a question than anything.
"And...you never told us?" Weiss asked, visibly blue-screening.
"I mean, it never came up. What, am I just supposed to drop in one day and say 'Oh, by the way, guys, I'm actually demon royalty.' I…," Min had to pause and think. "Actually, that would've been perfectly in character for me, huh?"
Kevin looked hurt. "How come you never told us?"
"Honestly?" she huffed. "I'd feel better if you guys knew me as just 'Min'."
"Wait," Weiss began, getting a sense of deja vu."You guys have-"
"Our own media? Yeah. And that means our own paparazzi," Min spat.
"So, what, you were like a demon Britney Spears? Misunderstood and sick of paparazzi ruining your life?" Anna asked, genuinely concerned despite her blunt word choice.
Min swallowed. "Something like that, I guess. It...it was more like...everything I did was looked at under a microscope. What I wore, what I did, who I chose to hang out with. All of it was looked over, judged. They didn't see me as a person, they just saw a source for gossip they could write tabloid articles about."
"Min was our first and only daughter in this era," Bianca said, her voice quiet. "And because she was a girl, she faced heavy media scrutiny. She literally couldn't leave the palace without an armed guard because she would get swarmed by paparazzi who would harass and follow her around."
"Happened all the time, really. Min used to try to visit us at our work, and the media would hound her, especially if the political climate was particularly charged. And as young as she was, she just wasn't versed in it like we were." Danny and Nagi shared a regretful look.
"Eventually our workplaces had to ban her from the premises. It got that bad," Nagi continued, his tone bitter. "Not to say that Danny and I didn't have our fair share of trouble, but Min had it so much worse than we ever did."
Min took a deep breath. "And, because of that..it's why I settled for a quiet job writing fate."
"...I can...actually relate to that," Weiss eventually said. "Before my mother divorced...Jacques...it was similar. The only advice he gave us when it came to them was 'Don't do anything that could make the family name look bad.'"
"It was like that, yeah," Min huffed. "I figured taking a job there would be the best opportunity to help my parents and keep the spotlight off me. But, you know- fuck the paparazzi. Love the mental problems they gave me."
Kevin gave his girlfriend a concerned look. "...I never knew about any of this."
"And I should have known she wanted it to stay that way." Cipher sighed. "I'm so sorry."
"I...I get it, though. You wanted her to meet people who knew nothing about her. Saw her for...well, her. Like she said," Kevin pointed out.
"Yeah. I wrote Max Tennyson's life, and then it ended. For a while, I wrestled with what I did wrong. Maybe karma gave him a bad hand, or maybe I fucked up somehow. Then, Gwen messed up that spell, and..." Min took a breath. "Here I am."
"And ever since, you've helped out at every turn. You helped us with all that shit that led up to it, what happened at Beacon," Kevin said, awe in his voice.
"Yeah. And I feel...better, honestly. Not being judged. Like, I know demons aren't supposed to have these feelings, but...I seriously love all of you. You're like the best people I could have in my life." Min smiled softly, eyes shiny.
Kylie blinked back her own tears. Weiss could only smile back. Kevin moved his hand to cover Min's own.
"And you're one of the best we know," Kevin said sincerely.
Cipher wiped some tears from his eyes.
"You okay?" Sienna asked, alarmed.
"Yes, I'm just so happy for my little girl," Cipher said with a sniffle. "I haven't seen her smile like this in-"
"I think she's referring to the fact you're crying blood, dear," Bianca said. pointedly.
"...oh, yeah, that." Cipher blinked. "Yeah, that's a thing we do."
"...good to know," Anna muttered. It was an all-around wholesome moment-
So of course, that meant something had to ruin it.
The alarm on the AntiTrix started blaring again, but it was a different kind of alarm this time around, deeper in tone.
"Oh come on!" Kevin huffed, shaking his arm.
Min tilted her head. "You know, it's been doing that a lot-"
"Because the little guy inside NEEDS to ruin ALL good moments!" Kevin growled.
Kevin was ready to kill Doppler...until he realized something. This wasn't a maintenance alarm, he'd heard those before. This was different.
"Kevin? What's wrong?" Sienna asked, confused.
"I'm…I'm fine," Kevin stuttered, putting a hand over the AntiTrix. Right now, whatever was going on…Doppler was having his own secret war…
Inside, Doppler was rushing through the AntiTrix, desperately trying to get ahold of the situation.
He'd managed to recover a good chunk of the DNA samples, but some of them were still missing and he had no idea where the Hulex were taking them. Yes, he'd managed to blast a lot of them by now, but he hadn't gotten them all.
Doppler had been living through "Die Hard" while Kevin was going through "My Dinner with Andre." And KEVIN was the one who was stressed right now.
Doppler scoffed. "I swear, he owes me for this one!"
He ran through the halls of the AntiTrix, looking for any more Hulex that were getting away and where they had stockpiled the missing samples. By his count, they'd managed to take Dead Sea, Savage Garden, Green Day, Leash Freak (Ditto's AntiTrix sample; his clones were all linked together by chains), among others. Doppler may have been many things: the resident bastard on Kevin's wrist, the one who kept the kid alive while the watch tried to eat away at him, but he knew when to put the acts aside. He still kept the snark when he got serious, that was just part of his charm after all.
The symbiote dashed the corridors, looking down one after the other, finding them empty. The Hulex either got what they came for, or they were cutting their losses and getting out with what they could. But Doppler still had time. There was an alarm that would trigger if, somehow, a sample was removed from the AntiTrix itself and it hadn't gone off yet.
"If they're stealing those samples...then the Covenant Project is gonna be REALLY, REALLY set back!" Doppler yelled as he passed by another sample. In a flash, he transformed into Rush and began to speed towards the 'lab' containing his biggest project yet.
Doppler was something of a tinkerer there. He had the free time to make Kevin's fusions here, after all. But he was saving that one for a big moment.
And sure enough, the Hulex, what remained of them anyway, couldn't ignore a place like that. So many DNA samples gathered all together in one place? It was like a one-stop hit for them.
"Alright, uh, Necrofriggian?" one of the Hulex called out.
"Check!" one of his subordinates declared.
"Tetramand?"
"Check!"
"Cerebrocrustacean?"
"Check!"
"Damn, this is the easiest haul yet!"
Doppler quietly wheeled himself in and stared at the invaders. They hadn't noticed him yet.
"Welp, time to get to work," Doppler said to himself as he tapped into a control panel on a wall. "Playing 'kick ass take names' playlist."
The sounds of drums and other sound effects suddenly filled the room. The Hulex paused as they looked around in confusion- what was that noise?
It was then when the guitar began to play that Doppler made his presence known. The Hulex stopped to look as he stared daggers down at them. He quickly gained mummy bandages on his back that tangled around his arms.
...The Hulex had a feeling they were fucked.
Doppler didn't even give them a chance to ready their weapons before he rushed in, bandages launching out to find whatever target they could.
"So, Kevin, what were your favorite subjects in school?" Bianca asked conversationally. "You can find out a lot about a person that way."
Kevin hummed. "Guess I really enjoyed history and the reading sections in English."
"Really? Huh. Didn't take you for the history type," Nagi noted. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely surprised or if he was just messing with Kevin. Knowing Min's family, the odds were better with the latter.
"I just think seeing how things turned out is neat." Kevin shrugged.
"...fair." Kylie nodded.
"Makes sense. What's the saying? 'Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it?' At least some people take that to heart," Danny sighed, shaking his head in pity. Kevin honestly couldn't tell if he was being sincere or not- not only was he Min's brother, but he gave off the air of a corporate shark sometimes. And those people were rarely honest.
Despite the Antitrix not going off for a while, Kevin found himself looking down at the watch every so often. Something was going on inside it, there had to be given all the weird alarms.
Whatever the crisis, Doppler was probably handling it.
DIG THROUGH THE DITCHES AND BURN THROUGH THE WITCHES-
Doppler had a bunch of Hulex roped behind his back as he dragged them through the AntiTrix. They screeched and screamed and Doppler eventually released them, slamming them into a wall.
I SLAM ON THE BACK OF MY DRAGULAAAA!
Doppler's mummy tendrils pulled him up as he avoided another quick slash from a Hulex.
DIG THROUGH THE DITCHES AND BURN THROUGH THE WITCHES-
Another Hulex tried to take a shot at Doppler, only for two bandages to wrap around the gun and tear it from the insect's grasp. The bandages then whipped around and slammed the gun hard into the face of the Hulex, making him cry out in pain.
I SLAM ON THE BACK OF MY DRAGULAAAAA!
Doppler launched himself forward with the bandages, kicking the Hulex who missed his slash in the gut, knocking the flea-like invader into the shooter ,who was still holding his hands over where the gun had smashed into him.
Rush's head cocked and turned towards the other Hulex, aiming him down.
Rush cracked his head. "Oh, don't worry. I'll take my time with you." Doppler immediately shifted into Bashmouth and roared. Two massive cannons formed on his back. "Besides...it'll knock you down for good if I hit even harder." He grinned.
"...ohhhhh fuck-" the Hulex muttered before Doppler opened fire.
"...and yeah, that's how Sienna and I met," Anna said, putting a hand on top of Sienna's, the two of them sharing adoring looks. "Cute story, right?"
Weiss stared at them in shock. "Overthrowing my birth father is NOT how I expected you to meet."
"A little unconventional, sure, but that could be said about a lot of relationships when it comes to Huntsmen and Plumbers," Sienna chuckled.
"She's got a point," Min admitted.
"I met Cipher in a similar fashion," Bianca smiled. "Shall we tell that story?"
"Oh, yes! It's my favorite," Cipher began. "So there I was-"
One of the Hulex had managed to survive Doppler's initial onslaught. When he saw an opening, he took it and jumped onto Doppler's back, slashing at him for a while before two bandages wrapped around his body and threw him off. The flea alien slammed into a console and, unfortunately, activated something.
"Shit," Doppler muttered.
More and more Hulex started to pour in, much to his chagrin. "Of course there's more. There's probably a dozen more squads out there," Doppler grumbled.
As they did, he shifted again, this time into Six For Fighting, but each arm also shifted: Twisted Sister's drill, one of Savage Garden's vines, and so on, each ready to tear these Hulex apart.
He just hoped that whatever that console activated didn't affect Kevin on the outside.
This is great. I'm going to get a good grade in meeting the parents, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve, Kevin thought, seconds before disaster. Nothing can go wrong.
Then his arm felt weird.
Kevin looked at his massive drill arm.
"...well, this is awkward," he said, mentally cursing out Doppler.
"So THAT'S what that looks like," Danny said, intrigued.
"That seems much more seamless than what I was imagining," Cipher admitted."It's like you're just wearing a giant gauntlet."
"Yeah, the transformation sequences are more impressive in my mind." Kevin shrugged.
Cipher shook his head. "No, I was expecting something less...um...perfect? Like you could tell where the alien starts and you end, if that makes sense."
"Oh, this is a powerup thing," Min explained. "He has a plus over Ben, being able to transform partially in human form."
"Interesting..." Cipher was examining the arm still.
"Going to go out on a limb here and say that doesn't happen often. You know, an out of the blue transformation?" Nagi guessed.
"...yeah, no idea what the fuckin' idiot that lives INSIDE MY ARM IS DOING!" Kevin yelled, more than a little annoyed (and relieved his moms booked a private room). "Come on, dude! The fuck's going on!?"
"...I have some concerns," Bianca said, alarmed over Kevin's sudden anger "What's going on?"
"An annoying symbiote lives in his arm," Sienna said flatly. "Don't question it."
"...I feel like I should. As the literal king of chaos, that says something," Cipher said in bewilderment.
"Let's just say the Antitrix has its...flaws," Kylie said as delicately as she could.
"MANY, MANY FLAWS," Kevin yelled at his arm.
Doppler was currently slaughtering the Hulex that surrounded him. Bandaged up and thrown aside like ragdolls, others burned to a crisp thanks to Hot Shot's flames ,or washed away because of Dead Sea's water jets.
"WHO WANTS SOME!?" Doppler yelled. "WHO FUCKING WANTS A PIECE OF-"
Doppler suddenly realized. This was all a distraction, wasn't it? There's no way the Hulex wouldn't be with their leader-
And if it was...he was probably getting away right now.
"Oh, you fucking bastards," Doppler cursed, quickly shifting back into Rush. He raced into the crowd, grabbed one of the Hulex, and raced off, hand firmly gripped around the bug's neck.
"Ok, so, nice little delay you did back there. But,now I'm pissed. So you're gonna tell me where your boss is or I'm dropping you. Momentum from the speed like this? Messy. Just be glad this isn't pavement," the symbiote threatened.
The Hulex struggled in his grasp. "W-we just were following orders, man! We thought it'd be an easy grab! Our client said he needed more samples for his side project and-"
"Ok, two questions then. Where's your boss and who hired you? Better make it fast because this form? Not the strongest and my arm's getting tired."
"I-I can only answer the one! The client is anonymous!" The Hulex yelled. "O-our boss is one of your facilities, said something about 'pure' samples!"
"'Pure?' Oh hell."
"S-so...you're gonna let me go now, right?"
"Ok, see, that's on you."
"W-wait...no I didn't mean like that! I didn't mean like tha-!" Doppler just let him go right and there as he raced off to where the leader was. 'Pure samples'...that was a dead giveaway.
Doppler raced to the lab, turning down every possible twisting corner he could and hoping he could get there in time. All the while he plotted- he needed that sample ready if things got bad.
Doppler kicked down the doors and saw the leader staring at the sample.
"Huh...thought it'd take you a little longer," he chuckled, adjusting his military cap. He didn't even turn back to look at Doppler, his attention fully on the sample.
"Your men don't seem to be that well disciplined. Guy told me exactly where I had to go," Doppler taunted.
"And once he did...I'm assuming you 'dismissed' him."
"...suuuuure, let's go with that."
"My client said that this Omnitrix was a lot more unguarded. No fully formed defense grid," the leader continued.
"Well, thanks for saying I'm doing a shit job," Doppler said. "Why go after my project?"
"People will pay top dollar for a drug that'll transform them into an alien hybrid, but they'll pay more to be a normal alien with no other complications." The Hulex grinned.
"The hell? You're doing this so someone can get a pick-me-up, basically?"
"If you wanna call it that. Our client suffered some injuries in their time and they're not exactly patient. They wanna get back to what they used to be in short order."
"The hell kinda injuries do they have?!" Doppler said.
"...severe ones. They aren't pretty."
"So to kickstart their healing, they decide to steal a DNA sample from here? How'd they even know-"
"Don't know, didn't ask. Not my place. They pay, we deliver."
"And you'll leave empty-handed." Doppler shifted into Black Ice. "Come on. Show me what you got!"
"Alright." The Hulex commander turned and drew his weapon: a plasma minigun that unfolded from the back of his carapace.
"Kind of a weak weapon." Doppler smirked.
"Oh, I'm just using this for my transformation." The Hulex commander pulled out a sample. "Recognize this one?"
"...catalog number 102...aka..." Doppler froze.
"A modified Galvanic Mechamorph." The Hulex commander grinned,as he injected the sample into his arm.
Black slime spread out over his body, purple circuitry lines following. Everything from his cap and antennae, to his weapon, and even his eye morphed until the end result resembled an insectoid form of Daft Punk. His now circular purple eye narrowed as he took aim at Doppler, the minigun now attached to his arm and the barrels beginning to spin.
"Oh, of course." Doppler frowned as he formed sharp crystal blades. "Eh, whatever. I'm a hard counter to you!" He shot hard crystals at the Hulex leader.
The leader rolled out of the way, spinning up the minigun's barrels and firing back at Doppler. The shots harmlessly ricocheted off of Doppler's blades after he brought them up to act as a shield.
"You might be a good counter," the Hulex shouted out, "but so am I!"
"Oh yeah, like Daft Punk can take Black Ice!" Doppler shot back.
"I didn't mean to you," the insect grinned. It kept up the assault as he scurried over to one of the consoles and began merging with it, accessing the systems.
"Now what happens if I activate this?" he yelled out over the continued barrage of plasma shots.
Doppler gasped as the power shorted out around him- shit, that handled the power regulator and limiter. If he actually managed to mess with that-
"Not gonna happen!" Doppler yelled, shifting his arms into a corrupted Fulmini sample- Kevin called it Deathcore- and shocked the ground.
The Hulex quickly brought up a shield around the console, stopping the current before it reached him.
"How about this?" the commanding insect taunted, activating another system. Except nothing happened. So he tried again. And again.
"You really have redundant systems in this thing?!" he yelled, annoyed.
Of course, he was only annoyed because nothing happened inside the Antitrix. On the outside-
Kevin was now stuck as a half-human, half-Pyronite fusion.
"...you good, Kev?" Kylie asked tentatively.
"This is fine," Kevin said, grabbing a glass of water. It broke on contact and hit his skin, instantly turning to steam."I am currently fine with the events that are unfolding before me."
Doppler hissed. "Annoying little-!"
"Ok...uh...there have GOT to be defense systems in this thing somewhere-aha!" the Hulex called out. Two turrets emerged from the ceiling of the lab and began to fire. Instead of bullets or electric blasts, it was firing a red, quick-hardening substance- Dark Matter's favorite trick.
"You don't know how this place works, do you?" Doppler scoffed. "Sucks for you, I guess..." He flipped a switch. "I built this place, asshole- it was a shitty little mess of an apartment, and I turned it into Will Smith's mansion."
The Hulex leader gave him a weird look.
"Google it."
(That applies to the reader too. Please Google it.)
"I...wait, what did you do?" The leader noticed it after Doppler flipped the switch. The turrets he just deployed? They retracted back into their holdings.
"You were doing good with the turret thing...you just...you fucked it up so badly," Doppler taunted. "Cause now I know you have no idea what you're doing." He flicked another switch. (On the outside, Kevin reverted to normal.) "So, that just gives me full access to test out the thing you wanted to steal."
"Wait, what?" All that bravado in the Hulex's voice started to waver. He tried lowering the shield and firing out another volley, only the shield didn't fall.
"This is my den. I'm a lion. You're a stupid kid who didn't listen to mommy and daddy, and you fell in," Doppler said, walking over to the sample. "So, what am I gonna do? Simple. I'm gonna maul you."
"Uh...haha...you know what? Maybe this was a bad gig. So uh, how about a deal! One sample and we leave! I'll even split the pay with you!"
"...what do I need money for?" Doppler coldly asked before he absorbed the sample.
His body wildly mutated right before the Hulex commander's eyes. What he saw was indescribable. The form was so...familiar, yet unique. He could list a majority of the species on the body, but how was Doppler going to use them?
That scared him.
That shield that once offered him a safe zone? It fell. His Mechamorph eye darted around, seeing the protective barrier vanish before he locked back onto Doppler. The Hulex fired off one last desperate volley before he lunged
A mutated hand grabbed the commander's face. "Will I burn you? Freeze you? Crystalize you and keep you as a statue? Or will I simply erase your face? The options are sooooo tedious...I wish I could do all of them..."
The Hulex was frozen in fear. All the bravery, all that military bravado, broken. All he could do was stare at the mutated beast that was holding him.
"...or, I could take the least fun option. I let you live. You give me back all the shit you stole, leave the AntiTrix, and never come back here. Go about your menial life of digging off of Galileans or Petrosapiens." Doppler narrowed his eyes. "Deal?"
"D-deal. Deal!" the Hulex said, too terrified to even try and be defiant. Doppler opened his hand and let the insect drop to the floor with a thud.
"Good. Now unpack your shit and get the fuck out." Doppler paused to think. "...and write a detailed apology letter to Kevin Levin. He's trying to impress his girlfriend's parents."
"Would he even be able t- actually, know what? No. Not even gonna ask!" the commander said, scurrying off and relaying new orders.
"Men, take everything we got and unload it. We are LEAVING," the insect hissed into his comm-link.
"But sir, the cli-" one of his subordinates tried to say.
"I KNOW. But right now, I'm more afraid of the fucking genetic NIGHTMARE that almost crushed my skull! So we are GOING, we are LEAVING that shit BEHIND, and we are just...LEAVING."
Doppler reverted back to his normal form. He returned the project back to its place and took a deep breath. "Whew...close one."
The dinner eventually came to a close ending with a nice dessert. Cipher was about to say something when his phone went off.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Now? Of ALL times? I swear these people are like carrion birds..." he sighed. He didn't even bother to answer it, just putting it on silent.
"In other news, I think this evening went fantastically," Min's father said proudly.
"What was that call about?" Min asked. "You never get work calls at this hour."
Cipher sighed. "If I had to guess, it's my latest 'deal', the person from before. I'm playing the long game with him and he bought into it a little too much I think."
"Makes sense, I guess..."
"Also, this evening did NOT go as planned," Kevin said, sitting in a rather torn-up suit. "I'm not even sure how you were able to keep your cool during this whole thing."
"Personally, I think it made the evening more exciting," Nagi chuckled.
"I mean, yeah. It was a little too perfect," Anna noted. "Not everything is gonna go as planned."
"I at least expected some pushback, maybe one 'you can't date my daughter like that'..." Kevin said, genuinely confused.
Bianca blinked. "Er, no, you're a good kid. Why would we do that?"
"I mean..." Kevin wasn't sure how to answer that.
"Is there a reason we should? I don't see anything wrong with it personally." Cipher shrugged. "Could give a half-hearted one if it helps. Wouldn't be true, though..."
"Dad, you can't give a proper shovel talk to save your life," Danny sighed tiredly. "That's why we have mom to scope out potential partners."
Cipher looked betrayed. "Must you call me out like this?"
"In any case, I am rather curious as to what made the watch act like that," Bianca mused. "From the sound of things, it doesn't happen often, if at all."
The watch beeped again, and suddenly a sheet of paper was beamed out, settling on the table.
"...it can do that?" Weiss asked, utterly done with today.
"Apparently." Kylie shrugged.
Min picked up the paper and quickly read over it.
"It's addressed to you?" Min turned to Kevin. "And who or what the hell is 'Hulex'?"
"The Hulex?" Sienna raised an eyebrow. "They're a species of alien miners, microscopic in size. What were they doing in the AntiTrix?"
"Beats me," Kevin said as he began to read the note.
It was an apology, written and worded like someone from a military unit penned it. As he read, he became invested.
"Well, now we know why the watch was acting up," Kevin admitted. Even though he just read the truth, he couldn't really believe it.
"Maybe it was just Doppler screwing around accidentally," Kylie suggested. "No way that happened...right?"
"When has Doppler ever addressed me as 'sir'?"
"Oh my god, that actually happened."
Kevin stared at the watch, wildly confused.
"Yeah, I…guess it did."
Back inside the watch, Doppler huffed as he looked over the damage from the fight. It wouldn't be too hard to fix up. A bit time-consuming, but not difficult.
"Hopefully things went well out there," Doppler said, checking the time. "Let's see...probably over by now right?" He hummed in thought. "Maybe I should check on Kevin. If I did fuck things up, I should apologize to him and such."
The symbiote did one last check of the systems, just to make sure nothing else was wrong before he started to melt. It was a smooth transition between him being an internal defense to an actual entity. Soon, that familiar liquid-metal slime appeared around the rim of the Antitrix and soon joined together so the symbiote could look around.
Instead of a restaurant, Doppler found Kevin and Min laying back on his bed, dressed in pajamas and cuddling.
"...so, that was my family," Min said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Kevin said tiredly. "And that was my glitchy ass powers in action."
Should he say something? They were having a moment, but he didn't know how much that affected things.
"All things considered? You made a great first impression. For my first boyfriend and stuff," Min joked. She smiled at the relieved look on her boyfriend's face.
Doppler thought about it and decided to ask tomorrow. He and Min needed this. But from the sound of it, Kevin managed to break his curse. Doppler quickly retracted back into the Antitrix without a sound- they had no idea he was there.
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